Muhammad Reveals...

[brad]

are you counting all the infomercials that pass as evening news?

[nicky g]

I agree MMMM. He is no good. But as I said, there are two or three of the likes of him, and thousands of reasonable imams who condemn violence.
As I understand it he can't be deported because the country he's from (Syria? I'm not sure) would without doubt torture and probably kill him. Why they don't arrest him for incitement to violence, I don't know.

[nicky g]

The PKK is a Marxist group. It could in no way be classed as an Islamic group, other than it is based in a region with a Muslim population (and many Kurds aren't Muslim).

[MMMMMM]

^

[nicky g]

No probs. Can I just say that while I do disagree with you on your view of Islam, if I've ever come across as abusive or unfriendly, I apologise - I do see where you're coming from, even if I think you're wrong. I think you should be careful in your use of "Arabs" as opposed to Islam, as I seem to remember that you have conflated the two at times, but if you want to frown on a religion or ideology that's your prerogative. I don't have a particularly positive or negative view (at least comparitively) of the histories of acts perpetrated in the name of any major religion, but if you have a negative view of the doctrines of Islam, you're welcome to make your case, which I find interesting.
Best, NG.

[nicky g]

ps can i add that i think traffic problems in the US are due to a crazy over-reliance on cars and lack of investment in public transport, rather than a population excess. there are plenty of muchmore densely populated countries with successful economies that don't have the problems the US does (not the UK, by the way - transport here is an unmitigated disaster). their economies may not be as successful but if you trade off population density against that, it seems clear they're managing transport much more effectively. even if the US stopped accepting immigrants, population and economic growth, as well as pollution problems and a crippling reliance on oil, would make the reliance on automobiles as the main method oftransportion untenable - in fact given the problems already being experienced, it seems to me the situation became untenable a long time ago.

[MMMMMM]

I certainly don't think the traffic problems are primarily due to an excess of illegal immigrants, LOL.

The European countries with better mass transit systems are also in a fundamentally different situation: they have much smaller land masses. For short-distance commuting that's not a big deal, but many US residents frequently must travel significant distances on business or for other reasons. I agree that the other factors and potential remedies you mention are important, but the USA could probably never come to rely on mass transit to the same degree as European couintries--the distances are too great and the need to travel is too great for many people. This need to be able to effectively travel significant distances without the constraints of mass transit limitations is probably one reason we developed the interstate highway system in the first place. Otherwise we would have just expanded the rail system to a much greater degree.

Hopefully the new, totally clean hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will catch on and become widely used over the next few decades.

[MMMMMM]

thanks again, nicky.

One reason I have used "Arab" and "Muslim" jointly on occasion is because, while I realize that the two groups are not the same, there is significant overlapping of members which are in both groups. Thus when discussing, say, terrorism against US interests or allies, these groups are the most frequent source of attacks, and so I mention both. Using both terms is sometimes accurate because certain matters frequently involve both groups, and to specify one group but not the other would be actually less accurate.

[nicky g]

well perhaps but while criticising an ideology or religion may be acceptable, the same is definitely not true in my opinion of an ethnic group.

[nicky g]

that's true and i can see why cars have a unique appeal in the states. but surely the major traffic problems you're referring to are centred around cities and densely populated areas? that said i'm a big fan of both the new york subway and the washington metro, and boston was pretty good too so.... oh i give up. i'm all argued out. er no buses in the suburbs or something. happy christmas/holidays to everyone.