Furry Canary

Reply to London Police Lied About Man Mistakenly Shot in Current Events JoeUser Forums

'I would not apologize to you if my life depended on it!' I imagine I'll muddle through somehow or other, drmiler!

Reply to London Police Lied About Man Mistakenly Shot in Current Events JoeUser Forums

'Now about the ones that said it was a mistake. A justifyiable one in light of the circumstances?' According to 'The Guardian', the latest evidence supports the following ... de Menezes didn't vault the barrier he didn't run from police he was unaware that he was being followed he stopped to pick up a free newspaper he was wearing a denim jacket, not a padded one he wasn't carrying a rucksack he was held in his sea

Reply to London Police Lied About Man Mistakenly Shot in Current Events JoeUser Forums

'But after seeing these lines.....I think not.' At the time, despite suggestions that you should simply wait to see what would be revealed by the findings of any subsequent investigation, you, drmiler - among several others - refused to accept that the police's initial self-supporting account of the incident could be anything but the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Consequently, on the back of a story that now transpires to

Reply to London Police Lied About Man Mistakenly Shot in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Just one more example that there are lies, damned lies, statistics ... and police reports. Time, I think, for all those bloggers who argued at the time that Jean Charles de Menezes 'got what he deserved' to eat their words.

Reply to Don't you wish all your whining could do something? in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

'How's the littlest canary doing?' She's now four months old and a thing of absolute joy, MM - thanks for asking.

Reply to Don't you wish all your whining could do something? in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

'All your whining, crying, pointing out faults, denouncing america does not change one thing.' Have you noticed MM, that all YOUR whining. crying, pointing out faults, denouncing those who are supposedly doing all this whining, crying, pointing out faults, denouncing america does not change one thing either? That is to say, how many of them have 'seen the light' of your arguments?

Reply to Thank you! in Politics JoeUser Forums

'Thank you col for blacklisting me. That way I don't have to reply to your stupidity ...' But isn't this in itself a reply? Some wise counsel I once received went something like this: 'When we get angry with our enemies, all we do is pay them respect they don't deserve.'

Reply to Evolution against itself in Current Events JoeUser Forums

'I would like an evolutionist to explain to me a fossil they bug up.' Some background would be helpful here - a photograph of the fossil, perhaps, or a link to an article supporting this assertion. Until you can back-up your claim that such a fossil exists, it is no more convincing an argument than 'My neighbour's cousin saw Elvis in Burger King', or 'I haven't been abducted by aliens, but I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who has'

Reply to Favorite world leader of all time in History JoeUser Forums

But which Ghandi - Indira or Rajiv? Am I right in thinking that Mahatma Ghandi (influential as he undoubtedly was) was never an 'official' leader (by inheritance, election, whatever)? In this case, I guess if you allow him you should also allow John Lennon, Bob Geldof or - God help us all - Bono.

Reply to Who Gave You the Best Book Ever? in Misc JoeUser Forums

Nothing remotely witty or creative from me, just a sincere recommendation - 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell. My dad gave it to me when I was about 23 years old, and it has informed my outlook ever since. On politics? Certainly - as this is a politically powerful piece of writing, angry and sad and indignant and desperate and hugely moving - but the word 'politics' is nowhere near expansive enough to describe the sheer humanity

Reply to Ode to my little dead blog in Writing JoeUser Forums

'But usually when I make them, I make them for life.' How do you know? 'Lived here all your life?' The tourist asked the local. 'No', he mused, "Not yet'.

Reply to Misleading blogs in Blogging JoeUser Forums

'I been down doc , so far down that it looked like up to me {book by tom wolfe}' MM, perhaps you mean 'Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me' by Richard Farina?

Reply to Misleading blogs in Blogging JoeUser Forums

'And like I stated before...That it is not physically possible to determine that.' Could they possibly have examined the police's guns and counted how many bullets were missing? Perhaps they might even have been able to extract the bullets from the 'ragged stump' to which you refer? '--interesting enough, since the first bombings the 'bobbies'(london police) have started using guns...before then they rarely if ever used them...' A

Reply to Misleading blogs in Blogging JoeUser Forums

'Okay, seriously. So what? Can anybody tell me why that detail is meaningful to leave in? Can anybody in this thread draw a useful conclusion from it, or can it safely be omitted, like the color of the poor young man's trousers?' Read the history of this thread, stutefish. You'll find that it derives from my attempt to make drmiler see that what he claims to be indisputable facts (and thus irrefutable justification for the actions of the polic

Reply to So, what do you remember? in History JoeUser Forums

'I held off cause I always liked the jackets on the LPs.' Couldn't agree more. It's a great loss. In my opinion, album cover design has been an art form in decline ever since.

Reply to Misleading blogs in Blogging JoeUser Forums

'Okay, he forgot to mention it. Now for a question. "Why" should it matter if they were in plain clothes? When police id themselves and tell you to "HALT", and they're in plain clothes does that mean I don't have to listen to them?' MM's response to my post was this: 'ok, busted doing what I complained about, fair enough.' That, to me, has both good grace and style. Your response, on the other hand drmiler, appears to miss the point -

Reply to Misleading blogs in Blogging JoeUser Forums

'Dude, you did the very thing in this article.' Myrrander, you are spot on. Picking just one example re. the London shooting ... MM failed to mention that the police were in plain clothes. All that remains is for him to tell us whether this was simply sloppy research on his part, or because it might conceivably raise doubt in the police's claims to have clearly identifed themselves to the victim before they shot him. So, which was it, MM? <img

Reply to So, what do you remember? in History JoeUser Forums

'Ouch! you win!' Not usually the case I know, Dr Guy ( ), but I really wasn't thinking of 'winning' or 'losing' on this particular occasion! It's just that 1987 was a watershed year for me, and I distinctly remember having quite a few CDs before it all started.

Reply to Shoot first, ask questions later? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

'Just spotlighting the fact that you "peaceniks" are the ones waiting for the blood and suffering of innocents with your fork and knife ready. This just gives you a nice little side issue to be outraged about, so you won't have to keep saying the people in London had it coming to them...' While YOU wait with your own 'fork and knife ready' to stick it to the "peaceniks". Moral high ground? Hardly. As for 'you won't have to keep saying the people of

Reply to Shoot first, ask questions later? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

' Inquiry into what?' / 'I guess it is just your good luck that you have found a side-issue ...' This is not a side-issue but fundamental. If the aim is to prevent the death of innocents, yet you're going to hold an innocent victim responsible for his own death rather than the authorities who killed him, then any pretence to a consistency of ethical position you may have attempted to adopt goes up in smoke. 'Are you people really this t

Reply to Shoot first, ask questions later? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

This guy was completely innocent, yet he is dead - shot five times in the head by plain clothes police. Kind of ironic, when the whole point of operations such as this is supposedly to prevent the loss of innocent life. Even the police are describing it as a 'tragedy', yet drmiler proclaims 'Case closed'. So does he think the police are infallible, or just above the law? At the very least, there should be an independent enquiry. Baker

Reply to Deferred Success? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

'I showed the source and my opinion. I do believe it is legal to do that.' Absolutely! However, you did say 'some teachers'. A single, solitary, working teacher in support of the motion would have been nice. According to your link, even the proposer openly admits she 'deliberately made the motion provocative to spark a good debate'. I find it difficult therefore not to view your 'Wha

Reply to So, what do you remember? in History JoeUser Forums

'Really? Got a link?' http://pages.emerson.edu/courses/fall00/in115a/DC.site/Digital%20Culture%20Files/history.htm This history claims that CD was released in Europe and Japan in 1982, and in the USA in 1983. That's not to say that it became a common medium overnight, of course. Still, I remember buying my first CDs from high street shops (and I was by no means in the first wave of purchasers) in the UK in 1986.

Reply to So, what do you remember? in History JoeUser Forums

'The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.' I think you'll find that the Compact Disc was readily available some two or three years BEFORE they were born.

Reply to Deferred Success? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

So who exactly are 'some teachers', 'the Brits', the unkempt rabble', 'so called "educators"' etc. (as referred to by various contributors here) responsible for this outrage? If you actually read the article, they appear to consist of a solitary retired teacher who is submitting the motion to the Professional Asociation of Teachers for debate. Wesley Paxton, a member of the association's council, is supporting the motion, but I can find no reference to