Yoda Is Your Father

Originally posted by: Warbler
I hope you weren't refering to me.
I wasn't.


LOL!!

Originally posted by: Warbler
As the for the King verdict. I was unware of tazers being used. The cops had every right to arrest King. He was in clear violation of the law. And they had to right to use force against him because he resisted arrest. But there came a point(as could clearly be seen in the video) where he was clearly subdued and they kept on beating him. They went too far. To this day I can't understand how the jury came to the verdict it did, I think it was the wrong one. But the King verdict was just the spark that lit the fire. For years there had been racial problems in L.A. and it had finally come to a boil. They thought that had an open and shut case and somehow the verdict went the other way. They felt the system screwed them again. I am not saying the people their were justified in their rioting, merely that they were justified in being angry and upset.

Originally posted by: JediSage


I've always believed that people have the inalienable right to rise up against repressive governments. My family comes from Ireland, and came over during The Great Hunger, then were treated badly here until after WWII. However, poor socio-economic conditions do not excuse random violence. If these people are upset about their plight, they should organize political movements and support peaceful change, or if they really feel the need to be violent perhaps they should take on the French army (assuming they have one, which is unlikely seeing as the US has been footing the bill to defend Europe for the past 60 years), instead of attacking citizens and police.

That being said, I also believe that Chirac should stop talking and take action. This is going to be enough to get him kicked out of office. If this were me, I would have issued a statement on day 2 that said something along the lines of "This sh#t stops NOW, or the National Guard (French Equivalent) is being loosed in the streets, with live amunition for 24 hours".

Originally posted by: twister111
I've actually thought of re-writing the prequels myself. Though, the thing that irks me is that the whole "your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough", "No, I am your father(shock)!", "Leia's your twin sister". Thing could have been so, easily perserved. Example of one scene following:

Anakin wakes up after having a horrible dream.
(insert the actions in episode III up to it was only a dream)
Anakin: *goes and, picks up his lightsaber*
I want him to have this. To become a jedi master.
Padme: Him? How do you know it's a boy?
Anakin: He was in my dream.
Padme: Now, how could that be a bad dream?
Anakin: There was something else... You die in childbirth.
Padme: It was only a dream.
(conversation carry on as in the movie)

The above would also take care of why he only knew of Luke and, not Leia. More would have to be done to perserve the suprise of the Father thing though...

Originally posted by: Mavimao

Having lived in France for 5 years, I can tell you a bit more in depth at what's happening.

After the 2nd world war, France needed men to help re-build their country so they looked to their North African colonies for manpower. They brought them in, gave them jobs, but didn't aid them in providing housing. They were forced to live in slums for quite a while until the government stepped in and built project housing. These "banlieus" or "suburbs" located outside of major cities became the major living space of these immigrants.

A lot of jobs that were given to these immigrants were somewhat hapless: garbage collectors, street sweepers...civil servants basically. The children of these immigrants and their children began to feel like outsiders. On one hand, their parents were Arabs but, the children could not relate to them at all having never grown up in their parents' country. On the other hand they had French nationality, but white French citizens refer to them simply as "Arabs". These 2nd and 3rd generation citizens began accepting Hip Hop and American gang/rap culture into their lives. They could relate to Black Americans who struggle to this day to be fully accepted into society. So unemployment, poverty, gang culture and disaffection: a natural breeding ground for criminal behavior.

When this crime started affecting citizens in the more "white" areas of France, there was alarm for concern. Most of this crime is beatings, bullying, grafitti and theft and the white citizens don't feel safe (this explains the scary popularity of the Front National: a radical right political party bent on restoring France's "soverignty" by kicking out immigrants and creating programs to send Arab citizens back to their "home country") The government in the past few years or so have decided to crack down on spiraling crime rates. They began to get tough in these hard hitting areas that had been largely ignored by police.

You can pretty much guess the vicious circle that this has created: the residents of these poor neighborhoods have had enough of being treated like 2nd class citizens, and the more affluent residents of France tired of all the crime that seems to come from the "banlieus". The two youths that were killed was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So what do you do? As you can see there is no easy solution. You can't just snap your fingers and create respect and jobs for the minority. You can try to fight it, but you're only adding fuel to the fire.

But please know that the fires are caused by a minority, there have been peace protests by the residents of these neighborhoods as well. Not everyone in these neighborhoods are doing this.

I hope I've explained this clearly enough.... I do excuse myself if my rhetoric sounds too simplistic (creating two groups: white and arab/black). I'm just trying to explain as simply as possible.

Originally posted by: Number20
Mostly Mayors/city councilpeople, and State propositions.

Originally posted by: sean wookie
We can until the posts go away.

Originally posted by: WarblerWARBLER., INC.™©® is now closed. All of my employees are dismissed. Sorry