So what exactly did those Marines pissing on corpses help to achieve by their "golden showers"?

gogul: I'm counting on proper conscience. It kills if you were a bad boy (or girl for that matter).

What's going on with Wulff in Germany is just a flashbang. In Europe, some may get a little angry about certain german politicians somewhere ... around the european central bank... Barroso and the kind are not justifiable anymore in their positions. What can they do? Wipe streets? Cleaning public toilets? Move to prison?

gogul: Payback is too big for our supercapitalists, they can't pay back their depts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

Worth watching, and having deforestation, disastrous pollutions and such in mind. If you don't know what this is, you have a gap in education. If you think you are not part of what happens somewhere abroad, you are an ignorant.

(V): So it is, the republicans for sure are not part of the solution.

Übergeek 바둑이: And this needs to take 6 months!!

Guess it's the politicians and the PR firms who are profiting, not the people. All that money would do wonders helping build community projects

(V):

As I understand it, the membership of each state casts its vote. The nomination is done through election within the party. People outside the party do not get to vote in the nomination process.

..... I don't get why the states vote on who gets to be the leader of the opposition. Isn't that something the party should decide?

Well the new supreme leader looks ... ... in control.

... Those hats remind me of ..

Übergeek 바둑이: I don't..

"However, when the war in Iraq started he completely abandoned his left-wing politics in favour of right wing ideology."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUixaVH8DVY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDj6WechLhw&

I don't think so. I think he was not of one ideology.

Let us replace the EU personnel.

Übergeek 바둑이: It must be kind of desperate, and the fight against ignorance can lead some people to anything, even the ugly. Neocreationism for instance, stubbornness due to an illusion related to the "birth", the right of the first birth. Nobody keeps his first new birth, but the illusion is kept alive with dark spots in the soul. These black spots, Hitchens was on about them, and I admire him for that. Neocreationists are missled, and it ruled the americas. Hitchens stood open to a lawsuit for the Babylon trip of Mr. Bush, his Irak war.

To me it is interesting that people on the right admire Hitchens. Of course he is an atheist, but that is forgiven because he was a big defender of the war in Iraq. If Hitchens had opposed the war, would he be a "scholar and a gentleman"? His friendship with Paul Wolfowitz certainly helped to assuage any concerns about his atheism. People forget that Hitchens started out as a Troskyist (a communist) and it was in that part of his life that his atheism developed. However, when the war in Iraq started he completely abandoned his left-wing politics in favor of right wing ideology. For all his intelligence, he seems to me ideologically flaky. Anybody who goes from left to right like that shows a lack of conviction in his beliefs. Yet in spite of his ideological switch, he still remained an atheist. It is rather a paradox.

Bernice:

it is good to see that the USA and Afghanistan are such good friends on Twitter :)

you can feel the love :)

Despite the gloomy economic situation, the United States has become the world's most generous nation, according to this year's Charities Aid Foundation's World Giving Index.
Ireland is ranked second followed by Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. Charities Aid Foundation used Gallup's Worldview Poll to look at three behaviors: "giving money, volunteering time and helping a stranger."
The U.S. came out on top after being ranked fifth last year.
"Overall the World Giving Index demonstrates that the world has become a more charitable place over the last 12 months - with a 2 percent increase in the global population 'helping a stranger' and a 1% increase in people volunteering," CAF said in its press release.
The Washington Post, reporting on the survey, shows that wealth and charity don't necessarily go together. Of the world's top 20 wealthiest nations, only 5 made it into the top 20 most charitable.
And who is bringing up the rear as least charitable nations?
China, Russia, and India.


Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/12/us_regains_top_spot_as_worlds_most_charitable_nation.html#ixzz1hDjsd5LE

(V): Maybe it was his journalistic style I liked so well. Don't know. I just enjoyed listening to how he said things.

Artful Dodger: Hitchens was a journalist, Dawkins is a scientist. Hitchens can be just as blunt but by trade he is more of a wordsmith. He hated religion after 9/11. This display of "tribalism" is just as present according to him in any major monotheistic religion.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA55jGyq2C8&

(V):Hitchens was an intellectual and a gentleman. Dawkins is smart, but not at Hitchens level of intellect. Dawkins didn't have an anti-religion passion, he had hate. And he wore his hate on his sleeve.

