Last edited by slapout9; 09-17-2010 at 10:58 PM. Reason: stuff
Theory A: Slap is John Boyd
Theory B: John Boyd has photos of Slap in a very compromising position...
But you are totally right that we do get into some crazy stuff, and once everyone buys in, then its not crazy anymore. Then when someone comes along with a rational postion it is what ends up sounding crazy in comparison.
Robert C. Jones
Intellectus Supra Scientia
(Understanding is more important than Knowledge)
"The modern COIN mindset is when one arrogantly goes to some foreign land and attempts to make those who live there a lesser version of one's self. The FID mindset is when one humbly goes to some foreign land and seeks first to understand, and then to help in some small way for those who live there to be the best version of their own self." Colonel Robert C. Jones, US Army Special Forces (Retired)
Yep, and that is what is happening to our country now, we are being destroyed morally.
Examples:
Would God have bailed out Wall Street?
Would God kill people and put them in jail for smoking some weeds?
Would God say 20 million unemployed people is OK with me?
Would God foreclose on the largest number of houses in history so that they could sit empty.... and people are left without proper shelter?
Would God bomb Iran?
Our National leadership of all parties and all positions are Moral cowards
Time for a song.
"What If God were One Of Us?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5P5v...eature=related
Last edited by slapout9; 09-18-2010 at 04:43 PM. Reason: stuff
The other side of the coin is whether God would tolerate madmen having nuclear weapons, genocide being planned and/or committed, whole nations being oppressed by ruthless dictators, people killing in his name, people growing/processing/distributing/selling drugs which destroy the lives of many thousands etc etc.
The most difficult question you can ask of the "everything is negotiable" generations is "what do you stand for". Long on criticism of the actions of others you at least stand for something they are merely empty skeletons.
I like this quote from Theodore Roosevelt - American 26th US President (1901-09), 1858-1919
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Last edited by JMA; 09-20-2010 at 08:09 AM.
The nature of the deed matters; as does how one goes about it.
In the construct of "Ends-Ways-Means" Ways is by far the most important. Ends are broad and incredibly generic. In fact the US stated ends are so incredibly broad that we (with equally incredible hubris) declare them to be "Universal." Means are pretty fixed. We have DIME. Ways are the most interesting, here is where there is room for artistry of thought, for the fine-tuning of approach that can determine the success or failure of some operation or engagement. We argue too much about Means, and have determined that Ends (universal, so no need to adjust) and Ways (Nation building) are resolved questions, so now it is just a matter of who does it; with the easiest answer being "have the military do it" so thus the need to convert the military to a nation building force. Simple, right? Or maybe just scary in what is lost in the simplicity.
Robert C. Jones
Intellectus Supra Scientia
(Understanding is more important than Knowledge)
"The modern COIN mindset is when one arrogantly goes to some foreign land and attempts to make those who live there a lesser version of one's self. The FID mindset is when one humbly goes to some foreign land and seeks first to understand, and then to help in some small way for those who live there to be the best version of their own self." Colonel Robert C. Jones, US Army Special Forces (Retired)
I wouldn't know what God would or would not tolerate. If s/he is around at all (I wouldn't know that either), s/he seems to tolerate a great deal.
Fortunately we are not God, and the affairs of others are not ours to tolerate or negotiate. If we set out to reform the world we will accomplish nothing but our own exhaustion, bankruptcy, and collapse.
I agree with Mr Jones, a fairly unusual event. The War on Drugs is being fought against the wrong people, in the wrong places. The problem doesn't come from supply - from the "people growing/processing/distributing/selling drugs which destroy the lives of many thousands" - the problem starts with demand, with the people who seek the stuff out and pay money to get it. If the demand is there somebody will supply it. Users aren't "pushed" into drug use by suppliers, suppliers are "pulled" into the trade by an overwhelming financial incentive, produced by a demand we haven't the courage to address and by efforts to curtail supply that are only enough to impose an enormous risk premium on the trade, rendering it obscenely profitable. Dry up demand, supply is no longer a problem. Leave demand in place, and trying to control supply is like bailing with a sieve.
The problem isn't them, the problem is us. If we want to win the "War on Drugs", we have to bring it home, where the problem starts.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”
H.L. Mencken
Bookmarks