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ParticipantPD, I don’t think it’s so simple. What you’re seeing in Iraq is an example of how fragile societies really are. It is probably true that 95% of the Iraqis, maybe even more are ordinary people that just want to work, earn money, and raise their families in peace. The problem is that the remaining 5% or so can cause a LOT of trouble. It doesn’t take many people to plant an IED or shoot at our soldiers, and when we return fire, they just run into apartment buildings. The Iraqi families there can’t do anything because these guys will just as soon shoot them, too. And if you’re on patrol and you start taking fire from a building, you’ve got to return it and believe it, our guys are. If we’ve lost 3000 guys and injured no telling how many more, trust me, there are a lot of dead and f***ed-up Iraqis out there. The US has the best military in the world bar none and I’d bet money that we’re taking out 10 of them for every one of ours. I’d like to see how many 500 and 2000-pounders we’ve dropped over there; I’m sure it’s a lot, I know they’re running a lot of sorties.
That argument about the liberal media losing the war for us is the same tired old chestnut my Dad endlessly repeated about Vietnam while he watched old John Wayne movies on TV, beer in hand. Of course, he got married and had kids to avoid serving. I should be thankful I guess, ’cause otherwise I wouldn’t even be here!
The lesson we should learn from Iraq and Vietnam is that one-party governments are bad things that should be avoided. The democrats gave us an unwinnable war and massive entitlement programs for the poor in the 60s. The republicans have given us another unwinnable war and massive entitlement programs for the rich in the 00s. We’d be better off in a good old-fashioned gridlock situation in Washington where they’re all busy investigating each other for BJs and misuse of government funds. I’m still convinced that’s why the country did so well after the repubs got control of the congress in 1994…
ParticipantDude, are you like in charge of the entire Marine Corps? 800K is a seriously expensive crib.
ParticipantYeah, don’t count out Iraq yet but they need to do it for themselves and it may take a long time. I firmly believe the US must offer support (including military support), but we need to be realistic and accept that their government may not look like ours or even agree with us much of the time after all is said and done. And as for countries in the middle east being skeptical of democracy, they do have some legitimate concerns. Ever wonder how the Shah of Iran came to power? He deposed democratically-elected president Mossadegh in a US/British-engineered coup in 1953. Although Mossadegh was friendly to the US and was considered a valuable ally in our battle against the communist threat, he made the mistake of nationalizing Iran’s oil industry, depriving US and British companies of their “rights” to Iranian oil fields. Whoopsie! Good-bye, open democratic government, hello repressive monarchy! The Shah allowed US and British oil companies back into the country and many Iranians were none-too-pleased at Western meddling in their affairs. Decades of brutal oppression by the Shah’s SAVAK police allowed the Islamic fundamentalist crazies to win lots of converts, eventually giving their movement enough momentum to otherthrow the Shah in 1979. Now we’ve got an Iran that is far more unfriendly and dangerous than the one we interfered with back in 1953. And don’t take my word for it, you can read the history yourself in this excellent wikipedia entry about the Shah.
Participant“Power washing is not going to wash off the ugly…”
Best quote in a long time — that one made my day!!!
ParticipantOkay, this is getting WAY off-topic for a real-estate board, but let’s really think about this. We DEFEATED the Japanese and Germans, but the French, British, and Israelis (and perhaps we Americans too) have all failed to subdue Arab rebellions, so the Arabs are less worthy opponents? It’s true they don’t play by our rules, but of course we didn’t play by the British rules of engagement back in 1776, now did we? While they lined up in their fancy redcoats and marched in formation through the fields, we picked them off while hiding in trees. We didn’t even have the decency to wear uniforms! The American fighters were unkempt, unshaven, and uncouth, and the British were horrified at our uncivilized guerilla tactics. I am in NO WAY equating our founding fathers with the Iraqi resistance, I am just saying that you can’t be surprised that they’re not fighting by our rules. If they did, they’d last about 30 seconds, just long enough for us to drop some 2000-pounders on ’em!
As for hiding behind women and children, that’s just what happens in urban warfare. The Russians did the same thing to the Germans in Stalingrad. There was less of this in Western Europe because the front lines advanced very slowly and civilians usually had time to evacuate. In Iraq we occupied the whole place in the space of a month and the army just evaporated into the general population. Par for the course in any case where the opponents are drastically overmatched.
Our ONLY hope in Iraq is to get the people to trust our troops and the new Iraqi police and army. I am not sure if it’s even possible, but I hope that we still have a chance. We will all pay the price for many years to come if we don’t…
ParticipantThat’s an interesting article and it’s always good to hear the news from people who are actually there seeing firsthand what’s going on. But it’s scary to me to hear everyone throw the word “democracy” around like it’s some kind of magic incantation that can turn a war-torn country into a paradise overnight. A little civics lesson — we Americans don’t live in a democracy, we live in a constitutional republic.