Bernice: The Dead Man disowned one of his sons because he wanted to goto Tokyo's Disneyland. Another he disowned because he was to feminine.... "no good because he is like a little girl".

Which left him one son to name as the new King.. sorry, great Leader!

Artful Dodger: In which way? The Atheism or the anti religion passion he had?

Bernice: I thought so too

Artful Dodger: now that IS interesting......thanks :)

I suppose a kid in his early 20s is "entitled" to be a leader. It is no different than kings and queens and the princes that get propped up into power. However, these people are just figure heads. In reality the power resides in a technocratic apparatus, a system of bureaucrats that exercises power on behalf of the figure head.

Well, the technocratic, bureacratic apparatus is the same in every government. Western pseudodemocracies have "cabinets" with their ministers and secretaries. The difference is that in western pseudodemocracies people vote to chose their dictator for a few years, they have the option of calling him names if they don't like him, and finally he leaves only to be replaced by another one. In North Korea the dictator is imposed, nobody can call him names and he leaves only when he is dead.

The military bases are there because of fear that war could break out again. After all, North and South Korea never declared peace. They live under a cease fire, and they are both too radicalized in their ideology to concede peace to each other.

Is North Korea a threat? Historically it is and it is not. North Korea never attacked the USA, or any European nation, or Japan. If anything, it was always the other way around since it was the empires that attacked the weaker nations. The Japanese empire abused Korea for centuries,as did the Chinese empire and the Mongolian empire. However, North Korea did attack the south with the backing of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. Our western empires killed 3 million North Koreans, and at the same time they want North Korea to trust the west. Would the USA or the UK trust a country that killed 3 million of their people?

Western empires want North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, even though those empires make no effort to abandon their own. Western empires deplore WMDs, even though they have arsenals that could kill every living thing in this planet. The West expects North Korea to be sane, without admitting the insanity of their own behaviour.

Bernice: Maybe he's even more of a nut.

Artful Dodger: well the Dead Mans SON has taken over and to me that is to cause much concern...."the apple never falls far from the tree"

Bernice: You're right about North Korea. I'm more that the world is on alert (as we in the US always are or should be) than worry. But you probably mean worry as in "concern" and we should be concerned who takes over etc. We are only ONE nut-job away from some serious conflicts with those nations that have the big bomb (as does N Korea). That should "worry" everyone. ;)

Bernice:
I didn't say there is nothing to worry about.
I am saying there is nothing additional to worry about than previously until the new leader of North Korea indicates there is through word or action.
If anything, the change in leadership should be viewed as an opportunity to renewed diplomacy with North Korea.
Whether I sound like someone else is hardly an issue.

Dark Prince: the americans have approx. 36,000 troops in Korea....if there is nothing to worry about why are they there....but then you are starting to sound like someone else in here....

Bernice:
Media fear mongering.
It's ridiculous. A new leader doesn't imply an imminent attack without cause. Have we, or has any country, given North Korea cause to attack?
If not, they won't.
The media is creating news merely for marketing purposes.

Übergeek 바둑이: what is wrong with a severe fine if you dont vote? We have that iv Australia and it works:(

Don't quote poor to me, those without can work for the community.

The world nervously holds it's breath

The anonymous vote is a disguise pretending that voters want it. In fact, each voter could be issued a code to maintain anonymity while publishing the votes in each district with the code to allow the voters themselves to verify accuracy and complain if not. When a count is questioned, the votes could be decoded for verification purposes.

Bernice:

This does not come as a surprise. Specially in a system in which two political parties have monopolized all political power. All representative pseudo-democracies are susceptible to this. Considering the amount of wealth and power involved, we should not be surprised if those in power want to cheat to win elections.

In many countries today Internet voting is being pushed as a way to "entice" voters to participate in elections and increase voter turnout at election time. Instead, computerized systems are easily rigged to manipulate results.

I would say the the USA is the most vulnerable for several reasons. You have a highly polarized political system with two parties that vie for nearly 50% of the vote each. You have highly technified private companies with the capability to program computerized voting systems. You have very wealthy and powerful men who have every interest in making sure that a candidate that represents their interests wins. You have a lobby system that pervades through every sector of your government. While the population votes, all political power resides in the hands of a plutocratic elite that manipulates and corrupts elected representatives. This is just an example of the undermining of the democratic process. I suppose it is up to Americans to protect their democracy and most Americans are too distracted by terror and paranoia to realize that the biggest threat to American democracy is not terrorists or communists, but rather the plutocratic elite that manipulates all western democracies.

