It’s 110 in the shade and I’m dressed to kill.
It’s 110 in the shade and I’m dressed to kill. How hard did you say your day was?
(An American Soldier)
Picture by: dunno source. Caption by: jjennbee via Our LOL Builder
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Reminds me of the armed forces member who ran the Boston Marathon…in army boots.
holy crap that’s gotta be bad for your feet. even wearing really good running shoes you get road rash and blisters.
ow.
Yeah. Really. Picture linked. Looking for a picture, it is apparently not a one-time thing!
was the standard way to run when I was a young soldier — boots are actually fairly easy to run in — what the guy in the pic is doing is not easy!
O_O
holy. crap.
OMG, it was like so hard. So first, this TTLY ugly guy started making fun of me and talking about how I prbly dnt hv a GF, LK WTF?
OW! OW! OW! GET IT OFF! IT BUUUUURRRRNNNNS!!!
*sigh* Sometimes you just have to let them learn by doing.
There there little dragon-child. Uncle Ivan has prepared an aloe bath for you. Now, tell us you won’t try that again!
Well, I knew it would hurt, but I was portraying my idiotic generation that can’t even take the time to represent themselves like intelligent people, possess no desire to read or even learn the basic rules of grammar, and that is almost entirely comprised of people who can barely conceive of a foreign concept…
I just had to show how stupid some people in this place (high school) are.
Oh, and he asked me how my day was.
Dude it doesn’t get better in the “institutions of higher learning.”
Yeah. In college you (usually) don’t have parents around. You can guess how that goes.
Bwahahahhaha!
Guess you should have not enlisted. Could have had an easier, cooler day. Oh well. Hope that killing works out for you.
Yeah, too bad you don’t have the stones to defend the freedom he provides for you.
FAIL.
Freedom? We are fighting someplace in this country? Damn! Had I but known! Oh wait… we invaded elsewhere. I do not see how my freedom is being threatened. If anything, we are taking away foreign freedoms by occupying their country.
Perhaps you have forgotten 9/11, the whole reason we are in Afghanistan to begin with. Yes, I see that as defending YOUR freedom. Your freedom to go to work every day without the fear that a friggin plane is going to fly into it and kill you.
And don’t go getting into you only meant Iraq and that we need to leave there, because we ARE leaving there.
YES. MAKE THEM AFRAIIIID.
9/11 WILL HAPPEN AGAIN! WE HAS TO INVADE A COUNTRY TO STOP THEM, NOT THE ORGANIZATION, THOUGH!
We are in the country to find the organization… not the innocent people.
9/11 was planned by a Saudi national, financed by Saudi money, trained by Saudi citizens, and 14/19 of the terrorists involved were Saudis.
Naturally, we attacked Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sorry, I’m not seeing the connection.
(All right, I’m being obtuse re: The Taliban in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, I think Bush missed the boat on that one by not committing enough troops there initially, and Obama will not be able to make it up by committing more now.)
The Taliban are a terrible, terrible bunch of people. But that wasn’t our job. Seriously, folks, if we’re gonna get rid of all the bad guys around the world, we’d better get busy because we’re seriously slacking if that’s our actual goal. ::eyeroll::
Huh?
Are you really that stupid Mae? If you really think your 9/11 had anything to do with both Iraq or Afghanistan, then I have some prime swampland to sell you.
9/11 wasn’t an attack on my freedom. It was an attack on the United States Financial Sector. And frankly, that particular sector as done plenty enough to limit the freedom of most Americans. And lets face it, a plane could crash and kill me on any day. I am certainly not going to live in fear of it. And its certainly not worth invading another country for. We should have turned the other cheek, changed our foreign policy, and beefed up security here. Not gone to war.
*thumbs up*
It was an attack on my cousin’s freedom — he was a police officer killed in the world trade center on september 11th 2001. an accident may well kill any of us, that was not an accident. don’t give me the BS about esoteric concepts on the financial center — if you work, eat and sleep in a warm place it is because of that financial center. don’t get me wrong, many of those guys are sum-bitches, but the system that lets you write on this site is linked to that financial center.
People who do not live in this system have internet access.
That wooshing sound is the point going over your head. I’ve liked a lot of what you’ve said VNV, but Charlie does make a point.
Charlie makes a point that his cousin died. How many police officers die in the line of duty every year? Sometimes there are protecting freedom, sometimes not. However, just because you die in the line of duty doesn’t mean anyone “attacked your freedom.” Something bad happened, someone called, something worse happened. I fail to see how “freedom” comes into it at all. And secondly, just because man has grown to be able to cheaply and easily provide for food clothing and shelter, doesn’t mean its because of the financial system. Its just technological evolution. And I know money can help technological evolution, but frankly, its going to evolve one way or another.
Considering the fact that I’m WRITING this from Afghanistan, I believe I may be able to offer a comment or two.
VNV, I sincerely hope that your blathering is simply ill-informed, and that you haven’t taken the time to actually find out what’s going on over here. Did you know that 95% of the population here actually LIKES that we’re here? That we drove a hateful, abusive, power-hungry government out of power? That we’re now in the process of training an underfunded, undertrained military and police force to actually defend themselves, so we don’t have to be here? That the attack of Sept. 11th was indeed a terrorist attack aimed straight at the heart of every “western infidel” in existence? That al-Qaeda and the Taliban would love nothing more than to see the head of you and everyone you love on a pike, broadcasted all over al-Jazeera? That I have lost more friends than I really care to think about right now to IEDs, firefights, and ambushes in both wars? Friends of mine who died fighting them HERE so we don’t fight them on your front doorstep?
