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Homosexuality is a mental illness? Like depression, pedophilia or OCD? Just pray and train the gay, blues, and obsessive habits away?

Murderers, rapists, and predators who prey upon their fellow man are God’s creations. But, they are also subject to the rule of Man on Earth. Any who commit the above may still find salvation with the Higher Power...but they can’t be allowed to exist among the general population of Man. Man and God are in conflict here. There’s not a problem there. God is perfect and all seeing, all knowing. Man is not. Man will act in ways that do not agree with God. God will ultimately rule in ways that Man does not understand.

Ah, now, the Bible. The same New Testament that was ordered by fallible humans and written by fallible humans. The Bible that was not written by God or Jesus nor neither of whom have any direct input into it. It’s a book of recollections, stories, fables, and tales written by......people just like you or I over the last 2000 years or so. In another 1000 years the books of J.K. Rowling could be just as revered and followed by whatever human civilization follows us. And it will.

Immorality? What is immorality? Is it not following the Bible? Is it knifing a hooker? Is it killing someone who does not adhere strictly to the Old Testament? What is “morality?”

For me, morality is simply the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments. Neither of which are originally Christian precepts. Essentially, do unto others as you would have them do unto you and don’t lie, cheat or rob. Basics for any organized society looking to grow and survive.

That is morality. Heterosexuals can be as sexually predatory as homosexuals. People who are Gay are not direct connections to Satan.

People who are gay are not automatically damned. People who are straight are not automatically saved. There are other elements to how a person lives their life out that determine other things.

Oh, and, I am a Romney supporter who is a Reagan baby who realizes there isn’t a Reagan in every election. I want a Reagan, as the leftist wants a Johnson, in every election. But it doesn’t happen every time. Hoping, wanting, internet preaching for it doesn’t make it so. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have and you do the best you can with it. I understand that.

I only wish more could...

I’m not “pushing” anything.

I do not agree with homosexuals being allowed to marry. Marriage is a centuries long mechanism of recording heredity and blood lines. Faith and religion are separate things. I have faith but I don’t belong to any religion. I can’t understand why so many find peace and solace with their same sex. I simply can’t. Yet, I know they do while functioning perfectly normally in ever other aspect of life. Paying their taxes. Abiding by traffic laws. Getting to work on time. Even going to Church. They do them all just like you and I.

Where, just exactly, do I morally condemn and damn for doing the same things as I? I ask? They are God’s creation just as you and I going about life just as you and I would do so.

It’s clearly no secret that the Bible does not serve me. It’s also clear that the New Testament does not serve everyone. I believe in good people...not the devout. They are serious and different things. Good and deserving people are one thing. Hollow and professing people are quite another.

I trust in the actions of my fellow person, not their church. I can’t care less about their religion, I care about their morality.

Agree. Newt would be okay at the bottom of the ticket.

I’ve been getting worn-out on Perry for a few years now. He is not an imaginative or out-in-front type at all.

I have been embarrassed for him more than anything else. He went into this campaign extremely unprepared and not well served by his organization. I don’t know where it goes from here. His campaign now is just a wait and see operation with hopes of continued fund raising to keep it alive.

He is not going to say anything or have any great clearing proposal that brings him back up.

I’ve known the family now for 17 years. They are a “good” Southern Baptist family. Admittedly, I recognize the oxymoron contained within that statement.

This girl has been my best friend for many years. I fish with her father and her mother puts a stocking up for me at Christmas time. I’ve never been closer to anyone or another family in my life. There is not a hint of deception or secrets among them. She knows everything about me and I know enough after all of these years about her to pick up on clues of abuse. They aren’t there. I’d trust her and her family with my last $100 if it came down to it.

Now, how is developing a same-sex lifestyle somehow different for men and women? It’s about emotional and physical stimulation and response it seems.

IF a man can disgust a girl and she then finds features of the same sex more desirable, how is that any different than a boy who finds girls undesirable and then resorts to other males? That doesn’t make sense. It’s the same thing.

No.

Which means, in order for your mental breakdown of who and what homosexuals must be, you have to believe they did to make sense of things.

It may be your reality, but, it’s not the actual reality.

And I note your intense, violent rejection of reality and the evidence around you.

And?

“Please learn the difference between PEDERAST and PEDOPHILE....”

Huh...?

Are you suggesting that there are different, nee explainable, degrees of child molestation? As in a “pederast” is at least culturally explainable while non-cultural contact is pedophilia?

I seriously don’t get your post here.

It’s my personal experience. A very real and genuine one. And, you may go to Hell.

It’s the same kind of experience that happens hundreds of times everyday in this country. It’s not molestation. It’s not “the media.” It is however something within people that we can’t explain and thus apply the “deviant” label too as a soft, comfortable, warm excuse to make ourselves feel better about ourselves.

I assume you are an adult. Wise up.

You can’t be that thick.

Not all pedophiles and child molesters are gay. Not all fundamental LDS-types are pedophiles. What we’re talking about here is the casting with a broad brush. Most definitely, some of each are, but many of each definitely are not.

