Marinus

I'm not an American, but I think all the citizens of the Netherlands should be subject to one (the Dutch) law. So yes, I would object to any other type of court. People who disagree should solve the problem by stopping being Dutch and removing themselves from Dutch society. It's as simple as that in my opinion. I don't know if beth din is a real court or an advisory institute of sorts, btw. If it's the latter it's a whole other ballgame of course. Of course informal "advisory institutions" considering Islamic law already exist in NL. They don't officially exist and they've no official power, but it isn't unlikely that people are forced into subjecting to Shariah rules anyway. If that's discovered the associated institution should be closed down and when found guilty of practices that aren't law-full, razed to the ground. EDIT: Added a bit of rant: I think it's a non-issue really. If I move to the US, should I expect that I'll still be judged by Dutch laws if I break the US laws? I.e. should it be legal for me to open a shop to sell cannabis from? (and I don't mean medical cannabis) Of course not. Why should the situation be different if I make up a religion around it? I think it's about time we stop granting religious people special rights and a special treatment.

Could you elaborate a bit about that pattern?

Yes, some Muslims want moderate shariah courts in the Netherlands too, but you know what, we already have a law in the Netherlands. If those Muslims have problems with our laws, they're free to fuck off to a country that better suits them. Yes, I know, it's a bit blunt, but I will not tolerate that medieval shit, not even the light version of it, in my country. Shariah courts (along with Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Aztec, Babylonian, Wiccan etc. courts) should be razed the moment they're discovered on Dutch soil. We are a secular country and we don't need nor want Islamic Bullshit laws.

It took me an estimated 29 years, 364 days and 5 1/2 hours from the moment I was born. I'm not one of those people that claim a religious upbringing is child abuse, but it can be child abuse, and mine most certainly was. I'm not blaming my parents, they were as much a victim of that brand of Christianity as I was, but I do blame my paternal grand-parents. They f-ed up my father, a kind, caring and intelligent man, pretty bad with their religious crap, and bullied him most of his life into staying true to the faith. But in the end they did the right thing, they stopped breathing, and made the world a better place. (

I'm aware of that, but it can't be said often enough. I think that the fact that's going easy at the moment, is in itself dangerous. Complacency is probably more dangerous then cravings. I already caught myself thinking "I think I could smoke one and quit again without much problems" Yeah, right, I would love to be that person that can smoke a cig once in a while, but 17 years of smoking is enough proof that I most certainly ain't that person. I had/have about as much control over my addiction as the people that shoot up heroin behind the local train station.

Let's say, I yesterday signed a contract for a job as a bio-gas installation :P I can probably provide green energy for 50 households or so. @ oldwoman: I'm sorry to hear about your father-in-law, it must be horrible to see someone you love die such a lingering death. While I always pretended to be nonchalant about smoking, I was actually scared of dieing from one of the "slow" diseases associated with smoking. I've lost relatives too to smoking, but all of them died a quick death due to massive infarctions.

I'm foaming at the mouth with enthusiasm about being off it for one week now, however I've quitted before and a lot longer then one week too. I know complacency is Okay when I'm off it for a year or so. There's some differences though. This time it's going really smooth, while the other times it was a nightmare. Especially the last time things got real bad, the thought of never smoking again even caused feelings of panic. And I'm ashamed to admit it, I even cried. Mind you, I'm a properly emotionally repressed man that usually only cries when someone dies or when I'm in excruciating pain. (Or when I'm watching sad movies while I'm drunk ) Anyway, that was more then a decade ago, and at the time, after giving in after 3 weeks or so, I promised myself to never ever quit again. But now feelings of liberation are dominant. Despite that I'm cranky. Not the whole time, but it's rather amazing how seemingly normal conversations with the SO (who quitted also for a week now) can turn into arguments within the blink of an eye. Luckily we usually recognize what's really going on, and it's actually quite funny.

Kudos on saving money already, everything that hurts the tobacco companies is a good thing. I don't think I'll ever turn in one of those reformed anti-smoke nazis, but I always hated those companies. They're about as ethical as the average crack dealer, and the only reason they don't sell their stuff in kindergarten is because it's verboten. And just keep on asking yourself why you smoke and what is does for you, preferable with every cig you're lighting. I did that for the last couple of years, and with time found it harder and harder to answer the question

Well, not everyone is good at the association game. My name is rather closely related with the concept "sea"..... Maybe the word "marine" does ring a bell.

