Looks like Bush

[julian2002]

isn't the shah suffering from some sort of blood disease and has slipped into a coma in paris? i predict a new israeli offensive on palestine to distract them while bush and his cronies install their own glove puppet president like they did in afghanistan. i wouldn't be surprised if the shah was the victim of some sort of genetically specific engineered virus out of some black ops lab deep in the labyrinths of power - yes the truth is out there waaaaay out there.
cheers


julian

 

[BlueMax]

Yes, I agree, Iran will be the next problem but I believe America will be this time alone.

Fundamental problem has always has been with the US. Their greed, immoral and oppressive foreign policies.

It is up to EC and other countries with economic and commerical muscle to unite and control this evil monster before it dominates every one including its 'allies'.

Our future can be in our own hands and not in the hands of US president, a religious fundamentalist and a corporate puppet.

 

[7_V]

isn't the shah suffering from some sort of blood disease and has slipped into a coma in paris? i predict a new israeli offensive on palestine to distract them while bush and his cronies install their own glove puppet president like they did in afghanistan. i wouldn't be surprised if the shah was the victim of some sort of genetically specific engineered virus out of some black ops lab deep in the labyrinths of power - yes the truth is out there waaaaay out there.

Don't even joke about it, Julian. The Israelis will be waiting to see what happens with the Palestinian succession and hoping to hell that Hamas doesn't gain control. Bush and his cronies are a little tied up at the moment.

As for Arafat, if that evil, Nazi, demi-billionnaire, terrorist c*nt dies in agony, I for one will crack open the bubbly. However, rest assured, if anyone can keep the bastard alive, the French will.

 

[7_V]

It is up to EC and other countries with economic and commerical muscle to unite and control this evil monster before it dominates every one including its 'allies'.

You're living in dreamland, BlueMax.

The EU would be incapable of uniting to control an uprising by the Teletubbies, let alone the US.

 

[merlin]

You're living in dreamland, BlueMax.

The EU would be incapable of uniting to control an uprising by the Teletubbies, let alone the US.

Indeed Steve,

It's as divided as the USA!

Maybe we just need to copy thier constitution and electoral college system.

 

[BlueMax]

You're living in dreamland, BlueMax.The EU would be incapable of uniting to control an uprising by the Teletubbies, let alone the US.

Your mocking remark is the sort that comes from arrogant americans. Furthermore you posted nothing to support you claim.

Europe, unlike the US, suffered terribly in the two World Wars. EU was created by with the intention of putting all that behind and move forward for mutual prosperity and peace through economic co-operation.

US is very aware of the power of EU and try to cause divisions in the EU.
'Old Europe' and 'New Europe' idea they tried to promote is an example. For the illegal invasion of Iraq, US got support from few poor nations of Europe by twisting their arms and offering financial incentives.

EU can restore much needed balance of power and be very powerful power force for the good in this world. It is Bush addicts such as Blair who are standing in the way.

 

[Rodrigo de Sá]

Ian,

Thinking about it, you are absolutely right.

Wrong: he is absolutely left.

Now, seriously: this discussion - indeed every political discussion by those that are not in power - is tantamount to discussing football.

I know what I am politically, I have some ideas of what is needed in Europe, and I like to think I know what is wrong with democracy.

But even if I explained all that in context, what would it change?

Well, chating is the human equivalent to grooming. But, when you know you have no real influence, doesn't it make you depressed?

Bush won. Period. There is nothing to do about it. Please let's not shed tears (or rage; or moral repugnance: whatever) over it.

And Michael is left wing but prefers to enjoy the benefits of capitalism. So what?

On the continent (at least in some countries) the left/right axis is rather different from the ango-saxon one. Right wing people do care about others and they believe in the importance of the state, thereby being rather anti-capitalistic. They do believe in continuity, though, whereas traditional left believes in radical breaks with the past.

Since we are talking about Europe, what is the meaning of discussing left-right ideologies?

There was, somewhere in the Net, a political compass . I remember it because the more right wing answers I gave the more left wing were the results.

Ah, after all, A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet But, alas, Stat rosa pristina nominem, nomina nuda tenemus which means, of the rose we have but the name. And, of course, the name is not the rose.

