theloniusfleabag

Dear Leafless, Indeed, but 'helping' means that they are/were trying, or even actually wanted it. Who told you they did? The Afghani Mujahideen did not fight the Soviets for over 10 bloody years because they wished they had 'democracy and freedom'. Hell, most of them don't even want a stable, central government. They just wanted the Soviets out, and the land to be ruled 'the old fashioned way'. Which, in this case, is Sharia Law. Mostly done at the tribal level, so no one really hears a lot about it. Why is Canada there? Well, the Taliban became a 'state-sponsor' of terrorism, of this there is little doubt. They also imposed Islamic law and interpretations of the Koran far too severely, in the eyes of both the world, and the inhabitants of Afghanistan. (If you'll recall, they outlawed music and kite-flying, and destroyed 2 huge statues of Buddha that were carved in a cliff-side thousands of years ago). The Taliban needed to be removed, certainly. Why are western troops still there? Evidently, UNOCAL wanted to build a gas pipeline across the country, but it is believed to be near impossible to build and maintain it without a strong, central, pro-US Afghani gov't.

Dear August1991, Leonard Nimoy does a great rendition of this song also. No, August, now it is you who are being naive. This happens every day, on pretty much every deal. I will give you a couple of personal examples when I get back from work.

Dear August1991, I guess you have never heard the words "Stand and Deliver!" (Incidentally, Adam Ant has a great song about this, and a neat video made on the 80's) What a strange world you must live in. In reality, business negotiations mostly mean trying to leave your opponent face down in the dirt, and sobbing, while trying to pull back up their tattered underwear. If you are on the losing end, the trick is to pull the 'help, I'm being raped' act while the numbers are still good for you. Inflating your numbers first goes a long way, especially with certain 'ethnicities' that love driving 'hard bargains'. Generally it is your economic clout. The 'working class', for example, where "Petey Punchclock" goes to work doing manual labour, for example, and lives cheque to cheque. (There are 'classes' lower than this, but we'll start here). Then there is the 'class' that employs or has power over those in the lower class(es). Generally, there are few things that lend themselves to obvious demarcations, but also, generally, those of different 'classes' rarely mingle. Believe it or not, the different 'classes' look at the same things differently. Mostly because they see them from a different perspective, and, people being what they are, generally seek to mingle with 'higher classes', not lower ones.

Dear August1991, Sadly, I get the impression that you are one of the few people that could have their mind changed...You are both right... and Black Dog, with . However, I still enjoy most of it (my current peeve is having 50 different thread topics start on every news item).I think any changes to the format should take this into consideration..."Fight Night" (say, friday nights, 9:00 EST)... 2 debaters (one from the 'left', the other from the 'right') in a timed (say 1/2 to 1 hr) formatted debate on one topic. No one else permitted to butt in. Some rules would include :No cut and pasting, plaigiarism is automatic disqualification, and scoring to be done by others, ranked out of 10, wins and losses kept under 'right or left wins'. Sure, it has a lot of kinks to be ironed out, but I would find it more challenging and interesting than reading endless llinks to kooky conspiracy sites like 'rense.com' or 'newsmax'.

Dear Leafless, You are only hearing about this now? Proselytizing and converting have carried the death penalty in many countries. Or is it only news now that there is a 'bash Islam' bandwagon on which to hang this headline? By the way, I wouldn't quote newspapers from Salt Lake City too much...(Mormonism is one of the kookier religions out there)

Dear Cameron, Speaking of stereotypes, I have a turntable with hundreds of LPs. Thank goodness they are from a time before 'rap' became a musical style. Usually their 'physique' is shown as impeccable, like that 50 Cent fellow (all muscle and 'bulletproof'), and everyone is encouraged to "get rich or die tryin'. Are you suggesting that this is somehow 'wrong'?

Dear Army Guy, A very good post. I was just reading a book called 'Just and Unjust Wars' by Michael Walzer (1977), pg 325 Torture is based on fear. Fear of pain and fear of death (well, an untimely and/or messy death), which is incredibly similar to 'terrorism'. If you use it, you can't honestly condemn anyone else for using it.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn121.html Plaigiarism is against forum rules.

There have been numerous studies done, on many drugs including alcohol, which give different results too often for any one test to be 'definitive'. Pot affects memory? Big surprise, it starts right after you smoke a fattie...."Uh...what was I just talking about?..." Then, memory gradually returns to normal, depending on pot use. Alcohol is one of the few drugs, and the only legal one, that actually kills brain cells. At least with quitting pot smoking, your memory capacity should return to normal. If you quit alcohol consumption, you still can't get back those brain cells. If the truth be known, no drug, alcohol or otherwise, provides solely benefit without cost (to health). Sometimes arguments for or against are flawed (eg 'alcohol in moderation can be good for you') because they suppose a benefit that could be attained by other means (exercise to raise the heart rate, rather than alcoholic stimulant, or for that matter, someone jumping out from behind a door and yelling "Boo!"). Other flaws that may have tainted this test are less obvious. Of the people tested, and especially of those that were admitted pot smokers, here are some questions that could greatly affect the outcome of any test. Have they used inhalants (such as solvents or gasoline)? Do they also take other drugs? Regularly? Did they begin to 'get high' before the age of 12? Do they also drink more than 10+ oz of alcohol per day/week?

