>> ^Rotty:

"The Iraq War was going to happen whether or not they came up with this so why risk such a dangerous act?"
The war in Iraq never stopped. We were flying over Iraq constantly and upholding an embargo there. The incidents on 9/11 were exactly what was needed in order to full scale the military operations and quickly (while everyone's emotions were high) pass domestic laws clamping down on US citizen rights.
Without a perceived threat (War on Terror, Communism, etc) there is no rationale for perpetuating the Military Industrial Complex. And, as far as this being a Republican party thing, just remember the Vietnam and Korean wars were brought to you by the darling Democrats with total body counts of ~ 112K American soldiers.


You're right about the Iraq war not stopping, we enforced (The US and UK through the UN) an embargo that devastated the population killing almost half a million children alone. It also strengthened Saddam which wasn't a secret, it was well known.

I disagree with you that "without a perceived threat there is no rationale for perpetuating the Military Industrial Complex" because when there is none available it's just made up. Just look at the budget for the Pentagon 1991-1992, no change after the end of the Cold War is just stayed the same. Because simply the economy we have requires it to continue in this way, without it we wouldn't have this shiny computers to debate with.

I'm not sure what you mean with the Democrat comments, I'm very vocal on War Crimes perpetrated by Clinton and Carter not insignificant in the least. The point is that this has to change, from the ground up fundamental change, it won't do anything to prove 9/11 was an inside job, because frankly it will only explain the deaths of 3,000 people. I don't want to sound cold, but that pales in comparison to half a million children starving to death which was justified as "worth it" by Madeleine Albright. So no love for the Democrats here.

Intellectually it also wastes a lot of time. You could be spending time working towards real reforms, that help people incidentally. Instead thousands of people spend huge amounts of time and go to Conventions on which member of the Mob was involved in the Kennedy assassination. It's just not friggin worth it.

So, Yogi, you are saying that the details and accounts presented in this video are false? That all the eye witnesses were smoking crack or something to have such a distorted recollection of what happened? That the tightly controlled, sparse information released by the government is what really happened? That a commercial airliner crashed into a build and literally disintegrates into nothing but a few "show pieces"? How much DNA did they find there? None? Not a trace of humans or their belonging? This is truley incredible since in NY they were "lucky" enough to find entire identifications of the "supposed" hijackers.

"The Iraq War was going to happen whether or not they came up with this so why risk such a dangerous act?"

The war in Iraq never stopped. We were flying over Iraq constantly and upholding an embargo there. The incidents on 9/11 were exactly what was needed in order to full scale the military operations and quickly (while everyone's emotions were high) pass domestic laws clamping down on US citizen rights.

Without a perceived threat (War on Terror, Communism, etc) there is no rationale for perpetuating the Military Industrial Complex. And, as far as this being a Republican party thing, just remember the Vietnam and Korean wars were brought to you by the darling Democrats with total body counts of ~ 112K American soldiers.

I love propaganda that shows 50-100 year old equipment.
We need the kittens to do a video on the Korean war, like they did for Vietnam.

Fuck, and people think that it will all be ok.

The market will collapse... what the hell do they think is going to happen?

Can we hope that our men and women of the uniform will not slaughter us all when we come to exercise our free speech?

With modern training I bet they could get a soldier to do what ever they want.

They tricked em into signing a contract, with out negotiation or representation.

You know what my Grandfather told me when I told him I wanted to be military?

"If you walk out that door, don't come back. There are far better ways of obtaining glory." - He was a Staff SGT Korean War

Maybe he knew something I didn't?

History repeats itself. The same thing (on a much, much larger scale) happened during the Korean War when thousands of suspected Communists were executed by Korean forces while American troops watched. I'm pretty certain in that case the Pentagon ordered troops to prevent it if possible but given how mercilessly and efficiently the Korean forces were killing it proved impossible to stop.

George Washington in fact faced a similar problem on his first military expedition. Charged with removing the French from Fort Duquesne, he ambushed and captured French forces commanded by Joseph Coulon de Jumonville. Jumonville surrendered, but to Washington's horror the Native American allies that had accompanied him on the expedition slaughtered Jumonville and a dozen other prisoners after the surrender. Just shows the problems you can face when you "ally" with the natives. Just because they're you're allies doesn't mean they're going to listen to your commands.

I agree with roughy. In a war zone, stuff like this happens. I don't agree with the Pentagon trying to pretend like it never happened (they did that in the Korean War incidents too), but I'm not really sure they're under any obligation to actually report the killings since they occurred on the Afghan forces' watch.