Which is to say: you are mostly splitting hairs and discussing words.

No, I haven't had a bad day at the Faculty, my wife has not cheated on me (afaik). But I felt that some sobering of opinion is due here.

If you think I am a pedantic bore, you may well be right (or perhaps left). If this is the case, just ignore my message.

 

[7_V]

On the continent (at least in some countries) the left/right axis is rather different from the ango-saxon one. Right wing people do care about others and they believe in the importance of the state, thereby being rather anti-capitalistic...

...If you think I am a pedantic bore, you may well be right. If this is the case, just ignore my message.

No man, I'm sure that your message is 'on message' so the last thing I'll do is ignore it. Come to think of it it will probably take me a few hours to figure it out.

But if I might 'groom' a little on one issue, I believe that many right wingers, even Anglo-Saxon rightees, care about others. I'm not talking about fascists but the centre rightists who often, like me, just don't believe that socialism works, that's all. In practice left/right is a continuum and few people are at one extreme or the other.

I remember a political questionnaire on the Web which graded everyone along both left/right and liberal/authoritarian axis'. I was expecting that it would place me alongside Genghis Khan and Atilla the Hun. In fact, it stuffed me along with Simon Hughes.

 

[merlin]

i wouldn't be surprised if the shah was the victim of some sort of genetically specific engineered virus out of some black ops lab deep in the labyrinths of power - yes the truth is out there waaaaay out there.
cheers
julian

Scary isn't it Julian? I wonder how many people are attended to by the top medical brains in a major western state and they cannot work out what's wrong with them? The sugggestion must be that he is suffering from something unknown in the western world. Amazing coincidence IMO.

 

[michaelab]

Julian - are you talking about the Shah of Iran (who died a long time ago) or Arafat? . The Shah of Iran fled Iran during the 1979 revolution (I remember the day, I was in Tehran at the time ) died in exile in Egypt in 1980.

Michael.

 

[julian2002]

arafat - doh next time i'll engage brain before moving my fingers.
cheers


julian

 

[voodoo]

I see the gimp has ordered an assault on Faluja.

2 days after the election and he fails to listen to the HEAD OF THE U.N. and gives the order. Here comes a total bloodbath.

If (the majority of) America is stupid enough to vote for him then they can suffer the consequences of his actions.

 

[julian2002]

voodoo,
thanks to blair we'll catch some of the fallout too. in fact thanks to one of the universal constants (the stupidity of most people - pt barnum had it right) countries with no links to americas fcuked up foreign policy will become targets merely by association.
i wonder if bush has been checked for suspicious numerical birthmarks on his scalp. wouldn't it be ironic that his support base is mainly fundie christians if some were found.
cheers


julian

 

[auric]

so old hat

Umbrellas and ricin are so last century, have a look at the latest Tom Clancey story to see how the world has progressed.

 

[leonard smalls]

I remember a political questionnaire on the Web which graded everyone along both left/right and liberal/authoritarian axis'. I was expecting that it would place me alongside Genghis Khan and Atilla the Hun. In fact, it stuffed me along with Simon Hughes.

I did that one - I came out right next to Tony Benn..
Which was good as I share many of his views (apart from some of his anti EU ones!)
Best speaker I ever saw as well - even better than Enoch Powell, who had a way of convincing you of all sorts of stuff until a couple of days later!

And as for the Americans re-electing Bush, it looks like the obesity epidemic has spread to their brains...

 

[BlueMax]

I did that one - I came out right next to Tony Benn..
Which was good as I share many of his views (apart from some of his anti EU ones!)
Best speaker I ever saw as well - even better than Enoch Powell, who had a way of convincing you of all sorts of stuff until a couple of days later!

And as for the Americans re-electing Bush, it looks like the obesity epidemic has spread to their brains...

Yes, like that 'Rivers of Blood' speech. It was supposed to happen in a decade. But three decades have gone by since.

Obesity epidemic has already spread to brains of many americans. Who else would elect an alcoholic and a psychopath for a president.

Tony Benn is a great man and a poles apart from these two evil monsters.

 

[auric]

Job done.

