So, scorp, the global warming is a fraud and a deceit. Thank you for saying so, it must have been a rumor spread by those nasty people called "leftists". Long live Wall Street and corporations, which have contributed to make this peaceful, just and equalitarian world. Congratulations for your good manners on calling Sirota "a fucking idiot" but adding "with all due respect", that shows you are a true gentleman.
All 114 comments by...
Maria
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Scorp, I will be answering your question on Monday, once I have finished some translations I am working on. My answer will perhaps explain why I think what I think. I would appreciate you to stop calling me "marxist". I don't go for any "ism", I am a free-thinker and let me tell you you sound just like good old George Bush, when he said "you are either with us or against us", meaning you have to accewpt all the dirty rules of savage capitalism or else...
Posted to A Party With No Punch
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Sorry, Scorp, for not having kept my promise to answer you on Monday. Anyway, you will have to waste no more time on my ideas which obviously irritate you. To make it short, I believe accumulation brings about pain and I can't stand the sight of armed people, I admire Gandhi and can't help crying at the sight of nature being destroyed, I don't believe in frontiers and nationalities, so as you may have guessed by now I am a total "loser". Forget you ever heard of me, you won.
Posted to A Party With No Punch
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I absolutely agree with mathrise's comment.. There is a natural law which cannot be twisted by man: that of cause and effect and if you look back as to what USA and some of Europe's countries have done to Africa and Latin America (to mention just a couple of victims) with total arrogance and even using the name of God as their co-pilot, you cannot expect a humane world any more than you can expect justice. The current model is so utterly cruel because it is based on causes started long ago by a kind of rapacious sub-species and no substantial …
Posted to Barack Obama and the 'Unipolar Moment'
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There is a famous sentence by Lampeduza in his book "Il Gattopardo" which says: "Something must change so that everything remains the same". The apparent openings shown lately are just a way of letting the huge amount of steam accumulated by lies, unjustice, accumulation of money and power don't end up in a violent volcano eruption. So, for some time we will watch new tricks trying to make us believe the rulers of the world have decided to become open-minded, generous and loving, ready to accept dissenters and free-thinkers while they design new ways of domination or distract people's attention of …
Posted to Barack Obama and the 'Unipolar Moment'
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The USA's breath has been blowing on us, Latin Americans' necks for too long. THey were always behind every coup d'etat which overthrew popular governments elected by the people, with the consent of local elites. In Argentina, I can mention Peron, Frondizi, Illia as true examples of this. But, as a Spanish saying goes: "El que a hierro mata, a hierro muere" and I feel USA has created its own monsters which are ruling behind the throne, and showing no respect or mercy for their own dissidents. A country which devotes so much money to support armies, weapon manufacturers, laboratories which …
Posted to Militarizing Latin America
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Most of the previous comments help me understand the value of democracy, such as was the case of the war against Irak based on false allegations of the existence of weapons of mass destruction which were never found, war which was started unilaterally, without consulting the people as should have been done in a truly democratic country, the eternal accusations against any country which may wish to get off USA's pushy influence and the eternal need you seem to have to find new enemies. As far as I remember, in my country, Argentina, several governments democratically elected by the people's votes …
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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Skeeter_jr I am sorry you can't see what I mean by telling you that. What surprises me most is that all comments on Mr. Weinberg 's article has received the repulse of its commentators and I wonder why you all read In These Times, which is obviously on the other side of the street of where you are standing. Each country has its own history and should be respected in their decisions, so long as they are not a danger to others. In the case of Irak, I don't recall the Irak people asking the USA to help them overthrow Sadam, …
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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You are right Nonda, I have the suspicion that most of the comments to this and other articles are written just to create confusion and justify what has no justification, by the modern version of the Greek "sophists", well paid men who roamed about Greece sreading "sophisms" so as to muddle the good work of philosophers. I haven't seen a single word explaining as to the right to take a legal president out of office and send him in his pyjamas to another country. Is that in the constitution also?
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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Thank you, justanobody, for enlightening me about the history of Latin America, and thank you for your pity but I suggest you reserve your pity for more deserving people. As for Robin Ray, why would anybody refute what would have been done with the result of the "consultation" (not an election) since it never happened? Are you a clairvoyant?
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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I suppose throwing poisonous gases over the Brazilian Embassy must be considered "constitutional". Stop the double message, please. Anybody in his right mind can see that Micheletti wouldn't have dared take the violent measures he took without the back up of some mighty power. His kidnapping Zelaya and taking him in his night clothes to Costa Rica is unbelievable unless a previous acceptance was given. Did they just land there and put him down, with nobody trying to stop them? And guess what, now, after feigning to be in disagreement with the coup, a new memeber from U.S. has called Zelaya …
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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I did Nonda, and it was a very intelligent speech which called for real changes but, apart from everybody clapping, are the leaders of the world really aware of the extremely dangerous position humanity is in today? When I was a child, most countries had War Ministries, which then were changed into Defense Ministries as a way to hide their intentions of going to war., but never in the history of the planet, so many weapons have been available. A weapon is something to kill with, nomatter how you justify its manufacture. No matter which country has nuclear weapons, or other …
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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"Obama is not even doing the bare minimum up until now assumed to be a basic duty of any U.S. President—standing up for freedom and standing against those who would deny it." I suppose that is the expression of a desire, not a reality Natalie is mentioning because unless my memory is failing, what I have seen in the last years about U.S.A. presidents with regard to other countries doesn't exactlyl fit into that pattern. Blackhorse, I wish you luck in this discussion, but it won't be easy, with so many specialists on Hondura's constitution. By the way, does the American …
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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Thank you, Natalie for including Obama's quotation. Not being a USA citizen but a Latin American (by the way, it's about time you stop calling yourselves Americans as if the rest of us were not entitled to that word.THis is America too, you know, simply look at a map.) I would not have read it otherwise. His words are simply beautiful because after all that's what the world should be about: sharing, not accumulating. Long live Obama.
