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2000000!
FreeRepublic ^ | April 11, 2008 | JR

Posted on 04/11/2008 5:47:55 AM PDT by Squidpup

Happy 2000000!


TOPICS: Breaking News; Free Republic
KEYWORDS: 2000000; fr; monkeyfacerules; penguinhumor; peopleare4snacks; sionnsar; undead
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To: Darksheare

It crossed space and time?
D*mmit, I thought I told the staff to stop playing with that quantum generator.


1,621 posted on 05/22/2008 6:24:52 PM PDT by darkangel82 (If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. (Say no to RINOs))
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To: All; NicknamedBob; Monkey Face; Gator113; LibreOuMort; Jim Robinson
Stopping the bleed

Folks, not to raise a serious issue on the Undead Thread but I have observed recent departures from FR of apparent conservatives over issues in which we may disagree but which should not divide us. I confess to having become an initiator of such an instance -- I have a number of Iranian friends who have (pro-American) family Back There, and so bombing Iran into the Stone Age does not sit well with me. 'Face, I think you could say the same about Afghanistan.

NnBob (a really good guy, IMHO) is not happy with my take on a particular film and has been rather silent of late: here I am caught between two sides, NnBob's on one side and a former girlfriend's (among other folks I know) on the other. Neither side holds a position I am in agreement with.

I lose with both. So it seems I lose any way I turn, unless I practice self-censorship, never express my opinion on FR, and pretend to be something other than what I am. In that case I lose too, and FR becomes just as unfree as the rest of country is rapidly becoming.

Intolerance seems to be becoming the order of the day with Free Republic. Okay, it's your right on your site, but I reserve the right to depart.

If we conservatives cannot hang together whatever our differences, we may well hang separately when the libs take control.

1,622 posted on 05/22/2008 6:25:21 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: Das Outsider
"&."

I am sorry. We did not recognize your response. Please enter and try again.

1,623 posted on 05/22/2008 6:27:18 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: sionnsar
I am sorry. We did not recognize your response. Please enter and try again.

Orange.
1,624 posted on 05/22/2008 6:30:14 PM PDT by Das Outsider ("There's nothing so odd about that: Kemal Ataturk had an entire menagerie named 'Abdul!'")
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To: darkangel82
D*mmit, I thought I told the staff to stop playing with that quantum generator.

It was probably the new guy. You know--Steve.


1,625 posted on 05/22/2008 6:33:28 PM PDT by Das Outsider ("There's nothing so odd about that: Kemal Ataturk had an entire menagerie named 'Abdul!'")
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To: Das Outsider
Orange.

I am sorry. We did not recognize your response. Please enter and try again.

1,626 posted on 05/22/2008 6:33:46 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: sionnsar
So it seems I lose any way I turn, unless I practice self-censorship, never express my opinion on FR, and pretend to be something other than what I am. In that case I lose too, and FR becomes just as unfree as the rest of country is rapidly becoming.

If you aren't free to present opinions in your characteristically respectful and polite manner, is it really worth it? Believe me, I am well aware that such things are easier said than done in personal relationships.

What is the major obstacle to you expressing your views on FR?
1,627 posted on 05/22/2008 6:39:26 PM PDT by Das Outsider ("There's nothing so odd about that: Kemal Ataturk had an entire menagerie named 'Abdul!'")
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To: sionnsar
I am sorry. We did not recognize your response. Please enter and try again.

"Kemal Ataturk, the Man," by E. W. Swanton with a foreword by Paul Anka, page 91, please.
1,628 posted on 05/22/2008 6:41:56 PM PDT by Das Outsider ("There's nothing so odd about that: Kemal Ataturk had an entire menagerie named 'Abdul!'")
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To: rottndog; Tax-chick
This was my pepper field.

This was my corn field.

I didn't home till about two hours after the storm passed.

1,629 posted on 05/22/2008 7:08:38 PM PDT by ThomasThomas
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To: ThomasThomas

Wow....

Still raining heavily in the cow patties...I may be socked in for the night. There was a tornado not too far away in Corona.


1,630 posted on 05/22/2008 7:27:57 PM PDT by rottndog (Globull Warming "Science" = garbage in, gospel out.)
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To: sionnsar; Das Outsider; Tax-chick; NicknamedBob; Monkey Face; rottndog; fanfan; Darksheare; ...
My FRiends...

This conversation may become uncomfortable, but I think Sion is certainly correct: that it is a conversation we must have, nonetheless. If all would please secure their life jacekets and keep a tight grip on their oars, we've some whitewater just ahead.

