Obama will be sending troops home soon now that Osama is dead or they say he is. I haven't seen any evidence that he is dead besides a confirmation from the government and the news media. Were are the pictures of the dead body? Perhaps this is Obama's strategy to get troops home. Think about it for a moment..... What if Osama would still be alive. Would the government or we as a people think it would be wise to leave the Middle East at the moment? Now that he is dead how do the people feel about it now? It could be all a political strategy to get Congress's approval to finally send troops home. I know Obama has the say on this alone...but I am sure he will want other opinions on the matter that work with him.

I know that troops are going to leave Iraq soon as promised. Gates suggested to leave the troops for a little while longer but also agrees to slowly send troops home.

I know that troops might leave Afghanistan if the government can finally take care of themselves. I think they are hesitating that the Taliban can still take over.

I know that the Libyan attack was short lived and that it has been handed over to NATO to resolve. America is not spending money on that at all for Obama didn't want us to land troops there or waste anymore money on the situation. I know that the Republicans wouldn't hesitate to resolve the issue in that country if they were in power.

Yes Obama promised to send troops home, but he didn't say a time when he will. Be patient, by the end of the year you will see our troops shifting to another country or hopefully home to their families. I am a vet who was deployed 3 times to Iraq each for 18 months. I can tell you that Iraq is stable enough to take care of its own as the Iraqi troops are trained well enough to do a good job. As for Afghanistan I think that takes time...but that is my opinion.

Also the question is if we should send troops home from Iraq. Iran as the neighbor is pretty defiant of Israel and have their differences with the Iraqis. I know, I know why should it be our problem. You are right...but I am just saying in a perspective of what the politicians may be thinking. They might end up keeping US bases permanently in Iraq like they do in Saudi Arabia.

As a former soldier I can only say that whatever the cause I agree with you. Both Obama and Bush and primarily our Congress has failed us in many ways. As a concerned American I want answers! That is all I am saying!

Don't get me wrong joe. Bush may have had reliable information not released to the public to justify his actions on the attack of Iraq. He may even have helped reduce terrorism more then we know it, but isn't it only right that we as a people should know more about it now. What is wrong to require information from one fellow American to another about why such actions where justified in the first place.

If his actions are legal or illegal (however you wish to see it) we should be able to know more then just sit on speculations and conspiracies. Saddam was a bad man, but did he pose a threat to our nation at all?
Osama was a bad man but is he truly the mastermind of the 9/11 attack and wouldn't it have been wiser to have taken him alive then dead to get more information out of him?

This war has costed me tons of my tax money. It has crippled our economy and destroyed aspects for our children's future as they will inherit the debt, infrastructural problems, and educational delusions of a split government.

It is my right to know more and to have those that were in power asked tough questions justifying their actions or do you believe we should just blindly believe in their decisions without questioning them?

Do you think children should be exposed to the Torah, Quran (Koran), and the Bible?

Or do you think they should be exposed to these teachings when they are a bit older (teenage years) to decide if it is a religion they want to practice.

I know many Christian faith religions baptize their children at a very young age. I just wonder if that is fair to do when they are too young to really understand the religion in the first place.

What is your take on this?

For me personally I would rather let a child become an adult and have him or her choose what best works for them then being exposed or forced into a religion that they might not even enjoy or agree with later on.

It is said that the south of Florida will be underwater in only 50 years! If that is true I better move to the mountains before that happens!

I think the issue with Global Warming is if it is a natural occurrence or if it is manmade. I believe it is a combination of both. In otherwords, I think the earth has its cycles due to the rotation around the sun as it changes every so many thousands years contributing to the rising and lowering of our earth's atmospheric temperatures. Also I think natural catastrophes help create global warming such as volcano eruptions that supposingly does alot of damage to our atmosphere and elevates the global warming problem. I also believe that humans contribute to global warmings and we should find better ways to preserve our planets health. What is wrong with recycling, putting less pollution in our air, using other methods to keep our environments clean? We are sharing this planet with other species. Shouldn't we respect this? Unfortunately, many don't care about that. They don't care about the future of children. They don't care about other parts of the world. They just care about themselves, their money, and their environment they live in. If that is fine then everything is great. This mentality should change if we want to enjoy this planet or we can just look at Mars and its single ice cap......perhaps that was a earth at one time that supported life...yet they ruined it also by not taking care of their planet.

