Israel and Britain Erupt in Protests

[Mahone]

it wasn't until a few years ago that I found out that in the UK an MP isn't a policeman in the military

Are you serious? :/ I thought everyone worldwide knew they were mounted policemen i.e. police on horseback.

Policemen in the military??

[Mahone]

At first I thought this was a joke but it's not -

Baseball Bat Sales Rise on Amazon UK | PCWorld

Sales for baseball bats on Amazon UK have risen by more than 6000 percent over the past 24 hours, presumably due to the civil unrest engulfing the island nation. But it's unclear whether the sales of sluggers are due to trouble makers gearing up for a fight or concerned citizens looking after their own interests.

The most popular bat of choice Tuesday is a 23-inch Rucanor aluminum bat selling for about $28. The item has risen from 6,974 to the 105th most popular sports and leisure item on Amazon UK. The next most popular is a military police baton, which is followed by another five baseball bats ranging in price from $15-$30.

They'll be disappointed when they realise it normally takes about 3 weeks to be delivered.

[volgadon]

Are you serious? :/ I thought everyone worldwide knew they were mounted policemen i.e. police on horseback.

Policemen in the military??

They mean provosts.

[john doe]

I found this article to be an interesting take on the rioters. UK riots 2011: Liberal dogma has spawned a generation of brutalised youths | Mail Online

Some clips that stood out to me:

So who is to blame? The breakdown of families, the pernicious promotion of single motherhood as a desirable state, the decline of domestic life so that even shared meals are a rarity, have all contributed importantly to the condition of the young underclass.

This has ultimately been sanctioned by Parliament, which refuses to accept, for instance, that children are more likely to prosper with two parents than with one, and that the dependency culture is a tragedy for those who receive something for nothing.

‘The problem,’ said Bill Pitt, the former head of Manchester’s Nuisance Strategy Unit, ‘is that the law appears to be there to protect the rights of the perpetrator, and does not support the victim.’

Police regularly arrest householders who are deemed to have taken ‘disproportionate’ action to protect themselves and their property from burglars or intruders. The message goes out that criminals have little to fear from ‘the feds’.

If a child lacks sufficient respect to address authority figures politely, and faces no penalty for failing to do so, then other forms of abuse — of property and person — come naturally.....

They have no code of values to dissuade them from behaving anti-socially or, indeed, criminally, and small chance of being punished if they do so.

They have no sense of responsibility for themselves, far less towards others, and look to no future beyond the next meal, sexual encounter or TV football game.

Only education — together with politicians, judges, policemen and teachers with the courage to force feral humans to obey rules the rest of us have accepted all our lives — can provide a way forward and a way out for these people.

They are products of a culture which gives them so much unconditionally that they are let off learning how to become human beings. My dogs are better behaved and subscribe to a higher code of values than the young rioters of Tottenham, Hackney, Clapham and Birmingham.

Unless or until those who run Britain introduce incentives for decency and impose penalties for bestiality which are today entirely lacking, there will never be a shortage of young rioters and looters such as those of the past four nights, for whom their monstrous excesses were ‘a great fire, man’.

[john doe]

Are you serious? :/ I thought everyone worldwide knew they were mounted policemen i.e. police on horseback.

Policemen in the military??

You mean it's NOT 'Member of Parliament'? In the US a PM is when it's after noon, not a Prime Minister.

[HoosierGuy]

I found this article to be an interesting take on the rioters. UK riots 2011: Liberal dogma has spawned a generation of brutalised youths | Mail Online

Some clips that stood out to me:

Those quotes are horrible and bigoted.

[pam]

You mean it's NOT 'Member of Parliament'? In the US a PM is when it's after noon, not a Prime Minister.

Or a private message.

[pam]

Those quotes are horrible and bigoted.

How are the quotes bigoted?

[Mahone]

I found this article to be an interesting take on the rioters. UK riots 2011: Liberal dogma has spawned a generation of brutalised youths | Mail Online

Some clips that stood out to me:

I saw hoosierguy's comments saying the article was bigoted, and wondered why, until I saw the link went to that dreaded media website known as the daily mail (mail online), which goes much further than most other news organisations to publish whatever it thinks will be read, regardless of what facts there are to back it up.

However, as I read the article, I couldn't help but agree with most of it. There is still unofficially a 'class' system in the UK, and the gap between the classes seems to be forever increasing. The usage of the word feral seems particularly appropriate to describe the 'class' of people being referred to in the article, in my experience. There are teachers in my family, and I myself currently work in the education sector. Such a sad, sad situation and one that isn't going to be resolved for a long time.

You mean it's NOT 'Member of Parliament'? In the US a PM is when it's after noon, not a Prime Minister.

Correct. We also use Post Meridian in the UK too. But MP is almost never used to refer to a Member of Parliament. It's far more commonly used to refer to a Mounted Policeman.

Edited August 13, 2011 by Mahone

[FunkyTown]

You DO know I'm messing with you, right? Just because we have agencies dedicated to understanding foreign governments, that does not mean the lay citizens also know everything that the intelligence agencies do. As you also know, the best intel a foreign agency can get is information given by citizens living in that country. The CIA has been burned or caught off-guard many times because they didn't have assets on the ground in certain countries. Official and media reports are by design biased and give only a small snapshot of what is really going on in a country. It's usually not until much later that we find the truth of a given situation.

BTW, I hear that Iran and Syria are telling your government to quit being so hard on your rioters. Interesting since they have such good records of protecting their citizens' rights to protest in the streets.

Hahah. I know you're messing around. I read my response and thought "Whoah! That sounds a bit hostile." which is why I posted the obviously facetious answer beneath, to show there was a more playful spirit behind my words. It's tough to convey intent in pure text.

What I intend to do right now is to lay a trap question down, rather sneakily. I'm going to start by pretending to agree with you:

You are absolutely correct, JD! People in the CIA, involved in the decision making, read reports from people who are directly in situations. Usually, they have hundreds of people involved in such, allowing a much more comprehensive view than a typical person. How many people making such reports would you expect they would need to make an informed decision?

Now, this is clever... And sneaky. Because I seem to be asking an innocent question, but it is anything but!

Then, once you answer, I intend to hit you with the boffo amazing-o revelation that newspapers, news agencies and various forums often have hundreds of people distilling knowledge for this very purpose. Then, I plan on a follow-up attack that involves pointing out that often people within a particular situation often are too close for a rational view on said situation - Much like a fish in a fishbowl. I will then point out the tendency within the US to vote and believe along geographical lines: New York tends towards leftist philosophies, for instance, while Utah tends towards the Right. I'm going to use this as proof that simple localization issues can often cause a near impenetrable bias to understanding the meta-issue of the US as a whole.

Then, I plan on following up with the Ad Hominem attack of "Where do you live, JD?" and then either using your location or membership in the church as the sole reason for your conservative-coloured glasses. It will be ironic that I use the church in this means as I am also a member and far more centrist in my outlook, yet I am saying that it is a sole cause in making you believe what you believe.

I will not point out the inherent absurdity in that position as it might weaken my point.

So: JD -

You are absolutely correct, JD! People in the CIA, involved in the decision making, read reports from people who are directly in situations. Usually, they have hundreds of people involved in such, allowing a much more comprehensive view than a typical person. How many people making such reports would you expect they would need to make an informed decision?

[john doe]

The correct number is 12. Or 7, depending on the situation. But I'm going with 12.

[FunkyTown]

The correct number is 12. Or 7, depending on the situation. But I'm going with 12.

D'oh. I'm guessing more than 12 don't count?

Well played, JD. Well played.

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