Are you an enabler?

Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. ~James Bryce

Mr. Victor D Hanson writes that Turkish anti-Americanism is unfounded. Mr. Hanson then goes on to list a few ways we are currently involved in Turkey, without going into the history of how we helped break up the Ottoman Empire.

I wonder how Mr. Hanson would feel towards Turkey if its government had an Islamic air base in the Christian US? How would he feel if Turkey was bribing and blackmailing our government officials into supporting their invasion of our neighbors?

Then if Americans felt hatred towards Turkey, I'm sure there would be some Turkish writer, like Mr. Hanson, who would be saying Americans have no reason to hate Turkey. After all, we Turks are kind to the Americans.

Mr. Hanson writes about his country the same way a mother writes about what a wonderful son she has, though her son has been charged many times with assault. Mr. Hanson, like the mother's attitude towards her son, refuses to admit his country can do any misdeeds. Mr. Hanson is an enabler, one who enables another to continue bad habits.

Many of us are enablers to family and friends. We think by supporting one who has an addiction we can cure them. We think by supporting and loving one who is violent we can change her.

We enable our family and friends because we need them. We want to depend on them in a crisis. We do the same with our country.

Charles Tolleson

http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson102607.html
October 26, 2007Hardly Turkish Delight by Victor Davis Hanson NRO Corner

I thought (and wrote to that effect) that both the gratuitous and toothless Senate resolutions calling for the de facto trisection of Iraq, and condemnation of Turkey for the century-old Armenian holocaust were unnecessary barbs that would only inflame an already anti-American Turkey.

BUT we should confess that much of Turkish anti-Americanism is ill-founded and derives from their own ongoing fights between Islamists and Ataturk Secularists and has nothing to do with anything the United States has done. Recent polls reveal that Turks are among the most anti-American and anti-Christian peoples in the world, the latter fact not surprising to anyone who reads deeply of the 500-year history of Hellenic-Ottoman relations.

A second point: by and large the United States has treated Turkey well. We support its entry into the E.U.; we tried to be fair in the Cyprus dispute (despite the Turkish brutal invasion in 1974); we offered a lot of money to use bases to supply the invasion of Iraq; we advise the Greeks patience in the face of constant Turkish overflights in the Aegean. We were a good ally in the Cold War and kept the Soviets doing to Turkey what it did to Eastern Europe.

Again, nothing really justifies the elemental hatred that the present generation of Turkey seems to exhibit for America, or the perverted manifestations of anti-Semitism or things like the mega-hit, anti-American film and subsequent TV series Valley of the Wolves (replete with murderous American soldiers and an organ-harvesting Jewish doctor).

Where does that leave us? I believe we need to cool the resolutions, continue to talk nicely to Turkey, send out diplomatic peace-feelers, assuage Turkish wounded pride, hope for the best, and start making immediate contingency plans for a possible dramatic break from this erstwhile critical NATO ally.
And that would mean backup plans should it become necessary to abandon facilities inside Turkey, and seek closer relations with Armenia, Kurdistan, Greece, Cyprus, and other regional neighbors. Perhaps both sides have been clumsy, but there are developments going on in Turkey that are far larger than inept diplomacy, and we should quit denying the danger, or despair that without the old Turkey we are adrift in the Eastern Mediterranean. We are not.
We should never promote such divides, but recognize the current course of Turkish politics is not necessary ahistorical, but may in fact be a natural reaction against the historical aberration of Ataturk's secularism, as European Turkey begins to become overwhelmed, demographically and culturally, by anti-Western, anti-globalization Anatolian Islamism, and thus begins to replay the historical role of the Ottomans - whom, contrary to current orthodoxy, I don't find to have ever been positive for civilization as a whole.

Southern CA fires, rewarding sloth

Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows. David T Wolf

I mentioned in an earlier post that government is the only organization that punishes work and rewards sloth. President Bush is going to reward people in Southern California who did not buy fire insurance, by funneling your money to them. Those people who sacrificed and bought fire insurance, well, they will also contribute to those who did not. This message tells people that responsibility, what most people fear, is not necessary. Irresponsibility will be rewarded.

Imagine if squirrels had a government that rewarded sloth. Those squirrels that did not gather nuts for the winter would get to eat from the supply of those who did hard work and gathered food for the winter.

The local and state governments want the houses rebuilt as quickly as possible because that is some of their tax base. Therefore the local and state governments lobby strongly for the feds to borrow or print money to help out the locals. The locals cannot print or borrow money like the feds.

What most people fail to realize is these fires are usually started on government owned land where environmentalists refuse to allow tree cutting. The government owned land is never cared for as well as private owned land. Then the government holds a press conference, forces us to evacuate our property, and tells us what a great job they are doing.

Destroying 1500 homes by fire will reduce the supply of homes on the market for sale. This will help stabilize home values, which will help the tax base for local and state governments.

Environmentalists think it is fine for a cruel mother nature to destroy all God's creatures, but man should not destroy any. Some city governments prohibit cutting old trees on private property.

Innovation, if the government will get out of the way, will see people living in fire resistant houses, with artificial trees and shrubbery made of steel. The environmentalists will still be angry.

Bilbo Baggins

Bush declares California disaster area

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

President Bush continued to step up federal engagement in the California wildfire emergency Wednesday, signing a major disaster declaration that funnels federal money to people whose property losses aren't covered by insurance.

Bush send he wants the people of Southern California to hear a message loud and clear from Washington.

"Americans all across this land care deeply about them," the president said after a Cabinet meeting convened to coordinate federal efforts. "We're concerned about their safety. We're concerned about their property."

Female scarcity, supply and demand

Ad- For Sale By Owner. Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica. 45 volumes. Excellent condition. $1,000 or best offer. No longer needed. Got married last weekend. Wife knows *!%# ...... everything!

Gender imbalance is high in China.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6212115.html
Gender imbalance also exists in India.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=763013

This gender imbalance will be corrected by the age old law of economics, supply and demand.

As a country produces less of one gender, the shortage of the other gender will make the other gender more valuable. The correction will however take many years.

