"I bring this up because I believe that on the left, especially, there is a lack of understanding about all this - there seems to be a belief that it would be ok for the relgious right to be destroyed; that somehow the parts of America they like would survive the downfall of those areas of America they dislike."

Mark, you have said that you want to destroy liberalism. Hard to take you seriously.

I bring this up because I believe that on the left, especially, there is a lack of understanding about all this - there seems to be a belief that it would be ok for the relgious right to be destroyed; that somehow the parts of America they like would survive the downfall of those areas of America they dislike. We're all in this together - left, center and right

These are some of the truest words I have seen you speak. America is deeply divided right now, more than ever since the civil war, mostly do to the actions taken by the Bush administration and their "You are either with us or you are against us" policy. This causes many on the right to assume that if you are not with Bush or his policies, then you are with the terrorists, which is a absurd agruement. So is the if you don't support the war, you support the terrorists arguement I have seen many of you make.

The world has many shades of grey, its not black or white.

Soon enough Bush will be out of office, one way or another and America can start to heal with a new president, hopefully one that recognizes how divided the country is and will work at mending the broken fences.

I just looked at this again. It's astonishing. Noonan, who has written many screeds against liberalism and liberals; who has called them his enemies; who has explained how the left has its roots with Stalin; who has called them "mentally handicapped" and inherently hateful; who has said his goal is to destroy liberalism, writes this:

"I bring this up because I believe that on the left, especially, there is a lack of understanding about all this - there seems to be a belief that it would be ok for the religious right to be destroyed; that somehow the parts of America they like would survive the downfall of those areas of America they dislike."

I remember in response to one of his attacks on liberals I wrote a lengthy post about how I respect conservatism, see the value and need in it. And yes, I myself am infact conservative in many ways.

Now Mark claims he wants unity too. But in claiming he wants unity, he attacks the left:

"I bring this up because I believe that on the left, especially, there is a lack of understanding about all this."

It's such a joke. Mark doesn't want unity. He just wants to attack, bring down the left. If that means saying the left is against unity, so be it. If that means totally contradicting what he has written in the past, so be it.

As I've said before, Mark acts on politics, not principle.

"the Islamo-fascists - seek to kill all of us simply for failing to be Islamo-fascist."

Isn't it sad that there are still people out there who actually believe this?

Shipley sees destroying the religion of liberalism with the destruction of Conservative Christians; impossible to take him seriously.

It's such a joke. Mark doesn't want unity. He just wants to attack, bring down the left. If that means saying the left is against unity, so be it. If that means totally contradicting what he has written in the past, so be it.

It's the common theme in every post he makes - "liberals believe this," and "they are wrong." He can't bring together a coherent argument; he needs to build a strawman "liberal" and ridicule it.

And it's not just Mark, most of the posters on this site make Democrats or liberals the center of each post, and define their argument in opposition to their purported stance. It makes for lazy and unintelligent arguments.

"We're all in this together - left, center and right, we all are entirely dependent upon each other ..."

For some reason I don't think you actually believe this. After all, this entire blog (at least your contributions; Matt is a little better) is devoted not to Bush, but to taking unwarranted potshots at liberals. Just the way it is, I guess.

On a semi-related topic, I wonder if War Boy and all the other anti-science folks out there caught this:

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, probably even longer.

The National Academy of Sciences, reaching that conclusion in a broad review of scientific work requested by Congress, reported Thursday that the "recent warmth is unprecedented for at least the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia."

A panel of top climate scientists told lawmakers that the Earth is running a fever and that "human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/22/global.warming.ap/index.html

My life is great, but have you asked the 24,000 people who die everyday of hunger and disease whether they are happy?

The fact that I was lucky enough to be born in the greatest nation to ever grace the planet Earth, doesn't make me any better or worse than the most run of the mill Iraqi, Afghani, or Mexican, my life is no more important because my passport is Blue, and because of this I will continue to whine, bitch, and scream until everyone, has everything they NEED!

