This forum is for non aviation related topics, political debate, random thoughts, and everything else that just doesn't seem to fit in the normal forums. ALL FORUM RULES STILL APPLY.
niss wrote: The problem is corporate empires who don't think beyond the bottom line, destroy the middle class, and have the power to @#$! our economies up.
So far I would argue that we have seen more damage in the last 10 years caused by runaway capitalism then our form of socialism.
Absolutely. There are leeches and scumbags on both sides. But such is humanity and why neither system can ever work perfectly.
Don't forget that our form of socialism is blended heavily with capitalism. I'd go so far as to say our brand of "socialism" relies on capitalism. If we could weed out the abusers on both sides of the spectrum we'd all be alot better off and so would the system.
Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican Party, on the war in Afghanistan, earlier this month:
"Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in."
"Well, if he's such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan."
.....
You are right, and unless the ISAF countries find a quick way out while saving the face, this war will cost them their world dominance dreams... It is costing the US alone 1 million per year per soldier on the ground. At 130,000 troops, plus contractors, plus aid money, etc...
They are speeding up the retreat from Iraq, as they need the funds in Af...
The ordinary afghans have lost any faith in the invasion, and see it just as another invasion. It is turning sour, and we will see it better next week at the Kabul conference...
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Success in life is when the cognac that you drink is older than the women you drink it with.
Once upon a time there were three little pigs who lived together in mutual respect and in harmony with their environment. Using materials that were indigenous to the area, they each built a beautiful house.
One pig built a house of straw, one a house of sticks, and one a house of dung, clay, and creeper vines shaped into bricks and baked in a small kiln fired from methane gas from his environmentally correct outhouse. When they were finished, the pigs were satisfied with their work and settled back to live in peace and self-determination. But their idyll was soon shattered.
One day, along came a big, bad wolf with expansionist ideas. He saw the pigs and grew very hungry in both a physical and ideological sense. When the pigs saw the wolf, they ran into the house of straw. The wolf ran up to the house and banged on the door, shouting, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!"
The pigs shouted back, "Your gunboat tactics hold no fear for pigs defending their homes and native culture!"
But the wolf wasn't to be denied what he thought was his manifest destiny. So he huffed and puffed and blew down the house of straw. The frightened pigs ran to the house of sticks, with the wolf in hot pursuit. Where the straw house had stood, other wolves bought up the land and started a banana plantation using petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides which contaminate the groundwater.
At the house of sticks, the wolf again banged on the door and shouted, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!"
The little pigs shouted back, "Go to Hell you carnivorous, imperialistic oppressor!"
At this the wolf huffed and puffed and blew down the house of sticks. The pigs ran to the house of bricks, with the wolf close at their heels. Where the house of sticks had stood, other wolves have now built a time-share condo resort complex for other vacationing wolves. Each unit was a fiberglass reconstruction of the house of sticks, as well as native curio shops, snorkeling and exploitative shows featuring dolphins captured from the wild.
At the house of bricks, the wolf again banged on the door and shouted, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!"
This time in response the little pigs sang songs of solidarity and wrote letters of protest to the United Nations. By now the wolf was getting angry at the pigs' refusal to see the situation from the carnivore point of view. So he huffed and puffed, then grabbed his chest and fell over dead of a massive heart attack brought on by eating too many fatty foods. The three little pigs rejoiced that justice had triumphed and did a little dance around the corpse of the wolf.
Their next step was to liberate their homeland. They gathered together a band of other pigs who had been forced off their lands. This new brigade of "porcinistas" attacked the resort complex with machine guns and rocket launchers and slaughtered the cruel wolf oppressors, sending a clear signal to the rest of the hemisphere not to meddle in their internal affairs.
Then the pigs set up a model socialist democracy with free education, universal health care, and affordable housing for everyone.
Author's note:
The wolf was a metaphorical construct. No actual wolf was harmed in the writing of this story
I agree with you, bmc. The curious thing is that the lefties here don't think Canada is far enough to the left
Oh, I don't know about that... for most Canadians, it has been in about the right place. That's why it got to where it has.
The curious thing is that righties don't think that it is far enought RIGHT.
Witness Clement's statistics-illiteracy attempting to castrate the census.
Or the ongoing attempts to denude the CBC and the arts.
Or the desire to purchase a big slew of rah-rah fighters, when maybe what they could really use is just a few fighters and more of the long-range surveillance and/or SAR equipment.
.... although I do wonder what Toews is up to with an actual Crime-PREVENTION program announced for Scarborough, instead of throwing the two mil at more jails...
A closet NDPer??? ...or a cynical attempt to steal some lefty votes???
Anyone read :The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk ?
It is all about that part of the world.
It was recomended by Umberto Eco one of my favorite modern philosophers.
2R wrote:Anyone read :The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk ?
It is all about that part of the world.
It was recomended by Umberto Eco one of my favorite modern philosophers.
It is still THE great game. People do not realise the importance of this game to the world. First, it will cripple the US economy, then destroy NATO as we know it, who should not be there in the first place.
China, Russia, and India are standing on the sideline, smiling, and waiting...
We cannot blame them for our being stupid! They know it. They are waiting, and investing quietly in this economy. This is the graveyard of empires...
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Success in life is when the cognac that you drink is older than the women you drink it with.
Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line"!
Marty: You don't know when to quit, do ya Griswold?... Here's an idea: Why don't you give me half the money your were gonna to bet, then we'll go out back, I'll kick you in the nuts, and we'll call it a day!
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She’s built like a Steakhouse, but she handles like a Bistro.
Let's kick the tires, and light the fires.... SHIT! FIRE! EMERGENCY CHECKLIST!
However, Maes warns that B-Cycle is "bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms."
But if you do your homework and research, you realize ICLEI is part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty,” adding "some would argue this document that mayors have signed is contradictory to our own Constitution."
Republicans say the darnedest things.
---------- ADS -----------
She’s built like a Steakhouse, but she handles like a Bistro.
Let's kick the tires, and light the fires.... SHIT! FIRE! EMERGENCY CHECKLIST!
It is turning sour, and we will see it better next week at the Kabul conference...
