Wow! Go away for a few hours, and it takes 30 minutes to catch up! 
LOL!
I won't weigh in on everything, but I'll go through a few that caught my eye.
Novella, yes, I read what the read was about. In my opinion, the article in question managed to play on paranoia, skew the details, and give the impression that the few affiliates who chose not to show the movie as being significant. Presently, there are 231 ABC affiliates nationwide. That's hard for people in some other countries to grasp. There are nearly 5,000 separate television stations in the country. Of the 231 who follow ABC's programming, 18 of them decided not to air the movie. I don't think that's really too significant. JMO.
As for the whole religion in government thing, I think it's important to note that there are plenty of public servants who aren't protestant or catholic. Mayors, governors, senators and representatives span a wide variety of faiths (or no faith at all). There are quite a few devout Jewish senators, for example, and I presume that if one is elected in the future, he will choose to swear his allegiance to the country on the Torah, rather than the Bible. The bible isn't required. It's not even used in courts anymore when a witness is to testify. The language now goes "Do you swear or affirm that the testimony..."
SillyWabbit, there are a LOT of places in the U.S. where you can open your bottle of wine on the grass and stare at the sky. Don't know where you've been. I do it all the time in public parks. Many parks back east have eliminated "open containers" more because of littering and broken glass issues than with drinking.
Ms. Wilde, I share your desire for a colorless, classless society. I wish all people could be judged on their merits alone, without any "assistance" or "shame" from the government. But in having a classless society, we would also have to return to the concept of the "right to fail". Presently in the US, a person is not ALLOWED to fail. You cannot lose your job and not feed your children. It's a crime. You can't send them to school in shoddy clothing because it's all you can afford. That's a crime too. No health insurance and you don't vaccinate? Yep, it's "neglect". Even people without children aren't spared from the class issue. College? Well, I'd like as much as anyone to see an equal mix of students in class. Unfortunately, many Latino and African-American don't apply. Those who actually *want* to attend college are held back by money. But without resources for books and professors, students wouldn't get what they pay for. I'd like to see open borders, without fear, but that probably won't happen, because there are too many who WANT our way of life. Right now, there's plenty of land and work. Cool! Bring on the immigrants. But please find some way to ensure that they aren't going to bother those already here. Make them happy to be here and not hate us for our very existence and I'd love to see them. Make them choose to learn our language and our customs, because any other country requires the same. It's not unreasonable.
Okay, off my soapbox.
Cathy
Oh, BTW -- for those interested, there's a very interesting map that USA Today prepared. It's the presidential elections by COUNTY, not by state. It's interesting to see split of voters within a state, even if the state overall went to a particular candidate.
USA Today County Map
LOL!I won't weigh in on everything, but I'll go through a few that caught my eye.
Novella, yes, I read what the read was about. In my opinion, the article in question managed to play on paranoia, skew the details, and give the impression that the few affiliates who chose not to show the movie as being significant. Presently, there are 231 ABC affiliates nationwide. That's hard for people in some other countries to grasp. There are nearly 5,000 separate television stations in the country. Of the 231 who follow ABC's programming, 18 of them decided not to air the movie. I don't think that's really too significant. JMO.
As for the whole religion in government thing, I think it's important to note that there are plenty of public servants who aren't protestant or catholic. Mayors, governors, senators and representatives span a wide variety of faiths (or no faith at all). There are quite a few devout Jewish senators, for example, and I presume that if one is elected in the future, he will choose to swear his allegiance to the country on the Torah, rather than the Bible. The bible isn't required. It's not even used in courts anymore when a witness is to testify. The language now goes "Do you swear or affirm that the testimony..."
SillyWabbit, there are a LOT of places in the U.S. where you can open your bottle of wine on the grass and stare at the sky. Don't know where you've been. I do it all the time in public parks. Many parks back east have eliminated "open containers" more because of littering and broken glass issues than with drinking.
Ms. Wilde, I share your desire for a colorless, classless society. I wish all people could be judged on their merits alone, without any "assistance" or "shame" from the government. But in having a classless society, we would also have to return to the concept of the "right to fail". Presently in the US, a person is not ALLOWED to fail. You cannot lose your job and not feed your children. It's a crime. You can't send them to school in shoddy clothing because it's all you can afford. That's a crime too. No health insurance and you don't vaccinate? Yep, it's "neglect". Even people without children aren't spared from the class issue. College? Well, I'd like as much as anyone to see an equal mix of students in class. Unfortunately, many Latino and African-American don't apply. Those who actually *want* to attend college are held back by money. But without resources for books and professors, students wouldn't get what they pay for. I'd like to see open borders, without fear, but that probably won't happen, because there are too many who WANT our way of life. Right now, there's plenty of land and work. Cool! Bring on the immigrants. But please find some way to ensure that they aren't going to bother those already here. Make them happy to be here and not hate us for our very existence and I'd love to see them. Make them choose to learn our language and our customs, because any other country requires the same. It's not unreasonable.
Okay, off my soapbox.
Cathy
Oh, BTW -- for those interested, there's a very interesting map that USA Today prepared. It's the presidential elections by COUNTY, not by state. It's interesting to see split of voters within a state, even if the state overall went to a particular candidate.
USA Today County Map
