I do find it amusing to hear how people hate america so much. It's almost pathalogical, in the same way that people hate and begrudge successful and wealthy individuals.
Don't get me wrong, the yanks have some serious problems and screw up a fair bit, but at the end of the day, they are certainly the lesser evil of all of the other alternative super powers (with the exception of Europe if it ever gets it's act together).

America is basicly facing the same hostility that every successful empire has faced since time immemorial:

Persian empire, carthage, rome, the british empire et al, all face the same problem. Everybody envied them and spited them. Human nature.

In a hundred years time it will be China everybody will be bitching about.

Governments are there to seek the best interests of their states and people, period, so why do we all look so surprised when they play dirty to succeed? If our ancestors played fair we would all be slaves of some other great power, thats a FACT.
Think about it, in my case, I live on an island that is basicly good for grazing sheep and not much else. It only has minimal natural resources and yet it is a prosperous, safe and wealthy country, while there are places in Africa and Asia which are bursting with natural resources, yet are for want of a better word "holes".
How could we possibly be living in such comfort under a "fair" system or through ethical trading policies? SO if we were to make everything fair, we would be basicly living in mud huts wearing sheep skins...

So we are all a bit guilty of treading on the third world, we are all profiting from americas success. I'm not saying it's fair, but I'm not going to be a hypocrite and blame america for all the worlds ills.

The day America stops acting in its own interest, is the day America starts to decline.

Man I went on a bit there,... sorry guys. I like my history.

I thing Sarge 55 has put the quote of Sun TZU totally out of context.

If you want to see what he really did say check out

http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html

I have lived in th USA most of my life, and there never has been any proof of voting iregularities. The only exeption being all the dead democrats who vote every election in the Chicago area.
When the left loses an election, they always piss and moan, "it must have been a set up, the machines were hacked, we didn't have the right people counting! or, the voters are stupid"
When the right loses, they just shrug their shoulders, and say, " we lost, we will try again next time"
That tells me a lot.

Hmm, people in Florida who tradtionally voted Democrat with names remotely sounding like that of a convicted felon not being allowed to vote; lack of voting hardware in areas likely to vote Democrat.[quote]

Whizzer is a typical example of the arrogance of the left. The left lost, so it must have been a fix. He probably heard the leftist media, The BBC etc, say that there may have been some irreglarities. Everthing was investigated, and the leftists came up with nothing.
As far as the convicted felon theory goes, when you apply for a voting card, you are refused if you are a convicted felon. When you go to vote, all you have to do is produce your card, and away you go. The way you say your name is never an issue.
That's how dumb the left is, and how the facts mean nothing.
Next time Whizzer votes in Florida, he can tell us all about it.

[quote="tyne"]Hmm, people in Florida who tradtionally voted Democrat with names remotely sounding like that of a convicted felon not being allowed to vote; lack of voting hardware in areas likely to vote Democrat.

next time I vote maybe...

Just a shame the goverment always gets in

"Jamison2 has got it right - he understands the primary issues involved and doesn't blunt his reasoning by looking at secondary ones like Alabaster.

I wonder how much they will enjoy living in a future Islamic Republic?

Funnily enough the greed and power will still be there."



When has Islamic Republic ever attempted to take over our country?


Besides........NEVER.


When a government deceives its own people for political reasons, as well as the sake of controlling the oil revenue of another country, and the lives of some citizens are the price paid, I hardly see that as "secondary".


We house two organizations that have trained more terrorists than any other organization in the world. The CIA and the School of Americas. If you want to stop terrorism, you have to stop participating in it first. There are different forms of terrorism. Not all of them are laced in the Koran and wearing a turban.


As far as any proof that the voting machines had discrepencies, several official county counsels had noted on their websites...........official websites....not blogs.......that there were major discrepencies of the voting process. One example, here............there were thousands of votes more than there were registered voters for that district. Guess who those surplus votes were for? Districts across the nation have been reporting the same problems and others similiar. Yell "conspiracy theory" all you want to, but every conspiracy that turned out to be a reality started out as theory, first. But perhaps you haven't been paying attention to the media. What Bush supporters have been yelling "oh it's just a conspiracy theory", are now seeing it coming out in the open.

