Re: OT: Military Ranks/Computers : WAS Re: newbie question on cobol syntax


"LX-i" <lxi0007@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Pete Dashwood wrote:
"LX-i" <lxi0007@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Alistair wrote:

And a final point about Pelosi's trip - Syria harbors terrorists, is
sympathetic to them, and is even letting them cross into Iraq to fight
our (US) soldiers! Why go see Assad? Was Satan unavailable?

Well, during our daily chat ... (He comes to me for advice because I'm
not Judgemental...)...He let it slip that He is pretty tied up with
Africa right now, and that BBC documentary refuting "An inconvenient
truth" is taking a lot of promotion, although He seemed pretty smug about
the inroads it is making into undermining the global warming myth.
('Course, we'd expect that from someone who prefers it hot...).

ha! You mean he's trying to keep it from being seen... :) (The idea
that we as humans can control the planet is absolutely arrogant and
untrue - and I'll leave it at that.)

What with all that, and the Four Horsemen not really trying... (a few
penny ante skirmishes; no decent Global conflict for over half a century
now), some minor famines and pestilences. The Death stats are pretty
steady but that's only because of the increasing birth rate globally. The
Pale Horse is about ready for the knacker's yard and there is a real risk
He could be stripped of His title of Lord of the Flies... (Evil doesn't
have the appeal it once had in a repressed population; kids now can go to
a concert and get it all out of their systems...). You should have heard
Him moaning about how hard it is to get good help, and what a miserable
job it is to be a Manager...Then there are the Powers-that-Be to whom He
must answer... (hints have been dropped that if the World doesn't get
worse, they may be looking for a new entity to bring a fresh new image to
the business of Evil...)

He's really got a lot on His mind...

Sounds like it. I bet you charge him a pretty penny for judgment-free
consulting!


Well, I like to help, and I can relate to some of His problems...

(There was talk of a deal involving my immortal soul, but Mephistopheles had
it appraised (Mordecai's Demonic Cash Conversion - three brass balls and old
gold bought and sold...) and it was found to completely worthless, so I'm
pretty safe really...)


And Assad is a perfectly good stand in...

OK - I suppose... I still don't see why we can't charge her with treason,
though. (Well, following the Vietnam precedent, I guess we can't.)

Let me just say that if *I* were in Baghdad, fighting these al-Qaeda guys
from Syria, and the Speaker of the House of *my* nation went over there to
make nice with their president - I'd be even more upset than I am now.

Seriously, Daniel, I completely understand this. Most of the time I am proud
to be a Kiwi (although I am aware that patriotism and blindly following the
people in power is a major contributing factor to War and heartbreak), but
there have been two occasions in my life when I was ashamed for my country.
One of them was when our current Prime Minister went and embraced the
President of France (after they had committed terrorist acts on our shores
and never apologised for it; the same nation that feted the bombers as
heroes and decorated them when they returned home.) Very much like the
"cozying up to the enemy" you are describing.

[The other time was when a now dead ex Prime Minister reneged on the ANZUS
treaty in order to fulfill his own political aspirations and buy the
anti-nuclear/anti-American vote. (As if anyone actually WANTS nuclear
weapons; but they have served their purpose for over 50 years now and it is
just strupid to pretend we don't need them.). To me, that made our whole
contribution to VietNam a farce (very personal... I lost a good friend
there, was trained for it, and only missed going by the skin of my
teeth...), and it simply dismissed the sacrifice of young Americans who died
at Coral Sea to keep us free. Even the Australians were ashamed of us and
that's pretty hard for any Kiwi to take... :-)]

I would feel exactly as you would under these circumstances.

It IS treason. Looking for peace is one thing; (sometimes you have to visit
the enemy to do that) but making political capital is quite another.


Differing with the President on the merits or prosecution of the war is
perfectly fine, but when we do commit, we need to follow through. A
headline on an article I saw today pretty much echoes what I've said
before; "Even if going to Iraq was a mistake, leaving now would be an even
bigger one."

I'm still not persuaded it was a mistake to go there. Someone had to stop
Saddam. Who else had the capability?

I do think that it wasn't thought through properly (it could've been
resolved with Desert Storm if they had let Stormin' Norman have his way...
he wanted to take Saddam out then, but was forbidden, for fear they might
get someone worse...), and I also think that the feelings and culture of the
Iraqi people were neither considered properly, nor understood. That is why
it is such a problem even now. As long as you have people who believe they
will go to Heaven for killing and maiming others, there is not much you can
do.

