Displaying 181 To 210 Of 960 Comments I’m a tea drinker but I don’t discriminate against the coffee crowd. I’m with you all the way » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 8:53 am PW, tonight for sure, it sounds great. I loved Life of Brian. Thought it hilarious. When I last had a evangelical christian g.f. we watched it and she pronounced it heresy. Then I offered her Mark Twain – Mysterious Stranger and Letters From Earth in exchange for reading Screwtape Letters. She thought Twain was certainly in hell. I hope so, I’d love to talk to him in spirit » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 8:52 am ecat. I actually recall that now! I never thought to ask. I got yelled at enough when I questioned them about Noah and the ark. I mean, no, I won’t start. It’s not my belief and I won’t go there at all. The point is I would always ask questions about things they taught that didn’t seem to make sense for my little inquisitive mind. I spent a lot of time at the library reading about stuff that made no sense. I didn’t get many answers until the late 60’s and more books started coming out providing alternate theories and explanations. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 8:50 am Hi coveark Nice to see you here instead of that other joint. Hope you enjoy it. There are a number of stories here for basic information and a place to go if you need to dump what they call Huffpoo. Otherwise wander around and say hi. There are a lot of people here from HP you might have seen back there. Stay in touch » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 8:28 am When I got my drivers license I started going to other churches I was amazed at the diversity of the same things from religion to religion. Most of it had little to do with goodness, more about sin. The three churches I most was drawn to were Judaism, Quakers and Unitarians. The experience with the Jewish faith was the funniest in a way. The head rabbi was a neighbor and I knew his daughter well as a schoolmate. I was this little white blond dude and I drew lots of stares. After about three visits he took me aside and told me, very kindly, I might want to check out the Unitarians closer. It wasn’t so much he didn’t want me as he was concerned how it would go over in the “hood” if I wanted to convert. He was a very nice man who invited me often into his home and from his wife I learned to LOVE Yiddish delicacies. To this day a fresh pumpernickel or caraway rye bread sends me into orbit. I look back on my childhood in total confusion. How, I still wonder, could this benevolent god I kept hearing about be so spiteful and exact such pain to his “children”? I was doomed to hell pretty young and as I’ve gotten older I finally decided that if I was going to hell and the people who were sending me to it were going to heaven I was going to have a lot more company of people like me than I ever would have in heaven. I’m a pretty simple guy that way » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 8:24 am Coffee There is a great book I read once about each and every Christian holiday and it’s “theft” from the earth based religions. That included the days and the symbols. I still love Halloween and laugh at how it was hijacked. I read several books about the “lost scriptures” and I have often wondered about the rest of the Dead Sea scrolls. What exactly in them? We’ll never really know since I suspect most of them are in the hands of scholars who are on the side of the churches. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 7:59 am Wow, I must have really not listened in Sunday School. I am always amazed at the level and depth of the people here regarding so many topics. Me and church? Easy, go, get screamed and lectured at and told you are going to hell, then come out, smile and shake hands with the guy who just told you he was going to help send you away. Once I was old enough I made my peace with my higher power by watching the interaction of nature. Watching a loon swim under my canoe in a shallow glassy still cove was the closest I ever felt to god except the two moments when my kids, wet and tiny were in my arms for the first time. All that rigmarole about Councils and hierarchy, et al. It was just lost on me. I read a book about the Borgian (sp?) popes – “The House of Borgia”? It was sickening indeed. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 7:21 am Small complaint because for the most part I love most of the people I’ve met from WI, they are my neighbors to the east after all. MN received Fed money for the purpose of putting high speed rail between MSP and Chicago. WI got the same and walked away. I could rant about the benefits of high speed rail but oddly enough it’s turned into a wedge issue. High speed rail between major cities would be a help for a lot of people but I fear the airline companies, among others, see it as a threat so they’ll fight tooth and nail against it. So WI didn’t want high speed rail through WI so we in MN are left with no options but driving (revenue stream for WI from speeding tickets and people stopping for food and gas as they pass through) or the hated airlines. Thanks for nothing WI » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 6:51 am PatsyT That be Eastern, Central, Mountain or Pacific? HAHA I wonder how many Americans can name the time zones or would even know we have them if they didn’t have to look at TV Guide and adjust? We as a country are not nearly as bright as we once were. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 6:41 am How many Christians think Jesus was Jewish? How many people think Jesus was crucified by the Jews? I don’t know the answers but those were things I was or wasn’t taught in Sunday School. I thought Jesus was a Christian all his life. And he was crucified by Jews. That was my “church” in a nutshell. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 16, 2011 @ 6:39 am Bill Maher’s Big Lie Contribution? I am not a Christian or Jew. Yet the 23rd Psalm has always given me comfort. When my father died, we had a horrid relationship and the funeral was just more of the same as I was seated toward the back of the “family” seating while his fourth wife and step son sat in the front row. The minister had no idea who I was, that’s how estranged we were. He asked me finally if I had a reading I wanted for him. He hated the 23rd as much as I loved it. I used to recite it to myself when he hit me – never really talked about that before – hmmm Well the minister brightened right up and was happy to read it. I was the only one in the church it hit the way it was meant. And it gave me comfort once again. I think the bible, well I have never studied it but I think the intent of much of it was simply to offer guidance for people to treat each other well and to find some peace. At least that’s my completely and probably naive perception. I left Christianity at age 12, telling them I was going to church and instead walking around the lake near my home talking to the birds and watching nature. There’s my diety. Nature. Not much or enough for many, more than enough for others. It suits me. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 15, 2011 @ 8:29 pm David, your post brought to mind, along with AdLib’s comment some comparisons. We humans seem to struggle with religion, politics and sex. Because of some very effective work by certain elements of the media (both side of the liberal/conservative fence primarily) we seem to have polarized into two very divergent groups that are highly sensitive to each others. Add in some Libertarians, Socialists, Communists and whatever else you want and we have a very large mishmash of ideas. Same can be said for religion. It used to be, my experience, that people acknowledged others religions and politics – we were more prone to joke about it than screw up our faces in disgust. It seems like we were much less prone to judge or talk down to others beliefs. But the media seems to have driven wedges into us and when doing so people have reacted defensively and taken even harder positions I think two years on HP along with having worked with a particularly aggressively conversion oriented religious man left me with a sour taste in my mouth for both conservatives and evangelical Christians. You said a couple of things the last week, and others have chimed in here and have given me some pause to stop judging and labeling as I’ve been doing. I have retraced my roots back to the Evangelical (Baptist) Eisenhower Republicans who raised me and I am now left to wonder why the far right gets all the press and the quiet Christians who do believe in the teachings of their religious leader are somehow shoved aside for the blaring headlines of the more outrageous members of the Christian faith. I decry the lumping of all Muslims into the same group as Terrorists yet I’ve been remiss in letting myself hear the word Christian and shuffling them off to the world of evangelical nuts. The same is true for conservative and I’ve been guilty of lumping all conservatives into the same family as Sara, Rush, Beck and Fox News. I think I have some work to do. Let someone be who they are, speak to who they are instead of immediately dismissing them because I know their religion and politics. For example, I have read enough of your posts that I would never equate you with the people who harassed and threatened me with death over the phone and in my mail box because my former wife worked as a nurse at Planned Parenthood, not on the abortion side but treating young women and their sexual partners with STD’s. She had no truck with the abortion side, was personally against it but felt it was a woman’s right. So for that we felt hunted and scared and two months ago when a man showed up in the PP parking lot in MN with a loaded pistol it brought it all back to me. I have also read enough posts from people here who I respect like crazy who express their religious beliefs ranging from atheist to Christian and Muslim. I think I need to work on being more open to what people believe in. It doesn’t affect me as long as people don’t try to change my thoughts, well, maybe arguing their point is in some ways trying to change me. Or are they simply explaining because they like where they are and want me/us to know? I don’t know. Late, rambling, but this thread has given me a lot today » Posted By jdmn17 On February 15, 2011 @ 8:21 pm David – that made me laugh. I have been around the world of antiques for years and I’ve seen many old newspapers from the late 1800 and early 1900 hundreds. They used some of the most colorful words to describe each other during the campaigns. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 15, 2011 @ 4:55 pm Keven I wonder what would happen if a candidate for public office, when asked of his/her religious beliefs said: They can’t of course and I for one am interested to know because far too often a religious affiliation these days can lead to assumptions regarding what sort of socially repressive legislation they will pursue. I suppose I’m giving myself away there. I never met a deist who was promoting a religious agenda they wanted the rest of us to follow. (Cringing now because I’m sure there are examples I’m going to get blasted with) In the end, if the guy/gal is religious and doesn’t bring it to the office I could give a crap what they do on Saturday, Sunday or if they smear themselves with bear grease and dance naked under the full moon on the White House lawn. Actually that might be quite refreshing » Posted By jdmn17 On February 15, 2011 @ 4:52 pm Well put. I have always had a bug about people seemingly confusing the two. Tolerance to me has an element of judgment and grudging acceptance. Acceptance is acceptance. I don’t “tolerate” conservative views because at the end of the day I have raised two children who are doing well because I drew lines in the sand my friends often thought were too “conservative”. And I have learned there are some people I simply have to tolerate. A man from work who quoted scripture to me ad naseum and was always urging me to “follow him in christ”. I declined as politely as possible but it destroyed our working relationship. And my super christian sister and her husband. I love them of course but I don’t accept their extreme views on things since they lack the desire or ability to question them enough to be able to discuss them. I accept you and fellow conservatives who are willing to share and provide their insight much like I accept people to the left of me. We are all, at least it seems to be so here, trying to improve our fellow humans conditions. You simply have a different approach from me. And that’s not always dramatic. For example. When “workfare” was being bounced around some of my friends to me left thought it was degrading to ask people to work for their money. I disagreed, not just from a liberal point of view, rather I believed that many people become chronically unemployed because they simply have not participated in the workforce. It’s a self-sustaining cycle. And yet I was not too far to the right where people would be out picking up trash in yellow jumpsuits. There are plenty of things people can do, often using their acquired skills that would give them some sense of self-worth in the bargain. So, I should stop blathering. Just wanted to say I accept you as you are. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 15, 2011 @ 9:52 am Khirad I spent about 15 years as a UU, It was the perfect bridge from the hell and damnation of my childhood to the self regulating spirituality of my present beliefs. I am astonished we have come up with this sort of defacto religious test for being President. I recall how people were horrified regarding Nixon being a “Quaker” and Kennedy being a pawn of the pope. Many of the founding fathers were Unitarians. In fact at one point Unitarians were a significant percentage of the population of the US. Whatever happened to them? Overtaken by the far right zealots? I don’t know. Unitarians are mellow, maybe that’s the problem 🙂 » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 3:35 pm Khirad You got it. I tried several times to post that on HP and never got past the mods. CODE RED Remember A Few Good Men? When Tom Cruise got Jack Nicholson to say it? To say he ordered it? I think the majority of the men and women who present the news on the far right, politicians and non-elected wannabees who are just DYING to say it, just freaking dying to say it. You can almost see it form on their lips but they pull back and drop in one of several new words that we ALL know means “N” but if they get called out on it they are completely in denial and accuse YOU of playing the race card. That was yet another thing about HP. The Right leaning trolls would do everything they could to get you to call them out for racism and when you did, finally, they would jump all over it and tell you they knew you were going to play the race card. Sick, it just makes me sick » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 3:27 pm Your Valentine’s Day open thread My sub-pelt thinks so too. Not summer here yet so I need the warmth jd » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 11:37 am 🙂 You among the many, you have no idea, or maybe you do, it really meant something to have people, and lots of them, helping and encouraging. Hell, they even opened up a bitching board. I still laugh at that. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 11:03 am Happy Day to you Helen » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 11:02 am Just don’t make them a habit. And stretch when they tell you to stretch and don’t overpush. I was a therapist. It was my job to yell! 🙂 » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 11:01 am Cher, scroll down a short ways, there’s a special message from me to all of you oldsters. Anyone here over eight days is old to me. It’s my thanks to all of you where were here and helped me ashore » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 10:46 am The last year I was working in the “world” a flower delivery guy came parading into our small office and deposited a bouquet on my desk (I’m a guy and that was a FIRST). The sender was anon but my admin whispered they were from a woman in the next room. I had no idea what to do. So I sucked it up and walked over and saw the look in her face and asked her to come over to lunch. It was a very hard conversation because I was right where you are. I liked her, talked to her but that was the extent of it for me. Why people make public gestures like that just stopped me in my tracks. We worked together a while longer with some discomfort on both our parts and finally I left the corporate world for good. She came over the last day and asked me if I was leaving because of her. I told her no and later heard she was hoping I had decided to choose her over my job. That was really awkward once again. I hear you about the get off my lawn. Even after my divorce I wore a ring on my finger because I just wanted to be left the hell alone and raise my kids. Tomorrow is another day. I hate Valentines Day, so much pressure and then 24 hours later it’s done. Happy Val day though » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 10:41 am Cher, it’s guys like your hubbie that give the rest of us a bad name. He probably even puts the toilet seat down. Happy day my friend and be thankful for the love around you. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 10:34 am Thanks Ras, I really like this place. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 10:32 am Thanks Chase – I am really, really humbled by the love and welcomes here. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 10:31 am No kidding, seeing someone new come in and how they are greeted by so many, not just hi’s but “okay. let’s get you started”. I never had that at HP, not that I was looking. Damn, it’s like we are all so damn happy to have landed – haven’t seen this many smiley’s since they first came out on email. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 10:30 am Thanks kes, I was a little nervous posting with superstars watching, reading and – in a fit of self consciousness – frowning and thinking me a fool. Seems very accepting here for everyone. See some heated discussions even and that’s to be expected. We all can’t be enlightened about every thing and I really think there is no such thing as THE real answer for anything. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 9:34 am Good for you, arthroscopy and laparoscopy have changed medicine for the betterment of the patients. » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 9:31 am Well I didn’t want you all to think I was some gushy sap – have to keep up my curmudgeon persona. Never know when that’s going to come in handy And it is all that other shit that counts. And I would have named names but in all honesty it was the Planet community that made this place happen so any and all of you would have done it. You know how awesome it feels when you’re new and all these people see it and welcome you? I can’t describe it. I really just can’t » Posted By jdmn17 On February 14, 2011 @ 9:22 amComments Posted By jdmn17
“none of your fucking business”?
«« Back To Stats Page
Home Stats