BruceVC

That was a very nice link, well done and thanks for posting it @ GD R u supporting what Hurlshot is asking? I'm not sure I am following his logic on this one but now is not the time to discuss tolerance and how we incorporate more Muslims ...lets have a break for a few days

Oh my hat, I have enjoyed every episode but the latest one with Bolton final battle was amazing The best one by far, the dragons kicked ass and Daenerys Stormborn was looking so hot

You shouldn't stay in an abusive relationship simply because you're too afraid of what will happen if you're single. Democracy has taken a serious back seat to corporate interests - and while there are great examples of EU citizen rights trumping buisness interests, the endorsement of TTIP alone should be enough to send anyone running for the woods screaming. But on a serious note the EU isn't a relationship and does have different considerations But I know that was just a metaphor but it just worries as you have always liked the EU

I was nine at the time, but would probably have voted yes at the time if I could (not today though).. it's fairly recently that I've become more sceptic towards the EU - simply because they've proven themselves inefficient too many times. I do share the ideological goal they peddle though, I'm a big fan of a strong government working FOR the people against selfish monetary interests, but EU isn't that and won't be in it's current form. A Scandinavian union though - sign me right the **** up. I could even live with the political capital being in Sweden Ros this is dangerous tallk, I thought you Danes were commmitted ? Ros dont make me bring Gromnir to this debate.... But do you mind explaining with examples when you say they were inefficient

Gorthfuscious !!! Please we are trying to be positive. No need to intimidate and scare the younger members like Ros or Elerond There is no need to bring up the dark times of the Maastricht treaty, remember Gorthie that was your failure, your cross to bare Now Gorthie darling the good news is if you seek absolution for those times I will grant it to you

tek you seem to have a good view of economics, what do you do for a living? most of what i know is second hand knowledge and educated guesses based on that knowledge. i have a small business... but considering the status of the economy right now i don't think i'll be able to keep it for long. i mean seriously, this year i broke even (profit-expenses=39euro left) and i had to pay over 2000 euro in taxes for that 39 euro of profit... and then they wonder why any business that can is leaving the country Yes the Greece economy is under unprecedented pressure, it must be very hard But compared to Greece how is Spain doing in your opinion?

Did the new Pope really say that? Also Oerwinde you seem to understand what people mean on these forums....what is Hurlshot talking about as he ignores me so I dont know...I mean in this thread, he seems to be asking about ISIS ?

GD that whole " Obama\Clinton " wont say the words " Radical Islam " is nothing but Obama-bashing ....dont believe it for a second http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-defends-not-saying-radical-islam-what-would-that-accomplish.html Are you kidding? You don't even live here and hear the news broadcasts we hear. Nearly every word out of their mouths is broadcasted. We know what they say and don't say far better than anyone ever will who isn't here 24-7. And for reasons all their own they won't say "radical islam" in the same sentence as terrorism. And by taking the unprecedented step of censoring them from the shooters own mouth it looks like they won't let him say it either. But in this instance I was talking about the US Attorney General Loretta Lynch. To hear her describe it last week you'd think two guns walked into that club and shot those people all by themselves. Oh no, you playing the old " Bruce you dont live in the USA, you cant know more than me " ....thats what LK said to me. It was inconsequential then and its inconsequential now, sorry buddy I respect your intelligence to much to pander to that silly point Of course its possible I could be right about something in the USA that you dont agree with, this is a good example. The reason is " The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction " Of course this makes sense, ask Gromnir or other people what they think I'm saying there isn't an idea behind them not calling out radical Islam by name. Whether I agree with it or not. But it cannot be denied they will not say the words... and people notice and draw their own conclusions. But this is in the article, Obama explains it clearly...see below? Its perfectly logical to me ...but I am stoned so I may be wrong " During his speech, delivered on Tuesday, Obama continued to use the acronym ISIL instead of ISIS as he doubled down on his refusal to say the term “radical Islam”: And let me make a final point. For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize the administration and me for not using the phrase “radical Islam.” That’s the key, they tell us. We cannot beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists. What exactly would using this label would accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to try to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction."

