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Dave Peterson

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Everything posted by Dave Peterson

  1. quote:Originally posted by Kalshion: I'd really like to know how we are surpassing our limits, espically considering that all I see today is wars, famine, disease, hunger, water shortage's, and stuff like that How can you say we are surpassing our limits when those problems are still occuring? ..........Exactly what Im talking about. There is a natural balance for everything from politics to environment and these are the outcomes (not always) but yes. For example I read an article that says the high school generation of today could live to ages of 150 or older due to the medical advancements we have come up with. Im not going to go into details but already you can probably see where the problem would be with that...overpopulation, world hunger, etc... This is just a single example that stands for a milliong other little things we have crossed over into way too fast. Over the last hundred years more things and medicines have been invented than in the past 5000. ....I think we should slow down- bigtime.
  2. Is this another dumb thread about 9/11 conspiracies.... Uh...Im feeling sick.
  3. And Im going to conclude that you clearly dont follow your code as closely as you want us to beleive.
  4. quote:Originally posted by Remo Williams: The only way I see it happening is if we are attacked by another world, such as the Gammulans. LOL! Then maybe, besides that itÔÇÖs not likely to happen. I almost wish we were sometimes. Quality space combat- and not in a video game...
  5. Soback: I have nothing to say except.... It's time to face the truth, as hard as it is. The reason nothing ever changes to help end these issues in real life is because of people who argue against the truth. Then when a decsion is finally made to do something, it is too late to stop it.
  6. Yes, and it is a lot about eqaulity and understanding for others as well. We may never reach this state at the natural rate we are at, simply because factors such as nationalism, self-centeredness, and isolation will keep the world apart. The only way I could see this coming about in any time soon would be through some terrible global catastrophe, and we would hope that doesnt happen. I beleive the only logical idea would be to slowly integrate peices together, like a puzzle. In a physical sense, we would need to combine nations and areas of similar characteristics based on government, relgion, culture, or common problem. Then from there, assuming it is ever reached, we could begin to assimilate each together and diffuse them, logically under the same government. And so on and so forth... A bit of a stretch but by all means doable- it just takes the right people with the most willpower.
  7. Right now its just a science-fiction future, but do you think it will ever be possible to someday create a society that spans the entire earth, where all cultures and ideas can be together peacefully (for the most part). At this point in time it seems a ways off, but I beleive it will one day be possible. I think this is the key to solving all the worldwide problems we face these days and also the next step for the human race towards becoming what it should be. I know it sounds strange, but what are your thoughts.
  8. This problem is a lot more widespread than just economic expansion problems. We're surpassing the limits of almost everything from pollution, population, morality, technology, etc... you name it. I could make a ten-page long list of problems and back each one up with a page of explantions its that bad. The thing is, most people know about these problems and how we are smashing past humanity's limits, but no one is going to act upon them. I think its time we do.
  9. Yeh it was more of a joke... Kinda funny to think about though.
  10. Any dictator who follow Hitler's mass-murder strategy is probably a theat to the world as a whole. Sure, cut spending, but I think we Americans are TOO used to just minding our own buisness and watching from the sidelines as countries blow eachother up.