"Every gun that is made, every warship that is launched, every rocket that is fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those that are cold and not clothed." -President Dwight Eisenhower

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - Rev. M.L. King Jr.

There was a survey done last year on Republicans and Democrats and who is happier.

Overwhelmingly it came back Republicans are happier.

Based on the bitterness on this board 24/7 from our Donkey friends it does not surprise me.

I'm personally not a GOP member, but definitely conservative. I would kill myself with the doom/gloom mentality and everything is evil approach these people have. No thanks

'lest I let an enemy gain a foothold in that area I don't like and then use that foothold to destroy the whole thing.'

That's all democrats do.

""A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - Rev. M.L. King Jr."

King is one of my heroes. He is right on this.

Good thing this country doesn't spend more money on military defense than "programs of social uplift" or I would be worried.

Mark,

I would bet dollars to doughnuts that your the illegitamet love child of Jeremiah.

It's all falling into place now.

Good thing this country doesn't spend more money on military defense than "programs of social uplift" or I would be worried.

http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm

all right, "illegitimate". I was in a hurry to go to work. Even us commie pinko libs really do work and pay taxes and vote and all that good patriotic stuff.

My life has turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I've always been a "glass-half-full" kind of person, and I've never been one to sweat the things over which I have no control. I've always gone out of my way to help people who needed help, and I always figured the main reasons I spent 24 years in the Navy and Navy Reserve were to repay this great country for all the opportunities afforded to me and to defend the right of those who disagree with me to do so.

It pains me when I hear people say that this country, which I view as the greatest country on the planet, is a bigger threat to world peace than Iran and N. Korea. It pains me when I hear people say that the United States spreads nothing but death and misery around the globe. It pains me when I hear Americans say we should emulate the social and economic structures of countries of the EU and the health care system of Cuba. It comforts me that such people do not control the levers of power in this country, and are not likely to for the rest of my lifetime.

Retired Spook

"It comforts me that such people do not control the levers of power in this country, and are not likely to for the rest of my lifetime"

You should not try to shorten your life like that.

Deteled - Off Topic

Tom,

Oh, we all have at each other with gusto, now don't we? Don't try to pretend you haven't taken your shots from time to time....but there is a difference, I think.

The difference is that the left wants me gone, while I just want the left kept out of political power.

TEO,

Please break that down for us - 24,000 die per day of hunger and disease...which diseases, where do the die of hunger...is that out of the American population, or the world population? Multiply 24,000 by 365 and figure the annual total, and then figure the percentage of the world population doing that...

"Every day 24,000 people die from hunger and related causes according to United Nations figures"

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/blai.html

what is your point man, 8.76 million people die each year from the most preventable of deaths, and you want to argue about what percentage of the world population that is?

Are you trying to argue that somehow 24,000 people starving to death each day just isn't that big a deal? Way to show your true colors man.

"The difference is that the left wants me gone"

Yeah, that's it. Mark's a danger in his own mind.

"The difference is that the left wants me gone, while I just want the left kept out of political power."

The difference is I attack YOU and YOUR views. You attack "the left." I'm not against conservativism or conservatives. While you are against liberals and the left. You said that the left is your enemy and it is your mission to destroy it.

Now you come on here and accuse the left of not being for unity. How can you not see how much of a hypocrite you are? Seriously. You. Are. A. Joke.

Oh my gosh, you spiteful leftist liberal donkey clowns!! err, I mean warm, kind and soft hearted, loving, peaceful, accepting, all embracing, tolerant supreme human beings. Jeez, talk about heartless. You libs are something else. Mark wrote something so sincere, honest, true, and may I say it, brotherly (almost like extending the undeserving olive branch to you leftists in our family of a country), and you immediately jump to jeer at him and (expletive deleted). Well, I say (expletive deleted) you all Tom Shipley, winnowhead, maf53, axis, Third Eye Open, raker13! Sick and tired of all your (expletive deleted). I, unlike Mark, don't friggin care if you all died or destroyed.

