so this time jaejin sings wonbin's part in saranghooae, but notice that they busted up laughing when jonghun tried to sing one of wonbin's parts but when jaejin does it, hongki just keeps singing, no laughing and wonbin even gives him a thumbs up, making sure he sees it.

i thought his "sa rang HAE!" was really good. not bad overall...not that i would know...i love the tears in his voice when he says that, i bet u anything wonbin taught him that. he's so happy he got it he spazzes out and hugs himself, jh was laughing at how emotional that phrase was i guess. .very cute tho, good job jj! you really pulled it off!

i suppose jonghun is just the one that takes abuse in the group...or the way they relate to him is by bashing him? iono. sadness tho. lolz

oh! jaejin also did this in the joint concert with SHINee, check my blog titled "SHINee and FT Island are friends?"  scroll down or something, it should be on this page...but anyhow, same thing happens, wonbin just plays happily on his guitar, i wonder what amount of begging management it took?

hongki is really good at concentrating, he sings so passionately despite having 4 goofballs in the room sitting beside him and making fun of his gestures etc. his acting is good and he concentrates well, he really gets into it when he's singing, y'know? in the zone, man! lol

While listening to a Fox Radio broadcast, a republican strategist put out a bold analogy in a similarly bold topic, quoting:

The party that can't lose [Dem.] has nominated a candidate that can't win, and the party that can't win [Rep.] has nominated a candidate that can't lose.

Although the quote isn't exactly historically accurate (its very debatable), nor do I necessarily agree with what the man said, he certainly raises a very good point. 

 Although I am a (obviously non-racist) liberal Obama  supporter who frankly doesn't care about his previous  political involvements, I know for a fact that many other  people don't share my views -- whether they support  Obama or McCain. 

 Several polls have shown that a great number of people are  in fact concerned with Ayers and other people's involvement  with Obama, mostly the people that the McCain campaign  have hit on in their recent campaigning.

 It is of course also debatable if those campaign tactics have  in fact succeeded (maybe another post), but my main point here is to raise an even more subtle question: "Has Obama's background and not necessarily clear past kept the political race as close as it is?" 

In my opinion the answer is yes. 

The McCain campaign, in my view, is taking extremely long and (I'll quote Obama on this) "erratic" bounds as far as attacks, but it has worked to some extent with the general audience. As pointed out in a great post, McCain's attacks may have not convinced any talking head to intellectual blogger. But I disagree with the post it its claim that they has altogether failed. 

But in the same sense, Obama is still a clear shot away from the White House, and this issue most likely would be far from relevant in that were to happen.

So instead I'll open up another (certainly way off track) concept to the commenters, which is further prompted by my original question: Has Obama's background and not necessarily clear past kept the political race as close as it is?

What if a non-scandalous John Edwards were in Obama's political place at the moment? Would the election be more of a landslide? 

---- In my opinion, this would be completely irrelevant and false, mostly because I support Obama because of his policies rather than his past involvements. ---

(Page One)
I am meditating, I should probably talk in my head instead of out loud, but Dominic is touching my leg. Anyway, Ethan wants some of my paper. Just a second, I'll be nice for a change and give him some. I just hit my knee, and it HURT! I wish school was over. Meditating is cool when I'm not doing it. After Courtney have me some Java Monster this morning, I can not possibly meditate. But we have to meditate for 10 minutes now, so I'm out of luck. Ow, my hand hurts from writing already. But I will continue. We're not allowed to read, talk, or do homework right now, but I'm not doing any of those things so I actually am lucky.

(Page Two)
I wish we had some music to meditate with. Like the Beatles, or the Clash. Something to disturb the peace, PLEASE! Right now I'm thinking about a car driving through a brick wall while loud music is playing. LIKE THE CLASH! I don't think anyone has my kind of mindset. The meditation is over now, but now we have to ASSERT OUR FEELINGS! A lot of people in class had some interesting feelings (and thoughts) while meditating, but they would not please me, I need my music! Loud! Rock and Roll! THE BEATLES! THE CLASH! I've reached 2 pages now, so I need to get out more paper.

(Page Three)
Dang! They just turned a lamp on, and now I can see! How boring and predictable. But now at least I can see what I'm writing, so it looks more readable. Ah, meditation, it sucks. I just got slapped by Joy because I said a girl was hot. At least there's noise now, but without blasting music I'm still bored. Another good choice would be some kind of caffeinated beverage! I'd ask the teacher if I could find some music on the internet and play it (loudly!) but since she believes in meditation, I doubt she'll let me. It's not my birthday, but I just got a "present" from Joy. It was a drawing of a door. Next topic, I've decided to keep writing until the day ends. 10 more minutes!

