Normal 0 Normal 0 Barry: The French were the second nation on the planet to have to live with and deal with terrorism. (The first was Britain, inter- estingly enough. The modern definition of terrorism was invented in the press to describe the actions of the Jewish groups in Palestine who were planting bombs to drive the English out and have it become Israel.) But "next in line" was France, having to deal with terrorist wars in their colonies of Morocco and Algeria and Vietnam. Emptybill: The French have a huge Army that is now a professional one like in the US. In some ways we are fortunate that they provide a second anchor for Western civilization - along with the nuclear arms to back it up. However, who could believe they might ever use them? After their flight from the Germans in '39-40 they dived into post-empire irrelevance. Their defeat in Vietnam merely proved that they were weak post-Colonials. That is not the same as the American anti-communist fight in Vietnam nor the same as our rather unnecessary war in Iraq. We should have left that puffed up little dictator in place to oppose the Persian - this has now become obvious. As far as your statement about terrorism, I advance a different claim - Colonial Americans were the first terrorists of the modern age and the Brits were our chosen targets. I say this not just to restate history but as a physical being born in a specific family lineage. The fact is that I come from a long line of independence seekers - from dream-seekers straight off of the original mayflower to Virginians fighting against the British redcoats. To this day, my kinfolk still believe that the only thing standing between us and the bayonets of the ruling government is a loaded firearm. Such a view puts "terrorism" in a different light. Just in case your are wondering, I am quite aware that the French were our backers in the revolutionary war. We owed them a debt from the revolution which we finally repaid - from the Marne River in 1918 to the beaches of Normandy in 1943. However we need to redefine most of this history as the mere "past" since all those former Frenchmen from that time are gone. They vanished from Europe because they lost faith in the old values during the slaughter of the trenches. They are here and them is us. They/We have taken rebirth upon the North American continent and in Australia. Think this is absurd? Mere bullshit or opinion? Then you obviously must think your own intellect is equal to assay "reality-as-such"? Find it comforting having such a lofty view to assert that everything is merely a matter of opinion? I say fuck such arrogantly endemic doubt parading as certainty. I know the Frogs went to North America and Australia because god told me so. She also told me that the devil has always loved Her more than you do. She pointed out that this is why she rewards him every day with supreme recognition and why you get only shit. Such is life. Live with it. Thus it is so. (Doesn't that sound o'-so-Buddhist?) By the way, no wonder you have nothing to claim other than your own opinion. You were probably that poor SOB that Plato referred to when he said that opinion (doxa) was the lowest form of knowledge - one bordering on mere superstition. Wouldn't you like to stop hanging on to your old sanskaras from that 340 B.C. lifetime? Emptybill said: > Yeah, why don't we become more like the French? We could stick our asses up into the wind and shout "Please come here and fuck me!!!" All the nations would praise us and we would finally be liked by the rest of the world.
Barry: Uh, billy jim...I cannot help but wonder where this came from. Can you provide a cite of the Buddhist sutra on compassion you base it on? :-) I do Tantric sadhanas and Dzogchen Trekcho along with TM-Sahaj. Even the Medicine Buddha Sadhanas that I do are Tantric. Mahayana Sutras are for the pious. Do I sound pious? Barry, if you are actually such a high-flying Buddhist then why don't you stand up like a real universal-vehicle practitioner that is if you really give a shit about someone else with all your weeping compassion? What your posts seem to demonstrate is that you dearly believe in yourself. Which Sutra, Tantra or Upadesh do you use as a support for that display? None. You doubt everything but you don't doubt yourself. What chutzpah. And by the way, don't give me some Tantric bullshit like Vaj. If the Yidam-Devas really cared about us, they would sweep us up and throw us into the next lifetime with terrifying abandon - one where we could no longer hide like rats here in the outhouse of samsara.