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Yes, we agree on many points. And I'm glad we managed to keep this civil. The points we disagree on are rather big though:

I do not believe that the death of tens of thousands of civilians can be justified by claiming to be bringing democracy.

I do not believe that you can force democracy on a country. All you can achive that way is a pseudo colony with a pseudo democracy. The kind of situation leading to the current state of Africa.

I do not believe that Bush believed there were WMDs in Iraq, nor that Iraq was closely tied to Al Quaeda, nor that Iraq was any kind of threat to the US.
I do believe that the "intelligence failures" were 100% intentional.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-15936 07,00.html
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/sp ecial_packages/iraq/intelligence/11901380.htm
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/sp ecial_packages/iraq/intelligence/12995512.htm

I do not believe that Bush invaded Iraq for humanitarian reasons.
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
This count is most likely closer to the truth:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11 674.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2006/05/12/wirq12.xml
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2162249, 00.html
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1 186519,00.html
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArti cle.asp?articleID=8218

The list is endless but I'll stop here.

I believe that Bush does and will continue to do exactly whatever he feels will benefit him, with no concern what so ever for how many dies for his gain. Not that you actually need anything but his actions and his statements to prove this, but here are more links:
http://downingstreetmemo.com/archive/2004-10-31-Ho ustonChron-Herskowitz/
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12 885.htm

I believe that Bush is now planning his next war of aggression.
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20 060511&hn=33036
http://www.rense.com/general71/tdarg.htm
http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/05/ us-feverishly-works-to-frame-iran_13.html
http://newswire.indymedia.org/en/2006/05/839133.sh tml
http://english.people.com.cn/200605/13/eng20060513 _265252.html
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Condoleeza_Rice_ admits_she_responded_to_0509.html

Of course it won't make a difference, the police are too busy to do their jobs anyway, and would rather harass people flying British flags which "might offend minorities", people selling food in the lbs instead of kgs and drivers going 2mph over the speed limit than investigate actual crimes.

Britain is now the world's largest floating lunatic asylum.

>>Over here if you are arrested for things like littering,

>no we aren't

(since 1st Jan 2006 UK Police have had the power to arrest you and take a sample of your DNA)

The problem with pesticides and antibiotics is that they are often abused and misapplied through ignorance, stupidity and greed. Read how China may have fscked the entire world by using a human antiviral drug in an effort to protect the Chinese poultry industry from bird flu.

All the US military ever says publically is no comment.
I don't think you'll be getting the bulk of torture evidence from military press releases.

As for drugs being used for non-medical reasons, check into Sodium Thiopental and other places

So being that the all of the Arabs on board the flight all did brief "flight training" is all a coincidence? This is all documented.

Except that of the 19 people the FBI said hijacked the planes, 7 have since been found to be alive.

Until the investigators can sort out who *actually* hijacked the planes, saying whether this or that theory is right or paranoid is kind of pointless, don't you think?

M3 was a little more important than you state. As always, YMMV.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml= /opinion/2006/04/09/do0907.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/0 4/09/ixworld.html

b. Global warming (arc) is speeding up, tenfold in just the last five years

According to this article, we've actually leveled off. Maybe Prince Charles' idea of banning hairspray actually worked!

When you make the existance of a problem part of your world view, you're unable to realize when the problem is being solved. This goes not just for global warming, but for pollution, poverty, child nutrition, etc. We still have some problems in these areas, to be sure, but the people with the doom-and-gloom worldview will not admit it.

the cold hard truth is that science is a very lopsided mistress, and when you have 99.9 percent of all climatologists saying that extreme temperature variations are very likely to have a very high probability of accellerating (what you call Global Warming), the 0.1 percent who disagree because they get their funding from Exxon-Mobil get their feelings hurt.

I would _love_ to know where you got the idea that 99.9% of climatologists agree on anything (I am guessing you retrieved this "statistic" from an unpleasant bodily orifice on your backside).

Now, we know:

a. Global warming (accelerated rapid change) is happening now;
b. Global warming (arc) is speeding up, tenfold in just the last five years; and

Not so fast there. Global temperatures have not increased at all since 1998 (in fact, they have decreased a little). Before you dismiss this as too small of a time period to draw any conclusions from, ask yourself if the 28 year warming period that preceded that (1970-1998) is any different. When we are talking about the scale of global climate change, a 28 year sample is just as insignificant as an 8 year sample.

c. Anyone with their heads still stuck in the sounds will be ten feet under water within ten years.