(Page Four)
Okay, new idea, everybody in this class shouldn't talk, there should just be music! LOUD MUSIC! All these people talking is distracting (and annoying) me! STOP TALKING! AH! STOP! But anyway, I can't wait for the bell to ring. I wanna get home and listen to music, music, music! Ha ha, Dominic is getting "scolded". He almost got the teacher to believe he had to leave 5 minutes early, but you cannot defeat a teacher. AH! BLOCK OUT THE TALKING! Very, very difficult! Ethan doodled all over the paper I gave him. I've now officially changed my mind, meditation is good when you wanna write without other people talking. I have to stop now, we're putting all the chairs up and leaving. Bye!

 http://rapidshare.com/files/152598068/xx..Kurtlar.Vadisi.Pusu.S.3.B.42..xx.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152601007/xx..Kurtlar.Vadisi.Pusu.S.3.B.42..xx.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152604160/xx..Kurtlar.Vadisi.Pusu.S.3.B.42..xx.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152607338/xx..Kurtlar.Vadisi.Pusu.S.3.B.42..xx.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152611156/xx..Kurtlar.Vadisi.Pusu.S.3.B.42..xx.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152611606/xx..Kurtlar.Vadisi.Pusu.S.3.B.42..xx.part6.rar

 http://rapidshare.com/files/152242326/165.bolum_A.Y.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152244529/165.bolum_A.Y.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152246556/165.bolum_A.Y.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152248546/165.bolum_A.Y.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152250730/165.bolum_A.Y.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/152251398/165.bolum_A.Y.part6.rar

DUBLIN, October 6 (Compass Direct News) – Militant Islamists in the southern island of Mindanao have stepped up their attacks on majority-Christian villages following the failure of a peace agreement that would have enlarged an existing Muslim autonomous region there.

With Muslim commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern Philippines yesterday saying ongoing support from the international community was necessary to prevent a full-scale war breaking out in Mindanao, both Muslim and Christian residents in the disputed territories were fearful of what the future might hold.

“The problem is that many people living in these areas don’t want to be part of a Muslim autonomous region,” a source in Mindanao who preferred to remain anonymous told Compass.

“The closer you get to these zones, the more nervous people are,” he said. “The town of Kolambugan, where most of the fighting took place in mid-August, became a virtual ghost town for a while. It had a population of 25,000. But people are slowly returning to their homes.”

A Christian family from the area said many people were afraid to sleep at night because they kept hearing reports that they would be attacked at midnight.

“When MILF forces attack Christian villages, Muslim neighbors are afraid that Christians will retaliate against them, even though they have nothing to do with the violence,” the source added. “This has happened in the past.”

He also explained that some moderate Muslims are drawn to support the MILF because the rebels claim the Christians have stolen their ancestral homelands. Communities in Mindanao often struggle with extreme poverty.

“If MILF is successful in gaining control over these lands, the people assume that their economic situation will improve,” he said. “So although they want the fighting to stop, they sympathize with the MILF.”

While the conflict is primarily political, religion plays a significant role. As a member of the Moro Youth League stated in an Aug. 5 national television interview in the Philippines, “As a Muslim, in order to live in a righteous way, you need to be living under sharia [Islamic] law and with an Islamic government. We believe we have the right to fight for this.”

Other Youth League members on the program agreed that sharia was a primary objective of autonomy, and that Islam was the only “real path of doing anything in this world.”

Violence Erupts

Some 2,000 MILF supporters yesterday held a protest march in Marawi city, Lanao del Sur, appealing to the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to compel the Philippine government to revive the aborted peace agreement that would have enlarged the existing Muslim autonomous region in the south.

Breakaway MILF commanders on Aug. 18 attacked several majority-Christian villages after the Supreme Court prevented the Aug. 5 signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). The agreement potentially would have given the MILF power to establish an Islamic state governed by sharia law.

Christian leaders in Mindanao appealed to the Supreme Court when they realized that if they voted against inclusion in the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), their majority-Christian villages would become small islands in the midst of MILF-administered territory. As a result, they feared, they would be forced to move elsewhere.

Incensed by the 11th-hour stalling of the agreement, three MILF commanders on their own initiative led attacks against towns in North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte provinces on Aug. 18, burning homes, seizing livestock and killing at least 37 people. Another 44,000 residents immediately fled the area.

