if ther willing to sacrifice themselves in the name of alah,will go to heaven and be surrounded by virgins why don't they all just stand up so we can shoot them? works for me.

They would "stand out" if you profiled them properly, but that's not American.

Unfortunately, they need to take unbelievers with them to get in.  We're their ticket to the party.

The irrationality of faith, and our tollerance of it TO ANY DEGREE has been the cause of attrocities for thousands of years.  Time for all religions to admit that they have NO proof that God wrote ANY book and that certainty is absurd!!

Works for me too... but I don't think they get the virgins unless they take some of us awful 'infidels' out with them :o|

We've lost our ability to recognize our enemy even after he's identified himself.  With this mindset how can we have any other expectation than failure?

As I see it, the bleeding heart liberals (read ACLU & others) have weakened this country beyond belief.  Taking care of our brethren, looking out for the enviroment, etc., etc. is all well and good but when the laws of the land, the courts legislating rule and the gutless politians find PC a better solution than the truth - we are all in trouble.  I am tired of this country being the international sheriff.  Bring our men and women home, secure our shores and borders, take the handcuffs off Isreal and let the middle east countries have at it.  It would probably take Isreal 6 months to control and govern the middle east.  Then we could buy oil form them.  Then when we are sick and tired of the other countries waging terroism on us and their BS, launch one of those titans sitting in Utah or wherever, then walk in and claim the prize when everything settles down.  Optimistic note (if you call it that), watch out for Latin America as certain countries are following the lead of the Castro regime to the letter.  The next world hot spot involving the good ole US of A.  Seems I have no objective opinion on this subject.

It's our (well, I didn't vote for him, but we're all stuck with him as OUR President anyhow) ultra-right-wing-conservative-unintelligent President Bush who led us right into this never-ending mess with his lies while hiding behind Christianity and the Bible and Oh, "Weapons of Mass Destruction" with absolutely NO feasible plan to go in properly armed and protected or get out of the Middle East and the fight against Terrorists?

Not to mention his entire Administration is as incompetent, crooked, and greedy as he therefore he has no ability to formulate a feasible plan to get us out of this war that's supposedly NOT a war that obviously IS a war to any person with the ability to comprehend, I dunno, ANYTHING?

Ah and let's not forget that the Ultra Conservative Republicans have control of both the House and Senate therefore your policy makers are all on the same side of the fence. So, I hardly think we can blame the bleeding heart liberals for weakening this country to the point its been weakened considering they have a very minimal voice in policy-making right now.

Taking care of OUR OWN first is something we ought to have been doing and be spending the billions we're instead spending in Iraq right now. Looking out for the environment was something we should have started a long, long time ago but didn't so it SHOULD be on the agenda now so we can start cleaning up the mess this world's human beings have created by taking and taking from the environment without responsibly cleaning up and giving back; unless of course you'd like to see the entire east and gulf coasts from North Carolina down to FL and west to Texas wiped right off the map because of hurricanes, tornados, and other assorted natural disasters scientifically proven to be caused by Global Warming.  

I'm tired of this country trying to impose its beliefs on its citizens as well as the world and I am in agreement with you regarding our troops and securing our borders and shores however, we will never abandon Israel so your pipe dream regarding us allowing the middle east to just go at it is just that; a pipe dream.  So, the rest is a gorgeous fantasy, but it will not come to fruition and it's short-term thinking anyhow. Rather than remaining oil/fossil fuel dependent, we need to take action and work on alternative sources of power, heat, and gasoline and we need to do it very, very quickly.

I do wish the people of this country and the politicians of our government would stop drawing party lines and throwing darts at one another. When we truly become One Nation, Indivisible, we will once again be a powerful, close-knit nation of people with the same goals and objectives and a greater ability to tackle and successful achieve them, together. Until then, it will remain as it is and progressively get worse, as it has in the past decade. This country is not what our Forefathers envisioned; it is not the most powerful nor is it the richest country anymore. We are one of the poorest in terms of debt and national allegiance as well as many other things that I'll refrain from outlining here.

Why don't we bring back the pride that September 11th caused in our hearts? Where people were just people and it didn't matter if we were different, we united as one for about two months and the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. It is the only way this country will enjoy health and vitality ever again and it's unfortunate that the only thing in recent history that has brought us all together was tragedy. Have we learned NOTHING from history?

Respectfully,

Andi Ryan

PS For those without a thirst for politics, etc. amongst our community, I apologize for writing a diatribe here. It should, I suppose, be on the politics board, however it's not. Please drive through if you don't want to see this stuff on the regional board.

Don't quit the day (or should I say night) job!!!

I totally agree with your last 2 paragraphs but don't you see how the first 5 paragraphs fly directly in the face of the last 2?  If we really want to bring the nation together then we have to start acting like it!

But I'm not a big political person so I have a better solution..if everyone concentrated on doing their job and well as I'm told Andi does, then all would be well!!!  And, yes, I'm going to have to put my money where my mouth is and test the waters!!!

