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NEAR DARK Director Kathryn Bigelow Focuses On Iraq!! THE HURT LOCKER Is Coming & Captain Plantastic Chats With Her About It!!
Merrick here...
Captain Plantastic chatted with director Kathryn Bigelow about her new movie THE HURT LOCKER.
In case you're not familiar with it, THE HURT LOCKER is about an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) team in Iraq & stars Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce.
It's been a while since we've gotten a big project from Bigelow, whose previous credits include NEAR DARK, BLUE STEEL, K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER, STRANGE DAYS, and some television work (like HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET).
Here's how things went down between Captain Plantastic & Ms. Bigelow...
KATHRYN BIGELOW INTERVIEW
BY
CAPTAIN PLANTASTIC
Captain Plantastic here with an exclusive from the American Film Market.
“The Hurt Locker” directed by Kathryn Bigelow (“Point Break,” “Near Dark”) deals with the most dangerous job in the world: the bomb technicians of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal(EOD) team.
Two films come to mind dealing with this subject: Hammer’s “Ten Seconds To Hell“ starring Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance, and “Juggernaut” with Richard Harris and David Hemmings along with the classic, BBC television series, “Danger: UXB” that captured the intense situations of these men where one mistake on the job was your last.
“The Hurt Locker” is destined to fall into that category of excellence.
I was lucky enough to see twenty minutes of “The Hurt Locker” - a tense and realistic movie about the EOD teams in Iraq that stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce .
Here’s what director Kathryn Bigelow has to say about the film:
CP- From what I’ve seen your picture’s very intense.
KB- I wanted to make this film where you get as close to the soldier’s p.o.v. and moment-to-moment experience where the audience is put into the soldier’s head seeing what he sees, hearing what he hears and feeling what he feels from the droplet of sweat on his brow to the harsh sun in his eyes to make it as realistic as I could. These men have a predatory, paranoid tension about them because in a city of bombs, safety is a fantasy.
CP- What are the characters in the movie like?
KB- They’re not ordinary soldiers, but volunteers who have the right stuff to join the elite ranks of the EOD. They’re highly intelligent. You have to be to get the job. To many of them, danger is a drug.
James is flawed and tragic, like the classic Greek hero. But, like in all mythology, there is no guarantee of invincibility.
Sanborn is the hardened veteran. A little more grounded, skilled and fearless.
Eldridge is the moral center of the film and shows us what its like to have life hanging in the balance every single day.
CP- Your Director of Photography, Barry Ackroyd (“Wind That Shakes The Barley,” “United 93.”) created some memorable and haunting images from what I saw.
KB- He painted a spectacular sense of canvas for the film . Throughout, there are sequences of struggle and chaos punctuated by periods of stillness and intimacy.
Imagine three EOD techs getting up from their mess tent and into this hostile Martian inferno alerted to several wounded techs walking back to the base out of a sandstorm bleeding and shaking like some modern day prophets of doom.
Still, even great warriors must rest and have peaceful moments like the scene where James stands under a canopy of stars calling home to his girl after a rough day. Its moments like these, that are treated with beauty and respect that allow the audience to recover and regroup. before the roller coaster of another day in the field that plunges them down again.
CP- Your film is very topical, especially in this day and age after 9/11.
KB- Indeed. New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Madrid…they’ve all been hit by terrorist bombs or IED’s(Improvised Explosive Devices) and the threat of more bombings hangs over every world metropolis.
They have become a part of the fabric of everyday life. Just pick up a newspaper or turn on the television and you can’t help but see the smoky aftermath of some explosion, with burnt wreckage and body parts strew across the street. Sadly, it’s the signature of our age.
“The Hurt Locker” looks at how brave men deal with danger, and in a sense, its themes are the universal and timeless subjects: trust, brotherhood, loyalty and honor.
In the past, bomb techs have worked in secrecy. They’ve been off-camera heroes toiling under the cloak of classified doctrines, because their jobs are so critical in the fight against terrorism.
CP- Mark Boal wrote the script. What’s his background?
KB- He’s a journalist who did ground-breaking reporting on the classified world of the U.S. Army’s bomb squad. His work is technically correct and factually accurate. Its depictions are real and true.
CP- Why do you think this was a story that needed to be told?
KB- Without politicizing or preaching, I wanted to make a film that will pay tribute to these brave men. They have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and in these times, they provide the only shield between us and the chaos and another bomb.
CP - Thank your for your time. I look forward to seeing the completed film.
KB- Thank you.
BY
CAPTAIN PLANTASTIC
Captain Plantastic here with an exclusive from the American Film Market.
“The Hurt Locker” directed by Kathryn Bigelow (“Point Break,” “Near Dark”) deals with the most dangerous job in the world: the bomb technicians of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal(EOD) team.
Two films come to mind dealing with this subject: Hammer’s “Ten Seconds To Hell“ starring Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance, and “Juggernaut” with Richard Harris and David Hemmings along with the classic, BBC television series, “Danger: UXB” that captured the intense situations of these men where one mistake on the job was your last.
“The Hurt Locker” is destined to fall into that category of excellence.
I was lucky enough to see twenty minutes of “The Hurt Locker” - a tense and realistic movie about the EOD teams in Iraq that stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce .
Here’s what director Kathryn Bigelow has to say about the film:
CP- From what I’ve seen your picture’s very intense.
KB- I wanted to make this film where you get as close to the soldier’s p.o.v. and moment-to-moment experience where the audience is put into the soldier’s head seeing what he sees, hearing what he hears and feeling what he feels from the droplet of sweat on his brow to the harsh sun in his eyes to make it as realistic as I could. These men have a predatory, paranoid tension about them because in a city of bombs, safety is a fantasy.
CP- What are the characters in the movie like?
KB- They’re not ordinary soldiers, but volunteers who have the right stuff to join the elite ranks of the EOD. They’re highly intelligent. You have to be to get the job. To many of them, danger is a drug.
James is flawed and tragic, like the classic Greek hero. But, like in all mythology, there is no guarantee of invincibility.
Sanborn is the hardened veteran. A little more grounded, skilled and fearless.
Eldridge is the moral center of the film and shows us what its like to have life hanging in the balance every single day.
CP- Your Director of Photography, Barry Ackroyd (“Wind That Shakes The Barley,” “United 93.”) created some memorable and haunting images from what I saw.
KB- He painted a spectacular sense of canvas for the film . Throughout, there are sequences of struggle and chaos punctuated by periods of stillness and intimacy.
Imagine three EOD techs getting up from their mess tent and into this hostile Martian inferno alerted to several wounded techs walking back to the base out of a sandstorm bleeding and shaking like some modern day prophets of doom.
Still, even great warriors must rest and have peaceful moments like the scene where James stands under a canopy of stars calling home to his girl after a rough day. Its moments like these, that are treated with beauty and respect that allow the audience to recover and regroup. before the roller coaster of another day in the field that plunges them down again.
CP- Your film is very topical, especially in this day and age after 9/11.
KB- Indeed. New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Madrid…they’ve all been hit by terrorist bombs or IED’s(Improvised Explosive Devices) and the threat of more bombings hangs over every world metropolis.
They have become a part of the fabric of everyday life. Just pick up a newspaper or turn on the television and you can’t help but see the smoky aftermath of some explosion, with burnt wreckage and body parts strew across the street. Sadly, it’s the signature of our age.
“The Hurt Locker” looks at how brave men deal with danger, and in a sense, its themes are the universal and timeless subjects: trust, brotherhood, loyalty and honor.
In the past, bomb techs have worked in secrecy. They’ve been off-camera heroes toiling under the cloak of classified doctrines, because their jobs are so critical in the fight against terrorism.
CP- Mark Boal wrote the script. What’s his background?
KB- He’s a journalist who did ground-breaking reporting on the classified world of the U.S. Army’s bomb squad. His work is technically correct and factually accurate. Its depictions are real and true.
CP- Why do you think this was a story that needed to be told?
KB- Without politicizing or preaching, I wanted to make a film that will pay tribute to these brave men. They have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and in these times, they provide the only shield between us and the chaos and another bomb.
CP - Thank your for your time. I look forward to seeing the completed film.
KB- Thank you.
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yeah
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Katherine Bigelow hates America!!!!!!
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Bombs are good!!! Leave them alone!!!
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DAMN YOU BRINGINGSEXYBACK!!!
TOO SOON!!!! -
As the Spanish king would say, why don't you just shut up?
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Nov 12, 2007 8:44:39 AM CST
Why does Kathryn Bigelow talk like an intelligence analyst
by spud mcspud
in the above article? Has it been misinterpreted / misquoted, or does she really use all that purple prose?
Wow. What a load of overdescribed pretentious bollocks. Hoping the movie is much better than the review (it should be!). -
It was an inappropriate of him to lob insults. Even Spain's Socialist party agrees.
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He should be Green Lantern.
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Good actor though - range...
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Near Dark, Point Break and Strange Days are three of my favourite films. AND she was married to Jim Cameron. Let's face it, the lady has taste!
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I'm sure this will be a fair and objective look at the troops who put their lives on the line everyday so movie gossip sites like this one can push their anti-american, anti-military, Pro-Stalinist leftist agenda safely in a free and open society, right Kathryn? SEE: LIONS FOR LAMBS, REDACTED.
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The movie is a story about American soldiers dismantling bombs used against them. What more do you want, boy?
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I don't know about that uss cygnus...
Usually, this is where I jump at the opportunity to lambaste another assault on the military by the "I hate America crowd" - see BringingSexyBack - but I digress. I think that you can do a good movie about these EOD guys without throwing any leftist propaganda at the moviegoer. They have a tough job, probably the toughest over there; not only dealing with the enemy, but also jumpy guys like me, calling them whenever there is anything in the road that wasn’t there the day before. Most of this movie should be about the shit that they are called in on that turns out to be nothing; but they always have to be ready for the real thing. All my respect to EOD.
