I see where you fall on the issue. I said I take no opinion.

To play along though, (and I am talking about male circumcision, not female, which I do have an issue with) both irrevocably change the future of the child, and no pain is remembered. And they both make life a little less dangerous (long hair gets caught in stuff and uncircumcised men get more STDs)

To be honest, my first comment was hyperbole.

Nice turn. What I meant is that if you ask an oilfield worker that has spent time in the Middle East around the locals, and they are honest with you, they could tell you many Muslim men are gay, and it's not that secret.

It's my fault for replying seriously to a funny post.

There is one glaring fault with claiming pedophilia is as wrong as it is because it fails the 'consenting adults' test. pedophilia is so wrong simply because it is so damaging to the psyche of children. To a lesser extent it is because it harms them physically.

To say sex between an Adult and a child is wrong only because the child can't consent makes circumcision equally deplorable (I am aware that there are some that have the view it is evil/bad, I take no opinion) Really it also would be equal to piercing ears of a minor or cutting a kid's hair, they can't 'consent' to what is done to their bodies.

Let me explain something. If you don't respect someone, you can't really love them. Therefore, in a group of people where all the males are taught to actively not respect women men will not be able to love women. So the love will be going to who they respect, other men. And with that love comes sex.

It's no real secret that there are a lot of 'gay' men in Muslim countries, just ask anyone who has spent time really embedded with them.

The same would be true of any group, such as those fundie 'Christians' that also teach no respect for women.

Two words: Facebook

No, No, and No. NYC is New York City, New York, USA, and there are no Walmarts in the five boroughs. There are a few out of the actual city limits, but not inside. We are talking about the "Walmart" that Sam Walton started and and now has gone so far from his ideal. None in NYC

HEB? That's a good store. I like it because nowhere else have I found such a selection of beers.

Just for you:

I thumped a bible, and I liked it,
The feel of its firm paper,
I thumped a bible just to try it,
I hope slashdot don't mind it,
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm in love tonight
I thumped a bible and I liked it
I liked it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k Sorry about the wait, but here it is.

This reminds me of the "Telephone" game. Start by saying something in one person's ear and go in a circle. What do you get at the end? Not the same story. Now, let's try a variation of this with something modern. Like JFK's assassination. Most people agree he was shot and killed, but that is where the agreement ends. But it still happened. So if you have 200+ different stories, but they all agree on flood and humans survive, 1)expect differences and 2) they might be onto something.

Or another way, 200 people run out of a building and tell you, "there's a fire" and then you get 4 or 5 different basic scenarios from the 200.... It's highly likely that there is a fire.

Depends on how finely you want to separate them. Hundreds are known. Hawaii natives, Alaska Natives, Iceland, French Polynesia, East Africa, Cuban natives. The list goes on.

I think a better analogy would be to be reading a list of the 'sins' of the pope in Vatican City vs reading the 'sins' of the members of "the commission of grand clerics" in Mecca. Probably both will get you the attention of police or ardents. Probably you would fare worse in the Kingdom.

You know what I find interesting. In Iraq, only recently has there been problems of AQI vs Christians. The whole civil war there was Muslim vs Muslim.

Here is a question for you, if Iraq was 90% "Christian," everything else being the same in 2003, would there have been Operation Iraqi freedom? Why or why not?

On a more personal note, no one in my immediate family has been attacked by muslims b/c of their religion, while my father has been physically attacked by "christians" b/c of his religion. And that in good ole' A-Merica!!

Why not religion in general? We know what the extremists believe and how they work, but what about the Catholic Church? That Baptist church down the street? Buddhism, Hinduism or the more mystical animistic religions. And Islam too. What do the leaders of religions do behind closed doors when no one (but $Deity) is listening?

One thing to do is to help people see that they would be better served if they didn't "believe" in something without just cause. Like a political party line, or a preacherman's teachings or a big bank's advertisements. People have great credulity when it comes to "their" congressman/pastor/banker/etc.

What Wikileaks is doing may rectify that. When there is a realization that trust in the powerful is misplaced... Now, if you timed that with the removal of 'bread and circuses,' Oh My!