Random Thoughts

[j1b]

Just some general stuff that's been on my mind:

1) Discussion this morning with a group and we talked about the fact that one almost has to be arrogant to dominate in a sport. Not a hard rule, but in general. Not arrogant in the traditional sense - I think we discussed it more in the sense that the person has to have the extreme confidence to know they can dominate.

Logically for me Tiger came to mind (I'm a huge fan). So we disagreed on one thing. Some felt that Tiger has focused on becoming the most dominant figure in golf. That has been his focal point.

To me though, he's focused on playing his absolute best as often as he can (and he has focused harder than most others) and it is that fact that has caused him to be dominant.

That's one

2) The biathlon. Speed and accuracy. IPSC. Speed and accuracy. It kind of hit me today and I thought it ironic. Could I learn a little from folks who slide around on flat sticks? Me thinks so . . . I guess I need to explore more.

3) Accountability - I'm with TL - where has it gone? And who took it? To me though, the folks that we can use as examples in question 1 don't have accountability issues. They just work harder

4) I'm a little scared of this opening the ports to the united Emirates deal. I don't understand it that well - but it scares me. Can someone help me understand why it might be a good thing?

5) Wiretapping - I don't like that one either.

6) I'm a republican - so why am I struggling with questions 1 and 4?

I guess that's it - just random crap - not that you all wanted to know. Would love to hear some thoughts though.

J

[Merlin Orr]

5) Hard to put the genie back in the bottle. Also give and inch and lose a foot.

[Flexmoney]

Gereranlly..I completely loathe talking about news events on the forum. But, since it's you asking, Jack...and, since I've been there:

4) I'm a little scared of this opening the ports to the United Emirates deal. I don't understand it that well - but it scares me. Can someone help me understand why it might be a good thing?

I imagine you are a little scared because of the very reason that you don't understand. Kinda like most of society and guns...they gotta be evil, right?

I was in the UAE for most of Gulf War I. They took pretty good care of us. They are a friendly nation to the USofA. We could use all the friends over there we can get, right? I don't know the particulars of this deal. I am sure it needs looking into, but I think we are seeing some knee-jerk reactions.

BTW, pretty sure the golf course that we drove by every day is the same course that Tiger recent won the Dubai Open at.

[Sam]

Jack, the ports thing has a lot of people bothered. But, I'm not among them.

Foreigners own large parts of our electrical power grid, our oil companies, and our real-estate. What's even more important, they continue to finance our economy by purchasing our government bonds each month. It's truly a global economy now, and has been for a long time.

A small group of extremests is earning a bad reputation for millions of good Islamic people. If we begin to mistrust and even hate these good people solely because of their ethnicity, then the terrorists are succeeding. We must show the the world we are above this kind of prejudice. This company doesn't want to operate these ports so they can blow up their investment. They want to do it to make money.

[j1b]

Cool - I like where you guys are going with that. Again, I was tentative because I've not really researched it nor do I have any good knowledge about it. All I'd read was what the press wrote and I knew I couldn't trust that.

I was just looking for a sounding board to give me the flip side of the coin. And I got it. I know foreign interests in this country are huge, and I know the vast majority of the Islamic world is good. To Kyle's point, Americans head over to the UE to swing metal sticks at little white balls. Gotta figure that's a good thing!

Thanks for helping me understand that one.

J

[Kimberkid]

I know virtually nothing that you speak of concerning the UAE thing, but I do know my mother was there less than a month ago for her first trip abroad and said that she could not fathom people being kinder or more generous than the way she was treated. She said being an American over there is like being a rock star. A group of the 6 hottest girls I have ever seen BEGGED to have their picture taken with a slightly thick, 45 yr old white grandmother from Indiana. Ever heard of that before?

[tightloop]

It just makes me wonder if we don't have anyone in this country that can do the same job....

[ipscbob]

It just makes me wonder if we don't have anyone in this country that can do the same job....

