AstroProdigy

If Iraqi Kurdistan declares itself a sovereign nation Turkey plans on invading them to prevent their Kurds from stepping up their call for independence. Iran doesn't wanna see an independent Kurdistan either and neither does Syria. If we leave the Kurds to their fate then we are betraying our biggest ally in Iraq. However, the situation in Turkey looks like a free Kurdistand will end with the renewed call for freedom among Kurds and all other opressed groups in Turkey which can lead to a fragmantation of the country. I think this might lead to a bigger war than the Sunni-Shiite split in Iraq. I'm surprised there's practically no media coverage in the United States about the attrocities our strong ally Turkey commits, which just goes to show the influence the government has on the media.

Well if you're admitting that it's your opinion then why do you promote a lack of rights on this issue. Just because I disagree about something doesn't mean I want a law to stop your rights. Lear, you're conservative, but you don't take it as far as most conservatives. You don't like gay marriage and disagree with homosexuality, but you don't take the point to try to prevent it legally. Trying to do that goes from having a difference of opinion based on your religion to trying to control people based on religion. Yes the majority and ESPECIALLY the leadership of Conservatives tries to control people based on the Bible. It's like Islamists using Islamic law.

I don't know about you, but I think the different controlled parts of Kurdistan controlled by Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria should be phased into a sovereign nation.

Liberals don't teach their kids that the Bible is garbage, maybe some atheist liberals, but for the most part there are lots of Christian liberals. Democrats are Christians too even though many Conservatives like to assume they're all atheist. Also, the Democratic Party for the most part supports Israel over Hezbollah (most Jews are Democrats in America). I'm solidly a Democrat and I support Israel over Hezbollah. Both your statements are baseless, ignorant claims. I'm not even atheist; I'm agnostic. I don't think the Bible is garbage I just think it should be a religious book for Christianity not a political tool for bigots. What I find a travesty is a religion of love and tolerance is used for hatred and bigotry.

There's a huge difference between wanting something and having a credible reason to attempt to get it done. Even with Palestine, the term Palistinian is really a manufactured term. Palestinians are for the most part Muslim Arabs. Let's be serious. The term Palestinian is used to incite feelings that it's a sovereign nation state being destroyed when it's really a splinter Arab country getting reduced. The people losing their homes is the real problem, not the "Palestinian ethnicity". I'd support the West Bank and Gaza Strip to be merged with Jordan which would help the people there, but that would just cause for a bigger base to attack Israel, a moderate Democratic country. By the way, the refugee crisis is a result of Arab countries meddling with the support of Palestinian Arabs to expel the Jews and it ended badly for them. Tough luck.

You keep repeating that they're still at war with Israel so the problem is still going and that Native Americans aren't at war so they must be happy. Honestly you're blatantly stating that war is the only way to get your message across. I'm not sure you really know anything about Native Americans since you first state that they're happy with what they got. Basically, if you are at war you will get publicity and you still have a cause, but if you aren't using violence people shouldn't bother paying attention to your cause?? You show this with your ignorance of Native Americans. Hezbollah isn't really a part of Syria or Iran, they take orders and get weapons from them because it suits Iran and Syria. Hezbollah is a Lebanon based organization. What you don't understand is that Lebanon wasn't even trying to do anything about it! It's like Americans in Texas launching illegal raids on Mexico and the American government going "well it's not the government so we'll allow it". You think America can suddenly absorb over 5 million people into it's country?? We're not gonna put ourselves that much out of our way and hurt our own country to give back land to people who will probably go and try to hijack our planes after. I said Hezbollah OR any Shiite Lebanese organization hating Israel. Shiite Lebanese WERE around back then. I've showed you that Hezbollah's objectives WERE MET IN 2000 AND THEY'RE STILL THROWING !@#$%^&* AT ISRAEL! THERE IS NO GAIN TO SHIITE LEBANESE AT CAUSING MORE WAR AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL BRINGS LEBANON ZERO GAIN! THEY DO THIS BECAUSE THEY NEED A CAUSE TO HOLD ONTO POWER JUST LIKE OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAT USE THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL AS A FRONT TO OPPRESS THEIR PEOPLE AND HOLD ONTO POWER! CAN'T YOU COMPREHEND THIS? How many times do I have to say that Hezbollah is ONLY supported by Syria and Iran. They don't control parts of the population the way they do in Lebanon. I think Lebanon had some resentment left over from old Israeli occupation and were willing to allow this because of it. I'd say attack Syria considering they only recently pulled out and they were a serious crutch on Lebanon and are still trying to regain control, but hey I'm not an irrational extremist terrorist organization. I'll attack the ones who aren't Muslim.