Whatever the cause....it is good that such professional companies truly look into the matter and inform us on the situation. I am still learning as we speak!

I agree. Why isn't Bush and Cheney sitting at the Supreme Court justifying their actions. What about Rumsfeld, Rice, and the CIA investigators that influenced Bush to wage a war? Shouldn't they be questioned as well. As far as I know only one presidential candidate at the time who only got 1% of the vote from the people actually tried to get the two cronies to justify their actions. Unfortunately no one even takes him serious. Even if Bush and Cheney and the rest can justify their actions it would be in the nation's interest to see their reasons at the time and be questioned if it was legal or not. Many say it wasn't legal. Shouldn't we as a people have a right to know!

I am sad that while the nation worries about Obama's birth certificate and how he runs a country we don't reflect back on how much debt we acquired in Bush's 8 years as president. We don't reflect back on his "axis of evil" speeches and how he bluntly waged war on Iraq without even consulting with the world leaders, but I guess because we have the world's strongest military we can just flex our muscles like we want. What ashame we have that Roman Republic idealogy to where we think we can do whatever we want.

We should really look deeper in how we can restore world relations or we will see how this country will fall as we are seeing now. 11 years ago I remember a dollar was worth some money around the world. Today you can't even get a single Euro dollar for it. I remember we use to have products that lasted and were made in the USA. Today nothing is made here or very little and everything breaks the first few years on you. I remember we use to fund for education and now we are cutting educational programs. 3 billion have been cut alone down here in south Florida!

And while our bridges and highways detoriate and drinking water becomes less drinkable because we don't have funds to update them we will watch how only the rich can afford basic neccessities and the rest well....they should just perish and die. Plutonomy (the elite rich 1%) will get what they want because we allow it to happen. We don't go out and protest, make neccessary votes, and demand rights to help encourage our country to do better for our future children. We sit on our fat ***** and complain at home ....doing nothing. A sad picture it is!

America was the greatest country in the world. I would like to see it as the greatest country in the world...but we will not be the greatest if we don't fix our foreign relations, our economy, our education, our health care, our debt, and our government!

After reading tons of forum subjects on religion one thing I have realized is that those that have faith also believe it is logical and those that don't find having faith in a religion show their reasons that are logical to them.

And there is the problem....

When one explains that a certain parable or phrase in a religious book doesn't make sense or couldn't have been the words of a supernatural they are refuted.

When one explains that a certain parable or phrase in a religious book is actual words of a god or recordings of supernatural happenings is logical they are refuted.


This will be at stalemate forever as we will continue to watch thousands of more forums created with two views.

It has me thinking that perhaps it is the way our brains work to believe in certain ways. They did a research once about how republicans use different brain waves as opposed to democrats. I will have to look for the article. It was tested on 100 people so it wasn't a extensive study.....but I think it has perhaps some merit to it.

Do you have a deeper explanation of why there are two extremes of the both and no middle ground for many people concerning the theories of logic and faith?

Thank you for sharing this:)

But even if China stepped in to ensure that North Korea gets its food for the poor what do they benefit from it? I mean there has to be a return right? Is it military might guaranteed added to their already large military? What reasons?

So you would agree that religion has a big role in votes. I mean I personally look at what the candidate has to say in terms of growth for this country and resolving issues that we face today, but many use either a combination of both for political debate, some only religion, and others just politics.

For some people it really matters what our grounding fathers thought for they hold up to those premises or reflect back on how they created this country. I mean for me personally I value the same things you mention above, but the problem is that many vote on religion idealogies as the grounding laws or (in occurrence with our instilled laws today) to make that decision. They combine the two to make a valued decision. Just look at the idealogies of Democrats and Republicans. Look at the statistics also. Even though the government and religion is seperated as a whole many don't do it and combine the two together to make the decision on who they will vote for. This goes not only for the president but everyone who is elected in Congress included.

So how many of the millions actually vote based on this belief? I would say millions. It surely is worth looking into and seeing that perhaps we need to instill education on what our forefather's thought and what we believe today and how to make it work so we can have a more educated opinion on our votes in the future to ensure represenatives that truly serve the people.