Imagine the value a woman will have in China as millions of boys become men. Imagine the value of an attractive woman in China who is offering her affections to the highest bidder.

The men in China will resort to the ancient and primitive act of killing off the competition, or working harder to make more money to buy a woman.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/10/17/scisex117.xml

Women will have the power to decide which gender in her womb is aborted. Do you think a woman would abort more male fetuses than female? This would create more females than males, therefore reducing the value of the woman. No woman is going to reduce her value, which is her power.

If there were more females than males, 3-1, males would not have to work as hard and compete with each other. Females would instead have to work and provide for themselves. Females see a good thing in their scarcity. There is power, wonder working power, for women who are in demand.

Bilbo Baggins

Female campaign money contributors

"There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers. I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself and there I take my stand." Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

Susan B. Anthony would be proud that women no longer depend on men for protection. Women now depend on the State "men" with their guns. Women simply dial 911 and the State Men come with guns drawn.

Want to know where the presidential candidates get all their money? Here you go. http://www.newsmeat.com/ The site gives the names of individuals who contribute more than $200 to candidates for president.

I did a random sampling of the gender of the individual contributors. Female contributors as a percentage were; Ron Paul-17%, Mitt Romney-33%, Rudy Giuliani-33%, Barack Obama-40%, Hillary Clinton-56%!

Ron Paul's small government libertarians are individualists. They are geeks and Jeremiah Johnson type mountain men. Ron Paul does not have many female contributors.

Hillary Clinton has the female votes. She promises them they will be cared for by the government. No men needed.

No system of government that punishes producers and rewards non producers will survive, but still the promises are made. Women believe they can be cared for by the government father and protector without having to compromise and negotiate.

I knew men were an endangered species when in 1969 flight attendants got the right to keep their jobs, even if they got married:-), and when- "It is now possible for a flight attendant to impregnate a pilot. (Richard Ferris, UAL CEO)

To read about how the size of government has grown since female suffrage, click here; http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=160530 then scroll down to "Stanford Law School" and click on the "California USA" paper. You will get a long PDF file with explanations of why women vote for big government.

It seems obvious that women would prefer a caring government to provide for their needs. Women may be able to work and support themselves today, or get alimony and child support, but their instincts tell them that their power is in their beauty, and desire from males. It did not take them long to realize their alternative power is in the ballot box.

Females realize they may become pregnant and need to nurture offspring. This basic instinct to see the survival of offspring is more powerful than the desire for individual liberty.

We should be grateful that nature gave one of our parents a desire to see us survive. This basic desire to see her offspring survive handicaps the female in competition for survival. She sees in big government programs a way to partially eliminate this handicap.

Now if males could only find a way to eliminate their handicap, desire for a woman. Can you imagine a world where men did not have a desire for a woman?

Charles Tolleson

How To Reduce Social Security Costs

As the population ages and more people collect Social Security, there will be fewer workers paying into the system. Already the age has been raised to collect full benefits. More taxes or lower benefits will be necessary to solve the Social Security problem.

Another way to help reduce the problem of Social Security is to have a staggered amount based on age. This could be accomplished by not giving a COLA, Cost of Living Adjustment, one year at a time, to the young new entrants. As people aged they would get a raise. Inflation would also help reduce the problem by freezing the COLAs for new entrants.

There would be no COLA for people age 62 entering the SS program in 2009. The following year these people would get a raise by entering the age 63 benefits, but, there would be no COLA for age 63 in 2010. The following year these people would get a raise by entering the age 64 benefits, but there would be no COLA for age 64 in 2010.

After a few years of no COLAs there would be a laddered benefit pay raise that each retiree could look forward to. Something like this, based on a 3% COLA for future years. If the COLAs were more, or less, the later years would be more, or less.


YEAR AGE AMOUNT

2009 62 $1,000
2010 63 $1,030
2011 64 $1,061
2012 65 $1,093
2013 66 $1,126
2014 67 $1,159
2015 68 $1,194
2016 69 $1,230
2017 70 $1,267
2018 71 $1,305
2019 72 $1,344
2020 73 $1,384
2021 74 $1,426
2022 75 $1,469
2023 76 $1,513
2024 77 $1,558
2025 78 $1,605
2026 79 $1,653
2027 80 $1,702
2028 81 $1,754
2029 82 $1,806
2030 83 $1,860
2031 84 $1,916
2032 85 $1,974
2033 86 $2,033

Rosie the riveter sacrifices for WW II

ROSIE the RIVETER


The above image is a propaganda poster of World War II. It shows "Rosie the riveter" participating in the war effort. It shows how women were making their sacrifices to the glorious war. Women never stop reminding us of the sacrifices they made in the great war. Even women need glory.

All our history books and movies portray a nation where everyone is sacrificing equally in WW II. No one mentions that 64% of the "Greatest Generation" military personnel in WW II had to be drafted! Only 1/3 of the Vietnam era military had to be drafted.

Rosie the Riveter posters implies women made equal sacrifices as men. The following image demonstrates the sacrifices of men.

The image of dead soldiers on a beach in Papua New Guinea was published by Life magazine September 20, 1943, 21 months after Pearl Harbor, and the first published pictures of dead soldiers of WW II.

Charles Tolleson (Bilbo Baggins)

Country currencies, weak and strong

Why do some countries currencies become strong and others weak? I believe when government policies punish producers and reward non producers it weakens that country's economy and a weak currency follows. The United States has been providing more socialists policies domestically, and trying to borrow and print money for its foreign programs. All attempts at empire building have eventually weakened the empire's currency.

The following text was written by Vlad Signorelli. I pasted in the charts from Yahoo Finance.

Charles Tolleson
----------------------------------

By, Vlad Signorelli- In 2001 Putin instituted a 13% flat tax rate on personal income along with a 9% rate applied to dividends. And capital gains, which are taxed as ordinary income, enjoy today a slightly better treatment in Russia than in the United States. What's more, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) there is a full capital gains tax exemption on the sale of a primary residence that is held for more than three years. The American exemption is good only up to $500,000 for a married couple for the same term. In 2006, Russia effectively eliminated its inheritance tax and taxing estates between 5–40%. Additionally, according to PWC, Russia's corporate tax rate was also reduced during Putin's tenure. It now ranges between 24% and 20% in most Russian regions.