We "know" this, eh? Maybe you should consider the possibility that you are using the same of irrational logic that you accuse the "other side" of using. You should also strongly consider the possibility that you have no idea what you are talking about.

No problem.

Perhaps you'd care to have a look at this then:
Consider the simple fact, drawn from the official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, that for the years 1998-2005 global average temperature did not increase (there was actually a slight decrease, though not at a rate that differs significantly from zero).

Full story here There IS a problem with global warming... it stopped in 1998.

Have you heard about the study mentioned here that claims the Earth hasn't warmed up one bit since 1998 or so.

How much would you have heard about a study that concluded that Earth warmed up a whole degree in the past 7 or 8 years?

You know the answer to that, don't you?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml= /opinion/2006/04/09/do0907.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/0 4/09/ixworld.html

And he never claimed to have done anything more than that.

"I took the initiative in creating the Internet. Look, I know Slashdot is a leftist, Democrat hellhole, but take a deep breath and realize Gore is a kook. The guy's running around telling people the world's going to end when according to official global temperature records, temperatures have not risen since 1998. That's information you'll never, ever hear about on CNN, DailyKos, major newspapers, or any of the other liberal media outlets who want you to think industrial America is a scourge of the earth so that they can feel better about themselves for being so "enlightened" about the lesser peons around them.

Remember that in the 70s, we were supposed to be in a "new Ice Age" by now. Ha.

Actually there there is a sign. And a five-bar gate:

Many ignore a no through road sign and open a five-bar gate before trying to continue along a gravel track linking Swaledale and Wensleydale.

Hello, do you have any sources for that ?

According to Ms. Thatcher, who was I think in a good position to comment, the UK got a lot of help from the French on the Exocet and Super-etendard issues. Here is a relevant quote :

French president François Mitterrand gave full support to the UK in the Falklands war. As a large part of Argentina's military equipment was French-made, French support was crucial. France provided aircraft, identical to the ones it supplied to Argentina, for British pilots to train against. France provided intelligence to help sabotage the Exocet missiles it sold to Argentina. In her memoirs Margaret Thatcher says of Mitterrand that "I never forgot the debt we owed him for his personal support...throughout the Falklands crisis". Sir John Nott, who was Secretary of State for Defence during the conflict later acknowledged: "In so many ways Mitterrand and the French were our greatest allies".

And here is an interesting link

In the same link you'll read that at the same time as the French were helping the UK, the US were trying to pressure Thatcher to accept a settlement with Argentina.

The UK also got a huge help from Chile (Pinochet was and remained a great friend of Thatcher), who started deploying troops in the south of the country, thereby tying up quite a few Argentinian soldiers there.

Don't believe me?

"This is how it is, and how it ever will be, with most Muslim countries."

Glad to see that you have a much more nuanced view of the world than those simplistic Muslims. Sheesh, can't believe you got modded insightful for that.

If you want to see a news piece that skillfully portrays the complexities of recent Iranian culture and politics, the article below was really great. Not suprisingly, it's from the Telegraph, a British and not American news outlet. Seems like the American media is too busy playing cheerleader for Bush and Co.'s war propaganda (just as they did for Iraq) to actually look at Iran. And you can bet after Bush gets his way and we nuke Iran they'll be crying about what a horrible mistake we've made ... again.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessio nid=OFKPRCKAXH4MXQFIQMFSM5WAVCBQ0JVC?xml=/news/cam paigns/iran/casey.xml

In the past week we've seen a story that claims that "Sick Building Syndrome" is actually a stress-based problem that can be traced back to poor management.
See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2006/03/23/nsick23.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/23/ ixhome.html for details.
I'd say this is reasonably obvious, and also a similar explanation probably lies behind the original post. EM radiation causing stress, or work (in workplace full of electrical devices) causing stress - which do you think is more likely?

Germany has proven time and again that the value of women leans towards the former. But on the up side, registered and legal prostitutes are eligable for welfare there, so I guess that's supposed to make up for it... They've also proven that they're quite fond of passing crazy-ass laws (relative to some of our own) that no sane citizen would support.

Nice vette, btw.

