Even if they're not atheists, I wish more people took this view. I don't blame religion or any one deity for the suffering that is inflicted on people in its name. I blame the functionally retarded dipshits who say "God/Allah/Yahweh/Vishnu/Buddha/my toaster oven told me to kill those kindergartners with a pipe bomb." No they didn't, stupid. YOU told yourself to kill those kindergartners with a pipe bomb and even if you weren't religious and didn't give two shits about the afterlife, you would have done it anyway. This leads directly into morons who blame video games and violent movies on school shootings. Look, your little precious snowflake was going to kill those kids even if he watched 24 hours of Looney Toons non-stop. He's fucked up. That's your fault as a parent. Not the TV's fault, not Grand Theft Auto's fault, not Martin Scorcese's fault. Too many people want to pass the buck as it were, and shirk responsibility for the bad things they do. They'll blame anyone, even if they're not on Earth, just to avoid being punished.

Sarah Palin has an epiphany of sorts and says what all sentient people have been thinking: "The hits that I take from the media, if I can't handle that now, you know, I shouldn't be seeking office." I'm glad you see it too, Sarah.

BTW, African-Americans have overwhelmingly voted Democratic since 1964. Recently-speaking, Clinton/Gore/Kerry all got over 90% of the black vote. So this bullshit that the only reason Obama is leading is because he's black is just that; bullshit. If he was white, he'd still get 90% or more of the black vote. His race has nothing to do with why he's currently projected to win. His race has a lot to do with why MORE African-Americans are registering to vote, but it's not going to take him from 20% to 90%. More like from 90% to 97%. Which is hardly a massive increase. Christ Almightly, if you're going to insinuate he has no business being where he is, could you pick a less staggeringly obvious dumbass reason like his skin color?

Yes. I checked with about 10 other people also watching it just to make sure I wasn't momentarily experiencing an acid trip. All Gergen did was finally vocalize the undercurrent in the GOP base right now. Obama's not like "us". Sarah Palin and John McCain have both been utilizing this rhetoric in their stump speeches. He's not like "you" are, he doesn't see America the way "we" do. What do you think they're really saying? A journalist compared Sarah Palin's recent rally in Florida to the Two Minutes Hate from 1984. Racial epithets were hurled at a black cameraman, someone shouted "kill him" when Palin was talking about Obama (and the Secret Service is in the midst of having a chat with that guy).....this undercurrent is starting to coalesce.

David Gergen just said the following: "Obama can't win, he's black." This was a direct quote.

This is something that not only I noticed, but that the Obama campaign noticed and has commented on as well. Not to mention the 400 people I was watching the debate with, and the fact that all the talking heads on TV picked it up as well. How about the fact McCain wouldn't shake his hand at the end? You think that's trivial? You may not think Obama is sharp on policy which is fine. But this staggering bitchiness McCain exudes during the debates is disrespectful and GASP! people are noticing it. It's what cost McCain the first debate by far, and might cost him this one too. Part of evaluating someone's performance is not just what they say, but how they look when they say it. Shit like this matters to me, and it apparently matters to a lot of other people too. If you don't like what I have to say, put me on ignore and be done with it. I don't take every single post you say and act combative with you. So don't do it to me.

McCain called Obama "That One". That one. He called his opponent and fellow US Senator "that one". Stay classy, Gramps.

I agree. Barack flubbed a question on foreign policy I thought he should have nailed, but overall......he again came off more confident, knowledgeable and stable than McCain. And again I am flummoxed by how McCain seemingly couldn't make eye contact with Obama. He did a few times, obviously under the threat of bodily harm if he didn't because he got raked across the coals last time for it. At the end, it took him forever to shake his hand. It's not racial or bigoted or discriminatory; I think he just generally has contempt for Obama and loathes having to share a stage with him.

