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FIB
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Quote: from CalEden on 7:33 am on June 6, 2007
I read in to days paper that they had 9.5 million budgeted for arms purchases. I wonder where the money was coming from? Cause most of the Hmong in the US are on the public dole.
Could it be some money left from the infamous Air America opium traffic operation or a similar concept?
After all, through his former American friends, Vang Pao should know how to finance an illegal war...
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 5:51 am on June 6, 2007
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expatchuck
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Quote: from FIB on 7:45 pm on June 6, 2007
Could it be some money left from the infamous Air America opium traffic operation or a similar concept?
Many of my old buddies that flew for Air America will take you to task for this statement.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 6:04 am on June 6, 2007
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FIB
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Quote: from expatchuck on 7:58 pm on June 6, 2007
Many of my old buddies that flew for Air America will take you to task for this statement.
Why would they? They may not have known about what was in the planes, or so the usual excuse goes, and, given the times and the philosophy of the airline, I am ready to accept it.
After all, Air America's motto was "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, Professionally". And it appears that they were true to all four words...
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 6:10 am on June 6, 2007
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Mel Gibson
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FIB, When one looks back on these things, there needs to be an understanding of the Polotics at the time. The French had been sucking the life-blood of the Viets etc for decades,,, the Locals where DESPERATE.The best they could do to resist, pre 70's, was an odd spasmodic attack. Vietnam itself was devided on political and financial thinking. Many of the population could see the finacial benfits of being pro-Western but they pondered how to get those French blood-suckers out of their country. Other believed all the foreigners where like the French, and only wanted to use and abuse of the Vietnamese people.
There where times of struggle between the support of the Soviets and the Chinese,, but in the end, the people of Vietnam chose ANY power over the French rule. Part of the bargain was for Vietnam to be communist,,, they chose better to be Red than Dead.
The French in typical heroic fashion,, ran like the wind, now that they had a formerly suppressed people actually daring to fight back.
Now we need to see world politics at the time,, sumarise, America is the true champion of all that is good, and NON communist.
Watch-out,, opposing forces and thinking always means trouble,,,,,
Well history tells us the French did the coward runaway, the Americans insisted that they could not accept the spread of communism,, the Vietnamese only wanted their country back and the only way to get that was from support from the communists.,,,,
Many years later,, what actually eventuated?
Well The French claimed they were loved by the Vietnamese but left in protest
America and its allies lost thousands of troops to a war that would never have been if the french had done the right thing.
And MOST importantly and SADLY,, the Vietnamese were left with a Communist regime that they never wanted.
I doubt anyone could have f***ed it up worse.
Mel
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 6:26 am on June 6, 2007
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FIB
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Quote: from Mel Gibson on 8:20 pm on June 6, 2007
When one looks back on these things, there needs to be an understanding of the Polotics at the time.
and, even more importantly, of the history of the region and people with which you operate, which neither the US nor the French bothered to grasp. The history of Vietnam is nothing but a continuous struggle to kick much bigger foreign invaders out.
Quote: from Mel Gibson on 8:20 pm on June 6, 2007
Well history tells us the French did the coward runaway, the Americans insisted that they could not accept the spread of communism
... and did the same runaway in 1973/1975, for having failed to understand history in their turn.
Quote: from Mel Gibson on 8:20 pm on June 6, 2007
Vietnam itself was devided on political and financial thinking
Not of political thinking. If you study the history of Vietnam under French rule between, say, 1880 and 1930, there is an enormous amount of political creativity, which provided the base for their success in both the war between the French and the US by the way.
Quote: from Mel Gibson on 8:20 pm on June 6, 2007
Many of the population could see the finacial benfits of being pro-Western
But most could not care less. What they wanted was to be VIETNAMESE.
Quote: from Mel Gibson on 8:20 pm on June 6, 2007
The French claimed they were loved by the Vietnamese
A false statement if there is one. Actually, the only person I heard claim that the Vietnamese loved the French was a Vietnamese who was trying to get some money out of me...
But back to the orginal statement. Vang Pao and the hmongs are in a mess because the French used them in this terrible fight, that the US continued blindly in the same direction, whatever grandiose excuse each nation was putting forward (spreading the western civilization or fighting communism - and yes, some people believed that) and because at the end both lost.
But ultimately Vietnamese escaped the almost complete genocide that fell on some other people colonized by the west. Not that I would expect them to say thank you for that...
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 6:48 am on June 6, 2007
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CalEden
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"New numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau show not all of the state's Hmong are able to clear the language and cultural barriers that have hampered them since they began arriving in significant numbers in the '70s. Thirty-three percent of the state's Hmong live below the federal poverty line. That's compared to 19 percent of all Minnesota Asians in poverty, and just eight percent of the state's total population.
Like Heng, many Hmong prize education as a way to help them succeed, yet only 14 percent have at least a high school education. Minnesotans in general have a high school education rate more than three times that. "
"And some ethnic groups in Sacramento have extremely high poverty rates, including 46.1 percent for Hmong Americans. According to the federal government, the poverty level for a family of four in 2006 is $20,000. The overall poverty rate in California is 13.3 percent and almost 13 percent nationwide."
I don't think much of the money was coming from the Hmongs, maybe they were donating their relief checks.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:00 am on June 6, 2007
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Mel Gibson
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The Vietnamese are a wonderful people and desrve peace and acceptance.That I cannot say about some other peoples
Mel
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:01 am on June 6, 2007
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FIB
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Quote: from Mel Gibson on 8:20 pm on June 6, 2007
Now we need to see world politics at the time,, sumarise, America is the true champion of all that is good, and NON communist.
The best statement of the failure of this is the following letter, written by Sirik Matak to John Gunther Dean, American Ambassador to Cambodia in 1975 (a great man by the way, and one who has a proper understanding of the friendship between the US and France, in full respect of each other) :
"Dear Excellency and Friend, I thank you very sincerely for your letter and your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas, leave in such a cowardly fashion. As for you, and in particular for your great country, I never believed for a moment that you would have this sentiment of abandoning a people, which has chosen liberty. You have refused us your protection, and we can do nothing about it. You leave, and my wish is that you and your country will find happiness under this sky. But, mark it well, that if I shall die here on the spot and in my country that I love, it is too bad, because we are all born and must die one day. I have committed this mistake of believing in you, the Americans. Please accept, Excellency, my dear friend, my faithful and friendly sentiments. Prince Sirik Matak."
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Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:05 am on June 6, 2007
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FIB
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Quote: from Mel Gibson on 8:55 pm on June 6, 2007
and desrve peace and acceptance.That I cannot say about some other peoples
That's your personal problem, Mel, and nobody can anything about it but yourself. Not that I care, actually.
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 7:08 am on June 6, 2007
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Mel Gibson
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FIB,, you say its MY problem,, I tend to disagree,, you are the one that has a problem with that, so it is YOU that needs to cope with that.
Mel.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:10 am on June 6, 2007
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