holy crap shadowsniper that was hell of alot of writing. awesome points there. now on to alejo. i think the phrase "if you're not from america you can't offer an opinion" should be banned from these forums. do you actually think thats a valid argument? that's a nice conveinient way of trying to shut down any intelligent opposition of your opinions, but it doesn't work, it just makes your following arguments seem weak and pathetic. news flash, the entire friggen 1st world knows what goes on in the US, thats one of the effects of things like the interenet and television. sure the media is biased, but there is no reason for why the opinions of non-americans are less valid than those of americans, so just stop saying that, seriously, its gotten old. FYI, I made a mistake about the guy that wrote that book, got two books mixed up. I was thinking of an ex CIA agent who worked for the clinton admin, and then was fired. this guy was an independent journalist who interviewed everyone in the bush admin (privately, no cameras or other people present) including bush and wrote about the interviews in the book. it's called plan of attack by bob woodward, read i if you get the chance. another point, oil in alaska. contrary to popular belief, there's not all that much oil in there, certainly not nearly as much as is in iraq, syria or iran. plus, in case you haven't noticed, the world's oil supply isn't unlimited, and now more than ever there are more demands for stakes in the worlds oil supply. used to be that the US and a few other developed countries in the world were the main consumers of the world's oil supply. other countries used it of course, but nothing compared to the amount used by the US. now that many undeveloped countries are begining to strengthen their economy, they're wanting the same quality of life we have. china is one of these countries, with its huge population, once a substantial portion of their population attains enough money, there's going to be a huge demand on oil that simply isn't there at the moment. one expert predicted (can't remember his name at the moment, i'll get back to you on it) that by the year 2024, china's economy will be the strongest in the world. this means billions more people are going to want to buy cars, which means they'll need oil. so don't you think that the US would want to gain control over that as much as possible before that happens? and one more point, the whole issue of iraq did not come up after 9/11. there are documented meetings in which the bush admin discussed going to war with iraq, long before the attacks of 9/11 and long before terrorism was a huge issue in US politics.
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What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do -- especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.
William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways
Your toughest competitor lives in your head. Some days his name is fear, or pain, or gravity. Stomp his ass.
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