WAKE up!!!!!!

you asked the right questions..so what if those are difficult to answer? asking is what matters..

maybe by asking, we will find answers...

Indeed, there is NO uniformity to the media's presentation of any issues; the inconsistancies have totally undermined the basic principles of journalism. (Basic principle being unbiased honesty)

I only listen to NPR for the news; I like reading The New York Times,but more for the sections and less for the front page news; they can also be quite biased.

ahhh, thursdaynext, but you miss my point. uniformity of information, more or less, is present across the networks - CNN BBC CBC. however - manner of presentation and level of depth of info presented differs HUGEly.

the BBC is the only one of these three that presents the news in human terms. showing how the israeli terrorrism is devastating and separating families. showing human, social cost. showing everything just levelled. levelled, as in post WW2 berlin.

i don't suppose dubya's press corp (aka CNN) wants to delve into that story. and i'm quite sure many of these contemporary journalists are not up to task for the job.

so ... the message is the media. and if you are fortunate enuf to have satellite or digital TV you will see a bigger, more comprehensive and compassionate couched message.

does not presentation of info and news in the media in any society speak have a lot to do with that society's culture?

ack! sticky keyboard here ...

clarify:

"...speak to the values that society collective holds?"

You said:
"speak to the values that society collective holds?"

I fear that our "values" are vastly diffrent- within the population of the US, and again among the people of the world.

And of course, herein lies the conflict. Do we assume that fighting parties want peace? It appears to me all they want is a good fight...victory will follow if they aren't all dead, and then peace will come. Not before.

Do the Iraqi's want democracy?
I think so- I hope so... But isn't it hard for us to imagne a people who want to fight, or to live under a dictator?

I am tired of the media period.
LOL- I don't watch CNN because I call it the Clinton News Network- but you call it the Bush press corp- I seriously laughed when I read that :)
I think we get better info from soldiers who are on the ground who write in their blogs- really.

I missed the canola seed story- I'll have to look that up :)

I have enjoyed reading you- because we have a diffrent opinion.
I like you- not for political reasons...I just like Velvet in general :)

i hear you on the media ... i only watch BBC for news ... so far seems to be the only newscast i can watch that doesn't drip with an obvious national agenda.

i agree about soldiers' blogs. totally.

you are right on the good fight thing. i think things have gotten so out of hand. it is a mud slinging, hate fest. no one wants to see this end ... not really. whatever would we have to talk about and bitch about? lol.

i like you to MV .... politics and religion aside. differences are what makes the world such a rich wonderful place. i think that you hit the nail on the head here: differences. so many are not prepared to acqueisce that different strokes for different strokes is what its all about. many in the world wear blinders"

the 'its-my-way-or-the-highway" attitude. sort of arrogant, to think one's own view is the absolute...i fear they WILL all kill each other. hopefully they don't take the rest of us out in the process.

btw .. i've been to the middle east. they - the muslim people - are normal, just like us. they have kids ... homes ... and worry about what tommorow wiil bring - just like we do. a few vocal extremists should not represent an entire group of people in our eyes.

MV ... re: canola story ... the question in this post refers to this ... happy reading!

i'm glad to know that i'm not the only confused/baffled/angered/saddened by the lack of respect for the sancity of human life in lebanon. using fear and weapons to conquer terrorist only succeeds in creating more terrorists.

chocolate ... thanx for stopping by my hut ... :D ... well said, my friend. is creating more terrorist, isn't it.

/bark bark bark

velvet: i have answered you as best i can with the time i have at SK9. a picture is worth........

/grrrrrrrr

/bark bark bark

btw:

you say:

i've been to the middle east. they - the muslim people - are normal, just like us. they have kids ... homes ... and worry about what tommorow wiil bring -

what's your point? jeffery dahmer had a house, a mom, a job, and probably worried about tomorrow.
so did every monster in history.

theres nothing extreme about respecting what these guys have actually said are their intentions!!!!

/grrr

my point is they - muslims, people of the religion islam - are humans, like us. i refuse to believe they are monsters. just people with a cause ... people who have gotten the shit end of the stick to promote 'the good of the many.'

and you CAN'T take the perspective of a few vocal extremists and generalize this to the entire population of muslims. that's what i see here. not seeing the forest for the trees. muslims are NOT all monsters and terrorists anymore than all catholics are pedophiles!

yes ... there is extremism out there. yes it breds itself, yess it breds terrorism. think ... tho. what conditions occured to allow or provoke such extremist thinking to develop?

i'd say that statements such as 'islam is a religion wrapped in evil,' and claims that mohammed was a pedophile (i've read such BS in a blog, not making this up) is equally as extreme and only makes a volatile situation even more explosive. and then it makes whome ever says such hateful things just as extreme.

that's what i'm rebelling against here. not so much specific details of this or that. but that whole evolution of hateful extremist thinking i see rising out of the blogosphere. such hatred and extreme thinking in germany preceded the jewish holocaust, did it not?

/bark bark bark

mohamed married an 8 year old girl. her name was iesha. look it up. its not hateful to call it by its rightful name.

its not hateful to respect a people enough to take them at their word. they say they want to restore the calipahte. and we say not if we can help it.

i cant read half of what you wrote over the photo but if and when i ever can, i'll be back.

until then, velvet, kumbaya in all sincereity. not trying to convert anybody here, jus sayin'

/grrrrrrrrrr

/bark bark bark

re: aisha (spelled it wrong the first time)

a widely practiced but overlooked practice today: child brides in Muslim lands due to Mohammed’s example.