None of your supposed resources refute my claim: female infanticide (including abortion) happens en masse in Communist China.

That is Communist China, is it not? Or are you arguing that it is happening in alternative-universe China? Sidereal China? Capitalist and Democratic China? Huh? Help me out here. If it isn't happening in Communist China then where is it happening?

Here's a reading comprehension aid for you: I said it was happening in China, not because of Communism. I do stand by the fact that the Communists' One Child Policy is at fault for this despicable tradition reinfesting China. Call that racist. Call that whatever. But it is 100% irrefutable FACT .

Now please, tell us all again, in the name of abject intellectual dishonesty, that female infanticide does not occur in Communist China. What part of what I said was racist or wrong? The part where Chinese girls are being killed (at some time during their pre and post natal development) with prejudice? Or that it was happening in Communist China?

I'm totally sick of your lies, and I have karma to spare.

Female infanticide is a major problem in Communist China

Female infanticide was brought back by the one child policy

and the men in Communist China are going to pay. Dearly.

That is not racism.
That is not ignorance.

That is a fact that millions of Chinese men are going to face with a level of reality so vivid and frightening that their lamentations will be heard loud and clear for generations to come, in all corners of the world.

Please, carry on with your Holocaust Denial, and bring on those Holocaust denial moderators. The families who have wrought this horror upon womankind in China will still pay for their crimes against women, even if this post goes to -1.

for a start:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html= %2Farchive%2F1998%2F10%2F15%2Fwchip15.html
i didnt't read this one, but there are other articles about monkeys with implants, and a disabled guy that could control a mouse cursor with an implant

and another one, althhough it took 10mins, they managed to type a sentance tho it wasn't implanted

Hey, I think the Brits want it so that they can shut down US planes...

In the first Iraq war we lost far more to US forces that the Iraqis. I notice that for the second war they trained your guys in "how to recognise your allies".

China's prime minister gave a surprisingly gloomy assessment of the state of the country's booming economy and fast-changing society in his annual speech to parliament yesterday.

In the face of near-euphoria among governments and businesses in the western world about the pace of its growth, Wen Jiabao said long-term economic health was at risk while society faced "deep-seated conflicts".

Wen Jiabao delivers the annual 'work report' yesterday
For years, Communist leaders have worried about the growing wealth gap between the expanding cities of the east coast and the rural interior. But yesterday Mr Wen, delivering the annual "work report" to the rubber-stamp National People's Congress, added the need to be concerned about "social equity".

This was a strong nod to concern that inequalities are not just caused by different rates of economic growth but by such issues as corruption and illegal expropriation of land by officials. "Some deeply-seated conflicts that have accumulated over a long time have yet to be fundamentally resolved, and new problems have arisen that cannot be ignored," he said.

[...]
Production gluts are increasingly severe, prices of related goods are falling and inventories are rising," he said. "Profits are shrinking, losses are growing and latent financial risks are increasing." If companies start defaulting on debts it could trigger a crisis in the banking system, which has given out huge loans to fuel the investment.

*blah blah * bush *blah blah* Is that really the entire substance of your argument?

Examples of EU/EC corruption:
Auditors reject EU accounts again
For E.U. Critics, a Cautionary Tale
Kinnock EU whistleblower 'hung out to dry'
EU accounting worse than Enron, says whistleblower
New scandal hits EC over insider trading
EU in turmoil after executive commission resigns

Wow, you are right, the EU/EC is a regular shining white pillar of purity. I'm being sarcastic, BTW. I found these examples with 3 minutes and google. Yes, there where many more. ~nate

*blah blah * bush *blah blah* Is that really the entire substance of your argument?

Examples of EU/EC corruption:
Auditors reject EU accounts again
For E.U. Critics, a Cautionary Tale
Kinnock EU whistleblower 'hung out to dry'
EU accounting worse than Enron, says whistleblower
New scandal hits EC over insider trading
EU in turmoil after executive commission resigns

Wow, you are right, the EU/EC is a regular shining white pillar of purity. I'm being sarcastic, BTW. I found these examples with 3 minutes and google. Yes, there where many more. ~nate

He relished the task, launching a reign of terror which was brutal even by the standards of the Baath Party.

According to opposition groups, thousands were murdered.

Victims were made to drink petrol before being set alight or strapped to concrete blocks and tipped into the Shatt-al-Arab waterway.

