c_and_a

I have always been somewhat of a survivalist: no, I am not a far-right wing nut or a far-left wing nut, I just try to be prepared in the worst of circumstances. I've read in multiple pieces of survivalist literature that it is often a good idea for citizens of a "first world" country to have citizenship of a smaller country, just in case things totally hit the fan and cause everyone to try to flee the United States or Europe if some big crisis were to take place. Yeah, this sounds crazy, and there is a chance nothing like this will ever happen, but it isn't the worst idea just to have all your bases covered, is it?

I am a USC married to a Jamaican citizen who is a U.S. Permanent Resident. Do any of the yardies here know how difficult it would be for me to obtain dual Jamaican citizenship?

Should have just taken him to Amsterdam.

The delays are due to swine, not flu.

Amen to that.

I am going to do something I never thought I would do, defend Obama (if just a little). When he was running he was just spouting populist BS to get elected. He may have believed what he said out of ignorance, granted, but once he was privy to the full facts he realized that he would be putting the country in danger is he lived up to his promises. Props to him if that is the case.

NO! NO! Say it ain't true! Politicians can't grow into the office!

It does put him in a tough position. The rep voters will not like him for the promises he has kept and the hard left is growing disenchanted with him for the promises he hasn't kept. Reality is probably sucking for Obama right now.

I wouldn't go as far as "reality sucking" for him even though I do get your point. He is assured a second term unless he does something completely unforeseen and crazy.

Yep, suicide bombings are never going to help anyone achieve their aims. This only hinders peace.

That's sort of my point Mr Bill. Outside of the US this story has been in and out of the news for the 30 years of the struggle. Thousands of people have died because of a group of extremists who had a point, but could not bear to make their point in a more compromising fashion. Ideology is a terrible thing at times.

Another problem is that Tamil expats who weren't on the ground to completely appreciate the situation were putting their support and American dollars behind the LTTE.

Here is an interesting article about that: http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/200...iaspora_of_doom

The Tamil people were really given a bad hand due to the fact that the Tamil Tigers, up until now, have monopolized their representation. There have always been bids among the Tamil people for more moderate leadership but the Tigers have always crushed these elements.

And now everyone has to pay for it.

This is what happens when you start receiving the National Security Briefings, Steven.

Janet Napolitano is a criminal statist, and the law should be made retroactive. Complete perversion of justice.

If you don't go to Notre Dame, you shouldn't even have a position on this issue. It is their own business.

And why is that? Me, for example, I like to have my own opinion on many things, even though some of them may not concern me directly. Anything wrong about this?

No, I spoke too broadly. Of course, in the United States everyone can have an opinion on anything they want.

However I feel that it is in poor taste to ruin what is supposed to be a special day for the graduates by pissing and moaning about this.

Plus Alan Keyes is just a joke. The personal hatred he has for Obama is laughable. I'm far from Obama's biggest fan but I have enough things to worry about to the point where I don't have to constantly try to belittle him like Alan Keyes.

yeah, where do I get certification to euthanize stupid people?

When you find a place let me know!

Notice the banner underneath: Texas Governor Proud to Stand with Tea Party Protestors.

Faux at its finest.

Not really.

PETA bad. Humane Society good.

Not necessarily.

There are plenty of Humane Society shelters that are just as bad with their euthanasia rates as PETA.

The next time you support a Humane Society shelter, ask them what their kill ratio is, the time limits of animals over the age of 8 years old before euthanasia, and what their medical fund limit is per animal.

If they even tell you (most try to not admit the truth) then I think you'd be surprised and dismayed.

Personally, I say support private, local, NO KILL shelters. They are often the unsung heroes of animal welfare.

Animal shelters have limited space and sometimes animals come in there that cannot be rehabilitated. What do you expect? I am all for no-kill shelters in theory but in practice it is hard to accomplish.

There is a "no-kill" shelter where I live but they have been known to take some of their less desirable animals and dump them in front of local Humane Society from time to time. So in theory it is a no-kill shelter but in reality...