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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I use the word "American" so you understand who I am talking about, but in most Latin American countries USA citizens are referred to as "yankees" or "gringos". I worked for many USA companies and whenever I used the word "estadounidense" I was told they didn't like that word because of the final "dense". But that is neither here nor there. I am still waiting for a reply to my last question quoted by you. I have read all the messages with real surprise, as to the defense of Honduras constitution and the knowledge about its contents so many of you …
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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For goodness sake, Blackhorse, don't waste any more energy and time, if you read the Honduras Constitution carefully, you will surely find Article 12456, item 43b which clearly states: "Should the president wish to start a popular consultation, he will be removed from office, making sure he is wearing his night clothes and be sent to another country, so as not to have to go about the trouble of judging him or giving him a fair trial and making sure no legal proofs of his misconduct are needed, and can, instead, be spread through the net ". Have a good week-end, …
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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Oh, Blackhorse, you should know better by now. Sophist writing to these columns take turns at getting you mad not because they think they are right, but because they need to know how wise common people are getting and so they can adjust their tactics. IF they really think this system is wonderful and USA is only sacrificing some of its soldiers and investing good money just to spread freedom, and having the rule of law applied in every country, they would be enjoying their happy world and would not waste their precious time trying to convince a poor black horse …
Posted to The Honduran Connection
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beersnob, I quite agree with you. What's more, I think the Bible has been a tool used for many years to make people accept the unacceptable. The notion that a god chose a particular people from the many tribes to talk to is quite discouraging. The notion that all the creation was just something for man to use as he pleased is such a big mistake we are bound to pay for it. We are part of nature, not nature's masters as we are constantly reminded by the events we are facing now. The sooner we all develop a conscious about …
Posted to Red State, Green Campaign
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Thank you, Terry, for your views, which I fully share. We are living in a world run by magicians whose aims are to increase profits, no matter how and only individual efforts to search truth behind each trick can help. Not an easy task, but worth making the effort.
Posted to The Malign Magic of Misdirection
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Major Major, to say that black people's ancestors "emigrated from Africa" sounds very civilized, but you know better: they were hunted, chained and sold and later exploited
Posted to Missing: Minorities in Media
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The noise a chain makes when breaking is always welcome. The IMF has been strangling Latin America without mercy, with USA's tacit approval for decades, with the complicity of local corrupt governments, and military dictatorships which always counted on USA's approval, no matter how murderous they were. I think we deserved better and hope this is a step towards freedom.
Posted to Latin America Banks on Independence
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CarolynMerrit, I fully agree with your position. Killing is never a solution to anything and there is plenty to be done in the way children are submitted to patterns of violence, greed and ruthless competition instead of teaching them the value of nature, love and compassion. Good for New Jersey.
Posted to N.J. Closes Death Row
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I will quote some powerful thinkers: "Only the hand that erases can write new things " (Eckhart) "A good world needs knowledge,kindliness and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs hope for the future, not looking back all the time toward a past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future that our intelligence can create" (Bertrand Russell) "Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix …
Posted to Kids LOL @ Navy Recruiters
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Kuya, this kind of deadly game has been going on for many years with different names and different potential perils. BAck in 1976 in Argentina the military overthrew the elected government and started kidnapping, torturing and in many cases "disappearing" no less than 30.000 people whose activities were mostly called "leftist". Those military were trained at the School of the Americas, by CIA agents and it has taken over thirty years to be able to take a small number of the torturers to court. In those days practically all the world looked the other way. The method is the same: talk …
Posted to El Salvadors Patriot Act
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Kuya, as you have perhaps noticed we were the only ones to discuss this article. Perhaps because we do care about what goes on in the world and consider humanity as a whole, something which is considered as utopic to call it mildly. Most of the time what you read in these pages are long diatribes between Democrats and Republicans as if they were any different but who finally agree at the time of pointing their forefingers at the rest of the world. There are so many ways of disuading people to take an active role while we continue to suffer …
Posted to El Salvadors Patriot Act
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Last year I traveled to Guatemala and stayed at the Marriott hotel. I was surprised to see a number of babies and small children (some of them with their mothers, some not) and about twenty couples who were, I learned later, expecting to take the children to the States. I was surprised to find an adoption agency at work in a private hotel and although I tried to find out whether that was legal, nobody could answer that, or wouldn't. The Americans were not allowed to take the children outside the hotel boundaries until the day they left. The day before …
Posted to Banana Republic to Baby Republic
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Funny, no answers this time either. Maybe I asked the wrong questions or maybe this enterprise is not as cristal clear as they pretend it to be.
Posted to Banana Republic to Baby Republic
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The reason is obvious: the empire couldn't face the possibility of strong anti-war groups taking to the streets or claiming for their children's welfare, as in VietNam's days when they were on the draft. So, what better option than contracting trained killers to do the dirty job so that nice, educated boys from "nice, educated families" needn't stain their hands in "savages"' blood? No wonder there are so many useful idiots bragging about USA's power and justifying what has no moral justification as long as they continue living safely, without having to fear for their sons'lives. At the same time, although …
Posted to Blackwater Nation
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Waypasthadenough, I am afraid you are barking at the wrong tree. I used the word "rapacious" because it is the equivalent to the Spanish word "rapaz" which is a pretty common word in my native language. I have no connection whatsoever to any group: liberal, marxist, lefty, right-wing, nationalist,republican, neocon or any other of the names most people writing in this site usually apply as a way of insulting whoever thinks different. I am simply a human being, born in Latin America who can't help noticing the growing violence exercised by USA in the way of wars or economical pressure over …
Posted to Blackwater Nation
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After having read Miss Gorman's articles all I can say is she restores my trust in humanity, or at least part of it and I wish to congratulate her for her courage and for doing what she thinks is right. She is one of the isolated people who are making the difference in this world full of violence and blindness. Thank you, Candice.