Now...

It is my personal observation that the polarization of the world is becoming more marked in its advance.

Issue, by issue, by ones and by twos, individuals are being divided, and formed into new groups, with the eventual goal being to have just two: one unified, the other chaotic.

We do not see it in “satellite view”, as it were, but only from our individual position, and, of course, each of us desires greatly to find ourselves identified with “the Right Group”, when all’s said and done.

So, this is what makes the divisions so, er, divisive. If you and I are separated over an issue, the desire we each have to be a member of “the right Group” exerts great pressure upon both of us to establish the “rightness” of the groups of which we are members, respectively.

Well, how can I establish that MY group is right, unless I establish that YOUR group is less right, not right, or dead wrong?

So that's one aspect of this.

The other is the personal relationships between us. I have had some really decent friendships with people I disagree with; often sharply. During my High School years I was friends with, and regularly debated issues with a staunch Democrat. He and I mutually consider each other's group to be “wrong”, and our own groups to be “right”, but that unspoken assessment didn't destroy our friendship.

I have a former co-worker whom I just had lunch with, today, who is a centrist Democrat. We disagree about several things, but we still have a good relationship, and enjoy the conversations, and the times we spend together. First of all, there are FAR more aspects to life in which we share common interest, and agree about what's fun, what's enjoyable, what's reasonable, than just the political arena. Second, I think we mutually respect one another to a greater degree than the disagreements we have over various issues.

At the day's end, though, I can only control me. Hard as I may try, if my friend decides that he disagrees with me over a particular issue so greatly that he can no longer respect me...all I can do is say, “I'm sorry you respect me so little. I had hoped our friendship was stronger than that.”

In the end, we will each find ourselves a part of one group or the other. I know the “ID” of the one group, and I've a good idea about the “ID” of the other.

My take is this: if I regard you with sufficient respect that only that last, and FINAL division could separate us, then I have a platform sound enough to weather disagreements about everything short of that.

If, in the end, you will not find yourself rejecting God to His face, then my position is that nothing short of that is worth separating over. It might require plenty of effort to keep the wheels on, but at least I'll be working with the understanding that — ultimately — we're on the same side of things. which will lend me the strength to persist.

If you would — or have already — rejected The Almighty, I'm sorry, but all bets are off as to the longevity of our relationship.

In these last days desperate times are coming, and the love, the respect, and the amicability in the hearts of a great many will turn very cold, indeed. Mankind will actualize being self-centered, greedy, haughty, mocking, treacherous, sneering, disparaging, ungrateful, infernal, heartless, intractable, unforgiving, malicious, banal, vain, and lascivious haters of God.

In the face of that, what friendship can endure?

I say, only that friendship which shares, at it's summit, an indestructible zeal for YHVH The Bridegroom God.

Mark me well. Time will prove my words.

1,631 posted on 05/22/2008 7:50:45 PM PDT by HKMk23 (Only The Tribulation is a crucible sufficient to the emergence of a Bride fit for her Bridegroom God)
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To: HKMk23

Well said. We all have our differences, but we get along, for the most part anyway. The ones I will never be able to tolerate are the Hillary/Obama types, I just can’t get past what those two want to do to this country.


1,632 posted on 05/22/2008 8:22:22 PM PDT by darkangel82 (If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. (Say no to RINOs))
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To: darkangel82; sionnsar; Das Outsider; NicknamedBob; Tax-chick; Monkey Face; rottndog
The ones I will never be able to tolerate are the Hillary/Obama types, I just can’t get past what those two want to do to this country.

Understood.

But at what point do you discard a relationship with someone?

You very likely have current relationships with people who, unbeknownst to you, are going to vote for Hillary or Obama. What do you do to them if (when?) you find that out?

THAT's the kind of thing we're talking about here; how deep a division over issues -- or AN issue in particular -- is too great a division to bridge with mutual respect, and amicability?

And...AND, in the event that I determine the gulf of disagreement to be too vast to preserve the relationship, what does my willingness to throw that relationship under the bus say about me??

I cannot help but be struck by the fact that God valued His ability to have a relationship with ME sufficiently to pay an awfully HUGE price to build a bridge sufficient to span the gulf between us.

In the face of that, how am I at liberty to throw my relationships with others under the bus over lesser quibbles??

And please note that I'm not talking about insisting on proper boundaries in relationships that require them, but I'm talking about the dissolution of relationships, and what that communicates about the values we claim to uphold.

