I'm not even really sure what the Obama bucks comment was.  You'll have to fill me in.

If I was a racist, then this would be a bigger deal.  Personally I don't mind if people IN A REGULAR SOCIAL SETTING (not party officials, etc.) make racist jokes if they aren't actually intending them to be racist but just intending that they be funny.  Obviously if they are around a lot of people they don't know they should be a little bit more careful so that they don't offend anyone (kind of like I did).  Racist remarks can also be an effective hyperbole, like as nervous as a black guy in the middle of a Klan meeting.  Mine was intended to be something along these lines.

I'm not one of those Democrats who thinks everything people say has to be politically correct.  If someone wants to make jokes about white people and they don't have any ill intent, I could care less.  Even if they did I would probably laugh about it.  My remark could have been interpreted as racist (frankly I had never even heard of comrade_toyva's interpretation of what I said as a racist remark) but I didn't intend it to be racist.  I'm not a public official, so its not like I'm going to create a media firestorm.

I just understand that in a political setting you have to really just not even try to make a racist joke.  Its like pouring gasoline all over yourself and playing with matches to try and get a laugh.  Nothing good is going to happen.

It was just another one of the many fabricated stories about Jews that went around, especially during the middle ages.  Another one was the whole Jews killing Christians to makes matzos and wine on Pesach....

I don't mind if you make a mistake, I'll never hold a grudge against you... Everybody says something at some point that they wish they wouldn't have said.  We're all human, so no worries.

But, I will say that whether you say something racist behind a pulpit in front of the media, or just privately to one of your friends, not one action is worse than the other.  Both are equal in stupidity.

And I also think blaming the Jews for Jesus being killed is pretty ridiculous.  If you actually do any research on the subject, Pontius Pilate was certainly not as nice as the (later Gospels in) the New Testament make him out to be.  The Romans killed Jesus because he was a threat.  They didn't do it for any lofty or any ignoble reasons, they just were worried about keeping order.  You don't get to become the overseer of a territory (can't remember the technical term, something similar to a governor) by baking people cupcakes.  Though the Romans in many ways were pretty tolerant as long as there were no threats to the stability of their power.

I also don't hold grudges against people who unintentionally (or often even those who intentionally) offend me.  It doesn't accomplish much of anything.  My comment just happened to coincidentally be more racist than I intended to be.  My racism really just extended to the degree that I wanted to throw latkas into a Jew joke.  If you watch a show like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David (Jewish guy) loves to throw Hebrew words into his jokes.

I do disagree about the comparative stupidity, as one makes the front pages and the other doesn't.

Right, but Larry David, as you stated, is Jewish, so it's not the same thing.  It's like Snoop Dogg saying the *N* word in his raps... if Eminem said the same thing he'd get his ass beat.  I'm adopted, and my Mexican grandfather makes fun of illegal-alien Mexicans... and my adopted grandfather on my dad's side is Polish, and says "Stupid Pollocks" all the time. 

So, it is no doubt different when an insider and an outsider says something.  Obviously someone of your ethnic group is not racist against themselves, so it's really not that big of a deal.

As for your comment on "comparative stupidity", I couldn't disagree more. 

When I was 16 (MANY MANY years ago) I had just moved to a new school.  Well 3 skinheads at the school called me a stupid "kike" and picked a fight with me.  Well, as you can figure, that didn't go over too well with me (I'm a little bit of a rough-neck by nature anyway, so dumb move), and I beat all 3 of them to a bloody pulp... the cops literally tackled me to get me off of my last victim.

Anyway, these guys had no pulpit, they were just normal people expressing themselves, and well, it didn't go so well for them.

Luckily for me, I've always been a pretty tough guy, so I faired pretty good, and well, they didn't obviously.

Looking back 14 years on the situation (as an adult), I'm quite sure that these little turds probably learned this crap from stuff they had heard at home (as there are no neo-Nazi politicians with a pulpit in modern America).  It didn't give them an excuse for their behavior, but in retrospect, I actually feel pretty bad for them.  Someone, somewhere, taught these kids that racism and racist behavior was okay. 

What I am trying to say is, everything that we say can inspire someone to do something great... or something very wrong.  Just a few little words can change someones life for the better, or for the worst. 

It's 100% okay to disagree with someone, or to challenge people (verbally of course).  Attack my character, beliefs, politics, or anything really... I have no problem with it.  I'm a HUGE proponent of free speech.  All of those things are voluntary traits that I have chosen.  But attack the things that I can't control (race, color of skin, etc) and that's just too much for me.  You can't change who you are when you are born.  And those genetic traits don't define who you are.

So, long story short, everything that each of us says, from the most powerful person to the least, can make a huge difference to those around us... it's only up to us if it is a change for the better or one that has negative implications.

lol at this thread.

I am probably one of the staunchest Pro-Palestinian people in this entire site. I have said before that I don't think Israel *should* have ever existed.

I feel Israel betrayed the truce way before Hamas shot rockets. They were effectively starving the entirety of Gaza, however, Hamas should have attacked their military, not blindly shot their crappy little rockets.

However, I much prefer this invasion than the air strike. Simply because I detest the the killing on non-military. It is against God's commands in the Qur'an and should be a common ideology regardless of who you are. At least now there is an oppurtunity to have military vs military fighting.

The only problem to this invasion is that it is still Jews doing it and as has been seen many times before, the IDF will shoot to kill just about anyone. So, where this could be an much more humane, if that is possible, military conflict it will just massively increase the civilian casualty count.

Also, someone above said UN says about 50 civs have died. Wrong, they said about 100, however, that was only a count of children (under 15) and women. So, according to that every single male over 15 must be a terrorist. lol. Sure and every single Jew is a money pinching murder who can shape shift. (Obviously I'm not serious here, watch Borat)

What really needs to happen is Israel and American leaders need to realize that cannot imprison millions of people and not expect them to lash out extremely violently. They need to do what's right and follow international laws and Geneva conventions. They need to back up the the Green Line (for you history impaired, that's the border before the 1967 war) and give major compensation and assistance in exchange for Palestinians giving up the Right to Return.

Off topic, UN Security Council members should not have veto powers. I like the idea that it takes two to actually veto something. If that were the case this conflict would have ended 30 years ago, or at least have many UN resolutions against Israel's illegal occupation.

Also, for the record, Oslo was a great starting point. If the terrorist Israeli hadn't killed Rabin we might of had a sustainable peace a long time ago.

No it does not.

Jews and Muslims/Arabs have historically lived very well together. This conflict started about 70 years ago.

In fact it is known that pre-Israel, the only places on Earth Jews have had a high quality of life were in America and Muslim lands, especially Muslim Spain. Many of their greatest thinkers lived in Muslim Spain.

Reason is, back then Islamic Countries actually practised Freedom of Speach, Religion, etc. I would consider todays Muslim world to be in its own Dark Ages.

you might want to tell that to the ones mohammed killed.

you want to know why people are fighting that have been fighting for millennia?

Except that it's not "Muslim land"... the Jewish religion is old... much much much older than Islam...

oh, you mean the tribes that lived in Medinah who, according to historical accounts, conspired against the Muslims with their other Arab enemies. That made them a legitimate enemy. So, one small Jewish/Muslim issue over the last 1500 years makes them mortal enemies? I suggest you look at their relations more