Fortunes told on the Friday OPEN thread
“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
Looking for something to do this holiday weekend? See our picks for some fun local events.
“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
View our commenting policy and standards | Commenting FAQ | Report a problem
65 COMMENTS
Name is required
A valid email is required (test@test.com)
Comment is required
Your email address will not be published.
All fields are required to comment.
I was an early adopter of on line “everything” but with the exception of Amazon and a few others, most of it is done so poorly these days that now I just pick up the phone and try to get a human on the line. Anyone else feel this way?
Here we go again…
Proposed Amendment Would Protect Prayer in Schools, Government Buildings
“State Sen. Bill Stanley (R-Glade Hill) has proposed an amendment to the Virginia Constitution to clarify that the right to worship includes prayer in public settings, including government property and public schools.”
http://www.thefranklinnewspost.com/index.cfm
#1 No.
Hostage drama and the robbers get away. How do you walk past a SWAT team?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CLOTHING_STORE_ROBBERY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-11-09-37-23
Old Blue, I agree for the most part (as I sit here typing away on my IPad!). We do 75% of our non-foodstuffs related shopping on line, and I bet a healthy portion of the remaining 25% is impulse buying. Frankly, I am easily overwhelmed by the endlessness of technology. YouTube, Tweet, Text, IM, BM, IOU, #%$@, it all confounds me. A few years ago, just when I had “mastered” email, my 20-something son looks at me and says with disdain, “NOBODY uses email anymore.” Damn! And there is a significant part of me that wants to go back to the days of three TV channels! I am resigned (maybe even thankful) to the fact I won’t ever fully catch up to technology.
“Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and given him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the “new wonderful good society” which shall now be Rome’s, interpreted to mean “more money, more ease, more security, and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.”
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
And, Hillary, it sounds like the state Repubs are hoping to make it harder to vote (although I WILL give McDonnell props for proposing automatic voting rights restoration) and/or at least not making it easier, such as through early voting or simpler absentee voting. We’ll see.
Hillary, this just seems as if it will never end with these repubs and their forced prayer.
With the exception of Amazon, which I order from frequently, I rarely buy anything on line.
That’s depressing Hillary. The good news is that part his bill introduction likely has to do with saving face, because Pittsylvania County HAS lost its case. (For a fact.) It’s just a matter time now before the Fourth Circuit Court issues formal paperwork to that effect.
When I look at Bill Stanley, I see the definition of “Pharisee” that Jesus warned us about. He doesn’t know shite about the scriptures he is so ardently defending. I talked with him face to face and he couldn’t answer any of my questions.
And don’t you dare go on Stanley’s property, Dave Gresham — he stick his Glock in your face.
Well, Dan, I see that you’re just giving free publicity to more of this non-Christian stuff. You must be part of a nefarious RT plot.
Rob, you might also want to remember who it was that opposed Caesar and who it was that loved him. “The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar’s death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic. The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was immensely popular and had been since before Gaul, became enraged that a small group of aristocrats had killed their champion.” IOW, they slit their own throats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar
I am a fan of Caesar. I was married on the Ides of March.
I agree with that assessment Dave Gresham, I think Stanley is like far too many Christians, he cannot see the repression in his own battle to repress.
I was married on the Ides of March.
Comment by Sandi Saunders — January 11, 2013 @ 12:21 pm
GAH! WERE YOU NOT WARNED TO BEWARE THEM?!?
Allowing the speaking of a prayer = repression????
Why are you so frightened of someone’s right to free speech? Are you afraid someone is going to say something you don’t like? Is that so terrible?
What is so repressive about someone speaking a prayer in public? Do you want to use the power of the police state to stop someone from praying?
That’s why you people scare me. You are so focused on silencing people.
Sandi,
You do realize that Caesar’s goal was to make himself a tyrant, ruling by whim? A despot in other words. He didn’t really care about the lower and middle classes, he simply used them to further his own political aims.
hey Old Blue,
I’m with you. My HSA account is handled by a company in Richmond, and I call them maybe 1 or 2 times per year…and the persons who answer their phone is always able to take care of my business. I have yet to be transferred to another worker, or have to deal with them on-line. What a pleasure.
Old Blue, we re cently started shifting more and more to Amazon, and other online transactions through places like Lowes, Walmart, Staples, and Best Buy…for items that I can pick up, or have delivered for free. SO many times I’ve found something cheaper on Amazon than for what I paid in the store…and I finally had enough. Movies, music, books, technology items…we comparison shop online first to see if it’s cheaper in store or online. If cheaper online, that’s where we get it. If cheaper in store, then we place the pick & pull/site-to-store order and I grab it on my way home…so we’re not wasting gas.
