Mr. Bush, merciful?

.....right....

Tell that to 150,000 dead Iraqi's who have been "liberated"

Wade

See, we have one of our many differences in opinion here, and I don't just mean your assertion of Bush being "center/right."

I don't really see this as being a diversity calendar, though it is marketed as such. By putting birthdays of dubious people on the calendar, one can sow the seeds of better understanding of history.

Also, I don't really see Karl Marx as being "evil." He is the creator of communism (which actually wasn't supposed to look like the USSR), but I don't remember reading that German Philosopher Karl Marx ordered the killing of people. Total economic equality would be a good thing if it were possible, but it isn't. Just becuase capitalism is better than socialism, doesn't make a socialist "evil."

And the date of birth of the commander of the Japanese navy in World War II. Marking his date of birth on a calendar isn't cannonizing him... We do, after all, mark Dec. 7th on our calendars, and you would be hard-pressed to find someone that would say that that was a good day.

History is, after all, made up of heroes and tyrants.

Are you interested in the language used in the war on terror?

Here is your chance to evaluate the words being used by politicians in the war on terror:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=148492095703

Yes, Georgia, but our calendars commemorate the victims of Pearl Harbor, they do not honor the people involved in causing the tragic episode - no different from 9/11.

I confess being ignorant of Japanese history for the most part, but what Japanese person would want the birth of such a figure to be "commemorated" by a calendar aimed at diversity? As someone of half-German descent, I'd much prefer such calenders esteem writers like Goethe and Nietzsche or religious reformers like Matin Luther over someone like Adolph Hitler; Mussorgsky and Dostoevsky over Lenin, and so forth.

I agree that I don't consider Marx to be "evil" (he was a philosopher and a writer, it is not his fault people misused and did evil with his ideas).

And for the record, anyone who coddles and kisses up to men like Hu are dealing with the devil themselves and are by no means people devoted to "fighting evil."

Mark, this interchange on the Rush Limbaugh show this afternoon is illustrative of your point:

RUSH: Craig in Washington, DC, welcome to the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush. How you doing?

RUSH: Thank you, sir. Very good, sir, thank you.

CALLER: Yeah. I was calling in reference to your discussion about Madeleine Albright earlier. I thought, you know, something that might be a little bit instructive on this topic is that some of her views globally, I was a student of hers at Georgetown University --

RUSH: How long ago?

CALLER: The late eighties, and during that period she took a -- or she taught a course called Modern Foreign Governments. It was a comparative survey and all the students at the time were required as part of the core curriculum to take the class, and you could choose a different type of module. I chose the communist module. And so she taught a class that looked at the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Ethiopia. And in the final class of the semester, she gave some of her personal thoughts, and she prefaced her thoughts regarding Stalin with an acknowledgement he was, you know, deliberately responsible for the murder of millions of people through collectivization and other policies and that he's probably responsible for the deaths of about 40 million Soviets, but that on balance he was good for the country (emphasis - mine) because he managed to get the country industrialized and pull the mass of Russia out of serfdom.

RUSH: Were you surprised?

CALLER: I was shocked that she would actually come out and say it.


RUSH: Well, wait a minute. When's the last time you ever heard any leftist condemn Stalin or Lenin? Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize for covering up all those crimes. The left refuses to -- they cannot -- criticize these people. They just can't do it. "On balance, of course, Stalin had to be good for his country." I've never heard them criticize Stalin. In fact, even during the Cold War, and I want to get your reaction to this, Craig, after the break which is coming up, but even during the Cold War in the late eighties, they were still defending the place, and when the wall fell they were still defending the place, still defending the Soviet Union. It still didn't have its full chance to show its beautiful potential and so forth.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Spook, you beat me to the punch. I heard this today too; what is it with these lefties that makes dictators so attractive to them?

By putting birthdays of dubious people on the calendar, one can sow the seeds of better understanding of history.

Wrong, Frawg-arse--this crap is already spewed at major universities across the countries, and in many high schools too. We don't want it shoved down our throats, as if these maniacs were some kind of heroes.

In a related story, the Califiornia school board is moving towards removing gender references from storybooks, and teaching kids about prominent gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals who've made contributions to society. What the heck is this? I'm not shocked, but I'm appalled. And as I sit here typing this, a caller on Levin's radio show just brought it up. This country is riddled with sickos...

We celebrate Columbus Day ... and how many Native Americans was he responsible for slaughtering? Oh, that's right - who cares about those people now?

"n a related story, the Califiornia school board is moving towards removing gender references from storybooks, and teaching kids about prominent gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals who've made contributions to society. What the heck is this? I'm not shocked, but I'm appalled." - Keefer

First, how do you remove gender references; what does that even mean? You sure you read that correctly?

