GeforceIndeed, has nothing to do with Iraq. Part of having a good discussion is that you stay on topic. It can be usefull to look for differences between Europe and America, but please, not every discussion has to lead to Iraq. :rolleyes: That’s how you ruin a perfectly good topic. And I don’t blame it to one person.
GeforceSeems like this is getting way off topic. It’s really childish I must say. I don’t see what can be the fun of badmouthing one another on an internet forum.
GeforceYeah but I mean between 1947-1956
GeforceI found this in the newspaper this morning. It’s in Dutch but it says that Lisa Simpson and Bill Clinton has caused youngsters to become more interrested in playing music, especially Saxophone. Now who said we are anti-American 🙂
,,De opties saxofoon en zang zitten de laatste jaren in de lift”, zegt Freddy Mariën. ,,De twee edities van het VTM-programma Idool zijn verantwoordelijk voor de verhoogde interesse voor zang. Dat de keuze voor sax de laatste tien jaar meer dan verdubbeld is, komt onder meer door de Amerikaanse president Clinton en het tekenfilmfiguurtje Lisa Simpson.” Mariën is voorzitter van VerDi, de vereniging van directeurs deeltijds kunstonderwijs muziek, woord en dans.
Dat de keuze van het instrument afhangt van hypes, ondervindt de dwarsfluit nu op een omgekeerde manier. Terwijl een tiental jaar geleden 17 procent van de leerlingen voor dwarsfluit koos, is dat er nu een op de tien geworden. Voor die daling tekent Berdien Stenberg. De populaire Nederlandse dwarsfluitspeelster stopte in 1999 met spelen. In de jaren negentig had zij ervoor gezorgd dat de kinderen massaal voor de fluit kozen.
,,Dat is nu voor veel dwarsfluitleraars een probleem”, zegt Mariën. ,,Zo waren er bij ons in Lier zes leraars dwarsfluit. Intussen is daar één van moeten opstappen.”
Vandaag zetten de 166 academies in Vlaanderen hun deuren open, naar aanleiding van de zesde editie van de dag van het Deeltijds Kunstonderwijs (DKO). Het grote publiek krijgt te zien waarmee de in totaal 150.000 leerlingen bezig zijn.
Naar aanleiding van de dag van het DKO vraagt VerDi aan de minister van Onderwijs, Frank Vandenbroucke (SP.A), meer middelen voor de administratieve omkadering en een betere verloning van de directies. Ook willen de directeurs een middenkader in de academies creëren en een budget voor navorming vrijmaken.
GeforceOK, I don’t mean it ethnically, sorry. Should have said that. But one can not deny that a country/continent has a cultural-historical heritage. There are some traditions which are different in India than they are in Europe. I’m not making any judgement. Therefor I think it would be wrong to ban swastika’s. But it would be a lame excuse to refer to swastika’s as a symbol of Hinduïsm back here in Europe, while skinheads are painting those swastika’s on buildings. Believe me, they are not doing it because of tolerance towards other religions.
Geforcestudy, study and study some more. Got three hell of exams the next 7 days, history of medieval institutions tmrw, post ww2 history (which sucks) and history of international relations before wwII
Next weekend you can find me in any bar in leuven, brussels or antwerp, if possible, all three 😀
GeforceI don;’t see how the job of government has changed. Sure, it’s taken much more jobs over defence, but ultimatly, the main purpose of a federal government(as opposed to local and state) is for national defense against foreign threats. Oh, and to regulate interstate commerce and foreign trade, that too. Things are more complicated now, and government is needed to enforce laws, but th emain purpose, its main reason for being there in the first place, is defense.
OK, Moores being a traitor. I use the term loosly, in a tongue in cheek manner. We’re not going to try him for treason.
The Constitution of the United States, Art. III, defines treason against the United States to consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort. This offence is punished with death. By the same article of the Constitution, no person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
Moore has, in his speeches and films, declared that the US’s war in Iraq was illegal, and that the insurgents were right an djustified in fighting and killing US troops. That certainly be interpreted as giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
Of course, what Ted Kennedy has recently said, and what Sharpton/jesse Jackson have recently said is worse, because they are political figures, not entertainers. Moore can always say, “i’m an entertainer, not serious.” They can’t.What John Kerry did after he got out of Vietnam could definatly qualify as treason–he gave aid and comfot to the enemy. Him, and others in the US peace movement gave the NVA a reason to keep fighting a war they couldn’t militarily win. They gave them aid and comfort–especially Jane Fonda.
She didn’t get tried for treason, hell, John Walker Lind didn’t get tried for treason.
I wonder what you’d have to do to get convicted of treason nowadays? Probably straightforward spying for Al Queada.
Treason has been misused in the fitftees, mccarthyism. The commitee for un-American activities, rings a bell? Execution of the Rosenbergs? Certainly you don’t wanna return to this i hope
Geforce” I don’t tell them why I should have a gun, or why I need a gun, they have to tell me why I shouldn’t. “
–> now this makes me sick. This kind of individualism makes me wanting to puke all over my laptop. I’m not going to respond today as I’m too tired of studying all night and been living on coffee and biscuits the past two weeks but expect a very long reply mail on this during the weekend (if i still remember :D).
I also believe in individual capacities. Gov’t should not tell me what to do if we are able to do so on ourselves. (for example they shouldn’t ban smoking etc). However, individualism means that every one has responsibilities, not that every arshole on the street can do whatever he lieks. that’s anarchism.
GeforceTreason against the US? Com’on, that’s rediculous. They were not serious I guess. If they were, than they have really no idea about what TREASON means.
EDIT: oops, seems like there’s one guy who did say Moore was a traitor :dev2: Gee, Moore is an idiot, a hypocrit, does that make him a traitor? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I hope not all idiots in the United States are traitors, otherwise federal courts will have a lot to focus on. It’s a human right to be stupid, for gods sake. Please, let us all agree on that one. Otherwise many people will have to be jailed.
Anyway, got an exam medieval institutions tmrw … Yikes
The gov’ts first job is protecting the nation? Hello, twentieth century?! Opps, 21st century 😡 😡 😡 😡 Ohh and Lousiana governed by Louis the xxxx? 😀 😀
GeforceNow that’s a valid point, Kev. True, why do you Americans think it’s OK for YOUR gov’t to use force against OTHER people, people who did not elect YOUR PRESIDENT, but when it comes to domestic policies, suddenly, the gov’t has no right to interfere. I never thought about that before, so thank Kev, but it’s really a form of hypocrisie I would really like to see explained!!!!!!!
GeforceDon’t know Kabir, but if I see Swastika’s here painted on the streets that’s most likely not due Hindus. I respect those religions, but we all know that a Swastika in the west is not really appropriate anymore. It’s like walking with an Celtic Cross in Mekka.
GeforceYes but we like to think we advanced democracy to an art… 😀
Despite democracy being invented in Europe, until fairly recently (say 200 years) most of the continent was still ruled by royal families, the landed gentry, as well as various popes and other religious leaders. The French revolution didnt happen until well after the American revolution, even then they managed to make a bloodbath out of it. 😀 😀 😀
The middle ages were quite democratic you know, especially in the low lands. It’s only in the 17th century monarcsh were able to get a grip on all power.
GeforceYou forget imperialism and colonialism, otherwise USA would not exist today.
The debate always seems to go between USA and Europe, or even more simplified, USA and EU. Well, here’s a fact: the EU exist about, 50 years? When were the crusades, when did the first waves of anti-semitism emerge? 800 years ago. The USA is historically and culturally as much a European country as, for example, France or Italy. You also seem to forget liberalism and democracy were also created back here x(
GeforceInteresting article I found on ACIG on Germans neo-nazi parties.
http://www.acig.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2238&start=90
Opinion: Banning the Far-Right NPD
Politicians in Saxony’s state parliament made no bones about their extreme right-wing views by walking out on a commemoration of Holocaust victims. DW’s Heinz Dylong says there’s too little outrage over their behavior.
The National Democratic party’s (NPD) behavior in Saxony’s state parliament was absolutely unbearable! First, they withdrew from a minute of silence for the victims of the Holocaust, then came a debate in which they equated the World War II bombing of Dresden with the Holocaust. They spoke of a “bombing Holocaust,” described the allies as “mass murderers” and the air strikes as a “cold-blooded planned industrial mass murder of the civilian population.”
The air campaign on Dresden in February 1945 certainly shouldn’t be played down. The attack on the refugee-filled city that killed more than 35,000 made little sense according to military standards. That may — indeed, it must — be lamented. All the same, nothing can be equated to the mass murder and the contempt for humanity that distinguished the Holocaust. It was an unparalleled historical low. The air campaign on Dresden was a superfluous and appalling operation; but its deeper cause was the war provoked by Germany. And that must without fail be taken into consideration when the victims of the attack on Dresden are commemorated.
But such considerations are entirely alien to the far-right NPD. Given their muddled thoughts, no one should be surprised. What is alarming is that the NPD doesn’t fear that such statements would hurt them in the eyes of voters. They received more than 9 percent of the votes in state parliamentary elections in Saxony in September.
And even though that doesn’t mean the voters were all right-known extremists — a significant number was motivated by the federal government’s social reforms — the frightening findings do show that the NPD’s well-known extremist positions didn’t deter voters. The core of the NPD’s party platform wasn’t enough to keep voters in the democratic camp. While in the 1960s, the NPD’s temporary upswing was attributed to their voters coming from old Nazi circles, this explanation is impossible today.
The secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan Kramer, declared that “anti-Semitic and xenophobic ideas long ago became socially acceptable again.” That shouldn’t be viewed simply as an all too pessimistic estimation. Rather, it is a request to the democratic parties and the democratic public. Sixty years after the end of World War II, 60 years after the liberation of the concentration camps, an offensive confrontation with right-wing extremist attitudes must be sought.
And the ban on the NPD that failed two years ago due to the applicants’ amateurish procedure — they relied on testimony to the federal constitutional court from witnesses in the service of one of Germany’s intelligence services — should be considered again.
After all, one needn’t repeat the same mistakes, and intellectual discussion of right-wing extremism, which is surely necessary, is thus not out of the question.
GeforceJosef and Adolf 😀
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