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This is a u-tube of an attack on religious fundamentalism and on terrorism in the Mid-East:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYB4pG3kHIY&feature=related

And:

http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=nul




I think the rage is justified. 


Terry


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Or this from AP on my start page, Terry.  So who's telling the truth.  Think I'll wait a while until BushInc. finishes with their propaganda against Syria, though the  situtation in Lebanon may be as hopeless as that in Iraq? Afghanistan? and in Pakistan which isn't getting a lot of play from the MSM of late, though it may be at least as dangerous as anything related to that other major ME topic, Iran.

BTW, I have a very difficult time even reading the words al Qaida/ al Qaeda, take your pick, in relationship to Iran, Hezzbolah or the Zionist across the border. Am I naive? Maybe a bit of a false flag operation the CIA is so very good at? LOL, does that make me a conspiracy theorist?

Lebanon Questions 4 in Fatal Bombing
December 13, 2007 11:17 PM EST

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Army investigators on Thursday looked into the possible involvement of al-Qaida-inspired extremists in the bombing that killed a Lebanese general who had led a major offensive against Islamic militants.

The beleaguered government sought to reassure the public, where many were worried that even the military - seen as the sole institution holding the country together - was now a target in Lebanon's unending political turmoil.

Brig. Gen. Francois Hajj, chief of the military's operations, and his driver were killed as he left his home for work Wednesday, when a parked car bomb exploded in Baabda, a Christian suburb east of Beirut.

Four Lebanese who were believed connected to the car used in the blast were being questioned, security officials said.

Hajj led a three-month military campaign that crushed an al-Qaida-inspired militant group known as Fatah Islam in Nahr el-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. That raised suspicion the assassination may have been an act of revenge.

His slaying came as Lebanon is embroiled in the latest chapter of its yearlong crisis - a dispute over electing a new president. The post has been left empty since Emile Lahoud's term ended Nov. 23, with supporters of the Western-backed government and the opposition, led by pro-Syrian Hezbollah, unable to agree on a successor.

President Bush condemned the assassination and took a tough tone against Syria, calling on it to stop interference in Lebanon - although he did not accuse Damascus in the slaying.

Bush said Hajj was "a supporter of Lebanon's independence and an opponent of Syria's interference in Lebanon's internal affairs."

"As Lebanon seeks to select a president democratically and in accordance with its constitution, interference by the Syrian regime and its allies, aimed at intimidating the Lebanese people, must end," he said.

Hajj was not known as an anti-Syrian figure in Lebanon. He was an ally of anti-Syrian Gen. Michel Aoun in the late 1980s. But in the next two decades, Hajj rose steadily into the top echelons of the military at a time when Syria controlled Lebanon, which he would not have been able to do without being on good terms with Damascus.

NOTE: not the complete article, but enough.

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A well written article. It speaks for itself:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/14/africa/ME-GEN-Lebanon-Violence.php



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Terry, I'm somewhat familiar with those who are Wiccan.  I was raised in a Southern Baptist home in Central Texas. Married a Catholic and converted, but eventually decided that Deism tends to fit much of my personal belief system. Spouse #2, is atheist so it works. Two of my grandchildren are participants in
U.S. Reformed Judaism. Both have some Jewish ancestry from their father's
side of the family and some from my first spouse's on his maternal side.  The others and their parents, my four offspring are primarily non-believers in any organized religious sense, though both my daughters support their children's
choice. 

With my educational background being degrees in Social Science with 1 major and 2 minors (Anthropology, Sociology and History) with a primary focus on Cultural Antho (even worse, LOL, Applied Anthro) it has been an interesting ride to have a bit of familiarity with various idealogies and some very small familiarity with a variety of cultures in all those aspect that make up culture.  A little bit about a lot of things, if you will.

For me the bottom line in what I find most fearful are the extremists in the three major world wide groups that are the base of the hideous aspects that are taking
place, not only in the ME, but IMHO worldwide, particularly when related to the
intrusion or control of governmental bodies that are essentially theocracies.

Then in Lebanon their is the influence of all three, at war, if you will, both internally and externally.  No matter how much I attempt to read and continue to learn from a variety of sources I find it difficult to come to any personal valid opinion or conclusion where Lebanon is concerned other than perhaps a pox on the whole debacle.

Not much help on this thread for sure for any valid discussion. Maybe events will cause some change, but I doubt so.