Posts by roybatty

46

What were you like in high school?

by Aztec in

jw
friends

i'm sick of talking about george bush and iraq and war so.... what were you like in high school?.

i was an orchestra geek.

i played violin and took all the math classes i could.

roybatty

Good topic!

I was pretty much "clean cut" (because of the JW thing) but had my share of wild times. I was good at sports and did play as much as my parents would allow (was always a fight). My god it still irritates me to this day when I think about not being allowed by them to join certain sports or go to a certain dance! Arrrr!!

Where you parked in the high school parking lot was a good indication of who you hung out with. There was the "gear heads" in one area, the "4X4 monster truck" guys in another, the "bad boys" with the low riders in an other area, the "jocks & preps" in another are with there expensive cars and the "nerds" who drove their parents car. lol....just thinking about the red BMW I drove to school and the '75 Grand Marquie (sp?) my girlfriend drove. Geez, high school was so shallow.

27

Rx My First Hate Mail today. I think I upset sum1

by xjw_b12 in

jw
friends

i received an angry email this afternoon, from someone who took exception to my / our stand on leaving the org, and suggested the current publicity re the child abuse, was overblown and exaggerated.. this person could only have taken my email address from this board.. i have a couple of questions for the more seasoned posters here.. 1. has anyone else rx a letter from a j.a.

on a verizon mail service discussing what i mentioned above?

i am trying to determine whether ja was spamming, or am i the only lucky one?.

roybatty

Darn, I never get any hate mail.

24

Bush-not sure if he's helping Joe Average American

by roybatty in

jw
friends

i cant say that im a fan of affirmative action but bushs comments and actions against the u of m kind of burns me.

again, while i dont believe in affirmative action, i have to admit that it does help the "little guy.

" where i work there is another engineer who got a free ride through college because he received a hispanic scholarship while i spent 10 years paying back my student loans.

roybatty

BTW, Al Gore's GPA is worse than Bush's, I wonder if Witch Child holds the same opinion on Gore who also pisses all over the English language, I doubt it.

I'm not just bitching about Bush, because Gore is just as bad. Just tired of rich SOBs being in charge (whether GOP or Dem.) and just being out of touch with Joe Average. If I were to add up all the taxes I pay (income, sales, property, etc.) I'd say almost 3/4 of my income goes to some body of government. And what do I have to show for it? Not a whole lot. Bush is pushing forth this "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" type of guy but at the same time he's always had a helping hand, wheather from his dad or his dad's political connections. Gore is no differnt. His family made millions off of tobacco and then after they've made all of this money he's like "well, the tobacco industry needs to blah blah blah..."

Anyway, not to change the subject but anyone else living in Illinois and tired of all the political shi* that's been going on for years and years?

29

America's Illusions of Grandeur

by pettygrudger in

jw
friends

regardless of how complicated everyone wants to make the iraq situation, there is one point that continuously seems to be ignored or overlooked in all the debating going on....that is the fact that bush has said he will go with or without the un's support.

he has also said we're going with or without the citizen's of america's support.. wmd - you can say these words over & over again, but it remains painstakingly clear that saddam has never used these weapons against the united states - nor could he at this point.

in fact, he has only used them "defensively".he'd be lucky to get them over to isreal (look at the gulf war - how many scud's actually hit?).

roybatty

Who has the right to tell any country in the middle east that they have to be a truly democratic society?!!! That's another display of American arrogance - totally inappropriate for us to tell other governments how they should be run!

Tell them? I view the US as helping them. I'll even give you an example. Think about Germany during the 1930's. There was in place a treaty stating that they could not build up their military. What did they do? They built it back up. What did Europe (namely France and the UK) do? Nothing. Not until German has this massive military, has taken over a couple of countries does France and the UK do something. Too late. Result? Millions loose their lives.

Have you wondered why there hasn't been any wars in Europe for the last 60 years? Because the US was smart enough to rebuild Europe with some far-sighted goals. One was to tie the European countries together econmicaly - thus the result was some time later the EU. These countries now depended on each other. One couldn't attack another without greatly harming it's own economy. The US also did a good job rebuilding Japan. One can only hope that these same goals would be used to build Iraq - which just might be a stepping stone to bring peace to the mid-east just as it has come to Europe.

24

Bush-not sure if he's helping Joe Average American

by roybatty in

jw
friends

i cant say that im a fan of affirmative action but bushs comments and actions against the u of m kind of burns me.

again, while i dont believe in affirmative action, i have to admit that it does help the "little guy.

