Walsingham

One of the players has been in Canada. Be calm, clamourous fans...

I'm so inexpressibly tired of George Orwell fanbois spouting this drivel. The fact is that terror attacks have killed tens of thousands of civilians, and would cheerfully threaten many more without the tireless efforts of numerous police and military services. (Leaving aside the obvious) Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia these are just the front line as it currently stands. Behind that consider Nigeria, the Mahgreb, Thailand, Malaysia, the Caucasus... Then we have the attacks which have been perpetrated as rarities, but plotted in large numbers in the US, the UK, France, Spain... But don't let any of that bother you, will you? No you sit there and pretend none of it is happening. That it's all a government plot to hike your taxes up and nothing more. There are no popoulations living with daily fear and uncertainty, in the shadow of fervid revolutionaries. that there is no danger of instability leading to national overthrows or wars of any kind. That a cynical eyebrow is all you need lift in defence of ... I don't even know what does motivate you? Hotdogs?

I agree with Hurlshot. This merely stokes the conflict which AlQ actually prays for every day. As does every single occasion when ordinary Muslims are confused with the wannabe fascist a-holes who are committing acts of terror in their name. Refusing to confuse the two things isn't simply 'nice', it is a grain of sand weighed in the balance against the ****ers. Which you'd think would appeal to any true patriot.

I don't think we can form an opinion on the claims at this stage. What I find actually disturbing is the way that a private individual felt themselves so keenly appointed by virtue of intellect and conscience that they violated a freely given oath of security to post information which brightened the dim spark of public political conscience for a brief moment, and has done lasting harm to the war effort. Rape, unless on a massive scale pales by comparison with what the leaked data is doing to those who have worked with the coalition.

Actually no, they cannot do that. Marriages are contracts, and enjoy the same protection as any other contract in the US. Right. *nods*

His Sand account still has that talking dead spacesuit thing from Dr Who as the avatar. Which is creepy in the extreme since that was all about voices of the dead being caught as ghosts in the machine. (see 7.40)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-11040378 Note the attempt to claim the entire trail was racialist then caps it off by claiming every man has done what he claims he never did. I really must remember to look up N-Dubz every time I feel a little lacking in self-worth.

It's the anniversary of my mum's death on Monday and I've suddenly come over very sad. So I'm listening to Zulu songs... She fought so very hard, with such courage and good humour, right to the end.

I insist on bagging that stuffed cat, btw.

I know English isn't your first language, but that's not actually paranoia, is it?

Surely in terms of tac and other befits it would be possible for a state to assert that only marriages affirmed in that state were eligible?

Cocaine's a much 'better' product for a lot of reasons. As you point out, it is smaller when pure, and can be easily cut by vendors to boost profitability. The high is shorter than opiates or marijuana and apart from cocaine users becoming much bigger a-holes than normal, they still function. So you can keep a more stable and profitable customer base. Of course it doesn't help that pop culture has accepted drug use, but that really isn't going to change because government tells them to stop. While I do think legalisation is essential, I think we as people need to reject users of class A drugs from our idol lists. Sherlock Holmes doesn't count.

God, I recall being in university a few years ago. We had a wannabe Great Dictator running that place too. I could wax on the subject for hours, but his favourite rule was enforcing no 'guests'. Which vaused me no end of grief. I mean I'm not Shryke, but even I can get lucky once or twice a year. Anyway, the joke came when it turned out his policy of insisting on booking people in advance had kept our various delightful young ladies, but completely missed the arrival of a group of neo-fascist jihadis who flung hate-filled literature about for a few months until (I think) the immigration people threw them out. I hate people like that - the building manager I mean.

Hang on, GD. I follow your logic with the economic parallel, and I can see it's worth considering, but the USA is totally dissimilar on almost every other count. There is a strong and reliable mlitary, your economy is inextricably tied to the health of the entire global economy, the Obama administration - whatever its faults - is (and I'm pretty ignorant so correct me if you like) hardly like the bunch of silhouettes responsible for Weimar. Nor are the American people a bunch of shattered and victimised wrecks recovering from decimation in warfare. Play fair, old man.

I lol'd like a t***. Gnome?

Good point, Hurl. here's that speech with video. Just one part of the excellent speech: Interestingly, 60% of those who thought he was a muslim were Rpepublican. Although perhaps what is more interesting is that presumably the other 40 were not!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...-is-Muslim.html WTF, democracy?

New office rule: no men in just pants shinning up poles.

I don't whether to be reassured about the awesomeness of my idea, or annoyed that it's not original.

Now that I'm no longer working for HM Liz I've been thinking about getting a tattoo. I just can't think of what to have. I did consider having a cryptographic tattoo done, using geometric shapes.

I'm no cultural historian, but I'd suggest you are conflating two very distinct phenomena when you talk about the 60s and 70s being into drugs. I believe the numbers taking habit forming drugs like heroin and other opiates was less than those taking elective drugs like marijuana and LSD. I'd like to reiterate for anyone who's just joined this discussion: I don't believe drugs are a good thing. I simply don't believe there is any evidence that government enforced prohibition stops anyone taking them.

It's more of a TV movie, but I just wanted to talk about The Deep. After only 30 minutes of watching I hate almost everyone on board except the bad guy. This leads me to believe that in modern cultural terms I am a bad guy because: - I have a sense of duty - I am capable of making unemotional decisions in a crisis - I actually do my job Viz: I don't make wise cracks about colourful squid when someone is trying to avoid boiling to death

What about a booze pipeline from Scotland?

Your point about the FDA is an interesting one, but only tangential to the history of narcotics prohibition. There was certainly a problem with drug abusers in most nations, but the drive to prohibit drugs came in the wake of the failed experiment with alcohol prohibition. Anti-alcohol agencies were desperate for a new role and found alliance with a religious right wing always eager to put the boot in on 'sin'. Plus it would be bold indeed to deny a racial note in the propaganda of the time. Other nations only fell into line with the US under serious pressure from US administrations. Ironically it was (arguably) the transition to prohibition which permitted the necessary funds to be pushed into narcotics to create an industry capable of causing the mass addiction it was intended to prevent. ONLY illicit supply of drugs could command such a high price for something any fool can grow on scrub land.

So your alternative, my faux-wise adolescent friend is to assert that every threat we are told about is a lie? What a cosy world you live in, where nothing ever actually threatens us! Or perhaps you believe that ONLY our own side ever threatens us, in which case I hope you find your paranoia comforting.