Pyssy said :

How about this, when I bother to speak to you reply, otherwise shut up and stop posting replies for others to me, because I rarely care for anything, or about anything you ever have to say. And I’m sure they can reply themselves .

It’s an open thread . Anyone is free to respond to your nonsense . But remember your comments here the next time you respond to something not directed at you .

Show a little bit of courage when you are challenged. Otherwise you look weak
when you point fingers at others and call them cowards.

If you don’t like that I am sorry, but then again IT WASN’T IN REPLY TO YOU ANYWAYS. How about this, when I bother to speak to you reply, otherwise shut up and stop posting replies for others to me, because I rarely care for anything, or about anything you ever have to say. And I’m sure they can reply themselves.

Also, in other wars the U.S. served as more of a leader in negotiations. This time we let Israel loose on Hezbollah without restraint, which definitely has damaged our prestige with our moderate Arab allies in the region. No real advantage was achieved by doing this- I see the U.S. as the big loser here-and of course the Lebanese civilians.

Because if we were I’m very sure the majority of americans would tell you to get bent nice and loud. Therefore your post is just “cowardly” avoidance of backing up your/ and Holly’s own desires for further warfare against others you are not willing do yourself.

Do you even bother to read the comments? Show me where I agreed with Holly’s remark or even referenced it. Is your reading comprehension really that bad? You constantly assume facts not in evidence just as Gopher did earlier.

Here is a recap for you :

Pyst said :
Ok Holly, get to work doing that then. What? you mean others are going to have to do it for you, while you sit at home? Well that’s just plain chickenshit if you ask me if you don’t do your part and go there to do some of the bombing, and fighting

Pyst , do you believe we should fight violent crime? If so, I am sure you are doing your part by patrolling the most dangerous areas nearest you. Otherwise according to your logic you would be a coward. When was the last time you ran into a burning building? If never, then I must assume you are in favor of letting every conflagration go unattended. DO you eat meat? If so, I’m sure you wouldn’t take the cowardly way out by having someone else kill and butcher it for you.

You see? In my comment I neither agree nor disagree with Holly’s assertion. Read more closely and don’t assume you can read peoples minds.

MikeyF, I was responding to this comment.

“I support “bombing fundamentalist Islam into submission” because if we do not, the Islamists will not stop until they have forcibly converted or murdered us all.”

Yes , and I was responding to this :

Pyst said :
Ok Holly, get to work doing that then. What? you mean others are going to have to do it for you, while you sit at home? Well that’s just plain chickenshit if you ask me if you don’t do your part and go there to do some of the bombing, and fighting

Your smart enough that I don’t have to condescend to you. You know exactly the point I was making. Also, I have no doubt that Holly would have no problem fighting for what she holds dear.

Michael and Holly can decide for themselves whether or not it’s right for them, without any unsolicited advice from you or me.

Thank you Smash . I probably should have taken my father’s advice and not joined the Marine Corps back in the 70′s . But you know kids rarely listen to advice from parents .

In a previous thread I listed all the reasons why one need not serve to have a valid opinion on issues of war. Gomer was actually present in that thread. Unfortunately, he didn’t pay attention during either. He was too busy getting his talking points in and forgot to listen to the other side.

MikeyF, I was responding to this comment.

“I support “bombing fundamentalist Islam into submission” because if we do not, the Islamists will not stop until they have forcibly converted or murdered us all.”

The United State’s goal was the erradication of alQaeda, the capture/death of Osama Bin Laden and the eradication of the Taliban in Afghanistan. We made an ignorant detour to Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein for something he did not posses. Nowhere I’ve seen has CONGRESS declared any declaration of war against radical Islam….have you? The public has not been inforamed we are to fight all of North Africa, The Middle East, Central Asia, parts of South East Asia and even parts of Europe where radical Islam resides. Because if we were I’m very sure the majority of americans would tell you to get bent nice and loud. Therefore your post is just “cowardly” avoidance of backing up your/ and Holly’s own desires for further warfare against others you are not willing do yourself.

