What would your decision be....

<blockquote> BlueWagoon wrote: <hr> Ya know! Talkin' death penalty,........no matter what kind of savage Saddam may have been, I still would have spared his neck. I think that's more of a strength than a weakness! And about the US jail population. I heard on CBC radio last night an interview with some official from Tejas where she was talkng about reform down there. She said that amazingly enough, the US not only has more in number of prisoners, but also a higher per capita imprisonment rate than China! That is incredible considering their population is 5 times that of the US. I wonder what it is. Is it fear of death penalties and your organs being sold or made into stir<img height="25" alt="image" src="http://mmb.maverick.to/images/smilies/stirthepot.gif" width="25"><img height="15" alt="image" src="http://redlinesonlinemessageboard.yuku.com/domain/bypass/images/pacman.gif" width="15">fry, or is it that they have a society that's more respectfull of each other like in Japan, or really a lot of Asian countries. I don't know, but somethings goin' on there. Andy<img height="15" alt="image" src="http://redlinesonlinemessageboard.yuku.com/domain/bypass/images/pacman.gif" width="15">Prison Population per capita in US roughly 1/100. In China 1/500 </blockquote> Yes, the death pealty does work, in a country where it comes swift and they fear it, their crime rate is lower. As far as sparing Saddam, there is no strength in that, it is laughable to spare a tyrant who used chemical warfare on his own people. But to answer your question Rob, I think he deserved the dp, but as we all know he got a prison term, so all of this debate is now pointless.

Jamie, i know.....but this thread is an ever evolving monster...who knows where it will go next!!!

<blockquote> deputyrob wrote: <hr> hey, i bought groceries today...let's talk about that!!!</blockquote> Box, paper or plastic bag(s), or green minded re-usable grocery bag? <img src="http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/roll.gif" alt="image">

Andy..i'm not "green" so it was environmentally bad plastic!!!! LOL

<img height="15" src="http://redlinesonlinemessageboard.yuku.com/domain/bypass/images/pacman.gif" width="15" alt="image">Oh well! Hey? Is this thing gonnastay dead now? LOL<img height="32" src="http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/images/smilies/buttkick.gif" width="61" alt="image"><img height="39" src="http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/aktion/action-smiley-060.gif" width="35" alt="image"><img height="57" src="http://mmb.maverick.to/images/smilies/deadhorse.gif" width="99" alt="image"><img height="32" src="http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/images/smilies/buttkick.gif" width="61" alt="image"> <img height="35" src="http://sshare1.familylobby.com/icons/icon_popcorn.gif" width="35" alt="image">

Regarding China - Andy, I know you are smarter than this. What are the consequences for crime in China vs. the US? What kind of regime is doling out thepunishment in China? How much censorship exists in China thereby limiting the sorts of videos, movies, and games that you spoke of earlier? (And the internet) That is what's a goin' on there.

Justin: Classic! Remember, Spock had that death grip thing going too. That was a weapon just as much as any other, and more dangerous too. People don'tsuspect the guy with the pointed ears, thinking "oh, he's gonna give me a shoulder massage. How nice!" and plop, they're on the groundpushing daisies. I still think they made stew from all those tribbles but left that segment out when the show aired. Joel, you have broken the record for being wrong on so many points in a single post. 1) Clinton is not my favourite president. My favourite is dead. 2) Again, you go off all cocksure with your assumptions of what I am going to agree or disagree with. Do you really think you know me that well? 3) You are the king of shifting blame. You conveniently don that cross of yours whenever it suits your mood, depending upon whether you are playing the passive(cross) or aggressive comments about turn signals). You still don't even know which part of your previous post I was going to comment on and now you makedemands that I go back there again? My driving is considered above par, thanks for asking. Had I not moved back to Texas from Iowa, I would have entered the Spring season behind the wheel of afully sponsored and provided Legends car. I also raced amateur motocross in my teens. I was one of only two girls in Oklahoma at the time who raced with theboys. I think I'm fairly adept at piloting various vehicles. This is the point where I request that you kindly step off. Andy: Big W/Little W? I like that. It reminds me a little of some animated show on TV (I think it's on Comedy Central but I could be wrong, as Icouldn't stand more than five minutes of it) called Little Bush (or something like that). Why is it when you say "light sweet crude" in a certainmanner it excites me? Thank you for mentioning the Kurds. I'm appalled that we're allowing Turkish military to enter Iraq to supposedly "squash an uprising" by theKurds. I'd bet that the only reason we're turning our backs (yet again) on people who are friendly to us is because our government thinks that whenTurkey takes over northern Iraq, they're gonna let us sip from the well of that light sweet crude. Why am I craving a margarita? Um, wait a sec. Is notTurkey the one nation that didn't want to allow our planes to fly over their airspace when we were about to start Gulf War, Part II? I'm pretty surethat was them. I'll remember that the next time there's a horrible earthquake there (for those who don't know, their largest city sits right on ahonkin fault line) and people are taking up donations to help them out. I'll be sure and include a "kiss my ass" note. Mmmmwah! I really did like your tirade about coffee, bananas and whales. Hmmm.. that would make for a really strange milkshake, would it not? So anyway, it's notthat the Japanese are fat from the whales, it's that there are way too many people there, as well as many other countries in Asia, competing for the samelimited ocean resources. It's not as if they have tons of land for subsistence farming. Save the whales; send them condoms. We're in a bit of anagricultural pickle ourselves. In our haste to grow more sugar corn to produce alcohol and reduce our dependence on oil (riiiight), we have brought about greedto farmers who have switched from other grains to corn in their fields in order to cash in on the alcohol corn market. In the process, not only have we nowcreated a shortage of wheat - in the past we have GIVEN the stuff away because we had so much and now we're freakin BUYING it from Russia - we also createda shortage of yellow corn for human consumption and feed corn for animals. Those five cents per gallon we'll save on foreign oil imports just turned intofive dollars in price increases for meat (those hogs don't exactly eat air, yaknow) and related goods, and was anyone else aware that there have been riotsin Mexico over not being able to purchase corn flour tortillas? No kidding. And where do you think all those people are going to head when they get hungry? Thanks for the opportunity to add to that tirade. I feel a little better now. And having cravings for cornbread and bacon for some reason. Justin, you brought up something that has been one of those "WTF?" things in my mind for some time now. Thanks! I still wanna know how in the HELL wewere not prepared for the attacks that happened on 9/11. Weren't we supposed to be taking pages from the Israeli/El Al playbook? Oh, wait, that'sright... we insisted on paying people with less than a fifth-grade education, minimum wage to screen people at our airports. Do they really want me to believethat they never played "what if?" over at the Pentagon and came up with a plan on what to do if and when one (or more) of our commercial aircraftwere hijacked and were going to be plowed into buildings? I know, I know.. traditionally, the rules were to cooperate with hijackers. Did anyone learn anythingbetween 1950 and 2000? What was learned from the blowing up of Pan Am 800 over Lockerbie, Scotland? Apparently not a friggin thing. Why is it that the Pentagonand the White House do not have phalanx-type weapons mounted on their roofs, just in case? I reckon we're back to watching in horror if and when such athing ever happens again. Someone please tell me, why is it we have billions of dollars to give away to other countries (gotta win them hearts n' minds, right?) when we have peoplein this country - veterans of OUR wars, no less - who sleep on the streets at night and don't know where their next meal is going to come from? Keep these things in mind when you fill in those ballots this November, folks (those in the US). Justin, there is a huge reason (well, billions of little ones, actually) why we have not caught and strung up Osama Bin Laden. War is profitable for somepeople. Bush, Cheney and their cronies all are profiting from it. Fuel prices remain high, as Big Oil makes record profits. Hello? CluePhone™ ringing! I LOVE your pervert/Afghanistan analogy! That was beautiful! We may not be able to stop all the world from hating us, but if we'd keep the F out of otherpeoples' business and stop playing world police/masters of the universe, I think fewer would hate us. On the subject of Saddam Hussein, this I know: when Bill Clinton was in office, we had the opportunity to take him out. A former friend of mine was a sniper,sitting in the friggin desert with his spotter. The only other US military were no where near. If things went wrong, he and his spotter would have to dine on9mms. Saddam was in the crosshairs. Message back to base. Wait to confirm. Call comes back, "are you sure it's him and not a decoy this time?"This time? What? Yeah. We'd shot at least one decoy previously. That's one reason he had so many. "Yeah, we're sure." Wait for orders tofire. Come on, guys, he ain't exactly gonna sit there all day. Call comes in from Numero Uno. Stand down. We've been advised that we're notsupposed to kill other heads of state. Yet another one of my WTF? moments upon hearing this. The 50mm rifle that was possibly destined to off Saddam Husseinwas shown to me. Cool looking piece if you've never held one. Dare anyone now assume that Bill Clinton was my favourite president? Back to Andy again. Andy, there is a big reason why there are fewer prisoners in China. There, they execute people for crimes as minor as disagreeing with TheState. I wish you could recall which politician it is in Texas you refer to. Anyway, back to China. I do know a little about the culture and the people. Iunderstand their politics and where they are heading. I see a positive direction. Far fewer people there are executed for disagreeing with the body politic.There was a lot of international backlash over films smuggled out of the country a number of years back, showing prisoners of all types (rapists, murderers,pervs, and the obligatory dissidents) being capped in the back of the skull, then whisked away for their organs to be harvested for sale on the internationalblack market. There were people in India who couldn't get a dime for a kidney in those days. The culture there is different. It's a lot more based on family, community, and respect. When you have a chance, look up the topic of "keepingface" or "losing face." There still remains some of the same pride in Japan, but in my opinion nothing near what it is like in China and Taiwan.I mentioned previously (in this thread, possibly) about how prisoners were dealt with when I lived in Taiwan. They don't coddle violent criminals. Theyalso have much closer-knit families. When someone is troubled, others talk to them and if need be, intervene. They do this before the person takes off and mowsdown a dining roomful of people at McRamen's. Men who have weird feelings of wanting to get nekkid with a child are sent for treatment. I won't go intowhat that could mean, but I'll just say that if they can be helped, they will be. People take great pride in themselves and their work in China and Taiwan, as well as a number of other eastern Asian countries. Dare I say oriental. How thatbecame a slur, I'll never know. All my friends in Taiwan still call that region The Orient and are not insulted by being called Oriental. It sets themapart from other Asians. Back to the work ethic part. That is one reason we sent so many jobs to China. Their work ethic, at least until some became rich and,like Americans and other rich Westerners, was very strict and there was a great emphasis in pride of work. That is when losing face brought great shame. Now,many have adopted that Western notion of rich is good. Money is good. Who cares if we kill, maim or otherwise hurt other people? We don't; we're rich!I just hope that for the sake of their future, China does not become too westernised. Rob: Please tell me you remembered the Cheetos this time. Jamie: did you catch the news that "Chemical Ali" is up for a date with a rope soon? Thought I'd bring that up, as you mentioned chemicalwarfare. If I recall correctly, this time, it may be done by the people of Iraq, not in some dark military gallows. That means we may get to see it live on theinterweb. I'll pop some corn. We'll celebrate the moment and enjoy the last of the popping corn. The rest will probably end up in my mower this summer.

Yaaaaaaaaaargh its the post that wouldnt die. 3 more topics to lead it further off course........ -I worked on my r/c cars this morning. They have nitro engines that run off petroleum! Yikes! Am i funding the terroriststhrough my r/c hobby? -Rob kudos to you for not using "environmentally friendly" paper bags. After all recycling paper is wonderful forthe environment. Not! People that use plastic bags care more than those paper loving pansies. Its a fact! -Direct TV is for posers! Real men have DSL. Hahahaha! (not that kind of DSL you dirty birds) Yaaaaaargh!!!! Take that you scallywags! Now hoist the mainsail and swing out the jib. Yo ho were going off topic!

"Yo ho were going off topic!" Not so fast Captain Bunnysparrow. That statement would mean we were anywhere close to staying "on" topicprior to the statement being made to "go" off topic. Noway. This thread is so lost, we need a GPS stat! Regards, C PS-I used to walk to school and Ibrought my lunch.

But if i made the statement "were going off topic" prior to saying "were off topic" then wouldnt that mean we were on topic before? Butthen how would we have been on topic already if we have already gone off topic long ago? And how would we get back on topic if we ultimately never were on thetopic of the topic at hand? But then wouldnt that mean that the topic thats off topic is actually the topic of the topic? Could that mean that were now ontopic? Or are we simply on topic of the topic thats off topic? Oh buggger! I need my compass! -Captain Bunny Sparrow