It certainly isn't to welcome all of the above with open arms. If a man isn't tolerating the fact that your daughter is telling him no, your reaction should not be to tolerate him when he forces her legs open. Let's expand on your super gross scenario. A young man comes to your door and is interesting in your daughter. It sounds like you want to answer the door with a gun in hand, then follow the two around with the gun, occasionally barking orders and interrogating him. Or maybe you just don't open the door. I'd rather get to know the young man and find out his intentions. I can tell him what my expectations are. If he turns out to be a punk, I'm also not going to judge all other young men on his actions. If he were to assault her, which is a terrible thought, I'd rely on the law of the land to deal with him. I'd focus my attention on my daughter and helping her recover from her ordeal. Okay, yes Vals and others this does seem to make sense ...but I'm veryyyyyyyy stoned so who knows what makes sense

GD that whole " Obama\Clinton " wont say the words " Radical Islam " is nothing but Obama-bashing ....dont believe it for a second http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-defends-not-saying-radical-islam-what-would-that-accomplish.html Are you kidding? You don't even live here and hear the news broadcasts we hear. Nearly every word out of their mouths is broadcasted. We know what they say and don't say far better than anyone ever will who isn't here 24-7. And for reasons all their own they won't say "radical islam" in the same sentence as terrorism. And by taking the unprecedented step of censoring them from the shooters own mouth it looks like they won't let him say it either. But in this instance I was talking about the US Attorney General Loretta Lynch. To hear her describe it last week you'd think two guns walked into that club and shot those people all by themselves. Oh no, you playing the old " Bruce you dont live in the USA, you cant know more than me " ....thats what LK said to me. It was inconsequential then and its inconsequential now, sorry buddy I respect your intelligence to much to pander to that silly point Of course its possible I could be right about something in the USA that you dont agree with, this is a good example. The reason is " The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction " Of course this makes sense, ask Gromnir or other people what they think

GD that whole " Obama\Clinton " wont say the words " Radical Islam " is nothing but Obama-bashing ....dont believe it for a second http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-defends-not-saying-radical-islam-what-would-that-accomplish.html

Hurlshot you seem to be almost intentionally not wanting an answer or rather you want someone to tell you what you like as I have given you same answer 2-3 times ...but I'll repeat it again as its not complicated It was both a hate crime and an attack on the USA Muslims must be welcomed into our communities but there own responsibility to the home country agreed to Islamic extremist must be rejected by all people including Muslims in the country attacked

Oh sorry I meant to tell you, yes I did change the topic but you caused it when you said " an otherwise guilty white criminal would get away with _____, which would inflame the black population o' south africa." So realize the grandiloquence the grandeur and inimical, insidious , influence of your sagacity

To be honest the thought of washing all these prisoners feet Well this is the interesting thing, lets be honest can you say with certainty that every man in that jail is guilty? Of course we cant so he could just be washing the feet of wrongly accused men http://abcnews.go.com/International/pope-francis-wash-feet-inmates-holy-thursday/story?id=30065575 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-francis-washes-feet-prisoners-baby-holy-week-article-1.2173180

tek you seem to have a good view of economics, what do you do for a living?

Volo !!!! Stop antagonizing Hurlshot....you know how you get on his nerves But sometimes you really funny because your comments somehow are always done at the worst but effective time

Not anymore, yes I have had similar views on the RC Church But the new Pope washes the feet of murderers, you have never done that ? You realize that makes him a better person than you?

You're a relatively astute person, so this is probably somewhat rhetorical: Did it ever occur to you that overthrowing Saddam and Qaddafi were not terrible mistakes? That perhaps the folks who orchestrated these things knew exactly what they were doing? The outcomes were indeed predicted by many, even as early as the 90s. So at least in some quarters there was no surprise at what happened. If we are to take the position that these things were terrible mistakes, what are we doing allowing those who made them to continue holding the strings of power? And if we take the position that they were not mistakes.... Then /pol/ is right and we are in for terrible times ahead. I do not wish for that to happen. Meshugger please realize Vals believes in certain strange theories that most people have accepted are not true Now I just caution you because Vals means well but if you start believing him you will actually feel worse end of the day

Have you stopped beating your girlfriend? lol Stupid question but I dont get this joke? It's fun because it goes both ways. Numbersman illustrates that my pontification is an accusation where there is no possible answer to refute the question(s), while on the same hand it is very permissable to beat your wife in islamic countries. Okay that is quite funny But we cant say that is true for all Muslims so we just need to not say things that will offend them No. They have to change their ways in our countries in order to fit in. If not, then there's the door back. Yes you could make that point within reason, they need to understand the culture they moving to

