The article clearly states why legal action was launched, there is no obvious ambiguity nor evidence thereof.

And Fox News "clearly states" a lot of things you don't believe.

I don't personally think France would prosecute someone just for appearing to support the U.S., but then again, I don't believe a lot of the sinister motives you ascribe to politicians over here either.

*Chuckles*well said Jaguar*passes a Camberwell Carrot* :joint:

In national as well as personal life, sometimes we need our friends to pull us up short for a reality check. People and nations can become so personally involved in an issue that they loose all objectivity. Thank-you both Dana and Jag for your astute observations. Neither one of you is that invested in the social system within the US, so you are able to see far more clearly what is going on.

Conservatives in this country have too much to lose by opening up their eyes or stopping to listen. For once uncover your ears and stop shouting "America the Beautiful" at the top of your lungs to drown out all other voices. You might learn something if you did. (OK, I know the conservative rottwilers of the board will now attack with all their teeth. I'm bracing myself...)

Bring back Anita Bryant. At least she openly promoted hate in English.

You people should see the filth that passes for campaign literature from the British National Party. A party founded by the remnants of the broken National Front and what thugs they are. They dont change they just buy suits.

The literature they put out, the leaflets and "newspapers" they push through the letterboxes of millions of homes in Britain are filled with thinly veiled racial slurs, and outright lies designed solely to whip up racial hatred. Even with our laws these get through. They have to be careful these days.......These days they cannot actually exhort people to "bash a paki" like they did in the 70's .....these days they have to be circumspect. They can still lie though. They can sell people a lie to hang their anger on and come polling day we get another fascist councillor.....or more accurately we get another 4.

Tonight in local elections in England the BNP made a gain of 4 council seats. Slowly they gather speed.....slowly they get their feet under the parliamentary table and it becomes ever harder to remove them. ...Do you think i am being over dramatic when I characterise these people as fascist? Certainly they share many of Hitlers views, express open admiration for his methods, deny the reality of his crimes and claim democracy to be false path which they would replace through revolution......until such time as that is possible they will work within the parliamentary system.....Of course they are never very far away from their pollitical roots...Their party leader has served time for violent assault and has publically endorsed the books of a fascist "historian" who claims the holocaust to be a lie.....A fitting leader for a party who have their roots on the football terraces during the hey day of "soccer hooliganism" ....You can see it, they cant hide it much as they try. For all teir tidy suits and careful smiles, when the camera is rolling for more than 5 minutes one of them says something or punches a protestor *chuckles* and you realise they really are just missing the brown shirts.

Theyre not isolated either....France's fascist politician Le Pen attended a meeting with the leader of the BNP ( Nick Griffen) a few weeks ago.....My didnt they just look the picture of respectable, electable suited gents of the noble game?.....Aye....right up until one of Griffen's "aides" lamped a protestor.

That wasn't towards you. Just lamenting that the disrespect will continue and that people will have to continue to put up with it, that's all. I just plain give up.

OK, then why does the problem persist? Is it because it is that fucking hard? That doesn't mean that was their motivation, just their method and excuse.;)

Ahhh, Lady Syc, don't give up. Things DO get a little better. My Mom was very racist (I'm ashamed to admit), but I didn't buy into it. My Dad (originally from the South) taught me to view people as human beings before anything else. So we CAN change things. Maybe only one person at a time, but it does begin to add up.

If you make this statement, some may agree, others will just shake their head at your stupidity. How is that statement "inciting" anything, except possibly an ass whuppin' from someone that's offended?:confused:

The point I was trying to make, Bruce, is just that some statements are more "loaded" than others. Its illogical to state that because no one responds to a "hate" statement about folks from Iowa, that, therefore, Hitler's statements were not incenduary. This seemed to be the general drift of the discussion at the time I posted that, and I wanted to give an example of how a statement can indeed be inflammatory. No, thank God, a person saying "The damn N's are responsible for all our problems" does not inflame the population as a whole into a rage, but, certainly, it has in the past (surely, I don't need to recount to you all the sad tales of lynchings, cross burnings, etc); and I pray to God it won't in the future.

I don't think it's that simple, jag.

First off, how do you fix the poverty issue? There are always going to be haves and have-nots, particularly in a capitalist system. Secondly, what kind of power are we talking about? And how much should they get?

Having said that, even if you remove those two items, you are still going to have some pissed off people who won't be satisfied. You can't please everybody.

They have 8 or so seats in the Lebanese parliament, not to mention their social service activities. Now, if they'd just chill on the "death to Israel" shit...

To add to that...the government over there seems stable, but not THAT stable.

Well, see, here we have a problem Because the gist that I'm getting from ya'll is that the most radical, hateful, destructive political philosophy in the world is the American neo-con.

And believe me, they are not poor. And they are not powerless.

-sm

Uhmm... SM, will you forgive me if I ask a REALLY stupid question? You see, I was kind of out of the loop for a while what with one thing and another, and I really don't understand this whole neo-con thing. Could you give me a brief summation of what they're about? Seriously, I'm really confused about them.:confused:

Ah but you're mistaking partisan soapbox for a reputable newssource (reuters). There is absolutely nothing in any shape of form to in any way back up russotto's paranoid and delusional (they're all out to get us) ravings.

Solving it? Sure, realizing that is the problem? No.

First of all, France fucked up, big-time. Dumping quite literally millions of immigrants into impoverished ghettos with little hope of escape and buggar all jobs was asking for trouble from the start. You can't please everybody and there are always fringes that are desperate to blow up something or something over something but most of them never get anywhere, why? They lack any real support. The thing every revolution and every successful terrorist group (look at FARC in colombia for example) have in common is a whole lot of almost always impoverished, powerless people and someone who offers an easy solution. The meme of Al Queda has offered that easy solution to marginalized, impoverished, powerless muslims the world over and people are shocked they're answering the call? Amazing the difference jobs, flat screen TVs and aircon could make.

The problem in much of the middle east is a combination of political and economic stagnation, often fueled by governments who would rather have people chanting death to america in the streets than death to them - they use it to deflect attention from their own failings.

I don't know how you solve all these problems but i know that killing bin laden and as many of his supporters as you feel like it going to do jack shit.

Lebanon is a classic example of too many cooks. Everyone seems to have a finger in Lebanon, the Iranians used it to get back at the US, the Syrians are continually fucking around, uncle Sam pushing pieces as well, it doesn't help the situation. If you look at the ethnic and religious makeup of the place not to mention the bloody civil war it's amazing who can now live together. If there is a model for these places to work to it's Lebanon, women in parliment,islamic parties supporting democracy, christians and musilms living side by side. I'd love to visit the place, fantastic nightlife.

Mari: All you need to know is here , Rummy is a member.