Paratrooper

I am going to Italy for my holidays! Ta ta.

I fly at 2pm tomorrow, anything else I should know? Edit: damn emoticons!

It is terrible, these crimes seem to be getting more frequent. Yes Duke, we want the filth hanged too. At least give the sick bastards who commit these crimes a threat. I can't find anyone who doesn't want these utter shits strung up and left for the crows. I normally try to be measured when I post but this thing has the whole country angry and sad. I can't find any mercy in me for these monsters.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (RalphWiggum @ Aug. 19 2002,03:09)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Have fun! *make sure you have plety of condomns j/k! j/k!<span id='postcolor'> What?! Is there something wrong with Itallian ones!

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Aculaud @ Aug. 19 2002,01:36)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I have never heard anything like that before. Whats your source on that?<span id='postcolor'> Black kngdoms in Africa profited greatly from the slave trade, or at least their Kings did. Blacks would often be captured by other Blacks to be resold to white slavers, saving them the job. Or did you imagine them patroling Africa capturing them? Because this did not happen.

I hope you release a version for the resistance side, it would suit them.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Warin @ Aug. 19 2002,00:21)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Paratrooper @ Aug. 19 2002,00:18)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ Aug. 19 2002,00:15)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The good thing with our western political system is the personal liberties we have, but that doesn't have anything to do with democracy.<span id='postcolor'> If someone tried to remove them we could vote them out. If they removed the right to vote then it would not be a democracy, hence the faults of the tyrannical government would not be a fault of democracy. Democracy does not create libertys, but it does preserve them.<span id='postcolor'> So if democracy fails, its not the fault of the system? How do you figure? Â Systems and institutions dont fail if they are perfect, my friend. Â They dont fail if they are the best alternative. They fail because the situation changes to the point where the system doesnt work any longer.<span id='postcolor'> If democracy is destroyed then it is the fault of the tyrant who did it. Then we meet him with arms. As we did against Hitler and we were ready to against Stalin. I am the first to admit it is not perfect, I am a Philosophy student, I think about it all the time, but have never been presented with a better alternative. Never.

Is fire bad because it can burn you? You heard what the man said, lets wind up the god-talk!

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ Aug. 19 2002,00:15)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The good thing with our western political system is the personal liberties we have, but that doesn't have anything to do with democracy.<span id='postcolor'> If someone tried to remove them we could vote them out. If they removed the right to vote then it would not be a democracy, hence the faults of the tyrannical government would not be a fault of democracy. Democracy does not create libertys, but it does preserve them.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Warin @ Aug. 19 2002,00:02)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Paratrooper @ Aug. 18 2002,23:49)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Democracy isn't perfect but autocracy would be worse. I would rather live in a shabby democracy than an "Intelligent Few" ruling over the idiot masses.<span id='postcolor'> Really? So you are saying that if you could be as greedy a capitalist as you wanted, successful and happy, but without a say in government...and your nation still prospered that that is a bad thing? Any system can and has been abused. Â It is folly to assume that because a system HAS been abused in the past that the system is unworkable. Â I will probably get trashed for the idea, but I think Heinlein had it right in Starship Troopers. Â Only those that commit to the service of the nation should be given the right to a voice in the system. Â I am not saying military service, there are a lot of jobs keeping a country going that dont involve bearing arms.<span id='postcolor'> Yes, I would rather live in the democracy. As you say an system can be abused, democracy is less likley to produce an opressive system than others. When machines finally become intelligent would you have them run everything for us? Have people kept by them like pets? I Quote Marx (you wont see this often) "Fish swim, Men work." Very true too.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Aculaud @ Aug. 19 2002,00:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Paratrooper @ Aug. 18 2002,14:52)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">People talk about wars being started over religion, go on name one!<span id='postcolor'> ...............AFGHANISTAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Pheh! Look at those infidels! Lets fly Airplanes into one of their national monuments and kill thousands of people for their not believing in Allah!" Dont get me wrong, i dont condone our presence in Afghanistan the way it is. Personally, i think our whole force in that area has its head up its ass. I hear about all these people who've "Sighted" Bin Landen, and not one of them had a gun!? Come On!!! Whole other discussion though.<span id='postcolor'> That was not because they were "infidels" but because they commited crimes against muslims, or so they see it. Besides, they may claim to practice the Islamic faith, but they do not truly follow it's teaching! Besides, one religion does not condemn them all.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Warin @ Aug. 18 2002,23:55)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Paratrooper @ Aug. 18 2002,23:30)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I am sick of hearing this. You may have heard this and thought because it is often voiced that it must be true. Every single real religion I can think of is peaceful, and every religious person I know is peaceful. Religion is an antedote to war. Just look at the pope taking his message of peace to all those different nations. As for the human race not being civillised; civilisation is the one thing that keeps us from living like animals. Law brings order, and order brings peace.<span id='postcolor'> Wow. So ethnic cleansing, which is generally based on religion, didnt happen in the balkans? Â The pope didnt turn a blind eye to the persecution and extermination of Jews in Germany, ad naseum back into time? Â the Jews and the Muslims arent at each others throats in the Middle East? Religion has nothing to do with peace. Â Religion has to do with a narrow view of the world as enforced by a 2000 year old collection of fables and mythology. Â Calling Christianity peacefully is sort of like gilding a sword and calling it a work of art, not a weapon. Â More blood has been spilled through history in the name of religion than in any other cause.<span id='postcolor'> All the 'Religious conflics' you just mentioned were ethnic or territorial. Just because there have been bad things done by so-called christians does not condemn the teachings of christ. Read the New Testament! Show me the violence it creates!

