lost&outofcontrol

Senate(you know the senate? the one dominated by republicans) panel finds no prewar Iraq-Qaeda link

Wow, what a great way to start a conversation. Brand everyone who disagrees with you a dumbass... I'm sure this will be a great discussion. The perfect definition of a troll?

I'm not sure if you are flaming or fleeing..... Fleeing

Another great indicator of the erosion of democracy in the U.S. is the widening gap between rich and poor. How can the most powerful people in your country defend the interest of the general populace when their interests are diametrically opposed? link Whatever happened to "By the People, For the People"?

Swing and a miss. Think of Americans/western world as a whole being the mob boss and its house being material wealth it has accumulated from the exploitation (capital imperialism) of others.

When I say we, I mean western world/culture (U.S., Canada, UK, most of Europe, Japan...) in general. -We create/fund "freedom fighters"* to fight our ideological enemies. -Once we are done with "freedom fighters", we label them "terrorist". -We raise hell and threaten/go to war if our enemies dare do the same thing. -Why are you the one in the "right" and not your enemy? From their perspective, the enemy is you. -Your definition of "your interest" is in fact a product of all current societies and refers to the belief that there are two basic opposing principles, good/bad, you/your enemies. -You're definition of a "terrorist" is laughable and the reason why I won't be replying to any of your future post until you get a clue about what constitutes a terrorist**. -I won't rationalize with the irrational. *One man's "freedom fighters" is another's "terrorists". **Patrice Gueniffey definition of terrorism: A strategy of instituting a quantity of violence of variable intensity having the goal of provoking the greatest amount of terror judge necessary to accomplish the objective which is to communicate a message for which the terrorist believe all other method has failed. (My crappy translation from French)

The West acts like a mob boss when his house get robbed. He starts "whacking" people without ever asking himself how all that nice stuff got into his house in the first place.

Robert Gates and Zbigniew Brzezinski are, I think pretty good sources. But let's forget about the Taliban for a second. The fact remains that we've funded terrorist* organizations in the past because of the enemy of my enemy is my friend maxim. We've funded death squads, coups against democratically elected governments. and like I said replying to Argus' post: Kinda like how we funded the Taliban for years so they could fight against the soviets (who aren’t much better themselves of course) and still indirectly fund them through Pakistan or how we funded paramilitary death squads against the Sandinistas or better yet how we funded dozens of coups against democratically elected socialist government across the globe. I fear the Iranians still have much to learn from us. Do you not see the hypocrisy in this? We are allowed to openly fund "guerrillas" and yet we object to Iran funding Hezbollah (or Hamas even though Hamas was democratically elected!) You've done nothing but argue over semantics while totally ignoring the subject of my original post. *ever noticed how they only become terrorist organizations when we don't need them anymore **edit** We did not fund the Taliban only one time as you stated. Our government publicly supported the Taliban right up until September 11. Throughout the 1990s, the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) was used by the CIA as a go-between linky When the CIA tells Pakistan's military intelligence (ISI) to jump they ask how high.

So then we agree and my earlier comment still stands. It ok for us to fund the enemy of our enemies but once we are done with them we wash our hands of it. And of course nobody else can do! I hope you see the hypocrisy.

We funded the Mujahideen which fractionned after the soviet retreat and the main group became know as the Taliban. link This information is of public record.

OT. Is your nick/avatar related to the Thelonious Monks by any chance?

Kinda like how we funded the Taliban for years so they could fight against the soviets (who aren’t much better themselves of course) and still indirectly fund them through Pakistan or how we funded paramilitary death squads against the Sandinistas or better yet how we funded dozens of coups against democratically elected socialist government across the globe. I fear the Iranians still have much to learn from us.

Funny thing about nine judges arbitrarily deciding people's fate is that they are always wrong if you disagree with them.

Except this particular kid can't walk...

Whether a tomato, blueberry or an orange is in power, they in the end are all fruits.

From my perspective, government business is far too complex because government official are left accountable and we are inevitably left out of the decision making process. If we as citizens were more involved by our politicians in the decisions by leaving themselves subject to recall and turning parliament into a working body, executive and legislative at the same time this would force our elected officials to be completely transparent in their decisions which I might add would be taken physically and mentally in parliament instead of being done behind closed doors. One you reduce the role of government official to that of simply carrying out our instructions as responsible, revocable and modestly paid "foremen and accountants" then and only then will we have true democracy.

I agree. Most of what government does today relates to the delivery of services. The complexities that are involved in that business are poorly served by a top-heavy political machine run by the governing party. I would say that most of what government does should be overeseen by all-party committees acting much as a board of governors does in the private sector. The House of Commons should only debate high level policy direction. These are issues that most Canadians can get involved in, as they are easier to understand and more interesting too. Won't this lead to further "erosion of democracy"?

*warning, rant ahead. You cannot erode what doesn't exist. We vote in elections every 4 years to decide who will rules us and while we do get to decide who. The “who” is always the very same every elections, limiting us to a very small portion of ideological spectrum. Though questions are left unasked the major political parties must protect their interest leading trivial differences between parties and the acceptance of the status quo. The real business of state is done behind the scenes were decisions are reach before any formal vote goes through parliament. We must abolish parliamentarism and turn it into a working body, executive and legislative at the same time were all elected representatives are subject to recall.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The West acts like a mob boss when his house get robbed. He starts "whacking" people without ever asking himself how all that nice stuff got into his house in the first place.

The Fugitive Girl Act

The ignorance on these forums is incredible. You act like mob bosses when their houses get robbed. You start (escalate) "whacking" people without ever asking yourselves how all that nice stuff got into your house in the first place.

Link

I'd love to see your source(s) on this.

Rescued from rape and slavery.

Groups defend their interests.