You cannot say that any one type of sexual deviancy is a product of a certain religion or political thinking or whatever. There are plenty, plenty, of good “Christian” males victimizing underage girls in this country and elsewhere. We read about it everyday. Not every Muslim or person raised in a Muslim country has some undying thirst for young boys.

What if Sandusky had been doing this with underage girls? You don’t think that this is happening RIGHT NOW in this country? You’re dead stupid if not.

Wake the Hell up and join reality with the rest of us, please....

Um, that’s utter horsesh!t. Did you convince yourself of that?

My dad was absent for large parts of the year due to his work as I a child growing up. It never lent me to any gay leanings.

On the other hand, two homosexual people that I know personally have married parents who were home everyday and had traditional nuclear family up-bringing. One was a girl who I dated and wanted to seriously marry growing up. She finally had to say something resulting in extreme disappointment for me and her family. She and I are very close friends to this day and I still love her. Always will. But her brain and desires are for other women, not men. I can’t change that and she’s happy the way she is. I have to be happy for her. Her parents and I are still as tight as ever. Call it what you want, but, abuse what never part of the equation.

Yeah, what’s the big deal?

Greeks actually looking for work and opportunity are not going to find it in Greece these days. They might as well emigrate somewhere where they can.

Besides, I thought the Turks had been flooding into Germany for the last couple of decades. Shouldn’t this provide something of a natural balance to that?

I do know one adult gay male who was attacked as a teen...he said he was around 16 when it occurred and the attacker was 20. That’s rather post-pubescent.

I’ve worked with many gay people and the vast majority have had rather normal up-bringings without histories of molestation to hear them tell it. Otherwise normal and rational people in everyday dealings.

The most telling discussion I ever had with any of them was one where I was told to think about the feelings I had for girls in high school and he said that he had those same feeling for other boys instead. He couldn’t explain it other than that’s what his brain and body told him to do. I had a hard time countering that argument.

Not all molesters are homosexuals and not all homosexuals are sexual predators. How many hetero child molesters (hello, fundamental LDS’ers) are lurking out there in our midst victimizing the young?

“But seriously, why have the con candidates ignored Romney and savaged one another? So self-destructive. I’m already mentally prepared to hold my nose and campaign for him in the general. But in a country of 300 million people, this was the best we could do?..”

Because it’s a conspiracy, man. The Democrats have infiltrated the campaigns of our most conservative candidates and convinced them to go after each other. Ya know, they’re picking our GOP candidate for us. They’re convincing Rick Perry to sound like an idget in our debates to kill him and he’s buying into it. They’ve convinced all of these anonymous women to come out and play-pretend that they had inappropriate contact with Cain. Any they’ve convinced Cain to play along clumsily.

It’s all the Dems, man, they are even contriving to hide Romney amidst the fog of it all so that he can get the nomination in spite of all of these super, bright, well-spoken, and truly deserving “conservative” candidates who clearly own the next election.

Yeah, man, if it wasn’t for the Democrats evilly controlling our own nomination process and manipulating each and every public opinion poll that comes out then we’d be getting ready to re-nominate Thomas Jefferson, ya see.

Yeah, just sit in your padded room and mumble about a Democrat conspiracy over and over. That should make you feel better....

Awe....pity. Just what propels candidates to the nomination. If Perry only had Pelley to help him through all of his public engagements and lead him along.

Anything is possible, but, I don’t feel sorry enough for the Gov’ to vote for him for POTUS. I’ve lived with Mr. “Next in LIne” for eleven years and he leaves MUCH to be desired. Much.

Move on. Get another hobby. It’s not anywhere near the effort. He’s certainly not giving any effort. Why should you?

Ah, Darren. You are of similar mind.

Which Romney? The one he’s running as today. The same Romney campaign that today is hounded as too squishy and moderate which was the same Romney campaign in 2008 which was embraced by Limbaugh and so many others as the “true” conservative in that race. That Romney and campaign. I would have gladly voted for him in 2008 against Obama if given the chance. I wasn’t, so I voted or McCain. Call me guilty of voting for the last best RINO over the Democrat, fine. My conscious rests extremely easy with that.

So many seem to look for the “next Ronald Reagan” as if we’re entitled and certain to see such a candidate each and every election cycle and if we don’t see one there is some conspiracy to deprive us of one. That “special” candidate has to overpower the noise to make it out. If and when they don’t, they don’t deserve it. Hell, Reagan was an establishment politician and former governor who had failed in previous attempts at the White House. His resume, apart from the acting portion, is not one Hell of a lot different from Romney’s.

Bending the political curve to the “right” as opposed to the “left” is not a bad thing. Us on the rightward side of the political argument have been pretty damned happy with it for decades.

Speaking of things, Romney’s recent speech regarding national security and defense spending was awesome. The best since Reagan. Talk about “in your face” fielding and research. He was off the chart. I don’t hear many other GOP’ers anywhere near that. Cain, Perry, even Gingrich, have not communicated anywhere hear that level of ideals or details concerning Administrative expectations of future militarily related ideals. This is a huge deal for a person like me.