Are you so determined to hate the military and everything associated with it that you’re willing to damn us, even though we sit here, day in and day out, without a day off, without a break(considering this is the first time I’ve been online in a month and a half), trying to get this war-torn country on its feet so we CAN leave? Or are you going to turn a blind eye to all the good we’ve done, both in Afghanistan AND Iraq? (Yes, we actually did a lot of good in Iraq. Too bad you can’t watch the videos my friends have brought back that they shot themselves, of soldiers helping to build new hospitals and schools, a soldier defending a woman who was about to be stoned to death for being raped, because even though SHE was the victim, she was “unfaithful to her husband;” and a whole host of other things that would take too long to mention)
Am I saying that I agree with every single thing that either President Bush or President Obama has done? No. As a matter of fact, I don’t. But a soldier doesn’t have to like it. He just follows orders, as Maxwell pointed out so well. It’s sad that you’re willing to condemn the military for something like this. Maybe next time you’ll actually seek out other points of view, rather than listen to the drawn-out hype that has plagued this war.
@Jason: Thanks for what you’re doing. And good post.
This responce it to our friend Jason in Afghanistan. Hi Jason! Hope all is well for you over there! I like how you use “blathering” because insults make you look braver. Second, I do not believe it is our place to remove any governments from power other than our own. The people always have the ability to overthrow their government if they all want to. Social revolutions come from within. They cannot be preached or forced from without.
Second, I still think you have no idea why 9/11 happened. First off, noone was aiming straight for “the heart.” The hit a financial center and some government buildings. If anything, they were ehading for corporate america and the american government. Now depending on how you how the way those corporations and our government treats us and the world, it may have been aimed at your heart. To me, not so much.
Third, the -reason- they want my head on a pike is because we have allowed our government and our corporations to be so ultimately irresponsible that we have put entire countries into chaos. Millions have died. Dictators have litterally come to power and wiped out millions because of guns, money, or motives that this country has provided. I think all the “terrorists” will stop hating us when we take control of our own country and stop making excuses.
And who is hating or daming the military? My beef is with our government and the corporations that run them. The military is just a corporate and government play thing, put in place to keep any who wish to stop that heavenly pursuit of profit at arms length. I am sorry your friends died. I am sorry you may be injured. I would never wish that on anyone. Buy you must consider the larger picture of “why”. If you friends died because “America is number one! Don’t tread on us! All terrorists desearve to die. God bless america. They took my freedoms!” Then I am afriad all of them died in vein, and I am truly sorry that thier cause was lost.
I didn’t say anything about Bush or Obama, but you do bring up a valid point. Soilders job is not to like it but to just follow orders. You kill on command. You die on command. Perhaps a soldiers job should be to think, ask questions, demand truths, and only be willing to fight for what is just. “Just following orders” is an excuse to commit murder. I will not excuse it, and I truly believe that any creator deity you might encounter later will not excuse it either. We must all stand up for what is right. All of us, and at all times.
I am a historian. Its my job to seek out so many veiws its rediculous. I have read years of soldiers journals. I have read General’s reviews. I have read eye witness accounts, and I have read stories for the familes over seas.And not just about Iraq or Afghanistan, but all the world wars including some that have been virtually erased from our collective memories like the true details of the Spanish-American Wars, the Spanih Civil War, and even the Indian Wars. If my public opinion has “plagued” these wars, perhaps its not my fauly, but the wars themselves.
And one final thought about the “on my froot door step” comment. You do realize thats fear tactics right? How many crazed white guys have run into a mall and started shooting? How many times has American been invaded? How many gun related deaths based on domestic violence have occured this year alone? How many “for sure” terrorists have we really apprehended? Frankly, I would rather take my chances with the terrorists.
And while I am bringing this to a close let me make one final thing absolutely clear. Not having a military is not an option. We need brave men and women from this country who are willing to do the job. But our military should be a defensive military, not an agressive military. And what we should be changing is our leadership, and our corporate and governmental bodies so that their goals are not to simply make profit, but to help the communities around them and the world.
I can make you this promise. When the world has enough food, clothing, shelter, education, medication, transportation, and communication…. terrorism will simply go away. But being stingy with -any- of the above things will only cause a desperate and hurting people to do desperate and hurting things. I will leave you with two quotes from Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. 1) “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” and 2) “A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard. “
No i’m not. I would never just look at one historical event. One must look at many historical events in context.
@ VNV – a couple of points, you claim to be a historian and make the point that governments do not have the right to overthrow other governments. You obviously haven’t researched much on the origins of natural law in particular w/ regard to international law – persons like Grotius, along with others, in which all countries, like individuals, have the inherent right of self defense. You also seem to have forgotten conflicts such as WWII in which the USA and its Allies overthrew a few governments that threatened our existence. You certainly have the right to your opinion, but whether or not you admit it, the USA was attacked on Sept 11 2001 by an extra-national organization harbored by a sovereign nation, thereby threatening our freedoms. And yes, police officers and other’s sacrifice their lives in the line of duty in an effort to protect others – that does not change the fact that when a foreign or domestic enemy is responsible their actions constitute a threat to freedom. Secondly, your depiction of soldiers couldn’t be more wrong or more dangerous to freedom. You are wrong in that soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines do think, quite well in fact. If you believe that modern warfare is simply a matter of dying under orders than you are sadly mistaken. Additionally, allowing the military to decide when fight or not fight without the control of a constitutional civilian authority is the first step towards tyranny. As a historian, you ought to look at the lack of civilian control over the military, say, for example, during the 1930’s. From a historical perspective, your argument constitutes hindsight viewed through rose-colored glasses, it is, at best naïve.
