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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Fleming who wrote (39088)	10/2/2003 8:24:02 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

This administration has done and is doing irreparable damage to the U.S. domestically and internationally. I guess that's where we will agree to disagree.. If anything, it was the former administration which set the stage for the events we're currently engaged in.. Ex 1: Ignoring the threat of Osama Bin Laden, ESPECIALLY when he declared war upon the US and his organization found responsible for the Embassy bomings in Africa.. He certainly screwed up "bagging" him when he had the chance (opting instead for "tomahawking" empty training camps and aspirin factories to the tune of $60 million).. Ex 2: submitting to extortion in N. Korea without even requiring guarantees that they uphold their end of the "bargain".. Ex 3: Trying to play "buddy-buddy" with the Chicom mil/intel leadership in Bejing (remember James Riady?) rather than showing Bejing that we were willing to see an escalation of tension (the EC-3 plane incident) rather than be walked upon by them. (note how relations are pretty damn good now between the US and China).. I think the Chinese now understand that they can't take us for granted any longer and we've gained some respect. Ex 4: Somalia.. Les Aspin refusing to provide the armored force requested by the US commander on the ground led to the events of "Blackhawk Down" and one more shameful retreat for the US (and UN), and seeing an entire nation relegated to being torn apart by rival tribal warlords. Ex 5: Coddling Arafat rather than requiring him to dismantle the militant infrastructure that was just beginning to assert itself, and which threatened to undermine peace treaties. Ex 6: Cutting our military by 40% to an all-time manpower low (per capita).. Ex 7: The events that have led to the Internet bubble and much of the economic turmoil around the world occurred during Clinton's administration, until the various Ponzi schemes collapsed upon themselves when Bush assumed office.. Coincidence, or just "good timing"? Lord knows how "Big Al" would have managed these events had he managed to win the election(and becoming one of the few, if not the first, president to lose in his home state). China will give the U.S. cover to begin withdrawal from South Korea at some convenient point. That's just fine and dandy with me.. I'm pretty sick and tired of the institutionalized anti-americanism exhibited in S. Korea... Let them defend themselves (or come "crawling" back to us as the Philipines have recently done). The adventure in Afghanistan and Iraq were undertaken with absolutely no concept of consequences on the part of the administration. So Clintonesque of you... Let them attack us and do nothing... Don't attack the enemy and root them out of their holes. Just sit back and "suck it up" because we should be able to "handle it"... Even FDR knew better than that... You carry the battle into the enemy's homeland.. You don't fight it on your own... The only lines in the sand this administration cares about are pipelines. And you don't think there are some greedy locals who are JUST as interested in controlling those pipelines?? Or better yet, letting the west invest and build them, THEN nationalizing them in the name of whatever corrupt regime they manage to put in place... These people need the hard currency and something that will jump-start their economies.. They all know they have something that we want. And that's why they all keep fighting amongst one another to control it. I think that some of our ex-colonial (ex friends) former allies have a better grasp of the problems we are creating for ourselves. Sure they do.. Because they know the US is always around to clean up their messes when they get out of hand.. They have lived under the umbrella of US protection for decades playing both sides against one another as the US and USSR "fought" the cold war.. But we live in a multi-polar world again... With a reluctant sole super-power unwilling to exert it's power, and no other nation capable of doing so.. We have to recognize the cultural conflict with Islam and confront it. With what? Paper flowers and kind words? The issue isn't with Islam Jim... It's with MILITANT ISLAM... It's equivalent to having some militant reactionary faction of old time Christian crusaders in charge of Jerusalem and Rome, spreading hate for muslims and Jews throughout the world.. Militant Religion must rendered a Oxymoron... Let the spiritual battles be fought in the hearts and souls of man... And I don't care if we're talking about Islam or Christianity (or Hinduism, Judaism.. etc.).. The real conflict that is evident is between the reactionary deobandists and the progressive moderates. And moderates, being rational and pragmatic by nature, are ill prepared to oppose the intimidation and brutality by which the militants carry out their agenda. Hawk

To: Jim Fleming who wrote (39088)	10/3/2003 12:54:45 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 74559

JF, Are you the same Jimmy Fleming I shared Fritos and Coke with on State St. in Freeport, IL in 1958? No? I didn't think so, but the name is the same. :) Say hey. We are on the same wavelength. Re: This administration has done and is doing irreparable damage to the U.S. domestically and internationally. This depends entirely on how you define the U.S. If you define it as an emerging oligopoly and Latin American wannabee, then the Bushistas are remarkably successful. If you define America as a nation that became the greatest success on the planet by creating a vibrant middle class, then fuggeddaboutit. That vision is so yesterday. As Kevin Phillips dramatically points out in his terrific book, America is more inequitable and oligarchic than at any other time in its short history, with the possible exception of the Age of the Robber Barons, Mark Hanna, Jay Gould, et al. ***** Re :On North Korea,we reneged on a deal for oil food and power plants and acted shocked when they resumed their nuclear program. About 2% of all Americans understand this. Thank you for having a clue. GWB is pumping the threat of North Korea Nukes for the sake of scaring the heck out of a remarkably stupid American taxpayer who will gladly pay up for the remarkable excesses of the Department of Death (DoD). Rumsfeld counts on the ignorance of the American public in order to rip us all off for his fantasy weapons systems. While in the meantime grunts who've had their cojones, ankles and arms blown off are required to pay $8.10 per day to the hospital for their three squares. Go figure. Billions for the "K Street" bandits, the tech wonks, the defense contractors. And the grunt has to pay for lunch. What a world. ****** Re: The adventure in Afghanistan and Iraq were undertaken with absolutely no concept of consequences on the part of the administration. I nonconcur. They understood exactly what the consequences would be. Chaos. And chaos is good for bidness. Did the crooks just get an $87 Billion off-budget supplemental for their games? You bet. While the key adminstrators of the Iraqi university system struggle to get by on $4,000 per year, the DoD supplemental is going to pay U.S. Ph.Ds $200,000.00 per annum to solve Iraq's problems. Have you got a problem with these U.S. Ph.Ds kicking back $21,200 per annum to George Bush? No? Neither do I. This is the essence of crony capitalism. And the taxpayer just seems about clueless as to what is befalling him and his kid's future. But it is for a good cause. Joe Albaugh spent a few good years in the wilderness..... Bush campaign chair, head of FEMA. Neither gig paid all that well. Now Joe is about to cash in. On the foolishness of the American taxpayer and the helplessness of Iraq. Who can blame this opportunist? He's just another carpetbagger scumbag like the South endured in the 1870s. The difference is that today the South has prevailed. All the virtues and values espoused by Abraham Lincoln and the Northern States have been turned on their head. To be a real, patriotic American today, one must necessarily espouse the views of the Confederacy. America has lost the culture war to the Cavaliers of Virginia. Good night, Irene.