I have to laugh at the video eyewitness that says the Americans were in charge. It's pretty clear from other news sources that the Afghan forces at the time were led by tribal warlords that were really more interested in settling old feuds and expanding their power than freeing the country from the Taliban. If they worked with Americans, it was because it was in their own interest and I highly doubt any "command" issued by an American soldier would have had much value. I imagine the Special Forces soldiers that were there found themselves in the same situation as Washington, trying to reason with people who simply don't think the same way about such things as prisoner treatment.

The reason impeachment is not preused to me, is because it would open a can of worms from now all the way back to the Korean War.

Kissinger am talking about you.

Remember impeachment means that Americans would be able to actually make someone countable later on, politicians don't want that as a whole even if it means giving a pass to the Bush administration.

The Democrats are just not as vicious or centered ideologically like the Republicans are, who nearly impeached Clinton over getting his penis sucked off by a intern.

I blame Ford and his pardon to Nixon for setting up this trend.

really good idea me thinks. I also think that progressive and economically minded countries usually spend a considerable amount of investment into infrastructure regularly to build roads, bridges, buildings and public spaces such as parks squares and etc.

That's what they did in Europe after WW2, that's what they did when they were rebuilding the business sectors in NYC, that's what they did in ancient Rome, that's what they did in South Korea after the Korean war.

And yet, I don't hear any major construction in United States to improve the infrastructure, besides new stadiums by private companies.

The reason I hate America is simple.

Because the people living in a democratic country are responsible for their government and therefore what their country is doing. To me, everything America did after ending the Korean War and every President after Truman (except for Kennedy maybe) was one big mistake.

The problem is not that people are doing mistakes. I'm German, we are responsible for horrible mistakes in the past, so I know best. The problem is American people don't seem to learn from their mistakes. It's getting even worse.

"fageddabout" it would work too, smibbo, she is cute...
abducted, that is a cool G.I. Korean War-era Lincoln, never seen that-

I think scottishmartialarts does have a point. Politics and just sheer chance of luck in history plays a big part of outcomes of civilization.

USA could've bombed China with atomic blast during Korean war, but Truman thought Macarthur was bit nuts for thinking that. Now they're on the biggest economic rebound modern history has ever seen, armed with the latest western technology.

Same thing with Rome vs Egypt back in the days of Octavian vs Marcus Antonius. Rome produced less food than Egypt at that time, heavily relying on Sicily to feed the gigantic city of Rome. Rome and Alexandria were at the same level both technologically and population wise. But Octavian wins, and Latins dominate the Mediterranean sea.

Perhaps ultimately because they had a better and more effective military tradition (culture factor) than Alexandrians of Egypt or even the Carthaginians long ago, who also produced more food than Romans, enough so that they were able to make rich and buy mercenaries from other areas to fight their battles for them.

But what Diamond speaks of is about the beginning of civilization and why we have ended up with such drastically different lifestyles. I do think he has a point there.

And I especially agree with this three points:

1. A community requires easy means to produce high energy yielding food to sustain large population.

2. High population & density is always a must to achieve technological innovation and germ immunity.

3. Society with high germ immunity and technological advancement gets to dominate other cultures.

BUT

All 1st, 2nd and 3rd points can be overcome with: constant Trading and Politics between communities.

A lil histroy from Wikipedia:

The Iowa-class battleships served in every major U.S. war of the latter half of the 20th century. In World War II, they defended aircraft carriers and shelled Japanese positions before being placed in reserve at the end of the war. Recalled for action during the Korean War, the battleships provided artillery support for UN forces fighting against North Korea. In 1968, New Jersey was recalled for action in the Vietnam War and shelled Communist targets for U.S. forces near the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. All four were reactivated and armed with missiles during the Cold War as part of the 600-ship Navy. In 1991, Missouri and Wisconsin fired missiles and 16-inch guns at Iraqi targets during the Gulf War. All four battleships were decommissioned in the early 1990s, and were removed from the Naval Vessel Register in 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_class_battleship

I am AMAZED at the nunber of leftist posting on this site. I wonder who is paying these people? The obviously have lots of free time. Someone should remind them that it was the Demoncrats who started both the Korean War AND the Vietnam was resulting in approximately 112,00 US soldier deaths...talk about "Inconvenient Truths".

Notice the conspicuous absence of any video from the French leftist and muzzie youths torching and looting France. Must be againt the "Adgenda".

The legend of the Hippies is they became Capitolists when the weed-fog lifted.