Many thanks and prayers Jason!
I’m going with Charlie of this one, regardless of the fact that VNV has said in the past some things that I agree with.
And Charlie, I A) completely agree about the portrayal of soldiers and B) all nine voices in my head vote you and Eddie for president!
To Jason:
Thank you.
I am not for this war, never have been, felt it was started from lies for political and financial reasons.
That being said I am very proud of all of you for putting your life on the line each and every day because it is your job.
And this without the supplies you need and money you should be paid.
I wish you all the best and hope that you are able to return home safely to your family and loved ones.
Too many young people have died in this war already.
” I’m coming home to put my size 11 boot up your rear where your brains are!”
“Good luck. My size 13s will be glad to show you what “mud hole stomping” is all about. “
Yeah….right…. You’d wet yourself if this guy came after you!
He’s not the soldier in the picture, Pokeus. It’s a troll that stalks me.
You and his wishes perhaps, but I have met many soldiers and have yet to be physically intimidated. And if his gun was his only leverage, then he isn’t as brave as some of you claim.
Soldiers are regular people who take the extra step to put themselves in harm’s way to ensure others can live their lives as they see fit. Weapons don’t make soldiers, discipline, training and a willingness to risk themselves for others make soldiers. You talk a good line, but what do you do to make other’s lives better?
I am glad you are curious. I volunteer at the local food bank, habitat for humanity. I attend blood drives. I write articles for my local newspapers calling out politicians who make proposals that would hurt people. I am a historian who specializes in social history and social movements. Everything I write is designed to help people. Now I may not be toting a gun through the desert, but I am a very strong belief in helping others.
Just a quick question: Hypothetically, if you saw someone from the shelter being physically attacked by a gang of thugs, would you help them?
Hypothetically, I would weigh my options. Could I help without just getting mugged right along side this person? Can I call the police? Are there any chances of me offering the gang something on my person that could stop the violence? Would it be better for me to wait until they leave and take the person to a medical center? If what you will hoping I will say is go in guns a blazing, thats not going to happen. At the very least I would walk up and say “I think he’s had enough. Why don’t you and your friends get moving along?” and then see what hypothetically happens from there.
each person helps how they can, vnv has said some good stuff but i totally disagree with the lack of respect these military guys deserve. These guys, as charlie put it, are regular men and women volunteering to put their lives at risk for the sake of their country. If you got a beef with what they’re doing, take it up with the governor, write your congressmen, do something – don’t take it out on the soldiers.
And I’m grateful for it. I too have tried to spend my life in service, since I gave up 23 years of “toting a gun” through various environments I entered into teaching and have been a sponsor of my school’s community service club helping to guide secondary students through community service in organizzations like the food bank, homeless shelter, drug rehab shelter and habitat for humainity. The bottom line is that many people serve in various ways, some more dangerous than others, but regardless, don’t minimize their service because you have a political axe to grind — you say you’re a historian, yet you discount historical viewpoints that differ from your political perspective, sorry, that’s not history.
Eddie, if it helps restore your faith in humanity at all, I’d go in guns blazing.
Whoa: I don’t see where VNV has shown a “lack of respect”. In fact, I see just the opposite. Perhaps he was glib in his initial post, but I see that as a response to the *caption*. How often are many of us on here smart-as$es, either in creating captions or responding to them? But in every serious response, I see nothing but thoughtful, respectful opinions. It’s almost as if most who’ve replied to VNV are not even reading his/her words–they just see, “Army bad! You bad!” That’s not what I see at all. Helloooooo, soldiers: Don’t believe that B.S. that Bush, Rumsfeld, et al, tried to shove down the country’s throats: Just because someone doesn’t like the fact that we invaded Afghanistan or Iraq doesn’t mean they don’t like YOU, or the military, or are some 70s throwback hippie peacenik.
Oh, and BTW: Just because someone is NOT in the military, doesn’t mean he or she is not “tough”; it simply means he or she made different choices in life. Perhaps they wanted to contribute more in other ways or thought their particular talents could be put to better use through other means.
“…an attack of the United States Financial Sector…”
Let me guess: You think that Bush orchestrated the entire thing to take scrutiny off the fact that he’s a stripper at Chippendale’s on the weekends and is actually the father of his daughter’s unborn child, right?
9/11 was a terrorist act used to inspire fear in the American people and American government. Bin Ladin and Al Queda has been threatening the US for years, and finally went through with it. He (Bin Ladin) attacked New York once before with the same intentions but obviously didn’t think it through as well as he did for 9/11.
And while we’re at it, why don’t you explain how attacking the Pentagon and the White House (the plane that went down due to the heroic efforts of the passengers) is an attack on the financial sector?
i just realized. with you being home full time now. and being laid up. and being cranky… we’re gonna get a lot more froo smackdowns on PK! oh happy day!!
I’m considering channeling Fester and just spewing all over everyone
DO IIIIIIIIT!
i miss fester. i hope he’s on a beach somewhere in his old man swim trunks pulled up nearly to his nipples, wearing one of those floppy fisherman hats, white socks pulled up to his knees, black slip on sandals and a stripe of zinc oxide down his nose bitching at all the people who dare come near him.
