Completely missed the point. LOD wasn't preaching from the pulpit, as you seem to have interpreted (ease up) - rather he was replying to RP in the language and with the knowledge of the basic tenets of the faith RP professes. And the obvious contradiction. How would you have debated Einstein re E=mc2 without speaking math?

A plague on both your houses. Jesus Christ laid down a commandment that there be a wall of separation between religion and politics/state. And then he acted on it to show how it should be implemented.

First, the commandment: render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Not a parable or a suggestion: a commandment.

Second, acting on that commandment: driving the money changers out of the temple.

Anyone who calls themselves a "Christian," and mixes their religion in politics, or v. v., is a hypocrite, apostate, or heretic. Get religion out of politics, and politics out of religion. Jesus Christ commanded it.

Well lets see how much Obama was bought for...what ever the amount we didn't get our money's worth cause Obama is an inferior product.

What's your point? So you agree that Rick is easily bought.

Pres. Obama is a good man who is actually trying to help America. He compromises because he actually cares about America. You cannot say that about Rick Perry, Tea Party or any of the Republicans. They only care about themselves and the money they make with these large corporations. I don't think you can buy Pres. Obama, he beyond that. I am sure Rick Perry has been bought many times. Pres. Obama is a good president. He is trying really hard to clean up Pres. Bush's mess that he left us with. That is going to take a miracle of Biblical proportions to clean up Bush's selfish mess. It's not fair how Pres. Obama is being treated. You expect him to wave a magic wand and it happen over night. I am sorry it doesn't work that way.

sandi377- YOU sound as stupid as Michele Bauchmann, she was asked about $2.00 gas prices, and her answer was about HEALTHCARE!!!!! (Obamacare). If any republican is asked: What would you do about trade policies to France? republican answer: Obama had imported French bread on his pizza last night, and it cost the American tax payers $28,500..........{knowing full well, that's the amount Rick Perry can be bribed with} republicans are a disgrace to this country..

My point is that Obama has been one of the worse presidents that the US has ever had. Ya'll lefties and progressives need to wake up and smell the coffee. The country has not improved but gotten worse since Obama took office. Back in 2007
when he was running for president his 'hope and change' message peaked my
interest as it did many voters, but quite frankly his 'hope and change' was
hoping that the American public wouldn't notice that he was trying change us into
a socialistic country . I was opened minded when he took office, but
as the polls say America is not happy with the direction he is taking the
country.

Bush is the worst President we ever had. There is nothing wrong with Socialism. There is nothing wrong with wanting people have access to free healthcare. There is nothing wrong with wanting to end poverty and hunger. Capitalism is broken and it doesn't work.

If I ever need to buy his influence, I want to know approximately what it will set me back.

Standing Turtle there aint nothing free in this world. Somebody somewhere's gotta pay for that 'free healthcare'. Nothing wrong with Socialism...just look at Greece and Spain for starters. You need to pull your head out of that shell and take a history lesson.

The problem in Greece is the Capitalistic part of the Economy. There is greed and corruption. Capitalism is broken. That is why its failing. We can do free healthcare and education if we put the people first and have the right motives.

The problem in Greece wasn't the capitalistic part of the economy it was because the economy couldn't afford the free handouts that the population had become accustom to receiving and demanded to continue (thus the riots).

We can do free healthcare and education if we put the people first and have the right motives.

As stated before nothing is free...somebody somewhere has to pay for the healthcare and education that you call free. People do deserve healthcare and education but not free healthcare and education. They should be required to pay for what they receive. I'm all for helping those that have hit on hard times but I don't want to permanently support those who take advantage of the system and think that the government owes them a living.

Healthcare is a basic human right. They have a right to get healthcare just as the rich do. No it is wrong to take advantage of people who is suffering. Capitalism takes advantage of people's suffering. That's why you collect taxes to pay for it.

Sweden spends less than half as much per capita on health care than the US does and has a lower infant mortality rate. Denmark has a net account surplus and a AAA credit rating. You never get a bill for going to the doctor or going to school or even most colleges in either country.

There is no country with a purely socialist or purely capitalist economy. But Scandinavian countries are certainly toward one end of the scale. And in many respects they seem to be doing better than us. Big bad socialism!

Yes, Scandinavian economies have high taxes. Greece's tax rates are fairly high as well. The problem in Greece is that they have a very hard time actually collecting taxes due to outright tax evasion and lax enforcement of a huge underground economy.