"goal of the Fed is long term stability"

Pre-Fed
-------
Panic of 1819-1824(4/5 years)
Panic of 1837-1843(6/7 years)
Panic of 1857-1860(3/4 years)
Panic of 1873-1879(6/7 years)
Panic of 1893-1896(3/4 years)
Panic of 1907-1908(1/2 years)
1776 to 1914(137.4 years[July 4 founding]) Total = 23 to 29 years - 21% of our time(max) spent in economic turmoil
OR(if you want to be technical) 1819 to 1914(95 years) - 24%(min) to 30.5%(max)of our time spent in economic turmoil

Post-Fed
--------
Post WW1 Recession - 1918-1921(3/4 years)
Great Depression("The Great Contraction") - 1929-1937(8/9 years)
Post Korean War Recession - 1953-1954(1/2 years)
1973 Oil/Energy Crisis - 1979-1980(1/2 years)
1982 - 1983(1/2 years)
1988 - 1992(4/5 years)
2000 Recession - 2001 - 2003(3/4 years)
1914 to 2007(93 years) Total = 21 to 28 years - 22.5% of our time(min) spent in economic turmoil

How has the Fed helped us establish "long term stability?"

Sure, not ALL of them were CAUSED by the Fed, but they haven't exactly PREVENTED any of them, either.

As a matter of fact, the very fact that they purposely CAUSED at least one of them should be enough for our government to deny their charter and to repeal the Federal Reserve Act.

1949

* Harry Truman is inaugurated as US president after being elected in 1948 to his own term; previously he was sworn in following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
* Doris Day enters the public spotlight with the films My Dream Is Yours and It's a Great Feeling as well as popular songs like "It's Magic"; divorces her second husband.
* Red China as the Communist Party of China wins the Chinese Civil War, establishing the People's Republic of China.
* Johnnie Ray signs his first recording contract with Okeh Records, although he won't become popular for another two years.
* South Pacific, the prize winning musical, opens on Broadway on April 7.
* Walter Winchell is an aggressive radio and newspaper journalist credited with inventing the gossip column.
* Joe DiMaggio is injured early in the season but makes a comeback in June and leads the New York Yankees to win the World Series.

1950

* Joe McCarthy, the US Senator, gains national attention and begins his anti-communist crusade with his Lincoln Day speech.
* Richard Nixon is first elected to the United States Senate.
* Studebaker a popular car company, is beginning its financial downfall.
* Television is becoming widespread (in black and white format) and becomes the most popular means of advertising.
* North Korea, South Korea engage in warfare as North Korea attacks on June 25, beginning the Korean War.
* Marilyn Monroe soars in popularity with five new movies including The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve, and attempts suicide after death of lover Johnny Hyde. Monroe would later (1954) briefly marry Joe DiMaggio (the rhyme in the previous verse).

1951

* Rosenbergs were convicted on March 29 for espionage.
* H-Bomb is in the middle of its development as a nuclear weapon, announced in early 1950 and first tested in late 1952.
* Sugar Ray (Robinson) the boxer obtains the world's Middleweight title.
* Panmunjeom, the border village in Korea, is the location of truce talks between the parties of the Korean War.
* Brando (Marlon) is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the first time for his famous role in A Streetcar Named Desire
* The King and I opens on Broadway on March 29.
* and The Catcher in the Rye is a controversial novel by J. D. Salinger.

1952

* Eisenhower (Dwight D.) is first elected as U.S. president by a landslide.
* Vaccine for polio is privately tested by Jonas Salk.
* England's got a new Queen as George VI passes away and Elizabeth II succeeds to the throne of United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms.
* Marciano (Rocky) defeats Jersey Joe Walcott, becoming the world Heavyweight champion.
* Liberace has a popular 1950s television show for his musical entertainment.
* Santayana, good-bye as philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist George Santayana dies on September 26.

1953

* Joseph Stalin dies on March 5, yielding his position as leader of the Soviet Union.
* Malenkov (Georgy Maksimilianovich) succeeds Stalin for six months following his death.
* Nasser (Gamal Abdel) acts as the true power behind the new Egyptian nation as Muhammad Naguib's minister of the interior.
* and Prokofiev (Sergei) the composer, dies on March 5, the same day as Stalin.
* Rockefeller (Winthrop) moves to Arkansas, the state where he will be elected governor.
* Campanella (Roy), a baseball catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, receives the National League's Most Valuable Player award for the second time.
* Communist bloc is a group of communist nations dominated by the Soviet Union at this time.

1954

* Roy Cohn resigns as Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel and enters private practice with the fall of McCarthy.
* Juan Perón spends his last full year as President of Argentina before a September 1955 coup.
* Toscanini (Arturo) is at the height of his fame as a conductor, performing regularly with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on national radio.
* Dacron is an early artificial fiber made from the same plastic as polyester.
* Dien Bien Phu falls as Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap take over the Vietnamese village, leading to the creation of North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
* "Rock Around the Clock" is a hit single released by Bill Haley & His Comets in May, spurring worldwide interest in rock and roll.

