AGirlWonder posted:

What's the failure in individuals believing in ID? If I recall correctly, there's nothing there to contradict evolutionary theory.

AGirlWonder posted:

You're all right. I totally mixed ID in with the other theories used to reconcile creation myths with evolutionary theory. I forgot that ID is the solely political one, and that's my bad.



The first Google result for "creationism."



Evolving in Monkey Town looks at Evans's religious development, after being raised as an Evangelical Christian in Dayton, Tennessee (home of the Scopes Trial).

Peanut President posted:

You guys are too goddamn easy.


northerners.jpg

edit before someone argues, that one guy has an american flag tattoo and is therefore a proud northerner who is not racist or have bad opinions.

quote:

Next time you're touring Washington D.C., drop by the Washington National Cathedral to a see a stained glass window like no other. If you'll believe it, there's actually a tiny piece of the moon inside of it. Where? In the center of the large red orb.

Called the Space Window, it was designed by artist Rodney Winfield and shows orange, red and white stars and planets on a deep blue and green field. The window was dedicated in the presence of Neil Armstrong who, with fellow Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins presented a moon rock to the Cathedral on July 21, 1974—the fifth anniversary of the day that Armstrong took that historic first step on the moon. Encased in an air-tight, nitrogen-filled capsule in the window, the moon rock weighs only 7.19 grams but is believed to be 3.6 billion-years-old. It took four years of work and planning to make this incredible feat of art and science a reality.

Here's how the National Cathedral's website describes it, "Today, this Space Window—fully titled the 'Scientists and Technicians Window (Space)'—is part of the Cathedral's iconography, telling stories that have shaped the nation's identity. It is just one example of what makes the Cathedral a historic landmark, symbolizing the role of faith in America."

The Selling Wizard posted:

I'm not sure about that.
Presidents who we don't know had affairs:
Carter
Ford
Nixon
Truman
Hoover
Coolidge
Taft
TR
McKinley

not this guy, tho:

quote:

President McKinley took great care to accommodate her condition. In a break with tradition, he insisted that his wife be seated next to him at state dinners rather than at the other end of the table. At receiving lines, she alone remained seated. Many of the social chores normally assumed by the First Lady fell to Mrs. Jennie Tuttle Hobart, wife of Vice President Garret Hobart. Guests noted that whenever Mrs. McKinley was about to undergo a seizure, the President would gently place a napkin or handkerchief over her face to conceal her contorted features. When it passed, he would remove it and resume whatever he was doing as if nothing had happened.[2]

The President's patient devotion and loving attention was the talk of the capital. "President McKinley has made it pretty hard for the rest of us husbands here in Washington," remarked Mark Hanna.

quote:

In 1975, in an interview with McCall's, Ford said that she was asked just about everything, except for how often she and the president had sex. "And if they'd asked me that I would have told them," she said, adding that her response would be, "As often as possible."

quote:

Forget about politics and political differences and even history for at least a few moments. It was 60 years this October when Robin, the second child of George H.W. and Barbara Bush, tragically died of leukemia at the age of 4. Losing their 4-year-old daughter dramatically altered the lives of the young parents, as well as Robin’s 7-year-old brother, George W., who later remembered that he would work hard as a child to make his grief-stricken mother smile or laugh.

Some things are bigger than politics and one of those things is my admiration for George Herbert Walker Bush, who I’ve always respected and has now done something that I love. When Patrick, the 2-year-old son of one of the members of the former President’s Secret Service detail was diagnosed with leukemia this spring, the Bush family was quick to donate to Patrick’s Pals in order to help pay for Patrick’s treatment. But the 41st President of the United States went even further.

As noticed the men on his protective detail shaving their heads in solidarity with their colleague’s ailing son, Bush wanted to support them, as well. This week, the 89-year-old former President shaved his head, as well. Political differences — whether they are serious or petty — can sometimes cloud our judgment of one another as human beings. But there’s nothing cloudy or hazy about this gesture — an old man at one end of a long, illustrious life supporting a little boy facing adversity at the very beginning of a life that will hopefully be as long and successful as the old man’s.

It’s a simple gesture and one that lesser-known people frequently make to show their support of their own ailing friends and family. But I love this. I think it’s beautiful. And, at some point, I’ll answer another question on this site or write another essay where I focus on his politics or his history as President, but I hope I don’t forget to note that George H.W. Bush is a drat good man and I’m proud we elected a man like him as our President.

quote:

While in no way intended to suggest that a straight fetus would be inferior to a gay fetus, I was pleased to perform a flipperoo on the pro-choice slogan by turning it into a positive pro-gay and pro-life statement. “May the fetus you save be gay”? Ok, sure! May the fetus we save be gay indeed! (Or straight, Down’s Syndrome, intersexed… – we’ll love them all!)

quote:

Usually regarded as an honest and highly effective governor, Dewey doubled state aid to education; increased salaries for state employees; and still reduced the state's debt by over $100 million. Additionally, he put through the first state law in the country that prohibited racial discrimination in employment.Dewey also signed legislation that created the State University of New York. He played a major role in the creation of the New York State Thruway, which was eventually named in his honor.

quote:

No presidential candidate in the future will be so inept that four of his major speeches can be boiled down to these historic four sentences: Agriculture is important. Our rivers are full of fish. You cannot have freedom without liberty. Our future lies ahead.

quote:

"There is no such thing as a constitutional right to destroy all constitutional rights.
There is no such thing as a freedom to destroy freedom."

quote:

Dewey criticized Stassen's position, commented that "you can't shoot an idea with a gun."[3] He remarked that a criminalization of the party would itself be totalitarian, and would advance the cause, arguing that it would be best to keep the movement in the light of day to counter the ideas in public discourse

quote:

Our competitive system furnishes vital opportunity for youth and for all enterprising citizens; it makes possible the productive power which is the unique weapon of our national defense; and is the mainspring of material well-being and political freedom.