Firefighting is a profession I’m not equipped to do, or might even be refused a chance to do (they are picky) but I wouldn’t run from either. Patrol the most dangerous are near me? Ok but we have nothing really bad to patrol I couldn’t walk through in the middle of the night here. As far as butchering meat I really wouldn’t mind it, but I wouldn’t make very good cuts either. A pro butcher is alot better, but blood and stench of entrails really wouldn’t bother me much (entrail are nasty smelling and do bother me a bit) since I’ve been around it before (uncles were cattle ranchers).

All four active services have met or exceeded their recruiting goals for Oct 2005 – July 2006 (FY2006 to date). All branches are also projected to meet or exceed their retention goals for 2006. So I’m not quite sure where you’re coming from on this.

Surely a vet such as yourself would realize that the military isn’t for everyone. Michael and Holly can decide for themselves whether or not it’s right for them, without any unsolicited advice from you or me.

I’m a fellow OIF vet. Can I speak out, or do I need to go back for another tour, first?

The chickenhawk argument is old, tired, and embarassing. Give it up.

Tell me, who came out ahead? For all their bluster, Hezbollah saw much of their territory in southern Lebanon leveled, and expended a good portion of their arsenal, with nothing to show for it. Israel has suffered civilian and military losses. Lebanon is in shambles. Everyone outside of America hates Bush (but they did before this, so no big change). Syria stayed on the sidelines. Iran has new sanctions imposed by the UNSC. France has to send troops to Lebanon (AGAIN!). UNIFIL will continue to display its impotence. Nothing has changed.

I suppose that one could argue some sort of gain in stature for Nasrallah (but at a heavy cost), Saniora (for just barely holding his country together), and Rice (for personally leading the charge on the truce resolution). But these personal triumphs are far outweighed by the losses on all sides.

The people of the Middle East need to stop crowing about who won and who lost, and get down to building peaceful, sustainable, and prosperous communities. And this will happen, just as soon as Hell freezes over.

Pyst , do you believe we should fight violent crime? If so, I am sure you are doing your part by patrolling the most dangerous areas nearest you. Otherwise according to your logic you would be a coward. When was the last time you ran into a burning building? If never, then I must assume you are in favor of letting every conflagration go unattended. DO you eat meat? If so, I’m sure you wouldn’t take the cowardly way out by having someone else kill and butcher it for you.

As long as groups like Hezbollah do a superior job of providing social services to the populace, they will be deeply engrained in Lebanon. The best we can hope for is an uneasy peace between the two countries.

[Holly in Cincinnati (mail):
I support "bombing fundamentalist Islam into submission" because if we do not, the Islamists will not stop until they have forcibly converted or murdered us all.]

Within Lebanese politics, Hezbollah’s prestige will be so unassailable that its Christian, Sunni and Amal Shiite rivals will not be able to criticize it openly for some time to come.

Maybe, maybe not

We recently had a very angry email from a reader (understatement) upset that we deleted his comment which went over the line on the other side. There are boundaries. You can indeed be passionate and provocative without crossing a line that most people on both sides recognize. We tried emailing Sal before but the email came back. Kindly note that we won’t keep doing this indefinitely. We welcome comments by Sal because they often do add to the debate but he needs to lower some of them a notch. Personal attacks on other people leaving comments really aren’t welcome. There’s enough passionate stuff to debate on this issue.

The poor old American people he’s always talking about “protecting” are now far less safe anywhere in the world, as the US becomes further isolated and extremist factions spread hatred– whether fundamentalist Christians (who ironically see no moral conflict in breaking the sixth commandment, in their misguided, egotistical desire to speed along the 2nd coming of Jesus), hardline Likudniks, or Islamic fundamentalists. Violence breeds…well, violence.
What was it Mahatma Gandhi said? “I object to violence because even when it appears to do good, the good is temporary–and the evil it does is permanent.”