Sir Bandelot

They poured in tons of chemicals to hide the problem. But this is not over, not by far. No one really knows how much oil and sludge is now at the bottom of the ocean, and what its impact will be. But make no mistake, there will be an impact. You can't dump that much crap in the water and not see something bad come out. But the liberal and the capitalist are only concerned with what they can get for something, right now.

Oh indeed, indeed, indeed... Once again you ideologues can only see a situation as a black or white issue. Either let the people do anything they want, between consenting adults or ban everything. That attitude is not necessary. There are some who don't want to ban anything, but do want to see better rules, such as wearing helmets when playing football. What's wrong with that concept? You can still have your fun just don't be a fool. Know about the danger. That's what the role of th BCMA would be. to lobby the government and use ads to make people aware of the danger. Wear safety equipment it might save your life. No need for "outrage" at the dangers of skateboarding.

Yeah sure, I'll now endeavour to defend the indefensible. Why not? I'll tell you why, because I can't stand how you people are unable to see the difference between the bullshit you are being fed by your leaders, versus someone else. No, I would never trust my life to someone like Saddam Hussein. Nor would I trust it to Barrack Obama. "Enlightenment" is relative to what else is around. Compared to the despots in neighbouring countries, Saddam was enlightened. If the war was againt the unenlightened, they really shoulda went for Iran or Saudi, or Pakistan. The fact is, Saddam made Iraq one of the most emlightened of middle eastern countries. And that fact is suppressed by those who need to keep it suppressed. Your taskmasters What, you think Stalin wasn't revered as a hero in the soviet union? For years. Even long after he was dead. He murdered millions. So did Johnson. Napoleon, was a liar. When he crowned himself emporer, he betrayed everything he stood for. Eventually the Bourbons got back whatever they wanted. Napoleon "was not significantly troubled when faced with the prospect of war and death for thousands, turned his search for undisputed rule into a series of conflicts throughout Europe and ignored treaties and conventions alike. His decision to reinstate slavery in oversea colonies is controversial to his reputation. He institutionalised plunder of conquered territories: museums contain art stolen by his forces from across Europe. Artefacts were brought to the Louvre for a grand central museum; his example would later serve as inspiration for more notorious imitators. He was compared to Adolf Hitler most famously by the historian Pieter Geyl in 1947." "Goya's The Third of May 1808, painted in 1814, depicts the civilian executions that occurred following the Dos de Mayo Uprising. Five thousand defenders of Madrid were executed in two days. Critics argue Napoleon's true legacy must reflect the loss of status for France and needless deaths brought by his rule: historian Victor Davis Hanson writes, "After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars, perhaps six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost." McLynn notes that, he can be viewed as the man who set back European economic life for a generation by the dislocating impact of his wars." --- Whose name shall we substitute for the above criticisms? Saddam... Adolph Hitler... Josef Stalin... LBJ... GWB... BHO... Pick yer poison

Totally different situation as both of those countries were a much more unified people. Lets look instead at a situation like Yugoslavia, for a clue of what happens.

Right, I think your on to something there. Imagine if it was an American flag. Sure, I know it's happened many times before, but can you imagine the outrage... oh my

Yoo people are amazing. Madelaine Albright. What more can I say... Madelaine Albright

Read your two paragraphs, in reverse

Of course I don't expect either of you ideologues to understand. The reality of places like Iraq is ugly, and it involves making compromises. There is no chance for democracy when people hate each other for centuries. The only way to run such a dreadful place is by dictatorship. Can you fathom that? No, I doubt it.

Good thing I slipped on the hip waders, several posts ago...

Far more people were killed in a few years of the US invasion, than would have been had they not invaded. The US converted a harsh, strictly controlled but functional dictatorship into a lawless zone where people live and die like animals.

The general cannot force a US citizen with constitutional rights to not burn the book. They are free to do it. And you are free to advocate it. You are free to make the jobs of the US soldiers in afghanistan lot harder than they need to be. You are free to feel smug about it in your self rightousness, that you were legally entitled to do it, and so you did. It is not your problem if it results in more difficulty for the mission, the one that they want to end soon. You are entitled to your taunting from the safety of America, while other Americans face the risk. Because the liberal does not weight their actions on the basis of what's right and wrong, only on what they're entitled to.

I'm all for letting the people who know what they're doing have their say. The general has proven himself before and he is right there, in the field. If he says something about it, we should listen up and take heed. That's the way it works in the army, not so sure about you, sailor boy

A classic case of liberal degeneracy syndrome

Iraq was the envy of the middle east under Saddam. The people were well educated, had jobs and decent health care, and women had far more rights than they do in most other middle eastern countries, even more than they have in Iraq today. But go on and revise history, if you must Oh and Napolean? Traitor. In the end he merely took the throne for himself.

Iraq??? Who mentioned it. Seems like you are the one playing games, trying to obfuscate the issue. Again Yeah, I guess the General must be sore afraid

Yeah, what does General Patreus know about it anyway. He should mind his own business. Lets all be silly and let our emotions guide our thoughts and actions. Consequences? So what. What consequences?

