Founder of Anti-Gay Westboro Baptist Church Dies

[GUT]

G'day Robert

If you don't vote don't complain about the government you have.

[Robert]

Was Bush a Mormon? Then I've got a bone to pick with him about the new look LDS genealogy site. Why must people always change things that work well?

[Robert]

On the contrary, GUT, if people vote for monkeys then they have no right to complain.

[GUT]

G'day Robert

No Bush wasn't the Mormon.

[RivkahChaya]

Mitt Romney

[GUT]

Thanks Rivkah, I don't follow US politics all that closely and for the life of me could not remember his name.

[Fleetwood Mac]

If you don't vote don't complain about the government you have.

I don't vote, GUT, but I wouldn't agree with Robert on the 'monkeys' point. They're certainly not above corruption, hypocrisy and shoddy management just like any other human being; but I think that, by and large, they represent their constituents reasonably well with one caveat: in accordance with their wishes.

I don't vote simply because there isn't a political party out there who share the same opinions as me on what I consider to be the fundamental issues.

Personally, I think the fundamental problem in this country is the people, not the politicians. The people in this country would queue up for days and walk through fire to get at the latest pair of under-cracks by Georgio Alouvio at 900 quid a pair. But, interested in the state of country? Not on your life.

Politicians are limited in what they can achieve these days. I mean some multi-nationals produce more in terms of wealth than a small European country.

I used to be more opinionated in the sphere of politics but as you get older you, or maybe just I, tend to just want them to stay out of your space. Mind you, I still can't stand the left and their monumental load of old bollocks that they spout (hello Julie!), and that will never leave me.

[Robert]

Hi FM

I agree that the British aren't the people they were. But that's partly down to the politicians. Capital punishment is a case in point. It's possible to have a good debate on capital punishment, and it's possible that if there were a referendum I myself might end up voting No. But what actually happened? The MPs voted on it, and it was decided to make it an issue of conscience, with no party whipping. Amazing how the MPs suddenly acquire a conscience when it suits them. So the rule is, if an issue is highly technical, then the MPs claim to have more knowledge than the electorate, and vote the way they want because they are 'representatives rather than delegates.'
But if an issue is adjudged a moral question, then the MPs take no note of the people's wishes because it is an issue of personal conscience and the MPs can't be expected to go against the 'still small voice' that they claim (with a straight face) to hear. Everything's nicely stitched up.

PS after I went offline last night I suddenly realised I might be misinterpreted, so let me say that the monkeys in question are Cameron, Miliband and Clegg, Heath, Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Blair and Brown etc.

[kensei]

The comedian turned political commentator Dennis Miller (formerly of "Saturday Night Live") has a radio talk show. He used to be a typical Hollywood liberal but at some point had a change of heart and is now a rather cynical conservative with a few liberal leanings still surviving. On the day Fred Phelps' death was announced Miller used his show to celebrate it, playing cheerful music and reveling in how a true scumbag of a human being was now burning in Hell, with the announcement something along the lines of "God has issued a press statement saying He's sorry it took Him so long."

I'm very liberal in my beliefs about some things and very conservative about others and could never identify myself with any political party. I just know that I've always felt that families who get wind they're going to be targeted by Phelps' group should advertise one time and place for their loved one's funeral but then privately organize another. I remember they came to my community once to protest at a soldier's funeral, and the Freedom Riders were here to stand stone-faced in between them and the mourners and block the view as much as possible.

Miller mentioned that Phelps' family had requested that no one protest at his funeral, and rightfully made fun of that request. I just thought, man, I hope people deluge it with protests. A popular slogan of Phelps' used to be "God hates fags." I hope his funeral is met with hundreds of signs and people chanting the slogan "GOD HATES BIGOTS!" But that's me.

[GUT]

G'day Kensei

Miller mentioned that Phelps' family had requested that no one protest at his funeral, and rightfully made fun of that request. I just thought, man, I hope people deluge it with protests. A popular slogan of Phelps' used to be "God hates fags." I hope his funeral is met with hundreds of signs and people chanting the slogan "GOD HATES BIGOTS!" But that's me.

Don't you think that is sinking to their level?

[kensei]

If you don't vote don't complain about the government you have.

This is a popular argument, and I don't mean to stir up a lot of controversy but I would like to take this one bit of issue with it- if you truly believe that your government has become either so corrupt or so compromised that your vote has become pointless, you can complain about that.

[GUT]

Where I live voting is compulsory but sometimes I wish t wasn't as some people clearly don't think before they vote.

[kensei]

Don't you think that is sinking to their level?

Well, yes, I guess it is. But sometimes you have to meet the enemy where they live. I think that group should be made to feel the way they made others feel, and just maybe they will learn from it. No assaults, nothing illegal, just turning their exact same tactics back on them.

[Robert]

All this stuff about burning in hell...yuk. I was thinking the other day about the talk of "fags" burning in hell, and an adaptation of a remark of Oscar Wilde would seem in order : if this is how god treats his fags, he doesn't deserve to have any.

[Beowulf]

I just want to say, not that I believe in Hell, but if there IS a Hell to say someone is burning in it is to pass judgement.

Since the Bible says 'judge not less you be judged' I would think that making a statement about someone else going to Hell would be immediate grounds for your own passage there.

It amazes me how that book is used so many wrong ways.