My Daughters Liberal Left education

[amicus]

Tuesday, October 12, 2004 11:24 am…

Bush Bashing and Terrible Americans


My ditzy daughter called me the other night; three thousand miles away on a different coast…the ‘left’ coast.

We exchanged pleasantries…did a little smiling and joking around…this is my youngest daughter…just a year out of her teens…in her third year of college…no evident major course of study, but that will come.

This is the impish kid with blonde hair and blue eyes, sitting in a highchair in only a diaper, not yet walking; that I speckled with cheerios on her pudgy face and chest and then took a picture. A perky countenance; a quizzical mischievous grin and an ‘ice cream smile’ that was her trademark at about four years of age.

So…she asked me who I thought would win the Presidential election; I said, ‘Bush, in a landslide…Kerry might take his home State of Massachusetts…’

I had to take the phone away from my ear…

I barely got a word in edgewise for the next hour…and then only when I shouted her down and that was just a brief respite.

She gave me the Liberal Litany…the whole thing…from National Guard Service to Iraq and Afghanistan; from Halliburton to Bush One and oil in the Middle East. And that was before she took a breath.

She then went on to berate Capitalism in general and women’s rights and health care and faith based initiatives, the whales, the snail darters, ecology in general, exploitation and tax breaks for the wealthy….I got an earful; human rights and slavery and women voting in early Colonial America.

I spent half a lifetime debating the political left…time in Portland, Oregon where she is attending college and in the semi socialist Monarchy of the Territory of Hawaii…so…I had heard both the radical tone and content before…countless times.

But this was my baby girl spouting all this utter nonsense…not some surreal voice over the telephone or blue screen Ethernet frothing at the keyboard….nope…this was my little girl.

We parted…after a solid hour…still on good terms…how, I do not know but…’love ya dad!’ ‘luv ya Picklepuss…’ were our last words…and I mused about our conversation and let it fade into memory.

Then…last night…Monday night football looked like a blowout…so I went tuning around and found the PBS Left channel; (there’s only one), they were broadcasting a program entitled ‘American Experience’ an episode about railroad building from about 1863 to 1872…so I left the channel on and checked my email.

In the background, I began hearing how corrupt the companies were that built the railroads, the Union Pacific and the Central or Northern Pacific…I heard that the terminal in Iowa was a political payoff and the one near Sacramento, California was mostly fraudulent.

I listened further as the Congress of the United States and State Legislatures were indicted, over and over again, for corruption and bribery. I listened as they emphasized the slaughter of Chinese labor, the Indians and the buffalo. I listened as the timber and steel producers for rails and ties were demeaned and excoriated along with the boom towns that sprang up and the speculators that sold town lots for outrageous prices.

‘Gee,’ I thought in my pretended innocence, ‘did they ever build a transcontinental railroad that opened up a nation to trade and the exchange of ideas and cultures?’

Well…the programmed dragged to an end finally; mercifully. But then I was foolish enough to switch to a news channel…MSNBC…I think…certainly not CNN or CBS.

Big mistake.

‘The Bush administration is the first in 70 years to produce a job deficit over a four year period” ‘Really?’ I thought. ‘With the lowest interest rates in history, the highest percentage of home owners ever, more people employed than ever before in history and interest rates at an all time low…’ Any body recall Jimmy Carter and double digit inflation and a truly stagnant economy…and hostages in Iran? Yeah, I know...ancient history

“The United States went to war in the middle east both times over oil…” How many times have I heard that? Does not one recall the history of Great Britain and the Dutch and the Germans and the Russians…who was it that opened the oil fields in the 1930’s when Arabs exported only Dates and Camel Hair? The Arabs could have given the oil rights away like sand as they had no use for petroleum products. Not only no automobiles, but no roads…very little electricity.

“Outsourcing American Jobs!” The newslady screamed with a contorted face…(they should outsource most female newscasters) Even the super Liberal television series, The West Wing, recognized the necessity of finding the lowest cost materials and labor if an economy is to remain completive. Economics 101, geez.

