I would never trust Bush, because he lied in the 70's about social security the same way he is now (not that I believe in Social Security). But pretending that Bush or his administration administration has never done anything dishonest, can anybody think of anything remotely positive that has come of this war?
US Army buys 17,000 rifles from China
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Actually - yes.
-Afganistan was freed from the Taliban and Al Queada.
-Iraq was freed from Saddam and his merry band of murderers.
-Syria has ended it's occupation of Lebanon.
-Libya volentarally gave up it's WMD programs.
-Elections in Afganistan.
-Elections in Iraq.
-Elections in Saudi Arabia.
And as RileyMc stated, no terrorist attacks in America.
There you go again, stating that Bush lied without any evidence. The simple truth is (and as a Libertarian you should know) is that SS is doomed. No one under the age of 40 is ever going to see a thin dime of the money they're putting into the system as it stands now. Bush's plan, while a small step in the right direction, isn't nearly radical enough. We need full privatization and the elimination of SS. How this is "lieing", when it's self-evident, only shows your true motives.
At this point 1911JMB, I'm calling BS on your so-called Libertarianism. Everything you've posted so far only points in one direction - you're a left-wing DU troll disguising yourself as a Libertarian.
"I would never trust Bush, because he lied in the 70's about social security"
Did you know him at Harvard?
"Pesident Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975" - White House site biography
Did you know him at Harvard?
"Pesident Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975" - White House site biography
"Libertarian" my eye. About as libertarian as Bill Mahr who honestly has no clue what a libertarian is or believes. He uses the term as a way to differentiate himself from all the other feather merchants in Hollywood.
U.S Army buys 17,000 Rifles from China
M-16/M-4s are good enough for our troops, Buy American, Give the Iraquis M-16s/M-4s. This purchase has gotta be some kind of JOKE.
M-16/M-4s are good enough for our troops, Buy American, Give the Iraquis M-16s/M-4s. This purchase has gotta be some kind of JOKE.
Is Iraq still using 7,62 or did they already have some 5.45 kicking? Otherwise if they're starting everything from scratch, may as well get these http://world.guns.ru/assault/as39-e.htm. They already were getting tanks and much more, why not consolidate with one supplier.
Missourigunner -"Buy American, Give the Iraquis M-16s/M-4s."
Ehh, problem with existing support structures, especially cartridges.
Rebar -"Elections in Iraq."
Ehh, not so good. Under strict socialist rule it wasn't free or democratic, but it was a whole lot freer than under theocratic rule. If you're a wealthy or powerful man in Iraq, there's a good chance life is better for you. If you're a poor man things are worse, so you'll put more interest in faith. If you're a woman that's tough, better luck next time. Women not dressing in the Hijab covering them completely are harassed or molested, walking down the street alone is considered rude, and this is just a snap-shot of society, things continue to decline. Compare to before when liberal women occupied positions of power, wore make-up and short skirts, did what they wanted when they wanted.
Elections in Afghnistan or Saudi Arabia seem irrelevant to the Iraq war though, but only the Afghan ones count, because the Saudi ones are trivial attempts to soothe the masses.
And Syria and Lebanon? These places are actually a good distance away from Iraq, seperate countries in fact. Lack of attacks in America, if that's related to the conflict in Iraq at all it's a negative one, taking away a mortal enemy of OBL, and replacing it with a fertile ground of recruits, under direct control of OBL. If you told the soldiers in Iraq that their job is to get shot over there so terrorists don't bother coming over here, I think they'd be a little miffed.
"SS is doomed...We need full privatization"
The first part I agree with, this is getting way off topic, but wth. Social security systems inexorably start off with a gap, which design must account for by continually taking in more than paying out, until the gap has been closed. If this isn't done the system is indeed doomed.
The second part makes no sense - we have a system that is bleeding to death, losing money... What is needed is a bunch of individuals to make personal profits off it too! Lol a private enterrpise has a duty to maximize profits, that's really not compatible with the concept of social security, and it's completely idiotic to think that siphoning more money off will make a losing proposition solvent! lol. If I had a chance to siphon some of that money don't get me wrong, I'd be suckling the profits in a second, but I don't, so I'm going to call them on their lie. I'm not calling them names though, I'd lie too if it would make me millions of buckeroos!
Missourigunner -"Buy American, Give the Iraquis M-16s/M-4s."
Ehh, problem with existing support structures, especially cartridges.
Rebar -"Elections in Iraq."
