Election Disaster Strikes U.S.A. - A, No!

Oh OK, and you left out the little part about how their freely and fairly elected legislature voted 48-1 to drop all charges against the USA in the International Court of Justice and pardon all of the Contras. This is all simply more revisionist history from our bitter and defeated cold-war enemies. You also left out the part about all the military aid the tiny puny country was getting from the Soviet Union and Cuba and how the communists were shooting down US helicopters with Soviet made missiles and funding the Salvadoran insurrection. When Daniel Ortega was "elected" President in 1984, far from a free and fair election, the only non-neighboring countries to attend his "inauguration" were the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Yugoslavia.

As for "leaving them alone" after their complete rejection of the Sandinistas in 1990, to the contrary, the USA bailed them out of a very deep financial hole and increased its vital economic assistance:

"In its first action to assist President Chamorro, the United States Congress, although not acting as quickly as the Chamorro government wished on funds critical to its spring planting season, approved the emergency supplemental package on May 24, 1990. For FY 1991, the United States Congress did not specifically earmark funds for Nicaragua, but it indicated in the report accompanying the foreign aid legislation that it expected to provide Nicaragua with as much as possible of the administration's US$200 million request for the country. (The United States Congress also specified that no funds were to be provided for Contras who had not disarmed and were not abiding by the terms of the April 1990 cease-fire.) Continuing resolutions from October 1, 1991, through September 30, 1992, providing appropriations for FY 1992, allowed the Bush administration to continue funding Nicaragua at the FY 1991 US$200 million level, just under the administration's US$204.7 million request. The Bush administration obligated US$262.2 million in FY 1990, US$268.9 million in FY 1991, and an estimated US$185.5 million in FY 1992.

As a result of the actions, during FY 1991 and FY 1992 Nicaragua was the second-largest recipient of United States aid to Central America, behind El Salvador. In addition, in September 1991, the Bush administration signed an agreement with Nicaragua cancelling US$259.5 million in bilateral debt to the United States."

So the end of the real story in Nicaragua was that the USA defeated the leftist government allied closely with the Soviet Union and Cuba by a combination of military aid, non-lethal aid, which continued even after the military aid was ceased, economic sanctions, and the cancellation of debt. Since then, Nicaragua has been steadily building its democratic infrastructure, improving its standard of living, and expanding its free trade with the help of the USA. Your slanted and biased take on the whole matter has been completely discredited. America is not only great but good.

 

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offtopic $.02
I think we should take war powers away from the president, give them to a congressional committee or something. That way people will not vote for a "strong" president, but rather a smart one.
This will cure the problem of re-electing war time presidents simply because they went to war. (Which is, I think, one of the main reasons bush got re-elected)

 

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Of course they sought aid from the Soviets. We weren't going to help them. We were attacking them! Everytime prior to this they had tried to choose their own government, we had invaded! This time we just funded the hated remnants of Somoza's national guard. No other countries would dare assist, and risk the wrath of the Reagan administration.

As for any aid we have given them, it is more like reparations for the war crimes we comitted in the 1980's! Hmmm, desperately poor country that can get aid if it begins to "behave" in way we find acceptable. We bought them off as far as the charges from the world court go, and that is obvious to anyone who isn't idelogically blinded.

I'm sure that those who lost loved ones to the war with the Contras have gotten over it by now though. What's a few thousand deaths between friends?

The U.S. government does what it does out of self interest. Your faith in its "goodness" is only possible through the most blinkered historical perspective. A comforting myth nearly as unsupported by evidence as Christianity is.

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
George Orwell

 

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Who cares,

Bush and Kerry used to eat pie together in the skull & bones toomb and other rituals wich may now be hosted in Dick Cheneys basement

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While not a lover of the Republican party stance in general, In retrospect i must agree that history proved Reagan right , he bankrupted the apparatsjiks of the soviet union.

But then again, the larged blow to the soviets was dealt in Afghanistan by Osamas people (at that time supported by usa) effectively, one fire was put out and another was started.

Most of Europe, (including some not too far rightwing parties) don't have much warm feelings for Bush (mainly because he wants to reshape the world without consulting any of us, those people from rural america that overwhelmingly voted Bush, would probably feel a bit armwrestled to, if they lived on our side of the atlantic), only our christian religious parties hail him as a new moral crusader.

As a wartime president he is fitting, cause he has holy fire burning inside of him, but I don't think history is gonna prove him right, well see....

 

Yes, the Reagan/Bush 1 Cold War strategy was very effective and most of the world has benefited greatly from it, especially Central America. The US Congress could have never made it happen CATO. Thay are beholden only to their own states who elect them. We made history in defeating it and we all have to make history together in defeating the terrorists. Name me a nation that doesn't act on the world stage in primarily it's own interests. It doesn't exist. The only valid question is how constructive are those interests. REPOMAN seems to think that dealing with rogue nations is like missionary work; take the vow of poverty and lay down your life for them and then they will follow. Nation building is a very messy business. It takes guns and butter. Peace, prosperity, and freedom grow out of the barrel of a gun, most unfortunately.

What makes the USA and UK good is that we do it in a win/win fashion, by expanding free trade and technology transfer, instead of the Communist/Authoritarian method of raping and pillaging the resources of a complete block of nations as in Eastern Europe and then leaving them with nothing. We always end up expanding the size of the economic pie for all of those who cooperate. That's capitalism. It endorses free and fair elections, free trade, capitalist/moderate socialist forms of democracy, and human rights.

No one knows how it will all turn out in the Middle East. There are soon three democracies in the region, all of which were created by the USA/UK and our allies while the rest of the world sat around and did nothing but complain and point fingers as they positioned themselves to profit from the region ruled by brutal dictators. Iraq very nearly cost Mr. Bush the election and don't think he wasn't sweating bullets over Kerry's near win. The early evening exit polls showed Mr. Kerry defeating him handily. He is not about to abandon their quest for freedom, peace, and security now that it is over. It's the only way they can retain the White House and Congress.

Rational decisions will be made by the USA in the interests of the free world. Other anti-American regimes there will watch and learn. If the USA/UK coalition fails then the free world loses immensely. Model democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq are the best thing that could ever happen to the Middle East. It was a bold gamble. Only the USA and UK could pull it off in the leadership role. The UN sits paralyzed. Let's all hope it works. Let's work together to make history again and stop sitting around on our arses and moaning, "the horror, the horror" a la Marlon Brando. Life will find a way mates.

 

I no doubt won't change your mind, as you apparently have divided the world into a black and white good Vs. evil spectrum, like the late Ronald Reagan. But it is much more complicated than that. The U.S. does a lot of evil, while professing that its ultimate goals are good. But in many cases, the ultimate good never materializes, or at a price no sane person would pay if it ever does.

As I've stated many times on this forum, government support for right wing tyrants completely undercuts any pretense of moral high ground.

Q: Talk about the relationship between ends and means. Let’s say you have a noble goal. You want to bring perpetrators of horrendous terrorist crimes to justice. What about the means to reach those ends?

A: Suppose you want to bring a president of the U.S. to justice. They’re guilty of horrendous terrorist acts. There’s a way to do it. In fact, there are precedents. Nicaragua in the 1980s was subjected to violent assault by the U.S. Tens of thousands of people died. The country was substantially destroyed, it may never recover. The effects on the country are much more severe even than the tragedies in New York the other day. They didn’t respond by setting off bombs in Washington. They went to the World Court, which issued a judgment in their favor condemning the U.S. for what it called “unlawful use of force,” which means international terrorism, ordering the U.S. to desist and pay substantial reparations. The U.S. dismissed the court judgment with contempt, responding with an immediate escalation of the attack. So Nicaragua then went to the Security Council, which passed a resolution calling on states to observe international law. The U.S. vetoed it. They went to the General Assembly, where they got a similar resolution that passed near–unanimously, which the U.S. and Israel opposed two years in a row (joined once by El Salvador). That’s the way a state should proceed. If Nicaragua had been powerful enough, it could have set up another criminal court. Those are the measures the U.S. could pursue, and nobody’s going to block it. That’s what they’re being asked to do by people throughout the region, including their allies

Q: Your comment that the U.S. is a “leading terrorist state” might stun many Americans. Could you elaborate on that?

