Let's separate the tree-hugging babykillers from the Bible-bashing fascists!

Nazi.

Fascist.

This isn't the spirit-rousing discourse I'd hoped for.

Says you! Commie.

Who's a dirty red?

i hate everyone and everything!

I bet you aren't even union pal.

You dirty SCAB!!!!!!!!

When you try a defendant for robbery, do you ask him how long he has been unemployed? Do you ask him how many children he has, which days of the week he ate and which he didn't, do you investigate his social context at all? You just send him to jail without further thought. But those who burn warehouses and stores to collect insurance do not go to jail, even though a few human beings may have gone up in flames. The insured have money to hire lawyers and bribe judges. You imprison the poor wretch who steals because he is hungry; but none of the hundreds who steal millions from the Government has ever spent a night in jail. You dine with them at the end of the year in some elegant club and they enjoy your respect. In Cuba, when a government official becomes a millionaire overnight and enters the fraternity of the rich, he could very well be greeted with the words of that opulent character out of Balzac - Taillefer - who in his toast to the young heir to an enormous fortune, said: 'Gentlemen, let us drink to the power of gold! Mr. Valentine, a millionaire six times over, has just ascended the throne. He is king, can do everything, is above everyone, as all the rich are. Henceforth, equality before the law, established by the Constitution, will be a myth for him; for he will not be subject to laws: the laws will be subject to him. There are no courts nor are there sentences for millionaires.'

Discuss.

If you think I'm gonna read through all that you got another thing coming.

PIG NAZI LONG POSTER.

Stud.

All I know is that anyone who steals from this working-class stiff better thank Eris for setting him up with a cozy suite in the hacksaw hotel, as opposed to a ride out on the "L" train to Trauma Town.

It's hypocritical of us to stand up for the "working man" and make out that the upper-classes are the bad guys, society pushes us towards being upper class. The mobile phones, the visits to starbucks, the expensive shoes, the cars, all we want to do is appear wealthier than each other and basically distance ourselves from the scum on the street, who we assume are stealing to feed a drug habit (you mean they're not?).

I blame society, it's not my fault the poor are poor. At the moment in my life I cut corners, lie, cheat, even steal from my work to save myself some money, when I'm in a larger, more powerfull position, I'll almost definitely cut the same corners, but on a bigger scale and for what reason? to better myself, that's it, so that I can put my feet up on a more expensive coffee table that night, or so that I can buy a faster car to drive past the same people on the street who are probably better human beings than I'll ever be.

and will I care?

will I fuck!

If money were all I cared about, I sure as hell wouldn't be in academia.

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It's hypocritical of us to stand up for the "working man" and make out that the upper-classes are the bad guys, society pushes us towards being upper class. The mobile phones, the visits to starbucks, the expensive shoes, the cars, all we want to do is appear wealthier than each other and basically distance ourselves from the scum on the street, who we assume are stealing to feed a drug habit (you mean they're not?).

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P.S. I added you to my favourites.

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What Andy said. Hey, if society pushes you towards being upper class, push back. You're not gonna take that shit from society, are you? That's a fight where I come from.

At the end of the day, I just want to have a fucking great life, I find it's easier to swim with the current than against it.

I'm not saying I'm particularly proud of it, but I just look out for number one. I have a generally poor opinion of the public as a whole, especially the upper classes.

believe me, I'm one to follow the conventional

my frequent trips to Amsterdam to binge on "the delights" is my way of kicking society in the balls!

that should have read, "believe me, I'm NOT one to follow the conventional"

p.s. about fucking time Andy!

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But those who burn warehouses and stores to collect insurance do not go to jail, even though a few human beings may have gone up in flames.

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But those who burn warehouses and stores to collect insurance do not go to jail, even though a few human beings may have gone up in flames.

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Surely something of a sweeping statement.
Aitken and Archer are in jail and Hamilton is bankrupt. The system clearly works.

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I tried to think of a reply all day, but I can't say anything other than I agree with you, which kind of pisses on the fire of political debate.

another topic?

