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Political one liners

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Re: Political one liners
Post by Daryl   » Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:12 am

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I was just assisting a fellow commenter at his request. No offense meant, no serious thought, and not too many small furry animals harmed either.
PeterZ wrote:
Daryl wrote:I too like snopes, as it does clear up urban myths and false news.

No one's noticed Hell getting cooler.

Oh, and Daryl, one lines can't be that serious. If they are not serious, I don't care if Letterman said it or not. It might well be funnier as a joke that he never said.
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Re: Political one liners
Post by PeterZ   » Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:18 pm

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Daryl wrote:I was just assisting a fellow commenter at his request. No offense meant, no serious thought, and not too many small furry animals harmed either.
PeterZ wrote:No one's noticed Hell getting cooler.

Oh, and Daryl, one lines can't be that serious. If they are not serious, I don't care if Letterman said it or not. It might well be funnier as a joke that he never said.


No offense taken.
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Re: Political one liners
Post by WeirdlyWired   » Mon Feb 06, 2017 1:15 am

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Christianity is a religion, Islam is a political movement.

we're all for free exercise of [christian religion] so we're going to remove the Johnson amendment so Christian churches can engage in politics and bepart of the Conservative movement.

Islam is political so it deserves not religious consideration under the First amendment. And we're going to twist that logic pretzel to allow Christian churches to join the political movement, not rip down the separation clause and not create two classes of religion.

We're just following the logic of Neil Gorsuch. teo classes of corporations one with religious right of free exercise, one without. Ohyeah and free exercise now means the right to force others to follow your religious beliefs regardless of theirs.
Helas,chou, Je m'en fache.
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Re: Political one liners
Post by Daryl   » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:58 am

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I'm obviously a bit thick and ill informed, but I thought your earliest settlers were people fleeing religious persecution, and seeking freedom of religious expression? Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock or something similar?

WeirdlyWired wrote:Christianity is a religion, Islam is a political movement.

we're all for free exercise of [christian religion] so we're going to remove the Johnson amendment so Christian churches can engage in politics and bepart of the Conservative movement.

Islam is political so it deserves not religious consideration under the First amendment. And we're going to twist that logic pretzel to allow Christian churches to join the political movement, not rip down the separation clause and not create two classes of religion.

We're just following the logic of Neil Gorsuch. teo classes of corporations one with religious right of free exercise, one without. Ohyeah and free exercise now means the right to force others to follow your religious beliefs regardless of theirs.
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Re: Political one liners
Post by biochem   » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:56 am

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Daryl wrote:I'm obviously a bit thick and ill informed, but I thought your earliest settlers were people fleeing religious persecution, and seeking freedom of religious expression? Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock or something similar?

WeirdlyWired wrote:Christianity is a religion, Islam is a political movement.

we're all for free exercise of [christian religion] so we're going to remove the Johnson amendment so Christian churches can engage in politics and bepart of the Conservative movement.

Islam is political so it deserves not religious consideration under the First amendment. And we're going to twist that logic pretzel to allow Christian churches to join the political movement, not rip down the separation clause and not create two classes of religion.

We're just following the logic of Neil Gorsuch. teo classes of corporations one with religious right of free exercise, one without. Ohyeah and free exercise now means the right to force others to follow your religious beliefs regardless of theirs.


This has to do with taxes. People are allowed to donate to churches (and other similar charities) and claim a deduction on their federal taxes. Churches are also tax exempt and don't have to pay a variety of taxes that other businesses would. The logic behind this is that churches and other similar charities perform a societal good (help the poor etc) and charitable giving should be encouraged.

