Iraq Elections

[Ravant]

"A continent to fight off" is "isolated and it was strategic"? I guess you must be thinking of when the time comes you have to attack Australia! Or perhaps you confused the fact I was rebutting your "it was either Iraq or the WORLD" doomsday post, because then you wouldn't have something cool to say in retort.

And there are lots of alternatives to oil-for-fuel, after which we could conserve this limited resource for building those things that need oil like plastic. Hence my suspicion that you are in fact a mole for the Greens, just as keen as I am to conserve this precious commidity from being wasted where it doesn't need to be (like SUVs). Don't worry, I wont tell anyone else so your secret is safe with me Comrade!

I dunno, I like driving a turbocharged 3.4 liter V6 and a naturally aspirated 454 cubic inch big block V8. Both supposedly suck down gas and I'm proud of the fact that both are producing more power-to-weight than any car in their class. The Monte Carlo with the V6 gets up to 32 miles to the gallon (if I reallly baby it.). The Camaro gets about 19-26 to the gallon, depending if I'm racing it or if I'm cruising it. I'm sorry, but until an electric car can produce more horsepower and torque than my two cars as efficiently as they do, I will refuse to give either of them up.

[Ravant]

I for one, tend not to trust people that have already misled me. Call me crazy.

....12.3 gallon tank of gas for less than 28 dollars. I'm shelling almost 60 dollars a week out on gas, while getting almost 31 miles to the gallon. I don't even drive that much!

I realize this is off topic, but I couldn't resist.

$28.00 / 12.3 gallons = $2.28/g
$60.00 a week / 2.27/g =

[Dartful Dodger]

...buddhists, shakes hands with some jews, and shares tea with some muslims.

Someone should tell that woman she's not in heaven, she's in the middle east.

[jbox]

Can I just para-phrase this to be clear: Was your response to a post that was *specifically* about being asked how to reduce dependance on foreign oil in non-military ways, that drag-racing is currently more important to you personally?

IANAE (I am not an engineer), but I recommend people who are curious about this topic do more than 'gossip research' next time they are in the market for a new car. Some of the latest hybrid cars use the gas engine for the wussy cruising part, and the electric engine for the Manly(tm) stuff like starting the car and flooring the accelerator. Hmmm...

For future reference, might I suggest a more rewarding target is pointing out that light-weight storage technology is currently a critical bottle neck, so that someone who drives as much as you do would have to recharge an all-electric car at least twice a day. 

[fredster]

I want one of those bad ass electric BMW's like in I ROBOT.

We need those now.

[jbox]

I want one of those bad ass electric BMW's like in I ROBOT.

We need those now.

*cough* Audi *cough*

Hey, was I the only one who thought that the "I, Robot" troop transports looked almost exactly like the "Phantom Menace" troop transports? I kept hoping they were about to run over Jar Jar.


And spherical wheels are yummy, although I believe they can be easily defeated by simply placing the doctor's coat on the ground in front of them......

[SeaMonkey]

5-

[Crazy Cooter]

5-  Ban religion.  It's about time people start having faith in themselves and each other.

War has never been about religion. That may have been the excuse, but we go to war (as a species) for gold, land, water, food, oil, and liberty (or the deprivation there of)

However, we (as a species) accomplish more in the way of advances when there is a level of religious freedom. Most of our math has its root in religious or phillosphical thought.

Answer: What were "The Crusades"... What is "Jihad"... What was the Schmalkaldic war... What was the Thirty Years War... What was Byzantine-Muslim War of 645... What happened in Ethiopia during 1529-1543... what was the medieval Catholic doctrine of tyrannicide... etc.

I should have said "organized religion".  I'm all for philosophical thought.  If we (people in general) learned to actually *think*, the world would be a better place.

BTW: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6913272/
8.5 million votes cast... population of 27 million...

Voter turnout in Iraq...
31.5% - rounded up.

Less than 1/3 of the population of Iraq had a voice in what is currently happening to their country.  More than before (very good), less than 1/3 (very bad).

[Dexter]

Yep. I laughed when the usual suspects were bleating on about their 'over 50%' voter turnout figure.

Even 31.5% is suspiciously high but a lot closer to the feedback coming from on the ground in Iraq.

[SeaMonkey]

Answer: What were "The Crusades"... What is "Jihad"... What was the Schmalkaldic war... What was the Thirty Years War... What was Byzantine-Muslim War of 645... What happened in Ethiopia during 1529-1543... what was the medieval Catholic doctrine of tyrannicide... etc.

I should have said "organized religion".

[Grasshopper]

I think that broadly speaking you're right. But religion can add a dangerous element of fanaticism to the equation.

Look at the Twin Towers pilots for instance. I think it's unlikely they would have carried out their act if they hadn't believed (in their own twisted way) that they would be rewarded in the afterlife for what they did.

The same thing applies to the second world war kamikaze pilots. They were fighting for their emperor who they believed was a god. They also believed they would be rewarded in the afterlife.

