BruceVC

But you can understand how being penalized for having more than one child would make people more likely to do what the Chinese are doing.,.....this is very expensive so it would be rare so its not like there would be millions doing this

Trust me Volo what you mentioned is one of my REAL pet peeves about anti-Western sentiment that I get confronted with sometimes in my support of the West and there actions People attack, judge and criticize the West and this also comes from Western countries yet end of the day the Western countries offer there citizens the best overall quality of life,economic opportunities and political stability and there ideologies and social structures nee/d to be emulated and replicated. Yet its considered arrogant, " not PC " or somehow inappropriate ...so I just keep quiet and then something like Syria happens and suddenly people like Hurlshot are asking valid questions like " maybe if they had jobs " but what we should be saying is " its because they not like Western countries " Its not hard to understand this or see why the West is dominant in most parts of the world. And its not because the West is " white people " or " Clever than everyone else " ...this is not about racial superiority. The West learnt in the last 300 years the importance of maintaining things like governmental institutions, human rights and the importance of a Democracy ,,,,and the West understands the importance of a free market and how it can be used to drive an economy. The rest of world can and should follow the West...we would have much less issues in the world Yet people seem reluctant on these forums to gogive the West the credit it deserves ....strange ?

Zora please dont tell me you were one of those people who believed " these accusations are just a Western plot to replace the hard-working, ethical and diligent Blatter ?? " I would think you would bury your Western-bias for this and not support Blatter and his horrendous behavior that has really brought FIFA into disrepute

Its one of those stories when you actually read it you realize its not such a big deal.....you guys need to just learn to accept that people want to immigrate to the USA and there is nothing you can do to stop it so rather learn to embrace it

Careful-- Hurlshot might think you're volunteering! (The two of you are both in NorCal, right?) Thats a very good idea, Gromnir you do have a wealth of knowledge shaped by interesting life experiences..I can only imagine how much Hurlshots pupils would benefit from you giving a speech?

Volo there has to be some political party you can align with? What are your political views that they are so diametrically opposite to the established parties ?

What happens when the men are already at home, though? Couldn't find data on Germany (wonder what's up with that), but it's not like women being murdered by men is exactly a new thing here. Ah, wait. I remember now. Honor killings are absolutely more abhorrent than honor-less killings because <reasons>. *nods sagely* Btw, remember when police could "guarantee security"? Yeah... me neither. Please don't tell me this is your way of saying " lets not be too concerned with honor killings because there is already systemic violence against women in Western countries " .......... That would be a sad and egregious point to make

Yeah these reprehensible honor killings are rare in Western countries but they do happen...the German authorities just need to be very heavy handed and ensure the culprits are either arrested or forced to return to Syria But this does sometimes happen in parts of the Muslim community

Are you a hafiz? If not then I'd find it a tad, bold, to claim who is and who is not correctly interpreting their holy text (pet peeve). With little knowledge of the contents of the Quran I'm going to guess it reflects the attitudes and mores of 7th century Arabia with the actual ideological interpretations by adherents being dependent on the material conditions of its followers. I.e. If there's political and economic stability they'll be relatively peaceable; if they're living in a bombed out third world country with rampant poverty, they will not. Funny enough I am a hafiz so everything I say around Islam you can consider the absolute truth

funny

Lucy's ancestors: Wow that's a fascinating image, its interesting to see how mankind spread through the world

This is a very good post and probably one of the most relevant perspectives I have heard on this aspect of the refugee crisis The salient point being " we shouldn't blame the religion for some people misinterpreting the text and acting in a certain way "

I will definitely concede that point to you, it is hard to imagine what type of impact this surge of immigration and refugees can have on a country. I am definitely speaking as an outsider on this, and I appreciate your perspective. My main point isn't that this isn't a dramatic issue for Europe, but that I believe it has less to do with the religion of Islam, and more to do with culture clashes and human nature. We can look at numerous situations throughout history in comparison where Islam was not in the picture, and yet the issues all look very similar. But Drowsy you also don't really have experience living with Islam, what is the total percentage of Muslims in Serbia ...4 %, 5 % ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Serbia You could only argue the whole " I have experience living with Muslims " if you grew up in a Muslim country or lived predominantly in the Muslim section of a city which I doubt you did either of those two things And I'm same as are most people on these forums

When is Columbus day even celebrated? Is it a public holiday in some countries, its not in mine?

Volo if you read the whole story the young women who has sex with the minor and the dad is clearly mentally unbalanced...this should help you be less critical of her behavior or at least not think she deserves the death penalty ? The article says " He said she was vulnerable and had a hard upbringing, spending two years in hospital with leukaemia between the ages of five and seven.Passing sentence Judge Tim Mousley QC said it was an exceptional case allowing him to step outside the rigours of the sentencing guidelines. He said: "Having read everything before me, it was quite clear he was a mature 11-year-old and you were an immature 20-year-old so that narrows the arithmetic age gap between you Its clear this case was decided on unusual circumstances which I can understand

