1.3 Billion

[fuzzykitten99]

Originally posted by insein
So whats next? Cow tipping? ...

Hey, don't dis cow tipping! It should be the next Olympic event...just kidding!

My mom did this when she was a teenager. They don't call Coon Rapids, MN "Redneck Rapids" for nothing. I have never done it, and don't plan to. I would rather go to a demolition derby.

I am such a Minnesota redneck, that I bleed Purple Pride.

Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled program.

 

[brneyedgrl80]

Originally posted by Big D
When the money runs out, the U.S will look like the shithole mexico is. Any mexican neigborhood here in the U.S is proof of that.

I dunno, Chula Vista and Imperial Beach are pretty nice...

I guess that only makes sense if you know San Diego.... Oh well.

I wouldn't necessarily call all of Mexico a s***hole. I've been in a lot of parts of Mexico because I like to travel and they have really beautiful cities and forests!! All the border towns are dirty, but you can't judge a country by it's border towns. It really is a beautiful country in a lot of the areas.

 

[007]

Originally posted by brneyedgrl80
I dunno, Chula Vista and Imperial Beach are pretty nice...

I guess that only makes sense if you know San Diego.... Oh well.

I wouldn't necessarily call all of Mexico a s***hole. I've been in a lot of parts of Mexico because I like to travel and they have really beautiful cities and forests!! All the border towns are dirty, but you can't judge a country by it's border towns. It really is a beautiful country in a lot of the areas.

Yeah it is pretty, in places. But if you're going to travel, by car, in Mexico, you'd better have a fist full of MONEY readily available, because the local fuzz in Mexico... "like to be paid up front"... if you get what I mean.

Been there, done that.

 

[armstrong80]

Originally posted by proud_savagette
no, i'm sorry, but Churchill got it wrong there big time.

What Churchill was saying is, that on the majority, our views change as we age. Even the father of modern conservatism, Ronald Reagan, was a staunch liberal democrat in his early years. Churchill was merely saying that anyone with any sense eventually sees the light, accepts the inevitable and agrees that the conservatives are right.

 

[brneyedgrl80]

Originally posted by Pale Rider
Yeah it is pretty, in places. But if you're going to travel, by car, in Mexico, you'd better have a fist full of MONEY readily available, because the local fuzz in Mexico... "like to be paid up front"... if you get what I mean.

Been there, done that.

You know... I think you bring on yourself because of your badass looks!! You just make the federalis want to mess with you! Ha! That's what you get for being a badass!

I just speak my espanol, and nobody bothers me. :

 

[Big D]

Originally posted by brneyedgrl80
You know... I think you bring on yourself because of your badass looks!! You just make the federalis want to mess with you! Ha! That's what you get for being a badass!

I just speak my espanol, and nobody bothers me. :

Gee, If mexico is so nice why are mexicans risking there lifes just to leave?

 

[brneyedgrl80]

Did I say that the economy was nice? Nope. Just said the country was nice. Have you ever been down there Big D? Some of the pyramids are amazing! And the view from on top is breath taking!

 

[insein]

Originally posted by menewa
This is just history coming around fulll circle. Texas was once part of Mexico not too long ago after all. What makes it even more relevant to completing the circle is the fact that many Mexicans and others from Latin America have some American Indian blood coursing through their modern veins. It was the land of their ancestors way before it became the land of mine. But it won't be like we turn into Mexico or Guatemala or anything. They assimilate very quickly, just like the waves and waves of European immigrants did. Most first generation Latino immigrants can't even speak Spanish anymore. They immediately love big cars and fast food and all other things American. Don't hate 'em. Embrace them and say hello new brother or sister, you've made it to America, the land of freedom and liberty. Enjoy your new life.

Yea they assimilate quickly alright. thats why they are trying to pass legislation to make us like Canada having to have signs in 2 languages all the time? Thats why most of them don't speak let alone read english?

I have no problems with immigration. Do it the right way though. Anyone coming through illegally should get sent back immediately.

 

[Big D]

Originally posted by brneyedgrl80
Did I say that the economy was nice? Nope. Just said the country was nice. Have you ever been down there Big D? Some of the pyramids are amazing! And the view from on top is breath taking!

