Saddam's a bad, bad man

Black Cat

Jason Henderson wrote: Its unlikely that it will be in a slump that long since most recessions last only 3-6 months. They also said the "high-tech" economic boom would last forever. ;)

brianwelsch

Jason Henderson wrote: Its unlikely that it will be in a slump that long It's already turning up. BW "I'm coming with you! I got you fired, it's the least I can do. Well, the least I could do is absolutely nothing, but I'll go you one better and come along!" - Homer J. Simpson

Chris Austin

:)Thanks for the good laugh...now I need to clean the afternoon latte off my firggin keyboard and monitor. Fill me with your knowledge, your wisdom, your coffee.

David Wulff

That's interesting, even in my depressive state today I was able to pick up on the humour in what he was saying. Don't get so flipping defensive all the time, it doesn't help your karma. :~

David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk

David Wulff Born and Bred.

David Wulff

Tim Smith wrote: LIKE DUH!!!! BYA. Get it? Okay okay, I admit I really need to out more work into my jokes... :rolleyes:

David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk

David Wulff Born and Bred.

Chris Austin

David Wulff wrote: That's interesting, even in my depressive state today Sorry if I disturbed your melancholy:). Fill me with your knowledge, your wisdom, your coffee.

Lost User

BYA - Bet Your AssArse Mike Mullikin :beer:

Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation. - David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap

David Wulff

It's getting late in the day, and I'm not sure if you were offering a translation or returning the joke or what, but for the record I was making DUHBYA as in "like dubya". :~

David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk

David Wulff Born and Bred.

Lost User

David Wulff wrote: I was making DUHBYA as in "like dubya". Yeah, I understood. I was returning the joke. ;P Mike Mullikin :beer:

Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation. - David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap

Chris Losinger

we have always been at war with eurasia

There's one easy way to prove the effectiveness of 'letting the market decide' when it comes to environmental protection. It's spelt 'S-U-V'. --Holgate, from Plastic

Smaller Animals Software

Chris Losinger

apparently australia hasn't learned anything from watching the militaries of Russia, Israel and the UK in their (failed) wars against terrorism. good luck, mates. -c

There's one easy way to prove the effectiveness of 'letting the market decide' when it comes to environmental protection. It's spelt 'S-U-V'. --Holgate, from Plastic

Smaller Animals Software

Brit

This scares me even more. If this stuff is true I think the entire worl community needs to take a look at itself and figure out why these things are allowed to go on for so long. (My first guess would be to avoid war) It raises questions like "how involved should we get in other people's governments"? Of course, a number of countries play the "Each country has its own sovereignty, that must be protected" card. While this is a decent idea, commiting to it entirely is a recipe for huge problems. Even worse, some people actually believe it, and when someone (like the US) intervenes somewhere is it "guilty" of violating the sovereignty of another nation (which really isn't nearly as good of a rule as people think it is). Then introduce all the other ways of viewing the world. For example, it often seems that Muslim vs Non-Muslim sometimes becomes the overriding factor in choosing sides for people in the Middle East. There is simply no doubt that the Middle East would be much more divided about the US and Iraq if the US was a predominantly Muslim nation. And, ultimately, you can't force any nation/regime to change if it isn't willing. The world community might use economic sanctions, but that won't always get you anywhere (e.g. Iraq). Saddam has really pushed things as far as he possibly can. So, what's the alternative? He's hiding behind 300,000 soldiers and civilians. Is it worth a war and the civilian casualties to stop him? How bad does a leader really have to be in order to justify a war? In general, the historical response is: a leader can be as bad as he wants as long as he crosses no international boundaries. (Which is pretty much what the rule "respect each nation's sovereignty" advocates.) I suppose it would all be so much easier if leaders did what the international community wanted or war didn't actually kill anyone. Policing the world is a bit like being a voluntary police officer in a neighborhood where all the criminals have automatic weapons, and they won't let you arrest them. ------------------------------------------ "Isn't it funny how people say they'll never grow up to be their parents, then one day they look in the mirror and they're moving aircraft carriers into the Gulf region?" - The Onion

Megan Forbes

Yeah, it's rather annoying that no-one cared about people's hands being burned away by acid until it suited war propoganda. Don't misunderstand me, it's disgusting and should be stopped, but shouldn't it have been stopped ages ago? :suss:

I knew it would end badly when I first met Chris in a Canberra alleyway and he said 'try some - it won't hurt you'..... - Christian Graus on Code Project outages A moment of silence please. A programmer's best friend has passed beyond that great exception in the sky.... - Mark Conger on "The coffee machine has died"

David Wulff

Oh no, please do carry on - the longer I stay reading in the Lounge the less time I have to spend on more depressing things like myself. :)

David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk

David Wulff Born and Bred.

David Wulff

D'oh. Okay, I'll lead... 1..2..3... everyone point at David and laugh. :-O

David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk

David Wulff Born and Bred.

Chris Austin

These are great points Brit. It just seems like the same f*^&ed up thing repeating itself. Without thinking much on it these examples come up. Slavery, WW2 Germany, Apartheid, Bosnia, Rowanda, Afghanistan Israel / Palestine, Iraq. I am just dumbfounded that this stuff seems to repeat itself so often. Brit wrote: In general, the historical response is: a leader can be as bad as he wants as long as he crosses no international boundaries. (Which is pretty much what the rule "respect each nation's sovereignty" advocates.) I am pretty much a "respect each nation's sovereignty" advocate but, it seems like it is so "black & white." It just seems that people are afraid to do the right thing until it is too late and war is unavoidable. <stateTheObvious> It seems like there has got to be a better way. </stateTheObvious> Fill me with your knowledge, your wisdom, your coffee.

Lost User

It repeats because of concentration of power. See how an educated and democratic Germany could go into Nazi Germany because the actions of one group was not checked. It is a call for all of us to stand up for civil liberties and make sure that our countries don't pass laws that cause concentration of power. The only thing that I find disheartening in the current US politics, is the apparent lack of opposition to anything - not from the democrats, not from the media. I agree that there are security issues to be solved; but it does not justify taking off the regulations that a judge has to certify a wire-tap, if it has to be legal. There are so many other laws, that remove constitutional safeguards to prevent misuse of power. I am not suggesting that GWB or Ashcroft or Rumsfeld is doing it to meet their own ends. Everything is allright, when we have guys who believe in democracy heading our governments. But, how can we say that tomorrow we will not have a leader, who misuses these to consolidate power? Thomas My article on a reference-counted smart pointer that supports polymorphic objects and raw pointers

KaRl

Continental powers vs Ocean powers ?

Ohé Partisans, Ouvriers et Paysans C'est l'alarme! Le Chant des Partisans

brianwelsch

Thomas George wrote: But, how can we say that tomorrow we will not have a leader, who misuses these to consolidate power? This is one reason why I firmly believe that some type of time limit should be imposed on laws. When that time period is up, the law must be reviewed. I haven't thought through the details of this, but I think the concept works on several levels. BW "I'm coming with you! I got you fired, it's the least I can do. Well, the least I could do is absolutely nothing, but I'll go you one better and come along!" - Homer J. Simpson

KaRl

If he's guilty of this, let's try him in front of an International Court of Justice, like Nazis were, like Milosevitch is, like Pinochet should have been.

Ohé Partisans, Ouvriers et Paysans C'est l'alarme! Le Chant des Partisans