At the very least, the God of the Old and New Testaments certainly does not exist. Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that the God who would strike down the Tower of Babel and level Sodom and Gommorah has not been heard from since? And no, New Orleans doesn't count, because it's still there. Might we not expect the proactive God described in the Bible to have gotten involved in the that whole Holocaust thing, for instance? Or way in on the problems in the Middle East? And as nutty as I find Mormons, it is to their credit that they address the following question: if God wanted to save the whole world, why send his son exclusively to one tiny patch of desert, and leave the rest to missionaries over *centuries*? Spare me the "He moves in mysterious ways" nonsense.

There may be a higher power, but it's obvious he couldn't care less what we're up to. It is up to each of us to give our own lives meaning.

Jesus, Cary.

It's not like you work for a suicide hotline. Not every letter needs answering. Either you can't see that this LW is an insufferable prick, or you're unwilling to call a spade a spade (it hasn't been the first time on both counts). Stupid question, insipid response.

While I do not discount the power of addiction, I don't think the word "disease" fits. Once you've got cancer, you can't just choose not to have cancer anymore. You *can* choose to lay off the booze and the drugs. Lots of people have. I don't write this in a judgemental, holier-than-thou way, but "disease" as the term is generally understood doesn't quite cut it.

P.S. My heart totally goes out to alcoholics -- they buy a legal product. It's not too difficult to get through life without doing some blow. Christ.

Am I to understand that these miners are slaves? Were they stockbrokers or poultry farmers or landscapers kidnapped in the dead of night and *forced* to mine for coal? What's next? "Look at American car manufacturers! Forcing us to drive their cars and die on our nation's highways!" Render unto me a freaking break.

How ludicrous. Do you really think that the people who live in fly-over country are such dullards that they needed Rush to point out that Obama and Osama rhyme? Or that Obama is a "foreign sounding" name? Jesus.

anyone who says this wasn't a swipe at Sen. Clinton is either a liar or a fool. The Giuliani theory seems unlikely, given that the candidates are still trying to win their own party's nomination. This "Republican smear machine" tripe is nonsense.

...between "Bushies" (*very* clever, btw) and Nazis? So, 6 million Jews murdered in concentration camps is what? A minor detail? Render unto me a fucking break. I've been very disappointed by the president's second term, but I can't believe all the chicken littles on the left. Let us assume for a moment that Bush has shredded the Constitution (another embarassing bit of hyperbole). Is it your contention that he aspires to tyranny for its own sake? He just wants to wire tap everybody, and ship random people to Gitmo, and fire U.S. Attorneys because he's simply an asshole? He has no motive beyond amassing power for its own sake? You and the LW need to grow up.

Mother of pearl. Look, I'm an atheist (Yes! A Republican atheist! We hold our meetings in a broom closet.), but I find your anti-Christian zealotry to be a tad much. Tell you what: as soon as they start herding my kind into camps, give me a call and we'll take up the struggle together. Don't hold your breath.

Let's not ever judge *anyone* for *anything* they do. Ever. Christ, you'd think it was some monumental effort of will to go through life without doing some blow. So it's illegal! So what? That's the Man's hang-up. Alcohol's a drug, too, you know! And rape? What's the big deal? Sex...rape: it's all penis-vagina, right? It warms the cockles to know there are so many enlightened people in the world. There's no such thing as right and wrong, and anybody who thinks different is an asshole. Period. I'm SO glad we cleared that up.

The first person to bring up the race-baiting Willie Horton issue was would-be Democratic nominee Al Gore. Jack ass.

Surely you jest. Virgin birth is, to my mind, the silliest religious idea to come down the pike. And throw in resurrection and transubstantiation, into the bargain. It is my considered atheist opinion that Judaism is the most sensible of the Abrahamic religions, then Christianity, and Islam a distant third.

Atheist husband should forego temple henceforth, and he and the wife should look into adoption.

I think I might be the one you're responding to re: "primitive" Islam. Just to clarify, I said I found Islam to be the least *sensible* -- still patronizing, to be sure, but absent the civilization/barbarism connotation that "primitive" implies. For the record, I find all Big Three religions equally primitive. I'm kind of looking forward to Hell.

If you weren't addressing me, please excuse me while I STFU.