theloniusfleabag

Dear Leafless, I beg to differ. Plenty of people have been raised 'in manly ways' on farms, etc but are gay. A sexual act involves choice, sexual preference is just that..a preference. It is whatever makes your dick hard. (in the case of men, and sometimes hermaphrodites, obviously)

Dear Hicksey, Actually, only the thread starter was bashing Harper, the rest of the responses were generally positive, fair-minded critiques, IMO.

Dear KrustyKidd, I never claimed there was such a list. Merely pointed out that to compare the USA to 'the world's policeman' must account for the fact that they are crooked. Otherwise, your argument relies on the 'looter mentality', "hey, everyone else is stealing good stuff, I'm going to get me some too". Well, a small example would be funding anti-american Muslim fanatics in Afghanistan to help overthrow a gov't (the Soviet occupation) and having them turn into the Taliban. Then, thinking it would be a good idea to fund a different group of anti-american Muslim fanatics to overthrow the Taliban.

...why all the farm help ain't white...

Dear Krusty Kid, Amen, brother. They prove it time and time again. (should read: "Then, act as crooked policemen to keep their interests from being in jeopardy".) Actually, under the US way of 'being number 1', there is only one or the other. The head office of Nike will either be over there or over here. The factories, the miserable human rights policies and pollution must be in the opposite place.

Dear newbie, It is real, but exaggerated. Only very recently has it become labeled as 'a disability', for millenia it was simply 'tough times'. My father got his arm blown off in a naval battle in WWII, and whatdid he get? A new suit after discharge. The DVA and WarAmps were incredibly supportive (and still are), but they gave him things (prostheses, etc) to help him get back to work, not excuses so he didn't have to. He taught me a lot, the best of which were "Persevere, and think of the things you can do". He taught me that even people with disabilities can do more than people without, if the spirit is there. I can tie my shoes with one hand, something most people would think impossible (or at least very difficult) but he did it because he had the will to do it.

Dear PocketRocket, You had one question to ask and that is it??? Not 'What is the meaning of life"? Does Satan wear underpants? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?Well, as I understand it, the atmoshere acts as a prism, and the refraction of the sun's rays through this medium sends forth the blue part of the spectrum. A more appropos question might have been, "Why is this forum blue?", but I like it. Non-offensive, easy on the eyes.

Dear Krusty Kid, They never really were, they more resemble the Mafia, sending out 'heavies' when their turf is in jeopardy. [insert Bob Dylan's "The times, they are a'changin" here] I think the point Chomsky is raising is that China is positioning itself to take over from the US, and the US had better heed the warning. I don't think he is implying that China would go to war with the US, but rather they are preparing for the US to go to war with China. China is growing (economically) very fast, and is actively trying to secure the bulk of the world's resources for their own benefit, just as the US has done up until now. Will the US be happy being #2? I doubt it, and I expect China knows it too.

Dear Mr. Hardner, Thank you sir, very flattering, especially the previous 'uOttawaMan' raises an interesting point, though... Are 'institutional dogmas' the only ones accepted as 'influences', morally? I suppose the power of the 'institution' in question relies on everyone that is generally like-minded to throw their lot in with everyone else, and give amiss to those minor points where there may be disagreement. Then, it would take some new figure to come along, to shift and to schism, creating a new batch of 'like-minders'. If both Black Dog and I claim to be the Messiah, you'll know one of us must be wrong. (actually, both, because a 'messiah' means chosen, not self-appointed)

Dear Mr. Hardner, Not exactly true, modern 'leftists' like Black Dog and I do also, but for different purposes and reasons.

Dear Mr. Hardner, In an ideal world, violations would only occur when it is in the best interests of the public to do so. However, the media's 'rights and duties' are now to serve Mammon, not 'the good of people'.

With a lot of these percentages being bandies about, I have a question. For these 'repeat offenders', is the number applied to only those caught, tried and convicted? Betsy, That is basically what pedophilia is, an urge that cannot be denied, even when you know it is illegal/immoral and viewed by almost everyone else as abhorrent. Just so everyone else is aware, pedophiles are know as 'skinners' in prison, and they generally have to get special treatment like being kept out of the general populace. Even the other convicts find them repugnant, and will beat them, sometimes to death, if they happen to get a hold of one. Pretty much everyone is capable of masturbation, raping a child represents fulfilling a need far more dark and sinister than the sexual act itself. What if we issued a caveat to the registry, saying "As of tomorrow, pedophiles will be castrated if caught, abduction as part of the crime is the death penalty", who could argue on behalf of the pedophiles if they are aware of the consequences? I have to side with KrustyKidd on this one, penalties beyond what may seem even unreasonable regarding child molesters is OK by me.

Dear Argus, Fair enough, I stand corrected. According to the CIA world factbook, Sudan is only 70% Muslim, though. Saudi Arabia does allow a lot of 'out of towners' to work (and pray) there, but they are possibly one of the worst 'extremist' countries. Mind you, the US backs them and they remain one of their most favoured countries because....well, I expect the friendship to last almost as long as the oil reserves.

