JadedWolf

Doesn't the rest of you want a job? ... I'll get my coat.

Meowwww. Bit of a cat fight in here.

From Wikipedia: "In April 2015 the TSO cancelled performance of pianist Valentina Lisitsa. It accused her of breaching section 319(2) of the Criminal Code of Canada and insinuated that she would face trouble with Canada's immigration authorities and made threats against her if she revealed the reasons for the cancellation in public. The reasoning behind these actions was that Valentina had publicly criticised the Neo Faschist government of Ukraine, the country of her birth." ... Hmm, I guess someone has been editing that particular Wikipedia page. Tell us, Oby, was it you? You can tell us. Bruce won't judge. He never does.

Interesting article from Der Spiegel about the origins of the Islamic State. Seems the founders of it are a lot less interested in religion than they are in controlling people through fear. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/islamic-state-files-show-structure-of-islamist-terror-group-a-1029274.html Highly recommended reading.

First I was laughing, then I started thinking... Prescription against dyslexia? There's no such thing, right? It's not like there's some magical pill that can cure you. Then I stopped laughing. This is why I am no fun at parties.

Guys I think the Op was referring to valid and accepted languages? Dutch is basically a bastardization of Afrikaans so its not really applicable in this case Ek jy nie verstaan nie.

I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes I start saying something in my native tongue, then I switch without even realizing it, and then suddenly everyone is staring at me like I am some kind of madman. Turns out I've gone and switched to Klingon again.

To be fair, they kind of had to. They rolled really, really crappy characters. And with all that resting, they still lost the mage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8g-lugXGBQ

Hmmm, nope. Think you're pretty much alone on that one.

Source? You know what. I'll have to admit that I made a mistake here by claiming that the "American Communist Party" said this. My bad. It was a mistake I made while researching the abortion issue in the past. I misread my source, a book called, "Issues: Abortion" which is in a line of books from the 90's that cover a range of political issues from the perspective of various ideologies including Nazi's, KKK groups, Feminists, Democrats, Republicans , and yes, Communists regarding various political issues. While looking for that piece online I've read some of the parties' views of abortion which doesn't jive with what I claimed about them. Found the book and re-read it (the Communist part) just to be sure. It seems that I foolishly interpreted certain lines. When taken into proper context some of their lines have a different meaning than how I took them back then. They are pro-reproduction rights, even in the long term. I completely take back the quoted statement. It seems I should re-evaluate my perception of the American Communist Party... Man, a few years ago I must have been tired or something... I got that 100% wrong. I hate it when I misunderstand something I read! Oh well, we all make mistakes, or at least I do. I can't be SURE everyone makes mistakes. Hey, mistakes happen.

I said that I think banning abortion is socialistic which is not the same as saying it's socialist specifically, but rather that it seems like the kind of thing socialists would be inclined to do. Uhm. Why? I mean... Since socialism is traditionally tied to atheism, why would they ban abortion? Abortion is usually banned on religious grounds. Does not compute. -Sigh- Let me guess, you're going to bring up the nazi's again, aren't you? Go ahead and check out South America to see how "atheist" the socialist are there. Though I wouldn't trust non-religious socialists to be a vanguard of reproductive rights considering the American Communist Party (not a highly religious bunch) has stated before that taking collective control over women's reproduction was a long-term goal. I can't say what Marxists parties are like abroad, but the one's here in the US are real douches. But why does it strike me as socialistic specifically? Because I tend to view socialism as a system of collective control over society; some keep it purely economical, but many if not most don't and demand collective control over well... everything. I do consider it suggesting that personal property belongs to everyone if everyone has a say over what a woman does with her own body. The fact that in South America socialism goes hand in hand with religion is really quite remarkable, and would probably make Marx scratch his head in confusion. Still, should there be a hypothetical South American socialist regime that bans abortion, then I would wager that would be more easily explained by their religious, rather than their socialist roots. For the record, I am not saying I don't think socialist regimes would never ban abortion, I am just saying that I don't think it's very specifically inherent to socialism.

I said that I think banning abortion is socialistic which is not the same as saying it's socialist specifically, but rather that it seems like the kind of thing socialists would be inclined to do. Uhm. Why? I mean... Since socialism is traditionally tied to atheism, why would they ban abortion? Abortion is usually banned on religious grounds. Does not compute. -Sigh- Let me guess, you're going to bring up the nazi's again, aren't you?

Grim Dawn. Great game for what it is. But someone there seems to be stuck in a certain phase most people leave behind after toddler stage. And yes, that skill really is called "throw feces". >_>

I thought this was an interesting map:

In German it's Köln. In English it's Cologne. I had thought you were using Dutch. And in Dutch it is Keulen. Not that any body cared. :D

Okay, let me just step back here, and apologize, because it seems that my ego is getting in the way and I am muddling up the discussion while trying to "be right" about something. Let me just say that, no, I don't blame the European Commission in this since obviously they are the ones coming up with this idea, so in that respect, if you see the E.U. as the European Commission, then no, I am not mad at the E.U. In this particular case I am obviously mad at the ministers who voted against it. Let me try to rephrase what I was trying to say in original post. I am actually sympathetic to a united Europe, but what I see is that the forces that create this Europe focus too much on companies and too little on its actual citizens. That is all, really.

No, that's not what I am saying. I am saying the E.U. really messed up on this, and that the outcome is very unfortunate. It's easy to equate this to National vs. European, but it's impossible to do that because the national governments are an integral part of the E.U. through the various bodies that make up the E.U. that consist of ministers from the governments. It's more like... European Commission v.s. rest of the E.U. institutions. It's all sorts of complicated.

That complicated framework is often something that actually works against the E.U. in the public eye as well. National governments can easily decide to do something together through the European Council or Council of European Ministers, and then pretend that they didn't actually want to do it, saying "Sorry, the E.U. made us do this." This happened for example here in the Netherlands when our government said that they couldn't do anything about having to make budget cuts because European regulations, while trying not to make people remember that they themselves pushed for those regulations in the Council to start with.

But PUH-LEEZ. All the "EU guys" had passed this, is was only torpedoed when it came to the national governments. There's literally no way that you can say that EU is to blame for this watering-down. See my post above yours. The Council of the European Union is as much a European institution as the European Commission. The E.U. is not just the European commission + the European parliament.

Well, I guess we should just stop democracy here altogether here then, since showing any interest in politics will mean that you're going to ask that they do better. Yup, I'll write to my government right now asking them to cancel the next elections, since they're not needed, since we are doing much better than countries in Africa anyway.

The national ministeries are as much a European institution as the European Commission. When national ministers of a certain department come together, they form what is called the "Council of the European Union." So in essence it's still one E.U. institution overruling the other. And the Council of the European Union is in all things still more important than the E.C. (and certainly more important than the European Parliament.) http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/council-eu/index_en.htm Really, in order of importance it's: 1) European Council (Council consisting of all heads of states) 2) Council of the European Union (Council consisting of national ministers) (Yes, the names are confusing) 3 E.C. 4 E.P.