1) Gay marriages are more successful than straight marriages due to many reasons including the fact that there's never a situation where the woman is nocked up and they have to get married. 2) What makes you think kids get traumatized from having 2 same sex parents? YOU think it would be traumatizing, but to a kid who hasn't been taught bigotism towards gay people I don't think they'd really be hurt. Getting made fun of at school about it is really something that Conservatives cause by teaching their kids that gay people are evil. I think this is just an extreme exaggeration Conservatives make to incite public sentiment the way they compare abortion to a 14 year old girl raped by her father and then forced to have an abortion to hide the evidence.

That would probably be acceptable if it was offered, but I don't think that's what most conservatives are REALLY looking for.

Gay people aren't bricks and there's a reason why we live in 21st century America and not medieval Europe. Things don't stay the same and they shouldn't because chances are back then people were too ignorant to accept things as they should be. If we lived by their standards we'd still have slavery and women with no rights and crucifictions for the "herecy" of questioning clergy or kings (as there would be no democracy in medieval Europe).

Well then you're agreeing that war is not the answer and at the same time saying that war is the only way that you can get your message across. The Native Americans aren't at war with America so you just assume they're all nice and happy with what they've got even though they are still trying to persue peaceful means to get land back. Hezbollah is part of Lebanon and it's their responsibility to address the problems allowing for Hezbollah's existance and/or extremism. I'd like to see proof of Hezbollah (or the Shiite Lebanese) hating Israel since its creation. From what I've read Hezbollah was created as a result of Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon which ENDED. Hezbollah functions in Lebanon not across the Middle East. Please since you think Israel should be wiped off the map, but the people not killed where would you have them go? Hezbollah is a party in the government which means they need to be more responsible with their actions and if they refuse to do so they need to be taken down. Attacking Israel is how you keep yourself from becoming a tool? The hatred will continue until the leaders of certain Muslim countries stop hyping their people up on destroying Israel to distract them from their lack of rights and poor living conditions. It will also continue until Islam starts to go through reform like Christianity did hundreds of years ago.

Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government and has wide support in Lebanon. Any idiot can see that Lebanon's policy of don't do anything and don't even condemn Hezbollah means that they want Hezbollah to do what they're doing. Therefore, Hezbollah is being used as a tool by the Lebanese government to attack Israel and then claim innocence. It's like the Sudanese government claiming innocence over the actionsof the Janjaweed, but doing nothing about it while the Janjaweed do their dirty work. Lebanon has no right to hate Israel for their existence it's like Britain hating France for their very existence; it's irrational. I'm very disappointed in your opinion that war is the only way to get your point across and that your cause isn't just unless you're killing people. Opinions like that are what cause people to choose war over peaceful resolutions and have caused and continue to cause far too many deaths worldwide.

Protestants are the prominent ones now? There are 240 million Orthodox Christians, 1100 million Catholic Christians, and 590 Protestant Christians (including all Protestant denominations). There's nothing bad to Protestants' names? I beg to differ.

ROFL a christian talking about the lack of morales in Africa without Christianity one of my favorite stereotypes.