A: I just gave one example, Nicaragua. The U.S. is the only country that was condemned for international terrorism by the World Court and that rejected a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international law. It continues international terrorism. That example’s the least of it. And there are also what are in comparison, minor examples. Everybody here was quite properly outraged by the Oklahoma City bombing, and for a couple of days, the headlines all read, Oklahoma City looks like Beirut. I didn’t see anybody point out that Beirut also looks like Beirut, and part of the reason is that the Reagan Administration had set off a terrorist bombing there in 1985 that was very much like Oklahoma City, a truck bombing outside a mosque timed to kill the maximum number of people as they left. It killed eighty and wounded two hundred, aimed at a Muslim cleric whom they didn’t like and whom they missed. It was not very secret. I don’t know what name you give to the attack that’s killed maybe a million civilians in Iraq and maybe a half a million children, which is the price the Secretary of State says we’re willing to pay. Is there a name for that? Supporting Israeli atrocities is another one. Supporting Turkey’s crushing of its own Kurdish population, for which the Clinton Administration gave the decisive support, 80 percent of the arms, escalating as atrocities increased, is another. Or take the bombing of the Sudan, one little footnote, so small that it is casually mentioned in passing in reports on the background to the Sept. 11 crimes. How would the same commentators react if the bin Laden network blew up half the pharmaceutical supplies in the U.S. and the facilities for replenishing them? Or Israel? Or any country where people “matter”? Although that’s not a fair analogy, because the U.S. target is a poor country which had few enough drugs and vaccines to begin with and can’t replenish them. Nobody knows how many thousands or tens of thousands of deaths resulted from that single atrocity, and bringing up that death toll is considered scandalous. If somebody did that to the U.S. or its allies, can you imagine the reaction? In this case we say, Oh, well, too bad, minor mistake, let’s go on to the next topic. Other people in the world don’t react like that. When bin Laden brings up that bombing, he strikes a resonant chord, even with people who despise and fear him, and the same, unfortunately, is true of much of the rest of his rhetoric.

Or to return to “our own little region over here,” as Henry Stimson called it, take Cuba. After many years of terror beginning in late 1959, including very serious atrocities, Cuba should have the right to resort to violence against the U.S. according to U.S. doctrine that is scarcely questioned. It is, unfortunately, all too easy to continue, not only with regard to the U.S. but also other terrorist states.
http://www.monthlyreview.org/1101chomsky.htm

 

Yes, the Reagan/Bush 1 Cold War strategy was very effective and most of the world has benefited greatly from it, especially Central America.

Of course that is based on nothing but ignorance of the USSR and the effects of her own inefficiencies had on her collapse. Do you honestly think that Reagan in Berlin screaming for Gorbi to tear the wall did any good? The USA did force the USSR to increase defence spending but that was in no way the reason why the USSR collapsed. The Reagan/Bush years more then anything actually hurt the US economic fundamentals by increasing debt to unforeseen levels, increasing the US trade deficit, and getting rid of that current account surplus, getting rid of the Keynesian social safety net for increased tax cuts, and increased military spending. In the end which left America with an over bloated military with machines that serve no purpose today yet costs billions to maintain. What did the American ppl get in return? Lower wages, lower paying jobs, only offseted by the increase in debt, and lowering prices of goods by China and India. I would say the world has benefited greatly by the fleecing of America. I wouldn’t even go into Central America, I don’t think anyone thinks that what the US did by supporting the Contras was good.

We made history in defeating it and we all have to make history together in defeating the terrorists.

Sadly history has no precedent for your petty little examples, today is a new war, a new era and a completely new enemy which you so obviously do not understand. You have 1.3 billion ppl in the world who could potentially be your enemy or your friend. This isn’t Germany in 1939, this isn’t a war against a nation, this isn’t a war against a known enemy. You don’t know have a clue who you are fighting. If you think you are fighting Al Qaeda end of story you will lose, and sadly you are losing.

REPOMAN seems to think that dealing with rogue nations is like missionary work; take the vow of poverty and lay down your life for them and then they will follow.

I don’t think that’s what he meant I think he meant was be smart. America is a rogue nation by her own definitions so please stop this nonsense. America needs a slap in the face to wake up to the reality that what she is doing is only hurting herself, and many ppl including myself are pretty certain that America’s power will continue to be marginalized to the point that the centre of the world’s geo-political reigns will be in Brussels and Beijing, not Washington.

