donkey

Is that right? It's good to know you'll have a dependable force to rely on if the Aboriginies try leaving their trailer parks. Predictions: George Bush will start reaping a lot of the cack he's been sowing, and his lap dog allies will look increasingly stupid for blindly following him.

Ooops, sorry. And you, Jake 01, should not try and bring your tedious right wing politics into one of the few things that most people are pretty much united on.

I don't think it's neccessarily deppressing. If we could really shake off some of our ingrained assumptions, we might evolve into a species which doesn't judge the worth of it's members by who and what they can dominate/manipulate, and how many objects they own. Some of the new testament seems to indicate that is what jesus wanted, not for people to worship him, or their own idea of him. But as has been proven, the words of Jesus were heavily tampered with to maintain the power of the types of ignorant bigots who've been steering mankind through most of history. The best religious quote I ever heard was from the buddha: ''If you meet the buddha on the road - kill him!'' He meant he wanted for people to understand what he understood - not turn him into a cult figure to revere. He also said: ''Don't cherish opinions'' I'm not very good at that one.

People brought up in christian environments believe christian things, people brought up in islamic societes believe in islamic things etc etc. Here in the west we have, for some centuries now, had access to information which contradicts christianity, so the hold of religion has weakened - it has taken hundreds of years for this to happen - such is the hold of the beardy authoritarian man in the heavens. Proofs against what is in the bible where suppressed with great vigour, but when it became impossible to deny such information as the roundness of the Earth, the Christians merely changed their story. 'Oh, it's all metaphoric' or so say the more rational ones now. If you feed young children information from an early age, most of them will grow up to believe it, whether it be sectarian hatred, belief in god, or that they come from a superior country than that of other people. When this is done with ideas we don't like, we call it brainwashing. I don't believe in god, and I don't have an alternative explaination for our existence. What I believe is that humans - at the moment - are no more capable of understanding what existence is, than an ant could understand what cars are. Being unable to face up to this fact we endlessly theorize and make up stories/beliefs. If we are to evolve from our beligerent monkey state, we are going to have get beyond the whole type of thinking which gives clean wrapped up expalinations, coupled with threats of punishment for those who don't believe them. The whole idea of the god most people believe in, has the flavour of human thought, rather than that of a higher being.

Here's a quote from some zen geezer: ''A tramp on the road is more likely to see the true nature of reality than an abbot in a monastery.''

I lived in Spain for years, and the majority of English ex pats there can hardly speak a word of Spanish - even ones who've been there for a decade or more. A lot of them will even go into a bar and order in English without even asking if the person can speak it. Could you imagine the reaction to such arrogance from an immigrant here?

Even if what you say was all true, it still doesn't alter the fact that these conspiracy theories are able to gain credence because our governents have lied to us so much, that you'd be a complete fool to accept their version of events. Pol Pot killed between one and three million of his people with US collussion, that is just one example of the horrors the US has been involved in. Just because the Jihadists are nutters doesn't mean America upholds all that's good in the world. By believing that sort of soft brained pap, people are just perpetuating the conditions under which terrorism flourishes.

Yeah Mike, that,s right. In fact, why don't you join the bnp and reduce their chances of ever getting elected even further.

I agree with you completely, but unfortunately most people are satisfied as long as they measure up well with the consumerist yardstick, and most people in this part of the world do. They're not mad or blind - they're well adjusted. Yoho ho merry christmas.

Am I missing something here, or are you an immigrant slagging down other immigrants?

There is nothing worse than tinny pre-recorded music played through bad speakers and killing all opportunities for real music anywhere in the zone where it can be heard. I think the fact that the BNP is campaigning for this mindless muzac pap is very apt. It sums up the brainlessness of your party.

Not really my taste in music, but there's no doubting the quality. Singing, musicianship and arrangements are all top notch.

Do I detect a note of unhappiness brought about by external circumstances here, or do you feel joy, even while hurling insults?

If you look at the second last paragraph of my thread you will see that I am not defending CAP - quite the opposite. There are now 25 countries in the EU, just because the French government are acting like a bunch of churlish nobs, doesn't mean we have to as well, especially while we have the Presidency. As for my claim that Euroskeptic MEPs use oversimplified maths: Professor Iain Begg, an expert in European finance at the London School of Economics, says that this hypothetical comparison of payments without the rebate is not very meaningful. He says that the best way to calculate the cost of EU membership is to look at contributions as a proportion of a country's economy. On this basis, the France made a net contribution of 0.12% of GDP in 2003, and the UK 0.16% of GDP, a difference of about 33%.

Most industrialists and financiers in this country support the EU, including the CBI - the main body representing British bussiness. In view of the extremely complex nature of the economics involved, I would put far more stock in their assessment of the situation than that of most euroskeptics. The fact that many euroskeptic MEPs continuously claim we are loosing outlandish sums of money to Europe - backing their claims up with obviously oversimplified mathematics - leads me to believe they are acting out of bigotry. As for the particular claim that we loose out to the French, well the CAP is wrong and France is pursuing narrow nationalistic interests in defending it so stubbornly. As we would be to defend our rebate. It is broadly accepted by most economists that by helping the poorer countries to develope, we are helping our own economy in the long run, because they can't buy our products if they've got no money.

I presume this thread is for people with computer illiterate partners. I think mine would be mildly displeased if I were to slag her off on a public forum.

Everyone is going to go for the best partner they can, and looks have a lot to do with it, as they indicate healthy genes, but - mostly women - will also go for traits such as amiability, good social adjustment and ability to gather wealth. All these factors will contribute to the survival of their children, even if they're not planning on having any - the drive passed on in DNA is strong enough to overcome human logic. Of course there are exceptions. Gay people are living proof of that, but the point I'm making is that people's sexuality doesn't come from the logic part of their brains, so you,re not going to change anything by talking about it.

What a load of lubbish

Sharon was also implicated in the massacres at Shatila and Sabra refugee camps, when the israeli military allowed Lebanese militias into Palestinian refugee camps in beirut, resulting in the deaths of more than 1500 civilians. He was defence minister at the time and personally ordered the camps sealed off. The killing and raping went on for a whole day, whilst Sharon's troops stood guard at the entrances to the camps ensuring no-one got away. Source: 'Pity The Nation' by Robert Fisk. (A BBC Correspondent)

Filthy harlots trying to tempt the pure into vile carnal acts, in order to deliver them unto the clutches of Santa...I mean, er Satan.

Wow, that's so similar to my story, somebody told me people call me 'the occasional Irishman' because my accent changes when I've had a few. I think it's quite laughable that some people think having the same accent all the time indicates depth and sincerity, when all it really indicates is you spent your formative years in the one area.

The EU is a plot by gerbils to become the dominant species. If I wanted to prove it, I'm sure I could find some evidence somewhere. The bible would be a good place to start looking. Luckily I'm too lazy.

the one who doesn't send it

ONX : Open Node Syntax I've never heard it called that before