>>My point was that no matter what your point is, the photo-ops were staged.
>
>Isn't that what photo-ops are. To say that photo-ops are staged is rather redundant... Don't you think.

Not necessarily. With today's cameras etc you can pretty much put anyone anywhere and start taping. It's not that they need heavy lighting, tripods and whatnot. Haven't you seen shots taken from a single rubber dinghy?

It's a different matter when you get the fire trucks, dozens of personnel, have them do what they should be doing already, and then disperse them when you're done. Phrase "Potemkin village" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village) comes to mind.

>Cindy Shehan (spell?)... talk about staging.:)

Sheehan. It's a well known fact that all flights over Crawford area were cancelled for the duration of her stay there.

>>>Europeans in general, have an axe to grind with the United States. They love to humiliate the US.
>
>>I wonder why would that be.
>
>There could be many reasons rrom resentment to envy.
>They may feel envy because the US has been the "top dog" for so many years.
>They may resent that, in general, the US stands for "nobel" virtues. What do the Europeans stand for? I don't know.
>
>Yes, they may resent that some Americans are culturally ignorant and come across as being arrogant.
>
>There are probably way more possibilities.

I think you may be into something here. The virtues on one side and the arrogance and top-dog stance on the other are the opposite sides of the coin - and yet it's the same coin. I gather that many Europeans have the feeling they're being bullied around while being served the values propaganda. That sort of contradiction may breed enough resentment that even the politicians have to express it at times.

>>>Just their name "ProgressiveIndependent" says a lot about how they lean politically.
>
>>I also like to hear the other side as well.
>
>Does that mean you believe everything you hear/read? Or do you only believe what the FAR left put out there?

From case to case... Now when two major, competing, German networks report the same thing on the same day, and I find no trace of American media refuting or even reporting that, I do think there's a strong likelihood the story was true.

Far left? Don't kid me. American "left" is just 2mm left from the center. Get some perspective.

>>As Nikola Pashich, Serbian Prime minister a hundred years ago, once said - "who isn't socialist when young, has no heart; who isn't conservative later, has no brains". I figure I'm somewhere halfway - very conservative about some things (still listening to decades old music, wearing jeans and clogs) and to the left when it comes to social justice.
>
>You conserative? Like what?

Like conserving fuel. Like keeping all human cultureS from vanishing. Like not throwing away pretty much everything that was time-proven just because there's something new to replace it. Like being very conservative with my finances, and glad to see when such practice is in effect at city or higher levels. Like being against renaming cities and streets as the times change (not done too much here, but you should see the post-communist countries). Like not jumping each fashion as it comes.

>>>Let just blame Bush no, matter what. It's ok.
>
>>Oh, he's not alone.
>
>One would never know that you thought this from all your ranting about Bush. :)

I mean, there's enough blame to be spread all over his regime.