But why would Hollywood want to do that anyway? After the box office receipts of these last two stinkers (see title of post), the studios are probably in full red-alert mode, ordering several films back to the cutting room floor for 'touch-ups' and minor edits. Hollywood, you reap what you sow.
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Not bad at all for a movie about talking. Looks like the wingnuts lost again.
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BringingSexyBack...Let me guess, you are one of the Robert Byrd, Joe Biden, Dick Gephardt Democrats, right? The racist kind? God, I only hope that Cygnus isn't offended by your 'off-color' remark.
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for any insult he can find.
I'm partial to the George Allen Republican good ol' boy style of racial insults. 'Macaca' is definitely a more colorful word than 'boy', don't you agree? -
Best foot chase ever. Strange Days = Pure Glory.
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Tell it like it is!
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War movies are only successful when they are about what happened in another generation, either past or present.
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I'm almost willing to forgive K9: The Widowmaker now. Almost.
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AAArrrggghhhh...!
I hate you Bill Brasky, and all of your Republican friends too!
Answer the question BringingSexyBack, Do you hate America? -
According to CHUD, Guy Pearce will be playing the role of the father in John Hillcoat's adaption of THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy.With NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN already locked n' loaded and BLOOD MERIDIAN in Ridley Scott's pipeline, the time of McCarthy is upon us.Guy is doing just fine.
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There is no country in the world I'd rather be than America, with New Zealand a close second. I even value you as my citizen/brother. We may fight, but we are family. Don't forget Dancing With The Stars is on tonight.
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If a 7 million million take on opening weekend for a film staring Tom Cruise, directed by Robert Redford is considered some type of victory of the Code Pink Moonbats, then they are truly grasping at straws.
Anybody that tries to talk that up as a good box office number is high on Al Franken's ass fumes.
By the way, "rendition" and "in the valley of cindy me-ham" did blockbuster business as well, huh?
Next..... -
Then he will have truly arrived.
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This isn't M:I 4, Fred. It's the equivalent of a cinematic lecture hall. That being the case, $7 Million and a debut at #4 is pretty spectacular. And it was shown on fewer screens than the other movies. I can't say I'm sorry you're in such agony over it.
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by mocking the mother of a dead soldier.
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All these political movies are LAME...this type of stuff, I'll either READ about, or watch a well made DOCUMENTARY
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A fine choice, but I woulda liked Viggo in the movie more I think. I'd trust him a bit more during an apocalypse.
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Lions for Lambs bombed so badly, even the studio couldn't see it coming - they were hoping for at least 8 million. If it hadn't been made by Tom Cruise's company, it wouldn't have been made at all, and it wouldn't have even gotten any money hardly at all if there hadn't been tons of marketing for it. Meanwhile apparently Redford and Streep hate Cruise and Redford refused to do press with Cruise. Sounds like a *huge* success (not) for the liberal left proprangandists, ha ha.
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I honor the son, not the Hugh Chavez cuddling nutcase that embarrassed the rest of her family and was used like doped up pawn by moveon.org. Liberals for Lambs will end up with a $12-18 million take, total. BOMB. Hell, I think the American Idol movie made more than that.
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That describes one out three movies coming out of hollywood now a days. Hell, even fucking kids movies are used to get the liberal message to the young. how about make movies that are fun to watch for a change?
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Hell, God forbid Cindy Sheehan has a problem with her son dying for no reason over in Iraq! While it's great to read between the lines that you support the troops, how about putting a little thought into why the fuck America are in this up to their necks in the first place? Clue: it's about securing access to oil. It ain't 9/11, otherwise the US would've gone after Saudi Arabia (and probably lost - they're nuclear and aren't shy of using it). It ain't Saddam - the US armed him, financed him, trained his troops, and put him in power. That's what happens when you support/create puppet regimes. And as for regime change / bringing democracy - in that case, I'll expect to see you chaps over in Zimbabwe, deposing Robert Mugabe some time in the New Year, what ho? I mean, he DOES infringe human rights with alarming alacrity, does he not?
Cindy Sheehan was upset that her son, who thought he was fighting for his country, for the real America, actually gave his life defending the interests of global corporations who use the US army as their own personal little band of enforcers. The guys in the forces are worth a shitload more than that - if you REALLY support the troops, you'll be with us liberals calling for them to be brought home and NOT used to secure the interests of a bunch of fat rich bastards who started a war to save a nickel on gas (copyright Gary Oldman, AIR FORCE ONE). An army is meant to be used to defend borders - not extend the reach of international conglomerate corporations. Fuck - get with the program.
Here endeth the lesson. -
Sorry, but they're just not. Someday someone will do a genuine drama about the soldiers there that works, but these overt political treatments are transparent and not especially interesting.
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Ha! If Viggo ever runs for public office, that should be his campaign slogan:Viggo Mortensen: The One To Trust During An ApocalypseVote Viggo!
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Or any war for that matter. What is the US doing in Iraq anyway? WMDs? Al-Qaeda? Democracy? And the sad part is that the war machine is prepping for Iran soon also....
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Good point. I think the problem is that you can go two ways in a war flick: follow the politics (which always requires an angle, as it's a rare director that can put forward both viewpoints in a war fairly and concisely) o0r follow the soldiers, which in order to work requires very little in the way of political discourse. If you're a soldier, told to ship out to Iraq, you're in the field, tired, covered in sand, hot as hell in the day and fucking freezing at night, not entirely sure who's an insurgent and who's an honest Iraqi that you're trying to help, and scared of every bump in the road that may or may not be an IED - shit, there's enough crap there to deal with daily before you even get time to think about the real reasons behind why your commanders and their superiors - all the way up to good ol' Dubya himself - have sent you there in the first place. They don't know, and most don't care, as trying not to get your ass shot off daily is enough to be worrying about when you're there.
LIONS FOR LAMBS sounds a bit preachy and a bit heavy-handed. Either do the SALVADOR / PLATOON grunt's eye movie, or go for a FEW GOOD MEN political drama, but I've never seen a movie where both viewpoints sit comfortably. Which is probably why LIONS FOR LAMBS doesn't work. -
Sadly, I think you spotted this trend too late. It's happening, and you're helplessly gonna have to watch it unfold before your horrified eyes. Next: Bay does Beirut!!!
Makes you long for the halcyon days of RED DAWN, it does... WOLVERINES!!! -
Cindy has branched out into denouncing the military and the United States itself. Sheehan has likened convicted terrorist lawyer Lynne Stewart to literary hero Atticus Finch at a rally at San Francisco State University. Stewart passed on messages from convicted 1993 World Trade Center bomber Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to his terror cell in Egypt and often pledged her belief in the morality of anti-capitalist violence. Sheehan’s rhetoric that evening could as easily have been written by the “Blind Sheikh” himself; she, too, regarded America as the “Great Satan”:
"America has been killing people on this continent since it was started. This country is not worth dying for."
She furthered this belief with a pronouncement on her official website, in which she describes her vision of a utopian future in America: “I will rejoice to hear the sounds of the collective Mea Culpa and the beating of breasts.”
Sheehan also pals around with “journalist” Greg Szymanski, who has covers Sheehan for the ArcticBeacon.com and the American Free Press. According to its website, ArcticBeacon.com is dedicated, in part, to covering the “Alien Presence on Earth and UFO Phenomena.” American Free Press is the newest incarnation of THE SPOTLIGHT newspaper, which the Anti-Defamation League classifies as “the most widely read publication on the fringe Right.” Both were published by Willis Carto’s Liberty Lobby, an organization with ties to neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism that is “presently the most influential right-wing extremist propaganda organization in the United States.” -
I could better sympathize if these bomb techs were disarming bombs in the US. However, the fact that they are an invading force, laying waste to an entire nation makes what they do morally ambiguous at best.
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Right, those bombs are never planted and used on locals, who want nothing to with Al Quaker and Jihad Johnies, of course.
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Nov 12, 2007 1:56:59 PM CST
The Conceit of Those that know Iraq better than Iraqi's Themselv
by darfurontherocks
I love that familar argument of colonial powers who claim that they know what is best for other countries. Therefore, every thing that they do is justified. FYI: Al-Qaeda were not in Iraq. It is just another fiction used to attack a sovereign nation. But hey, if you really want to liberate a nation, how about going to Palestine and saving them from the IDF who also seem to bomb and maim and steal from Arabs, who also speak a semitic language.
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Nov 12, 2007 1:58:12 PM CST
CLASSYFRED: I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING MORE ANTI-MILITARY
by bringingsexyback
than a disgraceful attack on the family of a fallen soldier, a soldier who would break your face if he were here to see you denigrate his mother. Fuck you and your backpedaling.
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Nov 12, 2007 2:03:10 PM CST
Honor the Military but NOT sending them to fight pointless wars
by darfurontherocks
I do not want to see a single American soldier lose their life. But the solution of not fighting a war based on lies seems a radical idea.... I wonder if all those hawks that push for war would sign up their children to fight?
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The question is, what's the source of these quotes? Not that I'm doubting she's said most of these things - even the ultra-liberal Spud thinks that maybe Cindy should've held off quoting the whole "Great Satan" thing - but then again, fred, does she not have a point? America the nation was created by some of my ancestral Brits, as well as some Frenchies and the well-armed Spaniards, coming over and basically genociding the indigenous Native American population. Then we had a few wars between ourselves, to keep our hand in as it were, and then pretty much settled. Voila - one USA. Birthed in blood. As for denouncing the military, while I abhor and utterly renounce any of the thing the US and UK have done in Iraq in the name of their own people (hell, Blair did NOT go into Iraq with MY blessing, and I'm not alone in that I think), soldiers are trained to go where they're sent and obey orders. You can't really blame them for that, but you CAN go after the people who send the army out to senseless conflict which is NOTHING to do with border defending. Hell, you guys don't even HAVE a southern border any more, from what I read on the net - the Mexicans are coming! The Mexicans are coming!
