DZJ

I imagine it's quite hard to adopt a calming yoga position when 50,000 volts are dancing through your nervous system.

You've managed to completely miss the point. Both Hungerford and Dunblane were committed by licensed firearms holders who decided to commit atrocities. Now that the amount of firepower available to civilians is more tightly controlled, any gun owner who should 'snap' and go on a spontaneous rampage is unlikely to have the same firepower available to him. Thus the 1997 legislation has succeeded in its stated intent.

"After Katrina, Houston's murder rate increased 70 percent in November and December 2005 compared to levels in 2004. The city recorded 336 murders in 2005, compared to 272 in 2004. Houston's homicide rate per 100,000 residents increased from 16.33 in 2005 to 17.24 in 2006. The number of murders in the city increased to 379 in 2006, although this increase was smaller than in 2005" From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston,_Texas#Government_and_politics Thank you for answering the question, as a number of others have noticeably failed to do.

Where are the 'I like Chinese/Mexican/French/Italian/Spanish food' or 'My dog's breath stinks' options?

How many shot in Houston?

Thanks, but I'm fully aware of the social changes that took place in 1960's America. I simply found it breathtaking that some could consider the 1960's some kind of liberal golden age when hundreds of thousands of conscripts (conscription - that great liberal anathema) were fighting (and tens of thousands dieing) in a brutal and ultimately unsuccessful war abroad.

Vietnam?

It only excludes other religions if you've prejudged those other religions and already come to the conclusion that Christianity is correct. I daresay any number of other faiths have clauses about their monopoly on truth...

I feel so proud!

N/A

Saw this on the BBC, and whatever you think of Indian spirituality, I don't really see a downside to this story. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7130151.stm

Do you know any court of law that would admit evidence that was two thousand years old and had been translated and retranslated countless times?

I assumed a 'green' car in the US was simply any old car that had been repainted that colour...

Given the stakes, what would qualify as 'knowing for sure' in this context? A confession? A dozen eye witnesses? Being caught in the act?

It is legal, if you believe your life (or someone elses) to be in danger. I think all three of those are dubious propositions. The first of those is my principal objection. Of all the people executed, a certain percentage (even if it's only a fraction of 1%) will later be proved innocent and that should be unacceptable to any system that claims to care about justice.

When I first clicked this thread, I got the following message (emphasis in original): Contains no data, eh? Sounds like a prophecy about the thread!

But was he a bear of very little brain....?

I watched the interview again to remind myself of what was said, and all in all it looks like that show was probably the wrong place for such a discussion. The presenter clearly had no interest in the book's thesis (he plainly acknowledges he hadn't read the full work, and didn't even see the need to) and the author failed to grasp the soundbite-y nature of the show, apparently expecting an opportunity to lay out her conclusions in some detail.

Could you give examples of aspects we take on faith?

Given that she was hardly allowed to speak, I think it's a bit much to say she came across a 'nutjob'. As for not doing any research, would the interviewer's not having read in book in full qualify?

That piece struck me as having very little do with the book at all, instead it sounded like TV masturbation for people who had no intention of listening to the woman's arguments. More a form of Punch-and-Judy political entertainment than an intelligent discussion. She makes an interesting point about Britain though. She claims that Britain hasn't restricted the civil liberties of its citizens in response to terrorism. That's perhaps a little less than true.

If it's anything like the British Labour Party - war, cryptoconservatism and cock-ups!

We had it happen here in Oregon a few years ago. Seems as though someone mistakenly put live rounds into a weapon that was supposed to have blanks. It was during a retraining 'thingy' at the state Police Academy for experienced officers. JerryBaumchen PS) And it WAS heavily investigated. What was the outcome? Anyone charged with something like criminal negligence?

Criminal mischief? Has anyone the foggiest idea what that mean?

God Save the Queen.