Disqus - Latest Comments for robertolapiedra

Re: Is Canada Too Smug About Its Economic Future?

robertolapiedra — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 11:55:55 -0000

Canada as a whole has a very different political funding system.

If you had to compare anything that has the greatest impact on any economy look for the relationship of corporate oligarchy with lawmakers.

In the US, it seems to me that 'big' money trumps any good governance record when trying to get reelected. When you make a pact with the devil, you don't usually end up in legislated fiscal heaven.

Canada does not have the world currency status of the American dollar (unofficial world currency). We do not have 50 to 60% of our dollar reserve in the hands of the international community. When Americans devaluate (print money), they export a lot of their problems.

Other countries countries do not have the clout ('enforced' American petrol-dollars) to export their debt, they have more incentive to deal with fiscal problems and once in a while do so.

If I may be so bold, I suggest Americans look to Canada not to find out what to do, but to find out what not to do. There is no magic legislation that happened in the past (pre-2008), on the contrary 'pressures' to deregulate Banking sector were ignored thus killing the big Banking Casino project.

In Canada, Banks simply bleed us with exaggerated transaction fees instead. They can't crash the economy with pie in the sky loans or toxic fiscal instruments and because politicians do not need them that much in the first place for (funding elections), it is much easier to say no to them.

RL.

Re: The Great Book Robbery

robertolapiedra — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 02:10:53 -0000

''They'' have a culture (Palestinians even have a Ministry of Culture!) and ''they'' have a specific literature (many Palestinian authors!). You have books in the National Library (6000 at least) that the Israeli government confirms (Jewish sources confirm this!) having obtained from the ''non Jewish'' population.

If you think that all this is a ''load of crap'', tell the Israeli Government to stop confirming they have books that were : ''stolen'', ''looted'', ''confiscated'', ''borrowed for more than 60 years'' or just ''abandoned for magical reasons'' for it to collate and classify. You should enlighten them with your personal culture. Do not forget to cite the specific literature that makes your case. RL.

Re: The Great Book Robbery

robertolapiedra — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:58:09 -0000

I think anyone calling bullshit without expressing an explanation is a bullshitter. RL.

Re: The Great Book Robbery

robertolapiedra — Sat, 26 May 2012 08:52:42 -0000

Farhud (June 1-2, 1941).
In 1950 your family did not 'experience' the Farhud, and your numbers are double some Jewish estimates. I doubt that your parents 'witnessed' their personal books being burned. I do not doubt that they suffered great distress but if they left in 1950 they forfieted their citizenship, not their property as this came the next year. Please consult Jewish sources below. RL.

Ref: Jewish Virtual Library. Excerpts from article by Mitchell Bard. (This is not considered an 'objective' source of historic information.)

-'In the 1936 Iraq Directory, the “Israelite community” is listed among the various other Iraqi communities, such as Arabs, Kirds, Turkmen, Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and Sabeans, and numbering at about 120,000. Hebrew is also listed as one of Iraq’s six languages.'
-'In 1950, Iraqi Jews were permitted to leave the country within a year provided they forfeited their citizenship. A year later, however, the property of Jews who emigrated was frozen and economic restrictions were placed on Jews who chose to remain in the country. From 1949 to 1951, 104,000 Jews were evacuated from Iraq in Operations Ezra & Nechemia (named after the Jewish leaders who took their people back to Jerusalem from exile in Babylonia beginning in 597 B.C.E.); another 20,000 were smuggled out through Iran.'

Re: The Great Book Robbery

robertolapiedra — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:12:44 -0000

I find this documentary very interesting. I would enjoy views not tainted by the usual Israeli-Palestinian propaganda as it is getting very old in my opinion. RL.

Re: The Great Book Robbery

robertolapiedra — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:57:03 -0000

Maybe there are no documentary because of this...

- Jordan. No Jews lived in Transjordan in 1946 (when it became an independent state), as a result of Winston Churchill's 1921 decision in favor of "preserving [the] Arab character" of Transjordan and the resulting British policy forbidding Jews from settling there.
(Quoted in Aaron S. Klieman, Foundations of British Policy in the Arab World: The Cairo Conference of 1921 (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1970), p. 230.)