I think sometimes Cindy can go a bit far. But then she is a grieving mother. Grief isn't always conducive to rationality.
And I REALLY disagree with the whole Mea Culpa thing... It would be easier to just say, draw a line under all this shit and move on. The whole thing between black people and white people - black people who weren't enslaved, whose parents weren't enslaved, expecting recompense from white people who never owned a slave or supported slavery, whose parents never did either - this is what happens when the next generation tries to carry the guilt on of what their ancestors did. I don't have post-colonial white guilt as a white Englishman, mainly because I never enslaved a black person or helped invade the world. But to have those things taken out on me by a black person, or someone from a Brit-colonised country, just 'cos I'm white and English - doesn't make sense. THAT'S where breast-beating and Mea Culping gets you: people playing race/sexual orientation/oppression cards on others, ostensibly for recompense for grievances that ended decades previously, but in reality to give them a hand up whatever ladder (usually financial) they are trying to climb.
You know how we need to get over this? The way we got over Germany's involvment in WW2. I don't hate the Germans, and aside from the famous Fawlty Towers speech ("Ve did not start this!" "Yes you did! You invaded Poland!") I don't take the piss out of them either. We just put it all behind us, carried on rebuilding the rubble left by the war, and got on as best we could.
And Greg Szymanski is a twat. There's no disagreement there. Regardez, blassy! -
I find it incredulous that someone says he honors a fallen soldier but goes on to spew the most venomous lies about his mother, putting her in the same category as radical Islamic jihadists, no less, just because he disagrees with her. I fail to see the honor in that. Typical wingnutjob.
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A movie dealing with honor and loyalty!? FUCK YOU LIBERAL HOLLYWOOD!
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The only consolation is that more and more people in the general public of the UK and US are way more aware of the real reasons why our governments sentd our troops into places like Iraq than they THINK we are. We are waking up to this shit. It's going to take years - of demonstrations, of civil disobedience, of making it obvious that we as a nation totally disagree with what the government do - that eventually, one day, all this shit might stop. It's a thought. I'm with you on Palestine: all they want is a tiny portion of the land THEY USED TO OWN, without any hassle from Israel. Do you think they'll ever get it? Hell no - not while the UK and US keep supporting Israel, the great bully of the middle east. That is one of the most shameful things our governments are currently doing - covertly assisting the systematic genocide of the Palestinian people. And the media backlash at anyone who believes this as "anti-Semitic" - as if hating genocide makes one a Jew-hater. Fucking preposterous. Leave the Palestinians alone!!!
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Did you read the recent news article on how Israel's lead negotiator said there may be some "difficulty" in peace talks with the Palestinians? I saw that coming from a mile away. Apparently he thought it would be easy to have talks with a people you are committing democide against, and provoking by raiding their homes and refugee camps on a weekly basis. What a joke.
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Nov 12, 2007 2:22:05 PM CST
SPUD MCSPUD - BUSH OPENED THE DOORS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS
by bringingsexyback
and rolled out the red carpet for them. Why not? His real constituency - the wealthy - are reaping huge profits off a cheap illegal workforce numbering in the tens of millions. In every town, village and city in America, no matter what part of the country you're in, there are innumerable day laborers flooding the streets. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of troops and Guardsmen, who could be safeguarding our boarders, are in Iraq making sure Cheney's oil supply is safe.
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But that doesn't seem to be a pre-requisite for this talkback. SO...everybody's made some interesting points. Myself, I'd like to know when this "Oil War" is gonna start lowering prices at the pumps? It's 3 bucks a gallon in Atlanta, at least. If we'd grabbed all the oil in Iraq, it'd be like 80 cents a gallon by now. Also, Mr. TheRocks, I do hope we go after Iran, and HARD. They lie through their teeth on a daily basis - why would they celebrate the fact that they just turned their 3000 centrifuges on? Because theoretically that's the number you need to start making weapons-grade nuclear materials. Myself, I would have preferred we stuffed it down Iran's throat well before ever even THINKING about Iraq.
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Nov 12, 2007 2:28:33 PM CST
All the Power to Anyone, Mothers included, Wanting to Change the
by darfurontherocks
This is the beauty of the system. Anyone can get involved in shaping the government. Cindy Sheehan was wonderful for the government..... as long as she was the grieving mother. But when she started asking why her son died, that is when she was attacked as being a nutjob. When she wanted to get political that is when she was attacked. The same thing is that this was also the case of the family of Pat Tilman. He was a hero. His family were paraded when the Rangers lied and said that the "enemy" killed their son. Now that it is disclosed that it was Friendly Fire that took his life, the matter is simply brushed aside. The Remembrance Day has sadly become an industry, much like that of the Holocaust, where those that lived through it and suffered do not get help and are simply exploited by others.
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Merrick, How could you skip one of the best action movies of the 90's? That movie was a ton of fun, full of great surfing and sky diving scenes. Lots of male bonding over extreme sports. Shame on you for dissing this great flick.
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Wouldn't everyone have more respect for Bush and Brown if they just fucking ADMITTED what they were doing? You know, there's a press conference, then the Smirking Chimp appears:
"My fellow Americans. The time has come, to come clean on who we are and what we are doing.
We is conquerors. When we joined with the Spanish Armada, and Oliver Cromwell of the Britons, and took this land from the godless heathen Native Americans - with God's blessing, obviously - we began a legacy. A legacy of conquest. Might making right.
We are at war in the Middle East for oil. Iraq is capitulatified, and Iran will be next. We are working on the non-nucular nations, so that when the nuclon nations are next in line, rather than conquer them, we will help them to remove those pesky Arab bastards from their own UN-given doorstep, and in turn they will give us cheap oil. My fellow Americans, we must use war to bring peace, use devastation to bring utopia. By doing the dirty work in the Middle East, Israel will honour our work by giving us cheaper oil, once they have control of the Middle East, that is. Really. They will. They said so! They promised!"
Gordon Brown will smile, fart and belch simultaneously, then walk off stage, leaving Tony Blair to take it from the Chimp. The press conference ends, and the Spud is hunted down and killed by the guys who did Diana and David Kelly. Shit. -
Want to honour the military? TAKE CARE OF THE VETS! All this money given to Blackwater and they don't have a dime for the Vets? Have you heard the one where the Military cites "PRE-EXISTING" conditions as an excuse to cut benefits?! No Muslim or Arab did this.... It is all on the Government.
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Don't just honour the dead - honour the living! Is there any more obvious evidence that the governments of the US and UK don't fucking care about their soldiers, than the way the Veterans are treated upon their returns?
I've lost count of the number of WW2 veterans I talked to over the last 10 years who wonder what the fuck they bothered fighting the War for, since Gordon Brown (texture like sun) is just going to hand England over to Europe anyway. Hitler could've won, just y uniting the nations and drafting a fucking referendu,. Way to fuck the surviving Veterans - and the whole of the UK - right up their patriotic arses! Fat Scots bastard!!! -
They are the result of rage and frustration, of centuries of English repression. You fucking fucksters!!!
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David E. Kelley is DEAD? When did that happen??
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If you aren't moved to defend Point Break, then you sir are no movie nerd, and don't belong on a movie nerd site. Impostors! Plants! Only such as they would miss a golden opportunity to celebrate one of the gems of 90's action films.
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I prefer to believe that Bhodi surfed in a special island at the end of Point Break.
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You doofus. Although anyone who could kill David E. Kelley - is probably a ninja, and I am in mortal danger.
Nah, I meant Dr David Kelly, the man who mysteriously suicided after being named as one of the UN weapons inspectors who initially told Blair that there were no WMDs in Iraq, and refuted the "45 minutes from Armageddon" claim. He got named and shamed, and then mysteriously turned up dead in the woods near his home. Supposedly he slit his wrist with a knife - despite there being no fingerprints on the knife and very little blood, certainly no arterial spray - and by overdosing on painkillers - though he hadn't ingested enough to kill him. Tests on some more difficult to find poisonous substances were refused on the grounds of "not enough time".
It's all very suspicious, not least because David Kelly told a reporter that if war was declared on Iraq, after he assured Iraqis during his UN weapons inspection that "if you fully co-operate, war will almost certainly be averted", he would probably be "found dead in the woods" and that it would put him in a "morally ambiguous position".
I'd like to point out to anyone reading this on the net and planning to sneak into my house and kill me, that all this info is freely available to be found on Google and Wikipedia, as well as Rense.com, AboveTopSecret.com, and all good conspiracy websites everywhere. Furthermore, I know where the REAL Roswell alien is, so don't try anything, or Ol' Grey gets it big time. Respect. -
The guy who wrote the original movie is writing AND DIRECTING a sequel. And apparently we WILL know what happened to Bodhi.
They should cast Vin Diesel as the villain in POINT BREAK 2. That would REALLY fuck with the heads of everyone who realised that THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS was a plot-point-by-point remake of POINT BREAK with cars standing in for surfboards.
The whole thing stinks to high heaven. I don't want this so bad, it's like acid in my mouth ;p -
These Iraq war movies are cleaning up at the box office.
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The great art about a sifnicant world event isn't usually produced until long after the event is over and we have a historical perspective on it. Stephen Crane wasn't even born at the time of the Civil War but The Red Badge of Courgae is considered to be one of the great if not the great novel of the Civil War. Kurt Vonnegut was a POW during World War II but didn't publish Slaughterhouse-Five until nearly 25 years later. Some of these films make look ludicrous in 10 years' time.