And Labor Unions…the old Guilds of ancient Europe, intended to keep the skill and the trades secret and closed to maintain scarcity and high pay. A programmer in the United States demands $40.00 an hour as a ‘living wage’, while in India the same work can be done for $10.00 an hour. Who benefits? Consumers all over the world…families in India, the economy in India. Who suffers? Labor Unions that have priced their services out of the market place.

The War in Iraq…”Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time…” Yeah, sure…Wilson said it was a ‘European War’ in 1912. The Brits appeased the Nazi’s in the 30’s and the politicians become ‘America Firsters’…Isolationists…until Pearl Harbor and suddenly it was a World wide conflict.

The Soviet and Chinese Communists were stopped in Korea in the early 50’s and slowed and drained in Vietnam in the 60’s and 70’s.

“Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev…” And you know what…the wall is gone and the heart of Eastern Europe has at last and at least a chance for human freedom.

American ingenuity, courage and perseverance have brought the world to the brink of human freedom for more people and more nations than ever in the history of man.

It was not by accident, but a logical expansion of the concepts of human liberty and a free market place that has brought about that change.

My ‘tour of duty’ in defending the concepts of ‘life, liberty and property…’ is drawing to a close…someone else will have to take up the flame of freedom and light up the dark corners of the Liberal and Socialist Left.

This father hopes that one of his children might see the mind as Plutarch did, “Not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited…” Perhaps one, somewhere, will recognize that greatest of all pursuits and endeavors….the enlightenment of the closed mind of medieval thought that still yearns for a Monarchy…a strong ruler that tell others how to live.

Freedom is a great challenge…not gained easily and continually challenged by the parasites that are always with us.

It will not be the end of the world if the Democrat Party wins this election…but it could be a costly slowing in the difficult journey to bring freedom and keep freedom around the globe.


Amicus aka John Cole….


...sent this via email to the Portland Oregonian...and Portland State University...and of course....to my daughter...may as well stir the pot....

 

[McKenna]

This father hopes that one of his children might see the mind as Plutarch did, “Not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited…” Perhaps one, somewhere, will recognize that greatest of all pursuits and endeavors….the enlightenment of the closed mind of medieval thought that still yearns for a Monarchy…a strong ruler that tell others how to live.

Sounds to me like you can't appreciate the one you already have.

I think you'd best rephrase this to say you hope one of your kids will have the SAME opinion as you do, rather than saying she has a closed mind because she doesn't.

 

[amicus]

Always the personal subjective attack...hope that made you feel good....since you are unable, ever, to draw upon reason and rationality you revert to the feminine...

 

[McKenna]

Always the personal subjective attack...hope that made you feel good....since you are unable, ever, to draw upon reason and rationality you revert to the feminine...

Oh pardon me, is calling your daughter "close minded" not a personal attack? Aren't you intimating that anyone who shares her opinion is therefore also close-minded?

Seems to me my response was more logical -and therefore reasonable- than yours. Does that mean you're the bitch, er, female?

 

[Somme]

Your daughter is one bright cookie. Perhaps it'd be a novel idea to find out if she was as well informed as she sounds?

 

[Svenskaflicka]

If your daughter is looking up information and facts instead of baking cookies and dreaming of her future husband, you might have done something wrong, amicus.

 

[amicus]

She is a bright cookie...my friend...just very young and susceptible to the unchallenged liberalism in education and throughout the media.

She spoke...as most of the left persuasion have this election, in a totally negative vein. I will explain to her...in due time...why the neo left has no platform about which they might speak in positive terms.

What my liberal friends on this frothy forum seem to find annoying is that a 'neo con' (which I am not, but have been thus named...) that one who advocates human freedom and individual liberty does so with some panache and a degree of savoir-faire...something unthinkable to the effete and aesthete cafe' society socialists that lurk in the nooks and crannies hereabouts.

If it is not name calling...or questioning my sanity/intelligence, it is some deluded female out to save humanity snarling personal insults on any level they can aspire to.

I do not mind, I recognize the tactics...even the Greeks knew ad hominem attacks on character when the antagonist has but shallow sand as fundamentals.

