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That was pretty good. So was the lego castle about 30 feet away when you fired? Also, how many takes did you have to do before you finally hit the target?
What do you mean that you “can no longer reconcile civilian casualties with Christianity”? Are you saying that as a Christian, you do not find wars morally permissible if they lead to civilian deaths?
I think that Just War Theory cannot be discarded even if it is difficult to apply at times. What is, after all, the alternative? Do nations adopt their own, disparate ethical frameworks for engaging in war?Whether the Iraq War satisfied the "just cause" requirement of JWT is something I am not sure of, but I think some of the arguments may incorporate several important facts - repeated attempts to curtail Iraq's military ambition diplomatically; a refusal of Sadaam Hussein of abiding by international decrees; the widely-held belief Iraq was harboring WMDs; the ineffectiveness of diplomatic decrees in stopping Iraq's ambitions. As for the war process, I think the most significant error was engaging in a war without foreseeable parameters. The argument for an undefined time of occupation was to ensure the work could be done as needed, rather than by an arbitrary deadline, and without informing the enemy of one's plans. Two key problems with this are that such an undefined timeline has the potential to be financially devastating to the occupier, and psychologically taxing on those involved. The political effects of the war have continued to be devastating on the U.S. mostly for one reason - the unpopular war led to the rise and election of Barack Obama in 2008. Would this have happened had the war been curtailed by 2005, with a withdrawal occurring soon thereafter? Impossible to say, but perhaps not.
I never signed up for a personal Facebook account, and only have a generic account for WCF since you really need one in order to access certain internet services.As for Twitter, I can see how it could be considered "stupid" (a lot of mindless stuff on there), but I think it has some great benefits. Following a hashtag during a live event on TV, for example, can be fun. I did this during the presidential debates, and during the papal election, and there were a ton of people getting involved. I can also see how tweeting at a conference might be beneficial as well. Twitter is also great for finding news stories on interesting topics. For example, did you know this? [html]
Louisville's men's basketball team generated more revenue than its football team last year:$42,434,684 versus $23,756,955.
— Alicia Jessop (@RulingSports) March 21, 2013
[/html]or this?[html]
Louisville is still the only school in the NCAA with their baseball football &basketball teams all ranked in the top 10 #juricheffect #L1C4
— Jeff Spalding (@jspalding79) March 19, 2013
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One of the Apollo mission rockets was just uncovered from the sea. Photos here:http://weather.yahoo.com/photos/apollo-moon-rocket-engines-recovered-slideshow/;_ylt=Ase7fIVf0upPFnZ7jwNe2kKLYDIB;_ylu=X3oDMTRpbXVlcTI2BG1pdANFZGl0b3JzIFBpY2sgTWl4ZWRDYXJvdXNlbARwa2cDM2NmYzRmYWItNWZjZS0zNjU0LWJlZTYtZWYwNzYyZmJiYmVlBHBvcwMzBHNlYwNNZWRpYUJDYXJvdXNlbE1peGVkTFBDQQR2ZXIDYjFiZGIyMTEtOTIzNC0xMWUyLWJkZWUtMjY0MWRjM2QxNmJh;_ylg=X3oDMTFpcDJidWpxBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDZm9yZWNhc3RwYWdl;_ylv=3
I heard someone remark that if Sadam were still alive, he would never have let Iran become a nuclear power. In any case, while his removal has been a benefit for the region, but there may be costs to the region as well that we are only now discovering.
That's interesting – I know the Portuguese occupied the land near modern-day Nigeria (Benin) as early as the late fifteenth century, but in that map the British have it cornered.
Well then I'm busy writing to no one when I directed that tweet to you, I guess. ??? You of all people should get back on for March Madness; someone has to provide immediate, widespread insight into the Cards' push through the tournament.It's taken me a long time to see the real value in Twitter, and I suppose I'm still figuring things out, but it is really helpful and informative. I have a scrolling box on the side of my desktop screen that updates me on new tweets that I subscribe to, and so it's kind of like looking at a news feed that people can interact with. Of course, I can also see what people post on my Ipad and on my phone, making it a very convenient way of interacting with people. Yes, it can be used for very stupid purposes as well, but if you get past those you can see the value.
That's kind of the thorny nature of the war – it seems the answer is either a qualified “yes”, or a qualified “no”. It makes me wonder how historians will view it 20 years ahead.
One thing (unsolicited advice ahead) – your automated tweets have your blog name and “new post” by all of them….it may help if you were to remove those so it's just the title of the new blog post in your tweet.
I just added you with my WCF account. I have a number of history followers there, and I can retweet some of your posts to a wider audience.
It's kind of neat to see. On one hand, yes, it does give you pause as you realize that your government may be effectively paying for war 100+ years into the future. And yes, as was also mentioned in the article, nations should really think carefully before waging war. On the other hand, paying veteran benefits is really an example of quid pro quo; they are benefits received for service performed. This service, needless to say, is crucial to national interest. Contrast this with entitlements, or handouts given to citizens without a corresponding service performed. While both veteran benefits and entitlements require the government to expend much, what the government gets in return is vastly different.
I had contemplated contributing to Wikipedia in the past, but I supposed I did not want to begin battling it out with those on the other side of the political spectrum in what could be an unending war of “corrections”.
That is a pretty nice hit piece on the American experience that is far from representative. I guarantee you I could find people in every Western country with a story that is as pathetic or worse. The article tells one story and ignores the wider context. Typical yellow journalism. Remember the Maine!
I am not sure about the political stance of the BBC, but tugging at the heart strings to make a political point is straight out of the Liberal Americana playbook. You are absolutely right that using one example out of a nation of hundreds of millions is rather ridiculous as a means of pointing to a social problem. Yet, the point it makes it done quite well - people in the middle of America barely being able to eat. How many people freaked read the article and thought, "wow, America must be in really bad shape if even Iowans can't feed themselves"?