Bodies were bulldozed into the ground and, according to aid agencies, Al-Majid was filmed selecting Shia prisoners for execution. It was for his earlier atrocities, though, that he gained his nickname. He masterminded chemical attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s.

On one occasion he rejected suggestions he had killed 182,000 people with the chilling reply: "No, it couldn't have been more than 100,000."

His most infamous outrage was the use of poison gas to kill thousands of Kurds at Halabja in 1988.

Human Rights Watch covers it.

The Telegraph has done a series of stories: here, here, and here:

Like thousands of other Kurds who lived in Halabja he had become inured to the frequent artillery bombardments launched by Baghdad's big guns across the valley.

It was not until he saw a yellow mist settling over the town that he realised this attack was different.

Within hours his five children had died an excruciating death. They were among about 5,000 Kurds killed by Saddam Hussein's poison gas on March 16, 1988, as he exacted a hideous revenge for their support of Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.

The Christian Science Monitor did this story:

The memory of every Iraqi Kurd is seared with vivid images of Baghdad's 1988 genocide against its own ethnic Kurds when troops loyal to the Iraqi strongman were under orders to kill every Kurdish male in northern Iraq between the ages of 18 and 55. During the Anfal campaign, rights groups say more than 100,000 men disappeared, 4,000 villages were destroyed, and 60 more villages were subject to chemical weapons attack.

Some 5,000 Kurds died during the gassing of Halabja alone. The photograph of a man shielding an infant with his body ? both killed by gas ? has become an icon of Kurdish suffering and of Iraqi war crimes.

Although a part of the defense establishment didn't believe it for a time, the State Department apparently didn't get the word even in 2001.

This site has photos.

Why this should be hard to believe when Iraq was actively using chemical weapons against the Iranians at the time, and more and more mass graves with thousands of bodies from simple mass murder each are turning up in Iraq, I'll neven know.

Saddam's government apparently even killed as many as 61,000 just in Baghdad alone.

The survey obtained Monday, which the polling firm planned to release

He relished the task, launching a reign of terror which was brutal even by the standards of the Baath Party.

According to opposition groups, thousands were murdered.

Victims were made to drink petrol before being set alight or strapped to concrete blocks and tipped into the Shatt-al-Arab waterway.

Bodies were bulldozed into the ground and, according to aid agencies, Al-Majid was filmed selecting Shia prisoners for execution. It was for his earlier atrocities, though, that he gained his nickname. He masterminded chemical attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s.

On one occasion he rejected suggestions he had killed 182,000 people with the chilling reply: "No, it couldn't have been more than 100,000."

His most infamous outrage was the use of poison gas to kill thousands of Kurds at Halabja in 1988.

Human Rights Watch covers it.

The Telegraph has done a series of stories: here, here, and here:

Like thousands of other Kurds who lived in Halabja he had become inured to the frequent artillery bombardments launched by Baghdad's big guns across the valley.

It was not until he saw a yellow mist settling over the town that he realised this attack was different.

Within hours his five children had died an excruciating death. They were among about 5,000 Kurds killed by Saddam Hussein's poison gas on March 16, 1988, as he exacted a hideous revenge for their support of Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.

The Christian Science Monitor did this story:

The memory of every Iraqi Kurd is seared with vivid images of Baghdad's 1988 genocide against its own ethnic Kurds when troops loyal to the Iraqi strongman were under orders to kill every Kurdish male in northern Iraq between the ages of 18 and 55. During the Anfal campaign, rights groups say more than 100,000 men disappeared, 4,000 villages were destroyed, and 60 more villages were subject to chemical weapons attack.

Some 5,000 Kurds died during the gassing of Halabja alone. The photograph of a man shielding an infant with his body ? both killed by gas ? has become an icon of Kurdish suffering and of Iraqi war crimes.

Although a part of the defense establishment didn't believe it for a time, the State Department apparently didn't get the word even in 2001.

This site has photos.

Why this should be hard to believe when Iraq was actively using chemical weapons against the Iranians at the time, and more and more mass graves with thousands of bodies from simple mass murder each are turning up in Iraq, I'll neven know.

Saddam's government apparently even killed as many as 61,000 just in Baghdad alone.

The survey obtained Monday, which the polling firm planned to release

He relished the task, launching a reign of terror which was brutal even by the standards of the Baath Party.