Knowing Fester, he’d have a gun buried in the sand within easy reach so that when the little kids come up and ask him if he’s a monster, he can shoot at the ground near their feet.
i hope he’s got the gun in a plastic bag… i’d hate for the sand to get into the gun and have it misfire.
i can just see the terrified crowd of kids running away screaming and crying about the “mean old man”.
AK 47 is very sand-resistant, hehe.
He’s probably back in the sanitarium for a ” well deserved rest ”
That’d be awesome.
*sigh* I’ll get the mop.. Again.. On permanent stand by..
Nope. I have no comments on what Bush did or did not think after 9/11. I know we trained and armed Bin Laden and then banished him from his home country. What I can say is that Operation 9/11 did want to send the public into a panic, which is did, but what it wanted to do more was provoke us into making a stupid counter attack, which we did. It also was designed to hit it where it hurt the most, out pocket books, which it did. And since America cares more about the dollar than we do about anything else, that attack was perfectly planned and executed. So, if we fear losing money above all else, its easy to see how this attack was part of a larger plan to hurt the Financial sector. You have to read a little deep, and sometimes get past the header on a news article to get somewhere.
And also, defending ones own life is not “heroic” its instinct. I do not issue cookies for people doing things they should have done.
That whole plan sure turned out to be a huuuuuge pile of FAIL. So many of their members are either being captured or killed by the truckload, and the casualties the Coalition gets are sparse.
Hahahahahaha…/sniff
“So many of their members are either being captured or killed by the truckload, and the casualties the Coalition gets are sparse.”
You are one of the Brainwashed.
Prove to me where we’ve actually killed or captured lots of members of Al Quaeda–the group who committed the attack on September 11th–not just people who are Taliban or Iraqi fighters, but *Al Quaeda*.
Have we stopped them? NO. They are in other countries, too, you know. Can one EVER stop a terrorist organization with direct military action? Can one ever change a *mind* that way, particularly one with a cause? A cause with a religious, cultural, or nationalist basis? The answer is a big, fat, NO.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
I agree with you 100% on what VNV said at the end there.
I’d also say that they did it to invoke fear, as he said, but I think that’s why they call them terrorists, and I can’t really know if they wanted to drag us into a war or just to piss off the bull.
Igor, you’re right — VNV’s problem is that he treats it like some fiction book — it isn’t. Read my post near the top in response to one of his first posts on the subj.
I disagree. I treat it like a person who has read a lot of history. When you start connecting the timelines dots, many things suddenly make sense.
Those who can, do.. those who can’t, sit back, read, and criticize.
What if in my case I’m aiming to sit back, read and criticize?
Ooooooooooooh, that’s a loaded question..
Or I’m loaded and asking a question…. *hic*
“Those who can, do.. those who can’t, sit back, read, and criticize.”
SOMEONE needs to see the big picture, instead of charging in half-cocked.
Those who “sit back” are often the ones who come up with SOLUTIONS.
Thank God the reinforcements have arrived!
Thanks for holding the high ground Eddie, college-type discussions are nice, reality is hard.
There should be some sort of law against being mini-Agains towards vets…
One analysis is that it was an attempt to draw the U.S. into invading Afghanistan, with the anticipation that we would become bogged down and shamed much like England and the Soviets. Rumsfeld and Cheney wanted to go in full force, but apparently George Tenet held the day and went with small forces, support to the anti-Taliban war lords, etc., and it worked. There were very few U.S. soldiers in-country when the Taliban fell.
Now, with President Obama saying that he may increase troop levels in Afghanistan, historians (from along the political spectrum) are warning that our country may well be falling into the same trap these past superpowers did.
“Bush orchestrated the entire thing to take scrutiny off the fact that he’s a stripper at Chippendale’s on the weekends”
Eeew, eeew, eeew! Ugly mental picture overload! Must scrub brain.
Froofrou, I love ya, but don’t take too great a leap in logic. fmr Pres Bush, for whatever reason chose to pursue the conflict in a direction that divided the nation. Not to say he did or did not have the right — he did and even though I think he made a bad decision, it doesn’t matter, he had the right. Having said that, he intentionally entered into a conflict in a manner that divided the nation, so please spare me the poor Pres Bush routine. And although I agree that the plane that went down in Pennsylvania was most likely because of the bravery of the passengers, we don’t really know that is what occured.
Osama said that it was an attack on ‘America’s icons of military and economic power’, those buildings certainly are what he describes.
Bush doesn’t have the legs to make it as a stripper.
Does any self-respecting man shave his legs? ‘Cause that’s the only way I can see one of us being a stripper.
Most guys who ride bikes in races do (i.e. Tour de France, not BMX.)
And the star of their sport has only one testicle…
You call them self-respecting men, Eddie?
As a tangent to your comment: we lose 435,000 Americans annually to smoking; 26,000 annually to traffic accidents; 365,000 to obesity; twenty to fifty thousand to the flu…and these are EVERY YEAR!
But one attack, one time, killing three thousand people… this somehow justifies spending a trillion dollars and the lives of more than 4000 American servicemembers, not to mention hundreds of thousands of foreigners?
I dunno, man. We can’t get a single-payer medical program, but we can prop up the defense industry. It just seems like we have our priorities screwed.
Mark, I don’t disagree — I’m in favor of single payer — it ain’t gonna happen cuz of big money, but — and it is a BIG BUTT (sorry), direct attacks are different that accidents or poor health choices (for the record I smoke cigars).
