Oct 21, 2009 -- 10:03AM, Semachiah wrote:

Shalom,

Okay technically it is an "application" but in fact it serves as a nomination for consideration by the committee and therefore my reasoning still holds absolutely true!

Also peace to you, Semachiah!

I am not sure... I don't think much more than the name is dropped in the beginning - the reasoning why the application might make sense could be added later.

But whatever. We agree (I think) that this is a bet on the future, and that the Nobel committee tries to influence the US president's politics by issuing the prize to him...

Oct 21, 2009 -- 10:23AM, CharikIeia wrote:

Oct 21, 2009 -- 10:03AM, Semachiah wrote:

Shalom,

Okay technically it is an "application" but in fact it serves as a nomination for consideration by the committee and therefore my reasoning still holds absolutely true!

Also peace to you, Semachiah!

I am not sure... I don't think much more than the name is dropped in the beginning - the reasoning why the application might make sense could be added later.

But whatever. We agree (I think) that this is a bet on the future, and that the Nobel committee tries to influence the US president's politics by issuing the prize to him...

Do you think that it lessens the prestige to use the Nobel Peace Prize for such political influence?  I thought  that it was a prestigeous award myself, thinking that Arafat's awarding might have been just a fluke, but now I am starting to rethink that status..

Oct 21, 2009 -- 10:34AM, nnsecu wrote:

As much as I hate to admit it I think Sotomayor may have been right.

A group of wise Latino women probably could have made a better choice then a bunch of old white men in this case.

hysterical

Oct 21, 2009 -- 8:09PM, Ur2 wrote:

rabello,

Asserting that Aghanistan did not attack us on 9/11 is almost childish. Either you do not know anything about Afghanistan, al qaeda, ObL or any of the background of these subjects or you are in utter and complete denial.

ok...

I would challange you to prove that Afghanistan attacked us on 9/11/01.

Did the president of Afghanistan order Afghan troops to invade and attack America?

How many Afghan's were on those 3 planes, anyway?    Did the Afghan government equip these "troops" with airplanes and weapons (boxcutters) to attack us?

The plot was cooked up in the Philippines, and places like Germany and the United States, bankrolled by, whom, the Afghan government of Sept 2001???     Yes, there were training camps for jihadists in Afghanistan and they gave safe harbor to OBL -- but Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the alleged "mastermind" of 9/11, is not an Afghan, was arrested in Pakistan.   OBL, the alleged "mastermind" of 9/11 is not an Afghan, either, he is Saudi Arabian, and created his jihadist group when he was in The Sudan, and since 2001, escaped to Pakistan and may or may not even be alive.   Is he the one who ordered Afghan troops to attack us with their planes and boxcutters?

I'm still waiting for somebody to tell me what the Afghan military uniform, circa Sep 2001, looks like and what kind of WMD they possessed to be able to attack America.   Goat herder "costumes" and taxi driver "costumes" don't count.

 As I said, it is important to be very precise when picking enemies so as to not reflexively mistake an act of "war" by "those Muslims" with an act of "terrorism" by some criminally minded, fundamentalist civilians.  It's that kind of "thinking" that got us into these miserable, neverending quamires in the first place.

Oct 21, 2009 -- 11:41PM, rabello wrote:

I would challange you to prove that Afghanistan attacked us on 9/11/01.

Uh, did anyone ever assert that Afghanistan attacked the US on 9/11/01?

This sounds like a misconception. The presence of Western troops in Afghanistan is not based on a declaration of war between two nations. Do you think it is? Or do you think anyone else thinks it is? If so, who / why?

As I see it, the presence of Western troops in Afghanistan is based on the principle of "you broke it, you own it". Troops went in there because the terrorist educational infrastructure was to be wiped out, and because the anti-civilisation stone age Afghan Mullah Omar government was too reluctant to agree to that. Since then, the West owns it.