[SeaMonkey]

I think that broadly speaking you're right. But religion can add a dangerous element of fanaticism to the equation.

Look at the Twin Towers pilots for instance. I think it's unlikely they would have carried out their act if they hadn't believed (in their own twisted way) that they would be rewarded in the afterlife for what they did.

The same thing applies to the second world war kamikaze pilots. They were fighting for their emperor who they believed was a god. They also believed they would be rewarded in the afterlife.

You are 100% correct in my view.
Ideology is a great way to whip up your minions into a frenzy. However that act, I would have to say, did little to further Islam, here or abroad.
In the case of 911, it was about gold, land, oil, and liberty, from the view of the instigator.

[DrewKaree]

IRAQIS PAINT FINGERS PURPLE TO PICK UP WOMEN
Phony Voters Pack Baghdad

[mr.Curmudgeon]

George W. Bush: "Oops!"

Iraq Winners Allied With Iran Are the Opposite of U.S. Vision
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21679-2005Feb13.html

"Yesterday, the White House heralded the election and credited the U.S. role. In a statement, President Bush praised Iraqis "for defying terrorist threats and setting their country on the path of democracy and freedom. And I congratulate every candidate who stood for election and those who will take office once the results are certified."

Yet the top two winning parties -- which together won more than 70 percent of the vote and are expected to name Iraq's new prime minister and president -- are Iran's closest allies in Iraq."

mrC

[fredster]

...and it further says

"There's the assumption that the new government will be close to Iran or influenced by Iran. That's a strong and reasonable assumption," Khouri said. "But I don't think anyone knows -- including Grand Ayatollah [Ali] Sistani -- where the fault line is between Shiite religious identity and Iraqi national identity."

Get the part, "nobody knows".  Also catch the source - "This is a government that will have very good relations with Iran. The Kurdish victory reinforces this conclusion. Talabani is very close to Tehran," said Juan Cole, a University of Michigan expert on Iraq. "In terms of regional geopolitics, this is not the outcome that the United States was hoping for."

Note his home page - http://www.juancole.com/2004_09_01_juancole_archive.html

Not exactly an impartial source of info is he?  A Bush critic quoting a bush critic.  It's a chorus of sock puppets.

[Crazy Cooter]

Except that "sock Puppet" holds advanced degrees and has specialized in Middle Eastern studies since 1984.  He understood that region before Bush was sober enough to know it existed.

"Juan Cole didn't set out to be a public intellectual. After joining the history department in 1984 as a specialist in Middle Eastern and South Asian history, he focused on what seemed to be obscure topics, the Shiite Islamic denomination, the rise of the Baha'i faith: Egypt's response to colonialism and various other matters that the world at large does not follow on its TV screens. But it's a fact of academic life that if your region of scholarly interest becomes embroiled in a war of strategic interest to the US government, your role may change to one on center stage."

[fredster]

So, he's a degree.

I can't tell you how impressed that makes me. Timothy Leary had a degree also.  If you notice his website, he kinda strays from his degree into other areas of policy not exactly related to the war in Iraq. 

Bush has a degree, Condi Rice is a scholar also.  I guess they just disagree don't they ? 

[Crazy Cooter]

That's the thing.  He studied the area.  He comments on the area.  He specialized in that area.  That holds a lot of water IMO.  It's not like he spent the past 20 years of his life in anticipation of Bush being elected so he could rip on the war efforts.  He was studying that region back when Bush was snorting blow off  his kneecap in the bathroom of some bar.  I think he has an understanding of what may/may not work in that region.  Has either Bush or Condi studied that area for 20 years?  Nope.  I guess it depends on who you would consider more knowledgable in the field.

btw, I admire Timothy Leary.

[ChadTower]

Shows what you know.  Blow is snorted off glass.  It's too frickin expensive to snort of something that is going to absorb it.

[Crazy Cooter]

You got sweaty knees?

[Dexter]

Shows what you know.

[ChadTower]

If you're not sweaty, you're in the wrong club.

[Dexter]

If you're not sweaty, you're in the wrong club.

LOL. Clubbing isn't what it used to be in Ireland unfortunately, so its not that often I'll be up the front sweating.

[Crazy Cooter]

Now what?

[Arcadiac]

http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/content/issue19/features/DahrJamail.php
and
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/index.php

1st link poses an interesting opinion about the myth of "insurgency" in this war. 

2nd link: Dahr Jamail's frequent independent reporting makes for some fascinating reading, warning tho' graphic images of Iraqi war dead are linked, not for the squeamish.
Definitely not the news our media is giving us.  Won't claim his reports are not biased but man it must take some guts to be in the mix, reporting Iraqi opinion and his own war-time reporting experiences.

ARCADIAC!

[ChadTower]

So you have a rebellion on your hands that is dangerous... how to deal with that?  Give one of their leaders full control over your own military.

Idiots.