BUMP! It's almost a week (6 days, 21 hours) now, so I practice my constitutional right to do some attention whoring. Things are going great btw, it's been much easier than I expected it to be. While it wasn't the most pleasant week of my life, over all it has been a profoundly positive experience. There's some mild cravings, but it can't really compete with the added health I'm already starting to notice. I didn't gain weight yet, (I'm loosing weight at the moment) but I picked up some bad habits. My consumption of chewing gum went through the roof, from about 5 pieces to around 50 a day. Actually that was the only bad habit I picked up, but it seems I've a serious chewing gum problem.... Well, that's about it, I think I'll bore you all again when I make it to one month. And guess where the 50 Euros I saved this week are going

I was thrown from a different plane, and I only did one tandem, but the rest of the story is about the same. The tandem was supposed to be a "try before you die" thing, and now I'm liberating money to fund my AFF next spring. I really didn't see that coming.. Welcome.

1804: 1.000.000.000 1927: 2.000.000.000 1960: 3.000.000.000 1974: 4.000.000.000 1987: 5.000.000.000 1999: 6.000.000.000 Expected on 31 October 2011: 7.000.000.000

Ah, my bad, but sometimes sarcasm is a bit hard to get on the internet, and there are non-Muslims out there who actually swallow the BS about the shariah being the apotheosis of female emancipation.

You are kidding me, right? This is a serious question.

Yes, and if you sift through all the medieval manure there's even some reasonable things in it too. Still ridicule is the only sensible reaction to the Shariah.

I really don't see why it is impossible to prove the existence of an existing god. For instance, the Christian God didn't keep his existence a secret according to the bible. I should be very easy to prove the existence of Jaweh by recording all the miracles he supposedly performs.... Or in other words, your point is moot, now provide me with proof for the existence of God.

I'm sorry, but being homeless, addicted to drugs and lacking peace of mind aren't unsolvable problems. Those are, without question serious problems, but they can be solved without the use of magic. I assume you did get your shit together, and you should be proud of that, but by solving your problems you pretty much proved those problems were solvable.

I think it's frowned upon in the Netherlands to get a flu shot when you're healthy and your work doesn't require it. The Dutch tend to start frowning when it's about something that's not strictly needed. We're kinda f-ed up that way, me thinks,. Personally I don't care if anyone frowns, but I seldom get the flue, and when I do I don't get very sick. I consider it a nice training for my immune system. The flue I had a couple of weeks ago is one of the reasons I quit smoking, so not getting a flu shot seems to turn out very beneficial...

If you mean by unsolvable problems, a problem that can't be fixed, like the death of a loved one, why do you think people need to have a religion/faith to deal with that? Personally I classify that shit in the category "Shit that just happens" and cope with it. No need to make up a spirit in the sky to deal with things you can't fix.

So we sowed bombs and we reap shariah law.... So Shariah is da Bomb?

And how has Western involvement anything to do with the possible introduction of the Shariah in Libya? AFAIK Shariah is an Islamic law-system, and to me at least it seems a lot more plausible, that if the Shariah is introduced in Libya, it's because most Libyans are Muslims. I think it's also time that people stop making excuses for Muslims/Islam whenever things don't go well in Islamia. Sure, there's loads of nice Muslims, I bet most Muslims are nice people, but overall Islam seems to lead the field in religious craziness at this day and age. I think it's time that we start blaming Islam, when something is obviously caused by Islam, like it is in this case.

Asking proof for the existence of God has indeed gotten very old, or to be more precise, claiming that God exists without providing proof for that claim has gotten very old. The fact that the request "Prove to me that God exists" has been repeated ad nauseam & ad infinitum through the centuries, doesn't make the request any less valid. And since you don't strike me as a complete idiot, you know this. In case I'm mistaken about you, her's a little cartoon to clarify things a bit: http://godlesspaladin.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/logic.jpg?w=500&h=519

Depending on the type of "pint" and the alcohol contend of the sherry, 4pints of sherry is equivalent of 17 - 24 (33 centilitre) cans of beer. And she has to down it in, what? 1,5 minutes? Sure hope the lady has, among otherthings, also at least two decades experience in the field of alcoholism.....