If you read Hatem's message and all the links provided, it seems to
me that he's being ironic and in fact in support of Yue's post.
Hence the "Yue and Hatem...".
i don't know even think he knows what ironic is; his words hardly
support yue's post, he probably was contradicting himself that's
why he asked himself to stop. but that's just a possibility. guess
that's not far-fetched, considering how convoluted some of his
posts are.
Considering the wording of the post, I was so offended on Yue's behalf, that I sincerely thought about asking Phil to do something about these discussions. I think it's great that we can discuss other topics than photography, especially at a this time, but I hate to see people making enemies of each other at a place like this, where we all share a common interest that makes us communicate across all borders.
Upon my second reading of Hatem's post, I read all of the links he provided. They maked perfect sense to me, which is why I
hope his message is ironic. Then again, you see what you wish to see, if your belief is strong enough.
I've spent a total of 18 months in the US and visited about half the states there (not Omaha ;-). I love the country and the people there, allhough I missed a general sense of interest in what was going on outside the US.
Denmark, where I live, is very different from the US in many respects. We have free medicare for all, free universities (you actually get paid while you study), a big social welfare package, 1.7% of our GNP goes to foreign aid, etc. Then again our minimum tax bracket is 50%, on top of that we pay 25% VAT, cars cost 4 times what they cost in the US, and so does gaz. We're a democratic country with free elections. There are about 15 parties to choose between, which all get seats in parliament if they get a minimum of 2% of the votes. We
chose to have a system like this.
Like Americans we value freedom of speach and the rest of your amendments. We're also in a big debt of gratitude to America for sacrificing so many lives to see, that we're not a **** society today.
As part of the UN we're also at war according to article 5. No doubt though, it'll be American troops that go to combat and in the case of many come home in a body bag. I hope President Bush is wise enough to see this through with enough evidence against Bin Laden to not gather sympathy for the Taliban regime and Bin Laden amongst the Muslim countries. If not, we could have a very frightening scenario ahead of us.
Regards, Maxven
