UN: US Should Not Control Internet
by Ed Oswald
A United Nations panel tasked with how to govern the Internet in the future came up with four different plans, although the panel did agree that the United States could not continue holding complete control. The U.S. government, however, said it had no plans to give up control of the computers that handle Internet traffic.
World leaders will consider the options put forth by the panel at an "Information Society" summit in November. One of the proposals does keep the current method as is for the most part, with ICANN maintaining control of how Internet address are used.
At the last Information Society meeting in December 2003, leaders failed to agree on a plan to revamp the way the Internet is controlled.
The U.S. funded much of the early development of the Internet and has mostly controlled it since its inception. But some want a more international role in the governance of the Internet, especially developing nations.
Countries would like faster approval of non-English domain names, as ICANN has resisted those requests saying they could be used in phishing scams because of the way a computer translates the domain name into English characters.
"In some of the early tests ... it became clear we had opened up the opportunity for registering very misleading names," head of ICANN Vint Cerf said in a recent conference call. "This kind of potential confusion leads to parties going to what they think are valid Web sites."
China last year even threatened to split from the Internet so it could offer its citizens Chinese-language domain names.
Yeah..sure
Let's hand over control of the Internet to the likes of the outstandingly honest and incorruptable UN Secretary General Kofe Annen.
And if you think that's good idea, I have a Bridge in Brooklyn I can let you have at a firesale price...
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which two counties refuse to sign the protocol in february 2005?what was their reason give me the answer now plese
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The internet is controlled by those who have the websites. I control my three websites just as this website is controlled by it's owner.
Governments are after the control of something they have no business being in. Keep them out!
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Where did US CONTROL INTERNET ADDRESSING lead to this discussion lead to politics and terrorism. Keep to the topic please.
Thanks.
MoRpHeUs2003
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No one should a have a complete control over internet, if that even is possible.
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Good gracious how did all this come from a comment about who should 'control' the internet?
Anyway...I agree with about the only constructive comment in here someplace - about other countries having their own traffic servers (if they decide to).
Have it be kinda like a great decentralized network of country controlled servers to taper off some of the pressures on one 'area'. Furthermore, I also agree that it shouldn't be a 'control' issue. Why is it that when it comes to anything big or important (that affects the world) it becomes about 'control'?.
While I agree that ideas and plans should be shared and decided on by a multi-country run team, it's also a tried and true fact that 'too many cooks spoil the broth'. When you have too many people running something, it either takes much longer to get things done/decided effectively or creates conflicts (thus creating a problem that wasn't there before). Now, please don't think I'm communist or anything; I just don't believe that everything should be so political.
The internet is about technology and information, and since the world contributes to these pools, I don't think it would be a bad thing for them to contribute to one of it's biggest sources.
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I guess being human is not good enough anymore. But then again not much has changed still...
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Chinese servers are already in use. 9down.com has both a Chinese and English homepage. Just use the one that works for you and leave other people alone.
You'll find a bigot in the Czech Republik. The cdr.cz bunch hates foreigners of any kind. "kcuF off". These jerks are no better than racists who don't like Blacks, Jews or another group. So you wanna get rid of these arse-----?
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Everyone has a right say what we wish to say. However when you start terrorizing an entire nation, you had better be Da** ready to accept the consequences of your actions. We are not mindless mornons. The americans are going to make sure that each and every terrorist gets hunted down and shot to death.
After all. It's what people who terrorize people deserve. You claim responsibility for attacking our buildings and citizens? Well good. Because in the process you claim responsibility for starting a war. You made the first shot, not the Americans.
Suck on those lemons.
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>> You made the first shot, not the Americans.
Already disproven. Terrorists were upset by American Government appointing America-Friendly dictators and destroying democracies.
The "first shot" was fired decades ago...but meh, terrorists are slow and took a while to act. :P
Maybe they were waiting for their problems to get fixed or something?
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America has always been a beacon of freedom through representative governmenment. Ask the Japanese who after the reconstrction of the Marshall plan are now a premier capitalist nation. Sony, NEC,Yamaha,Nissan etc. Where would we be without the "inteference" of America?
Islamofascists (sic) only want to destroy other belief systems and the people who hold them.
Islam needs to go thru a period of reformation as did the Catholic and Protestant Churches. The terror we are seeing is the ignorance born of a hatred of man's natural progress. The coalition forces throughout the world have forced the world to see the true intent of the terrorists. Now even Middle-eastern countries would rather have a representatve form of government (such as the US and UK) than the current dictatorships. The world now sees good and evil and must take sides.
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America may be trying now, but you've got a black history caused by your leaders, despite what you may think.
As I think I mentioned somewhere below in these ~hundreds of posts, terrorists would have chosen much larger targets if they had a beef with American people. After 9/11, a Canadian hacker was asked to test some American security, and found out he could break open a dam remotely, and the massive amount of water flooding out would have killed around ~3 million people.
They don't have a beef with most of the little guys(the people) - but it's obvious they want your government(or portions of it) down, or changed. So far they have aimed mostly at "rich, corporate" things, which indicates they don't like American corporations either.(And not liking your corporations is shared by a lot of people around the world. :P )
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one sure way to eliminate all functionality of the internet is by introducing politics to it. lets not get blinded by what politicians want to make us believe. the USA doesnt control the internet and for sure the UN should NOT !!! the internet is to serve mankind as a whole, not the human nitty gritty pathetic arguments of race, faith, color, sex, religion, money or what so ever ! where mankind failed by exposing its high level of education by putting man on the moon, the same people are still killing other people over futile disputes. the other great step for mankind is the maintenance of a politically free internet. as borders diminish, distance becomes virtual, access to knowledge is garanteed not by heritage, riches or political preferences, religious prehistorical motives, or other puny little arguments, but by pure functionality of the internet as we have come to know it. it is the future of mankind. let us hope this time man will leap to a better and more humane life...
