A ... rabs and B ... osnia.

[Moab]

I'm not buying land in Argentinian .. I leased a peace of property for a business deal and it went bad because I didn't do my do diligence.

As for the land here in America we stole from the Natives to my knowledge we Americans now and in the past have made reparations for it. I think there still some land deals with the White Mountain Apache and the Nez Pearce that are unsettled. However I don't own any land in those areas. The family ranch on the Prineville Reservoir was purchased in the early 1880 from the Shoshone Tribe, by the DOI and later sold to Crook County which sold it to the Blackburns ...

[Moab]

As a matter of interest, which are the 'first rate countries(in your opinion)?

Norway, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Belgium, Coastal France, New Zealand, Most all Pacific Islands.

[Nynus]

This sounds like the Christian religion ...

Didn't the Holy Roman Church of Europe Crusade sanction military campaign to restore Christian control of Jerusalem. Didn't these wars also include killing Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox, Mongols and Muslims. Didn't the Church declare war on Lutherans which still goes on to this day in Ireland.

My history may be a bit fuzzy here, but if I remember correctly, these were political decisions that were given the wash of legitimacy by gaining sanction from the Church. At that time, there were too many footloose armed men with no wars to fight. With a fear of an uprising, and an economy that needed expanding, they came up with a war. As for the troubles in Ireland, those have been declining for the last decade. There is still some unrest, but very few can point to what was happening two decades ago and not agree that it's better today.

Didn't the Catholic Church sanction the enslaving, inhalation and extinction of Native Americans in the new world. Didn't later in American history we declare Manifest Destiny as the right given by God to the whites to enslave and murder black men and women and take that Manifest Destiny to the American Plains and commit genocide on the North American Native Americans.

Same thing, that was politics and economics. More land, more income, more power. Yes, there was murder, theft, and rape. But it wasn't because of the hate of racism. It was because of greed.

Didn't President Bush use the word Crusade to rally Americans to war against the Muslims. Didn't he use that term twice ....

Political rhetoric. Do you believe that President Bush asked sanction from the Pope to go to war against the Muslims? Do you think he wanted to go out and try and exterminate a race of people because of racism, or do you think he was trying to fire up the masses and push a political agenda?

Christians have killed people because they were accused of being witches, or people who spoke or thought outside of the box and dare say that the earth was round etc.

This one is interesting. It was one of the most extreme examples of over reaction. It was a Church sanctioned eradication of the threat to their power base. Witches that were burned were usually the outspoken ones that weren't really witches, but that had an agenda against the church. Other women that the church deemed to undermine their doctrine were also struck down. Usually those that were able to heal, cure, and help without the power of prayer. These were mostly midwives if I remember correctly.

As for me I never said I hated the British or the Royals ... I do however hate what the Royals stand for and never would bow to one or call them your Highness .. No one is over me. I believe we're all equil and do exknowledge that some have it better off than others however that gives them no right to expect me to get on my knees and kiss their hand or call them Highness.

I don't have a problem with this. That's your choice. But I do have a question. Would you wear a burka and veil your face if you were visiting a Muslim community that would punish or kill you if you didn't?



I also don't dispute the fact that more killing has been done in the name of religion than any other reason. The Catholic Church at it's pinnacle was one of the most bloody and totalitarian authority on the earth. But they were using religion as a tool to gain and maintain their power. That's the way politics were back then -- Grab what you need and keep it until it get's taken away by someone stronger.

From the start of man, one tribe has been trying to kill another tribe because they're different. That doesn't mean it's right. Most of the world has moved beyond that. Unfortunately, the extreme muslim sects are trying to push the entire world back to the stone age with them. That hardly seems enlightened and progressive to me.

[billynomates]

As for the land here in America we stole from the Natives to my knowledge we Americans now and in the past have made reparations for it

.

Apart from offering to give it back of course

[curtinsea]

As for Bush .. he really believed it was a "Holy War" and a very bad choice of words when Muslims and Christians alike are sensitive to it. So why make more enemies?

No, YOU really believe he believed it was a "Holy War" and you seem to impose that on him simply because he is a devout Christian

You use the quote, and then you paraphrase with your own meaning. I think you are confusing GWB's words with those of Alexander Cockburn (who would listen to anyone whose name is Cockburn, unless you were a urologist lmao!!!)

GWB -

"We need to go back to work tomorrow and we will. But we need to be alert to the fact that these evil-doers still exist. We haven't seen this kind of barbarism in a long period of time. No one could have conceivably imagined suicide bombers burrowing into our society and then emerging all in the same day to fly their aircraft — fly U.S. aircraft into buildings full of innocent people — and show no remorse. This is a new kind of — a new kind of evil. And we understand. And the American people are beginning to understand. This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I'm going to be patient. But I can assure the American people I am determined, I'm not going to be distracted, I will keep my focus to make sure that not only are these brought to justice, but anybody who's been associated will be brought to justice. Those who harbor terrorists will be brought to justice. It is time for us to win the first war of the 21st century decisively, so that our children and our grandchildren can live peacefully into the 21st century."

No religious overtones unless you put them in there yourself

and

GWB-

"I want to tell you something, we've got no better friends than Canada. (Applause.) They stand with us in this incredibly important crusade to defend freedom, this campaign to do what is right for our children and our grandchildren."

Yep he used it twice, still no religious overtones.

From wiki - Supporters of the President's usage of crusade argue that from context Bush had used the word crusade in a military, non-religious sense, such as The Great Crusade which was the phrase used by General Dwight D. Eisenhower to describe the D-Day invasion of Europe to the Allied troops in his order of the day broadcast They point to many modern dictionaries which define crusade (not capitalized) to include any vigorous action aimed at achieving a particular noble goal. However, particularly in predominantly Muslim parts of the world, the term crusade produces the same sort of negative reaction as the term jihad does in much of the West.

I've seen nowhere where GWB makes it about "the Muslims". it is about terror organizations who happen to be Muslims. It isn't fair to blame it on Muslims, nor is it fair to assume anyone is blaming on Muslims.

[billynomates]

Coastal France??

[kazza1985]

That's the British thing and because of that thing your country enslaved hundreds of millions of people and subjected them to your tortures and slavery.

You know we don't do that now right? We are in 2011 or hadn't you noticed?

To this day you British can't get over the fact that you're nothing but a second rate country just like America.

Can't get over the fact? Says who? You? Oh please! It is only the stupidness of our government that try to get us involved in things that the British people roll their eyes at and wish they wouldn't. Politicians are power hungry, not the people.

It's all over the news today that the Royals Kissed in front of you suckers, twice as a mater of fact, after the royal fucking paying for their wedding to the tune of over 40 million dollars ... No I don't hate the British ... I just feel sorry for you that's all, you kiss the royal hand and our stinking ass's ...

Sing a different tune. This is one is stuck on repeat....

Don't feel sorry for us. In 2009, taxpayers were paying 69p a year for the royal family. Not going to get my knickers in a twist over 69p. That 69p we each pay goes towards expenses. The government pay the royal family to carry out duties and maintain the civil list (list of most senior royal members). They also have private taxable incomes. The tax they pay is far more than what they receive from the taxpayer.

The British like tradition and the monarchy is part of our history since William the conqueror became the first monarch of the UK in 1066. The Queen is our head of state. 27million people in the UK watched the royal wedding on TV. A further 1 million went to London to see it. Obviously some of us Brits like the royal family or at least like the traditions and the symbolism. If the monarchy was abolished, we would still need a head of state which would be more expensive and I can't see us wanting to abolish our traditions for a president that will cost more than the royal family.