People need to take responsibility for their animals and spay or neuter them accordingly. There is no other way to reduce the number of homeless animals.

And for whatever this topic is worth, I have a crate for my dog and he goes in there and sleeps on his own at night most of the time, but sometimes he sleeps in my bed. However if it is thunderstorming he leaves my bed immediately and goes into his crate, I think he feels safer in there. I keep him in a fenced in part of my apartment during the day and leave the crate open inside of this area, generally he goes in there on his own and sleeps when I leave and is often hanging out in there when I come home even though he is free to hang out in his area.

PETA needs to stop acting like they can read the minds of animals.

It is a shame that it could come to this. Iran actually has a fairly decent civil society and many of the people are quite Western in their habits and sympathies. I just wish they had the capability to overthrow their government without U.S. help, because that would taint the whole operation.

Maybe we should put these people to sleep, and Michael Vick along with them.

If you don't go to Notre Dame, you shouldn't even have a position on this issue. It is their own business.

Whatever, it is a free country and these people can choose to do what they want.

However I doubt most of the "free choice" people would be playing the same game if a group of white people decided to do this.

In the long run, though, this is probably good for black businesses.

I love living in a city and not owning a car. Have fun paying for gas, suckers!

Ha ha, jokes on you....... you have to endure crazy crack wh0res and smelly bums on the bus

You've obviously never been on the D.C. Metro, it is probably the best subway system in the country, besides maybe the one in San Fran.

Again, enjoy the gas prices.

I actually have been on both. The fact remains..... while you sit next to some annoying and smelly person on the bus/train, I am sitting in plush leather seats. Enjoy the smell.

And I'll save money and have a nice little walk to work every day rather than just hauling myself into the driveway and sitting down again. Actually, the train doesn't smell that bad during regular hours, since it is filled mostly with commuters and not homeless people or anything like that.

Oh, and I don't have to drive to the grocery store, mall, or any clothing stores. All is in walking distance. Exercise is your friend, car insurance is not.

just draw a bulls eye on yourself, why don'tcha?

I am wary of the new governmental regime in Israel right now though from what I have read about them he is at odds with the Egyptian President and is not willing to make another state for the Palestinian's as proposed prior by Presidents. A state for them seems to be critical for peace in the Middle East as it is the root of many of the issues these groups are warring over.

Yes. The new government in Israel is a right wing coalition which Netanyahu formed partly due to his own Likud ideology but mostly due to the fractious nature of domestic Israeli politics. It is very hard to form a centrist coalition there, esp. in the recent period. I too am concerned about the path this new government will lead Israel down. I would have preferred that Tzipi Livni would have won a strong mandate for the Kadimah party in the last election and had been able to form a government. But that is not the popular sentiment in the electorate at this time.

My sympathies are much more with the Palestinian people than they are for the state of Israel.

At the same time, the actions Arab states and the Palestinian elite throughout the past 100 years or so almost as reprehensible as those of the Zionists. There are no good guys in this story.

I have sympathies for the Palestinians as well. Many of them are civilians who simply want to lead a normal life and have been trapped in a historic struggle over a small piece of territory. Their own leadership has sold them out many times over the years.

When you write the phrase "... as those of the Zionists" I am not sure if you recognize that that is an inflammatory remark. The word Zionist is in itself not a bad one. I am a Zionist - the word, when used with a positive connotation, implies one who believes in the inherent right of the Jewish people to a state of their own in their historic homeland after 2000 years of Diaspora and longing to return to that ancient homeland. However when used in the context of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute as a way to castigate Israel (as you appear to be doing) the word Zionist has become a code word for those who consider Israel as a pariah state, an apartheid and racist state with no legitimacy. It's a thinly veiled way for such people to claim to be anti-Israel without being anti-semitic. You're on thin ice using that word in the context you've used it.

And, I also disagree with your last sentence. There ARE good guys in this story. There are moderates on both sides who truly do want to find a peaceful and lasting resolution to the dispute. I'd like to think I'm one of those. It's very difficult and discouraging to be a moderate in that part of the world, since the extremists seem to have a way of dominating the agenda. But if you give up hope, there will be no hope. Millions of people there are depending upon some hope for a resolution. To say that there are no good guys is defeatist and is denying the good intentions of those who have courageously stood for peace and dialogue in the region.

