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| Here are some interesting statistics:
As of 2003:
Area of Countries in kilometers - Gross Domestic Product in billions ($)
Israel - 20,770
$115.06 billion
United States - 9.6 million
$10,381
billion
Egypt - 1 million
$101.31 billion
Iraq - 437,072
$17.59 billion
Iran - 1.6 million
$84.72 billion
Syria - 185,180
$23.69 billion
Lebanon - 10,400
$17.19 billion
Jordan - 92,300
$9.59 billion
Saudi Arabia - 1.96 million
$204.57 billion
Doing some quick math, GDP per square kilometer -
Israel - $5.54 million/km^2
Lebanon - $1.65 million/km^2
United States - $1.08 million/km^2
Syria - $128,000/km^2
Saudi Arabia - $104,300/km^2
Jordan - $103,900/km^2
Egypt - $101,000/km^2
Iran - $52,900/km^2
Iraq - $40,200/km^2
As you can easily see, for its size, Israel has by far the most
productive economy in this sample, and may have the greatest ratio of
GDP/km^2 in the entire world. They are even 5 times more efficient than
the United States is. I wonder why that is...(points to the sky). Look
at Iraq - the fertile crescent under Saddam is not very fertile. Maybe
thats another reason why we are there? Interesting point to think
about.
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| I am finishing reading a fantastic book called Exodus, written in the
1950s by Leon Uris and recommended to me by my good friend Adam Karz.
It tells of the plight of the Jews during and post WWII and the fight
to create the State of Israel which has been at the center of the
conflict of today. The book is amazing and very informative, and I
really learned how everything came about and how poorly treated the
Jews were and have been throughout history. If you get a chance you
should all read this book to get a perspective on current events today
since most do not know the whole story if they are not history buffs.
So what it comes down to is this: The entire population of the world,
if they are not Jewish, has a gene in their DNA for Jew hating. People
can be friends of Jews, help them out, live with them, be their friends
throughout history, but at some time or another, circumstances activate
this Jew hating gene and these "Jew friends" turn into cold-blooded
murderers. I know in my last post about world politics, I suggested
that a possible strategy for lessening the terrorist attacks was to
take a more neutral stance towards Israel since they have a powerful
army and have defended themselves from the start of their creation as a
state. After reading this book, my position has changed. We as the
United States MUST AT ALL COSTS defend Israel until the end of the
world in order to hold up the reputation we have established as a
nation throughout history and in order to basically save ourselves from
eternal damnation. Because if we stand down, the entire world will
attack and destroy Israel because the entire world hates the Jews. The
UK is only supporting Israel because they are our bitches and we tell
them to do anything we want them to do. As this book describes, the
treatment of the Jews by the British is almost worse than they were
treated by the Nazis, especially given the circumstances. Imagine being
a Jew who has just survived the unimaginable nightmare of witnessing
the exterminations at Auschwitz, as you were liberated by the Allies.
You try to go back to your original home before you were deported to
the concentration camps, but the people in your native country (who are
not Nazis!) still hate you and wish you had been killed in the camps,
regardless of the fact that they themselves would have been killed or
enslaved by the Nazis if the Allies hadn't prevailed. Every country in
Europe has closed its doors to you, so the only place for you to go is
Palestine. However, when you try to get there, the British wont let
you, because they are in love with the Arabs and their oil and they are
afraid of upsetting the Arabs at all costs, so they prevent all Jewish
immigration and place you in another concentration camp nearly
identical to the one you spent many years in in Germany, only this time
you dont have to worry about taking a gas shower (thankfully).
Basically you are totally and completely fucked because the entire
world hates you. That is the bottom line.
Fast forward to today. The entire Arab-Muslim world has declared jihad
versus the State of Israel and the United States for supporting the
state. Why are they so pissed? Because the Jews came in and showed them
how inept they are as a civilization and prospered immensely using land
that the Arabs thought was useless. It would be like the Indians here
in San Diego County turning their piece of shit desert land into Rancho
Santa Fe, making huge gobs of money and then buying up the rest of San
Diego and overwhelming us with their population, farmland and property.