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DIRKA DIRKA MOHAMMED JIHAD
DEATH TO THE INFIDEL
TEH LOLOMGROFLMAYONAISE
(request entire comment replies to this thread be deleted)
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Mec-a-leck-ahi-Mech-a-Hiney-HO
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OF course you want our comments deleted! It's because there is NO logic to your mantra of death. You cant argue for it, because there is no argument.
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Ok, firstly I am going to say, once again, that America is going to totally detroy terrorists (and muslims) Why, you might ask? Simple. We don't take too kindly to muslims because they want everyone on this planet dead except for them. I'm sorry if this sounds "Racist" or anything, but I have to say that I am pretty racist when it comes to my hating everyone who wants me and everyone else on this planet DEAD!
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WEIRD AL!!!
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who's better then who? I'm American, born & raised in the USA and love it but come on guys & girls...
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Argh! What is wrong with you people? All of you on both sides of the 'argument' are sitting here trying to say which person invented the router, which person invented http, which person invented blah blah blah....You are all so focused on the supposed details that you are totally missing the point of what the great United Nations is trying to do. The United States of America does not 'control' the internet. The people that create the policies, that work out the kinks, that get down and do the nitty gritty work on the evolution of the internet...these people just happen to be on US soil! Most of the organizations that do work on the structure of the internet are composed of many different cultures, and people of many different countries. They may not live in this country. They fly back and forth to and from the U.S. as needed. They have virtual conferencing over the same internet that they are trying to make better. And you know…the most important fact of all is that THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT ISN’T A PART OF THE INTERNET!!! These are non-government organizations, run by ACADEMICS! These are the intelligent people of the whole world coming together to create the policies that make the internet safer for you and me. These are the brains of society working on creating new hardware and software to make the internet faster, more secure, and easier to use. And the whole ‘western civilization using up all the ip addresses’ thing. Look people. If you are knowledgeable of computers what-so-ever, you will understand the basics of IP addressing. We are currently in IP version 4. That means that the IP addresses look like this…192.168.1.1… You can only have 4 sets of numbers, and those individual numbers only go as high as 255. Some numbers are set aside for use by the government, some set aside by private companies, most of the rest are set aside for all other companies to set up domains for anyone who wants to set up a website. Well you have to realize that, even with the private public addresses aside, there’s only so much space in the IP version 4 scheme. And so what do you think we should do? Do we control everyone who owns private addresses to give them up so that countries who got a late start in joining the internet community have more available addresses? No, of course not. That’s not their right to take away what you already own. That’s communism. What should they do then? Simple. Make more addresses. And that is already in the works and has been for years. It’s called IP version 6. Don’t ask me why they skipped over version 5, that’s unknown to me, but what I do know is that IPv6 is going to open up billions or more of new addresses. What does it look like? Well, I don’t have a solid example handy, but I can tell you that it has 6 octets instead of 4 like IPv4 has…not only that but the ip address is no longer limited to numbers. It now uses the hex format to give us a much wider range of addresses. So instead of 111.111.111.111, we have 1BE.45A.4B4.98C.1BC.3BH That’s an incredibly rough example considering I don’t remember my hexadecimal from college, but you get my drift. The ultimate point here is that we don’t need to move or change what already works for everyone. The only reason some of you have a problem about it is because you are being told to worry about it by the UN, and you are believing that there really is a problem, when there is none.
Now, the computer details aside, lets focus on the argument that doesn’t even belong on this website.
Mr. Shonk? Your asinine, idiotic and misinformed statement about how the United States gives less aid than any other country in the world…I’ll tackle that one first. Firstly do you even understand what the GDP is? Gross Domestic Product. Do you realize that you cannot consider percentages when talking about aiding the poor? You have to consider the actual numbers…the dollar signs. We give money freely from our own paychecks, we don’t have to give money to the government to give money for us. Take a look at these figures.
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• International giving by US foundations: $1.5 billion per year
• Charitable giving by US businesses: $2.8 billion annually
• American NGOs: $6.6 billion in grants, goods and volunteers.
• Religious overseas ministries: $3.4 billion, including health care, literacy training, relief and development.
• US colleges scholarships to foreign students: $1.3 billion
• Personal remittances from the US to developing countries: $18 billion in 2000
• Source: Dr. Carol Adelman, Aid and Comfort, Tech Central Station, 21 August 2002.
While Adelman admits that “there are no complete figures for international private giving” she still says that Americans are “clearly the most generous on earth in public — but especially in private — giving”. Hence these numbers and claims may be taken with caution, but even then, these are high numbers.
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Alright, that’s not enough? Check out this link, http://www.globalissues....umbersinChartsandGraphs
Personally I am sick of the politics, it is getting old. This is a pc related site. Go someone else to complain about the good ole United States. We are here as computer geeks, not as politicians.
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Well said, Voyager4383!
I have little faith in the ability of the UN to administer, govern or manage ANYthing! Let the 'non-government organizations' continue their good works, unencumbered by layers of bureaucratic guana.
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I believe that IPv6 has 274,941,996,890,625 possible IP addresses, vs. the 4,228,250,625 possible IP addresses in IPv4.
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I echo Kimoeagle, very well said!
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4,294,967,296 possible IP's, not 4,228,250,625.
Remember, 0 counts, so each byte has 256 combinations.
That also puts 6 byte IP's at 281,474,976,710,656 possible combinations.
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>> Well you have to realize that, even with the private public addresses aside, there’s only so much space in the IP version 4 scheme.
Not really. Your IP should look something like "207.65.93.15________________" technically, to identify your computer. Go look at the following site, and find "Shields Up!"
http://www.grc.com/stevegibson.htm#projects
Direct Link: https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
The point of interest is the IP it grabs.
>> not only that but the ip address is no longer limited to numbers. It now uses the hex format to give us a much wider range of addresses.
Hex IS numbers. 100 is equivalent to 0x64. 0xA0 = 160, 0xFF = 255.
