Stop S.Res.483

If you care about the First Amendment or the idea that your elected officials are wasting their time and your money on ways to violate it, then you need to write to your US Senators right now.

Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. John Kerry have both recieved this from me:

As you probably are aware, S.Res.483 is "a resolution recognizing the first weekend of May 2008 as 'Ten Commandments Weekend'." As you are also probably aware, this type of thing is a violation of the First Amendment.

In case you didn't know the First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof [...]" I don't know how it can be any more clear. Promoting the Ten Commandments (of which only 2 or three are actually laws, depending on interpretation) is a blatant example of "respecting an establishment of religion". Of the 2 or 3 commandments that are actually against the law, none of them are unique to the US or Christianity. Of the 7 or 8 that are not laws, all of them are irrelavant to our system of government. By the way, the commandment that is not clear is "Thou shall not bear false witness" and this only really applies in a court of law, and not is not something the average person can be arrested for.

I am a registered Democrat in the State of Massachusetts and I can assure you that I will not be voting for you if you vote to approve this resolution. One of the basic tenants of this county is freedom of religion, which also includes freedom FROM religion. I don't want my country even considering recognizing any particular religion as more important than another, especially since more and more people are turning away from the religion of their childhood.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SE00483:@@@L&summ2=m&
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-religion26feb26,0,4582086.story

Fear of the Unknown

I am a member of several online communities and another member of one of these posted some disturbing quotes that he gathered about people who are "scared" of Barack Obama. See the rest here.

"When I first heard of Barack, a few days ago, the first thing I heard is that he is a guy who came out of nowhere and now many flock to his side. When my wife and I heard this, we both thought the same thing, the anti-christ. Now I am not claiming him to be, just something that triggered that thought in both of us.”
~Brian Raymond, 49 (a commenter on a Facebook Group called "Is Barak Obama The Antichrist?")

The "something that triggered that thought" was your indoctrinated fear of the unknown. Here are some people who also has (or had) fear of the unknown:

1. Conservatives (who think that change is bad and that anything different should be avoided because we don't know where it will lead)
2. Racists (who spread hate messages and teach their children to avoid people who are born different)
3. Bigots (who spread hate and teach their children to avoid people who think different)
4. Hitler (who fear the genes of the non-Aryan population)
5. Isolationists (who fear getting involved with foreign events so that they can feel safe at night)



People who didn't have that fear:

1. Columbus (who discovered the New World and allowed for the exploration of an area that would eventually be the homebase for freedom and equality to blossom and grow into what it is today)
2. Revolutionaries (who fought against the tyranny of England and tested an unknown system of government)
3. Astronauts (who repeatedly risk life and limb to explore space beyond what we can see from the ground)
4. Civil Rights Advocates (who risk their lives fight against racists and bigots to help grant women, gays, blacks, atheists, etc the freedoms to enjoy this life)
5. Medical Researchers (who sometimes spend their entire life searching for unknown cures for diseases that benefit everyone)
6. Explorers (who search the globe for new trade routes, bridge gaps in cultures, and find interesting things to put on the Discovery Channel)
7. Pioneers of the Western US (left the comfort of their homes in the east and spent months moving west in search of what they didn't know was there)
8. Engineers (who test the limits of human creations to impove the world around us)
9. The Military (who continue to battle an unknown enemy in an unknown environment for your beneift)

I suggest to 49-year-old Brian Raymond, stop being such a scared little child and learn about the issues. Please check out:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

It may enlighten you and help you make an informed decision instead of one based on the fear of the unknown.

----------

See the cross post at BarackObama.com.

ray comfort's Special Note To Atheists

HAHAHAHA!!!!1111!!!one!!!!

Check out this cute post by kirk's older brother. I say cute becasue it amounts to a mortal human sticking up for the feelings of an omnipotent being. It doesn't make any sense for god to be offended by lowercase letters, let alone someone else taking offense on behalf of god.

ray Said:

A Special Note to Atheists

I am honored that so many non-Christians frequent this site, but if you don’t write God or Jesus with capital letters, your comment will be automatically deleted. Thank you for your understanding.

What a self-important little slave. Does he really think god cares?

The Flying Spaghetti Monster's Prayer

Our Pasta, Who Art In Properly Salted Boiling Water
Ronzoni Be Thy Name
Thy Appetites Come
Thy Will be done, on plate as it is in Italy
Give us this day our Garlic Bread
And Forgive us our Twriling Spoons, as we forgive those that Twirl their Pasta
And lead us not into Leftovers
But Deliver us from Pizza
For thine is a Pirate, with Parmesan, and Eye Patches, for ever and ever.

RAmen.

Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Hillary and Ferraro

Keith Olbermann is one of my favorite political commentators. I find his honest, pointed criticism of almost anyone to be a refreshing departure from what the mainstream media typically spits out. I especially like his "Special Comment" segments when he really bites down and focuses his attention on one issue of the day. Sometimes he rails against Bill O'Reilly and "Fox Noise", sometimes he picks on people he usually agrees with, who just happened to slip up and do something really, really stupid.

Recent headlines have caused Mr Olbermann to bring the hammer down on Senator Clinton:



Obviously, I am supporting Barack Obama to be the nest President of the United States (just check out the HUGE banner on the right). I don't really have much against Hillary Clinton but I really do agree that she needs to denounce/reject Ferraro just as she demanded that Senator Obama denounce/reject Farrakhan (the important segments of this clip are Obama's comments at 3:00 and Clinton's response at 8:00}:

New Title Makes Everyone Swoon

I'm experimenting with different titles for my blog to see what I like better. The old one, "My Thoughts, Online", seemed so plain and non-descriptive that I've changed it to "Soup's Soapbox" for now. I like the alliteration and I think it gives an accurate idea of what this blog is intended for.

Marine Returning Home (Warning: Get a Tissue)

It doesn't matter what your political affiliations are, or what you think of the Iraq War (or war in general), this is one of the most moving set of pictures you'll ever see:

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2006/feature-photography/works/heisler16.html

It doesn't have to be Veterans' Day for you to thank a Vet. I promise you, they will appreciate it.

(found via digg.com)