" where i work there is another engineer who got a free ride through college because he received a hispanic scholarship while i spent 10 years paying back my student loans.

roybatty

I cant say that Im a fan of affirmative action but Bushs comments and actions against the U of M kind of burns me. Again, while I dont believe in affirmative action, I have to admit that it does help the "little guy." Where I work there is another engineer who got a free ride through college because he received a Hispanic scholarship while I spent 10 years paying back my student loans. Both of us came from similar economic backgrounds and basically got the same grades. It does kind of tick me off that I was weighed down with this bill while he wasnt. But at least he wasnt some connected "rich kid" who got a kick back from his politically connected father.

Anyway, back to my point. Has anyone else noticed that Bush sucked in school? I was reading his bio and he wasnt exactly Albert Einstein. So Im sitting here thinking "ok, talk about being fair, how did this guy get into Yale and Harvard?" Im certain his daddy (ex-Yale guy) pulled some strings. Anyone else irritated with Bush "leveling out the playing field" for some but not all? And dont even get me started on his "no tax" for money made off of stock dividends. How many "average" Americans make their income off of stock dividends? None that I know of. How many "rich" Americans inherited large trust funds and make their money from dividends? Probably quite a few.

29

America's Illusions of Grandeur

by pettygrudger in

jw
friends

regardless of how complicated everyone wants to make the iraq situation, there is one point that continuously seems to be ignored or overlooked in all the debating going on....that is the fact that bush has said he will go with or without the un's support.

he has also said we're going with or without the citizen's of america's support.. wmd - you can say these words over & over again, but it remains painstakingly clear that saddam has never used these weapons against the united states - nor could he at this point.

in fact, he has only used them "defensively".he'd be lucky to get them over to isreal (look at the gulf war - how many scud's actually hit?).

roybatty

My point is that if we are going to do what we want REGARDLESS of the UN - why not take a much easier way out & just put up a Wanted - Reward Dead or Alive Sign -

Because the problem isn't just Saddam but it's his whole political regime. If he were snuffed out, one of his cronies would simply take over. Besides, how would the US look if we started putting bounties on the head leaders? Talk about looking like a War Hawk.

Just as taking out Hitler during WWII wouldn't have done much to stop the Nazi war machine, just taking out Saddam won't change things.

BTW, why most countries don't want the US in interfer with Iraq is because they have their hands in Iraqs pockets. I'm willing to bet that bother Russia and France (two who oppose any war with Iraq) are violating the economic ban. Secondly, the last things Arab countries want is a mid-east country that has a truly democratic government. Can you imagine the people in Saudi Arabia or Jordan looking at a "free" Iraq and thinking "hmmmm..."

29

America's Illusions of Grandeur

by pettygrudger in

jw
friends

regardless of how complicated everyone wants to make the iraq situation, there is one point that continuously seems to be ignored or overlooked in all the debating going on....that is the fact that bush has said he will go with or without the un's support.

he has also said we're going with or without the citizen's of america's support.. wmd - you can say these words over & over again, but it remains painstakingly clear that saddam has never used these weapons against the united states - nor could he at this point.

in fact, he has only used them "defensively".he'd be lucky to get them over to isreal (look at the gulf war - how many scud's actually hit?).

roybatty

He has also said we're going with or without the citizen's of America's support.

When did he say this? I'd really like to see this quote.

Also, when exactly WOULD you want the US to do something about Iraq? AFTER they have missles that can reach the US? Again, it's just like North Korea 10 years ago BEFORE they had nukes. Instead of using the military to stop the North Koreans from developing WMD, the Clinton admistration chose to bribe them with food. And the results? The NK developed these weapons anyway and now if we were to do something, our forces would be at risk of being nuked. Great situation indeed. And now you're willing to create an identical situation. Do people honestly believe that if the US doesn't do something, that Saddam won't return to developing WMD???

5

US Exports of Biological Materials to Iraq

by Emiliano in

jw
friends

u.s. exports of biological materials to iraq .

the senate committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs has oversight responsibility for the export administration act.

pursuant to the act, committee staff contacted the u.s. department of commerce and requested information on the export of biological materials during the years prior to the gulf war.

roybatty

the USA is far too trusting and sloppy in its international relationships, and fails to understand the focused and singular goal of radicals

Excellent post Magog.

31

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

by Valis in

jw
friends

happy martin luther king day!.

i always look for good websites for my students to view and since today is mlk day i was in search of a good one for them to look at this week.

this one is from stanford university and has lots of documents, an interactive chronology, audio, quotes, etc... if the story of his life interests you then i highly recommend it.

roybatty

Does one go out and commit Adultery?

Some people just can't resist tearing others down. Why not take a moment and admire his courage and selflessness?

27

Whats the best anti-war film?

by sleepy in

jw
friends

.

just watched the "thin red line" last night, a very artisticaly shot film with great music, that shows the mental aguish suffered by soldiers in war.the contrast between the peace and beaty of the island and its people and the war being fought makes you wonder what war is all about.. it makes me wish that people would sit down and think about what they are actually doing when they talk of sending people to kill for their country..