Posted to Inside the Secret Facility
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After reading most of the above comments I am beginnig to understand why USA is always at war with remote countries which never attacked them, it just has violence at the root of its culture. What you so despise as "utopic" is an attempt at trying to live in peace as human beings. While you continue to manufacture and distribute weapons as a natural part of man's life, many of us think it's the wrong way to develop a humane culture. If on top of that we hear you preaching christianity and democracy and calling other cultures as inferior, the option …
Posted to Let's Pry Open Those Cold, Dead Hands
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Miss Washington's article and my comments arise all kinds of "bad press". No wonder, we both are women and as everybody knows, we are good only for giving birth, looking after children, old or sick people and mending and patching all the male deeds. We can be trusted to work hard in practically every profession but we are never consulted at the time of taking "big decissions which compromise other people's lives". That's strictly the males' privilege.Try to count how many women you know are willing to send their sons to a war, are jubilant to have a gun, center their …
Posted to Let's Pry Open Those Cold, Dead Hands
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"Maria, stop with the knee jerk liberal feminist reactions and educate yourseld about the realitys of legal gun ownership. You have been lied to and the lies you believe are dangerous. " wscott52, thank you for your kind advice, but my idea of education doesn't include gun ownership, as it doesn't include living in fear. I agree fully with major major's last paragraph of his comment.
Posted to Let's Pry Open Those Cold, Dead Hands
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My views,which seem to arise all kinds of adjectives towards my self (stupid, victim, prejudiced, bigot, neverland inhabitant, liberal freak, etc.) are perhaps the result of having been raised and having raised my children with no one in the family ever having had a gun. Should I apologize for that? Maybe I have served some purpose, which has got all of you together. Be happy!
Posted to Let's Pry Open Those Cold, Dead Hands
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Quoting anarcho "Why is it that Americans are foolish enough to believe that this government has the right to police the world....." That's the big question millions of us around the world are asking ourselves each night, the cause of most of our nightmares. The options are not too many: either because they are too self-centered and really believe they are the "super race" or they are too blind to see the consequences of USA's foreign policy in the last decades, which has only brought about pain, suffering and death to many countries, always based on lies, half-truths and arrogance. So, …
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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anarcho: last time I visited my country, Argentina, there was a family gathering. The younger generation, which had been in their early twenties when I left surrounded me and were eager to know what I was. My reply that I was ahuman being wasn't satisfactory enough, in these time where everyone is supposed to have a label, so I had to add: I am an anarchist. Smiles froze, and when I intended to explain what that means the elders of the family tried to deviate conversation so that their children wouldn't be contaminated by my outrageous ideas. It seems for some …
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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whattheheck, your WW2 body count is short for many millions, unless you don't consider the rest of the deaths as "significant". Believe me, they were as they are now, most people don't want a war, any war because it kills them or their loved ones, ruins their land and changes their lives forever. Wolf, don't you worry, nobody is trying to impose anything on your American Repúblic, some of us are just trying to help you think in a humane way. Have you ever considered that nobody chooses where or when is born and therefore we all have the same right …
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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Sorry, Wolf, I didn't mean you, I meant scorp. The problem is I mixed you up because you seem to think alike in many respects. Peace be with you, while I continue hoping no more innocent blood is shed in the name of the empire, be it in Asia or in your land.
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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I thought we were discussing the possibility of USA attacking Iran, but it seems that the subject has changed to learn how smart wolf is, how polite, and why doesn't everyone imitate his savings policy. I could fill several pages telling you about my experiences but that wouldn't help anybody. The knot we have before us is the way USA has been producing single-handedly different wars for the past decades, while Europe, Japan, and most of the world seem to have learned through pain what a war means and have refused to take part in them. Someone proposed in this discussion …
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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whattheheck, do you really believe that BTW's assumption that one of his captors was the suddenly famous Ahmadinejad is a powerful reason to attack the inhabitants of a country so far from your own? It's incredible how you people try and justify what has no justification. First Afghanistan, then Irak and now Iran , isn't it remarkable the way enemies are ´picked? How about Saudi Arabia, where the 9/11 attaclkers came from? The people who used to kidnap, torture and disappear so many young and idealistic people in Argentina and Chile had been trained at the School of the Americas and …
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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Sorry, I don't know the meaning of "doozy", my English, not being my native tongue, is not so good and I couldn't find it in the dictionary but never mind, I guess it's not a compliment, so you needn't explain its meaning. I will not trouble you anymore with my thoughts I am not trying to make a hero of anyone, I am simply stating that it's not mentally healthy to be preaching about the inevitability of wars against nations because you dislike their presidents or their politics. Common people around the world have basically the same needs and feelings without …
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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whattheheck, "doozy" is in this case correctly applied, as I was born in precisely 1930 and,as every other being on earth I feel I am "unique". Sorry to exasperate you but I have always been a pacifist, a soother, as I feel us humans, have, among many other capabilities, the insight required for the foresight to plan for the needs of others as well as the self, to use our knowledge to alleviate suffering everywhere. We are the only species that is capable of showing concern for suffering of other living things, contrary to the reptile-eat-reptile and a dog-eat-dog world. The …
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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Skipper7, you have just made my point in your short comment. You say "We ARE going to bomb Iran". Are you going to do it personally? Do you agree with it? Since you say "we are" I have to assume that you line up behind whatever the people in power in your country decide to do, and that 's exactly part of the problem, "they are going to pull it off again" because pople keep a silent passivity and those who don't are immediately called names: "neomarxists", "lefties", "commies", etc. etc. as a way to discredit whatever they have to say. …
Posted to Another War We Can't Afford
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I really ejoyed the article because I found I am not alone in my ideas and practices. The description of freegans (of whom I hadn't ever heard) fits me fine. Most people are using the measuring mind, full of statistics, politics, always looking for the good guy and the bad guy and expect others to fix the mess we all are in. The only contribution I have found possible to give is my own personal life, the way I care about nature, the development of empathy, but there is no formula for it, it's a lonely road everyone can take once …
Posted to A Freegan World
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Not very long ago the usa gov. insisted there was no scientific evidence on climate change, and refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Today your president tried to bring up the subject in Australia but of course no results came out of the "meeting of the powerful". Oh, what a fool I am, I forgot Almighty Market will take care of everything. Meanwhile, we can continue blaming Bin Laden for keeping your gov. so busy they have no time to seriously consider the damage to OUR planet.