Ehh, not so good. Under strict socialist rule it wasn't free or democratic, but it was a whole lot freer than under theocratic rule. If you're a wealthy or powerful man in Iraq, there's a good chance life is better for you. If you're a poor man things are worse, so you'll put more interest in faith. If you're a woman that's tough, better luck next time. Women not dressing in the Hijab covering them completely are harassed or molested, walking down the street alone is considered rude, and this is just a snap-shot of society, things continue to decline. Compare to before when liberal women occupied positions of power, wore make-up and short skirts, did what they wanted when they wanted.
Elections in Afghnistan or Saudi Arabia seem irrelevant to the Iraq war though, but only the Afghan ones count, because the Saudi ones are trivial attempts to soothe the masses.
And Syria and Lebanon? These places are actually a good distance away from Iraq, seperate countries in fact. Lack of attacks in America, if that's related to the conflict in Iraq at all it's a negative one, taking away a mortal enemy of OBL, and replacing it with a fertile ground of recruits, under direct control of OBL. If you told the soldiers in Iraq that their job is to get shot over there so terrorists don't bother coming over here, I think they'd be a little miffed.
"SS is doomed...We need full privatization"
The first part I agree with, this is getting way off topic, but wth. Social security systems inexorably start off with a gap, which design must account for by continually taking in more than paying out, until the gap has been closed. If this isn't done the system is indeed doomed.
The second part makes no sense - we have a system that is bleeding to death, losing money... What is needed is a bunch of individuals to make personal profits off it too! Lol a private enterrpise has a duty to maximize profits, that's really not compatible with the concept of social security, and it's completely idiotic to think that siphoning more money off will make a losing proposition solvent! lol. If I had a chance to siphon some of that money don't get me wrong, I'd be suckling the profits in a second, but I don't, so I'm going to call them on their lie. I'm not calling them names though, I'd lie too if it would make me millions of buckeroos!
You do know that M-16s and SAWs are made by Fabrique Nationale Manufacturing, a Belgian company?
Y'all want to deploy AR15s in Iraq to local conscripts?
St. Eugene Stoner was good, but not that good.
Poland supplied AKs in the first contract to Iraqi police,
the Army contract is bigger,
and there may have been issues with the Polish weapon supply.
Maybe if the Chinese contract goes thru, Walmart might have some new inventory.
St. Eugene Stoner was good, but not that good.
Poland supplied AKs in the first contract to Iraqi police,
the Army contract is bigger,
and there may have been issues with the Polish weapon supply.
Maybe if the Chinese contract goes thru, Walmart might have some new inventory.
Hmmm...same in most countries. Works well in the US, too. so?
And in case you weren't paying attention, democratic countries don't make war on other democratic countries (neither do countries that both have a McDonalds
) so elections in any countryin the Mid-east are very important.But if you're a woman you're life is guaranteed to suck now, and if you're a poor father your son is never going to get post-secondary education now, and if you're athiest you had better pretend you're not. There's a lot of benefits they have now, just saying that it's not all rosy, never is.
Hmmm...you are right. It's too hard and perfection isn't guaranteed.
Quit Now!! Run Away!! Sounds WAYYY better than the right to vote...short skirts, Hey!!
First off, the question was:
a free election is a pretty positive thing.
Second, they haven't even written their constitution yet, aren't you being 100% pessimistic over how the new government is going to shape up? It could be quite secular, in the important areas.
Was that before or after they were told to report to the ministry of rape?
The United States had to scrap its first Constitution because it was unworkable. Then we had a nasty rebellion, then a pretty brutal Civil War that some folks still haven't managed to get over....
RELAX, now....give it a chance. Freedom is painful to give birth to, but always worth the pain.
The statement is NOT even true, but for the sake of the conversation, let's assume that it is:
Would you choose a place that is perhaps less egalitarian, less "stable," but offers you a chance for self-determination OR would you choose a place that guarantees "post-secondary education" where your 12-year old daughter can be raped at anytime by the police because you slipped out an odd statement or two about the great leader's moustache?
As for this "athiest [sic]" statement:
In Soviet-dominated Poland, everyone was supposed to be atheist. Communism dictated that you could not believe in God. The Church now has more influence in free Poland. People are more religious. That is natural. When you have self-determination, it also means that people are more free to believe in spirituality other than that enforced by the government. But that, I suppose, is "religious fundamentalism" to you.