Nation building is a very messy business. It takes guns and butter. Peace, prosperity, and freedom grow out of the barrel of a gun, most unfortunately.

It takes something more fundamental, and something much harder for you to grasp…legitimacy. Something the US does not have.

What makes the USA and UK good is that we do it in a win/win fashion, by expanding free trade and technology transfer, instead of the Communist/Authoritarian method of raping and pillaging the resources of a complete block of nations as in Eastern Europe and then leaving them with nothing.

Of course that is a complete lie, when you consider the US is only handing out contracts to nations that supported her in the war. The US like the USSR before her genuinely believes what she is doing is good for these people. I do hope that you know you sound like Brezhnev, communism would bring freedom, equality, and prosperity to the people whom we are displacing killing, and bombing. The US is doing the exact same thing, except that its “democracy, neo-liberalism, and freedom”. But the USSR before her, she doesn’t understand that no matter how good you think your system is, the people of these countries don’t want it. The USA is the new USSR, quite simply put all the ingredients are there.

We always end up expanding the size of the economic pie for all of those who cooperate. That's capitalism. It endorses free and fair elections, free trade, capitalist/moderate socialist forms of democracy, and human rights.

LOL! Of course you never been to capitalist China, capitalist Indonesia, capitalist Argentina, etc. Capitalism needs stability more then anything else, democracy is a bonus prize. True capitalism and democracy are completely incompatible.

There are soon three democracies in the region, all of which were created by the USA/UK and our allies while the rest of the world sat around and did nothing but complain and point fingers as they positioned themselves to profit from the region ruled by brutal dictators.

Oh yes, the democratic rulers of Iraq being the Shi’a theocrats, the Afghan president who only has jurisdiction over Kabul and I do not know of what other democracy you speak of. Democracy is more then just voting at a ballot box, I hope you do realize this.

Rational decisions will be made by the USA in the interests of the free world. Other anti-American regimes there will watch and learn.

They are watching and learning, look at NK developing nuclear weapons with impunity, and having developed missiles to attack the US with those weapons. Iran is continuing her pace with nuclear development and IRBM development rather well. Sorry but if anything the war in Iraq re-enforced these nations resolve to not get pushed around by the US. By the looks of it they won’t anytime soon.

If the USA/UK coalition fails then the free world loses immensely.

No only the US and the UK, the EU would laugh, Russia and China would say “told u so” and India would look with an eye of suspicion. The US is not the harbinger of the free world anymore because no one in this world really considers the US free.

Model democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq are the best thing that could ever happen to the Middle East.

For Osama…surely.

Let's all hope it works. Let's work together to make history again and stop sitting around on our arses and moaning, "the horror, the horror" a la Marlon Brando. Life will find a way mates.

Surely it already has “mate”:

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Do Americans not learn from their mistakes, you see your ignorance and attitude is exactly why things like 9.11 happen. Learn that the world is not America...and you will live a more peaceful life.

 

Osama, you forgot to mention how we are secretly conspiring with the aliens to take over the solar sytem.

 

Very good so you concede cognitive surrender you jingoistic turd? Your screen name gives you too much credit...I'm amazed your not on some form of intellectual welfare.

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I concede that in your ignorance you have already defeated yourself, just as Osama did when he hit the WORLD Trade Center. There wasn't a shred of truth in anything you posted.

 

Merely saying it has no bearing...get a pair of balls and prove me wrong. I shall be waiting...unless you concede right now of course. I am also wondering...excutive of what? The local bathroom at Wal-Mart?

 

Give me a coherent argument with some facts to support it, stop inserting your demented online personality into your debates, and then you might entice someone such as myself to communicate with you. Talk is cheap, but when we drag Osama out of whatever hole in the ground he is hiding in, be it dead or alive, we will see how world opinion treats him. After the Marines take out the remaining terrorists in Fallujah we will see how brave the second team there is and how badly they want to die to try and destroy the only chance Iraq has ever had for peace. America is not only great, America is good.

