Hildegard

Nice pic julianw ....here's a pic for Bastila fans I found on some site....

Why do I have a feeling that Nur Ab Sal's post will cause flaming? "

Nightwish: Elvenpath

No, it isn't.

Ever the sharp one. :D Although I did want to know if my guess was correct. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hey sharp one here's a little more info about the Musae (Musai) just to keep you 'sharp': Musae filiae fuerunt Iovis omnipotentis et Mnemosynes, deae memoriae. Omnis homo artem culturus eas colebat. Clio sermone soluto historiam hominum deumque narrabat. Calliope calamo in tabulis ceratis de gloria poetarum scribebat. Euterpe in tibiis canebat. Erato digitis fila premens modulamina fingebat. Thalia homines oblectatura, personam comicam portabat. Melpomene(GroinOfDespair ) persona tragica hominibus tragoediam agebat. Terpsichore lyra cognoscebatur, Urania sidera caeli spectabat. Polyhymnia pallio induta conspectu somniculoso errabat.

Yes.....musai - Muses in greek.

I can think of several: Mets and those like him, who inspire us to discuss; Kaftan and Jags, who inspire us to laugh; Epiphany and other trolls, who inspire us to anger; and the Mods, who inspire us to behave. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Good suggestion, although those aren't 9 of them, but never the less: TUM PECCET .....I wonder how our would be .....

Who would suppose to be the Musai around here?( no matter the gender)

Prima virtus est vitio carere - as a God trait. "

Nice wallpaper Zulu, great job ....mmmmm Bastila

The current constitution basicly reflects reality of nation it is meant to serve, creating loose federation that will be good deal for Kurds, Shiites and even ordinary Sunnis, the country is divided and we shouldn't delude ourselves otherwise. Drawing up constitution that would artificially bind three divergent societies together at this point would only polarize and create only friction, violence and civil war.... The new constitution must achieve the country's interests and bring democratic and political reforms. One of the main dangers is rushing into finalizing the document, by rushing into meeting its deadline on August 25th, the leaders had still not resolved substantive differences, hastening to finalize the draft constitution on a tight schedule while the different forces hold on to their demands could delay this step indefinitely. Rushing into endorsing a draft charter 'in the eleventh hour' will have dangerous results and it could only open the door to more violence and bloodshed, taking apart what is left of the political and constitutional institutions. One of the main problem lies in the US-sponsored January elections that were boycotted by the Arab Sunnis, or 20 percent of the population, and they are now politically weak. The Sunni support is vital for ending the growing insurgency, adding their fear was justified in losing out in a federal state envisioned by the country's Shiites and Kurds. As the Sunnis have a major role in the resistance against the country's 'occupation' by US-led foreign troops and the US-guided transitional government, the ongoing anarchy will not end quickly if an agreement or a compromise isn't reached with Sunni's and all sides, but this could easily qualify as 'mission impossible'. On the other side the new breed of pro-US Iraqi leaders will not be able to achieve a peaceful and stable Iraq by sidelining the Sunnis, whom have governed the country for decades, the new government can benefit from their experience ( I'm not talking here about Saddam's butchers but regural goverment officials and administration) instead of ignoring them, because let's not forget most of the Shi'it and Kurd leaders have little experience when it comes to governing a nation. When I see all the rush meeting the deadline to complete the constitution and the last-minute concessions it only shows it came to serve the American, not Iraqi interests, unfortunatly so. President George W. Bush was seeking to endorse this constitution through any means to tell his growing opposition at home that Iraq's political process and democracy is moving forward. I think draft charter will not save Bush nor stop his declining popularity at home, nor will it be a step towards his 'strategy to escape'( many predict Christmas 2006), because the war in Iraq for the US is like quicksand, the harded it tries to get out, deeper it will sink in the cycle of unstability and violence. The oponnents of the constitution argue that the draft charter is not preparing Iraq for a peaceful country, but for a possible civil war because in their opinion it consolidates the dictatorship of the majority in an ugly and unprecedented manner, they see it as a dictatorship based on the force of occupation, not on the basis of ethics and logic. The US must be very careful to evenly distribute power amongst all sides as much as possible, Meta said it pretty much all when it comes to the Kurds, but if too much power goes to the Iraqi Shi'it there is a credible danger of Iraq turning into an fundamentalist state because of their rather extreme points of view when it comes to Islam and because of strong influence of Shi'it Iran on the Iraqi Shi'it political party.....therefor Sunni must given an according amount of political power they deserve and also to be 'the safety brake' of the new Iraq so the things above wouldn't happen - it would be a complete fiasco and a disaster for the US to spend more then $200 billion dollars and more then 2000 of its troops so far to support a constitution that would in the end establish an Islamic fundamentalist state in Baghdad. There just isn't a clear and simple solution to this question, no matter what path they take there will certainly be many problems and obstacles in the way - my philosophy would be E doubus malis minus eligere oportet, but as I said it's not that simple - I sincerely hope when the time comes the people who are running the show will make the 'right' decisions....onwards we can only hope everything will turn out to be O.K.

