Walsingham

Having slept on it, I agree with Pop. There are tonnes of fantastic images out there if you are looking to be moved. I have one which I think GDM will approve of. NGOs trying to bring sense to the mass graves in Iraq are forced to give some graves nothing but a number. Estimates of how many of people were killed during the giddy years of peace before we invaded in our 'genocidal' action are between 200,000-300,000.

*forum makes rude gestures at krookie*

Sure, and when we're armpit deep in morlocks, I'll know who to blame. YOU!

*coughs politely* I was actually attempting a takeoff of my great hero - Columbo. *image edited out due to overtraffic or something. Due to goblins, that sounds better.* My restricting my points was simply to ease the pressure you are under, tackling multiple questions. Speaking of which, what do you think of my point that simply because an act involves terror does not make it terrorism. To use a purely military analogy, just because the French army had tanks in 1940 does not mean that they were conducting blitzkrieg.

I would never do a thing like that... Believe it or not you were not the one I was worried about. Oi!

Couple of points: 1. Given the British insistence in the RAF on 'strategic' bombing of civilian centres, coupled with Churchill's evident enthusiasm at Yalta for possession of the bomb, I think it is obvious that we would certainly have used it on Germany at any point in the war after 1942. 2. Gorth makes a really good point, which is that in 1945 the greatest threat to the Allies was within the alliance in the form of Soviet Russia, and 'Uncle' Joe Stalin. Detonating the bombs may have been one of the few things which prevented the 10 million Soviet troops in Eastern Europe during 1945 steaming westwards, linking up with Communist guerillas all the way. 3. I am sometimes aggravated by the sanctimonious tone taken by some members when discussing the malfeasances of governments. Government is invariably a matter a choosing between evils, while hamstrung by a dearth of money, time, information, or other resources. If a member believes they have the capacity to do better then I invite them to do so for the good of all mankind. 4. Even given the above I join with a great many in mourning the dead of the two cities. Their deaths being just part of the great tragedy of World War 2. A life taken is a life taken, whether it be through starvation and disease in the seige of Leningrad, drowning at Dunkirk, in a forced labour camp in the Phillipines, or the flash of a thousand suns.

I am quite certain that I must have known far more gay people than I think, simply because so few were able to come out when I was younger. This also had a negative impact on my attitudes for a long while since I had no way of knowing gay people are just people like anyone else at the level of the foundations.

Gorgon wins this thread! I'll have that image in my head all day today. I can see a couple of teenagers running away with that thing under their arms. Or worse, the soldier comes to get it and finds it on blocks, gun, treads, and cameras missing. Too funny. I second.

The UK can be very strange. In many areas, and certainly where the law is concerned being gay is A-OK. However, in less 'enlightened' circles, such as housing estates, the Armed Forces, public schools, etc it's still taboo, and used as an excuse to get violent. Some of you may recall a few years ago my complaining about gay showboating. You know, why get so ggressively in my face about it? Why can't all gays be normal. but then after a bit of discussion I realised I was being daft. Coming out of the closet requires a lot of guts, and having done it there is a tendency to revel in the freedom. It's like when you first openly admit that you quite enjoy watching ST Voyager. The next thing you know you're dressing up as Mal from Firefly.

I personally find it most disturbing. One of the principle components of human civilisation is the appication of force by the state. And one of the principle features of the historical use of force is the involvement of humans. If robots are to be used to apply force then I believe the consequences could be terrifying. For starters, if there is no-longer any such thing as female Army officers who am I going to date?

How imaginative

As usual in this area, I'm inclined to agree with Pop. I don't believe that career criminals are deterred by any amount of lashings. I believe that it would be much more sensible to have a unit of the police and judiciary whose job it was to do in-depth studies of such persons and closely monitor tehir behaviour, ultimately having the power to recommend incarceration for lengthy periods for the protection of society. I don't know why I mentioned the immigrant issue. Perhaps because this can be pathological, and the sad fact is that many young male immigrants have come to us as th perpetrators of crimes in their countries of origin.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...don/6929285.stm For some years now the thought has been fermenting in me that two very distinct types of person appear before the criminal justice system. Some persons, even murderers and other serious offenders, commit one crime, or perhaps two or three lesser ones. There are other persons, however, usually well known to the police, who commit many crimes, and clusters of crimes, like the gentlemen shown above. My principle reaction is that we over-punish and incarcerate the former, and do far too little too late to the latter. Which, naturallly, poses a problem to the notion of a single justice system for all.

The British Army entry requirement is 1.5 miles in 10.5 minutes.

Mr Scruff - Fish!

Save the species! Another good one: "Every time I send off one of my offspring I get a token towards a free cup of coffee at Starbucks. "

Pre-Iraq and Afghanistan Islamist propaganda said that US _non_ -involvement was the problem. Refusal to take action on Afghanistan (I know), Chechnya (because clearly going to war with Russia would have been achievable), Bosnia (I know).

OK, Yuusha, I'm trying to be civil here, but maybe I'm too long winded. I'll restrict myself even further to one point at a time. Simply because an act involves fear does not make it terrorism. You can hook me up to an intravenous drip full of fear juice and give me a big horror sandwich and it still isn't terrorism. For comparison, because jihad is involved in a terrorist's motivation does not make every muslim's pursuit of jihad terrorism. *chews stub of cigar* Or maybe I'm not very bright?

kirottu that was just scary.

Stupid people breed stupid kids through memetics, not genetics.

Is 'add to my protective layer of rancid sweat' and option?

The same thing I do every week, Pinky...

I don't believe we need a duplicate of the other threads on this area.

He represents New Orleans. As corruption goes in Louisiana, that is little league. Look at hat happened to the New Orleans Police. Over 40 police officers drawing paychecks who only existed on paper? I heard an interesting story from an officer who had worked in a 'certain' African state. On his instigation they had a single day pay parade nationwide, and discovered that 20% of the persons involved in the lists was fraudulent. In fact the Minister for the Armed Forces or what have you was actually listed as KIA and thereby producing a pension for his wife! Even better, when he was taken off the list, he rang up to complain! This story sounds straightforward, but so many people were involved that the mission did not remove everyone immediately, because there were plenty of families depending on the cash who would have starved.