utemia

Reply to Abstinence Program Shows Success in Blogging JoeUser Forums

She advocated sexual abstinence before marriage but her own family is anything like the standards she sets for others. Normally, I wouldn't hold it against her, but especially in issues concerning family morals it makes people look like hypocrites for me if they fail to live up to their own standards. Generally, i don't think she is very smart. The interviews I remember from the election campaign were horrible in any case. That doesn't have anything to do with her being a republican t

Reply to Abstinence Program Shows Success in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I am with Leauki on this issue. Moral attributes regarding sex are the prerogative of the parents. But the whole issue is tricky with many pitfalls, and one cannot dismiss hormones and teenagers as a variable. Morals and parental guidance fly out the window as soon as two young people fall in love anyway. Sara Palin - I don't understsand how anybody can take her seriously - is the perfect example of a hypocritical attitude. Those who preach high and mighty about morals a

Reply to The politics of energy in Politics JoeUser Forums

I recently saw a documentary about the largest windmill in the world being built in Germany. They were stating some facts about windgenerated power in general, and one was that all the windgenerators in Germany put together produced the same amount of electricity as 4 nuclear power plants. I of course don't have the source for that figure, it could be completely bogus. But it seems to me that if everybody is going on about the power of the sun and the reason for global warming being s

Reply to Political Carneval in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

[quote who="Big Fat Daddy" reply="3" id="2528396"]Sorry, Ruthie, we don't need a special season to criticize our pols. We do it all the time. And they provide us plenty of scandals and embarassing stories for us to throw up at them. I wrote an article a year or so ago about my first experience with Fasching. I have always been a fan. Have a fun time and sing a few of my favorites for me: "Es gibt kein bier auf Hawaii", and "Umpah, Umpah, Umpah,

Political Carneval in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

The 5th season is in full swing in (catholic) Germany. Carneval or Fasching/Fasnet is called the 5th season, and a big part of carneval is criticising the political establishment of everything that annoys you. Most cities have special events where the people that live there prepare sketches and comedic skits to express their criticism with local or national politics, developments in society etc. That tradition is very old and goes back to the middle ages where people were able to criticise th

Reply to Homesick for dictatorship in Misc JoeUser Forums

[quote who="OsirisDawn" reply="31" id="2527106"]Starting a rant about the GDR with your first paragraph does only show that you have about the same mindset as the GDR gouvernment had, or worse. You dont want to hear others opinion and are going to forcefully repatriate them, if you had it your own way?! How can anyone take you serious from that point on? I am not defending the GDR, but if you can't lean back, reflect upon the whole picture and see that the GDR was no worse then a w

Reply to Parental Influence in Marriage JoeUser Forums

I am on FB, but my 9 year old nephew uses my account to play those little social games like Farmville etc., and that is about all that happens on my account. I don't post private information besides the minimum that I would tell anybody that asked like where do I live etc. There used to be a german offshoot called StudiVZ (losely it means Studentregistry) but everybody just started to call it StasiVZ - socialnetworks are great for spying, and it is nearly impossible to delete information from

Reply to FOUR FOR THE PRICE OF ONE in Misc JoeUser Forums

Your welcome, glad to be of assistance. [e digicons]:grin:[/e]

Reply to FOUR FOR THE PRICE OF ONE in Misc JoeUser Forums

I made the experience the other way around - the puppie of my sister stayed with my parents for a few weeks during summer. My parents have cats as well, but the animals got along great. The dog "learned" from the cats how to lick her fur, she slunk around the legs to say hello and even jumped on the window sill when she wanted to be let in. We also had another dog who hmm how to describe that nicely, took advantage of one of our cats. Carla (the dog) would hump Jack, the cat. The rela

Reply to Made in USA in Misc JoeUser Forums

I am wary of plasticizers in toys, especially when babies or toddlers play with them. That is another reason those used old Fisher Price toys are great - they've had decades to air out.

