Everyday I'm thankful that I live where I do...

[ForeverAutumn]

I read this this morning...

In one incident late Saturday, Taliban hardliners shaved the heads and moustaches of four men for listening to music, a young man from Buner told AFP by telephone, requesting not to be identified.

"I was with three other friends in my car, listening to music when armed Taliban stopped us and, after smashing cassettes and the cassette player, they shaved half our heads and moustaches," he said.

"The Taliban also beat us and asked us not to listen to music ever again," said the terrified man.

Local police said they had no information about the incident.

The victim said neither he nor his friends lodged a complaint with police, as this would have been "useless."

..then I turned up my stereo.

[Auricauricle]

The danger of music...of art...of imagination!

[3-LockBox]

Hey, they have a right to their beliefs...:rolleyes:

They're one miserable lot, and wish to do to the rest of the world what they do to their own wretched people.

[ForeverAutumn]

Hey, they have a right to their beliefs...:rolleyes:

They're one miserable lot, and wish to do to the rest of the world what they do to their own wretched people.

Yes, they do have a right to their beliefs. What they don't have is the right to inflict and enforce their beliefs upon others.

Listen to music today. Listen to it loud. And listen to it for all the people in the world who aren't allowed that simple pleasure that we all take for granted.

[GMichael]

Yes, they do have a right to their beliefs. What they don't have is the right to inflict and enforce their beliefs upon others.

Listen to music today. Listen to it loud. And listen to it for all the people in the world who aren't allowed that simple pleasure that we all take for granted.
Hey, you're lucky we let you learn to read you know.

The part I found interesting was that after smashing everything and beating them, they were then ASKED not to listen to music. Asked? Is this a translation thingie?

[MasterCylinder]

In one incident late Saturday, Taliban hardliners shaved the heads and moustaches of four men for listening to music..................The victim said neither he nor his friends lodged a complaint with police, as this would have been "useless."


Nice culture -- after centuries of development, no less.

Stupid Dickheads !

[RoadRunner6]

What they don't have is the right to inflict and enforce their beliefs upon others.

Amen!

Recently, the Taliban in Afghanistan executed by firing squad two young people who were caught attempting to elope. The 14 year old girl and the 17 year old boy were shot in front of the mosque as the villagers watched.

Recently, a man who founded a Muslim-American television station to help fight Muslim stereotypes was charged in a Buffalo court on charges that he decapitated his wife. She had previously filed for divorce.

Speaking of Muslim stereotypes!

[3-LockBox]

What they don't have is the right to inflict and enforce their beliefs upon others.

Ah, but there's the rub...they believe its their divine duty to inflict and enforce their beliefs upon others. They believe that with the murder of every infidel brings them a step closer to their heavenly harum.

[ForeverAutumn]

Ah, but there's the rub...they believe its their divine duty to inflict and enforce their beliefs upon others. They believe that with the murder of every infidel brings them a step closer to their heavenly harum.

Yes. And that's exactly why it's our moral duty to stop them.

[MasterCylinder]

They believe that with the murder of every infidel brings them a step closer to their heavenly harum.


72 virgins ?
They don't even know that virgins are so overrated..............lol !

Stupid Dickheads !

[Auricauricle]

Should be a way to sell a few one way tickets!

[3-LockBox]

72 virgins ?
They don't even know that virgins are so overrated..............lol !

Stupid Dickheads !

you know what other group of people who are fixated on virgins...

pedophiles

[Auricauricle]

Pedalphiles!

[bobsticks]

Ah, but there's the rub...they believe its their divine duty to inflict and enforce their beliefs upon others. They believe that with the murder of every infidel brings them a step closer to their heavenly harum.

How many muslim clerics does it take to change a light bulb? Don't bother, they're really quite happy living in the dark ages...

[ForeverAutumn]

Okay, hang on a minute guys. This thread was not started with the intent to insult Muslims. The Taliban are extremists who believe that they have the right to decide what rights other people shouldn't have. This is wrong and should be stopped. But there are many good and decent Muslim people in the world and I am concerned about the direction this thread could take. Let's please not go there.

[Auricauricle]

How are Taliban extremists and light bulbs on the ceiling similar?

They're screwed up tight and mighty hot, even if they are pretty dim....

