Lcyberlina

I no longer "oppose" the war in the way that at least the Iraquies seem to have gotten something good out of this mess. I opposed the war on the basis that we went in there for reasons that "we" knew were false and that later were proved false. We went there alone, with a weak coalition in which the United States is the one putting 90% of all troops, equipment and the reconstruction money. I also felt that although we are fighting the terrorists there as opposed to 'here', we also created the ideal situation to promote terrorism and make it more widespread and ingrained into muslim society. I believe that the way Bush carried out this effort was wrong from the beginning and that there is pretty much nothing we can do to undo the damage we have done, so we might as well try and make something good out of it.

Sometimes the conspiracy theories from the left make me want to become a Republican... Not really. But it is extremely annoying and dissapointing that all they can do is speculate over things they have not even a remote idea and then claim it as fact. Seymour Hersh is supposed to be a smart and respected man, so this really bothers me. Unless he has classified information that the US is really planning on attacking Iran, I don't see why he would conclude that reconoissance missions automatically mean "plan of attack". Could it be that the U.S just wants proof of Iran's nuclear program to enforce some resolutions in the UN or perhaps just because we want to know what the hell are these fanatics in Iran capable of?

The anti-christ is someone we don't know. He or she will come in sheep's clothing and no one will ever guess it until it is too late. By the way, adding to the conspiracy theories abound on the net, G.W's barber supposedly saw a 666 mark on his scalp... :blink: :lol :lol just kidding.

Tonyi brings up a good point. We need to discuss solutions to the problem of slavery in the DR. This is were the issue does become controversial. We can all agree that what is going on there is slavery and should be stopped. Military intervention is one option, although i disagree with it. How about send a few ICE officers down there, to speak with DR govt officials about forcing slave owners to release some slaves into ICE custody and then offering them temporary protected status in the US. I dont know how well that would pan out, im jus tthrowing out some ideas 655493[/snapback] The thing is that I don't think it is something for the U.S to intervene on. This should first concern Haiti and Dominican Republic. International non-governmental organizations need to get moving as well. Raising awareness is the only way to bring these slave holders to public scrutiny. Hopefully, the mainstream media will get interested and poke some nerves on these families (the sugar cane magnates) and then they will have to either give these poor people a decent pay and living quarters or send them back to Haiti.

That guy is crazy. 654942[/snapback] YOu think? This is not the first time he does something ridiculous like this. His character Bruno, the gay fashion journalist, went to Georgia and almost got his ass kicked by some KKK members for pretending to "hit" on one of their guys. :lol

:mischief "Admin Adulation Time" Admin, you are the coolest! :thumbup

?Ali G? character causes near riot at rodeo Crowd turns ?downright nasty? after ?Borat? garbles national anthem Reuters Updated: 1:28 p.m. ET Jan. 13, 2005 LONDON - British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen escaped a near-riot at an American rodeo while filming his satirical ?Da Ali G Show.? According to a report in the Roanoke (Virginia) Times, a man who was introduced as Boraq Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan ? in reality a Cohen character named Borat ? appeared at the rodeo over the weekend after organizers agreed to have him sing the national anthem. After telling the crowd he supported America?s war on terrorism, he said, ?I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards ... And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq.? He then sang a garbled version of ?The Star-Spangled Banner.? The Roanoke Times reported that the crowd turned ?downright nasty.? One observer said ?If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him.? Cohen and his film crew were escorted out of the Salem Civic Center and told to leave the premises. ?Had we not gotten them out of there, there would have been a riot,? rodeo producer Bobby Rowe told the paper. ?They loaded up the van and they screeched out of there.? It is not the first time Cohen has wooed controversy with his show, which airs on HBO. In one episode last year, Borat sang an anti-Semitic song called ?Throw the Jew Down the Well? at a country music bar, prompting protests from the Anti-Defamation League. Producers of the Ali G show, Talkback Thames, were unavailable for comment.

do you shop at walmart? have anything at your place that says made in china? if you do, how can you pretend to be outrage by this? 654846[/snapback] No, I don't shop at Walmart. And I don't appreciate your hostile tone when responding to my posts. Whether you agree with me politically or not doesn't give you the automatic right to antagonize me at every opportunity, specially when the issue I am trying to raise shouldn't be that controversial so people have to take sides on it. It is simple, I posted a piece that I took the time to translate for you to be informed and comment on it. It has nothing to do with sweatshops, sex slavery or anything of the sort and whether it is worse, equal or milder. It is just about black people from Haiti forced to work in DR. I don't even post here that much anymore because 90% of those posting on this forum are immature, rude and wildly uninformed. And before you start the "liberal vs. conservative" crap again, I will clarify that 10% of the people I respect on this forum also include conservatives. Get a grip and get some manners kid!

