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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 101 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 50 of 101:
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Nov 5 06:38 UTC 2003 |
"In order to persuade the terrorist to give up details about an imminent
attack on West's men, the lt.col. fired his sidearm into the air, twice. The
scare tactic worked. The terrorist provided details about the plot, and the
attack was averted."
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mcnally
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response 51 of 101:
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Nov 5 07:50 UTC 2003 |
As far as I can tell, the text enclosed in quotation marks in #50 isn't
a quote from either the e-mail above or the web page referenced by the
link in the message above. Anyway, I stand by my opinion that the
e-mail is surprisingly light on details for something which asks people
to make a decision about the merits of the case.
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i
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response 52 of 101:
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Nov 5 11:31 UTC 2003 |
My understanding is that roughing up fresh prisoners - taken from the
enemy side that you're out there to kill, and who are out there trying
to kill you - for info that could quickly save some friendly lives (or
cost some enemy ones) has been a fairly accepted practice for at least
a century. Is there some special circumstance here, or what?
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fitz
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response 53 of 101:
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Nov 5 11:49 UTC 2003 |
Recently (two issues ago) The Atlantic Montly had a feature article about
torture. If you know someone with a subscription, you couldn't go wrong
asking for a look at it.
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rcurl
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response 54 of 101:
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Nov 5 16:45 UTC 2003 |
Re #52: that goes against the Geneva Convention (to which the US is
a signatory - or has Bush opted out of that, too?).
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rcurl
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response 55 of 101:
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Nov 5 16:48 UTC 2003 |
...and many a "patriotic" movie has our captured soldiers valiantly
offering only "name, rank and serial number" while being mistreated by
the evil enemy, as evidence of their patriotism and courage.
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i
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response 56 of 101:
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Nov 9 01:01 UTC 2003 |
Re: #54/55
Peeking back at the original facts in #46 & #50, we see that the horrible
over-zealous prisoner treatment consists of psychological intimidation &
firing a pistol into the air twice. No hint of physical pain (let alone
injury), withholding water/food/medical/sleep, drugging, etc.
Uncaptured enemy soldiers on the battlefield can easily find themselves
stuck in a stinking foxhold for days, listening to your jeers between
attacks in which you try to kill them with machine guns, napalm, mortar
rounds, etc. - and all that's playing perfectly by the rules.
In that context, it would have been more "cruel and unusual" to offer
the prisoner cigarettes, a hot shower & clean clothes, ample hot meals,
etc. in exchange for spilling the beans.
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rcurl
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response 57 of 101:
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Nov 9 05:16 UTC 2003 |
Why do people want to ignore the Geneva Conventions for the treatment
of POWs? They were adopted so that both sides would treat their prisoners
humanely. We certainly can have no complaints about the treatment of
our soldiers that are taken prisoner unless we set a better example.
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other
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response 58 of 101:
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Nov 9 06:23 UTC 2003 |
The Geneva Conventions exist in order that free societies can still
muster armies of the willing to fight their wars. Societies which
can only muster armies by force and the threat thereof can safely
ignore those conventions so long as there remains insufficient
agreement and actual willingness in the community of nations to
utterly destroy those societies.
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scott
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response 59 of 101:
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Nov 9 13:27 UTC 2003 |
Is there some clear dividing line between firing shots in the air and yelling,
and the more obvious trick of putting an unloaded gun to the head and pulling
the trigger?
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rcurl
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response 60 of 101:
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Nov 9 17:40 UTC 2003 |
Re #58: is the bad behavior of others a justification for abandoning our
principles?
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other
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response 61 of 101:
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Nov 9 22:17 UTC 2003 |
Principles are the first casualty of war. Truth is the second.
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rcurl
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response 62 of 101:
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Nov 10 02:28 UTC 2003 |
In this case truth failed as preparation for war.
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tod
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response 63 of 101:
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Nov 10 18:04 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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other
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response 64 of 101:
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Nov 11 02:40 UTC 2003 |
Six times. I'm multi-rhetorically-orgasmic.
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remmers
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response 65 of 101:
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Nov 26 01:57 UTC 2003 |
Most spam I delete without reading (or SpamAssassin catches it first
and I never see it). However, this one caught my eye as being in a
new hybrid category: Christian Inspirational Get-Out-Of-Debt Spam.
CHRISTIAN DEBT MANAGEMENT
Professional debt counseling with a Christian perspective
...and forgive us our debts. (Matt. 6:12)
Click Here
To Apply
Accompanying this there's a photo of a squeaky-clean American
(and presumably Christian) family consisting of handsome father,
pretty mother, two cute kids (one of each), one cute dog.
