Free Republic

If my math is right Clinton has been out of office for 5 years. During that time President Bush has built up the massive infrastructure of the Office of Homeland Security. An orginization tasked with dealing with problems such as Katrina.


Perhaps instead of assigning blame our time might be better spent pointing out what is praiseworthy. High-lighting the superior preformance of this administration in comparison to previous ones goes a lot further than shaking your fist at slick willy.

Buzz

"I would put him on the list for his philosophical Utilitarianism and Nominalism, which laid the groundwork for our society's intellectual and moral relativism."

Utilitarianism was Jeremy Bentham and Nominalism goes back to Epicuris if not further.

Stuart was a mini-me to Bentham and then he met a girl. That kinda changed his outlook on the "purely intellectual".

Oddly enough in Mill's only work on Utiliarianism he set himself up against Emmanual Kant the bete noir of some folks here.

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/images/schiavo_ct_scan.jpg

Schiavo's cat-scan

Terri Schiavo's life or death are unimportant. There is only one important question, whether Terri had a relationship with the living God. Without that life is meaningless, with it death is meaningless.

I am constrained by my religious beliefs from supporting any active homosexual. Those constraints are even greater for one that prostitutes themselves and others.

I Don't know why all the folks here get so exercised about musicians or entertainers. Not one of them or one of there songs had an effect on the subject they sang about for good or ill.
It just seems womanish to become so hot and bothered over such a trifle
I'll continue to listen to Nelson just as I'll continue to listen to classic rock or Carl Orff. I won't let political correctness from anyone effect my musical selections.

Perhaps if you look up "Folk Song Army" by Tom Lehrer, it'll make you feel better.

http://wiw.org/~drz/tom.lehrer/the_year.html#army

Buzz

At least the War of 1812 was one worth protesting.
Heck it's the war were an entire militia army told their generals to F-off. They refused to invade Canada, saying it was against the nature of a democratic militia to wage aggressive war.

Buzz

Who cares?

Who cares if there never were WMD's and who cares if Bush just used them as his Gulf of Tonkin?

Who cares if there is or isn't a connection between Iraq, Al Queda and 9/11?

It just isn't important.

What is important is that the US now controls the vast majority of the worlds oil supply. This insures that we will remain the worlds sole super power for the rest of this century at least.

We have a large unstopable army in a wonderfully strategic location.

The cost of that occupation will strangle the new deal and great society right out of the federal government. And no matter how liberal wacko any future president or congress will be, they will never have the political capital to withdraw.

So I don't care if all the reasons given for going to Iraq were false. The result is what counts and making sure we are the biggest dog in town is a pretty good result.

Buzz

Is that the one where at the end, someone leaves the microphone on and everyone hears him bad-mouthing them?

An open mic is not always a good thing, big time.

Buzz

I don't know about anyone else but I was under the impression that Bush had been saying all along that Saddam WAS involved in the 9/11 attacks.
I remember at one point his saying that Saddam would have used nuclear material in those planes if he could have.

This denial disturbs the heck out of me.

Buzz

"But whether you agree with that conclusion or not, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican -- or an Independent, a Libertarian, a Green or a Mugwump -- you've got a big stake in making sure that Representative Democracy works the way it is supposed to".

"Wow...I always thought we were a Republic. My bad."

Just so ya know, a republic is a representative democracy.

Buzz

Lott made himself a public person and as such forfieted his right to freedom from satire.

He also made his own research suspect by using the Mary Rosh identity.

Now if we use his books at all in debate we have to add the asterix * that he is a goof.

It doesn't matter now how good his work is (and I think it is) because he has ruined it for himself and us.

I have no pity for the man. Let him fight his own rear guard action.

Buzz

Lack of range was and is a crucial problem in Afghanistan. The short barreled rifle simply does not have the range for the conditions our soldiers faced.
Some folks suggested adding a long barreled rifle in 7.62 to each squad to help with the problem. In other words going back 40 years to the M-14.