Okay you have asked some good questions, I need to explain my point better kock was sentenced fairly to 212 years but he should never have been released. Many members of my family and there friends fought for South Africa but they werent racist, most of them came from Rhodesia and they fought Communism...the Cold War was on and Communism was a real threat. So the distinction is important so you understand that most people who fought for South Africa didnt fight for Apartheid, I'm sure you dont care but it matters to me as its the principle But kock killed people within the boarders of SA, he headed an assassins team....like in the movies We were told as white people " of course there are no death squads, what do you take us for. We are Christians and the enemy is Communism " So when it was exposed at the TRC it made many soldiers realize they hadn't been fighting for a legitimate reason So after serving 22 years only he " agrees " to help black families find there relatives he had killed and they released just for that ....does that seem reasonable ?

Have you stopped beating your girlfriend? lol Stupid question but I dont get this joke? It's fun because it goes both ways. Numbersman illustrates that my pontification is an accusation where there is no possible answer to refute the question(s), while on the same hand it is very permissable to beat your wife in islamic countries. Okay that is quite funny But we cant say that is true for all Muslims so we just need to not say things that will offend them

So, in the last 5 years, on average, there's been slightly less than 17 deaths per year attributed to Muslim extremism. The US sees 14-15k cases of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter a year. The terrible menace you speak of is responsible for a little more than 0,1% of the total murder rate in the country. I can't help but add that about 70% of Americans profess to be Christians. In the absence of other data, we should default to the base ratios, meaning that we can safely assume that Christians committed 70% of those 14k murders. Even if we assume that Christians are especially peaceful, and are only responsible for half the normal rate of murders, this still puts them at around 5k. There you have it, folks - even by exceedingly conservative estimates, you're almost 300 times as likely to be killed by a Christian than a radical Muslim! Tremble before the true scourge of America. I like you, you often display a real degree of sensitivity about certain topics ...you really dont like to just make unfair generalizations And often your insights are right but lets be honest sometimes its easy to reject some of the generalizations some of our members make, when you and Meshugger start debating you always make me laugh But anyway trust me on this one, there is no positive side to the likes of ISIS

Well, exactly. I'm not sure how much of the "but why do you not see any Christian terrorist groups!" thing is inherent to Christianity versus just not having that many desperate and disenfranchised people around who can easily be talked into sacrificing themselves for intangible rewards. I would think part of it was the founder of christianity preached love and acceptance, and the founder of Islam preached hate, murdered countless people and raped children. While Christians often fail to uphold the values of Jesus, Muslims do a much better job with that of Muhammad I would think part of it was the founder of christianity preached love and acceptance, and the founder of Islam preached hate, murdered countless people and raped children. While Christians often fail to uphold the values of Jesus, Muslims do a much better job with that of Muhammad This is a pretty biased way to differentiate between the two religions. It also is fairly sloppy with the history. But most egregious of all is the ignoring all the things that have happened in the name of the two religions over the past centuries. Just because Christianity is in a time of stability does not mean we should just label it the good religion and Islam the bad one. And realistically, how does that do any good? Is Islam going to become stable because of that? Probably not. Oh no Oerwinde, I'm sorry I didnt read that part in your post ...this must be omitted "nd the founder of Islam preached hate, murdered countless people and raped children " everything else is fine but Hulrshot is right I was going to tell you after you said you feared a civil war that I have been working in the ME since 2001, they prefer to use consultants from outside the USA. Anyway I can share some real insights with you if you want and once I'm done you will realize there will be no civil war But I'm going to honest ...the good and bad. And there is more bad but remember my views on SJ so I tend to be critical. I wont be bigoted but things do need to said If you want to hear this let me know but its a few paragrahs so I will only write it if you want to read it

Once again so nice to see someone in the EU on this forum say something sincere and kind about how they feel about the EU "But we do also take care of each other when needed " I have been on these forums for 4 years and I have a semi-photographic memory and thats the first time anyone has ever said anything personal and real about each other. Seriously, 4 years and not one person who lives in the EU out of all the members ever just said something like " I may have issues with the central government but I care about my fellow EU members " Even people like Elerond who is positive would say " yes I like the EU but structural changes must happen " Normally I would say something because its not normal but I left it as my second home is the UK, after SA , and this was one of those rare times where I felt I am not going to try to convince people how lucky they are \ So I left it ..... But thanks for being honest

Yes but they dont need to feel that way, they choosing to say this " matters " But many people may say the EU is more important in the long term