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I heard they are recasting Busey as an amputee surfer veteran who rides a giant sand wave in the Middle East. But seriously, how can no one be stoked on Point Break 2??? Bring that fucker on I say. As well as Lost Boys 2.
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It was his destiny.
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Hearing that you don't like that actually happened. Everything I said about Cindy Me-ham is true, and caught live on video or audio tape. Such hypocrisy, if some mother of a solider killed in Iraq went on the 700 hundred club, and said we should nuke all Muslims in the middle east, you moonbats would be falling all over yourselves to get the first shot in on her.
And Spud, i will agree with you to a point: We are in the middle east because of oil. Not because we are stealing it (it would be a lot cheaper if that were the case I hope), but the huge oil revenues give money and power to some lunatics stuck in the 7th century.
No oil wealth, or the ability to effect our economies, and they could happily on kill themselves. Do shit heads out really think that they blow each other because 160,000 us soldiers are station in Iraq? Bullshit, that has been going on for 1300 hundred years.
You have to ask yourself this, when Hamas orders a drive-by shooting of the CHILDREN of a Fatah member, or they blow up a school run by the UN in the west bank because it is "Un-Islamic", is that really the result of US policy some place? -
Hey, you won't hear me saying that fundamentalism isn't dangerous. Put money, weapons and organisation behind that fundamentalism, and you've got a recipe for Armageddon right there. But then there are nutjobs in the US who actually WANT an apocalyptic war in the Middle East because they believe that will bring Jesus back for the Second Coming. The Islamic fundamentalists (who put the mental in fundamental) aren't the only threat out there. By all means limit the eastern threat - but don't bullshit about it. I think the biggest problem the public has is being lied to over this shit - we all know and see the threat that fundamentalist radical Islam poses to the West, but killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in a country completely unrelated to 9/11 for no good reason is not a good way to start. Those 3000 innocent Americans were killed by 15 Saudis and 1 other guy. So why not hit Saudi Arabia? Because 9/11 was used as a smokescreen to initially justify the war on Iraq - and when the people saw through that lie, it was changed to this whole War on Terror bollocks (which, by the way, is unwinnable, since you can't kill an adjective - you may as well launch a War on Empathy, or a War on Understanding, or a War on Democracy - whoops, that's already underway!).
Yes, these guys are nutjobs. Yes, radical Islamicists do pose a real threat to the West. So why aren't the governments being honest about the fact that we need to limit their ability to aggressively grow financialy and militarily? I think some timely documentaries on the evils that are perpetrated every day in a hardline Islamist nation would be shocking enough to get the entire public to rally behind the restricting of such a society being established in the UK and US. Saira Shah has done some undercover docs on life in Afghanistan for the UK, and they scared the living shit out of me. Linking Iraq to 9/11 with zero evidence or reason just alienates me from what the government wants me to believe or get behind. But show me what savages the radicals are in these Taliban states, and I'm right behind the war effort. I think the whole thing just hasn't been presented to us truthfully and honestly, and that has a very big impact on the hearts and minds of the American and English people. -
Point taken, but do you really think she debased the memory of her son by behaving disgracefully? I agree that draping yourself over your son's grave for Vanity Fair is pretty fucking disgraceful, but his sacrifice is no less honourable because of her behaviour. She's acting the way she does - whether we agree with her or not - because of HER beliefs. Her son, whether she agrees with this or not, signed up and eventually died for HIS own beliefs. If she's now acting like a nutjob, I don't think less of him or what he lived for, just because SHE'S gone too far. I think his silent dignity is pretty safe, just by the fact that he had the integrity to give his life for what HE believed to be right.
I also agree about the not needing to be 100% for or against the war - I may disagree with how the governments lied to us (pretty fucking barefacedly too) and the fact that we used 9/11 to justify the War on Iraq, but I ALSO believe - as I think classyfredblassy does - that the radical Islamic states need to be kept in check financially and militarily, because if they got powerful enough their ideology - and the fanatical zeal with which they pursue it - they would move to invade the West, of that I AM sure. So I'm not 100% one way or the other. And THAT'S a very good way to get into a serious, intelligent discussion on this whole sorry mess. -
Nov 12, 2007 4:29:10 PM CST
Cindy Sheehan is a grieving mother that went off the deep end
by pound sand
I didn't enter into this to flame, or defend Cindy Sheehan in anyway, other than to say that I'll bet losing a child turns your whole world upside down. Whatever else she has done, she deserves sympathy and compassion for the loss of her son. You may resume the political discussion.
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Please classyfredblassy, stop with the BS. I am Muslim and you telling me of Islamic history is laughable. You have little knowledge of Islam so please stop. Crazed people who call themselves Muslim exist. BUT THEY ARE MINUSCULE IN NUMBER. The powers that simply want to impose their ideology onto others have created this phantom menace in Radical Islam in order to justify their grab of oil and in the case of Israel, Palestinian land. That is why you focus on the great evil of HAMAS while turning a blind eye to IDF's bombing and killing of Palestinian kids. That is why the IDF shooting up of the Church of the Nativity is glossed over. That is why the fact that Israel has 300 nuclear warheads AND they refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty is a non-issue for you. Why? Because Islam and Muslims are hate the way that we live! Like I said, if the US wants to rid the world of tyrants then I commend them. But please go after the goons in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, and yikes!!!! Israel! Unfortunately, those chaps are our friends :) Islam is evil though. Islam has so evil in fact that they used their influence in Congress to pass the Patriot Act and allowed Bush to rip up the Constitution and usurp our civil liberties!
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Unlike Lions for Lambs, which still sounds really boring. Maybe it's better than it sounds, that's why it made $7 mil. Or Robert Redford bought all the tickets.
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And that from the Guardian. "Poor reviews and negative word of mouth were thought to have harmed the political thriller, which opened in fourth place with a disappointing $6.7m" . . . hmmm.
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First, to anyone who would ever defend that smoldering pile of regurgitated horse shit that is Point Break, please jab out your eyes because you don't deserve to experience the visual arts.
As for the war, I'm a liberal, and I'm incensed at some of the preachy, paint by the numbers movies made by the Hollywood left. Lions for Lambs and other intellectually lazy films that preach to the audience do nothing to aide the cause of those who think the lives of military men and women are too valuable to be sacrificed in a war for oil and profit that has greatly weakened our national security. I thought In the Valley of Elah was a moving film, even if a bit over the top. I can see how some might see it as anti-military, because of the soldiers it chose to portray. But I interpreted it as anti-war. It showed good, honorable men who unselfishly went to serve their country and were transformed into murderers by the horrors they experienced. "These are the times that try mens' souls," and not all souls pass the test. Countless psychological experiments over the last century have shown that, typically, if you give a guy a uniform and absolute authority over other people, that guy will abuse his power and the people he rules over. This is one of the many reasons that going to war should be an absolute last resort, not a pre-emptive measure to reduce the probability of future terrorist attacks and/or reduce the cost of oil and/or increase the profits of "defense" contractors.
Violence begets violence. War begets war. Preventing violence with violence is like preventing a headache by crushing your skull with the claw of a hammer. Now, I know we don't live in a Polyanna World where violence is never necessary. But the use of violence has serious and unintended consequences, which is why it should only be used in the most extreme of circumstances. Thinking that we can stop Islamic terrorism with bombs and bullets is ignorant. Resorting to unnecessary violence only legitimizes the tactics of terrorists. What’s needed is international law enforcement, not military conquest. The members of al-Qaeda are international criminals that must be brought to justice, preferably in a way that does not violate international law.
There is a great film waiting to be made about this war, and it doesn’t need to be made 10 years from now. It needs to be made yesterday. Coppola didn’t have to wait 10 years to make Apocalypse Now. If I wasn’t such a lazy, self-absorbed American fuckstick, I’d be working on the script for such a movie instead of discussing the war on a geek site talkback with a bunch of fellow fucksticks.
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The war on terrorism was a reason given by a US general to justify sending weapons in space. Meanwhile, NASA has to beg for money to fund a replacement for the aging Space Shuttle.... In related new, the CIA are claiming that Radical Islam have set up bases in the caves of the moon..... more at 11.
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that was the name of my submission move when I was 17 and thought I was going to be a WWF wrestler.
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It was supposed to happen a couple of days ago. Those rascally Mooslims living 1300 years in the past have the technical proficiency to cripple the internet. As a result, Bush is now screening our emails and censoring the internet! Just look at Jimmy Carters book review on Amazon!
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I always pictures a school locker at the bottom of an ocean.....
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oh yeah!
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The fact the Israel has nuclear weapons has not used them once should tell you something right there.
11 million people surrounded by 1 billion that hate them and use them as scape for the shitty conditions in their own countries, like Iran.
Tell me, why the fuck the average Iranian putting up with a shitty economy that produces very little jobs, and has a police force to enforce dress codes, tell me how the hell what is happening on the West Bank has any effect on their daily lives?
And when the elected Iranian government has billboards in Tehran say "Martyrdom over Motherhood" and a "president" that likens to study of Holocaust denial to questioning the laws of physics, well there should be some worried folks out there.
And Hamas is the elected government of the Palestinian people, and today they opened fire and killed seven of their Muslim brothers, for the horrible crime of backing another political party, mind you. Let's not forget earlier they were throwing some of these same folks off of 20 story buildings. So when liberals through out the "they hate us because of the jerk president we elected", please remember that argument works both ways. PS. I really do feel nothing but sympathy for the folks in places like Iraq, Iran, and the West Bank that buy into the radical teachings of parts of Islam, but to say it is just a small bunch of cooks it looked at this with biased blinders on. -
I meant to say I really do feel nothing but sympathy for the folks in places like Iraq, Iran, and the West Bank that DON'T buy into the radical teachings of parts of Islam...were the fuck is the edit button?