Buzz

More on Pershing

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/johnjose.htm

"In the hills of Western Mindanao, thirty miles from the sea, dwelt 100,000 Moros--proud, warlike Mammedans--whom the Spanish in 300 years had not been able to subjugate and who started a rebellion against the Americans as soon as the United States freed them from Spain. They were split up into dozens of bands, ruled over by sultans, and could defy all outside interference from supposedly impregnable jungle retreats. To Pershing, with the rank of only a captain in the Regular Army, was assigned the job of pacifying them.

Pershing prepared himself quietly for the ultimate job in his first two years in the islands, learning the native dialects and studying the Koran. His command included five troops of cavalry, a battalion of infantry, a battery of artillery and a company of engineers.

It was evident that to subjugate the Moros the Sultan of Bacolod, the most important of the Moro chiefs, must be conquered. This sultan held a strongly fortified position in the hills to the west of Lake Lanao with 600 fanatical
tribesmen. Captain Pershing tried by diplomacy to induce the Moros to lay down their arms, but they refused, and on April 5, 1903, he led his men against the fort in a clever surrounding movement and after defeating several small outpost groups of Moros charged the Moro entrenchments. This brought a halt to the insurrection and drew the congratulations of Secretary of War Elihu Root."

The Pershing story dishoners a great American soldier.

http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/bio/p/pershing.html

While Islamic countries are involved in regional and international conflicts I wonder if that is an aspect of there being Islamic or is it just geopolitics as usual.

Did Pakistan nuture and support the Taliban over other Mujahadeen because of it was the Islamic thing to do or because they wanted a controling hand in Afghanistan?

Do the Mullahs of Iran abuse the citizens of that nation because it is the Islamic thing to do or because they are a ruling elite that want to maintain power?

Is there a seperation of church and state in the US? Many here on this board would argue otherwise, with some merit.

Buzz

“Founded on January 5, 1919, the nazi party had its origins in the politischer arbeiterzirkel (political workers' circle), a small RIGHT-wing group that met beginning in november 1918 under the leadership of Anton Drexler, a locksmith at the locomotive works in Munich, and Karl Harrer, a racist reporter and member of the Thule Society. A rabid antisemitism characterized its meetings. In 1919, under Drexler, this cirle became the Deutsche Arbeiterpaqrtei (German Workers' Party), and its foundation by Drexler marked the beginning of the development of politically organized national socialism. In early 1920 it was renamed the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. Adolph Hitler joined the party on September 12, 1919, becoming its leader in 1921." From the Holocaust Encyclopedia

http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/text/x32/xr3255.html

Totolitarianism comes in many flavors. Nazis and Commies are descrete types and it's sloppy thinking to try and blend the two. But in the end they have the same goal, rule of the many by the few.

Buzz

"I feel a discussion of Iraq would probably be useless and unwarranted, as would a discussion of Islaam. Needless to say, I agree with Dinesh D'Souza's view on the radically Islaamic countries - they will never be satisfied until the whole world is either Muslim or dead. Fortunatley, most American Muslims act as if their religion has undergone a reformation, and don't interpret the Koran literally."

I feel a discussion of Iraq would probably be useless and unwarranted, as would a discussion of Christianity. Needless to say, I agree with Tom Paine's view on the radically Christianity countries - they will never be satisfied until the whole world is either Christian or dead. Fortunatley, most Non-Fundimentalist Christians act as if their religion has undergone a reformation, and don't interpret the Bible literally.

Blanket statements don't care who you cover the blanket with;-)

Buzz

"2. Sexual deviate conduct shall not be permitted by any law.

I happen to like deviant sex as does my wife.

Buzz

"It would piss me off too. Now, I'am waiting for the race card to be played."

Looks like it already has been

"The woman was obviously mentally ill. I suspect she was untreated, though, and that's a darned shame."

Many charismatic or end times christians attribute mental illness to satanic influence. They are also in complete opposition to psycotheropy and medications.
It very well might be the case here.
I sometimes think the fate of Christianity was settled in the 3rd century and the good guys lost.


Buzz