JeffR
Yes you are correct, I am a proud Englishman who often admires the way the French do their own thing and don’t kiss ass. It’s like here in the EU where Britain bitches and moans about certain European directives, regulations etc but goes along meekly with them. If the French don’t like what they are supposed to do they simply ignore it.
Good point someone made about all the arabs in France. They certainly should address that problem.
I would actually like to hear from the citizens of France and Germany who do support what we are doing and understand what’s at stake for the free world if we do not prevail. I know they are out there, but the European media never gives them a voice. If you were to believe everything you read and see, you would think that all French and Germans despise us.
My grandmother’s family in Germany suppport what we are doing, not with enthusiasim, but in hope that a greater calamity in the future can be prevented.
I have to assume that those French and Germans who do support us feel no need to be vocal about it.
One thing I find absolutely confusing about the neoconservative position:
They bitch and moan about the lack of support from traditional allies. But they support open boarder policies that would transform traditional allies into likely enemies.
For example the strong support for the admission of Turkey into the EU from neoconservatives.
For example:
The leader (Bush), well the public leader of the neoconservative movement pushing strongly for Turkey’s entry into the EU:
As a former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing has said it would be the end of Europe and hence any traditional support.
Israel recognizes what an open boarder policy would do to it and hence its strong stance on having no right of return for Palestine?s and a immigration policy that favours its co-religionist. Neoconservatives support this position.
To quote BB favourite neocon Charles Krauthammer: “Rejecting the so-called right of return (i.e. an open boarder) is nothing more than opposing any final settlement that results in flooding Israel with hostile Palestinians and thus eradicating the only Jewish state on the planet.”
If it applies to Israel why not elsewhere? After all is this not what Bin Larden wants? A right of return (conquest) to Andalusia (with some other bits of choice real estate tacked on i.e. most everything else the longed for Caliphate of the world?)
because they’re french
[quote]Right Side Up wrote:
lincono wrote:
I lead a very rich life, I just don’t support weak minded, weak willed people. Don’t you have some curls to do in the squat rack?
And only weak minded, weak willed people make movies and music? I suppose only weak minded folk wind up with PhDs and teach at the collegiate level…concur?
You like this squat rack attack, don’t you? You’ve posted 37 times 'round here and all have occurred in the Politics forum…what are you hiding fella? Who did you used to be? And, care to post a picture of what you’ve earned from all that squatting?
And…where’s the petition? Shall I start it?
[/quote]
Now you know I feel when I read your attacks on people like Boston Barrister who spend considerable effort to educate people like you. Personally, I feel you need to educate yourself and you should be grateful for people like BB.
Why should I post on the weight forums, when t-nation has most of the answers to the questions asked on these forums available through their search engine?
My comments about PHD’s relate to the fact that MANY of these people live in their brains; they are out of balance, and that is what creates moronic ideas like liberalism. Study the concept of yin and yang and you will understand. My comment about entertainers was to make a point; I boycott those who are ignorantly outspoken about issues they don’t fully comprehend.
Thank you for counting how many times I’ve posted, but, your time would be better spent studying and understanding history and politics, so people like John Kerry won’t receive your vote. If you knew your history you WOULD understand why many of us are disappointed in the French and Germans.
Also, read up on explanations and examples of irony and you will get my point about the squat rack.
Good luck to you in your upcoming senior year of high school.
Good point, bluey but:
The problem is not of the maginitude that you suggest. It’s a nice and comfortable thing to have, but we can adjust if we have to.
I doubt that the French and Germans invest here because of fondness for good old Uncle Sam. They see our bonds as an appropriately weighted risk-return option. If they boycott us for political reasons if most likely will harm them econmically by seeking a less attractive investment option, like their own debt.
The value of the Euro vs. the Dollar rests on many things, the relative scarcity of one to the other in a current timeframe being a very important consideration. They have to have tight money. Most European countries have mountains of government debt, as a percentage of GNP much larger than ours. Their social welfare politics almost insure that they will have much more. Their ridiculous labor laws and anti-entrereneurial business enviroment will prevent them from easing its burden with economic growth. Any attempt to ease the burden by inflating away its value will make future borrowing that much more difficult. Investors will flee, or demand higher returns, adding to borrowing costs and then they are really screwed.