  11. Here is a quite interesting article I found that says a bit about the current situation of the "Iraqi civil war". It seems to fit into this topic. Unfortunatley the article is taken down from the web so Ill just paste it. ------------------------------------------------- DUDE, WHERE'S MY CIVIL WAR? By RALPH PETERS - In Iraq BAGHDAD I'M trying. I've been trying all week. The other day, I drove another 30 miles or so on the streets and alleys of Baghdad. I'm looking for the civil war that The New York Times declared. And I just can't find it. Maybe actually being on the ground in Iraq prevents me from seeing it. Perhaps the view's clearer from Manhattan. It could be that my background as an intelligence officer didn't give me the right skills. And riding around with the U.S. Army, looking at things first-hand, is certainly a technique to which The New York Times wouldn't stoop in such an hour of crisis. Let me tell you what I saw anyway. Rolling with the "instant Infantry" gunners of the 1st Platoon of Bravo Battery, 4-320 Field Artillery, I saw children and teenagers in a Shia slum jumping up and down and cheering our troops as they drove by. Cheering our troops. All day - and it was a long day - we drove through Shia and Sunni neighborhoods. Everywhere, the reception was warm. No violence. None. And no hostility toward our troops. Iraqis went out of their way to tell us we were welcome. Instead of a civil war, something very different happened because of the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. The fanatic attempt to stir up Sunni-vs.-Shia strife, and the subsequent spate of violent attacks, caused popular support for the U.S. presence to spike upward. Think Abu Musab al-Zarqawi intended that? In place of the civil war that elements in our media declared, I saw full streets, open shops, traffic jams, donkey carts, Muslim holiday flags - and children everywhere, waving as our Humvees passed. Even the clouds of dust we stirred up didn't deter them. And the presence of children in the streets is the best possible indicator of a low threat level. Southeast Baghdad, at least, was happy to see our troops. And we didn't just drive past them. First Lt. Clenn Frost, the platoon leader, took every opportunity to dismount and mingle with the people. Women brought their children out of their compound gates to say hello. A local sheik spontaneously invited us into his garden for colas and sesame biscuits. It wasn't the Age of Aquarius. The people had serious concerns. And security was No. 1. They wanted the Americans to crack down harder on the foreign terrorists and to disarm the local militias. Iraqis don't like and don't support the militias, Shia or Sunni, which are nothing more than armed gangs. Help's on the way, if slowly. The Iraqi Army has confounded its Western critics, performing extremely well last week. And the people trust their new army to an encouraging degree. The Iraqi police aren't all the way there yet, and the population doesn't yet have much confidence in them. But all of this takes time. And even the police are making progress. We took a team of them with us so they could train beside our troops. We visited a Public Order Battalion - a gendarmerie outfit - that reeked of sloth and carelessness. But the regular Iraqi Police outfit down the road proved surprisingly enthusiastic and professional. It's just an uneven, difficult, frustrating process. So what did I learn from a day in the dust and muck of Baghdad's less-desirable boroughs? As the long winter twilight faded into haze and the fires of the busy shawarma stands blazed in the fresh night, I felt that Iraq was headed, however awkwardly, in the right direction. The country may still see a civil war one day. But not just yet, thanks. Violence continues. A roadside bomb was found in the next sector to the west. There will be more deaths, including some of our own troops. But Baghdad's vibrant life has not been killed. And the people of Iraq just might surprise us all. So why were we told that Iraq was irreversibly in the throes of civil war when it wasn't remotely true? I think the answers are straightforward. First, of course, some parties in the West are anxious to believe the worst about Iraq. They've staked their reputations on Iraq's failure. But there's no way we can let irresponsible journalists off the hook - or their parent organizations. Many journalists are, indeed, brave and conscientious; yet some in Baghdad - working for "prestigious" publications - aren't out on the city streets the way they pretend to be. They're safe in their enclaves, protected by hired guns, complaining that it's too dangerous out on the streets. They're only in Baghdad for the byline, and they might as well let their Iraqi employees phone it in to the States. Whenever you see a column filed from Baghdad by a semi-celeb journalist with a "contribution" by a local Iraqi, it means this: The Iraqi went out and got the story, while the journalist stayed in his or her room. And the Iraqi stringers have cracked the code: The Americans don't pay for good news. So they exaggerate the bad. And some of them have agendas of their own. A few days ago, a wild claim that the Baghdad morgue held 1,300 bodies was treated as Gospel truth. Yet Iraqis exaggerate madly and often have partisan interests. Did any Western reporter go to that morgue and count the bodies - a rough count would have done it - before telling the world the news? I doubt it. If reporters really care, it's easy to get out on the streets of Baghdad. The 506th Infantry Regiment - and other great military units - will take journalists on their patrols virtually anywhere in the city. Our troops are great to work with. (Of course, there's the danger of becoming infected with patriot- ism . . .) I'm just afraid that some of our journalists don't want to know the truth anymore. For me, though, memories of Baghdad will be the cannoneers of the 1st Platoon walking the dusty, reeking alleys of Baghdad. I'll recall 1st Lt. Frost conducting diplomacy with the locals and leading his men through a date-palm grove in a search for insurgent mortar sites. I'll remember that lieutenant investigating the murder of a Sunni mullah during last week's disturbances, cracking down on black-marketers, checking up on sewer construction, reassuring citizens - and generally doing the job of a lieutenant-colonel in peacetime. Oh, and I'll remember those "radical Shias" cheering our patrol as we passed by.