The people of San Diego would then yell and scream at the government of
the United States to kick the Indians off again because the land they
had was useful again and San Diego wanted it back. Thats basically what
happened to the Arabs in Palestine. They did nothing with the land they
occupied, they let it rot and die, but the Jews resurrected it, made
their settlements displaced the Arabs and defended themselves enough to
earn enough sympathy from the United Nations to have them create a
State of Israel. Still, the odds were incredibly against them, as they
had a very small army, almost no ammunition and little food surrounded
by millions of hostile Arabs in every single country bordering
Palestine. However, because the Arabs were just as inept at working
together and fighting a war as they were at using land and increasing
their economy and succeeding as a civilization, Israel defended itself
in the war for its independence and solidified its statehood even
though they were outnumbered by all the armies by about 1000 to 1. The
Arabs had their chance to defeat the Jews at the start, and they blew
it and they have been whining ever since. The only reason anyone
listens to them is because they happen to occupy a region which houses
the majority of the world's oil. In fact, I will go so far as to say
that without that oil giving those countries money, the Arabs in the
Middle East would be just as bad off as those 3rd World African
countries that we just had that hunger summit for. Look at Iraq: it is
at the center of Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of
human civilization, yet that country produces and exports little else
except oil because the Arabs do not know how to farm properly.
One final thing about the Arab Muslims. The fact that they hate Jews is
preposterous because without the Jews, they would have no religion.
They stole the religious history of the Jews and the Christians, made
it their own, then laid claim to the holiest city to those 2 older
religions, Jerusalem, basically because they happened to occupy the
territory and they felt their religion could conquer and wipe out the
other two. Islam already has 2 sacred cities in Mecca and Medina, why
do you have to have a third in Jerusalem that has been jointly claimed
by 2 other religions already? Imagine if when the Mongols conquered the
Muslim Empire around 1200 AD, they brought with them Buddhism or
whatever religion they practiced, and declared that Mecca and Medina
were now sacred Buddhist cities. What if they tore down the Kaaba in
Mecca and or desecrated a shrine to Muhammed in Medina and put statues
of Buddha in their place? Where would Islam be then? How would the
Muslims feel? That, I argue is essentially what the Muslims have done
to Jerusalem. So to sum this up, the Jews have been fucked throughout
history because the entire world has been born to hate them, and the
one place where they should feel safe is going to be the cause of World
War III because the stupid Arabs think they have more of a right to
Palestine than the Jews do, even though they cant farm, fight, govern,
work together or do anything productive except extract oil from the
ground and sell it to the world for amazingly high prices. We are doing
the right thing supporting Israel to the end. Iraq is a lost cause
because history has shown that the Arabs cannot adjust to Western
Civilization and remain in the Dark Ages. At least maybe we can
establish a foothold there to start expanding and defeating the
terrorist countries and give Israel some breathing room. Supporting
Israel will cost our country lots of lives, but as history has shown,
specifically evidenced by the fact that Israel exists to this day, God
keeps his eye on his chosen people and will continue to bless them
despite their hardships. I am pretty confident where the allies of
Israel will go when they leave this world, and I most definitely
certain where its enemies will go, so continue fighting for God's
people and you will be justly rewarded in the end. Again, I welcome all
comments.
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| I officially became disenchanted from xanga over the past couple
months, but certain stuff has set me off the past 2 days and I need a
forum to vent it. First of all, we finally found a house to live in.
Its a sweet townhouse in Mira Mesa near Black Mountain Road. Its in
perfect location for my two jobs and its near lots of restaurants and
stuff, so after 2+ months of incredible headache in searching for a
house, we finally succeeded. Now we get to begin the incredibly
pleasurable moving process, but at least we have 3 weeks to transition
from Costa Verde, so that will be better.
This brings me to my next point. The other day, these two random dudes,
one of which Will went to HS and the other who just tagged along came
over for standard 3450 homestyle drinkfest. I passed out around 11:30,
so I missed most of the drinkfest, but when I came downstairs the next
morning, the random dude was totally passed out on our "new" couch we
purchased from Alisa's roommate Kelly. We havent even been in
possession of this couch for a week. So when I come back from work in
the afternoon, there is this HUGE wet stain on the couch. It doesnt
smell, but what else could it be but a huge urine stain! We bid
farewell to our old couch about 2 weeks ago when Jan puked all over it
and it seeped through the couch cover and got under the cushions and
making it smell permanently like yack. Now our new couch has a huge
urine stain on it! I am soooo pisssed. I want to find this dude and
kick his ass, then make him buy us a nice brand new couch that cost
more than $20. New rule is established for the new place: If you pass
out on our furniture, we will dump you on the floor so you are sleeping
on our puke rug, so if you lose control of your bodily functions you
can do it on a cheap ass rug that wont get ruined or can be easily
thrown away. So be warned!