There’s nothing more frustrating than overpaying at a physical store, and burning gas and time on top of it all. We’ve even managed to find some grocery items through Amazon for a lower price than in the store…which was amazing to me, but those are just yet more items we’re buying there.
And Amazon Prime is totally worth it. Saved us $100 on a color laser printer, and free 2-day shipping on it as well. Paid for itself in one purchase.
Here we go again…
Proposed Amendment Would Protect Prayer in Schools, Government Buildings
“State Sen. Bill Stanley (R-Glade Hill) has proposed an amendment to the Virginia Constitution to clarify that the right to worship includes prayer in public settings, including government property and public schools.”
http://www.thefranklinnewspost.com/index.cfm
Comment by Hillary — January 11, 2013 @ 10:39 am
In my view, the threads from yesterday regarding vandalism and belief in god provided clear and convincing evidence that separation of church and state is essential. When the state refrains from endorsing a particular denomination, then everyone is free to practice the faith in which they believe. Tolerance of disparate views was not a hallmark of yesterday’s discussions.
It’s funny how atheist messages in the public view should be protected, but the Ten Commandments in the public schools should not. I really don’t see the difference.
That’s why you people scare me. You are so focused on silencing people.
Comment by Henry — January 11, 2013 @ 1:08 pm
Henry if you believe in prayer, are you afraid it will not be heard if you pray privately – do you have to pray out loud in the public forum? Do you think prayer must be done on public property, in schools, at public meetings? Why do Christians call their faith a “private matter” and then foist it on everyone else?
Ever heard of this?
Matthew 6:1-34 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven”
How disingenuous of “Christians” who use the teaching of Christ so selectively – it isn’t a smorgasbord where you get to pick and choose between the offerings…
20.It’s funny how atheist messages in the public view should be protected, but the Ten Commandments in the public schools should not. I really don’t see the difference.
Comment by Suzie — January 11, 2013 @ 2:28 pm
Funny that. I didn’t see any stories in the news about the ten commandments being vandalized or defaced.
Seriously Rob, I do not even believe that it was Hitler’s goal to “make himself a tyrant”! That is ludicrous. I certainly do not believe that was Caesar’s goal. Someone like Marc Antony would not have served or eulogized a tyrant as he did. Certainly, like any leader who believes he is right and should be dictator for life, he was arrogant, confident and hard headed, but people followed him without being slaves and that matters. It was the conservative imperial consul who wanted him to share the power, for the sake of their power not the good of the people, who were the problem and they found that out when they killed him. Shakespeare would not so serve a tyrant IMO. You cannot prove your point and neither can I but you’ll not convince me Caesar was a tyrant. Could he have become one? Sure. He did not get the chance.
Hum?
I thought Suzie was all about private property and private owners should be free to….
Now she/he wants to equate the rules for public and private property? Do away with the distinction, altogether?
That must have been some conversion after seeing how wrong he/she had been in the past.
FWIIW, I think she/he is wrong now in claiming that there is no difference in a school setting and a private owned billboard.
Suzie, are we supposed to be surprised that you do not know the difference between “public view” and “public schools”? We’re not.
Henry, I bet there is an Ayatollah or ten who would totally agree with you. When you next want to type such a preposterous accusation, tell us, if the prayer was always going to be from an Imam offering up the prayers of Islam you would be just as supportive. And remember we have read your posts for some time now.
If the goal was not repression, all of these folks would be fighting for the respectful moment of silence that would encompass ALL, harm none and accomplish the same thing. The goal is to repress those who support the separation of church and state.
Sandi,
We’ll have to agree to disagree. I am an admirer of Caesar, he was certainly a brilliant man. However, like all of us, he had failings. I believe his was the quest for ultimate power.
Are you seriously saying it is ludicrous to believe Hitler wanted to be a tyrant? Seriously?
As for Mark Antony, he recognized the tenuous nature of his position in the post-Caesar era. In a master stroke, he enraged the crowd at Caesar’s funeral to save his own skin.
The key part of my original quote is interpreted to mean “more money, more ease, more security, and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.”
It’s my belief that tyrants, despots, dictators, etc. can be of any political stripe.
But again, we must agree to disagree.
Using Dan’s “logic” from another thread about outlawing machine guns therefore the reduction of mass shootings during bank robberies by machine guns….
One might suppose that since prayer in school has been outlawed, more mass shootings have occurred.
Hillary, re: 3:52
It is interesting that most liberals use Bible verses in the “smorgasbord manner you suggest; most often with no understanding of their true meaning. The thrust of your quote is “in order to be seen” thereby suggesting a “public” expression of something that is not truly believed.