The catch is that churches are limited in their free speech about politicians. They are allowed to discuss issues i.e. abortion is evil or issue report cards i.e. grade the 100 senators A to F in their support of pro-life causes. But what they can't do is say vote for Joe Jones, he is a strong pro-life supporter. However, enforcement of this has been spotty. African American pastors routinely endorse (mostly Democratic) candidates from the pulpit and the IRS does nothing. Evangelical churches who try the same (but endorsing mostly pro-life Republicans) lose their tax exempt status.
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Re: Political one liners
Post by gcomeau   » Mon Feb 06, 2017 1:41 pm

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biochem wrote:
This has to do with taxes. People are allowed to donate to churches (and other similar charities) and claim a deduction on their federal taxes. Churches are also tax exempt and don't have to pay a variety of taxes that other businesses would. The logic behind this is that churches and other similar charities perform a societal good (help the poor etc) and charitable giving should be encouraged.

The catch is that churches are limited in their free speech about politicians. They are allowed to discuss issues i.e. abortion is evil or issue report cards i.e. grade the 100 senators A to F in their support of pro-life causes. But what they can't do is say vote for Joe Jones, he is a strong pro-life supporter. However, enforcement of this has been spotty. African American pastors routinely endorse (mostly Democratic) candidates from the pulpit and the IRS does nothing. Evangelical churches who try the same (but endorsing mostly pro-life Republicans) lose their tax exempt status.



Name one.

Name ONE church in the last... 10 years... that has had their tax exempt status pulled for pro-life political speech.

ONE.

Hundreds of them *should* have. But name a single one that DID. It is damn near impossible to get the IRS to enforce those rules against *anyone*. I know of a single case in 2000... and they had to take out national newspaper advertising against a presidential candidate to finally push the IRS too far and actually get anything ore than a warning. FFS you can't even get Scientology's tax exempt status revoked because the IRS is so terrified of people screaming "religious persecution".
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Re: Political one liners
Post by Imaginos1892   » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:29 pm

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The obvious solution is to remove the blanket tax exemption from all religions. They can still get tax breaks for their actual charitable activities, but are treated like any other business for their property, income and so on.

I say the religion tax exemption is unconstitutional, because it places the government, through the IRS, in the position of approving some religions and disapproving others. How exactly is the IRS competent to distinguish a 'real' religion from a cult, or some phony just trying to dodge taxes?

The government gives some organizations a huge advantage over others by relieving them of taxes. How is that not 'establishing religion'? Why can't I declare my house to be the Church Of The Gray Cat, and not pay taxes too? I can at least demonstrate that there is a Gray Cat, and he certainly thinks he's God.
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By the way, Scientology is not a religion, it's a joke. L. Ron laughed at all those morons until the day he died, and if there's any kind of an afterlife he's still laughing.
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Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!
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Re: Political one liners
Post by Starsaber   » Mon Feb 13, 2017 3:26 pm

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gcomeau wrote:
Hundreds of them *should* have. But name a single one that DID. It is damn near impossible to get the IRS to enforce those rules against *anyone*. I know of a single case in 2000... and they had to take out national newspaper advertising against a presidential candidate to finally push the IRS too far and actually get anything ore than a warning. FFS you can't even get Scientology's tax exempt status revoked because the IRS is so terrified of people screaming "religious persecution".


For that matter, if you question the tax exempt status of any organization for using their money for political issues you get complaints about using the IRS to target political enemies.
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Re: Political one liners
Post by cthia   » Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:08 pm

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Trump is not our president, he's our precedent.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: Political one liners
Post by WeirdlyWired   » Wed Feb 15, 2017 9:21 pm

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Daryl wrote:I'm obviously a bit thick and ill informed, but I thought your earliest settlers were people fleeing religious persecution, and seeking freedom of religious expression? Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock or something similar?


Its like "Get government off out backs" When Democrats say it is keep government out of the bedroom. When Republicans say it its keep government out of the boardroom.

I probably am getting at least a bit of history wrong but, IIRC, it has something to do with Oliver Cromwell, Roundheads the Stuart restoration and a couple of civil wars. Politically Cromwell was a Roundhead, religiously he was a Puritan. They lost the latter civil war saw the restoration and were being arrested for treason, so they fled England over "religious" prosecution.

And while they were all for religious freedom for Puritans they were rabidly opposed to other religions intruding into their "New Jerusalem"
Helas,chou, Je m'en fache.
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