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Good show chap!
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D'oh!
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You dullard,
your country gives more aid ("in actual numbers") because it's bigger. the % of GDP is the best measure because it's relative to country wealth and population. The UK, France & Japan give $25,170 million dollars (6,171 million more than america) with 47,219,255 less people, so you don't really do very well - but then we can't balme you for that because your thick!
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Alright. Brass tacks time.
Who give a flying F***! In the long run, who cares who gives the most money to poor people! The fact of the matter is that money is being given! The question should be do these poor people actually get the money they are supposedly sent? Who knows! And for crying out loud, you dullard, you need to realize that the GDP is only measuring how much money is being sent through government means. The American people as a whole donate a much larger quantity of funds as individuals, whether it's through charities, or the aid networks where you adopt a child, and believe me. From personal experience from seeing good friends who adopt children: They send them extra money whenever they can. They send letters back and forth to each other. The kid’s write back thanking my friend's for their help, and that they used the money to help pay for schoolbooks, or cheap wrist watches, things they need and want. You can't honestly tell me that you are going to continue assaulting Americans like this just because of us giving aid to poor countries. Honestly buddy, you need to get your head screwed on straight. We have enough internal problems and poor people in our country (yes, we have our own poor. Imagine that, one of the largest countries in the world having diversity...wow!). We use our money to solve more of our own problems than we do to aid others. But then you really can't truly help others until you help yourself. What kind of people would we be if we just gave money because it was there, when we had our own problems to take care of?
You also need to understand that American is a gigantic melting pot. You may or may not realize this, but not everyone thinks the same in America. We all have the right to believe what we want to believe, and so some people, anti-Christian as they may be, tend to believe that others will take care of the poor and so they do nothing.
And now I want the God honest truth from you sir. Just what do you have against our country? No matter what happens, you are going to find something to complain about. If we end up giving the most aid out of anyone in the entire world populace, then you will say something about how we are polluting the environment, if we fix that, then you will complain about something else. Heck, if we were a perfect example of a country that everyone would want to live in. If we were perfect in every way, then the people in the world like you would still find things to b*tc* and complain about. Not to mention the fact that whatever country you live in is imperfect in their own ways as well, so I don't want to hear about how much better you think you are than us.
Oh yeah, don't forget the fact that we in the United States are a Constitutional Republic. We are free to be individuals, to earn and keep most of our income. We are able to have individual ideas, and if we are intelligent, then we are able to move above and beyond the mindless drones that wander the globe. We are not over taxed just so that the government can decide where all of our money goes. I don't want the government controlling every detail of MY life, do you? That's socialism, and that sure isn't the way we do things in my Country! Take everything everyone makes, and divide it up between everyone. PLEASE! That's where your GDP is coming in. All you countries' governments are taking all of your money and spending it on aid. We here in the U.S.A. are totally free to make our OWN decisions on where we want our hard earned money spent. Not everyone wants to go to college, so why should everyone in the entire country pay in order to make any joe blow decide he wants to go to college, only to drop out. Being able to pay your own way into and through college, helps to give each college student the drive they need to succeed. They really WANT knowledge, they EARN it.
Oh, and this Meucci thing? Please. You are trying to tell me that the man that created the idea of using a hollow pipe to talk to his wife from his basement laboratory was credited with the invention of the telephone? By the House of Representatives. Well I can tell you that a resolution by the House of Representatives does not mean that it is regarded as fact by any other government office, or even by the American people. Please...Alexander Graham Bell created the TELE-PHONE...The telephone that uses electronic signals to transmit and receive voice signals from across the globe. Are you trying to tell me that some dorky Italian inventor who made a hollow metal pipe to talk to his sick wife is going to be fully credited with the invention of the telephone? Please. It's not the idea of the telephone that counts when it comes to the invention of the actual machine! It's the first person to actively CREATE that idea into a solid machine or physical object while using the ideas of previous scientists. They are the one's who history remembers. The people who got up off of their rears and actively ACHIEVED something.
I would like to have seen this Meucci fellow create a hollow metal pipe that goes around the world to be able to talk to India. If that's the case, any kid with two cans and a string could be credited with the invention of the telephone.
Please, feel free to go ahead attempt to bash me in with your frivolous details. I'm sure you are going to attempt to do just that. Throw numbers at me like you know what you are talking about.
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Close, but not quite. In the first octet alone, the values 0, 127, 224-239 and 255 are "special". 0 and 255 are broadcast. 127 is loopback. 224-239 are multicast. These are special in the TCP/IP stack itself, so they can't be used for any other purpose. That means, 237*256^3 at minimum (3,976,200,192 addresses), and only if you don't care about internet connectivity. There are also at least 97 IANA Reserved address ranges in that first octet alone. Many can probably be assigned and used on the internet, but some can't.
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Ooh, nice, didn't know that.
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I think stiow was implying your government sucks.
>> (yes, we have our own poor. Imagine that, one of the largest countries in the world having diversity...wow!)
That's not diversity. That's chance(of being poor). Diversity is generally thought of as a good thing, and in this case, it is not(so the word should not be used).
>> We use our money to solve more of our own problems than we do to aid others. But then you really can't truly help others until you help yourself. What kind of people would we be if we just gave money because it was there, when we had our own problems to take care of?
Canada has more problems that America does...or atleast more "not self created" problems. Actually, we probably have more self-created problems too, but we still give. Generous Canadian people don't generally have a lot of money though, due to us being taxed so high.
>> If we were perfect in every way, then the people in the world like you would still find things to b*tc* and complain about.
No they wouldn't. You'd be the pride of the planet. Every other would aspire to become like the great Americans.
>> I don't want the government controlling every detail of MY life, do you? That's socialism, and that sure isn't the way we do things in my Country!
Welcome to Canada man. A 15% tax on all products, and also a nice 40% income tax if you make a reasonble amount.