As for the Euro as a reserve currency, we have a much longer track record as such. Besides, does the world want to have too declining, petulant, pissy wannabees minding the bank, or the US, with all of its warts? Military might probably counts in their somewhere, but I can’t think of the reason off-hand.
Europe is over- it’s just a matter of time. They don’t have enough kids. The only way that they can demand high pay, long vacations, early retirements, lavish healthcare benefits, big pensions and so on is to allow in foreign workers and tax them for the privilege of toiling in their countries.
Ship the swarthy types home and they will have to get off of their beer swilling, wine sipping asses and put in some real hours. Fat chance. In spite of what that disingenuous Frog says or implies, they did it to themselves.
Maybe the frogs are boiling over because deep down inside they can’t help but feel their glory days ended at Waterloo.
In case you can’t tell, no, I don’t like the French economic political, and media elite. I shouldn’t. They are a arrogant, corrupt cabal that sticks to the same crap while the world passes them by. FTF.
scrumscab,
[quote]scrumscab wrote:
I would actually like to hear from the citizens of France and Germany who do support what we are doing and understand what’s at stake for the free world if we do not prevail. I know they are out there, but the European media never gives them a voice. If you were to believe everything you read and see, you would think that all French and Germans despise us.[/quote]
I think this is the time to make one thing quite clear: “We Germans” do not despise “you Americans”. This is a misconception - America has been very popular in (West)Germany over decades. The main problem for most Germans is (at least in my view), that they cannot agree with the Bush administration’s policies. They are being seen as disregarding the international institutions and partnerships Germany has relied on and invested in massively over decades. This has created a great uneasiness with US policies. They are being seen as endangering the free world rather than protecting it.
And - taking part in a war and any kind of military action is always confronted with strong scepticism and tough internal debate. Given German history, this should not surprise.
[quote]My grandmother’s family in Germany suppport what we are doing, not with enthusiasim, but in hope that a greater calamity in the future can be prevented.
I have to assume that those French and Germans who do support us feel no need to be vocal about it.[/quote]
I am afraid not many Germans share this view; It is in my view not related to a media bias that not more German support for US policies is displayed - it seems more that this support is just not very strong. But this is not grounded on antipathy against the American people - just at their gouvernment.
Makkun
President Bush is kicking the Germans in the balls – closing bases and moving east (possibly Poland). The economic impact will be profound. Now there’s a president with some balls!! I’d vote for the man just because he’s from Texas, where a guy can still get elected for being a MAN.
BTW: Imagine Theresa’s language in PRIVATE!! Imagine Theresa as FIRST LADY!! Nightmare!!!
Eh, maybe we won’t have to worry about either of them playing such a major role in the developing Europe. It may be a pipe dream, but this at least signals a diminishing influence:
Welcome to New Europe
August 16, 2004; Page A12
Since the European Union’s birth almost 50 years ago, the Franco-German axis has been driving its agenda. So when the new president of the European Commission announced the composition of his Commission late last week, it marked the end of an era.
As Jose Manuel Barroso read the names of the Commissioners he had chosen for the key portfolios, it became clear that the center of gravity has shifted. France and Germany are no longer calling the shots. Almost none of the duo’s central demands were met while all important economic positions went to avowed free-marketers.
It all began when 10 new members, mostly from the former Communist East, joined the EU in May. In contrast to Paris and Berlin, the newcomers pursue largely free-market policies and support the U.S. war in Iraq. Heralding that tectonic shift in the balance of power was Mr. Barroso’s own nomination in June. France and Germany had pushed for Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. Particularly in foreign policy, Belgium had been toeing the Franco-German line.
But in this new Europe, Portugal’s Prime Minister was chosen instead. With his free-market credentials and support of the U.S. war in Iraq, it was hard to imagine a greater setback for the Franco-German ambitions in Europe than Mr. Barroso’s nomination. But last week it got even worse for Berlin and Paris.
When they couldn’t push through Mr. Verhofstadt, France and Germany demanded to be compensated with key economic posts. France lobbied hard to get the competition position, probably the most important portfolio. Paris has had many run-ins with current Competition Commissioner Mario Monti, who tried to curtail the billions of euros of illegal subsides propping up ailing French national champions.
