ecnarf

Aaah, now that makes sense. CRUSADER YOU'RE A TREE or not....

I will get you a rucksack in plain brown, because that is entirely indie and will look cooler with your buttons.

I remember when I rented AoB from the library it came with "A pleasurable headache" and I read all the lyrics and I was supposed to return the CD with the book, but my mom took the CD and returned it and the booklet got lost in my house. So I stole from the library and have nothing to show for it.

Here is a chart about media coverage from Jon Stewart's America (the Book). It's about trials and determining how much coverage a trial should get. Defendant: A-list celebrity ... 100 points B-list celebrity ... 60 points Z-list celebrity ... 75 points Athlete ... 80 points Ex-athlete ... 75 points Clergy ... 50 points Crazed / disgruntled loner ... 25 points Crazed / disgruntled loner (cannibal) ... 45 points Journalist ... - 20 points Non-famous person ... 1 point Nature of Crime Sexual (unspeakable acts) ... 100 points Sexual (speakable acts) ... 60 points Sexual (clergy related) ... 80 points Murder ... 75 points Assault / biting ... 50 points Kidnapping ... 65 points Kidnapping (involving son of famed aviator) ... 95 points Shoplifting ... 35 points Shoplifting (clergy related) 36 points Drugs / alcohol ... 15 points White collar ... 3 points There's also a a formula for the coverage of a kidnapping: y = family income x (abductee cuteness / skin colour)^2 + length of abduction x media savvy griving parents^3 (y = minutes of coverage) Relatives story values: renegade oose in backyard < septuplets! < renegade truck on fire < ocnjoined babies < new disease outbreak (Africa < rest of world) < war! < disgruntled man with gun < baby briefly imperiled by celebrity Body Count Conversion rate 2,000 massacred Congolese = 500 drowned Bangladeshis = 45 fire-bombed Iraqis = 12 car-bombed Europeans = 1 snipered American I know that it's satire, but it's sadly very true. Overall, I think the reasoning for giving more attention to Western people getting killed compared to Iraqis being killed is that when Westerners are being killed, it is by people that are "different", usually because they are immigrants, dark-skinned and Muslim. Ergo, the murderers are essentially foreign. But when Iraqis are being killed, they're either being killed by their "fellow" brown-skinned Muslims (whether or not they're Arab or whether or not they're Iraqi), or they're being killed by the military. So, to the stereotypical jingoistic Americano, it's not as bad. I'm not trying to justify it, but it sadly exists.

Christy would look so cool with buttons on her backpack.

Are there really going to be buttons? I want there to be buttons so I can put them on my backpack and look cool!

Always a good idea to have some sort of a babysitter around so you don't go nuts and there's no one there to make fun of you for it later.

ME is the middle east. You're right on with your argument against Iraqis decrying the insurgency (I was way off with my reading of his statement). Iraqis are being victimized by these people, what good will it do if they "Stop it!" in some form? How would they even say that? You don't expect someone being raped to politely tell their rapist to stop raping them, do you? Even more crazy would be expecting the rapist to stop. It violates (no pun intended) the definition of rape.

I didn't imply that. It is a phrase commonly used by people of my culture. Not everything means the same in your world. Well, good for you. Really. So? What's your point? Are you faulting a country for keeping their economic interests at heart? Despite the fact that no country with any sense of morals would do business with any dictator, every country still does it. In this case, it was France doing business with this particular country and had their hands in the cookie jar. When it comes to other countries, the U.S. has had its hands in that cookie jar with arms trades and wielding tons of political influence. If the situation were reversed, and France wanted to invade Saddam on bogus intelligence and the U.S. stood to lose a whole lot of money, would there be something wrong with the U.S. protecting its interests? Furthermore, do keep in mind that the majority of the entire European continent, in terms of population, opposed the war. Regular people are oblivious to what contracts its government has with what countries. The fact remains that, economic interests or not, the French government was representing the opinion of the majority of its population. Likewise, the U.S., economic interests or not, invaded Iraq on the support of the majority of its population, even if it was for the wrong reasons. Yet people all over the world accuse the U.S. of invading Iraq for the oil, something which pro-war advocates deny. So I find that just a little bit odd. France can be accused of opposing the war for economic benefits (even though the French people opposed it), but the U.S. can't be accused of invading for economic benefit. Oh well. No dice. The majority of insurgents are foreign born, coming in from other countries in the middle east, Saudi Arabia in particular. Secondly, the home-grown insurgents certainly weren't terrorists that were being trained within Iraq. They're people that have been driven to extremism from extreme circumstances. Studies have been done showing that the majority of Iraqi civilian deaths were at the hands of the U.S. military, usually through poorly-aimed aimed missiles. You're right in saying that these people have no scruples. But how the hell do you think they came to murder people on a daily basis? Through the U.S. invading this country. Believe it or not, but this situation wouldn't be happening had the U.S. not invaded Iraq. The problem is that you can't fight "terrorism" by invading countries. That breeds terrorism. Distinctions have to be made between terrorist organizations and a political entity. There are states that support terrorism, such as Sudan, which was previously a safe haven for Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. But that doesn't mean you can invade that country and somehow reduce the strength of various Al-Qaeda cells. Remember when London's subway was bombed? That wasn't planned by Osama Bin Laden, it was planned by a group of homegrown Muslim extremists with spiritual ties to Al Qaeda, which kind of defeats the whole theory that hunting down Al Qaeda's leaders will reduce terrorism. Unless, of course, you could explain to me how it is, in fact, working. Shows how much you know. The fact that you think that WWI was a remotely worthwhile war really reveals your ignorance regarding world history. Unless you've had your eyes shut and your ears plugged, you'll see that there are muslims that are denouncing extremists that take it upon themselves to bomb civilians. Christ, even Hamas denounced the London bombings. What does that tell you? Gee, why should the Iraqis help the U.S.? You guys invade them, destroy their infrastructure, kill tens of thousands of people, and now it's up to the IRAQIS to make things better? In what world do you operate?

