@Carlton

My issue is that you take and use the same methods as the group/people you're criticizing, while also complaining about those same methods. For example religion. I think that religion should stay out of politics. You either think that too or you don't. But apparantly if it suits your argument you find it okay to inject it into the conversation.

I'm not trying to say what Bill Maher did is the same as what Rush did because they're obviously different. But you were the first one to bring up Maher, and the first one to make excuses for him.

Maybe you think that I'm trying to take the spotlight off of Limbuagh with my posts, but I'm not. This forum is mostly all liberals who agree with you on Limbuagh (including me), so I don't see the point in preaching further to the choir.

However, I took issue when you started jumping through hoops to excuse Maher's comments. So far you've said what he said was okay because he apologized (which he didn't), he's a self proclaimed libertarian, because Palin is a bully, because it's an accurate description of her, because he's being funny and maybe some other things that I missed.

"Cunt" is a derogatory word for women. Would it have been just as okay with you hade he used a derogatory word based on someone being black, Jewish, gay, or hispanic?

If you want me to say that I think one party or group seems to be slightly less awful than the other, sure I can do that. But that's a pretty low standard that you and the American public have been conditioned to accept.

"Cunt" is a derogatory word referring to a part of a woman's anatomy, but can be applied to either gender. It means "an obnoxious or contemptible person." Applied to Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann, it is accurate; as would also be accurate applied to Rush Limbaugh.

"Slut" refers a looseness in personal standards, specifically the sexual variety. It can be applied to either gender, but only awkwardly so; the dictionary definition of "slut" refers only to females.

Hi, Gerald. Okay, let's see...

Bill Maher used ugly, offensive language when he talked about Sarah Palin, and he was criticized for it by women's groups on the left, totally in contradiction to what the right claims.

But of all the rights we have in this country, the one right we don't have is the right to not be offended. Bill Maher is mean, that's bad. Boo hoo.

You are willing to admit that what Limbaugh did was worse. Yes, he went right past protected speech and into libel territory.

Both were offensive, one was unacceptable.

If you're arguing that we all oughtta be angels, that's a wonderful goal, but it's never going to happen. I personally try to be a better man today than I was yesterday, I often fail, but I always try. Not only that, I never use the "c"-word. I've had real arguments in my classroom with black students because I will not allow them to use the n-word. I don't care if they think it's okay because they are black, my classroom is not a democracy, and it won't be used there. But that's different than arguing that Huckleberry Finn should be banned or censored.

So, it's not something I celebrate that Maher used the c-word. But you know what? I do celebrate the fact that all I have to do is not go out of my way to pay extra money to bring him into my home if I don't want to hear him. There is absolutely no way, sitting here with my free broadcast TV, that I or anyone in my family is going to accidentally hear that offensive language coming out of Bill Maher's mouth. It's simply not allowed.

Bill Maher is not, in any sense of the word, a leader or a spokesman in the Democratic party. He does not influence opinion, he does not shape policy, and there is not a single Democratic politician that would hesitate to speak against Bill Maher on any issue.

You can't deny that.

I don't excuse Maher's comments, but I won't accept the argument that there's even any need to respond to Bill Maher in the same way that Rush Limbaugh's libelous, hateful, lying rant calls out for.

Bill Maher: Don't watch his show if it offends you. This is America.

Limbaugh: Sue his ass, boycott his sponsors, do whatever-- he crossed the line.

And it's there's just no equivalence between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. It goes beyond a simple disagreement in policy. It's more than just a disagreement in economic policy.

People always truthfully speak about how you shouldn't demonize someone who honestly disagrees with you.

Gerald, I believe that's true, and I act like it.

But what the Republicans are doing is calling black, "white" and night, "day," and they are the ones demonizing and intimidating others into falling into line.

It's not the Democrats that, almost as a party, deny global warming.

It's not the Democrats that, almost as a party, ridicule and deny science, especially evolution, but also including physics, astronomy, and geology.

It's not the Democrats that are waging a war on women's reproductive rights and seeking to turn the clock back fifty years or more on women's health.

You are saying that you'll admit that the Democrats are "slightly less bad" than the other party.

Oh, that's so nice of you. And blind. I'm saying that right here, right now, we have a party that wraps itself in the flag while defiling everything our country stands for. Torture of prisoners was never an issue until George W. Bush and Dick Cheney began their ill-conceived and often criminal war on terror. Yes, there is a threat, but these two cowards crossed the line.

And then, I'm still stumped by how much it bothers you that I am pointing out that the Republicans-- almost as a party-- are complete religious hypocrites. Because I'm an atheist, am I not also allowed to be educated in Christian doctrine?

And if, because of my knowledge of Christian doctrine, even my knowledge of Protestant Evangelical doctrine, allows me to criticize Republicans with their very own words, are you trying to tell me there's something wrong with that?

I was reading something that illustrates that some people whom you'd otherwise figure were intelligent people are strangely dog-ass stupid, and I'd hazard a guess that a lot of it comes from places like Limbaugh, Beck, and Fox News perpetuating the ignorance of the Confederate past.

Southern voters speculate as to why Obama won.

Probably the biggest indictment one can make against southern Republicans is that they were people who literally changed political allegiance because they were against granting Civil Rights to black people. They actually hated the thought of black people being their equal so much that southern Democrats became Republicans en masse.

When you think about it, it completely explains their irrational hatred of our President. And Rush Limbaugh is a man of the South. In fact, wasn't he fired from ESPN because of racist remarks he made...?

One other thing I wanted to mention. I was reading an article on Politico, I think, in which a Republican was defending Rush Limbaugh, and trying to make argue there was hypocrisy from the left regarding the disparate treatment of Maher and Limbaugh by the left. He pointed out that it's the left that boycotts and wants to censor or have people removed-- the right doesn't do that, he claimed. I nearly choked. That statement, like nearly everything that comes from the Republicans, is a lie.

Let me point to the most recent example of the 'Million Moms,' or whoever that right-wing organization was, demanding Ellen Degeneres be removed as spokesperson for Target stores. See how that works? I just proved his statement was not true.

Again, I'm claiming this is the modus operandi of the Republican party. It was just recently that our resident nutjob, ChrisW was on here repeating shouting about the unfortunate acts of violence and rape that took place at some of the Occupy camps.

While he's busy blaming the violence on the protesters, it turns out that it's only the right who are making these allegations. Not that these unfortunate acts didn't happen, but it all cases where a suspect has been apprehended, it's been shown that these have been homeless people, mentally ill people, things of that nature, but not the protesters.

So what do you do when you have a political party who outright lie to the American people, whose positions are based on an intentional and completely erroneous understanding of the way the world works, and are kept in office by hateful, racist people who are dog-ass stupid?

All that is needed is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

How nice for you that Evanier posted your letter and responded, Chris. It read to me like he demolished your objections entirely with his patented brand of reasonableness, although he did it in a friendly way.

To you they're hyprocrites. When you use religion as the measuring stick, it's always going to be subject because everyone interprets it differently. There's no right way.


I said, if you don't believe religion should be used to judge people, then you shouldn't do it either.




I'm saying it's pointless to argue religion doctrine with people because there's no concrete way of interpreting it. The Bible itself is full of contradictions. I've tried dealing with people like that. I've pointed out all the crazy things int the Old Testament to people who are anti-gay marriage because of what "the Bible says. But it doesn't matter because they're going to pick and choose what they want from the Bible just like you do.

People need to realize that you can't run a country based on one groups religion.

In regards to Limbuagh, I agree with you, and never said that what Maher did was the equiavlent of it.

As far as the Democractic party goes they seem to be about the same to me as Republicans in that they just do whatever will keep themselves in power. A substantial amount of them supported the Iraq War Resolution, and they even nominated a candidate who supported it as well! A large number of Democrats voted to grant the telecom companies immunity when they were shown to have been spying on US citizens. A number of them helped pass NDAA and a Democrat President signed off on it, which would allow US citizens to be denied their rights if they were merely SUSPECTED of being a terrorist or having terrorist ties.

That's why I avoid getting involved in the whole right vs left nonesense.

Chris must be so happy to see that being made public.

It certainly creates an indelible link with that guy Weemie claims he never listens to.

The alternative is "First they came for Rush Limbaugh, and I didn't speak up because I didn't listen to Rush."

If that's an incomprehensible concept to you, then you are a Nazi.