Secondly, you're appalled by what? That gay people actually have made positive contributions to society? O, the Horror! Watch out Keef, if your kids/grandkids ever get hold of these textbooks, and read how gay people can contribute to society, they might want to turn gay too!!

We celebrate Columbus Day ... and how many Native Americans was he responsible for slaughtering?

I don't know, maf, how many?

Maf, to remove the gender references is to remove things like "He and She" from the stories and texts. As well as changing names to more "gender neutral" names. I'm not making this up! I heard it on KFI yesterday when this started going.

I'm like WTF?

What does it matter the gender, race, or sexual orientation of someone who did something good? Seriously isn't that the point of "diversity" to build a "color blind society?" If you're constantly spouting off the "good race X" did instead of "the great things these folks did" thne you're constantly bringing up race and racial tensions.

As for the original post, where the heck did this calandar come from? Is it just a small publication or something put out by the government? If it's an independant publication then what's the problem? If it's the government then I'd have to question the good taste of such a calandar.

"The genocide and atrocious acts committed by the Spanish against the natives (the Tainos in particular) are well documented in terrifying detail by Bartolomé de Las Casas in his letters and book A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. After Columbus' death in 1506, the genocide of many Indians made Bartolemé de Las Casas persuade the Spaniards to use Africans slaves instead."

http://www.answers.com/topic/christopher-columbus

Ignorance must be bliss, huh Spook?

"It is a strange world to live in" - MN

Strange Indeed, where a President leading single party control of the Senate and House for five years creates the biggest increase in the size and spend of the federal government, the biggest expansion in the breadth and depth of the federal bureaucracy, and biggest deficits in the history of the country ... and yet is still called a conservative.
Can anyone explain this to me?

maf,

But you say Columbus was responsible...as far as I recall, Columbus never even set foot on the mainland of the Americas and personally killed no one. If you have evidence to the contrary about Columbus, then please bring it forward...if not, then you should think seriously about why you would want to bear false witness against him...

maf,

Oh, and if you could provide even one positive contribution to overall society made by a trans-sexual, we'd all be interested to know it...

Spook,

What is flabbergasting is that she was Secretary of State...someone that entirely ignorant of even the basics of history!

The only institution that believes Communism, as defined by Marx, is "evil" is the Catholic Church. That was the reason for Franco and Mussolini and the invention of Fascism by Pope BenedictXV. bush or anyone else who declares a war or uses violence on civilians is "evil" and represents the anti-Christ. Peace

"Oh, and if you could provide even one positive contribution to overall society made by a trans-sexual, we'd all be interested to know it..."

What does it matter Mark?

While you and I may not care for trans-sexuals or gay people or what have you what does it what kind of person does something that benefits others?

Does it matter if a Chinese person invents something verses a black man? How about a Black Woman verses a White Woman? IT SHOULDN'T MATTER!

It doesn't matter, Gozer, at least not to a rational human being. If you are a racist liberal who cannot see beyond the color of a person's skin, then it matters very much.

Ignorance must be bliss, huh Spook?

I can't speak for you, maf, but I read all the Columbus biographical info that you linked to and didn't find a single mention of Columbus "slaughtering" a single individual. He did take some slaves on his second trip, and many of them died, but to compare Columbus to Stalin is a bizarre stretch even for a Lib.

Steve,
I must say that your last sentence was very unfair unless of course that you want to include Roosevelt, Truman and Churchill into you definition of "evil". How soon we forget history, that we bombed civilian targets on purpose to bring WWII to an end.

Wade

150,000? Oh really. Fantasy land again. How many have been freed? 25,000,000? Seems like the ratio is pretty good.

In the meantime, I thought the article was about the insanity of celebrating Ho Chi Minh and Karl Marx's birthdays.

"If you have evidence to the contrary about Columbus, then please bring it forward" - Noonan

"to compare Columbus to Stalin is a bizarre stretch even for a Lib." - Spook

How this for you, guys:

"If you look at the historical record, you will see that Columbus himself was responsible for the murder of many people ... Columbus captured 1500 men, women, and children. He sent 500 to Spain & 200 died on the voyage. Columbus is DIRECTLY responsible for the deaths of thousands of Arawaks in Haiti. He forced them into gold mines for 6-8 months and 1/3 died, exhausted, depressed, ceased to procreate, killed their infants. Columbus also killed them thru murder, mutilation, suicide, overwork, abuse, and diseases."

http://prestwidge.com/river/columbus.html

Certainly something to celebrate.

By the way, Mark: when are you going to post something about Rummy getting caught in a blatant lie?