[bobsticks]

Okay, hang on a minute guys. This thread was not started with the intent to insult Muslims. The Taliban are extremists who believe that they have the right to decide what rights other people shouldn't have. This is wrong and should be stopped. But there are many good and decent Muslim people in the world and I am concerned about the direction this thread could take. Let's please not go there.

Absolutely true so maybe I need to rephrase my title: "Islamic Extremists: Kill 'em all". One of the things lost however in our liberal societies of distiction is the fact that there are truly evil people out there. We tend to want to take the warm, fuzzy view that everyone just exists in a "different culture". If you think that the current crop of jihadists and wahhabists is any different than Lenin and Stalin's OGPU then you're deluded. The repression of the lower classes through misdirection and subterfuge is classic Machiavellian stuff...no matter how sandy and maladroit in this case.

I have no problem with hard working men and women of any faith that seek out their own place within a peaceful world. That said. ask the Europeans how passive and intellectual resistance to an avowed, commited threat has worked.

I agree though that the rights and the freedoms that we enjoy are to be celebrated and, indeed, coveted...

[GMichael]

Dam nut cases. I'm sure that they could have been brought up to be normal people, but when each generation teaches the next to hate, where does it end? How do we stop the trend? Killing them just breeds more hatred from the next generation. There has got to be a way to win them over, or at least convince them that trying to kill us is a waste of their energy. There has got to be an answer, but what is it?

[RoadRunner6]

Well, we could start by stop letting them into our countries, universities and jet plane training centers untill they have demonstrated a reasonably civilized lifestyle for several centuries. This has all been in the name of diversity or religious diversity. Diversity is not always a good thing. Ever notice the way they treat their woman, all of them, not just the Taliban.

The idea that it is just a few radical Taliban Muslims that are causing all the problems and all the rest are peace loving people is very naive.

[GMichael]

Well, we could start by stop letting them into our countries, universities and jet plane training centers untill they have demonstrated a reasonably civilized lifestyle for several centuries. This has all been in the name of diversity or religious diversity. Diversity is not always a good thing. Ever notice the way they treat their woman, all of them, not just the Taliban.

The idea that it is just a few radical Taliban Muslims that are causing all the problems and all the rest are peace loving people is very naive.

You may be right. But freedom of religion is one of the things this country is based on. If we give that up, it will all come spinning down on us. (or more so than it already is)

I agree that we should stop letting THEM in. But which THEM is it? How do we know? H.ll, it took my wife a year to get a visa to come here, and that was after we married. Then it took 3 more years to get her permanent card. (which is only good for 7 years. permanent my ass) Then she had to wait 3 more years before she could apply to be a citizen. Here we are, 8 years after we got married, still no citizenship (sp).
So who gets to decide who THEM are? Anyone who worships the "wrong" God?

[Auricauricle]

The breaking of the cassettes and player (Post 1) is clear indication that the Taliban Gang will do whatever it takes to quash those forces which threaten or are perceived to threaten its existence. This is the same tactic that was employed by Hitler and other tyrants: to remove those elements of creativity and imagination. The progression is intuitively obvious: Creativity->Imagination->Hope->Freedom. Book burnings, censorship, refusing to hang the paintings of a particular artist because he is "too threatening" (Robert Mapplethorpe, anyone?), is all about demolishing those elements that remind us that we can use our minds to do nearly anything.

To fight these nefarious forces, we need to form alliances with those individuals who are in a position to work from within that inner sanctum to destabilize and topple the Taliban Leadership. The Taliban is highly organized, but it is also paranoid, knowing that one fly in the ointment would threaten to undo so much. The cassettes were such a fly. A little thing to us, a piece of plastic, but to them a Pandora's Box of possibility. These destabilizing forces are our regional allies, who must work together to deligitimize the corruptive elements of the Taliban that has made a mockery of the Islam Faith. This is why working with Ahmanejedad is so important, even if doing so is not popular.

In the meantime, we at home can contribute, by reminding the world that we support those who have been oppressed and wronged. Even if it does not entail marches and torch bearing, we must take the moral position and challenge those who would like to vilify the entire region as "a bunch of rag heads" and remind them that the people of the Middle East are of a rich and diverse heritage. By voting for Obama, we sent a clear signal that we as a country do not support the knee-jerk politics of Bush and his Cowboy Thugs. We are much smarter than that.