Posted to Climate Change Refugees
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Mrs Bush's atitude doesn't differ much to that of a great part of the American people who, while millions went out on the streets in many parts of the world to oppose the insane war on Irak, chose to be too busy to notice what was done in their name. Even now, after the disclosure of torture practices, and the fact that two countries have been damaged for no purpose (sorry, I forgot to take into account the presence of oil under their soil), both majority parties keep changing the subject when the problem arises and only minor groups are trying …
Posted to How Does Laura Bush Sleep at Night?
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Guess it is a lousy time to be, simply to be in any place where the new empire has economical interests. Poor us.
Posted to Perverse Justice
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Thanks for the invitation, Wolf, but I wouldn't dream of spoiling your fun. Enjoy paradise in the name of us, losers.
Posted to Perverse Justice
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alba, you should know by now that the terms "radical", "leftist", "progressive" "commies", etc. have no other intention that discrediting anybody who wants to do something about poverty in his/her country, while it is accepted as mandatory that the USA "engineered coups" , starts wars and mingles in everybody's affairs as if they had been appointed by some unknown authority to do so. Don't pay any attention to those words, they don't mean a thing, just look at facts and their consequences.
Posted to Civil War by Other Means
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WTH, you say "There is ample reason to think people who bomb and maim indiscriminately in a land with a history of tribal, sect or family retribution as the norm will impose a great price on those left behind. " Pardon me, as usual I don't understand your logic. Wouldn't it be infinitely wiser, kinder and humane not to bomb and maim anybody in any land which never attacked or harmed your land in the first place? It's not a matter of number of troops, it's a matter of they shouldn't have gone there to begin with. But since you think …
Posted to Iraq: Mismanagement or Mass Murder?
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Marksman, I wish you were exaggerating but I'm afraid you are not. As arms continue to be produced and sold or traded, sectarisms are patronized and God Market is worshipped there's no hope for the world. In the name of a so-called democracy, the humblest and weakest are being wiped out. There isn't such a thing as democracy being practiced anywhere. People seem to be satisfied just to vote every 4 or 6 years for one of the candidates in offer and then they are never consulted again about anything that matters. lEveryday you get up to read in the papers …
Posted to Iraq: Mismanagement or Mass Murder?
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WTH, as usual you only count the number of USA troops that have died, and choose to ignore the number of Irak soldiers, civilians and children who had the stupid idea of being born on a land which has "your" oil under it. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea to bike so you could reduce the number of people who die in auto accidents. And yes, you are right, we don't have to like the reality you mention, and no, we don't want to learn to live with it because many of us haven't given up our hopes to …
Posted to Death from Above
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katsO, you are absolutely right and I try in everyway to teach my students and grandchildren to develop that kind of understanding, which I feel is the only way to become "humane".
Posted to Iran and America's Tug of War
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Wolf, you were never requested to "fix" any region of the planet, you have been meddling in every possible region without being invited to, assuming you are superior to the rest and for very greedy reasons too. No one asked you to patronize dictatorships in Latin America, to train its military in the School of the Americas, to have CIA all over the world casting your influence on governments and this has been going on for many decades. As for the Middle East's problems they are their own and would be perhaps solved if they were left alone. Their main problem …
Posted to Iran and America's Tug of War
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scorp, where is exactly "out there"? I had a look at my grandchildren's globe and we all seem to live in one same and only planet and nothing on it seems to indicate that the place where you live is a sancto sanctorum and the rest of the world is any different, so I think you should look up the same place where you searched the definition of "defense mechanism" and try to see what you find about "paranoia". The definition of "defense mechanism" can also be applied to those who deny any problems in climate change, pollution, and gas emissions. …
Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation
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L.Beauty, I coudn't agree more with you as I have in the past over other topics but I have a feeling of "deja vu" as, no matter what the subject is, we always have to read over and over again that everyting which is wrong is caused by one enemy of the politically perfect country or other. . In the last few years it was BinLaden (a convenient image which has recently vanished), next it was Saddam, followed by Jihad, with Iran of course in between, not to mention socialists, commies, leftists and anyone who dare think different. This time, however, …
Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation
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Farmer says "the troops in IRak are being used", "the fact that so many go and do their duty speaks volumes about the American spirit", and then he mentions "the uneducated masses of Muslims": I fully agree with you about the troops being used, though I cannot comprehend what you understand by "duty "when you are talking about people who were sent to a war based on liesm for the only purpose of making sure you will continue to exploit oil in a land which doesn't belong to you. If their duty is to follow orders no matter how cruel and …
Posted to Thicker Than Oil
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When I moved from Argentina to Costa Rica I had to leave most of my books behind for weight matters. Fortunately Kurt's were small and light (on the outside) so I brought them with me and only last week I was lucky enough to find an old copy of his "Jailbird" in a second hand store. I had never read that one and as with all his writings I couldn't put it down. That made me go back to his other books and I found them as wise as ever., so I can say my last 10 days have been devoted …
Posted to Thank You Mr. Vonnegut
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I sincerely wish you luck. I have spent the last 20 years of my life preaching the need to change our life-style, looking after nature, refusing to use products which come in disposable bottles, or else making their manufacturers responsible for their recollection and recycling, not using chemicals that are harmful, the need to forbid the manufacture of huge cars because it´s simply stupid to use several tons of metal plus the petrol consumption just to carry a human body, the return to natural crops. I know these ideas are not popular, people usually stare at you as if you were …
Posted to This April Red + Blue Go Green
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All "isms" are sectarian and as such unable to provide a loving and protective umbrella for all. Man has been using only part of its brain, and thus enlarged its "mind that measures all" creating in the process its own mantras (some of them being "a million dollars", "competition", "it's never enough") so as long as we continue to justify our own self-destructing selfishness and avoid our responsibility towards the preservation of the planet for future generations, all we will be doing is fool ourselves in the name of any "ism" (including patriotism)
Posted to Preaching Revolution
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I am not a racist in any sense but I feel we are being constantly silenced the minute we try to oppose unjustified attacks on other countries by calling us names which vary from "anti-semitic", "leftist" or "marxist" to "terrorism supporters". All this is of course a deliberate tactic to avoid any kind of healthy discussion. The main problem is both Israel and the USA adopt similar positions with regard to being the chosen ones to determine who is to live and who to die., who are to be trusted to have atomic weapons or not .The Bible, which is being …
Posted to For Israel's Sake
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The world is crowded with thinking people, stop underestimating us. So, all that story about "starting democracy in Irak", "mass destruction weapons" "danger to the region" are not convincing anybody. The smell of oil is so strong we all know the game being played. As to Bin Laden, I wouldn't be surprised if he had agreed to play "bad guy" in the comedy for a share of the booty. The new focus on South America stinks. Nobody has chosen the USA as a moral authority to say which country is doing the right thing, so stick to your borders and take …
Posted to Counterinsurgency 101
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luminous beauty, as usual I fully agree with your comments, so I leave it to you to argue with texas ind. whose mission (I suspect he is paid for it) is to belittle everyone who tries to express an opinion by calling him/her a "progressive", "leftist", "marxist"as if such words were a way in itself not to even try to listen to what others have to say. I only suggest you not to waste your time mentioning empathy, humanism, free thinking or such because they are not computable in his thinking machine.