I enjoy a nice cohiba or dominican on occasion too! I just don’t see how crappy health choices can be compared to an outright attack (except for the idiot that drinks and drives.)
I completely respect your position, but I still disagree with you. Thanks for your civil tone while telling me where you disagree with me!
Wait a second, you’re going to try and compare smoking (which is done voluntarily), traiffic accidents (which more often than not is someone’s stupidity) to 9/11 (which was the killing of innocents)? Notice I left out obesity, even though in most cases this can be treated as well. I think your comparison is completely off the rails.
True, Eddie, but I can see how he thinks our priorities are out of order, regardless of his examples- the attack, yes, killed people, but these things kill many MORE people, sometimes in more stretched out and painful ways, and after 9/11, we were willing to pay billions to boost defense, to pay for a war in order to protect America, and that’s in a case of 3,000 killed- so logically, one would assume even MORE was being done to prevent the hundreds of thousands of deaths that would come when people can’t pay for their treatments? But, for some reason, people here aren’t for spending the money to prevent all those deaths, but still want to spend money preventing another attack like those 3,000 people died in. I know, that line of logic has holes, because those people were murdered, and didn’t die of medical conditions/accidents, but nonetheless they’re still dying.
It’s still apples and oranges, no matter which way you try and look at it.
I prefer apples naturally… being a Social-liberal-commie-terrorist.
I prefer bananas naturally. Or cucumbers. Or zucchinis. They can be delightfully shaped.
O.O
…. Go on…..
I think I can deduce where this was going, why can’t you?
Max, darling, did you forget about “Hide the Cucumber”?
Eddie, she has to SAY IT.
Once you start a guy’s imagination, you have to make it draw the line somewhere.
But the apples and oranges are still being paid for from the same wallet.
I dunno, Eddie, I’m with Ivan & Igor. I think the screwed up priorities argument works, and works well. How about if we substitute brain cancer or any given incurable disease for smoking (which also causes cancer, I know, I know) or traffic accidents? Helping Americans with these diseases isn’t a high enough priority, but chasing Bin Laden and pretending Saddam was a threat to us is worth billions upon billions? It’s screwed up. Seriously.
I’m on the fence…. mainly because I represent the neutral planets… on one hand, we must take care of our own… but on the other we must be aware of the threat of outside forces….
One thing I can truthfully say is “I have no strong feelings one way or the other… and if we don’t get out of this alive… tell my wife I said ‘Hello’.”
And her name would be? I’ll let her know you were a fine soldier and died honorably..
Ok, taking your scenario, I still disagree. If you look at the medical advances from say 1970 until now, you will see that what used to be considered write-off diseases are now being treated successfully. Take heart disease for example. Do you know that in 1970 it was almost unheard of to have bypass surgery. Now they’re performing quadrupal bypasses with 99% success. And a lot of the cancers were pretty much untreatable, yet now we have a lot more people that are survivors. Yes, money has been spent on the military, but it isn’t the sum total of the budget.
He’s comparing the loss of life vs. cost (in lives and $), not the CAUSES of the loss of life. That’s immaterial in his particular comment, don’t you see?
His end result was the nation’s spending on healthcare vs. waging war, and he’s right: our priorities are EFFed up.
But see . . . aggression focused outward . . . that’s an easy, simple emotion which has been stirred up by our leadership: “Look, an enemy (a simple answer to a complex problem): Let’s go after it!” Much easier than getting people to care about complex problems here at home, particularly when many people say, as you do, that some health problems are self-inflicted.
And what about the innocent people on the planes? Were they part of the financial sector too?
The people that perpetrated that act hate you because you are an American. They would just as soon kill you as look at you.
I would argue that perhaps VNV doesn’t have the proper respect for our troops, but at the same time, you’re a dick. And you make those who support our military look real bad.
And how in hell does *he* get to use fukc, ffs.
He got in between the end of last weeks quota and before this weeks started, so the rest of us have to cuss in comic-book-ese
Frackin frak!
@ Derek, Yeah, then why do you choose to disrespect that Marine who died with honor to defend what VNV has to say? “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
he not in afghanistan cause they hardly have sand deserts he must be in iraq or so.
But mabye he in neveda hunting bin laden.
First of all, where do you see sand in this picture?
Secondly, you have no idea what you are talking about. This looks very similar to pictures I have seen of my brother-in-law… who is stationed in Afghanistan… who has pictures of himself standing in the middle of towns made of clay with no a patch of green in sight.
War in iraq wasn’t anything about 9/11, that’s just what bush told the naive public so that he can justify invading a country for oil.
And the war in afghanistan was to stop the taliban, which i believe is a good cause.
Please continue to smack down the idiots who don’t appreciate what the members of our armed forces sacrifice to serve our country.
However, please don’t confuse a war of choice with “defending our freedom”.
All honor to the service members who go where they’re told and do the job put in front of them; no honor to the politicians who, for a varienty of reasons, risk our military needlessly.
Yeah, what he said.
With that, I completely concur!
America…
America…
America, FVCK YEAH!
Coming again, to save the mother fvcking day yeah,
America, FVCK YEAH!
Freedom is the only way yeah,
Terrorist your game is through cause now you have to answer too,
America, FVCK YEAH!
So lick my butt, and suck on my balls,
America, FVCK YEAH!
What you going to do when we come for you now,
it’s the dream that we all share; it’s the hope for tomorrow.
