Then why did the Barbary Pirates hate us? We had been a country for maybe 10 years when they started capturing our ships and holding our seamen hostage.
Also, are you honestly suggesting we should've ignored the actions of the Soviet Union during the cold war? We were trying to keep them out of the Middle East so they couldn't lock up the oil supply (an oil supply that was desperately needed in Europe, though not so much in the US). So maybe we did bad things then, and mistakes were made. That's no excuse for the carnage these people are wrecking today.
As far as there being a 'group of people who only want to kill', there isn't a group, just many, many individuals that end up defying attempts to put them in a group. They cut across ages, nationalities, races, religions.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Oh, wait, you were serious? Did you forget to take your meds again? There's absolutely no way anyone in a post 9/11 world can actually say there is not a group of people who desire to kill everyone else, and by that refer to Al Qaeda and like-minded murderous thugs, and not be completely insane.
The vast, over-whelming, majority of terrorists are (say it aloud): * Young * Muslim * Males
Sure, there are the occassional Muslim females who are terrorists. And I know you'll bring up people like Timothy McVeigh and what's-his-face in Georgia, the abortion clinic bomber, and a few others. But the overwhelming majority of terrorists are young Muslim males. So, don't let any young Muslim males fly on planes, and you've just saved the rest of us a HUGE inconvenence.
Has it not occurred to you that it doesn't really matter what we do at this point? These people are still pissed about the Crusades, do you think they're just going to forgive and forget and we all live happily ever after? No, they won't. Whatever you think of previous policies, the cat's out of the bag and it's time to MoveOn, stop complaining about old mistakes. Let's focus on the future and saving our civilization.
Al Qaeda especially is composed almost exclusively of Wahabbi Muslims. They seek the return of the Caliphate, and a worldwide Umma. Everything else is secondary to, and supportive of, those goals.
On the other side of the aisle, you have hard core Shia, like the President of Iran. They seek an apocalypse that will herald the arrival of the Mahdi, who will then exterminate the Jews and rule the world for seven years, at which time Isa (the Muslim name for Jesus) will return and judge the living and the dead and end the world.
You simply cannot separate these people's religions from their politics. Take off your blinders and start seeing things as they really are, not as you want them to be.
They don't want people to be religious in a general sense, they want people to become Muslim, which has not happened yet. Specifically, their brand of Muslim, whether that's Shia or Sunni (usually Wahabbi Sunni).
You really need to educate yourself on what the Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam are.
I think you'll find that meddling in (and destabilising) the entire middle east region for the best part of half a century got the US in this mess, actually.
That would explain the al-Qaeda linked attacks on Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, and Bali.
Oh, wait, no it doesn't. Only recognizing that fanatical hatred is the root cause of terrorism explains those things.
It seems to me that if the terorists wanted to cause chaos and confusion, they've been doing a good job.
Except that's not what they want to do. They (and by "they" I mean Islamist terrorists) want everyone in Dar al-Harb to either become Muslim and join the Dar al-Islam, or die. Sowing confusion isn't really a part of either of those.
You will get no argument out of me that Hezbollah are a terrorist organisation.
Funny, seems like that's what you've been arguing all along.
Likewise Israel has a right to defend itself.
So it's ok for Israel to launch attacks, then?
However its actions to date make them no better then the terrorists they are fighting.
Oh, I guess it isn't.
It's 5:32 central time, isn't it almost time for your evening prayers? Just make sure a dog doesn't walk in front of you, cause it wouldn't count then.
Y'know what's really so bad about all this? It's exactly what the terrorists want.
That depends on which "terrorists" you're talking about. If they're Islamist terrorists, this isn't what they want, they just want everyone who isn't a Muslim dead. If they're IRA, this isn't what they want, they just want the British out of Ireland. If they're KKK, this isn't what they want, they just want all blacks to be subserviant to whites. If they're PKK, this isn't what they want, they just want Turkey out of the eastern provinces and to realize a modern Kurdistan. If they're marxist rebels in the Philipines, this isn't what they want, they just want the Philipino government to become a marxist state.
Come to think of it, there are no terrorist groups who have total government survellience as their stated or perceived goal. Except maybe for the Democrats/New Labor/Republicans/Tories.
Then it must be legal to shout fire in a crowded theater, or to post an article in the local newspaper saying that Thanatopsis rapes kittens for fun when he's not cheating on his taxes.
No? None of those things are legal? But I thought freedom of speech and the press were absolute rights?
The problem in this case is that the reporters aren't committing a crime. You see the difference? The government is forcing records out of regular citizens to use in witchhunts against whistleblowers and suspected lawbreakers. There is no part of that that is in any way cool.