You might conclude the Greeks aren't taxed enough, if you were willing to admit that there is such a thing, and that "taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society."

Is there such a thing as being taxed too little? If you answer no, you might be an anarchist.

George: Insightful, well written, great information with comparative context.

richard,

very excellent point.

Wrong on all points.

Aparently Jeff gets his news from Oxyrush.

It is nice having someone to blame, which is why I am blaming the Tea Party and the House Republicans.

Hey Jeff, If you had taken the time to RAISE your OWN KIDS, instead of expecting teachers, and celebrities to do your job, maybe your kids would look up to YOU. They too have probably listen to YOU, blame everyone, and everything on everybody. I don't blame your kids for using teachers, rap stars, drug dealers, and celebrities as their role models. Your kid obviously feel their chosen role models have MORE decentsencey, and integrity than YOU do. By the way; Education started to crumble under Reagen. DEFUNDING {taking away} education is a priority with republicans. SO, Jeff remember when YOU!!!vote republican, YOU!!!!! vote money OUT of YOUR KIDS/GRANDS, NIECE, NEPHEW, COUSIN, etc. school SYSTEMS....................

And what is the parents resposibility?

jeff warren,

i think you are the pot calling the kettle black.

It's the Republicans under bush that has dumb down our education system. It's the Republicans who want to teach Revisionist history and Abstinence only sex ed. It's the Republicans who want to defund education and is firing our teachers at break-neck speeds causing over crowding in the classroom. Corporal Punishment was taken out of school because school officials were abusing the kids. It was taken out to protect kids. Any punishment should be left up to the parents and the parents only. No school official has a right to touch a child. Children has no respect for authority because the parents don't teach them respect. You cannot blame a liberal for bad parenting especially since we fund Parenting Classes to teach Parents how to be better parents. I don't like rap as the next person, BUT we live in America and everyone is entitled to their free speech. it we are going to start penalizing hate speech than we need to start with Christians and their hate speech against gays. Now we know how much we want the government in our religions. It's best to leave somethings alone. People has a right to say what they want. It we start censorship it will never end. We can nitpick everything. That's why we don't allow censorship. Who gets to decide what to censor? The Christians who would discriminate against everyone who wasn't a Christian? Our leaders who cannot agree? You are oping a can worms that we do not want to open. Liberals tend to be more open minded. We know when we are being lied. Republicans invoke the name of God and every believes that somehow they speak for God. Christians also believe that God somehow put them power. I think its best to think for one self and not buy the lies and propaganda that the Republicans shove down our throats. Not sure why your blaming us for drugs. The war on Drugs not working. We are spending money hand over fist to fight drugs and we are not doing anything to slow it down. Whatever happened to DARE. I thought that was a successful program that got defunded by Bush. DARE could have worked better with more funding and training. Sorry but you have just been debunked.

ST: I love your passion and your focus. You have a thoughtful point of view.

@Jeff warren-4102867 I'm a liberal, (and an Infantry Veteran with over 10 years of service) and out of my 9 kids (4 graduated from college so far), I've got 3 engineers, one that's currently in college for engineering (all got scholarships because of their grades and their hard work), 3 more that are in high school with straight A's in all AP, Honors and IB classes. Two of them are still in Elementary School, so we don't know how they're going to turn out yet, but I have high hopes.

None of them 'look up to gang members and drug dealers'. Even with all that rap and no corporal punishment, they're doing just fine. They respect authority, but they have also been taught to question everything. It's called Critical Thinking... and it's the mirror opposite of blindly following in lockstep. (a conservative trait).

A lot of the 'issues' you have with the world today that you're blaming on liberals have nothing to do with politics, and much more to do with the military and prison industrial complexes, and socioeconomic realities, mostly brought on by conservative policies.

You're also blaming liberals for stuff that the 'conservatives' are guilty of. We're not the borderline fascist moral absolutists that you are.

Oh... and why don't you just say what you mean... if it weren't for all them damn rappers (aka black folks), this would be a great (aryan) nation again.

Like the one last night? The jury was told, because he was black he was likely to kill again. Or the one tonight when they discovered one witness lied, one recanted his testemony? The prosecutor was convinced of his innocence. 67 people on death row have been exonerated. Prior to execution thank god. Our justice system is too "imperfect" to have the death penalty. There is NO need for it. It costs over $2million in legal fees. Far more than a life without parole sentance. There have been 24 people executed, found inocent after the execution. That is unacceptable.