WOD I cannot believe you are taking those links seriously...they are full of biased, untrue, scurrillous and ignorant points. Please don't believe them...I get you don't like Obama but that doesn't mean you have to let people manipulate you. Just a few examples of what is patently false or ignored in those articles He clearly thinks Putin is this great leader and seems to admire his ruthlessness....lets analyze that for a moment. The Russian economy is in a recession....I'll repeat that...The Russian economy is in a recessionhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-19/russia-rewrites-blueprint-for-growth-as-recession-dooms-consumer http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/11/news/economy/russia-crissis-gdp/ And its not just the fact the global oil price has dropped and Russia never diversified its economy ( another sign of a " great " leader, placing all Russia's economic eggs in ONE basket ) its also a result of the Western sanctions as Putin, the "great " leader has in his infinite wisdom believed he could illegally take the Crimea and basically get Eastern Ukraine to secede and join Russia like he did in Georgia....and he thought the West wouldn't actually use a military option..." Obama is weak remember " Yes the West wouldn't use a military option but battles and ideological conflicts can be won or ended without actually attacking a country...sanctions did work and are working So it amazes me that a Texan and I assume a Capitalist is not concerned with a leader who had made decisions that have caused his country to enter recession And then I keep explaining this and its getting a little frustrating ....the USA is not more involved in Syria as it doesn't want to be. This is not a sign of weakness but prudence ...and who exactly should the USA be ashamed in front of ? No Western country is prepared to send ground troops so it can't be them he is referring to...oh wait he means the countries of the ME Seriously the USA needs to feel humiliated by a group of countries that are currently the most dysfunctional in the world ... countries that despite all being Arab have a major problem where certain members just refuse to help fellow Muslims and Syrian refugees And you want the USA to beg to be liked by these counties....why? The USA and Obama have nothing to prove to the ME and once again as a Texan this surprises me that you hold these countries in such high regard? He also dismisses the Iran negotiations and considers them "failed " Anyway I could honestly go on and on ...but I think I made my point

Yeah its easy to suggest what the USA should be doing as an ardent and vociferous opponent of the current president ...because you don't have to deliver on it

Its weird but I have just downloaded the whole series to watch again Oz is brutal, brilliant and absolutely compelling...its like you can't wait to see who else joins the prison and what faction he will join I'm surprised you are comfortable with it though, it pushed the boundaries of homosexual sex and it gets more intense later on so prepare yourself

Wowzers that pizza looks great, you see Gfted1 we have lots in common...like Pizza Maybe we should go there on our first date meeting....I assume you prefer somewhere where you feel comfortable

You know whats weird, I added those last 3 so the Pizza isn't suppose to have them You have a knack for food Here is the restaurant I ordered from, they specialize in Gourmet Pizzas http://www.colcacchio.co.za/

I had one of my designer Pizzas tonight, this time I went with Italian sausage, chorizo, mushroom, onion, roasted red pepper, chilli, Gorgonzola, Banana and bacon It is delicious

That's twentieth century colonial power thinking No. But you can't always force a cultural change at gunpoint. Sure, it would be nice to accelerate the process, but cultural changes sometimes takes generations. And without a cultural change and the embracing of new ideas, outside intervention will most likely have no positive long term effect. I.e. point in case the 3 above examples. Would you say the world is a better place now than it was before the west encouraged (and in some cases outright supported militarily) the destabilizing of the ruling regimes in the countries above? All of those conflicts had one thing in common, it was never about accepting "Western ideas", it was about religious differences, old grudges and tribal/clan affiliations. Okay I see you guys seem to misunderstand what I mean by " regime change " and " western intervention " I need to clarify a few things first, I'm just going to be direct. Please don't take this wrong way and think I'm being condescending or rude. I'm confidant you won't take offense....oh I'll also make some assumptions about your view which you can obviously correct if you want. Its easier to explain my overall point if I make assumptions about what I think you believe So firstly please lets try to not even use the word " colonial " when I talk about Western intervention. I'm not trying to tell you what words to use but the words like " colonialism " , " neo-colonialism" , '' imperialism", " white capital " are used by people as an insult to the West for the historical injustice many people suffered under due to Colonialism. But we aren't talking about anything even remotely like what the Colonists did hundreds of years ago in Africa. So what I often find in my own country is people will use the word "colonialism " when they don't want to transform something in our society that needs to change...they prevent certain changes in our society that are for the good of everyone For example so you see I'm not joking, read this http://www.dawn.com/news/1210357/safrican-tribal-chief-gets-12-years-jail So you may think " yeah this seems fair" and it is except for the fact last night on one of the radio talk shows there was real debate where some people were saying " its not right to charge an African Chief " and one guy was seriously raising a point that basically said " we as Africans shouldn't be judged under Colonial Western law systems ...its un-Affrican " He wants African tribal law to have precedent which means NOTHING would happen to this chief ...so thats there idea of justice Of course our Constitution and normal legal system always wins but you then have this group of people who will phone in and make these irritating comments like " we need to stop following the West" .....they would just prefer these Chiefs, who live on Taxpayers money, to be above the law So those are types of people who still use words like " colonial " Anyway thats PART 1 .,....I need a break before I continue

What exactly did you do? It sounds interesting

«It would be well for your government to consider that having your ships and ours, your aircraft and ours, in such proximity... is inherently DANGEROUS. Wars have begun that way, Mr. Ambassador.» (lol @ "moderate rebels" btw. Yeah, the whole three of them need protecting!) Okay that is true ....what exactly is a " moderate rebel " in the context of the whole ME actually

Strip club do make everything better and I'm sure youre a swell guy. You are just what I classify as a "chicken little" where not a day passes where a bit of sky doesn't fall on your head. Due to certain personality flaws within myself I find this type of person unpleasant to socialize with irl. Its not you, its me. Aside, the above joke was in poor taste and I apologize. I'm not a violent person unless circumstances force me to be. Come now...you can't think I took that seriously? You are absolutely under NO obligation to meet me in RL....and its not rude to say that. I suppose my forum etiquette may seem a little erratic at times...and annoying I wouldn't want to meet someone like that in RL But for me its not a big deal, I would basically meet everyone on these forums for a drink. And then I would formulate an opinion This is a forum...its best to not take anything potentially rude or insulting personally