LOL. Thanks, SB.
Yes! Bring them home so’s they can whup yo’ ass like you need! Why fights over there when the real enemy is at home?
Were you dropped on your head when you were a baby?
bounced down the stairs repeatedly is what i was thinking…
Picked up by the ankles and used for batting practice.
I probably mistook him for a tennis ball and used him to practice my serve against the backboard.
It explains his uncanny obsession with me, and the fact that his skull and brain seem to be squashed into a thousand pieces.
How did the 8 year old find this site?
“Show me on the doll where Igor destroyed your argument…”
“EVERYWHERE!”
He *did* go to war voluntarily. And killing *is* what happens in war.
You know, since like, ever.
Not in the cold war *winks*
Well, except for the 57,000 who died in Vietnam — one of the many hot parts of the cold war, like Korea, and various aircraft shot down and other small skirmishes not reported to the general public.
“one of the many hot parts of the cold war,”
Charlie, did you realize when you typed that out that it sounded like you were talking about a porn scene?
which one… hot lunk meets fridgid librarian? or cold dog meets hot cat?
-Shiver-
Dog and cat porn, dude?
SERIOUSLY?
I meant a porno called the “Cold War” that sucked (was not hot), and had one great scene… hence… the hot part of the cold war…
It hasn’t always been voluntary. My father (if he was alive) and I can both attest to that.
And in many countries still isn’t. But since this “lol” is about a present day US military man, I guess it’s kind of a moot point. I mean MUTE, sorry.
Well, technically we still have the selective service where everyone has to register at the age of 18. Whether you actually go into the military is voluntary, but that can change.
Men and women, or only men?
Yeah, I know I could google it, but BAH.
Here, today, every man theoretically has to do military service around the age of 18. In practice very, very few do though. Budget cuts and whatnot – our military is soon nothing but an administration and a couple of decent wind orchestras.
At the moment I think it’s only men.
This is why I was hoping someone in congress would try to reinstate the draft. Not because I don’t believe in our all-volunteer army, but because I would be absolutely fascinated to hear our politicians trying to decide whether or not to draft women as well as men.
Draft them? Well, I can think of dozens of reasons drafting women into the armed services seems like a lame idea.
Don’t draft them? Well, then why do they get equal access (under the law, if not in practice) to all the freedoms enjoyed by men?
As I said, the political firestorm would make the current health care debate look tame by comparison. I’d be eating popcorn and watching the news for MONTHS!
LOL! I think the real debate would start when they try and decide if women should be in a combat role. Personally, after two marriages, I would be deathly afraid of a squad of women all with weapons to kill me with.
::snicker:: Oh yes… A Marine friend tells me that one of the scariest things at their Parris Island boot is when the females hit PMS at about the same time…they’re already sleep-deprived and hungry, with Snarl!Bodies!!Kill!!! being drummed into them, and…their male fellow Marines (very brave, but not stupid!) go around them very quietly and try not to draw attention… The visual this inspires in my head makes me giggle, whether or not it’s an accurate tale.
This being true…would not surprise me.
OK now this is insulting. I mean, I am actually a US Marine but I don’t get PMS. I was just born to kill. Don’t mistake me for some sort of wine sipping, communist dick suck in a grumpy mood. I know peace probably appeals to tree hugging bisexuals like you people, I happen to be a death-dealing, blood-crazed warrior who wakes up every day just hoping for the chance to dismember my enemies and defile their civilizations. Peace sucks a hairy asshole. War is the mother-fukcing answer. PMS isn’t a problem at all.
Mom?
eddie:
Thank you.
Thank.
You.
This was my first actual PK-induced real life LOL in ages!
Eddie, I love you for that.
Wondrous.
Didn’t mean to insult anyone *hic*…I’d be proud to be enlisting in the Marines about now, but damnit I’m too old. (33…any idea how annoying it is to be 33 and be “too old” for some things??) This was a story, related, as told by someone who had been a Marine and was stationed around Parris Island for about 4 years. (Finally requested transfer to different unit; partly because had thought that it would be sort of silly if spent entire first enlistment time on Parris Island…) I have absolute respect and appreciation for everyone who had the guts to join the US Marine Corps. Wish I had been amongst your number while I was still young enough to qualify. Thank you. You may have the best uniforms, but you really do get the crap jobs.
Heyla pittypat: thank you for serving! No disrespect meant, truly. I have all respect and wish the country at large had more appreciation for the fact that our Marine Corps is not entirely composed of the MEN one sees on billboards.
When the story was told to me, it was with a bent towards humor. The man who told it likes women very much, and in fact later married a female fellow Marine. Glad you don’t suffer from PMS! Really, it sucks…my first thought when the story was told was that our country was wasting an excellent opportunity to put the natural impulses of having dominant estrogen to very good use. Imagine the possibillities! And keep one’s sense of humor engaged whilst imagining.
Kiara, bad news. Pitty was joking.
She is actually Scottish.
Or British.
::licks in attempt to restore dignity:: Um…meant to do that. Really.
Oath-sister? Are you a Renunciate?
Lots of Mercedes Lackey books in my (our) youth. We met at 15/16 (respectively), and made each other a promise of sisterhood for our lifetimes. We’re in our early thirties now, and still as close as then. She’s a lapsed atheist (paganism took her unawares), I’m Christian openminded-nondenominational-protestant. And read rather a lot of Robert A. Heinlein in my formative years.