>> They really WANT knowledge, they EARN it.
Lots of Americans have drive. That's one dislike by many Canadians, as American corporations come up here and out advertise, service, and price us. It is a good quality though, and I think if Canadians had it we could do a lot of good.
>> Please. You are trying to tell me that the man that created the idea of using a hollow pipe to talk to his wife from his basement laboratory was credited with the invention of the telephone?
Apparently he completed working telephones, and sold them for inter-house communication. Guess he never realized that they could be used for inter-building or inter-town communication too. :P
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TAPPA doesn't need your zero!
I quote TAPPA:
"And if the Middle East wants the zero they can have it!";)
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Hey dude. I'm not being a smart-ass or anything, but I am curious about your country. Heck, I love Canada. Heck, I've got relatives who live in Canada! And I love Barenaked Ladies, an excellent Canadian band! So please, this isn't anything against you or Canada, keep that in mind:)
Ok, I'm curious. Do you guys still have a functioning army? I've heard that your army is going bankrupt because it's no longer receiving funds from your government. If so, that is such a dangerous thing for your country. Wow, I mean we here in America take pride in our soldiers, out military and everthing it stands for. It's kind of frightning to imagine that you guys up there no longer have any protection from outside forces. If there was a war, we would have to (but gladly) help you guys out, but we have enough property to have to protect, our forces would be spread a little thin if we had to help you guys out. No offense or anything dude, it's just a question...and a comment :)
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Ah, yes, but there really are only a limited about of free ip addresses. A good example is my ISP...Bellsouth. They have a certain range of ip addresses that they own...or lease or whatever. let's say that it is the entire 207.62-67.xxx.xxx range. Not accurate, but a good generalization. At any given time they have both static ip addresses sold/leased to individuals and companies for web server usage, and the dynamic addresses used for dhcp for thier dial up and dsl customers. Anyway, the ultimate point is that the ip4 scheme has been working out for awhile for a few reasons. A private company can afford to have at least one ip address per public server. The company's modem link to the 'outside world' might only be one ip address. But what happens to the computers inside the company's routers? They can't all have direct, public ip addresses to the internet. They all communicate through the company's router and modem, and so they can all have thier own ip addressing scheme. Like a miniature scaled internet inside the company, using addresses that are supposed to be reserved or bought by other companies? At least I think that's how it works, I'm still a little fuzzy on all the networking stuff that I'm supposed to be learning in college :)
I do know, however, that ipv6 is supposed to help. This is taken directly from ipv6.org's website on the topic 'what is ipv6?'
"IPv6 is short for "Internet Protocol Version 6". IPv6 is the "next generation" protocol designed by the IETF to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 ("IPv4").
Most of today's internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.
IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network autoconfiguration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period."
So I don't know. Argh, and I think I explained the ipv6 thing wrong anyway, I was trying to look for an example, but I ended up creating my own, and I think it's wrong. So here. Anyone that wants to know anything about ip version 6 should go to
www.ipv6.org
because they have more resources there than I can provide. Let them answer your questions :)
L8R...
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No offense taken, and none meant. I find many of your posts well written and informative, but I also want to respond to them. :D
We don't have a strong army. We have a peace-keeping army mostly, and pretty much only enough soldiers to keep 3-4 small countries reasonably safe and at peace. At any one time Canada usually has atleast 1000 soldiers at home guarding it.
Months and months ago our PM(Paul Martin) got talked into increasing military spending. To my knowledge it was something like 15 billion extra over the next 5 years, and no more cuts(in order to sustain it).
Personally, I think our own people are a bigger asset to guarding us. We have hundreds of thousands of people that are skilled in the wilderness, something I'm pretty sure few Iraqi, Japanese, British, and French are skilled at. I also doubt most invaders have great skill in large unihabitted areas with lots of plants. Vietnam somewhat proved that point(the skill in wilderness part - not the unihabitted part).
Edit: And seriously, what do we have to fear? Most countries would be very upset if Canada was taken over. If the US took over Canada, you'd pretty much have umlimitted resources, which would frighten many and send terrorism through the roof. If Canada were attacked, we have a nice strong US below us ready to help(We do give the best deals on our resources to you guys, as opposed to ourselves). Most Americans, and I'm pretty sure countries like Britain, Australia - probably the entire EU actually - would rather see Canada independant. Terrorists probably would too, since we're kinda harmless this way.
With that considered, our army is better off creating peace, than guarding us from a threat other countries won't allow anyways. :)
It's a nice position to be in.
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Well thanks for clarifying.
I hope Canada will be able to continue to help us in our fight against terrorism...by helping to beef up our border security on both sides. Anything to prevent terrorists from traveling back and forth between our two countries would be a big help, I'm sure.
Wow, and your edit about not having anything to fear? Wow, thats really a scary thought dude. My biggest fear for you is not really an attack from outside, but weaknesses from within.
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And you'd better hope we can maintain our army in the meantime, considering our press is doing everything they can to tear it down.
A good analogy would have to be the Ostrich. Always keeping your head in the sand, and your butt in the air...is a dangerous policy.
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If we're attacked, we're attacked. If there was an all out war, who has the resources? Canada and the US mostly, because we have the land. I mean sure, there's places like China/India too, but I doubt they'd be attacking us, so any small country would automatically have a disadvantage of resources.
If we're hit by terrorism...well, the common cold and drunk driving both each kill more people per year than terrorists do in most first world countries. Hundreds of thousands - many not even at old age. I'm not going to let the possibility that perhaps a bomb could shmack me bother me if I'm somewhere in this insanely huge country, when there's such a greater chance that I'll just die from getting sick, or a drunk driver will hit me.
Sounds bad, but it's true. You probably have 100000x the chance of dieing from a car crash or just being sick. I'd actually guess even more than that, and if you stay out of "risky" areas that terrorists might be after(anything that will make a statement about how "great" they are), it's fairly safe to say the chance is nil.
