He also swore his oath “so help me God.”

chingona
February 11, 2008 at 11:45 am
I was told that the injunction was against swearing in God’s name you would do something that you have no intention of following through on. (As in, I swear to God, if the Republicans win the presidency again, I’m moving to Canada!) And it was a rabbi who told me that. And while the rabbi certainly was not a Christian, I think we’re talking about the same commandment in the same book. So they are wrong for all the reasons described in the post. But I think they’re also wrong on their own terms.

Sycorax, Fiend of Welsh Rarebit
February 11, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Another thing: there are a lot of Christians (I don’t know how the percentages break down) who take the view that the whole “taking the Lord’s name in vain” does not refer to simple casual use of the words, but to keeping oaths sworn to the Lord’s name. This is also the interpretation more supported by Biblical historians as being closest to the intent of the writers/redacters. So the complainers in this case are really trying to force everyone to follow their own rules, not even their religion’s.

Yeah, that’s how I learned it too, back in my church-goin’ days. The groups/churches I belonged to were really into “The REAL Real Meaning of Those Biblical Texts” or whatever…..

Which makes George Dubya Bush not only an oathbreaker but a blasphemer, too. He’s breaking one of those Sacred-N-Holy Ten Commandments he says he loves so much. After all, didn’t he make a big production of swearing the Presidential Oath of Office on a Bible? You know, the one where he said he does “…solemnly swear that I will …. to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” ?

Ooops.

commie atheist
February 11, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Some of my favorite names for non-existent sports teams: New York Hebes, Memphis Darkies. I mean, if we can call one team Redskins and another Braves, why not?

What… you mean you never heard of The Fighting Whities???

The funny thing is, we got along great with the Marines we used to ship around. The CG had a lot in common with the Corps, in that they were both smaller branches of the service that were designed for rapid deployment. Yes, their missions were very different, but for whatever reason that never came up.

And we *all* hated the Navy in their pretty white costumes with their fishbowl hats. So maybe that was what united us.

I’m honestly sorry if I caused offense.

I don’t know what Coast Guard you served in, but the one I served in provided anything but “comfortable leisure.”

Unless you consider fighting shipboard fires on 20-foot seas or pulling Haitian migrants out of shark-infested waters in the middle of the night or jumping out of a helicopter to rescue a hapless pleasure boater who got caught in a storm “comfortable leisure.” I sure don’t, but maybe my dictionary is different from yours.

(Full disclosure: I never actually did that third thing. But lots of my friends did.)

As for cats- I tend to name the local strays that show up Ernesto, Che, Fidel, Chavez, etc. More fun to yell on the front deck at dinnertime.

How can you hate something so pretty as Arsenal football?

These are matters of religion. We are Godly folk and you are Malignants.

Someone needs to stomp on and fracture that flopper’s shins.