I Miss Trudeau

In that case, reread my post, apply a little bit of thought, and then try to respond again.

You just have to love this. The people who are arriving at conclusions on this matter with no evidence at all accuse the people that point out that fact of shoveling dung? Priceless. Cybercoma, you may not be shoveling dung, but you're throwing a lot of mud.

Thats kind of the point. They can't really say "We're working towards a free and democratic Iraq," and then turn around and limit the candidates and demand that their military presence be permitted into the future. That makes for a less than free and democratic Iraq. That would make Iraq more like an occupied colony.

So are you insulting Americans here, or only half insulting them?

Why on earth would I bother? Argus did a far better job trivializing his viewpoint than I ever could with his "goat herding arabs" comment. August wasn't even the poster I was taking issue with in that post. Thats right. Because, apparently, these people hate choice. They hate liberty. They hate democracy. They love being oppressed by religious and financial elites. They just lap it up. They simply can't get enough of it! Every morning when they wake up, they think to themselves "Boy, am I ever glad I don't get to vote in a free and democratic election!" Such is the extent of their hatred of liberty. Sounds kind of absurd when you actually make explicit what is implied in this "they hate freedom" nonsense, doesn't it? Insightful commentary looks at causes and relationships. You can't get past the end result. Brutal dictatorships in the middle east (ie. Saudi Arabia) are propped up by western governments for their own gain. The people living in these states are subjected to horrible conditions designed to maintain that support. Discontent arises out of such conditions. Some people decide to oppose the status quo, and they encounter a problem. When you compare miserable conditions with death, the miserable conditions don't seem so bad. If you want to mobilize people to action at great risk to their lives, you need to alter the payoff matrix. Guess how you do that? Again, you're not digging deep enough. You've stopped at the surface. Surface level analysis. Ask yourself why opposition to western style freedoms is so intense in some circles. Could it be because a small group of elites have redirected the hatred of western intervention in the middle east toward western political systems for their own gain? In the minds of their followers, militant islamicists have defined fundamentalist Islam as opposition to western imperialism.

No one wants to exclude religion from the debate. Most just want something a little more meaningful and insightful than "Those goat herding Arabs don't want us to be able to choose what color of shoes to wear."

I don't seem him providing any argument, either. It is not sufficient to say, "Look, here is another person that says the same thing that I do!" without any actual argument or evidence to support the claim.

Is it properly called "bias" if its true?

Reread August's post, apply a little bit of thought, and then try to respond again.

We keep seeing these statements over and over and over again, but never with any argument to back them up. Why do you think that is?

Remind me again how putting armed personnel in the streets of another nation is analogous to legalizing gay marriage in your own nation?

You conveniently forgot this one, Hugo: Kind of a different tone than the ones you offered up, wouldn't you say?

Are you questioning the moral perfection of God? Tsk tsk.

Serious question here... If Telus offered the Government of Alberta $10B to rename Alberta "Telusland," would Klein do it?

We already have that. Its called the Calgary stampede.

Quite right! That sort of control is reserved for the US congress.

Well, there IS that whole deal of the fundamental disjunct between the old testament and the new. Its rather telling that many christians seem to be caught up in the old, often ignoring the teachings of Christ.

Indeed.

I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to call other posters "Asshats."

Smoking dope is all well and good, until your kid does it.

You remember all those promises of money and aid after the tsunami? Most of it hasn't arrived. Most of it never will.

Oh the conservative movement has plenty of spine already. The vacancy is a little more to the north.

Ooops sorry. I wasn't aware that was a rule, given that this forum has been full of people that not only want to state their personal religious beliefs, but want the rest of the nation to adhere to them as well.

According to the RC church, homosexuality is wrong. But then again, its a rather large stretch to call the RC church christian anyway. Scripture isn't that clear cut on the moral status of homosexuality. At worst, it is a sin comparble to eating shellfish.

So I suppose the real question is why this poster is still permitted to make such attacks on others. I'm not trying to defend the language. That said, if you translate Sweal's post into a non-profanity laden version with the same meaning, it constitutes a far less serious attack than the "holocaust supporter" accusation that constantly gets thrown around with this poster. That is worthy of note.