Woah there.

By Zionists I only mean the settlers. I have no problem with Israel proper. Aloof, elitist landowners in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria created the state of Israel as much as the Israelis themselves did by selling their lands in Palestine to the Jews. And then some of them are going to turn around and say Israel should not exist? You dug your own grave, idiots.

You say that you have no problem with Israel proper, but you blame the creation on Israel on a group of people as if it were some sort of tragedy.

So you think it is okay that most Palestinians that once resided in Israel proper lost their land due solely to the actions of others? The only crime they initially committed is that they happened to be there.

I love living in a city and not owning a car. Have fun paying for gas, suckers!

Ha ha, jokes on you....... you have to endure crazy crack wh0res and smelly bums on the bus

You've obviously never been on the D.C. Metro, it is probably the best subway system in the country, besides maybe the one in San Fran.

Again, enjoy the gas prices.

just draw a bulls eye on yourself, why don'tcha?

I am wary of the new governmental regime in Israel right now though from what I have read about them he is at odds with the Egyptian President and is not willing to make another state for the Palestinian's as proposed prior by Presidents. A state for them seems to be critical for peace in the Middle East as it is the root of many of the issues these groups are warring over.

Yes. The new government in Israel is a right wing coalition which Netanyahu formed partly due to his own Likud ideology but mostly due to the fractious nature of domestic Israeli politics. It is very hard to form a centrist coalition there, esp. in the recent period. I too am concerned about the path this new government will lead Israel down. I would have preferred that Tzipi Livni would have won a strong mandate for the Kadimah party in the last election and had been able to form a government. But that is not the popular sentiment in the electorate at this time.

My sympathies are much more with the Palestinian people than they are for the state of Israel.

At the same time, the actions Arab states and the Palestinian elite throughout the past 100 years or so almost as reprehensible as those of the Zionists. There are no good guys in this story.

I have sympathies for the Palestinians as well. Many of them are civilians who simply want to lead a normal life and have been trapped in a historic struggle over a small piece of territory. Their own leadership has sold them out many times over the years.

When you write the phrase "... as those of the Zionists" I am not sure if you recognize that that is an inflammatory remark. The word Zionist is in itself not a bad one. I am a Zionist - the word, when used with a positive connotation, implies one who believes in the inherent right of the Jewish people to a state of their own in their historic homeland after 2000 years of Diaspora and longing to return to that ancient homeland. However when used in the context of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute as a way to castigate Israel (as you appear to be doing) the word Zionist has become a code word for those who consider Israel as a pariah state, an apartheid and racist state with no legitimacy. It's a thinly veiled way for such people to claim to be anti-Israel without being anti-semitic. You're on thin ice using that word in the context you've used it.

And, I also disagree with your last sentence. There ARE good guys in this story. There are moderates on both sides who truly do want to find a peaceful and lasting resolution to the dispute. I'd like to think I'm one of those. It's very difficult and discouraging to be a moderate in that part of the world, since the extremists seem to have a way of dominating the agenda. But if you give up hope, there will be no hope. Millions of people there are depending upon some hope for a resolution. To say that there are no good guys is defeatist and is denying the good intentions of those who have courageously stood for peace and dialogue in the region.

Woah there.

By Zionists I only mean the settlers. I have no problem with Israel proper. Aloof, elitist landowners in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria created the state of Israel as much as the Israelis themselves did by selling their lands in Palestine to the Jews. And then some of them are going to turn around and say Israel should not exist? You dug your own grave, idiots.

I love living in a city and not owning a car. Have fun paying for gas, suckers!

Credit card companies suck. I don't even have one, but I am building credit through other means.

64% is the best?

If I did 64% of my job correctly, I'd be fired in a heartbeat.

Fine by me, as long as 2011 can be the year of the Toah and 2012 the year of the Koran.

What a waste time.