I have written about Iraq in the press a little bit. Right before the Iraqi election when left-leaning pundits were predicting doom ("mass boycott"), this is what I wrote about one Iraqi politician and the election:
http://realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-1_28_05_JN.html
Later I wrote another piece in the Seattle Times about what the Ba'athists (you know, the folks who supported the regime that gave free "post-secondary education" that seem to impress you so much) did to this man's sons:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002201059_na09.html
(or: http://archives.seattletimes.nwsour...y?slug=na09&date=20050309&query="James+J.+Na")
If you do not think that this is noble, I don't know what else to say. And this has been made possible by the blood of our brave men and women as well as by the political and moral leadership of the Bush administration.
Oh, yeah, the main topic of the thread: I am all for free trade, but I am, to put grossly mildly, not excited about awarding military-related contracts to communist Chinese "businesses" that are tied to the Party. However, I need more information than found on this rather vague and short report before I can render a view.
Now that's funny. Actually, hilarious. If you're a woman, you've got an entire portion of the legislature guaranteed to your sisters. If you're a father, your son might be attending school for the first time in years, after they were allowed to run down under Saddam's rule. And if that son gets sick, he can actually get medical treatment. And if you're an atheist, whoop de crap. Join the others, along with the various Christians, Sunnis, Shiites, etc. running the place.
But hey, never let facts get in the way of a good soundbite, right?
Turkey vs. Greece over Cyprus (shots fired, with a Turkish amphibious assault on Cyprus). Iceland vs. the UK over fishing rights (no shots fired but naval vessels ordered to "shoulder" ships out of the way, with some serious concern that shots would be fired).
Democratic nations will not engage in war with other democratic nations to the extent that their key interests are not threatened. If they are, then the nations will act in their own best interests, regardless of political structure.
The US Army did not buy these weapons, the Iraqi Army did. They may very well have been purchased with American Tax dollars given to Iraq in aid, but it was their government that purchased the guns not ours.
Our army did approve the purchase in some way, but it's likely that they were merely consulted to make sure the money was spent on fulfilling the Iraqi Army's needs and not spent on something else.
Iraq is a soverign nation that is slowly taking over providing for their own security. The AK-47 is a good choice of weapon for their environment. It works well in harsh environments with little maintence.
I don't like the fact that they purchased the guns from the Chineese, but I believe that the Iraqi's have the right to make that decision.
Our army did approve the purchase in some way, but it's likely that they were merely consulted to make sure the money was spent on fulfilling the Iraqi Army's needs and not spent on something else.
Iraq is a soverign nation that is slowly taking over providing for their own security. The AK-47 is a good choice of weapon for their environment. It works well in harsh environments with little maintence.
I don't like the fact that they purchased the guns from the Chineese, but I believe that the Iraqi's have the right to make that decision.
Buzz,
the Cypriot conflict didn't happen when Turkey was a democracy. (At least not in the traditional sense...I guess East Germany used to be called the Deutsch Democratic Republic ) A better example would have been India v. Pakistan border clashes....but a skirmish is not a war.
I've yet to see anyone challenge the McDonalds Postulate....
For more on the above hypothesis, see "The End of History" bu Francis Fukuyama, National Interest 1990. I'd provide a link but I can't seem to find it...
the Cypriot conflict didn't happen when Turkey was a democracy. (At least not in the traditional sense...I guess East Germany used to be called the Deutsch Democratic Republic
) A better example would have been India v. Pakistan border clashes....but a skirmish is not a war.I've yet to see anyone challenge the McDonalds Postulate....
For more on the above hypothesis, see "The End of History" bu Francis Fukuyama, National Interest 1990. I'd provide a link but I can't seem to find it...
It's all American tax payer's money that's paying everything Iraqi. They better pay us back by giving free oil.
Yes, because mercantilism worked so well for the Brits and all the other European countries that set up Third World economies.... 
<sniff sniff> I smell SARCASM!!!
<sniff sniff> I smell SARCASM!!!
Really?!!
You don't think that people in the Mid-East might have gotten the idea that the ruled should choose their own rulers from the successful elections in Afghanistan and Iraq? After 3000 years of kings and dictatorships this idea spontaneously popped into their heads?
Really? You don't believe that?
You don't think that people in the Mid-East might have gotten the idea that the ruled should choose their own rulers from the successful elections in Afghanistan and Iraq? After 3000 years of kings and dictatorships this idea spontaneously popped into their heads?
Really? You don't believe that?
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