According to opposition groups, thousands were murdered.

Victims were made to drink petrol before being set alight or strapped to concrete blocks and tipped into the Shatt-al-Arab waterway.

Bodies were bulldozed into the ground and, according to aid agencies, Al-Majid was filmed selecting Shia prisoners for execution. It was for his earlier atrocities, though, that he gained his nickname. He masterminded chemical attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s.

On one occasion he rejected suggestions he had killed 182,000 people with the chilling reply: "No, it couldn't have been more than 100,000."

His most infamous outrage was the use of poison gas to kill thousands of Kurds at Halabja in 1988.

Human Rights Watch covers it.

The Telegraph has done a series of stories: here, here, and here:

Like thousands of other Kurds who lived in Halabja he had become inured to the frequent artillery bombardments launched by Baghdad's big guns across the valley.

It was not until he saw a yellow mist settling over the town that he realised this attack was different.

Within hours his five children had died an excruciating death. They were among about 5,000 Kurds killed by Saddam Hussein's poison gas on March 16, 1988, as he exacted a hideous revenge for their support of Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.

The Christian Science Monitor did this story:

The memory of every Iraqi Kurd is seared with vivid images of Baghdad's 1988 genocide against its own ethnic Kurds when troops loyal to the Iraqi strongman were under orders to kill every Kurdish male in northern Iraq between the ages of 18 and 55. During the Anfal campaign, rights groups say more than 100,000 men disappeared, 4,000 villages were destroyed, and 60 more villages were subject to chemical weapons attack.

Some 5,000 Kurds died during the gassing of Halabja alone. The photograph of a man shielding an infant with his body ? both killed by gas ? has become an icon of Kurdish suffering and of Iraqi war crimes.

Although a part of the defense establishment didn't believe it for a time, the State Department apparently didn't get the word even in 2001.

This site has photos.

Why this should be hard to believe when Iraq was actively using chemical weapons against the Iranians at the time, and more and more mass graves with thousands of bodies from simple mass murder each are turning up in Iraq, I'll neven know.

Saddam's government apparently even killed as many as 61,000 just in Baghdad alone.

The survey obtained Monday, which the polling firm planned to release

The key problem is teaching children to question conventional wisdom. Kids need to be taught to always question what they know. Kids need to know what your teacher teaches you is what everyone "thinks" to be right at the moment, but who knows what the future will bring.

Sadly the never searched there own patent office (that would have really helped them along much sooner). It seems there was a 1928 patent filed for what would become the enigma machine.

http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml= /news/2001/04/20/ncyph20.xml

Things are much worse than that. We've started locking up innocent people indefinitely, using anti-terrorist laws on Holocaust survivors and have introduced a Hitleresque dictatorship law.

Next on the agenda is the world's most intrusive mass surveillance system and a law to bypass Parliamentary scrutiny.

We are heading towards a police state faster than 1930s Germany and probably less than 0.1% of the population are doing a thing to stop it.

It's scary to see how quickly the defences against fascism which we've evolved over a millenium have been dismantled. Assuming you're a US citizen, defend your Constitution with your life. And stop rendition and Guantanamo, for God's sake.

I have been talking with the House of Lords (our second House) about opposing the ID Cards Bill and although they understand the Orwellian implications, they're scared to oppose it in case Blair abolishes the Lords altogether.

Then they effectively took away your right to self-defense

Since when? Not having guns is not the same as no right to self-defence. See above. What has happened is that you're not allowed to shoot people in the back, as they run away from you - no matter how must they have pissed you off.

The fact is that Blair reneged on a promise to give a statutary right to householders to defend themselves.

Kind of ironic, coming from somebody that is objecting to the contents of a speech he didn't hear and can't find a transcript of, isn't it? But I'll bite.

My claim, which you are objecting to:

This is now known to be false; the treatment was in fact authorized (by redefining torture) and Bush has yet to recant his position. It looked for a minute as if McCain had cornered him into showing some sense, but his signing statement makes it clear that he still endorses torture. The only thing that clearly wasn't authorized (and what the Bush administration has actually objected to) is taking pictures of the torture and leaking it to the media. The "perps" who have so far been charged are (last I heard) only the low level grunts who got caught.

