posted March 05, 2003 07:03 PM              

BTW - France & Russia stand to lose billions in oil contracts with Iraq if Saddam is taken out of power... talk about conflict of interest

posted March 05, 2003 11:43 PM            

Well, you know it's desperation time on the left when they bring in their big guns and they prove to be the favorite columnist of the Club Airhead crowd, a defrocked pedophile priest and an Associated Press report detailing the "give inspections a chance" cries of France, Germany and Russia, all of which have big time business dealings with Saddam Hussein.

Fact is, these nations have been dealing with Hussein in violation of the UN embargo by furnishing him equipment and technical help in labs outside Iraq. That those labs exist in Libya and Sudan and possibly Yemen is well known, both by the United States and the UN. He funds them by selling oil smuggled through Jordan and the UN looks the other way.

The UN is undoubtedly the most corrupt organization on Earth and has become unreliable and irrelevant in world affairs. President Bush has shown just how close to being dead the UN really is. Someone needs to put them out of their misery.

UN inspectors aren't going to find Saddam's chemical and biological weapons or his mobile labs inside Iraq that produce some of them, because they don't want to and neither does the UN want them found.

However, they will be found by US personnel when Saddam and his murderous regime is out of power following the annihilation of his military forces. And when they are, French, German and Russian fingerprints will be all over them. It's going to be fun watching the UN try to cover it up.

posted March 06, 2003 01:23 AM              

Both take such offense to a challenge of their viewpoint!

Too bad you can't formulate your own words to debate my friend, relying on links & articles from biased opinionators do not sway the level-headed academic. Keep trying my man!

posted March 06, 2003 12:52 PM              

Interesting viewpoint the Vatican has, can't say I'm surprised

But the Pope stands for an institution flawed because it is made & manipulated by men.

Not to mention anyone who has an ounce of discretion would have discredited the Pope & his church instantly for turning away from dealing with the issue of sexual abuse & not implementing laws to hold church officials responsible for such uncomprehendable crimes against children.

The church is washed up institution of the past, who's power erodes even more with every passing year.

Sure, War is bad... of course... but can these bishops and this Pope hel;p solve the problem in Iraq, or just complain about it?

posted March 07, 2003 01:11 AM            

Hold on a sec while I go to my favorite site to get my opinion.

Or

When we want your opinion, we'll give it to you.

Surrogate speakers leave me a little cold too LL.

posted March 07, 2003 12:03 PM            

It is always good to see two strong Leos in verbal battle.

My opinion runs mostly in line with yours, but no matter what is said, it seems to fall on deaf ears. I believe that the Catholic Church is in dire need of a house cleaning. I am not Catholic, I am actually Lutheran, but most of my fathers family is Catholic.

The fact that the liberal or leftest faction abhors the Catholic church, but then when the Pope voices an anti-war opinion, they fall right in line in using him as their mascot. "Even the Pope is against war". Yeah, the Church has traditionally closed its collective eyes to the vileness in this world, from Nazi Germany to their own sick in head pedophile clergy. So, no, I can't take the Popes word for anything at this point. That is not putting down those that practice within the Catholic tradition.

jwhop, you are so right in that the counter to any point from the so called left is to put up an article from one of their favorite left leaning publications.

When their view is still not accept, they resort to calling those of us that can make up our minds for ourselves..."one lifers" "unevolved" "dumb"...etc.... . My personal favorite is to then watch their face change (figuratively and sometimes literally) from that of a concerned person / friend, to a condescending bitter enemy looking down on others for not having the wisdom to subscribe to their own narrow-minded views.

Leo, I agree with your point about Virgos. I seem to be surrounded by them and have a few close friends and one Virgo Ex that is my best friend to this day. They can simply regress to a fit of temper tantrums and major pouting binges if someone opposes their view. Me, being a Sag with that old Aries Moon, just wants to be able to make my own decisions. At the end of the day, I still like the person, just maybe not their philosophy. Funny, how they can hate the philosophy AND the person at the end of that same day.

Guess we will see where the road takes us over the next couple of weeks.

------------------
"Lahn dádzaayú nahikai leh ni' nyelíí k'ehge," Goyathlay (Geronimo)

"Once we moved like the Wind"

posted March 07, 2003 12:40 PM            

Do us both a favor. Leave out your advice as to how I should live my life as an American Indian. First off, I do not call myself Native American. I come from that faction that distinguishes ourselves in a manner that does not subscribe to the masses politically correct ways.

Second, my family has served in every war since the days of the tribal conflicts against the Comanches / Mexicans and Spanish. Whether or not things happened I have been brought up to have PRIDE for MY COUNTRY and to fight for this LAND. Why would I be so narrow-minded as to hold the people of today accountable for the people from centuries ago?

You act as if American Indians are such peace loving enlightened souls. That is total BS. I know where I came from and what my ancestors were responsbile for back in the old days. Tribes wiped each other out as much as possible. Hell, the Apache and Comanche were such bitter enemies they plotted to eradicate the others.

I was brought up the fact that had someone stepped in and "liberated" the People from the oppressive takeover so long ago, we might have a different USA today. That was not the case, but I am not going to be bitter towards todays population. Nor will I ever turn my back or bad mouth my country.

I have a lot at stake. I can trace back my history to the canyons older than dirt. I don't want to lose that to a chemical or biological threat.

So, please do not use my heritage as a way to try and blackmail me into not supporting the US. If anything, it makes me love my land even more!