1955

* Einstein (Albert) dies on April 18 at the age of 76.
* James Dean achieves success with East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and dies in a car accident on September 30.
* Brooklyn's got a winning team as the Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series for the only time. (There is cheering in the background of the song during this line.)
* Davy Crockett is a Disney television series about the legendary frontiersman of the same name.
* Peter Pan is broadcast on TV live and in color from the 1954 version of the stage musical starring Mary Martin on March 7.
* Elvis Presley signs with RCA Records on November 21, beginning his pop career.
* Disneyland opens on July 17 as Walt Disney's first theme park.

1956

* Bardot (Brigitte) appears in her first mainstream film And God Created Woman and establishes an international reputation as a French "sex kitten".
* Budapest is the site of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
* Alabama is the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
* Khrushchev (Nikita) makes his famous Secret Speech denouncing Stalin's "cult of personality" on February 23.
* Princess Grace (Grace Kelly) releases her last film High Society and marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
* Peyton Place, the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious, is published.
* Trouble in the Suez boils as Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal on October 29, beginning the Suez Crisis.

1957

* Little Rock is the site of an anti-integration standoff as Governor Orval Faubus stops the Little Rock Nine from attending Little Rock Central High School, and President Eisenhower deploys the 101st Airborne Division to counteract him.
* Pasternak (Boris), the Russian author, publishes his famous novel Doctor Zhivago.
* Mickey Mantle is in the middle of his career as a famous New York Yankees' outfielder and American League All-Star for the sixth year in a row.
* Kerouac (Jack) publishes his first novel in seven years, On the Road.
* Sputnik is the first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4.
* Chou Enlai is in the middle of his reign as Premier of the People's Republic of China.
* Bridge on the River Kwai is released as a film adaptation of the 1954 novel and receives seven Academy Awards.

1958

* Lebanon is engulfed in a political and religious crisis.
* Charles de Gaulle is elected first president of the French Fifth Republic following the Algerian Crisis.
* California baseball begins as the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants move to California and become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. They are the first major league teams west of Kansas City.
* Starkweather homicide captures the attention of Americans as serial killer Charles Starkweather kills eleven people before he is caught in a massive manhunt in Douglas, Wyoming.
* Children of thalidomide are born with birth defects caused by the sleeping aid and antiemetic, used to treat morning sickness as well (although not in the USA).

1959

* Buddy Holly dies in a plane crash on February 3 with Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson, "The Big Bopper". (As an intro to this stanza, Billy Joel mimics Buddy Holly's trademark "hiccup" style, singing a-UH-uh-oh...).
* Ben-Hur wins eleven Academy Awards as a film based around the New Testament starring Charlton Heston.
* Space monkeys Able and Miss Baker are the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.
* Mafia are the centre of attention for the FBI and public attention builds to this organized crime society with an historically Sicilian/American origin.
* Hula hoops reach 100 million in sales as the latest toy fad.
* Castro (Fidel) comes to power after a revolution in Cuba and visits the United States later that year on an unofficial twelve-day tour.
* Edsel is a no-go as production of this car marketing disaster (Ford spent $400 million developing it) ends after only two years.

1960

* U-2: an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.
* Syngman Rhee: was rescued by the CIA after being forced to resign as leader of South Korea for allegedly fixing an election and embezzling more than twenty million U.S. dollars.
* Payola: was publicized due to Dick Clark's testimony before Congress and Alan Freed's public disgrace.
* and Kennedy (John F.): beats Richard Nixon in the November 8 general election amongst allegations of vote fraud.
* Chubby Checker: popularizes the dance The Twist with his song of the same name.
* Psycho: an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, based on a pulp novel by Robert Bloch and adapted by Joseph Stefano, which becomes a landmark in graphic violence and cinema sensationalism. The screeching violins heard briefly in the background are a trademark of the film's soundtrack.
* Belgians in the Congo: The Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared independent of Belgium on June 30, with Joseph Kasavubu as President and Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister.

1961

* Hemingway (Ernest): commits suicide on July 2 after a long battle with depression.
* Eichmann (Adolf): is captured by Mossad agents in Argentina and tried for crimes against humanity.
* Stranger in a Strange Land: written by Robert A. Heinlein, is a breakthrough best-seller with themes of sexual freedom and liberation.
* Dylan (Bob): after a New York Times review by critic Robert Shelton, Dylan is signed to Columbia Records.
* Berlin: The Berlin Wall, which separates West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany, is constructed.
* Bay of Pigs Invasion: failed attempt by United States-trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro.