One cannot reason with a fanatical leftist or Islamic radicals who claim faith as a base.

But then again...I understand...I have a violent visceral reaction at the sound of Clinton's voice and even the mention of Hillary makes me quiver in anger.

Pavlovian I guess...woof...

amicus...

 

[amicus]

Sven...you reminded me of a Julia Roberts movie I had intended to comment on....damn...what was the name of that...at Wellesly college for women...women...women...oh yes...the Mona Lisa Smile....look at that Jackson Pollock! Is it not truly intellectual! Oh, I am astounded......that oil paint drips in such a fashion...sighs...


anyway...thanks...

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Fancy multi-syllable words don't hide the fact that you're speaking like a conservative male-chauvnist, who calls everyone who doesn't agree with your own views stupid - and to top it off, you insinuate that women are "deluded" when they voice their opinon.

You say that you defend freedom - not something I usually associate with republican politics, but for argument's sake, I'll let this slip - but you start the Hurt-Virgin-act when other people use THEIR freedom to object to your rant!

Come out clean, will you? The freedom you want is for yourself and your friends to decide what the rest of us should say!

 

[fogbank]

Well, taking it out of the context of the current US election, I have a similar relationship with my father--him a staunch conservative, and me a liberal. We do have some common ground--we're both royalists and we both believe strongly in national unity, neither of those ideas particularly popular in the area I grew up in and where he still lives. We've quietly agreed long ago not to get into politics with one another--I have far too much respect for him to get into arguments about foreign or domestic politics, and I would like to think that he has similar respect for me and my beliefs. When we do discuss politics, we're both careful to stick to the issues and avoid falling into partisan patterns. Mostly we talk about hockey and football, universal languages of understanding between father and son.

Seriously, Amicus, I hope that you and your daughter reach a similar understanding. Family is so much more important than politics.

 

[McKenna]

Amicus, when you open up your private life to members of a public forum you invite them to comment on said life. You do this time and time again, and yet when someone calls you on your shit, you immediately take offense. Quite frankly, if you don't want someone commenting on your opinions, private life, or your sanity/intelligence -don't invite them in.


Now you have in the past, and continue in the present, to demonstrate far more convincingly than I ever could what type of person you are, and what type of person you aren't. So please, carry on.


BTW, I did so enjoy "stirring the pot" with you this morning, to use your words. If you can't take it Ami, don't dish it out, eh?

 

[amicus]

Sven...you said:

"Come out clean, will you? The freedom you want is for yourself and your friends to decide what the rest of us should say!"

Pick a program almost anyone you wish...that reflects your political position. Got one? Good.

Now..to enforce and promolgate that program...you will have to use the barrel of a gun to force people to pay the taxes you need to realize your goal.

No no matter how humanitarian that program appears to be...no matter how important universal health care is...you will still have to use force to make me...or any one else who disagrees with you..you will have to use force...to take what is mine to use in your grandiose schemes.

I object to that.

I would advocate the power of taxation only to support the constitutional mandate of a military, a police system, and a court system.

I would not limit your freedom in any other way.

I would not force you to pay for my childrens education.

I would not force you to pay for my retirement.

I would not force you to provide me with libraries, or hospitals, or art museums or research grants on fruit fly gender.

And I know...from the gitgo...that you don't have a clue about individual rights and human liberty from oppression.

amicus...

 

[McKenna]

Fancy multi-syllable words don't hide the fact that you're speaking like a conservative male-chauvnist, who calls everyone who doesn't agree with your own views stupid - and to top it off, you insinuate that women are "deluded" when they voice their opinon.

You say that you defend freedom - not something I usually associate with republican politics, but for argument's sake, I'll let this slip - but you start the Hurt-Virgin-act when other people use THEIR freedom to object to your rant!

Come out clean, will you? The freedom you want is for yourself and your friends to decide what the rest of us should say!

