The idea came from a letter by T. Jefferson, which he stated the importance of separation between church and state. He then stated(not exactly word for word): “We should strive to keep the state out of the church, but god save us if we keep the church out of the state.”

of course, those with an agenda will gladly choose only the parts of the letters that give credence to their agenda.

People in this country are given so much freedom, they think everything is a right. they think they have a right to vote, a right to say whatever they want without fear of consequence, a right to drive, a right to health care, a right to anything they see others with.

They do not understand the differences between rights and privliges.

That article was typical of the left leaning people of the world.
Godly and worldly. Come on, it’s ridiculous. We never saw this kind of “divide” mentioned when Clinton was elected, and things were no different. Just because the liberal media got what they wanted, we saw none of it int the news. Do you think the “red states” were any less happy than the “Blue states” are now?

I was ****ed. I saw Clinton as someone that was going to increase government control, try to take away my rights, and increase taxes. Well, he DID! I was ****ed, I voted against him when I could,t hen I voted in GWB. I never panicked, I never thought about leaving the country.

Remember “rest of the world,” you are NOT America. While the policies of the US may affect you, our election, and our culture are our business. Keep that in mind.
We have a different culture. Maybe you can relate to the “blue” state people more than the Red state people. Probably, since city dwellers live like Europeans more than like country dwelling Americans.

you do not understand the culture of comservative Americans. fine, no big deal. We can disagree, we do it fine all the time. What gets me is the unwillingness to accept the fact that the majority of Americans are like that. “they must be stupid, or following the orders of their preachers”, etc. etc.

You are unable to simply accept it, you have to make excuses for it(Just like American liberals are). Simply unable or unwilling to accept (or even tolerate) the idea that half of the nation has a different philosiphy, and a different way of seeng things.

City dwellers are not smarter, nor more “worldly”, nor more “productive” than country people. They just live and think differently.

I tell you, there are an equal number of dumb people in the cities(if not more so) than in the country.

It’s funny how the guardian brings up examples of stupid people to generalize the rural US. The example of teaching creationinsm inschools is one. It’s some dumb hick county in Georgia that got it started, and it’s not a big deal. Some idiots don’t get the difference between science and faith.

Want to criticize the policies of th eUS, fine, they have an effect on the world, so I don’t care. But instead of accepting(or again, even tolerating) the decision of AMERICA, you resort to ridiculing the people of the “Red” states.

YEah, th eCA energy crisis was the doing of California, plainand simple. They didn’t want power plants, they didn’t get them, they wanted regulation, they got it, they wanted Grey Davis’ plan, they got it.

It TOOK a massive energy crisis to wake them up. You remember WHY Arnold got elected, don’t you? They recalled the governor, becaus eof the energy crisis, and his inability to fix the problems.

Just because one part of the country disagrees with another doesn’t mean they’re disenfranchised. We put up with Clinton for a long time, and nobody screamed disenfranchisement.

The F-22 ‘s advantage is n’t measured on a simple scale, as in the F-15 is twice as good as the F16, and the F-16 is 50% better than the F-4. or one F-15 will beat 2 Mig XX’s. That’s not really how it’s valuable. When it comes down to it, it depends on how they’re used.

the advantage of th eF-22 is that it can be used in situations where other planes cannot. It isn’t simply smaller on radar–stealth would do little if all it did was make a smaller blip. It reduces the range at which it can be detected, and decreaes the range/ability of another radar to track it. It makes it like a slippery snake in the dark–you CAN still see it, but it’s really hard, and once you got it, it’s hard to hold onto.

Up close, 2 F-22’s will be equal to two of any other fighter, stealth will help, as will the decreased drag and increased speed, but not by that much.

At a distance, the f-22 will be able to shoot first, plain and simple. The stealth also gives it the ability to position itself for optimal engagements without as much risk of detection. It can be sneaky.

So, in a close range fight, 4 F-22’s will be a close match with flankers.
If they are far apart, a single F-22 is fully capable of destroying 8 flankers with no problem. Not likely, but possible.

It’s all in the situation they are presented in. The #1 advantage of the F-22 is that it enables the US Air force to have greater ability to dictate the situation.

I’d avoid anything you guys call “pudding”. Pudding has a different meaning here, although we know what real pudding is(your stuff). We hear pudding, we think of chocolate or vanilla pudding, a creamy rich dessert.

Also, a general rule, Americans don’t eat that much of the “humbles”–I wouldn’t be surprised if she’ll have an aversion to any organ meat.

Fish, steak, anything with potato should be fine.
though the mushy peas sounds nearly as bad as blood pudding.

You’ll find a split and bewildered America, the Untied States if ever there were. 16% of Manhattan voters voted Bush – now where was the World Trade Centre? Guess they don’t trust Bush the Younger to cure World Terrorism after all.

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NYC is a liberal mecca, have you ever been there? There’s nothing to be found in the fact that they voted for Kerry. Every view stated by the people in that article illustrated th epoint that most of New Yorkers are a bunch of eliteists.

Iam FROM the NY/NJ area, you could see the ESB from my roof, and the WTC was in full view if you took a 10 minute walk up the street.

This quote says it all:
They’re very 1950’s,” she said of Midwesterners. “When I go back there, I feel I’m in a time warp.”

Dr. Joseph acknowledged that such attitudes could feed into the perception that New Yorkers are cultural elitists, but he didn’t apologize for it.

