Higgly

Would one of those postage stamp nations include Israel?

No. What we have here is someone who believes in the rule of law. Who believes that we are all innocent until proven guilty... That we have, as citizens, a right to expect that our country will deliver unto us due process. Mr. Arar, who has been shown guilty of nothing was tortured. If you do not believe that, I refer you to the findings of Justice O'Connor. Were it not for the bravery of his wife, he would probably still be in that Syrian prison, dead or alive. I have only scorn and derision for the opinions of those of you who feel that Mr Arar should continue to be punished, apparently for no other reason than that he is of Arab descent. That means you, buster.

Ha ha. Good one. Quick. Without using Google. Describe the road in from Beijing Airport to the Forbidden City. What is the most prominent feature? What is the configuration of the Beijing arrivals/departure lounges?

Huh? I am going to quote you on this one. Personally I'd like to put you in a hotel in Yangon for a week and cancel your Mastercard account just before you are about to check out. It will make you a much better journalist

Who the fuck cares. This is our vote, and you can do whatever the fuck you want in your own jurisdiction. Otherwise, piss off.

Anybody who has a valid account just slides their card into the slot and enters a password. It works like this at every banking machine in the country. The Maritimes. Quebec. Ontario. The Prairies. Lotusland.... Isn't that how it works for you?

Our prime minister is the guy on first and his name is "Who's".

Cash My Check might be too subtle. Read about this bastard here. Same price as a good pizza. Do not judge China until you have read this book. Seagrave has a good book on the Marcos era in the Philippines as well and well worth reading. You want to know what kind of guy McArthur was? This is a piece of the puzzle, but by no means the entire story. I'd like to see a book of this quality on Gringo Honassan and Cory Aquino too.

Airplay=Bush policy. Thanks.

So we can transact commerce on the basis of a number (and possibly a password) and yet we cannot vote except by showing our faces? Good grief. Clearly we need better government.

The point is that when our pro-US Prime Minister gets up in the House of fucking Commons and fucking apologizes you'd better well fucking listen. Is that fucking plain enough for you?

De profundis... Ha ha. Good one. Oh you mean the Opium wars? The burning of the Imperial library? Hong Kong? The Green gang? The Soongs? Cash My Check? So you see my point?

DUI? You must be joking. Are we your closest trading partner and ally or not? WTF.

Weight is a very difficult issue thwt we all wrestle with. There are temptations everywhere and there is so much conflicting information. Whatever our political differences might be, good luck with your struggle.

Thucydides aside, the Chinese are in Africa for what reason? For the good of their hearts? Your argument is even more to my point. Do you really think that the US, or anybody else, will challenge the Chinese on their rice bowl? The US left Africa on the table for charity organisations. This was the chink in their armour. They were so pre-occupied with the middle east, this came at them under the radar and the opportunity has passed them by. John Irving wrote about passing by open windows. This was a big one.

Entirely different political process and context, n'est-ce pas? Do you seriously believe that the Chinese felt they had any interest at stake in Haiti? Even more to the point. Do you think that, given the US-Cuba dialectic, and the US-Dominican Republic dialectic ("Everything good in America..." - research the importance of this song on the US consciousness), that the Chinese would be dumb enough to put soldiers in the Caribbean? The equivalent would be US soldiers in Taiwan.

I'd like to hear what the Moslem community has to say on the issue. Does anybody have a link? Thanks.

And so we enter... one fleshy morsel at a time.... into the twilight zone.... Bwa hah ha....

Jeez. I'm surprised. There was so much at stake for them in Haiti.

Does anybody have a link to this legislation? Thanks.

Well OK. Here's the thing. There is no "Big Bad" anything. There is just Realpolitik. They can copy anything? You can simply counter their offensive by rubbing your fingers across one another and shouting "Shame, shame"? No wait. I've a better idea! You can send in a battalion of copyright lawyers You're an English grammar teacher! I knew it! Your assumption is that US soldiers would be brought in as a counter-offensive to Chinese soldiers. Direct superpower conflict is a no-no in modern warfare. That is what proxy wars are all about. If the Chinese were to bring in PLA soldiers, I'd be damned surprised to find a US marine anywhere near. And if I did, I'd be looking for a bomb shelter.

Why not just give us the top 10?

So what's the problem with taking him off the no-fly list? What am I missing here?

So if you were to, let's say, reconfigure a 747, could you get a tank on board? Of course supposing Chinese security would let it rumble through the departure lounge... In any case, do you really think the Chinese, with the extraordinary loot they have in their treasury right now, would have any problem assembling that sort of capability?