[paraclete]

The controversies have all dried up and gone away and we have nothing to say.

It's been a quiet day in Afghanistan, the oil spill is under control, politics is quiet for the moment, just a few small international fracax or is that fracii, like the UN talking to NK and we are reminded that we are in for a near miss from Eros, did someone misplace the decimal point? Perhaps that is what hit Uganda, such an unlikely place for a terrorist attack.

I wonder what happened to Haiti, is it still there or sunk beneath the waves?
I'm going to blame it all on the vuvuzela

[Wondergirl]

Fracases (plural)

Fracas is also allowed as the plural.

[kp2171]

Goes to show that the news is not about news. Doesn't matter who is in power in the wh. Its more important to have attention than to address serious issues.

I'm not a bush fan. Voted for him twice cause the alternatives were worse, so I thought. Think. I don't know. Its complicated.

If bush was in the wh when the oil disaster happened, the coverage wouldve been so much more harsh.

I hate hearing the media conservatives cry about media bias. Its like tattletaling on the school yard playground that the skinny kid keeps picking on you.

That said, there is a liberal slant, but even more than that, there is a corporate slant.

What sells?

[paraclete]

Well, I don't get it, is ~someone~ on holidays? There are important things happening, like Fiji getting uppity again and Uganda getting bombed and no one has an opinion, it's like it didn't happen here, so what? And BP isn't in business to save the world, now there's a revelation.

I would like to know why Somalia bombed Uganda? Seems such an unlikely combination, hell, I would even like to know why Spain won the World Cup? Blame it on the vuvuzela. New icon ~::::::::[(
Maybe we could use the vuvuzela and octopus power to solve other world crisis, just blow the vuvuzela and consult the octopus and all our problems are solved, what the octopus says goes, who needs Obama.

Paul says NK sunk the SK ship.
Paul says BP must pay.
Paul says Iran has the bomb
Paul says Palestine is divided
Paul says OBL is dead
Paul says Elvis is alive

[paraclete]

fracases (plural)

Fracas is also allowed as the plural.

Frac~ases now you know there is a word in there we aren't allow to use here, too vile apparently, like we are children who must be controlled and not allowed into the real world, this is why I referred to them as fracax, so that the patented post editor wouldn't strike again

Tell me ? What fracas would you like to discuss?

I find the revelation that BP, how come the second part of that name isn't edited out, isn't here to save the Earth particularly revealing, since they have spent the last ten years trying to convince us that is what they are doing.

[tomder55]

Been very busy .hard to post new subjects. I'm just waiting for someone to blame the US for the Uganda attacks.

Haiti... 6 months after the quake is predictable. Plenty of aid went in . But the poor distribution systems developed by the governments overseeing it ,and the corruption of the Haiti government means there has been little relief for the people. Refugees in their own country could become the permanent status. Most of the dead are still not accounted for. It is a nightmare.

BP put a new containment cap on the well and it is promising . I commented in another op about the detestable BP being complicit in getting the Pan AM 103 terrorist leader released on a lie. My boycott of anything BP continues. Soon Libya may have a controlling interest in the company as they are ripe for a takeover.

The only real news from AfPakia is that a kick a$$ Marine General has been named Centcom commander . Now they need to bring in Ryan Crocker as Ambassador ,and the Bush team running operations in the war against jihadistan will be complete.

Here the Dems are planning to hold off on all major legislation until the lame duck session . Then they will 'ram it down our throats '. If they retain Congress all their "comprehensive" laws would automatically be enacted . If they don't ;the President will use the power of the veto to make sure the Republican can't overturn the laws passed.
Either way we are screwed . If necessary ,the President will issue an executive order to enact things like amnesty for illegals.

Thank God the World Cup games are over. All you need to know about soccer is that well into overtime no team had scored . I tried... I really did... but watching soccer is like watching paint dry.

[tomder55]

Paul says NK sunk the SK ship.
Paul says BP must pay.
Paul says Iran has the bomb
Paul says Palestine is divided
Paul says OBL is dead
Paul says Elvis is alive

My wife and daughter saw Paul at Ringo's birthday concert .

[paraclete]

Ah, Tom you have revealed yourself as a true conservative and here I thought there might be a liberal emerging there somewhere, stay in the closet Tom

Yeh Haiti, not surprised, no interest originally, Jihadistan; well people who have never died before are dying now, this is not news. BP; all things are possible in the corporate world. Uganda is a CIA plot, we know this. After all Al Qaeda is a construct of the CIA, just another rogue spook organisation. Are you actually saying it is possible to pass legislation against the wishes of the american people? Weird, eh? So much for representative government. What was it Lincoln said? I think government by the people, for the people has actually passed from the Earth, or at least North America, so all those people died for nothing

[tomder55]

AQ a CIA construct ? If you take off your tinfoil hat you will see things clearer .I've refuted that nonsense before.

Haiti (no interest originally)... the US rushed assets into the country,and the American people made massive donations for the quake relief.

. Are you actually saying it is possible to pass legislation against the wishes of the american people?

The Dems take tradition and toss it away. In normal times the "lame duck session after the elections is used to tie up loose ends and not to radically transform the country's laws.
If they do this I will be on record for the supporting an amendment for the immediate dismissal of Congress the day of the election.

[excon]

The Dems take tradition and toss it away

Hello tom:

And, the Republicans replace our traditions with their own, like torture. Frankly, I don't know what tradition we've lost. Maybe you can tell me.

excon

[tomder55]

Read my reply . Major legislation is not done in a lame duck session. Budgets aren't "deemed " passed into law.
Recess appointments are done when Congress impedes confirmation... not to bypass the confirmation process and avoid a public hearing on the nominee. That's just in recent weeks.