My proof (or at least a sampling thereof--there's lots more):

• The Bush administration redefined 'torture' to permit techniques such as used at Abu Grabe
• The Bush administration defends the need for torture
• The Bush administration has a system of secret prisons in which such torture is conducted
• McCain pushes to have torture outlawed
• Bush dodges with a "signing statement" saying he isn't bound by the ban
• The Bush administration primarily objects to the fact that pictures were taken
• ...and blames the leakers
• Only the low-level grunts who got caught have been nailed, and they got slaps on the wrist

There is, of course, a lot more where that came from.

Now, can you please back up your claim that Gore told the Arabs to attack us?

--MarkusQ

On the other hand:

3G masts 'cause health problems'

Microwaves open up the Blood Brain Barrier

Mobile phone radiation alters brain cells

(I grabbed these quickly - I believe all of them are reputable studies. The first is double blind, the one about the blood barrier was carried out close to where I work [in the cellphone industry btw])

This guy's obviously a bafoon, but he's got half a point (misdirected, but still...). I think we all know the link between mobile phones and cancer (despite what the telcos say). There's also a suspected link between mains electricity (and it's associated fields) and cancer:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2002/10/06/nemf06.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/10/06/i xhome.html

So the point being, the frequency is irrelevant, it's all to do with the magnetic and electric fields. When one or both of these are far in excess of ambient, they cause problems.

The new-age movement goes further to infer that all electrical devices give off 'bad vibes' in the form of positive ions (which make you feel tired, depressed etc). Clearly, transmitting devices are designed to propagate a signal, so it follows that they create more of these ions. Again, there's some science behind this, although arguable.

It looks like this guy is a bit misguided, but looking out for such things. For it to be any use at all, he'd have to ban phones, high current cables, and most of the engineering department, oh, not to mention around about every computer on campus.

To those people I will say take a moment to think about all the buildings that were destroyed in palestine, afghanistan and iraq and all the thousands of completely innocent people who have died in those countries as well. Maybe their suffering, death and destruction of their property deserves just a tiny little bit of outrage from you too.

Yeah, because I see the outrage from the kind and gentle Muslim religion...

I'm afraid to link to my blog entry on this topic but there are a few articles I think you should read. I'll post links for you.

First of all, millions have protested the cartoons and only a very small minority of hoodlums have gone through and committed acts of violence. When we in the United States try to focus on these minorities, we further alienate Muslims around the world. Why? Muslims are forced onto their heels to defend themselves against a rampaging minority much like what we had to do post-9/11 with terrorism. It hits squarely on the idea that Muslims are guilty until proven innocent wherever they are. I think the right course of action is to recognize the millions who protested peacefully around the world and understand our grievances. The best analogy I can give you is that after Hurricane Katrina there was severe lawlessness in New Orleans but it was a minority of people. Some took advantage of the situation but that didn't make the plight of the people dealing with the aftermath any less important. Trying to smear all Muslim protests with the they-are-evil-and-violent brush is just like neglecting to give aide to the thousands in New Orleans because of a few idiots. I hope that makes some sense.

In terms of the Taliban, they support a minor interpretation of Islam. It is akin to what Christian nutcases like Pat Robertson sound like when they say Prime Minister Sharon deserves what he gets because he gave up land to the Palestinians. I doubt any sane majority in the US would ever think that and you don't see Muslims labeling all Christians as fanatics.

By the way, I believe that many ancient Greek and Roman texts were translated into Arabic and then re-translated to English during the Renaissance.

This video from "Newshour with Jim Lehrer" provides a great explanation on this topic. Focus on what Ali Abunimah says. His viewpoint is right in line with 95% of Muslims worldwide.

1. EI on PBS's "Newshour with Jim Lehrer" (Flash based video player)

Here are the articles:

1. Conscience or commerce: that is the question By Roy Greenslade
2. These cartoons don't defend free speech, they threaten it by Simon Jenkins

Let me know if you want to continue.

... taking off your sandals and striking yourselfon the head until you bleed:

http://www.physorg.com/news10978.html

Warmer than a Hot Tub: Atlantic Ocean Temperatures Much Higher - Scientists have found evidence that tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures may have once reached 107F (42C)--about 25F (14C) higher than ocean temperatures today and warmer than a hot tub.

Ooops.. and that was normal back then? With oceans like that how much ice do you think was floating in them?