As far as those who see these discrepencies as being on the far left...........I happen to be a registered Republican.

so much for YOUR conspiracy theory
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Religion is man's way of guessing the mysteries of Nature.

Science is Nature's way of saying, "you guessed wrong."

As far as the question about how I come to the conclusion that religion is a form of schizophrenia, I'll tell you.

I worked in psych for years evaluating human behavior.

Take religion vs schizophrenia.

Both have "invisible" forces they believe to exist, even though there is no proof to support either. Each having an individual relationship with that entity, whether it be one of fear, love, respect, admiration or simply acknowledging they exist. Yet, one has as much proof that one exists, as does the other.

Each finding comfort or fear in this "relationship" with this invisible entity, even go as far as to have "conversations" with them.


for example.......there was a coworker in a hospital that I worked at. A few people, myself included, witnessed this woman talking in a conversation, when no one else was present. We happened to walk up on her without her realizing we were there. We were all concerned, of course, and questioned her mental stability. (You'd have to have heard the conversation to have understood why) One of the admins who was with us whispered "She must be schizophrenic"........and he was deeply concerned. We decided to make our presence known and he asked her in a cavalier way, "Who were you talking to?".........the woman said, "I was discussing an issue with God".......all the sudden my coworker was no longer concerned. He simply replied, "Oh, okay".......then after she left, he confided in us, "I was beginning to worry about her".

so you see.......two very similar states, that can even be mistaken for each other. Why? Because there is very little, if any, difference between the two.
_________________
Religion is man's way of guessing the mysteries of Nature.

Science is Nature's way of saying, "you guessed wrong."

If you sit in a room talking to imaginary people, people think you are a bit mad. If you sit in a room and talk to a god, people think thats OK.

Ive seen people shouting in the street about their god and no one worries, Ive seen drunks doing the same, shouting in the street to their imaginary friends and people give them a wide berth. Why? Its the same behaviour. (Oh, I also saw a drunk fight with his imaginary friend once - I had to stop to watch it was that funny him trying to hit the friend).



Oh, Im not having a go at religion here, religion has an important role to play in society, its the fairy stories they tell us that I have problems with.

This is for the Lady/Gent (it's really not important enough for me to look back to see which) who said they haven't seen any voting discrepancies come out of the presidential elections.


http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/16536269.htm

"2 election workers convicted of rigging '04 presidential recount"



And that's just one county. There are others coming out in the news as well.


Thought that may be of some interest to you.
_________________
Religion is man's way of guessing the mysteries of Nature.

Science is Nature's way of saying, "you guessed wrong."

You can blame Saddam for the lies that started the war.He told the world he had WMD's and had used them numerous times on some of the Iraqi people.

To win 100 battles is NOT the acme of skill in war. Sun Tzu.

The purpose of war is the make the enemy do your will. Carl von Clausewitz.

Ergo to win without fighting IS the acme of skill in war, to win without striking a single blow, to render your enemy, your friend who willingly performs your will. That is the mastry of war.

In the context of Iraq the proof that no one is master of war is revealed, though this is due to a lack of understanding on all sides, since they did not know each other well enough, war was the result.

People have some very selective memories over Iraq, and its clear there is a deeper ideological force that has sought to use outrage over the Iraq War to that purpose.

Rather like Vietnam, where the US won the battles but was forced not only to withdraw but to betray South Vietnam to the North. Vietnam was fought and won in the USA not in Vietnam which is ironic, the fighting really was irrelevent as was the victories in battle.
There is also some serious forgetfullness over the post Vietnam consequences too.

Another example for the UK is Aden, which is very much the product of Nasser 'winning' Suez.

Here's my opinion of how a war should be fought.


Tony blair, george bush and Sadam hussein in a boxing ring... who-ever's left standing, wins.

that way, all those people that have died FOR NO F'KING REASON would still be alive today. It's all well and bloody good declaring war, when your sat at a big desk in your comfy f'kin chair knowing full well that everyone but your own blood is going to be spilt. That IN MY OPINION makes the people that declare war GUTLESS BASTARDS !
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