Hey, if God forgives my debts as per the Bible quote, why would I
need debt counseling? (Oh, maybe the "counseling" consists of
prayers that my debt be forgiven. Didn't think of *that*...)
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remmers
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response 66 of 101:
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Nov 26 01:58 UTC 2003 |
(The subject of the spam, by the way, is "Zap Debt the Christian Way".)
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other
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response 67 of 101:
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Nov 26 02:37 UTC 2003 |
With them Christian Debt Zappers? I hate the sound they make while
I'm eating on the patio on a summer night. Yeech!
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tpryan
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response 68 of 101:
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Nov 26 14:15 UTC 2003 |
Don't cross the streams!
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flem
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response 69 of 101:
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Nov 26 15:56 UTC 2003 |
I get a lot of those christian debt reduction things. I also get a lot
of ads for Christian singles in my area, and so forth.
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remmers
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response 70 of 101:
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Nov 30 15:41 UTC 2003 |
Got some "mortgage refinance" spam with a MIME multipart/alternative
body. The second part was in HTML format and was a typical shady-
sounding mortgage refinance offer. The first part (which my mail
program shows by default) was plaintext that had nothing whatsoever
to do with mortgage refinancing. Here's what it was:
The side effects were also what strongly aided in helping
me make my decision. The side effects are so much
more than just memory loss. Common side effects include
temporary short-term memory loss, nausea, muscle aches
and headaches. The blood pressure and the heart rhythm
may change. Some permanent side effects include circulatory
insufficiency, tooth damage, vertebral fractures and skin
burns. In understanding what electroconvulsive therapy
is I can conclude this treatment is not something I would
be interested in. Although this is only my individual
decision it's absolutely the patient's decision after
considering the advantages and disadvantages. ECT may
have its positive effects on depression but it has too
many negative effects on the body itself. The laser is a
device that a beam of light that is both scientifically and
practically of great use because it is coherent light. The
beam is produced by a process known as stimulated emission,
and the word "laser" is an acronym for the phrase "light
amplification by stimulated emission of radiation."
Light is just like radio waves in the way that it can
also carry information. The information is encoded
in the beam as variations in the frequency or shape of
the light wave. The good part is that since light waves
have much higher frequencies they can also hold much more
information. Not only is the particle the smallest light
unit but it is a particle as well as a wave. In beams
of light whether they are ordinary natural or artificial
the photon waves will not be traveling together because
they are not being emitted at exactly the same moment but
instead at random short bursts. Even if the light is of
a single frequency that statement would also be true. A
laser is useful because it produces light that is not
only of essentially a single frequency but also coherent,
with the light waves all moving along in unison.
What was the point of that? To improve the chances of the messages
making it past spam filters?
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jmsaul
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response 71 of 101:
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Dec 1 02:11 UTC 2003 |
I've seen a lot of messages that use unrelated text like that, usually out
of a current news article. I assume it's to get past filters, but I'm curious
too.
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bhoward
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response 72 of 101:
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Dec 1 10:54 UTC 2003 |
The text is intended to throw off the scoring mechanism used in
various bayesian filters currently in use.
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rcurl
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response 73 of 101:
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Dec 1 16:43 UTC 2003 |
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 03 03:52:24 GMT
From: Marco Corona <admin@swiftpay.com>
To: ranecurl@engin.umich.edu
Subject: Jsmith has sent you money rffn g pamr jwae
<html>
This is James from Swiftpay customer service. I'm e-mailing you to inform you
that user: John94 has sent you $124. Please login to your swiftpay account
and
claim your secured funds.
To recieve your funds you need to have a valid and up to date swiftpay
account.Please <a href="http://swift:admin@61.97.127.55/signup.pl"
onclick="exit=false">sign up</a> if you do not already have an account.
Your money will remain in your account pending a claim for 96 hours at which
time it will be held to protect against possible money laundering and fraud.
Have a nice day
Sincerely,
Swiftpay Customer Service
jsmith@swiftpay.com
</html>
(I'm not responding to this as I don't know a John94 - but what do you think
the scam is, here?)
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goose
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response 74 of 101:
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Dec 1 17:03 UTC 2003 |
www.swiftpay.com is a Western Union company, or somesuch...but that url goes
to 61.97.127.55 which will look like a swiftpay page, but it's really going
to try and steal your personal data. Social engineering.
I just went to that page to enter a bunch of bogus data, and they are smart,
they won't accept an invalid credit card number. Where is my Credit Master
card number generator when I need it?
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