This article gives a pretty good overview of our founding fathers’ opinion of democracies.
ParticipantBoston_and_OC wrote, The average Bay area household with 2 degreed professionals brings home $300-$750K annually, juding anecdotally from the folks I know who live there.
I’m calling bullshit on that one — you may have a lot of high-earning friends, but to say that the average Bay Area 2-income household earns $300K annually seems a bit of a stretch. Also, if your friends are telling you how much they make, don’t forget to apply the braggart deflator of 0.5-0.9 to whatever number they say. People pulling down that sort of green don’t usually go around telling everyone how much they make…
ParticipantDid no one pay attention to the post from the person who actually LIVED in Texas? Try paying 2.5% property tax. On a 400K home you’re looking at 10K yearly. Now add the high energy bills you need to heat and cool your 3000sf McMansion in Texas where it is HOT in the summer and COLD in the winter. And don’t forget the higher insurance to cover you in case of hail, floods and tornadoes. Oh, and there’s no Prop 13 in Texas so your property value gets re-assesed frequently. These additional costs add to the monthly payment which keeps the house price low in relation to California (most sheeple buy according to the payment, not the price of the home). And of course there is an incredible amount of free land to build on in Texas so there’s no need for a lot of restriction on building permits; you will always be competing with a large amount of new homes in new subdivisions with shinier shopping malls and newer schools. This acts as another damper on home price appreciation. I’m sorry but it has nothing to do with religion, and Texans are not any smarter than Californians.
I will take back my remark about lots of fat people in Texas. I was just there a few days ago and people looked generally healthier than they do here in SD! Maybe that is due to the religion factor, but the difference in home price definitely isn’t…
ParticipantMaybe this is related to the correlation between church attendance and divorce. Divorce is higher in the red states (where church attendance is higher) than in the blue. Divorced couples have less money to spend and have to divide their resources among two residences.
Just a thought…
ParticipantIt’s not really government regulation that keeps those Austin prices “low” in relation to California prices. As any Texan knows, there are three things that keep your Texas property value from rising as much as a property on the coast. One is the high property taxes, which start at 2.2% and can approach 3% in the nicer areas (Texas has no state income tax and schools are funded almost completely from local property tax.) Two is the abundance of land which means that new houses are always being built, far more than in California. Three is the high energy costs; those 3000sf monsters are expensive to heat in the winter and really expensive to cool in the summer. $500/month electric bills are not at all uncommon in Texas. Oh, and your home insurance is going to be higher too because of the floods, hail, and tornadoes. Add all of these things up and your Texas bargain isn’t such a great deal anymore. Plus, you’re living in f***ing Texas! Fire ants! Rednecks in giant pickup trucks! 110 degree heat and 80% humidity! Wal-Mart on every corner! Really, really, REALLY F***ING FAT PEOPLE! It’s just a terrible place and by the way, I earned the right to say this because I LIVED THERE FOR 34 YEARS. Oh, and it wasn’t always so terrible. The houses used to be nice and small, the yards were big, it wasn’t as hot, the people weren’t as fat, and we didn’t have fire ants or Wal-Mart when I was a kid. I’m not sure what happened to the place but I sure don’t like it. I was sad when I left…
ParticipantThis was supposed to be a reply to something but it’s not showing up in the right place so out it goes…
ParticipantUmmm… WHY do we need a new airport? I’m originally from Dallas/Ft. Worth and I can tell you the exact date at which it began to change from a nice place to live into a horrific sprawling nightmare: January 13, 1974, the day D/FW airport opened. The reason I live in San Diego rather than LA is because this place has a good balance between city and town living. With a new larger airport, SD is just going to become more like LA and Orange County. Our airport is fine just the way it is. I travel all the time for business and have never had problems getting in and out. Actually Lindbergh field is a lot easier to get in and out of than the big airports like D/FW or O’Hare. As for having a world-class economy, I’ll leave that to places like Atlanta, D/FW, Chicago, and the LA area, but maybe that’s just me…
ParticipantOh, and one other thing. The last place I owned was a condo and our HOA went up from $222/mo to around $260/mo in the first two years. What services did we have? Trash collection and basic maintenance, nothing else. Many new buildings will start out with artificially low HOA fees to sell the units but as soon as the board starts dealing with all the issues the HOA has to increase.
ParticipantI rent a really nice SFH very close to downtown for $2400/mo. It is 2000sf and would probably list around $850-900K (not sure it would sell tho). Your rent should be no more than $2K/mo for a $600K condo, which is one place you may be going wrong. I’m guessing it’s probably about 1400sf, right?
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