Ofcourse it isn't nil, but it just won't happen to me...and if it does - oh well, you have to die somehow.
Edit: Can you tell I don't have kids yet? :P
My opinion would change if I did.
Edit2: Also, I think a major ally against terrorists doing anything large-scale is Arabs. They really do have a decent religion, and aside from the totally insane extremists, they're mostly really nice people.(I mean, you do ofcourse get gerks in every crowd, regardless of religion)
If they really did kill millions in say...the US, before much, much, MUCH more hate was built up against you, you'd have pretty much every reasonable Islamic person on your side. Probably the entire world, except the terrorists, and the world would do what it could prevent it happening again.
But the way it is now...lots of countries that brew terrorists lose more people that 9/11 every day. They have no sympathy, especially for what they view as an illegal Iraq war.
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Whoa...alright, I understand what you are saying dude, but (and I don't have kids either, I'm only 22 :) )but seriously. It isn't the variable number of people that die through terroristic murder in my country. I don't know, maybe you just would have had to have been here, but this attack happened in our most well known, and most populated city(at least in my eyes, I don't know the numbers, it's just how I grew up thinking that NYC was the biggest city in my country)! And it wasn't just some car bomb going off. You know, there is a huge difference between some guy blowing up a building in the middle of the country, that just doesn't get recognised as much. And that was a car bomb. What I am talking about is that our American Spirit was attacked. We americans have so much pride in our country. We are proud of all the good it stands for, for the freedoms that we have and we are dam* proud of the army that protects us. But when people start hijacking our passenger filled jet liners and within a few hours destroy the both of the world trade center towers, destroy a large part of one side of the pentagon, and then have a fourth plane on it's way to your nation's capital (thank God the passengers took back some control of the plane and were able to get it to crash before it got to washington dc)...I mean, how are we supposed to react? Like it's just some random terrorist attack on a country that's supposedly "too big for it's britches (slang term for pants..I think it's a southern thing)". The 9/11 attacks were just that. I am quite sorry, but you cross the line from being 'someone who is worried about the way america runs it's business' into a fully fledged terrorist, when you train for years to be able to take over airplanes and crash them into two of the largest and most well known buildings in America. I'm very sorry sir, but these 4 attacks were quite directed at harming our American spirit...not just damaging some buildings to make us think about thier situation. Yes, we hurt for a while, and some of the families who lost loved family members are still greiving, but we have mostly gotten over our pain. We have used the attacks on our country in order to fire up our spirit even more. We were attacked at our heart...and we are going to fight back. What I don't understand is why people around the world just can't see that fact? I mean, they attacked national monuments! Did they down a plane on the statue of liberty? Of course not. They attacked well known monuments that were filled with people. What if there was a meeting of congress, or a supreme court case in progress, or what if the president had been present in the white house. If that one plane hadn't been stopped it would have killed many important people in our government.
Now, I really want to know. How can you equate a terrorist attack like what happened to the U.S., to a drunk driver. It isn't about 'what are the chances that YOU will get struck by one of these bombs, or be in a building that gets struck by an airplane'. What it is about is pride in your country. Caring about the soverignty of your nation. I don't know why you aren't seeing that. Maybe you don't care about your country like we do? Do you have any feelings of pride for your country? What would it take to stir up your feelings and really make you mad at terrorists? Believe me...that has already happened to us...THAT is what drives us to destroy terrorism in the world. There is no place for small groups of terrorists who bomb and kill a country's CITIZENS!!! Why are the terrorists trying to make us hurt? Why are they attacking our souls like this? And just what do they expect to accomplish? And what is it going to take to make your people realize just what the hell is going on in the world? Is it really going to take mass murder on a grandiose scale to make the world finally beleive that something must be done? How many more people have to die in order for it to be wrong? Do we have to have a death toll number that goes above all other statistics in order for you to see that that what the terrorists are doing is WRONG?
God...why do most of the people in the world have to have such cold hearts. Some, not most, but some of you out there feel absolutely nothing for the people that died here in America. I don't understand that. Even before 9/11 happened here, I felt very upset for all the people who died in other countries because of terrorism and bombings. If some faction claims fame for doing one of these dastardly deeds...why don't you DO something about it? When are you going to get a kick in your complacency...when it's too late?
I really don't know guys and gals. I don't know what it is going to take for you all to understand what these people are doing. Is it really going to take a full scale attack on the good guys for the world to realize that the terrorists are claiming war on us? Everyone needs to really listen to thier own hearts and minds, and not listen to what the national and worldwide news media are saying. All of the media has thier own slant on the world...they might say one little thing that makes you think 'hmm...maybe they are right. Ha! I'm going to listen to everything they have to say to me, regardless of what my conscience is telling me.'
>>>Ofcourse it isn't nil, but it just won't happen to me...and if it does - oh well, you have to die somehow.
Wow...well I don't know anything about you or what you beleive in, but I am certainly going to pray that you don't get flamed or bombed by a terrorist...that would really be a worthless death, in my eyes. I hope everyone gets to live long an healthy lives, surround by thier loved ones. Kramy dude? Ya gotta get out of your little comfort zone. Complacency is really going to be your country's undoing.
I don't know what else to say...I've already said it all, as plainly as I can handle saying it. There really is no excuse why someone can't read what I said, and not be even partly touched. Unless you are already dead (or killed off your conscience...how can a person not care about what happens to another person...that's just beyond me.) Are people so caught up in themselves that they can't get thier heads out of the sand and look around?
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>> I'm very sorry sir, but these 4 attacks were quite directed at harming our American spirit...not just damaging some buildings to make us think about thier situation.
Exactly. You hit it right on the nose - it definitely got your attention.(which in hindsight, appears to have been stupid of the terrorists. :P )
>> What it is about is pride in your country. Caring about the soverignty of your nation. I don't know why you aren't seeing that. Maybe you don't care about your country like we do?
