The snow skates above the blacktop in gossamer tendrils, kicked up by mammoth wheels carrying steel behemoths down I-95. The radio hums something mindless... Both eyes on the road, head in the clouds, foot on the gas. I'm glad I don't take the bus.

Brick.

It stars a younger Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer, and Inception) and while it isn't SET in the past, its written and filmed like an old PI film noir... the language and dialogue make me wish I were living in the 50's

ATHF FTW!

Well thats not a constructive thing to say...

I agree.. but that's another issue entirely

English IS mandatory in schools. In fact, you need three years at minimum to graduate... Same with math, science, and most schools require you to take a minimum of one or two years of a foreign language (usually a choice between Spanish and French, or sometimes Latin). So the school isn't doing anything radical or even out of the ordinary. They are trying to produce well rounded students who can compete and function on the world stage.
As for why they are not giving the students a choice between Arabic (a foreign language stigmatized by years of ill informed bigotry and with an alphabet not based on the roman letter set) and Spanish (A language a majority of the students in Texas are extraordinarily comfortable and familiar with) is obvious... given the choice no kid in their right mind would chose Arabic considering its level of unfamiliarity and difficulty!
The district is just trying to make sure the grant they received is actually put to good use.

Well a lot of emerging markets are in Arabic-speaking countries; The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia... and unlike most of Europe, Asia, and other parts of Africa they were never subject to European imperialism and their populations are traditionally xenophobic so the people don't have the same predisposition towards English as they do in say India or Hong Kong. It makes sense to me, and I think its a bold step in the right direction for that school district... they just should have been more accommodating when it came to informing parents.

Let me preface this by saying that an ad hominem attack isn't constructive to a conversation.

But to clarify my point, no, I did not read the 10,000+ pages of the OP because I believe doing so would be unnecessary. I have read the bible in its entirety, as well as several analysis and commentaries, and I believe that i made a very good case for my opinion by providing several verses, in context, to support that viewpoint.

I do agree, however, that the bible is very critical of organized government of any kind. I believe you have a narrow view of communism though... I don't mean communism as in the Soviet Union or China, but rather in the sense of COMMUNAL living, without the need for a government. This is communism at its purest form. In Russia it was the standard party line (and myth) that the government only existed to protect the proletariat from the bourgeois, and that once the communist state was established, the proletariat was empowered, and the evils of capitalism vanquished then the state would wither away and the people would be left with a perfect, self-sustaining, communal form of anarchy.

The reason I decided NOT to read the absurdly long commentary provided is that I found its PRIMARY thesis absurd, namely that "The Bible mandates free market capitalism." In fact, the money changers and people selling sacrificial animals within the temple was a very good representation of free market capitalism... and Jesus drove them all out with a switch! Jesus mandated that anyone wanting to follow him would have to give up all earthly possessions and rely on the kindness of strangers to clothe and feed them... the examples go on and on.

Communism is "a socio-political movement that aims for a CLASSLESS and STATELESS society structured upon common ownership of the means of production, free access to articles of consumption, and the end of wage labour and private property in the means of production and real estate". Anarchy is "A social state in which there is no governing person or group of people, but each individual has absolute liberty (without the implication of disorder)". They are not mutually exclusive... and both describe quite nicely the perfect society lauded in the bible.

The country is terrified of what they consider "militant atheists" (I prefer the term Evangelical Non-Believer lol) but what many people fail to realise is that we didnt fire the first shot in this "Culture War" (does anyone else notice the inherently violent language used to describe this issue?)... I believe that as a matter of self preservation atheists need to organize and stand up all across the country in places long considered bastions of conservative christianity. We arent a recognized or even often considered minority and because we lack a centralized belief system to bind us together we lack the sense of community we need to lobby effectively. This will hurt us and potentially endanger us and our children... the fundies are armed and angry, we need to remain rational and prepared... and most of all we must remain united.
I'm glad there are groups out there allowing a safe and rational place for us to organize. We cannot resort to blind hatred, we can only present a united front.

Generally reasoned thinking and a refusal to believe in things without demonstrable proof is sufficient enough to allow you to LEAD, not follow...

The bible is blatantly Communist.

Leviticus 25:35-38: "If one [...] becomes poor [...] help him [...] so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God [...] You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God."

Acts 4:32-35, "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had [...] there were no needy persons among them [...] the money [...] was distributed to anyone as he had need."

Acts 2:42-47, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching [...] to the breaking of bread [...] everyone was filled with awe [...] all the believers were together and had everything in common [...] they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they [...] ate together with glad and sincere hearts [...] "

Unfortunately a lot of the formatting was lost when I brought it over. I'll be sure to get that worked out when I post the next one

this is a work in progress. I figure I'll post little by little as it develops and hopefully get some good feedback along the way. I hope you enjoy...

-1-

The raindrops beat a steady tattoo on the windows, punctuated all too infrequently by the ringing of the brass bell above the door. The diner wasn't the most spacious of places, with seating for eight at the counter and five booths crammed far too close together for your average 200 plus pound Bostonian looking for a short order burger and fries here in the South End, and the downpour was a dull roar inside the narrow aluminum box. Delaney stood hunched over the polished metal counter and incessantly clicked the button of her pen, a habit she'd had since high school and one that never fails to piss off Tony... but if her boss could hear it from his spot next to the griddle he didn't let on this time. Instead he just snorted loudly and muttered something about the weather in New England. 'Yeah,' she thought 'if you don't like it, wait a day and it'll change.' This evening, however, it seems as though someone had forgotten to inform the past week's gray, wet days of their expected adherence to that small colloquialism. Her father had always been dismissive of the idea of Seasonal Depression, but whenever the winter months came to the city she started doubting his working class wisdom. There was never enough sun in this part of the world for her, and in her mind the Boston streets always seemed to be mired in wet newspapers or old gray snow banks. She knew that wasn't entirely fair… the summers were nice enough, they were just so fleeting. Arizona, now that's a place to spend your life. Rustic and quiet... warm and dry… Her daydream felt like an island in a sea of dank concrete.