Although I probably know the answer to the first one:<BR>

1)  Is it strictly blasphemy against Christianity?  Or any religion?  So would, say, a certain book that refers to a particularly religion's verses as being satanic be outlawed in Ireland?

2)  Kind of follows from the first one in a way.  Does that mean the Irish judges will now be deciding what is blasphemy or what isn't?  If they cast a wide net on affected religions, does that mean that they'll need to be theologians on several major religions for this law not be the so obviously biased for Christians?

3)  Scary freedom of speech backpedaling and medieval thinking resurgeance aside (two dumb enough reasons not to do this), is this a monumentally stupid law to pass in a country that not so long ago and for the longest time had half of the country at the other half's throat based on to which Christian sect they belonged?  The first Protestant judge that passes this judgement on a Catholic or vice versa will, I expect, be somewhat explosive.

You seem to be under the impression that the Russian retreat and drawing in of the Germans to Moscow was done on purpose. The massive encirclements of entire Russian armies would seem to contradict that assertion. They just have so much land and people that they can afford to lose more than most, and accidentally make the other "win himself to death".

That's exactly how I see it as well. I think the posters above can only calmly reach their conclusions by not really internalizing the fact that they're going to die. I did, and I wish I never had, because it's hard to think calmly about death after you've made that logically emotional leap (i.e., when you "realize" that what you've been thinking about this whole time is actually "real"). That's why I only go to bed when I'm really, really tired. I get to thinking about it when lying in bed, and it will keep me up all night.

And, you're right, the eternal afterlife is only slightly better, at least in a finite universe of slowly increasing entropy...

Sucks to realize this is all real. I really envy (as much as slashdotters ridicule) people that can take comfort in religion on the matter. There's no prize at the end for realizing the awful truth, and at least they'll be happier, on average, than I'll be during my short (always too short!) life.