Walsingham

That's right. Everything is being run by the CIA. They also know where you left that pen. You know, the nice one.

According to the Beeb it's _one person_ who said he was naked and saluting solo. It'll be interesting to see what the real story turns out to have been.

I'm not sure calling Karzai a puppet isn't underestimating him and his web of supporters. Afghan internal politics is so complicated that people on the ground don't fully get it. I think a little humility on our part would be more dignified.

Maybe it's because I stil haven't eaten, but I just find that sad.

Maybe we could snaffle a forum noob? Make it a rolling post. Sort of by way of an introduction. (by invitation, of course) Who's new to the forum?

"There's something deeply satisfying about mithering a cat." - Uncle Mort

He'll be put in charge of the Department of Homeland Security knowing our luck... and all of a sudden the FBI has permission from him to bug your computer and watch all your salacious pornz. Does that count as piracy?

Happy St Patrick's Day, to all! After all, St. Patrick was English.

If they had ONLY released material through the papers you mention I'd have less of a problem. Although I'd still have issues with Bradley Manning holding a volunteer post and leaking sensitive material basically because he was a bit upset with Army policy towards _him_. I'd take issue with any activity being viewed as good in itself. Using a fire extinguisher, or doing a mastectomy is only healthy if it is done at the right time, for the right reasons, and in the right way. You can't just say embarassing corporations is great because corporations are always evil. For starters - and I reckon you'll accept this, to be fair - corporations aren't always evil. I get annoyed by corporate governance and the dominant stranglehold they have on our collective psyche. But I don't pretend they're inherently evil. Just inherently a bit crap. I feel the same way about sausage rolls. Much like a sausage roll I don't regard measures against them as being a case of proprtionate and appropriate action. If a sausage roll is actively dangerous then report it to the authorities democratically appointed to do something about it, and have them met by the full force of the law. Breaking into a bakery and chucking sausage rolls about achieves nothing. *pause* Ah. It would be breakfast time, then.

I was just thinking it might be fun to try something similar to this nomination->vote on nominees concept with food. Get a bunch of hardcore - I don't know - popcorn enthusiasts to choose flavours, then see how the public like them. I bet you'd get just the same strange mix of extreme tastes. Or I should just go to bed.

When can we expect our apology? Our president was quick enough the grovel to them. It kind of puts things into a little perspective. Unless some of you think shooting US Marines in the back is ok. I have no doubt whatsoever some of you do. We are wasting our time there. Nation building is a fools errand that will only leave them nice new facilities when the Taliban takes back over and kills everyone once we do leave. We should have pulled once they were deposed. Everyone who died since then died for nothing once the inevitable happens. I don't think it's exactly treachery in the classic sense, GD. The Talibs have been making a huge effort for years to get their people into uniform precisely so they can pull stunts like that described. They have a much better grasp of how to **** us up than we do of how to nail them. Trust between us and the Afghan troops is vital; and shooting us in the back undermines that. The thing you may want to wonder at is how few incidents appear to be happening, given how hard the opposition are trying. However, as in every other part of this bloody war our own civilian press play directly into the hands of the Talibs by pushing exactly the line they were aiming at. Maybe there's nothing to be done about that. But it hardly fills me with confidence in the long-term feasibility of democracy if we actively conspire against ourselves!

Screw the fishing, I'm in. I say Holmes, whats our first case! I don't know. I guess we should aim for something on culturally neutral turf for both of us. I guess we could investigate postal fraud in Tijuana, or art theft in NYC. Or counterfeit waffles in Bruges.

I wouldn't say it was mainstream, but NorAid raised a lot of money for the IRA. Money spent on bombs and bullets, so I've been told. I just looked at the Wiki page for NorAid, and it's been hilariously truncated. Regardless, many whip-rounds went on in pubs in Boston etc. Make your own mind up, I feel. But for myself I'm keen to move on. I have nothing but contempt for terrorists, but waffling about it merely fans the embers of what should be a dead conflict.

I may be being thick, but i don't follow you, Zor. It sounds like you agree that these 'movements' do nothing besides embarass at an almost abstract level. But i can't help feeling you were trying to say something between the lines/in that last sentence. Are you saying it's because of a reluctance to act? My understanding is that it's not possible for action on the basis of wikileaks or hacking because the evidence chain is irretrievably corrupted. I'd contrast this with situations where individuals have gone to major newspapers. I can't cite any examples, and correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't we seen instances like the MPs expenses scandal where newspapers get action? Pretty confused post on my part. Probably should be asleep already.

The biggest problem I think we've had the whole way through is that we keep using bureaucrats to engage with and help people who have an instinctive - and I would say healthy - hatred of bureaucracy. Bureaucrats following SOPs dragged Sergeant Massmurder out. Charles Napier would have handed him straight over to the locals.

I love the way that the OP was about organised militias murdering peole for looking a bit gay, but within one page it was back to the usual suspects flailing away about how America is evil. You people (and you know who you are) are unhealthily obsessed. There's no way it's rational. I'm amazed no-one's written it up as a pathology.

Going back a step, why the hell couldn't the slogan have been 'General Butt Naked 2012'. There would have bound to be some hilarious misunderstandings.

On the one hand, I'm sorry to hear you lost someone, mate. On the other hand I personally find that American 'patriotism' about Ireland mocks the whole business far more effectively than anything I've ever seen. Also, WTHF is an SA82? The standard assault rifle, but it plays ?

I have decided that GD and I should team up to solve a crime of some sort. He has all sorts of guns, and I have a supercilious eyebrow. Plus we can keep making comments about the other's homes. Crawdads and cricketbats, or something.

I think the problem is that we've become a bit confused about the purpose of democracy. We keep insisting on voting for radicals with 'big' solutions to our problems, when - and I speak from experience - our national problems are far too complex to be dealt with by huge sweeping changes. Unless that's the only way they can be dealt with. Damnit. Now I'm confused.

LOL. Well that's comprehensively ruined the campaign for me. Although I do have to ask if we're not just tearing down a laudable attempt to nail a complete bastard simply because it's too shiny.

WTF is wrong with the Republican party? Is it really so hard to find a normal person with so many US citizens to choose from?

Told in no uncertain terms to take a day off, by my one-up. Slept for 12 hours. Dreamed about a 'Mr Handy' robot and I travelling across Cuba. It turned out that the robot's personality had been copied from a German actress. It kept spazzing out murderously whenever a love song came on the the radio. Pretty cool. I have, however, contracted a cold, and lost my voice.

I'm with Krooklie on this. The moral puritans are insisting on a degree of saintliness in intention and conduct which means good isn't being done. If I were gakking homeless I'd rather have 20 bucks than no bucks.

I've had a chance to think about Zor's post, and I can't agree. Far from this 'anthill kicking' discombobulating corporations and weakening them, it simply consolidates their power. Anything remotely relating to security or government is going to be subject to standards of security which make it all but impossible for anyone who is NOT a mega-corporation to sustain them. And even if you don't have a problem with all government contracts (often 50%+ of an economy) going to big corporations on grounds of suspicion, that's not going to promote innovation or responsibility. Big corps are lazy, and always prefer to fight a contractual point rather than deliver excellence (IMO). Meanwhile, as I've said before, what actual acccountability have Anonymous or wikileaks actually promoted? I want an answer on this point from any supporters they have here: how many court cases have derived from Wikileaks material so far?