The only way to "win" in Iraq is for the Iraqi people to have their minds
changed. This happens by example and education.They need to see that
Democracy and a Secular State is not perfect, but is way better than a
feudal system based on religious intolerance.

Exactly this process is occurring in Turkey at the moment. Kemal Ataturk
imposed a Secular State in 1923 and prohibited the wearing of Muslim dress
by women, or any form of public "parading"of Islam (although, of course,
people were free to practice their religion in private.) Now there is a move
by a vocal fundamental minority, riding the Middle Eastern Islamic political
bandwagon, to set Turkey back a couple of hundred years and make it another
Islamic state.

I was very relieved to see there have been huge (peaceful) public protests
against this, and the numbers are making the political Islamists think
again. The Turks love Democracy and are happy to be for the most part,
Muslim, but with a Secular State. This is probably the best future for
Islam. They deserve the support of all of us.


(yes, I know your original post was in jest... I didn't mean to turn it
back from that, this is just something that I simply cannot believe is
being allowed to happen in the country that I know, love, and defend.
There is an entire party that has, as their platform, the downfall of one
man. They don't care what that man's downfall does to our nation.
Somehow, in November last year they convinced enough people that they got
a little power, and they started abusing that power almost from day one.
On my blog*, I wrote about why I thought this change in power took place,
so I won't rehash it here, especially in response to a light-hearted
post.)

* http://www.djs-consulting.com/personal/2006/why-the-republicans-lost

"Who is more irrational? A man who believes in a God he doesn't see, or
a man who's offended by a God he doesn't believe in?" - Brad Stine

I still think they both need help... :-)

Have you ever seen the wind? I've seen the trees moving and the
tumbleweeds tumbling, but I don't think I've ever seen the wind. Just
because something is invisible doesn't mean it's not real. :)

It isn't about visibility, it's about perception. What is real for us is
what we perceive to be real. There are fundamental blocks to my perception
of God, that are nothing like perceiving the wind (even if you can't see it,
you can certainly feel it). Because perception is a very personal thing, I
know that different people will have different views on this, and I'm really
fine with that. My failure to believe in God or Satan or any other such
entities, in no way undermines anyone else's right to do so, and I treat all
such beliefs with respect. (If faith was adhered to only because other
people did so, or because that was the finding of the majority, it wouldn't
be much of a faith, would it?)

My respect stems, not from the fact that these are great beliefs (although
some of them certainly are, and can cause people to do the most
extraordinary things for good as well as bad), but rather from the fact that
I spent nearly 30 years investigating belief systems and faiths and realised
that they are currently woven into our society and are part of what makes us
Human Beings.

I would like to see them slowly disentangled from our lives and see people
living in harmony without the fear of Hellfire, or requiring imaginary
friends to prop them up in adversity, but that won't happen in my lifetime
and I currently estimate around another 1500 years.

It will be a long, slow process and the key is education. As people become
educated they ask more pertinent questions. They are unsatisfied with the
arguments from priestly authority, or the dogma served up by a church. In
other words, as people gain the yearning for learning they start to think
and question. If there really is a divine power it will eventually become a
personal one, and each man will know why he believes (or doesn't). At this
point, each person accepts his faith (or lack of it) as personal and sees no
desire to inflict it on others or go and kill them for not sharing it. That
would be a "mature" faith, in my opinion.

I don't think people who see flying saucers or even who claim alien
abduction are necessarily irrational. (See... non-judgemental... :-))
Experience has taught me that our perceptions can be misled, and sometimes
downright tricked. I've seen white tigers disappear before my eyes, I've
watched a person cut in half with a chain saw and saw the two halves
separated, I've seen an Indian magician produce limitless quanties of water
from a small ewer, I've seen a man actually have his tongue cut off (and I
handled the piece of tongue to ensure it was real... it was...), I saw
Copperfield vanish the Statue of Liberty, and I've been totally convinced
that one shape is larger than the other when they are both the same. Does
that make me irrational? I hope not.

I don't think people who believe in a God they cannot perceive are
necessarily irrational. (Even though that doesn't work for me...)

I don't think people who are offended by a God they don't believe in, are
necessarily irrational, even though THAT doesn't work for me either.

The question is a loaded one and really is just a rhetorical device. It is a
pity such devices are even considered necessary when defending the faith....

I understand your tag lines, Daniel, but it irritates me a bit because it
implies that there are only two options. I see more than that.

(Nevertheless, I will defend to the death your right to post them... :-))

Pete.


.

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