Venezuela's tax system, on the other hand, is rife with obstacles to capital formation. It boasts a 34% top marginal rate on income over $93,000; a 34% tax on dividend income; and capital gains are taxed as part of ordinary income. Taxes on estates and inheritances run from 1% to 55%. The corporate tax rate is 34%; while for some industries, such as oil, the rate is as high as 50%.

Monetarily, the differences between Russia and Venezuela are even more apparent. At around 24.5 rubles per dollar today, the ruble is now stronger against the greenback than it was when Putin became president in 1999. What's more, monetary officials are correctly recognizing an anti-inflationary benefit in allowing the ruble to strengthen against the globally weak dollar. The Venezuelan bolivar, by contrast, suffered orchestrated devaluations in 2004 and 2005. On December 31, 1999 the Venezuelan bolivar-dollar exchange rate was 648.5. Today, it is nearly three times that number at 2,147 bolivars per dollar. It is on the back of these positive fiscal and monetary developments that Russia's capital formation has really outshined other oil producers. While the Caracas stock exchange under Chavez's redistributionist policies has still managed to gain 108% in U.S. dollar terms since January 1, 2002, Putin's supply-side revolution has catapulted the Russian Trading System Index, which is up more than 645% over the same period!

(U. S. Dollar Vs Venezulean Bolivar)

Vlad Signorelli [send him mail] covers international markets and is the executive editor of Bretton Woods Research, LLC, a supply-side macroeconomic forecasting firm.

How "not" to win friends and influence people

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind". R Kipling

It has been suggested we are a superpower and no one can stop us. According to the story below, it looks like the rest of the world may think differently. How low will the dollar go???

Dale Carnegie wrote a book in 1935, "How to Win Friends and Influence People". Presidential candidates and State Department officials should be required to pass a test on the little book.

We can see men going to the negotiating table. First they are equal. Then they become competitive, then they become argumentative, then they go to war. To be agreeable and keep on talking makes them look feminine. Men want action and results, not dialogue.

I think all negotiations between states should be done by 10 year old girls! Imagine if we could take some five year old Palestinian girls and some five year old Israeli girls and put them together in a secular school where they were only taught skills and science instead of why one is a chosen people, and other myths. A few years later these girls could find a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflicts.

How much earlier would the war between Japan and the United States have ended if 10 year girls living in fire bombed Tokyo and 10 year old girls living in the U. S. had been negotiating peace terms?

Since Putin is standing up to the U.S., it is only a matter of time until he is labeled a "Rogue Regime", or part of the 'axis of evil'.

Charles Tolleson

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer October 16, 2007

Russian leader Vladimir Putin met his Iranian counterpart Tuesday and implicitly warned the U.S. not to use a former Soviet republic to stage an attack on Iran. He also said nations shouldn't pursue oil pipeline projects in the area if they weren't backed by regional powers.

At a summit of the five nations that border the inland Caspian Sea, Putin said none of the nations' territory should be used by any outside countries for use of military force against any nation in the region. It was a clear reference to long-standing rumors that the U.S. was planning to use Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, as a staging ground for any possible military action against Iran.
"We are saying that no Caspian nation should offer its territory to third powers for use of force or military aggression against any Caspian state," Putin said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also underlined the need to keep outsiders away from the Caspian.

"All Caspian nations agree on the main issue - that all aspects related to this sea must be settled exclusively by littoral nations," he said. "The Caspian Sea is an inland sea and it only belongs to the Caspian states, therefore only they are entitled to have their ships and military forces here."

Putin, whose trip to Tehran is the first by a Kremlin leader since World War II, warned that energy pipeline projects crossing the Caspian could only be implemented if all five nations that border the Caspian support them.
Putin did not name any specific country, but his statement underlined Moscow's strong opposition to U.S.-backed efforts to build pipelines to deliver hydrocarbons to the West bypassing Russia.

Associated Press writers Ali Akbar Dareini and Nasser Karimi contributed to this report.

Teaching students to praise soldiers

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry. Albert Einstein

A war lover sent out the email appended below where one government employee, a school teacher, said, "You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it."

How does she know all veterans were and are heroes? One government employee is lauding other government employees in another state worship ceremony.

I disagree wholeheartedly with the teacher's assessment. People are born with a right to learn, whether it is in a government school or under a tree in the wilderness. No soldier is necessary.

As far as the teacher thinking the soldiers protected the rights of students to learn is also far fetched. Who did the soldiers protect the students from? No one has invaded the United States since the War of 1812, and that was only after we invaded the British territory in Canada. Santa Anna invaded Texas, not the U.S. The Japanese invaded the Philippines, a U. S. Territory that we invaded and captured from the Spanish, who invaded and captured it from the natives. The Confederate States of America invaded the United States after the United States refused to allow the CSA the same independence the U.S. wanted from England in 1776.

The United States is so powerful it invades countries, it does not get invaded.

The soldiers cannot protect the students from the Department of Education.

What protects the students' right to learn is the United States Constitution. The constitution is supposed to protect us from government and government soldiers. The constitution has failed to protect millions of children from the brainwashing that goes on in the government schools.

The Japanese soldiers forced the Japanese people to praise and worship the Emperor as if he was God. The Japanese people lauded the same soldiers who took away the people's freedom. The soldiers of Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler were praised by the people, as those same soldiers kept the people enslaved. The human mind does not always calculate correctly. I wonder if the citizens of Myanmar think their soldiers are protecting their freedoms?

On another post I pointed out that people who "serve" their country expect gratitude and adulation. This stunt is a perfect example of what one expects for their "service".

Still people; soldiers, teachers, firefighters, cops, legislatures, (all government employees) are always on a mission to hype their importance. They never cease to remind us how important they are, and how we should support and submit to them. The teacher exhorts her students to be good citizens, whatever that means. I suspect it means be good worker ants and support the State.