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Nov 12, 2007 10:16:13 PM CST
Who are you are Judge what is radical and what is not?
by darfurontherocks
It is blinders that cause you solely to focus on the negative actions of those who claim to be Muslim. As a result you focus on the actions of HAMAS while given the IDF a free pass to slaughter civilians and steal their land. Of course, these Palestinians should not attempt to resist. The fact that the IDF uses F-16s and Apaches and M1A1 tanks to kill civilians is acceptable to you. And the fact that these weapons were gifted to them by the US government should be worrying for us all. I wonder though, when a Muslim kills another Muslim you cite that as an example of the radical elements of Islam. But when a homicide occurs in the West, should we chalk that up to Christian killing their fellow Christian brethren? You see, you make the mistake of thinking that it is ok to fuck around with other countries and cultures. Ultimately, whatever the government of Iran does domestically is none of any other countries business. The fiction that some would like to create is that "they do not like the way we live." Here is a newsflash: The Muslim world could not care less how the US lives as long as the US does not impose their ideology of them. And this is what is happening when Hilary Clinton states that we must democratize the Middle East. Once again, you are simply not qualified to determine what parts of Islam is "radical" and what parts are "accepted." Why? Because it is a different ideology to predominant Western thought. Whichever is better is irrelevant as long as we respect the boundaries of cultures. But when I look at the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the encroachment in Palestine, I wonder who is violating whose space?!
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Citing Hamas as an example of the prevalence of fundamentalism in the Muslim world is disingenuous. Look at Timothy McVeigh and bombers of abortion clinics. Do they represent a majority of Americans? Not in the least.
And talking about psychotic fringe radicalism - look no further than at Israel. Their own prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by a radical right-winger. He himself was a hawk until he realized that Israel could not survive an endless conflict. For taking a logical path to bring peace to Israel, he was rewarded with a bullet, from his own people.
Radicals exist in every society. Don't try to limit it to Muslims. Leave the Anti-Muslim racism to Anchorite. -
...The U.S. policy that creates Hamas drive bys and other vicious fundamentalism driven violence is Israel.
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Point Break means great action pieces. Strange Days is better than Blade Runner.
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The Spud speaketh the truth- I don't know a single UK resident that was for the Iraq war- and I'm a moderate, unlike the uber-liberal spud.
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Nov 13, 2007 3:41:15 AM CST
and the fucking sellout to Europe is exactly what is wrong with
by lost jarv
Seriously, this drives me abso-fucking-lutely demented. How stupid do those cunts that we allegedly elected think we are? I can almost see it- the European Leaders are sitting there working out how they can keep their fat, useless, fucking snouts in the gravy trough of the EU. One of them has a genius idea- A European constitution! Fucking marvellous. We can apply our stupid, useless one size fits all beaurocracy to every nation in Europe, regardless of need and history- thereby generating more pointless bits of paper and keeping us employed in kickback central! Unfortunately for them, the French (unbelievably) saw through the charade and booted it. Much to New Labour's relief. So what do they do? instead of giving up on the ratty idea, they add a few cosmetic changes and resubmit it. But this time we won't ask the people. Can't risk it getting turfed again. We'll say it is something else instead- so doesn't need a vote. The fat reality-TV addicted populous won't notice what we are up to.AAARGHH- It drives me ballistic. CUNTS. We need a revolution so fucking badly it is painful. The really laughable thing about this is that we are allegedly "exporting" democracy to the middle east. How's about we have some of that democracy shit at home first?
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Oh, don't get us all started on true democracy. The fact that the Smirking Chimp got elected by deception and stealth - TWICE - and that Gordon Brown got in just by eeeeeeasy sliding into the seat Blair left (what a fuckstick HE was) shows how little "democracy" we really have here in the UK. To everyone who isn't Jarv or myself: WAKE UP. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UK DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU. THEY CARE ABOUT SECOND MANSIONS, HOLIDAY HOMES IN THE ALGARVES, CHAUFFEUR DRIVEN JAGS AND LIFELONG AFTER-DINNER SPEAKING CAREERS, AND THEIR WHOLE TENURE IN GOVERNMENT IS ABOUT THAT! THEY WILL FUCK UP THE ENTIRE SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE UK IF IT MEANS THEY CAN FUCKING STAY RICH!!!!
Sorry for shouting there. But you get the point. Jarv sees the truth. Everything about Western culture is about subduing the average citizen - make 'em fat, make 'em lazy, make 'em disheartened, make 'em zombified through shitty TV programmes - do EVERYTHING in your power to raise unthinking slaves that will NEVER question your rule over their lives. Then you'll stay rich, they'll stay downtrodden and no-one realises that everybody's life could be so, so much better.
The British government is indeed a bunch of greedy, fat, useless cunts who care less for us than their own doormats. Let's pray for (I can't believe I'm about to say this) another dose of common sense from the (God forgive me) French. -
All your points are good points - especially the whole "let's not remonstrate with others seeking to spread their ideology by force when the US amry is taking 'democracy' to every country in the Middle East completely by force", but with one exception. The radical Islamic element DOES want to turn the UK into an Islamic state.
Daily, we read of something that points to this: mosques raided and found to contain inflammatory material designed to drive people to physical intervention and violence, for example. While I'm not naive enough to think that everything the UK media and government says is the absolute truth (the 7/7 bombings, for example, and the "lack" of forewarning, or the de Menenzes shooting, all smell a little iffy) but there seems to be an undercurrent of dissent amongst young Muslims in the UK that basically would like to see Sharia law implemented for EVERYONE in this country, and the Muslim way of life implemented on us all.
Now, I agree with your "you stay in your country and we'll stay in ours" stance - that's my philosophy too. The UK's legal system hangs on people in court swearing on a Bible. THe Church of England is basically Christian at heart. Like it or not, the customs, social infrastructure, traditions, festivals and calendar in this country have been based on Christianity (and the older festivals and traditions that it absorbed) over the last thousand years. The people of the UK have always been happy to let this tradition continue - believers, agnostics and atheists alike. But over the last twenty years or so, concurrent with the rise of political correctness (which isn't ALL bad) there has been a movement, backed with political muscle, to take these traditions that the UK is built on and to "integrate" them to the point that people of other faiths, nationalities etc have their own customs, traditions etc almost overtaking those of the country they have come to. This creates tension, and a sense of confusion, as if the government of this country won't stand up for its own customs and traditions, how can one truly say what is "Englishness"?
Put very simply: if a Muslim comes to the UK and wants to worship, we build a mosque and gladly allow them to practice their faith. If a Christian were to go to Saudi Arabia and wish to worship, he'd have to do it in secret, and his church (should he be lucky enough to find or create one) wouls be destroyed.
The idea of "you stay in your country if you want to follow those customs, and if you're in this country you must follow ours" only works if you have a strong government that actively promotes their own culture. Radical Islam is stronger than the flip-flapping the UK government portrays as "Englishness". The problem is that the young radical Muslims know this, and the push to make the UK a Western radical Muslim state is on. And I'm not sure the moderate Muslims, or the rest of the UK, is much of a match for this fanaticism, and it's truly fucking terrifying. In 50 years or so, we may have a Taliban government.
Does this scare anyone else yet? Democracy is already dead in the UK. -
Representative democratic government is what it is. What it is not is you getting whoever you want because that's who you want that person. Although, I know the libs in the country essentially define democracy working as "liberals getting elected". When liberals lose, "democracy is broken", or "we wuz robbed". So, essentially, democracy is when liberals win, all the time, no matter what. :)
But that's just it. Democratic governments aren't perfect, just "representative". And they are going to be populated by people, and you have limited control via elections--but it's not total control, and it's certainly not perfect, and politicians are going to be interested in lining their pockets and so on. And the bad news is: when they are idealists comitted to change for the people, they do as much or more damage than when they're trying to get roads to nowhere for their district to buy votes. Best of luck with that French thing, though. We used to love them here, until they elected Nicolas Sarkozy and he started saying all those nice things about America. Now liberals no longer give a shit what the French think, at least in this country, when the opinion of the French was supposed to be the most important thing in the world, before.And you really think there is a conspiracy to make people eat food and watch entertainment? Like that's not wired into the human experience? Nobody has to try and make me fat or watch TV--and, given you are here, they probably don't have to do it to you either. But I'm always suspicious about universal things that are meant to mind-numb the masses--being communicated to me by someone who is obviously too smart and too special to have succumbed like the rest of us brain-dead unwashed sorts. -
Like or Loathe Blair, at least he had the balls to say that multiculturalism was a failure as an ideology. But pre-emptive wars aren't going to do anything to radical Islam if the nations of Europe will bend over and grab the ankles for every crazy Muslim demand, and censor themselves (the Comedy Channel here did it to Southpark, in a episode that featured George Bush and Jesus shitting over each other, but where an image of Mohammed buying a snack and a convenience store was censored) and greenlight the construction of the largest mosque in the world next to the new Olympic village (I predict you guys will be sorry when the sieg heils--oops, I mean Allah akbars--are drowing out the noise of the traffic). Is Democracy dead in the UK? Doesn't democracy allow a nation to vote itself out of existence? To vote for a bloodless surrender? To vote against hegemony, chauvinism, stale tradition, and, ultimately, for a Muslim caliphate? The problem is, the only culture that subscribes to the philosophy of manifest destiny right now is the Muslim world, and that manifest destiny is a world-wide Muslim caliphate where we all live under Sharia law.
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just a small correction:in the UK (and this is mine and spud's big lament) the political class does not represent the people. There is a generation of mid-20's to late 30's that has become disenfranchised by the system.they literally do not represent us, and malaise has set in to such an extent that it is nigh on impossible to distinguish between the 2 main parties. Once in power, the use of the whip ensures that any semblance of a real vote/ debate is removed. Thereby bankrupting democracy. This EU vote that they are going to have is a prime example. I think something like 80% of the population do not want it, but the vote in parliament will be whipped and it will pass and become law. this is utterly against the wishes of the people, and highly undemocratic. They make me sick, that they will abuse their majority to basically legalise a shady fucking deal cut by an arsehole that knew he was on his way out and rubber stamped by his loathsome successor.It's all very sad really.