Posted to Dreaming Up New Politics
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Oh, Texas Ind., your world sounds so perfect, with all the frogs working for you in your pond, and you being the only TOAD. Oh, no, sorry, my mistake, you being the King. And being so generous as to devote some of your precious time trying to illuminate us. Thank you, master.
Posted to Dreaming Up New Politics
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L.Beauty, thank you for sharing your thoughts and knowledge with us. I have no formal studies, as I started working at 16 to support my mother and grandparents and then raising six children on my own. Even so, I have been a steady reader but only now, in old age, I can devote time to dig deeper into matters in an attempt to leave my grandchildren some kind of message as to things that may be helpful to their generation. Only two years ago I discovered Chomsky whom I had only known as a linguist through some articles published in Argentine …
Posted to Dreaming Up New Politics
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Hmm, deep silence. What, don't tell me you had never heard of the School of the Americas' deeds. Latin America suffered the consequences of their training of local military to be torturers, kidnappers, rapers, all in the name of anti-communism.
Posted to The End of the School of the Americas?
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I found blondmike's first comment about " the military being trained killers..."of deep value. It represents my feelings all the way. I feel it's unfair to brainwash young people, turn them into robots and insuflate them with hatred towards other people they never met before to make me safe? safety doesn't exist, living is not safe but we should use our capabilities to produce good deeds and above all to learn that all human beings are alike despite their nationality, religion, social status or other invented differences. Call me a moron, I rather be that than lend an ear to the …
Posted to Love the Warrior, Hate the War
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brian28, let me remind you that not only U.,S. soldiers will be dead. The first step towards pacifism is to understand that both sides suffer in a war and that those who happen to live in the country where the war is taking place suffer the most. So far, USA has been starting wars outside its borders for a long time or training military from other countries to exercise repression against their own people (such as in South and Central America) so you can't expect the rest of the world to consider your country as a model to be followed. Billions …
Posted to Love the Warrior, Hate the War
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texasindependent, internet hasn't gone up my head or made me think I have any special right to question your country's foreign policy. I pay taxes where I live, I used to vote back in my country and so what. What we are discussing here has nothing to do with your internal policies, the way your government or your people wish to organize their affairs. The very name is self-explanatory: we are talking about USA FOREIGN policy, which even a moron like me knows is the policy your country carries out in other people's lands which is absolutely one-sided, mostly based on …
Posted to Love the Warrior, Hate the War
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Oh, texas, thank you for illuminating me, in all these years I hadn't discovered the truth about myself as you have so cleverly done. I wrongly assumed I was a free thinker but now that you tell me, I can plainly see I am a marxist. What can I do to cease being it? Please, enlighten me, Big Brother. Oh, by the way I also enjoyed Bob Dylan's songs. Does that make me a hippie too? Oh, Great Lord, what am I going to do, will I ever be forgiven?
Posted to Love the Warrior, Hate the War
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I hate wars and pity the warriors. I am not Costarican, I am Argentine, but chose Costa Rica to live in because it has no army. I have read enough history books to learn that all wars have been started based on the false premise of "defense" or some other high purpose. Funny, war starters never say they are attacking which I think sounds like paranoia. The worst part is young people are sent to kill or be killed as if it were natural, while the hate-mongers stay sitting at home and cheering their country, not to mention the hidden faces …
Posted to Love the Warrior, Hate the War
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I find it hard "to be respectful in my comments" when I read the Great Empire is capable of doing that kind of thing to their own people.
Posted to Americas Slave Labor
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kimberlyausten, "believing" is not the same as "knowing", it is much more subjective and not based on actual experience and, therefore, of very little value for humanity. By the way, I "believe" MDW were never found, and Bin Laden is only an invention for you to "believe" he is also an evil man. Where were the righteous Empire leaders when Pinochet and Videla were "disappearing" people in Latin America by the thousands?
Posted to The Spychopath Who Loved Me
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luminous beauty, it is always a pleasure to read your comments and I wish you a good year. I have ceased giving my opinions because I always find it difficult to do it with a couple of "machos" spreading insults and justifying any atrocity for the sake of the prevailing system and calling anyone who dissents a "a "leftie", or whatever. kimberly austen: Kissinger's influence in world events was important and painful enough and more so in Latin America, which I suppose you must know is part of the American continent and inhabited by human beings just as your part of …
Posted to The Spychopath Who Loved Me
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You are quite right in distrusting religions, sonny. They are another way of exercising power over others. I can hardly believe when I hear those guys telling you they were told by God this or that. I have even seen some on TV selling contracts with God to provide you with prosperity. The mixture of religion and politics is quite understable, though, as they both seek to prevail upon others, to make people believe they are necessary, that we, common beings cannot develop our own consciousness Don't let anyone stop you from free thinking which is your natural inheritance.
Posted to Outing is In Again
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Minerva_Jones, I am also a big fan of Kurt Vonnegut who, in a simple way knows how to talk about things thatyreally matter. As for the rest of the commentaries, all I see is the word "taxes" and no concern about the wars the USA has started or is about to start against mostly civilians in different parts of the world. No mention, either to the Kyoto Protocol and the 25% of gas emissions produced by your country, or about the way people are kidnapped and tortured. It seems as if your only concewrn is profits, taxes, and your own welfare. …
Posted to What Did the Voters Say?