Our family gives thanks before meals, be it in our house or in a restaurant. We do not do this “in order to be seen”.
wayne goodman, I think a short search will find many examples where the commandments have been vandalized.
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Politics/TenCommandments.htm
http://www.gastongazette.com/police-investigate-vandalism-attempted-arson-at-church-1.48794
http://chalcedon.edu/research/articles/shooting-down-the-eagles-another-battle-over-ten-commandments-monuments/
“Using Dan’s “logic” from another thread about outlawing machine guns therefore the reduction of mass shootings during bank robberies by machine guns….
One might suppose that since prayer in school has been outlawed, more mass shootings have occurred. “
-Comment by mikeO
One might make mount such an argument but then one would sound like an imbecile, wouldn’t one?
I mean, just for starters it’s flatly untrue that prayer is outlawed in schools. People pray in schools all the time. Where do you people come up with this garbage?
The suicide by ignorance of the Republican Party continues unabated.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/01/11/phil-gingrey-says-todd-akin-partially-right-about-rape/
Yes wayne just when you think they couldn’t say anything more stupid, another one comes along.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gaffney-hagel-just-like-iranian-agent
And then there’s this one.
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130110/chicago/joe-walsh-suggests-breaking-law-fight-obamacare-chicago
Suzie, are we supposed to be surprised that you do not know the difference between “public view” and “public schools”? We’re not.
Good point. The atheist billboard being in view of the full public is far more egregious than something in the schools.
Funny that. I didn’t see any stories in the news about the ten commandments being vandalized or defaced.
Being ripped down is a lot worse than being defaced.
Now she/he wants to equate the rules for public and private property? Do away with the distinction, altogether?
It might be private property, but it’s the public view. Just like you wouldn’t be allowed to water your lawn naked.
32.And then there’s this one.
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130110/chicago/joe-walsh-suggests-breaking-law-fight-obamacare-chicago
Comment by Ron May — January 11, 2013 @ 7:09 pm
Yes Ron. Thank goodness he’s now an EX congressman. Maybe now he can go find a job that allows him to pay his child support since he complained that his Congressional pay wasn’t enough to do that.
Comment by mike o — January 11, 2013 @ 6:25 pm
“Our family gives thanks before meals, be it in our house or in a restaurant. We do not do this “in order to be seen”.
And when was the last time someone stopped you from praying at a restaurant? How would you like to be in a restaurant that would mandate prayer.. like an Indian restaurant that asks you to chant while sitting in a yoga position?
If you have a problem with the citation take your complaint to Matthew…or those who transcribed the bible…
Rob, I never said Caesar or anyone else didn’t have failings. He also had great accomplishments and personally, then or now, anyone who helps the poor, working class and middle class gain is a hero to me regardless of their “motives”.
No, I do not believe Hitler wanted to be a tyrant, I think he wanted to be a great leader who built the perfect nation he was too ruthless to realize the methods were heinous and his plan would never be viewed as anything but evil. Why do you think he “wanted” to be a tyrant?
Lastly and yes, we will always disagree here, this nation is not about “more money, more ease, more security, and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.” That is a false right wing meme and it is beneath an intelligent person or discussion.
beneath an intelligent person or discussion
A shame we can’t have a respectful conversation.
This revolt is just beginning. I hear there are some local parents who may be organizing a group to pull their kids out of the SOL program.
http://news.yahoo.com/standardized-test-backlash-seattle-teachers-just-no-230447459.html
Wow this should catch ppls eyes now Sandi is defending Adolph Hitler. I can see now how she defends Obama
Now THAT was a high school basketball game. No. 9 in the state (AAA) Patrick Henry takes down No. 2 in the state G.W. of Danville 87-85 in overtime.
So now we have suzie saying she doesn’t want the company that owns the billboard to put up anything that might offend her, even if it’s something that’s not against the law. Nice.
Susie, Yhr Ten Commandments are useless to us today and most people know it. You just want to cram these archaic attempts at law down our throats. And who better to explain why… watch and learn.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=x9weXGtCk7c&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dx9weXGtCk7c
“One might suppose that since prayer in school has been outlawed, more mass shootings have occurred.“
-Comment by mikeO
—-
I would suppose there was a lot of praying going on at Sandy Hook and look what it got them. What? Was it too little, too late?
