volcanopele
Member
Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 366 |
Let me first say that I have not been paying much attention to this thread as much as many others have. I thought this was a thread about E-Coupons. Silly me, I should have known better.
Anyways, back to what I was going to say. The Word according to Jason:
I am a Republican and am a moderate, I don't agree with everything on the Republican platform (like space policy) but nine times out of ten, I do. I think Bush is doing a great job. He is doing what needed to be done against terrorism. I am happy that while some may not think so, it has turned out that the right man was elected president out of that Election 2000 mess. I can just imagine what Gore would have done in the same situation. Probably no remeding of the situation, just diplomatic schnadigans with a corrupt government like the Taliban.
Israel and Palestine...
Build a wall already!! It is obvious that the Palestinians will not stop until they get there own country. The Israelis won't give them one until the Palestinians stop committing suicide in the name of Yasir Arafat. The Israelis just make it worse by razing refugee towns and bombing Palestinian cities. What are the Palestinians going to do, sit back and watch there homes burn. Or maybe they should take a page from the book version of "The Sum of All Fears" and watch how moods will change. For those who are not familiar with the book (this was not in the movie because of the change in terrorist groups), a group of Palestinian protesters were being assaulted by Israeli military with tear gas when the protesters sat down, put on gas masks, and started singing "We Shall Overcome." One Israeli police captain then snapped, walked up to the protest leader and shot him in the head point blank. Returning to reality, the Israelis even have the wonderful idea of bombing Arafat's security forces when, get this, they expect those same security forces to arrest terrorists. Is that the most screwed up thing or what? All Palestinians want is what little bit of land they had back. Don't trust that poll saying that 48% want Israel pushed into the sea. You would be saying that too in the heat of conflict.
The Palestinians are making it hard on themselves with all of these suicide bombings. It doesn't produce support from the US or major vocal support from the Europeans. If they really wanted to have that support but still show the Israelis that they will not just roll over to incursions would be to march, without a rock thrown or a bomb blown up, en masse, say one to five hundred thousand, past Israeli checkpoints and to Tel Aviv. Clog up streets, just kinda gum up the works. Again, not blowing stuff up or what not. What is Israel going to do? Fire on them. What did that group of Palestinians do? Fire on them before they reach the border? With women and children? As you can see there are stuff that the Palestinians, as a people can do to help there situation, bring on the peace negotiators, protect their homeland, or what is left of it, and not look like the bad guys.
Now, Terry, I know what you are going to say, "Israel isn't doing anything differently than what the US is doing?" You couldn't be more wrong. In Afghanistan, there were large terrorist camps and caves where there were no civilians for miles so the use of bombs was necessary and even then there were a few mistakes. In Palestine, terrorists live among the people. What was required was a scapple, what was used was a butcher knife. Jenin was raised, entire groups of people were rounded up, whether they were terrorists or not. House to house searches were also used, and that is fine. Missiles were used against security officials in Palestinians, the same group that Sharon demands arrests suspected terrorists.
Before I leave this subject, I should say the I of course condemn suicide bombing. No civilians should be killed in war regardless of whether they are Israeli or Palestinian.
Moving on to unions. Good idea. Even as a Republican I have no real problem with unions. Now what I would have a problem if they were sancitioned by the government. As long as it is just a group of workers wanting to protect themselves in the matters of workplace conditions and pay issues, fine. Better they do that then the government.
European politics...
Wait, how is our system that much different from yours? When we both vote from president, and for this example I will use the French model, mileage may vary by country but I am sure this fits for Germany and Russia as well, you start out with 15 or so candidates with widely ranging political beliefs. There is an election that cuts that number to two. For the next two weeks, both candidates, if they are smart, start to move to the center trying to bring in people who voted for the other 13 candidates. There is a lot coalition building. A lot of merging of beliefs among the candidates still standing and those who already lost. Then there is a second election. Wait, this is EXACTLY like the American system though number of initial candidates may vary. As far as the other European countries go, you just have to appreciate that there are differences in systems. While our head of government is elected seperately and for good reason (checks and balances and what not) while for yours is akin to our Speaker of the House (Dennis Hastert wouldn't make a bad president though). BTW, where is the center-right and how much power does it have in the European parliments? I know the center-left hold most of the power and everyone is worried about the far-right (which is just as bad as the far-left, even in my conservative opinion).
European opinions of Bush...
Europeans have a right complain or exhault Bush but don't expect that to change too much U.S. policy. I don't care how "cooperative" your nation is, it will serve its needs first before the needs of others. If it comes down between a contract with a Fijian company or a US company, nine times out of ten it will pick a US company if it can do the same things. Let see what other complaints have there been. Too many to count I guess, but what can you expect from a predominately liberal continent (with the exception of good ol' Italy).
Jason
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06-21-2002 10:34 PM
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