Random Pics from Washington March 09/12/09

[Stealth Hunter]

Originally Posted by August

"Beat him to death", is that how they do things in your country?

Actually hanging is more common. Maybe they should lynch this reb for his treason.

FETCH SOME ROPE.

[August]

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

Actually hanging is more common. Maybe they should lynch this reb for his treason.

FETCH SOME ROPE.

Lynching is not only illegal it is wrong.

And BTW treason is a strong word for a bit of a flag displayed in a corner of a single picture. For all we know the caption on the sign might have been a condemnation of the Confederacy. You know the rebellion started by southern Democrats and put down by Republicans?

But be that as it may i'm 100% Yankee and if i had lived a century and a half ago it's certain that i'd be wearing blue and not gray, but I have to admit that nobody flying that flag has ever did me or mine any harm. On the other hand I have watched people flying the flag that you're sporting in your sig take 53 of my fellow countrymen hostage for well over a year so I have to ask myself, who is my enemy here?

[Stealth Hunter]

Originally Posted by August

Lynching is not only illegal it is wrong.

First part- true according to the Supreme Court. But it was still a common occurrence in the 1930s in small towns.

Wrong? Wrong how? Right and wrong are points of view- opinions-- in this case (lynching, I mean). Nothing more. Opinions are never facts.

Originally Posted by August

And BTW treason is a strong word for a bit of a flag displayed in a corner of a single picture.

Tell that to Oklahoma, whose legislation believes that it's treason- that any red flag or other emblem or banner, indicating disloyalty to the Government of the United States or a belief in anarchy or other political doctrines or beliefs, whose objects are either the disruption or destruction of organized government, or the defiance of the laws of the United States or of the State of Oklahoma is a felony with a possible 10 year prison sentence and a $1,000 fine.

Originally Posted by August

For all we know the caption on the sign might have been a condemnation of the Confederacy.

Well that guy is just a little bit out of place if he is condemning the CSA in Washington, D.C. here and now in 2009. It's been gone for a good 144 years.

Originally Posted by August

At an anti-government rally

There again, I don't think people would be getting his point if he showed up with that kind of a message at this kind of a rally- but I digress.

Originally Posted by August

You know the rebellion started by southern Democrats and put down by Republicans?

More like early Dixiecrats. Not that it really matters since I'm not a member of either party, but saying something like that doesn't actually prove or disprove anything- despite what you think. For example, Abraham Lincoln was a Deist, Jefferson Davis was an Episcopal Christian. Does that make one religious belief system more honorable/better than the other? Not in the least. The same goes for the political parties and the American Civil War, especially when you consider that it happened nearly 150 years ago.

Originally Posted by August

But be that as it may i'm 100% Yankee and if i had lived a century and a half ago it's certain that i'd be wearing blue and not gray,

Glad to hear it.

Originally Posted by August

but I have to admit that nobody flying that flag has ever did me or mine any harm.

Didn't you have any relatives in the Civil War? If so, the boys flying that flag were out to harm you and yours. Your ancestors- that much is true, but without them you'd never exist.

Originally Posted by August

On the other hand I have watched people flying the flag that you're sporting in your sig take 53 of my fellow countrymen hostage for well over a year so I have to ask myself, who is my enemy here?

Thirty years ago. After they overthrew an authoritarian monarch which the United States' government officials helped to put in power. After the CIA and MI6 executed a coup against Prime Minister Mossadegh because he would not let them interfere in the private business interests of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. After we had a democracy for the first time, and you overthrew it because of greed. Fifty-five years ago.

Now as far as the hostages are concerned, they were all returned home alive and well. Does that make what happened the right thing to do in the first place? In my humble opinion, no. But as far as grudges are concerned, I'd say we've got more of a reason to be angry at you all than you do at us. Myself included. Because the actions of your government directly affected my government- as well as myself and my family. But more importantly, your actions affected the course of Iran's history entirely.

As I said, we had a working democracy going; then you destroyed it. Because of greed. Not because we'd declared war on you, not because we'd declared you enemies of the state, not for any logical and justified reasons... you did it because you were greedy. For oil. And you didn't care one bit about what would happen in the future, or how many people would die from the aftereffects.

You set us back decades in our struggle for a positive change in our politics and government- if not centuries. The protesters in Tehran have not succeeded in their struggle. Without help and support, I doubt they ever will unfortunately.

Thanks for ruining my country and what my family had there.

[Sea Demon]

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

Thanks for ruining my country and what my family had there.

Things weren't exactly rosy during your authoritarian Monarch period in your country. I think Iranians didn't exactly do much to make their country a stable and wonderful place for all it's citizens before US policy there. What responsibility do Iranians have for their own role in the ruination of your country?

And as far as the blunder in allowing the Islamic Revolution to take place in Iran, you can thank the impotent Jimmy Carter administration and the Democrats of the time. You know, the very people you vote for in my country. You can thank people like yourself for Iran's dismal failure in two different ways.

August is right regarding your views between the Rebel Flag and the Iranian flag in your sig. You're just spinning because you can't do an adequate job of explaining it away.