Walsingham

1) Scotland, or more specifically one scottish minister released him. 2) Having said that, Gordon Brown, the 'missing prime-minister' did nothing about this. Given that the Scots assembly has no writ upon foreign affairs and this has a strong foreign policy element, it should have been possible for him to intervene. He didn't. 3) Personally I feel it sends interesting signals to the mid-east if we act compassionately, and would consider it except... 4) We made a very clear commitment to the USA that he would serve his term in Scotland, and releasing him goes back on that promise.

I watched Saving Private Ryan today which is in the neighborhood of like 11 years old. Can't believe I was 10 when I first saw the movie but its still an incredible watch after a decade which doesn't happen very often in movies unfortunately. There were some scenes and various parts of the story that were kind of lame but when you put it all together its awesome. Its actually refreshing because its like a "feel good to be American" movie. Plus lots of kraut killing which is always good. Can't never trust them ever again which is why I subscribe to the Carolla philosophy in which we just carpet bomb Germany at random intervals to keep them in line. Quite. Because obviously they only went ahead and started ww3 as soon as we quit bombing them. It's not like they've been a good NATO partner, and economic colaborator ever since. I liked the OMAHA bit, but the final fight was like the A-TEAM.

Sorry about the dead brain cells. I've been pruning the coldplay playlist extensively. Up betimes, and to my desk. reviewed business correspondence, and see my assistant has been handling things superbly in my absence. I have decided to give him 5% of my shares in the company to thank him for his efforts, not so much because of the value of his efforts in monetary terms, but the way in which he threw himself into work far beyond his experience simply because he knew I was in a dark place. I believe in rewarding warmth of spirit.

Some robust snipping follows: I like your angle on totalitarianism. I don't agree on your version of socialism. But you conflate socialism and communism, as Gorgon points out. The former, you point out, and as I pointed out earlier, requires totalitarianism to be sustained. If our trolltastic friend knew his Marx better he might be appalled by the realisation that this reduces all men to the status of slaves. Even Marx would have recognised that slavery was inferior to the corrupted freedom of wage worker. When I think of socialism, or most of my compatriots think of socialism, we think of society. No man, as they say, is an island. Nature does not furnish every man with his just desserts for his efforts. I take no satisfaction from seeing a man without the means to feed himself because his occupation has been taken away by forces utterly beyond his control. Nor do I expect anything good to emerge from his starving. I take no satisfaction from seeing a man with more money than he can possibly spend on anything but artificially expensive toys. Nor do I epxect any good to emerge from his boredom and aggrandisement. I share your somewhat pessimistic view of the niceness of people, so I do not expect the latter to help the former on his own, although he has the means to do so. Incidentally, I notice that no-one has yet contradicted my statement that LoF ignored sensible posts of mine in the past. I remind the members that I asked for people to chip up in his defence if they felt it justified.

Which bourbon?

Just stayed indors, made some curry, ate curry, no booze, no phone to speak of. Only texted a 'certain' lady I've been getting close to. Listened to Coldplay in bulk for the first time ever. Am now going to watch some films, maybe have a small whisky, get some sleep.

I think it is likely the chaps were mercs. An old trick is for an employer to fabricate a court case against mercenaries who are due to get paid. Typically the mercs opt to run for it rather than turn up in court. Alternatively they may be prospecters or journalists.

Yeah I heard about this. I really don't see Norway paying up. Although it's quite a funny case. With the exception of the dead driver.

I don't see any problem with increasing duty on very strong lagers and artificial alcohol. Pair that with reducing duty on lighter session ales and you've got a winner.

What about propaganda for tribals, like the bushmen of the Kalahari?

I thought you were a card carrying individualist? Or were you just trolling?

What they should have done is said they simply realised that the original guy looked really weird. They hadn't considered anyone would think it was because he was black.

I daresay that's the best kind. Depends on my mood. I tend to look on relationships the way some men look at canoeing. Sometimes you want a relaxing paddle, sometimes you want a white-water challenge.

You can always go for Cameron who campaigns for a 100% increase in alcohol-taxes.. J. Really?

I don't believe it's a conspiracy , other than a conspiracy of inactivity.

Thanks, chaps. It's a big project, so it needs to be top of the line. I'm reading up on OCR now I know the technical term, but floundering in the depths.

That's not true. I can't drive, and I'm drinking Red Bull. Yecch.

I need a program that can turn a type-writered document into word or PDF or what have you.

Hey, there's no need to knock absinth. Absinth is the breakfast of conquerors, mate.

- Mazzy Star I seem to recall hearing about Mazzy star from one of you guys, but it suddenly came back to me. Great, but melancholy.

I never fell for it, because, like there ain't NOBODY going near HIS girlfriend. Uh-uh.

So you don't think it's worth pointing out that most of us live in countries that were carved out by folks simply deciding they wanted the land? In fact I'd go so far as to say none of us live in countries that weren't carved out by conquerors.

I'd say she was what I'd call a sustainable girlfriend. Not the hottest I'd go out with, but not so hot she'd dump you in a crisis.

Keep us posted about the nuts. I was thinking they might work in a lot of things if you could crush into a nut butter type of thing.

Good idea. Because that would be bound to reassure them, putting them right next door to the people who'd been abusing them.