All non-conservatives, check in here

[bobbcat]

Wow, Reneek. I suppose that who should be doing the praying around here is us....for you.

[luvmetender]

Originally Posted by Reneek

I'm here! Liberal and doggone proud of it!!

Alright Reneek! That makes 2 of us

[chippers21]

Originally Posted by Reneek

I'm here! Liberal and doggone proud of it!!

I agree that the deals have gone down in the past year. There's a lot of mean spiritness here....I don't come here as much....and I'm guessing that this is the reason why a lot of people seems to have vanished. I'm sick of fighting with people who are convinced that they are never wrong. They are really hateful, miserable vipers that I will keep praying for.

Let the flaming begin....I couldn't care LESS!

I applaud anyone who has the courage of their convictions. You are entitled to your opinions, even the ones that criticize Conservatives as somehow hateful. I think all they are doing is the same thing you are- expressing opinions about which they feel strongly. If that is "flaming" you, so be it. As for who is right and who is wrong, no one on this Earth has the power to be right all the time. Miserable vipers? LOL

Hey Reneek, is that your last name? My last name is only a couple letters different.

[Twinplets]

I always used to consider myself conservative, but I find myself agreeing more and more with the liberals, so I guess I should stop calling myself conservative.
I'm in favor of civil unions for gays, with all the "rights" of a marriage (being able to make medical decisions, family health insurance coverage, etc), but I don't think it needs to be called a marriage. I still think that the prevalence of divorce among heterosexuals is hurting the value of marriage more than homosexual marriages would, but that's harder to change.
I don't think abortion should be illegal, but I think it's waaay too common. It should be limited to the first trimester, unless the baby is malformed to the point of a lack of life expectancy, or the woman's health is in severe danger. I also approve of Kerry's position of keeping abortion legal even though his religion said otherwise. As an elected official, he needs to vote for what his constituency wants, not just what he believes. It's pretty much a no-win situation for him.
As for stem-cell research, I think it should be allowed for embryos that were "extra" from a couple's fertility treatments that would be thrown away if not used for research. I understand the belief that life begins at conception, and using the embryos for research is "killing" them, but I don't see how people can prefer to see them thrown out instead of being used to help research, if they're not going to be placed in a woman's uterus. And until fertility treatments become more reliable, there will likely always be "extra" embryos.

Sorry for the long reply, but there aren't a lot of places I can talk openly about this. I don't have any friendships here on this site that I'd endanger by speaking my views. Nor is there anyone I'd feel bad about disappointing, if they knew what I felt. And to head off one of the usual criticisms in my beliefs, I did go through several years of trying to conceive, and we adopted a baby, and I still don't feel I have the right to tell another woman whether she can or can't have an abortion. I don't think she should, but there's a difference between not liking something and outlawing it.

[luvmetender]

I agree with everything you said.

[mrbowler]

Originally Posted by Twinplets

I always used to consider myself conservative, but I find myself agreeing more and more with the liberals, so I guess I should stop calling myself conservative.
I'm in favor of civil unions for gays, with all the "rights" of a marriage (being able to make medical decisions, family health insurance coverage, etc), but I don't think it needs to be called a marriage. I still think that the prevalence of divorce among heterosexuals is hurting the value of marriage more than homosexual marriages would, but that's harder to change.
I don't think abortion should be illegal, but I think it's waaay too common. It should be limited to the first trimester, unless the baby is malformed to the point of a lack of life expectancy, or the woman's health is in severe danger. I also approve of Kerry's position of keeping abortion legal even though his religion said otherwise. As an elected official, he needs to vote for what his constituency wants, not just what he believes. It's pretty much a no-win situation for him.
As for stem-cell research, I think it should be allowed for embryos that were "extra" from a couple's fertility treatments that would be thrown away if not used for research. I understand the belief that life begins at conception, and using the embryos for research is "killing" them, but I don't see how people can prefer to see them thrown out instead of being used to help research, if they're not going to be placed in a woman's uterus. And until fertility treatments become more reliable, there will likely always be "extra" embryos.

Sorry for the long reply, but there aren't a lot of places I can talk openly about this. I don't have any friendships here on this site that I'd endanger by speaking my views. Nor is there anyone I'd feel bad about disappointing, if they knew what I felt. And to head off one of the usual criticisms in my beliefs, I did go through several years of trying to conceive, and we adopted a baby, and I still don't feel I have the right to tell another woman whether she can or can't have an abortion. I don't think she should, but there's a difference between not liking something and outlawing it.

You can be conservative on some issues, and liberal on other issues. When you combine/weighting on many issues that is when you have a better idea of your overall stance <IMO>. I remember reading some polling data that showed around 2/3 of people are in favor of civil unions-similiar to your stance. Believe that Bobbcat/Myself have similiar view also.

BTW-I had to throw this into the divorce/family values.

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[chippers21]

Originally Posted by mrbowler

You can be conservative on some issues, and liberal on other issues. When you combine/weighting on many issues that is when you have a better idea of your overall stance <IMO>. I remember reading some polling data that showed around 2/3 of people are in favor of civil unions-similiar to your stance. Believe that Bobbcat/Myself have similiar view also.

BTW-I had to throw this into the divorce/family values.

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I also feel the same way about "civil unions". While my personal beliefs are not for any gay relationships, I would not try to stand in the way of such a legislated option. I think marriage is in alot of trouble as is, and needs no more definitions to undermine it further.
There is no way to make someone such as myself change my opinion about abortion, because I believe life begins at conception and therefore when you abort a "fetus" you are killing a child. When I measure a woman's right to control her own body versus murder, I have to choose not murdering. I do support a woman's right to choose abstinence when she does not want a child (that IS controlling her own body) and her right to choose any method of birth control that prevents conception. I also support adoption as a viable option for those who conceive an unwanted child. We have alot of would-be parents who are now being forced to adopt internationally or not at all because we abort so many babies. I would adopt your child,if it kept you from aborting it. Many of us who feel strongly would do so. Abortion has become the option of convenience.
Stem cell research as you have described, would be agreeable to me, but it would open the door to stem cell research using aborted babies, and that is not acceptable to me.
And I have lots of friends here and people with whom I always disagree and I am not afraid of offending anyone. You are all entitled to your opinions. Even that I am a "miserable viper" for having such strong feelings about abortion.

[Twinplets]

mrbowler - thank you for the link. I enjoyed reading it.

chippers21 - thank you for politely disagreeing and sharing your opinions instead of flaming me for mine. It's nice to see a civil discussion in this forum.