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/sun-on-earth/vars un.html

Mike Flaugher: It is my personal belief that with the beginning of Sunspot Cycle 23, we MAY be entering into a period of climate disturbance similar to that in the early 1800's, and POSSIBLY like that of the three major disturbances of the last millennium, the Wolf, Sporer and Maunder Minimums. The latter possibility we will not know with certainty for several decades. Solar Cycle 23, however, appears at this time poised to begin a major downshift in solar levels which may well cause reactions in the stratosphere and, through mechanisms now being studied as illustrated in some of the articles above, a series of reactions in the lower atmosphere. I believe that the manifestation of these changes may soon be felt as a shifting of weather patterns of moisture, dryness, and temperature.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2004/07/18/wsun18.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/18/i xnewstop.html

Global warming has finally been explained: the Earth is getting hotter because the Sun is burning more brightly than at any time during the past 1,000 years, according to new research. Dr Sami Solanki, the director of the renowned Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen, Germany, who led the research, said: "The Sun has been at its strongest over the past 60 years and may now be affecting global temperatures.

"The Sun is in a changed state. It is brighter than it was a few hundred years ago and this brightening started relatively recently - in the last 100 to 150 years."

Ooops. How are we going to turn down the Sun?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period

The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) or Medieval Climate Optimum was an unusually warm period during the European Medieval period, lasting from about the 10th century to about the 14th century. It has been argued a better name would be the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. The MWP is often involved in contentious discussions of global warming and the greenhouse effect.

Ooops. We've obviously already have been there - much to the chagrin of one or the other faction trying to justify social change by predicting dire climatic consequences. These factions - as the Wikipedia goes on - of course are hard at work trying to find ways to paint the current warming trend as something novel and unique even in view of literally rock-solid past evidence. The Wikipedia is another btw another good starting point for the debate between the global cooling/warming factions and the CO2 doomsday prophets.

While we're at it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_Climatic_Opt imum

Some more warming in timeframe of 9000 to 5000 years B.P (Before present, before 1950 CE that is):

The Holocene Climate Optimum was a warm period during roughly the interval 9,000 to 5,000 years B.P.. This event has also been known by many other names, including: Hypisthermal, Altithermal, Climatic Optimum, Holocene Optimum, Holocene Thermal Maximum, and Holocene Megathermal.

Temperature variations during the

"Sorta like in the U.K. now, what is it - four cameras for every citizen? Sad, really but look at it this way: Has anyone ever done something to your car or your property while you were sleeping?"

Yup, but cameras under *their* control will have rights unto themselves that trump your rights. I kid you not:

http://www.politechbot.com/2006/01/12/annoy-a-spee d/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2006/01/11/nvsign11.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/11 /ixhome.html

The above example is wrong on so many levels (e.g. nothing was done wrong in the first place, rather harsh punishment (can't drive for a year), likely targetted by sex and age, protecting a machine feelings, that this was noticed at all, the fact this was even prosecuted or wasn't even thrown out when the judge saw it or the guy was found guilty, camera used for reasons beyond its original intent, considering the intent of the camera why the camera was even taking the picture in the first place).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml;js essionid=R2SCQNKZZJTYJQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?xml=/con nected/2006/02/07/ecnthink07.xml&%5C1sSheet=/conne cted/2006/02/07/ixconn.html

Even the editors of Science are not immune to the fear of being tarred and feathered for daring to be un-PC.

What do you say to scientists like these that say the Sun may be just as, if not more responsible for, Global Warming, if it exists, than CO2 emissions? Kind of hard to wave the Kyoto treaty at the Sun and expect it to care. Despite claims to the contrary, plenty of people are still unconvinced, and not because they're sticking their heads in the sand...

Not only that, but in Germany, if you refuse to take a job assigned to you, you don't get social services... Since prostution is a legal and regulated, it's considered an actual job, and if you don't take a job, you're out of luck!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2005/01/30/wgerm30.xml

I saw somehting on Animal Planet the other day that showed common crows flipping the toads onto their backs and disembowling them and then eating up their yummy entrails! DELISH!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2004/05/31/wtoad31.xml

"Some species are learning how to deal with the toads. "Crows have learned to flip them over and eat their bellies out, avoiding the poison glands," Dr Kennett said."