Government, as the servant of such a system, should take all needed steps to strengthen and develop public health, to promote scientific research, to provide security for the aged, and to promote a stable economy so that men and women need not fear the loss of their jobs or the threat of economic hardships through no fault of their own.

The rights and obligations of workers are commensurate with the rights and obligations of employers and they are interdependent; these rights should be protected against coercion and exploitation from whatever quarter and with due regard for the general welfare of all.

Constant and effective insistence on the personal dignity of the individual, and his right to complete justice without regard to race, creed or color, is a fundamental American principle.

quote:

At 16°51′53.748″N 11°57′13.362″E in the Sahara desert there is an intriguing landmark - the outline of an aeroplane pointing in the direction of Paris. Visible on satellite pictures, this beautiful image, like a tattoo on the landscape, has been a viral hit.

It is a memorial to a flight that never reached its destination.

On 19 September 1989 UTA flight 772 was travelling from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo to Paris when it was blown up over the Sahara desert. All 156 passengers and 14 crew members were killed.

Where the French plane fell, the families of the victims have built a lasting and visually striking memorial to the dead. A life-size silhouette of the aircraft lies inside a dark stone circle surrounded by 170 broken mirrors, each one representing someone who died. Jutting out at the northern point, like a sundial, stands the right wing of the DC10.

Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc was the driving force behind the memorial. His father Jean-Henri died on the DC10. Creating it was the final act in an 18-year quest for justice which cost him his business and overshadowed his marriage - but has left a lasting legacy.

On the day of the tragedy, Denoix de Saint Marc was frantically preparing a presentation for a big client. He was 26 and managed a sales and marketing company in Paris. When his mother rang to say she was worried about his father's flight, he didn't want to listen. "I was really rude, telling her I was at work and I had many important things to do," he says. When he hung up, a colleague suggested perhaps he should call back. That was when he realised his father's plane had disappeared.


He went to his mother's home to wait for news. There was none. At Roissy airport, the flight-board just said: "Delayed". Relatives had to rely on news bulletins to find out what was going on.

The fate of the flight was confirmed the next morning when a French air force plane flew overhead. It took another day for paratroopers to reach the site of the crash in Niger. When they did, they confirmed there were no survivors.

Two days later, traces of explosive were found, indicating a bomb. The French government appointed a terror specialist, Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, to investigate. He did not skimp on the task, transporting 15 tonnes of debris from the crash site.


In 1999, a French court found six Libyans guilty in their absence and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Libya did not admit responsibility, but paid $34m (£20.7m) in compensation that year, out of which families of the UTA victims were awarded sums ranging from 3,000 to 30,000 euros (£2,500-£25,000) depending on their relationship to the dead. This process had taken 10 years, and not all of the bereaved were compensated (only the 500 represented during the trial).

Moreover, those found guilty were still living freely in Libya - one of them was Abdullah al-Senussi, the brother-in-law of Col Gaddafi. Denoix de Saint Marc was part of an association for relatives of the victims, SOS Attentat. "We wanted justice," he says. "We wanted Libya to accept responsibility."

One morning in 2002, Denoix de Saint Marc heard on the radio that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan leader Col Gaddafi's son, was in Paris to speak at a conference and open an exhibition of his paintings. "This was a shock for me, I was very angry," he says. "My first thought was to go to a butcher's and buy a bucket of blood to throw over him, but then I calmed down and thought maybe anger was not such a good thing."

Through a contact he managed to get a ticket to the conference, during which Saif Gaddafi spoke about UTA flight 772, declaring the case closed. At the end of his speech Denoix de Saint Marc confronted him with the words: "My father was in the DC10."

Gaddafi told him afterwards he thought Denoix de Saint Marc was going to punch him, says the Frenchman. But they started a serious discussion, in which Denoix de Saint Marc explained that the case was not closed, and the compensation paid was very low. "Although we were struggling for justice, not money, we were not satisfied."

He gave Gaddafi his business card and two days later was invited to a hotel for a meeting. At the end of a three-hour conversation, Gaddafi invited him to come to Libya. However, SOS Attentat did not support his initiative and they parted ways.


Denoix de Saint Marc began collecting details of relatives of the victims, from 18 different countries - this became the collective called Les familles de l'attentat du DC10 d'UTA. Months passed, and when no contact from Libya was forthcoming, they staged protests to renew the focus on their case. The tactic worked - in July 2003 Denoix de Saint Marc travelled to Libya with his wife Emmanuelle and his cousin Valery, who had agreed to be their lawyer.