The teacher failed to give credit where credit is due. The credit for the students' desk and the teacher's salary comes from private businesses that hires people and creates a tax base. It is private productivity that provides the desks. The only organization that ignores producers, except to vilify them, and recognizes non producers, to reward them, is the State.

I believe I have suffered more harm in my life by believing lies than doubting truths.

Bilbo Baggins
-----------------

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.aspBack in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

Looking around, confused, they asked, "Ms. Cothren, where're our desks?" She replied, "You can't have a desk until you tell me what you have done to earn the right to sit at a desk."

They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades."

"No," she said.

"Maybe it's our behavior."

She told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period.Still no desks in the classroom. By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the desk less classroom, Martha Cothren said, "Through out the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you."

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall.

By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, "You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it."

This is a true story....

If you can read this - thank a teacher!

If you can read it in English - thank a soldier!

A Young Beautiful Woman Tries to Sell Herself

The following story about a beautiful young woman listing her desire for a rich man on Craigslist may be true or not. And the response may be true or not.

The responder is incorrect in defining her offer as a "pump and dump" scheme because a pump and dump scheme is trying to pump up the value of something that has little value only to dump the product. A beautiful woman has value and will for many years. I have no problem with the woman trying to enter into a private contract with someone. She sees value in her product.

For centuries men have told beautiful women they are valuable. Men fight for a beautiful woman. The Trojan War was over one woman, a faithless Helen. Why do men fight over an unfaithful woman? Men will work themselves into an early grave just providing for a beautiful woman, even one who is unfaithful.

The woman may have value for a few years of productivity, but the man is expected to produce all his working life. When the woman's productive years are over, she expects to be compensated as if she has the same value when she was productive. If she gets a divorce because she is unattractive, she expects the man to keep working to support her.

I once saw an old fat woman driving a big expensive car leaving the mall and smoking a cigarette. I wondered what man was supporting her, and what was her value to him.

I have no problem with men and women entering into voluntary contracts. The problem arises when the State inserts itself into the voluntary contracts and changes the terms of the contract. If the State would only enforce contracts between men and women, men and women would learn what was valuable to them and negotiate accordingly, and there would be less conflict between men and women.

More women are in college than men. When will they start earning huge sums of money and be willing to pay for a young man? I doubt if it will be anytime soon. They college degrees are soft degrees. They are not willing to submit to the necessary grind to earn money. They can just sell themselves to the highest bidder. After they are unattractive they can get divorced and claim community property, child support and alimony. Why bother with the rat race of earning money when they can just spend what men earn?

If in their golden years they do not have much money there is no worry. The government will be their provider. Men who earn more will pay more in Medicare premiums. http://www.ncpssm.org/news/archive/vp_meanstesting/

Women will visit doctors more than men. Women will live longer than men and will use Medicare more. Women will earn smaller Social Security checks, but will collect them five years more than men because women outlive men.

Bilbo Baggins, alone

Woman's bid for rich husband deemed poor offer

By Michelle Nichols Tue Oct 9

2007 Reuters Limited



Deal or no deal? A woman's online bid to find a rich husband in New York earning more than $500,000 a year has caused an Internet stir with a mystery Wall Street banker publicly assessing her hunt for romance as a business deal -- and a bad one at that. The anonymous 25-year-old woman posted an ad on the free online NewYork community Web site Craigslist, http://newyork.craigslist.org/, seeking advice on how to find a wealthy husband in New York where Wall Street bankers can earn bonuses each year of up to $10 million. "I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't think I'm over reaching at all," wrote the woman, who described herself as "spectacularly beautiful" and "superficial."

"I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. $250,000 won't get me to Central Park West," she said, asking questions like "where do rich single men hangout?" Recently an apartment at 15 Central Park West sold for $42.4million -- the highest amount paid for a single unit new condominium in New York.


A mystery banker, who said he fitted the bill, offered the woman an analysis of her predicament -- but described it as "plain and simple a crappy business deal." "Your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity ... in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won't be getting any more beautiful!" the banker wrote. "So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset," he said. "Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!" "It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease," he said.


While the woman has since removed her posting from Craigslist, the ad and the response have become a popular e-mail traffic both within and outside New York where online dating has become common place. Bank JPMorgan Chase & Co said one of its bankers had mistakenly been credited with writing the response. Brian Marchiony, spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, said the banker did not write the response and that his email signature accidentally became attached to the ad and response when he forwarded it to friends and it then wound up on blogs. Craigslist was not immediately available for comment, but a spokeswoman told The New York Times that "it does look as if the post was made sincerely."

9 Children Killed in U. S Raid in Iraq

If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

Thomas Paine

We kill their women and children and then have the arrogance and hubris to say they hate us because of our freedoms. How would you feel if they invaded and occupied your country and you had no tanks, air force, or weapons of mass destruction, and, they kicked down your doors and killed your women and children? How would you feel? How would you feel? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL? Have you no shame? Have you no conscience America?

What does the pilot who killed 9 innocent children do when he goes back to his base? Does he receive kudos for hitting his target? What goes on his record? Does he go to the Officer's Club and make a toast to "Collateral Damage"?

Maybe, with sadness in his heart he goes to the government paid Christian Chaplain to confess his sins and asks for forgiveness. The chaplain tells him he is doing God's will. The chaplain tells him to keep on killing.

The violence of war will always be a lure to the pathology of the human condition. We love the death and violence as we look from afar. War novels and war movies are huge successes. They will continue to be successful.

Charles Tolleson

9 children killed in U.S. raid in Iraq
By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer

A U.S. attack killed 19 insurgents and 15 civilians, including ninechildren, northwest of the capital Thursday - one of the heaviest civilian death tolls in an American operation in recent months. The military said it was targeting senior leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq. American forces have applied fierce and determined pressure on militants, especially al-Qaida in Iraq, since the full contingent of additional U.S. troops arrived June 15. But Prime Minister Nourial-Maliki has recently confronted top American commander Gen. David Petraeus about what he sees as overly aggressive U.S. tactics that harm innocent civilians, according to Iraqi officials.