Dear Shakeyhands, Evidently Google balked at providing more than they felt was 'reasonable' pertinent information, even though the police pressed them for it. 'Tis indeed a slippery slope.Howver, I heard on the news that some of this porn included infants, under the age of 18 months. I think a rope and a tree would be too good for these guys, doesn't sound like enough suffering.

That was a protester, not a 'leader'. Big, big difference. Look up PocketRocket's last post.

Dear PocketRocket, Well done and well said. Loonies are always the loudest, for what they lack in logic they try to make up for in volume.

Dear August1991, Indeed, it used to be, that 'reporters' and columnists couldn't be too critical of incumbent govt's, lest they lose 'schmooze access'. Err...not all of them, I should say.

Dear KrustyKidd, This is the moral argument of the thief. "If I don't steal it, someone else would, so it might as well be me". You are pretty much correct in your assessment, but no other nations do such things as with one hand, while on the other, claiming to stand for 'freedom and democracy'.

In my opinion, television is what you get in lieu of culture. However, I understand it is quite popular. However, there are a great deal of important books, documentaries and allegory out there. I have no objections to a format change.

Dear August1991, Actually, I believe you said 'junior-level apologist'. I'll have to search for that one. I also remember that it was before you bought the book.

My bad, I actually did look at the corrections canada website, but obviously did not do the proper search. Only Fenbrook came up as 'new'.

Dear scriblett, They already have. Hence Canada being 'on the hit list' (and being the only country on that list that has not been attacked yet). Would Canada be attacked just to rectify this situation? I do not believe it would be, at least not solely for that purpose. Don't forget, Bin Laden has offered a truce, but the US has rejected it with the old line, "We don't negotiate with terrorists". http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/593...A1A9678D922.htm

I have to agree with Argus here. An attack on Canada cannot be ruled out, but I don't believe it is imminent.A couple of points worthy of consideration: -since security has been ostensibly tightened most everywhere, any large scale attack would require meticulous planning, and I don't think any other nation besides the US would be the target. -the 'Muslim terrorist fanatics' don't view time the same as we do. Bin Laden, et al, are very patient, and if it took an extra few years to plan an attack, it wouldn't matter to them. -Canada is a vast country, with light security. An attack here would likely mean an industrial/infrastructure attack, especially one connected to the US. Examples would be northern oil or gas pipelines, which are virtually indefensible, or hydro/power stations, which are generally remote, rather than an attack on the CN Tower. Another thing that could be considered, what the US previously and critically saw as a 'lack of imagination', is 'What would I do' if I were a terrorist? Lots of things, including poisoning currency, water/food supplies, or mass transit systems. A truck full of explosives at certain points along the Trans-Canada Highway, sugh as at Rogers or Kicking Horse Pass, and one or two train bridges, could cut off huge amounts of trade goods. One must always consider their purpose, though.

Dear speaker, Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' had the line "When you ain't got nothin, you got nothin' to lose", and "Me and Bobby McGee" (written by Kris Kristofferson) from Janis Joplin had the line "Freedom's just another word for 'nothing left to lose'. However, you may be thingking of the line from the song "Slaughterama" from Gwar, with "When your life is shit, the you ain't got much to lose, on 'Slaughterama!'

That would be extemely personal, like asking if it was retarded, a hermaphrodite or a stillborn. What is it about JerrySeinfeld, 'BB', and others, that compels them to try to have their names seen, even with asshole comments like this? One would think that this thread is the one place a troll would avoid, but then again, it might be a compulsion to strong to resist.

Dear GostHacked, Well said. I believe that no particular section is needed, you could easily start a 'new topic' discussing a particular line of questioning, and ask what books others have read (and contribute what you may have read on that paticular subject), and how true/influential they are. Be prepared for a lot of 'ad hominem' attacks, though, even some of the books I have referenced by 'inside experts', such as "Imperial Hubris" by author Anonymous (CIA officer Michael Scheuer, head of the 'Bin Laden desk' at the CIA), have been 'pooh-poohed' as partisanship (or, as August1991 so dismissed as 'probably a low-level apologist')

Dear Argus, Controversy often means sales. My wife watched a show called 'Family Guy', a cartoon that is often outrageous. One episode I happened to look in on depicted God in a local bar, trying to pick up some sleazy old whore/barfly by using his 'magical powers'. When he accidentally set the bar on fire, He exclaimed "Jesus Christ!", and guess who ran in the door and asked "What is it, Dad?" I thought to myself, "Absolutely nothing is held sacred anymore." I also recall an ad, years ago, for some 'sports card trading website'. It showed a man in a confessional (one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic church) confessing that he had tried to pawn his wedding ring to buy some baseball star's trading card. The priest then offered him 50 bucks for it. The man said, "What?" in disbelief, and the priest replied, "Well, the wedding ring can't be worth that much to you, what with your gambling problem". The scene then went to an altar boy, who jumped in the bidding, and offered $100, grabbing a fistful of cash from the collection basket. I actually reported this ad to our local Bishop's office, to see if they found it offensive, but I wondered if there was actually anything they could do besides not patronize the business. I must confess, though, that I only hold one thing sacred anymore, and that is truth (and respect for my parents and strangers, unless they warrant otherwise)

Dear PocketRocket, lol. Well done. See how easy it is to introduce relevance to a topic?

Dear GostHacked, This is a political forum, and Greg makes it clear that it is to remain as such. I am sure you could start a thread discussing the impact of literature on politics, but if you start telling everyone how moved you were when Curious George had to get x-rays to remove a puzzle piece, I am guessing the thread would be deemed 'not relevant'.