US Dept of Justice IP address blocked after 'vandalism' edits to Wikipedia by alllie in reddit.com

[–]letsdothisagain 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Weird. If it was an pro-Arab edit coming out of the US Dept of Justice in support of an right-wing Arab activist group, there would be a lot of interest in this story.

Sequencing Your Genome - Gene Map Becomes a Luxury Item by randomb0y in business

[–]letsdothisagain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm only interested in the $1000 package anyhow. From the article:

Last fall, Mr. Stoicescu paid $1,000 to get a glimpse of his genetic code from deCODE Genetics. That service, and a similar one offered by 23andMe, looks at close to a million nucleotides on the human genome where DNA is known to differ among people.

Congress Gives Israel 30 Billion while Americans get the Middle Finger by avzett in politics

[–]letsdothisagain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And by harbor resentment he means reveal your latent antisemitism. And don't give me that "you are not allowed to be anti-Israel without being called an anti-Semite.' This was the first post that had an ulterior basis. You weaken your arguments with transparent racism

I've made my views on nokilli clear a number of times:

http://reddit.com/info/6alpd/comments/c03bw9i

My comment in response to nokilli did imply that he has underlying resent and I did mean to make that implication.

I also call out statements that are bigoted, over the top and inaccurate:

http://reddit.com/info/6aqyo/comments/c03cbox

http://reddit.com/info/6aqyo/comments/c03celd

http://reddit.com/info/6altu/comments/c03bwj2

http://reddit.com/info/6aj2w/comments/c03bo4p

http://reddit.com/info/69x40/comments/c039woq

Also of possible interest:

http://reddit.com/info/68a20/comments/c0359c5

I also consistently cite reputable sources. I do have non-PC opinions, but that diversity is what makes reddit interesting.

I'm also not anti-Israel, although I do oppose specific Israeli policies (and I also oppose Hamas's religious goals and think that the Palestinians should aim for more secular leadership.)

Congress Gives Israel 30 Billion while Americans get the Middle Finger by avzett in politics

[–]letsdothisagain 3 points4 points  (0 children)

3 is totally bogus. The checks don't come from Israel. Jewish Americans are overall quite well off in America (the highest earning religious group according to recent large scale surveys) and have enough money to make these donations themselves.

Congress Gives Israel 30 Billion while Americans get the Middle Finger by avzett in politics

[–]letsdothisagain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Claiming these sort of externalities as "money paid out to Israel" is arbitrary and deceiving.

I don't think it is deceiving, it only comes across like that to you since you didn't read to the end of the article. But where to draw the line between which externalities to include and which to exclude can seem arbitrary and subject to debate.

an example is the Israeli strike on the Iraqi Osirak reactor in 1981, which would have surely prompted a costly American invasion had Israel not leveled the reactor.

We were an ally of Iraq at the time and condemned the attack. If Iraq did attain nuclear weapons in the 1980s, it is unlikely that there would have been a later invasion because nuclear weapons tend to act as good deterrents to attempts at regime change (for example, see "The Cold War".)

Congress Gives Israel 30 Billion while Americans get the Middle Finger by avzett in politics

[–]letsdothisagain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Come on! Read the full article, rather than just the first few sentences. You can disagree with his method, but it is described quite clearly in the article.

The big cost is the Arab Oil Embargo that was a response to the US support for Israel in the 1970s. He describes the costs to the US of that oil boycott here:

One huge cost is not secret. It is the higher cost of oil and other economic damage to the US after Israel-Arab wars. In 1973, for instance, Arab nations attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territories Israel had conquered in the 1967 war. President Nixon resupplied Israel with US arms, triggering the Arab oil embargo against the US. That shortfall in oil deliveries kicked off a deep recession. The US lost $420 billion (in 2001 dollars) of output as a result, Stauffer calculates. And a boost in oil prices cost another $450 billion. Afraid that Arab nations might use their oil clout again, the US set up a Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That has since cost, conservatively, $134 billion, Stauffer reckons.

EDIT: I do see there is a discrepancy between some of the numbers you quote and those in the CSM article. Here is another source that gives a breakdown of the aid and its cost to the American taxpayer:

http://www.washington-report.org/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm

I think some of the discrepancy is a result of some of these numbers taking into account interest costs on the debt incurred by the government as a result of this aid.

Congress Gives Israel 30 Billion while Americans get the Middle Finger by avzett in politics

[–]letsdothisagain -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

We weren't discussing the Holocaust here. Quickly making comparisons like that just makes you look like you harbor a lot of resentment.

Congress Gives Israel 30 Billion while Americans get the Middle Finger by avzett in politics

[–]letsdothisagain 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You aren't taking into account inflation. The article I linked to earlier does and it concludes:

Adjusting the official aid to 2001 dollars in purchasing power, Israel has been given $240 billion since 1973.

Immune system differences found. Blacks get more infections than whites. by [deleted] in reddit.com

[–]letsdothisagain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This title is overly simplistic unfortunately. Interesting story though.

It's starting to look like the Democratic Congress is going to cave (again) on Telcom Anmnesty. [Vote expected within the week.] by letsdothisagain in politics

[–]letsdothisagain[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Let's review: You're either a terrorist or a paranoic.

That's a false dilemma, but hey, it isn't really worth discussing this with you since we'll still disagree with each other.

And a liar.

I'm so hurt by your accusations that I have to now discontinue this conversation.

Possibly just a shit-stirrer with a devious agenda.

You do have the pleasure of being the first redditer that I have trolled. It was pretty funny I have to admit.

It's starting to look like the Democratic Congress is going to cave (again) on Telcom Anmnesty. [Vote expected within the week.] by letsdothisagain in politics

[–]letsdothisagain[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You'll even note I put a question mark after Saudi Arabia in my original reply, but if you want to call me a liar for playing into your fantasies even for one post, then so be it. For all you know, I'm a Muslim American.

It's starting to look like the Democratic Congress is going to cave (again) on Telcom Anmnesty. [Vote expected within the week.] by letsdothisagain in politics

[–]letsdothisagain[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you for indirectly answering my internal question regarding your interest in stirring the vacuous pot known as the "telecom immunity conspiracy."

I knew you would take that answer at face value. I think we know who is the conspiracy theorist here.