None of this is to say that I'm the repository for "the right answer", here. But I present all of this in hope of driving us to consider the whole panorama at a far deeper level than we may be thinking about it presently.

1,633 posted on 05/22/2008 8:44:55 PM PDT by HKMk23 (Only The Tribulation is a crucible sufficient to the emergence of a Bride fit for her Bridegroom God)
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To: All

All, I intend to revisit this tomorrow but for tonight I am gone. Slainte


1,634 posted on 05/22/2008 8:50:02 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: sionnsar

— “Stopping the bleed” —

I am not on one side. I am on multiple sides.

I can see the arguments and dilemmas from multiple points of view. I look at the Rubik’s Cube from the inside.

I look at life from the other side of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall, where my name is engraved. That tends to make you think.

We can agree, or we can disagree. But we must disagree agreeably. Strong opinions need not lead to strong language. We must take the time to tell our viewpoint well and convincingly.

Confidence and bluster are equally useless in expanding the sphere of reasonable opinion. What counts are reasoned and reasonable points of discussion, experiences and cautionary tales. Patience is the watchword. If you find yourself losing patience in a mental tug-of-war, it’s usually because you are on slippery ground in your discussions.

Note: This is not a lecture. It’s a soliloquy. When I say “you”, I mean “me”.


1,635 posted on 05/22/2008 8:58:06 PM PDT by NicknamedBob (Note: -- This is not a lecture. It’s a soliloquy. When I say “you”, I mean “me”.)
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To: sionnsar; Monkey Face; Darksheare; rottndog; Das Outsider; HKMk23

Not singling you out, Sionnsar. I meant to add names to the post above.


1,636 posted on 05/22/2008 9:00:26 PM PDT by NicknamedBob (Note: -- This is not a lecture. It’s a soliloquy. When I say “you”, I mean “me”.)
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To: HKMk23

My family will vote “D” as they always do, despite my attempts to convince them otherwise (although can’t really blame them, no one is buying what McCain sells) so we just don’t discuss it.


1,637 posted on 05/22/2008 9:20:34 PM PDT by darkangel82 (If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. (Say no to RINOs))
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To: darkangel82

Gah! Tagline virus!


1,638 posted on 05/22/2008 9:32:27 PM PDT by NicknamedBob (Note: -- This is not a lecture. ItÂ’s a soliloquy. When I say 'you', I mean 'me'.)
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To: NicknamedBob

Grrrr!

Seeing yourself as others see you can be a curse as well as a blessing. Some things need editing!


1,639 posted on 05/22/2008 9:35:54 PM PDT by NicknamedBob (Note: -- This is not a lecture. It's a soliloquy. When I say 'you', I mean 'me'.)
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To: NicknamedBob; sionnsar; Monkey Face; Darksheare; rottndog; Das Outsider; Tax-chick; darkangel82
We can agree, or we can disagree. But we must disagree agreeably.

I emphatically agree. Regardless of occasions where I am guilty of transgressing this boundary of decorum, it remains no less a minimum standard.

If you find yourself losing patience in a mental tug-of-war, it’s usually because you are on slippery ground in your discussions.

I would say that you would be correct in asserting "slippery ground" as "a cause" for a loss of patience, but not as "usually because", and certainly not "only because".

For eaxample, I think we've probably all had the kind of conversation where the basis of our position in incontrovertible fact could not prevail in the mind of the other party. In such cases, we lose patience not because we're on slippry ground, but because we are unable, by any means within our capacity, to get the light of Truth to penetrate the concrete. We insist -- because it is True -- that 1+1=2, and the other party throws up something like, "But isn't 3 an integer, too? And what about a variable, like 'a'? Wouldn't it be less discriminatory to say 1+1=a??"

Extreme example, I know, but you get the drift.

It isn't only the sense of positional weakness that makes us cross over into impatience; sometimes it's the bona fide lack of intellect in our opponents; though probably a WHOLE lot less often than someone else would think if they could hear what we mutter under our breath.

;-)

We must always keep before us bits of sgacity like:

The size of a man is measured by the size of the thing that makes him angry.
The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
It is the SECOND angry word that constitutes a quarrel.

[Insert personal catalog of quotes, here]

BOTTOM LINE: If we would entertain a hope to win the other to right-eousness, we'd best keep our tempers.

1,640 posted on 05/22/2008 10:16:42 PM PDT by HKMk23 (Only The Tribulation is a crucible sufficient to the emergence of a Bride fit for her Bridegroom God)
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