For the 2010 fiscal year, the president's base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $533.8 billion. Adding spending on "overseas contingency operations" brings the sum to $663.8 billion When the budget was signed into law on October 28, 2009, the final size of the Department of Defense's budget was $680 billion, $16 billion more than President Obama had requested. An additional $37 billion supplemental bill to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was expected to pass in the spring o...

Yesterday or the day before I did something I haven't done in quite a while, I flipped over to the A.M. frequency and tuned in to Glenn Becks program. I only listened for a moment and I didn't inhale but I was able to catch a smattering of what he was talking about. He was saying that there was no way he and his ilk could possibly be responsible for stirring up violent sentiments within the Republican party and that Jared Loughner's (a LEFT-wing radical - I guess if you say it enough it become...

Hasn't just about every civilization attempted to provide an answer to that question? The Aztecs and Egyptians looked up at the sun and recognized the power that the sun had over their lives and called that a Supreme God. But they also called rain a God, and death and the moon and many other natural powers represented a God. The Greeks and Romans however saw Man as the Gods of the earth and our emotions and passions became our Gods. These Gods slew the Gods of the Earth, in some respect. A...

When I say the words jackboots and goosesteps I wonder how many people immediately conjure up gray scale images of German soldiers marching precisely lockstep, parading proudly and sharply in front of a backdrop of enormous German flags and maybe even adding that vicious little mongoose of a man gnashing out horrible guttural sounds to throngs of starry-eyed and perfectly created onlookers. Do you see the same thing I see when I think of those words or does your mind fix itself around the roll ...

Don't get me wrong, Acts is a fine piece of work but it has many failings. The spirit in which Luke (or whoever wrote it) approaches Acts is the right spirit but he fails in many respects to achieve the goals he set out to achieve in the beginning of the text. This is not a failure mind you... it's actually what happened to the initial Judeo-Christian church. Acts sets out to recreate the mind of the remaining Apostles... as Mark had done with Jesus. Only, what Mark did was a literary miracl...

The biggest problem I see with this bill is the fact that no one seems to have any clue as to what we are actually purchasing with this money... money that will be printed up out of nowhere and used to devalue your current supply of cash, I might add. Let me see if I can break it down into simple terms... because it is a pretty simple concept. Customer A has agreed to buy a house for monthly payments of $100 for 20 years for a total of $1200 a year or a grand total of $24,000 over 20 years. ...

Yes... it was the politically safe move. Yes... it would have cost him to oppose the bill. Yes... the Republicans would have hung him on his "No" vote. But the bill is still the wrong move and should not have been supported. I still support him but I am disappointed with his decision to support this bill... this bill that will only inflate the dollar and do nothing to help the middle and lower classes. Handing out more tax cuts to the rich while deflating the dollar is a poisonous pill to...

Don't think about it... Don't visualize it... Don't hope for it... Don't wonder what it would feel like seeing Bush actually being admonished and disgraced... Don't imagine the sense of justice that millions would feel all over the world... Don't even pretend it's a remote possibility... Accept that those that died by his lies and his manipulations and his orders... accept that they died and he will never be brought to account. Allow the Pelosi Pocket Pardon the room needed to save Bush a...

Everybody knows that the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That’s how it goes Everybody knows Cohen That he broke the law is not in question… There is no doubt… Everyone is in agreement… And by everyone, I mean even those who have merely a slight interest in current events… The list of crimes is so familiar now that I almost would rather puke my guts out than to repeat it for the umpteenth million t...

When I say that, who comes to mind? Which person fits which role? Is the Progressive Hilary or Obama? Is the Corporatist Obama or Hilary? Which one you select for our candidate is important because it identifies which group of Democrats will lead this party into this new millennium. I used to think that it did not matter which candidate we chose... as long as they were "Dem" it didn't matter. Increasingly, it's becoming apparent I am once again proven wrong. As the battle over the Democra...

...physical force. One such acceptable and desirable method has been used to great success many times in the past... ex-communication and/or complete and outright rejection of the premise these people choose to stand on. Do not tolerate them... do not applaud their temporary and insincere wish to vote for Obama as a indication that their entire ideology of government isn't evil. Your plan of congratulating someone for not beating their wife on one particular day may seem like a good short-ter...

Like the Patriot Act or the Help America Vote Act, you offer capitulation and degradation wrapped up in words dripping with honey... "Do you want to feel good? Or, do you want to win?" Wow... of course I want to win... off with those civil liberties... gone are black peoples rights to a free and fair election... oh gee don't winning feel good... see, I got the best of both worlds... Republicanism is not a class... it is an ideology that spans classes. You are viewing it wrong... Republicanis...

Indeed, opinions that are based on analysis and debate are generally better than opinions garnered from feelings. I may feel that the Earth is flat and can sometimes find economists who agree with me but the reality is the world is fractal in dimension and mostly spherical if viewed from a distance. Of course that's just my opinion... gleaned from science and walking around for a bit... Analysis also does not have to merely hold itself to things that have happened but can use reasonable ass...

See, here is your problem... you are blind... you have lost your ability to see beyond the here and now and see the grander picture... These people might be pretending to be polite... Republicans are always polite... even when they're molesting young pages or dropping down 20 billion of your dollars to kill some non-person, they are polite. They are polite when they make laws that take away your rights... defund your children's schools... cut police from urban streets... make back door deals w...

