OT:Letter to Southern Califonia newspaper that was not printed

[Hedley]

I wouldn't go that far. At least not right now. I've got two gas burning vehicles and I buy food that is delived by diesel truck that is grown using gas powered farm equipment. If you think about it, our entire world would collapse without a dependable source of oil.

I'm just waiting on the price of oil to get high enough to make alternatives (Canadian Oil Sands) to the middle east more palatable. It's getting there.

70$ a barrel tops most of the cut-off points for making stuff like the Oils Sands in Canada a profitable enterprise. Right now, that place is hopping like Texas back in the early to mid 1900's.

Would you pay 5$ a gallon for gas in the USA in order to watch the middle east dry up and return to a bunch of peaceful and poor nomadic tribes? Of course, we'd first have to suffer through a bout of the harshest desert starvation to dwindle their angry numbers and temper their attitude of religious superiority and intolerance. Our friends (Dubai, UAE) would be OK, I hope.

THAT'S what I hope to live to see. I've only got another 30-40 years, and I sorely think I may miss it.

More than likely, nations will get more desparate over their dependance and go into some kind of war. Economies will fail. Millions will die (maybe billions when you think of how far the Chinese and Indians have moved from an agragarian socoiety).

America should be pretty safe as long as we annex Canada and make sure that southwestern fence is strong. We'll still suffer horribly, but should survive.

[Mark & Juanita]

... snip

I don't disagree with that viewpoint to a degree; although the prevailing idea of "civilized" war was quite a nasty thing when viewed logically -- and that would be whether one was viewing it as someone vastly outgunned or just as an outside observer.

.. and the silly thing about it is that all of the oil that really could feed and prosper those people is in the hands of those with whom they are mostly in agreement religion-wise. The whole situation is nonsensical: Iranians could be a rich and prosperous country but they are bent on erecting a radical Islamic curtain and becoming a nuclear power to further their delusions of jihadist victory. Same for Syria, Libya, and more recently Iraq. All of those countries could be prosperous, reasonable members of a very rational trading world society -- they have what other countries want and could readily build a market economy in which all of their citizens thrive. Look at what happened to all of the "aid" sent to Yasser & Co, most of it wound up in mansions in the Riviera while the people it wsa intended to help stayed poor, starving and ripe for exploitation (couldn't have been by design, could it?). Oil for food? That worked out well, didn't it.

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[Al]

I have no problem with immigrants however if they enter a country illegally then I have a problem with them. In this country or yours for that matter they are criminals if they break the law of the land. It's not anti immigration we welcome them to come legally that means come here and go through the process like many of our four fathers did. I would not move to Mexico and expect them to speak English for me I would learn Spanish. That is not what they expect of us the want us to speak Spanish for them and change our ways. My daughter was turned down for a job at AutoZone because she could not speak Spanish a foreign language. One little thing but I look at it as a respect issue as well as for AutoZone they lost a customer. No big deal to them I am sure but to expect an American citizen born raised and who did graduate from our schools system with high marks to have to change our language to make it easier for the illegal that crap.

Your right none are bashing legal immigration at least that I see.

Well know that I have spoke my peace launch the attack! lol

Al

Opinions are like A#@wholes everyone has one.

[Al]

Well said.

Al

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[Al]

As far as the oil goes we have our own reserves the inviromentallist are keeping us oiut of it for now. If it came to it they would be ignored and we would drill our own oil. My information comes directly from the science channel so hey lol it could be wrong but I doubt it.

opinions are like A@#wholes everyone has one.

Al

[Dave Balderstone]

Israel is, of course, entirely justified in defending itself. The world gets upset, however, when it uses its *army* to do this.

My own opinion is that it's time to support Israel in DESTROYING Hezbollah. Completely and utterly.

The Arab/Muslim world understands humiliation and defeat. It does not negotiate in good faith, nor does it feel it has to. The Koran allows, nay demands, lies and deception when dealing with infidels.

[Glen]

Yes, I do believe, for some reason that you would indeed hide behind women and children to protect your self.

Glen

[Upscale]

So essentially what you're saying is that survival by any means is the only thing that really counts. Forget about family, forget about honour, forget about basic human diginity. That's exactly what you'd be doing hiding behind those skirts. And, if you'd consider foregoing all those things just to survive, what kind of person would you be and what kind of life would you have left if you did survive?

Which leads me to ask, does such a person deserve to survive?

You couldn't be more wrong.

Easy to see what you think.

