I’ve tried about six times over the previous 36 hours to post a comment or two on Charlie (Colorado) Martin’s thread about Brit Hume on Buddhism. All to no avail.

In the meantime, I’ve had no such problems posting comments on Ed Driscoll’s thread about WMD definition flexibility. Coincidence? Charlie would like to think so, but after a while that ‘explanation’ seems to wear a tad ‘thin’.

At any rate, Markus on Charlie’s thread asked an interesting question about God and Hell.

Please explain to me why any soul deserves to be damned to hell, rather than simply being extinguished or punished for a finite period of time.—Markus

I tried to answer it. Here is what I tried to tell him.....

Tried posting this comment to Charlie over on Pajamas Media.

Tried three times. But NOT ONE of them appeared. However, my complaints about the disappearances appeared. Gotta wonder about the ‘selectiveness’ of the ‘moderation’ and (1) just WHO is doing it and (2) WHY.

At any rate, here’s the copy that would post THERE.....

So Amy has had a book published about ‘rude’ people and how she deals with them.

I only found out about it by visiting the blog operated by Dr. Helen Smith, who mentioned the book.

So I commented on my opinion of how Amy deals with ‘rude’ people, i.e., by ‘killing’ them. You can read the thread I See Rude People, HERE.

At any rate, Amy came back at me with a comment. And I promised her a reply to her comment to be published today.

For some ‘strange reason’, I can’t publish my reply at Dr. Helen’s blog.

So....

....I publish it here....

....it’s hard as hell to go anyplace?

I got into a discussion with one of the participants there. But for some ‘strange reason’, my comments were being selectively disallowed. I have no idea of what the criteria being used for allowance was, but when I addressed the meat of the issue, my comments would not appear. When I addressed otherwise ‘innocuous’ matters, they would. This was on a web-site offered up by ‘Blogger’.

Well....to make a long story short....I’m offering my reply to br549 HERE.....

I’ve had a LOT of fun being a ‘critic’, i.e., judge, at such competitions. And I’ve learned a lot too.

One of the things I’ve learned is that there are a lot of intelligent and articulate people coming down the pike, in the form of the next generation. More than I had hoped, based on all the reports of behaving badly we keep getting from the ‘media’. Another thing learned is what the schools are teaching. Some of that is not as good as I had hoped. But that’s another topic.

What I’d like to do here is offer the opportunity to everyone who reads this to join a group of people interested in (1) helping the coming generation, (2) learning about history and current events, (3) humor and drama, (4) logical, civil discussion, (5) possiblly politics and (6) fun.

What does it take? Well. There are requirements. Some are specified. Others are implied. Here are a few:

• An ability to write plainly. The critique sheets require you state your judgment of each contestant.
• An unbiased observation. You need to set aside your political and moral judgments and just listen to what is being said and how it is said in order to evaluate a competition as fairly as possible.
• A stop watch or other timer.
• 3x5 cards with numbers to show the contestant how much time they have remaining.
• Understanding the ‘Rules’. Which can be downloaded from CHSAA’s Speech Web-Site.
• Time to spend on Saturdays and some occasional Fridays. The Fridays come in later in the season for the state championships and national qualifications events.

Events are held all over the state by just about every district. Some driving may be required. For example, if you want to judge an event in Colorado Springs ore the state championships, which frequently occur in northern Colorado. [Note: The location of this year’s state championship is yet to be determined.]

If you enjoy good acting you’ll love the interpretive events of humor and drama.

If you like to follow current events, you’ll get a kick out of extemporaneous speech, which comes in two flavors national and international.

If you like the cut and thrust of a head-to-head competition of wills, you’ll be blown away by debate. REM’s famous It’s the End of the World As We Know It was based on watching a Cross-Examination Competition. The speed at which the verses are sung is indicative of how fast some of the debaters in Cross-X present. But don’t be intimidated. There are also Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas debate forms as well. But they’re all interesting.

If you want more information, drop me a line by clicking on my name.

So here goes....

Check out THIS REPORT.....

Disagree with them in an effective manner and they will try to silence you, one way or another. Even to the point of ‘killing’ you. For example, we have....

Christine Taylor, a 34-year-old New Jersey shopper, vowed never to step foot in another Whole Foods again.

I’ve even seen it in this town, where neighbors said they were all for Susan’s run for the state legislature, but they couldn’t contribute any money to her campaign for fear of the retribution from their fellow ‘liberals’.

UPDATE: This business reminds me of ‘shunning’. That old scorning and distancing of someone by those hard-core fundamentalists. Sooooo.....

......does this make ‘progressives’ latter-day ‘puritans’?

When do the witch burnings begin? 

I thought my reply too lengthy to take up his band-with and also that it should be seen by more than just the people on that thread.

So here ya go.....