The Hall of Fire

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I just voted and I'm quite ecstatic. This is the first time I voted in a presidential election (I voted in '06)! yayyyyy

Seriously sometimes I think we forget how amazing it is to live in a truly democratic country.
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And her answers on Isreal were the only ones that we should be giving right now. If we do not support Isreal's right to defend itself, by whatever means necessary, then we are not being their ally. Yes but that's not what she said hal. She said that the US shouldn't second guess any measure that Is...

Personally after watching Palin's interview I was really worried about this phrase: GIBSON: What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities? PALIN: Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second guess the measures that ...

Well I definitely understood that phrase very differently from you hal. I absolutely do not see what democrats and others (I don't consider myself a democrat for one though I agree with many of their views) have argued for these past several years as simply a political tool to demonize Bush. I have ...

Now I just listened to Palin's speech. I won't hide the fact that I'm definitely not a McCain fan and that most of my beliefs, especially when it comes to economic and foreign policies, definitely fall to the left (pretty far left actually) :) That said I usually pride myself in being able to, if no...

This is another bit of spin that's going around. McCain can't possibly have wanted someone with this much "chaos" swirling around her. So if we concede the fact that any of this is a problem for her candidacy, McCain should have found out about it, and dismissed her because of that. Grant...

I must say this set up has worked wonderfully. I can't imagine myself posting something about the first chapter in a thread where everyone else was discussing chapter 5!

Yes I'm really late to this thread but I'll give it a shot anyways :) Personally I would have found it almost impossible to believe that Bilbo had gotten married if I had read the Hobbit before first reading LOTR. For me its because quite honestly I can't see him finding anyone among the hobbit folk...

What a great post Phibbus! It is an extremely interesting read for me especially because I know so woefully little about pretty much everything to do with Tolkien's work (I've only lotr, sil, hobbit and ut tens of times-nothing else really).

No but the fact of the matter is that he has some experience and knowledge of international affairs. First of all his education shows it. Obama majored in Political Science as an undergrad with an international relations focus in Columbia, a JD (magna cum laude) from Harvard and taught law for sever...

This whole "step in and becomepresident" on day one, and "heartbeat away from the presidency" are both so condescending it's hard for me to believe. Yes, Governor Palin is not 100% up to speed on national election issues... because... she's been running her state... not running ...

The only real question is how long the roll-call will be allowed to continue before Clinton herself (in all liklihood) stops it and calls for Obama to be nominated by acclimation. This is no different than what has been discussed for past few days. Nothing is going to satisfy some of the Clinton su...

hmm but the question remains: why should we be afraid of them any more than anyone else striving for reform in the US? What do they really mean by destroying the western civilisation and do all the groups that you've listed agree with them on this mission (the note said organizations that were 'frie...

But, Superwizard, how are decent, moderate Muslims going to avoid being steamrolled by Wahabi expansion, with its immense Saudi funding; and get out from under 'spokesmen' and 'advocacy groups' who are merely fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood? I agree that there are many difficulties facing Muslims...

dp

Thanks Prim :) I have certainly had the experience of having to explain to supposedly educated people that not all Christians are right-wing fundamentalists (and often feeling fairly sure that I made no impression whatsoever on their "highly educated" certainties about my lifelong religion...

Superwizard -- I'm always grateful when you step in! :) So am I. It's always a good thing to hear from the horse's mouth, so to speak. I don't equate acts such as the Oklahoma bombing or the bombings of abortion clinics with oppressive laws, though. The acts of individuals or even groups are not th...

Oh it really drives me up the wall when words are misused especially when it comes to religious terminology. First of all the law of the land in Bangladesh is not 'shariah' but rather some strange mixture of English common law and (usually in the case of family law) some perceived opinions on Islami...

Wow

And the findings being published in Science and Nature? It must be a significant discovery indeed.

hmm well I'm definitely no economist nor am I even close to being very knowledgeable in the field but just thinking about it practically I'd have to say that it does make a difference. I mean if you think about it 1000% inflation means things are doubling in price maybe (very roughly) once a month b...