It's like saying Christian land is a generalized term, doesn't mean all the Islamic takeovers of christian countries and forced conversions justifies any Christian group to attack Islamic countries whenever they want. Incase you haven't noticed, Christians did try to do this and it's called the Crusades. They lost so they got the land. Tough luck for "the Christian world", but doesn't mean they have the right to go reconquer it now. Also, incase you haven't noticed, Lebanon has Christians. It's not just a Muslim country. Also, many of the "borders" that were created were false ones. To say Palestinian is a modern term for a country. In my opinion, they're Arabs who speak Arabic and follow Islam. What's the difference between them and Jordan? They aren't REALLY a seperate ethnic group. Most of this is just a political ideal and Palestinian leaders like to call themselves an ethnic group so they have an excuse to say that they have no alternative and, therefore, they're excused to attack civilians. No that area hasn't always been Arab. Arabs conquered the area and slowly replaced the indegenous people with their own people and used Islam as an excuse. No I didn't take apart my argument. My argument is that with your argument we have to give back most of the world to other people. I don't know what YOU think my argument is... Iran and Saudi Arabia are happily staying dependant on oil and using the wealth to keep their dictatorships running and their people pacified. Other countries like Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt are a different story and they run their countries differently from the core problematic areas. Bush isn't ALWAYS wrong. It's hard to say anyone is wrong on everything. If someone like that is found they should be given a medal for dumb !@#$%^&*ery. In the complicated times the Middle East is in, I don't think Lebanon has the right to look for absolutes. Yes Israel occupied Lebanon, but they pulled out in a show of good faith. Lebanon has no right to attack Israel out of the blue and using extremist fundamentalist organizations like Hezbollah to do the dirty work is along the lines of Sudan using Janjaweed to do the genocide for them and then saying "it's not our fault".

Gay marriage is hardly murder and rape and pedophelia it's just these comparisons draw out a more passionate response just like saying allowing gay marriage would open some perverbiable flood gate to polygamy and incest and all kinds of bad things even though there's no real basis to the claim. The way I see it is the extreme right has a very real bigotism to homosexuals that they can't get over and they lobby the government into it and create all kinds of analogies and distractions for moderates so that they don't actually see the real issue, but instead see all kinds of bad things as related to gay marriage.

Last time i checked "Islam" wasn't a country and, therefore, "Islamic land" is a very faulty term. Islam was created based on war and forced conversions, therefore it should be given back to non Arabs. Also, Christianity was created largely from war and forced conversions so let's give back land there too. The world doesn't always go smoothly. Sometimes you have to deal with what you have and Israel is there and it's not going away in the foreseeable future, so rather than wasting lives and resources with war, maybe certain Muslim countries should try helping their own impoverished people rather than trying to hold onto power by using radical Islam and calling for a distraction to their people elsewhere in the world. If we suddenly found a better alternative to oil the majority of the middle east would fall into chaos. Maybe Middle Eastern countries should focus on modernising and diversifying rather than calling for extremist Jihad against a small group that's just trying to survive in the land they came from. Lumping everyone who disagrees with you into a lump you call "ignorant Bush propaganda followers" doesn't make it so and you haven't easily made my whole argument fall apart just because you think I'm wrong.

Sure I am. Israel pulled out of Lebanon. They did exactly what Lebanon wanted and Lebanon responded by letting terrorist organizations within its borders exacerbate the problem, showing Israel that diplomacy and concessions give terrorists the chance to attack Israel. Not exactly the path to peace there... With other issues conceding exactly what the other side wants fixes the issue! If they use it to make things worse then it's THEIR FAULT!

Saying they're fighting for Palestine doesn't mean they're fighting for Palestine. They're fighting for POWER the way other terrorist organizations do. Hezbollah isn't Jesus, they aren't a just organization of saints. At first the Jews wanted to live WITH the Palestinians, but the Muslim world and Palestinians couldn't allow that so they tried to get rid of them. The Jews had to defend themselves and they won so Palestine lost land. The Jews wanted to return to the land they originated from. You listened to when he said it? Or after the fact. Don't put words in my mouth. All I'm saying is we cannot treat an organization like an individual. It doesn't work that way. The Native Americans are happy to live on their land? You really are ignorant. It's been quiet because EVERY TIME THEY SAID ANYTHING ABOUT IT WE KILLED MORE OF THEM AND TOOK MORE LAND. Iraq is not Hezbollah. Again this shows that this isn't really an issue of Israel threatening Lebanon, but Arab countries trying again to massacre the Jews since they failed the last few times. Hamas has reason to hate Israel; HEZBOLLAH DOES NOT! Lear if you're suggesting that I have this opinion because I am Jewish...newsflash im Greek Orthodox/agnostic.

Says you? What if some people believe in their religion that you shouldn't try to follow the bible directly. Isn't that their FREEDOM OF RELIGION? Are we throwing that out the window to keep gays from marrying? I see quite a lot of bigotism being hidden in the mask of christianity here. Arguing against gay marriage simply argues in favor of throwing out the first amendment and running the country by theologians.

Lebanon is not Palestine...they weren't displaced by the creation of Israel. The motive for Israel's creation was constant repression and a HOLOCAUST. They needed their own state to prevent something like that from happening again. Someone who calls the Holocaust a myth created by the Jews to justify the creation of Israel and uses that as the reasoning for the destruction of Israel, while at the same time comparing Israel to Hitler...really rational huh? There was no proof that the Nazi's were going to cause the holocaust, but in foresight we agree that we should have known from the raging anti semitism that if they had a chance they would kill all the Jews. Your race has nothing to do with this. You are only an individual with absolutely no ability of causing a holocaust so you wouldn't be taken seriously there. Of course people dispute land all over the world. Native Americans given small reservations makes it alright? So why is the West Bank and Gaza Strip not enough? Just because some extremists call it a war to keep the situation going doesn't mean it's a war. Are you saying that violent methods are the only respectable way? Might is right? By the way...this is LEBANON at war NOT PALESTINE. Stop putting the two into one category. Do you honestly believe extremist Islamic groups would follow things like the Geneva Convention? Incase you haven't noticed in the last century there have been LOTS of invasions.

You vastly overestimate public hatred for Lebanon in Israel...You also forget there is a very large minority of Arab Muslims in Israel (not including the West Bank and Gaza Strip). Support for Hezbolla: Iran's leader is an obvious example of a madman and Iran is predominantly Shiite. Syria wants influence over Lebanon as they have been exerting influence for a long time. Yemen is almost half Shiite. No Support for Hezbolla: Jordan is a monarchy although they have trouble supporting a Shiite organization. Saudi Arabia is run by absolute monarchs although they do not support Hezbollah because this is quite a bit a conflict of the power of Shiites versus Sunnis, which is not very fair to impose on the people of Israel and Lebanon. Same with most of the rest of the predominantly Sunni Muslim world. Hezbollah publicly calls for the elimination of the state of Israel. Yes if that means killing all Israelis they'd gladly do it. This is an extremist organization so stop treating it like it isn't one. Hezbollah isn't a rational organization they wouldn't try to simply target Israeli military. Hezbollah didn't need to start the conflict in the first place. The two main foreign powers Israel and Syria have pulled out of Lebanon so now was their chance to show that this was a good decision... Your "it was created illegally" argument still supports basically all countries being wiped off the map. Please respond to this argument. Let's get this straight...I don't listen to Bush so stop throwing the "if you disagree your an ignorant Republican that just listens to whatever Bush says". As you can see with most of my past responses on this forum I'm not a Republican.

Israel is probably making mistakes, but that's because Hezbollah is hiding among the civilian population and making things extremely complicated. Hezbollah can't defeat Israel really. The most they can do is force Israel to pull out because of popular sentiment like the US did in Vietnam. Israel's military capabalities are leagues ahead of Hezbollah. The reason this is difficult is Israel is a DEMOCRACY OF RATIONAL CITIZENS. That's why they don't incurr serious civilian casualties. Hezbollah is a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. If they had the chance they'd kill every last Jew in Israel and hunt down any other Jews on the planet. That's a huge difference. The civilian population of Lebanon would simply let them and be blind to it and just regret it after the fact just like the Germans let the Nazis do what they did with popular support. We can't possibly support a society that would allow this. That's why the US is a strong supporter of Israel. Europe does not support Hezbollah, they just want someone like the US to come in and make things easy. Much of the Muslim world is run by ignorant power hungry madmen and that's why many of them support Hezbollah. Even big parts of the Muslim world does not support Hezbollah's actions. That shows just how wrong Hezbollah is.

It's rooted in every part of the world regardless of religion...that hardly makes it a religious ceremony. Marriage is based on two people who love each other (although not always) joining in a union. This isn't a christian ideal it was here way before christianity in every part of the world. You don't own marriage. Lifelong unions are even in some species of the animal kingdom.

Then why can't your party agree to that? Also, I don't see the difference between that and marriage other than the name. I mean if a straight couple gets married outside any church it's still called marriage.

Well then I guess I am trying to comprehend how Republicans can wrap their brains around the "fact" that gay marriage is absolute evil and must be strictly abolished.