Tsunami Survivors Mob U.S. Aid Copters By DENIS D. GRAY ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (AP) - Desperate, homeless villagers on the tsunami-ravaged island of Sumatra mobbed American helicopters carrying aid Saturday as the U.S. military launched its largest operation in the region since the Vietnam War, ferrying food and other emergency relief to survivors across the disaster zone. From dawn until sunset on New Year's Day, 12 Seahawk helicopters shuttled supplies and advance teams fr...
Thanks to recent articles by terpfan1980(on "Politics") and Gideon MacLeish (on "Religion"), we've been informed of Michael Newdow's latest assault on the Pledge of Allegience, a new offensive which would seem to involve others that he has somehow convinced to follow his lead. I've been posting comments on both threads, and must say that some of the arguments put forth by the resistance I've seen are fairly compelling. The debate has been kind of fun, if a little frustrating. However, ...
Can someone tell me why it is that the Democrats who spent the 1990s moaning about the sad state of social security and hoping against hope that someone would come along and do something to fix it, now say nothing is wrong with it and that it doesn't need any re-rigging? All is well, apparently, despite those decade-old predictions of insolvency by the end of the 21st century, which the current administration holds to, as well. How did things that were so bad get so good all of a sudden? Cl...
You know what has been on my mind lately? Saddam was in power in Iraq for what? 30-some years? In that time, he tortured and murdered innocent people in droves, and lived like a czar in palaces furnished and decorated in obscene luxury and opulence while many of his people scratched and starved. He hoarded awesome sums of money, much of which he walled up in his palaces, and he and his family lived in hedonistic decadence to rival Caligula. In all this time, did the insurgents come to the a...
A warning: He claims he was tortured for information while held in Saudi. Can we please move beyond the positives and negatives of torture debate this time? Thanks. Man Charged in Alleged Plot to Kill Bush By MATTHEW BARAKAT ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A former Virginia high school valedictorian who had been detained in Saudi Arabia as a suspected terrorist was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and with supporting the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed O...
~~"and just as a matter of fact the US did not precipitate the fall of the USSR and its allies"~~ ---zergimmi “Unless you want to count the massive military and cruise missile buildup Reagan pulled off in Europe in the 80s that bankrupted the USSR. That caused it and the rest of its subsidiary nations to fall just like the dominoes we were so afraid of for so long in Asia, and allowed the people to overthrow their governments.” The above quote and reply pairing were taken from couchman’...
What, exactly, would be so wrong if we DID succeed in bringing democracy to Iraq, and perhaps then, by example, the entire Middle East? Why do you lefties seem to so fiercely deny that that's what we're up to, and if it is, that we're terribly in the wrong to do so? I'd like some clarification on this point. What's so wrong with wanting to give people their own voice, their own choices, self-determination? Especially after so many years under a brutal dictator whom we supported. If it is...
Let's say, just for shits and giggles, that, given the proper passage of time (after all, anything good is worth waiting for....instant gratification is a nice thing to desire, but it doesn't happen often), say....20 years or so, democracy has blossomed like a beautiful rose in the desert nation of Iraq. Let's say that the people have, in that time, come together and made nice, building a strong, unified country in the middle of theocratic and military dictatorships. Let's say that their eco...
Why do we have to be the ones to lead the fight on AIDS in Africa? Yes, it's a tragedy of truly terrible proportions, but for crying out loud....for years, years ....we've been giving them help, and giving them condoms, and telling them how to use them. We tell them to make sure they use them, or else they could get AIDS. Still, the disease spreads like wildfire. If they haven't gotten the message after all this time...sorry, but cut'em loose. It's a money hole, and it's money we could...
About two or three years ago, I answered the phone at the restaurant where I was working. The woman asked for (I'll call him) John Smith, and I replied that he wasn't there yet, but I could take a message. She told me that Mr. Smith had been selected as a Local Businessman of the Year, and was being invited to come to DC to receive his award. I was immediately skeptical; if you knew John, you'd know that he's no "Businessman of the Year" candidate. I gave him the message, though, and he was ...
The recent edition of Rolling Stone had an interview with '60s radical and gonzo artist extrordinaire Robert Crumb. If you've never heard of Crumb, he's known for his outlandishly weird and often sexually explicit comic art. See the link for examples. It seems that Mr. Crumb left American shores some years ago, disappointed with the rise of neoconservatism in the '80s, and has spent the last two decades living in France. From there he still creates his zinging "indictments" of American cultu...
Among the many complaints I see here on JU and hear from other sources about American efforts to establish solid democratic governing in Iraq are complaints about the infrastructure there. Many opponents of our involvement there often point out that public utilities do not operate efficiently; electricity, for example, is or was limited to just a few hours a day. "Why is this?" they ask; "it always seemed to work well enough under Saddam...why is it that we can't get it to work? Aren't we supp...
I listen Rush Limbaugh quite a bit, and he's always talking about how the democrats and liberals are imploding and failing and will soon collapse altogether under the weight of their own arrogance, ineptitude and lack of understanding. Though I pray for the day when this prophesy comes true, I have to be the one to warn Rush and other people like JU's own Modman, who like to site examples of democrat implosion as well. We've seen this before, folks....but it wasn't us, it was THEM! Rememb...
Alex Trebeck: "That's a Daily Double! Here's the answer: 'Newsweek and Dan Rather'". Rightwinger: "What are: two recent and glaring examples of liberal media bias and the fact that they'll take any wild and unsubstantiated story as gospel, so long as it involves taking a cheap shot at, or casts a shadow on the recent successes of, President Bush and/or his administration and its policies." Alex Trebeck: "Correct for $400! Rightwinger, you control the board; next question!" Rightwinge...
In this week’s edition of Newsweek, Anna Quindlen wrote an article titled "Life of the Closed Mind" in the last-page column "The Last Word". Though what I’m focusing on here was not the point of the article, I took exception to her mentioning of conspiracies and their purveyors. "It’s no wonder," she writes, "after the conspiracy that took place right under our noses came to fruition on September 11, that we have a nation of conspiracy theorists. But everything now is a conspiracy: a right-wi...