<p>If the pork munchers win, a pro-Iranian democratically elected government, supported by Shiite militia, will wage continuing war on a Sunni-Baathist-Al-Qaeda minority, backed by Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>If the pork munchers lose, a pro-Iranian democratically elected government, supported by Shiite militia will wage continuing war on a Sunni-Baathis-Al-Qaeda minority, backed by Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Which side of the bet are you taking?</p>
<p>“Do you even have any idea how silly you sound presuming to lecture a New Orleanian about illegal immigration and displacement?”</p>
<p>I thought you lived in Slidell? Did Orleans Parish annex it recently? For the record my son goes to school in NOLA so yes I have a little experience with evacuations and displacement and a fairly good idea of the state of the Gulf Coast and Southeast Louisiana.</p>
<p>5 million illegal Mexicans is a conservative count and then there are the legal ones. Tote em up and you will get to 10% and the numbers from Guetemala and El Salvador may be even higher as a percentage of their countries population.</p>
<p>When you implied you didn’t like like my “dig at illegal immigrants?” I naturally assumed it must be because you were in favor of illegal immigration.</p>
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<p>Another incredibly patronizing remark. If you understood anything at all about New Orleans, you would know that a person can live in Slidell and still be a New Orleanian. Get real. I could live in Montana and still be a New Orleanian. I am 5th generation New Orleanian on all sides, born and raised in the city, worked in the city for 23 of my 24 adult years, and as it happens I spend more than half my time in New Orleans, and have been actively involved in the rebuilding. </p>
<p>Does that satisfy you about my bona fides? Or do you still think that flying into town once or twice a year makes you an expert on who is a New Orleanian and who isn’t? </p>
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<p>Then why on earth would you have said such an incredibly condescending and patronizing thing to me as this: </p>
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<p>It’s like going up to Rose Kennedy and telling her she has no idea what it’s like to lose a child. Only a person with no clue would say something like that to a person in a community with a high % of illegal immigrants. At best, all you know is the “Sliver by the River.” </p>
<p>And by the way, it’s not only illegal immigrants who commit burglaries, or illegal immigrants who create poor educational opportunities. We had plenty of those in New Orleans long before the influx of illegals after the storm.</p>
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<p>My point in calling it a “dig” is because it was irrelevant, so the only reason to bring it up is your opposition to it. I’m against people not getting their kids vaccinated, for example, but I manage not to work it into unrelated conversations. It would be a dig if I did.</p>
<p>The amount of immigration to the US right now as a % of the US population is about the lowest its been in our history. But even if it were the highest, “experiencing an influx of migrants” does not equal “experiencing a displacement of your own population.” I “didn’t like” it because was irrelevent. I find it ridiculous and incredibly insensitive for someone in the United States to claim that they are “living” Iraq’s experience with displacement and loss when the experience they cite is nothing at all like it.</p>
<p>How you got from “A does not equal B” to “conyat supports A” is hugely illogical. Although not nearly as illogical as “conyat experiences way more of A than I do, so I’m going to lecture her that she should come to my town to see it first hand.”</p>
<p>You’ve proved my point though. The displacement of Iraqi refugees is indeed unimaginable, if you have so little understanding of it that you think having an influx of migrants is “living” that experience.</p>
<p>ETA: And for the record, I’m against illegal immigration, because it allows for an incredible amount of exploitation of the people who do it. I want the people who come to our country to find work, and to fill jobs that the Karl Roves of this world think beneath them, to have the same kind of legal safeguards as everyone else.</p>
<p>I know it’s 3 pages later, but…</p>
<p>Did he ever have a mind?</p>
<p>I’ve never understood all the hubbub about McCain. He so underwhelms me, always. He doesn’t come across to me as all that bright, for starters. He is so not-cutting-edge, but for some odd reason the media adores him & finds him (inexpicably) novel. Hmmm. Could this be a reflection of the intelligence of the media?</p>
<p>Funny quote about McCain:</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/155929/john_mccain_flipflops_again_now_he.html[/url]”>http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/155929/john_mccain_flipflops_again_now_he.html</a></p>
<p>BTW, apparently the media loves him because he entertained them with fly boy stories about hookers and stuff on the campaign trail in 2000. All buddy, buddy. So they wrote what a great guy he was.</p>
<p>deleted .</p>
<p>When I first read the title to this thread I thought the question purely rhetorical.</p>
<p>“Another incredibly patronizing remark. If you understood anything at all about New Orleans, you would know that a person can live in Slidell and still be a New Orleanian.”</p>
<p>Yeah whatever you live in a wealthy suburb in a different Parish.</p>
<p>"If the pork munchers win, a pro-Iranian democratically elected government, supported by Shiite militia, will wage continuing war on a Sunni-Baathist-Al-Qaeda minority, backed by Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>If the pork munchers lose, a pro-Iranian democratically elected government, supported by Shiite militia will wage continuing war on a Sunni-Baathis-Al-Qaeda minority, backed by Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Which side of the bet are you taking?"</p>
<p>I am taking the side of the bet that says the Sunni’s are rapidly comming to the conclusion that we are the only thing standing between them and a hellish payback from the Shia.</p>
<p>Anyway Muslims killing Muslims is a win win situation as far as I’m concerned.</p>
<p>Higherlead, all you’re doing is proving how insensitive you are, and how incapable you are of putting yourself in anyone else’s shoes.</p>
<p>You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, particularly as it pertains to the rural area where I live (which has an income far below the median even for a state as poor as Louisiana) or my reasons for living there—which at present are because the place I would be living in New Orleans still doesn’t have any walls. Let me just assure you that the “Sliver by the River” contains neighborhoods far wealthier than anything in Slidell.</p>
