Sir Bandelot

Here is a taste of reality. It's different when its someone you actually know, not just a story in the news or on TV. But for most of us armchair philosophers, we have absolutely no idea. The poor and the most helpless, the harmless, they are easy pickings for cruel inhuman bastards. Those who are really cowards for doing it.

Exactly, something which Cheney and his followers just don't get. They're only concerned with the immediate situation and their emotional reactions to a problem.

I agree. What you must do is wake them up, then beat the living tar out of them.

Thats corporatism for you. As to the notion of drawing talent- what talent did they manage to draw? Let the evidence speak for itself. These bonuses should only be tied to actual success, as for most people bonuses usually are. If you were't succesful, you don't get the bonus. I saw away with these charlatans and rogues. Oops then that must include the whole government!

"Despite suffering a catastrophic defeat on the battlefield, the Tamil Tigers' vast international funding and smuggling network remains largely intact and – with the help of Tamil sympathisers, including those in Britain – the terror group is more than capable of rebuilding itself with potentially devastating consequences for the future of peace in Sri Lanka. As one British-based Tamil Tiger sympathiser told The Independent this week: "The original Tamil Tigers were like the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. What will come next is a Tamil Tiger Hamas." Tamils living in Tooting or Toronto view the Tigers in much the same way Irish-Americans once thought of the IRA, as romanticised freedom fighters whose brutal tactics can be excused, ignored or forgotten. An estimated 80 per cent of the LTTE's military budget came from overseas, primarily from Tamils in Britain, Canada, Switzerland and Scandanavia. The ongoing protests in Parliament Square show how the recent conflict has unified Britain's Tamils, particularly young students who have rallied under the Tamil Tiger iconic red flag like never before. To make matters worse, fundraising will likely continue with little interference from British police or security services. A security source told The Independent that Islamic terrorists are stretching resources so thinly at present that it is unlikely the LTTE's activities in Britain will ever become a priority for the security services." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-...ad-1689766.html ------------ Seems to me the Tamils will hold tremendous resentment towards the government in Sri Lanka, especially if insufficient aid s provided to the hundreds of thousands living in camps. There is also the possibility that there will be an investigation into war crimes. "In the last months of the fighting, President Mahinda Rajapaksa callously rejected international pleas for a cease-fire to let civilians escape the war zone, while his troops shelled the area." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/opinion/27wed3.html?_r=1 In attacking the Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan government has struck a vicious blow to the Tamil civilian community.

Most Republicans have been used car salesmen, at one time or another

I don't know how many have been waterboarded, or other methods such as were used in Abu Graib photographs... "you people with this idiot argument"... I asked a question, I never made the argument one way or another. Its a question we have to ask, to avoid becoming the thing we are fighting against. Seems like a fair question to me. We have to give up some freedom whenever we engage in war. The question is, how far do we go down that road, is it worth it? In some cases, yes. But not in all cases... thinking must be applied. War is serious business, and "The Government" is not the all knowing wise big brother you might believe. Its just a bunch of rich peoples kids who've been put in charge, and they can be just as dumb as anybody.

Are you nearly done with the reductio ad nazium? Cause that is a real boring method of argument. Not everything equates to our response to Hitler. Hitler had a big army and highly advanced weapons, and invaded other countries and killed millions. On Sept. 11 a small group of suicide bombers attacked the WTC and klled about 2500 people. It doesn't quite compare. What I said wasn't just about waterboarding. We keep hearing about how they hate us for our freedoms, yet we are losing freedoms in our effort to fight them. The terrorists dont need to take our freedoms away. Fear and shortsightedness, and overreacting in our response is doing that well enough. Its not a christian problem though. I'm sure many christians are appalled by it.

I saw a brief portion of the video and it is as you say, the guy comes flying out the window and lays there in the ditch, and the cops descend on his motionless body and start beating and kicking him. The driver had tried to run them over during part of the chase. I guess they wanted to kill him and make it look like an accident. Theres a lot of bad shit going on, all the time and we dont know about it. Once in a while they get caught. Dzeikanski, King, now this guy. Cops deal with the lowest scum of humanity all the time, it must take a toll on them after a while. They need more training and perhaps therapy to deal with the effect of this stress on their psyche. Something which I don't think they get. As for those callers on the talk show, they were probably all right-wingers...