Very well said, Svenska. I'm impressed not only with your ideas, but your command of the English language to express them so succinctly.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Sven...you reminded me of a Julia Roberts movie I had intended to comment on....damn...what was the name of that...at Wellesly college for women...women...women...oh yes...the Mona Lisa Smile....look at that Jackson Pollock! Is it not truly intellectual! Oh, I am astounded......that oil paint drips in such a fashion...sighs...


anyway...thanks...

a) I haven't seen that movie.
b) If you want me to understand you, you'll have to use complete sentences.

 

[McKenna]

b) If you want me to understand you, you'll have to use complete sentences.

...and a few less ellipses... in my opinion....

 

[Svenskaflicka]

And I know...from the gitgo...that you don't have a clue about individual rights and human liberty from oppression.

Oh, I'd say that I have a better grip on those concepts than you do of "solidarity" and "helping out your fellow man".

 

[amicus]

God forbid either of you understood...it would be the first sign of reason and you would probably sprout a beard.

What was it Jack Nicholsen said in the film..."As good as it gets" about how he thought about women? "The same way I do as men, but take away all reason and rationality..." I paraphrase, but I was not fond of the film and saw it only once...but I did chuckle at that line...

my style includes ellipses....you don like em you don read em...

thanks

amicus...

 

[Pure]

Well, Amicus, sounds like she's a bright cookie.

I hear the old refrain:

How do you keep them down on the farm, once they've seen gay Paree?

Remind yourself how long it took you to end up out there is right field, yearning to sell off the highways and national parks.

Betcha weren't raised an atheist either (odds are against it).

It is, of course, possible, that except for you and a few Randian stalwarts, all of us are brainwashed by the liberal press. OTOH....

You could always suggest she tune into Rush every day--like American soldiers have no choice but to do.

Please answer one small question: why did the liberal press so wholeheartedly support the invasion of Iraq, and so unthinkingly believe all the reasons profferred-- including 'there's only one use for these aluminum tubes--- nuclear bomb manufacture!' Duh.

Incidentally, I'm not a liberal, but I guess some sort of leftie. And I think Bush has an excellent chance of winning. "Follow your leader in war" and that stuff. Not to say "Stunning victories on the battlefield." "Muslim militants' bodies stacked by 100s, in piles" [oh, is that a child's foot I see?]

 

[amicus]

Thank you Fogbank....yes...of course...and I agree....but this is a young'n...swimming with the sharks of humanism and those with the ethics of a tomcat....perhaps when the time comes in this country...that the 'zero-population' folks pass a law that she can bear only one child....she will see it coming and say...."uhuh...no you don't..my daddy said..."

Gotta try anyway....

amicus...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Amicus, Amicus… You keep promising to leave, but you never do.

It must be lonely, being the only one who knows the truth and knows what’s right. It must be scarey, being surrounded by ignorant agents of a corruptsystem of thought. It must get difficult, with all those windmills to battle, and it must be tedious living in a world where there are only two colors: black and white.

We know that globalization is a good thing for corporations, but most of us aren’t corporations. Unlike you, most of us also feel for the workers who lose their jobs and have no where to turn. We—most of us—think it would be nice if we could do something to help them out. We look at the war in Iraq and wonder whether manufacturing terrorists is really the best way to fight them, and many of us have our doubts. We look at the history of the railroads and recognize them for the accomplishments they are, but we’re also able to admit that they had a human cost and that many egregious things were done to build them. We look at these things and try to learn from them. Unlike you, we’re able to see the gray, and life is mostly lived in the gray areas. It’s called reality.

Leave your daughter alone. If you believe in freedom, then give her the freedom to make up her own mind. I can only imagine what it must be like to come back to the Amicus houdsehold and have to listen to your libertarian rants. It would be enough to send anyone scurrying to join the nearest branch of the communist party out of sheer spite.

As to your postings here, I no longer know who you’re talking to to, and I don’t think you do either. Long ago you entered the realm of the soap-box speaker, mashed down on the “broadcast” button and disabled the one that says “receive”. You’re an idealogue, and there’s nothing more hopeless, no matter what side of the political spectrum they’re on.

Over and out,

---dr.M.

 

[mismused]

My poor, poor ami cus

Tuesday, October 12, 2004 11:24 am?