 

Give me a coherent argument with some facts to support it, stop inserting your demented online personality into your debates,

I did give you a coherent argument, it seems you simply cannot refute it. It seems rather hypocritical for a “man” to tell me to add facts in there (which there are many irrefutable facts in my post) when we have these gems coming from your mouth:

There are soon three democracies in the region, all of which were created by the USA/UK and our allies while the rest of the world sat around and did nothing but complain and point fingers as they positioned themselves to profit from the region ruled by brutal dictators.

Of course anyone with any historical knowledge would simply laugh at this petty assertion. Instead of attacking me, attack my argument. Also three democracies, its pretty damned obvious you are talking out of ur arse.

Talk is cheap, but when we drag Osama out of whatever hole in the ground he is hiding in, be it dead or alive, we will see how world opinion treats him.

Osama is not the problem here genius, this is why you are a ignoramus.

After the Marines take out the remaining terrorists in Fallujah we will see how brave the second team there is and how badly they want to die to try and destroy the only chance Iraq has ever had for peace. America is not only great, America is good.

A military victory in Fallujah can EASILY turn into a political failure, read and learn:

http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=42215

You think that the insurgents (not all are terrorists) are going to die in Fallujah then you don’t even realize what is going in Iraq. I really do hope there are Americans out there who understand the innate idiocy of his assertions.

P.S “executive”, why did it take you in excess of 15 minutes to write this nonsense? God it took me that long to write my rant. I now the see the extent of intellectual vigour you have…no wonder Americans score so low in tests. "Poor Player" the understatement of the year.

 

Oh really? What is it that you would call Israel? So far, you're losing.

 

Oh really? What is it that you would call Israel? So far, you're losing.

A limited democracy, apartheidist state. I am only losing to a man who thinks he is winning, key word here is “thinks”.

 

Bill Maher said that the U.S. has shown more restraint than any other country in history that has been in our position of power. I'll go along with that. But we are not an altrusitic state. You mention that all states are only looking out for their own interests. But not every state trys so hard to maintain the pretense that we intervene for the good of others. Look closely at out interventions. Even the Marshall plan was really about our containment of Communism. It was the right thing to do, but it was done completely in self interest.

But as Noam chomsky says, don't take my word for it. Read everything you can. Read perspectives from other countries, and see if some of those anti-American foreigners have a legitimate gripe.

 

Want to see what prolonged domestication results in?
See USA.

Want to see what prolonged Democracy –or pseudo-democracy in this case- results in?
See USA.

Want to see what overpopulation and the resulting need for central control leads to?
See USA.

It is evident that in populations of equalitarian sensitivities –even if fake- the quality of the majority tends to flow towards the lowest common denominator.
In the wild overprotection and domestication leads to a weakened whole, that is more passive and submissive and also more productive to the domesticator.

Allow retards, morons, imbeciles, cripples, simpletons to reproduce in safety and they overrun the herd with their diseases.

There is one sure way to slow mental growth and to promote intellectual retardation that holds truth in all cultures through all time.

-Indoctrinate the mind into a nationalistic/religious/ideological framework where it is force fed ideas about moral or genetic or cultural superiority that leads to a self-realization through external factors rather than internal ones.

-Educate and nourish this mind on propaganda and prejudice thinking and simultaneously stifle free critical thinking on sight.

-Establish early on a moral righteousness and unquestioning character based on primordial instinctive inclinations that are redirected towards predetermined social/religious/national interests.

-Offer these minds motives, goals and definitions of happiness and meaning and then allow access towards their fulfilment.

-Disallow and discourage the free expression of certain instinctual drives that results in frustration and psychological repression and then unleash the suppressed energies, when need be, into desirable outcomes governed by mass hysteria.

-Nurture any ideal of altruism, compassion, equality and brotherhood that will enable said individual mind to sacrifice self when its, already established, belief system is threatened or told that they are threatened by authority figures.

-Manipulate this mind into hatred or any frenzied response through carefully orchestrated methods based on cultural symbolisms and mythologies.

Do this and you’ll have myriads of morons ready and willing to kill and die for you or the system.

Islamic fundamentalist mentalities exhibit the same behaviours as those of middle-American Christian minds.