And then, we take a plane and drop Ipods to the people, with every possible musical thing we can muster to remind the Taliban, their oppressed and abject victims and the world, that they will know freedom.

Amen.

Thank you.

[GMichael]

Ok, but have you actually used an Ipod? If you breath on it wrong it locks up. Toss 10,000 out of a plane and you'll be lucky if even one of them function 20 minute later.

[Auricauricle]

No, I haven't. What's your solution?

[RoadRunner6]

The freedom concerning religion is the freedom to practice religion and also the freedom to not practice religion if we choose.

I quickly draw the line with a so called religion that is in fact a terrorist/militarist organization as much as a religion, whose people want to come to this country and impose their own ways on our system. Their end purpose is to overturn the non-muslim world. They are from a backwards uncivilized culture with a non-stop history of violence. We don't need that type of immigrants in our country IMO.

I too have a wife that has gone thru the immigration procedures and finally got her green card. She has to renew it every ten years if she does not apply for citizenship. We shouldn't just open our borders to any who want to sneak in like we do with the Mexicans. She does not try to impose her Japanese culture or religion in anyway on us. She very quietly assimilates into our culture. She will never insist that all signs be posted in Japanese. She has studied very hard to learn English. Nor will she come here and then demand free medical care or government aid. She had a university degree before she came here.

As far as I'm concerned we should let only educated people from non-terrorists countries immigrate.

[RoadRunner6]

.........."the people of the Middle East are of a rich and diverse heritage"...........

That's so wonderful, but let's keep their rich and diverse heritage over there. My wife for one says she does not want to wear a burka or be made to kneel in a stadium and shot in the back of the head with an AK-47 if she has an affair when we are married. (I might break her chopsticks but that is as far as I would go).

So when they stop sending their thugs over here to blow up our skyscrapers then maybe we will consider letting some of them in on a trial basis. Oh yeah, I forgot, it is really our fault because we treated them poorly over the years and they had no choice but to punish us, or some other bull**** like that, huh?. (and no I did not vote for George Bush)

[3-LockBox]

So who gets to decide who THEM are?





ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



My name is Todd
which rhymes with God
but if he were cool as me
He'd spell his name with two d's



am I going to hell?

[Auricauricle]

As I said, the problem's not with the Middle East but with the Taliban Gang. This element is pure thuggery, pure and simple. Imagine The Crips or The Bloods or Aryan Nation taking over DC....That's the picture. Sic the terriers on the rats, boys!

[GMichael]

The freedom concerning religion is the freedom to practice religion and also the freedom to not practice religion if we choose.

I quickly draw the line with a so called religion that is in fact a terrorist/militarist organization as much as a religion, whose people want to come to this country and impose their own ways on our system. Their end purpose is to overturn the non-muslim world. They are from a backwards uncivilized culture with a non-stop history of violence. We don't need that type of immigrants in our country IMO.

I too have a wife that has gone thru the immigration procedures and finally got her green card. She has to renew it every ten years if she does not apply for citizenship. We shouldn't just open our borders to any who want to sneak in like we do with the Mexicans. She does not try to impose her Japanese culture or religion in anyway on us. She very quietly assimilates into our culture. She will never insist that all signs be posted in Japanese. She has studied very hard to learn English. Nor will she come here and then demand free medical care or government aid. She had a university degree before she came here.

As far as I'm concerned we should let only educated people from non-terrorists countries immigrate.

Bravo! I have said this many times. I agree 110%.

[GMichael]

No, I haven't. What's your solution?

Walkmans? No, too heavy.
Get Apple to make Ipods better or more reliable? hahahahahaha (I crack me up)
MP3's? Maybe. Never tried one.
:14: :14: :14: :14: :14: :14: :14:
:aureola:

[bobsticks]

As I said, the problem's not with the Middle East but with the Taliban Gang. This element is pure thuggery, pure and simple. Imagine The Crips or The Bloods or Aryan Nation taking over DC....That's the picture. Sic the terriers on the rats, boys!

Well, sorta...imagine the Crops or the Bloods or Aryan Nation taking over DC and being funded by Exxon or Haliburton...

[Auricauricle]

Oooof!

Right in the nutz!