When some Christian residents armed themselves in defense, Secretary of Interior Ronaldo Puno warned that anyone carrying weapons would be disarmed.

The MILF has only 11,000 active fighting men, according to local estimates. But by Aug. 20, the National Disaster Coordinating Council had reported a total of 159,000 people displaced by the rebel attacks.

The Philippine army quickly retaliated, sweeping villages in an attempt to seize the rebel commanders.

After two weeks of violent clashes, the Philippine government officially abandoned the MOA-AD. Spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would seek a new agreement based on consultation with legislators and local politicians rather than negotiations with the MILF.

Furthermore, the government would concentrate on the “disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation” of MILF cadres, Fajardo said.

In response, MILF leaders rejected any renegotiation of the peace deal with Arroyo’s administration.

Overcoming Prejudice

An opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Aug. 7 stated that the MOA-AD would only reinforce prejudices between Christian and Muslim communities.

Under the agreement, WSJ claimed, the government would further divide Mindanao into Muslim and Christian enclaves, increasing the likelihood of territorial disputes. Separating Muslims from the rest of Philippine society, it stated, would encourage a vision already held by MILF to help create a pan-Islamic state covering several countries in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Finally, the WSJ said, less Philippine control of Mindanao would “invite even more terrorist activity in an area that already has strong ties to al Qaeda.”

While there are proven terrorist leanings in groups such as the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf, not all area Muslims approve of or engage in such activities.

Camilo Montesa, a key figure in peace negotiations, in his blog on Aug. 30 described an encounter with a young man who believed that Muslim residents would readily seize property from Christians once the BJE were formed.

Others told Montesa that, “Muslims were scouting and marking the big houses of Christians in Cotabato and staking a claim over them in anticipation of the signing of the peace agreement.”

“The hearts and minds of the people are the battlefields, and not some hill or base camp,” Montesa concluded. “There is a limit to what arms and war can produce ... It is unfortunate that we are so divided as a people at this point in our national life.”

Reclaiming ‘Ancestral Domains’

As Islamic identity strengthened in the Middle East after World War II – and as many Philippine Muslims traveled to study in Middle Eastern countries – certain sectors of the Bangsamoro population became committed to reclaiming “ancestral domains.”

Their claims dated back to the rule of the Sultanate of Sulu, which existed prior to Spanish colonial rule in the 1500s, and the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1935. When the last sultan died in 1936, the fledgling Philippine government refused to recognize his heir, effectively eradicating the traditional Bangsamoro power base.

When the Philippines became a republic in 1946, its constitution allowed for the establishment of an autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao. Initially the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) fought alone for this autonomous territory; in 1977, however, MNLF member Hashim Salamat – who had studied in Saudi Arabia – and his followers seceded from the movement and founded the rival MILF.

The Philippine government signed an agreement with the MNLF in January 1987, and territories were added to the resulting Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through a series of plebiscites or referendums in 1989, 2001, 2002 and 2006.

MILF commanders later laid claim to a further 712 villages outside the ARMM.

Negotiations between the government and the MILF began in earnest in June 2001. Both parties were to formally sign the resulting MOA-AD on Aug. 5, a deal which could have led to the creation of the separate Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, or fully-functioning state, replacing the ARMM by 2010.

When details of the agreement were leaked to the press, however, Christian politicians in regions of Mindanao affected by the agreement appealed to the Supreme Court, which in turn issued a temporary restraining order on the signing of the agreement on Aug. 4.

Report from Compass Direct News

Que le chef d'un parti politique organise un rassemblement, je veux bien.  Rien de plus normal, surtout pendant une campagne électorale, pourrait-on dire.

Mais il y a un hic.

Si le bloc québécois dénonce haut et fort les politiques des conservateurs de Stephen Harper, que propose-t-il, à la place?

Le bloc ne prendra JAMAIS le pouvoir, c'est mathématiquement prouvé.  Avec 75 candidats, pour 308 circonscriptions, le bloc a été très chanceux de pouvoir former, à une seule occasion jusqu'à maintenant, l'opposition officielle.

C'est là que je reconnais l'aspect distinct des québécois.  On casse du sucre sur le dos du premier ministre, on le traite de tous les noms, mais on ne propose RIEN à la place.  C'est vrai; comment peut-on promettre des réalisations aux québécois si l'on a aucune chance de former un gouvernement?  Très typique des québécois en général, et de la go-gauche, en particulier.

