Not in the least an ass hat; he's making the roads safer. Just because you are at a light doesn't mean you need to be paying attention to traffic. Pedestrians, emergency vehicle and morons can all cause situations to be aware of even while stopped. And I've been behind many people texting and don't realize the light has changed until I honk. You can accuse me of a "Get off my lawn" moment, But I, my family and friends use these roads and I don't think it too much to ask that people not be on the road and texting, stopped or not.

Reasonable non-believers say this "We can't prove God isn't real," at all the time; saying this "we acknowledge that the Bible is a complex work often misinterpreted and misused and intentionally misrepresented" should be done by anyone who ever makes a statement on that collection of works. The odds being infinity to one against the existence of the Christian god we feel quite confident and are justified in our presupposition, though honestly admit the universe could make no sense and is the plaything of a creator deity. WE are not making extraordinary claims, we need no extraordinary evidence. Prima facie evidence is quite sufficient to deny a benevolent all-powerful being. Because there are facts in the Bible does not mean it isn't more mythological than historical. There are facts and true events in Red Storm Rising but it is still fiction.

The problem with the reasonable Christians is that they provide cover for the extremists. If reasonable Christians would come out and say "Jesus, Heaven and Hell are all metaphors" and "we acknowledge much of the Bible is based upon earlier myths and not a factual text" we reasonable non-believers might cut you more slack....

Cost and accreditization.... do I win?

any news on the joys of 4 Diet Cokes a day?

Pandering to the uninformed is easy, pandering to the intelligent is not. FTFY

This is a constitutional republic where laws trump majority whims. There is a reason it is difficult to amend the Constitution and TJeff siad it well, "to protect against the tyranny of the majority." or something like that...

2000, it was hot!

Really funny stuff, I'd forgotten about Keith and I own quite a few of his paperbacks.

Oh to be a Silkie!

While Amber was wonderful, the first 5 being better than the second, Lord of Light and Jack of Shadows (aside from Dune but Herbert isn't underappreciated) are my very favorite works. I've lost count of how many times I've reread Lord of Light or how many copies from various publishers I own. Creatures of Light and Darkness ain't half bad either...

Why is it that every time someone brings up the paranormal UFOs get tossed into the heap like offhand jokes. Isn't it more unlikely that out of the 100's of billions of galaxies (know) containing 100s of billions of stars ours would be the only one with intelligent life? And if there is intelligent life and it managed to survive and thrive only 1000 years beyond ours, they could if they wanted travel interstellar maybe even intergalactic distances? What we don't know far exceeds what we do. We don't even know if we've found the elementary particles (strings) and how to do anything with the other 7 dimensions String Theory calls for. Quantum Mechanics says everything is possible, definitely not probable, but possible. I think I'd rather be on the open minded side and watch carefully than quickly deny anything...

Mack the sigless

PS and I've seen a damn UFO up close and I don't care what anyone else thinks ;)