Carbon

I'm not sure who gives the most total (it could very well be the US with the size of our economy), but the Scandinavian nations are the ones that give the most foreign aid per capital.

Curb Zone

 

Hypersonic

Good point there Carbon - Ireland is also very generous.

Germaniac

If there's one trend I see in individual political parties it's that they generally never do things for long-term advantage or with approach situations with considerable foresight. All they want is for their country to prosper and benefit immediately, leading to the populace being happy with them, leading to them staying in power. This is a simplistic analysis but I think it the most part to be true. Political parties don't say (with some exception recently to environmental concerns and the like) "Hey, this such and such will dramatically help America in 30 years, who cares if it means we need to spend big and use lots of resources now, who cares if it means we get voted out of parliament!!" Governments want to stay in power, and to do so they need to implement policies and proceed with actions that the people can see benefits the country immediately, not when "we should be running out of fuel in the next 20-30 years". Maybe I'm wrong, but this (no foresight or longsightedness in politics) is a pattern I see ....

Carbon

This is true. This is why next to no politician proposes for any tax increases (even if they are needed unless you can cut a significant amount of corruption somehow) because it is political suicide.

Snake Vargas

I find that to be very silly. Taxes aren't bad as such, but when people start whingeing about the state of public transport, hospitals, education, roads, you name it, they can forget that the money used for that is only what they're willing to put in for their own society. Not to mention those who advocate a 'user pays' system because it's 'fair to only have to pay for what you use, and not for someone else's benefit', and wonder where all the compassion has gone in our world.

The other way to complain is to blame it all on fat-cat salaries - but hey, if that was themselves, there wouldn't be much complaining about this great new job where you get stacks of cash. Some moderation would be nice though.

As for poor countries.. I guess that idle hands and poverty makes for dangerous people. With nothing to lose and time to spare, why not find a 'noble' cause or something to live (or die) for?

---

Robert, nice poem. However, before I read your comment, I would have taken a slightly different view on it - the main point being similar, that life does go on; but more so that we need to continue to live our lives despite what happened, and that's the way that we can consider whether we 'survive' as a society, or not. Tragedies can't be allowed to be the focus of the rest of your life. Sure, in the world, maybe somewhere there are people "starving, being tortured, or committing suicide" - but there are also babies born, marriages and friendships, children playing and people enjoying a meal together. Everyone has a story. The little things that a life is made up of.

Ok, now I'm really going far out..

Hypersonic

Yes that's it exactly SV - you are correct.

I remember hearing some people on the radio discussing that poem just after September 11 - one guy said that he was walking down a street in London and passed a store where he just happened hear something about "TERROR IN AMERICA" coming from a radio or television - he didn't take much notice of it. When he got back home and turned on his TV - he was shocked to see what had happened. A women from Manhattan said she woke up, got out of bed, had breakfast, then a shower, and then got dressed. Finally she opened her curtains to see smoke billowing from one of the World Trade Center towers.

As you said Snake, everyone has a story.

Yaz AMG

I got a similar DVD in the mail more than a year ago. I think their website is
- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. I don’t know where I put it now, but it was interesting to watch.

The argument against the Pentagon attack is a little convincing since there was no wreckage of the plain and the only video from them doesn’t show anything. I mean come on, this is the heart of the Unite States military and all they have is a crappy video that shows nothing but a fireball.

As for the WTC, from a structural engineer’s point of view, that’s how it was supposed to collapse. Remember, all the columns for the towers were on the exterior, that’s why the windows were so narrow. I watched a documentary on the construction of the WTC and the towers were design to withstand an airplane crashing into it.

This is a nice link to the observation deck at the WTC:
- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

yomomwhat

This is actually really wierd!! (mainly the end part, but read it all first)
1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.
This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.
Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.
Now this is where things get totally weird:
The most recognised symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic
holy book:
"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."
That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran.
uncovinced about all of this Still ..?! Try this and see how you feel after this next bit

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:

1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the twin towers.
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS 1
What do you think now?!!



crazy huh? ive seen the video before, its pretty crazy but i still don't believe it....just if it was done by bush then why did al qaeda own up to it andddddd so many people would not have been able to keep such a big secret..

live4mercedes

yeah i knew that all before with that code and changin it to webdings.
Its very interesting.

MikeJ

When the Wingdings font was first introduced, Microsoft was charged with anti-semitism because of the symbols you get when you type "NYC".

The conspiracy theories make for nice reading, but as far as I'm concerned I think it would be impossible to hide any conspiracy of that size.

Curb Zone