It isn't actually so bad in here. In some other forums, if I make a post in a thread that I'm not completely enthused with Harry Potter, I get flamed for there being something wrong with me / not having read any of the books and therefore not in a position to make a criticism, despite the fact that I did read two of the books and was otherwise unenthused.

Nay, Itchy, from the BBC: In the UK, it

http://gprime.net/video.php/pottercrash he he he.

Buddy, don't even pretend for a second that France and the anti-war countries were the only ones in the world with their hands in the Iraqi cookie jar. Furthermore, don't fool yourself into thinking that all the death in Iraq is because of the "terrorists". The U.S. issued an open invitation to them. Unless you hadn't been paying attention to the news before March 2003, Iraq had never once suffered a suicide bombing attack before the U.S. invasion. Now look at them. And don't even try to tell me that no attacks took place because of the fascist government, I'm not that stupid. Yes, Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator - but there are many more dictators in the world who are considerably worse than he could ever have hoped to be. The Iraqi quality of life has deteriorated since the invasion, no matter what way you look at it. You can't avoid that. And on top of that, since you complain so much about us hippies sitting around and complaining and not taking any action, how about you go to the U.S. and join the military and asked to be deployed to Iraq? That'd be showing us - you actually taking action for something you believe in and putting your ass on the line for it. EDIT: What the hell do you mean when you say that France will profit from the war? Unless I'm missing something, American companies are getting all the major contracts from the military for reconstruction. You want to explain to me what you're talking about?

It's a newfoundland thing. It's always a newfoundland thing.

The problem with the internet is that any idiot can post anything. And since nobody really knows every last detail that happened on 9/11, people are willing to believe what anyone says. I mean, David Icke and his bullshit about the Illuminati, and how 9/11 was a plot by a bunch of half-reptilian people who feast on human blood...

Sounds like JK had trouble making the transition between a children's novel featuring 11 year old kids to making a novel with a bunch of teenagers that isn't a children's novel. I've never really been into the HP craze, but I read a few of the books and wouldn't mind knowing how the plot goes.

B.C. has got to be the most beautiful province in Canada. I love the skiing there.

But remember that the policy of anti-communism had been inherited from the Eisenhower administration, and the Bay of Pigs plot was almost exclusively planned by the Eisenhower administration, but "approved", in a sense, by the Kennedy administration.

subterranean homesick alien - radiohead

The biggest problem I see with the "official story" (to use such a hideous term) is the lack of air cover for jets. NORAD is supposed to be notified once a plane moves eleven degrees (or so)beyond its planned flight or fails to properly communicate with air traffic control. It doesn't mean there was some government conspiracy, but it has to raise some serious questions about the air traffic controller of the day or whatever prevented jets from being scrambled.

The best thing about being white is that when you get kidnapped, die, or runaway the night before your marriage, it will make headlines for weeks.

I wouldn't be surprised if Europe were to one day just stand up to the U.S. When you consider that rednecks and religious fundamentalists who think the earth is 6,000 years old wield a considerable amount of voting, lobbying and legislative power, you have to wonder how long they'll maintain their position of global hegemony.

You realize that was done tongue in cheek?

What if everything that you think you know about Sept. 11 being wrong is wrong? dun dun dun.

It's a religious war because Bush has said that God himself directed him to attack Iraq...