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

I wasn't refering to the GC when I said that it is impossible, it is more a general statement. Military action is not the sole solution, and more violence would only be counterproductive. Interestingly enough "winning hearts and minds" and the new strategy in Afghanistan to stay in the villages to ensure stability and a positive image of the west are a part of what I called "de-jehadification". If you ammend the rules, nothing much in the overall situation would change. You would kill or capt

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

It is doubtful that fundamentalism can be defeated by military means. Their ideology is hammered into these people from the day they were born, they don't really know any alternatives. I saw this really moving documentary from a young israeli filmmaker who interviewed woman in a prison that had attempted suicide bombs, recruited people for it etc. Some of these woman had children, and they were able to have them with them in prison till the kids turn 2. It is pretty breathtaking to hear a 18m

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

Germany didn't want to have to mop up a problem that the US created in the first place, but the social democrats and the greens were all for taking them in. Merkel and her cleavage weren't too inclined though - security threat. There is hypocrisy all around, and I know that yapping about lofty moral principles seems completely out of synch with reality when jihadist terrorists use civil and human rights to try and outmanouver those silly westerners with their bleeding hearts. Germany didn't h

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="132" id="2522019"] Why didn't the US give those uigures a greencard? Or help them I believe we did. Help them, that is. They're still alive.[/quote] You sound like Jack Bauer lol

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Afghanistan is not some sort of "police action". it is a war. And you do not know who to trust (as evidenced by the Jourdanian double agent). And as I have said, and we all know, nothing human is perfect. The fact that mistakes are corrected as soon as possible when possible is a testament to the "humanity" of the US action, not the inhumanity. [/quote] That's curious, because when I look at it alot of what takes place looked like police action, even if it was done by the military.

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

Why didn't the US give those uigures a greencard? Or help them - I thought you supported the fight against oppression. And China is oppressive and ruthless at that. Where was it written that you had to release them to China? So the US didn't want to burden diplomatic relations and those guys who were fighting against the evil guys in their homecountry had to suffer for it. How ironic is that? They became the punchline in a really bad joke.

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]You answered your own questions - no one would take them. If they had been released back to their host country, they would have been shot on arrival (again, erring on the side of human rights).[/quote] Ok, but hadn't their human rights been violated by the US? They were detained without a trial and without reason because they were never a threat to the US. They hadn't been a part of the war against terror. Doesn't that mean that they should never have been detained in the first place

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

Those former suspects I was thinking about are those for whom the US government is looking for someone to take them in, like those Uigures that ended up in some pacific mini islandstate, Palau, I think. If I remeber correctly, and I might be wrong or the sources might be wrong, it had been determined rather quickly that the uigures had no intention to commit terrorist acts in the US or US installations. Still, they had been taken to Gitmo. Why did it take years to release them? I thin

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

I never once said that terrorists are the victims. And if the system with the tribunals works so well, and that only actual guilty suspects are detained, then why are there dozens of former suspects who are still detained and why does it take so long to set them free? Should it not be the case that only guilty suspects arrive in Gitmo in the first place? Basic human rights - you use that phrase like it leaves a foul taste in your mouth. I know that you'll just roll your eyes, but the

Reply to SOTU in Politics JoeUser Forums

I don't know what you refer to, Ted. I didn't really follow the specifics of the campaign, it all looked like a overblown circus from my pov. I think there is a discrepancy between not having a direct democracy because the little and less populous states should have importance as well which forces candidates to campaign there and direct corporate influence. I don't like political endorsements by prominent figures of public life of either ilk. Candidates should say what they want to sa

Reply to SOTU in Politics JoeUser Forums

Whenever I asked americans to explain to me the need for an indirect election system they told me that it would be unfair if only the populous states recieved attention and that this way the candidates were forced to campeign in states like Iowa (which would be totally unimportant otherwise because hardly anybody lives there). Doesn't this ruling of the SCOTUS nullify this attempt of a balanced and fair election campeign? So it is the freedom of speech that gives those with alot of money the

Reply to SOTU in Politics JoeUser Forums

are you talking about the supreme court ruling regarding the funding of election campeigns via businesses or industry? If you were, I have a question regarding that.

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

We help refugees from Bosnia to rebuild their homes. Many refugees from Bosnia live in Croatia and try to rebuild their homes across the border. An essential part of that are wells. I personally know two woman who had to dig new wells because they found human skeletons in their wells. That was maybe 8 years ago.

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

I'll list what I read in regards with the tribunals, but I can't do it right now because my nephew infected me with the flu last weekend and it really hit me hard last night.

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

The GC was written with "traditional" war in mind, where you have armies fighting with soldiers in uniform. A civilian in these circumstances is suspicious and thus treated a spy. In the war against terrorism declaring everyone in civlian clothes a spy does not seem to be in the terms of the GC because terrorists wear no uniform. I find it ethically problematic to detain people you suspect of being a terrorist without having the proof nor the need to proof so either (until