See if you can find a few thousand words to fling out and try to cover up your statement.

(AP) NEW ORLEANS A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

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Despite PPJs' best efforts to convince himself otherwise, I believe we have a better culture than that of the KSA.

Look, Baptists aren't driving car bombs to Methodist Churches.

No, we only have fanatics who shoot people up in a church in Knoxville because he assumes(perhaps rightly) that they're liberals, we have people doing fund-raising for a alleged murderer in Kansas who shot an abortion provider in a church.

And no matter how nasty, a divorce courtroom is not the same as a stoning on the edge of town.

A divorce courtroom isn't what I had in mind when I talked about domestic violence that is still a problem in this country, and isn't any better because unlike the stoning you cite, isn't based in any cultural beliefs linked to the dominant religion here, Christianity.

It is past time for the world to stand up and tell the Islamic theocracies, and I include Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia in these, "It is time for you to reform yourselves. Some of your actions are not acceptable anywhere, anyplace or anytime."

Funny how you lump Turkey in with the other two countries, because Turkey was founded as a non-secular Turkish republic, in fact much of the political tension there is that the mullahs and imams have no official role in the government, unlike the two other countries you mention, which aren't theocracies the way Iran is.

Again, google Maevis Leno, and you'd see that there is pressure on the Left for these countries to give up their shameful treatment of women and their barbaric customs that you mention.

I was hopeful that Obama would use his bully pulpit to do that. Instead he has pandered for more approval from the Muslim leaders.

Yes, he was telling them what they wanted to hear:

"We are inspired by the fact that America has elected a man worthy of the values it represents and above all a human being capable of understanding that a nation, like each of us, is never perfect. Where and when a nation finds that it has deviated from its values, it is the duty of its leaders (and in a democracy, also its citizens) to bring the ship of State back to its intended course. By acknowledging past mistakes in US policy, you not only answer your people's call for change and accountability, you ultimately serve your nation's and people's security for by addressing the legitimate grievances our nations and peoples have suffered as a result of such mistakes, you ultimately defeat the terrorists who purport to manipulate such grievances as a means towards their vicious ends. I wish you every success in promoting peace within and among our civilizations."

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Here's what some non-Muslims thought about it:

Archbishop Jeanbart said it was good that Obama spoke in defense of Christian minorities in the Middle East, saying they must have a minimum amount of freedom and dignity.

The archbishop also expressed optimism after the Obama administration decided to open more direct talks with Syria.

"I think the United States will realize that Syria, if it is well-treated, may be an element of pacification and equilibrium in the Middle East," he said.

Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir, who directs a Christian research center in Lebanon, said Obama's speech was generally a good one, aimed at making friends in the region and opening up possibilities of dialogue.

"Certainly it was very positive, and the image of the United States was improved in the eyes of Muslims," he said.

But Father Samir also faulted the president for failing to make a critique of Islam, and said it was equally important for Muslims to be challenged on some issues. He said Obama's passing references to the situation of Christian minorities were too brief to be significant.

In Nigeria, which has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world, Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja said Christian and Muslim leaders were invited by the U.S. embassy to watch Obama deliver his speech on live TV and discuss it afterward.

Their reaction was generally positive, although some said they wanted to "wait and see what really happens," he said.

"I read the speech twice. It was definitely miles and miles away from Bush. Obama understands there are problems, and I hope and pray he will extend that attitude to other problems that America has with the rest of the world, not just Muslims," he said.

The archbishop added: "And when I hear him speak so well about the value of human life, I want to ask Obama: Is an unborn baby human life? And if he is, how does it affect his position?"

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