Politics

VERSAILLES, France - A young woman and her baby were attacked in a suburban train near Paris on Saturday by unidentified men who drew swastikas on her stomach with a pen in what police said was an anti-Semitic assault. The six attackers who were armed with knives clipped the 23-year-old woman's hair, and cut her t-shirt and pants before drawing three swastikas on her body. The men of North African origin also overturned the pram with her baby of 13 months. In the attack they robbed her backpack which contained her identity papers, a bank card and 200 euros ($250). Police said the attackers erroneously assumed the woman was Jewish because she was living in Par…

Read the article: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004...l?oneclick=true There is a link to read without registering at the bottom of the left-hand column.

I am not American nor I am in America, but the feeling I get from watching the election coverage in the local news channels and on the internet is that the elections nowdays are decided on who can stick the most dirt on the other candidate, rather than focusing on issues itself. I have heard that Bush's campaign ad features pictures of Sen. Kerry and Hilter. Kerry has also made some negative ads about Bush to counter these.

Please move if in wrong forum. Nowadays democracy is more and more like a monarchy, the head people in office make the decisions for the people that only get to vote, every four years (I think its the same in UK).Well that is represenatative government, and that is the definition, but dont you think people deserve more for their tax money, I sure do.The best democracy is in Sweden (I think its Sweden) they have a direct democracy system, where the people have mass referendums to decide policy and laws.There are some other ways for better functioning Democracy, what are your opinions. Here are some sources: http://www.wegovern.ca this is for canadian democracy…

Am I the only one who sees a dichotomy in believing abortion should be legalized (specifically second and third trimester), and capital punishment should be banned?

Anyone who thinks that WW2 was an economic boon is a fool. The depression was ending already. All over the globe, that means in countries other than the USA, where there was no New Deal. Sometimes Americans seem to have difficulty remembering that the USA isn't the whole world. Broaden your perspectives, it might help you understand things a tiny bit better. This thread originally started here, but went massively off-topic and was therefore split.

What is Racism? by Thomas Jackson The following article was Originally Published in American Renaissance, Vol 2, No. 8, see http://www.amren.com/ What is Racism? Everyone talks about "racism" but no one ever defines it. AR's assistant editor has given it a try. by Thomas Jackson There is surely no nation in the world that holds "racism" in greater horror than does the United States. Compared to other kinds of offenses, it is thought to be somehow more reprehensible. The press and public have become so used to tales of murder, rape, robbery, and arson, that any but the most spectacular crimes are shrugged off as part of the inevitable texture of Am…

Quoted from BBC News: "The Universe is at least 156 billion light-years wide, say astronomers. The estimate comes from data obtained by a space probe that is examining the so-called Cosmic Background Radiation - often called the echo of the Big Bang. The echo contains information of what the cosmos was like when it was young and how it might develop. The cosmos is 13.7bn years old but the stretching of space with its expansion after the Big Bang means that simple distance measurements do not apply." For more information, look at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3753115.stm

Is it ever ethical to torture someone in order to get valuable information? What about using various "lighter" interrogation methods? Say we have some Iraqi prisoners who *may* hold valuable information. How ethical is it to deny them sleep or food for 24 hours to weaken them before interrogation? What about giving them "truth" serum or other "light" methods of coersion? When is it ever necessary to use torture to get information?

With the X-Prize rapidly hotting up now, and expected to be won within the next few months, could we be at the dawn of a new age for man? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3700855.stm Taking space out of governmental control will undoubtedly be one of the most revolutionary events seen in the past hundred years since the wright brothers first took to the air.

So, after quite some time, Iraq has finally been handed back over to the Iraqis to govern. However, it strikes me that the security situation there is completely out of control. My question is: what effect will the instability of Iraq have on the world over the next 10 years?

there has always been a problem with this one. a person has two diffrent entities in his mind 1.religeon 2.nation so when it gets between these two choices what should a person choose? why should he choose his nation(as most of us would expect) or why should he choose his religeon

WARNING: This link points to the video aired on Arab television of the beheading of Nick Berg. It's very graphic and disturbing. If this bothers you, do not continue. http://www.mancow.com/Videos/nick%20berg%20beheading%20video%20-%20Warning%20-%20Graphic!.wmv ...so remind us again why we shouldn't be hunting these people down before they do something like this?

Ok. I'm just curious about everyones opinion here. It seems that many people feel that the present day National Guard, constitutes the state militia thereunto referred. However when viewed in historical context, this could not be the case. The colonial militia were a body of armed citizens called to duty by the governor of the colony/state. While this is the same as the present day National Guard to some extent, the National Guard still falls under Federal control when activated. So herein lies the enigma, does "state" refer to the federal government, or the individual states?

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Full article and credits : http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/spaceshipone_launch_date_set.html?262004 The Article A privately-developed rocket plane will launch into history on June 21 on a mission to become the world’s first commercial manned space vehicle. Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan have teamed to create the program, which will attempt the first non-governmental flight to leave the earth’s atmosphere. SpaceShipOne will rocket to 100 kilometers (62 miles) into sub-orbital space above the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center, a commercial airport in the California desert. If successful, it will demonstr…

Since past and present life on Mars is being reported by Mars rovers, what are the financial implications for the betting company Ladbrokes and its parent company Hilton? http://www.ladbrokes.com/lbr_portal?s_type=float They have been betting heavily against life on Mars. Can they go broke any day now? Read the article: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4440118/

Everyone loves to complain about the roads. If they’re not full of potholes, they’re under construction. When they’re under construction, 80% of the guys are standing around while 20% do the work. It seems like when the end of a stretch of road is finished, the potholes start to appear at the beginning again. For drivers, there is a very small window of pleasurable driving experience after a road has been resurfaced. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Germany, home of the Autobahn (which is no different in concept than the Interstate Highway system in the US), they use asphalt just like most countries, yet they spend a fraction of what we pay per mile on road …

I went to my grandparents house yesterday I we talked with my grandpa. He said the the war in the middle east could last about 30 years. 30 years? I don't know how it could last 30 years. He said that pretty soon they might pass a draft?

The few people that commited the torture didnt represent the whole army.But I think a US general would.The new case with Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez.Hes acused by another officer Capt. Donald J. Reese that he and other senoirs participated in the abuse and new of it. Here are some sites: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/23/abuse.sanchez.ap/index.html and http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CE3E5873-6B9B-4F02-82FE-63BBBD4F713D.htm What are your thoughts?

The people who are pushing this are absolute fools. I've received this email like 4 times already.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A U.S.-led coalition convoy in Iraq found sarin gas in an artillery round rigged as an improvised explosive device, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Monday. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/17/iraq.main/index.html So, which one of you hippy liberal anti-Iraq people want to be the first to come up with a conspiracy theory? Break out the tin-foil hats!

http://politicalcompass.org What's your political alignment according to this site? It plots it on a graph, here's mine: Image did work, but I was right on the line a little to the left.

The Hubble space telescope has produced its most amazing image yet, capturing a field of nearly 10,000 galaxies with an single picture taking 800 exposures over 11.3 days to complete. The image shows galaxies never before visible dating back to the first billion years of the universe, which includes a good amount of irregularly shaped galaxies and galaxies interacting with eachother. It's a real shame one man in NASA's fear of political criticism is destroying one of the most useful devices in the history of space. For the full press release, and lots of images: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/07/

A couple weeks ago Albanian extremists burned down 31 Serbian Ortodox churches and set on fire over 300 Serbian houses in Kosovo! No one is admiting etnic clansym after NAtO bombing in 1999. Well happy Estern everyone!!!