Iraq, the Modern Day Crusades?

I had a discussion this weekend regarding the war in Iraq. The individual tried to justify the war based on their belief that Islam is a religion of war and violence, and that the war was going to protect Christians from Islamic persecution. They compared the war today with the Crusades of centuries ago.

I then asked a simple question:

If this war is supposed to protect Christians from Islam, then why is our military defending Sharia law in Iraq?

Article 2 of the Iraq constitution states:

First, Islam is the official religion of the State, and is a foundation source of all legislation.

A. No law may be enacted that contradicts the established provisions of Islam.


I also reminded this individual which presidents state department helped draft that constitution...

The debate ended in utter silence.

My favorite Stefan Molyneux two minute spiel

The state is a agency of coercion, the government takes money through force, through taxation, the government steals form the future through national debts, the government uses force to impose its will on everyone. As long as we view the government as some semi-paternal benevolent agency that’s there to help and protect us, we are going to keep running into its proposed solutions. Until and unless we can see that the government as an agency of violence, that the government points guns at people to get things done, until we can see the government as the gun in the room. We will not be able to put down the gun in the room and begin to explore voluntary and peaceful ways of helping those who are in need, the poor , the sick, the old.

Until and unless we can see the violence inherit in the system that we live under. We will not be able to put down that gun and begin negotiating like civilized human beings about how we are going to solve social problems, and stop attempting to pass laws and regulations which throw people in jail, which steal money from people. Violence will never solve problems, violence will only and forever profit the few at the expense of the many. Seem to solve things in the present while creating more problems down the road. So until we can see the gun in the room and put it down things are going to get worse and worse and worse. Until we let go of our addiction to violence in solving problems, which will never ever solve problems at all.

Next Meeting - Thursday 7/8/10

The next meeting will be:

Thursday July 08, 2010
5:30 to 8:00 pm

Panera Bread
28551 Schoolcraft Road
Livonia, Michigan

Discussing Stephan Kinsella's Against Intellectual Property (concentrating on pp 45 - 61) and Eric Garris' interview of Alan Grayson (posted below).

http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/06/29/alan-grayson-2/

Scott Horton Interviews Alan Grayson June 29, 2010

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This interview was conducted by Antiwar.com director Eric Garris.

Florida Congressman Alan Grayson discusses building Congressional support for his “War is Making You Poor” bill, bipartisan cooperation with Ron Paul on the “Audit the Fed” bill, why it’s harder than ever to justify the continuing war in Afghanistan, Obama’s broken campaign promises and disappointing leadership and why Grayson has become the top target of Republicans for the 2010 House elections.

MP3 here. (19:01)

Congressman Alan Grayson was born and grew up in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City. He graduated with high honors from Harvard College, worked as an economist, then returned to Harvard. In four years, Alan earned a J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School, a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Government, and finished all of the course work and passed the general exams for a Ph.D. in Government. His master’s thesis focuses on gerontology. He went on to be a founding member of the Alliance for Aging Research.

In the early 1990s Alan took leave from the practice of law and started a business. He was the first President of IDT Corp., a telecom/internet company, which is now a Fortune 1000 company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Congressman Grayson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008, serving Florida’s 8th district.

Totally unrelated to the next meeting, but it's been a month since I've bragged.  I am kicking ass in this year's market predictions.  The Dow and the S&P 500 didn't rise quite as high as I predicted, they may end up lower than I predicted, and gold may end up higher than I predicted, but compared to the rest of the predictions, I'm spot on.  Especially my prediction that the Shanghai Index bubble will pop.  Down 26% so far this year.  Richard is once again being beat by a girl (which is really sad considering the girl predicted Dow 14,000).