See Mark, this is what you get from the left for such a sincere heartfelt post like this. Now you know how hopelessly hardened and hateful they are. You'll never warm them over with kindness. Miserable Golems all of them!

And you Canadian Observer, what the heck do you have anything to say in this post? You're not even in United States nor American. And with all your liberalness, anti-American, Bush-bashing, anti-war, Islamic terrorist appeasing stance, Franch wannabe's, how did you ever end up with your own home grown islamic terrorists wanting to blow you and Canada up??? So much good liberalism, anti-American, anti-war and anti-Bush did for ya!

Republican43VER,

You're sweet, I bet the kids in the neighborhood all love you, even the ones you don't have to entice with candy.

And you can even suck my big toe!

Republican43VER-another American Idiot to be ignored.

R43VER,

Thats is called "Podophilia". It's kinda icky to me, but whatever floats yer boat, and finds the lost remote.

"Mark wrote something so sincere, honest, true, and may I say it, brotherly (almost like extending the undeserving olive branch to you leftists in our family of a country), and you immediately jump to jeer at him and shit. Well, I say F*ck you all Tom Shipley, winnowhead, maf53, axis, Third Eye Open, raker13! Sick and tired of all your sh*t and vomit. I, unlike Mark, don't friggin care if you all died or destroyed."

Mark, are you REALLY going to let this stand? The language and sentiment are CERTAINLY not inagreement with decency and Republican standards. or is it?

You delete me for a South Park reference eveyone saw on network television as being vulgar, but this is ok?

Republican forever, indeed.

Turd eye,
"Thats is called 'Podophilia'"
You're in jail for having relations with your iPod?

Turd eye,
"Thats is called 'Podophilia'"
You're in jail for having relations with your iPod?

Bane,

No, it was a total misunderstanding regarding some dolphins in skimpy outfits, I was drunk, they said something about "mullet-diving" the next thing you know, BAM!, i'm in the slammer.

*Chuckles*

Do I like my life? Sure. I've got a good job where I get to respond to blogs part of my day. I also find out all sorts of neat stuff about how government projects work and how the space program is doing. I've recently been picked up to start writing a weekly column in my local newspaper and my writing career is slowly but surely picking up. I've got a house, my truck, three cats, and a dog. While I'm not on the most secure financial footing at the moment even that is improving.

I'm alive and well in the greatest country on the planet. Yeah, I'd say I'm happy with my life.

Will I defend this country and the lives of those in it from others? You bet. Do I try to improve the lives of those around me. Sure. Do I feel guilty for not helping everyone on the planet? Nope, and I see no point in doing so.

Our liberal friends are just that, friends. Folks who have hopes and desires of their own, and as long as they don't try to force their desires on me by attacking my freedoms I'm perfectly fine with that. I agree to disagree with them, and if any of them wanted to "remove" me from this world they're more than welcome to try.

Aww, congressive, are you upset and crying because I left you out? Or crying because you were deleted? Stomping your feet crying that the world is not fair are you? Well, you sensitive-with-fragile-and-battered-ego one, I found out, and soon as will Mark, that the world is NOT fair, AND there is NO appeasing OR pleasing you libs no matter what we conservatives do or say. You will hate us regardless. And when the hating and shoving gets too much, hating and shoving will be returned to you. But know this, while the left is hating and plotting how to hate even more Bush and us conservatives, Islomofascist terrorists will NOT descriminate to kill BOTH of us without hesitation.

"Me, personally, I like my life - it has its ups and downs, but mostly it is tremendously satisfying - and while I look forward to eventually being in any entirely better place, I wouldn't trade my life in the United States of America for life in any other place in the world. Ultimately, this makes the United States worth defending - but I can't just defend those part of America I particularly like; I have to defend the whole thing, lest I let an enemy gain a foothold in that area I don't like and then use that foothold to destroy the whole thing."