- Legislation passed in 1954 declared that only non-Jews coming from the former British Mandate of Palestine were entitled to Jordanian citizenship.
(Section 3(3) of Jordanian Nationality Law no. 6 of 1954, recorded in Al-Jarida ar-Rasmiya, no. 1171, Feb. 16, 1954, p. 105.)

- What is so striking about Jordan is that although it lacked a Jewish population, it still shared in the general Arab trend of excluding Jews. Further, it actively discriminated against Lebanese and Syrian Jews.

(Anti-Jewish discrimination appears in order no. 1282 of July 1, 1957 (attributed to the Official Gazette of Jordan, no. 1282 by the Collection of Laws and Regulations [in Arabic], vol. 1 issued by the Jordanian Bar, Amman, 1957, p. 186), which exempts Syrian nationals from showing their passports on entering or leaving Jordan. They may use any other identifying document provided that "they are not Jews." The same discriminatory legislation against Jews from Lebanon appears in Majmu'at al-Qawanin wa'l-Anzima, vol. 1 (Amman: Jordanian Bar, 1966), p. 188)

(As for the 'million' number of Palestinians, usually it is estimated more closely to half a million.) Google is a tool, you will always find what you want. If you are the discerning type, you can find objective sources also. RL

Re: In God We Teach

robertolapiedra — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:05:11 -0000

Thank you -robertfallen1- for the compliment (I think?). In my day Jesuit teachers (I am generalizing) did not care if you got the right answer to a question or not. They were very interested in 'how' you came up with the answer. Anyone speaking up was tested with a bombardment of skeptic questions and commentaries.

With this method (Socratic teaching and revision) one learned to shut up and listen before expressing half baked ideas. One learned to be accountable for one's thought processes. What you said in class was important enough to warrant serious attention and investigation.

To answer your question about intellectual clarity: It is simply not taught at a young age anymore. You can blame school boards, government, parents but American students start off just as smart as any in the world, and it is certainly not their fault if first grade is more 'day care like' than the old style discipline training facility. Maybe Americans children need something in the middle? RL.

Re: In God We Teach

robertolapiedra — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:20:01 -0000

I am a 59 year old Catholic. Before College, I went to Catholic school from 1958 to 1970. Never once did I witness a reference to religion outside the Religion class.

In Science classes, Evolution was taught, in Religion classes, Creationism was taught (students, teachers, staff, everybody was catholic then). I once asked a teacher of Religion if Evolution was an atheist belief. This old Jesuit Brother replied, absolutely not! And continued to tell me that I was intellectually 'infantile' and 'non rigorous' if I really thought that way. He said that science is not a belief system and that religion is not based on empirical evidence nor independent repeatable experiments, religion is based on Faith.

Today, not only do I think that teaching religious dogma in an History class is intellectually dishonest (not paid by public funding to do this!) I think it is intellectually weak to think Darwinism is the faith of the Atheist and that Creationism is the Science of the faithful.

Creationism does not belong in Public school (except in religious study classes) no more than Darwinism belongs in Sunday school. I think that Americans should worry about intellectual clarity in their school system and not tolerate any unprofessional behaviour from their teachers no matter how popular or 'religiously self righteous' they are. RL.

Re: A Lamp in the Dark: The Untold History of the Bible

robertolapiedra — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:21:36 -0000

Pro-protestant, anti-catholic but definitely not christian.

Re: RonPaulGraphs.com - Q4 Donation Statistics & Stuff

robertolapiedra — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:56:27 -0000

Hello Dick. The same joke the second time around is not funny anymore. Get new material or get off the stage. RL

Re: RonPaulGraphs.com - Q4 Donation Statistics & Stuff

robertolapiedra — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:51:24 -0000

Now people, this is humour! This Dick made me laugh! RL.

Re: Total Ad Purchases For Ron Paul Blimp

robertolapiedra — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:43:48 -0000

Hello Mike.

First, there are no experts for blimp projects in political advertising. Second, there is always a learning curve, especially when you actually do what the big mouths only talk about. Third, you don't use positive criticisms that are actually helping at this moment.

I think you are just too emotional to be listened to. Maybe it is not what you deserve, but my guess is that there is still a lesson for YOU to learn from this, like getting over it. RL