gravid
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posted on March 19, 2002 05:07:14 PM new
Today on the news I watched George Tenent Turn sideways in his seat and throw their statements back in the face of the Congressman who were calling for a war with Iraq - saying: Well gentleman I didn't realize we were going to have a war with Iraq within the next 24 hours.
He then proceeded to inform them that when the ADMINISTRATION had studied the matter and come to a conclution the matter would be resolved.
Excuse me? I realize that the Administration has come to the point they exercise the power to declare war that is constitutionally vested in Congress. But is the reverse also now true? That is if Congress would declare war will the Administration refuse to prosecute it?
Very scary thing here for me to see a CIA director telling Congress they don't call the shots, especially given their new role of direct and public partisipation in combat with remote piloted planes.
[ edited by gravid on Mar 19, 2002 07:36 PM ]
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plsmith
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posted on March 19, 2002 05:12:57 PM new
"Very scary thing here for me to see a CIA director telling Congress they don't call the shots."
'Bout time you started looking at the world through my eyes, Gravid.
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gravid
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posted on March 19, 2002 06:31:30 PM new
I have often thought you see just fine - sorry if I maybe disagreed with some point and made you think I discarded everything.
It is hard to take sides when you see a bunch of people argueing like on TV today and you are sure they are ALL corrupt Jackasses. But
it is like being in a room and you realize all these people have guns and don't like each other.....Your opinion of them makes it no safer. If they start slugging it out for who hold the keys to the use of military powers it is very unstable. I can even see our mild manners quiet Sec. of State taking a stand if that breaks down. Coup anyone?
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plsmith
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posted on March 19, 2002 07:25:21 PM new
Funny you should mention Colin Powell, Gravid -- he was recently "caught" making remarks so "anti" this administration (the one that made him Sec. of State) that it was rumored (albeit briefly) he was hoping to be fired. I'm one of those "nuts" who think the coup already took place. I'm in good company though, imo, as Bill Moyers produced a piece years ago about our "secret government" (back in the Iran-Contra days), and with a boob in the White House, and several agencies calling the real shots, I don't think I'm at all out of line to feel the way I do.
btw, your agreement/disagreement with any of my views is immaterial to the fact that I appreciate your perspective immensely. Well, okay, mostly. Uh, at least sometimes. Heck, don't press me on this issue, eh?
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gravid
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posted on March 19, 2002 07:28:27 PM new
Well shucks some of my posts are pretty fluffy so what does it matter anyway?
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plsmith
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posted on March 19, 2002 07:34:03 PM new
hahaha, you are to "fluffy" what precision is to a 30.06!
Hope that came out right -- it's a compliment. 
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gravid
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posted on March 19, 2002 07:38:09 PM new
At B's Bar we're having this really nice discussion about how to fold fitted sheets. I'm getting really shown up.
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plsmith
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posted on March 19, 2002 07:51:41 PM new
hahaha, you funny, funny man... 
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gravid
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posted on March 19, 2002 07:52:00 PM new
Yeah I can see Colin on TV with his sad serious expression he has - kinda like a kicked puppy saying --
Due to the constitutional crisis and the lack of clear understanding where their duty stands in the face of conflicting orders from seperate branches of government the armed forces have imposed a martial government temporarily until the justices of the supreme court can be found.
The people would say - Yup if he had to do it so be it. He was the only one I never caught lying to me anyway.
He could pull it off when Gen, Haig would have been shot in ten minutes. Remember his 15 seconds when Reagan got shot? Who's in charge? "Well we are here at the White House." Remember those civics lessons Al?
[ edited by gravid on Mar 19, 2002 07:57 PM ]
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plsmith
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posted on March 19, 2002 08:08:35 PM new
I well remember Al Haig siezing the podium and declaring that he was in charge. I was so upset when Ronald Raygun got elected and I was certain we'd all be blown to bits within days. I know better now. All that "better dead than red" Cold War tripe was just hype -- just another way to manage millions of people. Now here we are today faced with the uncertain but real threat of individual and devastating terrorist acts. And we have so little knowledge of who/what/where these people are that we've decided it's time to seriously consider waging war on several countries where they might be located. Why isn't anyone screaming about our failed diplomacy (for which we pay billions) or our failed "intelligence-gathering" agencies (which also cost billions)?
(Stopping this rant now, before it really gets going. Don't want to horn in on Borillar's territory, afterall...)
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gravid
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posted on March 19, 2002 08:21:58 PM new
Good thing for them that the really smart people realize that you could assassinate leaders all day until your gun was too hot to hold and they have a waiting list of replacements a mile long that are no improvement.
I have seen these so called anarchist sites that are supposed to tell you how to make explosives and things and the directions will send a chill up the spine of anyone who has every really made explosives or even done some reloading.
I have actually wondered if they might be little traps to weed out the wannabes?
I think that is why you need an unusually strong irrational factor like religion to find people smart enough to organize these acts who see any point or potential in them.
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Borillar
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posted on March 19, 2002 08:40:53 PM new
It's good to hear you both talk this way. Now -- how are we going to get my next-door neighbors to stop voting Republican and pay attention to politics? You know the ones: they are the ones who picked Republican to vote for when they got their driver's license, but only because it was the first choice marked on the card. (In Oregon, voter registration cards are included with the driver's license application.)
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plsmith
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posted on March 19, 2002 08:58:21 PM new
hahaha, I should've known all along that it was nothing more than your next-door neighbor's voting habits that had you in such a froth, Borillar. Crazy Oregonian!
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Borillar
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posted on March 20, 2002 06:56:02 PM new
Hey! They've been 'root'n' for their 'team' for some time now. But talking politics gives them a headache and they switch to their new Nintendo-3 to ignore the kids with.
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plsmith
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posted on March 20, 2002 06:57:55 PM new
You sure it's the kids they're trying to ignore?
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gravid
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posted on March 20, 2002 07:33:36 PM new
Take it from the angle Republicans dress badly and drink tap water.
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auroranorth
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posted on March 21, 2002 11:08:13 PM new
yes the reds went away by magic, it would not have anything to do with the activists who fought them in the streets of this country while the majority sat on their asses. I can personally think of the budding carerrs of several minin clintons I stopped with action.
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