Thou shalt not kill.

Aaron, you made an excellent point about Pontius Pilate. Let me make sure I understand, It's okay for us Christians to kill the ones without our values or violates them?

aaron,

just because someone has been found guilty in a court of law does not mean that the TRUTH has come to light. you simply cannot tell me that with the high number of executions that have occured under perry, that innocent people have not been executed. executing innocent people is a risk we take when we impose a penalty with death, this is unavoidable, and is a very high price to pay for an innocent man.

in 2004 perry allowed the execution of a likely innocent man, and then he impeded an investigation into the matter. in 2004 cameron willingham was executed in huntsville, texas after being convicted of arson and the murder of his 3 children. even after significant evidence emerged showing that the fire could not have been started by arson, (thus exonarating willingham), perry refused to give a stay of execution. willingham could have saved his own life by "admitting" guilt, but he refused to do so, as he was an innocent man. 5 years after willingham was executed, a report from the texas forensic science commission investigator found that the fire could not have been arson. as the commission prepared to hear testimony from the investigator in oct., 2009, perry quickly fired and replaced 3 of its members, forcing an indefinite delay in the hearing (scott keyes).

mike d.,

very execellent point.

oanda,

the extreme right, the so called "christian right" who interprets the bible to their beliefs as it pertains to gays and women, and abortion, have completely "overridden" though shalt not kill.

Aaron, Excellent point! The man that was freed was Barrabas, his name actually meant Son of God. Just a little interesting knowledge on a side note.

Oanda, Thou shalt not murder! Murder comes from hatred and coldness in the heart. From a biblical standpoint, there is a difference between murder and killing. Additionally, Jesus said let Ceasar's be Ceasar's, and we are to follow man's law as long as it does not interfere with the will of God/God's law. If the law says that a man who brutally rapes a 7 year old child and then murders that child, he shall then be put to death; then I will not oppose. Exodus 21:12 "Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall be put to death" and Leviticus 24:17 "If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death". There is no interpretations there, it is what it is. Read the Bible before you start persecuting Christians. Like it or not, gonna pray for God to open your eyes and warm your heart so that the Holy Spirit may enrich your soul with delight in the truth!

Well, actually, according to the laws and authority of the time, he was in volation and execution was the penalty...absolutely the same thing, except that Texas courts and prosecution is more corrupt and likely to kill innocent people.

Personally I see no evidence than any of the Jesus myth has any basis in fact.

He was not throwing all of you/us under the bus. I can assure you. He was throwing RP under the bus, which is way less a verdict that the one RP is surely on his way to receiving. And by the way, fear not, God and Christ need no defense - do they?

I didn't see Lawrence throwing your under the bus but also don't see people like your standing up to the hate they spill, your sit back and don't say a word.

minority of fundamentalists who try to identify political policies with religion

Are you referring to the Tea Party minority or some other?

Lawrence is not the problem.

Correct, Lawrence is not the problem.

Fundamentalism in any discipline contributes to the creation of probems, such as accepting the cancer of Economic machinations produced by the University of Chicago alongside a citizenry that lacks an education in economic history, which includes our business graduates.

Brand Politics is also a problem: Brand politics uses perception management to
appear as its Brand so that whoever is purchasing them can wield economic policies that is anathema to the American Economic system of Economy (see: Dr.
William K. Black and Dr. Michael Hudson). Citizens must use discernment to look beyond the Brand to see what type of Economics is being wielded. Many
politicians who are branded Conservative are actually supporting NeoLiberal economics to usher in NeoFeudalism (i.e.,Koch Bros, SCOTUS Corporations actually persons). Where does the discernment come from? Economic History.

Both parties are not immune to this, and apparently neither is SCOTUS.

The problem is Brand Politics being used to disguisewhatever brand of Economics is being shoved down Americans throats. I believe Lawrence is aware of this but I do not see any news moderator separating this mushed perception. What do you call a Conservative politician wielding economic policies that produce a failed
state such as Chile? Current Republican, some Democrats and Tea Party fit this
support of NeoFeudalism. Unregulated Capitalism leads to Feudalism.

Unregulated Capitalism leads to Feudalism

How does capitalism lead to feudalism? Are you saying that feudalism is latent to capitalism; feudalism is nascent to capitalism? What is feudalistic about capitalism? How are you making a jump from capitalism to feudalism?