The military statement detailing Thursday's air and ground assaultsaid soldiers were acting on intelligence reports about an al-Qaida meeting in the Lake Tharthar region. The southern reaches of the big, man-made lake are about 50 miles northwest of the capital. The American account said U.S. surveillance confirmed "activity consistent with the reports and supporting aircraft engaged the time-sensitive target." The first air attack killed "four terrorists,"said the statement. The military said it then tracked some of those who escaped the initial attack to a place south of Lake Tharthar. It said ground forces moved on the site and came under fire. Air support was called in. "After securing the area, the ground force assessed 15 terrorists, six women and nine children were killed," the statement said. Two suspected al-Qaida members, a woman and three children were wounded, according to the military account. The military said its troopers "were reviewing information from the scene (of Thursday's attack) as well as assessing the level of damage involved."The statement also issued regret "that civilians are hurt or killed while Coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism."

On Oct. 5, a pre-dawn U.S. raid on Khalis, a Shiite city north ofBaghdad, killed 25 people when U.S. troops called in airstrikes aftermeeting a fierce barrage while hunting suspected smugglers of armsfrom Iran to Baghdad. Village leaders said the victims includedcivilians, but the military insisted the 25 killed were militants.

Privatize driver license examiners

For many years I have renewed my driver's license in California through the mail. After age 70 when my license came up for renewal I was required to go the Department of Motor Vehicle office in person and take a written and vision exam. Seems reasonable.

I made an appointment online and printed out the information. It even told me which window to go to upon arrival.

I arrived on my appointment date and took the eye exam and failed in my right eye. The agent told me I could continue to take the written, get photographed and fingerprinted, and if I passed the written I could get a 60 day temporary license. Since I failed the vision test I would need to take Form 962 to a vision specialist for an eye exam. I would bring the results of the exam back to the DMV and be required to take a road test.

I took the 962 form, did the written exam, was photographed and fingerprinted, and received my 60 day temporary license. That all took only 30 minutes. I was impressed with how "The Terminator" was running the California DMV.

I saw a vision specialist. He filled out the form and gave me a new prescription for glasses which improved my vision in my right eye.

Now I prepared for the road test. I could not make a road test appointment online. I had to call a toll free number and go through a long and confusing menu before talking to a person to make an appointment. The first appointment I could get was two weeks away!

While waiting for my road test appointment I practiced driving by the rules of the road as given in the California Drivers Handbook. http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/pubs.htm It soon became apparent to me that all drivers break some rules of the road by the time they drive a few blocks in an urban area. When stopping behind another car you must be able to see the rear wheels of the other car. Always look backwards when backing or changing lanes, and many other rules. Still I practiced and tried to break some old driving habits.

One day I thought I would explore using a private driving instructor to see if there was anything I might have missed. I called a private instructor listed in the yellow pages to make an appointment. No two week wait here! He said he could come to my house at 3 p.m. that day for two hours of instructions, for $60. He would show me the streets the State examiners use. I said come on out.

He arrived early and away we went. He showed me all the streets I would drive during the test and any places I might make an error. He showed me where to park at the DMV office, where to go, checked my car for lights, etc. It was two hours well spent.

I showed up for my road test at my appointed time, with my new and stronger glasses. As a curiosity I asked if I could retake the eye exam since I had new glasses. Sure, she said. I took the vision test and passed. No road test required. My temporary license was extended for another 60 days. The permanent plastic license will be mailed to me. Because there is a small cataract in my right eye as shown by the vision specialist exam, my license is only good for 2 years. Cataracts can change.

I wonder why the private driving instructor could not be a designated examiner? He was very through, quick and efficient, and courteous. The government employees at the DMV were polite, but, I knew I had to treat them with courtesy because they were in control. With the private instructor, I felt like I was in control. I could cancel the driving lesson at any time if he was rude. The free market is a beautiful thing to the customer.

The Federal Aviation Administration allows non government employed pilots to give pilot flight exams. The private examiners give pilot tests just like federal examiners. There is no reason private examiners could not give road tests to drivers. The State could oversee the private examiners. Poor people could still use the state examiners. The State charged me $27 for the license renewal, including a road test if necessary. People who are in a hurry could have the private examiner come to their house for a fee.

Charles Tolleson

God is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens

"I once wanted to become an atheist but I gave up . . . they have no holidays". Henny Youngman

Christopher Hitchens' book, God is Not Great has been a best seller. Hitchens delivers a scathing attack on religion.

This is not the only book in recent years to attack religion. The most interesting thing about this book is that it could be published and receive so much publicity. I doubt if any publisher would have published the book in 1950. I also doubt any book store would have stocked the book in 1950.

Why the change in attitudes toward religion from 50 years ago? I think the conflicts in the Middle East and the terrorists attacks of 9/11 have exposed the extremism of religion. Moderate believers in the west are seeing that radical Islam is a danger to individual freedom. The off shoot of seeing the dangers of radical Islam also exposes the dangers of radical Christianity. People are being made aware of the violent history of fundamental Christianity. People are starting to realize religion; Zionism, Christianity, and Islam are the base causes of conflicts in the Middle East.

Hitchens', God is Not Great, not only attacks Christians' God, but the Muslims' God. The idea that God is not great will spread to the Arab world. This is just one more crack in the armor of religion.

The religion of State has not been harmed as much as the religion of God. The armor of the State religion is still intact. Many socialists and communist still worship at the altar of the State Church. The deacons of the State Church promise heaven here on earth. No need to wait for death. All one has to do is contribute to the State Church, pledge allegiance, and submit.

Bilbo Baggins

Kurds Tackle Honor Killings

"Time makes more converts than reason". Thomas Paine.

Time seems to speed up when technology helps spread ideas.

What we are seeing by this story (below) from Iraq about the Kurds trying to eliminate honor killings is an example of how cultures change. Changing the culture of permitting human sacrifices to the gods took many years to be eliminated.