Romney is a pro-business person. He’s an seeming neo-Hawk militarily. He’s not a fool when it comes to Federal budgets. He’s prepared and ready and this should not be undervalued. We see so many who are not. Too many on the right are laying themselves out for people who will need serious on the job training. Just as so many did in 2008 with Obama.

I am seriously welded to defeating Obama in 2012 and doing so with Romney. He can do it. He can bring a lot of “Reagan Democrats” and Independents with him in doing so. Average folks who need an alternative to the averse Obama right now.

Nope. One of his core supporters is here on FR duty. On vacation from work, but not my post here.

If elected, Romney will be the second most “conservative” POTUS we’ve had in the last 100 years. Reagan obviously first. Then? Uh. GWB? TR? Mitt fits somewhere in between Ronny and the Bush Jr or Teddy reigns.

I live in Texas. I consider myself seriously right of center. Perry is a dolt. A local enigma. Cain just doesn’t have the balls to make the long trip.

After Mitt, Newt is the only other option I see. He was brilliant in the 1990s. He went rogue after leaving the SOH post. Spent many years in political and personal purgatory since.

If you can’t tell, I’m a sucker for the flawed personality protagonist. No human being is perfect. I despise anyone for trying to create or front a “perfect” candidate. I despise anyone for trying to act like the “perfect” candidate. I despise any supporter of any said political candidate for holding them up to God-like status.

In this, I’ve made my disgust with Palinistas and Perry-Krishnas equally known.

Flaws and lack of perfection are the norm in nature and life. That is not a bad thing. It’s a natural thing.

Learn to love, live, embrace, and improve upon that. I don’t blame anyone for not being the next Jesus. I do blame those who try to compel others into believing in a Jesus who does not exist.

Perry is a clown. He’s not coming back.

Cain is interesting but seemingly shallow and not one to win the months and states ahead.

I left Gingrich dead months ago..........but he’s doing some serious stuff. Some serious stuff.

Romney has the market on the moderate Dem/unaffiliated/Centrist/undecided voter pretty much cornered right now.

Squishy middle types are seeing a nice, safe palatable option in Romney as the Recession wears on.

I am well aware of Toastmasters and they seem to be a help for many who have trouble with public speaking.

Okay. Never a member and never bothered with them.

Confidence in public speaking is about mastering your subject, knowing the audience, and knowing yourself. You can either speak to an audience or you can’t. Those who can’t naturally can steady themselves with increased subject matter knowledge. I’ve also known many who had extreme knowledge of the subject matter who couldn’t bare themselves to the public.

Realize you aren’t perfect, no one is. Realize that no one judges you as severely as you do. Speak to the audience as you, an audience member as well, would like to be spoken to. Don’t apologize for being imperfect. And, most of all, direct the presentation where you need it to go. As the head of the room, you are running the show. Push in that direction and and make those who want to take it in another direction on the defensive. You are on the offensive and the room is yours if you make it so.

Just saying. I, most thankfully, can assume a room and present my points with success. I have done so in front of field employees and company presidents. It can be done by anyone if you heed the above.

Anyone can do it, if, you are comfortable with yourself and your ideas. That’s all it comes down to....

“These remarks didn’t prevent him from being a good president. I cannot believe the number of people who think these “debates” are such a big deal. It’s ludicrous...”

While only in my 30’s, I certainly remember the “Gipper.”

Does not being a good impromptu public speaker prevent you from being POTUS? No. Does not appearing to have a serious grasp of the subject matter nor your own policy points upon which you are basing your argument for being trusted and selected by a majority of the population? Uh, yeah. Does doing that over and over in cringing episodes of uncomfortability reinforce the image that you do not have a grasp of the subject matter nor a serious grasp of why you occupy your policy points? Yes.

Reagan was a gifted speaker. More so, his policy positions were welded to his person and when having to speak about them he did not have to resort to talking points or coaching to remark upon them sensibly. They were him and all he had to do was let himself evoke them. When your beliefs and thoughts are closely held and without your own doubt, they simply flow out of you.

To your mention of Reagan. There has been exactly one Ronald Reagan in the history of the United States. That means that they don’t happen very often and, in fact, happen rather rarely. Notable, positive nation changing POTUS’s include Reagan, Kennedy, FDR, TR, Abe, Jackson, Adams, Madison, and Washington. Very rare air. Most Presidents are Bushs, Johnsons, Tafts, Harrisons, and Polks and the American people persevere through it.

There is no “Reagan” this year. It’s not Palin. It’s not Perry. It’s not Cain. The next “Reagan” has not presented his or her-self. There’s nothing wrong with that either. Most times we are left to determine the lesser of two evils and who will harm us less if elected. That’s American electoral politics too and more often than you may want to think about.

If it makes you feel any better, Obama is not the new “FDR.” He’s a hollow, fragile replication for the left. His actions and purposes will be barn material and historical afterthoughts in a very few short years. He is a blip on the big screen. He will not occupy the print of Clinton.