I have been to Mexico at least a hundred times. Yes, the beaches and the land is beautiful, are you trying to credit mexicans with what mother nature has created?

Outside of the tourist areas, in the city's and towns of mexicans, they are complete shitholes.

 

[brneyedgrl80]

Originally posted by Big D
I have been to Mexico at least a hundred times. Yes, the beaches and the land is beautiful, are you trying to credit mexicans with what mother nature has created?

Outside of the tourist areas, in the city's and towns of mexicans, they are complete shitholes.

I'm glad you see the beauty that is there. I do credit them to some extent with the natural beauty simply because the land has not been populated with residents or commercial businesses (at least not yet) so they have been able to retain the natural beauty.

Some of the areas that are beautiful are cities and towns where you can still see the culture is very rich. I visited the city of Jalixsco (where my granmother lived for awhile) and it was wonderful.

The cities that tend to be the worst are the tourist cities.

 

[menewa]

Originally posted by proud_savagette
the ACLU is a treasonous organization who should thank their lucky stars they weren't born during the time of our founding fathers, cause they'd most likely be tried for treason and executed.

You're potrayel of liberals is a broad generalization. I certainly would not put all cons in the same boat. You have a big difference between John Ashcroft and John McCain. There's also a big dif beteen cons columnists Ann Coulter and Cal Thomas and David Brooks, etc. The same is true with liberal politicians and opinion leaders.
Q: Why would put all liberal or progresively minded people in one boat?
A: It makes your rants a lot easier to write.

As for the ACLU, they are staunch defenders of the first amendment. How is that treasonous?

 

[Big D]

Excessive immigration has direct impact on Californians' most basic concerns. It affects the economic and political future of California and the United States. Even so, this critical issue has been largely ignored by most leaders.

There are at least 400,000 illegal immigrant students in California's schools.

The cost of educating a child averages $6,000 or more a year. Illegal immigrant parents are mostly low-skilled. Even if they do pay taxes, their tax payments are not enough to offset the cost of educating their children, let alone other expensive services and infrastructure.

Currently, more than 25 percent of our federal prison inmates are illegal aliens who committed crimes. Many county hospitals are on the verge of bankruptcy because of the care that they provide to illegal immigrant families.
http://www.diversityalliance.org/docs/article_2003oct05.html

 

[Annie]

The cost of educating a child averages $6,000 or more a year. Illegal immigrant parents are mostly low-skilled. Even if they do pay taxes, their tax payments are not enough to offset the cost of educating their children, let alone other expensive services and infrastructure.

Schools are paid for primarily from property taxes. Do YOUR property taxes pay for your children every year?

A couple of years ago, I had 3 kids in high school. Cost at that time was $17k per kid. My taxes are around $4k.

Your argument is fallacious, but you knew that, right?

 

[proud_savagette]

As for the ACLU, they are staunch defenders of the first amendment. How is that treasonous?

