The Hall of Fire

Guns don't kill, dogs do? The cat incident does not surprise me in the least.

I would go so far as to say that Clinton is one of the most qualified presidential candidates the country has ever seen.

Yep, looks like Santorum's about to run out.

Thank you Maria. That’s what I kind of figured. I haven’t talked to anyone here (in NC) who has taken the course, but I can’t imagine a 16 hr class would be enough training for an emergency situation. I tend to agree with what Frelga said earlier, that anyone who feels the need to carry a weapon in ...

I read something recently, I can’t remember where, but it was written as an “open letter to the women in front of me at the grocery store” type of thing explaining why she should not only not be scared that someone was legally carrying a concealed firearm in the line behind her, but she should thank...

I don't know if the journalist and Hillary comments were in the same speech. Who knows? Pick one, they're all pretty abysmal.

I found pretty much everything about his comments in that speech to be ... disturbing, including how he had to stop and think for a second about whether he would kill journalists or not. We’re supposed to feel reassured that he finally decided that no, hmm maybe, maybe not, nahhhhh he wouldn’t kill ...

On the surface I would tend to agree with yov - the student’s reaction to a statement from a faculty member that offensive costumes should be allowed in the name of free speech is grossly overboard and inappropriate. However, saying that this shows an “apparent total inability to deal with any adver...

Anyone who has ever seen a grain silo explode knows how geeky it can be! ;) I am far less concerned about the kooky nuttiness of some of Carson's statements, and the exaggerations and false claims about his past, then I am about things like saying Obamacare is the same thing as slavery, or that Plan...

I’ll be very surprised if he decides to run at this point. He may have advisors telling him that Hillary is vulnerable and he is so well liked that he couldn’t lose, but I have to think he is too astute to fall for that. Biden certainly does an advantage over Clinton in the personality department - ...

Here is an article from ElectoralVote.com saying Clinton won the debate based on "more-or-less scientific polls":

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2015/P ... tml#item-2

You may be right, Cerin, but I do think a fairly large proportion of the Republican base would rather lose the election through voting their principles than win through compromising them. That may be true, and it probably is more so today then any time in the past, but again, if you go back and loo...

My money is still on Bush, despite his lackluster foot-in-mouth campaign so far. Although Republican voters tend to get excited by ... ummm ... fringe candidates early in the primaries (see Bachman , Santorum from 2012), they almost always come back to the safe bet in the end (see Romney '12, McCain...

I do not put much stock in the “email scandal” sinking Clinton’s candidacy. There is, as has been with case with virtually every scandal that has ever been thrown at the Clinton family, no there there. Remember, Bill was hit with a truck-load of trumped up scandals from the minute he first announced...

I agree, the comment clearly betrays a lack of the sort of depth of knowledge concerning Tolkien that we have. The guy is presumably not a big Tolkien fan. But the point is still valid, that in a world where one of the most popular and profitable film franchises in history has an essentially all whi...

This is pertinent to this discussion:

I, Racist

Primula Baggins wrote:The United States might as well contemplate selling the Grand Canyon to a private concern.

Please, don't give them any ideas.

Interesting. Part of me believes that such a high degree of deviance (non-judgemental, as in deviating from the “norm” of monogamy) is due to the long history of homosexuality being treated as deviant (judgemental, as in immoral). I have to think that as homosexuality comes to be viewed as one of se...

I know polygamy has come up in our discussions before. I generally find it to be a red herring much like marrying your pet, or your mother, or a child. If you honestly believe that homosexuality is no different than bestiality, incest or paedophilia, well I guess that tells us what we need to know a...

I have to admit that I was also a bit baffled by Cerin’s recent comments. I participated quite a bit in those early discussions on this topic in Manwë (and here) and was convinced that her objection to same sex marriage was essentially one of semantics (albeit a passionate attachment to this particu...