Change in the Muslim world is a threat to the Luddites. New and younger generations question the old ways. Some of the young will learn the old ways and not change. Change will be made by the young people who rebel and strike out on their own, like the young American generation of the 60s. In a free society each new generation wants their own identity, purpose and glory. If necessary they want their own victim status.

The old cling to what they have always believed, the young ask why. It is difficult to change after believing something your whole life. To do so would mean you have been living a lie your whole life.

Technology changed the culture in America. It allowed women to vote. Technology of; radio, air-conditioning, power steering, elevators, and most of all, the birth control pill, allowed women to change the society. These same technologies are now invading the Muslim world through cell phones and the Internet. Change will come slowly to them, but change will come, and change is what people fear, even if it is in their own families.

Changes happen because people realize feelings and emotions are not always logical. They unknowingly and slowly realize their ancestors acted with violence based on nothing but their feelings.

The Kurdish attempt to eliminate honor killings is one more crack in the armor of religion.

Charles Tolleson
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Kurds tackle 'honor killings' of women
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA,
Associated Press Writer Oct 6, 2007

She is 18, unmarried and eight months pregnant. She hates it when the baby shifts and kicks in her womb."I don't hate the child," she said. "But the movements keep reminding me of my past." After she gives birth in secrecy, she will give up her child for what she describes as her family's honor. Then she will travel home to the Kurdish area of northwestern Iran to find a husband who knows nothing of her story. Secrecy is essential, because in her world, a child out of wedlock can lead to an "honor killing" - her murder by a relative to protect her family's honor. So she is known in this city only as Banaz, a nickname.

Tarza, 22, also uses a nickname. She sits on a sofa and weeps, wiping her nose with her leopard print head scarf. She gave birth out of wedlock in 2003, a few months after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, and says her male-dominated clan wanted to kill her for sullying their reputation. Tarza, an Iraqi Kurd, said the threats persist. She lives alone with help from a women's center that arranged for an Iranian family in Sweden to adopt her child. "I don't want to see the child," Tarza said, her face taut. Honor killings, driven by the view that a family's honor is paramount, are an ancient tradition associated with Kurdish regions of Iraq, Iran and Turkey as well as tribal areas in Pakistan and some Arab societies.

While the rest of Iraq is preoccupied with the violence that has followed the U.S. invasion of 2003, the more peaceful Kurdish enclave of the country stands out in its attitude to honor killings. Here, officials who long ignored this explosive and deeply personal issue of family pride are seeking to curb the murders. Civic activists welcome the regional government's condemnations of the custom and warnings of tough penalties, but say much more education and law enforcement is needed.

This year, the British government arranged for a delegation of Iraqi Kurds to travel to Pakistan to talk with officials there about their experience in combating the brutal tradition. Some reports cite several hundred honor killings or related suicides a year in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has more than 4 million people. But there are no reliable statistics for a crime that is difficult to prove without effective law enforcement and the cooperation of tribal communities.

The number of women who committed suicide by setting them selves onfire increased from 36 in 2005 to 133 in 2006, while the murder of women rose from four to 17, according to a report by Kurdistan's human rights ministry. The report makes no specific reference to honor killing. But one theory circulating in Kurdistan is that because penalties for murder have been stiffened, more men are resorting to coercing women into killing themselves. In 2002, Kurdistan's parliament revoked Iraqi laws that allowed defendants to be cleared or treated leniently in the case of an honor killing. These laws, it is believed, were instituted by Saddam Husse into curry favor with traditionalists.

"Killing under the pretext of protecting honor is murder," the region's prime minister, Nechirvan Barzani, said in July. Another reason for the changing attitude could be the Western influences that have taken root here since the enclave - the Iraqi part of a historical Kurdish homeland stretching from eastern Turkey to western Iran - became a Western protectorate following the 1991 Gulf War. "Western culture is growing here and is in contradiction with the oldtradition that honor is something sacred," said Runak Faraj, head of the Rewan women's center in Sulaimaniyah, one of Iraqi Kurdistan's twomain cities. She said the values of the young are clashing with tradition, which maintains that pregnancy before marriage or an extramarital affair can be grounds for killing a woman, or pressuring her to commit suicide. Even the hint of a teenage romance lacking elders' approval can mean death. Women in Iranian Kurdistan appear freer than in Iraq, able to go out unchaperoned with boyfriends, which suggests Banaz will have an easier time than the Iraqi, Tarza. Banaz got pregnant in Iran after her boyfriend invited her to a party,and five months later she told one of her four sisters. They asked doctors to abort Banaz's child, but were refused. Banaz knew the stigma would stain her two married sisters, and make it hard for her unmarried sisters to find husbands. She tried to commit suicide by throwing herself from the top floor of her home, but a sister restrained her. She overdosed on pills but vomited them up. She considered dousing herself in gasoline."Burning was the final option. I was too scared to do it," Banaz said in an interview at the Rewan center. She spoke softly, but with confidence, and smiled easily. Her father found out and sent her to Iraqi Kurdistan, ostensibly on a study trip, but the doctor she consulted in Sulaimaniyah refused to perform an abortion. She found refuge in Faraj's center, and will give birth by Caesarean section. Faraj will search for an adoptive family.

Banaz's family calls her twice a month."I think more rationally than emotionally because it's only one child. My home, my family, my history is in Iran. I have decided not to think about the child anymore," Banaz said. "I have to show that nothing happened. I have to change what's in my mind."

National Fallen Firefighters Memorial

A good politician under democracy is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
H. L. Mencken

President Bush, the Mourner in Chief, visited the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial http://www.firehero.org/index1.aspx?BD=7703 on October 7 to honor fallen firefighters. President Bush, and other politicians, must do this to solicit the vote of AFSCME (The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees). Their 1.4 million members are a powerful political force.

The memorial was created by congress in 1981 with taxpayer money. Why are the memorials for government employees funded by the taxpayer while most private memorial are funded by private funds? Where in the constitution does congress have the authority to use your money to fund memorials for state government employees?