Mark,

Me too!

Well stated!!

I am really thankful to be here myself, and I can only thank God Almighty that He gave me the oppurtuninty to share in his GREAT wonderous works, as well as His GREATER works still ahead!

and as you are aware, one of the main reasons He gave you and I the oppurtunity to share in his creation is to be a witness for Him, we are a beacon of light to those who are lost, and for all christians as a whole we are a GREATER light still, A beacon to the WHOLE WORLD, to show the power of one who's light shines FOREVER!!

You know the sunday school song "got me lantern hide under a bushel NO", Well, the liberal left will do everthing in their power to stamp out our light that may shine through to them!

We as christian's were put here for this very purpose and that is to hold fast to our lantern and stand strong for those who cannot see!

I find so many here at B4B who are lost and don't know God as their personal savior!

I see the reprobate mind everywhere, take for instance, Opus there, he is such a pity and axis and all those who do not believe, but God had a saying about those who are in the state of the reprobate mind and that is "the fool hath said in his heart there is no God".

We shall pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us for His name sake!

Mark, have you noticed how when you mention about life and God the liberal's immediately attack with the slightest notion of God, Satan is attacking from every corner and doing everything in his power to cause a national collapse, the bible says satan is like a lion seeking whomever he may devour, and we are experiencing this right now in America, The liberal's with their liberal propaganda are trying their best to find a way to destroy christian's and their livelihood, The things that brought America together for decades and centuries and held them together for the cause of christ to be spared Gods Just Wrath, I thank God we had people like Abraham Lincoln,Ronald Reagan,George Washington,Thomas Jefferson, George Bush Sr. and One of the greatest of them all his son President George W. Bush, along with Noah Webster the man who said none of this great earth we live on would be possible without God Almighty!!

And the liberal's do not give them credit for ANYTHING, WHAT TRAITORS!! All they can give is LIES! OH! BUT WHAT FATE LIES LEAD!

It all goes back to Stalin and Lenin, The communist, Socialist regime, of hate for Jews and christian's, I'm sure Stalin and Lenin are reaping the shame of it right now and forevermore!

which is why at this critical point in time it has become a necessity for christian's to stand up and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH before liberal's have DISABLED US!! Before we are put under ANOTHER HITLER'S COMMUNIST LEADER'S and they are right here in America, make no mistake about it, Just read all the hate posts like Tom Shipley has spewed here and Opus the Godless Fool, and watch the News everday at how the liberal's show themselves at their finest criticizing the Greatest administration that was ever sworn in, it's an unfortunate necessity for the christian's to have to put up with all of this non-sense by the liberal mockery!

THE LIBERAL'S HATE GOD AND WHAT HE IS!!!

You see satan wants to do all he can to convince people that it's ok to kill unborn children, that it's ok to let terrorist's blow us up, that it's ok for the sodomite's to take over America!! on and on the list goes unfortunately.

But oh yes, the one who paid his ALL for you and I and the rest of the world to be able to have an escape from this old sea of sin, and to be able to stand here today to be a testimony for those who do not know him!!

Yes, I am thankful for my life!!Praise God!

I THANK GOD FOR THE LIGHTHOUSE THAT STANDS UPON A HILL, JESUS IS THE LIGHTHOUSE, I OWE MY LIFE TO HIM, AND IF IT WAS'NT FOR THE LIGTHOUSE, WHERE WOULD THIS SHIP BE?!!

Mark, your doing a great job buddy, keep at em!

let's show the world we care!!

Jeremiah

Mark,

I don't mind a political discussion, or screaming match, or whatever, but can we save the witnessing for the Jehovah's Witnesses, I get real tired of having to wade through Jerry's 3 page posts about why his God has a bigger (expletive deleted )than someone else's. Can't we start a collection plate to send him to Africa or something?

Jeremiah,

It is a bit like garlic on a vampire, isn't it?

