Theos-Talk Archives (November 2002 Message tt00410)

Steve Stubbs wrote:
> correctly he cannot pronounce oil correctly. Every time Bush says he
> wants to go to war with Iraq over oil, 

Actually, the big oil companies don't want the United States to go to
war with Iraq. If the U.S. lifted the sanctions, Saddam Hussein would be
more than happy to increase his oil production and sell it to the U.S.
cheap. In terms of oil, letting Hussein do whatever he wants to do would
increase the supply and decrease the price.

> Absolutely true. That is the side effect of the so-called war on
> drugs, which was initially well intentioned and which makes sense on
> the face of it, 

I don't believe it EVER was well-intentioned. If you read the debates
over the early drug laws, they were quite explicitly aimed at bigotry. A
major anti-marijuana campaign was started by, at one end, Prohibition
agents who saw their jobs disappearing, and, at the other end, organized
crime who had just lost a major profit source. The drug laws ever since
have been designed not based on how dangerous the drugs are, but how
much more likely are minorities to use the drugs. 

> They are all far, far freer than the United States, no doubt about
> it. Every Arab or Indian you speak to says they really miss that.
> Some of us hope we can catch up someday.

I assume that is a joke. There's a term for those who don't obey the
government in every particular in Arab countries: corpses.

> Nonsense, total nonsense. Bart is a nice guy, but if he defends
> Israel he will defend anything. Except the rights of Palestinians.

Please feel free to give a way that Israel can give the Palestinians
full rights without having the Palestinians thank them by killing every
Jewish man, woman, and child in Israel? That is Israel's dilemma.

Bart