But the job went to Neelie Kroes-Smit from the Netherlands. The 63-year-old Ms. Kroes-Smit belongs to the free-market Liberal Party and as transport minister in the 1980s supervised the privatization of the former state-owned postal and telephone monopoly Dutch PTT. French Commissioner Jacques Barrot, meanwhile, received the rather minor transport portfolio (from which energy policy was subtracted and handed to a Hungarian).
Berlin didn’t fare much better. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had wanted his man, G?nter Verheugen, to become a kind of “super commissioner,” responsible not only for industrial policy but also for overseeing competition, taxation and internal market polices. In the end, he got just the industrial policy portfolio and lacks any of the special powers Mr. Schroeder craved.
Britain was the only big country to receive an important portfolio, underlining its central role in this new Europe. Peter Mandelson, a close ally of Tony Blair, will be responsible for trade. The important internal market position went to Ireland’s former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy. What better man to tear down the last obstacles to free trade and the free movement of capital and people in Europe than the man whose supply-side policies helped steer Ireland toward 8% growth rates?
Taxation was split off from internal markets portfolio and given to Latvia’s Ingrida Udre. Mr. Barroso could have hardly sent a clearer message to France and Berlin that they are wasting everybody’s time with their calls for a Europe-wide minimum tax to stop tax competition from the East. Latvia adopted a 25% flat tax almost 10 years ago and experienced economic growth rates averaging over 6% during the past five years.
Our only concern would be with the appointment of Benita Ferrero-Waldner as external affairs commissioner. We are not sure whether Austria’s foreign minister is best qualified for Europe’s most important foreign policy need, repairing relations with the U.S. We hope that Mr. Barosso’s own strong belief in the importance of the trans-Atlantic relations will prevail.
That aside, clearly the U.S., and Europe itself, will be dealing with a very different Commission in the months ahead.
[quote]Flanker wrote:
“I quite like the French attitude. They don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks and do what they like.”
Sounds a lot like the Bush administrations’ approach to foreign policy. [/quote]
Hrrmph. The Bush Administration has quite a sophisticated take on foreign policy, whether you agree with it or not.
See:
[quote]lincono wrote:
Now you know I feel when I read your attacks on people like Boston Barrister who spend considerable effort to educate people like you. Personally, I feel you need to educate yourself and you should be grateful for people like BB.[/quote]
BB and I go way back. We’ve share a few back and forths, but for the most part we leave each other alone. I’ll concede any day that he is more informed than I and better read than I, but it is in interpretation that we are not on the same page. He and I have no problems with each other. My remark was nothing more than a quip, and a reference to his typically long posts. Anyone who’s been around here a bit knows BB tends to post very long posts – usually an article and some commentary…I don’t think he took any offense.
I think you’re a guy who’s been around here a while and is simply operating under a new alias. If I’m wrong, then I think your primary reason for finding T-Nation was probably weight lifting in some form or another, for some purpose or another. I find it odd that you’d come here, read the articles, search the engines, and have no questions or not be interested in engaging in any further discourse on any of the topics. I could be totally off-base, but that is the reason I concluded you’re a vet with an alias.
I didn’t know you made any comments about PhDs. I said that because idealogues from the camp you seem to hail from often denounce higher education and those who choose academia in general. It was a shot in the dark – an assumption – but it looks like I hit the nail on the head.
I disagree with the notion that academics “live in their heads” and become wrapped up in bad ideas. I think this might be true of some, as it is with others of various occupations, but for the most part, I think academics tend toward objectivity and reasonable conclusions based on evidence.
You want me to study ‘yin and yang?’ As an undergrad, I focused on Western Philosophy, but Eastern philosophy has always been of interest. Having never formally studied it, I have only an elementary understanding of ying/yang. I think I get it, though.
No problem. I actually went through every thread on every forum and counted every time I saw a post by you. It took quite some time, but you understand, these things are important. I did all of this instead of simply clicking your name and viewing your profile, thereby seeing how many posts you have. One click further could have told me where they all were…but call me old fashioned, I like to do things myself…can’t trust these computer calculators!
Again, irony is a concept I’m familiar with. In fact, I understand it quite well. You, my friend, have some explaining to do…how is curling in the squat rack ironic? You’ll need to do more explaining before I comment much further…My guess is that you were going for the sort of machismo insult that might win you some points on this board. You’ve probably read posts from guys who’ve complained that they couldn’t start their squats because some kid was doing drop set barbell curls in the power rack…If that was your intention, then don’t call it ironic. It would take me way too long to put forth a variety of your possible intentions and how they might be considered ironic. You’ll need to explain.
