Dobbs 3K

He knows this, but repeats the same idealistic ecological drivel all the time. It's people like him that make me hate bicyclists. Seriously, they tend to be some of the most self-absorbed people I've encountered. "Oh, I'm helping the earth, and I'm getting healthy doing it!" Yay, that's fine. I need my car, though. I run my own small business, with multiple locations, so I have to drive a good deal. Yes, that is my choice, but there are millions of Americans with similar work situations that the rising gas prices are really putting a hurt on. Besides that, I too, live in a small town with no mass transit options. The government made it that way, so they should be the ones to help the people who elected them and fix the damn issue.

Surprised no one is talking about this too much. This is a pretty big deal, what with the Beijing Olympics coming up. I bolded a couple quotes that I found very telling regarding China's position. I am wondering when more of the world is going to call them out for this stuff. http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080319...ru-bb10fb8.html BEIJING - Chinese officials blasted the Dalai Lama as a "wolf in monk's robes" Wednesday and said protests among Tibetans this month have sparked a life-and-death struggle between China and followers of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. State media, meanwhile, reported more than 100 people had surrendered to police in and around Tibet's regional capital of Lhasa, where peaceful protests against Chinese rule turned violent last Friday. The communist government had promised leniency for those who handed themselves in _ and harsh punishment for those who did not. "Those criminals ... shouldn't think they can get lucky. All criminals will definitely be caught in the net," the official Tibet Daily newspaper said in a report posted on its Web site. It was impossible to confirm the reports and no figures were given for people hunted down and arrested. Foreign media are banned from Tibet, and China's entirely state-controlled media have faithfully reported only the official version of events, in which the government has said rioters killed 16 people. The government said troops did not fire on protesters and has denied claims by overseas Tibetan groups that 80 people were killed. The Lhasa protests marked the biggest challenge in almost two decades to Chinese rule in the Himalayan region, which People's Liberation Army forces occupied in 1950 after several decades of effective independence. Initially led by monks, the demonstrations began peacefully on March 10, the anniversary of a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, and then spiraled out of control. On Tuesday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao accused supporters of Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, of organizing the violent clashes in hopes of sabotaging this summer's Beijing Olympics and bolstering their campaign for independence in the Himalayan territory. Tibet's hardline Communist Party chief was quoted was quoted Wednesday issuing a particularly viscous personal attack on the Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize. "The Dalai is a wolf in monk's robes, a devil with a human face but the heart of a beast," Zhang Qingli was quoted in the Tibet Daily as saying at a meeting of the Tibet government. "We are now engaged in a fierce blood-and-fire battle with the Dali clique, a life-and-death battle between us and the enemy," Zhang said. Building on such comments, Tibet's former governor Raidi accused the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile of engineering the riot to "disturb the social stability at such a sensitive time." "The violent crime instigated by the Dalai clique is nothing but a symbol that shows fierce head-on combat between us and the Dalai clique," Raidi was quoted as saying by Xinhua on Wednesday. The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet during the 1959 uprising, has urged his followers to remain peaceful, saying he would resign as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile if violence got out of control. However, he also suggested China may have fomented unrest in the Lhasa and nearby provinces to discredit him. The protests have focused world attention on China's human rights record ahead of the Olympics, prompting discussion of a possible boycott of the Games' Aug. 8 opening ceremony and calls from U.S. officials and others for China to address Tibetans' grievances and engage in direct talks with the Dalai Lama. Critics say China fuels such anger through harsh restrictions on Tibetan culture and Buddhism _ including routine villification of the Dalai Lama, who is still deeply revered by most Tibetans. The government has also been accused of marginalizing Tibetans economically, in part by encouraging migration to Tibet by members of the Han Chinese ethnic majority. Lhasa was reportedly calm under a tight security presence that moved in over the weekend. An employee of the local Coca-Cola bottler, who declined to give his name, said a small demonstration was held in the city on Tuesday, but protesters had fled when troops arrived. He said the company had conducted no business since Friday when customers, including a wholesaler, shops and supermarkets had been attacked and looted. Protests spilled over from Tibet into surrounding provinces in recent days, as police and soldiers set up checkpoints across a wide swath of western China. On Tuesday, thousands of Tibetans flooded the streets of Seda, in Sichuan province, according to the Tibet Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Activist groups also circulated graphic photographs of protesters who they said were massacred Sunday by Chinese police at Kirti monastery, also in Sichuan. The images showed several men who were apparently shot and bodies covered in blood. There was no way to verify the authenticity of the photographs. A receptionist at the area's Nianbao Hotel said weapons had been fired as hundreds of Tibetan protestors poured into the streets. She said the area had been sealed off under a curfew and residents were confined to their homes.