let's take a look at their history.
In 1943, the ACLU won a case that allowed Jehovah's Witness children to not have to salute the American flag. In more recent cases, the 1992 case, Lee vs. Weisman, headed by the ACLU of course, determined that it is unconstitutional for officially sanctioned prayers to be led at graduation ceremonies. Gosh, our founding fathers didn't have a problem with saying prayers before their sessions...In 1997 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ACLU, deciding that the 1996 Communications Act banning indecent speech violated First Amendment rights. If you can't control yourself enough not to cuss, or to simply think of a different phrase, then you are pathetic. What about children? Should they be exposed to such trashy language EVERYWHERE now?
Also, in a recent case filed in Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the ACLU argues that the First Amendment supports a November 2001 decision in which a federal judge rejected an attempt by the French courts to force U.S.-based Internet portal Yahoo Inc. to block French users' access to web pages that contain speech related to Nazism. Why is that wrong?
Then, with the US child pornography legislation: The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ACLU and overthrew a congressional ban on virtual pedophilia. It ruled that the First Amendment PROTECTS pornography or other sexual images that only APPEAR to depict real children engaged in sex. The act had barrred sexually explicit material that "appears to be a minor" or that is advertised in a way that "conveys the impression" that a minor was involved in its creation.
Late in 1995, a German shepherd puppy was beaten to death in Fresno (Arax, 1995; Sacrifice of dog, 1995, p. A22). The puppy's death created a public furor. Neighbors complained to local authorities, and the man responsible for the dog's death was taken into custody on felony charges of animal cruelty. Later, these charges were reduced to misdemeanor cruelty, thanks to the ACLU, to which the defendant pled guilty. The man charged in the case was Chia Thai Moua, a Hmong immigrant from Laos who had come to the United States in the 1970's.
Moua was what the press termed a "shaman." Interestingly, his logic for using the puppy was precisely that of so many others employing dogs to serve people -- he was trying to rescue a human (in this case, his wife). He explained that he killed the dog in order to "appease an evil spirit" plaguing her in the form of diabetes. According to Hmong beliefs, "a dog's night vision and keen sense of smell can track down more elusive evil spirits and barter for a sick person's lost soul." Animals, such as chickens or pigs, are sacrificed first, but if this does not solve the problem, according to Moua, "I have no other choice" but to "resort" to using a dog. Moua said that, each year, he performs a ceremony to release the souls of the animals who have helped him so that they can be reborn. According to Moua, Hmong people from the highlands of Laos "are not cruel to animals . . . We love them . . . Everything I kill will be reborn again."
Moua's reliance on the Hmong conception of the human-animal border, and the appropriate uses for certain animals, put him at odds with mainstream American ideas. He killed a dog. His reasons had no legitimacy within the dominant U.S. culture, which sanctions only a limited number of contexts for dog-killing. Dogs can "give" their lives to science, or they can be killed when no longer "employable" (for example, there are a large number of surplus greyhound racing dogs killed each year). But canine laboratory and entertainment "workers" do not have pet status (see Drayer, 1997; Reitman, 1992). Because Moua killed a puppy in his home, the dog was viewed as a pet.
Anglos dote on pet puppies in their homes, lavishing them with toys, treats, and attention. In the U.S. culture, people are not supposed to kill their pets unless they are "properly" killed by veterinarians or euthanasia technicians. Moua was neither. Worse, instead of using a scalpel or a syringe wielded in the name of science or kindness, Moua used a method (bludgeoning), widely seen as inhuman -- a gross act of force and brutality.
An insightful head investigator for Fresno's Humane Society claimed that he could count on his hand the actual cases of Hmong dog sacrifices that he knew of: A "lot of the false complaining is racism, pure and simple." Nonetheless, the publicity around Moua's dog sacrifice escalated ethnic tensions between the Anglo population of Fresno and the sizable Hmong population.
In 1989, two Long Beach men were charged with cruelty to animals for killing a puppy and eating him for dinner (Haldane, 1989). The ACLU defended them, of course. A Los Angeles area judge ruled that there was no law against eating dogs, and that the animal had not been killed in an inhumane fashion. The charges were dropped (Haldane, 1989).
Yet, the case did not die -- it spurred the introduction of a law making "pet-eating" a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by a 6-month jail term and $1,000 fine (Evans, 1989; Jacobs, 1989; Lucas, 1989). Pets are defined in this statute as animals kept as pets. Killing and eating livestock (poultry, pigs, cattle) or wildlife (fish, shellfish, deer, rabbits) remains legal since these creatures fall beyond the definition of "pet."
All of this is beside the point though: Americans eat hot dogs, not dogs (Bishop, 1989, October 5). In the United States, the status of most pet dogs and cats as quasi-human family members makes eating one seem like cannibalism. And, the Long Beach puppy was killed in an apartment complex, at home -- it was all in the family. But the two Long Beach men were not American -- they were refugees from Cambodia.
Trying to minimize the backlash against his community, the head of the Cambodia Association of America claimed that "Cambodians don't eat dogs." However, it is widely known that many Asians do eat dogs (and sometimes cats too). In the Asian context, dogs and cats are specialty meats -- delicacy foods. And, while most in the U.S. mainstream society see nothing wrong with eating (sanctioned) animal flesh (including the flesh of baby animals and even taboo animals under conditions of duress), killing a cute helpless puppy for a luxury meal is another story.
The American Civil Liberties Union said that it will aid Michael Schiavo in his fight against Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature, which earlier this week took the remarkable step of passing a law to prevent the Pinellas County man from disconnecting his brain-injured wife from a feeding tube. For months, the ACLU resisted meddling in the dispute that has pitted a husband against his in-laws, believing that the courts were following the long-held legal right of an individual to refuse extraordinary medical measures, even if it hastens [another person's] death.