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ Aug. 18 2002,23:52)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The reason for the cold war was an incompatibility between Soviet and American imperialism. The Soviet Union does not exist any more. America does, and many of the ideas that were present during the cold war are present even today.<span id='postcolor'> This is very true, that is the real politik. However, I would not consider "Soviet bashing" to be a bad thing and more than Nazi bashing.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Aculaud @ Aug. 18 2002,23:43)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Paratrooper @ Aug. 18 2002,14:30)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Just look at the pope taking his message of peace to all those different nations.<span id='postcolor'> Right. Taking HIS message of peace to all those nations that already have their own message of peace. What does that say to those nations? That our message of peace is better than theirs? This is how wars start.<span id='postcolor'> Not his, the christian peace, Pax Christi. They all agree with him too! People talk about wars being started over religion, go on name one! The crusades was over territory by the way. Your ideas on religion come from a fundemental ignorence of it. Best keep off the religion though. It gets things locked.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ Aug. 18 2002,23:44)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Who says that democracy is the best way to go? The soviet system can't be compared to a democracy since it never had any ambition of being a democracy. According to Lenin democracy is the rule of the ignorant masses, and I am inclined to agree with him on that point. Who ever said that average Joe, James or Sven is capable of making important political decisions?<span id='postcolor'> Democracy isn't perfect but autocracy would be worse. I would rather live in a shabby democracy than an "Intelligent Few" ruling over the idiot masses.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ Aug. 18 2002,23:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tex [uSMC] @ Aug. 18 2002,23:30)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Denoir, as I recall, I dont remember hearing about people in the SU voting on referendums for local government. They dont have town meetings, they dont have elected mayors, they had the Party. Period. That is lightyears away from what we have.<span id='postcolor'> Just because they had a different political model doesn't mean it is bad. They were not a democracy, that's a fact but not necessarily a bad thing. While I personally don't advocate the Soviet system, you must understand that there are other ways then The American Wayâ„¢<span id='postcolor'> Denoir, Sweden and Britain are democracys, I would not call it the American way! The Soviet Tyranny can't be compared to real democracy of any sort! It certainly is not just another alternative system, it is opression.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (GreyKnight @ Aug. 18 2002,23:24)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Finally, as long as there is religion there will be war and suffering. Â <span id='postcolor'> I am sick of hearing this. You may have heard this and thought because it is often voiced that it must be true. Every single real religion I can think of is peaceful, and every religious person I know is peaceful. Religion is an antedote to war. Just look at the pope taking his message of peace to all those different nations. As for the human race not being civillised; civilisation is the one thing that keeps us from living like animals. Law brings order, and order brings peace.

You are aware that this will be closed surely?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">the political leadership and the political system of the both countries were effectivly the same <span id='postcolor'> How on earth can this be the case? America may not be a very good democracy but at least it is one. The USSR was a brutal dictatorship and no amount of free public transport and jobs will make up for that state of affairs.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tex [uSMC] @ Aug. 18 2002,23:05)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Everyone knows that Mcarthyism was a dark part of Americas history, as are the other things you mentioned. However, America has tried or is trying to right every single one of those wrongs you mentioned. The Soviets wallowed in their wrongs. And to clarify this, I dont have to pledge allegiance to the flag. They arent going to put me under surveillance or send me to the principal's office or even look at me funny because I dont. Hell, half the kids in my class dont even stand up during the pledge. But guess what? I choose to pledge allegiance to the flag because it embodies what I think is the best set of ideals man can hope to attain at this point in his evolution. I choose to pledge my allegiance because I am living a pretty damn good life because of the country the flag symbolises. Other people dont, and I dont hold it against them- its their choice. I cant help it if other people do try to force the pledge upon people. Some people are just fucked up. Denoir, you know where I stand on this. I pledge allegiance to America not because its perfect right now or because it has ever been, but because with my help it can be a little better<span id='postcolor'> Well said! Patriotism is not a dirty word.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Warin @ Aug. 18 2002,22:48)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Paratrooper @ Aug. 18 2002,21:34)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">If a man can't own what is his, including land, and work for their share of money then how can there be freedom? Communism is a stifling, strangulating process then levels down insted of up.<span id='postcolor'> Please get it straight. What you describe as communism is really Stalinism. True communism doesnt exist. It cant. Â And I would put a true communist society up against a true capitalist society any day. Â The capitalist system will devolve into tryranny far faster than the communist system. The key thing is that a capitalist system panders to the weaknesses and avarice inherent in human nature. Â Communism on the other hand requires that people set that sort of thing aside.<span id='postcolor'> We will have to agree to differ. (How many times has that been said? ) If I don't have the right to own land and a business then I don't consider myself free.

Infact DoR, I would rather you said that it was in some way right than admit that it was wrong but you do it anyway.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Duke_of_Ray @ Aug. 18 2002,22:21)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The Indians fought eachother, we came in and fought too, and we won. Many countries have done it may not be right, but thats the way it is.<span id='postcolor'> They did not exterminate each other and their entire way of life.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (advocatexxx @ Aug. 18 2002,21:35)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">This goes for the Moon as well. Â You see plenty of companies selling real estate space on the Moon, and the funny thing is, people actually buy it.<span id='postcolor'> The moon like all territory not on earth, is international and can not be owned.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (KingBeast @ Aug. 18 2002,21:28)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">What happens when we have real lunatics in the monarchy? Â Â (not that we dont already)<span id='postcolor'> There is not much chance of that...but as you pose the question: Magna Carta gave power to the Barons, this is now manefested in the House of Lords and Commons. The monarchy does have limitations, it can't run the country, only give of withhold approval to Parliment.