Bush Bashing and Terrible Americans


My ditzy daughter called me the other night; three thousand miles away on a different coast?the ?left? coast.

We exchanged pleasantries?did a little smiling and joking around?this is my youngest daughter?just a year out of her teens?in her third year of college?no evident major course of study, but that will come.

This is the impish kid with blonde hair and blue eyes, sitsed ting in a highchair in only a diaper, not yet walking; that I speckled with cheerios on her pudgy face and chest and then took a picture. A perky countenance; a quizzical mischievous grin and an ?ice cream smile? that was her trademark at about four years of age.

So?she asked me who I thought would win the Presidential election; I said, ?Bush, in a landslide?Kerry might take his home State of Massachusetts??

I had to take the phone away from my ear?

I barely got a word in edgewise for the next hour?and then only when I shouted her down and that was just a brief respite.

She gave me the Liberal Litany?the whole thing?from National Guard Service to Iraq and Afghanistan; from Halliburton to Bush One and oil in the Middle East. And that was before she took a breath.

She then went on to berate Capitalism in general and women?s rights and health care and faith based initiatives, the whales, the snail darters, ecology in general, exploitation and tax breaks for the wealthy?.I got an earful; human rights and slavery and women voting in early Colonial America.

I spent half a lifetime debating the political left?time in Portland, Oregon where she is attending college and in the semi socialist Monarchy of the Territory of Hawaii?so?I had heard both the radical tone and content before?countless times.

But this was my baby girl spouting all this utter nonsense?not some surreal voice over the telephone or blue screen Ethernet frothing at the keyboard?.nope?this was my little girl.

We parted?after a solid hour?still on good terms?how, I do not know but??love ya dad!? ?luv ya Picklepuss?? were our last words?and I mused about our conversation and let it fade into memory.

Then?last night?Monday night football looked like a blowout?so I went tuning around and found the PBS Left channel; (there?s only one), they were broadcasting a program entitled ?American Experience? an episode about railroad building from about 1863 to 1872?so I left the channel on and checked my email.

In the background, I began hearing how corrupt the companies were that built the railroads, the Union Pacific and the Central or Northern Pacific?I heard that the terminal in Iowa was a political payoff and the one near Sacramento, California was mostly fraudulent.

I listened further as the Congress of the United States and State Legislatures were indicted, over and over again, for corruption and bribery. I listened as they emphasized the slaughter of Chinese labor, the Indians and the buffalo. I listened as the timber and steel producers for rails and ties were demeaned and excoriated along with the boom towns that sprang up and the speculators that sold town lots for outrageous prices.

?Gee,? I thought in my pretended innocence, ?did they ever build a transcontinental railroad that opened up a nation to trade and the exchange of ideas and cultures??

Well?the programmed dragged to an end finally; mercifully. But then I was foolish enough to switch to a news channel?MSNBC?I think?certainly not CNN or CBS.

Big mistake.

?The Bush administration is the first in 70 years to produce a job deficit over a four year period? ?Really?? I thought. ?With the lowest interest rates in history, the highest percentage of home owners ever, more people employed than ever before in history and interest rates at an all time low?? Any body recall Jimmy Carter and double digit inflation and a truly stagnant economy?and hostages in Iran? Yeah, I know...ancient history

?The United States went to war in the middle east both times over oil?? How many times have I heard that? Does not one recall the history of Great Britain and the Dutch and the Germans and the Russians?who was it that opened the oil fields in the 1930?s when Arabs exported only Dates and Camel Hair? The Arabs could have given the oil rights away like sand as they had no use for petroleum products. Not only no automobiles, but no roads?very little electricity.

?Outsourcing American Jobs!? The newslady screamed with a contorted face?(they should outsource most female newscasters) Even the super Liberal television series, The West Wing, recognized the necessity of finding the lowest cost materials and labor if an economy is to remain completive. Economics 101, geez.

And Labor Unions?the old Guilds of ancient Europe, intended to keep the skill and the trades secret and closed to maintain scarcity and high pay. A programmer in the United States demands $40.00 an hour as a ?living wage?, while in India the same work can be done for $10.00 an hour. Who benefits? Consumers all over the world?families in India, the economy in India. Who suffers? Labor Unions that have priced their services out of the market place.