Seems to me that it is more important right now to forge long term mutually beneficial relationships with countries in that part of the world. Unless we are ready to completely conquer and dominate everyone in the region, diplomacy is key.

Edited February 23, 2006 by ipscbob

[XRe]

1) Discussion this morning with a group and we talked about the fact that one almost has to be arrogant to dominate in a sport. Not a hard rule, but in general. Not arrogant in the traditional sense - I think we discussed it more in the sense that the person has to have the extreme confidence to know they can dominate.

Some people take extreme confidence as arrogance. It can be a subtle difference between arrogance and extreme confidence - usually the attitude of the person in question tells the tale. To me, while the two look similar externally, they are worlds apart...

3) Accountability - I'm with TL - where has it gone? And who took it? To me though, the folks that we can use as examples in question 1 don't have accountability issues. They just work harder

To some extent, yes. They've also learned that having and exuding that confidence (after doing all that hard work) is also a skill required for winning at a high level.

4) I'm a little scared of this opening the ports to the united Emirates deal. I don't understand it that well - but it scares me. Can someone help me understand why it might be a good thing?

Put me in the camp who's very concerned. I have a problem with things important to our economic health being controlled by a foreign country. Friends today can be enemies tomorrow - and putting a choke hold on us economically wouldn't be that hard to do. I have no concerns, personally, about it being a country in the Middle East - I'd have the same concerns if this was a European or Asian country. The company in question is OWNED by the UAE, it's not just a company based there. That's a huge huge difference, in my mind. A privately held company is responsible to it's stock holders, etc, and will operate differently than a company owned by a foreign state that can operate as a political entity.

5) Wiretapping - I don't like that one either.

I'm not bothered by the action - especially if there's an arguably good reason. I have a problem with the arrogant way in which the need for oversight is handled by the administration - they purposefully bypass the existing (and working) oversight actions, and then take a "how dare you ask for oversight" stance when the issue is pressed. To me, this is not a good trend...

6) I'm a republican - so why am I struggling with questions 1 and 4?

If you're a conservative Republican, it'd be because neither of those things is very conservative I think you meant "3 and 4"?? You're not required to blindly follow your party or your president, you know

[ipscbob]

Put me in the camp who's very concerned. I have a problem with things important to our economic health being controlled by a foreign country. Friends today can be enemies tomorrow - and putting a choke hold on us economically wouldn't be that hard to do.

UUHHMM......A little late for this concern don't you think?

[XRe]

UUHHMM......A little late for this concern don't you think?

We're not supposed to be delving into political "science" too much on this forum, but... (a mod may feel free to remove this post - and associated nonsense, if it gets out of hand)

Just because I said I'm concerned in the context of this issue doesn't mean I haven't been concerned for a very long time - nor does the fact that our political heroes have continually made these sorts of mistakes make it any less valid to be concerned now. Just because the barn's already on fire doesn't mean I'm not going to yell when the fire's creeping towards to the farmhouse.

Currently, we're in the unenviable position of having negotiated so-called "mutually beneficial" agreements that aren't beneficial to us at all with various countries around the world. I see no reason we need to pander to anyone else. We need to start having intelligent, forward thinking decisions made that will actually help American citizens, and follow paths that will secure our place in the world economy and preserve our security. Not make friends and play nice - and certainly not accept the current situation as status quo, and something we need to get used to.

We've been in a position where foreign *owned* companies have run these facilities - but not *owned by a foreign country* - that's a huge huge huge difference. While some may make the issue into something it's not, this should have nothing to do with said country being Arab, or it being located in some particular part of the world. I'd be no happier if, say, France, or Germany, or Russia, or China were going to run those ports for us. Bad juju any way you slice it - they're not concerned about *American* success. A foreign corporate entity has stock holders to worry about, and must turn a buck to stay in business. Therefore, success of the ports is paramount to them, and they will not take using them as a political tool lightly. A (rich) foreign country, on the other hand, has far more to gain in that little game....

Sorry for the hijacking, Jack...