“People who are more competitive and proficient at what they do tend to gravitate toward cities,” he said.

These people up there are so convinced of their own superiority, they REFUSE to believe that someone would NOT live in a city by choice. If you live in the country, you must be less able to make money than them. Liberal Elitisim, period.

Terrorist attacks affect the heartland as much as the cities that are attacked.
Care to guess where the majority of US soldiers come from? the heartland.

To think that It’s the Red states forcing the presidency on the blue states for reasons of unfounded fear, is utterly ignorant. An attack on the US is an attack on all of us. Even the most yankee hating good ole boy wept at the fall of the twin towers, and was as angeredas anybody else. 3 of my friends signed up to fight the war on terror, when NY and DC were attacked. They are not good old boys, or even rednecks–these guys are downright HICKS. They HATE YANKEES, yet they fight for the country.

****es me off to see people saying that the red states have no reason to want to defeat terrorism, when it’s our kids out there fighting it!

Blue states were hit, and they vote KErry.
Red states were NOT hit, yet their children fight to stop more attacks, and they support Bush.
And Liberals DARE to insinuate that Red states voted on unfounded concerns for slavery?

I was watching the Daily show ast night, laughing like crazy, until JOn stweart mentioned that. A$$hole.
A few months back, a man was arrested taping buildings in Charlotte. there are several potential targets there.

Originally Posted by Lawstud
Well I hope that soon al this Euro vs. America Bull**** comes to an end. Both sides have to understand that all the future challenges have to be faced and dealed with together.

Bury the hatchet on both sides and stop this crap, please !!
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I know, we see so much disagreement, that it seems as if we were at war with France and Germany.

I do hope that things get better. It’ll always be an unofficail friendly rivalry(like the Army vs. Marines), but I hope things never get as bad as they were(French desicrateing the graves/monuments dedicated to american and british troops lost in Normandy vs. Unofficial American embargo on french goods, and french fries… Stupid stuff.

I see it in boards all over the net. Americans resent europe for not backing us, europe resents us for not listening to them.
Now, I’ve seen lots of Europeans deriding America, since Bush was elected by such a large amount of votes. How did th epage lead? How can 59 million people be so stupid? Seriously, 59 million people is close to the population–the ENTIRE population –of Great Britian. It’s as if they refuse to acknowledge that we simply made the decision, and it just MIGHT be what we want.

That wil end soon, it’s just the initial reaction from left wing european media(which is the same reaction from left wing american media)

I dont’ see any contrversial conflicts coming up any time soon. Barring that, Europe wil have a much higher approval of Bush in 4 years than they do now. Even if they NEVER approve of the Iraq war.

I think only the educated should vote–and I don’t mean the elite, or th epeople that have been in school. I mean educated, learned, experienced. those with know-how. People that understand long term consequences, and have an open mind.
Voters should have a very good understanding of history and civics–they need to understand what’s going on, so they know what they need to do to get what they want.
There needs not be any sort of test o be eligible to vote. While I do not want the stupid masses of easily influenced college freshmen ALL voting, they will take care of that themselves. If they do not care enough to vote, then they simply do not have enough knowledge to understand that they have a stake in this. End result: most people that absolutly shouldn’t vote don’t vote.

People who should NOT vote:

1.people with mental illnesses bad enough to make them unable to really understand what they’re doing(If it can get them found not guilty of murder, they shouldn’t vote) I actually saw a severly retarded adult being brought in to vote. He was screaming and kicking, biting himself, they had to instruct him what to do. I don’t know who he was voting for for sure, but I was disgusted.
Esentially, his vote was a double vote for his mother.

2.Ilegal immigrants, and not-yet-US-citizens-immigrants. Get a stake in the country first, pass the citizenship tests, and then it’s all good. Illegal immigrants are criminals, and should not vote. (there are people trying to make this legal, if you can believe that)

3. HEre’s the one that ****es off people:
People that do not pay taxes.
PEople in the bottom of the income bracket recieve money back from the federal government. They make money in taxes. It is a form of social welfare with no accountability required. PEople in such a situation are often voting to increase the money that comes directly to them. that shouldn’t be allowed.

It’ll never happen, of course, but I do feel that you shouldn’t be allowed to vote if you are in a position in which you are DEPENDENT on federal money. Once you get off that dependence, you can vote.

Ah well… Here’s to another four years of bulldozing, bull sh*t and body bags. 😡

When does the “war on terror” enter the North Korean theatre?

North Korea decided to agree to talks on our terms once we invaded Iraq.
They are bragging about their weapons.
It is obvious that they are using the possibility of their owning weapons as a source of leverage. They might not even HAVE nukes.

The key is that they want the world to know they have them, so they can negotiate (blackmail) the US into giving them(more) aid in the form of oil, power, and food. This worked with bill clinton. They tried to blackmail Bush, and he didnt back down. Kim jong il realized that Bush was serious, and was not going to be blackmailed by NK, so he has agreed to multilateral talks.

Discussions with NK on this topic have all been on OUR TERMS because of Bush’s policy towards them. They will capitulate to our demands before we agree to anything they want.

Kim il is using a terror tactic–the treat of nuclear weapons–to blackmail the West. If he’s going to negotiate, it’ll be on our terms or no terms. That’s how you deal with terrorists, plain and simple.