Capitalism creates a working class dependent on the jobs created by the Rich. The rich pay the working class enough to keep them poor without allowing them to advance. So in essence they are creating a slave class. There is no trickle down economics. They are purposely keeping the poor poor. They make education impossible for the poor to get. That is why Capitalism doesn't work. It creates a poor class that keeps them poor and a rich class that keeps them rich.

ST: good clarification of the Rev. Why should the wealthy care at all: the poor do not vote, certainly not republican?

Poor people tend to vote Democratic because the those Rich Republicans look down their noses at us. lol

Wealthy people do not care. They have all they need. You heard them on the Tea Party debate yelling that person who doesn't have health insurance should be allowed to die.

Richard, the jump should be questioned as, how did capitalism emerge from feudalism (in recent history), you might also toss in some history of mercantilism? That being said,

The Rich are wholly Dependent on the Market, capital and the Ponzi schemes of debt created by the miracle of compound interest. They are also Dependent on the almost wholly parasitic financial sector and banking ponzi schemes: they couldn't lift themselves up by their own bootstraps (to use their own words).

Currently the Financial Sector seems to be able to prove that it has no responsibility for debt by rewriting the laws through the purchase of politicians and currently our Supremem Court.

The day a person is able to give birth to themselves and then, when they lift both feet up off the ground and don't fall on their rear-end, I might give more creedence to the delusion of their statements of being independent.

Since when are banks and financial institutions able to absolve themselves from the responsibilities of debts they wrote and how did they accomplish this act of getting people to believe this nonsense?

You might consider this article for some good knowledge:

"Why the “Miracle of Compound Interest” leads to Financial Crises" There is also a good writing by Michael Parenti and Capital Imperialism which I am sure you can find on google.

All this over an idea that does not exist: what evidence is there that money actually exists at all? Could belief in this apparition be the underlying reason for all the trouble and irrationality in the world? Nor is the Market a Miracle, it is an EFFECT not Cause, at from my viewpoint in my small corner of the Universe. But that takes us to the topic of the evolution of consciousness which is outside of the current discussion.

BTW, I am one of the voting poor. Time for some coffee...

jeanne,

the republicans want everyone to believe and live the same way they do, and they will go to any lengths to do it, and blatantly so. look at what they are doing to voting rights in the states where republicans are a majority. now we see in pennsylvania how they are trying to change the electoral vote.

the republicans are using christianity to manipulate and coerce voters. because we are a "chrisstian" nation, this is a very easy way to capture the attention of people who already consider themselves christian, and who want to do the "right", godly thing.

it is very easy to catch someone who is already in a cage.

"Christianity" is the Tea Party cover for its totalitarian, authoritarian, medieval ideology: How can anyone argue against God?

That's not God. They are just masquerading as God.

The "moral majority" is neither as the slogan goes.

Is your point that those who serve in the armed forces do not respect the President? Because it is not an obvious point for those of us who respect the man and the Office. You have never served in the military have you?

That's great, Greg! I just pray that it will be true.

Obama's change has damaged this country, I just hope we can repair it quickly!

Totally agree!!!

thats right, chris, demand an apology. that way you get what you want, even though he may not be sincere. but that's OK, as long as you get what you want.

if you are sure in your beliefs, you would not feel threatened by someone else expressing their opinion.

why do you all find it so difficult to let others have their beliefs?

if you feel so strongly that lawrence is blasphemous to all christians, say a prayer for him, and let it go.

why do you feel the need to express your anger over what he said? is it because you disagree with what and/or how he said it?

does lawrence have to express things in exactly the way you see them to get your approval?

i don't think he loses much sleep.

Chris

I don't lose sleep either. Blasphemer? Is that like infidel? Do you want to blow me and LO'D up, or burn us the stake? Islamic fundamentalism bad; Christian fundamentalism good. Right?

Exactly what do you know? As opposed to what you BELIEVE? Must I believe the way you do? Am I allowed to express an opinion? So much for the Bill of Rights. This is what the Founders were afraid of.

People in this country who don't agree with the Religious Right agenda get insulted EVERY DAY. And I'm getting really tired of people, however well-meaning and sympathetic, who tell me I'm going to hell. How about apologizing to ME for that?

I have plenty of hope. I hope this country isn't taken over by a bunch of ill-informed, pandered-to, small-minded dupes.

Some of the reactionary, politically motivated, fundamentalist wingnuts are reading the Bible like it is Machiavelli's Prince. The "meek shall inherit the earth": not if the Tea Party has anything to say about it.