“You either have a God who sends child rapists to rape children or you have a God who simply watches it and says, ‘When you’re done, I’m going to punish you.’ If I could stop a person from raping a child, I would. That’s the difference between me and your God.” –Tracie Harris
Ah, the trusty OPEN thread… where insomniacs can drop completely random stuff like this:
He-Man has a wonderful singing voice – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujfzd-eY7c4
Bacon pancakes, anyone? – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en_sVVjWFKk – earworm alert! – you were warned
Rob, why would you think we could have a “respectful conversation” based on a totally disrespectful premise? You may not see the insult, in your quoting and even emphasizing you think the problem is “more money, more ease, more security, and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.” That does not mean that it isn’t totally disrespectful.
Herb, if you do not understand something, you should probably save some face and not embarrass yourself by sharing your misinterpretation. Or maybe I should yell “slander”, “libel” and whatever the hell else you whine about when people return your fire.
Susie, Yhr Ten Commandments are useless to us today and most people know it. You just want to cram these archaic attempts at law down our throats. And who better to explain why… watch and learn.
Yeah, Christopher Hitchens–another stoned alcoholic atheist like George Carlin. Definitely somebody we should look to for life advice.
I don’t think I’d want to trade places with him right now.
“…he was too ruthless to realize the methods were heinous and his plan would never be viewed as anything but evil.”
Herb, you call that defending? You should be “defended” like that.
gdad, I must have missed it when PH lost one this year. Who beat them?
Wayne Goodman, we shouldn’t be surprised Joe Walsh encourages breaking the law when our own Attorney General, the top law enforcement office in Virginia, Ken Cucinelli says employers should break the law too.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/11/va-attorney-general-to-employers-choose-jail-over-reproductive-health-coverage/
…Deace concludes the interview by asking for Cuccinelli’s take on the “Hobby Lobby religious conscience case with Obamacare.”
“I gotta give them credit for courage. Abraham Lincoln has many good quotes, but one of them is the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it vigorously. And here we’re gonna’ have an example of what tyranny means when it’s played to its logical conclusion.”
Tyranny? Requiring an insurance plan to meet all reproductive health needs of an employer’s female employees? The way they talk, you’d think President Obama was forcing an abortion on Hobby Lobby CEO David Green. Last I checked, no one is asking Mr. Green to stop believing that women should have no say in what happens to their own bodies. But because we live in a country where health insurance is inexorably tied to employment, employees have the right to the full spectrum of health coverage, no matter what the patriarchal religious views of their employer happens to be, and no matter how vehemently that employer wants to force his (and very rarely her) religious views on workers…..
dobbs, they lost to Princeton, W.Va. Haven’t heard much about the game, but I do know that after playing even for three quarters, Princeton suddenly was awarded 23 trips to the foul line in the 4th quarter.
J.m. White,
I think your He-Man’s voice probably resulted from overuse of steroids.
Susie, you are picking on the man personally rather than listening to the facts. Then you go on to assert that he is in hell. Laughable.
Susie, you are picking on the man personally rather than listening to the facts
I didn’t hear any facts. This was supposed to be a non-serious comic routine, I suppose.
I am convinced that if there is a “hell”, it exists on earth in the lives
an d closed convoluted minds of those who believe that everything revolves around them and that only their opinions and beliefs have value.
People like this exist in their own private hell, convinced that anyone who holds a different opinion is engaged in a giant conspiracy to ruin their lives, take away their “things” and take over the world. They are
overwhelmed by paranoia, jealousy, and hate and feel threatened by anything which they see as “different”. The concepts of love and compassion, if they exist at all for these people, are usually blotted
out by the feelings of inadequacy generated by that private hell.
I am convinced that if there is a “hell”, it exists on earth in the lives
an d closed convoluted minds of those who believe that everything revolves around them and that only their opinions and beliefs have value.
People like this exist in their own private hell, convinced that anyone who holds a different opinion is engaged in a giant conspiracy to ruin their lives, take away their “things” and take over the world. They are
overwhelmed by paranoia, jealousy, and hate and feel threatened by anything which they see as “different”. The concepts of love and compassion, if they exist at all for these people, are usually blotted
out by the feelings of inadequacy generated by that private hell.
The guy who writes these hateful words at 1:30 am knows from what he speaks.
More Temporal Bigotry by Suzie.
I’d say wayne penned a pretty damned good description of the way you post, suzie.
The guy who writes these hateful words at 1:30 am knows from what he speaks.
Comment by Suzie — January 13, 2013 @ 7:28 am
I do recognize it when I see it, Suzie. And in some blogger’s posts I see it quite often.
hey wayne,
heaven or hell? Hmmm.
i figure i’ll know whether i made it to one or the other if i find the place full of libs. then, i’ll know what’s expected of me.
Re: wayne goodman @ 1:36 am
Well done sir!
Comment by Suzie — January 13, 2013 @ 7:28 am
The term Pharisee comes to mind.