All Hank, all the time.

[SlaveNoMore]

Penske_Account

"God that Bono is a pompous fuck. Shutthefuckup already!!!"

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Penske_Account

"How come no one told me a blue dress is not a safe sex substitute for a condom......."

[Adder]

Originally posted by Spanky
No but what the hell else was Israel supposed to do?

I don't know, act like the civilized, mature democracy that they are?

[Adder]

Originally posted by Diane_Keaton
When the speaker says the British government "must not ignore the role foreign policy plays...", does this really have any substantial meaning to you, Ty? Do you really think he means terror attacks will stop as long as the Brits stand up and say "hey, we acknowledge the fact that the terrorists are pissed b/c we're in Iraq and that's why maybe the terrorists are slaughtering innocents." I think the statement says loud and clear that, to stop the terror attacks, the British government needs to conduct its foreign policy in a way Muslims want -- get out of Iraq. So let's not pussyfoot around here.

And it's really shocking that you take the 24% statistic so lightly. Add to that the percentage (17%) of people who answered "I don't know" when asked if terrorism is sometimes justified -- 17% of Muslims can't fucking admit that blowing up a plane of civilians is never justified? That's 41% of British Muslims who aren't condemning terror. Pretty scary statistic. So your public speaker has much to say about how the Brits should "combat terror" but it's getting pretty close to half of the speaker's community that won't even say terrorism is wrong.

Last year, the surveys showed 1/3 of British Muslims believe Western society is "decadent" and immoral and that Muslims should seek to end it. I sure haven't seen any peaceful efforts by Muslims to encourage changes to our "immoral" behaviour. I think we all know what "seek to end it" means.

I don't know why you think you need to pop in every once in awhile to remind us that you are a racist asshole. We know already.

[Adder]

Originally posted by Spanky
I hate to sound like a broken record but - what the hell should Israel have done? It just couldn't sit by and let its soldiers be captured. Could it?

yes, it could have. And short of that, it also could have taken targeted, tailored action to recover its soldier. But frankly, i don't understand why people accept that the killing and kidnapping of a handful of soldiers is an affront to the safety of all Israelis, instead of a clearly calculated attempt to provoke a distroportionate response. Ultimately, it is the inability to behave in any way that is counter to the way your enemy wish that is so frustrating.

[SlaveNoMore]

Adder
I don't know, act like the civilized, mature democracy that they are?

7/12/06 - Two Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers were kidnapped and seven others were killed Wednesday in attacks on Israel's northern border by Hezbollah, a terrorist group with close ties to Iran. Hezbollah's Al Manar TV station reported that the abduction occurred just after 9 a.m. and the soldiers were transferred to a safe location.

Just two days before the Hezbollah attacks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, while speaking about Israel on Iran News Network TV, "It will not be long before this intense fury will lead to a huge explosion." Ahmadinejad has also said Israel should be "wiped off the map" and that the Holocaust was a myth.

The two soldiers were patrolling Israel's northern border Wednesday morning in armored jeeps when Hezbollah terrorists fired on the vehicles and detonated explosives nearby. Three other soldiers riding in the jeeps were killed in the attack. A senior Hezbollah official said that at least one of the kidnapped soldiers is still alive.

Hezbollah carried out the assault while conducting massive rocket and mortar shell attacks on IDF positions and Israeli villages. The other four Israeli soldiers who died were killed when their tank drove over a land mine. In the Israeli border town of Shtula, six people were wounded when a rocket hit a house, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's first-aid and disaster relief organization. Israeli officials ordered residents of Israeli towns on the Lebanese border to take cover in underground bomb shelters. Additionaly, thousands of reservists are expected to be called to duty.

During a press conference Wednesday with his Japanese counterpart, Junichiro Koizumi, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared Hezbollah's attack "an act of war" by Lebanon and said the Israeli response will be "restrained but painful."

That they are a civilized, mature democracy is testament to the fact that they didn't leave ALL of southern Lebanon a smoldering ruin.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
That they are a civilized, mature democracy is testament to the fact that they didn't leave ALL of southern Lebanon a smoldering ruin.

Problem is that naive immature leftist dupes and blogospherically drunk Islamicists can't appreciate this finely nuanced distinction.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Not as fictionalised as Fahrenheit 911, but Moore used a lot more artistic license to punch that flik up.

I haven't seen that either, preferring not to send my $$$ to Michael Moore. Do you recommend?

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I haven't seen that either, preferring not to send my $$$ to Michael Moore. Do you recommend?

It's a must see for all Democrat Party rank and file and their assorted comrades and co-conspirators. A modern day blockbuster DemocratParty feel-good docu-drama in the grand tradition of leftwing cinema classiques like Birth of Nation and Triumph of Will.

Two donkey hooves up, as Ebert and Roper said.

eta: I think Moore won the Nobel Prize for Film for this one.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
It's a must see for all Democrat Party rank and file and their assorted comrades and co-conspirators. A modern day blockbuster DemocratParty feel-good docu-drama in the grand tradition of leftwing cinema classiques like Birth of Nation and Triumph of Will.

Two donkey hooves up, as Ebert and Roper said.

eta: I think Moore won the Nobel Prize for Film for this one.

you can't watch it w/o first reading the blog on bridgeoflove.com where Mr. Ickes recounts how he gave Mr. Moore much of the material for the conspiracy theories of the first half hour of the film. I don't think MandM gives davey any credit

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I haven't seen that either, preferring not to send my $$$ to Michael Moore. Do you recommend?

Shit, Ty... You have to see F 9/11. I didn't agree with it, but its very very well done, and pretty funny and biting in parts. I still watch it if its on because it's just really fucking entertaining.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
That they are a civilized, mature democracy is testament to the fact that they didn't leave ALL of southern Lebanon a smoldering ruin.

It's not an issue of justification for Israel - Hezbollah gave them ample rationale to take military action.

It's a question of the wisdom of their choice of action - they did themselves and the US absolutely no service with this one; they strengthened Hezbollah, weakened the Lebanese government, showed themselves to be vulnerable, and left us playing the role of toadies while France got to play a decisive role coming up with the cease fire at the UN. What happened to Israel? They make Rumsfeld look vaguely competent.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

I agree with Judge Posner -- we need a counterterrorism agency like MI5. I've heard too many horror stories about the FBI.

• The plot has also revealed the indispensability of good counterterrorism intelligence. A defense against terrorists, as against other enemies of the nation, must be multilayered to have a reasonable chance of being effective. One of the outer defenses is intelligence, designed to detect plots in advance so that they can be thwarted. One of the inner defenses is preventing an attack at the last minute, as by airport screening for weapons.
  
  The inner defense would have failed in the recent episode because the equipment for scanning hand luggage does not detect liquid explosives. (The liquid-bomb threat had been known since a similar al-Qaeda plot was foiled in 1995, but virtually nothing had been done to counter it.) Fortunately, the outer defense succeeded.
  
  Intelligence succeeded in part because of the work of MI5, England's domestic intelligence agency. We do not have a counterpart to MI5. This is a serious gap in our defenses. Primary responsibility for national security intelligence has been given to the FBI. The bureau is a criminal investigation agency. Its orientation is toward arrest and prosecution rather than toward the patient gathering of intelligence with a view to understanding and penetrating a terrorist network.
  
  The bureau's tendency, consistent with its culture of arrest and prosecution, is to continue an investigation into a terrorist plot just long enough to obtain enough evidence to arrest and prosecute a respectable number of plotters. The British tend to wait and watch longer so that they can learn more before moving against plotters.
  
  The FBI's approach means that small fry are easily caught but that any big shots who might have been associated with them quickly scatter. The arrests and prosecutions warn terrorists concerning the methods and information of the FBI. Bureaucratic risk aversion also plays a part; prompt arrests ensure that members of the group won't escape the FBI's grasp and commit terrorist attacks. But without some risk-taking, the prospect of defeating terrorism is slight.
  
  MI5, in contrast to the FBI (and to Scotland Yard's Special Branch, with which MI5 works), has no arrest powers and no responsibilities for criminal investigation, and it has none of the institutional hang-ups that go with such responsibilities. Had the British authorities proceeded in the FBI way -- rather than continuing the investigation until virtually the last minute, which enabled them to roll up (with Pakistan's help) more than 40 plotters -- most of the conspirators might still be at large, and the exact nature and danger of the plot might not have been discovered. We need our own MI5, not to supplant but to supplement the FBI.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I agree with Judge Posner -- we need a counterterrorism agency like MI5. I've heard too many horror stories about the FBI.

I suppose you would engage Jamie Gorelick to erect information walls between this new group and each of the CIA and FBI, yes?

[Sidd Finch]

This girl is almost too cute to be believed. Look how big her eyes are, it almost like she is a drawing from a Disney cartoon. To not allow a girl this adorable to get a passport has got to be one of the dumbest PR moves of the century.

She's a slut. You see those shoulders? Whore.

etft -- t.s.