(V): Dawkins couldn't even wear his socks.

Artful Dodger: The news about the Higgs Boson ..... Plus I think Richard Dawkins fills some of the guys boots.

Aye.. he had no room for intellectual dishonesty. The Ol' journalist streak in him.

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the death of Christopher Hitchens. So I will. It's a very sad sad day. The world has lost a powerful voice. His intellect resides at the very top with the very brightest. His rhetorical skills were unmatched but by the very few. The world now has a hole in it that won't be easily filled. RIP

Artful Dodger: It's more of a case of what is considered liberal to the US version of the idea. Our PM (conservative) is in full support of the NHS, as are about 99.99 of politicians. Considering some of the reasons for setting up the NHS and other social systems, it would be considered an insult to many who have served or contributed towards the victory of both world wars. As well as several dozen nails in the coffin for any major UK political party to announce it wants to disband it. UK history lessons teach of the poor houses, the deaths before we got social systems and the NHS.

Plus even the likes of the CBI acknowledge the health of the working population is a asset to businesses.

.. the usual argument in the end comes to how to run things.

As to progressive.. the most would in my mind be the SNP, as they won the right for Scotland to rule itself rather than London. But that is the same as being a State in the USA.

But.. I have to say the word progressive has different meanings. Technically there is no UK equivalent to the US. Your whole political system in some forms is alien to the UK.

eg.. unending tv commercials come elections is not allowed. Sure politicians can get on tv shows or be interviewed, but that is upto the TV stations. Lobbying like in the USA is illegal in the UK. Anybody caught red handed (but not slightly pink handed) is gone, possibly even made an example of... ie not allowed to resign and sacked or even actually facing criminal charges.

... I say "even" after the expenses scandal. Too many MP's would have been sacked if they hadn't been allowed to hand back their expenses money. I also wonder why all those big national building companies were not all in court, rather than the few out of 500+ caught fixing bid prices and other fraud, which cost the public and private sector.

(V): And what of US progressives? What is your equavalent?

(V): we have more than two parties too but only two dominant parties. Which of yours dominate? And how do liberals of GB differ from liberals in US?

Übergeek 바둑이: Of course they are a relative term. A BNP party member considers the Conservatives a leftist group. The Communists consider the Labour party a right wing group.

I mean.. how does Sinn Féin position in political terms the Ulster Unionist Party. Former foes in Northern Ireland's long war!

Artful Dodger: ...For a start we do not just have two parties, here is a list of all those with a MP or Lord at the mo....

Labour Party
Conservative Party
Liberal Democrat
Scottish National Party (SNP)
Plaid Cymru - the Party of Wales
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
Sinn Féin
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)
Respect
UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Independent Labour
Independent Conservative

More so, even within a party there can be a big difference in views on some items. There is no 'tea party' or be a better 'ideology' except of the 'fars' of movements whether left right or central.

(V): What the difference for example with your conservatives and liberals?

(V):

> Piers Morgan is considered a conservative

What passes for liberal in the USA and Canada is a right wing conservative anywhere else!

The USA has two choices: right wing, and right of right wing. Well, it just shows that the concept of left and right is relative.

Artful Dodger: Piers Morgan is considered a conservative here in the UK. He certainly had no qualms about working for Murdoch as the editor for the NOTW in the past... can't get any righter than working for Murdoch.

If you are talking about his interviewing style with politicians.... He's an English conservative, not an American one. The difference is bigger than the Atlantic ocean!!

(V): that's not a lot of viewers. Certainly not enough to sustain a show. On YouTube yes, cable no. You have to wonder why MSNBC keeps hiring these liberal nut jobs (Joy Bahar, Al Sharpton....) as they can't pull in any decent ratings. But if they put a good conservative at the helm, they'd easily score over a million viewers. American's are tired of the liberal spin here.

Artful Dodger: Damn!! Does that mean he'll be coming back and doing UK TV soon... ... again!

His 'interviews' over here (on ITV) were too choreographed, quite the opposite from his days with NOTW where justified going after celebs lock, stock and two smoking barrels!!