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I tried to think of a reply all day, but I can't say anything other than I agree with you, which kind of pisses on the fire of political debate.

another topic?

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McLeish maybe should be in jail , but bearing in mind his constituency is in Fife , thats a life sentence anyway.

McConnell should be in jail. If you recall his involvement in the Monklands District Council fiasco from about 8 years ago , the fact he escaped a jail sentence , and went on to become an almost surefire candidate for Scotlands first minister is a damning inditement of the current state of politics in Scotland.

The Current "Trousergate" scandal wont make the slightest bit of difference. A Man who doesnt value the sanctity of marriage , has been found guilty by committee , but not by a court of law , of taking backhanders , and who is widely acknowledged as probably one of the most corrupt and untrustworthy men in Scottish politics , is about to become its most powerful figure.

And it stinks. In ways i cant begin to describe.

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McLeish maybe should be in jail , but bearing in mind his constituency is in Fife , thats a life sentence anyway.

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I guess Castro didn't think a breakdown of the exact statistics would be as emotive.
But it's also a massively sweeping statement to say "the system clearly works". To use a recent example, why is Henry McLeish not in jail for an offence which would certainly cause a dole fraud to be sent down?

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Id never deny that. I live in Motherwell , and the entire place has no culture whatsoever.

That said , i have friends in Fife , and on occasion , i head up there , and while , fair enough , 3 months of the year when theres sun , the beaches on Fife are passable and the town seems reasonably friendly , theres the other 9 months of the year where you face doesnt fit in any local pub or hotel , the shops STILL only sell beach hats , rock , the daily ranger , and 3 month out of date porn mags , and for a town in Fife to get a McDonalds is considered heresy by half the local population.

And dont even get me started on Cowdenbeath *shudder*

I like Fife and despise Motherwell. So we're agreed.

and I'm the one who got ripped for starting a Scottish post?

Stud.

Three words: Iron Chef Scottish.

which means?

I pray we never find out.

And unsurprisingly , McConnell was elected unopposed.

Welcome to widespread corruption and the end of the Scottish Parliament. If ever a man was capable of bringing it down from the inside and causing the public to lose all faith in the system , its Jack McConnell.

What, you think they'll actually dismantle the Parliament because of him? Nah!

No , not while hes around.

But i can see him causing the current lack of faith in the scottish parliament to grow , to a level where we end up calling for its abolition because it reaches a level where we percieve it to be corrupt and beyond hope (which will occur after McConnell is gone).

Hes the worst possible appointment. A personality that can do genuine harm to the public perception of the parliament.

Wallace and Alexander would have been better choices.

I dunno. At least the guy can think for himself a bit. Alexander is Gordon Brown's pawn, and Wallace has completely sold out his party to Labour. I would rather have a guy like McConnell who'll be dipping his hand into the till a bit than a puppet leader.

Mind you, I see what you mean about public perception. At the moment the Scottish people are being conditioned by the press to believe that the Parliament is a waste of space, despite the fact that it's actually acheived quite a lot. It's important to get public opinion on the Parliament's side, and McConnell certainly isn't a good choice for that.

I'd've liked to have seen Malcolm Chisolm become First Minister. Not that there was ever much chance of that, of course.

It's sort of tricky for me to follow perochial Scottish politics from the other side of the world, particularly since I was always more interested in what's going on at Westminster. For me, Jim Wallace would have made the best First Minister, but we must remember that his party only got about 17 or 20% of the vote or something, so I suppose that wouldn't be too democratic. This is off the subject a bit, but Andy may recall my suggestion that on Donald Dewar's funeral they should have had his besuited corpse dangling puppet-like from some sort of crane, parading him through the streets with his decaying limbs flailing around, occasionally making him fall over and things like that. That would caught the public's imagination, or at least mine. In fact, they should do that for all state funerals, including Princess Di's and everyone else's.

I didn't know other countries had politics!
43370

Argue politics all you want, but when I take over the planet, I intend to make it pointless to argue.

One party system. All mine. Bow down now and get it over with.