Good stuff, both of you.
I personally don't think we have any business with Israel. Germany exploited the Jews, not us. Let them pay for that problem. We shouldn't be involved.
Pack - I agree with you that the dependence of foreign oil has diminished a lot of our freedoms and have wrote about it many times on my blog. I have also offered alternatives.
Eisenhower built the Interstate system. JFK built the space program. I would love to see our generation break the dependence of foreign oil. It can be done.
"zombieslayer" wrote:
oil is important because:
(a) it is still the cheapest mass source of energy we have. When the price of oil goes up, people start to "discover" more and more ways to substitute other stuff.
(b) if is still the cheapest mass resource for a lot of the stuff we use every day, like the plastic in the keys on your keyboard or in your packaging or in your paint or....etc etc etc. When the price of oil goes up, people start to "discover" more and more ways to substitute other stuff.
If people want to reduce dependence on foreign oil, they should be applauding every increase in price of gas. Instead, we delay the inevitable and find way after way to keep the price low.
As to the OP on why Osama bin Laden hates the USA? Because he's a small minded goon whose only "skill" is preying on the fears of people. And preaching hate is an easy way to manipulate people's fears.
Take this "thousands of years of conflict over religion" argument that Shawn highlighted. (Or is it Shaun, I apologize, no one ever told me the correct spelling). It's a great metaphor for a lot of reasons. But one reason its great is that it justifies playing the fear card.
Osama can say, "they've been doing this to us for thousand of years". The israelis can do the same thing. And Saddam. And so can Qaddafy. And so can anyone else who wants to justify their morally reprehensible behavior based on fear ot "them."
Unfortunately, it's not so. Oh, sure, there have been wars between Christians and Muslims. Lots of them. Lots of atrocities, too. But if you look close at the history of "that part of the world" since, say, 1000 A.D., what you find is that "Christian v. Muslim" is just a subset of what's happened. And even the "Christian v. Muslim" part is only sometimes about religion.
Look at why dynasties and empires rose and fell, look at why trade occured and abated, look at why assasinations and wars and all the rest happened, and you discover the striking fact that Osama bin Laden shares much of the appalling historical ignorance about geopolitics with recent American political leadership on both sides of the political aisle.
Am I saying that American politicians are 'equivalent' to bin Laden? No. But if you hear someone claiming to be a "leader" relying on "thousands of years of religious conflict" to justify their actions/proposed actions, recognize that they are speaking out of ignorance and playing on your fears.
I guess what I'm saying is that I really don't care why bin Laden thinks what he does. The real question is why do people listen to him? And how do we stop people from listening to him.
And the only answer I can come up with, and I find it appallingly depressing because as a teacher of history I know a little bit about how nigh on impossible this is, is that we need to spend our time trying to get people to recognize that what is going on is not *about* religion at all, but about being captive of our fears and our historical ignorance.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)