General Political Thread

[KevinG]

The idea was to vet the rebel groups and train fighters, who would be supplied with weapons. The plan had risks, but it also offered the potential reward of creating Syrian allies with whom the United States could work, both during the conflict and after President Bashar al-Assad’s eventual removal.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Petraeus presented the proposal to the White House, according to administration officials. But with the White House worried about the risks, and with President Obama in the midst of a re-election bid, they were rebuffed

 

interesting.

 

politics is a bitch, it really gets in the way of good governance.  

[LouieB]

Quoting J. Mascis here....."What a mess".

Y'all got that right.

 

LouieB

[uncool2pillow]

Back to teaching, just for a moment.  It is such a rewarding and satisfying profession in so many ways.  For example, I'm checking some papers about culture tonight.  Nothing hard, just trying to get my students to think about all that culture entails.  I had this question on the sheet: "What do you wear on special occasions?"  Here are 2 answers:

 

Nothing

 

Depends

 

Seriously, did anything that awesome happen at your job today?  Nope.

[Hixter]

"What do you wear on special occasions?"

 

Depends

 

He/she is handling incontinence better than most teens would.

[IRememberDBoon]

Back to the teacher crap.
I can assure you there are hundreds of thousands of "project managers" who surf viachicago etc......all day every day and then go into meetings and give "status updates" for a half hour and make ten times what most teachers do.
No need to discuss or argue. I know. Im right in the middle of it and see it every single day.

[uncool2pillow]

So there's LOTS of people here making $500,000+? Wow.

[Doug C]

Back to teaching, just for a moment.  It is such a rewarding and satisfying profession in so many ways.  For example, I'm checking some papers about culture tonight.  Nothing hard, just trying to get my students to think about all that culture entails.  I had this question on the sheet: "What do you wear on special occasions?"  Here are 2 answers:

 

Nothing

 

Depends

 

Seriously, did anything that awesome happen at your job today?  Nope.

Ha ha ha. That is the teaching profession. In addition to my fulltime H.S. gig, I also teach online credit recovery 6 hours a week. I had an email from a student last Monday asking if the reason that she couldn't log in to her class was because the site was closed for Memorial Day.

[Sir Stewart]

Link?

(nice name. Took me a minute)

 

I wish I could locate the interview - I know my answer appeared snarky/knee-jerk, but Atticus's question made me think immediately of an interview of Bush from sometime during his presidency, where he's in the White House, maybe the Oval Office, pointing out a painting on the wall and explaining its meaning to him (it depicts a war scene) and he said something along the lines of Christ put him in this role (wartime president) to spread Christ's words and teachings. I've just searched a ton of videos and can't find the clip. Maybe I dreamt it.

[KevinG]

I wish I could locate the interview - I know my answer appeared snarky/knee-jerk, but Atticus's question made me think immediately of an interview of Bush from sometime during his presidency, where he's in the White House, maybe the Oval Office, pointing out a painting on the wall and explaining its meaning to him (it depicts a war scene) and he said something along the lines of Christ put him in this role (wartime president) to spread Christ's words and teachings. I've just searched a ton of videos and can't find the clip. Maybe I dreamt it.

 

That is insane.  Especially if it is true.   

[Atticus]

My question isn't designed as a set-up, I'm actually curious as to when the last time a group of Christians proclaimed that they were going to war or killing a number of people in the name of their religion.

 

The Iraq War doesn't qualify under the parameters of the question I'm asking.  Clearly we as a country did not agree in any legal or organized sense that we were invading Iraq for Christ or as Christians.  Whatever your feelings on the war, it was at least proclaimed/advertised/sold as a war to stop WMD and Saddam, etc.

[Sir Stewart]

True. I'm curious as to why you're asking this question.