Denoix de Saint Marc had no previous experience of negotiating. "I was a salesman, so maybe that helped," he says. "And I grew up overseas, so I had an understanding of other cultures, which helped me to understand and be understood."

"We were not asking for money," says Denoix de Saint Marc. "I said that I could not give a price to my father's life. I would prefer Gaddafi to apologise publicly, but that was not going to happen so if it was a fair amount I would accept it."


As described in his book, Mon Pere Etait Dans le DC10 (My Father Was In The DC10), the trips to Libya were fraught and occasionally surreal. During visits to Saif Gaddafi's villa outside Tripoli his tigers could be heard roaring with hunger.

The hardest thing was to negotiate the same payment for all the families - the Libyans didn't want to pay the same for African as for Western families, but Denoix de Saint Marc argued against that. "I said it was a symbol and we should pay the same amount to each victim," he says. "It was very important that we should all stay together despite our nationalities."

On 9 January 2004, Libya agreed to pay $170m (£104m) - one million for each of the 170 victims. The following day they transferred the first payment, for a quarter of the amount.

Denoix de Saint Marc's euphoria was only temporary. "I thought the story was finished after that negotiation," he says, "but then I thought that as it was money and I had to share, there was a second round of difficulty coming on."

There certainly was. He had to find the relatives concerned all over the world, to share the money - a foundation was created for that purpose.

"I had to go to Chad, Morocco, Congo, South America to find all the families, discuss it with them, and explain what happened." Many of them had not even been aware of the negotiations.

"We had to turn detective," he says. "We had to use DNA to check people's identities. I also found fake families," he says. "People pretending they were victims when they were not." Others claimed their family members were dead so they could get a bigger share of the payout.

People had the right to refuse the payment, in which case the money would return to Libya. Seven American families rejected the payment and undertook their own class action. Out of the remaining 1800 relatives from 18 countries who had a claim, only three refused their share. The last person was tracked down and paid in 2012, so the process took eight years.

Although 100% of the money was given to the families, the interest generated an income that allowed the foundation to do its work. Denoix de Saint Marc asked the board of the foundation if some of the money could be used for a memorial.

From a security point of view the area is considered too dangerous for Westerners to visit, because of the Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb. In order to visit, Denoix de Saint Marc got permission from the Minister of the Interior of Niger as well as the agreement of tribal leaders and clerics such as the Imam of Agadez. It was important to have different levels of agreement, not least because there was a Tuareg rebellion at the time. Niger offered an escort of soldiers, but they refused.

Apart from security concerns, they were going into inhospitable terrain. The Tenere is the most remote desert in the Sahara, a sea of sand the size of France. The crash site is 650 km (400 miles) from Agadez and temperatures can reach 50C. Water is difficult to find, with wells hundreds of miles apart.

In March 2007, a party undertook the long journey - two other victims' relatives accompanied Denoix de Saint Marc and his wife. They left Agadez in Niger and after a three-day drive through the desert the convoy came across the first remnants of the DC10. The French authorities had taken away the parts that carried most clues - the cockpit, the wheels, the luggage - but the rest is still lying there.

"My first feeling was anger," says Denoix de Saint Marc. "We were staggered, we couldn't speak. I remember we were walking under the midday sun - it was very hot, but we didn't feel any heat. We were just walking from one point to another, looking at the wreckage, dumbstruck.

"We were astonished. It was crazy seeing all these parts of the plane but there were also dinosaur fossils and prehistoric weapons - because in the desert everything stays there."

A documentary about the journey shows Denoix du Saint Marc and his wife Emmanuelle trying to take it all in. She calls it a sanctuary, he says it's a battlefield - "it's chaos".

"It was very emotional and disturbing at the same time," says Pierre Francois Ikias, whose 14-year-old brother Fleury le Prince was on the flight. "You wouldn't have thought that 18 years on, the shock would have been quite so palpable - but when you see the destruction, the pieces of aeroplane scattered around, the seats, the remains of people's luggage - the emotion grabs you by the throat.

"Unfortunately my brother's body was never found, so this journey was my way of grieving. While we were there, one of the drivers of the convoy found a human skull, which we buried on site. For me it really was like saying goodbye and burying my brother."
....

More in the link

quote:

It’s worth remembering today and everyday — the lives lost, the dreams vanquished, the wounds suffered from abortion. And it is also worth remembering that love requires more than ideology… it requires responsibility. In my neighborhood, being pro-life means we have to figure out what to do when a 14-year-old gets pregnant, and how we can all help bear the weight of that responsibility.

I want to be pro-life like Mother Teresa was pro-life. She didn’t just wear an “Abortion is murder shirt” and protest outside a clinic. For her, being pro-life was more than being anti-abortion… it meant coming alongside teenage parents, helping raise kids that no one wanted, and taking in families who had no place to go. That’s the kind of pro-life movement we’re talking about. Pro-life from the womb to the tomb.

