Focus on the Family has an entire website dedicated to what retailers are “Christmas-friendly” — that is, retailers who say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.”
Does Focus on the Family not realize there are multiple religions and holidays in America? There’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, and the New Year. What’s the problem with wishing people a general happy holiday season, instead of just one specific day that not everyone celebrates? There’s nothing sinister behind it, even if they want that to be true to fuel their persecution complex.
Seems to me that people who think this is a big deal are being self-centered and don’t want to think about anyone besides themselves.
A wall holding back 80 acres of sludge from a coal plant in central Tennessee broke this week, spilling more than 500 million gallons of waste into the surrounding area.
he sludge, a byproduct of ash from coal combustion, was contained at a retention site at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s power plant in Kingston, about 40 miles east of Knoxville, agency officials said.
The retention wall breached early Monday, sending the sludge downhill and damaging 15 homes. All the residents were evacuated, and three homes were deemed uninhabitable, a TVA spokesman told CNN….
TVA spokesman Gil Francis told CNN that up to 400 acres of land had been coated by the sludge, a bigger area than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
An expensive mistake that has cost many families their homes and land. They better be generously compensated — though there is probably no monetary compensation that can make up for losing their homes like this. It’s frustrating that people have to suffer for the mistake of a corporation.
Sorry, I was channeling Palin. Seriously though, Powell endorsed Obama, and I thought he did a good job summing up why I’m bothered by McCain’s recent campaign tactics:
This is astonishing to me. Why didn’t she just throw out a few names instead of this absurd, evasive answer? Why not say, “Oh yah Katie, I used to read, you know, World, Christianity Today, and Apocalyptic Times.”
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Since when is protesting a crime? The Republicans would be having a fit if this was being done to pro-life protesters. This seems unconstitutional to me. I’d expect this in some kind of police-state, but in the US?
The NY Times has a good comparison guide on Obama and McCain on various election issues. What I found most helpful is it has quotes from the candidates, so you hear where they stand from their own words.
For those wanting more information on the Georgia-Russia conflict, the NY Times has an interesting article on the history of the situation.
It’s really sad that people kill each other over border disputes. I can see the appeal of a one-world government — imagine if the entire world was allied like the United States. We don’t go to war with different states, and I hope we never do.
I doubt a one-world government is possible — patriotism is too strong, fundamentalist Christians would oppose such a “beast,” and fundamentalist Muslims would only want it if was a theocracy and they were in charge.
Maybe it wouldn’t even solve things, but it could. What’s the other alternative? Certainly not everyone in the world is going to convert to Christianity or Islam and create a theocracy. We need a real-world, secular solution that people of all faiths and nations can support.
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