I think what they miss is that I freely admit that I can be rude and inconsiderate in my writing - they hold that any bit of rudeness has forever damned me...well, you and I know that on this earth, there is no forever.

TEO,

They are on topic and in all respects meet the posting guidelines...so, you'll just have to keep wading.

TEO,

"hunger and related causes" isn't "starvation"...what I was hoping you'd do is look in to it, actually find out why it is happening...it isn't because of the United States of America is governed by President Bush, as you seem to imply.

I do know how bad it is out there - and only the United States can set things to rights...but each time we try, you on the left scream bloody murder about it. You are highly selective in your outrage.

I like my life. It's fun. I'm working through the summer (I deliver food, and, suprisingly, the money is pretty good), and waiting to go back to school.

Do I think that it could be better? Sure, everyone's life could be better (except maybe Bill Gates; he's set for life).

I do find this post slightly out of character, but I believe that this is a truer Mark than we usually see. I just think that he is not as avidly anti-leftist as he plays himself out to be. Sure, it's slightly dishonest and outrageous, but it fosters debate: we we are all supposedly here to do.

*Chuckles*

Georgia you doing Pizza Delivery or Grocery delivery? Or one of those Swans trucks or the like that delivers specialty food? All cool jobs BTW, but a bit tiring trying to find the bloody addresses. :)

Hang in their my friend!

I deliver for a grill in Sandy Springs (Locos: Grill and Pub). It's good food, you should give it a try.

Sandy Springs is recently incorporated north of atlanta. It's funny; the countyg government is so pissed at us for keeping our tax revenue that they are trying to sell our parks out from under us.

Heh, if I ever get myself up to Atlanta I give it a shot. :)

Mark,

Don't get me wrong, I don't imply that Bush has anything to do with corrupt African governments storing food and handing it out to be sold by cronies.

This nation does more for the hungry and sick of this world than anyone else COMBINED!!!

But the point I was trying to get at is that while we go around blowing things up, and outspending every other nation combined on military expeditures, we could be spending a fifth of that output on much more important things. I mean doesn't it strike you as odd that we still have starving kids in this country...the richest nation in history, and we still find a way to let kids survive on one meal a day, or the fact we have policies which make some familes choose between groceries and medicine. It is much more economically responsible to nip the small problems in the bud, before they get to the point where the only option is an expensive trip to the emergency room.

I don't wan't to make this out to be a problem of the right or the left, it's all our problem, we are paying for these sick people one way or the other, why not just make the whole system streamlined, instead of clinging onto this silly system of HMOs, which has double the overhead costs.

I got off topic here, I would like to see more of a worry about what kind of perception we are fostering in the developing world. I don't see Bush taking too much time to discuss the problems of hunger, and that is a symptom of our belief that we are putting our tithings in the plate, now it's not our responsibility anymore. My personal feeling is that God put us here to look out for the helpless, and the best way we can uplift a society is by taking an active role in their well being, instead of dropping bombs on them.

sorry for the last line, just a bit of snark from the angry leftists LOL

(To moderator: thanks for toning down my language. Stinky stuff hit the fan after reading Mark's impressively sincere post and thinking to myself that there can't be any leftists THAT heartless and stupid to immediately sneer and jeer at him for what he felt and wrote. But lo and behold, there they are the usual suspects predictably throwing their classic jeers at Mark. And I just lost the clamp on my tongue)

Third, I wouldn't mind spending 5% of military spending on "helping the needy" if the money actually helped the needy. But too often it is just sucked up by beurocracy or put into stupid pet programs like the "Tatoo Removal Service" up in Frisco. That's why I'm more for local solutions and responses. Which is yet another reason why I'm for lower taxes and governmental burdens on the people.

If the government takes less, there's more we can work with to help our fellow man.

TEO,

I doubt very much that outside of alchoholism and drug addiction that anyone in America goes hungry; nor is there an American who actually has to choose between groceries and medicine. If there are any such, then they have merely not bestirred themselves to ask for the vast amounts of aid - public and private - available for people in dire economic straights.