Not trying to upset anyone just my 2 cents.

This belongs on the political board.  If you choose to continue, you should be moderated.

have spent any significant time oversea's, especially in the arab world. This is not really a "US" issue its a global issue that is not geopolitical in nature. Your faced with a militant religious minority whose actually much more dangerous within its own power base. The issues in Iran, Afganistan, Sudan, Iraq, Indonesia are far worse then our fringe involvement. The potential for real damage both in the US and avroad is much more frightening then most of you realize. Say a prayer for those who are doing unspeakable things for your safety to prevent even more unspeakable things from happeneing. As the man said...Fredoom don't come Free"

-- Modified on 8/11/2006 6:26:03 PM

Our forefathers would be sickened by what we have come to as a country :o(

 A Global problem, National problem and a closer
than you think problem.

  Prior to 911 there were two know cells of the
terrorists in Arizona.  The two of the most Lethal, Al-Qaeda and Hamas (only Hizballah can
claim to be as deadly as these two).

  The two cells were operating in Tuscon but after 911 they went underground so who knows where
of how many there are now.

   All the experts agee on one thing, it not IF
we will be hit again but When we will get hit again. We have been lucky that they have not
been able to hit us again. but they will (we have
to be right every time they only have to be sucessful one time).  
  As you said Freedom does't come free, there is a cost and that cost is in blood.

  Montana

For those who want to cry about this admin. and
this President.  Lets look at a few facts (I am
only going to look at Ameriacan attack to keep
the list down)
 1983 - 241 Marines killed in Beirut, 1984 15
embassy personal killed in beirut, 1985 1 American (70+ in age and in a wheelchair) is killed because he was Jewish and thrown off a  cruise ship, 1986 Pan Am aircraft is highjacked  and 20 Killed, 1988 259 killed when Pan Am 103 is blown up, 1993 first attack on Twin towers 6 dead, April 168 dead, 1998 US embassies in both
Kenya and Tanzania bombed 400+ dead. These are
just the dead, wounded number in thousands. What
do they have in common? all but 1 were caused by
middle east terror groups and not one was treated
as an attack and the attempt to seriously hit them back (we were the paper tiger to them) Like
him or not Bush has taken the war to them. I wish
it was more like WW 2 now in how we fight but that would be "unfair" (but more effective) but if
you look this is the longest time between attacks.
I don't think you could say that if it was not for
that "cowboy" adittude of "if you hit me I'll kick your Ass"  Think Gore would have done it, We
know Clinton did not.
 Get it straight, these people can't be talked to or ignored. They want to KILL all of you and they say it.  The way you stop them is to kill them and make them fear you.

    Montana
 

"Liberalism is a Mental Disorder"

too cute to be a Mr.

To Ms Ryan, I appoligize, I now realize it seeing
the i and not y.

 I also must add the the 1 non middle east attacker was Ok city 1995, 168 dead.  
  and check out the news today 3 middle east
types with terror group conections, buying thousands of cell phones in the states. Get the
have the largest familly plan in the states.

  Montana

Savage is correct in his diagnosis.  Others, more intellectual, have defined it quite specifically including psychiatric terms like delusional, immature, narcisistic, utopian, arrogant, self-righteous. I endorse all of the above but would include suicidal, kinda like the European Jews marching off quietly to the gas chambers to the violins playing Mozart.  Bless the Israelis and God Bless America. God damn the NYT!

Andi,
I enjoy reading your posts as they are both instructive and fun.
Without taking a political position, I must, however, take issue with the first part of the first sentence in the fifth paragraph (sorry, that did come out more complicated than I intended; I'm writing "live"). The point is that "countries" do not (try to) impose their beliefs... "countries" do not have beliefs, people do. Now if you substitute "country" with "our elected leaders", you'd hit it spot on.
We could now go ,into a discussion of Pax Romana/Pax Britannica/Pax Americana, but that might which could be a subject for a different post, possibly on a national board(?). You game?

Recommended reading
"The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order" by Samuel P. Huntington (published 1997)
This Harvard professor pretty much sketched out the forces that create what we are currently (say 2001 onwards) experiencing.
For some (I tend to classify as the CNN/Fox News/USA Today crowd) the reading may be a bit heavy and the good professor can get tedious. If only our "elected representatives" across the broadest spectrum had to read that book (321 pages of text plus notes and bibliography) to qualify for their positions... - and then be forced (by the citizenry?) to apply the lesson.

I would suggest a better read would be so of the more up to date books out there that are done by those in the field who go out a see what is going on.  Most professors live in the closed hallowed halls of the elite (they think) and who do they talk to ? Other professors.  This is the real world where people are out there killing others because of there screwed up beliefs. If you
want to read (and I do) try "American Jihad" by
Emerson as a start to understand who and what they
are IN THE U.S.  There are several other new books
by those Who have spent a lot of time researching
it in the field not in a University.

 Montana