  12. No way was it ordered- or if it was it was by someone who should not be in the army because that is against regulations and any good superior would forsee the bad stuff coming in the future for them if they let it go thru.
  13. You have a valid point. While I support the Patriot Act for what it does I still do agree with a lot of your statements. I beleive that the Patriot Act works as a whole but could be modified- drastically in some ways, to allow for a more conventional approach- your solution fits nicely. But considering the amount of stress put on the Bush administration right now, he did the best he could to protect America on short notice and it has worked. Now it would work even better if it was reworked out...
  14. Reading that just made my day feel well spent.
  15. Oh, who called it? What did I tell you: war in Iraq! -First of all: : The Iraq war was not just for liberation, there were loads of other, more responsible purposes. -Secondly: The war was far from a complete failure. In fact it can be considered a major success on the world scale of things. -Third: If you start this argument you are going to lose. It would be best to drop the issue.
  16. I will respond to your questions later because I dont have much time. There is one thing I would like to know. Alright, heres a question. For the sake of the argument, lets assume everything you say about the Patriot Act is unconstitutional and unjust. You can now get rid of the act, keep it, or find another solution to the problem. Lets pretend you are the president; what is the course of action you would suggest?
  17. Yeh Soack, I bet you carry a copy of the constitution around in your pocket, just so you can snag people for stepping on your lawn. Did you write the constitution? No, so why is your assessment of what it says so much better than everybody who has lived before you? I think Ill make a clean sweep over your argument. ------------------------------------------------ ".......I guess you don't know that TSA has the power to take away your Commercial drivers license, your pilots license, ect... WITHOUT any explanation, NOR are you able to challenge their actions in court. Where is the due process when they deprive people of their liberty and property?" ----Tell me, has your drivers license been confiscated recently by the TSA? Have you heard mass reports of confiscations across the country? No, because it doesnt happen. The reason that the TSA's rules exist is for serious cases, like possible criminals or people who are clearly out of line. They cant just go up to random people and take away their licenses- they wouldnt be able to get away with it and it would be completely pointless. Now you are thinking "How can they just take away these things and be able to not get challenged in court?" There is a simple answer. This principle has been used by security and police for maybe seventy years now, maybe more. Police can, legally, at any time, take away any of your rights and put you in jaul if it is deemed neccessary. But it has to be with just cause and evidence against the person or they have to be released from jail. Its the same here, if you are innocent, you have nothing to worry about because nothing will be done to you. Now if Im a terrorist in disquise and if this rule did not exist, even though someone might recognize mefor who I am, no one could stop me without losing extensive, precious time. time in which I could hypothetically blow up a building. Whoops, we're too late with that warrant, better luck next time! ------------------------------------------------- "You want the Patriot Act. That's fine. First you need to repeal those Constitutional ammendments. Then go ahead and create new ones that declare the government as the ultimate entity, allowing it searches, violations of privacy, ability to arrest, confiscate and revoke things, all without due process. Then you can have your Patriot Act. Right now, that act is nothing but a bastard law that violates the Constitution, forced upon us by criminal career politicians with the mob boss on top signing it." --The Patriot act does not make the government the ultimate entity no more than it does from any other act. It is simply protecting its people as a result to attacks and preventing future attacks against this country. It does violate privacy (in a very minor way); it does have the ability to confiscate and arrest but it is perfectly legal and perfectly neccessary for the security of this country. ------------------------------------------------- "The Patriot Act violates the Constitution by presuming a citizen guilty." ---No, you left a critical bit out. It presumes a citizen guilty UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT. So unless you are hiding a bomb in your bag you have nothing to fear. Simple concept. "Then, it grants permission for searches based on "probable cause" that that citizen is guilty" ---Obviously. Whats the point of security if they knew ahead of time who was guilty and who isnt? They have to SEARCH the people to find out- -oh now it makes sense... "Then, it grants powers to the TSA to take away drivers licenses, commercial drivers licenses, pilots certificates, ect.... AND YOU CAN NOT CHALLENGE THAT IN COURT." ----Damn strait. If