Yes, prolly Bill did slow down the World Domination engine

Post #23,607 by Ashton 1/9/02 1:41:22 AM Reply	Yes, prolly Bill did slow down the World Domination engine a few giga-$/week.. (20/20 is so much fun, especially for assigning prescience retroactively, no?) Now if you want to ascribe the above motives for that immediate vendetta against Bill C. on his inagural, of that opposition to - their masterful grokking of all matters which led to 9/11 (despite the fact of Muricans' near complete unawareness of how a signifcant slice of the world's less-rich peoples 'view' us) - it's your right. I was here though: and it was simply Instant Obloquy, including the so-called Librul-press - from the get-go. For lots of religious and other cultural reasons having zippo whatsoever to do with.. magical Islam-awareness, IMhO. Still.. and personally - I believe we lack the maturity (and assuredly the subtlety) for running a World-sized Empire: from the top du jour, on through the Corporate bizness leaders who set the priorities [$$ acquisition but Not distribution] - and on down to the mass of consumers.. who don't want to be interrupted in their grazing - by such complex matters. But even if that were our Destiny for the next little series of wars (?) I can still see no way around the problem that Power Corrupts. The Billy files demonstrate just one level of our present internal corruption (pre- and post- 9/11). If there emerges next no coalition (?) to provide the Balance of Power of yesteryear - familiar to all students of mere HS history classes: Well, I can see a trend there, as in all previous like situations. Glad you find it a likeable trend, but afraid I can't join you in projecting our Final Victory Over Evil\ufffd. Er.. maybe sippin on the champagne a bit? Heady stuff. Ashton
Post #23,611 by dmarker2 1/9/02 4:46:04 AM 1/9/02 4:54:35 AM Reply	Re: snuthing t'do with good & evil (mere perceptions) ... It is to do with Power. US has the power thru technology & trade. Will protect it in ways that are stunning the opposition. Power today is still very much control of oil resources (well cheap access to oil reserves). Reason China is a potential threat is it might want oil that the US wants & US won't let that happen. US & allies had to struggle hard during post war era, against opposing ideologys & threats but by the 70s the battle was being won. I see PAX America ans an era, nothing to do with peace other than as long as US dominates it will be Peace on US terms (else take the consequences). In PAX AMERICANA - the evil ones are those that are labelled evil ones. The freedom lovers & freedom fighters are the ones labelled as such. Reagan got away with calling the murderous swine known as 'Contras' as freedom fighters cos PAX AMERICANA decreed them to be such. It is worth taking a look at what happens to any independant Arab leader who becomes popular in all or part or parts the Arab world - they get emasculated & labelled as evil by us (grin) - we pull their teeth & cut off their balls & if that isn't enough we line up for another go (Hussain). Nasser of Egypt Kaddafi of Libia Kohmeni of Iran Hussain of Iraq Omar of Afghanistan Bin Laden of ?????? (well maybe he is the best fit for a dick-head evil leader) Why do we squash popular Arab leaders, cos the bastards might sieze control of 'our' oil. So we divide & conquer (& snip their leaders down to size) & because I'm on our side - I support it - just like Ollie North did (grin). I have no illusions about 'new world order' (Bush Snr's name for PAX Americana) or 'war against evil' or 'fight against terrorism'. But who ever instigated the Sept 11 attack was deeply evil no matter what provocation they justify it with. Interestingly the effect of it is to cement US position as the dominant world superpower & never to be trifled with (& good thing too). Doug Marker Edited by dmarker2 Jan. 9, 2002, 04:54:35 AM EST Expand All History
Post #23,614 by Ashton 1/9/02 6:29:30 AM Reply	Ah.. well, on That basis :-\ufffd WTF not? All the world's a stage. And since Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac (and everyone knows how That segues into a major obsession.. in all Puritan-derived cultures. Just look at our National hangups) - then we'd have to agree that your scenario is about the only er 'Plan' our mindset Could imagine. Still.. the nearer that Power approaches Absolute: the nearer the results are apt to be as ugly - whether under the rubric of Xianity, Allah or Cthulhu. And here, the 'wealth' shall stay firmly under the control of the 3-5% = the accelerating gap between the average (and especially the majority): I see the practical effects of that, describing the ~internal mechanism of deterioration here; never mind the inevitable counterattacks from the remaining 7.8 billions out there, all getting short-changed on world's resources. Thus banding together in discontent. That's as inevitable as.. the instinct to escape, when in any prison camp. As I said, I don't think we can protect ourselves from.. ourselves and this process. Nobody wise around - just bizness-clever droids all around. And that - is simply the fine art of scamming to get all the marbles. Tawdry, pecuniary, divisive. Also dumb. Marshall Plan could be wise. But we won't do that. But I could be wrong, at least for a few years. We'll get used to watching our backs - everywhere we go - including in Ashcroft Fortress Murica. The massaging has already begun: Help the War Effort. Go and Spend! - even if you're being downsized. (Or maybe not til next March, you can hope). {sigh} Ashton Pace pace O mio Dio

Welcome to IWETHEY!