Again, I think you hit it right on the nose. Canada isn't a "melting pot" like many other nations. We just accept that every Canadian is different, and every country is different. We have people from all over the world - why would anyone attack a place that has their own people living there?
>> Do you have any feelings of pride for your country? What would it take to stir up your feelings and really make you mad at terrorists?
I suppose if they did attack, it would have to be a very large one. Nothing under 100 will get my attention really. I think my barrier for caring is probably around the 50,000 mark, but perhaps higher. Still, as I mentioned above, if terrorists did attack us on such a large scale, I think the world would be quite a bit more upset than a few thousand(no offense). Even small countries that can't relate at all know that 50,000, or 100,000 is a rather large number to lose in an attack, even if they lose that many people every few weeks to sickness and disease.
>> Why are the terrorists trying to make us hurt? Why are they attacking our souls like this? And just what do they expect to accomplish?
Ahh, now you feel the same as many people do in poor countries...not the terrorists I mean - they're quite angry - but the people in small countries, with barely enough food, that can't do anything about it and only know that the "American corporation, Shell Oil" is taking all their resources and not helping them or their children.
>> in order for you to see that that what the terrorists are doing is WRONG?
Ofcourse it's wrong. Drunk driving is wrong, but terrorism is so much more so wrong, because it inspires fear in hearts, and affects so many. With drunk driving, there is no fear until it happens - but that doesn't change that it's more likely to happen to you.
>> God...why do most of the people in the world have to have such cold hearts.
Actually, I believe that's something to do with "Aspergers Syndrome". It's a form of high-functioning autism, and everywhere I go it seems like 50% of people have a few traits or others from it. Actually, it's pretty much 100% that have a trait or two, but it's only really visible when you get a couple dozen of the traits in a single person. I wouldn't be surpised if about 10% of North Americans had enough traits to be classified "Aspergers/Autistic"(which is pretty high), now that we actually know what it is in the last few years.
I'm not a terribly emotional person, but I know a few people that if you ask them about 9/11 they'll say things like "Yeah, so? I don't care.", which even to me seems a bit cold(although I understand where they're coming from).
>> When are you going to get a kick in your complacency...when it's too late?
It's already too late, at least on the domestic end of things. Pharmaceuticals and oil already own the world. I'm more worried about losing all my money(not that much :P ) than dying, since after I die I'm not exactly going to need it, or have any worries about this planet either.
>> Complacency is really going to be your country's undoing.
So true. We also have apathy too though, and lots of people that don't want to work(unlike me), so that's a rather uphill battle. :P
>> how can a person not care about what happens to another person...that's just beyond me.
I hope I explained that well enough just above. Aspergers has various affects, and I'm not familiar with them all, or even most of them.
For me I really like sorting things, and my passion is anything computer related. Also, I like all the TV remotes to be lined up with the kleenex box on the back of our couch, or it really irritates me a lot....LOT..
It's actually some problem with the brain connecting different regions. So since we already know the brain takes turns running your body, my emotional brain might be sleeping at the moment while I respond to this, and my logical one doesn't really know enough or have enough connections to get the point across that IT SHOULD WAKE UP to form a proper sympathetic response. This can actually be kinda useful in a mild degree, since I remain completely logical most of the time, and rarely if ever panic.
Edit: Also I just noticed I seem to respond systematically, while lots of seemingly "normal" people make long sentences and paragraphs.
I hope I don't reflect badly on Canada. Lots of people felt really sorry for you when 9/11 happened, and I know thousands of Canadians were at the blood banks right after they heard, wanting to help in any way they could since they couldn't actually get there.
But like I mentioned, Canada isn't a melting pot(although melting pots have different people too). We're all different, and we all accept it, and not just within the same country. I've actually found you make some very great points, but I also have to respond with my "heart", since that's what comes to mind.
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The last I heard, shell oil was buying oil from poor countries, and provided them with jobs. Turning poor countries into rich companies. I don't understand where the news sources are that are making every one of our large corporations into 'boogeymen'. I'm sure there are some companies out there that have some practices that aren't totally kosher, but I don't know that they are all that bad. I mean, if your resources are being bought, and giving you money. What are these small contries' governments doing with the money we, and other nations, give them? I think there's something wrong there, where the money is being distributed. Goverments and drug lords?
Alot of people in the U.S. have privately funded or non-profit organizations that are sent out to poor nations. Christian organizations go out and help wherever they can, and not all of them go our JUST to preach to jesus-less people:) Seriously though, The U.S. sets up loan and grant corporations in a few poor countries so that the people can directly get money to help start or continue thier businesses. I mean, we help where we can, but we can't do everything!
I am a strong believer in the following age old adage:
"Give a man a fish, you feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."
Now tell me where just giving money to poor governments and warlords is going to help the people of those countries. And it seems that even when we help out by starting farms, and that kind of thing. Someone in the government (usually a dictator) comes along and destroys all of our hard work for the people, and even kills us off!
Dude. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but most people here (mostly the older Americans who are totally filled with pride in our country, considering a few of them have gone through wars themselves) would totally kick you on your a** for your comment about the over 3,000 people that died in 9/11. I'm sorry, but 3,000 people is a s***load of people! I didn't even have 3,000 in my entire high school!!! Could you imagine 4 jetliners hitting a high school with people you know and care about in it?
Listen to this too. We lost over a trillion dollars in 9/11. And it took us a little over 2 full years to get our stock market back up to where it was.
Do you remember the Russian school where almost 700 children were held hostage in thier own elementary school on the first day of school, during an assembly in thier gym. The terrorists had rigged explosives in different places in thier gym, and held them there for, I believe, three days...in other words a total nightmare. The children were denied food, water, and bathroom utilities this whole time...even babies. Most of those over the age of 12 were simply executed. Some children were threatened with death simply when another child cried. There was no air-conditioning in this building, and some kids passed out from the heat, and those kids were quickly executed for passing out! Children who tried to escape were shot in the back. Various explosives were detonated just to prove the terrorists point. In the end around 300 of the 700 children were killed. Chechen terrorists were to blame for the attack...and they are now known Al-Quaida members.
