Why do you always go on polls? Penn and Teller explained clearly, on their television program, that polls are inherently controlled, and don't mean anything.

Why don't you guys actually evaluate the policy proposals these candidates make, rather than focus on meaningless polls? why don't we have an actual analysis of what the effects immigration really are, and how immigration reform might improve or hurt the economy?

Why does the media keep us lost in a post modern miasma?

Sent by Jody Sol | 6:28 PM ET | 12-11-2007

Let God be praised! Blessed is the King of United States-Jesus Christ.

In current situation, an increasing number of so-called intellectuals without God from China are being hired by American treators to steal America's jobs, to steal America's high technology blessed by Christ to send them back to Communist China to the satisfaction of Comminist China's ambition of wipting out America and Israel.

God shall show mercy toward us by giving us a President who, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, shall lead us to fight the wicked and guard our nation which was possible because of the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ shed on the cross for our sins.

God is indeed showing mercy to us and this is not possile if not Christ died for our sins.

The worldly widsom is a rubbish to God. Those who are intellectual but rebells against God are really like a grass in the field: today is, tomorrow no more. Cast the ungodly alliens out of America.

Our hope and trust is in our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Sent by Esther Salem | 9:07 PM ET | 12-11-2007

Damn treators, I hate 'em I hate 'em! Kick 'em in the teeth where it hurts!

Seriously Esther, you are living in a fantasy world, a terrifying fantasy world. Jesus was a great guy, I agree with most everything he said, but for you to say that worldly wisdom is evil, is sad and embarrassing for you. Christ new that the pursuit of knowledge, of truth, was the pursuit of god. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness...

And if you believe that Huckabee is holier than any of the other candidates, you've got another thing coming. I've heard he has a nasty wrath, that Christ would have pitied.

Sent by Jody Sol | 12:52 PM ET | 12-12-2007

Please, Ester, please let that post be meant as sarcasm. Because, if you truly believe that way, then your faith demands that you leave this country immediately. Move to Israel and be close to the land of your lord Jesus.

Sent by Brian | 1:55 PM ET | 12-12-2007

Jesus said "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword." So I presume he would run as a Democrat. But that sounds like something Kucinich might say, so, he probably wouldn't get the nomination.

Sent by John R. Otten | 2:27 PM ET | 12-12-2007

Tea leaves and poppy-cock! The brightest flame burns-out the fastest.
Let'em burn, let'em burn!

Did you learn NOTHING from "the Tortise and the Hare"?

Sent by Harold | 5:29 PM ET | 12-12-2007

Sent by John R. Otten: Jesus said "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword."

John, please don't mess with religion. It was Mathew who said it, and Luke said, "He who does not have a sword sell your cloak and buy one."

And Mathew was like nowhere around until well after Jesus's crucifixion, and Matthew took most of his writings from the Q Books of Mark, and Luke was a bunch of Greek scholars, and if you go messing with quoting religion you're going to get a lot of people riled up.

Quote from the heretics dictionary. It's safer that way and we won't be ticking off people.

fred call

Sent by fred call | 6:29 PM ET | 12-12-2007

Um, Fred, are you saying that Matthew made it up? As in, lied? Well seems like you're the one who is about to tick off some religious people.

Sent by John R. Otten | 7:38 PM ET | 12-12-2007

Fight illegal immigration. Contact your elected reps. and demand they co-sponsor the Save Act. The House bill is HR 4088. The Senate bill is S2368.

Visit NumbersUSA for more details.- http://www.numbersusa.com/actionbuffet

Only vote for candidates willing to support this bill. It forces all employers to verify social security numbers.

Let's take our country back !

Sent by magyart | 11:59 PM ET | 12-12-2007

Sent by John R. Otten: Um, Fred, are you saying that Matthew made it up? As in, lied? Well seems like you're the one who is about to tick off some religious people.

No, I didn't say lied, John. And there you go again, trying to cause trouble. Which is okay. My middle name is Camorra, which is Spanish for troublemaker.

It's basically a situation when one compares the history of Jesus compared to the various personal biblical interpretations of Jesus's life.

What I said was that if you study the biblical history of Matthew, Mark and Luke, you will find that (and this is what I said) Matthew never personally met Jesus. Simply because when Matthew wrote his scriptures, Jesus had long been dead.

Matthew wrote his scriptures from various sources, word of mouth, and from the Q books that were attributed to Mark. And I wouldn't use the word plagarism. Yet, there you have to compare Matthew and Mark for similarities and differences in their biographical accounts of Jesus's life. Was Jesus the son of David or Abraham, for example?

And, on top of all that, one has to consider the translation of various words and phrases through the centuries. For example: the 'eye of the needle' was not figuratively a needle's eye. It was a term used for a narrow gate into Jerusalem through which trading caravan's passed. And to get through the narrow gates, sometimes the trade (metaphorical money) had to be removed from the camel. From that comes the parable of money and heaven and passing through the eye of the needle.

Luke, according to biblical scholars, was not a single scribe. Luke was a consortium of Greek writers. Hence, you have biblical translation from Greek to Aramaic to Hebrew to English over the centuries. For example, what did it mean when Jesus walked on water, or turned water into wine and other miracles. Ergo, you have the historical interpretation of Jesus's miracles, and you have the personal biblical interpretations of Jesus's miracles.

Now, the quandry when discussing biblical history and biblical interpretation comes when there are those who take the biblical writings as literal. Another example: Historian argue that Jesus was not born on December 25th. That December 25th was original a Saturnalia holiday in honor of Mithra, the sun god, and it was in the fifth century that the Vatican decreed that forever Christmas would be celebrated on December 25th. At the same, if you ask a firm believer how December 25th became known as Jesus's birthday, well, plain and simple, that's the day Jesus was born. No question about it.

And you said Matthew said "He who lives by the sword...etc...."

Well, most any biblical statement has an oppositeL

Luke said that if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

In other words, any time there is one biblical interpretation, there is an opposite biblical interpretation. Which leads to debate.

Like the Scopes Monkey Trial versus Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

So, John, how many comments do you think we can get from this? And can we sell any of the comments to Dan Brown for his sequel to Da Vinci Code that, from what I hear, is due out soon, and promises to be even more controversial.

Oh, joy.

fred call

Sent by fred call | 10:17 AM ET | 12-13-2007

Sorry to just be getting back to you on this Fred but, you know, you really shouldn't be talking about codes and the bible and all that. Someone over at Homeland Security might get too excited and waste taxpayer dollars with further investigations of the NPR message board.

But just for you, another quote from the American Heretic's Dictionary: Christian, adj. Having an infallible ability to determine the morality of conduct, especially in the lives of others. Christian, n. A person who generously seeks to transfer his expertise in morality into provisions in the penal code.

Sent by John R. Otten | 6:24 PM ET | 12-18-2007