In Iran as of June 2002 it is legal for a 9 year old girl to marry with her parents’ permission. Voices Behind the Veil p.136-137

wanna take a gander at what MUSLIM WOMEN who escaped oppression have to say on this subject? so see? calling mohamed a paedophile is correct. not a slur.

http://www.muslimhope.com/AishaNine.htm

/grrrrrr

agree to disagree. that's all.

i could get into a lengthy discussion with you on arranged marriages, child brides ... etc etc ... but this is neither the place nor the time.

caliphate. yes. i'm aware of what it is. i don't see it happening - where's the concensus for such a move?

much of what is said around this debate is so inflammtory it contributes nothing to the issue. mud slinging. and red herrings. and painting everyone with the same brush.

just a site to check out ... its interesting.

Velvey, honey, please...I jes' cain't see whar ya is on this...."Agree to disagree" on the matter of Mohhamed as pedophile? You ain't disagreein' wif' the reality of Mohammed's child "wife" is ya? Does ya mean ya' is OK wif that? Or does ya mean that iffin the Muslim leader/prophet is a sicko, that ya still doan wanna say nuthin' 'bout his followers?

Looky--transfer that idea to real world in yore back yard--ya' would report a man that took a 9 year old ter be his "wife" wouldn't ya??

THis is yore worry, puddin': ya' is fearing that to acknowledge that Islam is wrong--that the muslim cause is mistaken , that such an admission would make you a bigot--but it doan, not at all...it is merely acknowleding that this is a culture that is mistaken at its core--by its own tenets, sugar. Doan mean you hate them...but jes' like a drownin' man will fight ya off, these folks is fightin' off the real world of sanity.

The Dawg has a real good point--that Muslims have families is no reason ter excuse 'em fer they mass behavior--and true--Jeff Dahlmer or
SOn of Sam oroCharels Manson, Jim Jones-all the monsters we could list-- all had families, hopes and dreams.

An, it ain't a "few" muslms like ya want to say, sugar, it is SYSTEMIC and TAUGHT. BBC and CNN both noted tghat 70 % of Lebanon supports
Hez-bowl- ah...how ya 'ecpectin' us to see that as a "few".

Velvey, Aunty has a soft spot fer ya, and I doan mean ter be contrary, jes' logical, realistic.

Mayden, ya make a fine observation:
" I fear that our "values" are vastly diffrent- within the population of the US, and again among the people of the world."

Yep, sweet potato, thas' too true. The thang is, we can't promote multiculturalism too much beyond appreciation for other cuisines and dress and music and such. When it comes to the understandin' of what is right and wrong, what is the best political system, religious system etc., then multiculturalism becomems a civil war waitin' ter happen. Think--if we are so multicultural that we have a massive muslim population that is unassimilated, is Velvy, or Mayden or Dawg gonna be happy to live under sharia law? Nope--but the muslims will say the have the "right" ter they "choice".
This is already happening in Europe.

An'Velvey, about # 13....chile' the risk to the food chain is that there will BE no food from sterile seeds, other than the food the state will give you. Them sterile seeds deadly properties is spead to regular plants by pollentation (beeds, butterflies--who HAVE died). Read up on this before ya dismiss it as risible. The links were provided.

i will not debate the child bride issue here ... tho i could pull many quotes from the bible and talmud that are offensive. i refuse to get pulled into a debate about that.

during the time that the prophet jesus walked the earth, it was accepted by jewish society that a 12 girl was ready to be married. that speaks to the values of that time. i'm not about to impose judgement on someone based on things taken out of historical context.

regarding sterile seeds. your reasoning is questionable ... farmers and agricultural economists i have spoken to on the issue echo my sentiment.

food the state will give you? i am laughing now. do you know anything at all about how farming works?

i should mention that i don't subscribe to those extreme paranoid conspiracy theory type assertions. sterile seeds that are deadly and spread their poisons thru pollentation sounds like a good sci fi movie to me.

the muslim cause? wtf is that?
forgive me if, when i hear your statement 'the muslim cause,' i think of the 'final solution' and 'the jewish question' ... we all know THOSE phrase, don't we?

two more words for you who disagree with my POV:

BALFOUR DECLARATION.

know what that is, don't you? well, look it up. its the reason hamas and hezbollah have gained such popularity among the arab folk.not sayin' that's right, jut sayin' the present is a consequence of the past. and humans and only human.

all the things you say about them, AB ... the arabs/muslims say think those very same things about the west. they are convinced christianity is a pedophile-ridden brutal religion. and they are convinced they are right. just the same way you are.

who, in the end is right? what gies one group the right to arrogance and complacency, saying ...'yes we know we are right," hmmm ...?

I-AM-NOT-CONVINCED-ANY-SIDE-IS-'RIGHT'

Velvey...as I done posted--neither side is right, it ain't solvable and to try ter solve it is arrogant--them foolks has been fight'n fer 4000 years--yep, since Abraham sent Isaac and HAgar packin'... the muslim cause? Why didn't youse mention the "cause"?

Now about them seeds--it ain't mah take on it--it is science's take chile/ Sci-fi, yep. But it is also true. Daon jes' pop off on this--go back and read the food-as-weapon post. See the links, note that the UN is also worried about the Monsanto "Terminator technology"...do some sniffin' chile'.