[teaboy]

I would guess that the following gives some pretty good insights into how US allies and other democracies see us.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/03/bin-laden-death-us-patriot-reflex

“…to suggest that “justice has been done”, as President Obama did on Sunday night, seems perverse. This was not justice, it was an extra-judicial execution. If you shoot a man twice in the head you do not find him guilty. You find him dead. This was revenge. And it was served very cold indeed.

Given the nature of the 9/11 attacks a popular desire for vengeance in the US is a perfectly understandable and legitimate emotional response. It is not, however, a foreign policy. And if vengeance is a comprehensible human emotion then empathy is no less so.

Americans have a right to grieve and remember those who died on 9/11. But they have no monopoly on memory, grief or anger. Hundreds and thousands of innocent Afghanis, Iraqis and Pakistanis have been murdered as a result of America’s response to 9/11. If it’s righteous vengeance they’re after, Americans would not be first in line. Fortunately it is not a competition, and there is enough misery to go around.

But those who chant “We killed Bin Laden” cannot display their identification with American power so completely and then expect others to understand it as partial. The American military has done many things in this region. Killing Bin Laden is just one of them.

If “they” killed Bin Laden in Abbottabad then “they” also bombed a large number of wedding parties in Afghanistan, “they” murdered 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha and “they” gang-raped a 14-year-old before murdering her, her six-year-old sister and their parents near Mahmudiyah. If “they” don’t want to be associated with the atrocities then “they” need to find more to celebrate than an assassination. Vengeance is, in no small part, what got us here. It won’t get us out.”

I’m sure lots of piggingtons could honestly say they dont share any feelings of justice or joy in the news, but I would guess they’re a vast minority. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that from constituents, but I feel our leaders should perhaps be a little more balanced in their rhetoric.

tb

[teaboy]

I would guess that the following gives some pretty good insights into how US allies and other democracies see us.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/03/bin-laden-death-us-patriot-reflex

“…to suggest that “justice has been done”, as President Obama did on Sunday night, seems perverse. This was not justice, it was an extra-judicial execution. If you shoot a man twice in the head you do not find him guilty. You find him dead. This was revenge. And it was served very cold indeed.

Given the nature of the 9/11 attacks a popular desire for vengeance in the US is a perfectly understandable and legitimate emotional response. It is not, however, a foreign policy. And if vengeance is a comprehensible human emotion then empathy is no less so.

Americans have a right to grieve and remember those who died on 9/11. But they have no monopoly on memory, grief or anger. Hundreds and thousands of innocent Afghanis, Iraqis and Pakistanis have been murdered as a result of America’s response to 9/11. If it’s righteous vengeance they’re after, Americans would not be first in line. Fortunately it is not a competition, and there is enough misery to go around.

But those who chant “We killed Bin Laden” cannot display their identification with American power so completely and then expect others to understand it as partial. The American military has done many things in this region. Killing Bin Laden is just one of them.

If “they” killed Bin Laden in Abbottabad then “they” also bombed a large number of wedding parties in Afghanistan, “they” murdered 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha and “they” gang-raped a 14-year-old before murdering her, her six-year-old sister and their parents near Mahmudiyah. If “they” don’t want to be associated with the atrocities then “they” need to find more to celebrate than an assassination. Vengeance is, in no small part, what got us here. It won’t get us out.”

I’m sure lots of piggingtons could honestly say they dont share any feelings of justice or joy in the news, but I would guess they’re a vast minority. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that from constituents, but I feel our leaders should perhaps be a little more balanced in their rhetoric.

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=svelte]
What is the best (read: quickest yet reasonably priced) way to get from Heathrow to Liverpool?
[/quote]

You may also want to explore the option of renting a car from Heathrow. The convenience of this option (especially when you have luggage) is often overlooked. And with modern smartphones & googlemaps the previous concern of getting lost on the roads there is no longer such an issue.

Of course, public transport may be a more relaxing (and authentically crappy english) option. Especially if you relax with a nice cup of tetley’s from the dining car…

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=svelte]
What is the best (read: quickest yet reasonably priced) way to get from Heathrow to Liverpool?
[/quote]

You may also want to explore the option of renting a car from Heathrow. The convenience of this option (especially when you have luggage) is often overlooked. And with modern smartphones & googlemaps the previous concern of getting lost on the roads there is no longer such an issue.