Incidentally, I recently read a compilation of the words and writing of the early (pre-fourth-century) Christians edited by Ron Sider, entitled The Early Church on Killing. The early Christians consistently lament the culture of death and speak out — against abortion, capital punishment, killing in the military… and gladiatorial games. With the exception of the gladiatorial games, I found their words profoundly relevant to the world we live in where death is so prevalent.

Consider these words of Cyprian of Carthage, a third-century North African bishop: “The world is going mad in mutual extermination, and murder, considered as a crime when committed individually, becomes a virtue when it is committed by large numbers. It is the multiplication of the frenzy that assures impunity to the assassins.”

Let’s renew our commitment today to reduce and eliminate abortion… Lord, give us courage and imagination to do what love requires of us. May we not be known just by what we are against, but by what we are for. Make us people who are not just anti-death but who are FOR LIFE.

JoelJoel posted:

Monkey in a suit. Very sneaky. I love the subtelty of all the labels.


Nope! The website is legit.

They have more!



Gay indoctrination therapy without parental consent. Unlike the gays, the religious types always get parental consent before indoctrinating children.



What's with Christians and Monarchy? Is it more a hark back to the good olde days of David or a response to the early church forming under a Roman emperor? Also, a quick googling of Pastor Chuck Smith's inspirational words from October 2013 appear to be a common hymn. Real original there, chief.


yeah... there was a fire:



e;fb

quote:

[Some might read the popular phrase, “My kingdom is not of this world,” and mistakenly think that Jesus meant, “My kingdom is not in this world.” But Jesus was speaking more about essence than location. In other words, he was talking about the “real world.”

Jesus said this while on trial for insurrection. His kingdom had finally collided with the kingdoms of Herod and Pilate, and they wanted answers. Since Jesus’ birth, he had been at odds with the establishment. They wanted him dead ever since the rumors about the other King of the Jews. Because of this Jesus had, for the most part, stayed on the fringes of public life, insisting that the kingdom he preached and represented be undetectable to the powers. But now he had paraded into the center of power, flipped over its tables, and hosted a public and critical teach-in, creating the conditions for his arrest. Now under government control he is questioned:


Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from a different place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate…

From then on Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out … “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews…

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

John 18:33-38; 19:12-15.

…His Kingdom is not of this world because it refuses power, pledges a different allegiance, and lives love. In a world where truth had become smothered and rulers don’t even know what it is anymore, Jesus embodies a truth that will set us free – even Pilate.

Sword of Chomsky posted:

While I think this is a great photo, and is actually something positive put out there by a member of the GOP for once in a lifetime, I have noticed some are trying to tar her for... something.

Like half of the TPM comments are either disparaging her for taking a picture with her baby, being a republican, or just general misogyny. This is why we can't have nice things people!

Pope Guilty posted:

Saint Sputnik posted:

quote:

Since my removal to the Presidential mansion, I rise about five; read two chapters of Scott's Bible and Commentary, and the corresponding Commentary of Hewlett; then the morning newspapers, and public papers from the several departments; write seldom and not enough; breakfast an hour, from nine to ten; then have a succession of visitors, upon business, in search of place, solicitors for donations, or from mere curiosity, from eleven till between four and five o'clock. The heads of department of course occupy much of this time. Between four and six I take a walk of three or four miles. Dine from about half past five to seven, and from dark till about eleven I generally pass the evening in my chamber, signing land grants or blank patents, in the interval of which, for the last ten days I have brought up three months of arrears in my diary index. About eleven I retire to bed. My evenings are not so free from interruption as I hoped and expected they would be."

quote:

I can never join with my voice in the toast which I see in the papers attributed to one of our gallant naval heroes. I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong. Fiat justitia, pereat coelum. My toast would be, may our country always be successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.

quote:

If you can inspire someone, anyone, to dream more, to learn more, to do more, and to become more. Then you are a leader.

quote:

Morning visit from John Ross, chief of the Cherokee Nation, with Vann and Benn, two others of the delegation. Ross had written to request an interview with me for them on my appointment as Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs. I was excused from that service at my own request, from a full conviction that its only result would be to keep a perpetual harrow upon my feelings, with a total impotence to render any useful service. The policy, from Washington to myself, of all the Presidents of the United States had been justice and kindness to the Indian tribes—to civilize and preserve them. With the Creeks and Cherokees it had been eminently successful. Its success was their misfortune. The States within whose borders their settlements were took the alarm, broke down all the treaties which had pledged the faith of the nation. Georgia extended her jurisdiction over them, took possession of their lands, houses, cattle, furniture, negroes, and drove them out from their own dwellings. All the Southern States supported Georgia in this utter prostration of faith and justice; and Andrew Jackson, by the simultaneous operation of fraudulent treaties and brutal force, consummated the work. The Florida War is one of the fruits of this policy, the conduct of which exhibits one (un)interrupted scene of the most profligate corruption. All resistance against this abomination is vain. It is among the heinous sins of this nation, for which I believe God will one day bring them to judgement—but as His own time and by His own means.

biggfoo posted:

I was under the impression Washington did during the Whiskey Rebellion.

Anime Sandwich posted:

pd187 posted:

what's the story on this?

