Chris, Cyrus, ACPlayer, MMMMMM, Tom Haley, brad, nickyg

[Gamblor]

Cyrus ACPlayer,and C.A. - would you care to post your academic credentials/political background i.e. leanings, participation?

No need to divulge personal information...
PM if you want...

Just curious to know what foundation some of your opinions have...

[Boris]

Why don't set a good example and post yours to begin with. If you do it, I'll do it as well.

[brad]

i am an american, have american values, which means i belive in the bill of rights, const., dec. of ind. , etc.

i own guns.

[Chris Alger]

BA, PoliSci., Univ. of Washington; J.D. Cornell
My leanings? I lean toward fair play.

[ACPlayer]

MSCS- Syracuse Univ.
Center on social issues. More right on economic issues.

Anti-abortion but pro-choice.

Atheist (anti-thiest?).

No strong position on gun control.

Strong on civil liberties, its the fabric that makes us a free society. Presently under attack IMO.

Support work-fare but believe in a safety net.

Tax cuts but by first cutting spending (not the other way round).

Free markets and competition. Against all subsidies by govt to corporations.

Favor greater environmental regulation.

Corporations should not have as much voice in DC as the people. Currently under attack by use of money to get elected.

Limited affirmative action is OK.

Force solves problems in the short run, but creates bigger problems down the road. Cut defense, more efforts on diplomacy.

History is a great educator.

Lived on three continents and travelled extensively in four (mostly business related). Africa was the most fascinating (Southern and Eastern Africa).

Person I admire the most: Mandela

Person I would most want to discuss policy with: Clinton

[Cyrus]

"Would you care to post your academic credentials/political background i.e. leanings, participation? Just curious to know what foundation some of your opinions have."

What are you talking about? For months now you have been dismissing those with academic backgrounds as "theoreticians" and other such insults. /images/graemlins/smile.gif Any information therefore about such background would only provide you with (what you think is) ammunition to dispute opinions opposing yours. Especially about Israeli policy.

But, even if the query was serious and open-minded, you are still missing the point : "academic backgrounds" and other such stuff are mostly irrelevant in discussions about politics. It's a myth that politics requires some higher knowledge or some specialty (the concept of "professional politicians" is essentially laughable).

Particularly mathematics /images/graemlins/wink.gif

"PM if you want."

No, man. If you really wanted to know, you would have sent a PM yourself. Maybe then you'd get some answers -- from me, at least.

[MMMMMM]

Agree with a lot you say here, Cyrus.

The opinions I form today have little or nothing to do with my formal education, anyway. Nor have they much to do with any of my various work-related endeavors over the years.

Reading and thinking: that's pretty much it. Oh yes, living too;-)

[Cyrus]

nnonist.

Ask John Feeney for details on the first part.

[MMMMMM]

Cyrus, I never said I wanted to know.

A "Marxist-Le"....what's that, a French Communist, perhaps?

OMG, that might explain everything...I guess.

Marxism is a philosophy designed for utopia, which sadly can never be brought to fruition; however attempts to create utopia inevitably bring hell instead.

Marx was thus the father of the greatest delusion in the history of humankind.

[ACPlayer]

however attempts to create utopia inevitably bring hell instead.

Is this what is happening in Iraq at the moment?

[MMMMMM]

No ACPlayer, the US is not attempting to create a utopia in Iraq.

What we are seeing now is part of the difficult struggle that always takes place when a hell is in the process of being abolished.

[ACPlayer]

Whatever.

The optimistic words about how great the new life for the Iraqi sounded like Utopia; and I thought I'd give you one more chance at examining parallels.

[Gamblor]

No, man. If you really wanted to know, you would have sent a PM yourself. Maybe then you'd get some answers -- from me, at least.

Good point. I just wanted everyone I asked to read without having to take time to send out multiple PMs...

It's a myth that politics requires some higher knowledge or some specialty (the concept of "professional politicians" is essentially laughable).

Agreed. All it takes is someone who can influence people. Nothing more.

Any information therefore about such background would only provide you with (what you think is) ammunition to dispute opinions opposing yours.

Of course. But you forget. Not only am I perfect, I'm Israeli too. I'm not disputing. I'm correcting /images/graemlins/grin.gif.

[Gamblor]

Wow...

I agree with 90% of what you say here.

I'm sure the Mandela-Arafat comparisons are clear in your mind, but not mine (that was just to show I'm not using this as "ammo").

I'm mildly shocked at how Right you are, but I am for the most part on your side on most issues.

Atheism, obviously not.

Force, I disagree with - it comes to a point where diplomacy doesn't work, at least with the same people for 50 years.

History as an educator only works if we draw the correct conclusions from it. Which is not necessarily the majority conclusion.

[Gamblor]

I lean toward fair play

Fair enough.

[ACPlayer]

OMG, say it aint so..... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Incidentally, I am not shocked, I am almost always Right/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I dont support Arafat.

