Warlord Ripskar

In the Old testament god makes bold sweeping statements rather in the manner of Emprworm. He announces his policy in stone, wipes out all life save for some nutter in a tub, destroys an army in a sea which suddenly dries out, removes a couple of cities from existance and declares an eye for eye as policy on law and order. In the New testament he says absolutely nothing. All this "god is oh so merciful and forgiving" stuff is stated by Jesus, not God. Conclusion A) Jesus has nothing to do with it and is simply spouting populist drivel. Conclusion B) The whole thing was made up in the first place.

Generally the "Thou shalt burn in hell" bits are found in the old testament which is rather conservative. The new testament goes all liberal and is obsessed with forgiveness. It's rather like there are 2 completely different gods who are the total opposite of each other. Then of course if you don't believe in god do you believe in Hell? Sit back and relax because there's less evidence for the existance of hell than there is for god. Oblivion welcomes the recently deceased!

The troops will be home by Christmas 2020

Australia did much the same thing for Britain in every war that Britain has fought since Australia was founded. In WW2 the Aussies were in combat before the Brits. He seemed to be concentrating on terrorism rather than the WMD which is slightly out of step with the British variation, though perhaps that reflects Australia's focus following Bali. At least we have another Commonwealth member in with us, the Aussies are more understandable than Yanks.

I saw it and what you describe doesn't come close. Yes, the US does seem a little too paranoid but you've exagerated the facts.

I saw the start live. About half an hour after the deadline you could hear an Imam calling morning prayer. A couple of minutes later the air raid sirens started and then the AA guns opened up. That lasted for about 5 minutes. There was no blackout and you could see people going to work whilst the shooting was happening. The sun came up just after the shooting finished which brought back memories for me.

Logical deduction, Person X is Bruce Lee, Person Y is a politican. ;)

Blair is done for whatever he does. If he backs down the Conservatives will eat him alive. If he goes through with it his own party will dispose of him.

Earth can't be lifted because it isn't resting on anything. There is no 'up' in space.

If the Bible is taken as literal truth then God has created a rock which cannot be lifted. It's called Earth.

Restoration of Hashemite Kingdom. For any government to be accepted by the populace given their intrinsic and well founded distrust of US and UK intentions it is an absolute nessecity that government be appointed by an Arab of standing with a vested intrest in both the history and futre of that region.

Judging by experience with the NHS you'd be glad to get into any hospital regardless of what was on the roof.

It looks as though war with Iraq is going to happen regardless of the rights or wrongs of the situation. The question is what next. Should there be an American dependency of Iraq? Should there be a Democracy? Should there be a secular or religeous state? Should there be a single state or should it be split? Personally I hope for a restoration of the Hashemite Kingdom under Crown Prince Hassan. (But then as a Jacobite I'm biased) www.nationalreview.com/02sept02/pryce-jones090202.asp

Personally I doubt he'll be alive when the Yanks arrive. The arabs will probably string him up themselves the moment that discipline breaks. The MoD's estimates claim the Pentagon's are wildly optimistic. It all depends on whether the Iraqis surrender or fight. If they fight it will be very bloody.

The makeup of an army should reflect its origin. eg. The Fremen come from a desert and should have that reflected in their characteristics which they do. Harkonnen should reflect the fact that they come from a factory world and do with their heavy armour. However the Atreides come from a ocean world but do not reflect this in their units. No hovercraft etc. I'm not greatly impressed by the preponderance of walking machines either which are downright glacial when your trying to out-flank anything.

I can recognise money crates, Sardaukar crates, Ix crates, Tleilaxu crates and the wrecks that contain Ix, Tleilaxu and money crates. What do the promotion crates look like? Are there any other sorts of crates?

Just a few of the similarities; Arabic coffee has spice added to it, (Cardomom). Petra seems to be the inspiration for the seitch. Lawrence is completely defeated at the beginning and retreats to the desert coming back with hordes of Bedouin. The only sheik who betraws him is the leader of the Beni Sakr. Beni Sakr means "Sons of Hawks".

Most holy books claim to be "The word of God". If that is the case god is a schizo. Books are written by men, most religeous people admit that the thier holy book is written by a man or a collection of men. Thus you have an interpretation at second hand. Why should the Bible be considered any more authentic than the Qu'ran or the book of Mormon? The chaos that the universe openly displays and can be scientifically proven to display shows that there cannot be one creator therefore assuming that the world was created as such there must be multiple creators with no overall plan and a large degree of dispute. Why for example if there is one god would this all powerful being concentrate his entire attention on a single flea ridden tribe in the most barren spot available? If the story of the Ark were true how did the current dispersal of life occur? The existance of god cannot be proven, nor for that matter can the non existance of god so the question is mute. An agnostic.