[quote]Good luck to you in your upcoming senior year of high school.
[/quote]
Thank you.
I think I give these posters entirely too much credit by giving them the courtesy of addressing each point piece by piece and in their entirety…oh well…this stuff’s just too much fun!
RSU, welcome back, just the other day you said you were going to quit posting and do something better with your time, I’m glad you didn’t.
This was a good post and you mostly explained yourself very well, therefore educating all of us.
You will note in my previous post, I believe I said many PHD’s live in their heads, not all, and not a majority. My point was this: people that live in their heads, think too much, and people that only use their bodies, don’t think enough. The balance in this life is the key.
What most Americans must realize is that France and Germany have their own agenda, and it doesn’t include America’s best interests. If we study recent history, the 1920’s and 30’s, we can understand that Socialism is on the rise again and it must be stopped if Americans enjoy their current way of life.
Thank you for the spirited debate.
[quote]lincono wrote:
RSU, welcome back, just the other day you said you were going to quit posting and do something better with your time, I’m glad you didn’t.
This was a good post and you mostly explained yourself very well, therefore educating all of us.
You will note in my previous post, I believe I said many PHD’s live in their heads, not all, and not a majority. My point was this: people that live in their heads, think too much, and people that only use their bodies, don’t think enough. The balance in this life is the key.
What most Americans must realize is that France and Germany have their own agenda, and it doesn’t include America’s best interests. If we study recent history, the 1920’s and 30’s, we can understand that Socialism is on the rise again and it must be stopped if Americans enjoy their current way of life.
Thank you for the spirited debate.[/quote]
Cheers.
I don’t understand how it’s reasonable for us as Americans to expect other nations’ agendas to be conducive to our interests. What right is it of ours? It is this with us (or, in your wording, “for us,”) or against us mentality that Bush as voiced and many Americans have followed that I can’t understand or approve of.
RSU:
The war on terrorism is everyones fight! When one (or two) countries do not pull their own weight they are in essence saying that they want us to fight for them.
Is there a long term payoff for these countries? Will they be left alone by the terrorists from this point forward, as a sort of reward?
I think what the liberals fail to realize is that we are at war and the terrorists are our enemys.
[quote]ZEB wrote:
RSU:
The war on terrorism is everyones fight! When one (or two) countries do not pull their own weight they are in essence saying that they want us to fight for them.
Is there a long term payoff for these countries? Will they be left alone by the terrorists from this point forward, as a sort of reward?
I think what the liberals fail to realize is that we are at war and the terrorists are our enemys. [/quote]
Zeb:
I think that the “we’re at war” mindset is the difference between those who will vote for Bush and those who will vote for Kerry in most cases – it’s definitely the difference in those who are crossing over from their party votes in 2000 (on both sides…).
Edit: Dick Morris agrees with me, at least on the importance of the “war mentality” in deciding the vote:
[quote]ZEB wrote:
I think what the liberals fail to realize is that we are at war and the terrorists are our enemys. [/quote]
I think liberals tend to think that the “war” is on terrorist organizations throughout the world, in particular, those terrorists that have been responsible for many attacks on the US. I think these liberals tend to think that sending our greatest military might into the countries that host these terrorists and whimsically bombing mountains, villages, and cities, is nothing more than a fascade of action…irresponsible action at that.
These same liberals can’t, then, understand why Iraq was such an urgent threat when the terrorists (remember, they are the enemy) who killed 3000 Americans were (and are still) largely at large.
Will someone who hates France and Germany and who boycotts all things French and German please answer my question!?!?
When should we arrange to have the Statue of Liberty shipped back across the Atlantic?
Thanks,
RSU
Let’s arrange it right now! We give 'em back their statue, they give us back our 5000 wonderful young guys who died on their fucking beaches to free their rat-shit country! That war would never have happened if those ball-less wonders had attacked in 1939 when Hitler was busy raping Poland. France had a treaty with Poland and let that asshole rape 'em! I say, “Fuck 'em! If there’s another war, the loser has to keep France.”
Who cares what France did? It’s done. Get over it. The whole thing is childish.
Wow, very eloquent, peartmath…
That’s one, who else is on board with the “Send the Statue” back petition???