Ohhh I see. Here I thought you were one of the Oath Bound, the Comhi’i Letzii. My mistake. Zu par servu, vai domna..
Now I have something else to look up. ::grin::
I’ve never been married or engaged, but I’d sure as hell be terrified.
“Well, I can think of dozens of reasons drafting women into the armed services seems like a lame idea. ”
You can? What are they?
Let’s start with a short list:
1) A greater % of women will be physically unable to operate in a combat role. Sure, you could allow exemtions for women unable to complete a standard physical test, but would you extend the same opportunity to men? Wouldn’t that lead to some sandbagging? Imagine me, a large, muscular guy, going “Nope, Sarge, two pushups is all I can do. Well, I guess I don’t have to get drafted.
2) People who enlist voluntarily get to do jobs that require education and training, historically speaking, while draftees get to carry a rifle and charge machine gun nests. This is a broad brush statement, naturally, and exceptions will occur. I don’t think our national consciousness will allow for sending Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan to Afghanistan to poke barrels by the side of the road and see if they explode, much as the image appeals to my deranged nature.
3) For good or ill, our society looks at dead young men as heroes, while dead young women are victims. No war that sends home thousands of dead young female soldiers would maintain public support for very long. Okay, okay, this is actually one of my arguments *for* drafting women.
Also, you caught me, Danbala: I could probably only come up with another ten reasons it’s a bad idea to draft women, not dozens. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
*exemptions
i bet they’d be damn good snipers though…
Yeah, and you wouldn’t want a woman to be in charge of your interrogation, either!
Think our government in its current form isn’t ruthlessly practical enough to come up with an effective way to draft women.
The “different standards” thing and women in combat…women function exceptionally well in many traditionally-male military jobs already. Female Marines receive the same combat training as the males, even though not presently allowed to hold actual “combat” jobs later, and while you don’t usually see women on Marine recruiting billboards, there are a LOT of female Marines. The Air Force has female sharpshooters (their version of snipers). Women CAN physically and mentally perform many of the same tasks as a man of the same build, and not that many modern military jobs actually call for large size or great strength.
My main concern about having -unwilling- women in our military is that women have one very sticky option available to them which would get them out of ANY combat situation in a jiffy — pregnancy. Might be rather a large population boom…think how many men shot themselves in a foot to try to get out of the trenches in WWI.
1: Yes, of course you’d do the same thing for men. Even though men are generally stronger, you’ll always have some pencil-necked, gutless (damn, don’t remember the other ones) men and some physically very capable women.
2: I’m sorry , I don’t understand at all how this is could be an argument against a unisex draft policy?
3: … Yeah, I’d also say it’s an argument for.
I really think that a mandatory draft should be both man- and womandatory. ;p
The thing that I think is strange is that people think that guys are stronger, whereas the only real, evident physical advantage we have is that we have more natural upper body strength…
And are generally taller and heavier.
But that is usually what is necessary. I can bench press my husband (and a little more) with my legs, but I can’t fight him off, lift more than he lifts, or run any faster.
I’m a better shot than he is, but that’s beside the point. He can outshoot me with a handgun and God forbid if he was actually trying to get me and managed to dodge the sniper bullet
I have never supported women in combat, and never will. There is a feeling that goes along with these big ol’ macho men in the military (I know, blanket statement) that tends to make them want to protect the weaker among them, and I’d much rather know that the military is totally focused on the job at hand as opposed to making sure their female partner is safe. This is why it’s hard for me to like women as beat cops paired up with men, and other jobs where being a woman can be an accidental liability (being a firefighter, for example).
That’s not to say that I would prevent anyone from doing what they want, but having a different standard of training for men and women is just dangerous.
froo:
I heard about (yes, I know that’s like the worst possible form of source) some research on how people handle emergencies – like how people react to total panic situations. Very, very broadly it showed that men get outwardly aggressive, women are prepared to do just about anything to protect their children/family/close ones. Sounds like a good combo to me!
So that with a massive caveat about it just being something I heard from someone who claimed to have read it. Might be total bull.
And for what that’s worth, I could fight my boyfriend off simply due to the fact that I am far more aggressive and have had far more practice fighting, and have far less inhibitions when it comes to hurting someone. (Pacifist. I am. Haven’t always been, even if it was a loooOOooOoooOOong time ago.)
I think you’re right about the total panic situations, but I’m not sure how that translates into combat per se. I mean, if I’m hunkered down in a fox hole with other dudes shooting at me but I know my kids are safe at home with Grandma in a rural part of the state, how am I using that particular part of my brain to react? Especially since we know by watching movies that turrists NEVER attack rural parts of the country
In all seriousness, I’m just not sure how that works. I’ve seen male firefighters go for the female partner over the victims in a building before because instinct took over, and since he had an emotional connection with the partner, he went that way instead. The same thing would happen with a soldier, and I’d personally rather know that a soldier’s attention is focused forward, not sideways or to the rear worrying about those weaker than him.
Now, you guys are teasing about PMS in the military, but back in the ’90’s Rush Limbaugh suggested a military force made up of nothing but synced up females…..you have 12 platoons all synced to a different month, voila, instant blitzkrieg any time of the year!!! LOL
Let’s not have anyone misunderstand my position: I don’t object to female soldiers at all, at all, in any capacity the individual woman can handle.
I just think the idea of drafting women along with men will open the “equality” debate to a level we are not socially prepared to deal with, and I would just *love* to watch the fighting!