1962

* Lawrence of Arabia: the Academy Award-winning film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence starring Peter O'Toole premiers in America on December 16.
* British Beatlemania: The Beatles gain Ringo Starr as drummer and Brian Epstein as manager, and join the EMI's Parlophone label.
* Ole Miss: James Meredith integrates the University of Mississippi.
* John Glenn: flew the first American manned orbital mission termed "Friendship 7" on February 20.
* Liston beats Patterson: Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fight for the world heavyweight championship on September 25, ending in a round-one knockout.

1963

* Pope Paul (VI): is elected to the papacy.
* Malcolm X: makes infamous statements about agreeing with the Kennedy assassination, thus causing the Nation of Islam to censure him.
* British Politician Sex: the Profumo Affair.
* JFK blown away, what else do I have to say?: President Kennedy is assassinated on November 22.

1965

* Birth control: in the early 1960s, oral contraceptives, popularly known as "the pill", first go on the market and are extremely popular. Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 challenged a Connecticut law prohibiting contraceptives. In 1968, Pope Paul VI released a papal encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae which declared most birth control a sin.
* Ho Chi Minh: a Vietnamese Communist, who served as President of Vietnam from 1954–1969.

1968

* Richard Nixon back again: Nixon is elected in the 1968 presidential election of the United States.

1969

* Moon shot: refers to the Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing.
* Woodstock: famous rock and roll festival of 1969 that came to represent the epitome of the counterculture movement.

1974

* Watergate: political scandal involving a hotel break-in, eventually leading to President Nixon's resignation in 1974.
* Punk rock: the Sex Pistols and their new sound become popular.

1977 (Note that these two items, while later chronologically than the two 1976 items, come immediately before them in the song)

* Begin (Menachem): becomes Prime Minister of Israel in 1977 and negotiates the Camp David Accords with Egypt's president in 1978.
* Reagan (Ronald): President of the United States from 1981 to 1989; attempted to run for president in 1976

1976 (Note that these two items, while earlier chronologically than the two 1977 items, come immediately after them in the song)

* Palestine: the Palestine Liberation Organization is admitted as a member of Arab League; see history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
* Terror on the airline: Numerous aircraft hijackings took place, specifically, the Palestinian hijack of Air France Flight 139 and the subsequent rescue at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, 1976.

1979

* Ayatollahs in Iran: during the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the West-backed and U.S.-installed Shah is overthrown as the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gains power after years in exile.
* Russians in Afghanistan: Soviet forces fight a ten-year war in Afghanistan, from 1979 to 1989.

1983

* Wheel of Fortune: a hit television game show which has been TV's highest-rated syndicated program since 1983.
* Sally Ride: in 1983 she becomes the first American woman in space.
* Heavy metal, suicide: Billy Joel himself had previously stated on his website that even though the two terms are separated by a comma they are collectively one item (like "North Korea, South Korea" above). In the 1980s Ozzy Osbourne and the bands Metallica and Judas Priest were brought to court by parents who accused the musicians of hiding subliminal pro-suicide messages in their music.
* Foreign debts: Persistent US trade deficits lead to substantial foreign debt in the eyes of the 1980s period, particularly to Japan.
* Homeless vets: Veterans of the Vietnam war are homeless and impoverished.
* AIDS: A collection of symptoms and infections in humans resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is first detected and recognized in the 1980s, on its way to becoming a pandemic.
* Crack: Refers to crack cocaine, a popular drug in the mid-to-late 1980s.

1984

* Bernie Goetz: On December 22, Goetz becomes a vigilante after being mugged four times; he shoots four young men who he believed to be threatening him on a New York City subway. Goetz was charged with attempted murder, but was acquitted of the charges.

1988

* Hypodermics on the shore: medical waste was found washed up on beaches in New Jersey after being illegally dumped at sea.

1989

* China's under martial law: On May 20, China declares martial law, enabling them to use force of arms to end the Tiananmen Square protests.
* Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore!: soft drink giants Coke and Pepsi each run marketing campaigns using popular music stars to reach the young adult demographic.

I wonder if Kim Jong know's how bad of shape his people really are? It's a shame MacArthur was relieved of duty. It's hard to say though, I've head theories for the Korean War that say if MacArthur was let loose Korea would have been unified and there wouldn't be a hair trigger warzone along those boarders. But then I've heard arguements that we'd all be mutating from the nuclear fallout if we had gone on to China. Either way, I'm way off subject. Yeah Kim Jong Il is a dick.