Some good news from Ireland!

Strangely, I'm one of the lefties you're so concerned about, yet I agree with you about most of the stuff you wrote about.  Most of my friends are lefties, but I don't know anybody who denies 911, hates Christians, is Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel, supports Muslims, supports free drugs.  Where do you get your information about the LEFT, Fox News?  There are lots of crazy people in the world, why would you attribute anything you disagree with to the LEFT?  I attribute them to the crazy people, for whom left-or-right is the least of their concerns.

It's funny, because I agree with almost everything you wrote, and might have said lets go out for a beer and see why you think the LGBT community doesn't deserve the same rights as others.  But instead, by attributing these lunacies to the LEFT, you come off as a right-wing-nut.  No wonder the state of US politics is what it is.

Hahahahaha! F__K No!

But at least Tyson is smart.

You mean like the Republics of Texas and California? I'd be for that as long as I wouldn't have to live in either of them.


If only it could be that simple.

I suggest we take cash away from the programs for illegal aliens and create programs for veterans. Or maybe stop giving billions to other stupid programs and other countries and put it into programs for veterans. But we can't just vote on bills and say there ya go! Things take money. DOHS just got their funding, then the terrorist threats against U.S. Malls suddenly disappears. That whole threat was fabricated in order to drum up support for DOHS's funding. And that agency isn't even needed!

I would say the left on this side of the pond is in the same camp given the above criteria.  There's not really much difference between our lefts and rights except that the fulcrum of the political spectrum over here falls significantly to the right of rest of the world.  The phrase "Welfare State" is tantamount to heresy over here, but the left is far more likely to endorse those types of programs.  Part of the problem is that the left (to its detriment) tends to be much less financially conservative, so what might be slightly different is that the term 'fiscal conservative' is seen as the domain of the Right, and 'progressive' is reserved for the Left.

Anyone who's taken Micro Economics 101 can tell you why there are things that the government does best for its citizens, and there are things that the private sector can do better than government. And just as they have their efficiencies and inefficiencies, both are equally capable of harboring corruption. Denouncing one over the other does nothing to help society manage the delicate balancing act that keeps the entire machine oiled.

If you really take time to think it through, YOUR religion (whatever it may be) is BEST served by an agnostic government (not atheist). Yes, separation of church and state is not in the Constitution, and I have no stomach for debating the 'intent' of its authors, so you tell me ..which God do you want the POTUS to pray to at bedtime? Let me guess.. Certainly not Allah - a Jewish God is probably gonna make you feel uneasy, but at least it's the same dude, right? A Catholic POTUS might be taking some bad advice from the Pope. And God Forbid an atheist ever sits in the Oval Office. Nope - All Religions (including atheism) are practiced most robustly and productively in a benignly indifferent political atmosphere of tolerance.

Let's break down that narrative real lickety split.

1) No one is saying that the government should own all money. This is a hangover from bitter confederates that the Neo Liberal Republicans have dug up. In general what people on the left are saying is cut contracts with Lockhead Martin and give the money to the people who get their hands blown off by Lockhead Martin's guns. 

2) I think the idea that freedom of religion without a religious government is not a ridiculous idea. The idea is that just because Mitt Romney is a Mormon doesn't mean America under him should mean that NASA has to run a program to build a spaceship so we can fly into space to meet Jesus. Religious beliefs are fine, but policy should be guided by evidence. 

3)You do realize that America was the one who gave Al Qaeda rocket launchers and AK47's in the 80's to repel the Soviet Invasion? They also promised 20 years of foreign aid for fighting this proxy war to help establish a government and delivered less than 5 - leaving a broken Afghanistan smoldering in the mountains. It was actually one of the most progressive 3rd world nations of the time, there was women lecturers and you could get divorced and so on. Of course when the poverty really sank into it in the 90's it become an illiterate backwards society that eventually turned its guns on those they had sacrificed so much for.

This one is classical racist right bullshit. When Nixon was friends with them it was okay, now that Bachmann's not we should blow em all to hell etc.

4) Israel was established by the British as they de-colonized Palestine. They were warned at the time that not consulting neighbour territories before started a purely Jewish nation would have disastrous results. Anyway rather than try to talk after the 8 day war, they began receiving that 8 billion a year or so dollar funding from the US to keep their military afloat as well as superfluous unprofitable trade contracts (Europe still imports Israeli potatoes and Ireland grows enough of them to drown the continent in starchy goodness). Until they started making silicon dye for Intel processors and really crazy assault rifles there was basically nothing of worth coming from Israel. Meanwhile there was never any attempt to give Muslim representation within Israel - which pissed off neighbour regions, who actually didn't really like Palestinians in the first place (Yeah it seems crazy, but it's like that there. Remember what a Samaritan is?). Things were permanently soured about 10 years ago when the Hamas leader agreed to meet the Israeli government only to be assassinated upon arrival. Welp.

Interestingly enough the reason the far right supports this is historically the same. It came from the pre WW II idea that the way to solve the "Jewish Problem" was to ship them out of Europe to the Middle East. Basically give them a country so you can say "Fuck off back to where you came from". The Republican party has always used the Jewish nation Zionist narrative and that's because the ideology is the same - American is for Americans, Israel is for Jews.

At this stage most pragmatic leftists want a 1 state solution - Israel takes the entire Palestinian territory and nationalizes everyone instead of just importing Ethiopian Jews and killing any Palestinian villages they can get away with as a form of democratic ethnic cleansing. Currently the average age in the occupied territories for a Palestinian is about 16. That means there are almost no living adults in the region. Think about that - think about 50 miles of missile defence and 10 foot tall concrete walls surrounding a bunch of scared children and teenagers.

4) As for major companies - competition laws are good. Your exact complaint with government is insufficient transparency - you can't justify private companies being non transparent in their dealings if that's the case. Both inevitably provide you services - you can't avoid Kraft Foods or Google's IT any more than you can avoid Uncle Sam, you should have a stake in the affairs.

I mean look at BP, look at Fanny Mae. Seems like they can just do what they want these days - too big to fail is a dangerous economic situation. Compartmentalizing risk, even if it means breaking up someone's company, is worth the safety net it provides.

Firstly it's a historical fact, not an opinion. Secondly the big owner of that territory before then was Arabs, then Byzantian era Rome, then the Arabs again. So where does staking a claim come in again?

But anyway gistorical precedence of ownership isn't the argument. The argument is that if you're going to set up a country in a territory with a very distinct agenda, check with surrounding nations and DON'T do it as a means of legitimising the expulsion of Jews from Europe. And also don't spend 30 years bombing them to the point of radicalization.

Might want to check your facts.

history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel