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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tonto who wrote (679906)	4/18/2005 3:27:29 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 769670

France's Middle East Policy washingtontimes.com Excerpt: Herzliya, Israel – Just before the Iraq war, one of France's most impressive strategic analysts correctly predicted that the invading forces would find mass graves and other evidence of the terrible brutality of the Saddam Hussein regime there. Can you imagine, he asked me, what will happen when this evidence comes out and French intellectuals demand to know why our government protected such a brutal dictatorship? But that accounting has never taken place. Indeed, it says something about the nature of our current era that French President Jacques Chirac has managed to portray himself as an international hero while American President George W. Bush is widely seen as some sort of ravening beast. Now France is entitled to having its policy be based purely on narrow and material national interests, but not then to pretend successfully that it is acting somehow in a manner corresponding to high morality, justice, and the benefit of the international community. A government that has frequently pursued policies against the views and interests of most of Europe has been able to posture as the leader of Europe. The regime that has carried out dozens of military interventions in Africa without consulting with any other country or institution has been able to pose as the champion of international legitimacy. In domestic terms, it has passed virtually unnoticed that a conservative government has so effectively managed to disarm the left by its posturing abroad. Although Paris's policy often appeals to the left, it is really rather reactionary, oriented toward the preservation of the status quo for dictatorial rulers and the maximizing of financial benefits for France itself. Indeed, the concept of progressive and humane has been redefined basically to mean anything opposed to the policy or interests of the United States.

To: tonto who wrote (679906)	4/18/2005 3:43:01 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

"Loopholes is a term that people who don't understand tax law use." You don't LIKE THE WORD??????? (Ah, poor baby....) How about: "SPECIAL TAX PREFERENCE ITEM"? There. You feel BETTER NOW? (You know... PRETENDING that our tax codes aren't ridden with LOOPHOLES doesn't make it any less true....) "We understand the laws and use them to our fullest legal advantage." I never said that people were obligated to pay more then they are legally required to! ============================================ As the late US Appeals Court judge Learned Hand once wrote: "There is nothing sinister about arranging one's affairs so as to keep taxes as low as possible...nobody owes any duty to pay more than the law demands." ============================================