These offer contradictory explanations for what is going on . . . but some dots connect
By a 5-4 vote, the high court upheld a ruling that New London, Connecticut, can seize the homes and businesses owned by seven families for a development project that will complement a nearby research facility by the Pfizer Inc. drug company.
--James Vicini (Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented--sometimes the so-called conservatives really do act like conservatives--I'll credit them for that)
Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.
--Sandra Day O'Connor (quoted in the news report)
It is certainly possible that, on a subconscious level at least, the perpetrators wanted the public to know that the towers were not brought down by airplane crashes. That sort of cloaked revelation seems to be, in many cases, a component of the traumatization process. What better way, after all, to disempower and demoralize the American people than through an unspoken acknowledgment that the enemy is within, and can act with impunity?
--Dave McGowan (I'm repeating this because all these seem connected)
[I]t is impossible for the nation-state to strategize. It just comes out swinging. It steps blindly into contradiction after contradiction. It makes temporary alliances with people who will surely either undermine its credibility (Uzbekistan) or become hostile enemies (the Taliban).
--Standard Schaefer (note my invisible edit in this passage)
[R]ather than being interested in Central Asia "because of oil," the U.S. was interested in oil "because of Central Asia."
--Jared Israel (I'm giving him another airing, because he seems to be closer to the mark on this issue, as his argument sinks in over time)
You know what Gandhi said about Western Civilization? He said it would be a good idea.
--Jared Israel
The Bush Administration economic plan, such as it is, seems to consist entirely of blackmailing the rest of the world into continuing to support the unsupportable American indebtedness by threatening to withhold access to oil.
--Xymphora
By the early third century, it became well noted that a problem was occurring …. politics!
--Robert Adams
Even the Michael Jackson trial hype fizzled quickly after the verdict. The president's poll numbers have plummeted since November 2, suggesting more and more Americans are tiring of the bluster and blather that had entertained them like an endless summer action flick.
--Robert Steinback
--James Vicini (Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented--sometimes the so-called conservatives really do act like conservatives--I'll credit them for that)
Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.
--Sandra Day O'Connor (quoted in the news report)
It is certainly possible that, on a subconscious level at least, the perpetrators wanted the public to know that the towers were not brought down by airplane crashes. That sort of cloaked revelation seems to be, in many cases, a component of the traumatization process. What better way, after all, to disempower and demoralize the American people than through an unspoken acknowledgment that the enemy is within, and can act with impunity?
--Dave McGowan (I'm repeating this because all these seem connected)
[I]t is impossible for the nation-state to strategize. It just comes out swinging. It steps blindly into contradiction after contradiction. It makes temporary alliances with people who will surely either undermine its credibility (Uzbekistan) or become hostile enemies (the Taliban).
--Standard Schaefer (note my invisible edit in this passage)
[R]ather than being interested in Central Asia "because of oil," the U.S. was interested in oil "because of Central Asia."
--Jared Israel (I'm giving him another airing, because he seems to be closer to the mark on this issue, as his argument sinks in over time)
You know what Gandhi said about Western Civilization? He said it would be a good idea.
--Jared Israel
The Bush Administration economic plan, such as it is, seems to consist entirely of blackmailing the rest of the world into continuing to support the unsupportable American indebtedness by threatening to withhold access to oil.
--Xymphora
By the early third century, it became well noted that a problem was occurring …. politics!
--Robert Adams
Even the Michael Jackson trial hype fizzled quickly after the verdict. The president's poll numbers have plummeted since November 2, suggesting more and more Americans are tiring of the bluster and blather that had entertained them like an endless summer action flick.
--Robert Steinback