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  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    @getefix

    I showed your post to my wife and she gave me some sound advice.

    You know what, you're right. Experience counts for absolutely nothing,
    here or anywhere else. I guess its a side effect of the google 'press enter to learn' phenomenon. I must also suppose it to be a generational thing. After all, dinosaurs like me remember PID (pre internet days) when instead of googling stuff, you went and asked somebody who knew.

    Anyway I digress.

    As the wife says, why should I work myself up about something which is unimportant in the grand scheme of things - after all this is just keyboard jousting and will make no difference to what is happening in the real world.

    Therefore You can chalk this up as one for the liberalists and nil for the realists and thank my wife for the result.

    BTW I was advised some time ago by another member that by participating in this thread, I was engaged in an exercise in futility, I chose to ignore that advice at the time, but now I guess I must acknowledge the wisdom of that persons words. Time to step off the carousel.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I hate to be caustic, but I really must say, for Conservative Parliament to have called this election, whilst sitting on a ten member majority, is nothing short of one the worst political decisions in modern history. It is mind boggling to be honest.
    2nd time in as many years that they have made a hubristic political call, and in both cases the results have been rather unexpected.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    Personally I don't think we should ever go to war with a religion. I don't want to see a war with the Muslims of the world, I want to see the eradication of terrorism inspired by religious fanaticism and hate.

    IGotTheMessage I think the conservative majority was twelve, not ten. Which make TM's decision to go to the country all the more fantastic. It was a slender majority alright, but one with which she was able to push through article 50 etc.
  • Posts: 5,993
    Yes, it was Jacques Chirac in 1997 all over again.
  • IGotTheMessageIGotTheMessage United States
    Posts: 194
    @stag

    I was thinking that it was a ten vote margin once accounting for Bercow not having a vote. You may be right though. A coalition can still be formed with DUP, but it really is a shocking decision.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    @stag

    I was thinking that it was a ten vote margin once accounting for Bercow not having a vote. You may be right though. A coalition can still be formed with DUP, but it really is a shocking decision.

    Dont forget Diane Abbott skiving on the sick brings it down to 9.
  • IGotTheMessageIGotTheMessage United States
    edited June 2017 Posts: 194
    @WizardOfIce

    Lol. Even worse, there is no majority at all now.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    edited June 2017 Posts: 1,053
    I guess if you count up the pro remain Tories and pro leave Labour (Giesla Stuart and a few others) the majority in terms of voting on brexit issues - if free votes are allowed or they ignore the whip - will be slightly more complicated but possibly may still swing in brexits' favour?
  • Posts: 4,615
    A horrible irony in that many of my posts have been focussing on Islam's view of the World and their schools reject Darwin and embrace fantasy. Now, we have 10 guys propping up May who not only agree with this but officially want creationism on the curriculum. Just mind blowing.
    Meanwhile, Islamic terrorism "enough is enough" off the agenda and seemingly forgetten until the next attack.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    edited June 2017 Posts: 1,053
    patb wrote: »
    A horrible irony in that many of my posts have been focusing on Islam's view of the World and their schools reject Darwin and embrace fantasy. Now, we have 10 guys propping up May who not only agree with this but officially want creationism on the curriculum. Just mind blowing.
    Meanwhile, Islamic terrorism "enough is enough" off the agenda and seemingly forgotten until the next attack.

    Interesting point. I wonder what the DUPs attitude is towards Islam as a 'competing/alternative faith'?

    On a couple of points at least (gay rights and abortion) they appear to be singing from the same sheet as the Muslims.
  • Posts: 4,615
    @stag Any comments on the news that the main gang leader treid tried to hire a lorry but his credit card was declined and then he hired a van. I have had my credit card refused based on the fact that the pattern of spending was unusual and I had to phone the bank to explain the attempted transaction. The guy was on bail, why was his credit card not on a real time watch list and the credit card transactions monitored and flagged? A lorry? what could he possible want with that?
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    edited June 2017 Posts: 8,255
    @CommanderRoss

    Well, firstly, income inequality in itself tells us essentially nothing. You would certainly prefer to have a much larger pie with higher levels of income inequality than a much smaller one with far lower levels of income inequality. Hence, talking about income inequality in a vacuum is a pointless exercise. Tis' not interchangeable with poverty or the living conditions of the population.

    Secondly, your correlation falls apart with even a cursory analysis of the facts. A Socialist government has been in power in France for the last five years and they have been hit as hard as anyone. You are really mingling together concepts which are really very different.

    Thirdly, the reality is that the United States is the wealthiest country in the history of the world, by a good margin, so that line also unfortunately does not hold weight.

    1. true, but it's a good indication of the strength of the middle class. And, as history has shown time and time again, any society with no middle class is prone to unrest (the basics we are talking about here).

    2. the fact that France has had a socialist government says nothing about the state of the country. The suburbs (banlieux) of cities like Paris and Marseille are increadably violent and poor (those two go hand in hand). You can have a socialist government all you want but if that government doesn't do what it promises to do, give a decent living standard to the poorest, it doesn't help much, now does it.

    you're saying the two aspects (income disparity and low income) aren't connected. Well, no, they are not connected but together they influence the social standing, and thus give breeding ground to unrest. Put some militaristic/idealistic/religious nonsense into the mix and you'll have people blowing themselves up in no time.

    3. The US is, on a whole, the wealthiest, yes. But that's a misplaced number if ever I saw one. A country like Norway will never be the wealthiest, because 200+ milion Americans will together always have more money then 6 million norwegians. Far better it is to look at GDP per capita:
    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html
    There the US ends at place 20 (!).

    Again, when you look at absolute wealth, the US stands on nr. 1
    http://www.cityam.com/227917/world-wealth-britain-crowned-fifth-richest-country-in-the-world-behind-us-china-japan-and-germany

    But check the nr. 2, China. It has one-tenth the capital of the US per person, while only about 1/3 of it in absolute wealth.

    But this is all semantics: my statement, that a hugh income disparity with a very low basic income spawns violence still upholds.
    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-u-s-gun-deaths-compare-to-other-countries/

    Of course, the US numbers are also influenced by those odd fire-arm laws, but even in the non-firearm homicides the US scores nr.1.

    It's just waiting for the next attack..
    http://nypost.com/2016/04/16/how-saudi-arabia-undermines-the-united-states/
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    Explosion rocks the front gate of a kindergarten school in China. Several dead and even more injured. No confirmations on whether it was the result of a bomb or an accident just yet, but either way, this is terribly tragic and heartbreaking:

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/police-explosion-strikes-entrance-kindergarten-eastern-china-reports-104744626.html
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    That is horrible.
  • Posts: 19,339
    No clues what happened yet ,anyone ?
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    It appears it's still under investigation, no confirmations yet past a death toll.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Ok thanks pal.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    I suppose the only "good" confirmation I've seen so far is that no children were killed, if you want to look at it that way. I can only hope it was an accident of some kind.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Lets hope so....this has been a terrible year for deaths of all kinds.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    Another great example of how Christians can intellectually dilute themselves just as much as Muslims.

    Crazy talk.

    Wake up, people. There's is no God; and if there were and he'd be a punishing one, how can you "love" him so much and worship him? How can you love someone who hurts and causes so much pain? That's the essence of soda-masochism right there.

    God fearing fools.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited June 2017 Posts: 9,117
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Another great example of how Christians can intellectually dilute themselves just as much as Muslims.

    Crazy talk.

    Wake up, people. There's is no God; and if there were and he'd be a punishing one, how can you "love" him so much and worship him? How can you love someone who hurts and causes so much pain? That's the essence of soda-masochism right there.

    God fearing fools.

    How can you take someone seriously who changed their name to Bossie Boshoff?

    So I guess from this informed proclamation that homosexual activity in London and Portugal has been through the roof recently so God felt the need to give those places a slap and remind them of His power?

    Nothing at all to do with a dodgy fridge and cutting corners with the cladding on the outside of the building or the Iberian peninsula in the grip of a heatwave I suppose. It was all His will.

    Strangely I'm in Amsterdam at the moment and just passed two blokes kissing in the street but nothing has set on fire yet. Should I change into my asbestos underpants in case His wrath is visited on this decadent place?

    Maybe if I repent and embrace Christ I might save myself? What should I do Bossie? Share some of your wisdom to save a poor sinner (you note how Christianity is all about saving sinners; except if you're gay. Then the all merciful God says you can burn. Another religion of peace).
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    "A religion of peace."

    Yes, mankind's best example of self-inflicted brain damage. To become drones, slaves to a belief system that has absolutely no foundations in reality - none! - only to then fear a non-existing being and take commands from it and go out and lynch other people or corrupt the minds of innocent children by indoctrinating them, all in the name of ... peace.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    "A religion of peace."

    Yes, mankind's best example of self-inflicted brain damage. To become drones, slaves to a belief system that has absolutely no foundations in reality - none! - only to then fear a non-existing being and take commands from it and go out and lynch other people or corrupt the minds of innocent children by indoctrinating them, all in the name of ... peace.

    They're all about peace and love mate. None of them say 'If you don't join us you are utter scum and will burn for eternity.'

    You have to wonder, since the message they are selling, eternal life, is so desirable why they need such draconian punishments for none believers. Why not just say 'Join us and you will live forever but don't and it's your loss and you'll end up in a hole in the ground you mugs. Your choice.'
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    imageedit_346_6592529240.jpg
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited June 2017 Posts: 24,179
    You have to wonder, since the message they are selling, eternal life, is so desirable why they need such draconian punishments for none believers. Why not just say 'Join us and you will live forever but don't and it's your loss and you'll end up in a hole in the ground you mugs. Your choice.'

    Good point.
    Perhaps that's because you and see logic and reason (or the very lack thereof) whereas those who are committed to support the completely obsolete notion of a supreme being (strangely shying away from even the least bit of direct interaction with all his brave warriors and crusaders and worshippers) gave up on logic and reason a long time ago.

    When children grow up, some accept that we're only a silly and temporary by-product of an ongoing evolutionary process. Those people try to make the best out of life and one day they die. Others, however, never grow up, and like little children who make ugly noises in the shopping mall because they didn't get what they wanted, they create chaos and fuss and believe in a Santa Claus who offers them eternal life. They teach their children to also believe in this Santa Claus, and in doing so, they perform one of the cruellest forms of child abuse imaginable: to corrupt the mind of a defenceless infant.

    Why hasn't America set fire to its many hate preaching churches yet? Why haven't dangerous people like the Westboro Baptist Church been arrested and punished yet? Why do Americans vote for a president who cries "God bless America", which is no different than saying "May Santa Claus bring us peace and prosperity" and is thus a sign of utter stupidity? Why can't Americans see that as long as they proudly cling to an outdated mass hysteria, they are no better than the Muslims they'd so very much love to see go?

    Because whether you're a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, a Hindu, ... you are willing, anno 2017, to openly subject yourself to the greatest lie man has ever told himself: that the cosmos knows you exist. And if others laugh at you, mock you, make fun of you and don't take you seriously, you get upset, cross arms, and plot a counterstrike. Christians did (and in some places still do) that and now Muslims do it too. And in this very thread, many self-proclaimed Christians have openly launched attack after attack after attack on those silly Muslims, but not one of them, not a single one of them, has actually introspectively admitted that the very doctrines and dogma's Muslims live by are no better nor worse than those that Christians live by.

    "Christians are not terrorists!" Read a history book; it'll disagree with you.

    Folks, GROW UP! Again, there is no god, you will die, you will not enter an afterlife and when someone takes your picture, the camera hasn't stolen your soul. And leave your kids alone, keep them out of Church, try to raise them with a moral conscience that isn't dictated by a 2000 year old book or a bunch of senile virgins in Rome, and keep their minds open. Only then will they be truly free; and isn't that ultimately what we want?