The War in Iraq??Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time?? Yeah, sure?Wilson said it was a ?European War? in 1912. The Brits appeased the Nazi?s in the 30?s and the politicians become ?America Firsters??Isolationists?until Pearl Harbor and suddenly it was a World wide conflict.

The Soviet and Chinese Communists were stopped in Korea in the early 50?s and slowed and drained in Vietnam in the 60?s and 70?s.

?Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev?? And you know what?the wall is gone and the heart of Eastern Europe has at last and at least a chance for human freedom.

American ingenuity, courage and perseverance have brought the world to the brink of human freedom for more people and more nations than ever in the history of man.

It was not by accident, but a logical expansion of the concepts of human liberty and a free market place that has brought about that change.

My ?tour of duty? in defending the concepts of ?life, liberty and property?? is drawing to a close?someone else will have to take up the flame of freedom and light up the dark corners of the Liberal and Socialist Left.

This father hopes that one of his children might see the mind as Plutarch did, ?Not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited?? Perhaps one, somewhere, will recognize that greatest of all pursuits and endeavors?.the enlightenment of the closed mind of medieval thought that still yearns for a Monarchy?a strong ruler that tell others how to live.

Freedom is a great challenge?not gained easily and continually challenged by the parasites that are always with us.

It will not be the end of the world if the Democrat Party wins this election?but it could be a costly slowing in the difficult journey to bring freedom and keep freedom around the globe.


Amicus aka John Cole?.


...sent this via email to the Portland Oregonian...and Portland State University...and of course....to my daughter...may as well stir the pot....

======================

Honestly, my good ami cus, I don't know who to feel sorrier for, you, or me.

I thought all the rains were ended now, and fears of flooding past at last, then there are your fervent tears that have just caused me so much work. Really, ami cus, to flood my house this way. For shame. It was not enough to have bucket and mop, I had to feverishly expend so much energy with the squeegee.

Tell me, may I send you the bill for all that your tears have ruined in my house? Yes, yes, of course I can, and you won't send me one cent to reimburse me. *Sigh!* Such is life, I guess, you cry, and here I wind up sighing in my own misery, thanks to you. You are getting to be such a bad person, ami cus, the amiable cuss.

Well, I guess that all the children that were properly brought up, and see things your way will have to placate your oh-so-troubled mind.

Me? Goodness, I don't quite know where I fit into your neat scheme, what with being an independent, and all, and having the temerity to not even have voted for the Gipper.

So, this time I'm voting for Mr. Wrong, eh? Uh, Mr. Left? Yes, whatever. Now why would I do that?

How do I loathe thee, Mr. Bushkie, let me count the ways:

I loathe that you lied, and told us there were so many bad things in Iraq, and brimstone was upon us, all hail from hell would abound.

I loathe that America and Americans should be subjected to no-bid pharmaceuticals, and now the train has left for Canada with all those dumb oldies that don't know that they are to fill the coffers of our president's friends. How petty they must be, these old, poor, very poor, fools.

I loathe that though weapons galore were not found, we still rid the world of at least one of the many who make humans quail. But alas, the Sudan, Zimababwe, The Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, oh, and Saudi Arabia that stands alone to not allow their women to vote, though our president quails of Afganistan's fail. Disgusting, those Aganies, to not be as the Saudies, though Bushkie does cry, oh so much more than you.

Gee, ami cus, that's enough. I'm about to cry with you, and my house just can't stand it. Please dry your tears, or make hurricanes seem like minor travails.

Forgive me, mon ami cus, but I have foolishly thought that it is time I should vote mainstream, and hope Bush will fail. May your daughter never darken your halllowed halls with her foolishness again.

mismused

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Oh, I'd say that I have a better grip on those concepts than you do of "solidarity" and "helping out your fellow man".

Flicka,

While I do not pretend to speak for Amicus, this line of thought has a pretty traditional answer that is expoused by alot of people over here, by no means just those as extreme as Amicus.

