The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I read a letter-to-the-editor today which was titled "Some trust the government too much." While I can understand this statement in isolation, I have trouble understanding it when in conjunction with the words, "Put all your trust in God." Many people whom claim to believe in limited government (or no government at all) and that we shouldn't trust the government very much, will also say that we should place all our trust in a higher power. While this may make sense to them, it makes absolutely no sense to me. Let's look at this for a moment. With government, while it has been known to slip up a time or two, it's still physically present. We have physical evidence to prove that the government exists and that it can benefit people. With God, there is no such physical evidence. When I attempt to find God, I see nothing. When I attempt to talk to God, I hear nothing. When I attempt to reach out to God, I feel nothing. So while I can understand not ful...

Whenever someone starts a sentence by claiming he or she's not racist, sexist, homophobic or the like, and then adds the conjunction "but" following that line, there's a 99.897% chance he or she is going to contradict themselves by uttering something which would be seen by most as racist, sexist, or homophobic. An example of this would be, "I'm not a racist, but that n***er over there better not look over here or else I'll knock him flat on his backside." It's as if these people feel that by preceding their "-ist" commentary claiming they're not an "-ist," it excuses them of the inevitable "-ist" comments they're about to make. I'm sorry, but things don't work that way. That would be like if a guy told his girlfriend, "I'm not going to make out with that girl over there," and then started making out with the lady he said he wasn't going to make out with. Does his preceding the ...