for fear of offending...

[musturde]

[quote]There have been countless stories of perfectly innocent Arab-American citizens being pulled aside in airports and similar simply because they happen to look very Arabic.
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Alright, i'll just contradict you on this one point. All Arabs are Middle Easterns but not all Middle Easterns are Arabs. "Arabic" refers to a characteristic of the "arabs". It does not refer to a ethnicity. Afghani's are not Arab. Neither are Jordinians, Egyptians, Lebanese... so on and so on. Most Middle Eastern countries claim they are Arab but they don't always agree on its true meaning. There are different definitions for an arab (mostly bs). Those who can trace their ancestors back to the Arab Peninsula are the real arabs. These countries are: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Some people identify Arabs by just speaking the language "Arabic". That's as stupid as telling Americans they're English because they speak English. Others claim it because they're just part of the area. It's like Canadians saying they're Americans because they're in North America.


Just a verification, some people don't care, others get offended. I personally wouldn't get offended, it's just annoying after a while lol.

However, your correct, they do check middle easterns at the airport. It gets annoying because it's soo obvious but to ensure safety, that's what people have to do. It's interesting that America is the most targeted nation for extremists (possibly the same level as Israel) but has not been attacked once since 9/11. The measures are sometimes questionable but they get the job done.

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote name='Cow of Shame' date='Jan 20 2006, 02:24 PM']The problem is that the right is chiming in more & more.
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More than the left? Not really. Certainly not from my experience -- that is, living in a very blue state and working for a public university for several years. Maybe it depends on which area someone lives in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling the far right a group of quiet spotless little lambs -- I certainly didn't like the way they handled the whole Clinton/Lewinsky business, for one thing. But for people to claim that the left doesn't get to have their say is way off base.

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='Jan 20 2006, 06:05 PM']More than the left? Not really. Certainly not from my experience -- that is, living in a very blue state and working for a public university for several years. Maybe it depends on which area someone lives in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling the far right a group of quiet spotless little lambs -- I certainly didn't like the way they handled the whole Clinton/Lewinsky business, for one thing. But for people to claim that the left doesn't get to have their say is way off base.
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I was basically saying that while the 'left' says Bush is an idiot, there are more & more 'rights' that are chiming in that he is an idiot as well.

Not sure what base you're on...Echo Base?

[Socrates]

[quote name='sraf' date='Jan 20 2006, 12:31 AM']NOW the left wing is finally getting up the chutzpah to say "The President is an idiot! We want to change the way things are run around here."  And it's still dangerous to say this without some government agency blowing your head off.
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[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='Jan 20 2006, 12:38 PM']Michael Moore and Al Franken are still alive and well, among others -- and the last I checked, thousands of people have been able to protest the war and the presidency without being shot or barrelled over by tanks.
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Very true! LOL

Sraf - have you known [b]anybody[/b] in this country who's gotten his head blown off by "some government agency" for criticizing the President??
This sort of completely nonsensical talk is part of what makes it hard to take the Left seriously.
This silliness is just a way for those on the Left to give themselves a sense of exaggerated importance ("We're not just protesters - we're brave martyrs for the cause, risking our lives fighting an evil fascist regime!")

And most of your post is just incoherent craziness.
[quote]Democracy is not meant to cater to the wants of a specific set upper-class Christian minority.  We, as America, are supposed to stand for the rights and views of all of our people - not all of America is made of Christian evangelical Intelligent-Design right wingers[/quote]
And it is absurd for a Catholic to complain that this country is too Christian.
It is impossible for a nation's governence to be completely values-neutral, or be ruled by [b]everybody's[/b] values, as these will conflict. [b]Some[/b] set of values and principles must form the basis of law and government.

If you'd rather live in a country governed by Islamic principles, go to Iran!

If you'd rather live in a country governed by atheistic principles, go to Red China or North Korea! (There you'd learn what it's [b]really[/b] like to live without freedom!)

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote]Not sure what base you're on...Echo Base?
[/quote]

If you would have been a little bit more clear about what it was the right was chiming about, I wouldn't be stuck on Echo Base!








































If you would have been a little bit more clear about what it was the right was chiming about, I wouldn't be stuck on Echo Base!

[Cow of Shame]

you're [i]hilarious[/i]


heh

Edited January 21, 2006 by Cow of Shame

[sraf]

[quote name='Socrates']Sraf - have you known anybody in this country who's gotten his head blown off by "some government agency" for criticizing the President??
This sort of completely nonsensical talk is part of what makes it hard to take the Left seriously.
This silliness is just a way for those on the Left to give themselves a sense of exaggerated importance ("We're not just protesters - we're brave martyrs for the cause, risking our lives fighting an evil fascist regime!")[/quote]
Of course not, you silly person! I just repeat blindly what I read in the Nation magazine like a good little liberal! Duh! Do you think I ever think for myself? What's 'thinking,' anyhow?

I should know by now that yelling bluntly at people means that no one listens to me and that more likely than not they'll just do what I yell at them not to do, just to rile me up. It applies to third-graders, it applies to politics. Ahh, some things never change. Sorry if I was rude.

[quote name='Socrates']And it is absurd for a Catholic to complain that this country is too Christian.[/quote]
Yeah, but you know, I've got to share this country (at least until my big move to P.E.I.) with everyone who isn't Catholic. I wouldn't be happy if I was living under a state that demanded I be a certain religion, why should I impose that on other people? And a state of laws and rules that doesn't derive from any particular religion can be perfectly suita... oh, wait, I'm on a Catholic forum. Everyone thinks that church and state are one and the same. never mind.
How about this: How come Clinton was nearly impeached for lying about an affair with a White House intern, but when W. Bush lied to get us into a war that has so far cost over 2,000 American lives, not even tallying Iraqis, no one bats an eyelash?
[quote name='Cow of Shame']If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.[/quote]
A precipitate is something on the edge of something else, right?

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='sraf' date='Jan 20 2006, 11:37 PM']And a state of laws and rules that doesn't derive from any particular religion can be perfectly suita... oh, wait, I'm on a Catholic forum.  Everyone thinks that church and state are one and the same. never mind. [/quote]

lol

[quote name='sraf' date='Jan 20 2006, 11:37 PM'][quote name='Cow of Shame']If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.[/quote]
A precipitate is something on the edge of something else, right?
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You're thinking of "precipice".

Edited January 21, 2006 by Cow of Shame