Pourquoi je fais un lien, ici, avec la go-gauche?  Parce que Gilles Duceppe est d'abord un militant marxiste-léniniste, donc, à peu de choses près, un communiste!  Il a saisi la balle au bond, lors de la fondation du bloc québécois, pour en devenir le premier député élu, les quelques autres, dont Lucien Bouchard, ayant "défroqué" d'autres partis fédéraux pour fonder le parti.  Ainsi, de par son orientation politique principale, Gilles Duceppe est plus proche de Québec Suicidaire - bon, d'accord, Québec Solidaire - que du PQ!

Gilles Duceppe, tandis qu'on en parle, est passé maître dans l'art du changement d'idée rapide.  On se souvient tous de son élan à vouloir prendre la chefferie du parti québécois, suite à la démission d'André Boisclair, en mai 2007.  Au lieu de prendre le téléphone, et d'appeler Pauline Marois, afin de savoir si elle était intéressée, il se présente en sauveur du PQ, sans prévenir.  Le lendemain, alors que Pauline 1ère a annoncé qu'elle allait se présenter comme chef du PQ, Gilles Duceppe, au lieu de s'embarquer dans une course à la chefferie, s'est retiré, la queue entre les deux jambes.  Avant cela, en novembre 2006, Gilles Duceppe a déchiré sa chemise, aux Communes, en refusant d'appuyer une motion, déposée par le gouvernement conservateur, qui stipule "Que les Québécois forment une nation au sein d'un Canada uni", parce qu'il ne veut pas des mots "au sein d'un Canada uni", et se dit même prêt à voter contre.  48 heures plus tard, tous les députés du bloc, Duceppe compris, ont voté en faveur de la motion conservatrice.  Bref, Gilles Duceppe n'a vraiment pas besoin de se mettre un bonnet sur la tête, pour avoir l'air fou!

On dit que la devise du Québec est "Je me souviens".  Peut-être, mais celle des québécois est plutôt "Je me souviens... de RIEN!"  Le bloc québécois n'apportera jamais rien, au Québec.  Ça fait 18 ans, qu'il est à Ottawa, et pendant tout ce temps - et particulièrement pendant les années libérales, le Québec a vu sa position, dans le Canada, s'affaiblir.  Le bloc préfère s'acoquiner avec les "artisses", en BMW, qui braillent parce qu'ils ont perdu leurs subventions, que de s'associer aux travailleurs québécois, qui paient des impôts à Ottawa, et qui voudraient que ces argents servent à autre chose qu'à subventionner des galas.  Gilles Duceppe a trouvé le point faible des québécois; il parvient à transformer des coupures à quelques privilégiés en attaque contre tous les québécois.  Et le bon peuple, qui ne se souvient de rien, embarque.

Du côté de la justice, Gilles Duceppe a encore déchiré sa chemise contre le projet conservateur de resserrer les filets de la justice envers les jeunes contrevenants, profitant du fait que les québécois ignorent que la loi à venir, qui permettrait à la justice de condamner un jeune de 14 ans à la prison à vie, ne s'appliquera même pas au Québec!  C'est ça, de l'honnêteté, monsieur Duceppe?

Tout cela pour dire que le bloc aura beau organiser des gros shows - payés en partie avec vos impôts (1) - à Saint-Hyacinthe, ou ailleurs, pour ma part, hors de question d'appuyer le bloc, dans cette campagne électorale.  Personnellement, j'ai déjà voté, vendredi dernier, par anticipation, et je n'ai pas voté bloc.  Et j'encourage tous les électeurs québécois à ne pas voter pour le bloc.  La raison est fort simple; ils crient au loup, très fort, créent un sentiment de panique, dans la population, mais ils n'ont rien à proposer, à la place!

(1) Les partis politiques qui reçoivent un certain pourcentage de votes, lors des élections générales, ont droit au remboursement, par le gouvernement fédéral, donc, via vos impôts, de 50% de leurs dépenses d'élections.  Le bloc québécois remplit ce critère, comme les quatre autres principaux partis politiques fédéraux, dont les chefs étaient présents aux débats télévisés.

"Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying."

He also stated:

"In our sad condition our only consolation is the expectancy of another life. Here below all is incomprehensible."

More than anything, death scars. It scars the living.  And as Cicero (106-43 BC) himself said, "the life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living."

State your opinion on death.

And may God rest the souls of all whom have past !