Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (43227)	9/11/2002 10:33:59 AM
From: Sig	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Never in my 78 years have I been so proud as to have served my country, or seen such clarity of dedication and devotion to a national effort as expressed in the 9-11 ceremonies. When all is measured, it is far better to be poor but honest than to be a rich merciless money grubbing crook who was responsible for setting up 2400 "corporations" to fleece innocent investors and destroy the life savings and hopes of thousands of employees. There is more worth to SI than just making a buck, it was worth the cost if only to meet Kemble S Matter, an inspiring teacher with the same spirit, honesty, and persistence as seen in great leaders everywhere. Sig

To: stockman_scott who wrote (43227)	9/11/2002 10:34:14 AM
From: yard_man	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

>>And when governments fail to meet the most basic needs of their people, these failed states can become havens for terror << And this from a republican?? I'm sorry -- it isn't government's job to meet my basic needs.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (43227)	9/11/2002 10:56:35 AM
From: Dennis O'Bell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Imagine the difference the U.S. alone would make if we reprioritized our spending choices and committed a mere 10 percent of our military budget to meaningful, directed development assistance, or "national security support." Imagine a world where someday we spend more on building the world than defending it. It would be nice to imagine a world uninhabited by all the kleptomaniacs who have lined their pockets from the initiatives already in place to aid the world. All you have to do is look at the situation in Zimbabwe for the kinds of people one has to deal with if they're going to give aid; under a flimsy pretext about "genetically modified foodstuffs" Mugabe is committing genocide. It's because the world is so dangerous that we have such a disproportional sounding military, but when you consider the value of western democracy going forward, it's worth preserving at great cost, even after factoring out the obvious self interest to our country in so much of what goes on. I'm hardly calling for isolationism, but when you see the difficulties close to home, such as repairing dysfunctional school systems (Cleveland for example), throwing money at these problems will not magically solve them.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (43227)	9/11/2002 6:54:12 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 281500

<A more equal world will be a more stable world. And we intuitively know that when people have a stake in the future and a real opportunity to improve their own well-being and that of their children, they will work for stability and value peace, as we do. > That is claptrap. Bill Clapp is using cliches and platitudes instead of thinking. Getting the jackboot off their necks is the main thing to do. Then teach property rights and voluntary interaction instead of dominance and theft. I have been poor and then wealthy [compared with most people of the 6 billion]. When poor, I didn't wish to steal from the well off [poor in the Kiwi context, not the African or Mao context]. Freedom is the stake in the future. Freedom to make of one's life what one can by persuading others to co-operate as either employee or employed, marriage partner, family support or other means. Osama was wealthy, had a stake in the future and could enjoy a prosperous future for himself, his wives and his children. But he chose the Matrix of Malevolence. He isn't working for stability [until he is in charge]. Nor peace, which he doesn't want until he is in charge, peace be upon him. Clapp doesn't understand that many people are driven by greed, power and lust. They are NOT driven by peace, light, harmony, love, curiosity, creativity and prosperity. They are artifacts of our chimpoid male dominance hierarchy ancestors where murder and rape are effective means of proliferating DNA. It'll be a few decades yet before the DNA is filtered and the meek inherit the earth. Genetic Engineering might help. The world cannot be equal because some people have great abilities and others have none, with a bad attitude to make their lives even worse. The useless and criminal can't be improved by dragging down the good ones. The good ones left alone create great things which lift the lives of the useless. The useless can afford a car in the modern world and get sufficient food to make them fat as blimps, with little effort or intellect. That's purely thanks to the trickle down from the achievements of the capable, creative and energetic. $ill Gates, Irwin Jacobs, Alan Green$pan and the like make the world a great place. The useless and criminal can't be made equal with them. No more that chimps can be made equal with the incapable humans. Poor people are not criminals. They can have ethics as high as anyone though they might not be able to argue the abstruse philosophical etymology and stuff. And most do. Mqurice