[Atticus]

 

 

“The worst kind of predictions about what could happen internally, and spilling over the borders of Syria, are certainly within the realm of the possible now,”

 

Hillary Clinton, 1/31/13

 

 

The idea was to vet the rebel groups and train fighters, who would be supplied with weapons. The plan had risks, but it also offered the potential reward of creating Syrian allies with whom the United States could work, both during the conflict and after President Bashar al-Assad’s eventual removal.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Petraeus presented the proposal to the White House, according to administration officials. But with the White House worried about the risks, and with President Obama in the midst of a re-election bid, they were rebuffed

 

 

Clearly some people from his own party thought Obama had a window to do some good in this matter and think he passed on it for political reasons.

[Sir Stewart]

Is that a reply to my question about your Christian question?

[KevinG]

True. I'm curious as to why you're asking this question.

 

I am wonder that as well.  

 

In Atticus' original question he asked:

 

Point of curiosity for the history proficient: when is the last time a government or significant entity (i.e. not a whacko splinter group bombing an abortion clinic) killed a number of persons overtly (not under some kind of pretext) in the name of Christianity?

 

Which actually begs the larger question when has any government or significant entity (ie not a whacko splinter group) killed a number of persons overtly in the name of any religion.  

 

You could quickly point to 9/11 but Bin Laden said himself the bombings were because of the support of Israel, religious in nature, but not in the name of a religion.    And one could argue that was a whacko splinter group as well.  As are most of the terrorist groups.  

 

Really has there been any purely religious wars since the crusades?  

[Atticus]

True. I'm curious as to why you're asking this question.

 

In a lot of the vitriolic stuff I read back and forth between politically charged Americans about foreign policy, this idea of Muslim aggression/terrorism vs. past Christian aggression/oppression/imperialism gets hinted at or put in the forefront ("you think the Muslims have killed some people, look at the billions the Christians slaughtered" etc.)  It seems that the Christians are much better at the PR of it--they've come up with better cover stories.  I am curious about when the last time Christians just came right out and said "hey, we're killing these assholes for Christ."

Is that a reply to my question about your Christian question?

 

of course not, silly.

[Atticus]

 

Which actually begs the larger question when has any government or significant entity (ie not a whacko splinter group) killed a number of persons overtly in the name of any religion.  

 

 

I think Al-Qaeda counts as a significant entity (as opposed to a half dozen whacko Christians who bomb an abortion clinic--is what I was getting at).

[KevinG]

I think Al-Qaeda counts as a significant entity (as opposed to a half dozen whacko Christians who bomb an abortion clinic--is what I was getting at).

 

Al-Qaeda is a significant in numbers, but they are whackos who subvert religion to justify killings.  The only difference between them and people who bomb an abortion clinic is numbers.  

 

I am really not sure of why or to what point you are asking this.  Is it purely academic?  Or is it there a larger idea at hand?   

[Atticus]

Al-Qaeda is a significant in numbers, but they are whackos who subvert religion to justify killings.  The only difference between them and people who bomb an abortion clinic is numbers.    

 

How can you be sure though?  I think it's possible that the people bombing abortion clinics may really believe that what they're doing is sanctioned by the god they believe in.  I can imagine the same thing being true for Al-Qaeda members.  I don't know that you can say for certain that they're subverting religion--in the sense that they may have another more dominant motive.  Maybe I'm just misinterpreting what you mean by "subvert"

 

I assure you I have no large ideas.

[Winston Legthigh]

1492. Spain. Big year for Spain. Gained foothold on the new world (which could also be the answer to the whole Christian war thing, drove the Muslims out of Spain.

 

Spain.

[Atticus]

gracias.

(see what I did there?)

[Mr. Heartbreak]

gracias.

(see what I did there?)

[Atticus]

Interesting article on Putin's perspective

[Sir Stewart]

of course not, silly.

 

[uncool2pillow]

Most post-1492 imperialism was, to a large degree, about spreading Christianity.  No the only reason, but it wasn't hidden or assumed.  It was out there.  Civilize the savage and whatnot.

[IRememberDBoon]

I wonder if the Troglodytes on ViaChicago will start blushing over Vladimir Putin