Profile for X
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | X |
| Member number | 496 |
| Title | Shaper |
| Postcount | 2333 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Iraqi aftermath in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Wednesday, July 23 2003 13:50
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Dr. Kelly was local to me - even had a friend live on Southmoor Road (OK, not Southmoor village, by the reservoir) a few years ago. The local papers are full of it. I don't rate Kelly's death as assassination, however 'convenient' it is for Blair to claim his posthumous version of Kelly's opinions as true and the BBC's as false. Three points on that: (1) The question is really whether he was driven to suicide rathr than directly killed, (2) Kelly wasn't sole source anyway, and it's difficult for Blair to stand up in the Commons demanding further sources be disclosed against all journalistic ethics, given what happened to Kelly; and(3) Blair couldn't give one for Kelly--as his opportunism shows--but rather because he's on the verge of resignation. A judicial enquiry will take years--also convenuiently after the next election--and any result will be old news by then, however independantly conducted. Before then, though, are the TUC and Labour party conferences, which could see Blair forced to resign by his own membership. He's only still in office now as they don't want (even more obvious) shows of disunity befrore the election. On other matters, (1) it was my fellow ex-Bradfordian Dan Plesch that first exposed the dodgy dossier, (2) the faked Nigerian yellowcake documents are actually even more damning, and (3) note how most senior Iraqi officials are still all surnamed al-Tekriti, so the 'war against Sadaam' is basically no more than that, preserving the old regime in toto with only its most public faces removed (or transferred to playing cards for the illiterate). Rule by terror (whwether indigenous or foreign-imposed) is the only way a 19th century colonial construct like modern Iraq will be held together, 'stable' enough to keep the oil flowing.... Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| United States Conflict Avatars (Cont.) in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Tuesday, July 22 2003 09:07
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The Eastern Bloc was the eastern European client states of the former Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact countries. Sort of disturbing you've never heard of it, JF. It's relevance to your opinions about Africa is that it demonstrates ethnicity isn't a real issue when it comes to explaining a nation's propensity for dictatorship, which you'd appreciate if you read my originating post with necessary care. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Post Count Question in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Sunday, July 20 2003 06:47
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I remember Syvester Stallone being asked whether he was "thick". He readily agreed, thinking it meant muscular - which rather proved the point. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Happy Fourth of July! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Sunday, July 20 2003 06:42
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The Vikings did influence England a lot - both holding the North in the late-Dark Ages to such an extend that the accent (and immunity to irony) there is still Scandanavian, and through the Norman ('Northman') conquest which first imposed feudalism. They were still knocking around as mercenaries on the fringes of the Med in the early-1400s. I think a combination of late conversion to Christianity, the Mongol invasion of Russia, and the rise of Islamic sea power really did for them as a force in the world though. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Hyperiums in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Sunday, July 20 2003 06:35
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We wondered where you'd gone, Chaz. All the Exile Trilogy people are missing you.... Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| United States Conflict Avatars (Cont.) in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Sunday, July 20 2003 06:31
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I didn't want to focus unduly (or unkindly) on Lord of Evil's observaton that most African dictators were Black either. Most people in Africa are Black - most likely all were precolonially. Is he seriously saying that there's some correlation between ethnicity and propensity to dictatorship? He should have checked out apartheid South Africa run by Whites (Afrikaaners, to state their tribal affiliation), replaced by a vastly more democratic Black government, or any of the governments of the former Eastern Bloc who happened to be run by wealthy White dictators because (surprise, surprise) the majority of people in those European countries are White too. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| United States Conflict Avatars (Cont.) in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, July 19 2003 02:19
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:rolleyes: And most of them were educated at Oxford or the Sorbonne too. Damned uncivilised fellows they have running those colleges, apparently. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| I'm back. in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, July 19 2003 02:16
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Ooh, I was enjoying that. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Beast Ceremony> in Nethergate | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Saturday, July 19 2003 02:11
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You can't cast it in combat mode? Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| I'm back. in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Friday, July 18 2003 18:12
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Hello again! No more geography lessons then? Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Philosophies in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Friday, July 18 2003 18:08
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I think Lincoln got there before Resident Evil 2, Firedrake - it was included in his presidential acceptance speech when the slavery / union question pressed a tad too hard on him. As to which 'Persian king', I expect he was a relative of the 'old Chinese' whose sayings we encounter proverbially in more recent times. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Happy Fourth of July! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Friday, July 18 2003 17:54
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Well, 14th July was ages ago, so I guess I should put away my bowler hat, sash and king Billy sword. _files/wink.gif) I never was a very good Orangeman, as the above should illustrate to anyone knowing any. Perhaps I'll bring some Klan robes out next, if anyone can think of a good date... EDIT: My point is that the marching season, as epitomised by 14th July, is hardly a respectful way to celebate national identity--i.e. symbolically at least (but occassionally literally), marching all over the faces of the minority community--and this sort of supremacist mentality needs addressing if coexistence anywhere is possible.Strict non-discrimination legislation and increased prosperity only go so far to reduce community tensions. There are always ways around the legislation (e.g. some family names are inherently Catholic, as are some addresses, so there's always the opportunity for disguised discrimination) and supporteers of the paramilitaries in both communities are typically always the poorest and most alienated who benefit most marginally from general prosperity, if at all. I really think that in the end demographics will tell more than economics, though loyalties often follow money, especially among the more well-off and educated who tend to be more 21st (well, not 16th) century about religious questions. A generation or two from now, the border will be abolished electorally, at which Sinn Fein will lose its rationalle to more well-off and educated liberal parties and carry on as a Leftist rump much as the IRSP is now in the North. I do think the South could make some effort towards secularising their own state though, especially re. liberalising laws on divorce and reproductive issues. [ Friday, July 18, 2003 17:59: Message edited by: X ] Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| 10001th Post! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Friday, July 18 2003 17:42
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I worry a lot about that water going to my head - wasn't the Perod then. Happy to revive long enough to partake of the lap dancing (I bought my spangley wear) and unfeasibly long 'cigarettes'. Oh, the room's spinning round 'n' round again, maaan.... Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| It's Me! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Friday, July 18 2003 17:37
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Maybe Roswell. That's all desert - and more tacky, inflatable aliens than you can shake a stick at, of course. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Post Count Question in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Friday, July 18 2003 17:35
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If OM is justy concerned about title and post count, however, as I suspect, the FAQs section should have the answers he seeks. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| 10001th Post! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Thursday, July 17 2003 07:02
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* Joins celwebration. Gets drunk on the bottle of Perod dumped in the kitchen. Falls down * Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Happy Fourth of July! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Wednesday, July 16 2003 01:08
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It's worth bearing in mind a lot of people calling themselves Irish-American are actually of Protestant heritage. In fact, the so-called Scots-Irish were amongst the first settlers in the US. Hill 'billies' were typically endentured labour, the 'billy' deriving from William of Orange, who I mentioned re. 14th July. So not so much worry about US neutrality on the Irish question then.... Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| United States Conflict Avatars (Cont.) in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Wednesday, July 16 2003 00:56
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Idi Amin Dada learned his trade as a sergeant in the British army, Uganda's former colonial masters, and is now exiled to Saudi Arabia where I don't see ther US offering a $25m reward for him. A lot of post-colonial conflicts were set up by 'divide and rule' tactics under colonialism, hardly a lesson in fair, non-racist, democratic politics in itself. Rwanda is a case in point, the distinctions between Hutus and Tutsi originally being a French imposition. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Happy Fourth of July! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Tuesday, July 15 2003 12:46
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I'd like to emphasise that Loyalists in northern Ireland consider themselves British, not Irish, and most are descendants of Elizabeth's plantation in the 15th century, who mainly came from Scotland. The difference is not ethnic though, it's religious. In northern Ireland, 15th century questions about transubstantiation are still hot topics liable to lead to angry words, even blows. For many Loyalists, the Pope is still "the Antichrist" or the Book of Revelation. Though shootings are now rare due to the ceasefire, most communities are physically segregated by 'peace lines', two-storey high corregated iron walls across streets to stop stone-throwing. Door checks at pubs are also very tight to stop massacres, as has happened in the past. There is 'demographic warfare', where it is almost as hard to find condom dispensers in Protestant areas as Catholic ones and contraception is condemned by religious leaders of both communities as giving the other electoral and economic advantages in the next generation. Many poorer Protestants in the province--and there are many, with the highest unemployment in the British Isles in northern Ireland--are particularly angry that anti-discrimination legislation means Catholics get jobs that were once exclusively theirs (eg. at the shipyards) and this is what is stopping further peace talks, opening the way for new sectarian violence by all concerned. I think US Marines on the streets of Belfast would be better peacekeepers than British Paras. Due to Catholic emigration to the US during the Famine and the rise of such immigrants during the last century and a half, there's a lot more sympathy for Republicanism there and so the US is more likely to be seen as neutral. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| United States Conflict Avatars (Cont.) in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Tuesday, July 15 2003 12:23
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JF really is incredibly, perennially unselfconscious, isn't he? You've got to admire him for that. A few points, though: Elizabeth felt her power firmly rooted in Anglicanism / proto-English nationalism, with it's identification with the national ruler. He 'toleration' of Catholicism included replacing the Virgin Mary with herself in religious iconography and taxing (as opposed to slaughtering) Catholicism out of existence. That Puritans were even more anti-Catholic hardly excuses her as supposedly 'enlightened and free-thinking'. On Africa, JF actually refers to Songhai as an African empire, demonstrating their sophistication. What really shattered African cultures was slavery - first Islamic and then (c.C14) European, forcing waves of migration southwards, with only the most militarised societies (such as the Zulus) prevailing. I will not deny that some Africans willingly participated in this - much of the wealth of African empires such as Songhai came from the slave trade (as well as kola nuts, etc), as did the West's. Late-C19 European colonisation of Africa was on a belated anti-slavery rhetoric just to put a humanitarian gloss on their neutraliaation of local and Moslem rivals for power on the continent. No one could pretend Leopold's treatment of the Congo (with its bounty of human hands) or general genocidal 'hammering' of all native resistance was at all humanitarian ot the lot of those colonised was better than that of slaves. The few that were educated were just native supervisors needed to bulk out European administration and typically laid the seeds for civil war following decolonisation. On China, was its feudalism any worse than the opium chaos Europeans imposed by gunboat and massacre (as in the Tai'ping revolt) to 'open up' the country? I defend neither, but think it arrogant that a Western way of life principally benefitting powerful Westerners should be imposed globally against indigenous wishes. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Avernum 4 in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 14 2003 04:13
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Got it - duh! Should still be in an Avernum forum though. Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| AVERNUM 4!!! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 14 2003 04:00
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Can't this go in an Avernum forum - preferably the BoA one, for people that still don't get it? _files/rolleyes.gif) Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| The Enigmatic Question Mark in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 14 2003 03:54
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 Oh, so it's not just one of those 'getting to know you' biog things everyone lies about. I'll think about it.Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| 16 posts, horray! in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 14 2003 03:50
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Happy birthday, dude!  Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |
| Help, people in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 496
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written Monday, July 14 2003 03:48
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There's that thing by Sam Beckett where they all walk around in circles in near-darkness for 15 minutes, moaning occassionally. Not a lot of lines to learn and the right length.... Posts: 2333 | Registered: Monday, January 7 2002 08:00 |