Give that man a cigar!Originally Posted by Slyspy
Exactly how I feel about it. If he feels that God should be his judge, then he should have become a priest, not a politician, ney a leader, of an advanced liberal democracy.
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
Give that man a cigar!
Exactly how I feel about it. If he feels that God should be his judge, then he should have become a priest, not a politician, ney a leader, of an advanced liberal democracy.
There are times I wish they’d just ban everything- baccy and beer, burgers and bangers, and all the rest- once and for all. Instead, they creep forward one apparently tiny step at a time. It’s like being executed with a bacon slicer.
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.
"The purpose of a university education for Left / Liberals is to attain all the politically correct attitudes towards minorties, and the financial means to live as far away from them as possible."
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
Remember, he is one of the very few Anglicans, heck even christians that supported the war
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
IA - on this rare occasion, we can agree wholeheartedly.
GARCIN: I "dreamt," you say. It was no dream. When I chose the hardest path, I made my choice deliberately. A man is what he wills himself to be.
INEZ: Prove it. Prove it was no dream. It's what one does, and nothing else, that shows the stuff one's made of.
GARCIN: I died too soon. I wasn't allowed time to - to do my deeds.
INEZ: One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are - your life, and nothing else.
Jean Paul Sartre - No Exit 1944
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
I don't know wether to be honoured or worried!!!
I'll take it as a compliment.
There are times I wish they’d just ban everything- baccy and beer, burgers and bangers, and all the rest- once and for all. Instead, they creep forward one apparently tiny step at a time. It’s like being executed with a bacon slicer.
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.
"The purpose of a university education for Left / Liberals is to attain all the politically correct attitudes towards minorties, and the financial means to live as far away from them as possible."
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
I will preface my view by restating that I am not a Christian and I am emphatically against the invasion of Iraq.
But, I support Blair's choice to pray before making his decision. The main reasons I oppose the war are spiritual, humane, or altruistic, not necessarily practical. If Blair's way to search his conscience was to pray, then he should, rather than coldly making such a terrifying decision based only on logic, pragmatism, or monetary gain.
It's unfortunate that he came to the conclusion that he did, but he searched his soul, and I admire that. I agree, however, with Ms. Gentle when she said that a good Christian would not be for the war. Blair made a serious and fateful mistake. If I may use the Judeo-Christian concept of sin: a man who prays and then sins is still a sinner.
On the other hand, if Bush really did say that God told him to attack Iraq, that is just sickening. Mass murderers and serial killers have used similar justification. Maybe Bush feels he is some kind of prophet or something.
After reading the article, it did not seem that Blair said the same thing.
Screw luxury; resist convenience.
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
God replies to Tony http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/st...725799,00.html
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
Funny article. I like the line about God's foot.
This is the kind of thing I would normally get angry about. Most of the forumers that I usually agree with and the Guardian are pretty upset with Blair's statement. But i can't see that he really implied that God acquiesced to his decision to invade. Maybe it's because I consider prayer to be a kind of meditation, rather than a conversation with a deity.
Maybe he did want the public to infer God's approval, but it was too vague a statement for me to know.
Last edited by Tachikaze; 03-08-2006 at 09:22.
Screw luxury; resist convenience.
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
i think its great that he prayed to god, at least he has some compassion and being vaguely religous must allow him to have an insight into how other religous people feel, there are loads of catholics who thought that the war was right (before it started, im not saying the majority, but certainly some)
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
Undemocratic as it may sound...
It's not a statesman's job to do the popular thing after you're elected into your position. You do what you think is right. And you'll face your judgement after a couple of years when the voters will turn again you. Apparently Blair didn't do badly enough, since he's still in office...
Making every decision dependent on the whim of the people will just hamstring the government and make effective governance impossible.
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
We didn't have much of a choice. It was either lying Blair and his motley crew of lying liars, a short, fat, ginger Scottish drunkard or an exiled Transylvanian with a hemoglobin fetish.