...neither is ignoring the facts. 54 million Republicans voted for Bush in 2004... yes, the election was stolen but that was mainly through voter suppression efforts and outright fraud. That does not excuse the 54 million republicans who still voted for this monster... and it does not reassure me that they will ever vote for us... Fuck them and fuck McCain... I'm not playing nice anymore... playing nice gets you accused of supporting terrorist and having "God Damn America" tattooed on your ide...

I am conversing with you in a place that technically only exists in our minds... about issues and people neither you nor I truly understand or relate too... and regarding a political reality we have very little impact on... In my world... Republicans are ignorant and evil and I like it that way... you can pretend they have a good heart but wrong head if you want; but history and reality have proven otherwise. They may say they would vote for Obama but the general election hasn't even begun... w...

...don't have a... ...are an affront to people of good... ...rape pages after they've drugged them Un-... I don't hold out much hope they'll have a change of heart... at least publicly.

George Bush is not a criminal... He did not lie us into war... for if he had would not Congress hold him accountable for all the treasures wasted, all the lives destroyed, all the sorrow caused? Indeed, the United States of America would never suffer a President to lie to Congress concerning such a terrible crime without addressing it... George Bush did not break the law when he authorized the wiretapping of American's without a warrant... for if he had, Congress would have acted to stop him....

Death… To cease all physical and bodily functions… to lose all animation and to begin the decaying and reintegration of the physical mass into the environment. To die… To end… to cease… to be a person no more… to transfer from I Am to I Am not… forever and ever and ever… No Faith nor impotence… No Hope nor despair… No Love nor hate… No end nor beginning… To feel no pain nor pleasure… To feel no loss nor rejoice over gain… To be cast adrift into darkness… the absence of light… Death...

Many people who follow a religion have serious and honest questions about the nature of that divinity that you call "God". Indeed many of the same things that piss you off about God disturbs them a great deal as well. The ridiculous hypocrisy... the soul crushing dogma... the adherence to false idols of wealth and princely powers... a great many find this troubling and detrimental to the future of humanity as well... but that is not of God... religion is a man made order... created by Man to s...

Do you know me? I am running for President of the United States... here's a hint... I'm a Senator. Do you know me? Can you see my passion, my desire for change, my hope to be the one to lead this country back from the brink of destruction... do you know me? Can you see the years of struggle... the pain, the anguish, the misunderstandings I had to overcome? All these experiences have affected me greatly... have hammered me into the person that I am today so I do not begrudge any of them. I ...

JAY: Just one final question. What's your next step on impeachment? KUCINICH: I am preparing right now about a fifty-count document relating to the impeachment of the president of the United States. JAY: This is directed at Bush, not Cheney. KUCINICH: Right. And it's taken many months to prepare. And at some point in the not too distant future I will be bringing it forward. I think, I don't see this as something that I'm injecting because it's a presidential season, 'cause I've been on this ...

If I were to scream "Fire" in a crowded room and people panicked; stampeding towards the exit, bodies trip and stumble, many are hurt, a few have died. If I had lied and screamed "Fire", and people died, would you hold me responsible? If I lied... sweet nothings of love... promises of cleanliness... trust me, trust me... and you fuck me and catch my disease... am I responsible? Can you hold me accountable? If I lied and said it wasn't loaded... and he died... would I be to blame? If I wer...

This story is pretty creepy... Mystery of the vanishing bees David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing. In 24 states across America, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including Cali...

I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things. The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!' N...

All day yesterday, I was troubled by the news of Saddam's impending death. Even though I knew he would eventually be sent to the gallows and when that day came there would be some sort of ripple effect that would reverberate not only around the world but in me as well, I still didn't pay this day too much attention. I've been avoiding thinking about the intended and unintended consequences but now that his time has passed and the world seems to have as much trouble dealing with this rather har...

If you don't have a lot of time, you can just skim through chapters 4 & 5 real quick and see if you still believe what you posted. Descartes didn't establish that thought exists, he identified his sense of self and used that as proof he existed... and built outwardly from there. He was looking for one simple truth... a truth that couldn't be questioned or torn apart by deceptive arguments and he started with his own existence. But his existence wasn't tied to his physical form, it was tied to ...

at least not in any way I understand. I wasn't drawing any parallel between the two... I was only answering your original question of... "Is there any precedent for the immaterial interacting with the material?" Of which, the example does answer that question. The second question is a bit more difficult because I guess I do not understand what you believe a soul to be. Descartes reasonings prove to me the existence of a soul because it fits with my definition of what a soul is. I need go ...

Question #1: How does the immaterial (soul) interact with the material (flesh)? Is there any precedent for the immaterial interacting with the material? What is the process by which this occurs (with as much specificity as possible)? Yes there is a precedent and you experience every waking moment of your life... At the most basic, quantum level there is the interaction between the Boson and Fermion particles of matter. Fermion particles comprise the rigid particles of our existence and take th...

I want you to put yourself in the shoes of Average Joe Iraqi for a moment and try and imagine what he or she must be thinking right about now... When this war was delivered to his doorstep, I'm sure it was not something he had wanted but the inevitability of defeat must have played heavily on his mind. Sure Baghdad Bob was spouting his lies and the Government was making all sorts of bullshit claims as to how they would fight to the last man and woman, how Saddam was declaring a Jihad, how Amer...