Although the methods of discipline and control are cruder and outdated in the east, in the west they have reached a level of sophistication that can convince individuals that the will of others is their own and that they are free thinking minds with rights and privileges.

In other words, where in the past or in more primitive dogmatic systems, force and fear were used with clarity and discipline was/is enforced through threats, in the more modern western system –with the US being the forerunner- soft force is used and subliminal fear is injected into the mind. Here discipline is established by making the individual associate his/her personal interests with those of the greater whole while still maintaining the illusion of free-speech and free-thought.

This has become more obvious in the USA where a vast majority of poor and middle-class Americans regularly find themselves relating to the concerns and interests of Americas rich class.

Also in the USA we can clearly see the effects of religion on the mind and its critical abilities.
When a mind can be convinced of the most absurd simplistic mythologies and readily accepts reincarnation, faith-healing, life after death, rapture, Armageddon and religious text as absolute certainties then there is no end as to what it can be convinced of.
Lacking the ability to think critically or sceptically it is helpless against any idea that repeats what it wants to be truth or that promotes what it feels comfortable with.

If there is a better definition of stupidity than this, then let me know.

 

RepoMan, your comment above is where you have got it wrong. I like Maher but he is no political expert, he's just a brilliant comedian. People who think they are similarly brilliant get into a lot of trouble when they overreach. Just like the last guy, UNDECIDED, who forgot that Israel was a Middle Eastern democracy, berated me for allegedly talking out of my arse, and then upon realizing his gaffe, berated Israel as a "limited" democracy even though it is surrounded by hostile dictatorships. We DO intervene for the good of others AND our own good. It's called a win/win relationship. People who have no experience in this area cannot see that it is all shades of grey. Many of our trading partners are still rotten to the core with corruption so we have to force better laws, standards, and ethics upon them. They need it badly.

An enlightened capitalist society realizes that partnerships with other nations require us to care about them too. If our partners lose we lose, if our partners win, we win. We see the citizens of the world as potential trading partners not opponents. It's really just basic common business sense. Do you think anyone in the USA is hoping that Paris, Moscow, or Beijing is hit next by a major terrorist event? Of course, not. We recognize this because we ARE self-interested and we know we all need stability in the world in order to have global free trade. There is no true freedom in poverty.

Sometimes American companies win on this global stage, sometimes they lose even in their own backyard, but the American consumer wins everytime because we get access to the world's best products at the lowest prices, and consumer spending makes up about 70% of the American economy. That is the very epitomy of a free society. We get wealthier and those who sell to us and buy from us get wealthier. Even beyond this self-interest lies a deeply felt morality in America that accepts responsibility for being the only remaining superpower. Our nation was carved out of the wilderness just a couple of centuries ago remember? We don't back down from threats.

We accept the responsibility as long as we don't have to sacrifice our way of life for those that hate us. So far we have been able to handle it but if the world continually increases its resistance to our leadership it only damages itself. Between NAFTA and CAFTA, the USA now controls a free-trading block of 500 million people living in free and democratic societies, on or very close to our borders. South America will soon follow suit adding another 500 million. If the rest of the world spurns us it will be left behind economically and not us.

Sure, you can spit on the sacrifices of our young soldiers, men and women, who volunteered for the military in the hopes that they could better themselves and the world, call them stupid and retarded and attempt to degrade them in any way possible, but they know they are right about America being a benevolent force for good in the world and this makes them resolute. They know they can make a difference in the world that reaches far beyond the confines of a blog full of the bitter and misguided who can only spout hate and slander. They are getting out and doing something about their beliefs. What are you doing? Sitting around and groaning?

 

You are such an amazing cheerleader. Thanks for the party line. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

But here is a better idea of what is really happening:
Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused.

-- Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, 1919, Quoted by Noam Chomsky, On Power and Ideology, (South End Press, 1990), p.14.

Whatever you do, don't read anything from this site, http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/FreeTrade/Neoliberalism.asp

 

That's how it's supposed to work anyway. Except timid congressmen don't like voting for or against wars because they fear for their careers, so they UNCONSTITUTIONALLY delegate authority to the President for waging wars.

This was actually my favorite argument against the war in Iraq - that it was unconstitutional. All the shameless think-of-the-children appeals to emotion and elitist European criticisms failed to sway me one angstrom.