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Scorp, it's quite simple: being arrogant is pathetic. Why did the USA recognize all the military juntas in South America which overthrew democratically elected presidents some 30 years ago and allowed them to commit crimes, disappear persons and even trained them on torture practices at the School of Americas in Panama, run by CIA? Ah, I forgot the old motto your country seems to abide by: "You have to do what you have to do", that simple. And, of course, those countries had a number of leftists which, as everybody knows, are dangerous and evil people, the same as the arabs, …
Posted to Route-Stepping? Our Way to WWIII
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Texasindependent, I fully agree with you as regards big governments. It has been proved once and again the consequences of excessive power and they are all ugly. Scorp, thank you for subsidizing the rest of the world but you can count me out so as not to make your burden so heavy. I have always been able to make a living by working with reponsibility. I never said I am a socialist, I don't belong to any political party, I believe in cooperation, humanism, compassion and all those idiotic things people don't talk about any more. I am against all wars …
Posted to Route-Stepping? Our Way to WWIII
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Well, at least we have a happy end, in which Jay Cline, Whattheheck and Scorp have definitely agreed on USA's superiority, their righteousness in kicking about other nations and the inefficiency of the rest of the world. You forgot to mention the WMD which were supposed to be in Irak but that's a minor point, of course. As to the U.N., it would be a wonderful idea to have it moved elsewhere so you don't need to be exercising vetoes on its resolutions so often, and the same goes for the Kyoto Protocol. How come in such a perfect world you …
Posted to Route-Stepping? Our Way to WWIII
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scorp says: "if nobody panics, the plan is working inexorably to our goal", and then "the Dims are insane". What's your goal, man? Insulting women because they don't agree with your reptilian views? You will have to work double-time to reach your goal, since half of the population of your country, according to your words, are insane. It's so easy to brag behind a computer...
Posted to Route-Stepping? Our Way to WWIII
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The USA Senate has recently discovered there was no link between Saddam and AlQaeda. It certainly took them a long time to reach that brainy conclusion. Are they ready to undo all the harm their troops inflicted in Irak, mostly to civilians? There is no way that can possibly be done, but at least it could be used to stop creating fear of other countries, such as Iran, Lebanon, Cuba, Venezuela, and so many others who have a right to live their lives as they think fit. I agree with frog, that creating fear is a good business. Most of us …
Posted to Sick to Death of Bush
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frog, I am not personally scared, I fear for the future of young people, children and those who are to come. I feel they are denied the right to live in harmony with nature, of which we are only a part. Every day I use part of my day to walk about, talk to people trying to open their eyes, picking tree seeds and planting them in any space I find, talking to and embracing ancient trees (the few that are left) but you wouldn't believe it, being this a supposedly nature-loving country how indifferent people are becoming, blinded by the …
Posted to Sick to Death of Bush
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Whattheheck, Did I get you right? You don't seem to be shocked by the idea of the CIA practicing torture, but by your president saying it in a loud voice. I have always wondered about the American sentence_ "You have to do what you have to do". That is so ample anything can be covered by that umbrella. Who is to decide "what you have to do".? It sounds like somebody has the only possible answer to everything and the rest of us, mortal beings are supposed to abide by that and don't use our own inner voice and assume our …
Posted to Sick to Death of Bush
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Frog, I am really happy for you, about your starting to produce your own vegetables and your purchase of an electric bike, they are truly wise steps. My grandmother was French and so is my grand-daughter, her father being a French man. I visited France for the first time when she was born, ten years ago, at Le Havre and then a couple of times more. I enjoyed la Normandie immensely, visited small farms most of the time and ate the best cheese and cherries ever. I believe there is hope in your country for people who think like you because …
Posted to Sick to Death of Bush
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Frog, don't you find it surprising that any time you try to make a point about something somebody starts "intellectualizing" the subject, complicating matters with quotations, excerpts from books until the main purpose has completely vanished and no recognition of the Empire's or corporations' actions ever appears? The Greek, who were no doubt masters in many branches of knowledge, invented the "sophists", well-paid brains who moved about meddling in conversations and producing "sophisms" which sounded reasonable but diverted the purpose of the conversation until each party returned home in despair without getting at the root of things. Later on, in history, …
Posted to Sick to Death of Bush
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Even if the Laotian people could attempt to get reparation for their human losses, it's not about dollars, it's about human decency. The USA has been acting for many years like a spoiled child who thinks he can break things because his rich daddy willl pay for them. If by freedom you understand the right to say whatever you want, I think that's not as important as listening to what others have to say and take into consideration their views. Take for instance Irak or Lebanon. Most of the world are against those wars, including a great number of American and …
Posted to Unexploded Ordnance: Our Legacy in Laos
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Tony B, thank you for your wise comments. I agree with you entirely. I am sure us, humans, have many capabilities the capitalistic system is eager to crush because they are not good for profits. The Spanish Anarchists, the Paris Commune and the Isrel kibbutzs of the early days are very valuable examples of how the prevailing system has exerted pressure on any group of people trying to create a better world. I think greed is like a disease in expansion nurtured by the models imposed upon us but not man's true essence, and that's what keeps me going, despite old …
Posted to Unexploded Ordnance: Our Legacy in Laos
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TonyB, Whattheheck, you both flatter me by wanting to know where I live. I am Argentine, but have been living in Costa Rica for the last 6 years after retirement. I chose Costa Rica because it has no army and because I wanted to enjoy nature at its best, although things are changing now with all the "progress" which sacrifices trees to build more malls. My ancestors were French, Spanish and French Basques. They worked very hard and so have I but money matters were not so important in those days and I was encouraged to read a lot, to open …
Posted to Unexploded Ordnance: Our Legacy in Laos
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Whattheheck, it´s good to know that you hardly ever shoot people. My native tongue is Spanish, so forgive me if my insufficient knowledge of English arises a question: hardly ever is not the same as never, is it? Let me guess, Michael Moore is as crazy as Chomsky,isn't he? You tell TonyB he probably is not in a good position to judge USA since he hasn't been there. That is just the point: those of us outside the USA are not judging what goes on in your country, but we have suffered for many years the effects of USA's foreign policies …
Posted to Unexploded Ordnance: Our Legacy in Laos
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Celebrity culture is just one more part of a hollow model, a pseudo-culture where one is supposed to be "popular", "politically correct" (according to who?), successful, have no wrinkles, read only self-helping books, take all kind of pills not to be depressed, or furious about world events, smile with artificially swollen lips, dress in expensive clothes of poor taste, drive a huge car, watch movies empty of contents and feel you are part of the only world worth living in. This is good for sales and keep you so busy you have no energy left for deep thinking and least of …
Posted to Enough With the Celebutantes!