Danny Pearl. He was beheaded on video for the world to see. It was done with a dull pocketknife. He was a reporter from the Wall Street Journal. Did he, just one lone man, deserve to die by terrorist hands? Is that one death justified?
Last year in Jordan, the terrorist Zarquawi and his 'minions of doom' attempted to kill over 80,000 people. They were planning on using a poisonous gas to be dispersed by explosions in the Jordanian intellegence building and various embassies throughout Ammam, Jordan. Fortunately the plan was stopped before they succeeded...if this plan HAD succeeded, would that have caught yours, and the world's attention?
Three good examples besides what happened in the U.S. We aren't just fighting for America. We are fighting to help free everyone in the world from terrorism. I'm sorry, but even a terrorist that kills one person, deserves to die in turn. You must be able to see that. How can you feel comfortable in knowing that you have an actual death toll number that is acceptable to you? I really can't believe that you feel that heartless. There's a saying, "Open the eyes of your heart", that's kind of fitting for what I am trying to describe here dude.
By the way...In the world trade center, there were people respresenting over 130 countries that died that day...not just americans. Never a truer melting pot that the World Trade Centers. Even muslims died there. Anyone who does not belive what they belive, deserve to die violently. You are not exempted from that list of infidels who must die, in their eyes. They really don't care who you are inside, all they care about is that you are not them, and so justly deserve to die.
"If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'."
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>> Now tell me where just giving money to poor governments and warlords is going to help the people of those countries.
It won't, but that won't change the fact that in one country(forget the name) around 5 billion from shell oil went missing(last year), that was *supposed* to go to the people, rather than wherever it went in the government. There was a Canadian documentary about it, but I don't remember the exact details.
Shell was quite proud that it was investing hard in the country, with an astounding 35 million in aid, farming, and construction programs per year.
>> Did he, just one lone man, deserve to die by terrorist hands? Is that one death justified?
Ofcourse not. I think they're totally sick for wanting to inflict that much pain with a slow death.
>> if this plan HAD succeeded, would that have caught yours, and the world's attention?
Yes, but there's nothing I can do from Canada other than donate to aid agencies.
>> We are fighting to help free everyone in the world from terrorism. I'm sorry, but even a terrorist that kills one person, deserves to die in turn.
I agree - as I do for murderers.
>> How can you feel comfortable in knowing that you have an actual death toll number that is acceptable to you?
I never said acceptable. For me there's a certain point at which I would become seriously worried, and actively support hunting them down(considering the cost). But if I worry about terrorists right now...well, they're bad, but if I worry then they have succeeded. I don't want that, so why worry until they do something really big? As I mentioned, terrorism is bad - worse than most other ways of dying - but I DO have a much greater chance of being hit by a drunk driver, so let me reitterate.
Terrorism -> Very very bad.
Drunk Driving -> Bad.
Terrorism -> Few deaths here.
Drunk Driving -> Lots of deaths here
Fear caused by Terrorism -> Terrorists succeed.
Fear caused by Drunk Driving -> Do you fear driving? I don't.
So, reitterated, I agree with you, and refuse to let them affect me mentally when the chance they'll affect me physically is so low at the current time.
>> They really don't care who you are inside, all they care about is that you are not them, and so justly deserve to die.
Fine. If they feel that way and try to kill me, I'll fight back. But most terrorists don't start out so extreme(I mean, none of us are born like that - we're taught, and grow based on experiences). That's the problem - lots of countries have been fighting for a long time, so that's all that many know. Small terrorist groups that are(unsuccessfully) fighting for a cause grow and start doing worse things, until they emerge as awful groups trying to kill many.
That means they can be removed by fixing the problems creating them - or by just killing them all.
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K, I gotcha. I just don't understand what it is that they want from us. They hate americans (and others) for some reason. Well what is it? What do the want from us, if not to simply instill fear in our hearts until they kill us? I don't see what is so important to them that they have to kill for it. They are going after America like we are all evil or something...like we are an abomination on earth, and I know that we are not.
I don't know..and honestly, I am getting tired of the constant political debate we've got going on here. I'm not mad or anything, I'm just tired of messing with it. Unfortunately some people are smart and know what needs to be done. The unfortunate part is that not one of those people are politicians.
I think I'm done posting, at least to the political stuff. It's gotten old, and I've got better things to do.
It's been nice, and interesting talking to you Kramy.
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>> Well what is it? What do the want from us, if not to simply instill fear in our hearts until they kill us?
I don't know what they want - They all have different reasons I'm sure, but unfortunately, some don't have reasons anymore. I mentioned above that "lots of countries have been fighting for a long time, so that's all that many know", which is(again) unfortunate, but true. If you grew up with nothing but war and death, and were told it was all better before the Americans came, you'd grow to hate them irrationally, even if they have changed since then(or atleast their government has - it never really was the American people doing it, just the government, and I suppose the army).
It's unfortunate, but right now America seems to be receiving a backlash from decades ago - and responding to it by confirming terrorists' mostly false beliefs. It's only now they are able to retaliate, which is unforunate because in some places an entire generation grew up with that hate before it got noticed.
So I suppose we're both right technically. The original terrorists had logical reasons, and wanted what was best for their countries. Many of the new ones have grown up as a generation surrounded by hate, and only want to destroy the ones that caused their horrible suffering.
Too bad they can't turn back time, and hurt the ones that screwed their countries rather than today's innocents.
>> I am getting tired of the constant political debate we've got going on here.
Me too...I was just about ready to throw in the hat aswell, but I must say this has been good debate and conversation. It made me realize there's atleast one both intelligent and nice person in America - usually I just get bashed by Americans online, as my beliefs are rather hard for many to relate to. :)
>> The unfortunate part is that not one of those people are politicians.