------------------
"Lahn dádzaayú nahikai leh ni' nyelíí k'ehge," Goyathlay (Geronimo)

"Once we moved like the Wind"

posted March 07, 2003 01:00 PM              

This particular post is a bit selfish, but if you'll excuse me it was an exciting event in my life so I would like to share it if y'all don't mind, and it relates to this issue.

I was a bit upset yesterday that I had class during Bush's speeh @ 5, so I turned it on in the classroom between periods. Well my Professor came in to tell us 2 news agencies have requested to film us wathing the speech & want our reactions, so we got to watch it, hooray!

Channel 9 KUSI (local) & Channel 8 CBS came and to record & film our discussion after, KUSI even went live from our classroom randomly picking students for reactions.

Then they taped our class's debate, & of course I couldn't resist & said my peace.

Well after that, CBS asked me to stay after for an interview & I answered a couple of questions, mainly I went along the lines of how the issue has now come to a head, and how I like that the issue of the utility of the Security Council has arisen, & that those nations are going to have to now formally choose to be against us or with us, rather then talking the issue to death, achieving nothing.

(A lot of things can be said, but when it comes to actual action, countries act differently... they usually just USE words to intimidate, I mean there IS a French carrier out in the Persian Gulf, ready for action)

Anyways, the 11 o'clock hour news Bush was the top story of course, & along with that story came my class, & guess what?

They chose to air part of my interview, I was watching it with all my friends & they were yelling when I came on, lol.

I just thank God they didn't make me look like an ass! I was extremely nervous & stuttered a bit on the first question, but they didn't air that... whew!

And everyone at work this morning is talking about how they saw me on, so funny!

posted March 07, 2003 01:57 PM            

I know how unsettling it can be seeing yourself on TV. I had to do an interview for a TV special and I was terrified, but it worked out. I am kind of getting used to some of these things, but having my picture out in public still intimidates me a bit. I just wrapped up a session with a photography firm that is shooting pics for our annual report. They had me in it last year and I wasn't impressed with the pic. This one is better, but I guess taking pictures of a lab geek is never all that "sexy" LOL

Good Job!!!!

posted March 07, 2003 10:37 PM            

You are so right that the left thinks posting an article substitutes for discourse.
I just hate it when someone gives me someone else's opinion. I take it to mean they don't have any of their own.

I heard that about unevolved! Wonder if it ever occurred to those people that truly evolved people wouldn't have to point out to others how evolved they are Nor would a highly evolved person ever make such a comparison.

I always wonder when I'm listening to or reading a diatribe from a blame America first, last and always leftist why they're still here in America. Don't they know we don't have any fences or guards at the border to keep them here? That's the specialty of the communist countries they admire so much.

posted March 14, 2003 12:26 PM              

You are so funny man! Always talking of communism... can tell you're a product of the Cold War era. Not that that's a bad thing or anything, but communism has failed, that ideology is dead, lol.

I think our biggest threat now would be the ideology of these religious fundamentalists/fanaticists of the Middle East, using religion as a way to oppress people... remind anyone of anything??? Perhaps the Holy Roman Empire-type oppression, maybe not, that is a bit of a stretch...

posted March 15, 2003 12:16 AM            

I'm sorry, I didn't even respond back to your post. I agree with what you say. By the way, I am completely impressed with your Astro knowledge. There seems to be so much more to you that meets the eye!!

posted March 17, 2003 02:17 AM              

I don't want to write an essay here because my views are very complex and layered, but I just want to offer a little something: that if you have to ask why war is not the answer, then you are missing ALOT of insight into enlightenment.

First, on a spiritual (not political, err, read: karmic) level, you should be aware that war is based in fear (fear of Saddam, fear of not having control of oil, fear of not having control in general, fear of terrorisim, etc). Anytime you have fear, you have deathist philosophy and propoganda which is not the way toward peace, growth and enlightenment on Earth. If you are fearful, you will never find alternative fuels, alternative ways of life, or alternative solutions to karmic problems. You will continue to move in the way you have been programmed... and completely avoid any possibility of enlightenment and peace on Earth.

That said, I should say that although I strongly feel this way, I am not completely blinded by the white light (although that's not a bad way to be ). I am aware that Saddam is lost spiritually... ok, cruel, psychotic and toxic...and he is probably deserving of his current state. Though you must keep in mind that he is not the only dictator or country that has done and will continue to do the same kinds of things. Should we war with everyone who does things we don't like? All in all, I believe we truly mean well, but there are MAJOR issues we have in our own country that are down right despicable and we don't do anything about. The crime rates, murders, social injustices, corruption, greed, poverty, etc., etc. Which really means, we have not yet tried the best alternative to war, which is to lead by example.

But all that aside, I see there is obviously alot of karma being balanced worldwide at the moment (which I believe can eventually only lead to good) and there is no way to know the depth of any of it, so I try not to judge the war too harshly. Hopefully, we will all move forward another step on the path to enlightenment as a result of the chaos and disorder that may ensue. And hopefully, in doing this "house cleaning" for Iraq, we will learn how to do it for ourselves as well. I feel that one good thing about the current state of affairs is that it is opening up alot of minds... who knows why it is happening. There is a certain amount of trust I have in the Universe, but I also feel there are going to be lessons learned here... karma balanced.

Unfortunately, we are not going to transcend karma if we go to war... instead we will be experiencing it and possibly creating some new, you just don't know til you kNOW.