Could Dune have been written without reference to The Seven Pilars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence? Have any of you lot read TSPOW?

Democracy in the modern sence is dependant upon communications technology. Without a secure and reliable means of communication a country is forced to rely upon local rulers. In a Monarchy this creates the Nobility. The Monarch is forced to act through the Nobility and must maintain good relations with them. Thus there is an element of accountability built into the system and outright oppression is not possible. As communications improve so power becomes more centralised and the Monarch can exert more direct authority over the population. At this point oppression can occur. Democracy becomes practicably possible due to the existance of improved communications, You cannot enforce the will of the people without the ability to know what the will of the people is. The idea of democracy naturally follows the devlopment of the printing press, the Penny Black Stamp, the development of wireless communications, and the Telephone. The requirement of having these forms of communication is the means to use them. It is no good being able to send a letter if you are illiterate. Thus education must be provided for the people if they are to express their will. This is why Democracy has failed in the developing world. You don't have the communications technology available to support a democracy or the education of the masses required to use the technology. Without that such countries inevitably fall to Millitary Dictators. This can be demonstrated on this forum. Of all the people who post here how many come from the developed world compared to the developing world. People in shanty towns do not communicate with the world at large. They cannot express their will thus democracy whilst a fine idea is not right for their circumstances. Hereditary Monarchy is the best alternative to Dictatorship which is far more terrible. Once democracy forms it rapidly degenerates into party politics which acts to suppress and cheat the will of the people thus you are no better off in a Democracy than in a Monarchy. To mitigate against the downsides of these systems a hybrid form of government has merits. This is composed of both democratic and hereditary elements so whilst it is the role of the democratic elements to interpret the will of the people so it is the role of the hereditary elements who do not rely on party affiliations for their power to provide a counter balence. In order for this to work effectivly the 2 groups must be well balenced in terms of power and 1 must not attempt to usurp the authority of the other.

When this came up a few months ago we put the SAS, the Paras and an RAF squadron on his border. He shut up then. It's only flared up again because of the Cricket and France. He couldn't stand up to a British assault and he knows it, however we do have to stay friendly with the Commonwealth so if it does kick off it has to be started by him.

Capitalism? Try India under the East India Company. It was run as the most efficient country on the planet at the time and its civil service still leaves those of most other countries looking like a collection of layabout idiots. That includes the developed world. Of course there was a degree of ripping the place off but that paled to insignificance when the British Government took over. The Company created the impetus for technological advance, they were the first to produce steam warships and Iron hulled ships. Investment needed to be linked to posible profits so development had an undertone of later debt reclaimation. Communism on the other hand seems to rely too much on individuals acting in an unnatural manner.

House Pittendreight Leader: Lord Bruce Pittendreight Planet: Caledon IV Equatorial oceans with extensive island chains, Northern Continent largely industrial with extensive mining operations in mountains whilst Southern continent is more rural with large jungle areas near coast and inland desert. Strengths: Devious engineering. Known for building booby trapped false bases that lure forces in to ambushes. Mountain troops can cross just about any type of terrain whilst tribesmen make good assault troops. Notes: Deal with smugglers to engineer favourable situations.

If you wanted the details of PM the people to talk to would be "Onkel" Neals Stevens and Dwayne Doutel. One thing above all else was important, money. Dwayne had to take a substantial pay cut while he worked on the code and the campaign for funds was all we saw for months.

US: They'll elect someone who left his brains in the womb and who got where he did thorough his fathers fame money and influence. This person will alienate all allies whilst the US strengths are neglected thus rendering the place somewhere that noone wants to deal with. USSR: Already gone and due to be assimilated into greater Franco-Germany as the culmination of the RomanX NapoleonicX NaziX EU expansion plans. Japan: Banks will collapse and they'll all commit suicide. NK: Pick a fight that results in being turned to dust. Germany: Merge with France to create a state of no activity but lots of hot air. Netherlands: Gets sucked into Franco-Germany in a cloud of dubious smoke. Canada: Used by the US to dump waste. Britain: Looses the ability to talk English as everyone communicates in Americanisms. Declines into a puppet of Franco-Germany.