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The real thing that makes me puke about all this, is that the ONLY real identifiable beneficiary (right across Europe) of the constitution will be Blair. I will take a very, very large fucking bet that the vile snake oil salesman will be the first president of the EU- on a fucking 10 figure salary.
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Was that a cheeky jibe at me for posing as en enlightened intellectual freedom fighter who sees through the multi-national conglomerate corporate plan to keep people down so they can continue running the world? ;p
Mea culpa, my friend. you're right, it sounded a bit high and mighty.
But you get the drift, don't you? Too many intelligent people in a country, seeing what's wrong - if they weren't all getting wasted on booze and drugs, or working on smoking themselves to death, or watching I'm A Slebrity Get Me A New Career or whatever - would have the balls to REALLY get the Government back into the control of the people. Recently, near where I live in the Midlands, we had a Labour candidate taken out of his seat for no reason other than the Labour city council had a "vague feeling" that spmething was amiss with the way he was voted into his seat. He was unseated and replaced by a far less popular candidate, chosen by the council and NOT by that constituency's voting public.
Like it or not, THAT'S undemocratic. And you're right - democracy isn't perfect. But if schooling were about individual questioning and learning, about the love of the acquisition of knowledge rather than just to pass meaningless exams that grade memory retention rather than true intelligence - if we TRULY EDUCATED people properly, they'd be more able to vote for people that would make a difference, rather than the HEAT-reading, soaps-and-Big-Brother obsessed harpies that go "I'll vote for Cameron, he's less facking ugly thanm Brown!". Because that's what dumbing down your population gets you: a population that votes on how good a politician looks on TV, not what they stand for. Though maybe people would vote their consciences rather than their viewing preference IF we could rely on the politicians actually carrying out the promises they make pre-election. Which NEVER fucking happens.
Ah, we're all doomed, mate. All doomed. -
Though I think Lost Jarv is as awake as I am regarding how fucking despicable the "voting" process has become in this country and how this government does exactly as it likes in order to make a profit out of public funds and fuck everyone else in the UK so long as they are OK. Jarv's frustration is completely justified - because his last succinct post says it all. The government in the UK couldn't be less democratic if it tried - barring, of course, Sharia law, where everything is subject to the views of a few elders who (if Afghanistan is anything to go by) absolutely don't practice what they preach either.
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this is one of the big myths about Britain spread by these fucking toe-rags, and is used to support their bullshit "war on terror" (unlike the "war" against the IRA- which lasted the better part of a century- but nooo they aren't terrorists)The non-white population of Britain is only about 20% of the total population (Hard to believe isn't it), and the vast majority of the indiginous population is basically non-denominational now. A very, very noisy minority of muslims are hard-line but for every one of them there are 10 modern British muslims that get pissed, smoke, and are very lax about their faith. It is a real example of integration at work, despite political correctness. Sharia law be damned- the modern British woman, regardless of faith is a difficult beast, and there is not a fucking prayer that they will let this happen.
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It's not uncommon for individuals, and even classes of people, to feel unrepresented. The UK, it may be more difficult for grass roots political organizing than it is here (I believe it is, but I'm not sure). When both parties really, truly suck for a large percentage of the people, new parties can and do start, and even if they don't ever dominate, they do make headway in the US. But I'd take either of your parties over, say, the House of Saud or Hugo Chavez any day of the week. Here, if 80% of the people don't want it, the politicians who do are going to hear about it, and probably back off (immigration reform, recently). While not an expert on the issue, everything I've seen of the EU Constitution is a travesty, and entirely antithetical to what a constitution should be, so you've got my sympathy there.I'm betting money Blair won't be president of the EU, ever, tho. If I'm wrong, I owe you a Coke. And a McDonald's hamburger. Which we can consume while watching Big Brother. Must . . . obey.
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Nov 13, 2007 5:41:44 AM CST
I feel physically fucking ill at the prospect of voting for
by lost jarv
Cameron. Or any other fucking tory twat. However, they are mildly less awful than the current lot- decision, decisions. The wife met Ed Balls (a high-profile MP and possible future PM)recently, and described him as a despicable, glad handing cunt that couldn't even be bothered to learn the name of the company he was speaking at. He got his free dinner- and then got the name of the company wrong in his speech. His whole attitude was loathsome, especially considering what the company does, and he treated them all as if he was royalty slumming it with the plebs.And another example of the self-serving cocksuckers abusing democracy: If one MP reckons his majority is a bit shaky he can simply change parties without having to be re-elected. This is revolting as the theory is we vote for the party not the individual. I think some tory cunt did it recently. And another example- they are about to push through a law giving state funding to election campaigns (to basically bail out labour for pissing away their funds). I can't think of anything less democratic than this nest feathering exercise. Wankers.We're all FUCKING DOOMED, I tells ya. Bring on the revolution.
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You Brits could recognize the huge benefits and magnificent successes of your culture, and the failing of 7th century Islam, in no uncertain terms, be ye Christian, Jew, Agnostic, or Atheist. The fact is, the British legal system is--for all its flaws--a gazillion times better and more egalitarian than Sharia law. Certainly, you can still insist in no uncertain terms than killing a woman for being raped, or even for having an affair with an infidel, is unquestionably wrong and the British system is better.During the age of the British Empire, the British in India encountered the practice of "suttee" - the tradition of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. General Sir Charles Napier demonstrated healthy multiculturalism (the kind that Britain could benefit from today):
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks, and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours." -
Nice They Live ref. They difference is that they know full well it is hugely despised, but they don't back off. They just do it anyway. the thought police will be after me for that last post, I shouldn't have named him really. Hm, knocking at the door- WHA!?! BASTARDS!!! YOU'LL NEVER SILENCE MEEEEE! PUT MY PC DOWN.....
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we do know that- hence my point about how it isn't going to happen. Britain is tolerant, but as the minority is, and will remain so for a long time, fucking tiny then they will not be establishing sharia law. What is more likely to happen is that we will get a fascist state through a combination of voter apathy and rampant fearmongering- check out the rise of the BNP. Amusingly, the silly cunts in power at the moment have already started the gang rape of our civil rights. They are establishing the apparatus for a totalitarian government without even realising it- all they can see is that thay are protecting their short term interests. Horrible bastards, all of them
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I get ya. We have that here, usually with public propositions. We vote on something--against a tax, let us say. Then the politicos, dismayed to find we voted against them, explain: well, you voted wrong, so we're going to tax you any way. Still, it could be worse . . . although voting for party, rather than individuals, for office is clearly not a positive democratic force. It's why George Washington (like all the founding fathers, well-schooled in the lessons of British parliamentary politics) was hostile to the idea of political parties, claimed no part of one, and hope that America would remain party free . . . which we didn't. I'm not sure how much the really stupid people vote. In America, Rock the Vote and Vote or Die and other efforts were made to get drug-addled young-adults to stop partying and vote for the liberals they told them to, but they didn't. The percentage increase in youth voting has remained pretty constant, and presumably, those are the young folks who pay reasonable attention and pick a side. And even if I disagree with their choice, or their process for making it . . . that is democracy.
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Sorry, that does seem a little creepy. As for the rest, I don't think it'll end up quite as bad as you fear, but probably not as well as one would hope. You can always move here. Or to Canada! Possibly New Zealand. Get out while they'll still let you leave. One the wall goes up . . .
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I have no idea of who this guy was, Kevinwillis, but that's the wisdom of Solomon right there.
He cuts right to the heart of the problem. In the UK, right now, the government is so desperate to be seen as politically correct that they are trampling over centuries of very British tradition in order to force on the British majority customs that belong to a minority. The whole point, of course, of majorities and minorities is that the system should work on a representational basis (majority ruling gets majority's laws passed etc) but the UK government keeps trying to be egalitarian (the minorities get equal consideration and representation as the majority, no matter the disparity) but frequently veers into over-representation (the minorities getting more representation/consideration/whatever due to the government suffering post-colonial white guilt).
Napier's approach was fair, just, and took into account both customs. Granted, it also put the colonial power's law above that of the indigenous people's, but that's a whole other argument. All other objections aside, that's a very clever solution to a very thorny problem. -
Don't recall Timothy McVeigh being elected by a landslide to represent his people like Hamas did. Bad Example there.
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You can't have a DisneyWorld for terrorists camp running with full knowledge and support of the Tallwackers.
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Seriously, have a look at their proposed bills- Aurevoir Habeus Corpus and Double Jeopardy, Bonjour national DNA database, ID Cards and being able to detain suspects without charge for 3 months. I like america, and can get a green card so I might move there. Or South Africa. Anywhere that isn't cold really.
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Here's an example of a Labour think tank's attitude to Christmas, not merely a British but a very Western (and European!) festival rooted in paganism and, later, Christianity:
http://tinyurl.com/y o7myz
And in the interests of fair play (a very British conceit!), here's the IPPR's refutation of the above article:
http://tinyurl.com/2tvj 62
Just another example of Labour ignoring the wishes of the indigenous people in order to avoid offending those who chose to move here...
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They will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes (the one I'm starting from my bedroom).
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Didn't that cunt Blair apologise (or spin a psuedo apology) for slavery not so long ago. I've never enslaved anyone, so don't feel the least bit sorry.
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The problem is that, although like anyone who understand the history of their own race, I am ashamed that my race could've been involved in slavery, the fact that I personally never endorsed it, took part in it, profited from it or plan to have anything ever to do with it, should therefore mean that no-one from a race that was enslaved by the British in the past (I don't think it was just Africans that the British enslaved) has the right to hold me responsible for what happened - in the same way that I don't hold your average German in his mid-twenties responsible for my great Uncle Frank getting mustard gassed in World War I.
