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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Five years of war in Iraq

It has been five years since the invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq and contrary to what some people say, the average American is feeling the effects of this war. We, as a country, are billions of dollars in debt. We have seen the erosion of the American dollar on the world stage. This war has done nothing but cause us trouble on the world stage.
Roughly, 3 trillion dollars has been spent on this war. Meanwhile, our infrastructure is crumbling all around us. Our roads and bridges are not being repaired, or if they are, it is on borrowed money. Our educational is a mess. All wasted on a war against a country that had nothing to do with the attacks on 9/11. All so that President Bush and his friends can get even richer.
Yes, Al-Qaeda is now in Iraq. The only reason that they are there is that there are Americans to kill there. Meanwhile, Afghanistan, where the real threat to our country has been all along is falling back into the hands of the Taliban. The war in Iraq is costing the war in Afghanistan.

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posted by speeddemon0117 @ 11:29 PM 0 Comments


Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter with the family







Of course, this last weekend was Easter sunday and I had a chance to get together with my sister and her family. We had dinner at my mother's house and I enjoyed the time I had with my nephew. This would be his fourth Easter. I alos took some pictures of a model my stepfather is building from scratch. The model is of a Martin Mars water bomber that he is building entirely from measurements taken from pictures of the old planes, some of which are still flying as water bombers in Canada.



I also had quite a lot of fun spending time playing with my nephew. It will be interesting watching what kind of person he will grow into.

This is a picture that I took while playing around with my camera taking pictures with Ian. We had a good day that day.

posted by speeddemon0117 @ 11:18 PM 0 Comments


Saturday, March 22, 2008

A different way to fly.

These people really know how to fly some really great aircraft. If you look at these aircraft and think that they look weird, just go take a look at the first pioneers of aviation like Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers aircraft. You will see that the general layout is the same, flying tail first. It looks like these pilots have had a lot of fun flying and building the kits that they have.

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posted by speeddemon0117 @ 11:42 PM 0 Comments


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Christian fundamentalism and it's similarities to fundamentalist Islam

I found this article on the Third World Traveler website. Called God's Warrior Twins, the author of this piece, Kimberly Blaker, discusses how the religious right of the United States is using the rise of fundamentalist Islam to justify their subjugation of the basic rights of the American citizen while trying to their own version of a state religion.
If you look at how women and children are treated in both societies, more similarities than differences will be found. Both societies are highly patriarchial and lend themselves to the systematic victimization of women. Under the rule of the Taliban, women could be beaten for something as simple as not wearing their burkas in public or wearing white socks. Honor killings by family members were not uncommon in Taliban society. Young boys as young as six years old were taken from their families and sent to religious schools called madrasah, where all they learned for three years was the Koran.
As for women in fundamentalist Christian families, until recently, they were required to follow a rather strict dress code which often made them uncomfortable. Abuse is more often than not pardoned and dismissed by the clergy when they ask for help from their clergymen. Often, women in fundamentalist Christian homes are not allowed to work outside the house. Christian fundamentalism is often more a predictor of possible child abuse than any other factor. Yes, the idea is to literally beat the Hell out of the children.
Fundamentalists, both Christian and Islamic, are trying to subvert the very core of what it means to be an American. Our country was founded on the ideals of religious freedom for all our people, contrary to popular belief, not on the principles of Judeo-Christian law. Thankfully, the most hypocritical, so-called Christian will soon be out of office. That would be POTUS, the President of the United States himself.
Our founding fathers were Freemasons who saw what state religions were doing to the continent of Europe and designed into the very Constitution of the United States the separation of the church and state, and that is how things should stay. If the fundamentalists have their way, that will not happen and the U.S. will slip into the Dark Ages while the rest of the world moves on.

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posted by speeddemon0117 @ 11:00 PM 3 Comments