^ It's not as hopeless as you guys think. If you look at Cuba as an example, you will see that despite a crippling 45 year trade embargo from the giant to the north, it has a lower infant mortality rate, a comparable if not higher literacy rate and a much more comprehensive health care system than the "capitalist" haven, the US. Wealth is not the size of your economy but how many people are impoverished in your country. These scenarios you're bringing up, though legitimate, can all be dealt with via proper planning and strategic use of violence against the aggressors. Compassion, my friends, does not mean lack of courage in the face of evil. And greed is evil.

^ Don't get mad, get even. Instead of feeling left out of this testosterone induced hysteria, politely tell them most of you couldn't handle a single one of us, let alone four. Also politely encourage them to "keep it real" and do a good job with the one who took you in, as a charity to begin with, and let go of these wet dream fantasies of a school boy. That'll do it!

Michael Adam Zakaria Pablo Clinton

^ TJ, raping even a board certified and licenced slut is a crime. Unless he/she is on the clock and specifically asks "do you wanna have a good time?" and then proceeds to show you his/her office (or other work area), and after having agreed on the price and a payment method can you even see him/her naked. Sluts are business people. Don't forget that.

^ For the most part, I do. But I will counter that by saying: equally "clever and cunning" people with brains would work hard to see that the earlier group does not dominate and subjugate the rest for their own selfish reasons. Being clever, cunning and greedy does not mean you will not face resistence from clever, cunning and compassionate folk. Like me! It's an eternal struggle.

Originally posted by Baashi: Even if she is so inviting so provacative and showers u with kisses going all over u half-naked in the privacy of her room making u all worked up and aroused If that happens, then failures have occured on many levels. I can't possibly be caught in a situation like that. Unless I actively campaign for it, of course. That is unlikely at this stage in my life. Highly unlikely.

^ Absolutely not. Not under any circumstance. If the ultimate goal is to procreate, I've enough charm, good looks and wit to entice any (ok, some) woman to have kids with me (though I'm now done having kids). I would not resort to rape for any reason.

^ I thought home was Somaliland for you. No?

Originally posted by Viking: This doesn't necessarily mean that a woman will be raped if she dresses provocatively or is drunk but that she is partly to blame because she has made herself a target for the perverted sickos out there. So what would be an appropriate percentage of the culpability a woman may have? 1%? 5%? 50%? Does it depend on how revealing the dress? The blood-alcohol content? I'm trying to pin down the cause and effect relationship here.

^ Atheer hantiwadaagii Afweeynaa ku xaaray. Not just that, xaarkii intuu qaaday ayuu kab la dhacay. Clearly no system is perfect, but what is important is to make sure that those who are most vulnerable in society (the young, the old, the sick) maintain a decent standard of living and have access to necessary items such as food, shelter and health care. The dignity of every human being should be above and beyond any wealth that is accumulated by the few. Capitalism might work for a time when there's very heavy regulation, otherwise it is doomed to consume itself and everything around it. At this time, the US is prime example why capitalism is at a turning point. Despite much regulation, the wealth disparity is threatening to break the camel's back. Finally, as much as we'd like, God will not descend on earth and regulate markets. We're just gonna have to do this for ourselves. Greed is natural but it's also destructive. We really can have our cake and eat it too with socialism.

Flip, do you understand the phrase "a figure of speech"? If you do, why on earth would you go on that tirade? If you don't, then look it up mate and spare us the rhetoric. Aight?

^ The whole argument with the dress boils down to making every man seem like a rapist in the wait. Depending on how Xalimo is dressed today, Faarax will then decide to either rape her or wait for her to wear a more provocative dress. Please. Where do you guys get these arguments from?

So Nur eats, sleeps and sh!ts like the rest of us? This is truly shocking.

I'm sorry my heart isn't bleeding. I tend to leave my sympathy for people who really need it. Like who?

^ I'll go for a combination of A and B. It's the only sustainable way to go. Black markets can be combatted with law enforcement and removing the demand for them. Governments should be owners in many cases and managers in the others. The mistaken belief that capitalism needs hands off governing is common. As an example, the US is heavily involved in regulating, managing and keeping an eye on the economy using the federal reserve, the SEC, farm subsidies and other market distorting mechanisms. Of course, the official story line is free enterprise. If that were really the case, a quick and complete collapse of the so called free enterprise economy would occur.

^ Am I the king or not? As king, I decree that essential products (such as fuel, food and healthcare) are heavily regulated if not state owned outright. This king will not allow the ownership of 1000 cows when even one child sleeps hungry at night. It's unacceptable. It is not impossible to establish a rationing system if supply of milk is low. Those who need it most, children and the sick will get it first. As for the prosperity of the island, prosperity, not unlike justice, is meaningless if we don't all have it. If any one of us is impoverished, the prosperity of the others is truly hollow. Finally, the words democracy and capitalism are antonyms if you think about it. As the article explains, what we confuse for the combination of capitalism and democracy is plutocracy.

^ We're sharing the crumbs, saaxib. The pie is in a different zip code. Seeker, as king, I would make sure the state owned the farm and all the cows. That way, the distribution of milk would be equitable and the size of your bank account will not guarantee how much milk you recieve. Of course, the king would soon find trouble in his court for the US will arm some militia to overthrow him since he is putting curbs on free trade (read: transfer of wealth out of the kingdom) and globalization (read: using the commoners as cheap labor by global multinationals). The king is a dead man walking but while he's alive, the poor will have plenty of milk to drink.

