What is "rpg" Heather?

skiing, sailing, reading, motorcycle, roller-blading, music....

making new friends, learning from them, teaching....

lobster, lemon meringue pie, strawberry shortcake....

hmmmmmmmm!



Oceans

Oceans

Hey, Matt!

Welcome. You've come to a good place. be nice, have fun!

See you in the forum.


Oceans

Oooops...my server is a bit cranky -- big storm moving through.

Hi,Lee!

Interesting.

The Dalai Lama comes to the US fairly often and I have not heard any
mention of a Chinese protest to the US. I wonder if it doesn't happen,
or the media does not report it.

How popular has the Dalai Lama become in Australia? Is there a Tibetan
Buddhist movement? Local monasteries/nunneries?



Oceans

Hi,Lee!

Interesting.

The Dalai Lama comes to the US fairly often and I have not heard any
mention of a Chinese protest to the US. I wonder if it doesn't happen,
or the media does not report it.

How popular has the Dalai Lama become in Australia? Is there a Tibetan
Buddhist movement? Local monasteries/nunneries?



Oceans

Barbie !

Hi, everyone!

My sense is that the forces that are tearing at the unitary family (two
parents, two children) powerful and confusing. Economic, social,
educational, and life-expectancy trends all work against that unit. So
if it breaks down in any way -- divorce, death of a spouse, death of a
child, loss of the home, unemployment -- the unitary family often does
not have the resilience to keep on functioning well for the remaining
members.

I've become more and more intrigued with the dynamics of extended
families, and am wondering whether they might not be more resilient?

Kid at Heart said something important that I want to come back too: that
is how we are being overwhelmed by information. I now spend about 1/3 of
my day reading or talking with information sources. I love it, but I am
also feeling that more and more I am not keeping up with the information
flows that I want to. All my colleagues seem to feel they are int he
same position.

Does anyone else feel like they are in this situation?

I'd love to hear your thoughts also on the unitary/extended family
question....



Oceans

Jerry, many thanks.

I'll have to re-read the posting a couple of times.

I have a question that may be hard to answer....

In the US Army/Delta mission to Mogadishu, a soldier fell from a
helicopter on one of their missions, and injured himself badly. The
commanding general had repeated the word, "No one left behind," and so
there ensued a series of cycles, in which in the effort to protect and
rescue the first soldier from the gathering opponent others got wounded,
and more went to their rescue and more were wounded and killed.

In the end, 18 soldiers died, nominally as a result of the first injury.
I can't remember now if the first injured soldier made it out alive.

Do you think that US contractors in Iraq would be covered by the "No one
left behind" doctrine? Would an equivalent effort be made by the Army
to recover captured contractors as is made for military personnel?

Or does this question call for too much conjecture?

Thanks for all the information!

Oceans

Hi, Dazto be!

Welcome!

Oceans

A sex-change operation?


Oceans

Spider, Redy, JJ, thanks for your postings here... I appreciate the time
you are putting into these questions and discussion.

They are confusing to me, I have to admit. It seems that a lot of
assumptions are being made about what terms used in the Bible refer to.
But I am also confused by what seems like an enormously complex scenario
being laid out. Why would God make things so complicated? It reads a bit
like a Hollywood horror film script.

And the way it sounds is like God is taking some pleasure in playing
with people as if they are toys.

I am sure there is more to it than this -- why would want a God that
toys with people? It seems to me that we can do better than this, no?

There must be verses in the Bible that portray a more generous future,
no?

Spider, can you recommend an edition of the Bible? This is making me
even more curious.

Again, many thanks!

Oceans

Naw, I'm plotting my escape from Washington. I've done my bit (and a
lot more) for this benighted country....

Time for me to find some friends, find a new home, learn to plant a
garden, hoist a glass, and write. Course, you can guess what I'll be
writing about!



Oceans

Those darn labels just won't cooperate!

Zap, you are not understanding the term 'neocon.' It has nothing to do
with 'liberal' or 'conservative.' (Even though it may sound like it
does.)

It has a very specific meaning, and is a vital part of the current
FOREIGN policy situation.

Good explanation Jerry, re. marcenaries.

Quick question: are mercenaries covered by the Geneva Conventions, or
the Convention against Torture?

I read several accounts now of 'contractors' carrying weapons and
dressed in US military uniforms. Also, of their participation in foot
patrols, and of several instances where 'security' guard contractors
rough up the Iraqis.

The new DoD procurement (which has been held up as the procurment
process and award has been challenged) that I referred to above is for
contractors to serve in Iraq as MPs and intelligence officers, including
interrogation.

So my sense is that they are not limited to support logistics.

What is their legal status in terms of UCMJ? Geneva?

If the Iraqi resistence/insurgency seizes one of these contractors, what
is his status, from the US point of view? US soldiers seized should be
treated as PoWs, but should contractors? Should mercenaries?

Thanks,

Oceans

Zap, that's the problem when you put labels on people....



Oceans

Hi, redy!

I'm catching up with JSH threads...

Good post!

The reason this thing of "Palestine" appearing on maps is because some
pro-Israel advocates intheir efforts to support Israel's legal legitmacy
have asserted that "palestine" never existed, or at least not with
boundaries, or at least not as a political entity. They will say that no
map shows Palestine with boundaries or as a political entity. The
implication, they would like us to conclude, is that the "Palestinians"
are an artificial thing with no claim to Palestine. Indeed, in the late
60's Golda Meir famously declared that "There is no such things as a
Palestinian." Abba Eban, a long-standing and distinguished Israeli
Ambassador, said: "There is a Palestine, and it is Jordan."

Lots of Americans (and others!) were taken in by this argument, and so
the question pops up from time to time, as it did here.

So the many maps that disprove the assertion, and thus undermine the
implication, get dragged out.

This is the only reason that we go through this drill from time to time.

There are several other red herrings that get dragged out from time to
time, and involve a similar flurry of exchanges. They are all a bit of a
set piece!

In essence you are right; the legitimacy or illegitimacy of Israel rests
more on other more essential issues.



Oceans

Today, quick note: this morning, some US senior military in a private
hallway discussion used the term 'Iraq is lost.' No equivocation.

Reality sets in....