I'm happy...my sister at CENTCOM is always correcting me, "We call it Southwest Asia here in the DOD". Maybe they should tell the newspapers and other media outlets.
pessimist, I'm glad you addressed this issue. The Bag-troll was going on about this last night!
I don't think the Israeli's are happy with the USA, it's like we stirred up a hornets nest. They were disgusted with us when we didn't listen to their intelligence about securing the borders to Syria and Iran. Like everyone else, I'm sure they are amazed at bu$hco's arrogance!
Posted by bbtb at November 7, 2005 07:35 AMI'm all for taking away tax exempt status for religious groups. Any and all of them.
Posted by iamcoyote at November 7, 2005 07:59 AMSlightly OT: This Saturday in the LAT was a small item on the murder in prison of a man named Kruger, a highly placed member of the JDL. He was serving time for his part in a conspiracy to bomb a mosque and the office of an Arab American legislator (can't remember his name). The piece said he was killed with a cement cinder block swung by a fellow inmate, a member of the Arian Nation. Kruger had only been at this prison facility for three days. His accomplish in the conspiracy, you might remember, committed "suicide" while being moved from his prison cell a few years back. What a nasty piece of work The New Crusades has become, no? (:>
Posted by Donald Cormac at November 7, 2005 08:18 AMYour point is polite and it doesn't dare tread where Justin Raimondo has gone recently. I suggest you look carefully at the conflation of interests in the Wolfowitz circles. Juan Cole has some useful information here:
http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/salon65.html
The realtiy, in my view, is that there are different agendas for Isrealis in general, and for Straussians in Washington. In order to broach the utterly absurd sensitivity of the question, it might be useful to start with a facile binary view: on the one hand you have Likud, and on the other you have everybody else. The consolidation of Isreali interests within the shell of proposterous greed in the Bush White House have unfortunately landed in the camp of Sharon and his vile methods. The groups that have untenably hijacked US foreign policy crave one thing in the Middle East, and the word for it is "chaos." They want as much confusion and violence as possible, and anybody who thinks otherwise is ignoring the reality of what the advocacy groups in Washington are up to. Wake up everybody, the real deal is in the Pacific. This is a drama that was created to steal your money with war profits and to steal your mind with loathing.
It seems to me that our lovely conserva-mentalists are actually pretty well disposed to jewish people---after all, the existence of Israel is crucial to the fulfilment of their end times fantasies!
They will initially be quite satsified with the imposition of national talibanesque rules of personal conduct: prohibition of abortion, prayer in school and other public gatherings, public displays of christian icons everywhere, the undermining of science and teaching of religious dogma in public schools.
But they will not look to prohibit or restrain the exercise of other monotheist religions.
The group they will ultimately decide to outlaw and persecute will be the Godless---the atheists. Those are the views that they cannot stomach, and will not tolerate.
Posted by euzoius at November 7, 2005 09:22 AMYes, we atheists pose the greatest danger to the fundies with our lethal mocking and disruptive scientific "theories." Next thing you know, we'll be demanding freedom from religious persecution and a right to autonomy over our own lives, which will, of course, sow hatred and enmity into the very heart of America...uh, wait a minute...
Posted by iamcoyote at November 7, 2005 09:36 AMI'm all for taking away tax exempt status for religious groups. Any and all of them.
Some of them do good work, though. Look at what happened after Katrina and Rita - the religious organizations were able to mobilize faster than the government. I'm not sure how I feel about the government reimbursing them for their expenses, though.
Posted by ann at November 7, 2005 11:17 AMbbtb,
I was not the one who posted the comment regarding the war in Iraq as a means of protecting Israel.
It was the poster just wonderin:
"So you admit this war is to protect Israel and not the United States?"
Posted by Bagley at November 7, 2005 03:06 PMClrly Fxmn nd mny thrs sffr thr wn dblttng ntlrnc nd prn vr vn hrng bt th svng grc f Jss Chrst. Th ptty grvnc bt sprtn s lttl mr thn prtxt t sbjgt th lbrty f Chrstns t th wrpd snstvts f ntchrstn bgts wh rjct dlvrnc frm thr wn trnl fry trmnt nd ctvly sk t bstrct thrs frm rcvng th fr gft f trnl lf. Whthr r nt thy tmprrly sccd n thr msbgttn jhd gnst th Sn f Gd, ltmtly ch n wll xprnc thmslvs knlng bfr hm, thr tng cnfssng hm s Lrd.
[Editor: ignore=off]Nicely written post Benditio.
I can't write properly to save my life (as you will see).
It appears you are a person of faith. Hopefully patience too, since this may be a rather rambling message, but there is an important point at the end:
I was raised as a church-going Christian, and as a child I tried hard to believe what I read from the bible or was taught in sunday school. I wanted to understand. The other children seemed to have no problem. Factual questions were fine, of course, but what I was feeling inside was not. I found it impossible to reconcile inconsistencies between what I was being taught and my own observations. But perhaps the worst thing of all for a child was to realize that people would adopt subsets of beliefs they found comfortable, but disregard others. (I still can't handle that last one properly sometimes)
As an adult, I follow Jesus' teachings and live my life accordingly. But it's not a religious belief, its just a practical belief in what he said.
You have strong faith, but I am totally incapable of it. Its harder to live this way, because I am always 100% responsible for myself and those around me, and I can never think otherwise or even pray for help or guidance. Faith would make my life easier, but its not possible for me. Of course, I could fake it if I wanted to convince others of my piety (and I suspect that many people do) but whats the point in that? Presumbaly God would know. And anyway, I would just feel dishonest.
I hope I have explained clearly. My point (finally) is the follwing:
Please be careful if you decide to tell people what will happen to non-believers. It's not fair to threaten people, especially if they are already worried. Some people are simply not capable of faith as you experience it, and it's not because they don't listen or don't try. (I can also say its not a failure of morality or character, or other spiritual influence).
Most religious people I have tried to ask about this either dismiss or ignore my questions. That suggests to me that they have the same conflicts as I do, but they would rather not acknowledge or address them.
I would be interested to hear your opinion.
Posted by Tortoise at November 8, 2005 02:28 AMf y'v bn tryng t lv p t Jss' tchngs yt hv nvr rcvd wht H dd n th crss fr s s ntrly sffcnt fr slvtn t ny nd ll wh cll n Hs nm, thn ndd y r flng yrslf.
[Editor: ignore=off]Like Bendito
Posted by at November 8, 2005 05:54 AMbenedito,
let me tell you something. i am a life-long catholic. i raised my kids as catholics. you need to STFU, because you are headed for a very bad stretch of eternity. i think your words may end up putting you in a small cell with people like osama bin laden, for eternity.
if there is to be a jihad against 'christians' like you, i will be very glad to lead it. you are quite fond of crying 'Lord, Lord', but that will not save you if your works are as evil as your tongue. when you get up on the page and crap out your nonsense about 'Jesus is Lord and you shall not be saved' you just show what an arrogant tool of Satan you and your beloved president are.
I'll see you in Hell, have a good day!
dopey-o
Jim Talent: too gay for Missouri?