I believe that the big problem facing the world today is many people's inability to take responsibility for anything. I'll happily include myself as part of this problem: world, meet Mr. Irresponsible.
Billy asked "What right does anyone on the outside have to meddle in the affairs of another country?" I'd respond with analogy: what right does anyone on the outside have to meddle in the affairs of another family? My answer is, none whatsoever for the most part. But if you discover that the father is abusing his children, I reckon you have the right - and more importantly the responsibility - to do something about it.
Likewise when the leaders of a country are torturing and murdering their own people I believe that it is the responsibility of other countries to attempt to put a stop to it. I'd include countries that practice capital punishment in the "cease and desist" category, but not everyone's going to agree with me there. (I've got things to say about state-sanctioned murder at some point.)
My biggest problem with the war in Iraq is that I don't trust the motives of the people waging the war; their hearts are not pure.
I hate being labelled. I don't like patriotism. To me both of these things smack of factionalism, which I can't stand. And yet most of the opinions I express would cause me to be labelled a liberal, and my first reaction to anyone dissing New Zealand is to smack them upside the head.
Despite my liberal bias, I have known and liked many people commonly labelled conservatives. People who proudly wear the conservative label are often great fun, especially for drinking and telling dirty jokes.
I love reading NZPundit. Sometimes it makes me scream with anger, especially the "Us vs Them" attitude. But a lot of it makes me laugh, makes me think, and makes me say to myself "I bet this guy Gordon is great to get on the piss with."
I've actually read quite a bit of PJ O'Rourke - he's a crackup. He once said something along the lines of:
"A Republican will tell you that you shouldn't make fun of disabled people, and he's right. A Democrat will tell you that you can't make fun of disabled people - which is untrue, as anyone who's ever heard the joke about Helen Keller falling down a well and breaking three fingers calling for help will tell you."
Funny is funny, and good people are good people - whatever political stripes they choose to wear.
Update: I take it back. Gordon's a cock. I can tell because he's banned me from tagging his site.
That's a good phrase init? "Anti-war faggots." An old friend gave it to me right before the bombing started, over a year ago.
So from one anti-war faggot to an audience presumably comprised of other anti-war faggots:
How would you have dealt with Saddam Hussein?
Would you seriously argue in favour of keeping someone in power who has a proven history of torturing and murdering his own people?
If you wouldn't keep him in power, how would you have deposed him? And how would you keep extremists from taking power once he was gone? Presuming that you don't want Iraq to become the same kind of religiously oppressive woman-hating regime as, say, Afghanistan currently is. (Oops, my bias is showing!)
Lefties are pretty good at criticising, not at providing solutions. Contestant #3, do you have the answers?
I'm looking at specific people who I know are reading this. :)