MariusLecter posted:

If dogs came from wolves, why are there still wolves?

quote:

One of the most important missions the ANP undertook in the summer of 1961 was an attempt to form an alliance with the Black Muslims and their leader, Elijah Muhammad. From its inception the ANP [American Nazi Party] had referred to African Americans as “niggers” and had affirmed the premise that they were mentally inferior to whites, but Rockwell became enchanted with the idea of a coalition; Nazis and Black Muslims could be allies, since they both sought the same goal—separation of the races. Rockwell told his followers that Muhammad "has gathered millions of the dirty, immoral, drunken, filthy-mouthed, lazy and repulsive people sneeringly called ‘niggers’ and inspired them to the point where they are clean, sober, honest, hard working, dignified, dedicated and admirable human beings in spite of their color. . . . Muhammad knows that mixing is a Jewish fraud and leads only to aggravation of the problems that it is supposed to solve. . . . I have talked to the Muslim leaders and am certain that a workable plan for separation of the races could be effected to the satisfaction of all concerned—except the communist-Jew agitators"

Black Muslim cooperation with Rockwell and the Ku Klux Klan went beyond ideology and rhetoric. There were practical implications. Like his white racist counterparts, Elijah Muhammad believed that interracial sexual relations were morally depraved and genetically destructive, for interracial sex “ruins and destroys a people.” Rhetoric aside, he wanted to establish a truce between racists and his Southern mosques. To this end he sent Malcolm X to Atlanta to accompany Jeremiah X, the local Muslim minister of Atlanta, to a secret meeting with members of the Klan. Both sides discussed race relations. Malcolm described the integration movement as a Jewish conspiracy carried out by black stooges. The parties eventually hammered out the main issue: a nonaggression pact. If the Muslims did not aid the civil rights movement in the South, the mosques would be undisturbed.

On Sunday, June 25, 1961, Rockwell and ten troopers attended a Black Muslim rally at Uline Arena in Washington. They watched in awe as convoys of chartered buses unloaded hundreds of passengers outside the arena and the Muslim vendors made a killing on official souvenirs and literature. The Nazis were frisked at the door of the arena by several well-dressed but stern-looking Fruit of Islam guards—the Gestapo of the Nation of Islam. A special guard greeted Rockwell, said into his walkie-talkie that the “big man was coming now,” and escorted them to seats near the stage in the center, surrounded by eight thousand Black Muslims. They were encircled by black journalists, who wanted to know Rockwell’s thoughts. He told reporters he considered the Muslims “black Nazis.” “I am fully in concert with their program and I have the highest respect for Mr. Elijah Muhammad.” Rockwell pointed out his only disagreement with the Muslims was over territory. ‘‘They want a chunk of America and I prefer that they go to Africa.”

The Nazis were very impressed with the professionalism and stagecraft of the event, especially the Fruit of Islam guards, who maintained their positions throughout the lengthy program despite stifling heat in the auditorium. Eight thousand faithful followers of Elijah Muhammad waited six hours to hear him speak. After several introductory speakers, Malcolm X stepped to the microphone to deliver a talk entitled “Separation or Death.”

“Muslims are not for integration and not for segregation.” Looking up at the audience as if to beg the question, he asked what they “were for.” The audience shouted, “SEPARATION.” Rockwell and the troopers vigorously applauded. Malcolm told the audience, now quite restless in the ninety-degree heat, that before the climax of the program a collection would be taken. He told the two hundred white people sitting segregated in the center of the auditorium to chip in “and give us back some of that money they didn’t give our ancestors. . . . I don’t want to hear clinking, I want to hear that soft rustle.”

Malcolm asked the audience for donations of one hundred dollars and got three. As Malcolm dropped his request to fifty dollars and then to twenty dollars, Rockwell pulled out his wallet and handed a twenty-dollar bill to the usher to be sent up to Malcolm. Malcolm asked who had given the money; a trooper shouted at the top of his lungs, “George Lincoln Rockwell!” This brought scattered applause and a covey of supporters and cameramen to Rockwell’s side. At Malcolm’s request, Rockwell stood up for applause, to which Malcolm said, “You got the biggest hand you ever got.” Rockwell was not amused, but he cracked a grin for the cameras.

Another speaker took the podium and announced that Elijah Muhammad would not speak because of illness. The audience began leaving the building, but the Nazis remained for the final speaker when they heard him begin to lash out at Jews. Outside the arena Rockwell lied to a TV reporter, telling him that many of the Muslims had urged him to speak. He would get his chance to address the Muslims the following year. Rockwell kept in contact with Malcolm X, “with occasional telegrams and stormtrooper couriers when Malcolm was in the Washington area.

quote:

"Gen’l Taylor is, I have no doubt, a well-meaning old man. He is, however, uneducated, exceedingly ignorant of public affairs, and, I should judge, of very ordinary capacity." — James K. Polk on Zachary Taylor, in a diary entry following Taylor’s Inauguration, March 5, 1849

quote:

You would be hard-pressed to find many comparisons between Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States, and Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States. Most historians agree that Lincoln is probably the greatest President in American History; a similar amount of historians usually rank Pierce as one of the worst. Lincoln guided the country through Civil War and to victory; the policies of Pierce’s Administration helped divide the nation and make Civil War a reality. Despite being born in the South, Lincoln fought during every minute of his Presidency to keep the Union together; Pierce, born and raised in New Hampshire, was a “doughface”, Southern sympathizer, and close friends with Confederate President Jefferson Davis who served as Secretary of War in Pierce’s Administration. Lincoln died just days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox and was immediately considered a martyr by the American public after his death. After dispersing a crowd that angrily gathered in front of his home following Lincoln’s assassination, Franklin Pierce went back to doing what he had done since leaving the White House in 1857 — drinking himself to death.