And it is not limited to what our forefathers thought, but also on what we think today is best to improve our voting system if possible.

Many of the grounding fathers left England because of religious persecutions. Others because they didn't like the laws or the monarchy state of being of the country. There are many reasons and I think we as Americans have forgotten it.

Yes I agree with everything you say on this and I also wonder why we don't learn from history.

Fortunately, we don't see anymore (((midwife's))) burning on stakes or any of this dark age thinking and horrible actions anymore, although I must say I am sure many believe they are doing good but in reality or really doing bad (on purpose or not by not knowing).

Okay let me correct myself. Yes we still see bad things happening in the name of a religion. These individuals are still in the dark age! It is sad actually.

((( ))) = Sorry but I don't believe in witches, pagans, heathens, or infidels. These are christian and muslim terms created by those that wanted to eradicate any other belief system but their own. Today I have the power to not acknowledge these terms and will not. I am probably only 1% of the world population that will not acknowledge such horrible terms. I actually believe many civilizations have been eradicated because of their belief system and coined these terms against their will. Many innocent people that is. I don't support all of them, but I do understand the premises of why they thought they did was right or normal in everyday life concerning these systems that are not Christian or Muslim.

We are just a flawed species it seems and the earth will probably out live the human species anyway. I think it will. I think we will destroy ourselves before the planet will not be able to support life anymore. Of course this is very pessimistic and I shouldn't thrive on it, but just looking at the results of how we treat each other and how we treat the planet shows indications we won't make it. It just shows that if we cannot unite as a whole to really tackle important issues we will never get there. I mean it won't happen in my lifetime but maybe in a thousand years the population of humans won't exist. Of course it is hard to predict for maybe we will get it together after all and really agree on a great deal of things.

When you say majority ideally ....do you mean in political issues or in religion also? I agree in political issues but what if he or she (presidential candidate) practices a religion or not for personal use shouldn't be judged to the extent to determine the vote. I mean we can of course if we like, but that wouldn't be a wise decision to making that vote. Do you see what I mean?

You also say "obligation" to protect the minority. Do you not find it as a *duty* to protect the individuals belief system as long as it doesn't harm others?

I mean imagine a president with stark values in a religion and when elected influences Congress to make it illegal to not believe in a god...better said be an atheist. Suddenly those with such values have to leave the country or face jail.

I wonder if in Saudi Arabia if there is such thing as a Atheist allowed or do they have to leave the country. Do you see what I mean?

Yes so far we have managed as a people to tolerate different religious aspects that people bring to the country, but how far would we have gone without this prejudice of which religion we should practice or honor? That is the question!

I just don't understand it why China doesn't care if the people in that country are starving. What economical advantage do they get from this? North Korea doesn't have money to buy anything from China right? They don't have purchasing power either? They have a huge army though that probably gets fed well, but that is it. I don't even think they have modern technology to fight a war like the US or other countries?

Will it just stay as a stand off forever? If China would just see that people are starving and decide not to support North Korea we would probably be able to influence the world to get rid of this dictator right?

I know it isn't that easy and I am no politician, but what needs to be done to resolve this issue?

Another thought is if the UN doesn't help bring emergency food aid would the people of the country be brave enough to revolt and topple the government? So is UN helping on this matter?

Ha ha well now I know why! lol

I agree with everything posted in here, yet I can't help to wonder why religion seems to be important for the majority of people in this country when it comes to electing a president.

Examples would be from the Bush Administration of justifying a war on the "axis of evils" to the Obama administration of saying he is a Muslim radical or what not.

Then if you observe these Presidential elections you have people judging a person on religion and not on what he or she beliefs is important for the country. I am not saying everyone does it, but the issues always pops up as if the religion determines the morale standards of beliefs on how one should live a life.

For example: When one says I am Christian, tend to a family, go to church on Sundays, and worship Jesus Christ and God as the creator of our world then you will have alot of people say that is a great president for he has good ethics and morale that we as Americans should follow.