Heh, yeah. I think I'm going to watch some Dr Who. That's always a funny comedy. :D
Nice and interesting talking to you too. :)
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Im from the us but lets take this from you guys' british view. The us is the only thing that is stopping communism. All you english and other UN countries look at everything as its not my problem. If iraq started to take over all the middle east then it would take over europe and england. By the way iraq had enough bacteria to kill more than everyone on the face of the earth in a week. All getting put into their nice little missiles. And we monitor the internet to prevent terrorism. If the UN monitored the internet they couldnt do any better. And in when hitler was taking over Europe who protected you? The us. And when we found that england was unfairly ruling us in the us little farmers shot muscket balls at you. And then we still gave you freedom. Who said we ever had to build an internet in any other country? Im sick of searching in google and finding all kinds of websites in different languages. You europeans can have your own internet and i wont lose a second of sleep over it. And then we'll pull all the us companies out of europe too. Lets see no more microsoft, no more sony, no more red hat, no more texas instruments, no more... im not even going to list the rest.
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Well, I hope no one ever shoots a "muscket" ball at me, whatever that is!
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Sony is a U.S. company?
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>> By the way iraq had enough bacteria to kill more than everyone on the face of the earth in a week.
That's funny, cause I heard the opposite. Oh well, the US also has that much bacteria. Actually, the US can kill everyone about 8 times over, and then launch hundreds of nukes to create a nuclear winter. :P
>> And in when hitler was taking over Europe who protected you?
Uh...ok. I guess I was under the false impression the US fought off Japan(mostly) while the rest of us went after Germany...or something.
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You ever watched Band of Brothers?
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Nope, not at all. But can I hazard a guess and say it was made in America?
Also note that I said "I guess I was under the false impression", which indicates I learned I was wrong. :P
I do know the US took a while to join in though, and they ended it by nuking someone.
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I do like you crazy yanks - your all mouth and no brains (and certainly no trousers)! SONY is a Japanese company, and the English won the 2nd world war not the yanks - you need to buy some history books
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Heck, who are we to decide what was right and wrong based on what happened in the past. What's past is passed.
That and I really don't think WWII could have ended as well if we hadn't done everything we did...and we certainly did more than nuke the Japanese. You have to remember, the only reason we attacked Japan is because they attacked Pearl Harbor. The unfortunate thing is that most people look up thier information on the web, and discover only half truths, and partial lies. If you want the real story, look it up in a library. (heck, I take that back considering that some countries [Egypt] teach thier students that Israel doesn't even exist as a country, so you can't totally go by books.) We really must learn to fully reasearch all the truth behind the world's history. Everyone has thier slant on it to make thier country look bigger and better than everyone elses. I remember learning in school about the world, and I heard about all the views. Where the U.S. won, where the U.S. lost...where we were right, where we were wrong...I learned about everything, and I only graduated out of high school in 2001!
Argh, I don't know. I am really getting to the point where I don't care anymore. I'm young, but I just can't handle the stress from all the crap that's happening in the world. Unfortunately the world doesn't work the way I wish it would. I just want everyone to get along, but usually when I say that, someone comes along and says that I am being childish, and thinking with the 'mind of the child' Well I'll be dammed if that's not the type of mindset we should be in! Why must we be to hateful towards one another? Why does this Earth have to have the problems we have? I swear I wish there were times we could get ever mind on this earth to meet up somewhere (it would kinda smell like burning batteries, but I digress) so that we can all just sit down and come up with a worldwide solution that we all can live with. One that doesn't involve death, hatred, and for the lack of a better world, a world without evil. I'm not preaching my Christian beliefs or anything, that is beside the point. The point is that there are people in this world who want us all quite dead. What are we going to do about those people? And what is going to have to happen to bring peace to our world? I'm telling you that it isn't going to happen, and when it does, it's going to be the end of things.
It's very unfortunate, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
We are a sad sad race. I'm not all too surprised at all if any passing alien race comes by and says "Well flerk that! We aren't going there! Those people aren't civilized!".
Sad, but true. If we really look at ourselves as a whole from an outside prospective, we, as a WHOLE, do not belong on this planet. We bicket too much. It's giving me a headache :)
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Well said, and I agree. Humans do bicker too much, but we war aswell. I'm guessing that's part of the reason we haven't made contact with any aliens.
On an interesting note, "extinct" species keep popping up in the middle of nowhere away from humans. I wonder where they're coming from? ;)
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Kramy seems you are wrong an awefull lot.
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I have no idea how to respond to that, since you never actually post your opinions.
Edit: Oh wait, that was an opinion. :P
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Don't respond that's the point! Your comments are usually without knowledge and are pretty stupid! Go back and read a few of yours it does bring out your ignorance, but then as you say you are from Canada.
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Nuked them twice!
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And naturally, all Canadians are stupid and ignorant, since we ride Elk to school and live out in the boonies. -_-
Hey...wha...damn, where'd I get this computer? O_o
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well lets see here... as far as I know...
Car........................usa
Phone......................usa
Plane......................usa
Home computer..............usa
TV.........................usa
Light Bulb.................usa
Artificial Heart...........usa
Air Conditioning...........usa
Calculator.................usa
Cellular Phone.............usa
Escalator..................usa
Fiber optics...............usa
Flashlight.................usa
Optical laser..............usa
Liquid crystal displays....usa
Need I go on ffs!! USA inventors gave you all this and the internet too. And yet they still hate us lol!! Don't hate Appreciate!!
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I'm an American...but excuse me....for a moment. It was the Middle East that gave us a written language and the principles of math, including the zero, a necessary placeholder, among many other things, thousands of years ago. Without much of what they gave us, you wouldn't have any of your toys.
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I hate to bring this up, but just as a start, your Car was first invented by a Frenchman(steam)..while the first internal combustion car came from German inventors.
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