There is one thing that links these two men beyond the fact that they were both Presidents during the most divisive period in American History — tragedy. In the exclusive fraternity of American Presidents, it’s impossible to find two more melancholy individuals than Franklin Pierce and Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln battled deep depression throughout his life and, as a young man in Illinois, Lincoln admitted that he contemplated suicide at times. During his career as a lawyer riding the Illinois court circuit, Lincoln’s friend Joshua Speed recalls the future President remarking “If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth. Whether I shall ever be better I cannot tell; I awfully forebode that I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it appears to me.”

What troubled Lincoln is difficult to pinpoint. Before he married Mary Todd, Lincoln was romantically interested in Ann Rutledge, the daughter of a New Salem, Illinois tavern owner. Lincoln was a frequent visitor to the Rutledge home and was devastated when Ann died of typhoid fever in 1835. William H. Herndon — Lincoln’s longtime law partner and one of the first biographers of Lincoln — acknowledged that the future President loved Ann Rutledge and that the grieving Lincoln was suicidal in the days and weeks following Ann’s funeral. Five years after Ann Rutledge’s death, Lincoln and Mary Todd were engaged, and the couple married in 1842. Mary had a terrible temper and her mental condition was so tenuous that her son, Robert, finally had her committed to an asylum after President Lincoln’s death. Mary was a lot of things that Lincoln was not — short, overweight, confrontational, insecure, and temperamental. The marriage was rocky at times, but Lincoln was passionately defensive about charges against his wife. When Mary lost control and screamed at Lincoln or charged the President with jealous accusations, Lincoln walked away from the fights and always returned to check on Mary’s condition once she cooled down. For a President trying to save his country from destruction, these personal domestic crises had to be taxing on Lincoln.

To find a bright spot somewhere, Lincoln turned to his children for solace. Lincoln’s four sons were all born in Springfield, Illinois with Robert Todd Lincoln leading the way in 1843. By the time of Lincoln’s Presidency, Robert was an adult attending Harvard and he spent the last months of the Civil War on the staff of General Ulysses S. Grant. The second son, Edward Baker Lincoln, was another source of sadness for the Lincolns. Edward died at the age of four; an event that left Mary on the brink of breakdown and pushed Lincoln to cherish the next two children, Willie (born in 1850), and Tad (born in 1853). As President, Lincoln was horrified by dispatches describing the ongoing Civil War, tried to shut out the distractions caused by his unstable wife, and discovered happiness only in those moments where he could play with Willie and Tad.

Willie Lincoln was dedicated to his love for books, much like his father, and it was no secret to anyone that Willie was the President’s favorite child. Tad was more rambunctious, always into joking and playing around, and Lincoln took great satisfaction from Tad’s affinity for dressing up like the soldiers who protected Washington and the White House from the rebel forces. Like the Biblical Job, however, Lincoln had to face adversity while persevering relentlessly towards his goal. In February 1862, Willie Lincoln took ill after riding his beloved pony in chilly weather. Doctors ordered bed rest and Willie rallied at first, but on February 20th, he died from what is thought to be typhoid fever. The Lincolns were devastated, Mary was inconsolable and shut herself off from the world for three weeks. Lincoln worried about Mary while also nursing his youngest son, Tad, who came down with the same illness that killed Willie and was in critical condition himself. Tad recovered, but Lincoln was at times overcome by sadness. Every Thursday for several weeks, Lincoln locked himself in the Green Room of the White House, the room where Willie died, and cried for his lost son. Willie’s death “showed me my weakness as I had never felt it before.” The light had gone out of Abraham Lincoln’s life forever. Only once more did he feel a pinch of happiness and that was on the day that he truly considered the Civil War to finally be over — April 14, 1865. That night, John Wilkes Booth ended Abraham Lincoln’s suffering.

It was Willie Lincoln’s death in the White House in 1862 that brought Franklin Pierce and Abraham Lincoln the closest that they would ever be. Men of different political parties, different backgrounds, and different viewpoints on the biggest issue of the day; they were as far apart politically as they were in physical appearance. Lincoln was described by even his closest friends as “ugly” and his opponents likened him to a “baboon”. Lincoln wore the same old suit constantly, he rarely took the time to comb his hair, and he didn’t care what people thought of his “style”. Franklin Pierce looked like a Roman statue come to life. Pierce had long, curly, jet-black hair that he combed over the side of his forehead, he dressed impeccably, and one historian calls him “perhaps the most handsome President”. Even President Harry Truman — a vicious detractor of Pierce’s Presidency — called Pierce “the best-looking President the White House ever had” and suggested that he “looked the way people who make movies think a President should look”.