    There's only one god, folks, and he did seven Bond films and even he passed away.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    You have to wonder, since the message they are selling, eternal life, is so desirable why they need such draconian punishments for none believers. Why not just say 'Join us and you will live forever but don't and it's your loss and you'll end up in a hole in the ground you mugs. Your choice.'

    Good point.
    Perhaps that's because you and see logic and reason (or the very lack thereof) whereas those who are committed to support the completely obsolete notion of a supreme being (strangely shying away from even the least bit of direct interaction with all his brave warriors and crusaders and worshippers) gave up on logic and reason a long time ago.

    When children grow up, some accept that we're only a silly and temporary by-product of an ongoing evolutionary process. Those people try to make the best out of life and one day they die. Others, however, never grow up, and like little children who make ugly noises in the shopping mall because they didn't get what they wanted, they create chaos and fuss and believe in a Santa Claus who offers them eternal life. They teach their children to also believe in this Santa Claus, and in doing so, they perform one of the cruellest forms of child abuse imaginable: to corrupt the mind of a defenceless infant.

    Why hasn't America set fire to its many hate preaching churches yet? Why haven't dangerous people like the Westboro Baptist Church been arrested and punished yet? Why do Americans vote for a president who cries "God bless America", which is no different than saying "May Santa Claus bring us peace and prosperity" and is thus a sign of utter stupidity? Why can't Americans see that as long as they proudly cling to an outdated mass hysteria, they are no better than the Muslims they'd so very much love to see go?

    Because whether you're a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, a Hindu, ... you are willing, anno 2017, to openly subject yourself to the greatest lie man has ever told himself: that the cosmos knows you exist. And if others laugh at you, mock you, make fun of you and don't take you seriously, you get upset, cross arms, and plot a counterstrike. Christians did (and in some places still do) that and now Muslims do it too. And in this very thread, many self-proclaimed Christians have openly launched attack after attack after attack on those silly Muslims, but not one of them, not a single one of them, has actually introspectively admitted that the very doctrines and dogma's Muslims live by are no better nor worse than those that Christians live by.

    "Christians are not terrorists!" Read a history book; it'll disagree with you.

    Folks, GROW UP! Again, there is no god, you will die, you will not enter an afterlife and when someone takes your picture, the camera hasn't stolen your soul. And leave your kids alone, keep them out of Church, try to raise them with a moral conscience that isn't dictated by a 2000 year old book or a bunch of senile virgins in Rome, and keep their minds open. Only then will they be truly free; and isn't that ultimately what we want?

    There's only one god, folks, and he did seven Bond films and even he passed away.

    Very fine words Sir.

    It's about time Christianity and other religions shared some of the flak Islam gets. Yes Islam causes the most trouble but once you admit to being a 'believer' then you're all in the same boat to be honest.

    Saying 'Their infantile delusions are bullshit but obviously mine arent' just isn't acceptable frankly.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    Worse still, imprinting those delusional things on the minds of children, is the fastest road towards a whole new generation of terrorists.

    "My son was always kind and nice and ..." Lady, your son shot 15 people in cold blood because YOU brainwashed him when he was five into thinking that your mutual God demands it.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    "My son was always kind and nice and ..." Lady, your son shot 15 people in cold blood because YOU brainwashed him when he was five into thinking that your mutual God demands it.

    Chortle.
  • MrcogginsMrcoggins Following in the footsteps of Quentin Quigley.
    Posts: 3,144
    Dimi never a truer word sadly.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited June 2017 Posts: 24,179
    Looks like a man hit Muslims with his car in London screaming he wants them all dead. I'm not saying I condone this but it was to be expected. When integration is stubbornly refused, the white blood cells of a society will strike back.

    Edit. Maybe white is a clumsy word in this context but I'm referring to the biological thing of course.
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