Cold-blooded killers. Well, at least their motives are familiar.
Interestingly, this puts them in the ranks of "organized crime" which gives the gov't a clear run at financially ass- raping their supporters: The Swiss are meticulous record keepers (all transactions recorded in detail, even the serial numbers on cash) and "The Base"'s Swiss accounts are being opened for the investigation. Sent a check to support you local terrorist lately? Get ready to bend over...
Their leaders will continue to tell them lies, they will have no access to any other version. They have no discourse, only edict. That sucks, because they march blindly to destruction.
Fools
The Taliban have never faced the U.S. military. They think they have, but they're so tragically wrong. Fanaticism is alive and well here, too.
In the end
Ultimately, Islam will remain. The US will remain. Isreal and Palestine will remain. Only "The Base" will be gone, and soon forgotten. His cause is futile, it seems.
No longer.
Spatial index anyone? I'm testing the limits of fine- grained'ness for web services. Most CAD and interactive graphics programs will have a spatial index to speed selection hit testing. Usually it's integrated into the scene graph as an implementation detail. Not so here...
Under what conditions will this be useful? I really don't know. Why you'd want to implement fast hit testing over the wire is not obvious. Still, I have a feeling it's a good idea so I'm doing it.
It works like this:
Ah, simplicity. The assumption is that adding nodes is done rarely, and that queries are much more common. Consequently, adding a node is slow (as are editing and removing) but a query is quite fast.
To improve the performance of adding, etc. I've implemented a simple graph in which each node is internally indexed. This is a gimmic, since the result is just a set of indexes that are searched as one. The performance of queries is somewhat degraded when using structure, but not much.
I'll try to get it up on XMethods soon.
Dude, I have read Chomsky among others. Recently, even.
The "evil bastards" and "insane scumbags" are the leaders, the sources of influence. You're absolutely correct in the analogy, but that isn't the point. The guys in the planes were potential contributors, even middle-class professionals in America. Their fanaticism wasn't the crime, their actions were. Their actions were by order of their leaders. That is the real crime.
Omar and bin Laben are modern Hitlers. I don't think that is an exageration.
We seem to closely agree, though we state it differently. Your last paragraph might have been mine, if I were better able to express my thoughts. Unfortunately, my strengths are in action.
In a perfect world, maybe the bond between nation and citizen are weak or nonexistent. Unfortunately, this isn't a perfect world.
Nations owe their existence to violence, rising from the common need for defense. Well, it looks like things haven't changed all that much in the last 5000 years. Your nation provides for your protection (even when the threat is internal, and I sincerely hope you have been spared any pain). Taking advantage of the national infrastructure obliges us to support it. Likewise (especially in democratic systems) citizens are responsible for their nation's policies and actions.
On the other hand, I consider myself a free man. Free to take many actions to protest and influence my government, as well as the governments of others. Killing is not one of those things. That is what this is about.
Finance isn't obvious to everyone (anyone?)... I like you style, though.
Some insane scumbags bombed our people, we know who they are and where they live. They are being harbored by leaders using religion to dominate and manipulate their vunreble people. We know who the enemy are, and we're pissed. I'm sure the crew of the USS Cole knows exactly what the fight is all about. I sure do.
And by the way, "We" are Americans. Americans live in America. Yeah, I know you know. Now think about it. We are not natives. We are not bound by religion, family or heritage. We are bound only by our desire to live free. The evil bastards want to take that away from us. That's bad news for them.
The government of the US is not a perfect reflection of the desires of the people, but we're working on it. Our policies are not perfect, but we're working on them.
The people of Bhutan don't like US capitalism, but they've never killed over it.
Prosperity for the US is prosperity for the world. The US globalized capitalism, and good for us. This isn't some utopian fantasy land. There are tradeoff, but in the end the world is a much god-damn better place because of what we have accomplished.
You're a ugly kind of hypocrite -- and I guess that's a luxury you owe to capitalism. Without it, Australia would still be a backwater. Oh, I guess that would be good for the natives (which you've mostly killed off)...
Yeah, we're the only bad guys. Get real. Life sucks sometimes and it isn't going to change anytime soon. We improve things in the balance. Do you?
...are made up of people, as are governments. It is impossible, by definition, to attack a nation without injuring its people.
As Americans we are responsible for the policies of our government. Indifference is not an exception. Opposition is not an exception. We are America, like it or not.
Likewise, people of the nations supporting terrorism cannot expect to be spared the price of war. It is a hellish price, and I fear that some leaders may choose to pay it with the others' souls.
Freedom...
...is an abstract concept, most days. Not on September 11, 2001. We welcomed the visitors as millions before them, provided opportunity, our homes, and our culture. They, with their families, accepted those gifts. They then turned to destroy us.
They were free to do so, as was Tim McVey. No different, really. We welcome strangers because the make us stronger, we hope. They have in the past and will again. This incredible menagerie of lives and cultures hinges on the rights of the few, and must continue to do so.
We will crush terrorism, and defend our freedom. Freedom has a cost, a part of which is safety. Tuesday we made a down payment.
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