Behind those looks, however, was a man who was as unsuccessful at fighting depression as he was at fighting alcoholism. Franklin Pierce was ambitious and rose to the Presidency at a younger age than any of his predecessors. His ambition, however, strained his marriage with Jane Means Appleton, who hated politics and hated Washington, D.C. Pierce didn’t help the marriage by not consulting with Jane before undertaking a life-changing experience such as accepting the Democratic nomination for President in 1852. Jane had heard that Franklin was being considered as a compromise choice by the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore, but believed that he had no chance against better-known names such as James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, and Stephen A. Douglas. While out for a carriage ride in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a rider galloped up to the wagon carrying the Pierces with the news that Franklin had won the Democratic nomination. Franklin smiled excitedly, but Jane nearly passed out. Pierce had promised that he was done with politics, that they were done with Washington forever, and now it was a near-certainty that he would be elected President of the United States.

Like the Lincolns, the Pierce family had lost two sons at young age. The first born, Frank Jr., died as an infant, and their second son, Franklin Robert Pierce, died at the age of four. Their son Benjamin was their only surviving offspring, and they devoted all of their parental love to Bennie. In times of the deep depression that both Franklin and Jane suffered from, both parents could turn to Bennie for some joy and to remind themselves that not all was lost. Like his mother, Bennie was shy and unhappy about a potential move to Washington. Shortly after Pierce won the Democratic nomination, Bennie wrote his mother: “I hope he won’t be elected for I should not like to be at Washington. And I know you would not be either.” The hopes and prayers of his wife and his son were in complete opposition to those of Franklin Pierce. He wanted, more than anything, to be President. On Election Day, he was granted his wish as he trounced General Winfield Scott on won the Presidential election.

While Franklin prepared to take the reins of the country, Jane and Bennie prepared for the dreaded move into the White House in Washington. Jane tried her best to project some happiness for Franklin’s sake, and she found some assistance from her religious devotion. As 1853 began, the Pierces prepared for the move to Washington, D.C. and left New Hampshire in January, deciding to stop in Massachusetts for visits with family and friends before arriving in Washington for the inauguration scheduled on March 4th.

On January 6, 1853, a train carrying the young President-elect, his wife, and their only surviving son left Andover, Massachusetts. Just a few minutes after departing Andover, the passenger car detached from the train and rolled down an embankment. None of the passengers including Franklin Pierce and his wife were injured except for one person. In front of his horrified parents, Benjamin Pierce was thrown from the train and was nearly decapitated as his head was gruesomely crushed. Bennie Pierce was killed instantly, and his parents would never be the same.

Less than two months later, Pierce was sworn in as President. The only President who memorized his inaugural address, Pierce started by telling the crowd in front of the U.S. Capitol, “It is a relief to feel that no heart but my own can know the personal regret and bitter sorrow over which I have been borne to a position so suitable for others rather than desirable for myself.” Traumatized by Bennie’s death, Jane refused to continue any further towards Washington than Baltimore. Pierce had to face the Presidency and the mourning period for their son without his wife. As he told the American public in his inaugural address, “You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me with your strength.”

When Jane finally arrived at the White House, she still didn’t make much of an impact. People referred to her as “the shadow of the White House” and she frequently closed herself off in an upstairs bedroom where she wrote letters to her dead children and stuffed them in a fireplace. Jefferson Davis’s wife, Varina, often substituted as White House hostess. In a way, Jane indirectly blamed her husband for Bennie’s death, claiming that God took Bennie from them so that Franklin would have nothing distracting him from his accomplishments. When Jane died in 1863, Pierce’s closest friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne, said that she was never interested in “things present”.

Franklin’s “accomplishments” were not much. He had a difficult time saying “no”, and often agreed to go along with the last person he talked to before making a decision. Pierce was indeed absent of distractions, but he needed some. The country was being torn apart by the slavery question and the Kansas-Nebraska Act inflamed tensions; it was no longer a matter of debate — in some places, open warfare was breaking out. The President found his distraction came in the form of a bottle. The President was an alcoholic and in 1856, his own party refused to consider him for re-election. As his term ended at the beginning of 1857, Pierce said, “There’s nothing left to do but to get drunk.” He lived by that motto until his drinking finally killed him in 1869.

During Franklin Pierce’s retirement, he spoke out against Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War itself. Some called him a traitor, and even his close friends snubbed him. When Pierce’s friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne, died, he wasn’t even allowed to be a pall bearer as Hawthorne requested. But despite their many differences, Lincoln found himself in a place that only Franklin Pierce knew — mourning a lost child and worrying about an unstable wife while running a divided country. A few weeks following Willie’s death, President Lincoln received this letter:


Concord N. H.

March 4 1862

My dear Sir,

The impulse to write you, the moment I heard of your great domestic affliction was very strong, but it brought back the crushing sorrow which befel me just before I went to Washington in 1853, with such power that I felt your grief, to be too sacred for intrusion.

Even in this hour, so full of danger to our Country, and of trial and anxiety to all good men, your thoughts, will be, of your cherished boy, who will nestle at your heart, until you meet him in that new life, when tears and toils and conflict will be unknown.

I realize fully how vain it would be, to suggest sources of consolation.

