And of course :

Even if I put on my crankiest ruthless capitalist hat (what? It's so comfy...) this is such a bad idea from any point of view. What outcome were they honestly expecting by acting like such assholes? It's astonishing that a company whose entire raison d'etre is the Internet and providing an online service seems to not…

We've yet to arrive at HMS Boat, but it's surely a matter of time.

There's nothing like the humour in the British forces, it really is something special that seems to keep their chins up in the most trying of circumstances. So pleased they'll be getting the present they've all been hoping for.

My feet were made for barefoot primordial forest-prowling or something, because even though they are pretty tough, wearing almost any shoes for more than ten minutes causes incredibly painful rubbing and blisters. Once I was complaining to my mum that my new shoes got too painful after half an hour or so and she just…

To me, this would be slightly more tolerable if it weren't for the INSUFFERABLE brospeak. At least if it was a regular party being held by people who act and talk freakin' normally, you could put it down to questionable taste. But these guys are deliberately picking up on the most offensive angles availible and then…

So this was done by a "Free Will Baptist Church"?

Stop the world, I want to get off...

Wow, I think the movie script actually wrote itself as I was reading... I would like to suggest James Cromwell as the tough-but-fair principal who at some point nods approvingly towards the field and says: "I don't know what you've done to those kids, Miss Randolph, but it's sure as hell working."

I want boys and I'm not sure I can even articulate why.

I get the feeling that trawling for attention in the form of arrests isn't making the cause look any smarter. The civil rights activists in the 60s didn't go on marches because they wanted to get water canonned, it was just a risk they had to face. Those who got arrested did so to expose the stupidity of the law they…

Theoretically, this report makes me happy. However, the first thing that popped into my head was that bit in the 1994 Little Women when they're discussing women's rights and one of the men suggests women voters would be a morally soothing influence on the country and Jo says something along the lines of (who am I…

I don't really have the energy to argue at such length for something I don't personally believe. I find the flag uncomfortable because of the slavery connotation, but I accept that thta's because I'm an outsider with only an academic (ie. slavery-heavy) knowledge of Southern history. If I was a first-hand Southerner,…

It isn't the only way and I wouldn't do it personally, I just think the school was overly intrusive in ordering this girl not to wear that sweater. It looks as though her suspension came from her agressive reaction to the order, and if so she probably deserves a mandatory cool-off period, but it isn't as though she…

I don't think anyone's feelings outweigh anyone else's on such a subjective matter. I personally would not display the Confederate flag (for one thing, I'm English, so it would be bizarre for me to do so), but I understand why it might mean a lot to some people with long histories in the South. It's incredibly crass…

I'm having trouble with this one, frankly. If you're black, the Confederate flag might well scream slavery and all the negative emotions one associates with that phenomenon. However, if you're a white Southerner it might represent the pride in the history and culture of the South, which of course does merely not…

[www.hark.com]

I don't think we have the same spanking culture here. We tend to say smacking, ie. an open hand slap on the rear end. But in my experience, it tends to be one or two slaps at the time of the wrongdoing, rather than a "Jimmy, go to yer room, take down yer pants and wait til yer Pa gits the switch" thing. And it…

Almost every single human being who has ever lived on the planet up until the last few decades. No wonder you're having such a tough time.

Agreed. Yes, no child should ever be beaten and we all agree, so please can people stop with the "Oh, so you're in favour of spanking? Well, I'll have you know my parents beat the crap out of me with a telegraph pole every day and tied me up in the yard with a length of cord to sleep every night. What are you, sick?".…