Wow - that was a dumb statement even for you!
SilverWarder Send a noteboard - 05/02/2010 04:22:59 PM
It was the actions of the government that gave Japan a reason to attack us. Classical liberal or libertarians would not have incited Japan by freezing their assets or interfering with their commerce.
Classical liberal or libertarians would never have had a navy at Pearl to be attacked.
However you are missing or more likely ignoring, the entire Japanese culture of the time, which was a resurgence of militarism and was being exercised through conquest.
All that asset freezing etc. was an attempt to slow down the Japanese war machine which had already invaded a whole stack of their neighbours (successfully) without going to actual war.
Of course it didn't work.
Hawaii was going to get attacked eventually - it is part of the Pacific and the Japanese plan was to make the Pacific their own personal lake.
I'm sorry - you think Japan was provoked? Maybe, but that provoking happened many many years before in the 1800s when America used gunboat diplomacy to forcibly open the island nation to trade. The militaristic resurgence was in many ways, like the one that happened in Germany as a response to the Treaty of Versailles. "See, we were screwed, let's go get back some of our own now!" The return of a militaristic society was in the offing for a long long time.
Now - if the colonialism of the 1600s to the 1800s hadn't taken place? Well, maybe, but who knows. That's changing an awful lot of history. Probably wouldn't have changed much since Japan always hated the Chinese for repeatedly invading them. Eventually they were going to want some payback for that had they stayed an insular, militaristic society. As in all things eventually contact would have happened.
When was the US supposed to become this classic liberal or libertarian society? At the beginning? During the Depression? When?
Sorry - reality is this. The US REALLY didn't want to get involved in another World War. They tried pretty darned hard to stay out of it militarily - probably longer than they should have.
As long as Japan wanted what they wanted, all the political efforts in the world weren't going to keep Hawaii and the Aleutians from being attacked. Maybe even the West Coast, hard to say. A few sanctions and the like weren't what caused that, they were in response to that. You're putting the cart in front of the horse.
May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk.
Old Egyptian Blessing
Old Egyptian Blessing
Why bipartisanship can't work: the expert view
01/02/2010 11:34:58 PM
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And a personal comment
01/02/2010 11:39:28 PM
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Who's to say YOU really know what's happening in Washington, though?
02/02/2010 01:41:20 AM
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not to mention those who mistake knowledge for understanding
02/02/2010 10:41:14 PM
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Even so.
05/02/2010 05:45:54 AM
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Like the NYT?
05/02/2010 02:12:36 PM
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I don't believe the Times has ever conceded bias.
05/02/2010 06:03:02 PM
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and neither does Fox so I am not sure that matters
05/02/2010 06:40:15 PM
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Note that I didn't mention Fox (or anyone, for that matter. )
05/02/2010 07:13:31 PM
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PBS is biased
05/02/2010 07:21:14 PM
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You're entitled to believe that.
05/02/2010 07:31:07 PM
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PBS has an obvious yet undeclared bias so does NPR
09/02/2010 04:47:53 AM
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Even were that true (which I dispute) my statement stands.
09/02/2010 09:50:36 AM
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so they wouldn't be biased becuas it could hurt them but you still argue republicans attack them
09/02/2010 02:19:53 PM
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We have been for some time.
02/02/2010 03:31:10 AM
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I don't think that's the case
03/02/2010 02:59:50 PM
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Universal healthcare was the primary plank in Clintons '92 platform.
04/02/2010 10:02:18 AM
- 461 Views
That does not mean his bare plurality was an endorsement of National Healthcare
04/02/2010 02:09:32 PM
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I don't think he won by default, and that was his primary issue.
05/02/2010 08:09:50 AM
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Re: I don't think he won by default, and that was his primary issue.
05/02/2010 03:52:23 PM
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[insert witty subject line here]
06/02/2010 02:15:21 AM
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Let me break this into multiple replies here
06/02/2010 07:45:36 PM
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'K
08/02/2010 01:22:12 PM
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Probably time to go into 'summary mode'
08/02/2010 07:34:55 PM
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Again, we're back to "how would you prefer to do it?"
09/02/2010 09:42:51 AM
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Any way that works, which currently probably is none
09/02/2010 06:12:41 PM
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I think HDI is more accurate than nothing, though it certainly needs some fine tuning.
10/02/2010 11:03:08 AM
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I'll play a bigger age card since it was my third election to vote in and he won because of Perot
05/02/2010 05:57:04 PM
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Let's put it another way: Why did Dems nominate him instead of, say, Gephardt?
06/02/2010 02:22:04 AM
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you don't get mandates from primaries
08/02/2010 02:12:29 PM
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No, but end of the day more people wanted healthcare than didn't.
08/02/2010 03:09:31 PM
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everyone want health care they just don't want congress runnig it
09/02/2010 04:56:44 AM
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Whom do you prefer?
09/02/2010 10:07:39 AM
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Sorry not a big fan of socialism I hear it big over in Europe though
09/02/2010 02:23:55 PM
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In other words you prefer the system we have; thanks for admitting it.
10/02/2010 10:05:38 AM
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I prefer Thomas Woods Jr's description of bipartisanship
02/02/2010 02:49:06 AM
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If only someone had stood up on 8 December, 1941 and said, "hey, you're not supposed to do stuff!"
02/02/2010 03:28:38 AM
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you're making a good job taking things out of context, Joel
03/02/2010 12:47:57 PM
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Don't speak in absolutes and I won't read absolutes.
04/02/2010 10:08:43 AM
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Some qualifiers can be left unsaid for a clearer message. Or better delivery
04/02/2010 10:26:56 AM
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Qualifiers are clarifying by nature.
04/02/2010 10:49:06 AM
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huh. That does make sense. I know malpractice is a big weight on the the system in the US.
04/02/2010 11:58:37 AM
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Perhaps, but it's hardly the greatest weight, or even in the top three, IMHO.
05/02/2010 05:44:49 AM
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Pearl Harbor would never have happened to a classically liberal nation
05/02/2010 01:33:56 AM
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Wow - that was a dumb statement even for you!
05/02/2010 04:22:59 PM
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I do generally agree, but I think the Washington Naval Conference is too often overlooked.
06/02/2010 02:33:51 AM
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Politicians and pundits should stop calling things that happened in the last decade "unprecedented"
02/02/2010 03:23:27 AM
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Or the democratic party has shifted so far to to the left they can't even get all of the dems
02/02/2010 02:39:14 PM
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You didn't hear all the whining when Bush was in charge with a Republican Congress?
02/02/2010 08:50:05 PM
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I there was plenty of whining going on
02/02/2010 10:36:56 PM
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Is this you conceding that the GOP is being obstructionist?
08/02/2010 01:43:04 PM
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I agree they are obstructing the libs from doing whatever they want
08/02/2010 02:19:13 PM
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They've tried including Republicans in drafting bills.
08/02/2010 03:08:17 PM
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tyring to pcik off one republican is not including republicans
09/02/2010 05:03:44 AM
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So we've gone from "stop being secretive" to "no public meetings" eh?
09/02/2010 11:59:50 AM
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well it was your guy who was up in arms about private meetings
09/02/2010 02:29:34 PM
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Was it? I don't recall any Dem complaining about private meeting on healthcare.
10/02/2010 09:44:56 AM
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most liberals seem to foretting the "rhetoric" that Obama used to get elected
13/02/2010 06:54:34 AM
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