Walsingham

You make an interesting point about the UN. I've heard it before, but you put it better. We (that is the US UK) have weakened the notion of international law through action on Iraq. But having said that I concede the point, I would follow up by observing that the moral redundancy of the UN security council was proven when France and Russia were bribed by Saddam Hussein to the tune of billions in debt and promised contracts. On the subject of selling arms, it is interesting to note that waaaay back in the day Germany supplied the Afrikaaner republics with arms and training prior to (and possibly during) the Anglo-Boer war. Nothing was done at the time, but it did serve to sour relations between the two powers, and almost certainly contributed to ww1. China beware. In fact everyone beware!

Thats the most likely case IMO. You know how hotel room doors, including the deadbolt, will open by simply pulling the door handle. She prolly went looking for mommy and daddy and got snatched up. That woudl really confuse things. But you're right it would make sense.

Arent you already in the camp of "we can stop it so might as well legalize it"? Yep. Based on four years investigating organised crime, and a month doing a detailed study on this precise question. Only one option will work, which is to reduce demand, and frankly that doesn't seem likely. If you can't stop a threat you mitigate it. As I've said before in other threads, if one accepts you can't stop the drugs from arriving in large quantities the only sensible thing to do is make them free so that you at least minimize the negative consequences. Alternatively, if you prefer, we can continue pretending we can outspend and outmanoeuvre the drug lords in Brazil, Mexico, Central Asia, and Africa. Despite the fact that they are rapidly approaching the stage where they are stronger than the states they are in. Or had you not noticed the warfare in the streets in Brazil and Mexico these last months? I'd rather cut organised crime, and terrorism at the roots, if it is cheaper and going to be more effective. Anyone daft enough to want it can have it gratis. I know we've gone through this before, but to me it's this simple: I can pay for massive amounts of ineffective drug policing, or I can pay for every addict to receive a deli tub of wheat flour a year. Because that's how expensive it would be.

The progressive area lost wind in the US, mores the pity, whereas in Europe the experience of hardship during the great depression and later WW2 would lead to the fornation of the modern wellfare state. With the war experience came a sense of unity and people were used to an extreme level of government control, so the thinking was, if we can make an effort to win and overcome a world war why not spend some if that level of effort in improving society. In the US that sense of lifting the burden in unity vanished with the post war boom. Whats amazing is that it became a broad political consensus for decades on that society should change fundamentally and provide a wide range of services for everyone. Now, despite the problems of coupling a high level of redistribution with globalisation, most of us remain fiercely proud of the European model compared to the rest of the world. I think you've got something there. I do think that ww1 was a watershed for British society, because in the trenches you had officers (who were upper and middle class) living alongside and being told to be responsible for their men. It formed a new bond of respect and care.

Why YOU LITTLE!!!!!

Not only is it raining now, but it has been raining for the last week, and is set to continue. We are having serious flooding. On a lighter note the government emergency planners were flooded out when the flooding started. They had been in the middle of a simulated exercise ...about flooding.

What we're witnessing is the direct consequence of the disruption caused to jifascists* in the wake of the last few years' operations. There are fewer large scale training camps, and a lot of the opposition's experts have been either killed or captured. Of the remainder all the 'best' are working in Iraq and Afghanistan, because these areas are seen as critical (even if we seem to miss this point). This attack seems to have been a local cell operating without supervision, and merely on inspiration. Imagine that you or I decide to open a burger restaurant run exactly like MacDonalds, but without a proper franchise. However, the sad news is that after an embarassment like this I would expect Al Qaeda to dispatch some of their first team across here to make sure we suffer. Interestingly, some friends of mine very much enjoy the nightclub, Tiger Tiger, that the bomb was outside. *I've finally found a term I like for these buggers that acknowledges the islamic influence, but makes it clear that this is really about a bunch of wannabe goose-steppers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6254496.stm We really have to start acting on this drugs issue. Interdiction isn't working.

Sadly, my knee is the only part of me the NHS has let down. They always seem far too keen on either telling me its totally incurable or that it's nothing to worry about. I'm considering filming them so I can make a montage.

I'm drawing attention to this because I ran into a guy two weeks ago who said terrorism was entirely made up by the government. The threat is all too real. Apparently Germany is also on high alert. ~ British security forces deactivated what appeared to be a crude firebomb in a vehicle that crashed into a trash bin in central London's Haymarket district early June 29. If the device was intended to cause casualties as part of a militant plot, however, its amateur construction and the way it was placed suggest the plotter or plotters have no connection to a major militant organization. The incident began shortly before 2 a.m. local time when an ambulance crew, responding to a call about an injury at a nearby nightclub, noticed a Mercedes E-190 with what appeared to be smoke pouring out of it. Bouncers working the doors of nightclubs in the area reported that the vehicle was being driven erratically before it crashed it into the trash bin. Afterward, the driver and several other people reportedly fled the scene. Police called to the site cordoned off the area, while explosives experts examined the vehicle, finding what a police spokesman described as "a potentially viable" explosive device. Police manually disabled the device and later were seen removing gas canisters from the vehicle. The Mercedes reportedly contained several canisters of propane gas, a large amount of gasoline, nails -- presumably to act as shrapnel -- and a means to detonate the device. The amount of gasoline was so great that the fumes it emitted looked like smoke rising from the car.

Waaaaay head of you... EDIT: I forgot to mention that I had the diagnosis confirmed that the cartilage in my right knee has not healed and is still torn. For some reason it now seems to hurt MORE.

Old news v. New news. People sit up and listen when the U.S. is accused of rights violations, because it's surprising. Chinese rights violations don't inspire nearly as much interest because people are used to it. News organizations like to run stories that get people interested. (Most of the bias people allege in news organizations is merely a bias in favor of sensationalism. Technical stories like the warning signs about the tech bubble that GD mentioned are passed over in favor of sensational ones-- in that case, the contemporaneous issue of Presidential stains on a blue dress.) Plus, it's a lot easier and cheaper to report on events in the U.S. than it is events in China. True dat.

Best crime article I've read in a long time. If his lawyer can't play that Sturgeon violence angle he's an idiot.

God DAMMIT! *ratchets slide on DEMP rifle*

...Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen it...

Really? Like comparatively speaking how hard?

Am I being uncharitable if I point out that the Portuguese cops seem to be willing to arrest just about anybody to make it look like they've been busy?

Having decided I like my new (ish) PC I was thinking that it would be cool if PCs came in something other than a straight box. I know it's functional, but it doesn't feel right to have such a critical item so functional. My first thought was something the shape of a hood spoiler on a racing car. All fins and towers.

I'll have to belay the technical aspect of the debate with regret since I'm manfully struggling to cover the loss of two jobs! Assuming for the time bing that you are correct, does that mean that we should expect the highest standards from the USA - using the inverse "We're a developing nation" argument?

Waaaaay head of you...

I was inspired to ask the question by a certain speech by Martin Luther King, Jnr. (It's worth hearing) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_agUA-htonQ...ted&search= "...the first question that the Levite asked was, 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

With the way they dress? Their clothing will get caught in the spokes. Just made me laugh. Imagine the ayatollahs passing legitimising disco dancing and bike riding, with an attached law changing sharda into banana skin shoes, and skirt with massive long tassels on them.

I think you should go with that blue oval thing as your avatar.

I'd like to pose a slightly curveball question: Given that America has the largest number of practicing Christians of any nation on Earth, how does that square with seeing someone who is sick and passing by?

Failed to secure two big jobs. Grud danggit.