The only real 'speech' laws that the US has that it activly tries to enforce over the Internet are child porn laws. Those are enforced because compelling a minor to strip naked and fuck a dog or whatever is illegal. China and the West are night and day when it comes to Internet content. The West makes almost no attempt to regulate the content that goes up. The US is actually the most extreme case that does the absolutely least regulation. If you want to throw up a Nazi hate site, that is a-okay in the US.

China is full of shit if they think there is any parallel between what the US does and what they do in terms of Internet censorship.

China's problem is that at some point they are going to have to turn around and face their internal problems in a constructive non-authoritarian manner. The US can have neo-Nazi websites because it has a stable political system that, while certainly not perfect, does a good job at keeping the masses content enough that rebellion doesn't linger on anyone's mind. China on the other hand has a political system where the masses have little say in governance. China has left the only opposition to government policies to be rebellion. As a result, China deals with constant (and little reported on) riots and instances of civil unrest that are completely alien to most Western governments.

A day of reckoning is coming for China, and their tardiness in opening up their government to oversight by the general populace is going to make this reckoning all the worse. China needs to take some more serious steps towards instituting good civil governance.

Don't believe that China has a serious problem with their ability to govern? Consider this fact. Official figures admit 74,000 individual incidents of unrest in 2004.*

*Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2006/01/16/wchina16.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/16 /ixworld.html

Civil rights are not prevented in any way by gun control (that is a very good thing and we want it. Don't you dare criticise our right not to get shot).

I take it that The main story of today didn't happen then?

CCTV has reduced crime a lot, and we don't like crime. It doesn't affect our civil rights at all.

Well at least some of the ones that abuse it get jailed

ID cards do not affect civil rights either at all.

Of course not. They are little pieces of plastic. The things that do affect civil rights are what happens when the massive central database is abused, by insiders or outsiders, or even sold off to dodgy criminals

Of course once you are required to carry them arround it will be easier to find out who is at a peaceful demonstration and quietly arrest them a few weeks later

America's problems are much worse, and in fact the UK is ahead of America in civil rights and such. We are just both behind places like Sweden.

Well Duh

Labour are not fascist. Conservatives are not for civil liberties either; they are just not against them.

Torys are against things that Labour are for. Labour are for Spin, PR, the credit economy, "Being seen to do something", Pleasing George, Pleasing Europe, or just Pleasing campaign contributers

I think Americas problems are actually much worse than the UKs, and we are certainally not doing worse things. You are just blind of the problems of America and uninformed about the problems of the UK if you think that.

Yup. America has a lot of problems, however it seems you're blind to the UK's problems, including unprecedent consumer debt, overvalued housing market, london-centric population, shaky stock market, collapsing pensions etc.

Tony Blair served notice yesterday that he was ready to renounce parts of the European convention on human rights if British and European judges continued to block the deportation of Islamic extremists in the wake of the London bombings.

The remainder of the article, entitled "Blair to curb human rights in war on terror", can be found here

Quick fact that average volcano spews more polution in an eruption than LA does in a year.

I'd love to know where you got the statistics for the amount of CO2 that LA (a single city) produces in a year. It sounds like a conjured statistic. Even if you're right, that's tiny compared to the total output of the US or the World.

Volcanoes do have an effect on global temperatures. However, volcanoes cause global cooling instead due to aerosols that may have been responsible for the difference in surface and atmosphere temperatures for the past 20 years. Actually, it turns out that the effect could've lasted even longer from the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 which caused "the year with no summer." Furthermore, the amount of CO2 released each year by volcanoes is miniscule according to this article by the USGS:

Scientists have calculated that volcanoes emit between about 130-230 million tonnes (145-255 million tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere every year (Gerlach, 1999, 1992). This estimate includes both subaerial and submarine volcanoes, about in equal amounts. Emissions of CO2 by human activities, including fossil fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring, amount to about 22 billion tonnes per year (24 billion tons) [ ( Marland, et al., 1998) - The reference gives the amount of released carbon (C), rather than CO2.]. Human activities release more than 150 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes--the equivalent of nearly 17,000 additional volcanoes like Kilauea (Kilauea emits about 13.2 million tonnes/year)!

The messianic nutjob leading Iran won't back down, he's a True Believer!

Unfortunately it's even worse than that:

The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.

[...]

He is said to have gone into "occlusion" in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.