[paraclete]

AQ a CIA construct ? If you take off your tinfoil hat you will see things clearer .I've refuted that nonsense before. .

Ah, Tom, I know you guys don't like to admit your attack dog bit you on the A$$, but you shouldn't have used Pakistan to create the Taliban way back in the Cold War, remember that one, another of your glorious wars on something or other. And quess who used all your aid to feather their own nest or was that the mare's nest you created in Afghanistan. AQ, that's who

Haiti (no interest originally)... the US rushed assets into the country,and the American people made massive donations for the quake relief. .

I was speaking of discussion on this board, I'm sure the US response was admirable, great photo ops and all that

The Dems take tradition and toss it away. In normal times the "lame duck session after the elections is used to tie up loose ends and not to radically transform the country's laws.
If they do this I will be on record for the supporting an amendment for the immediate dismissal of Congress the day of the election.

When have you known politicians to play by the unwritten rules

[speechlesstx]

Curse that vuvuzela. Speaking of dead though, RIP George Steinbrenner.

[tomder55]

Best team owner any fan of a sport's franchise ever had.

[tomder55]

Clete . Al Qaeda is the product of the Muslim Brotherhood movement as I have documented that more than once.

Bin Laden was a minor player in the mujahideen in Afghanistan . The American funding, went exclusively to the Afghan mujahideen groups, not the Arab volunteers ,who were funded through Saudi Arabia . The Taliban were formed by the Paki ISI long after the American involvement in ousting the Soviets was over... while the Afghan civil war was underway in the 1990s .

[twinkiedooter]

Last time I looked the oil was NOT under control. Far from it. The oil has now gotten worse in that the large Whale A ship is not sucking up lots of oil like it should.

Last time I looked Haiti never got a fraction of any money that was donated to that country. (Is there any wonder just who ran off with all the $$$?? )

Last time I looked Afganistan is still growing poppys and harvesting opium and the USA troops are guarding the opium fields so drug lords can get rich. Ever wonder why everyone wants to "invade" Iran so badly? Because that's where a heck of a lot of opium is processed, that's why. Why not just cut out the middle men altogether in the growing, transporting it to be processed and the final processing and rake in MORE money? It's all about the opium trade, not terrorists like the media would have nonthinking people believe. Some people are getting obscenely RICH from this and want to get RICHER.

[paraclete]

Last time I looked the oil was NOT under control. Far from it. As a matter of fact the oil has now gotten worse in that the large Whale A ship is not sucking up lots of oil like it should.

Last time I looked Haiti never got a fraction of any money that was donated to that country. (Is there any wonder just who ran off with all the $$$???)

Last time I looked Afganistan is still growing poppys and harvesting opium and the USA troops are guarding the opium fields so drug lords can get rich. Ever wonder why everyone wants to "invade" Iran so badly? Because that's where a heck of a lot of opium is processed, that's why. Why not just cut out the middle men altogether in the growing, transporting it to be processed and the final processing and rake in MORE money?? It's all about the opium trade, not terrorists like the media would have nonthinking people believe. Some people are getting obscenely RICH from this and want to get RICHER.

I'll try to answer you for the second time. Strange erasures are happening again

Give the oil effort time, the problem today is everyone expects instant and some solutions are over sold and some are not tried.

Haiti was a great photo op, I'm sufficiently cynical to think it was little more. The world did nothing for Haiti before the earthquake and will do little after. The last I saw from Haiti was some business man complaining refugees were using his land. I assume he has not heard of rent.

As to Afghanistan, it is not surprising it has become the drug capital of the world, after all look who is in charge. What do you get when you put the fox in charge of the hen house?

[tomder55]

The world did nothing for Haiti before the earthquake and will do little after.

What should the world do ? I thought you weren't a fan of occupation and regime change.

[paraclete]

What should the world do ? I thought you weren't a fan of occupation and regime change.

There is only one country I would be in favour of occupation and regime change at the moment.

But seriously, we can't empose change and they have French legacy to live down, but surely some industries could have been directed there instead of China. They will soon become oil rich and it will all be an academic argument, but much more could have been done for nations, failed states, like that. I think we should look at the twentieth century as the century of enrich yourself and do nothing

[tomder55]

but surely some industries could have been directed there instead of China.

You are aware of the protectionist and predatory practices the Chinese have been utilizing with their recent rare earth directive .USMMA: China's Rare Earth Export Restrictions Hurt Green Jobs in U.S.
China will be the only place manufacturing occures if they have their way. This has world wide economic and security implications .

but much more could have been done for nations, failed states, like that.

The fact is that there will be no credible investments in a nation like Haiti with a failed state . The IMF and NGOs have already tried to restructure their economy. It is almost impossible to open a business there . According to Terry Buss ;author of the book 'Haiti in the Balance, Why Foreign Has Failed And What We Can Do About It'
"In Haiti, the process of business regulations is complex and customs procedures are lengthy."On average, opening a business took 204 days. For comparison, the average was 73.3 days in Latin America and 16.3 days in OECD countries. It took estimated 5 years and 65 bureaucratic procedures for a private person to buy land from the state. It took 683 days to register a property.All Latin American and Caribbean countries except Cuba and Venezuela enjoyed much more economic freedom than Haiti on the Index of Economic Freedom of 2006.He calls the judicial system "in shambles" .He also says the government never feels pressure from the people to reform . Why is that ?
Tracy Kidder, author of 'Mountains Beyond Mountains'says
"It is a government whose activities are not co-ordinated and that is not in any way accountable to the people it's supposed to be governing."

It doesn't have to be that way. They share the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic which has the 2nd largest economy in the Caribbean... tourist services being the lead economic activity . The difference ? The Dominicans are on their way to developing a stable representative democracy.