Ok. The cease fire is over. Seeker, do you honestly believe women who are raped have a role in it? Or are you just pulling our legs here? The stats you provided say nothing of the culpability of women in rape. Nothing. No where does it say x% were wearing low cut jeans and y% were wearing hip high mini skirts. This is your claim altogether and you've made no attempt in supporting it except blow smoke in our faces. What you did, instead, is use anecdotal evidence and heresy. Your argument, had it used religion and the wear of hijab and loose fitting clothing to deter a rapist might hold some water for you are then able to provide references in the hadith and the Quran. So far, I'm inclined to reject your claim in its entirety until such time you resubmit with something more than just a ruse.

Seeker, you're awfully active for someone who's playing dead.

^ Haruun, with a name like Jumatatu, you should have (easily) known the man wields much influence around here. I mean he's not your average Faarax, see. The "war" on terrorism would fail in the horn of Africa. In fact, it would fail anywhere it is introduced for it is a meaningless phrase. What does it mean to declare war on terrorism, fight terror, and other nonsense catch phrases used nowadays? It means we will use terrorism as an excuse to invade, rob and free other nations from their resources. As Somalia has no resources to speak of, terrorism warriors won't bother with it.

by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman Top executives now make more in a day than the average worker makes in a year. You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both. -- Louis Brandeis How wealthy the wealthy are does matter. If we allow great wealth to accumulate in the pockets of a few, then great wealth can set our political agenda and shape our political culture -- and the agenda and the culture that emerge will not welcome efforts to make American work for all Americans. -- Sam Pizzigati Plutocracy: 1. The rule or power of wealth or the wealthy; 2. A government or state in which the wealthy class rules. 3. A class for group ruling, or exercising power or influence, by virtue of its wealth. -- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Of the world's 100 largest economies, 47 are nations, and 53 are corporations. Seventy-five percent of major corporations hire a consultant to stop employees from forming a union. The alarming development and aggressiveness of great capitalists and corporations, unless checked, will inevitably lead to the pauperization and hopeless degradation of the toiling masses. It is imperative, if we desire to enjoy the full blessings of life, that a check be placed upon unjust accumulations and the power for evil of aggravated wealth. -- Constitution of the Knights of Labor, 1869. The Washington monument is 555 feet tall. Say it signifies the 2003 average compensation for CEOs in the Fortune 500. The average worker salary would be only 16 inches tall, representing a ratio of 419 to one. In 1965, the worker's monument was 13 feet six inches tall, representing a ratio of 41 to 1. Inherited economic power is as inconsistent with the ideals of this generation as inherited political power was inconsistent with the ideals of the generation which established our government. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt. Born on home plate -- Forty-two percent of those listed inherited sufficient wealth to rank among the Forbes 400. Examples: J. Paul Getty Jr. inherited the oil fortune from his father. David Rockefeller Sr. ($2.5 billion) is the grandson of the Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller. S.I. and Donald Newhouse ($7 billion each) inherited the nation's largest private newspaper chain, plus Conde Nast publications, from their father in 1979. Samuel Curtis Johnson ($1.5 billion) is the great grandson of the flooring salesman who founded the floor wax giant S.C. Johnson and Sons. The United Nations Development Program reported in 1999 that the world's 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of $1 trillion. That's equal to the combined annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people. The richest 10 percent of the world's population receives 49.6 percent of the total world income. The bottom 60 percent receives 13.9 percent of the world's income. The wealth of the world's three most well-to-do individuals now exceeds the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least developed countries. Half of the world's population of six billion live on less than $2 a day, while 1.3 billion get by on less than $1 a day. These are some of things you learn from a new book, just out, titled Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality & Insecurity by Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel with United for a Fair Economy (The New Press, 2005). The book is filled with photos, and charts, and graphs -- that make it a great home schooling tool, for young and old alike. It puts things in perspective. It keeps you on your toes. Read it. Then listen to a little Bill O'Reilly. Then read it some more. Contrast is good. Stretch limousines are longer, yet more people are homeless. Thirty zip codes in America have become fabulously wealthy. Meanwhile, whole urban and rural communities are languishing in unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, growing insecurity and fear. It makes the perfect gift for the holidays. And you probably won't find it Wal-Mart. Or Costco, for that matter. Source

^ Does anyone remember what the "mad house" was called in Muqdishu? I remember going there once with my dad many moons ago to visit a (distant, very distant) relative and even as a child, I was appalled by the conditions in that place. I mean the stigma placed on "crazy" people (as we referred to them) is astonishing. Funny thing is, no one questions when someone complains of a stomach ache, a headache or a foot ache, but you mention the mind and boom: isku filaanshuu gaadhay. Hebel wuu isla sheekeysta. Heblaayoo waa laga dhex hadlaa. And on and on. What ignorance. What cruelty. And what a disaster for a community that claims to watch out for its own. Little has changed, even in the diaspora. When many expats are depressed simply because of the weather, being away from home or just going through growing pains, no sympathy or understanding let alone lending a helping hand. Bravo maryooley, bravo.

^ Atheer, compassion and empathy are traits unbecoming of Somalis. Now, Femme, I await your argument for the assertion!

^ Mental illness is real, atheer. And just because science has not come to fully understanding the working (or lack thereof) of the human brain does not make it quackery. Now, what do you have in support of your assertion that it is stup!dity and laziness as opposed to mental defects and malaise?

^ And all this time we've been blaming it on clans and tribalism. I think you're on to something here Mutakalim. Question for you, though: why do you wait till xabadu wiif wiif has almost come to an end before you lay down some rules for discussions? By the time you arrive, the dead far outnumber the injured and the living.