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Gone, But Not Forgotten? What The Internet Will Look Like Under SOPA Fearsgiving Week Jesus Approves of Waterboarding Beware of Asteroids 
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Dumb & DumberThursday, Feb. 22, 2007 12:21 AMCongressman Virgil Goode (R � Virginia), who apparently believes that hordes of Islamic jihadists are just waiting to storm across our borders, remarked last week that if we don't keep fighting in Iraq, why, pretty soon, our money will read, "In Muhammad We Trust." I have no qualms about stating that you, Congressman Virgil Goode, are a complete dumbass. It's the Prophet Muhammad, and that's not who Muslims follow, even though the primary difference between Shia and Sunni Muslims is who rightfully inherited Muhammad's authority after his death. Allah is the name of God in the Muslim faith, so your fear-mongering stands revealed as just that: insensate, irrational panic, completely removed from the facts. It'd be like saying, "In Peter We Trust," mistaking Christ's choice of 'the rock upon which I shall build my Church' for God Himself. It should be noted that uptight, right-wing Christians are not the only ones who practice idiocy of this sort. At Pantheacon, a major convention in the Bay Area celebrating multiple and diverse faiths over the Presidents' Day Weekend, some attendees saw fit to toss the Gideon Bibles out of their hotel rooms and into the parking lot below. I'm not sure how many Bibles were tossed. As far as I'm concerned, the Bible-tossers are right up there with Virgil Goode in the dumbass category. Maybe we should toss y'all in the same room with a gun-toting Brian Sussman and see who can disrespect the other's religion the fastest. The convention organizers pointed out that such behavior is flat-out unacceptable (I would like to point out that it'd be nice if Christians stood up to criticize their brothers and sisters who indulge in similar foolishness), and, in fact, harms only the convention ��as the cost of the Bibles will be charged against the convention as 'property damage'. My view of faith is that it is not lessened or invalidated by what others believe. I can believe in God, or a Lord and Lady, and neither requires that I show open disrespect to the other, unlike Sussman's, "I don't have to respect your religion, otherwise, what good is mine?" And if I were exploring those other faiths to garner understanding, to find the commonalities as a means of dialogue � tossing a symbol of my faith � lapsed though it may be � only tells me you're just as small-minded and bitter as some of the evangelical and fundamentalist Christians. Okay, if Britney Spears wants to go to rehab, she needs to be sent to a facility where she can't just walk out the door because she's bored. Keep up the hard partying and erratic behavior, and you will lose custody of your children, end of story, and you won't have anyone to blame but yourself. Well, and maybe that waste of skin/oxygen called Paris Hilton. Rehab is not simple, or easy. It's likely going to be painful as you look inside, not only to recognize your problems, but to come to terms with yourself and find the strength to face them � or the wisdom to ask for help. If you decide that you don't have a problem, that's fine, too � but you still have to accept the consequences of your behavior and the potential implications as far as being the mother of your children goes.
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