That aside, we don't just drop bombs on people for no purpose - the enemy is the one who watonly slaughters the innocent...when we drop a bomb, it has at its intent the destruction of armed enemy forces. In war, of course, there is no perfection - no more than in any other human endevour...so, we do kill the innocent from time to time; but there is a vast world of difference between the accidental killing of the innocent while trying to kill the guilty and the deliberate killing of the innocent by the guilty.

You should wrap your mind around this: absent the United States, the world would swiftly fall to totalitarian barbarism. We are the only human force allowing decency to survive - and it should also be noted that we are the last major nation on earth where a majority still subscribes to the Judeo-Christian ethic. This is no accident.

Republican,

We all get hot under the collar from time to time...

Republican4EVR,

If I thought this was a sincere olive branch from Mark, I would accept it.

But until he says that liberals are not his enemy, until he says it's not his mission in life to destroy liberalism, until he recants his statement that liberals are inherently hateful people and until he extends an olive branch that is not a thin veil for an attack on the left -- (I bring this up because I believe that on the left, especially, there is a lack of understanding about all this - there seems to be a belief that it would be ok for the religious right to be destroyed; that somehow the parts of America they like would survive the downfall of those areas of America they dislike."-- Well, I'm going to call him out as the hypocrite that he is.

Make no mistake, this post is no olive branch. Noonan just saw another angle in which he could attack liberals. The shamelessness about it is that he's built up a solid resume of doing EXACTLY what he's criticizing the left of doing. Again, it's a joke. I don't know if Mark's dumb or just dishonest.

Republican4EVR,

If I thought this was a sincere olive branch from Mark, I would accept it.

But until he says that liberals are not his enemy, until he says it's not his mission in life to destroy liberalism, until he recants his statement that liberals are inherently hateful people and until he extends an olive branch that is not a thin veil for an attack on the left -- (I bring this up because I believe that on the left, especially, there is a lack of understanding about all this - there seems to be a belief that it would be ok for the religious right to be destroyed; that somehow the parts of America they like would survive the downfall of those areas of America they dislike."-- Well, I'm going to call him out as the hypocrite that he is.

Make no mistake, this post is no olive branch. Noonan just saw another angle in which he could attack liberals. The shamelessness about it is that he's built up a solid resume of doing EXACTLY what he's criticizing the left of doing. Again, it's a joke. I don't know if Mark's dumb or just dishonest.

Mark,

You had to go and ruin a perfectly good comment, with some self-serving BS about why the US is the greatest nation on earth, because we are Christian. We have been over the facts regarding our founding fathers and their views regarding religion, we don't need to slide back into that snake-pit, I don't think i can wade through more witnessing from Jerry.

On a serious note, your guessing at what would or wouldn't happen if we never existed, is much more "It's a Wonderful Life", than anything regarding reality. So let's stick to facts. If there really weren't starving kids in the US, there wouldn't be charities dedicated exclusively to the prospect, don't be stupid man. And if you think there aren't families who have to decide between needs and medicine, then you're either extremely ignorant, or a liar.

http://www.feedthechildren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=org_US_programs

Read this little story about the types of people you doubt exist in today's america:

"In a survey of approximately 500 consecutive patients in 4 Boston-area Emergency Departments, 13% or twice the Massachusetts average were found to be food insecure. FI patients were more likely to put off paying for medication to have money for food (27% vs. 4%), to take medication less often because they could not afford more (32% vs. 4%), to report needing to make a choice between buying medication and food (27% vs. 2%), and to get sick because they couldn't afford to take medication (27% vs. 1%)."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=43527

TEO,

"Food insecure" - doesn't mean starving; and it doesn't tell us how many of them are drug addicts or alchoholics, or the children of same. As I said, "outside of alchoholism and drug addiction" - a very important distinction, because a drug addict is, by definition, entirely irresponsible about both himself and his children...we had here in Vegas, not too long ago, a horrific story of a poor baby that starved to death because of that sort of thing...but that isn't a reflection on America, but upon the direct moral failings of the parent; it is also, of course, a reflection upon the "anything goes" lifestyle promoted by the liberal/left with such abandon.

