[ANDY M]

I was told to always avoid the topics of religion or politics, but I feel opinionated today.
As an independent pragmatist, I prefer to base my opinions on documented fact, not biased opinions or party lines.

As has been noted here already, by the time a politician reaches the House or Senate, the need to be an acomplished liar is true, as both parties have been outed by the press repeatedly.

Please, for my education, name three media companies that are not biased in some way, shape or form. Of those three, find three more that won't refute your choices. All media outlets are run by people that don't so much as report the news, but record history from their own point of view, left, right or out of sight.

There has never been a Muslim country that was not run by a "Royal" family, brutal dictator or cleric. Check it out. Islam does not accept the concept of democracy, much less cultural diversity. The "Big Picture" of radical Islam is to restore the Caliphate of the time of Mohamad, whatever that is. Kuwait opted for democracy, had one election to vote in an all Islamist government, and that was that. Lebanon is a democracy, as long as it's alright with Syria, who believes that they should be in charge the same way Saddam thought he should be in charge of Kuwait. Of the 22 Arab countries in the world, none of them are democratic by any standard.

Nobody ever wins a civil war. The winner takes charge, and the loser waits for revenge. See: "The South will rise again". Sixteen years of cival war in Lebanon between Christians and Muslims ended with a bunch of these folks moving to Detroit, and no real solution. Christians have their towns, and the Muslims have theirs. Not real fair to the Christians that were driven out of the country, but those are the breaks when you live in the middle east.
Bagdad once had both large Christian and Jewish communities, as did Syria and Egypt, but no more. The Jews fled to Israel in 1948, and the Christians have been leaving steadily ever since. When the Jews won their war for indepenence, the arabs created "Palistinian Refugees". They got parked in Lebanon and Jordan mostly, but were denied citizenship in all Arab countries. These folks have been activly seeking revenge ever since, promting the hatred that drives radical Islam. Since then, this need for revenge has spread to become it's own civil war.

The Big Lie is believed when repeated often enough. See: Biased Liberal Media. Or Fox News. Or Al-jezera.
"Palistine" is a big lie. So is victory in Iraq or Afganistan. You have a better chance of discovering a cure for snoring that actually works. We can't succeed in imposing our point of view in less than 25 years, if that, and we can't leave with everything as screwed up as it is. NO CORRECT ANSWER. This is the Middle East.

Think Global. As brought up here, China is working to become THE world power. Problem is that when you have 1.3 billion people, and you need to create the modern infrastructure to support this population, the eventual shortage of natural resources will cause some kind of implosion, ala the Soviet east bloc countries. Nobody has brought up India, which has a population of over a billion people. Same scenario as China. Guys, the pie cannot be enlarged. The ability to produce steel, oil and other such products will be outstripped by demand. Every country wants to live as lavishly as we do, and it's already a global dilemma.
Pollution is so bad in Beijing that when the Olympics are held there next year, the world will be apalled. When reality sets in, then people will try to solve the problems caused by this Global dilema. Regretfully, not in our lifetimes. This is just the northern hemisphere we're talking about. Don't even get me started on the southern one.