Not entirely correct (though not entirely wrong, either). The records were needed so the grand jury could decide if there's sufficient evidence to warrant an indictment, after which the AG can move on to trial and determine if the reporters are guilty of a crime. So a crime may have occurred, but we don't know for sure yet. That's why the records are needed, and it's a perfectly reasonable reason to request those records.
It's not a question of whether it would have been "all right". Israel is doing what they can to minimize civilian deaths. Islamist terrorists (like the 9/11 hijackers and Hezbollah) do what they can to maximize civilian deaths. If you can't see the moral difference between those two, you're a completely lost cause.
Sure, there are lots of people who use Firefox and Outlook. I'm one, and so is everyone else in my department. We have to use Outlook for work, and we choose to use Firefox as our browser (usually with the IE extension to view parts of the intranet that use ActiveX). Happily, our anti-spam systems on both the gateways and the Exchange servers are configured to strip out.exe files (and most other attachments), so we (probably) won't fall prey to this thing.
Aaah, I misunderstood your statement. I thought you talking about mortgaging a house specifically to invest the money, not as a strategy to obtain additional capital, freeing up other funds for investments. Then, yes, that's a perfectly rational strategy, and one which millions of people do every day. Though Dave Ramsey makes some pretty convincing arguments that it's not a good idea, you should check out his site or browse his books next time you're in Borders.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go fund my new FOREX account with my Visa gold card.
The NASD has a rule that if a broker allows you to invest the proceeds of a home loan, he will lose his license and be fined (severely). So that's out.
Now, if you want to sell bonds to people and invest those proceeds into capital improvements of yourself, with the promise of some kind of repayment strategy in the future, that's one thing. But mortgaging your house to invest in the stock market is beyond stupid.
Slashdot Mirror
Then why did the Barbary Pirates hate us? We had been a country for maybe 10 years when they started capturing our ships and holding our seamen hostage.
Also, are you honestly suggesting we should've ignored the actions of the Soviet Union during the cold war? We were trying to keep them out of the Middle East so they couldn't lock up the oil supply (an oil supply that was desperately needed in Europe, though not so much in the US). So maybe we did bad things then, and mistakes were made. That's no excuse for the carnage these people are wrecking today.
As far as there being a 'group of people who only want to kill', there isn't a group, just many, many individuals that end up defying attempts to put them in a group. They cut across ages, nationalities, races, religions.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Oh, wait, you were serious? Did you forget to take your meds again? There's absolutely no way anyone in a post 9/11 world can actually say there is not a group of people who desire to kill everyone else, and by that refer to Al Qaeda and like-minded murderous thugs, and not be completely insane.
The vast, over-whelming, majority of terrorists are (say it aloud):
* Young
* Muslim
* Males
Sure, there are the occassional Muslim females who are terrorists. And I know you'll bring up people like Timothy McVeigh and what's-his-face in Georgia, the abortion clinic bomber, and a few others. But the overwhelming majority of terrorists are young Muslim males. So, don't let any young Muslim males fly on planes, and you've just saved the rest of us a HUGE inconvenence.
Sounds like you're saying "the best way to avoid being attacked is to do what you have to to make them like you".
That's been tried before.
Has it not occurred to you that it doesn't really matter what we do at this point? These people are still pissed about the Crusades, do you think they're just going to forgive and forget and we all live happily ever after? No, they won't. Whatever you think of previous policies, the cat's out of the bag and it's time to MoveOn, stop complaining about old mistakes. Let's focus on the future and saving our civilization.
Al Qaeda especially is composed almost exclusively of Wahabbi Muslims. They seek the return of the Caliphate, and a worldwide Umma. Everything else is secondary to, and supportive of, those goals.
On the other side of the aisle, you have hard core Shia, like the President of Iran. They seek an apocalypse that will herald the arrival of the Mahdi, who will then exterminate the Jews and rule the world for seven years, at which time Isa (the Muslim name for Jesus) will return and judge the living and the dead and end the world.
You simply cannot separate these people's religions from their politics. Take off your blinders and start seeing things as they really are, not as you want them to be.
Do a search for "prepaid legal", you'll get lots of information.
They don't want people to be religious in a general sense, they want people to become Muslim, which has not happened yet. Specifically, their brand of Muslim, whether that's Shia or Sunni (usually Wahabbi Sunni).
You really need to educate yourself on what the Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam are.
You do of course understand that not all Muslims are intolerant, and that indeed not all Arabs are Muslims. Right?
Name one (that isn't practicing taqiya) when he preaches tolerance. Any religion that has lying as a core belief is not to be trusted.
For more information read Understanding Dishonesty and Deceit in Islam.
I think you'll find that meddling in (and destabilising) the entire middle east region for the best part of half a century got the US in this mess, actually.
