Cactusboy

You're bucking conventional wisdom by saying they are a good outfit. I'd be careful where/when you make this known in your private life...you may get some backlash from the lemmings.

If we completely left Iraq, then I missed something. We have an embassy/military base there that's the size of the Vatican.

ONLY if it's it's not sourced. If it's sourced you then look at that particular source. It's as simple as that.

Wikipedia itself isn't an all together useless source...it can actually be a great jumping off point to get a general idea of a subject and like cactus said, its only as good as its sources, which can be quite reputable so don't altogether discount it. On this subject I'll say I think that Israel has very little legal ground to stand on if it were to stage an overt attack on Iran. I also think Iran has some perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to obtain nuclear weapons. Ignoring Ahmadinejad's occasional loony statements about Israel we're talking about a nation that desperately needs the security and stability that such weapons would guarantee. Let's look at their more recent history; 1. Numerous attempts at colonial conquest by the Russians and British as part of their "Great Game" in the 19th Century to which she eventually succumbed to in the early 20th Century at the hands of the Brits leading to occupation. 2. Joint invasion by the Russians and Brits in 1941. 3. Overthrow of a democratically elected government by the CIA in 1953 replacing it with a repressive autocratic regime headed by the Shah who's secret police was trained and supported by agents of both Israel and the United States. 4. A US backed war that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iranians in the 1980's. 5. American led encirclement and sanctions today. So their position is completely understandable. Too often, when we don't understand another group's perspective, we come up with questions like "why do they hate us?" Well the Iranians don't hate us or the Israelis because we have more "freedom", because we aren't Twelver Shias or because we let our women read. They hate us because we've royally butt f'd them over the past century or so. The things we read coming from their leadership are just simple soundbites designed to rile up their dumb masses just like we do here. The truth is the Iranians have an advanced society, with legitimate national interests and a political elite that acts rationally given its position. They're people just like us. So does Israel have a reason to attack Iran's nuclear capabilities? Maybe, but they'd have to be sure that Iran would use such weapons against them, well actually for the Israelis the standard is much lower. For them, any neighbor with these weapons is an immediate thread, even if the chances of them actually using them against the Jewish state is quite low like I think it is with Iran. With the Likud in power I wouldn't rule an Israeli attack out, its probably quite likely. The questions then become; What will Iran do? & What will we do? Both of those are much more unclear. Nice to have another person on board the objective truth and common sense train.

If we completely left Iraq, then I missed something. the reason for all those black dots.... thats kinda where most of your terrorists come from and oil

Even a guy like this doesn't deserved to be murdered. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/09/james_m_pouillon_criticizes_fa.html

Which part from wiki do you have issue w/? We can look at the source it came from w/in the Wiki entry. You do realize those little numbers at the end of sentences in a wiki entry link to sources, right?

Ahh....you beat me to it.

0 They are affiliated with the Catholic church without them, those colleges and hospitals would not exist as they are ran and would not get any contributions from the church in which they do now. That is why Creighton or any other CATHOLIC college, or hospital is there the church agreed to them. This also applies to Midland Luthern college It is a Luthern college that you are forced to take religion classes based on their faith. If you don't like it don't go there. This is the same with a Benefit I have at my Employment if I didn't like them I would leave. These are offered to me if I would ask for something to be added and said this is my right they would say I was crazy. Employers SHOULD NOT be forced to give certain benefits like this or the way they are forcing the Obama plan on us. IMO Obama is abusing his power and is making this country even more split than it already was. The GOVERNMENT needs to stay out of Private companies. They need to collect their taxes and leave the rest alone. Pretty sure those catholic institutions get govt funds. I'd say that makes a good argument that the govt can have some stipulations attached to those funds...no?

I made this point in a paper I did in high school on abortion. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/02/08/421018/oklahoma-democrat-adds-every-sperm-is-sacred-amendment-to-personhood-bill/?mobile=nc I can't wait until this wave of nutty conservatism passes in our country...

This isn't about religion. It's about a woman's right to have her insurance cover her contraceptives. Please explain how ensuring that contraceptives are available through employee insurance infringes on an employer's constitutional rights. (Keeping in mind that employees of the Catholic Church are exempt. This is about Catholic affiliated employers.) So technically it's not the church affiliated employer that's giving the birth control. I guess you have to choose your battles and I'm thinking I'm glad he compromised on this.

