The Sarge

I'm sure after last night some people fear he will. His state thrives and depends on undocumented workers, so Perry reasonably supports illegal immigrants having the same access to social benefits as anyone else. It's only fair. I think his support among the Tea Party proves not everyone in the Tea Party is hostile to undocumented workers. Perry is all but an "Open Borders" guy who sees illegal immigration as a net positive for America. This could help him in Florida too, but I think his social security talk may neutralize his advantage with Hispanics by subtracting support among retirees and those over 50. What do you think of this guy, a pro-immigrant Republican?

Perry is a legend in his own mind but Ron Paul is also a Texan and knows full well how much of Perry is myth and how little is reality. Perry makes Paul look centrist with nonsense like taking away direct voting on US Senators for crying out loud. Perry's not a conservative. He a feudalist that wants to take away our democracy. He's not running for president. He's running for Sheriff of Nottingham with Charles Koch as evil Prince John. Paul as a knowledgable constitutionalist can take him on and expose him. The others like Bachmann couldn't pass high school American History. I think if Paul waits his turn at the debate and just answers his questions he's done. He has to go after Perry or go home. It's his only way out the single digits, I think..

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/survey-surprisi...

Both candidates are claiming divine imprimatur. Both can't be right, but both could be wrong or one could be right and the other wrong. Based on what you know today, what you've seen so far, which if either do you believe God has called to be president and why? [We know God didn't call Ron Paul because he wants to cut defense spending, legalize marihuana, he thinks drug laws are enforced unfairly against blacks and school prayer, gay marriage, are not a federal issue, and does not believe Consitutional Rights apply to groups, and so opposes the Supreme Court "Citizen's United" decision guaranteeing corporations and unions the right to buy politicians, so clearly Ron Paul is of the devilas far as The Tea Party, Fox News and the RNC are concerned,all of which makes him the most rational candidate in America, wacky as his Ayn Randism can be.] But I digress. What do you think? Bachman or Perry? Who has God's vote?

This morning in an editorial Warren Buffett called bullshit on GOP claims that higher taxes on millionaires and billionaires would damage the economy. As the most successful investor in U.S. history, isn't it likely he's knows more than Michele Bachman? After all, she was on maternity leave for 3/4 of her time at the IRS, while he's made billions in the market and has succeeded over decades.

We've all seen the iconic painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River, standing in the prow of the rowboat, eyes forward to the enemy. Can anyone in their wildest imaginings see Barack Obama in that position? So far Obama's notion of leadership consists of sternly demanding that Congress do something and critiquing them when they produce the kind of turd stew you inevitably get when you let lobbyists write laws. He must have fathered his children before he lost his balls. Does he really think talking about a problem is doing anything to fix a problem? It's already clear he knows he can't run on his non-existent record of leadership. He must be grateful the GOP candidates are making themselves unelectable with crazy talk at Tea Party rallies. Every time he's sees Barack Obama, John McCain must say to himself, "I lost to that guy?"

Seems a little suspicious to me.

The riots over Q'uran burning prompt me to ask yet again. If Allah, Yahweh or Christ is so offended by this affront or that outrage on his honor, then surely if he is a god, let alone THE god, surely he can smite those who offend him without the aid of puny humans. So why does it not occur to god believers that if their deity has arms so short he needs humans to fight his fights and defend his honor, then their deity is certainly not a god, for if he needs the arms of men to protect his good name then his arms are too short to protect those who believe in him. The very fact that the Q'uran is burned and Allah does nothing proves either that Allah is not god, or Allah is unconcerned about one idiot in Florida engaging in Q'uran burning, and his followers should comport themselves accordingly and be likewise unconcerned.

A year ago a study was completed to determine if posterior parietal brain tumors and lesions change feelings of transcendence and in fact there is link. What if anything can we conclude from this?

http://www.physorg.com/news185027522.html

When confronted with Biblical text which confirms Christ as the only intercessor for Christians, Roman Catholics often deflect saying they pray "through" saints, not "to" saints, but that seems a distinction without a difference which few Catholics make, including the Vatican. In fact when Catholics pray to dead Catholics who haven't even been declared saints yet, and that prayer is credited for a miracle, it becomes part of the proofs needed for beatification. Christians get accused of polytheism over the Trinity, but Catholics pray to any dead person they choose and they aren't forbidden, so how is this not formal necromancy, for which scripture prescribes death?

Christianity purports to offer salvation from the consequences of sin and the falleness of man but it's only because of Christianity that one has any notion of "sin," much less any worry about eternal punishment for it. Do you really believe a god made the first man and woman in a garden and damned them for all eternity because they ate a piece of fruit without permission and realized they were naked? Would you throw your child in an oven for eternity for taking a cookie without your permission? Should you really trust any organization trying to sell you a cure for an illness they infected you with to begin with?

In my life I have personally known four priests. One was discovered to be a pedophile mere weeks after his promotion to Monsignor and was smuggled out of the country to Italy when a good Catholic file clerk in the DA's office (the priest had molested a sheriff's deputy's son) called to warn him an arrest warrant had been issued. The other three were without a doubt three of the most harmless, decent and sincere men I've known. One of these men had to take over the parrish and clean up behind the boy buggering Monsignor.

Some say celibacy makes perverts, though the church denies it. Others say perverts choose the priesthood because they are looking for a position that gives them access to victims. Some perverts may believe if they devote themselves to God, He will cure their perversion. Then again, there are those who say the church's general condemnation of human sexuality as venial sin just attract folks to become priests and nuns that are sexually confused to begin with. Is there something about celibacy itself that turns people into predators, or does it especially attract those who are predators to begin with? Is it all the work of Satan? A mix of the above. And, what would you counsel the RCC to do in response to address these incidents and to prevent them? Should all candidates be psychologically screened? Should all offenders be immediately defrocked and referred for civil prosecution? Does the nature and structure of the church make a solution impossible?

In the sixties when it was leftist groups wanting to kill police officers and bomb government buildings, groups like the SLA and Black Panthers, we called them thugs and terrorists. Apparently if you're a group of white, fundamentalist rednecks from Michigan,and you want to kill cops and bomb government buildings, you're a "patriot group." As a veteran (a volunteer, not a draftee), and one who actively participates in the political process, I consider myself a patriot. I don't consider an American who plots to overthrow the democratically elected government of the United States any thing other than a traitor that deserves a slow public hanging. What do you think of Americans who declare war on our government? Whether they call themselves Christian or Muslim, aren't they just traitors and enemy combatants? Don't they all deserve to end up in Dick Cheney's dungeon?