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Epistrophy, the war in Lebanon needs something more than a little attention. As usual we will never know which side of the border were the two Israeli kidnapped soldiers. As usual, again, USA stopped UN from calling a cease-fire to give their partner the chance of destroying Lebanon infraestructure and, incidentally murder a number of civilians, including children. Nobody is very much surprised at that. As with Afghanistan and Irak, wars in the Middle East are based upon lies. The same thing happened with the Kyoto Protocol. USA enjoys playing Almighty God's role but, in spite of the obvious manipulation of …
Posted to Enough With the Celebutantes!
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How about giving a chance to free thinking and the pursue of a decent world for all? You make me sick, always creating competitions (cowboys-indians, left-right, good guys-evil guys, republicans-democrats). There is a whole planet outside your borders being influenced and receiving the effects of your foreign policy, millions are starving, deprived of their homes, silently suffering the consequences of your oil-addiction, your lack of self-criticism, your corporative model, your bullying attitude towards those who feel life should be different to your imposed upon American model. The media you project on the world portraits a new disaster every day but you …
Posted to Welcome to the Media Revolution
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You are probably right, Tina. I guess it must be true that many people don't want to hear the other side of this story, as it mustn't be easy to have to admit they are part of a war based on lies, so they rather want to go to bed feeling they are on the right side, that their government is doing the right thing, that those who are not with you are against you and all that bla, bla inspired on Goering's recommendations to his Fuhrer in Nazi Germany. As to Jay Cline's remarks about democracy, I am afraid you …
Posted to Welcome to the Media Revolution
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Tinal, sorry to disappoint you, I don't call myself a "progressive", I am simply a human being, I don't live in your country , my remark about the elections is based on everything I heard and read at the time. As for your feelings towards anybody who thinks different, specially towards those who want a fairer world, with wars forever banned, enjoy while you can, have all the free entertainment you need to make you feel complete, including looking at yourself in the mirror.
Posted to Welcome to the Media Revolution
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First good news in many years. I wish Cara all the best. Her name suits her ("face" in Spanish, "dear" in Italian). She sure is a dear face to those who, like myself, share her views.
Posted to Anarchist Cheerleader Elected
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to crawford: You must have a special sense of humor, calling the atrocities performed in Afghanistan and Irak "adventures". As to the "Real Terrorists" you mention, I'm afraid are not only on one side. Pehaps the ones having a good laugh are those who profit from wars but I can't promise they are not closer to you than you seem to believe. As to us, the rest of the world, don't worry, we are not laughing at all, we are looking at "your nation" with wide open eyes, in blind terror.
Posted to The Iraq War--On Drugs
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"With all these clues, now do you see the plan? Exiting Iraq will be a piece of cake, even easier than Afghanistan and Iraq. With American forces and their Iraqi allies on the west, and American forces and their Afghani allies on the east, just bomb the hell out of the despised Irani mullahs, and invite the people of Iran to join their neighbors in their own democratic government. Russia, China, Europe, and the UN have long since made themselves irrelevant to this process, or to anything important, so they are not a consideration. Enjoy. " Yes, scorp, thank you for …
Posted to Why Exiting Iraq Wont Be Easy
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Scorp, I included Latin America in your list of "incompetent states" because your government is constantly watching over the doings of Chavez, Lula, Evo Morales, Kirchner and they don't seem to be getting the full approval of the Empire. As for my use of the word "appropriation" of oil, I must insist on it. I didn't mean "expropriation" because that's what Evo Morales has recently done. According to the Oxford dictionary, expropriate is "deprive of property for the public use, generally with compensation". To give something a public use you must first have a legal right on the assset, which the …
Posted to Why Exiting Iraq Wont Be Easy
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Not living in USA, it would be disrespectful of me to mingle in your internal affairs, but nevertheless I can't help feeling astonished at the spreading of wrongly called Christianity and their fanatical views. You find sheperds all over Latin America taking advantage of ignorant people, even selling them contracts for 100 Dls. between them and God in which they are promised prosperity, healing, and all kinds of blessings. They are supposed to pay 10% of their earnings to the sheperd who, in turn, has the ability to talk to God and decipher for them different parts of the bible, which, …
Posted to Saving Secular Society
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Major Major, you are my hero and the only one speaking with truthfulness and courage. Every time a subject arises, all I find is people who write to tangle things up, show their literacy and do the work the old sophists did in Old Greece but they are never prepared to get to the root of the problem or its causes and rather waste precious space calling each other names or refering to who said what which really doesn't matter. If your promoted NAFTA had been fair to other countries you wouldn't have so many desperate people risking their lives to …
Posted to Keeping America Empty
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forwardfern, I followed your advice and read the article. Funny, while I was about to open the page, I was thinking about Condoleeza and Thatcher. But I still have some doubts. Ever since I can remember, masculine members of our species have had the leading roles, as regards battles, enterprises, politics, economic tendencies, and I have to make an effort to remember some famous woman ever mentioned. Even existencialism immediately brings to mind the name of Jean Paul Sartre, while Simone de Bouvoir comes second by far ( unjustly,in my opinion ). Among the few exceptions are Madre Teresa de Calcuta, …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
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Some time ago I was lucky to meet a John G. Brand on the net who had written a remarkable book called "Shaking the Foundations: Coming of Age in the Postmodern Era "published by 1st Books Library. He was kind enough to send me a copy and I translated it to Spanish, so he could publish it. Unfortunately, before I could send it to him, he vanished from the web (presumably he died). I strongly recommend it to all because it deals with human behaviour in relation with his triune brain (descending from reptiles, mammals and incorporating a third part, the …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
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johnnyincentx, it really is unimportant to me that Mrs. Rice may wear feminine garments or speaks with a soft voice. Her message contiues to be "the voice of the Empire" telling the rest of the world (billions of us) what is acceptable and what isn't, what countries should do, or else... and is only a continuation of the iniltial "you are either with us or against us" which I have been trying to digest for the past years. While you are sitting pretty developing new sophisms to divert attention from the main point, the boys in war outfit continue to threaten …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