I think Obama won. McCain looked old, sick and wobbly and had continued difficulty making eye contact with him. At the end, he shoved Cindy at Barack to be a buffer to avoid shaking his hand. Then, while Obama and Michelle were talking to the audience and pressing the flesh, Cindy and Gramps ran off stage. Nice. At this point, McCain needs a miracle to win, which includes but is not limited to the following things: A terrorist attack on US soil again, Obama caught with a live boy/dead girl, or a lone gunman to take Obama out. Barack's campaign is too smart to allow his sizeable lead to vanish in the wind, so no matter how many EV he's projected to win, they're going to keep playing this like he's sitting at 269 and needs one more. This debate, much like the first, was supposed to be McCain's strongsuit and in both debates, he came off old, grumpy and off-balance. That doesn't strike voters as confident especially when you consider he has a mental patient for a running mate.

Johnny f'ing Depp FTW.

I Can't Tell You Why - Eagles

I have another pet peeve (can you tell I'm ticked today?): The bigots I live with. This is the second time now that I had some moron tell me I shouldn't vote for a "Muslim n----r". Maybe they saw the latest polling that shows North Carolina projected blue, I don't know. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!

I don't necessarily think I'd go that far. I think some religions can have cult-like factions. For example, the FLDS. That doesn't mean I think the Mormon church as a whole, is a cult. Anytime a religion forces you to live separate from other people, forces intermarriage, restricts your dress/speech/forms of entertainment (books, music, etc.,) and you're beholden to one person that calls themselves a prophet or says that they are the divine image of God.......that would be a cult. Very few traditional organized religions fit that mold.

Pet Peeves: Our mailman. I wish he'd make his deliveries regular, like the mailman we had back in Alpharetta. We always got our mail by 11am on the dot. Here, we're bound to get it anytime between 9am and 5pm. It's annoying.

If it's what the patient has requested and put into writing, it should be done at a hospital or clinic and only by a licensed medical practitioner. This way if something goes wrong, the person handling this decision is capable of assisting.

Request: Stop quoting his posts, please. I don't want to read them. Pet Peeve: Billy Mays. Shut the fuck up and get off my TV.

I don't know about Richard Dawkins, but Richard Dawson is pretty cool.

Joe Sixpack is just another way of saying "Joe Blow" or "Joe Q. Public." It's just representing your everyday person.

THIS. The site is run by Nate Silver, the same man who runs PECOTA for Baseball Prospectus. If you know baseball, you know what PECOTA is and you know how accurate it is. Look at all that blue! Why, even North Carolina is feeling a little blue today. Maybe there's some hope for this ridiculous state after all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...8100602935.html Here are some delightful tidbits from the Sarah Palin rally: Don't know if that was directed at Ayres or Obama, but either way.....tons of class coming from the Christian right, no?

I'd rather be a bleeding-heart than Christ-raped, that's for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3B882F1E6D1F1051 I know it's not the same, but you can watch it online. It should be on Autoplaying Mode, so it'll go from one part of the chapter to the next.

Oh yeah. Well in that case, I more than agree with you re: Palin being used as a tool. Nothing she says from this day to the end of the campaign will be of her own thinking. Everything will be scripted for her, no exceptions. She was initially a boon to the campaign, bringing in new voters and momentarily making it look like McCain could win. However once we started to find out what this woman was all about (and it's not much) and we started to hear her speak on her own in interviews......well that changed fast. She went from a safety net to an anvil around McCain's neck and he can't get rid of her. If this is the direction McCain wants to go in, he should heed Obama's words. "We don't throw the first punch.......but we'll throw the last."

I must agree. As to the first part, she's being told what to say, when to say it and where to say it. After that Katie Couric interview, she's not going off-book anymore. Even her burps and farts will be scripted by the McCain camp. So they are consciously taking the campaign down that road. Which is pretty fucking heinous. As to the last part, I don't feel sorry for him. He knows what he's doing, and that's more sad than pitiable. If the McCain that existed in 2000 was running for President now, he'd be wiping the floor with Obama. But that guy is gone, in its place is the man who sold his soul to Karl Rove for a shot at the brass ring. He's employing the same people now to run his PR that slandered him and his family 8 years ago. It makes no sense.