First of all, I am not "the left" talking nor am I the right. People who divide things into two separate camps tend to oversimplify everything. Its not just a simple matter of black and white, and that is your problem. Like George Bush your either with us or your with the terrorists. Its possible for something to be right and wrong at the same time, and that means a compromise depending on what our values are. Something will be gained, and something will be lost too. Can you fathom that? Because these are complex issues requiring thinking, not sloganeering.

Are we making them become like us, or are they making us become like them.

But, is that considered "intelligent design"?

"Truth"? Bwahaha. You tell your truth, I'll tell mine. No the point is, racism goes much deeper than a few verbal insults. There is real and violent hatred of others who are different ethnicity. Its easy to blow off a few petty insults or even jokes, not so easy when they come a-lookin fer ya. About the so-called truth of racism, I could go through every point raised by the original poster and show its not true. Germany certainly has some cheaper economy vehicles, and not all the people who build cars are pure German, either. To say that some tribe is caring, or that all chinese people excel at mathematics is also delusional. Thats where racism breaks down, because as someone said broad generalizations do not apply to all people in a culture. In other words, theres good people, smart people and assholes in every culture. Especially, in New Brunswick...

Just watch out that he doesn't punch you in the face- on a bus

No, it's indicative that when defeated on an issue you take the low road. As usual

Did they kill the seal before she ripped its heart out and took a bite? I heard she also eats live babies

You dont get your face punched in, on a bus.

How about "both". I don't think intelligent design has to preclude evolution. We are in a process that tranforms simple crude matter into complex living beings, over a great period of time. But that process cannot be a mere accident So I can't vote in your poll... sorry

I've seen some of these attack ads and I admit, to me at least some of this criticism is justified. I never liked how he conducted himself when Dion was the leader. I do see him as an arrogant and self-centered opportunist. Although I would vote Liberal long before I would ever vote for CPC, it also depends on who the leader is. For me, Ignatieff is not the guy.

Kind of a waste of time, to go off topic on your own thread...

Today we've got one president who thinks its ok, and another one who thinks its, not ok

The governments done a pretty good job at it as well. Inhumane bombing with thousands of civilians in the war zone... kinda like shooting ants with a shotgun. I bet thats what the Tamil Tigers say when they kill civilians too. But in official war parlance we use the nice clean words, "collateral damage". Are they done? it now depends on how much the survivors are being helped, eh? Otherwise, little Jaswinder with the bandy legs will grow up, having many regrets...

Lets hope the worst is over and the violence has really stopped. But at what cost? Sri Lanka war zone scene of devastation May 24, 2009- Sri Lanka's former war zone is a wasteland, its earth scorched and pocked by craters. Cars and trucks lie overturned near bunkers beside clusters of battered tents. Civilians who escaped the zone said they came under intense shelling from both the rebels and the government. The government has denied firing heavy weapons into what had been a battlefield densely populated with civilians. But the helicopter tour the military gave U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a group of journalists Saturday revealed widespread devastation. After touring the area, Ban Ki-Moon said the trapped civilians must have undergone "most inhumane suffering." According to private U.N. documents, at least 7,000 civilians were killed in the final months of fighting. Looks like they've used the lesson that you seem to approve of, Dancer- The best way to deal with guerrilla warfare is to kill the hell out of everyone.

Do you think that somehow absolves him of wrongdoing? Blame the system? No I would not vote for that. Referendums are stupid if the people are not properly educated in all aspects of the issue, as politicians typically are. We do not have time to go over 100's of hours of debates on every single issue. Nor do I believe that the majority is always right, for example in complex matters of foreign affairs. The majority believes whatever propaganda the media feeds us.

What this says is, the only real way to get attention and respect on the global stage is to acquire nukes. What an incentive!