Congress has not created a memorial for the fallen private sector truck drivers that deliver our goods. No where is there a memorial for the fallen private sector deep sea fishermen that catch fish for us. No where is there a memorial for the fallen private sector construction workers who build our shelter. No where is there a memorial for the private fallen farmers who grew our food.

The firefighters have a monopoly providing a service. They also vote for the people who approve their pay and benefits. Imagine the pay of employees of a private company if those employees could vote and elect the company CEO. Of course a private company would soon go broke because of competition. The firefighters have no competition.

Check out the salary and benefits of the Jacksonville, FL firefighters. http://www.coj.net/Departments/Fire+and+Rescue/Employment/Salary+and+Benefits.htm Most firefighters can retire with 60% of their pay after only 20 years of service. If they work 30 years they can collect 80%. After 20 years a firefighter will be young enough to collect 60% of their pay, with a COLA, and start a new career in another field.

Private Citizen John Doe

The two faces of religion

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true. [paraphrased] Buddha

Mr. Raymond Ibrahim writes that the motivation of Al Qaeda to attack the west is the ideology of Islam, hate infidels, as much as it is our foreign policy. Some excerpts are appended below.

I agree that radials in religion have an ideology. Most of these ideologies of religions have often been supported by realism. Religions have always needed something to hate. Early Christian leaders created the Devil to have something to hate. Good vs. evil. Al Qaeda's ideology would be weakened if there were no infidels.

The realism of our foreign policy does help Al Qaeda recruit young members who are already enthralled with the ideology of Islam. Mr. Ibrahim seems to imply that Al Qaeda attacks the U. S. because we are infidels. That logic does not explain why Al Qaeda does not attack other infidel countries that are easier targets, such as Mexico. It is much easier for angry young Muslims to direct their ideology at the infidels who invade and occupy their country, kill and maim their families, than to those who do not.

Charles Tolleson

http://chronicle.com/subscribe/login?url=/weekly/v54/i04/04b01301.htm

October 3, 2007
The Two Faces of Al Qaeda, by Raymond Ibrahim
Chronicle for Higher Education

From the start, the Internet - unregulated, uncensored, unfettered - has been Al Qaeda's primary mouthpiece. Then, as now, whenever Al Qaeda has wanted to communicate with the West, it has posted videotaped messages, some complete with English subtitles.After the events of 9/11, my increased interest in Arabic language and history led me to enroll in Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. Before and during my studies at Georgetown, I avidly read any and all posted Al Qaeda messages. The group's motivation seemed clear enough: retaliation. According to its widely disseminated statements, the West in general and the United States in particular had been - overtly and covertly - oppressing and exploiting the Islamic world. The accusations included: unqualified U.S. support for Israel at the expense of Palestinians; deaths of Iraqi children due to U.N. sanctions; U.S. support for dictatorial regimes in the Muslim world; and, most recently, Western occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Every single message directed to the West by Al Qaeda includes most of these core grievances, culminating with the statement that it is the Islamic world's duty to defend itself.

As to the relationship between Muslims and infidels, this is summarized by the Most High's Word: "We renounce you. Enmity and hate shall forever reign between us - till you believe in Allah alone."

So there is an enmity, evidenced by fierce hostility from the heart. And this fierce hostility - that is, battle - ceases only if the infidel submits to the authority of Islam, or if his blood is forbidden from being shed, or if Muslims are at that point in time weak and incapable. But if the hate at any time extinguishes from the heart, this is great apostasy! Allah Almighty's Word to his Prophet recounts in summation the true relationship: "O Prophet! Wage war against the infidels and hypocrites and be ruthless. Their abode is hell - an evil fate!" Such, then, is the basis and foundation of the relationship between the infidel and the Muslim. Battle, animosity, and hatred - directed from the Muslim to the infidel - is the foundation of our religion. And we consider this a justice and kindness to them. Bin Laden goes so far as to say that the West's purported hostility toward Islam is wholly predicated on Islam's innate hostility toward the rest of the world, contradicting his own propaganda: "The West is hostile to us on account of ... offensive jihad."

As Butt puts it: The main reason why radicals have managed to increase their following is because most Muslim institutions in Britain just don't want to talk about theology. They refuse to broach the difficult and often complex truth that Islam can be interpreted as condoning violence against the unbeliever - and instead repeat the mantra that Islam is peace and hope that all of this debate will go away. When news of The Al Qaeda Reader leaked to the press in 2005, some on the left questioned whether the book would be a pseudo-scholarly attempt to demonize Muslims. Others on the right worried that unfiltered exposure to the radical beliefs and propaganda of bin Laden and his cohorts might unintentionally lead to more converts or sympathizers.My reply is simply this: Whatever one's position in regard to the "war on terror," understanding the ideas of our enemy is both a practical necessity in wartime and a fundamental liberal value.

It is my hope that both sides in this bitter debate will profit from a deeper acquaintance with these works. In any case, it simply will not do to dismiss Al Qaeda as an irrational movement without ideas.

Raymond Ibrahim is the editor of the Al-Qaeda Reader, translations of religious texts and propaganda.

Driving cars in the 1950s

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. Charles Kuralt, On the Road With Charles Kuralt

I remember fender skirts. What a pain. They were on our first car, a 1951 two door V-6, stick shift, Chevrolet. No radio or anything else, just a cheap water heater under the glove compartment. $1600 dollars out the door for the car. The average annual salary in 1950 was around $3,000. A loaf of bread cost 15 cents.

Shortly before we bought the car we were using a pickup on the farm. The road by our house was dirt and it was being graded and paved. During rains many people would get stuck. As a teen I would take the farm tractor and pull them out.

A "big shot" was in a hurry when he got stuck. I pulled him out and he was so happy he gave me a $5 tip, which was a fortune to me around 1950.

One day mom saw a female neighbor drive by on the recently paved road. She was astounded that a woman was driving! Soon after we bought our car, mom learned to drive.