In the book they say his strategies wouldn't work as well in higher level football where player are faster and more athletic. I'm talking the 100% strict never punting, always going for 2 and such. Coaches still don't go for it enough on 4th in even NFL. ALSO, a huge point made is that a coach has to have a LOT of job security to do this. Bill Belichick isn't going to get fired if he goes for it on 4th on his own side of the field because he has the job security needed. However if pretty much anyone else does that a couple times in a big game and doesn't make it he may be packing or at least he's going to be blasted by fans and media and his life will be hell. Point is...it's simply easier to do the safe thing and punt even if the numbers say going for it is the better move.

Thanks, Ill try that next time.

The Pubs that cried wolf...

Everyone should follow inter Everyone should follow international rules and the US lead UN should see to it that they do. Although the US has vetoed a resolution in the past that said countries must obey international law....so we'll probably have to pull our head out of our ass first.

As predicted a compromise is coming today.

I think Colbert wrote that.

So how did you do it? I see your link had more out of it than i tried, plus the "media" on both ends.

mods - please make my link show up as video window. I still don't know why they don't always work. I took out the "embedded" and "player_embedded" and still nothing.

Actually...I think it's a decent point that if you can't follow federal employment laws then you shouldn't be in business. What if a religion is against women doing any work. Should a hospital of that religion be allowed to not hire women? What if the religion commands that children work 50 hours a week? My mind isn't made upon this issue yet. Just throwing some stuff out there to think about or counter on.

Are you talking about the Road Map to a 2 state solution that Bush proposed and Israel immediately rejected? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_map_for_peace#Israel.27s_immediate_rejection_of_major_Road_Map_obligation

I guess articles that attack on principle and not just on 1 side aren't popular.

Here's some more timely information on who broke the 2008 ceasefire and when. And the anti-Semitism guess was better than wilfull ignorance, which was my other choice. I've seen people with their head in the sand before, but this tack is beyond that. Hard to say what the deal is. Regardless, I'll not be apologizing for what was a simple guess of a reason for this nonsense. I notice, Sub, that you didn't ask Cactus to apologize for any of his shots across the bow. Double-standard much? AGAIN...you are moving the gold posts. Israel broke the ceasefire hours after it started. If we have a staring contest and I blink first...I don't then point out that you blinked 5 seconds later. NOW...if a cease fire it broken..and then the other side hits back, there can be a sort of restart of the ceasefire. But it's still on record who broke it first. Willful ignorance is BIG TIME on your side. You're using all sorts of desparte debating tactics in this thread. No need to appologize for your guess about me. It has zero substance and you can't deny this fact. I also think you need to look up the offical def of the term you throw around. Dude, just head to Israel, join Shayetet 13, so you can euthanizing the heathen muslims so you can live with a clearer conscience.... I'm detecting a little bit of prejudice in that statement... Cactusboy seems to be very insightful on the situation and based on conversations I've had with people well informed of the situation and the little research I have done he has accurately depicted it. I suggest those challenging him do some in-depth research before proceeding to do so.

If I give you the Brooklyn Bridge, that does not mean that it is yours. Except it was the Allies to give since they defeated the Central powers. Ottoman Empire blew up and is now Turkey. When you win a war everything your enemy had is now yours. I don't agree with that logic and it is pretty outdated but the real problem is that Israel is occupying and taking over land that was never given to them. Israel seems content to continue to illegally expand by building on Palestinian land, occupy their land, and kill off Palestinians until they take over all of Palestine. Then i guess you would agree that the US should give back all our land? Here's the problem. They want the Jews gone permanently. Multiple times through talks they would have been given much of the land and Israel would've given it up but they didn't want that. They just want the Jews dead period. When they won't even take a good deal that they have been given i don't care if Israel is occupying land that wasn't given to them cause that isn't the root of the problem. "given much of the land"? Yes, all divided up and w/ many conditions...like no water rights. Hamas, Iran, and the mid east countries have stated they are ok w/ a 2 state solution. Google "arab plan".

That's what I was going to post!