Some tables have soul and some not

Regards, Inna: As this is an open forum and with your forbearance. This once-fun thread has taken a most interesting turn in that so many well educated and apparently successful individuals cannot establish a consensus. Would there be a unanimous outcry if a "belt drive" regime mandated the destruction of DD turntables because "they had no soul"?

"Man resists harm--- with the intention, not of harming, but of removing the harm done." The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas.

In October 1991 Radovan Karadžić expressed his view about future of Bosnia and Bosnian Muslims: "In just a couple of days, Sarajevo will be gone and there will be five hundred thousand dead, in one month Muslims will be annihilated in Bosnia and Herzegovina". In 1996, the referred to "gendercide" took place and for ten years a systematic elimination of muslim citizens continued.

In a statement to the United Nations Dr Haris Silajdžić, as head of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Delegation to the United Nations, 63rd Session of the General Assembly, said that "According to the ICRC data, 200,000 people were killed, 12,000 of them children, up to 50,000 women were raped, and 2.2 million were forced to flee their homes. This was a veritable genocide and sociocide".

Agape denotes the ardent use of one's reasoning and knowledge to intelligently and comprehensively understand for a corresponding higher intelligent purpose. In view of the following ten years of continued atrocities and the vacillation of the U.N.:

Expresses the sense of the [House of Representatives]/[Senate] that: (2005)
(1) the thousands of innocent people executed at Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 1995, along with all individuals who were victimized during the conflict and genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, should be remembered and honored;
(2) the Serbian policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing meet the terms defining genocide;
(3) foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens, who have risked, and in some cases lost, their lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be remembered and honored;
(4) the United Nations (U.N.) and its member states should accept their share of responsibility for allowing the Srebrenica massacre and genocide to occur, and seek to ensure that this does not happen in future crises;
(5) it is in the U.S. national interest that the responsible individuals should be held accountable for their actions;
(6) persons indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) should be apprehended and transferred to The Hague without further delay, and countries should meet their obligations to cooperate with the ICTY; and
(7) the United States should support the independence and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and peace and stability in southeastern Europe.
—CRS Summary

Napoleanic strategies are no longer practical, "boots on the ground" is now a policing action. Unmanned armed vehicles, long-range precision guided weapons and a emphasis on strategic rather than tactical targets have supplanted the ranks of opposing armies. Firing into enemy lines at point-blank range was made senseless in the 1860's with the invention of the Gatling gun. The horrors of trench warfare and the tactical strategies resulting in the destruction of Dresden will, hopefully, never be repeated.

The second Gulf War, more of the same. The elimination of the population of entire towns by such as "Chemical Ali" cannot be condoned, anyone who resents the application of overwhelming force against those who perpetrate such criminal acts need to examine their world-view. That there are innocents who will also suffer is more than just regrettable but still inescapable. Thomas Jefferson stated that it is better that a hundred criminals go unpunished than that one innocent man is convicted, but where to draw the line---1000 criminals? 10,000? 1,000,000? The American "conscience" is not unscarred but there are those who feel the need to correct such injustices so strongly that Americans volunteer daily to put their lives on the line to do so. Hopefully (Thuchan), the situation in Syria, where a hundred or more demonstrators are murdered daily will be internally resolved.

Last, a comment on consistency. To condemn the acts of tyrants such as Hitler and Stalin in one paragraph and then suggest in another there should be similar actions taken against the populations of France, Holland and Bosnia can not be taken seriously as this fails that crucial test. Whiskey, Foxtrot, Tango indeed.

Marshal McLuan's "Global Village" has arrived.

Peace,

Regards, In_shore: I'm amused by the evidence of good humor in your post, as such you avoid the error of stereotypification in evidence in previous posts by certain others. This peculiar form of irrationality is much like stating the "typical" DD turntable has no soul whereas the "typical" belt drive does, or that the "typical" Canadian is considered well-mannered if he uses his own (instead of anothers') snowmobile keys to scratch his ears.

As there have been no reports of an impending polar bear invasion of Toronto, isn't it obvious that the combined psychokinetic might of American intellectuals was sufficient to relieve the residents of that event?

And yes, it's true that SOME could benefit by extending their awareness of the impact of geography on politics and economics, or simply to glorify in the wonder of strange and exotic places. It is also a fact that many have done so, this is evidenced by the NAFTA treaty, for which all Americans sacrifice a degree of personal financial security in order to build and maintain a stronger alliance with our good neighbors to both the north and south.

I believe this is close enough to thirty posts since my last to this thought-provoking thread, I'm going for my milkshake and wait for the next twenty-nine ;-). Meanwhile I'll give consideration to wether or not Chinese turntables have karma, I suspect they are the next major "players" in the production of audio gear. Chocolate.

Inna, don't worry about the Canadians. Or the Swedes. The Swedes have their home militia, the Canadians their blackflies and 'skeeters as big as sparrows. And those pesky polar bears.

Peace,

Regards, Nandric: Nikola, my reply concerned what constituted a "typical" American. As one of the two examples of that peculiar species hanging around on this thread I felt it somewhat incumbent to respond, it had nothing to do with the "tall people" comments. You were simply faster to the enter key. Had I read your post first it would have been modified. Please accept this clarification.

Meanwhile, our forum brother was having a jolly good time with those "American" jibes. It was percieved as such and offense was neither received nor intentionally given in return, as have been none of the other comments concerning the U.S. Ethnocentrism and its sources are easily understood, sometimes justifiable and rarely a thing to be ashamed of. There is little reason to become upset about it. Rational discussion and amicable resolution of differing views should be attainable considering the obvious educational attainment of (at least) the other participants.

In the spirit of give and take and in good humor, In_shore could tease to an even greater degree and still be a welcome guest in my backwoods Kentucky home. We could trade a few ripostes, perhaps down a few and spin some vinyl on my beat up old rig while watching the deer pee in the front yard. Yeah, In_shore, right here/right now, being an American is good. There have, though, been times---

Think I'll sit the next few out. Bash away.

Peace,

Regards, Nikola: Twice, in less than twenty-four hours, you have taken what I've written out of context. The error is yours.

Chocolate

Peace,