Dealing with Chronic Pain

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Well, this is in response to the post where the man tells his son to imagine that there is a man down the road who kills his wife on the lawn. The police won' t help. Then the man attacks the woman next door and takes all her stuff.

Now the man is at their front door, and pounding on it, and the liitle boy is frightened and so the lesson is that you have to stop the bad guy early.

Here's my response.

Yes, it's a pretty emotional scenario, and the metaphore is accurate, to a point. Saddam "Insane" was killing his own family, and of course he did attack his neighbor.

Othat's where the metaphore falls apart though. When he attacked his neighbor, the "police" (the United Nations) and a huge multinational force acted under the leadership of the United and George HW Bush during the first Gulf War and he was pushed out of his neighbor's house (Kuwait) and told to stay in his own home and he was given some rules he had to follow.

He was pretty much doing that, following those rules that is, but we chose to go and take him out of his house anyway, without really asking his family if that's what they wanted. Well some of his famliy wanted him gone but some of them didn't and some of them just didn't want it to be us that did it, and so we're stuck in that mess over there.

Our people in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force and Reserve units are doing a terrific job under terribly trying circumstances and yes, they need our support and our love and our uncondtional help.

That however is separate from the political issues being discussed. Yes, this is a powerful metaphore, but it doesn't hold up. Does anyone really believe that Sadam Hussein was a clear and present danger to the US (other than maybe to some of the oil companies)? If you do, I respectfully suggest that you think really hard about how he was supposed to to attack us, given that he had no logistical support, no weapons for that kind of attack, no transportation and no political support for that kind of an adventure. It just doesn't make any sense. No, Saddam wasn't knocking on our door. And he wasn't about to knock on our door either. That's just silly.

Did George W. Bush do the right thing in attacking Iraq? I think the question is moot. It's a done deal and now we have to clean up the mess and get out of there. What he did wrong was attack without a clear exit strategy IMHO.

I just want us to get out clean, leaving an Iraq better off than before we went in, and with no more American casualties. Well, make that as few more American casualties as possible, as I feel that no more casualties is unrealistic, unfortunately.

OK I"m done now. I hope you don't take this as negative against your story. I just felt it inaccurately portrayed the real situation, and wanted to interject some thought into what was a basically emotional political message.

Hugs and I still love ya, Cyn,

Dan (who just hopes you still love me)

Dan I so totally agree with you, and I can because Australian troops are involved.

They too have, on command and duty to their country, put their own lives on the line for a threat that really was not there.

I don't agree with the way hardline fundamentlist Islamics treat their women folk. However I also know that this is not the way of Islam, and that most Islamics are peacefull people.

Sure we need to rid the world of terrorists, but don't go in foolishly. Don't use an agenda that is not so, for it will out in the end.

Well I won't say anymore, because to be honest we never truly know what our governments are up to or what they may or may not know. As citizens we really are mostly kept in the dark.

One more thing that may get some thinking, and others may already know...

Most of your American Presidents, including the Bush family line are or were Freemasons. Guess who eventually infilltrated the Freemasons, and secretly worked through them!

The Illuminate. This very clever secret underground group of very influential, wealthy, intellectual people, really do exist as a group working to bring about their own World Order. Do your homework folks, big brother is watching in more ways than one.

The Conspiracy Theory exists, you can see it happening before your eyes.

It's been a long time since I got involved in discussions like this, because I know they can get pretty heated. Understandbly so, and if you don't agree with me, I won't take offense.

Well, there are a lot of people who believe that the Illuminatti exist and are trying to bring about that "New World Order" you're talking about. There have been countless books written about that topic, and yes, some of those have liinked them to the Masons.

However, that's a bit distracting right now, when we're trying to keep our eye on the ball for the upcoming election.

I would be interested in how you Austrailian's view the upcoming election. I read an editorial this morning that basically said that the Candians think we're nuts to even think about re-electing Bush, given the damage he's done to the pretige of the country around the world, but they're too polite to say so officially.

We wouldn't even have to BE in Iraq now if this President's father hadn't been talked out of pulling out too soon in the last Gulf War. And if Carter hadn't been such a wuss, and Clinton hadn't turned the other cheek repeatedly. As far as Saddam having WMDs, the White House was fed false intelligence by other Arab nations; in my opinion, their aim was to get us in there specifically TO rid them of Saddam. He and his family had become too big a liability, and nobody else wanted to get their hands dirty. They knew the only way to get rid of him was to get us in there to do it for them, and the only way to do THAT was to tell us exactly what they did tell us. But if we pull out now, we'll end up doing exactly what the first Bush did, and we'll create another mess just like this one in 20 years. Nobody needs that.

I have to say Cyndy I agree with you. Dessert Storm should have finished the job. I bet you that's what today's soldiers are also saying.

As for what Aussies think about your American politics Dan, I'd rather not say. Afterall I can't speak for all Australians. I will say this though, many of us are uneasy about the Free Trade Agreement we all but have with America. We would have liked a lot more information. The government should have sent out fliers, just like they did on warning us what to look out for to spot a terrorist in your neighbourhood. As if a terrorist is going to be that conspicuous!

We also think Australia is "Americanised" enough, and that your Presidents senators etc., should keep their own nose out of our Australian Politics.

As for mentioning the Illuminante, being a bit distracting. Actually distraction is their master game. I thought you knew that!!

It's been interesting, kind of.

Oh I forgot to say, Dan I'm not sure if you realise, but we too have an upcoming Election. That is when our Prime Minister gets his finger out and gives us a definite date lol.

I don't think much of our present Prime Minister, but I'm not so sure about the opposition either. He's a little too rough and ready for my liking, but that may be just what we need. Who knows, only time will tell.

Oh and never trust a minister who kisses babies. Poor babies must wanna go take a bath afterwards!!!!! Cynical arn't I? Still in my own vicinity, I do see our local government keeping most of their own promises, and as they are the opposition, well I'll want to make sure they get help from the next government, so no guesses for who I'll vote for.

Agree, Cyndy. I said we've got to clean up the mess and get out.

One thing though. I am not sure that forcing our style of democracy on them is the right way to clean up the mess. I think if we want a democracy then we need to let them develop their own democracy, and structure it like they want to structure it, not like we want it structured.

The Arab people seem to think that same way, near as I can tell. There are several web sites out there that speak to this issue.

Maggie, one thing Amercans are is terribly parochial. We only think of ourselves. I bet there's not ten US citizens on this site that can tell you who your Prime Minister is. And I bet there's not ten who could name the Canadian PM for that matter, and their just right above us.

I make a point of knowing those things, but I'm not going to name them. Heh heh . Maybe someone will go web walk and learn a little about our best allies.

So, who you gonna vote for? Well, assuming he calls an election, who are you going to vote for? Of course, he won't call for it until he's pretty certain things are in his favor, or unless he's in big trouble. That's the nature of the parlimentary system. Right?

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