One would assume, any potential president of the United States would not only be well versed in current happenings of the Iraq war, and what the Iraqi people/government want but also at the very least have some sort of plan. Any sort of organized plan, it wouldn’t even have to be for withdrawal, simply a plan to make some changes (as its quite obvious at the very least, some change is needed). Not only is McCain uneducated on Iraqi matters, he actually believes he knows more about what they want than they do. He does not agree with the overwhelming majority of people in America who want a bit of change in our Iraq War policy. Is McCain really deluded (and stupid) enough to believe that he, a fifth from the bottom of his graduating class, has better judgement than the majority of Americans and Iraqi’s who want a timetable for withdrawal? McCain states, “a timetable for withdrawal is a timetable for failure”…as if no timetable or plan is a timetable for success?
Somehow, I don’t really know how, but its fairly obvious that McCain will recieve millions of votes, far more than those who actually agree with his policy on Iraq War and the Economy (the two most important issues). Honestly, if you are considering voting for McCain this fall, do yourself (and America) a favor and stay home. Here is another gem out of the Thomas Jefferson wealth of quotations…“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.“
Ever so often, a politician does something praiseworthy. Currently there aren’t many of those politicians…but indeed there are a select few who are fit for high praise. Any such list of politicians must begin with the Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This is a man who does not speak from the pockets of rich oil tycoons or billionaire mass media organizations…but for the people and the common good. Kucinich recently presented articles of impeachment of current President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Here are a few YouTube links in which Kucinich presents his case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo4Dov4QYE0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGfvqLqBJ0Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBUxkvohmfs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPUJk9Zgun4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWePre6wFjE
Now this is a real patriot. People often call soldiers who blindly follow the president “heroes.” While those men are quite brave, (or plain stupid), following commands on illegal war is the opposite of heroic or true patriotism. This country was founded on the ideologies of a group of dissenters, children of the Enlightenment philosophy. The author of our constitution, and thus nation, Thomas Jefferson once wrote: “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” That is the kind of genius that founded this nation, and that is the only kind that will not only unite this nation, but allow it to prosper.
This video, in the matter of minutes quickly summarizes why McCain is not the right choice for President in the year of 2008. McCain’s disregard for economics, and lack of knowledge of economics is even more disturbing. How can the next president of the United States regard quite possibly the most important issue facing Americans (their economy) as a small matter? Such incompetency, and neglect for the common people’s need is a defining aspect of the current state of the Republican party. One needs only to point at the Bush tax cuts for the rich and wealthy, and the growing poverty of the average person. Choosing Republican will only further the economic and social divide between the rich and poor, the haves and the have-nots. If McCain is your choice for president, I’d advise you to voluntarily check in at a mental asylum.
John McCain attended the Naval Academy at Annapolis at a time where calculators were the size of desks. Now of course age isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it could sometimes equate to wisdom and a great amount of experience. In the case of McCain, a POW during the second biggest failed US War (Vietnam)…apparently did not learn from those mistakes and actively supported the US invasion of Iraq. He supports sending more troops to Iraq (more blank checks to contractors too) and wants to stay in Iraq for the next hundred years too (in unarmored Humvee apparently). Experience is only good if you actually learn from your mistakes and don’t repeat them…apparently John McCain either has horrible judgement or truly, the experience that he often touts is non-existent. McCain probably was accepted at the Naval Academy due to his fathers power and money…and then he basically barely passed for the majority of the time. This is all the Republicans can do? The only positive note about the man is he probably is slightly smarter than Bush…which means pretty much nothing.
Wordpress (the blogging platform that is used here) is quite possibly the greatest web service I have ever used. Not only is it easily customizable, but the core features are incredibly easy to use and very visual, so basically anyone can begin blogging within minutes. They have created such a great platform, that I would greatly urge people to donate to them…as they are just an awesome company.
Due to the immense popularity of the first part of “Great Quotes for Atheists/Non-Believers,” I have come back with another list of great quotes for the atheist/agnostic/non-believer!
“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? “ - Douglas Adams
“I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously.” - Douglas Adams
“I don’t believe in an afterlife, so I don’t have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.” - Isaac Asimov
“Man is, and always has been, a maker of gods. It has been the most serious and significant occupation of his sojourn in the world.” - John Burroughs
“[...] since the order of world is regulated by death, perhaps is it better for God we do not believe in him and we fight with all our might against death, without raising our eyes heavenward where he keeps silent.” - Albert Camus
“I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood.” - George Carlin
“The Bible is one of the most genocidal books in history” - Noam Chomsky
“Isn’t killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?” - Arthur C. Clarke
“I do not believe in God because I do not believe in Mother Goose.” - Clarence Darrow
“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” - Richard Dawkins
“I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.” - Thomas Edison
“I don’t try to imagine a personal god; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.” - Albert Einstein
“The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.” - Sigmund Freud
“A believer is a bird in a cage, a freethinker is an eagle parting the clouds with tireless wing.” - Robert G. Ingersoll
“A man is not moral because he is obedient through fear or ignorance. Morality lives in the realm of perceived obligation… “ - Robert G. Ingersoll
“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.” - Thomas Jefferson
“The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is therefore in embryo the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.” - Karl Marx
“The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.” - Karl Marx
“Religion deserves no more respect than a pile of garbage.” - H. L. Mencken
“Religion, like poetry, is simply a concerted effort to deny the most obvious realities.” - H. L. Mencken
“Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.” - John Stuart Mill
“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
“God is dead: but considering the state Man is in, there will perhaps be caves, for ages yet, in which his shadow will be shown.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
“Jesus died too soon. If he had lived to my age he would have repudiated his doctrine.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
“All religions begin with a revolt against morality, and perish when morality conquers them.” - George Bernard Shaw
“A miracle signifies nothing more than an event… the cause of which cannot be explained by another familiar instance, or…. which the narrator is unable to explain.” - Baruch Spinoza
“The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost their power of reasoning.” - Voltaire
“Did science promise happiness? I do not believe it. It promised truth, and the question is to know if we will ever make happiness with truth.” - Emile Zola