The real problem is the continued head punching while the opponent is pinned down. I think the fight should be declared over at that point, not allowed to continue until the guy is knocked out. As John McCain says, it's barbaric and un-American. That's not necessarily a reason to disallow it, depending on your point of view and values. If you're a liberal, anything goes as long as it sells. I think this could be misleading. It's one thing to compare the number of deaths in two sports over a period of years, quite another to compare them in the number of fights. And there is nothing "ironic" (as stated in the article) about the death that occurred due to repeated head shots. That is in fact precisely the problem. From the article I quoted, seems that MMA is banned in almost every province in Canada. There should be a regulatory commission set up in the provinces, just as there are in the United States. Leaving the sport without binding commitment to rules leaves the fighters wide open to the dangers of permanent injury.

Sept. 6, 2010 Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Jack Keane, an adviser to Petraeus, called it "outrageous" and "insulting to Muslims." "It's also insulting to our soldiers in terms of what they stand for and what their commitment is to this country and to the Muslims in this country," Keane told ABC News. But late today, Jones vowed he would go ahead with the Quran burning, even knowing the concerns of Petraeus and Keane for the safety of U.S. troops. A Facebook page dedicated to the day, entitled "International Burn A Koran Day" has more than 8,000 fans. "On September 11th, 2010, from 6pm - 9pm, we will burn the Koran on the property of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!" the page declares. Link They might plan to only burn one copy of the book. It's not so much about the burning of the book itself, but the idea behind it, and the bigger fire that it could lead to. That's what has the General concerned here. And he seems like a very serious, responsible man.

Hmmm... is there a "Coles Notes" condensed version?

That is an oversimplification of the issue. These people are professionals and their concerns are valid. MMA is a dangerous sport with the potential to kill, and it has killed. Moving on to a more reasonable, measured view, I like this excerpt from the article- Gillespie said the BCMA takes the position that MMA fights are more dangerous than boxing because of fewer safety rules. “MMA allows a fighter to attack an opponent while down and we believe those things increase the risk of serious injury,” said Gillespie. So agreed Dr. Samuel Gutman, founder of Vancouver’s Rock Doc Consulting and an ER physician at Lions Gate Hospital, who’s treated MMA athletes as a ringside doctor and other combative sports for the past seven years. “What’s really needed is a provincial governing body that will protect the fighter,” Gutman told The Province. “The fact is [the sport] is not going away and it’s being practiced in less than a safe manner in some cases, like many other things. Gutman was working at Vancouver’s first UFC tournament at GM Place (now Rogers Arena) in June, which drew a sold-out crowd, and said the injuries suffered by those athletes are representative of those overall in the sport. Gillespie noted Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and Nunavut have province-wide bans on contests, while New Brunswick has a ban on MMA fighting outside of Moncton. Link The move to have better rules and improved safety would be good for the MMA, because it will be accepted into the mainstream and have a wider audience, and so make more money. And there you have it. The outcome of a reasonable debate should be something positive, not simply "No you fool, what the heck do you know."

Petraeus: Planned Quran-burning could endanger troops The U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Monday criticized a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, warning the demonstration "could cause significant problems" for American troops overseas. "It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan," Gen. David Petraeus said in a statement issued Monday. With about 120,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops still battling al Qaeda and its allies in the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement, Petraeus warned that burning Qurans "is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems -- not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community." And one of his deputies, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, told CNN's "The Situation Room" that event "has already stirred up a lot of discussion and concern" among Afghans. "What I will tell you is that their very actions will in fact jeopardize the safety of the young men and women who are serving in uniform over here and also undermine the very mission that we're trying to accomplish." "I would hope they would understand that there are second- and third-order effects that will occur that will affect that young man and woman who's out there on point for America, serving their nation today, because of their actions back in the United States," he said. An armed Christian organization that had pledged to protect the Dove World Outreach Center withdrew its support from the Quran-burning last week, stating the event "may diminish the work of the Holy Spirit to witness to Muslims." That group's founder, Shannon Carson, said he agrees with the church's stance on Islam, which he called a cult "that is invading our nation." But he complained that the "liberal media" is using stories on Jones's plans "to distract, divide and enrage the public." Oh oh, the serene face for freedom of speech develops a tick

Well I know some of you are "fans", and you listen to and believe the information coming out from the UFC governing body. But they have a vested financial interest to keep their business running. The doctors have no such interest. I'll go with the people who have valid concerns based on professional opinion, not the money changers. Not saying boxing is not dangerous though. Yes, repeated head shots must have some efct

Actually the system is constantly undergoing maintenance and improvement to meet new requirements. There are problems however. There is no health care system in the world without problems. There is no system without some people having a bad experience. So your question is a valid one, Wild Bill, are the number of failures significant and what can be done about them. In principle, any failure is significant. This is about human lives, not fridges and stoves. I know there are incident reporting and review mechanisms in place for any patient-related incidents that occur in a hospital. But it is hard to ascertain the real truth in matters like this, especially when there are people like Bush_Cheney in the world...

Shh, don't shatter their illusions with a little something called REALITY. That might spoil their day!