Final point of contention is the terrorist attacks in London. I was
listening to the most refreshing voice i've heard in a while,
ultra-conservative syndicated radio host Michael Savage, host of the
Savage Nation radio program that airs from 3-7 PM during the week on AM
760. This was the first time I actually listened to political banter
that was not from ultra liberal left wing bastards that want to destroy
all sanity in this country. Savage is ultra conservative, but he also
hates Bush, just to clarify where he is coming from. So hearing this
talk got me thinking politically, and so here is my soap box to stand
on and sound off on the issues facing our country. First of all, the
liberal media is ruining the leadership of our country. Bush is a huge
pussy now. When 9/11 happened, he was new in his presidency and still
had the fire in him to make the country a better place, so he reacted
passionately and started the war on terror. Good strong move. Compare
that to his reaction when the same terrorist group attacks our closest
(and only?) real ally in this world, and all he does is send his
condolences. Where is the fire and brimstone speech about strengthening
the war on terror? He sits back and does not react because the left
wing liberals in the media have been bashing him for 5+ years and they
have finally succeeded in chopping his dick off. Now he doesnt know
what to do because he is scared for all the backlash he will receive
from all angles. If he had any balls left he would stand up and back
the stuff he has been doing his entire presidency, and maybe it would
get finished. He already started this war, and pulling troops out
prematurely would make things worse than they already are and make him
a total failure as a president (if he isnt one already). He cant change
the past and the decisions he made, so the best course of action is to
press on til the end and not back down or show weakness. Everyone in
the media is showing all the explosions and bombings from the
terrorists and all the women and children dying and how many soldiers
we are losing, as well as publicizing the skyrocketing gas prices,
making all the leaders in this country as well as the entire populace
hate the war and bring the troops home to stop the fighting. NEWS
FLASH!! We are at war, whether we want to be or not. If we pull our
troops out of the Middle East, it will have been another Vietnam, and
more situations will happen to make us need to go to war again. What
people dont understand is that our troops fighting over there may not
enjoy fighting a war over there, but they did want to join the armed
forces and fight for their country. They love their country and are
performing their duty in defending it, and will keep fighting until the
war is over. They dont want to be pulled out before the war is over.
The media paints this portrait that this war is so horrible and look
how miserable our troops are and how we need to get them out of there.
They dont want to leave! They hate the terrorists, they hate the Muslim
extremists and they love the USA. Maybe if we gave them more support
instead of crying over them they would get the "home field advantage
crowd support" and kick some more ass! Until a draft is enacted, ALL
the soldiers going over there want to be in the army and expect to be
deployed somewhere. So dont be saying "Woe to all the soldiers and
marines". They wouldnt be there if they didnt want to be.
One final thing. Let me preface this argument by saying that I
personally have nothing against Arab people, Muslims and the religion
of Islam. I took a class that went in depth in studying the religion
this past winter, and I learned a lot. It is a fascinating history, and
a large cause for the state of affairs now with Muslim/Western
relations was caused by the Christian Church and their reckless and
intolerant Crusade campaigns. If the Church had not intervened and left
things as they were developing during that time period, history might
be totally different now. I have friends who are Muslim, and a large
part of their religion is similar to Christianity. So what I have to
say is not a personal attack on individual Muslims, rather it is a
criticism of the politics of the Nation of Islam as a whole. The media
is now saying how they fear religious and ethnic backlash against
innocent Arabs and Muslims because the terrorist attacks were done by
al Qaeda. To my knowledge, I do not know of any leader or high profile
official in Islam who has come out and condemned al Qaeda and its acts.