Of course, public transport may be a more relaxing (and authentically crappy english) option. Especially if you relax with a nice cup of tetley’s from the dining car…

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=svelte]
What is the best (read: quickest yet reasonably priced) way to get from Heathrow to Liverpool?
[/quote]

You may also want to explore the option of renting a car from Heathrow. The convenience of this option (especially when you have luggage) is often overlooked. And with modern smartphones & googlemaps the previous concern of getting lost on the roads there is no longer such an issue.

Of course, public transport may be a more relaxing (and authentically crappy english) option. Especially if you relax with a nice cup of tetley’s from the dining car…

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=svelte]
What is the best (read: quickest yet reasonably priced) way to get from Heathrow to Liverpool?
[/quote]

You may also want to explore the option of renting a car from Heathrow. The convenience of this option (especially when you have luggage) is often overlooked. And with modern smartphones & googlemaps the previous concern of getting lost on the roads there is no longer such an issue.

Of course, public transport may be a more relaxing (and authentically crappy english) option. Especially if you relax with a nice cup of tetley’s from the dining car…

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=svelte]
What is the best (read: quickest yet reasonably priced) way to get from Heathrow to Liverpool?
[/quote]

You may also want to explore the option of renting a car from Heathrow. The convenience of this option (especially when you have luggage) is often overlooked. And with modern smartphones & googlemaps the previous concern of getting lost on the roads there is no longer such an issue.

Of course, public transport may be a more relaxing (and authentically crappy english) option. Especially if you relax with a nice cup of tetley’s from the dining car…

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=threadkiller] One silver lining I guess to the inflation issue is my mortgage will definitely seem like less in a fairly short time period. Since it is my largest monthly cost I guess that is a good thing.[/quote]

I think that would only be true if there was wage inflation at least as large as the inflation in the cost of goods and services. I dont feel this is the case currently.

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=threadkiller] One silver lining I guess to the inflation issue is my mortgage will definitely seem like less in a fairly short time period. Since it is my largest monthly cost I guess that is a good thing.[/quote]

I think that would only be true if there was wage inflation at least as large as the inflation in the cost of goods and services. I dont feel this is the case currently.

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=threadkiller] One silver lining I guess to the inflation issue is my mortgage will definitely seem like less in a fairly short time period. Since it is my largest monthly cost I guess that is a good thing.[/quote]

I think that would only be true if there was wage inflation at least as large as the inflation in the cost of goods and services. I dont feel this is the case currently.

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=threadkiller] One silver lining I guess to the inflation issue is my mortgage will definitely seem like less in a fairly short time period. Since it is my largest monthly cost I guess that is a good thing.[/quote]

I think that would only be true if there was wage inflation at least as large as the inflation in the cost of goods and services. I dont feel this is the case currently.

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=threadkiller] One silver lining I guess to the inflation issue is my mortgage will definitely seem like less in a fairly short time period. Since it is my largest monthly cost I guess that is a good thing.[/quote]

I think that would only be true if there was wage inflation at least as large as the inflation in the cost of goods and services. I dont feel this is the case currently.

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=temeculaguy]That was funny, I love the ending when the guy gets mad because the reporter says Michael Flatley is from Chicago. It forced me to look it up, it’s true, born, raised and learn to dance in…Chicago. Reminds me of how mad every Italian relative of mine gets when I bring up the fact that Christopher Columbus wasn’t Italian, he didn’t even know the language.[/quote]

I doubt the Irish guy gave a feckin’ feck about Michael Flubberly. More likely his obscenity was towards the interviewer’s non-sequitor response to his articulate answer to the original question. I’d be pissed off, too.

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=temeculaguy]That was funny, I love the ending when the guy gets mad because the reporter says Michael Flatley is from Chicago. It forced me to look it up, it’s true, born, raised and learn to dance in…Chicago. Reminds me of how mad every Italian relative of mine gets when I bring up the fact that Christopher Columbus wasn’t Italian, he didn’t even know the language.[/quote]

I doubt the Irish guy gave a feckin’ feck about Michael Flubberly. More likely his obscenity was towards the interviewer’s non-sequitor response to his articulate answer to the original question. I’d be pissed off, too.

tb

[teaboy]

[quote=temeculaguy]That was funny, I love the ending when the guy gets mad because the reporter says Michael Flatley is from Chicago. It forced me to look it up, it’s true, born, raised and learn to dance in…Chicago. Reminds me of how mad every Italian relative of mine gets when I bring up the fact that Christopher Columbus wasn’t Italian, he didn’t even know the language.[/quote]

I doubt the Irish guy gave a feckin’ feck about Michael Flubberly. More likely his obscenity was towards the interviewer’s non-sequitor response to his articulate answer to the original question. I’d be pissed off, too.

tb

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