Cease fire everyone damn it ! ! !

Charming as always...

Well, Aphrodite was the Goddess of Prostitution, and there is Fertility, etc. I was trying to find a Goddess that portrayed your stature on the forum. You are well respected a rule from a lofty perch. And I don't think there is a Greek Goddess of Emoticons. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Demeter was kinda boring, but she did ride on a chariot pulled by winged serpents. Or maybe Thoosa ... THOOSA was a HALIAS (Sea) NYMPHE loved by the god Poseidon. She was probably a goddess of dangerously swift currents. She was probably conceived as a mermaid-like woman with the serpentine-tail of a fish in place of legs, much like her sisters Skylla and Ekhidna. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Or maybe: NIKE - GODDESS OF VICTORY

So, you want to be Notos, eh? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I want to be THE ANEMOI : the Boreas, the Zephyros and Notos.

Actually the closest star in the Alpha Centauri system is Alpha Proxima. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, not the closest, and is in the Canis Major system (larger Dog group), in the Southern Hemisphere, near Orion (which contains the etymological curiousity Betelgeuse and its brightest star Rigel). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You're right.....I mixed up the the brightest star in Earth's nighttime sky with the closest. .... am I 'mixing' up things this evening, it's probably because I'm

I'm the cold breath of winter, the light breezes of spring and the rain-storms of late summer and autumn.

Enigma: Orinoco Flow

I mixed Calax's sig with your name, thought it was yours - sorry. I called you 'Alpha Centauri dude' because Sirius A is the closest star to earth located in the Alpha Centauri system, that's all

That's right and your 1st sig says it all Alpha Centauri dude <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Alpha Centauri? never played it and never know where it came from other than my brother.... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My bad....... I mixed you up with Sirius.

That's right and your 1st sig says it all Alpha Centauri dude

Regarding the effects on the referendum/constituition....well it goes like this: Thousands of Shi'ite Muslims held a rally in the southern Iraqi city of Basra Friday to show support for the country's draft constitution. An estimated 5,000 Iraqi Shi'ites marched through the streets of Basra chanting, "yes to the constitution." On the other hand the proposed charter is opposed by many Iraqi Sunni Arabs, and several hundred of them in the western town of Ramadi showed their displeasure Friday with a noisy demonstration of their own, so it's really nothing new - just a new episode Shi'ite vs. Sunni. When it comes to the march - It was the largest such gathering in Iraq since the country's Shi'ite and Kurdish-dominated National Assembly adopted the charter five days ago. The event is believed to have been organized by the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the Dawa Party. The two political entities have ties to neighboring Iran, and form the largest majority Shi'ite grouping in Iraq. They dominate the country's interim government, and their representatives played a key role in shaping the draft constitution. But the document, which advocates a federalist arrangement for the Kurdish oil-rich north and the predominantly Shi'ite oil-rich south, is bitterly opposed by the country's minority Sunni Arabs. The Sunnis view federalism in the constitution as a blueprint for dividing Iraq into sectarian-based, semi-autonomous regions, leaving the Sunni Arabs in the middle of the country unable to share in the country's oil wealth. Sunni Arabs have also rejected phrases in the constitution referring to Iraq as an Islamic, but not Arab, country. The omission of the word Arab was a concession to the non-Arab Kurds. But Sunnis say it threatens the nation's ties to other Arab countries in the region. On Friday, several hundred people in the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi, in western Anbar province, staged their own demonstration against the proposed charter. The protesters urged ordinary Sunnis and Shi'ites to unite against what they perceive as a ploy by the Shi'ite politicians in government to bring Iraqis under the influence of Shi'ite Iran. A prominent Sunni Iraqi-American activist, Hatem Mukhlis, says he believes, if the draft constitution is put before a national referendum on October 15 without any changes, it has the potential to worsen the chaos and violence in Iraq. "A bad constitution is much worse than no constitution," he said and I think he's right. The draft constitution has been disastrous, unfortunately, because there are so many points there that are not going to be acceptable to many Iraqis, let alone in Sunni areas. What they need to do is to have a draft constitution modified enough, so that everybody could accept it for this period of time, so that they can get over this period. They can get to the elections, without going through this battle of trying to knock it out. If at least three out of Iraq's 18 provinces reject the charter in the referendum, new elections will have to be held to choose another transitional assembly, which would then have to start writing another constitution from scratch. If Iraqis approve the draft constitution on October 15, that will pave the way for national elections on December 15 to choose a permanent government. Some angry Sunni leaders have vowed to launch a no-vote campaign in four Sunni-dominated provinces, in an attempt to defeat the charter in the referendum. But last week, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, suggested that further changes may be made to the document in order to win Sunni Arab approval, so it's still unclear how this will unfold......

Well it all stands what you said that we don't know excatly 100% what consequences would a nuclear conflict cause, but ~5000 nuclear explosion would certainly cause global effects....would it be fatal to all man kind or not is debatable....

Sonata Artica:Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed