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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (62894)	5/1/2008 10:30:49 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542009

Bob, While I hold no love for McCain I find your rant to pure talking point dogma of the left. OK. Fossil fuels - have the democratic candidates expressed any knowledge on the subject or have they simply pandered? Obama at least had the good sense to say what lifting the gas tax is: a gimmick. Does he know anything about the problems that fossil fuels create? Honestly, I don't know. But I do think that he will appoint intelligent people, won't stifle and edit the science, and will be a quick study who will respect the findings of scientists. The surge? Do you think the truce and the Sunni switch might be because of the surge? No. The Sunni switch happened because Al Qaeda in Iraq was arrogant and stupid. They way way overplayed their hand, and antagonized a great majority of Iraqi Sunnis even more than the US. Iraqi Sunnis aren't Saudi Sunnis. Or Pakistani Sunnis. Religious fundamentalism would never find a home there with most of them. That is another reason why Bush and friends' linking Iraqi Sunnis with Al Qaeda was so absurd: they are natural enemies, not friends. I've already had the "but the enemy of my enemy is my friend" discussion with Nadine, and don't really want to have it again. The truce that the Shia declared may have been influenced by the Surge, that I don't really know. It is also possible that they had "cleansed" enough neighborhoods of Sunnis by then, and were sick enough of the civil war, that they wanted a break in the action. But I am convinced that if either the Shia or the Sunni insurgents wanted to keep fighting, there wouldn't be very much that 160,000 US troops could do about it, other than kill a lot of people and be killed themselves in endless and pointless conflict. They wouldn't be able to stop the carnage if hundreds of thousands--probably millions--of Iraqis want to continue it. Numbers would overwhelm them. Unless, of course, they wanted to be as ruthless as we were in WWII, and bomb the smithereens out of them, not worrying about any "collateral" damage. But that would defeat the whole purpose of being there. So we are trapped in a conflict that can't be won militarily and is unlikely to be won politically. John McCain a liar? Well - he is a politician. Are the dems running a saint - or - do they bend the truth? For Hillary - heck - she tries to create truth. "Bend" the truth? His performance last spring after returning from Iraq was more than "bending" the truth. From what I can see, he is either pandering to constituencies he thinks he needs, or saying nonsensical things (cf. the article I posted earlier tonight about his comments on the Minneapolis bridge) that conform to the talking points he thinks are his "strength," whether or not the situation fits the talking points. I don't know if he has always been mindless, but his comments of the past year make him seem so to me. Your post makes John McCain look good compared to a government completely of the left for the next two years. Well, I wouldn't really expect you to say anything else, Bob. On the other hand, I have to admit that some of the left makes me nervous too. And I have also have to admit that control of both the WH and Congress by one party gives me pause. But not nearly as much as a McCain presidency would. And there is enough division within the Democratic party that I don't think that they would do for a Democratic president what the Republican majorities did for Bush--lay down and moo. Both Frist and Hastert said that it was their job to shepherd the President's agenda through Congress. Well, guess what, that isn't the job any congressman or Senator. They are supposed to be coeval branches, not one subordinate to the other. And certainly not Congress subordinate to the Executive branch. The President is supposed to "execute" the laws that Congress passes. It is not supposed to be that Congress passes the laws that the President wants. Or licks his shoes and wags their tail while he or Cheney does whatever the hell they please.

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (62894)	5/2/2008 4:35:04 AM
From: Cogito	Respond to of 542009

>>The surge? Do you think the truce and the Sunni switch might be because of the surge?<< Bob - The Sunni switch was because we started paying them. They have no loyalty to us, and as soon as the cash starts coming, they'll be planting IEDs again. - Allen

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (62894)	5/2/2008 10:01:17 AM
From: Suma	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542009

I have a friend here in the high country who owns a nursery. I called her to order me some special plants and learned that she is making bio fuel. She goes around to all the restaurants and collects the grease. Then she puts it in some barrel and lets the sediment drop. Then she puts it in a reactor...whatever that is...and does some boiling and adds organic lye or some acid. I stopped her in the middle of her explanation and said, I have to come over and SEE what you do. I cannot visualize anything you are describing... However, I asked, what do you think your fuel to run your generators for your Green Houses and trucks costs.. A dollar fifty a gallon... When I go to pick up my plants.... I will see this whole process. Meanwhile the resident who built a home across the river from me used thermo energy.He drilled down far enough to hit warm water and ran the hot water under his floors in copper pipes(we saw the pipes all along his floors when he was building the house and wondered what they were for as they were close together ...) The only problem he tired to dump the water after it was used in the trout stream and we had to stop him. The warm water is not conducive to having the trout happy... not the fisher people. Anyway thought this story would interest you..our energy man.