[Nick Hull]

I don't agree; both have EQUAL meaning to me ;)

[Nick Hull]

And they invented the wheel and airplane, and were the first humans as the Piltdown man proved ;)

[Nick Hull]

"Civilized" war is just war fought by rules invented to make the bigger guy win. If you fight by his rules you are guaranteed to lose.

[Nick Hull]

There would be more peace and more oil if we nukes Israel instead. We won't because they are nuclear themselves, so it teaches ALL other nations that they had better get a nuke soon to protect themselves. I predict massive nuclear proliferation in the near future.

[Nick Hull]

I have never given money to the IRA. Maybe guns, ammo, C4, but never money ;)

[trader4]

Do the John Emmons's of the world, with their ideas of moral equivalency ever follow the news? There are certain inflection points in most conflicts where it's painfully obvious which side is right and which side is wrong.

Look at events in the middle east over recent years. For decades Israel tried to negotiate with Arafat to reach some kind of accord where Israel and the Palestinians could coexist. In keeping with the "Can't we all get along?" approach, during the Clinton administration, Arafat was at the White House more frequently than any other head of state. Despite the best efforts of Clinton and enticements of huge amounts of aid to the Palestinians, no agreement could be reached, despite every attempt to be reasonable with Arafat.

So, a couple years ago, Sharon finally decides to unilaterally give the Palestinians much of what they could have had decades ago, had they been willing to negotiate in good faith. He dismantles settlements on the West Bank and returns Gaza to Palestinian control, a good first step. What is the reaction from the Palestinians? Do they now do something positive to meet Israel half way? No, they elect Hamas, a terrorist organization with the stated goal of destroying Israel to be their new govt.

Let's look at Lebanon. Israel occupied souther Lebanon in the early

80's because it was being used as a staging area to attack Israeil There were a UN resolutions calling for Israel to withdraw and for Lebanon's military to assert control of southern Lebanon. Israel withdrew from Lebanon 6 years ago, but Lebanon never took control of southern Lebanon and knowingly allowed Hezbollah to use it as a staging area. Hezbollah was formed two decades ago with the alleged purpose of driving Israel out of Lebanaon. Israel has been out of Lebanon for 6 years, giving Hezbollah exactly what they wanted, yet now Hezbollah starts launching thousands of rockets from Lebanon into Israel.

The above is enough for any fair minded person to conclude which side is reasonable and really seeking peace and which side is totally unreasonable and hell bent on continuing the violence at any cost.

[jtpr]

Never would I think somebody here would put a statement like that into print. That you would hide behind innocent women and children to accomplish your needs is one of the worst statements I've heard in any OT thread in this group. And to have the audacity to suggest anyone else here would do it... shame on you.

-jtpr

[J. Clarke]

Actually, if you count presidents of the Continental Congress, which is what he was, there being no nation called the "United States" until after adoption of the Constitution, then John Hanson was the _third_.

So if some random netloon can't get a thing like that right what chance is there that any other information he provides is correct?

Why is it that someone who makes a great show of his own ignorance then comments on others "resorting to namecalling"?

[J. Clarke]

I find the cat having constipation to be of greater concern--if he doesn't go soon then there's going to be a vet bill.

[Kurt Ullman]

And this differs from the rest of the last 60+ years how? Nuclear proliferation prevention always has been a pipe dream no matter where or who is in charge of the US or any other country. Israel has only acted in self defense and does a real good job of making nice-nice with those who merely say they won't try to wipe them off the map. Egypt signed a peace treaty recognizing Israel's right to exist, got all their land back and developed an important trading partner.

Kurt (We'll try to remain serene and calm when Alabama gets a Bomb) Ullman

[Goedjn]

IIRC, we had eight or so more, at the time.

[Larry Blanchard]

That's a very good summary. However, it doesn't solve the problem. Th= ere are only 3 solutions. Give them what they want, isolate them, or extermina= te them. Since options one and three are unlikely, we're left with isolat= ion.=20 And, as you point out, that won't work until we give up on using their = oil.

BTW, killing the leaders, while an attractive alternative, won't work. = The peasantry is so well indoctrinated that they'd just keep creating more = of the same.

Now that I've irritated the liberals, I'll do the same for the conserva= tives by pointing out that the west (UN, US and Britain) share some of the bl= ame for invading the area in the first place (Britain), carving out the sta= te of Israel in a fit of well-deserved guilt (UN), and meddling in Arab polit= ics to keep access to their oil (US). Remember when we considered Saddam one = of the good guys?

--=20 It's turtles, all the way down