There are times I wish they’d just ban everything- baccy and beer, burgers and bangers, and all the rest- once and for all. Instead, they creep forward one apparently tiny step at a time. It’s like being executed with a bacon slicer.
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.
"The purpose of a university education for Left / Liberals is to attain all the politically correct attitudes towards minorties, and the financial means to live as far away from them as possible."
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
It depends on whether you see your politicians as leaders or representatives.
I have seen times when the politicans were acting for the wrong reasons, like to satisfy the shareholders of a small number of powerful oil and construction companies. In that case, I wish they had followed public opinion instead.
Other times, the politician is better educated and wiser than the public and should do what knowledge, experience, humantity, environmental concerns, and morality decide is best.
Generally, a politician is better able to make important political decisions. But the wild card is their ethics or morality. On occasion, they are simply unintelligent.
What little I know of Blair, he seems bright. But his choice to support the Bush Regime was due to moral or ethical problems. In that case, I wish he had been a representative.
Last edited by Tachikaze; 03-08-2006 at 19:23.
Screw luxury; resist convenience.
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
Well, I might share your regret at this particular instance but more generally wars are probably the kinds of decision where politicians should be "leaders" (i.e. do what they think right) rather than "representatives".
If we were talking about what to kinds of public services to provide etc. then I can see a case for giving the people what they want (don't give them opera if they want football stadiums etc). But when talking about moral and especially life and death issues, I would rather they went with their conscience.
Gladstone was one UK politician who famously tried to keep out of foreign wars despite a jingoistic popular mood. The despicable rulers are those who start wars to try to bolster their domestic support (e.g. the Argentine junta in 1982).
Another example of an issue best left to conscience is capital punishment. For some time, Britain's avoided legislating it because MPs have voted by conscience regardless of popular opinion. The idea that US governors decide whether to reprieve people on death row with one eye on re-election is rather repellant, IMO.
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
Seems these days in the U.S.A. almost all of the leaders we ellect are looking towards the next ellection when voting. It would be nice if we had some true leaders in congress right now. They might actually get something done. I mean just look at what their doing in there now, trying to slip the port deal into the militarys budgetOriginally posted by Simon Appleton
Well, I might share your regret at this particular instance but more generally wars are probably the kinds of decision where politicians should be "leaders" (i.e. do what they think right) rather than "representatives".
If we were talking about what to kinds of public services to provide etc. then I can see a case for giving the people what they want (don't give them opera if they want football stadiums etc). But when talking about moral and especially life and death issues, I would rather they went with their conscience.
Gladstone was one UK politician who famously tried to keep out of foreign wars despite a jingoistic popular mood. The despicable rulers are those who start wars to try to bolster their domestic support (e.g. the Argentine junta in 1982).
Another example of an issue best left to conscience is capital punishment. For some time, Britain's avoided legislating it because MPs have voted by conscience regardless of popular opinion. The idea that US governors decide whether to reprieve people on death row with one eye on re-election is rather repellant, IMO.. IMO its about time we instituted term limits to congressmen. Though considering the law would have to get the law through the same congressmen that would be losing their jobs.
Wine is a bit different, as I am sure even kids will like it.
"Hilary Clinton is the devil"BigTex
~Texas proverb
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
When did comedy become so inextricibly linked with politics? There's nothing funny about making a decision to go to war and send people to their deaths. (as in every war) I don't understand why people like Jon Steward have such a strong voice in politics, when all they do is make fun of the system.
"And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order to things; for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old order as his enemies; and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new. This lukewarmness partly stems from fear of their adversaries, who have the law on their side, and partly from the skepticism of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have personal experience in them."
~ Niccolo Machiavelli
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
Whether Blair prays or not is beside the point. No deity is responsible for his decisions. He alone is.
Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like bananas.
Re: Bliar is a Jesus botherer
When did comedy become so inextricibly linked with politics?
Makkyo , Can you think of a time when comedy wasn't linked to politics ?
It certainly stretches back as far as Greek democracy .
Politics is normally a farce , politicians are a joke , so it is natural material for comedy .
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