"Oh, and if you could provide even one positive contribution to overall society made by a trans-sexual, we'd all be interested to know it..." - Noonan

Well, first off, I never said anything about trans-sexuals. Not that it matters. Why should a person's sexual prefernce preclude them from contributing something positive to society, anyway?

Mark, why do you keep doing Satan's work and remain in that "noisy crowd of evildoers" warned of in Psalm 64?

1) How do you know the author of the calendar is a lefty? I read the very article you linked to, and it said the author was a veteran with 22 years of service. Maybe he is a lefty, but did you check? The fact he was in the military for 22 years would lead me to think he actually isn't.

2) How do you know the purpose of the calendar is to include "honorable people, worthy of note and emulation"? What if it is just to include people of historical note? I could easily envision a military veteran with a penchant for military history remembering off the top of his head the birth dates of notable enemy military ommanders, such as Yamamoto or Ho Chi Minh.

3) Here is a challenge to you. Would you join me in denouncing the annual homage to the birthday of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, the two greatest traitors of American history, responsible for slaugtering over 600,000 Americans?

4) You write: "Are the only banned things to be various organized religions, with Christianity heading the list? Someone explain this to me."

I hope the following explanation will suffice for you, though I have grave doubts. YOU think you are consorting with Christian groups. But I find your writing so full of distortions, mis-characterizations, convenient assumptions, hate, fear-mongering, guilt by association, and other failings that I find very little reflection of Our Lord's Gospel, and much more of the works of Satan.

Ezekial 21:28-32 is for you, Mark.

maf,

I doubt the veracity of your linked article...I'd have to look it up, but from what I recall, Columbus only brought a few natives back to Spain, mostly to show the Spanish government the sort of people who lived in the Americas.

As for the trans-sexuals...hey, the California law says that the schools will have to highlight the positive contributions to society by trans-sexuals...I'd like to know any of these positive contributions.

Anthony,

Before you judge me, you should actually read what I wrote. Get back to me when you have done so.

maf53, Your problem is you don't have any discernment and you don't possess a good grasp of history. You got your "edumacation" in public schools and never got around to developing independent thinking skills... That is why you put credence into internet rubbish like prestwidge.com.

steve, You are one screwed up individual.
The only institution that believes Communism, as defined by Marx, is "evil" is the Catholic Church. That was the reason for Franco and Mussolini and the invention of Fascism by Pope BenedictXV. bush or anyone else who declares a war or uses violence on civilians is "evil" and represents the anti-Christ. Peace
You don't understand fascism, you misunderstand President Bush, you don't understand Christianity yet you label others "anti-Christ", and you probably don't even believe in evil. You are a glittering jewel of colossal ignorance and moral vacancy...

I doubt the veracity of your linked article...

mmmm...maf it's kind of hard to have a discussion with someone who plays that trump card.

Mark, ND - from the *same* link, different section. Here is the author info:

"Jack Weatherford is an anthropologist at Macalaster College in St. Paul, Minn. His most recent book is "Indian Givers." He wrote this article for the Baltimore Evening Sun."

"Because Columbus captured more Indian slaves than he could transport to Spain in his small ships, he put them to work in mines and plantations which he, his family and followers created throughout the Caribbean. His marauding band hunted Indians for sport and profit -- beating, raping, torturing, killing, and then using the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Within four years of Columbus' arrival on Hispaniola, his men had killed or exported one-third of the original Indian population of 300,000. Within another 50 years, the Taino people had been made extinct -- the first casualties of the holocaust of American Indians. The plantation owners then turned to the American mainland and to Africa for new slaves to follow the tragic path of the Taino."

Come on, ND - take another swipe at public education (I though liberals were the elitists?) - it sure makes your argument more reasonable.

Again, ignorance must be bliss, eh?

NDinformer thanks for your opinion of the facts, but your opinion is incorrect. Many people who support bush deal in opinion and not facts. These people use ideology instead of history to form judgements and that leads them into wars that should never have been fought. Wink,wink. Peace

"they seem to have a belief that there is no such thing as someone who does evil."

Now Mark how can you say this with a straight face when at least 342 times a day you accuse of liberals as being motivated by a hatred for the evil Bush does?

signed,

Just Wondering

Ash,

Good point...but I'll have to leave it to you to explain why Saddam isn't evil, but President Bush is...that is ultimately the leftwing position.

maf,

Academic credentials haven't impressed me much since I came across a Master's Degree candidate who couldn't comprehend a Wall Street Journal editorial...I think, point blank, that the author of that piece is just making it up as he goes along. I've studied a bit of history in my time, and never have I come across any evidence to support his assertions.