That would explain the al-Qaeda linked attacks on Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, and Bali.
Oh, wait, no it doesn't. Only recognizing that fanatical hatred is the root cause of terrorism explains those things.
It seems to me that if the terorists wanted to cause chaos and confusion, they've been doing a good job.
Except that's not what they want to do. They (and by "they" I mean Islamist terrorists) want everyone in Dar al-Harb to either become Muslim and join the Dar al-Islam, or die. Sowing confusion isn't really a part of either of those.
You will get no argument out of me that Hezbollah are a terrorist organisation.
Funny, seems like that's what you've been arguing all along.
Likewise Israel has a right to defend itself.
So it's ok for Israel to launch attacks, then?
However its actions to date make them no better then the terrorists they are fighting.
Oh, I guess it isn't.
It's 5:32 central time, isn't it almost time for your evening prayers? Just make sure a dog doesn't walk in front of you, cause it wouldn't count then.
Y'know what's really so bad about all this? It's exactly what the terrorists want.
That depends on which "terrorists" you're talking about. If they're Islamist terrorists, this isn't what they want, they just want everyone who isn't a Muslim dead. If they're IRA, this isn't what they want, they just want the British out of Ireland. If they're KKK, this isn't what they want, they just want all blacks to be subserviant to whites. If they're PKK, this isn't what they want, they just want Turkey out of the eastern provinces and to realize a modern Kurdistan. If they're marxist rebels in the Philipines, this isn't what they want, they just want the Philipino government to become a marxist state.
Come to think of it, there are no terrorist groups who have total government survellience as their stated or perceived goal. Except maybe for the Democrats/New Labor/Republicans/Tories.
Let's check wikipedia and see if it's true.
It is now!
Hey, I saw that movie!
Then it must be legal to shout fire in a crowded theater, or to post an article in the local newspaper saying that Thanatopsis rapes kittens for fun when he's not cheating on his taxes.
No? None of those things are legal? But I thought freedom of speech and the press were absolute rights?
The problem in this case is that the reporters aren't committing a crime. You see the difference? The government is forcing records out of regular citizens to use in witchhunts against whistleblowers and suspected lawbreakers. There is no part of that that is in any way cool.
Not entirely correct (though not entirely wrong, either). The records were needed so the grand jury could decide if there's sufficient evidence to warrant an indictment, after which the AG can move on to trial and determine if the reporters are guilty of a crime. So a crime may have occurred, but we don't know for sure yet. That's why the records are needed, and it's a perfectly reasonable reason to request those records.
WTF? That's the image that showed up when I followed your link.
It's not a question of whether it would have been "all right". Israel is doing what they can to minimize civilian deaths. Islamist terrorists (like the 9/11 hijackers and Hezbollah) do what they can to maximize civilian deaths. If you can't see the moral difference between those two, you're a completely lost cause.
Yes, because no one's ever heard of a successful Open Source project headed by someone known for his childish rants and rash behavior.
Getting horse porn isn't as hard as you think. Just check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_porn
Sure, there are lots of people who use Firefox and Outlook. I'm one, and so is everyone else in my department. We have to use Outlook for work, and we choose to use Firefox as our browser (usually with the IE extension to view parts of the intranet that use ActiveX). Happily, our anti-spam systems on both the gateways and the Exchange servers are configured to strip out .exe files (and most other attachments), so we (probably) won't fall prey to this thing.
The Final Fantasy series has made me shed tears (however mildly) on a number of occasions. I am a 24 year old male.
;)
Thank you for demonstrating the subtle difference between "male" and "man".
Aaah, I misunderstood your statement. I thought you talking about mortgaging a house specifically to invest the money, not as a strategy to obtain additional capital, freeing up other funds for investments. Then, yes, that's a perfectly rational strategy, and one which millions of people do every day. Though Dave Ramsey makes some pretty convincing arguments that it's not a good idea, you should check out his site or browse his books next time you're in Borders.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go fund my new FOREX account with my Visa gold card.
The NASD has a rule that if a broker allows you to invest the proceeds of a home loan, he will lose his license and be fined (severely). So that's out.
Now, if you want to sell bonds to people and invest those proceeds into capital improvements of yourself, with the promise of some kind of repayment strategy in the future, that's one thing. But mortgaging your house to invest in the stock market is beyond stupid.
I've actually had a customs agent at Gatwick Airport (London, UK) ask me if I had any porn on my laptop...He offered suggestions on where to get it...
I dunno, it sounds to me like he was just asking to see your collection, in case there was anything there he wanted to copy for himself.
Talk about ironic timing. Just as I started reading your comment, I got the same popup notification that it was time to restart Firefox.