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If it weren't tragic, this could be a laughing matter. I have heard this song of "Western, Christian World" vs. ... before. Back in the 70s the military junta in Argentina, with Mr. Kissinger's sponsorship launched a campaign against people with leftist tendencies which ended in the disappearance of 30.000 young people in which the "good guys" were of course Western and Christian and the "bad guys" were pro-Russia (which was considered to be in the Eastern World). The border has now been moved further to the East and instead of atheists or commies the enemies now are islamic, but the …
Posted to Islam vs. the West: Clashing Sensibilities
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To Frog and Whileywitch, your comments are interesting and show concern about knowing the truth about different historic episodes. I’m afraid we will never know it because even now, with all the technical developments within our reach, we are absolutely blindfolded and have no way of knowing exactly what’s going on, except for the fact that many people around the world are unhappy and helpless to modify facts. We don’t know where, when , why or by whom decissions are taken constantly that affect billions of people in unknown places. The so-called “Western Christian World” is simply autistic, self-centered and shows …
Posted to Islam vs. the West: Clashing Sensibilities
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Wiley, thank you for your concern. I am neither sad nor frustrated, maybe simply tired. Somehow, I have made an effort to understand man’s history on earth but taking into consideration that we cannot possibly alter the past , but have a personal responsibility in the state of present affairs, the sooner we learn that the world is what we make of it the bigger the possibility of creating a better scenery for future generations. Religions, racisms, nationalisms, are barriers in that direction. I cannot accept that a God (whatever its name) decided to talk to a particular group of people …
Posted to Islam vs. the West: Clashing Sensibilities
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cabdriver, you turned an increasingly interesting conversation which started from an article Islam vs the West into a panegiric of the Jewish people and their martyrhood. You know, the Russians lost many more lives during WWII and nobody felt any gratitude towards them and decided they were next on the list of "evil doers". So, you see there have been many victims in this world and so what? One of the problems of mankind is its eternal division into groups which feel they are different or entitled to be considered "special". I, myself, am the product of three different european nationalities …
Posted to Islam vs. the West: Clashing Sensibilities
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Cabdriverinchicago, sorry about my English not being so good as you would expect it to be. I learnt the little I know, as well as French, Italian and Portuguese on my own, the hard way, with no teachers or paid lessons. As for my being antisemitic, it's too offensive even to reply. I married a jew many years ago and have three children by him, so I have been surrounded by jews for many years, being a victim of their discrimination, not the other way round. He and his family, as well as many friends of theirs arrived in Argentina penniless, …
Posted to Islam vs. the West: Clashing Sensibilities
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War as such is intrinsically wrong.It belongs to pre-history when man's brain was very similar to reptiles' and its main interests were territory, hierarchy, ritual and deceit. Just take hold of any historybook and the motives for war have always been the same. So, unless we switch to the humane brain, refuse to resign our freedom of conscience and learn to close our ears to war speeches we will continue reediting the same circle which costs precious lives for no other purpose than greed, arrogance and blindness on the part of a few in detriment of the many. Bi-partidism is a …
Posted to Beyond the Vietnam Syndrome
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Ghost Rabbit, thank you for your kind words. I agree fully with what you say about religions and governments, the problem is that apart from a little corner at In These Times, we don't have a chance of being heard above all the noise mass media, corporations and all those who profit from this rotten system are constantly pouring over citizens. They aim at people's minds from the very start, you would be surprised to find out all the rubbish small children are subject to. I will try to follow your track, it won't be hard because I love rabbits' personality. …
Posted to Beyond the Vietnam Syndrome
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jimc,Now I am really relieved. To learn that Japan wants to change its constitution to help US in future wars and include nuclear bombs in them makes me feel safer. You sure are a by-product of US propaganda. As for tyrants, pardon me but I don't understand your concept that people support them as all people should do when living under authoritarian rulers. In my country, Argentina, between 1976 and 1983 30.000 young and courageous people were "disappeared" for opposing a military dictatorship. And guess what, the massacre of a whole generation was supported and encouraged by the USA who could …
Posted to Hiroshima: The Falsehood Fallout
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To chopper: My source for the 30,000 disappeared in Argentina is that I worked for some time with the Commitee appointed in 1984 to investigate on the matter and receive and gather all the testimonies and denounces. This Committee was presided by a writer, Ernesto Sábato, and composed of notorious members of the Arts, Science, Law and other disciplines which had nothing to do with politics. The testimonies were taken, analized and once they proved to be true were included in a final report which was named "NUNCA MAS" (Never Again) and which was published in the form of a book …
Posted to Hiroshima: The Falsehood Fallout
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To Eadora and Luminous beauty: Thank you for coming to my rescue and helping me see what's going on. English not being my native tongue, and being an elderly woman sometimes I am at a loss because I tend to believe my language was faulty and that is the reason of some of the answers I receive, such as Chopper's. But Eadora set me on the right trail now, although I still find it hard to believe what's going on. That sort of conduct and reasoning is not only incredibly small, but dangerous and it has been spreading world-wide in the …
Posted to Hiroshima: The Falsehood Fallout
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to chopper, so you are on the war path again, how brave of you, specially when you can direct operations from home and send others to do your dirty job. Your logic is the same as your tin warriors behind their desks: Let's go for Iran, now! How many high rank officers have died in combat? It's always the pawns that have to do the killing or dying. Please, don't bother to explain to me the reasons for your wars, and as for Afghanistan, isn't it remarkable that the best equipped army together with the CIA and all those special forces …
Posted to Hiroshima: The Falsehood Fallout
- Joined July 28, 2005
- Last Visit November 25, 2009
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