Dear August1991, I don't believe you understand. The traditional argument is that sex (which should only take place between married couples) is for the purpose of procreation (of more little catholics), not for enjoyment. Pope 'Whats his Face" wrote his first treatise on the subject (well, on Love, actually) and shocked many traditionalists, by saying married couples should enjoy being intimate with each other (while pro-creating). Otherwise, it is sinful to take (or get) only pleasure from sex.Condoms, therefore, mean that the sex isn't for procreation, but solely for pleasure, which is 'sinful'. That is hard to say, but the 'selling of indulgences' by the church in the past was certainly a 'moral black eye' in retrospect.On a different level, a friend of mine travelled extensively through Africa (and I have a brother who worked for a few years in both the Ivory Coast and Botswana) who related to me a story. 'Missionaries', and some aid workers, were trying to introduce condoms in some African villages, but were having trouble getting the message across. They would show people how to put a condom on (pinch the end and roll it down) using a broom handle as a visual aid. Weeks later, returning to the village, they found the condoms had indeed been used as shown...they were on all the broom handles in the village.

Dear Riverwind, No, actually they don't. They simply guide you to an end of your choosing. The Church is not causing any deaths, the deaths are the result of people's choices. In many places in Africa, people are still very primitive, and ignorant of the consequences of their actions.

Dear geoffrey, Let's say some new guy moved in next door to you, your wife and 2 kids. Seems like a nice guy, helped you push you car out a snowbank one morning, had a beer over the back fence with him and talked about how you both dislike the skyrocketing salaries of pro athletes. Then your wife calls and tells you she just got a flat tire about 10 miles from home. You wonder if he would mind watching your kids for 1/2 hr while you help the wife... Would you if his name was in the registry? Or would you have already told your kids, "Never, ever go near that man"?

Dear Argus, They got a country because so many hate French people?http://www.mapleleafweb.com/forums/index.p...indpost&p=42593 Name one.

Dear Black Dog, I am not quite so bitter as you, I feel only those that watch (and talk about) television (especially talk shows, sit-coms and soap operas) fit this bill. Well said. My only solution is to clearly understand them all.

Heavens to betsy: They already have that. The vernacular term is 'a rap sheet'. The point of registries such as these is to warn the public that a person who is potentially (and likely) dangerous is coming into their community. It irks me all the time when I read in the paper, "So-and-So is being released into your community, we consider him a high risk to re-offend." In other words, "so and so' got a puny sentence, which happens far too often, and it is only a matter of time before your little Egbert or Lulubelle gets kidnapped and sodomized, but we have no choice but to release him".

Dear Mr. Hardner, Usually 'not-for-profits', but these can be abused as well if there is a buck to be made. You are right, cynicism is rampant, but there are so many examples of 'crookedness' out there, it is hard to keep a trusting face on all the time. The FBI has been implicated in murder, and aiding and abetting murder, coersion with the threat of murder, (the testimony of Myrtle Poor Bear in the case of Leonard Pelltier), the CIA was caught testing chemical and biological 'weapons' (or 'agents', such as LSD, to see if they could be used as a weapon) against citizens of the USA, and corporate shenanigans such as Enron, and a host of others, has left people with a very bitter view of the world indeed.

Dear Wilber, Fair enough, I am sure most pot smokers (including myself) do not oppose standards regarding use in public. In fact, I believe most would welcome them, except for the 'chronics', but alcoholics could most likely fall in the same category.

Dear Wilber, This is your personal experience and not neccesarily the majority feeling. Some people get drunk or stoned once and never touch drugs again.There was a study done by the police in Canada (I believe it was in Moose Jaw, but could be wrong) where the tests showed that the group that was high on marijuana scored 'safest', above both drinking and sober drivers. It only took less than a year for someone to set up another test to 'disprove' these results with another 'controlled study'.

Dear Leafless, Centrist? Let's see, you have defended 'white supremacy', the USA's wars of self-servitude, and claimed you don't recognize your country's flag because it doesn't represent the ideals you have (Canada being too socialist). I would say that the only one standing to the right of you is Satan. How do you suppose this is 'centrist'? (I suppose if you don't use a bell curve, the numbers are just a little heavier on one side, like a billion to one)

Dear Mr. Hardner, I whole heartedly agree, but the pro-democracy fight must come from somewhere else, for it never will be a religious group's primary mantra. They are fighting for freedom, but not neccesarily democracy. The argued imperfection of democracy (from the libertarian standpoint) is that even in a democracy, the majority will could still have them outlawed.As for the "Faloonies" being cult-like, I have to agree. Most organized religions veer away from 'true faith' in their one or many Gods, the minute they regiment daily life into arbitrary rules of what to eat, how to breathe, and where to sit and stand. They all do it, though, to greater or lesser degrees.

Dear August1991, An excellent topic, the responses I have read so far seem to be both thought-provoking and incredibly honest. My two-bits: I have also moved from the far-left, to a more central position. I echo some previous thoughts, especially from PocketRocket and Nocrap, that I believe some 'left' ideas could be done in a better fashion, but don't believe that they should be abolished. I have gone from being an employee for both small family businesses and large corporate entities, to looking at things from an employer's view, now that my wife and I own our own small business. Incorporating my 'leftist' viewpoint into the business, we pay our employees on a 'profit-sharing bonus system', where there is a set minimum hourly wage, plus a bonus scale where incremental increases of 'bonus money' is given monthly per our 'average monthly unit sales', as it were. The busier we are, the more everyone makes. Since it is not 'commission-based', (and because of who we are) we feel that honesty goes far further to building our reputation that a bit of dishonesty to make a quick buck, could ever go.