And I don't retreat from my statement - because we are, in the strong majority, subscribers to the Judeo-Christian morality, America remains strong and thus able to defend decency in the world...Europe is flabby, as I'm sure you'll note, and it is also the least religious area of the world...they believe in nothing higher than their pathetic, little selves for the most part...and it shows in their absolute cowardice in the face of threats.

We are what we are - and we can endlessly debate what the Founders were, but Americans have been, are and likely always will be in a large majority, Christian.

Mark,

so you're going to write off all poor people as either drug addicts, or alcoholics?

That is the most obtuse argument I have heard from you today.

There are tons of socially-functioning heroin addicts, or alcoholics. To try and attribute child-hood malnutrition to all their parents being drunks and druggies, is just a non-starting argument. c'mon you can do better than that Dr. Contrarian.

Hitler killed 11 million people, he was a Christian. I watch people's actions, not their words. Maybe that is why Europe has turned away from the faith.

Right, Hitler was a Christian and Washington wasn’t.

Hitler wrote the following in 1941, “Christianity is a rebellion against natural law, a protest against nature. Taken to its logical extreme, Christianity would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure.”

“The reason why the ancient world was so pure, light and serene was that it knew nothing of the two great scourges: the pox and Christianity.”
(Gee, he sounds just like teenaged pimple)

“Christianity is an invention of sick brains: one could imagine nothing more senseless, nor any more indecent way of turning the idea of the Godhead into a mockery.... .... When all is said, we have no reason to wish that the Italians and Spaniards should free themselves from the drug of Christianity. Let's be the only people who are immunised against the disease.”

“There is something very unhealthy about Christianity.”

“It would always be disagreeable for me to go down to posterity as a man who made concessions in this field. I realize that man, in his imperfection, can commit innumerable errors-- but to devote myself deliberately to errors, that is something I cannot do. I shall never come personally to terms with the Christian lie. Our epoch Uin the next 200 yearse will certainly see the end of the disease of Christianity.... My regret will have been that I couldn't... behold.”

I love it when Mark writes about some abstraction, like love or appreciation for life. The Left Loonies just rise to the bait like trout to a fly, so predictably.

OK,the thread is about how we feel about our lives. About how we view the quality of our lives. And the conservatives tend to be happy and love life and be optimistic, and the radicals tend to be sour, bitter, hostile, and just plain nasty.

Every time.

OK---I am a former miserable Lib, now a happy conservative. I stopped whining, blaming, and looking for the worse possible reason for everything in the world, and started seeing the greatness of our country, the fulfillment of faith, the rewards of kindness and generosity and consistency.

When we had a president I thought was a bad president, I didn't obsess about it. I didn't generate and then wallow in hatred, in spite and malice. I said, repeatedly, that this is a great and strong country, one which has had worse presidents than Clinton, and which has always survived them and would survive him.

When the relatively unknown Bush came out of nowhere, I thought he was a lightweight. So I studied him, very carefully. I read the attacks, the defenses, and the simple accounts of who he was and what he had done. And I saw the single thread running through the attacks---the thread of blind, overpowering, loathing---and in the other accounts found a good man, one who had sought to find a path for himself and in so doing had made mistakes, acknowledged those mistakes, learned from them, and built upon them to become a better man. I found a man who was not perfect, but who strove to be the best he could, and one of great personal strength and dignity.

I knew I could be happy to have this man as my president because I did not hope, or expect, him to be perfect, or to always act in agreement with what I might like. I didn't ask that, didn't expect that. It was enough to know that when he did make mistakes, as I fully expected he would, they would be honest mistakes, and not foolish immature acts based on satisfying carnal needs or a constant need for validation.

