HisSelf

Personally, I am happy that there is now this wedge to shove between China and Burma. Aung San Sui Kyi. You go, girl.

Good for him. This is exactly the right thing to do.

I am always happy to engage in a spirited and respectful political debate with people who are politically engaged. Unfortunately, that does not seem to include you. I am putting you in purgatory with M.Dancer and BushCheney2004. Have you ever heard of a musical group called the Tin Hat Trio?

You must be joking. The life of a citizen of these countries is not as good as a Jew living in Israel, but it is a hell of a lot better than a Palestinian living in the West Bank and most especially Gaza.

The first Zionist Conference sent 3 rabbis to Palestine to investigate the possibility of re-establishing the nation of Israel. They telegrammed back: "The bride is beautiful, but she is married to someone else." What did you think would happen after that?

Oh brother.

For how long? It is just delaying the inevitable. The Chinese and the Indians are subsidizing oil. Let them. Finally an Achilles heel. Once again, we are running ahead of the pack. Score for the home team.

This is a perfect time to do something about our gas dependency. The Auto industry is on the ropes. Invest in mass transit now before they can afford better lobbyists!!!

For the last 60 years, Israel has always found somebody who has been willing to appease it. Haper has been the latest to buy into this nonsense. Where has that got us? Is it not time to stop the policy of appeasement, and look at a more balanced solution to the Middle East mess?

Jordan negotiated peace with Israel before the 1948 war started. Egypt was a helluva lot slower. Do you actually know what Iran has said? You are leaning too heavily on the press. Utterances do not come from politicians. Utterances come through the press. The Spanish-American War was started by William Randolph Hearst to sell papers. There are a lot of hyenas in the press.

Exactly. Guys like Einstein were searching for the answer in physics. And for my money, this is a damned good place to look. But they still haven't found it. Anybody who cites Einstein on religion or politics is taking their trouble-free car into the garage and asking the mechanic "So how much will it cost to fix that ratttle?"

Right. And Israel is constantly on the front page. Have you ever thought that this might be a reason why it gets discussed so much? Of course, there is always the fact that we have a people who, having suffered persecution and injustice for so many centuries, and who never tire of telling us all about it, are now visiting the same thing upon somebody else. Wasn't it Ben Gurion who said that he wouldn't blame the Arabs for not wanting to sign a deal with Israel because "after all, we are taking their land."? That merger between Jordan and Israel just look sbetter and better all the time.

You are right. And the reason you are right is that the free market system, which I hope will be allowed to prevail, will bring things into equilibrium by arriving at a point where other technologies rival oil on a dollar per joule basis. When that happens, the price of oil will stop climbing. By that time, oil will be seen as a sunset industry, sort of like printing the news on paper, and the oil-based economy will start its decline. The rate of decline will be determined by the rate at which replacement technologies are able to lower their dollar per joule ratio. The use of oil will decline to the point where it will become a reserve energy source - like coal is now. If you've made money in oil, this is a good time to start getting out. I don't think it will happen quickly, but it will happen. Look at how the price of solar cells has started to come down. You can buy these things at Canadian Tire now. Provinces in the Maritimes are constructing wind farms. Alberta will be left holding a very greasy bag when the price of oil declines below the cost of processing the oil sands. The ducks in the tailing pond are canaries in a coal mine as to what wil be left when the party's over.

Oh man. Are you behind the times.

Bingo. Obama said he wanted to talk to them. He didn't say he wanted to agree with them. All of a sudden the sky is falling. It's appeasement says George Bush. I love what Jim Cafferty (CNN - The Situation Room) had to say about this. "Every time this guy opens his mouth you want to crawl under a desk. He is irrelevant. Nobody cares what he says any more." So true. The real problem is that Israel has consistently persued a strategy of not negotiating with the Arabs/Moslems but of going over their heads to whoever had the biggest guns at the time. First it was the British (Balfour). Then it was the French (Mirage Jets, nuclear technology) and finally the Americans (what d'ya got?). It has worked well for them. No accident that Bush made this statement while in Israel. Obama declared his direct talks approach long before Bush got on the plane, after all. The idea that an ally would want to go over the head of Israel and talk to the other side directly sends Israel's long term tried and true strategy into the dustbin. Man, you've just made so much money in Kodak and the party is just like, so over.... And look at which members on this board are getting the most upset by this idea. What a surprise.

Yes well, Arafat is not here anymore is he? In any case, how is what you say Arafat wanted different from what the Settler Movement is trying to achieve? I was serious when I suggested the merger. It would get the Arab world off of Israel's back. Somebody muttered something about Sharia law? Do we have that in Jordan now? I must have missed it. It is amazing how much islolationism comes from the pro-Israel community. Well what has it gotten you so far? Do you have peace? Do you have security? Instead you have complete paranoia.

Compare the Chinese response to the earthquake to Junior's response to Katrina. Any way you look at it, just not lookin' too good.... the cradle of Jazz. A place the entire world looks to.... Who has not heard of N'Awlins jazz? I have read stories of bands in every corner of the world playing N'awlins jazz... Shanghai, Berlin, Toronto... Man. Just not good at all. What is there to say about a leader who does not take care of their own?

I hear you fellow citizen. High five.

You are right. I am proposing a way for Israel to not exist. I am proposing a way for it to survive and to thrive.

Yes, the Chinese do support the junta. They also cleared a space for Aung Sang Su Kyi. It's difficult to figure out where the Forbidden City is coming from at the best of times, but my guess is that right now they are looking at the Burmese Junta and wondering how they could have become so helpless, given the complete control they have been afforded under China's umbrella. I imagine the Chinese are looking at the Junta not as a prudent ant, but more as a squandering grasshopper.

And furthermore. Jews can make the Semitic world great again.

Your name calling tells me where you are coming from. The rulers of Jordan have been Israel's best friends in the Arab World. They have absorbed much of your biggest problem at great cost. They have stood behind their word. They have tried to tell you what you simply will not hear. You have to trust somebody if you want peace. Do you honestly think that you can have a monoideoligical state in a pluralistic world? Why can you not see that pluralism will be Israel's strength? Who else in the Middle East can offer this bridge between two worlds? How can you watch Israel do business with so many cultures all over the world and insist that it be monoideoligical itself? Your great opportunity is slipping away. It is time you understood your true friends are not going to stand and tell you that your new clothes look so absolutely splendid.

The BIG question is 'what is this all for?' I couldn't help but notice that Harper made a comment about being somebody with an opinion everybody smiles at as opposed to being somebody who can make a difference. With respect to what? Why is this guy arming? I've watched his policy thrusts - even before he got elected - and quite frankly I think he's just gonna get us in deep and deeper to fight somebody else's battles. I'm all for defending the homeland and offering assistance. I have a lot of trouble running off all over the place to fight for somebody else's ideology. And most certainly the ideology of idiolidiots... We have done our bit in Afghastlystan. Where are the other NATO partners? Come to think of it, where is the US? Why has this turned into yet another 'War on Drugs?' And why we are talking abiut Afghastlystan? Why is Omar Khadar still rotting in Gitmo? We've gone to the ends of the earth for Brenda Martin. The case against Khadar is equally weak. Why have we not done for Omar Khadr what Britain did for their people? WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP.