Its recovery rate so far is higher than the common flu, so it's not really that big a concern. The news media blew it out of proportion because it was 'new'.
Posts by Xander
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34Should SARS be getting more attention?
by Simon in.
sars, the new deadly virus that seems to be spreading quickly round the world, is very worrying but is not getting much attention i think because of the war.. scientists have been saying for some times that we are overdue for a pandemic of spanish flu proportions and this could be it !.
in just a few days / weeks it seems to have reached most major countries, infected thousands and killed more people than the iraqi's have.. should we be concerned?
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22
How Come Brooklyn Never Saw This One Coming?
by Englishman inbooks and magazines all full of dire warnings..stay away from the world..don't have sex outside of marriage..armageddon is just around the corner..avoid worldly associations..look out for this, look out for that.
the list goes on and on and on.. yet the wtbts predictors of doom and gloom department never, ever, in their worst nightmares, ever saw what it was that would prove to be their nemesis.. that ex-witnesses, the majority of them disfellowshipped and, therefore, supposedly gagged and without a voice, would find a way to communicate with one another via the internet.. i wonder if the fact that they brought this upon themselves is clear to them?
the irony is astonishing.
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Xander
What are you talking about? They've always printed cautious articles about the internet and how "dangerous" it is.
Further, they invented 'the unforgivable sin'. If they can convince someone their is a sin so great that god himself can't forgive them, well, what else can they threaten with? In any case there is nothing they "didn't see coming" - they knew people would leave and would help others out. The org will never go away, though. People (as a group) are simply too stupid. No matter how many people you argue with, in the end, there will ALWAYS be a group who wants to hear exactly the message the WT is proclaiming - and it's a fairly large group.
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148
'You didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!'
by William Penwell ina journalist's account of the killing of a car full of iraqi civilians by us soldiers differs widely from the official military version, says brian whitaker .
tuesday april 1, 2003 .
the invasion forces suffered another self-inflicted disaster in the battle for hearts and minds yesterday when soldiers from the us 3rd infantry division shot dead iraqi seven women and children.
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Xander
I think that's the most telling difference in the interviews I've seen (now and earlier).
Brit soldiers seem to view war as a necessary evil to forward national goals.
US soldiers seem to view war as a divine mandate, with god himself standing behind them patting them on the back every time they kill
'the infidel''the enemy'. -
148
'You didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!'
by William Penwell ina journalist's account of the killing of a car full of iraqi civilians by us soldiers differs widely from the official military version, says brian whitaker .
tuesday april 1, 2003 .
the invasion forces suffered another self-inflicted disaster in the battle for hearts and minds yesterday when soldiers from the us 3rd infantry division shot dead iraqi seven women and children.
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Xander
Independent accounts
'INDEPENDENT'?!?!
WTF are YOU smoking!??!
Let me see, US journalists on the scene reported no roadblock and no warning shot.
BBC news reported no roadblock and no warning shot.
The US soldiers on the scene 'blamed themselves' for not giving 'enough' of a warning shot (could well mean 'none').
Some US general back at the Pentagon claims they 'must have' fired warning shots and had a blockade.
Yeah, I suppose that IS 'independent'. "Independent" as in "has absolutely no working knowledge of the situation".
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148
'You didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!'
by William Penwell ina journalist's account of the killing of a car full of iraqi civilians by us soldiers differs widely from the official military version, says brian whitaker .
tuesday april 1, 2003 .
the invasion forces suffered another self-inflicted disaster in the battle for hearts and minds yesterday when soldiers from the us 3rd infantry division shot dead iraqi seven women and children.
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Xander
These people are in a country that is being blown up from the ground-up, and in fear they probably tried to get the hell out of the country. I think it's a real shame.
Quite so - they may well have thought the armed men at the checkpoint were enemy forces trying to stop them from leaving.
The point is, if the US is going to take the supposed moral high-ground, and be a 'liberating' force you CANNOT SHOOT at a target unless you KNOW it is hostile.
Yeah, you will lose a lot of people to terrorist attacks that way. Tough. If you really are a 'liberating army' you will do EVERYTHING YOU CAN to protect the people you are 'liberating', including putting yourself in harms way.
Having a Bradly open fire on a van for not stopping at a checkpoint is not the actions of a 'liberating army'. It's the actions of an 'occupying army', and the Iraqis know that.
BTW: funny from the onion:
New Bomb Capable Of Creating 1,500 New Terrorists In Single Blast
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7
What do you think about this?
by writerpen injust a thought that i would like to get other opinions about.
i've always wondered this: one man and one woman (adam and eve) living in perfect conditions with only one temptation - to refrain from eating from a stupid tree.
they failed that simple test.
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Xander
Yes, of course, and we have time and time again demonstrated our ability to learn from our mistakes.
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10
Saddam has key to Detroit & "Maxim"-ize the troops
by Uzzah inthese stories qualify as the "strange but true" articles of the day.... i am not posting this to fan flames but found the two stories interesting and both raised an eyebrow but in different ways.... a gift worth a foot in the mouth .
this is one gift the city of detroit may never be able to live down.
back in 1980, when times were much different than they are now and the u.s. was on a completely different footing with a certain despotic middle eastern leader, saddam hussein was given the key to the motor city.
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Xander
On more levels than that, too.
Essentially, corporate America is telling the boys "Doing a good job son, here, have some sexy ladies to look at" while at the same time subtly suggestion to the girls in service that they should maybe be doing something else.
Unless a poll was taken among all the servicepeople asking what material they WANTED, then basing decisions based on that. Somehow, I doubt it.
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37
What Tree are You?
by gsx1138 init's been a year since i've done this so i thought i'd do it again.
perhaps it will be a nice break from all of the ranting going on (myself included).. http://www.geocities.com/lavenderwater37/birthdaytrees.htm.
by the way, i'm a weeping willow.
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Xander
APPLE TREE?!?!?
I'm a boring APPLE TREE!?!?!?!?!
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10
Saddam has key to Detroit & "Maxim"-ize the troops
by Uzzah inthese stories qualify as the "strange but true" articles of the day.... i am not posting this to fan flames but found the two stories interesting and both raised an eyebrow but in different ways.... a gift worth a foot in the mouth .
this is one gift the city of detroit may never be able to live down.
back in 1980, when times were much different than they are now and the u.s. was on a completely different footing with a certain despotic middle eastern leader, saddam hussein was given the key to the motor city.
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Xander
So, the men get 'Playboy' and the women get 'Good Housekeeping'?!?!
Damn!
That's quite the slap in the face!
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30
Newbie question about the NGO story
by gcc2k ini've seen the reproductions of evidence in the ngo story.. let's say i was to discuss this matter with a local friendly elder.
i imagine that the following criticisms would ensue:.
1) that is not a real letter sent by the society (saying it was just for a library card, or as the version from portugal said, to gain favor in certain nations).. 2) the reply from the librarian at the un saying that becoming an ngo is not a requirement for a library pass is not real.. my main concern is with the latter.
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Xander
I think we see where you are going, gcc.
The problem is, for someone really 'in' - nothing you can say or show them will make them question their beliefs. As noted above, the UN-NGO thing really is that black and white. The WTBTS didn't list any possible excuse exceptions when it damned ALL religions as false for associating with the UN as NGOs, yet it later does the same thing. You can look for reasons, look for benefits, etc, but it won't change the fundamental truth that those who 'stick to their guns' by the WTBTS can find reason to justify anything.
I mean, you only have to think about Noah's ark for a moment. Given that only 2 of most animals were brought on (more of the other, okay-to-be-sacrificed animals), how long, exactly, would you expect the pairs of all the carnivores to be able to survive? 40 days and nights without eating? Oh, I don't THINK so....