There can be but one refuge in such an hour, — but one remedy for smitten hearts, which, is to trust in Him “who doeth all things well”, and leave the rest to —

“Time, comforter & only healer
When the heart hath broke”

With Mrs Pierce’s and my own best wishes — and truest sympathy for Mrs Lincoln and yourself

I am, very truly,
Yr. friend
Franklin Pierce

The melancholy Presidents — so far apart in each and every other aspect of their lives — could at the very least find companionship, if not comfort, in the other’s strength through painful weakness.

quote:

"I am now 'solitary and alone,' having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, and [I] should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."

Earth posted:

I would love to get some statistics on that one and some correlation tables.

Though perhaps I am sociopathic as I think the disparity that occurs from capitalism is for the most part okay. What I disagree with is the inequality of opportunity to succeed. I don't mind if someone deemed more "valuable" by the society is rewarded more. What I do mind is when there is a base level of living for the people, and when there isn't social mobility. Which all stems from the same enemy to the left; massive inequality.

staticman posted:

Here's an extremely hard to watch documentary by Channel 4 about Russia's gay-bashing gangs (This may trigger PTSD for those involved in an anti-gay attack, and is in general):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfoeEpASnmc

And because it needs to be blasted as loudly as possible on speakers the size of an Olympic stadium, w/r/t Uganda and/or Russia's anti-gay pogrom, and because he needs to be strung up on a lamp post and beaten like a pinata, here's the sub-human monster responsible:



Shortly after his visit to Russia, the anti-gay laws started flooding in. He currently has a lawsuit against him for crimes against humanity. Let that sink in for a bit.

Alex DeLarge posted:

That's some bad rear end camoflouge on the part of the F-18...

Wish the US would get more creative in their camo for aircraft...




Seems like the USA plays it pretty safe most the time.

quote:

Praise be unto the only God. In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. O ye Moslems. O ye beloved sons of the Maghreb. May the blessing of God be upon you.

This is a great day for you and us, for all the sons of Adam who love freedom. Our numbers are as the leaves on the forest tress and as the grains of sand in the sea.

Behold. We the American Holy Warriors have arrived. We have come here to fight the great Jihad of Freedom.

We have come to set you free. We have sailed across the great sea in many ships, on many beaches we are landing, and our fighters swarm across the sands and into the city streets, and into the wide country sides, and along the highways.

Light fires on the hilltops; shout from your housetops, and from the high places, and say the sound of the drum be heard in the land, and the ululation of the women, and the voices even of small children.

Assemble along the highways to welcome your brothers.

We have come to set you free.

Speak with our fighting men and you will find them pleasing to the eye and gladdening to the heart. We are not as some other Christians whom ye have known, and who trample you under foot. Our soldiers consider you as their brothers, for we have been reared in the way of free men. Our soldiers have been told about your country and about their Moslem brothers and they will treat you with respect and with a friendly spirit in the eyes of God.

Look in their eyes and smiling faces, for they are Holy Warriors happy in their holy work. Greet us therefore as brothers as we will greet you, and help us.

If we are thirsty, show us the way to water. If we lose our way, lead us back to our camping places. Show us the paths over the mountains if need be, and if you see our enemies, the Germans or Italians, making trouble for us, kill them with knives or with stones or with any other weapon that you may have set your hands upon.

Help us as we have come to help you, and rich will be the reward unto us all who love justice and righteousness and freedom.

Pray for our success in battle, and help us, and God will help us both.

Lo, the day of freedom hath come.

May God grant his blessing upon you and upon us.

- Roosevelt

JoelJoel posted:

"Russia would like to thank the NFL, NBA, and MLB"

The NHL will take your gays


..who am I kidding, just as bad. Though they are trying with organisations like You Can Play which was founded by this truculent gentleman after his openly gay son died in a car wreck:




Any predictions for the year we get an openly gay NASCAR driver?

quote:

Justin Mullikin is an out and open race car driver running in the NASCAR Grand National Sportsmen division, which falls under the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. Last season Justin was chosen, by the track officials and tech directors at Lacrosse Speedway in West Salem, Wisconsin for the Competition Achievement Award. It’s an award for someone who had an outstanding achievement at the track, is well respected by competitors and has an overall positive impact on the speedway.

Stephen Rhodes is a long time late-model stock car racer and he raced in NASCAR’s Truck Series in 2003. Stephen took time off from racing to help his partner open a restaurant in North Carolina but he plans to return NASCAR’s Truck Series in 2014.

The now-defunct SPEED Network’s Race Hub recently profiled Stephen and his efforts to return to the track. With one small exception, Rhodes had no problems being out in the garage. "Everyone knew, everyone was aware; never really had any confrontations," Rhodes said to NASCAR Race Hub. "There was one, little incident that happened that I felt was geared towards who I was, more than anything. That kind of made me second-guess the sport for a second, but at the end of the day, it didn't really bother me."

But how would the people in the garage and the other drivers react?

In an exclusive interview with Queers4Gears, the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, Brad Keselowski said, “I don’t think anyone cares (if a driver is gay.) If you can win, you’ll have a ride in NASCAR.” Keselowski added, “If you can win, people will want to be a part of what you can do.”