<p>I am amazed that you would jeer at someone for being unable to live in New Orleans. But since you’re in a jeering mood, let me give you some more personal details for you to gloat over:</p>
<p>Two of my sisters and their husbands still aren’t back in their houses yet. Most of my cousins were out of their homes for months; one of my cousins had her home completely destroyed; all that’s left is the slab. Down here, cousins are family, by the way, not casual strangers you see at funerals.</p>
<p>My sister’s son-in-law came home injured from Iraq to live in a FEMA trailer, because his home, his mother’s home, and his mother-in-law’s home were all unliveable. His and his mother’s homes had to be bulldozed. </p>
<p>My brother-in-law’s parents and brother (whom I’ve known all my life and are as close to me as my own family) lost everything. All we salvaged from the two of their houses could fit in 5 cubic feet. Family heirlooms, baby pictures, yearbooks from their time at the military academy, travels abroad with the service, all gone. The apartment they were living in after the storm? So heavily damaged by smoke from a fire in the unit downstairs, that they lost almost everything yet again. (And still they managed to rebuild one of their homes, and help neighbors rebuild theirs).</p>
<p>A close family friend? Committed suicide when he realised that at his age, he wouldn’t be able to rebuild and start again.</p>
<p>My godfather? When he died, months after the storm, we couldn’t bury him for weeks because the cemetaries were too far behind.</p>
<p>My grandmother’s house, and the houses of almost everyone I knew growing up? Ain’t dere no more. Ditto the houses where I celebrated Christmas every year. The schools I attended, K-12? All destroyed. The house where we took care of my dad in his final illness? Last I heard, the roof was in the front yard, and the second story was somewhere on the neighbor’s land.</p>
<p>You couldn’t last one week with what the people of New Orleans and Slidell (which far from being the insulated area you make it out to be, lost the entire south side of town) deal with on a day to day basis. You can’t even handle having people from other countries sitting in the schools next to the kids who “belong” without whining about it.</p>
<p>Speaking of John McCain’s mind, I read an editorial that finally explains why McCain is bashing Rumsfeld and Cheney. McCain spent the whole year calling for an escalation of the war, because he figured it was a political freebie…no chance that it would actually happen. Then, much to his dismay, the neocons at AEI actually convinced Bush to do it, against the recommendation of basically every foreign policy guy in the world. Now, all the sudden, McCain’s political future is actually tied to an escalation in Iraq. If it fails, McCain is toast. Hence the need to distance himself from the administration.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1414806.ece[/url]”>The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines;
<p>Conyat, there’s limited utility in engaging ■■■■■■, not that I’ve never succumbed myself. There’s an expression from the science fiction community: DNFTEC…Do Not Feed the Energy Creature, relating to the Star Trek episode where such a creature fed off of emotional discord that it provoked.</p>
<p>Be well. And your family too.</p>
<p>Thanks, Dad.</p>
<p>…your last post proving my point, I’Dad, about the limits of McCain’s intelligence & foresight. JMO.</p>
<p>He is one unimpressive man that the media has spent enormous hours on.</p>
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Unimpressive? McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a guest at the Hanoi Hilton.
<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain</a> I don’t know how you can call him unimpressive.</p>
<p>It’s one thing to say you disagree with him politically, but I think it’s quite another to denigrate what he’s been through, and the way he’s served this country. As far as Iraq is concerned, I’m pretty sure that he’s been a consistent voice calling for more troops. At least he doesn’t try to repudiate his previous votes, as do so many of the current crop of Dems, and even some Republicans.</p>
<p>I agree with SJ. I don’t happen to concur with McCain’s POV, but I admire what he has been through nonetheless. At least he can speak about war with some authority, even if I don’t agree with him…he has experience.</p>
<p>As the very proud daughter of a life-long career military officer, I consider McCain’s experience separate from any intellectual, creative, original & effective promise as a potential leader of (still) the most powerful country on the planet. That is entirely my point. Being a prisoner of war does not in itself qualify one for the U.S. presidency. It may do a lot of other things, including giving you a great deal of insight, authority on military combat, including testing & proving your character. But the guy’s not running for Secretary of Defense. He’s running for the presidency, which takes more than that. While some have discredited former officer Colin Powell because of his UN speech, I think the guy has much more on the ball than McCain, much more leadership ability, is more intelligent & articulate.</p>
<p>The media likes to focus on McCain because the whole POW thing is so “dramatic.” Makes good press. They like people with “stories” they can repeat over & over. Doesn’t make for presidential material.</p>
<p>I’m curious about your father’s view of McCain – anything you feel comfortable sharing?</p>
<p>Do you think you value Powell’s point of view more because he’s more liberal? Just curious…</p>
<p>The fact that McCain was a POW and was beaten is not the major issue in terms of his qualifications. The real issue is how he handled it is the best insight into his character. He could have been set free early but he chose to stay with his fellow prisoners. The man has more integrity and character in his little finger than most politicians have in their official biographies.</p>
<p>fair enough question. But no, it’s definitely not CP’s particular views, stands on issues that make me admire, respect him, etc. more, but his brain.</p>
<p>My Dad never weighed in on JM as a <em>presidential candidate.</em> Lke me, he tended to view Prez candidates with a different set of standards. In fact he never even mentioned JM to me. He did vote Republican but tended to like what he considered to be impressive resumes. Thus, he liked George Bush Senior as a candidate due to many broad aspects of his previous experience. I never knew my Dad to vote for candidates of any kind because they had great military careers, or because there was one interesting or impressive aspect of that military career. Nor would I do such a thing.</p>