I think the press will print stories that emphasize the extremes just for interest so it could be overhyped as you write. OTOH the numbers of Christians in American then the percentage of those Christians who are fundamentalist is very high, can't remember off the top of my head, if not a clear majority, a very high hurdle to overcome.
OK!!! I've come up with a solution on the middle east. Glynch represents the Palestinians, DaDakota represents the Israelis. MacBeth is the mediator. Now, in order for this to work MacBeth has to play neutral, but he's the only poster I can see to play this role. You guys knock it out and get back with me so that I can take credit for coming up with the idea. We'll make this a non-issue in the upcoming election
I'm Either in Houston and out on the weekends or out of town. I'll be in Houston next weekend as well, and I can always grab a few girls for a fun night.
In light of the recent coming together of minds... DD...I sincerely meant in no way to derail the thread...I honestly see the issues as linked but, as you noted in your last post t(o me), it might be my historical background which makes the connections seem so relevant to me. That said, I do think that many of your comments in here have been way out of bounds, especially the statement that I routinely derail threads, and that I hate America. I have always treated you with respect, DD, even when we came at things from different sides, and your (what I percieve to be )flippant manner about the war has often caused me a lot more strongly phrased feelings than I have typed...I am surprised that you went the way you did here, and I honestly feel that, at least the two comments I pointed out, coupled with my record for being fair and respectful towards you deserve an apology. F.D...I was amazed at your insulting comments, and even more amazed with the classy ( albeit somewhat pimpish ) way in which you owned up.
Doh, starting mixing metaphors and had to eat my afternoon snack. How about : OTOH the vast majority of Americans are Christian, and a large proportion of those Christians are fundamentalists. If we consider this a voting bloc, it's a very high hurdle for any opposition to overcome, especially when it's combined with the Jewish lobby.
I know this sounds bad, but I would kind of like to see all of that destroyed (neatly). Take away the toy they are fighting over....
Great idea...seriously. I would go even farther than that and kick both sides out of the land if they refuse to live with one another. Perhaps intervention is more necessary there than anywhere else in the world.
No problem. I did choose carefully there, and I don't think you're an anti-Semite at all. Assclown? Well, yeah.
Kudos khan. I could see when you exploded and then when you regained control. No more bashing religions!
Man, talk about a crazy thread. I finally got around to reading it, wanting to know why it blew up to multiple pages in such a short time, and it makes for astonishing reading. (well, not really, but I thought it sounded good) You've got people "taking shots" at other people left, right and center. In some truly bizarre ways. There were some nice posts in here... I especially liked B-Bob's, "Our country has an oversupply of those who seek only to oversimplify, to shout down questions, and to bury their heads and pray for the recovery of their mutual funds." Classic. And no slam intended at you, DD. I just love that quote. The reason I'm quoting RM Tex's post is because I thought it was something I could supply at least a slightly informed opinion about. In 1965, I spent some time in Jordan while on a great trip my Dad took the family on. We stayed in the King David Hotel, which has a history of it's own. The family toured much of the area, including Bethlehem, but stayed in East Jerusalem. The West Bank was still part of the Kingdom of Jordan, as it had been for many years. We went to the main Christian holy sites, the Western Wall (Wailing Wall), and looked over the border into Israel, which was decidedly greener. During that whole time, wherever we went, we were treated with kindness and respect. We couldn't cross the border into Israel, but otherwise we were free to go and see whatever we liked. The Jordanians we met were perfect hosts. And I didn't see this "pig-sty" that you were referring to. We didn't tour any Palestinian refugee camps, so maybe we missed that aspect of it, but I don't think that was the "pig-sty" being talked about. I just thought I would throw that perspective into the discussion. It doesn't sound like most of you are old enough to have had a similar experience... not at that point in history.
OK the documentary other folks were mentioning is Persona Non Grata by Oliver Stone, showing on HBO at various times now.
An apology, for what? It is common knowledge that you are a thread derailer. You purposely asked for a definition of terrorism so that you could put a slam against the USA for it's past transgressions. How is that not derailing a thread? It slso seems that you hate America, you rarely have anything good to say about it, in fact, I can not think of one good thing you have ever said about our country, and that says a lot. I criticize it a lot as well, but I also praise it for things it does, like Aids relief, and supplying something like 75% of all the charitable foods and donations in the world. I also question our government, but am a lot more pragmatic than most. The War for instance, I was not convinced it was our fight, as Saddam broke a UN treaty, not a treaty with the USA. However, I am convinced that Saddam was a very bad guy and the Middle East needed a new leader there, and having a working ARAB democracy in the middle East is crucial for the world's future, so I supported the war and the nation building effort. I only apologize when I have done something wrong, and I see no evidence of it here. Ask RM95, he knows...believe me. DD
Not that it matters what I think, but I couldn't care less if Israel tries to kill Hamas leaders. Good luck, and you'd damn well better get the SOB next time. The timing is inconvenient, but what is more inconvenient is that the attempt failed. Now it will only backfire. But as a general rule, killing Hamas leaders is a good thing. Right up there with killing Al Qaeda leaders. Hamas does not want peace; its charter includes language stating that it will settle for nothing less than the destruction of Israel, and as such it must go as an organization in order for any peace to work. If the Palestinian people just don't want to part with Hamas, and continue to support its actions, then we've got a serious problem.
Treeman, In theory I agree, but having gunships launch missiles into a crowded street is excessive and is unnecessary. Kill Hamas = Good Kill Hamas and a few innocent Palastinians that get in the way = More Hamas. Israel needs to be smarter, this was WAY over the line. DD
DD - I would tend to agree that the attempt was pretty stupid in form. It's like blowing up a city block just to knock down a building... If anything the helo should have used its chain gun - they are very accurate, and the odds of collateral damage are significantly lower. Rockets in this case were excessive... not to mention stupid and ineffective. This guy was apparently a big shot in Hamas, and would have been a juicy target, hard for the IDF to resist. They just bungled the attempt.
Incidentally, the Palestinians tend to get just as pissed when a Hamas or PIJ terrorist is killed as they do when an innocent civilian/bystander is killed. These guys are friggen heroes to most Palestinians... Just pointing out that they're going to get pissed anyway.
