Tony Blair's Comment - CNN

[President_Baccaga]

I notice that you leave without having addressed this point.

Shall I consider that surrender of your counterclaims?

You shall consider that surrender of my desire to not fester on LSD any further this evening.  If we pick it up at a later date, fine with me.

I don't need to understand anything beyond the mandate that the group itself espouses.  As far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty simple mandate, and does enough to prove exactly what I said earlier: that culture and country are not the same thing.

Whatever floats your boat, dude.  When you understand that it's not a "mandate" whatsoever, you might be onto something.  Cugghiumi.

[FossilJ]

Eh, you're talking to a wall.

parsley's position seems different that his.

It definitely is.  They're not related.

I just won't let smug posters get away with tangents unless they can prove to me that they understood what I was saying and that they actually have a valid counterargument.

Baklava isn't an idiot by any stretch of the imagination, so (unlike you) I expected more from him.  But hey, he's down with the mafia and Italian politicians, so who am I to argue?

[President_Baccaga]

Eh, you're talking to a wall.

Nice red.  Nice.

[President_Baccaga]

Baklava isn't an idiot by any stretch of the imagination, so (unlike you) I expected more from him.  But hey, he's down with the mafia and Italian politicians, so who am I to argue?

bah-kah-GAH... and there's a difference between "being down with mafia" and "having business with the mafia".

[FossilJ]

I notice that you leave without having addressed this point.

Shall I consider that surrender of your counterclaims?

You shall consider that surrender of my desire to not fester on LSD any further this evening.  If we pick it up at a later date, fine with me.

I will gladly do so.  I must admit, though, that I don't expect any more out of that conversation than I got from this one.  That's because you've now had more than an hour to explain to me that you understand my argument and provide valid and relevant counterarguments, and you've refused to do so, instead continuing the (admittedly fun) snide pot-shots.  

It's your call.

I don't need to understand anything beyond the mandate that the group itself espouses.  As far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty simple mandate, and does enough to prove exactly what I said earlier: that culture and country are not the same thing.

Whatever floats your boat, dude.  When you understand that it's not a "mandate" whatsoever, you might be onto something.  Cugghiumi.

Jesus, you are a wall.  The organization wrote a statement characterizing itself on the website which it paid to register, build, and maintain.  What, do you want God himself to send Gabriel in a dream?  "Oh, President Baccalagalaga, here are the ten commandments of Due Sicilie!"
  

[redemption]

I just won't let smug posters get away with tangents unless they can prove to me that they understood what I was saying and that they actually have a valid counterargument.

You're in for a long cycle, then 

[FossilJ]

I just won't let smug posters get away with tangents unless they can prove to me that they understood what I was saying and that they actually have a valid counterargument.

You're in for a long cycle, then 

Meh.  I've been doing this since I joined about this time last year.  hahahahaha

You should search some of my posts in the old AA boards.  You'll realize why Stan makes fun of me for writing "novels".

[BrerAnansi]

Jesus, you are a wall.  The organization wrote a statement characterizing itself on the website which it paid to register, build, and maintain.  What, do you want God himself to send Gabriel in a dream?  "Oh, President Baccalagalaga, here are the ten commandments of Due Sicilie!"
 

:::giggles:::

[President_Baccaga]

I will gladly do so.  I must admit, though, that I don't expect any more out of that conversation than I got from this one.  That's because you've now had more than an hour to explain to me that you understand my argument and provide valid and relevant counterarguments, and you've refused to do so, instead continuing the (admittedly fun) snide pot-shots.  

It's your call.

Before I log off for the evening, let's get something straight.  Honestly, I don't really care much about the original part of this discussion.  What is much more interesting to me is understanding why you would just throw two groups - both of which have some significance for me (especially Lega Nord which we support as a political party and which you completely misrepresented) - into a discussion to illustrate a point when you comprehend little or nothing about these groups.

Jesus, you are a wall.  The organization wrote a statement characterizing itself on the website which it paid to register, build, and maintain.  What, do you want God himself to send Gabriel in a dream?  "Oh, President Baccalagalaga, here are the ten commandments of Due Sicilie!"

Thank you for proving for the ennesima time that you have no hope of understanding.  

[BrerAnansi]

Before I log off for the evening, let's get something straight.  Honestly, I don't really care much about the original part of this discussion.  What is much more interesting to me is understanding why you would just throw two groups - both of which have some significance for me (especially Lega Nord which we support as a political party and which you completely misrepresented) - into a discussion to illustrate a point when you comprehend little or nothing about these groups.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you opened the door...he just walked in...

Countries don't have cultures.  They only have farcical, arbitrary political boundaries.

I disagree.  You are certainly right on continents such as Africa, but there is a distinct Italian culture (I know I frequently revert to all things Italian...).  While there are certain small regions within Italy where there is some level of French and German influence (Valle D'Aosta and Trentino Alto-Adige respectively), an overriding Italian culture exists throughout the country.  There might be a certain level of regionalization, but that is relatively slight.  Even in countries where regionalization is more defined, a general melting of those regional cultures exists within that particular country (again, there are exceptions), even if some overlapping is present (i.e. Italian and French elements on the Franco-Italian border, etc.).