I was watching something on NewsNight oir CH4 the other night and it went something like this;

Eighteen months before the election Bush and friends dwaw up a big list of high ranking and influential christans after going through personal filofaxes, church directories and christian publications and periodicals.

Twelve months before the election friends of Bush go through big list of comitted christians and start to link people together so as to produce list of who has power over others on the list.

Lists are procuced of who will get advanced press briefings.

Lists are procuced of who will contact who and make sure they vote on the day.

527's established to fund election campaign at "arms length" from the candidates.

Lots of christian values tacked onto election advertising and campaign ideas as these will play rather will with the church going electors.

Last few weeks "follow your heart, follow your religion, follow your bibe " . . . and vote for me.

You will get you reward in the next life because you sure as hell won't get it from me in this one.

Job done.

PS the real question is not ". . . looks like Bush" but ". . . Smell like bush?"

 

[voodoo]

I watched Adam Boulton ($kyNews) interview an very obnoxious female Republican writer, on his Sunday morning programme. She was very knowledgable but so far up her own arse it was frightening. Any probing questions were taken as personal and there were at least two occassions were she looked as if she would walk out.

The bit that scared me the most was when she was asked about the influence of the Church on American policies and she replied with somethign along the lines of, "It has been the same in every American occupation of the past 100 years. We go in, remove the problem and then send in missionaries to teach the Christian ways."

So, we have a religion [Christianity] fighting against another religion [Islam], which is apparently spreading it's evil ways around the globe. So how do they do this ? By invading countries, killing people and force-feeding the victims the ways of the Christian church.

It amazes me how blinkered and stupid a large no. of people on this planet are. Just because it's sponored by McDonalds doesn't make it right.

 

[7_V]

The Power of Nightmares

I've read a fair few critiques over the past few weeks, pretty thin stuff mostly. People with agendas of their own criticising the programme for in turn having an agenda. ...

No doubt many points of detail are debatable, after all, everything in politics is, but the general argument of the one episode of the program I saw seemed entirely reasonable. As for Melanie Phillips, her attempt to suggest criticism of neo-cons is anti-semitic, as evidenced by her comment about "sinister neo-cons, aka Jews" and "Jewish conspiracy" is, frankly, risible. There also doesn't appear to be a single factually-based rebuttal of the program anywhere in her Goebbels grotto piece.

Ian,

I must say that I agree with your commments about Melanie Phillips equating criticism of the neo-cons as anti-semitic. Somewhat hysterical, methinks.

For what it's worth, MP has now watched the three episodes of "The Power of Nightmares" and puts forward a better informed critique in her diary. It's the piece entitled "A broadcasting nightmare".

I persevere with Melanie Phillips, not just because of her political stance (although it makes an interesting foil to my reading of Guardian editorial) but because she's actually a very lucid writer.

Anyway, if you're interested in reading a better critique of the programme (and I believe that you want to get a balanced picture), give her latest comments a quick scan.

 

[My name is Ron]

You're right. It's very lucid. Very persuasive. But if that's not agenda, I don't know what is.

In another of her entries she writes:

"The great fallacy is to see the resolution of the Middle East impasse as a key to resolving world terror, when in fact it is only by defeating world terror that the Middle East impasse will be resolved. In other words, this will only happen when the rogue regimes of Iran and Syria are persuaded to stop arming and backing Palestinian terror; when Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and the rest are persuaded to stop pumping out the grotesque lies and libels that demonise Israel and the Jews; when Palestinian sermons and TV stop inciting their population to hatred and mass murder of the Jews; and when the Arab and Moslem world is persuaded to stop using the Palestinians as pawns in the greater game of destroying the Jewish state altogether."

This clearly informs her agenda. And I'm sure that most of what she says in this paragraph is right. But where she is quick to denounce anybody else who fails to provide balance in their arguments, she conveniently ignores any hint of Israel's culpability. But, then anybody who suggested that would risk the accusation of anti-semitism.

It's terribly murky territory, and I don't feel qualified to go in too deep, but I do know her brand of absolutism is part of the problem and not the solution.

I'd be interested to read what others make of this.

(Totally agree with her on casinos, though.)