Trata de blancas (sex slave trade) is rampant in Latin America. However, I did not want this thread to become about Sex slaves. We are talking about poor black people being held captive in plantations and forced to work for rich Sugar cane magnates. What do you think about this?

I am sorry, but you are confusing "sweatshops" with "Slavery". It can be similar but they are completely different things. In sweatshops, the people still are free to leave. These people in Dominican Republic are actually being held prisoners. They have armed foremen watching them day and night to prevent them from escaping. The military is hired by the Sugar Cane owners to hunt those who escape. Now tell me of a case similar to this?

There are 'slaves' in many places of the world. Not surprising. 652377[/snapback] Give me a link to support your claim. Where do they actually have Slaves?. This is the first story of this kind I've heard.

There is no logical or humane explanation for this. It is the year 2005, I am disgusted about this. Haiti is not the only country that this is occuring. It is despicable, I hope something can be done to help the less fortunate. 652348[/snapback] It is not in Haiti. It is in the Dominican Republic. These are poor Haitian immigrants that wanted to escape the poverty and social turmoil in Haiti and ended up being slaves in these Dominican Plantations. Despicable!

The second picture is not photshopped. It is a still image taken from video footage of a tidal wave that went into the crowd watching. That wasn't a tsunami.

Orisha, Before you write something, make sure you are well informed or at least tried to read the piece. The report clearly states that the government of Dominican Republic knows about it.

Unbelievable but true... Reporters from the Miami spanish newspaper "El Nuevo Herald" spent 4 days interviewing and photographing Haitian people that are working under inhumane conditions on the sugar cane fields of one of Dominican Republic's most influential industry giants. This special report was done in secrecy, in order to show the real conditions these workers are exposed to. The report is in Spanish and unfortunately there is no English translation available, since it is exclusive to the Nuevo Herald Journalists. I will translate the essence of the report, but the pictures speak for themselves... La denuncia com?n es el hambre, los malos tratos que reciben por parte de los capataces en los terrenos de los Vicini, desde insultos hasta golpizas y encarcelaciones clandestinas, los deficientes y en muchos casos inexistentes servicios m?dicos y la explotaci?n inhumana de su trabajo a cambio de un estipendio que escasamente alcanza para comer una vez al d?a. Las matem?ticas de la avaricia llegan a tal extremo en estos lugares que en el Central Romana, propiedad de los Fanjul, influyentes magnates del az?car cubanoamericanos del sur de la Florida, algunos trabajadores denunciaron que la empresa les cobra el machete con el que cortan la ca?a. Translation: The common complaint is hunger, mistreatment received from the foremen in the Vicini land, from insults to beatings and clandestine incarcerations, the deficient and in many cases inexistent medical services and inhumane exploitation of their work in exchange of an stipend that is barely enough to eat once a day. The mathematics of avarice go to such extreme in these places that in the "Central Romana", property of the Fanjul family, influential cubanamerican Sugar cane magnates of South Florida, some workers complained that the company charges them for the machete they cut the sugar cane with. *************************************************************** Link to Special Report in Spanish: http://www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/10600456.htm To the left there are several links. The first link is a gallery of pictures. These are the most heartbreaking and horrible pictures. There is a picture of a dead babygirl who died of malnutrition and her parents didn't even have money to buy a regular casket, so her father made one of fruit boxes.... Another picture shows a man dying of hunger. The men in army clothing are military soldiers paid by the company to hunt Haitians that try to escape the plantation. The worst part is that the government is aware of this, as one of the pictures shows a government bus bringing people to the plantation.

I never really thought the battle of God in the pledge and the battle with Roy Moore were really necessary. Kos makes interesting points. I have been a militant atheist all my life. Not militant in wanting to destroy religion, but in keeping it out of the public sphere. But I have come to a conclusion recently that has startled me, obvious as it seems to me in retrospect -- it wasn't religious language that bothered me, it was the "values" promoted couched in religious terms. I would cringe -- and continue to cringe -- when politicians and religous figures cite scripture to justify hatred towards gays or any other class of people. But I don't cringe when scripture is used to justify poverty relief, or conservation ("protecting God's creation"), or social security ("honor thy mother and thy fathers"), or oppose the death penalty, or oppose the war. What we have in this country is the hijacking of religion by an ideological faction that is using their supposed moral authority on behalf of three narrow issues -- abortion, stem cell research, and gay rights. Meanwhile, the Bible tackles myriad issues, most of which align with liberal/progressive thought. So when did "life" become just abortion, and not war and the death penalty and even associated issues like post-natal care (child mortality is still an issue of life and death)? Liberals, outside the black churches, have ceded the moral language to the Right, in large part because of people like me who flinched at every reference to God by a Democrat. But using Christianity or Buddhism or any other religion as a moral foundation is really no less superior than the moral structure I use to guide my life (I'm a utilitarian). All that should matter is that we all arrive at the same conclusion. In other words, it doesn't matter how we get there, as long as we all arrive at the same place. And there should be no shame for Democrats to explain the reasoning for their value structure. And if Jesus is the reason, then so be it. 649738[/snapback] I agree with him 100%. I feel like I am in between a sword and a wall. I am catholic but I am extremely angry at my church for interfering in politics. However, I do understand why some christians may feel attacked by secularists. It seems that there is a group of people (mostly "Militant" Atheists) that want "God" and religion to dissapear from our lives. In my opinion this is no better than a Christian trying to force his spiritual beliefs on others. I support separation of church and state for both reasons. I want the church to stay the hell out of politics and I want politicians to leave the church alone. I have no problem with a politician that has strong religious beliefs, but I do have a problem when they try to legislate their religion into my life.

