If years of watching David Attenborough on TV have taught me anything that's no deer being brought down by that well-trained cheetah. Looks like an African antelope of some sort. Don't think there's too many deer grazing in the arid regions of Saudi Arabia...
I can't see the US ever coming to an agreement with the current Iranian regime. The nuclear issue is largely an excuse and boogyman to frighten the public into supporting the US sabre-rattling, the underlying reason they will not rest until the government in Iran is overthrown is because of the humiliation of the US embassy hostage crisis decades ago. An event the great mass of Americans have little more memory of than their government's earlier overthrow of Iran's sole democratically elected government and the US-imposed rule of the Shah (which in turn led to the Islamic revolution and the US hostage crisis).
Empires cannot abide such humilations, they cannot let what they see as an upstart nation like Iran thumb it's nose at them and get away with it. They will use any means at their disposal - economic sanctions, funding anti-government terror groups, targetted assassinations, possibly even war - to ensure the regime in Tehran falls, and they don't care how many innocent civilians suffer and die in the process.
It's amazing how they didn't learn from experience, by 2007 it was abundantly clear what a disaster both Iraq and Afghanistan were, yet they seriously wanted to start another war! Did Cheney and co. really think a third war, against an even bigger and better armed nation, would work better than the previous two?
How anyone that stupid and mendacious could rise to such positions of power is unbelievable. That they're not all in jail for treason and war crimes is a great concern.
Years ago I read somewhere that the Iraq war was simply all about O.I.L: Oil, Israel, Logistics (US bases). Everything that's come out since then has only strengthened this conclusion.
Saddam's evil rule and supposed WMD threat to the West had nothing to do with it, they were just the excuses needed to get public support for the slaughter.
The problem with distinguishing between Catholic doctrine and mere papal/bishop's opinion is that so little is actually covered by actual doctrine.
Concerning the issue at hand, contraception, it has certainly never been the subject of an official, infallible, ex cathedra statement by any Pope or College of Bishops. It is no more Catholic doctrine than the ten statements you complain about. It is, like them, merely an opinion expressed by a Pope who was not speaking infallibly at the time and so cannot be considered official doctrine.
It's amazing, and more than a little depressing, that the NYT and the Washington Post (let alone the rest of the US media) have clearly learnt *nothing* from how they were played by the Bush administration in the lead up to the Iraq war. They seem perfectly content to make all the same sort of mistakes, allow their reporters and editors to be misled in much the same way, by the Obama administration over Iran.
Enquiries were held, some reporters were criticised and/or dismissed, and yet here we go again with stories of hyped-up threats of non-existent WMDs based on unsubstantiated and often contradictory claims by administration officials. You'd almost think they don't care as long as it makes for a more dramatic story.
How many of the basically rational majority will remember the GOP candidates current crazy talk once one of them becomes the challenger and suddenly starts changing their promises and forgetting their previous positions so as to appeal to the mainstream?
Once the final GOP candidate begins to moderate his positions to have a hope of being elected president will the press keep reminding the voters of his current insane positions, or will the fourth estate simply pretend the last few mad months never happened? Will it all disappear down the memory hole?
And to think that only last year people were saying Sen. Lindsay was gay! What better way to prove your hetero manliness and devout Christianity than to call for yet another war? A war that would be fought by others of course...
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If years of watching David Attenborough on TV have taught me anything that's no deer being brought down by that well-trained cheetah. Looks like an African antelope of some sort. Don't think there's too many deer grazing in the arid regions of Saudi Arabia...
I can't see the US ever coming to an agreement with the current Iranian regime. The nuclear issue is largely an excuse and boogyman to frighten the public into supporting the US sabre-rattling, the underlying reason they will not rest until the government in Iran is overthrown is because of the humiliation of the US embassy hostage crisis decades ago. An event the great mass of Americans have little more memory of than their government's earlier overthrow of Iran's sole democratically elected government and the US-imposed rule of the Shah (which in turn led to the Islamic revolution and the US hostage crisis).
Empires cannot abide such humilations, they cannot let what they see as an upstart nation like Iran thumb it's nose at them and get away with it. They will use any means at their disposal - economic sanctions, funding anti-government terror groups, targetted assassinations, possibly even war - to ensure the regime in Tehran falls, and they don't care how many innocent civilians suffer and die in the process.
It's amazing how they didn't learn from experience, by 2007 it was abundantly clear what a disaster both Iraq and Afghanistan were, yet they seriously wanted to start another war! Did Cheney and co. really think a third war, against an even bigger and better armed nation, would work better than the previous two?
How anyone that stupid and mendacious could rise to such positions of power is unbelievable. That they're not all in jail for treason and war crimes is a great concern.
Years ago I read somewhere that the Iraq war was simply all about O.I.L: Oil, Israel, Logistics (US bases). Everything that's come out since then has only strengthened this conclusion.
Saddam's evil rule and supposed WMD threat to the West had nothing to do with it, they were just the excuses needed to get public support for the slaughter.
The problem with distinguishing between Catholic doctrine and mere papal/bishop's opinion is that so little is actually covered by actual doctrine.
Concerning the issue at hand, contraception, it has certainly never been the subject of an official, infallible, ex cathedra statement by any Pope or College of Bishops. It is no more Catholic doctrine than the ten statements you complain about. It is, like them, merely an opinion expressed by a Pope who was not speaking infallibly at the time and so cannot be considered official doctrine.
Not even Rick or Newt can be a little bit pregnant, but politicians are apparently happy to be a little bit Catholic when it suits them.
It's amazing, and more than a little depressing, that the NYT and the Washington Post (let alone the rest of the US media) have clearly learnt *nothing* from how they were played by the Bush administration in the lead up to the Iraq war. They seem perfectly content to make all the same sort of mistakes, allow their reporters and editors to be misled in much the same way, by the Obama administration over Iran.
Enquiries were held, some reporters were criticised and/or dismissed, and yet here we go again with stories of hyped-up threats of non-existent WMDs based on unsubstantiated and often contradictory claims by administration officials. You'd almost think they don't care as long as it makes for a more dramatic story.
How many of the basically rational majority will remember the GOP candidates current crazy talk once one of them becomes the challenger and suddenly starts changing their promises and forgetting their previous positions so as to appeal to the mainstream?
Once the final GOP candidate begins to moderate his positions to have a hope of being elected president will the press keep reminding the voters of his current insane positions, or will the fourth estate simply pretend the last few mad months never happened? Will it all disappear down the memory hole?
And to think that only last year people were saying Sen. Lindsay was gay! What better way to prove your hetero manliness and devout Christianity than to call for yet another war? A war that would be fought by others of course...