I've always wondered why neither WCW or WWF latched onto Stan Hansen and tried to do more with him in the US. I know he had a couple decent runs in the US, but for the most part, by the mid '80s, he was more or less exclusive to Japan. Was he just making so much money overseas that none of the US promoters could really lure him back full time?

The closest Wal-Mart to me really isn't that bad, either, mainly because it's the only real retail shopping center in the town it's in.

What's wrong with that? Kid probably had it coming.

I read through most of the speech, and thought it was pretty solid. It's not going to convert anyone who was already against him, but might help win over some fence sitters who weren't sure about him. Can't wait to hear how the right wing pundits try to spin this thing.

Yeah, maybe that's the problem.

That's what I don't understand...if Bush was going to run a corrupt and stupid war, couldn't we at least, to put it bluntly, steal some of their oil and get gas prices down around here? That would certainly help the economy, even a little bit.

Shoot which bastards, though? All of them?

Ignoring problems always makes them go away! Exaggerating them and using race baiting tactics doesn't usually help, either.

What, really?

I'm sick of this idea people present that the US is such an incredibly racist country. Have you people ever traveled outside the US? It's the same damn way anywhere in Europe, or anywhere else, for that matter. People tend to live with those similar to themselves, and distrustful of those who are different. It's human nature. Yes, we still have our problems, but it's not like this is the 1950s. Let's get over this race talk. It's not relevant to the election.

No, because that's a bit different than trying to hold up a fucking police station.

How the hell can someone get away with something like that, on an airplane of all places? I assume most of the other passengers were asleep at that point, though.

Too bad to hear. He seemed to be in apparently good health in his appearance on the WWE's World Class DVD. Seems like he was very passionate about the sport, especially the history of Texas wrestling.

Well, like you said...the difference was a true "world war" that we had to fight, not just a military excursion into a single little desert on the other side of the world.

I don't think the Republicans have a chance in hell of winning this time, especially with McCain going in with the George W. Bush Jr. platform. A lot of Americans are simply pissed off right now...gas prices are high, the economy is in a recession, we're in two wars, homes are being forclosed on, and jobs are going overseas more and more. I really don't see how McCain is going to overcome all of that, when Bush is responsible for most of that, and has a terrible approval rating right now.

Yep. As much as I don't care for the rag, Rolling Stone had a really good article a few months back about how the whole war in Iraq has been a huge corporate money grab. I mean, if the American people knew half of the garbage that was going on over there, in regards to contracts being handed out and forgotten, this was would have been long over by now.

It's not like the general election is next month. This crap is going to be forgotten by April. The conservatives will try their best to "swift boat" Obama, but it's not going to work two presidential elections in a row.

I believe that is correct. And yes, I have a low tolerance for stupid people. I don't see why other people don't have the same gut reaction as I do.

Well, either way, WWII basically kicked started America's economy into high gear. Doesn't seem like that has or will happen with the two wars we currently have going.

Santino isn't supposed to be the kind of wrestler to have great matches. He's the kind of guy who pisses off the faces and gets his ass kicked, and cheats to get a win.

Maybe they should have just shot them anyway. They would have been doing the world a favor.

Yep, that's all in there too, though mainly in the Old Testament (you know, before the part where the guy comes in and talks about loving your neighbor and stuff). I'm not interested in having a big religious discussion on here again, especially since it's obvious the majority of the board subscribes to completely different beliefs than I do. I just don't get why you have to ridicule people who believe in god (which would be the majority of Americans). Anyway, I'm not in favor of the government forcing religious thought or law on anyone. Most Christians, if honest, probably realize that would be completely unrealistic, and probably not for the best. After all, Christ said "Give to God what is God's, and give to Caesar what is Caesar's." Link to a new New York Times article about the Democratic struggle regarding the super delegates: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/us/polit...p;partner=MYWAY

Oh yeah...Atari adult games. Those are pretty hilarious.