You know the amount of damage that Edward Kennedy orchestrated on our country. He used his personality and family aura to get people to go along with his agenda and to put their beliefs on "the back burner".
That's what they do in the senate - "we can disagree but we're all in the same country club and don't want to say anything judgemental". I believe we should choose our friends very carefully. There is a difference between being polite and developing a friendship.

You're not balanced. Why do you define compassion as the act of passing laws which forceably take money from some people and distribute it to "more needy people" ? True compassion is when people willingly - without force - take their money or time and give it to people that they believe deserve it. In my view, you are not compassionate you are just trying to deal with a lot of guilt. It won't work because you need to deal with your guilt on a personal basis with God and not trying to earn it by sitting on a "white horse" redeeming mankind.

This article by Pat has finally made up my mind that he is biased against Israel and that he draws false analogies - like the Berlin one. Does he not understand that Hamas, Gaza, Syria and basically every Arabic/Islamic country wants to destroy Israel ? Would he be in favor of allowing ship loads of sworn enemies of America to dock in San Diego without inspection ? Does he not understand that those "pacifists" on board those ships don't want peace with Israel but their demise. I've given Pat quite a bit of latitude regarding some of his opinions in the past but he is off base and can't be trusted to give sound advice. He's got some blind spots combined with a combativeness that is puzzling.

Ruff