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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (137810)	6/29/2001 9:29:51 AM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1584760

"Don't make idiotic remarks ("Excuse me but what Clinton does sexually is only his and Hillary's biz") and I won't. " Should we all use that standard? If so, you are an idiot, Ray. The only extra-marital sexual activity of Bill that has been proven is with Monica and with Gennifer Flowers. Now true, the Paula Jones case was settled out of court, but that doesn't prove guilt. The other stuff was just accusations and rumors, and if that is your standard, I hope you are calling for the removal of Clarence Thomas from the bench. No? Oh, that's right. You have "faith" with respect to these things, facts, logic, equality and consistency have nothing to do with your world view. "Contrast that with the first-rate leadership George Bush provided in the Persian Gulf " And we still have a major commitment in the Gulf because he didn't have the spine to finish the job. It's made us look pretty foolish, too. "with Reagan's single-handed ending of the Cold War." Reagan deserves credit for it happening on his watch. It is likely that the push for SDI was the final push, but the Cold War would have ended sooner or later. To paraphrase Marx, the Soviet Union contained the seeds of it's own revolution. It might have survived a lot longer, but their leadership perceived an opportunity to fulfill it's dream of taking Europe during the '70s when the Nixon administration started their policy of soothing Soviet fears by stopping our nuclear program. This allowed the USSR to start to catch up with the US in nuclear weapons. You likely don't remember, but the Europeans were going nuts when the US started to reduce it's commitment to defend Europe from the USSR, they especially didn't like the talk of "a nuclear warning shot across the bow". As the US withdrew in the aftermath of Vietnam, the Soviets saw their real opportunity to build up an even more massive conventional military, so their pushed their economy even more to turn out the tools needed. And then the most important thing occurred during the Carter administration, the peanut farmer committed the US to building and deploying intelligent weapon systems. After building up, the Soviet Union took advantage of the situation in Afganistan to give it's troops some combat experience. If you are paranoid enough, you might have the feeling that the USSR was getting ready to finally take Europe and wanted to have some experienced troops. Anyway, these type things often look easier than they are, just look at Vietnam. The Soviets were making decent progress until the Reagan administration started feeding the Afganis smart weapons. They pretty much rendered the Soviet tanks and helicopters useless. As Afganistan wore on, it became obvious to the USSR that their entire military needed to be rebuilt to reach it's goal of taking Europe, much less be able to defend itself if attacked by the West. Since their economy was already over-extended to build what they had, the standard of living in Poland and East Germany was already higher than it was in Moscow, they couldn't afford to do that without major changes. It was these factors that caused their collapse, not Reagan calling them names.

To: i-node who wrote (137810)	6/29/2001 5:27:23 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1584760

When you look at the horrible consequences liberalism has brought us, it is clear that liberalism is the root cause of our most significant social ills. You need a wider range of reading materials...tracts from the NRA and the John Birch Society are very limiting.

To: i-node who wrote (137810)	6/29/2001 10:05:04 PM
From: stribe30	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1584760

David, whats this? Your spiritual leader of the religious conservative right allying with the Democrats on BIG OIL?? Collusion charges and threatening to use anti-trust legislation? I guess hell does freeze over once in awhile, but then.. he's a conservative.. so what he says MUST be right, according to you. Pat Robertson Says Oil Firms Are Stifling Competition Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition, accused big oil companies today of thwarting his efforts to open a refinery in California, contending that the companies had intimidated bankers to keep them from lending money to the venture. Mr. Robertson said a lack of financing had prevented him from reopening a refinery near Los Angeles, which he bought in 1998 to supply gasoline to the California market, one of the most expensive in the nation. He said big oil companies had pressured lenders, hoping to keep a tight lock on the market by blocking independent competitors. "I feel a little like David vs. Goliath," Mr. Robertson said in an interview. "The majors are extremely big, and it looks like they are trying to stop our restart." Mr. Robertson declined to name either of two banks that he said had withheld support for his company, the Cenco Refining Company. He also declined to identify the oil companies he said were involved in intimidation. Mr. Robertson said his lawyers were gathering information that he would consider using in an antitrust lawsuit against oil companies. Oil companies have denied working in collusion to limit competition. They point to a Federal Trade Commission report this year on the California gas market, which found no illegal activity. Best known as a television evangelist and a former Republican presidential candidate, Mr. Robertson also controls a variety of businesses. Though he has supported President Bush, he has allied himself with Democrats in his complaints against oil companies. Mr. Robertson said he began to suspect that oil companies acted in concert to reduce competition after examining internal industry documents gathered by Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon. Mr. Robertson and Mr. Wyden appeared together today at a news conference in Washington to publicize their claims nytimes.com