snugtop

the music scene...you must have missed NEDFEST!

Today is 4/20.

The mustached guy creeps me out. Maybe because I grew up in Chelsea, he just looks like he walked out of the "Rawhide" bar at 6AM... You really think the rehead is hot? I just don't see it.

Love it or hate it?

So...kinda like Index?

Y'all are making me feel a teensy bit better. But after 9 years in Washington and a year in Boulder I'm not feeling the love...Went to Shenandoah last weekend and it was a sorry trip

Speaking of alpinfox, I had to defriend some of the riff-raff to keep stay in the double digits.

Cap it at 100 to keep it exclusive.

so you are saying you have no facebook friends?

Agreed on Facebook...haven't checked this site in months.

The East Coast is UGLY! :tdown:

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you with those "details." To put it bluntly for the CIA, it's to do whatever the President says. As far as what is America, ask these guys . They've been running it since 1776.

I dunno, what's the mission of the NSA and the CIA? To collect signals intelligence, human intelligence, operations (enhanced interrogations fit in there somehow...) and analysis. Next question?

PP (I like that moniker), to clarify, I'm using "economic aid" to mean "foreign assistance." As in "we give this much cash to these people."

More references (source: http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/who-gets-us-foreign-aid.html; they cite State Dept as primary source) Who Gets US Foreign Aid? 1. Israel $2.4 billion Virtually all of this money is used to buy weapons (up to 75% made in the U.S.). Beginning in 2009, the U.S. plans to give $30 billion over 10 years. 2. Egypt $1.7 billion $1.3 billion to buy weapons; $103 million for education; $74 million for health care; $45 million to promote civic participation and human rights. 3. Pakistan $798 million $330 million for security efforts, including military-equipment upgrades and border security; $20 million for infrastructure. 4. Jordan $688 million $326 million to fight terrorism and promote regional stability through equipment upgrades and training; $163 million cash payment to the Jordanian government. 5. Kenya $586 million $501 million to fight HIV/AIDS through drug treatment and abstinence education and to combat malaria; $15 million for agricultural development; $5.4 million for programs that promote government accountability. 6. South Africa $574 million $557 million to fight TB and HIV/AIDS; $3 million for education. 7. Mexico $551 million Click here for details. 8. Colombia $541 million Click here for details. 9. Nigeria $491 million Click here for details. 10. Sudan $479 million Click here for details.

FW is right that Egypt is a major recipient of aid but it's misleading because they have a population over ten times that of Israel. There's also a new 10-year 30B program for Israel. Here's the link you requested: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/101442.pdf

What does this mean? You can define this however you want. That's why I put the question out there. Officially, it's the President, the State Dept. and Congress that define this through policy, treaties and law; but I know you know this and are just trying to be cute. I started this thread because I didn't like the title of the last thread,and I started wondering if our support for Israel is meeting stated objectives. Popular arguments for our level of aid (which, unlike aid to say Pakistan, has been almost unconditional)include: a) It will bring peace in the Middle East and deter would-be terrorists b) Israel promotes democracy in the Middle East c) We must defend it from annihilation from neighbors d) We need to support for US economic interests in Israel If it's a, we're clearly not even close to meeting this goal. Isreal, by developing nuclear weapons, has triggered an arms race in the region as countries like Iran (perhaps understandably) want the nuclear threat to defend themselves from hostile nations. And then there's the mess in Palestine...I would argue that the situation is making America far more vulnerable as a terrorist target due to the overwhelming condemnation of Isreal's treatment of the Palestinians (and by extension the US)in the Muslim world (and beyond) b) has this worked? What other democracies have emerged in the region? (And please don't say Iraq...) c) I actually think this is legitimate. But the United States and other nations can pledge support to defend Israel without giving the huge amounts of aid we currently do. Israel is not a poor nation that needs handouts. We could come to their aid if their survival were threatened without committing to our current levels of economic aid, which in fact, are quite disproportionate to need if you look at what other countries get. Fairweather, you are wrong, Israel gets about 50% more than Egypt, and about 15 times more per capita. (This is official foreign assistance money, not addt’l remittances and unofficial aid such as military cooperation) d) Same argument here. Canada and Mexico are much bigger trading partners, however we give Mexico much direct aid. Why the favoritism for a small, highly developed nation? PS: In the process of correcting Fairweather's disinformation I just found out we gave 21 million to Iran last year. Who knew?

As I'm not comfortable with the title of the last thread, it still begs the questions: Why can't people criticize Israel without a) being labelled as anti-semitic or b) (if they happen to be Jewish) as self-hating Jews? Is our continued funding of Israel really in America's self-interest?

bump.

You shoulda gone to Tappi. The pizza there is much better. I miss the Methow. :cry:

heheh...King Soopers! Spoken like a native...was the Mountain People's Coop around when you were in Ned?

http://boulder.craigslist.org/fur/719366689.html

LSD or LDS

It's a fine balnce. I grew up in NYC in the late 70s and 80s when crime was at a high point and when I moved to the NW after college I couldn't get over how nonchalant women were about safety --walking around Beltown at night alone, no deadbolts on their apartment doors, etc. (I still had the paranoid-over the-shoulder check going on for years) Back then I would have gotten a creepy feeling running alone through a park -- or parking my car in an empty lot -- things I do almost without thinking now. What are the sensible precautious to take when hiking or running alone? Nowadays running in trails outside of th city I worry about a cougar encouter more than a mugger/rapist encounter, though the latter is statistically far more likey (even here). I'm not really prepared to run with mace and I think a knife would do me very little good given that I'm a pretty small person with no knifing skills!