Yes, I do have a good life. I work very very hard, I have a lot of disappointments in my life, I have had some real tragedy, and I think life is good. I have been tested in many ways, some of them ways I thought might break me, and I feel stronger and more confident than ever.

Having said that, I admit there is evil in life, there is simple malignancy which we may never be able to understand or define. I look at the above post from the Third Eye, justifying a hatred of Christianity based on the acts of one madman, whom he incorrectly identifies as a Christian so he can make this kind of sweeping statement in the first place, and wonder what it would be like to have to occupy such a dark and hateful place. (In fact, Hilter's writings about Christianity and religion in general sound very much like The Eye.)

But in spite of the number of negativists, this country is full of good honest decent people who are doing the best they can, every day, and I am deeply grateful for them.

And thank you, Mark, for a post which opens up this topic.

Almiranta,

I find happiness in many things. My life is a wonderful gift that I try not to take for granted everyday. I find the joys in life to be simple in nature, I reject the ornate, for a beuty that I see in friends and family.

My disdain for the current nature of politics reaches beyond simple, left-right polarizations, I find that the good nature in an overwhelming amount of the American people, is eclipsed by the self-serving tendencies of those with power. I find contempt for the weilders of power who preach national unity, but brandish apathy in their actions. For all the raucus banter the anonimity of a blog allows, I have rarely met a conservative, who face to face, will not lay down their arms for a moment of secluded reverence between a fellow citizen and themselves. I know most you folks are simply trying to make the world better, in the best way you see fit; but where we differ, is the actions taken to meet those ends.

I was taught to love my neighbor, as I love myself...and at the risk of sounding self-centered, I love myself very much. I was taught that when you hurt someone, you apologize, you don't seek vengeful retribution, because you never know what actions may follow that seeded contempt. I was taught to bear the slings and arrows of life, because the fiery hate of today, leads only to the smoldering embers of depression later; to advocate rising above the fray, to find a higher path, which lets those whom hate you destroy themselves.

The action of being genuinely concerned for the lot of another shows real compassion, but to force the change only breeds a contempt from those you have endevoured to help. This is the crux of the problem I see with our government's actions of late. We have allowed our ego to get in the way of truly helping the oppressed of the world. If you look into our own independance, we were given many gifts, but in the end, it was a DIY attitude that let to our freedoms from tyranny. As a result we saw the destructive power of civil war, and we overcame, not because of an occupying force who held our hand, and guided us through the darkness of turmoil, but because we looked inside to find the light of perseverance, and the courage to hold fast to the fruits of our labor. This is where I see the mistake of our actions in Iraq. We have taken from them, the one thing that seperates the free from the slave, the ideal of self-determination, IMO we have let the Iraqis flounder in their own country, while we attempt to clean the slate for them; we have become the easy hand to bite, which has bred contempt and distrust. At some point we have to realize that they must suffer the slings and arrows of a fledgling state, and that our attempt to show the benevolent power of good, can only go so far. I hope this weekend brings a true turning point in the fate of the common Iraqi man and woman, I hope they unify to tell not only us, but the insurgents, that enough is enough, time has come to clean up our mess, and write their history books with self-determined pride in the fruits that will bear, by their own hands...let us give them that which is the best gift one person can give to a neighbor, their pride.

This doesn't encompass my whole feeling about the intricacies of the current ME situation, but I think if we can foster that pride in the work ahead of the Iraqis, we can really be the beacon of hope that the world used to look towards us to be, and perhaps foster the courage for the rest of the regions forgotten and deprived to strive for the breath of freedom, in their own way, and cast off the bonds which bind their spirits.

At the end of the day, I believe we aren't on the edge of a long war, not a military one atleast, but the edge of a paradigmn shift in thinking, call it a renaissance, call it an epiphany, but neither of those outcomes will be bred by the edge of a sword. Turning the other cheek is a hard act to pull off, but it shows that our true perseverance spawns not a long war, but a long peace.