"But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected President, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured--perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again--not what kind of church I believe in, for that should be important only to me--but what kind of America I believe in.
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute--where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote--where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference--and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.
I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish--where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source--where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials--and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.
For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew--or a Quaker--or a Unitarian--or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim--but tomorrow it may be you--until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.
Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end--where all men and all churches are treated as equal--where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice--where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind--and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.
That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe--a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office."
- John F. KennedyVisit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
This is the medicine I take to stop a migraine currently in progress. I'd say that it is effective about 95% of the time in stopping a migraine dead in its tracks! This is pretty amazing for migraine medication!Both this song and this movie (Legend, for you youngsters who are not familiar with the 80’s) have always epitomized the word and definition of “fantasy” for me. This is one of those movies that I saw at an extremely impressionable age, and it has forever made its vestige upon me (as so many other movies – Star Wars, The Lost Boys, Indiana Jones, The Goonies, Superman, Fright Night, Ghostbusters, The Exorcist, The Never Ending Story, etc .)
When I read a “fantasy” book or go watch a “fantasy” movie, it is the movie (and this song) that immediately comes to mind and stands as a unit of measurement upon which all “fantasy” media is measured in my mind. The movie and song are absolutely iconic and will always bring me back to younger, more care free days.Tim Curry’s portrayal of Darkness is simply remarkable! He scared the crap out of me! Despite what some might argue, I personally believe that his portrayal of Darkness is his best work as a villain (yes, even more than Pennywise in It… though I absolutely loved his Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers – great character, but I digress!) I have yet to see a movie that captures the classical representation of a devil-like character visually the way this movie does!
The battle between good and evil is so perfectly captured in this movie… especially for a six year old who sees this movie and is beginning to comprehend the limitless radiance of love and what is means to be good, versus the incredibly dark and frightening depths of “evil.” Sometimes differentiating the distinction between good and evil in this day in age isn’t quite as simple as the imagery of unicorns, the sun, fairies (and hot guys) versus the devil, goblins, and darkness.
Both Apollo and Ares are pretty close to being ready to take this exam; they each just have one major thing to work on before attempting the test… supervised separation. This means that they need to be able to stay with a stranger with both Jimmy and I out of sight and essentially be cool. During this supervised separation they are not allowed to bark, whine, howl, pant excessively, strain their leash, lung, or pace. Needless to say, both dogs have some separation anxiety issues, especially Apollo! So once we can get their out-of-sight stays (a stay command in a different room from you where they cannot see you) longer in duration, they should both be ready to go.
If at any time the dog urinates or defecates during the test, they automatically fail the test. The dog may miss only one item and may try it over once at the end of the test to try to get it right once more. They must score 100% to pass! It's the last item, number 10, that we're still working with Apollo and Ares on. They just get so upset when we leave them!