Most women did not drive because automobiles did not have power steering, automatic shift, an electric starter, and other conveniences. I remember many times watching my dad hand crank our pickup in the late 30s because batteries were charged with a generator instead of an alternator. An alternator allows the battery to be charged while the engine is idling. Battery life and quality was not what it is today. Imagine how important the electric starter, alternators and reliable batteries are to our economy and life styles.

Prior to 1950 many roads were dirt, often muddy from rains. Automobiles would get stuck. Men would be out in the mud trying to get the automobile unstuck, while the women stayed inside, if it was raining. Tires with rubber inner tubes would often go flat. Many motorists carried their own patch kits to repair inner tubes.

There was a time in the 1950s when driving was fun. Roads were not crowded. The population was almost half of what it is in 2007.

Automobiles improved in style and comfort and were heavily advertised on the new television. Many roads, like the one by our farm, were paved. President Eisenhower started our Interstate Highways. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/homepage.cfm People would go for a Sunday afternoon drive with the family.

Compare driving then to now. Today people are in a hurry. They are shopping for more stuff. They have urgent errands to do, but not important errands. Road rudeness and road rage are common. The big cars today are seen as weapons for the driver.

Young drivers of today missed the glory days of automobile driving. Road transportation today is more reliable, but less enjoyable. However, when the young drivers of today reach old age, they will look back on their young driving years as the glory years of driving.

Prior to the automobile, transportation to the polling places contributed to the absence of women's right to vote. Women were often pregnant and/or nursing babies by breast feeding. Getting on a horse, or in a wagon, to go to the voting areas in inclement weather was inconvenient. Polling places were often a place of drunken activity. They were not considered a place for a lady.

Charles Tolleson

Could the Korean War have been avoided?

They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth. -Plato, (427-347 BCE)

The 2 Koreas are talking and negotiating. Could they have done the same thing in 1950 and avoided the Korean war? Could the 2 Vietnams have negotiated and avoided the Vietnam war? Could Europe have negotiated a European Union with a common Euro currency a thousand years ago and avoided turning Europe into a vast cemetery of war dead?

Will we be asking the same thing about the current conflict with Islam and the Arabs a hundred years from now? Will future generations of Muslims be ashamed at their gullibility to be suicide bombers, as the Japanese are about their kamikaze roles for the Emperor in WW II?

The answers to these questions are yes. Most wars are preventable. When goods and services cross borders in trade, armies do not.

A worse evil than war is old men who start unnecessary wars.

Bilbo Baggins
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http://tinyurl.com/2wc6dx
2 Koreas sign summit declaration
By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer Oct 4 2007

The leaders of North and South Korea pledged Thursday to seek a peace treaty to replace the Korean War's 1953 cease-fire and expand projects to reduce tension across the world's last Cold War frontier.The pact came a day after a deal at China-hosted arms talks among North Korea, the U.S. and other regional powers, in which Pyongyang promised to disable its main nuclear facilities and fully declare its nuclear programs by Dec. 31.The move would be the biggest step North Korea has taken to scale back its nuclear ambitions after decades of seeking to develop the world's deadliest weapons. President Bush hailed it as a key for "peace and prosperity" in northeast Asia.It was followed by the bilateral agreement capping three days of meetings in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. The two men "agreed to closely cooperate to end military hostility and ensure peace and easing of tension on the Korean peninsula," according to a joint statement.

Associated Press writers Burt Herman, Hyung-jin Kim and Kwang-tae Kim contributed to this report.

Firefighters not living up to their contract

The story below indicates firefighters are reluctant to risk their lives to save property because homeowners have not removed fire hazards from around their property.


The firefighters have a monopoly. The homeowners are forced to pay taxes that pay for fire protection. The buyer of that protection is entitled to the protection contracted for. If the firefighters, paid by the state, want to change the terms of the contract with the home owner, I can understand. However, they should give back the money paid them to the home owners and allow the home owners to shop for other fire protection with a private contractor who might accept the home owner's terms.

Charles Tolleson (Bilbo Baggins)



Firefighters hesitating to risk lives
Officials growing reluctant to risk lives for homes owners
The Associated Press Oct 2, 2007


SALT LAKE CITY - Fueled by drought and development, wildfires in the West are getting bigger and more aggressive, creating conditions so dangerous that fire bosses are increasingly reluctant to risk lives saving houses — particularly if the owners have done nothing to protect their property.


From Southern California to Montana, seven firefighters have died this year battling blazes that have destroyed more than 400 houses — a dramatic increase from last year.


The firefighters’ job has been made more hazardous by an onslaught of houses and vacation cabins being built across the rugged West — some of them inside national forests. An estimated 8.6 million houses have been built within 30 miles of a national forest since 1982.


“There’s the frustration of knowing these people aren’t taking care of their home, and why do we have to do it?” said John Watson, a Fairfield, Mont., firefighting contractor who uses a 750-gallon fire engine to protect remote houses. “I’ve asked them, ‘Do you understand the danger?’ There isn’t a whole lot that needs to be done to mitigate the threat, but they won’t do it. They say: ‘I’d rather have my cabin burn down with the trees than have you cut some down.”’

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21102611/

Serving your country

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! Albert Einstein

General Peter Pace recently retired from the U. S. Marine Corp. He said he has been proud to serve his country.

Why would someone be proud to be a servant to another person or thing? What satisfaction does being a servant to something as abstract as a country bring?

What is a Country? It is the territory, land, or people of a nation or state. It is an accidental place of my birth. I own a few hundred square feet of "My country". I don't own the national parks or roads. If I did I would sell my share. I will serve the land I own. I did not migrate here by choice. By the time I was 17 years old I wanted to serve my country. What is so enthralling about a nation or state that draws one to be its servant?

I think it involves rewards that are not mentioned. General Pace's emoluments include a very nice pension and health benefits. He has won a lot of chest hardware that allows him to demand respect from those who he said he served. He expects gratitude for his service.

Many people who live in a state of the United States are patriotic to their country but hate the state they live in. Suppose the state they live in seceded from the United States. Would they soon become servants and patriots to the new state they previously abhorred?

Is it a virtue to serve your country for emoluments and psychic rewards?

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. George Bernard Shaw

Bilbo Baggins