Walsingham

I got round that by listening to stories whle exercising, or exercising with friends.

1. But not every man murders little kids when he crosses that line. 2. It still doesn't obviate my reaction as above. The entire world of a frontline soldier is shot through with pressures to make you run, disobey, and kill without reason. But soldiers don't. It's not just this arsehole went wrong. But he went wrong in a way that he probably knew was wrong. Hell, maybe it made him more extreme knowing that. But explanation and excuse are not the same thing.

Well, there is that. But then I was considering that, and one hardly feels like hopping about alll over the landscape if you're really overdrawn at the sleep bank.

Story I remember prepping a psychology experiment (many years ago) in which previous test subjects had shown the main impact of tiredness was getting peckish. Thoughts.

I'd been tracking the story of the individual/group murdering French paratroopers for a while, but wasn't expecting the killer to turn on a school. My analysis is that we are looking at a right wing individual. Possibly even someone who is/was a soldier. Anyone accept a fiver bet on?

Look, I approve in principle of trying to defend the guy. But just stop and think about what he did. Thousands (regrettably) of troops have PTSD. They get my respect and support. But when you start murdering women and kids, at night, when they're screaming with terror... You abandon understanding, you reject humanity. You're not on my side any more. You have crossed the **** over.

Don't worry, Big Green. It's just my sense of humour. My mum would approve. She hated mother's day for the reason Raithe already mentioned: too commercialised.

You're confusing imagination with actual thinking. One builds using facts.

And the easiest - if not the best - reply to that is to demand full disclosure from the champions of full disclosure. I'm not sure anyone can withstand 100% scrutiny of everything they do. I think it's why so many marriages fail.

I don't think I'm alone in seeing anyone who tries really hard to be totally clean cut as being a bit sinister. I mean I try to behave honourably. But I swear and drink ale and cheerfully stare at young ladies, so I feel it balances out.

Mother's day is a ludicrous notion. Of course. I don't have to buy a card any more! Ha!

Good luck on that, Labadal. Just bear in mind what happened to poor Sand.

Makes you think, tho. How hard would it be to slip a guy some sativa or acid? Instant public fail. Anyone could do that. I'm waiting to see what story emerges.

Care to elaborate? Dude, you're old enough to know she doesn't have to elaborate.

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!