Now if the presidential candidate says I am a Muslim then we get many people in the country already frowning or a bit insecure of the mans intents or belief system. Will he destroy our country? Will he have the best interest at heart to improve the countries interests. Will he influence Congress to vote on important measures needed for the people and so on. Does he live a good life or is it too radical and so forth....

Now let us look at an atheist. Let us say the presidential elect claims proudly he is an atheist but accepts other religious views as long as they don't harm others in the process. How many actually would vote him in? Let us say he has the ultimate solutions to rejuvenate our economy, find peace and prosperity for the common man, and help reduce the deficit that the majority of the population agree on, yet he is an atheist and they refrain from voting him in because of that? That doesn't sound logical does it, but for those that strive on faith and believe one should follow a certain belief system will do just that.

I mean I understand why the forefather's instilled a law to keep religion and government separated, but do we as a people (majority) actually do it as a whole? I do it and really do look at the presidential candidate, his or her history, and belief on what is right for every American, but how many don't and just vote because the man follows a certain religion or plays a instrument very good!

For example the republican candidate Mitt Romney who I believe is a Mormon. He is very popular amongst the republicans, yet how many just vote him in because they are Mormons also. You see what I mean.

I think the Christian / Catholic and all of its denominations have a big influence in our presidential campaigns for the people seem to wanted it included regardless of how the grounding fathers think. I say this for the majority in this country belief in this religion and when a president swears oath on inaugration day doesn't he swear with the holy bible? I am just wondering...for if not why do so many have to swear on the holy bible in a court session when they can just say they swear on their word instead.

There also seems to be a great confusion on what the grounding fathers believed in. Some say they were Christians and others gnostic or just believed to be deists. So there we will have the back and forth debate on what they were instead of what they believed in and how they tried to tackle the issue of having a good government for the people by the people. Do you see what I mean?

Anyway I may not make any sense here, but I do contemplate about these presidential elections and how people vote these days, but again if I understand correctly only 80 million actually vote?? Is this correct? I know that only 20% actually vote in any case so we will never really know what the entire population really thinks unless it gets so bad here that every person will actually care and will vote.

This time in history surely does show the anxiety of rulers determinations to control the masses by all means necessary. If only this library could have been spared from fire we could have read interesting scrolls on various ideas at the time. It just seems like a part of history is missing... or even ideas at the time could have been saved for historians to read up on. We could have many historical aspects wrong, although we have them stated in texts book to read anyhow.

Aristotle's, Socrates, Plato's writings have burned away! Not all of their works of course but some of their works that we will never have set eyes on.

The original translations of the bible...even though I understand your view of how flawed it is...but maybe a way of seeing if it somehow gotten construed in its translations at the time.

Hebrew beliefs and history may be wrong also.

Perhaps more on the Babylonians

Others ancient civilizations that we still haven't dug out yet could have been revealed showing yet another belief system we haven't thought of yet. Who knows?

Perhaps even other mathematical propositions that we haven't seen yet ...even if they are the same today but used in a different way then we know it could have been interesting to see.

Afterall, 500,000 scrolls is a lot to go by! Darn it Julius Caeser why were you so foolish!

So I guess this article wasn't interesting enough to give a reply??? lol

It is okay...I guess I am the only one that would have been interested to see these scrolls! ha ha

Am I the only one that would be thrilled to have seen this library? Well I am excited to be in a building full of books anyway! lol

2 billion people ( so it was said on PBS) are watching the Royal Wedding. Why must it be shown worldwide on every news channel we click on?

Have we forgotten the history and idea of Monarchy and what it had done to many countries around the world?

I am just curious to know why you are so interested?

Is it because of the cute couple?

Is it because of who are attending the wedding such as stars and popular personalities?

Is it because you truly believe the world should see it on every news channel you click on?

Thank you for your explanations!

By the way I personally am neither for or against it. It matters not to me, but I am curious to know why it is for you or isn't important to watch this event.

I ask because it seems for some that by having a President that is not of a Christian faith or of its denominations seems to be a big problem in this country. Why is that?

Let us say in the future there will either be an Atheist, Agnostic, Muslim, or even a Buddhist President elected to be our Commander in Chief of the Military and leader of the country. How would you feel about it?

If you are against it ...tell us why.

If you are for it...tell us why.

Thank you and good luck!