Walsingham

I love the hotdog and hotdog bun.

I'd say that's a good thing: spending more money on things we enjoy than on ways to engage in war. What if we enjoy waging war? Ever thought about that, Mr. smarty cat? One of these days it'll be awesome. We'll get fully bipedal and dextrous robots we can control from our homes after we get home from work that we'll use to conquer foreign nations as if we were playing a video game. I thought that's what I WAS doing! Lousy stupid Dawn of War. I want my money back!

Ditto.

No *sulks* shan't.

I think that's some fantastic art.

Would Gromnir mind backing that up? I know there are organisations that are crappy about getting donations to teh stricken, but I thought the Red Cross were good. Up there with Medicins Sans Frontiers.

The Simpsons Movie. I was extra hard on it, and I still laughed a lot. Not so much in the last third, but still miles better than any other comedy film I've watched recently. Newly re-awakened ambition: own a pig.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6938364.stm I am utterly amazed that anyone in their right mind could be so totally ignorant as to think that the money Johnson and Johnson can get from the lawsuit will counteract the negative publicity. Seriously bad management.

There's only one argument to answer yours: Pshaw! *Puff puff*

Given the self-harm in the context I'd argue it was more like owning a camel.

I would guess the universe is going to be pretty damned if we're the best there is. My point is that we're always fantasising about some super-race coing from teh stars to save us. But what if that is our allotted destiny, so to speak? What if we have the seeds of greatness, and we squander it on spening 100s of times more money on cosmetics than on space exploration? Because we do. In Europe we spend more money on cosmetics than on defence!

I think it's important to recognise that while the Jifascist plan may seem implausible as a threat it relies quite simply on standard Maoist revolutionary war principles. 1. Discredit existing order through acts of revolutionary violence, leading to counter-revolutionary repression. 2. Weaken target system through acts of violence aginst infrastructure and institutions. 3. Radicalisation of populace by elimination of moderates. 4. Escalation from terrorism to guerrilla warfare and thence to conventional warfare. The most important point is, as I say, that stages 1-3 as we're witnessing in Iraq and Afghanistan entail the wholesale impoverishment and brutalisation of the community. The danger from Al Qaeda and their allies stems from their willingness to engage in what are called mass casualty attacks. The use of nerve toxins, disease, radiological and nuclear warfare to kill and cripple. Our mistake is in assuming because we are big we are invulnerable, whereas we are in fact very vulnerable precisely because of our size. It's also important to recognise that as part of their strategy the Jifascists intend an intellectual assault on our sensibilities. For an excellent description of how the communist KGB intended to actuate just such an assault I found this clip on Youtube. I'm sad to say that while I have no problem per se with the Stop the War coalition, and have friends who are members, there are threads in their organisation who are committed to building the perceived legitimacy of jifascism and the adoption of a policy of appeasement and strategic retreat.

I'm with Fenghuang! Bags on the arrows.

His albums are consistently superb. Track them down if you can.

I disagree with both Azarkon and Canto. It was by no means clear cut. In 1940 Britain had her back to the wall, but as yet there was no obvious threat that Hitler intended to reduce us to rubble. Indeed many were either for bending the knee or enthusiastically joining him against the perceived threat of communism. We are fortunate indeed that a man was available who could frame the situation so much more clearly than his contemporaries. A man with utterly outmoded (even for the time) notions of honour and courage. I refer you to his other greatest speech (my emphasis): "... I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender..." And later on June 18th: "But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science." Let us be quite clear. The Jifascists believe in a world without utterly without science or democracy, a world run entirely on the uneducated interpretation of laws untouched by the men and women bound by them. A tyranny that would go beyond even that known under the Nazis. A world stripped of all 'unislamic' art, science, literature, and probably history. A world in which fully 50% of people would be reduced to the status of chattels, and the remainder by and large no more than drones. A threat not just to the West, but indeed to practically every culture, from the Bushmen of the Kalahari to the Inuit of Alaska, and even to Islamic countries which they consider insufficiently pure. Neither Hitler nor Stalin would have dared put forward such a crazed plan of total desolation.

A little light for morning listening! Have you heard of a chap called Anouar Brahem?

Are you kidding? Have you seen what they DO to cartoon characters over there? The last thing I want is some brutalised Mickey Mouse begging for change on the subway in his uniform. On the subject of contemporary thought: I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined the Government; 'I have nothing to offer but blood toil tears and sweat'. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind, We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory - victory - at all costs, victory, in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. - Winston Churchill

Here's another question: what if there are other intelligent life-forms, but we're the best there is?

See? Aram understand completely what I'm talking about. *Puff puff. Frown* *Speaks past stem of pipe* The real issue is NOT to smoke tobacco. Or any other substance such as roofing tar which will kill my lungs and stain the ceiling. Pure benzene is probably out. Do you think having the pipe and not actually smoking it would be sufficiently reminiscent of someone who USED to smoke a pipe heavily and is now only quitting on the strength of the sternest admonitions of their tweed suited country doctor?

I have decided that I need a pipe. i don't want to smoke, but I think to be stylish while pondering thorny issues I should have a pipe. I need suggestions as to how I can get one, and make it worthwile. What I can put in it, for example. Neat gin? Fire ants?

Actually, I've been chasing this up, and I believe if we meet aliens and they have funk it will be like this.

Interesting angle, and one I can't think of any way to disprove, Tale. However, my point is that regardless of intent or perception it is immoral to use terrorist methods. In much the same way that chemical and biological weapons are immoral. Causing, as it were - and I wince just saying it - unnecessary suffering.

They wouldnt have to worry about bio-weapons either. True up to a point. The enemy's biological deterrent woudl be reduced. But the enemy notionally would still be able to attack civilian centres.

Colrom, those are certainly arguments one can make in each case. However, in the case of the first man attacking the Chairman he will achieve his goal. The latter will almost certainly not. This makes the sacrifice of the target in the latter case completely pointless, and by inference the justification is lost.

. I was thinking more like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQrHcy3p9vU