Agree or Delete - part two

The next agree or delete email I received was "Robin Williams' Peace Plan". First of all, if you're remotely familiar with Robin Williams' material (both stand-up and movies), you would realize that he would never have made these statements. In case you doubt me, Snopes is always a great resource for confirming rumors: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/williams.asp Please forward this instead!

I especially like how the bogus author commands, "If you agree with the above, forward it... if not DELETE."

Bullshit.

The first items in this message are sarcastic reminders that through 'interference,' the US helped defeat many terrible dictators, and begs the question: What if the US was no longer their to help? There is no doubt that over the past millennium, brave Americans helped to right many wrongs across the globe. Is it necessary to give a sarcastic tone in regards to these great accomplishments, as if no one cared?

Saying that France would welcome our illegal aliens is absurd. Slamming the UN is pointless. Further down, there are some shocking undertones to this that disturb me.

There seems to be an over-all anti-Arab feeling to the whole thing that really bothers me ("pray to Allah or whomever", "We don't need any more cab drivers"). I have no problem with mild ethnic jokes when told with good intention, but they don't belong on a political statement like this.

The 'oil' item is pointless -- if big business and our elected leaders really cared about oil prices instead of their profits, they'd do something about it. Guess what? They don't.

I can generally agree with at least lowering our number of troops deployed world wide, but I have no real concept of what the impact would be.

I can generally agree with the ideas of cracking down on green-cards, and deporting illegal aliens. These ideas seem popular, so why haven't they happened yet? Again, I have no real concept of what the impact would be, so I'm reluctant in my agreement.

Speaking of people living off the system... What about generations of people living on welfare? Yikes. Oh yeah, I forgot... They're Americans, so it's OK.

Agree or Delete - part one

There are several chain-emails going around with witty sayings, ending with "If you agree, pass this on, if not delete." One recent example of this is 86% of Americans believe in God.

I'm not very good at following directions, so rather than agree or delete, I'm going to reply.

I'm not a religious person, nor am I offended by mentions of God on coins and architecture -- they're part of our culture and history as Americans. I think it is important, however, to remember that this country was founded on the principle of separation of church and state. Why? Because many European settlers came to the Americas to escape religious persecution.

I find it wildly ironic that Thomas Jefferson is quoted in this piece, as he was the author of the phrase "wall of separation between church and state".

I found an older copy of this chain-letter document on a site called faithonfire.org - faith on fire?! Come on...

Christianity in America isn't in any danger, and it's not going away any time soon. To claim there's a grave threat is ridiculous.

As Americans, we have the right to free speech and expression. Is it necessary to tell a small percentage of people who are vocally offended by phrases such as "In God we trust" and "one nation under God" that they should "Sit Down and SHUT UP?" What good is that going to do? We have far greater issues in this country to worry about.

banning MP3 streaming?

I love it when republicans and democrats work together to draft stupid bills: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004587.php

confessions of an ex-idealist

I was always told I would get more conservative as I got older. That isn't completely true. On some issues, I'm more liberally biased than ever, but on many I've become cynical. This dicotomy seems to be more common in our current society, but I don't think anyone is really writing about it. So I figured "why not me?" ...reluctantly. ;-)