 

[Big D]

Originally posted by Kathianne
Schools are paid for primarily from property taxes. Do YOUR property taxes pay for your children every year?

A couple of years ago, I had 3 kids in high school. Cost at that time was $17k per kid. My taxes are around $4k.

Your argument is fallacious, but you knew that, right?

ALL public schools are paid by taxes, whether it be property, income, ect............. who or how do you think this is all paid for?

I can tell you don't live in California.

 

[armstrong80]

Originally posted by menewa
As for the ACLU, they are staunch defenders of the first amendment. How is that treasonous? [/B]

Couldn't prayer in school be considered free speech. I think so. If 22 year old college student can burn a flag in protest and piss off about 70% of the country in doing so, why can't a 16 year old high school student pray before a test and piss of the 30%.

http://christianparty.net/gallupschoolprayer.htm

When was the last time the ACLU fought for christians rights. Rights that are also protected under the 1st Amendment. The ACLU simply fights to protect it's own interpretation of the constituion. They firmly believe in open interpretation of the constitution. They also base all of their seperation of church and state arguments on a law by proxy. Seperation between church and state doesn't exist in the constitution that have read and cherish. It is only written in a letter from one founding father to another as a "theory" of what government should be like. The ACLU doesn't protect all of your civli liberties, or as DKSUDDETH put it "natural rights." It merely protects the one that it believes in. Your tax dollars at work.

 

[brneyedgrl80]

As for the ACLU, the best resource for information and archives would probably be their own website www.aclu.com

I never knew the ACLU fought for Jehovah's witnesses. But, if it goes against their religion then so be it. I know that Jehovah's witnesses do not believe in worshipping any symbols/idols/statues or any kind. That's probably what that was all about back then. But this is info. that I am going off of my friend and her husband who are Jehovah's Witnesses. I honestly don't know more than what they tell me and the little I've read about it.

 

[brneyedgrl80]

Originally posted by armstrong80
Couldn't prayer in school be considered free speech. I think so. If 22 year old college student can burn a flag in protest and piss off about 70% of the country in doing so, why can't a 16 year old high school student pray before a test and piss of the 30%.

http://christianparty.net/gallupschoolprayer.htm

When was the last time the ACLU fought for christians rights. Rights that are also protected under the 1st Amendment. The ACLU simply fights to protect it's own interpretation of the constituion. They firmly believe in open interpretation of the constitution. They also base all of their seperation of church and state arguments on a law by proxy. Seperation between church and state doesn't exist in the constitution that have read and cherish. It is only written in a letter from one founding father to another as a "theory" of what government should be like. The ACLU doesn't protect all of your civli liberties, or as DKSUDDETH put it "natural rights." It merely protects the one that it believes in. Your tax dollars at work.

I know I posted this before some where else. But normally people go to the ACLU and ask for help. If the ACLU deems that the situation does go against civil liberities they will more and likely take on the case. Of course there are many loopholes in civil liberty cases.

Also, as far a prayer in school, that doesn't have much to do with the ACLU as it does with the seperation of church and state which has been around far longer.

 

[007]

Originally posted by brneyedgrl80
You know... I think you bring on yourself because of your badass looks!! You just make the federalis want to mess with you! Ha! That's what you get for being a badass!

I just speak my espanol, and nobody bothers me. :

Tu hable espanol?

Hey, when I tie my hair back and shave, I look pretty respectable.

 

[menewa]

Originally posted by armstrong80
Seperation between church and state doesn't exist in the constitution that have read and cherish. It is only written in a letter from one founding father to another as a "theory" of what government should be like.

The first Amendment says "...Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting free exercise thereof..."

I think this proves the seperation right there. However, I also think this proves that children can pray where ever and whenever they want to. Be it in a public school or not.