Darn right!

Fundamental rights do not get to be decided by the people. The courts protect everyone as in Brown v. Board of Ed, Loving v. Virginia, et al.

As for your lament that we are becoming more like Europe, I say the sooner the better!

First, there's a big difference from the 13 colonies leaving the British Empire and Texas (or the Confederacy in 1861 for that matter) leaving the Union. Namely, we had no elected representation in the British Parliament and Texas, being a well-populated state, has plenty of representation in Congress. (Slaveholding states were actually over-represented relative to the enfranchised population thanks to the 3/5 compromise.)

Second, secession is in no way countenanced by the Constitution. The Constitution DOES provide for the admission of new states and even the creating of states from the territory of existing states. In this context, voluntary withdrawal from the Union is conspicuous by its absence. A previous commenter said that an original draft of the Constitution began "We the States", but apparently doesn't realize that the change to "We the People" was deliberate and precisely the point. The people created the states and the nation separately and directly as evidenced by calling special ratification conventions rather than asking state legislatures to ratify the Constitution. Even the Articles of Confederation, which arguably was a creation of the states, is fully titled "The Articles of Confederation and PERPETUAL Union".

Chavez really was elected in a case where there was legitimate opposition. Any "election" of Stalin, Saddam, and Castro was just for show with no opposition. Hitler's party had a minority of the vote obtained at least in part by thuggish election day behavior on the part of his brownshirts. He was appointed Chancellor by a naive President who thought Hitler could be controlled.

Despite all the ink that has been spilled on JFK's assassination, the conclusion of the Warren Report still is strongest. Oswald acted alone, though possibly influenced by pro-Castro people. There is no evidence of a CIA plot. No President should be afraid of the CIA and if he is its time to purge the Agency.

Let's those of us with Democratic Senators start contacting them to insist they find a different majority leader.

The author refers to the Boston Diocese, but Boston is an Archdiocese and has been for some time.

One is to try to prove scientificly that God does not exist. This is just as fallacious as trying to scientificly prove that He does. The existence of God is by definition in the realm of faith rather than reason; His existence cannot be objectively proven or disproven using the scientific method.

Second is falling into the trap of accepting Christianity as defined by the religious right. I find that often athiests have more difficulty with the institutional religion than with God Himself. They conclude that to be truly enlightened requires dismissing religion entirely. Even this article presents the secular left vs. religious right dichotomy, but there is a RELIGIOUS LEFT in between, which focuses on social justice and fully accepts the conclusions of science and biblical scholarship, while remaining faithful.

Your protestations to the contrary notwithstanding I submit you have fallen for the religious right's definition of Christianity. For me being a Christian is doing everything possible to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. For the record, yes, I have read the entire (Protestant) Bible from cover to cover thank you very much! When Jesus is asked point blank, "Teacher what is the greatest commandment of the law?", He replied that you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, spirit, and strength. He then volunteered that the second most important commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. These are essentially at most great religions boil down to.

As a Christian I also attribute meaning to Christ's passion and death. There are plenty of us who take the Bible seriously, but not literally. How can one take it literally when there are sometimes conflicting accounts of the same event and we can't read the original documents? I'm less inclined to believe specificly those things that seem supernatural. There are certainly parts of the Bible that make me cringe and parts that are unquestionably out of date. I understand that Biblical authors were mere mortals and reserve the right to disagree. The overall message of the Bible, however, is one of God's everlasting ultimate love and mercy, which we in turn should show to our brothers and sisters. I belong to the United Church of Christ (link in signature), which I urge you to take a look at. We are the spiritual descendants of the Puritans and very much in the mainstream.

How does one run for President of the UNITED States on a platform of secession? Vote for me and I'll split the country doesn't sound like a winner. Even pre-Civil War "doughfaces" (Northern men with Southern principles) didn't advocate secession; they just caved to the South to the extent President Buchanan thought he did not possess the authority to hold the Union together. Besides, isn't this the same crowd that got all worked up over Obama supposedly not saluting the flag and not wearing a flag pin?

It's a very moderate state overall (though definitely with red and blue patches). Casey is pretty conservative for a Democrat himself. With all the back and forth about what this does to the national parties, let's not forget that it is ultimately for the voters of PA to render judgement on how they can be best represented in the Senate.

Even if it's rape there was still physical intercourse. Nobody outside the Arabian Peninsula is going to judge you for it (I hope), but the victim still needs to get tested pregnancy, AIDS, STDs and if any are positive act accordingly. She should absolutely NOT pretend it didn't happen, but shouldn't feel ashamed either.