To whit, Helping out your fellow man is charity. Charity should be a rational decision on the part of the person with money. Charity should not be mandated by the state. To mandate charity is in effect to steal from the person who has money and disguise it as "for the public welfare". My father subscribes to this point of view and is far less extreme than Amicus. He is also a regular church goer who gives heavily of his time and money to the church and the missions it sponsors.

So you get, in effect a dichotomy. A man who gives freely of his time, effort, skills and money, to help his fellow man, but hates democrats for "stealing" his hard earned money and giving it away for social programs.

My father gives significantly more of himself in improving the community than the small amount he pays in taxes now. He's 65 years old and still does heavy labor in helping the younger brothers build ramps for handicapped people, or additions to houses for families who have no room, or even rebuilding houses after a disaster. They don't descriminate based on race, church affiliation, income or anything else. They all genuinely want to help out in the community.

It seems strange that the relatively small tax coming out of a man's paycheck is a pitance compared to what he gives yearly, but he resents it. The answer lies in the principal. He doesn't mind giving, in fact he goes out of his way to give, but he resents being forced to give.

-Colly

 

[Pure]

Here's a problem for ya, amicus:

Free market rules, right? The hand of "God" (as it were), and inevitable just and moral outcome.

Well, why are most colleges somewhat as you say?

You could choose a nice cozy 'right' place for her, lots of choices:
Bob Jones, might be good--and they aren't keen on race mixing either. Wheaton.

But that's a problem. Religion. Unlike 90% of right wingers, you're not religious (except in opposing the goverment).

So why is there no *right wing* and *atheist* college?

Hasn't the 'market' identified this as 'fringe'?

If the Randian libertarian clique is full of 'free market' experts, why don't they pool their billions and start an "Institute for Free Inquiry into the Truth of Ayn Rand's Principles"?

 

[amicus]

Thanks for weighing in Pure...


You asked:

"Please answer one small question: why did the liberal press so wholeheartedly support the invasion of Iraq, and so unthinkingly believe all the reasons profferred-- including 'there's only one use for these aluminum tubes--- nuclear bomb manufacture!' Duh."

I don't think I can answer that....first off, I am not sure the liberal press did wholeheartedly support the invasion of Iraq.

And I know many will see this as a cop-out...and totally disagree, but I for one...was more concerned that Iraq had Scud missiles that could be armed with chemical weapons and could reach American forces and allies in the area.

The Israeli's, if memory serves, destroyed Iraq's nuclear capabilities some years back and if the threat had risen again, I have no doubt they would know and repeat the action.

I carry on a dialogue...with many people...in many countries...Singapore and the Philippines come to mind and Islamic terrorism has been on the rise for years throughout the far east and the Pacific.

It is a troublesome world with a billion people in nuclear India and a partly Muslim Pakistan also with nuclear capability.

If the foreign policy experts in this world...see the middle east as a coming trouble spot..and many do...who besides the United States, love em or leave em, has the capacity to make a difference?

No one can foretell the future...certainly not I...but imagine a horrific terrorist attack on a major European capitol...could NATO respond? Should the United States just bow out of the Palestine conflict...pull out of Europe? Leave Korea and the far east?

Perhaps....but it is a global community not likely to return to the days of old anytime soon....

amicus...

...ps...by the way....I have informed my daughter of this forum and this thread...perhaps she will find the time to read...

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I see two kids playing in the sandbox. The big kid wants all the toys for himself. The little one cries because he has nothing. The big kid doesn't want to give up one singles toy - he's the oldest, he deserves ALL of them.
Their mother comes over to see why the youngest one is crying. She takes half of the toys away from the greedy big kid and says:
"Share with your little brother. It's not fair that you have everything and he has nothing."

In Sweden, we say "much wants more" - ie rich people become corrupted by their wealth, and thus want even more money. Greedy people won't share.
I think it makes sense to have a mother who tells her oldest kid to share with his little brother instead of being selfish.

Ofcourse, no-one who actually HAS money will ever agree with my philosophy, as they don't want to loose their money.