you are a terrorist or a bad guy- that is the minimum that should be happening to you. ------------------------------------------------ "Here's an example. When TSA was first established, they revoked some pilots certificates. Those pilots tried having the decission challenged. They were told that they couldn't. Those pilots couldn't even get their files from the TSA to find out what information ABOUT THEM led to the revokation of their own certificates. They were presumed guilty, had their property (pilots certs) confiscated, ALL without due process." -Many had good reason to have those certificates confiscated. All had made a mistake, whether it was something they said or done that would have made them seem to be a suspect. You also forget that most pilots got those certificates back after a while and were given a retribution for the trouble caused to them. ------------------------------------------------- "Your Patriot Act gives them that power. Ultimate, and without checks and balances. If you have known this, and were praising Bush for signing the Patrion Act. Then you deserve what you get." ------Ultimate? By all means no. Get what I deserve? What would that be? I am not a terrorist so nothing will happen to me! ------------------------------------------------- "The government that is in complete control of you, not you in control of the government. If you didn't know that. Then you haven't researched the Patriot Act beyong what is said in the newspapers and TV, which is not much besides the propaganda that "...it will help us capture terrorists..."" ---The Patriot Act and no other that has been created gives the government control of you. And it has helped us capture terrorists and criminals if you would remember. Heres a small amount of proof of people caught with weapons. http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=8&...90005198004c2ca I call that good reason for better security. ----------------------------------------------- "Say good by to "From the People, By the People, and For the People" --Say hello to "Protect the people, for the people, to save the lives of the people." ------------------------------------------------- I dont think there needs to be any more evidence or reason than any of what I mentioned already. You keep fighting fact and truth: there are people out there who are waiting for a gap in security- and they wont hesitate to exploit it. And dont give me any BS reply like "It violates the constitution and is violating my rights"- because thats the blind attitude you seem to have. If the Patriot Act is taken away- people are going to DIE! Do you get it! And then, next time it wont be a plane it'll be a car bomb in good old Bay Area California and I hope you end up pretty close to the blast because then you might finally change your mind and get this arrogance out of your head. So either you can give your bags over to the inspectors at the airport and get checked for weapons, along with everyone else- or you can support those terrorists over in the Middle East and wait for the next disaster to happen by eliminating the Act. Because as soon as security laxes, they are going to make their move. Make your choice because next it might be YOU.
  18. I beleive he is attempting to start the whole "war in iraq was a failure" argument again. At least it sounds like that. -In case no one noticed too, none of those quotes came from anyone but news reporters and talkshow hosts so I dont see how it supports any point at all. -Except that the media is not always right.
  19. My sources of informaition do not come strictly from 'propaganda'. In fact I would have thought you would have known enough about me to know my opiniions rarely are based off of the media and I never state my opinion at all unless I have viewed it from every angle. This seemed ligitemate to me. I am by no means one of the everyday citizens and opinionators you know of- I know who you are talking about. It scares me as well- but I am not one of those people. I, unlike many, do not jump to conclusions but review evidence and real logical assessments before making MY opinion. One example is that I would never vote for a president or any political member because of their party but instead from what they say, whereas many (gladly not all) Americans would judge that person off first hand just on their appearance/ party. So before I go and read about the Punic Wars and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, perhaps you could state the facts on which you are basing your argument and then present the evidence supporting it. Then maybe we can become more clear about this.
  20. Soback: I think you should do a little research on the Patriot Act. Relating it to a mugger stealing your money is actually quite contradictory to what the act represents. I find it quite difficult to beleive you were so terribly affected by the Patriot Act. Did they stop you and check your bags for weapons at an airport terminal? What's next in this insane crusade against my freedom, metal detectors!? Save me god! And as far as what Ive seen you argue about your lost "freedoms" in America today: I think your views on freedom and government revolve around total anarchy.
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