The terrorists of al Qaeda believe they are doing "the work of Allah"
and make it their life mission to kill and rid the world of infidels or
non-believers. However, people keep saying how Islam is a peaceful
religion how pasifistic its members are. If it is such a peaceful
religion, how can they stand back and allow some of its members to kill
thousands of innocent people? The fact is, there are loopholes in the
religion that can be interpreted to allow and support this terroristic
behavior. In my opinion, if the Arab nations and the Nation of Islam
fear backlash against its innocent people in countries all over the
world, they need to come out and stand against the terrorists. Stop
supporting them by silently doing nothing and allowing them to continue
their heinous acts. Granted, the Christian church has its own problems
with bombings in abortion clinics, homosexual priests and sexual
molestation, and the Crusades were caused by the Christian Church, but
those guilty priests are being punished, there are no "terrorist"
groups within the church and no one committing terrorist acts to the
same high profile as al Qaeda has achieved, and history is showing what
a tragic mistake the Crusades were. So until the Arab nations in the
Middle East, and other Arab/Muslim groups throughout the world come out
and publicly censure al Qaeda, they have a right to be on their guard
for backlash. Al Qaeda targeted innocent civilians for their attacks,
so what is stopping other extremist groups from attacking innocent
Arabs and Muslims? All I want is for people to come out and speak their
minds and take a stand instead of always acting so fucking politically
correct. Political correctness and the fear of hurting the feelings of
someone is ruining the structure of this country, and truly making the
saying true that political lobbyists and the media are really running
the country. Be confident in your opinion and stand for what you
believe and face the consequences. Living in fear makes everything
worse. That is all. Sorry if I offended anyone. Please ask me to
clarify points if needed. I am willing to discuss with anyone.
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| Ok, back from Vegas, about to embark on being a full-time golfer after finally graduating from UCSD. I am still of the opinion that Vegas is a hotbed for sin, and that it is not made for me. I have horrible luck with gambling, so poker and bj are out because I may as well light my money on fire. That leaves me with sports betting, golfing and clubbing as stuff to do there. That essentially limits me to only visiting there with chicks because as I found out on this trip, guys are only interested in gambling and winning and losing money. Does this make me a chick? I dont know and frankly I dont care! I hate few things more than wasting money, which is what gambling is to me. However, thank God for Barry and his oscar-winning performance this week. He scared all the odds-makers at the Palms Sports Book into thinking the Giants are going to suck this year just in time for me to visit. As a result, the Over/Under on their season win total moved down from around 88-90 to only 83. The Padres are now the betting favorites to win the NL West at 5:6, while the Giants are at 12:5. At the other sports books, the Giants still have 10:1 odds to win the World Series. At the Palms, they are only at 10:1 to win the NL Pennant, and 24:1 to win the World Series! I could not pass up these fantastic lines, so when Barry comes back in May and if the rest of the geriatrics can stay healthy, I can end up potentially making $500 and being the happiest man alive. Hopefully the Dolby Gambling Curse doesnt cause everyone on the team to get injured and so that I can end up losing my $100 that I put down. So if anyone else wants to get in on the Giants lines, make your way to the Palms ASAP before they realize Bonds is full of shit and he's not really hurt. | | |
| Well, its Tourney Time again, the greatest time of
the year in sports except in October when the Giants are playing in the
World Series. This year's tourney is wide open and any team could win.
The experts all like picking Duke and Illinois and North Carolina
because they are the favorites. They are dumb. None of those guys ever
gets all the final 4 picks correct because of all of the upsets. My
final four has Arizona, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Syracuse, with
Wake beating UNC in the final. I will be in Vegas next week during the
Sweet 16 games, so that will be awesome. Hopefully I can fare a little
better with my wagering than the last time I went! Not only will I bet
on the tourney games, but I also feel obligated to place some money on
the Giants to win it all. This could be their last year and they have a
great team that could actually do it. It would be the greatest feeling
in the world if they won, and it would feel so much better if I won
money at it as well. Unfortunately in the past, any team I have put
money on has a tendency to lose, but I hope that trend ends.
On another note, I have finally officially graduated
from UCSD. I am done with all of my classes, and now in the spring I
can just play in the UCSD Golf Team tournaments and dominate, preparing
for my professional career without worrying about taking classes and
getting good grades. It will be awesome. Today is my last day in the
Bay. I went home during my 2 week spring break, but my parents are
leaving tomorrow for Texas so I have to go back earlier than I would
have liked. Oh well. Its still great up here. Too bad you all have to
work and make money so we couldnt hang out much. Next time! At least I
was able to see the Warriors play the Rockets on Monday. Assuming they
get a good draft pick (Andrew Bogut or Chris Paul or Hakim Warrick) the
Warriors are definitely going to be competing for a playoff spot next
year. Chris Mullin has made some great moves, especially bringing in
Baron Davis and Zarko Cabarkapa (who got 26 and 10 on Monday), so now
they have some talent to go with their depth. I will bet they will be
better than the Lakers next year, and will make a run at the 7th or 8th
playoff spot. We may finally be out of the dark ages! Anyway that is
all. Can't wait to see Alisa tonight and meet her friend Jennie on
Thursday. What a great week!
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