The glorious house of Orange and Brabant was left out of the list, Walter - ummm, and do please be careful with "Orange" when addressing my good friend Setanta <G>
Carefree ebullience in an Iraq debate!!!
Setanta...I actually harveted an orange there before my Belgian companion informed me the Francovian fellow with the really weird hat and the machine gun would surely disapprove. It was, if you care to know, THE worst orange I've ever tasted.
P.S. to Blatham - it's worse than you think! Walter was trying to simplify: the difficulty in that particular war of the Spanish succession was caused by prince Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, not the main Hohenzollern branch. Get the titles straight, Walter, please, or I'll give my aunt your e-mail address <G>
HofT's aunt:
SKH Erbprinz Leopold von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Walter, Anybody with a name of Leopold can't be all bad.
c.i.
LOL C.I and Walter - that was auntie, not great-great-uncle! Yes, it sounds like ebullience to the uninitiated, Blatham, but could it be gallows humor?!
<relenting, and vanishing for a while with a <G>>
(The photo actually shows poor nearly-Spanish-king Leopold. Wanted to address it TO HofT's auntie.)
Now, here's an interesting organization I didn't know about...
Quote:JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs for bringing together Israel, American Jewry, and the senior American military echelon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=263971&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
blatham, Not surprising, considering that this administration and the congress have already voiced their support for Israel. We can't exactly expect our military to be in contest with those 'ideals,' unless they're willing to sacrifice their military careers. c.i.
cicerone imposter wrote:blatham, Not surprising, considering that this administration and the congress have already voiced their support for Israel. We can't exactly expect our military to be in contest with those 'ideals,' unless they're willing to sacrifice their military careers. c.i.
So, when military personnel speak out in favor of the administration or conservatism in general, we should ignore what they say, but when they speak out against... oh, let's say war in Iraq, for instance, suddenly we should all heed their words?
Hmmm...
I'm beginning to think that people so often assume I'm a conservative because I find it hard to hold two mutually exclusive opinions at the same time. (Clearly liberals do not have this problem.) :wink:
tres, Your accusation that I'm a liberal is wrong. I still stand behind my statement, "We can't exactly expect our military to be in contest with those 'ideals,' unless they're willing to sacrifice their military careers." After all, Rummie and GWBush are their bosses. Speak against the war on Iraq? Let us hear the ways.... c.i.
Sometimes something someone writes sparks a recognition or a connection to other actions. Sometimes in these discussions I may make the wrong associations--thinking you've claimed something once before when it was not you. So, if that's the case here, sorry to have jumped to the wrong conclusion.
No problem. I probably have done the same thing.
c.i.
Not trying to be humorous here, Tres, but it's pretty obvious to me that when someone's right one supports him, and when he's not one doesn't. Thus: "So, when military personnel speak out in favor of the administration or conservatism in general, we should ignore what they say, but when they speak out against... oh, let's say war in Iraq, for instance, suddenly we should all heed their words?" In fact, the big brass were right to speak out against war. Just because you're an experienced military leader doesn't mean you have to support an aggressive, politically motivated, potentially disastrous invasion even as your allies drop away from you. As for the soldier in the field, of course you'd expect the poor guy to toe the party line, at least in public, in print, on camera. What else is he going to do?
Again, not trying to be smartypants or funny, just trying to get at a simple truth in a world in which all of a sudden Saddam (contradicting what we know to be true) "was involved in 911" and the Department of War is called the Department of Defense, and Bush got "elected." Is this a world in which we can trust the spoken word as pronounced by people who over and over and over and over again during the past two years have slid into lies with stunning confidence and Rose Garden sincerity?
Finally, conservatism is no sin when it's genuine conservatism. When it's a group of self-serving, trillion-spending reactionary radicals who have coopted the word "conservative" (since when did any one of them ever conserve anything except personal wealth and power?) while running a deficit we haven't seen the likes of in years, we've got a big problem with credulity not to mention the English language, my fellow Americans... Conservatives my hat!
The news tomorrow may well contain mention of an embarrassing, long standing, and long known, German link to Iraqi Biologic WMD. This link is to a subscription news and analysis site, so it probably won't work for most of you. Forgive me for Cutting-and-Pasting a long article.
http://www.stratfor.biz/Story.neo?storyId=210234
stratfor wrote: Report: German Intelligence Suppressed Evidence Of Iraqi Smallpox?
Feb 18, 2003
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported Feb. 16 that the German government for months intentionally suppressed evidence that Iraq possesses supplies of smallpox.
The United Nations completed its smallpox eradication program in the early 1970s. In theory, no samples of the deadly virus exist anywhere in the world, aside from a handful of high-security government labs -- where they are kept specifically for research purposes. Smallpox could prove a particularly effective battlefield or terrorist weapon, because it is easily communicable and global inoculations against the virus were halted 25 years ago. According to the report, the German Health Ministry claimed in an internal report in August 2002 that German intelligence knew of smallpox being stored in Iraq and North Korea. Health officials estimated that up to 20 million Germans could die in a smallpox attack, and called for immediate expansion of Germany's vaccine supplies.
Health Minister Ulla Schmidt referred to portions of the internal report in November testimony to the Bundestag budget committee, but notably omitted any reference to Iraq or potential casualties.
The Ministry report apparently lay dormant until the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung article on Feb. 16. The Health Ministry since has confirmed the existence of the document, but claimed its "drastic language" was geared to push for additional funding for vaccines.
Berlin has been among the world's most anti-war governments -- to such a point that it has poisoned Germany's relations with the United States.
If the information proves true, it would indicate that the German government has actively denied the United Nations and its allies information about the existence of an Iraqi WMD program while helping to lead the global anti-war crusade. Such a development could hasten the end of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's political career and likely trigger early elections in Germany.
Such a revelation also would be likely to tilt anti-war sentiment in Europe and could speed the commencement of U.S. military operations against Iraq.
Should this prove substantive, it certainly reflects poorly on Germany, and bodes ill for Schroeder. The geopolitical landscape appears in for a bit of a change. I believe The Avalanche has begun.
timber
timber?
Holding two or more mutually exclusive positions is indeed possible in the human mind, however uncomfortable it may be. Liberal or conservative.
But?
sumac
But......I wish Anon was here.
And I can't contribute to this discussion as I am too much in conflict.