From MSNBC.COM: Hoping to avoid accusations of trying to upset the election, supporters of the challenge repeatedly said they had no such desire. Many even said they would vote against their own motion and in favor of validating the disputed Ohio tally to avoid clouding the real issue ? the need to make the country?s voting systems fairer and more accurate. LINK In case some feel the need to distort the purpose of the motion. 649162[/snapback] I'm not trying to question what Democratic Senators are doing, I'm just against more recounts in Ohio and a small number of wackos trying to challenge the results. 649164[/snapback] Read again, just in case you can't understand. Is not about a recount. Is about VOTING REFORM!

From MSNBC.COM: Hoping to avoid accusations of trying to upset the election, supporters of the challenge repeatedly said they had no such desire. Many even said they would vote against their own motion and in favor of validating the disputed Ohio tally to avoid clouding the real issue ? the need to make the country?s voting systems fairer and more accurate. LINK In case some feel the need to distort the purpose of the motion.

Juanky, The idea is not to change the "Electoral College". Is to ensure that voting irregularities occurred in this past election are corrected.

Paraphrase of Barak Obama's statement: "absolutely convinced Bush won this election, and got more votes in Ohio. Not challenging outcome of election." "Important to seperate process from result of election" "strongly urge this chamber to take it upon itself to reform the system" "we have an obligation to fix the problem. this is not a problem unique to this election, or to the democrats" Paraphrase of Senator Harkin's Statement: Standing in line 10 hours to vote in america is like throwing acid in the face of democracy! 4.6 per voter in Bush precincts, 3.9 per voter in Kerry precincts in Ohio. People making this decisions should be bipartisan. SOS made concerted effort to minimize their effort to cast their vote. Voter registration ON WRONG WEIGHT OF paper! Absentee ballots, e-voting machines not working properly, etc. Software that is kept secret is allowed to be the norm. this is an inappropriate pratice. independent review of software, both sides should have access. continuing problems with election process. we need to make changes in federal law. Talking about constitutional amendment guaranteeing right to vote.

The Democrats are conscious that this will not change the outcome of the election, but it is a step in the direction of reforming the voting process and avoid the irregularities occurred in Ohio and other places. This can only benefit the voting public, since it will not change a thing for the Democrats.

How is Sandler? Can you look past the Sandler we all know? 635969[/snapback] In my opinion, this type of role is where Sandler really shines. Have you seen "Punch Drunk Love"? If not, see it, then you will know what I'm talking about

Well my problem is that the ALCU often forgets that freedom of religion in terms of worshipping how you please is also a civil liberty, and in fact is one that has been neglected historically. Seperation of church and state is not all there is to the freedom of religion clauses of the 1st amendment 637224[/snapback] I agree with that. I don't think it is correct to prevent people from praying in public or displaying their faith however they feel. My problem is that some religious people want to impose their beliefs on everyone else and teaching "intelligent design" as a "scientific theory" is in my opinion a violation of that principle of "separation of church and State". If they want to teach such a class in religion class or philosophy class, I have no problem with it, but to impose it as part of the regular curricula reeks of indoctrination to me. I had a problem with some Atheists groups banning prayer groups from schools, because it is violating the rights of the kids who participate in such groups. It goes both ways.

If it's a philosophical discussion then, shouldn't that be taught in a philosophy class and not a science class? I'd have no problem if "intelligent design" was taught in an elective philosophy class, but science classes are required and this is talking about inserting non-scientific promotion of religious ideas into a science class. 636298[/snapback] That last statement is what this debate is all about.

Good movie, not clich? or based on the usual stereotypes. Nice crosscultural message. See it. http://www.accesshollywood.com/entertainme...151/detail.html