gdp's Comments

A Tangled Web : The French Affliction

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:21:10 +0000

>>;Who, in their right mind, would live in France? Not only is it cursed with Europe’s largest Muslim community, << France is a great and beautiful country, and continually scores tops in those Best Country to Live In surveys. You are also wrong about it having the largest Muslim community. And as for the riots, I would say about 99 percent of the French have never seen one apart from on TV. These things are always very local and short-lived; you'd have to go out of your way to encounter them. But I generally agree with you about the working age (and love the image of the men cycling with onions round their necks).

A Tangled Web : STARVING SECTARIANISM

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:02:11 +0000

Well said, Phantom, I agree. A lot of these memorials are really marks of vanity; people should learn more about what happened in history, and especially talk more about it. >>The spin remains that hard-hearted Brits deliberately let the Irish starve<< In many cases, that is exactly what happened in the 1840's. The idea that Irish Catholics were responsible for their own suffering in the Famine was prevalent, both in Britain and among Irish Protestants, very many of whom even welcomed the disaster and saw it as an act of God. >> cos the Great Hunger was confined to Munster, Leinster & Connacht<< Actually the territory that is now Northern Ireland was relatively very little affected by the Famine, at least in terms of starvation, not least due to the so-called "Ulster Custom" of fair rents for the peasantry. The North had had its own terrible famine in the 1760's. One major effect of the Great Famine was the large population of famine refugees flooding into hitherto Protestant Derry, Belfast and other urban centres from the south and west. The Catholic population in Belfast tripled due to the disaster.

A Tangled Web : Mawkish; or Memorial?

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 22:35:50 +0000

Sad to hear about your sister, Mike. Losing a beloved sister at a young age must be one of the most terrible things.

A Tangled Web : GENOCIDE DECLARED BORING...

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 22:28:15 +0000

>>The UK and Europe especially, keep quiet when "the big dogs bark." << Indeed, and this is a major part of the problem here. In the eyes of most Lebanese, Iran is the country that stood by them when their land was invaded in 2006, while the West did not even try to hold back the Israelis until they had killed over 1000 people there. The result is Ahmadinejad as local hero, among Lebanese Muslims, Druze and Christians alike.

A Tangled Web : Imagine

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 23:46:21 +0000

Wow, that's some post. Superb picture too. Reminds me of that bar scene in Rock Dreams http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=25971

A Tangled Web : IN WHICH I RECOMMEND THAT AMERICANS EMIGRATE

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:18:21 +0000

>>here in the US I have the ability to defend myself, an option not available in either of those nations.<< Although that option doesnt seem to work for about 10,000 Americans each year. They can't all want to be murdered.

A Tangled Web : THE POST RACIAL PRESIDENT?

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:33:02 +0000

>>Maybe it suits some people to hang on to past injustices.... ...If you don't like living in white cultures, get thee gone<< LOL

A Tangled Web : IS THIS THE WAY TO PALADINO?

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:08:50 +0000

Very appropriately, Paladino is an anagram for "Do a Palin" !

A Tangled Web : Rhyme Or Reason

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:03:24 +0000

>>I would support the most severe sentences for an assault on a gay man<< Whereas in Holland a boy got nothing but praise for sticking his finger into a dyke.

A Tangled Web : When The Bough Breaks

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 21:57:18 +0000

>>;It’s unnatural and strange.<< I'm sure we'll all get used to this and more in our own good time. One women suckling another's children used to be quite common. In some countries women suckle farm animals; while in others conversely they give the milk of the farm animals to their own babies. Reduced sperm motility is very common; it can be alleviated somewhat with a change in lifestyle (including less time in fron of the PC apparently), but even if it persists it is not a barrier to fathering children, with a bit of medical help.

A Tangled Web : ECONOMIC REALITY IN PEACE PROCESS LAND...

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:29:35 +0000

I see you're still wrestling

Toda, Rabbi (but is there really no easier way?) Nice to see youre back and doing fine (I hope)

A Tangled Web : ECONOMIC REALITY IN PEACE PROCESS LAND...

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:01:23 +0000

"Ethnic or tribal troubles of any kind are generally horrible for business" True, but unfortunately businessmen weren’t the ones making the decisions in NI over the past several decades - otherwise the whole sectarian set-up would never have emerged, the power sharing executive would not have collapsed in 1973 and generally the Troubles would probably never have happened. The interests of business, and even economic considerations affecting the working man’s own job and pocket - remember never have a chance against tribal and nationalist passions - whether in Northern Ireland or in the UK in relation to EU membership. The belief that "Businessmen" and capitalists pull the strings of government or dictate policy is one of the most disastrous fallacies in European history - from Connolly's famous prediction that the capitalist English would not shell commercial Dublin in 1916 all the way to the naive hope of the German left that capitalists would keep Hitler in check. As for Northern Ireland, it may one day follow the dictates of consumerism and commercial pragmatism, but for the moment it can be kept happy and at peace only through government largesse.

A Tangled Web : ECONOMIC REALITY IN PEACE PROCESS LAND...

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:16:02 +0000

>>And yet, were the govt. just to get out of the way, I am sure that Ireland would see some productive entrepreneurial activity. << Patty, if govt. had just got out of the way, that part of Ireland would have seen daily massacre, ethnic clensing and destruction and mayhem galore. The only productive entrepreneurial activity would have been bomb-making and coffin building. In fact, if there is one irrefutable argument for the need for BIG government it is Northern Ireland.

A Tangled Web : ATW POLL

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:09:58 +0000

>>You won't find many gun owners favouring "any idiot" owning weapons (Yet in a pecular way most do :-) - NC) and certainly no-one who does not practice regularly, let alone someone without any training. << But surely whether they, or anyone else, favours it or not is irrelevant. The idiots are free to go out and buy them from the shop that is free to sell them, aren't they? Lack of restrictions on gun ownership is arming, well, any idiot.

A Tangled Web : IS ISLAM A PATHOLOGY?

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 21:52:40 +0000

LOL, razorbock, I always thought the word "Islam" must be in there in R-IRA somewhere.

A Tangled Web : IS ISLAM A PATHOLOGY?

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:38:50 +0000

>>There have been 16,181 terrorist attacks SINCE 9/11. The terrorists have one thing in common, can you guess what it is? Islam<< What is the main religion in the first country the US and UK invaded this century - Islam. What is the main religion in the second country the US and UK invaded this century - Islam. What is the main religion of the people that the US national presence in the ME disenfranchises, dispossesses, expels, oppresses and humiliates at every turn - Islam. What goes 'round comes 'round.

A Tangled Web : She Had Me At "I'm You."

Sat, 9 Oct 2010 10:39:06 +0000

Embarrassingly bad acting by all three.

A Tangled Web : IT'S AN INTENSE DEBATE!

Mon, 4 Oct 2010 21:26:21 +0000

Nice new look. Name of post's author could be bigger (tho I can imagine why some would like to remain anonymous)

A Tangled Web : IT'S AN INTENSE DEBATE!

Mon, 4 Oct 2010 21:24:34 +0000

Nice new look. Name of post's author could be a bit larger (tho I can imagine why some would like to remain anonymous)