PhilStarbucksSilkySkills

OMG. For the last time. This is NOT about causing offence. Its about not being silenced by intimidation. If you can't get that, you're beyond hope. Maybe you like to be controlled. I don't. If someone comes up to you and says "if I see you eating cheese, that is offensive to me and I will slit your throat" what do you do about it oafc0000? By the way, noone has the right not to be offended. That you think otherwise, speaks volumes about how important civil liberties are to you.

This isn't about atheism though. Whether you believe in any gods or not doesn't matter. It's about defending your rights as free citizens of a western democracy. And not giving them up for threats of violence.

Indeed you do. However, if all you've got is baseless ad hominem attacks then you lose this argument. Go cower under a bush somewhere. There are those of us who are prepard to stand up to bullies. (you know, the ones you claim don't exist)

FFS. We ARE having a go at the extremists. It is the extremists who are crying about such things. The violent ones take things into their own hands. The majority of muslims aren't going to give a crap if we are drawing a picture and labelling it mohammed. It would be beneath them to worry about it. As it should be. What this movement is doing is standing by the makers of South Park, Salmon Rushdie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the Danish Cartoonists Ali etc etc and showing them that there are those among us who will not chicken out when the nutters come with bombs and knives. We stand by our convictions. And those convictions include the right to free expression. You seem to be scared of "offending" people. But at the end of the day offence is all about the subjective victim mentality that plagues the western world. People who complain about offence are nothing but whiney cry babies. I will give respect where it is due. Not where such utter disregard for civilised decency is flaunted so maliciously.

How does that in any way contractict what I just said?

That's fine. But there are people in the world who feel they have the right to be violent over people exercising their freedom of expression. And I respect noone who seeks to threaten myself or others over words or cartoons. This day is a solidarity statement to the likes of Theo Van Gogh, and the countless others who live under the threat of extremist violence because they dared to publish a book or make a film or draw a cartoon depicting the prophet mohammmed or blaspheming their precious religion. I agree that there should be mutual respect. But the truth is that we live in a society where all you have to do is to threaten violence and media outlets will censor themselves in fear. The extremists do not respect us, and won't ever until we show them they cannot force us to puss out all the time.

Why? Because I care about free speech? Try not to be so judgmental and have a look at what this is about.

Don't forget everybody that May 20th is "Draw Mohammed Day". Exercise your artistic talents and support freedom of speech. We will not be intimidated into self censorship. Pakistani court orders Facebook blocked in prophet row Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!

It was the green party candidate I ended up voting for. Like I said, it surprised me. The Greens are far more socialist than any of the other parties (ie tax tax tax, spend spend spend, spread the wealth) but ultimately this candidate answered most of my questions with intelligence. So even though we differed on economic policy, he could give sensible answers to questions on things like science policy, secular issues, and individual rights (such as drug laws and libel laws). The labour candidate (she's still the MP now unfortunately) and the Lib Dem candidate gave poor answers to these questions by comparison. In fact the labour woman came across as a bit of a dummy. The Conservative guy didn't even bother responding. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to see the greens in power unless they become less left wing. I also doubt that everyone in his party thinks exactly like he does. But I wanted to cast my vote for the one who could best represent my interests (ie the candidate who shares many of my ideas on life and liberties). I don't think we'll get true democracy until there are no political parties to popularise and we end up having to find what these politicians stand for as individuals. As an added benefit, all this hung parliament business would become irrelevant, and tactical voting will be reduced greatly. p.s. my choice came in last. But at least I know I didn't vote for an imbecile.

It's not serious in the sense that I expect an answer I can identify with. Seems more like a tribalised flag waving thing to me. But such is politics. The day we do away with political parties and start electing independent politicians based on their individual stances on policies and values, i'll be a happy camper. For the record, I voted in this election based on a set of around 20 questions I emailed to each candidate on issues that were important to me. I then graded the responses to each of these questions out of 10 and voted for the one with the highest score. I turned out to be surprised by the result. The guy I ended up supporting (who stood out strongly with his answers) I would never have considered voting for otherwise.

Geez! What is it with this region's love affair with Labour? It's so depressing.

Oldham striker Daniel Nardiello out for several weeks

I didn't dispute this did I? You'd imagine, eh? But the point I am making is that the difference in the revenue between a Saturday and a weekday match is but a blip in the ocean of the huge debt and cashflow problems this club is suffering from (which require substantial intervention). Like I said, it will not make or break them one way or the other. A local derby against a fellow relegation threatened club following a horrendous run of form. They might all be big games, but this is one of the bigger ones, lets face it.

Stockport's problems go much deeper than can possibly hinge on whether they have a home derby on a Saturday. The relatively small difference in revenue isn't going to make or break them. If only it could. The fact that their squad was massively depleted for such an important game would be seen as the bigger issue. This is why I am questioning the choices they have made.

And who maintains the pitch? And who decided when the inspection should be? These are the questions that spring to my mind in this case.

I live 200 metres from the ground and my street is completely free of snow and ice and there is not a hint of frost. The night was mild and I have freely walked into Edgeley and past the ground a couple of times in the last 24 hours without any chance of a slip. The officials at Stockport simply didn't want the game to go ahead, end of story. I think an investigation would be called for here.

With all due respect, anybody's ashes that were scattered will have long since blown away by now. Can't understand the fuss. Everything changes eventually. And the club certainly doesn't owe anyone too much with this.

Damn it!! Trust me to go to the wrong party

Sorry dude, 6th of April is my birthday and I want a 5 goal malling. We promise to only beat you by the odd goal on 1st November though

Am I the only one who thinks that a 12,000 seater is a bit low? If we harbour ambitions of becoming a succesful championship side, surely we should looking to get more bums on seats than that?

Holdworth is out of contract and therefore a free agent to the best of my knowledge

I am personally quite happy to not have to see it. I can't stand the word "faith" and always hated the slogan. I wish a better one had been initiated all those years ago.

Hey!!!!!! How dare you!!!!

Name? Andy Location? Mossley How Long Supporting the Tics? 17 years Best away match you've been to? Bradford 0-3 Latics - Stuart Barlow hatrick All Time Greatest Player? Andy Ritchie or Phil Starbuck - toss of a coin Biggest Rivals (in your eyes)? Gainsborough Trinity - Always a good match - Latics true Nemesis ;)