Not to mention, people asking for apologies for something that never happened to them personally from people who never personally carried out that atrocity smacks of someone wanting something for nothing - expecting the apologiser to cut them some slack because their race once suffered under something horrific years ago.
It's not up to Blair to apologise for slavery, unless something he did was directly responsible for it. Otherwise, it's something terrible that should be left where it belongs - back in the past. Not forgotten, but not exhumed and flogged over every five minutes either.
Here's a very interesting viewpoint from an intelligent, accomplished black man who refuses to exploit what happened to his ancestors as a way of speeding up the career ladder using the white man's guilt as an aid to that aim:
http://tinyurl.com/24ot bj
Very interesting article. This kind of guilt tripping is totally counter-productive and does NOBODY any good!
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for raping our salaries to pay for more NHS jobs for middle managing cocksuckers.
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Err,....okay. US policy makes them kill EACH OTHER? I supposed when 180 people last month were killed by a bomb in Afghanistan, because they showed up at a political rally for 'gasp!', a woman! and 'gasp!', she didn't have her face covered! I guess then that was a result of US policy towards the Palestinians as well. OR maybe it was because we steal all the oil out of the lovely, lush country. Oh wait, they don't pump any? Never mind. I see the moonbat white liberal guilt parade is out again.
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Nope, the US policy of financially and militarily supporting Israel is what enables Israel to carry out the systematic genocide of the Palestinian people. Their reaction to what Israel is doing - suicide bombing, counterattacks etc - is the natural reaction of an oppressed people who are being murdered on their own land by an invading force that occupied under our protection in 1948. So let's not jump to conclusions here - if an invading force rolld up the end of your street and started firing, only a coward WOULDN'T take up arms to protect his family. What Israel is doing to Palestine - with the UN, US and UK's blessing - is utterly fucking wrong. What the Palestinians are doing in return is also wrong, but then they ARE facing genocide. Give them their land, ensure Israel leaves them the fuck alone, and MAYBE the problem will go away. Talking round a table ALWAYS works - it's what got us the ceasefire with the IRA. You fucking dingbat.
As for Afghanistan... what are the US there for? Regime change? So when can I pencil you guys in for the push into Zimbabwe to remove Mugabe from power? I mean, not a great human rights record, has he? Oh, wait, Zimbabwe's not a strategically important country regarding the need to secure oil in the Middle East? Oh, that's the reason then.
One up for the moonbats. Batter up! -
Don't get me started on the NHS. She works in admin for a local trust and she fucking hates the way it's all run. The minute she can get a better job, she's audi.
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Meant to say - my missus works at the NHS - she's the one who hates how it ran. I once worked there on a short-term contract - after four weeks I walked away. I'd have killed someone otherwise. I have never encountered such widespread incompetence on so many levels - and I used to work for British Rail!!!
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I was entering baby names into a database and deliberately got myself fired after 1 week as I couldn't face handing in notice. Fucking awful place to work- and to think it's the 3rd largest employer in the world. How embarrassing.
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not a prayer any of the lying creeps will go in for that regime change. There ain't no oil there.
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...I agree with 90% of what you're saying but the fact that Brown is a Scot has fvck all to do with the fact that he's a wanker. When I used to call Thatcher or Blair names I didn't go on about the fact that they were English. What the fvck man? You're more switched on than that are u not?
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I mean' no disrepec' (said in the manner of Peter Serafinowicz's bob-on impersonation of Brando the Hutt).
Nah, I have no real problem with the Scots - other than the ones who actually BELIEVE that Mel-fest Braveheart - but it's essential to differentiate Brown from all the other fat, greedy bastards in Parliament. I'll use his surname next time. Really, I have nae problem with the Scots. After all, the greatest stand-up comedian in the world today came from Sauchiehall Street.
The Big Yin!!!
Nah, the Scots are alright. -
If you read the talkback I think it is more disgruntled than particularly liberal. Misanthropy is not a political stance, although perhaps it should be- along with apathy: "I hate you all, but can't be arsed to vote against you"
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national lines- as soon as they decied to become politicians they gain a passport for the nation of CUNT. POpulation: lots. Head of State/ President: Rasputin. National Anthem: "Lucky Man" by the verve.On this note- if you want to see Democracy as being more dead in England than the rest of the UK, then have a look at the sway that Scots have in Westminster. Fucking disgraceful.
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showed up on the US Shores, I wouldn't shoot the kids of the local democratic senator, or start tossing them off of building. Call me crazy, I know.
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Funny how their great "leader" drums up support from Iran and Senior Hugo Prick Face by saying the US and England are out to get him. Guess the US must be doing something to get him all pissed off, not sure were this inaction talk is coming from.
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what the fuck are you going on about? Whoever said we should be throwing kids off a building? The point about Zimbabwe- it is a nation in dire need of regime change, but as it has bugger all in the way of natural resources such as oil there is more chance of me actually starting a revolution than the US and the UK actually forcing a regime change.
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Nov 13, 2007 8:32:18 AM CST
Classy Still Has Not Acknowledged Palestinian Suffering...
by darfurontherocks
...at the hands of Israel. Regime change is needed in that part of the world. Zimbabwe also needs a change. Egypt is due for a change. Saudi Arabia and Dubai treat migrant workers like slaves. However, any action is unthinkable for those places. In the case of Israel, the US gifts weapons, money (30 billion this year) and intel. It is very clear that democracy or liberation from repression is not the impetus behind invasion. It is wealth. This is the sad reason why the good people of the military are dying. Musharraf is a dictator, yet he he is seen as an ally by the US. Sad indeed. But then again, "Radical Islam" is engaged in a war in outer space, cyberspace, all 5 continents, and even the lost continent of Altantis! They're everywhere!
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There are well made, salient, intelligent points being made all over the place here, from the likes of Lost Jarv, Darfur(still on the rocks), classy(ohsoclassy!)fredblassy, Madines Sideshed and others. It's good to see real debate between people who all appear to have an eye on current affairs and who - most importantly - are not taken in by the bastards who are treating the prestigious honour of being chosen to lead a country like their own personal route to a fat fucking retirement fund. With enough of us pushing for it, one day the Western world may actually be a good place to live in again. Don't fucking give up hope, any of you. DON'T GIVE UP HOPE, ANY OF YOU!!
Just thought we all needed a pat on the back here for not degenerating into a "FUUUCK YOOOOUUU" kind of talkback. I can't tell you how heartening a damn good debate with people who will actually consider my point of view and will support/refute me with equal passion, intelligence and consideration. It's truly a pleasure to be getting into this with you all.
On with the show. Darfur, everyone knows it wasn't the Muslims who sank Atlantis, it was the Jews ;p -
I also acknowledge that radical Islam is, like the Al-quadea "threat", getting a disproportionate amount of blame for the world's troubles. But do you concede that there are radical Muslims who truly would like to see the entire world under a Muslim caliphate, subject to Sharia law? And that if they get richer and richer off the dollar's imminent collapse and the rising oil prices, they may one day actually give invasion a serious go? There are many radicals here in the UK who actually admit they'd love to overthrow our UK government here - and no-one is arresting them for this treasonous talk. I know you'll hear similar rhetoric from the extreme far-right, like the BNP, but let's face it - they don't burn women alive for adultery. It's amazing how a call for nationalism can be twisted into fascism.
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.at the hands of Israel, but.... they could help themselves A LOT but not electing the goons of HAMAS to be their leaders. kind of hard to make a peace deal with a group who feels you have no right to live. WHere do start with that one? Musharraf is a dictator, but is better than the nuke getting in the hand of the nutty Clerics. The choices there are: bad, or truly awful.
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You could say that about the whole situation with the IRA and the Troubles... evnetually sense prevailed. I think that if they were serious about peace, and they knew that we in the West would hold Israel to what they agreed to (which we hardly ever do), Palestine would agree to thrash out a peace deal. The problem is, for Israel nothing other than outright genocide will do. If they'd just give the Palestinians land, and leave them the fuck alone, eventually peace would happen. Sure, you'd get skirmishes - but you can't blame a whole people for being pissed off that their neighbours have been trying to eradicate them for the last 60 years. You'd be pissed off too, if you were in the Palestinians' side of this situation.
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be careful with this one- You know as well as I do that the so-called islamic threat in the UK is massively overexaggerated. There are cocksucking butchers like captain hook around, but this is a tiny percentage of an ethnic minority that is a small percentage of the population. Most young muslims that I have met are pretty much the same as "westerners" and are genuinly horrified by the actions of the minority of militant mullahs(who all seem to be fat, old and deported from somewhere else- in fact they are the islamic equivalent of our politicians). The BNP, on the other hand are vile nazis who would love to purge the Uk of anyone ethnic. They are not nationalists- unless you count the way the Nazis were.Both sides are horrible.
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I'm not denying the existance of Islamofascists (horrid word) in Britain, I'm just sick to fucking death of the hysteria surrounding them, and the fact that if you look at the numbers we are not in any danger of becoming a muslim state- whereas the UK media seem to be portraying this warzone whereby British women will all be wearing bloody bhurkas and banned from reading. It's government spin to justify us still being in Iraq- where we've got no fucking right being.
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Timothy McVeigh is an example of radical idealogy to the extreme, just as it exists in Palestine and Israel. It's embodied in individuals as well as whole movements and groups. The way to combat this idealogy, in my opinion, is by dialogue. Not by violence. You don't necessarily talk to the radical clerics directly, but you have open dialogue in the media and appeal to everyone just as they do. It goes without saying that someone would rather live a safe, productive life with their family and friends than strap a bomb to themselves.