Histories major education is that different people draw different conclusions at the time something is happening (and frequently beyond). Correct is relative to the framework you operate in. Constant examination of one's own framework, thats the tough part.

[Gamblor]

Born in Toronto, Ontario to Modern Orthodox Jewish parents - not crazy black coat/hat wearing people , but still do not drive, use electricity, write, etc on Saturday...
Moved to Israel at age 2.
Returned to Canada at age 12.
Back to Israel at age 20 for 1 year of Tzahal service to retain citizenship. Served through first year of Intifada.
Served in Sde Boker just south of Be'er Sheva.
Back to Canada for B.Commerce in Finance at Univ. of Toronto.

Currently 23 years old.

Lean to right with a Canadian twist - two-tiered health system is best.

Workfare 100% - no free lunches. At least clean up the city by picking up litter or do anything productive if you want a handout. But help the country, and the country helps you.

Guns are bad. No guns except for cops and the army. There's no reason you should need one.

Civil liberties 100%. But when you abuse them, you lose them.

No subsidies for Corporations, but they can have power. It's corporations that keep people employed, and make the things they need easier to get.

No power for corporations in arenas that do not affect them directly- i.e.environment (you dump, you clean. just like the toilet)

Person I admire the most: Moshe Dayan/Wayne Gretzky
Person I would like to discuss policy with: Ariel Sharon

[Gamblor]

We all see the world through the glasses formed by our roots...

(yeah, i made that up just now)

[ACPlayer]

Good thought.

It is worthwhile to try looking at the world from the other guys glasses too. If nothing else it broadens one's horizons. The other guy is almost always doing things he considers to be correct, just and moral.

[ACPlayer]

I am surprised how Left you are:

Big brother health care, No Guns /images/graemlins/shocked.gif, environmental tree hugger /images/graemlins/laugh.gif. You might even be a Feminazi if you support a womans right to vote.

The Left and Right Labels are a tactic used to divide people and make them think along friend or foe line of thought. Not good for social discourse.

[Cyrus]

"We all see the world through the glasses formed by our roots."

You realize then of course that you are looking straight down the mud.

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Cyrus]

"Marx was the father of the greatest delusion in the history of humankind."

Well, I'd heard the m (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-86601)an bedded lots of young actresses in his time but I didn't know it ever came to that !

Thanks for the heads-up, useful as always.

[MMMMMM]

"The optimistic words about how great the new life for the Iraqi sounded like Utopia; and I thought I'd give you one more chance at examining parallels."'

Cautious optimism, or even strong optimism, doesn't sound anything like "utopia" to me. If it does to you, I suggest you take a scalpel instead of a great poleaxe to your comparisons and see if things start looking a little more well-defined.

[ACPlayer]

You didn't have to tell me. I KNEW you would fail to even acknowledge the slightest hint of a parallel.

[Gamblor]

Ah but it's pure mud.

[Gamblor]

Why does anyone need a gun?

I'm all for freedom of the individual, but who needs a gun?

No good can possibly come from owning a personal gun. Hunters can come talk to me.

Health-care is a necessity. But I'm not paying 10% extra in taxes because jacka** over there can't lay off the butts.

Women's rights... Keep 'em barefoot and pregnant, I say.
You want to work, fine. But don't expect special treatment just cause you're carting around a fetus.

[MMMMMM]

No one needs a gun as long as we live in a society where home invasions and violent crime don't take place, and where the government will never become a police state and horribly oppress its citizens. In other words: in fantasy land.

As for hunting:

The deer population in the continental United States is many times greater than it was when the Pilgrims arrived!
A couple of years ago I read that the deer population is approximately 40 million. Reduction in natural predatation and suburban/semi-rural environments are excellent for the deer, but all these deer are not excellent for humans--they cause road accidents and spread Lyme disease. They are becoming widespread pests and hunting is absolutely necessary to control the population--that is, unless you prefer poisoning, which is far more cruel.

But what do facts matter to anti-hunting activists anyway? Yet those who oppose shooting deer probably buy beef at the supermarket. Hypocrites in the flesh.

[ACPlayer]

I dont have anything against people owning guns. If people want to buy them so be it.

I said it is a privilege not a right.

Hence,

- It should be OK to license it, like driving a car.
- It shouold be OK to require child proof locks
- It shouold be OK to require 30 day waiting periods
- It should be OK to require registration
- It should be OK to add any reasonable regulation to the ownership.
- It should be OK to allow only PhD's from Ivy league schools, or allow only those who never graduated from high school to buy them

Not that I would necessarily want to see any or all of these regs, just that it should be OK to allow congress or state govt to pass them.

[Gamblor]

"If we outlaw guns, only the outlaws will have them"

Circular logic, by my reasoning.

This is why I love living in Canada.

Someone breaks into your house, you still have a hockey stick at the bedside.

[John Feeney]

... I'd say... uhm... oh that's okay, I'll authorize you to speak for me here, Cyrus. /images/graemlins/smile.gif