[Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: Fantasy vs. Reality Fourth Installment

[Paul Rumelhart]

heirdoug at netscape.net wrote:

>Imprecatory Prayer: The Intercessor’s Elephant Gun
>By Doug Giles
>  
>

Don't know if this is you or not, but thought I'd answer anyway...

>One: Back President Bush and his aggressive armed attitude against 
>terrorists and terror supporting nations. 
>  
>

Can't do that.  If he was trying to use the power of the law to track 
these guys down instead of trying to clean up a mess in Iraq that had 
little to do with 9/11, maybe I'd go for it.  If I thought it was an 
honest mistake and we weren't torturing suspects without trials and 
using "extraordinary rendition", maybe I could get behind him to do what 
we can to clean up our mess.  I can back this man on Afghanistan, as 
long as he's not doing things unilaterally, but not Iraq.  Just remember 
that it could be argued that we are a "terror supporting" nation.  We 
sold arms to Iran.  Our CIA trained Bin Laden.  Who knows how many other 
dirty secrets we have hidden somewhere?

>Two: Push for cinching our borders tighter than a fat guy's belt after 
>an ‘All-You-Can-Eat’ beef rib blow out at Tony Roma’s.
>  
>

I'm afraid I can't do this one, either.  Our polyglot of cultures and 
attitudes and beliefs is our crowning strength, not a weakness.  Sure, 
tighten security to help stop further terror attacks (while respecting 
people's rights in the process), but don't turn us insular.  The world 
is an interconnected global system.  we turn our backs on it at our own 
risk.

>Three: Aggressively support the rooting out of the multitudinous 
>terrorist cells that are concocting their villainous crap in our very 
>own cul de sacs.
>  
>

I can get behind this one.  We already have systems in place to handle 
this.  No new scary rights-removing laws needed.  Let the system work.

>Four: Make it ridiculously impossible for a pro-radical Islamic 
>professor to pee in one of our university’s bathrooms, much less teach 
>in one of our classrooms. 
>  
>

Freedom of religion.  If you can't live with it, get the fuck out.  If 
said professor commits a crime, throw him or her in prison.  Otherwise 
ignore their religion.  Is there some kind of a flood of radical Islamic 
professors applying for teaching jobs I haven't heard about?

>Five: As people of faith, dust off and use what’s afforded to the 
>believer within the Old and New Testaments, namely the imprecatory 
>prayers.
>  
>

Can't do this one, either.  For one, I'm not Christian.  For another, I 
believe that if you have a beef with someone, you should tell them to 
their face, not try to implore some possibly-real (probably-imaginary) 
phantom to do your dirty work for you.

Since I haven't seen anything on the news about radical Muslims, local 
philosophy professors, or "intoleristas" being inexplicably burned to a 
crisp by bolts of lightning, I'm assuming your God is thinking along the 
same lines I am.

Paul

P.S.  Isn't it frightening how many similarities there are between 
radical fundamentalists of Islam and Christianity?  If love and kindness 
won't work for us, then what was Jesus blathering on about?