I'm heartened by the conversation in here. It's very encouraging. Props to you all. -
Nov 13, 2007 10:03:09 AM CST
I Acknowledge that There are Nutjobs who claim to be Muslim
by darfurontherocks
I agree that there are individuals to want to take over. But these people are so on the fringe that if their dream were to come true, no other Muslims would qualify as Muslims in their mind. A hugely disproportionate amount of coverage is given to these nutters. And the problem this fear-mongering causes is that it has allowed the government to usurp our own personal freedoms. Words such as Islamofacists and Fundamentalism and jihadist are ideological creations used to make us fear something which is so small that really does not merit our massive focus. The highest level of Jihad (which means effort/sacfrice) is not blowing oneself up. It is self-control over our own selfishness. Yet you will never hear that definition of the term anywhere. This is not arcane knowledge, but information that does not serve the ends that those that seek to demonize the religion. I am a teacher and it just kills me that all this money is being spent for war while healthcare and education get shafted. As an Arts student I see that world culture, including British culture is being ravaged. Our liberties like surfing the internet and talking on our phones privately are gone. People are being locked up and tortured. No due process is available to GITMO individuals. These are issues that the minuscule so-called Muslims did not take away from us. It is our governments that are culpable. New words such as Islamofacism and enemy combatants are created to circumvent existing law (See Geneva Conventions) All sorts of excuses are given to the genocide of Palestinians. They are savages. They do not like life. They are warmongers. This was the refrain of the colonial powers when they stole Indian and African wealth. Because they were posited as something other than human, the mass slaughter and lack of human rights afforded to them was justified. I am not one of those that feel that the West is in perpetual debt to the rest of the world. But this crap must stop so that everyone, UK, US, Palestinian, Muslim, Jew, and Christian can live.
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Nah, I'm no card carrying member of the BNP - but in the same way that moderate Muslims can be lumped in with Islamofascists, so nationalists - who want nothing more than to be proud of their English lineage and heritage - who are not Nazi fascists choose to throw their lot in with the BNP.
The thing is, the BNP only have support because a lot of what they say about nationalism makes sense - that we as white Englishmen are taught by our government to be ashamed of our heritage and lineage, by virtue of the fact that ancestors we aren't even aware of were involved in slavery and other heinous shit that we are routinely asked to feel guilty for - and the Daily Mail readers out there agree with this and vote. Then they DON'T hear the vile shit the BNP get up to behind closed doors, which fortunately people like that fearless journo Donal McIntyre then thoughtfully exposes for us. But the thorny fact remains:
People vote for the BNP because some of what they say makes sense. This is the same reason that young Muslims can become radicalised - to their ears, some of what the radical elders say makes sense.
It's important not to make the BNP boogeymen, because then they become martyrs, and then the real Nazi fascists get to adopt them as their own political party. I'm very fucking far from supporting them, but we have to give them the courtesy of some reasoned debate, same as everyone else.
I do agree that the threat of Islamofanaticism is overexaggerated to enable the politicos to spin their spin re Iraq, but there's also some substance to it - and we do need to be aware of it.
But no, I think you're mostly right - the biggest threat to us in the UK is still the government, by a long, long way. -
But it has been used for is place to launch rockets and place for nasty in-fighting. How about cleaning that place and doing something with it for a start? Need money, hit up President Tom from Iran, he has some deep pockets for peeps.
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I think it is because of the lack of the extreme posters- (Animal Structure on the right, for example, or zfisk on the left) who just tend to veer into dogmatic lunacy at the first available opportunity.
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Was a sh1tfest and that's coming from a scot!! The fact that the government is top heavy with Scots does raise certain questions though, since we essentially almost have our own government now.
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We need more people like you to explain in the media more of what Islam REALLY means and stands for. I think you have a real point there - because most of us who are non-Muslims only have a rudimentary grasp of some of the customs, laws and tenets of Islam, it's difficult to refute what the governments tell us about it. This is why multicultural Religious Education lessons are absolutely vital - you need to understand as many faiths as possible, not just Christianity - and that knowledge will dispel panic and scaremongering.
As for Gitmo - don't get me started. I can't believe that the US still believes you can get reliable information out of torturing individuals. I'd swear to be Harry Knowles' sperm receptacle if it meant they wouldn't waterboard me any more (sorry, big guy!). It does no-one any good, especialy the poor torturee.
It's very interesting to hear what the highest level of jihad really means - self-control over selfishness. I think most religions hold self-control as a high level of attainment in your spiritual growth. What sites do you recommend I visit to learn a bit more about Islam and what it means? -
It just means we English wil have to either oust the Scots from London, or sneakily infiltrate your government. At least it gives Mel Gibson something else to make a movie about ;D
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We still have BrigingSexyBack here though. How are you going BSB, you looney tunes? ;D
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that appeal to a bitter, frustrated population in need of someone to blame- and what they say DOES make sense, if you are looking for an excuse for your own inadequacies. They are corrupting nationalism to meet their own ends, and I don't mean the usual plastic flag waving IN-GUR-LAND fan. They will probably only be slightly more bent than the lot in power, but thankfully the majority of the country will not let that happen. I'm not making them boogeymen, as I don't think they are worth it. I'm also not underestimating the threat of islamic loonies, I do live in London after all- but I really believe that it is being overrated so the incompetent fucks running the country can continue to have their way. This makes me sound really pro-islam. I'm not- I'm generally fairly anti-religion. What I am is a frustrated moderate, sick to fucking death of spin, corruption, hatred, intolerance (and the left are as guilty of this as the right), stupidity, and generally watching a once great nation get fucked into the floor by a ruling class that will do far more long term damage to the fabric of the country than the old order ever did. The whole mess pisses me off no end, and to exaggerate the threat posed by a smallish number of massively incompetent fuckwits is a piece of odious, disingenuos spin, as bad as the rampant onslaught of political correctness and health and safety.
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but BSB has mellowed since his days as Brokebackcowboy. He's still an obvious commie, but not as downright insane as zfisk.
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www.scholarofthehouse.org/geboonisre.html. has a good reading list. www.islamicity.com is a good website IMHO. Obviously there is bias. But there is a good article on how one can be a good muslim AND a good Westerner at the same time. The power of critical thinking is something that we need to have against those that would tell us how to feel, think, and behave.
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I'd gladly stop the bastards voting on English matters, but that isn't going to happen as then Labour would lose it's majority. Mind you, I wouldn't have given Scotland it's own parliament anyway- we're a small island for fuck's sake, do we really need another layer of tax raising beaurocrats? We've got in England something like 3 layers, and in Scotland, Wales and NI they have 4. How can this be a good thing? Fuckers.
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Nov 13, 2007 10:28:48 AM CST
SPUD - DOING ALRIGHT SINCE HELIO GOT 3 10'S ON DANCING
by bringingsexyback
WITH THE STARS last night!!
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I'd like to recommend also "For God And Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire" by Captain James Yee.
Captain Yee was a chaplain at Guantanamo base. He was charged with espionage (you will recall this happened early in the Iraq invasion) and completely exonerated. He was put through the legal wringer and came out clean. Basically, he was fucked with because they were afraid he was going to expose conditions at Gitmo - conditions now known to everyone. He was also fucked by a Muslim-hating general who had it out for him personally.
The book also gives you insight into Yee as a Muslim. He's of Chinese origins, converted to Islam, and his beliefs as well as his devotion to his family and to justice (through the legal system, not by violence of course) really opened my eyes to another facet of Islam. One far removed from the hysterical portrait painted by the likes of Anchorite. -
John "Demolition Man" Spartan: "I'm gonna go down there, I'm gonna find Phoenix, and I'm gonna put him in a hurt locker." Be well.
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but Dancing with the stars sucks hairy goat scrotum. Apart from the comedy of watching that one legged witch and taking bets on when she'd fall over.
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This has been a splendid TB, chaps. Thanks for helping me squander my working day. Just out of curiousity: Darfur- where are you from- geographically not historically, if you get my meaning.
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Well this year we've got, representing Britain, Scary Spice and Jane Seymour. Scary's the only Brit remaining, and has a good shot at the finals. Her partner is not well-liked, so he's a big hindrance. I'll keep you posted. ;P
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Living in Canada at the moment and am sad that we have a PM that is trying so desperately to appease the White House.
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I swear, I am sick of Donnie Osmond on Entertainment Tonight and the video of Marie fainting played ad nausium. Stop it.... now!
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It's a slower, less talented shadow of the US version. Which, since we invented STRICTLY first, is really quite sad.
what's white and slithers across the floor? Come dancing!!
Thank you, I'm here all week. Try the veal. -
In Scotland the tories have been virtually non existant for at least 50 years yet we had to put up with Tory rule for what, 18 years? Because England wanted them.
So you see I know where you are coming from and can empathise with your comment about being ruled by people from over the border. -
to be honest, I don't give a fuck which group of incompetents governs. The difference between now and the 80's is that in the 80's Parliament was for the UK not the regions, whereas now, all the seperate countries have their own government except England. Previously, a vote in Parliament was for the whole country whereas now, Scottish, Irish and Welsh MP's vote on matters that only affect England and not their own constituencies- it's downright unfair, especially as a lot of the time Labour needs their support to force deeply unpopular measures on England (top-up fees for example), and because of the whip, they have to vote for these shitty measures.Do you really want another layer of tax gobbling spongers? I sure as fuck don't especially when I look at the damage just 1 layer causes. Fuck 'em anywho.
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and could well bring on the break up of the union. Which would make me sad. Unless they are trying to turn the UK into the United States of Great Britain- with 4 "regional" governments and tehn 1 parliament to handle shit like defence- which is preposterous.
We're a tiny little island in the North Atlantic, for fuck's sake, do we need to be 4 even more insignificant countries?
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