Syria

[Enunciated Piffle]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

our actions in Syria are significant regarding the American peoples' constitutional power since it's become very painfully clear our system has become symbolic in nature. none of our hopes for or efforts toward a better world will be possible if we continue to allow the concentration of executive powers.
.

I didn't read this till now. I totally agree.

If the President is getting us into war without the peoples say, how is it a democracy?

It's a slick, slime-bag, move the Executive Branch aka President of America figured out long ago, where you do what you want. You go to war, but don't declare war, don't label it as such, and thus: no Congressional over -sight. No citizens input.

Scary.

[BrianAlt]

It's not a Democracy. It's a Representative Democracy. We have people that supposedly represent us in government. Everyone does not have a voice. While those that represent us are supposed to do what we want, but sometimes they don't.

Why? Several reasons. Some good, some not so good. Sometimes they just have more information than the average American has because they are in a position to get that information. Sometimes they are just voting based on their own biases or beliefs or because they went to the highest bidder.

“The effect of [a representative democracy is] to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of the nation....” James Madison

[Sparrow]

aye. and here's where We the People bear the brunt of responsibility for the state of our State. local governments are the rootbeds of our system and we've neglected them into rot and fester. it's not a wonder it's infected the top ranks; a laundry list of 'lesser of two evils'. we've 'lessered' ourselves into a corner.

at least the ye olde politicians had the good grace to be less obvious about it.

[campy]

Well if you'all were optimists you might see it as your leader standing up for the little guy, for what's wrong in the world. The only leader with the balls to say "Hey, we all agreed, no nerve gassing the babies...fuck that shit, gloves off". As Britain hides behind their parliament nay sayers, Canada claims they don't have any fire power, France arguing about needing proof...like the pictures of twitching children aren't enough.

If it were as it seems and not all some crazy conspiracy I would be so proud of Obama for fighting the Jihadist, middle Eastern and Russian bullies who are murdering innocent people with nerve gas and driving millions more into refugee camps.

The whole thing is a clusterfuck. BUT, EVEN with all the conspiracy bullshit, if the American strong arm is able to bring these whack jobs into line so they stop using children as human shields and pawns in their never ending fight for oil then at least something good will come out of it.

BUT, chances are, if he goes in it will mean world war III, more economic instability, no resolution, more kids being murdered.

Too bad the scientist didn't rule the world, they'd be spending the war money on ways to eliminate the dependency on oil.

[lalalemon]

I watched a clip of some of the victims of the chemical attack and I will never be able to unsee those poor people scattered on the ground twitching and dying and the children crawling and walking through the streets covering their mouths with rags, sobbing- just so utterly lost and helpless.


That said, I don't think the US should carry out any kind of strike in Syria when our domestic issues are so pressing. Our economy is still so fragile, our schools are failing our students, the income gap continues to grow. That money needs to be spent IN America to benefit Americans.

The international community needs to come together to prevent this atrocity from happening again, but they can't rely on the US to do the heavy lifting.

[BrianAlt]

I don't agree, lala. There are always major domestic issues. It's never "a good time". There are always reasons to not do something.


A Brit recently (before this issue came up) told me that the fact of the matter is no one else in the world is equipped to be the police of the world except the US. We may not like it, but we've put ourselves in this position.

[Sparrow]

can we stop pretending what we're doing is humanitarian? for the true nature of what's happening, it's propaganda at best; "limited missile strikes" are not us riding in on a white horse. we've used, aided in the use, and have turned blind eyes to chemical attacks elsewhere in the very recent past. if we're going to put on our superhero cape, Africa and North Korea have longer standing and arguably larger atrocities.

you want dead kids? 8 year olds are being snatched from their families (that are murdered/raped in front of them), forced to murder their friends in initiations, and then forced to kill others in Uganda. they are killing the humanity of these children. in North Korean gulags, babies are strangled immediately after birth as policy. it is a, no shit, holocaust situation. we are knowingly allowing these things to happen and they've been happening for decades, but they aren't strategic thus worthy of our protection.

let's not ignore the blood on our hands. we continue to kill children with our drone strikes. it's a fact. we are killing children. people are afraid to leave their homes in places like Pakistan.

why syria? why now?

[BrianAlt]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

why syria? why now?

Cause it made the news.

[Enunciated Piffle]

Originally Posted by lalalemon

The international community needs to come together to prevent this atrocity from happening again, but they can't rely on the US to do the heavy lifting.

Amen.

[DJQuad]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

can we stop pretending what we're doing is humanitarian? for the true nature of what's happening, it's propaganda at best; "limited missile strikes" are not us riding in on a white horse. we've used, aided in the use, and have turned blind eyes to chemical attacks elsewhere in the very recent past. if we're going to put on our superhero cape, Africa and North Korea have longer standing and arguably larger atrocities.

God dammit I hate agreeing with you.. heh

I guess dead people by conventional weapons is acceptable. Dead people by chemical weapons is a big no-no.