Thanks, Froufrou. Yes…the tendency for men to protect women is one of those issues which leads to much head-scratching in the “how to address/overcome” fields. Guess the best we can hope for (unless someone comes up with a brilliant gender-training solution) is fellow-soldier feeling. Maybe having some all-female units? Not good in the long run, but maybe until the males get used to females around them?
The Israeli army, with mandatory service for both men and women, would prove your arguments wrong-headed.
The Israeli army only excepts the Hasid. Which is, I gather, a political problem in that country.
But be that as it may, we already HAVE women in combat positions in the US army. They are not in the infantry, but from what I am reading in the various news sources, many of the women in the army are finding themselves in live-fire situations, and are leading charges/defending their peers/pulling folks away from danger right now in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The Israeli army only excepts the Hasid.”
Since when?
oof, never mind. Dyslexic fail.
I blame it on my raging homophonia.
Vocabulary can be both fun AND risky!
VG, I know you want to scare me away from sex, but isn’t making me associate fun and risky things with DICTIONARIES just blatantly trying to make me sexually dysfunctional?
Not as risky as unprotected analogies with dangling participles.
Dictionaries will make you informed. Information and a willingness to experiment will make you sexually functional–with the FUN at the fore! …as in foreplay.
Orly? Sweet! INVADE SWEDEN!!!!
We’ll play drum rolls at you until you give up your invasion attempts! If the UN sanctions it, we’ll even bring out the tubas.
We have to invade! Sweden has instruments of mass destuction!!!!! We have EVIDENCE!!!11!1111!!elventy!!!
*cleverly hides the french horns*
… or are they “freedom horns” now? ;p
They’re “Super free happy shiny republic of the people” sticks now.
America: Democracy Inaction
By the good people at the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
My favorite rule of thumb in that book?
The more positive, democracy-encouraging adjectives that are in the title, the more repressive a dictatorship it is.
“People’s shiny, happy republic of congo” = 11 stars.
“the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” is … three stars?
More like nine.
Total terrurists!! O.M.G.
Too late! We know about your interception of metal tubas bound for Stockholm for the purposes of making an atomic bombshell!
*cleverly orders glass fiber sousaphones instead*
I wish it would. One of the problems with the American Military today stems from the All-Volunteer concept which relieves citizens of their civic duty, especially when we make every soldier a hero — after if one isn’t a hero its ok to let someone else defend their right to exist.
I still like the idea of a 100% National Service requirement for young people. It doesn’t have to be in a combat role. There are many things our country needs done that no one wants to do because there’s no money in it.
Something we can agree on, PM!
Now that I’m no longer that young, I say, sure, why not?
I’m not sure I would mind being drafted, unless I had a serious interest- other than that, I’m just too timid to enlist.
If I were drafted, I’d be hiking across the Canadian border, eh. Never ever ever ever. No. Not doing it, bye, see ya.
You were drafted, Eddie?
It was either enlist or get drafted.. I enlisted.
Should the draft ever be instated again, I think I might be as well… unless they don’t draft people with a drug charge on their record anymore.
I would guess the only time it will be reinstated is if the number of troops falls below a certain number. To be honest, back in my day you had a lot more threats than you do today. So I would have to say I doubt if you will ever see it put back in place (short of WWIII).
Dragoons are overrated prima donna’s
-Sniffle-
Not ALL of us…
You can’t be a dragoon — you wouldn’t like the poofy pants.
That depends, Charlie. Would I think “Holy crap if I went out in public like that I’d look like I was mentally stunted!”? Because if I did, I would naturally say “HELL yes! I HAVE to wear those now! Let’s freak some people the hell OUT!”
So… am I dragoon already then? Reference the previous lol discussion about my MC Hammer pants…
Cain’t touch this!
Max, you’re singing it aren’t you? It’s stuck in your head and you won’t be able to sleep tonight!
Stop…. Silva-Hammer Time!
Ooooo…. I like that…
My my my PK threads make me… so frothy
Like a red witch hunt-ing McCarthy
Who thinks.. Bi-den is funny?
Everybody does cause the man’s a dummy…
*takes a deep breath*
Wow…. sorry… I don’t know what came over me there…
I don’t know about Max, but I have school tomorrow, thanks a lot Charlie…
Charlie… you called it…. and I raised it…. to DA ROOF!
Da ROOF, Da ROOF, Da ROOF is on FIRE!! night all.
Good night sir!
Next time, same place, same channel…
We don’t need no water let the mutha fukka burn…
Maxwell FTW!
MY LIFE FOR AIUR!
We don’t need to flank the wolves; just slow them down without engaging until we can hit them with the red dragons.
lol! …and how do we use the orcs? Can’t get them to behave anyway…
Yeah, I can see them trying to draft me “My god woman! All this BEFORE you turned 21?! You are not fit to fill these boots” (me) “Aww.. shucks”
“Our biggest question is, whatever happened to the tank, and how did you get it into the football stadium?”
Nah, the biggest question is “KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?”
So what’s your point? Of course he volunteered. Of course he kills people. What the hell do you think that soldiers do, knit? You’re here today because many soldiers killed people throughout the generations in defense their nations. In our case, soldiers do what their elected leaders tell them to do, anything else is tyranny.
“You’re here today because many soldiers killed people throughout the generations in defense their nations.”
Without war, humanity would have been wiped out? Sure, the world looks exactly like it does today because of its history with the wars that have been and without those which haven’t, but I am a bit uncertain that it can be said that wars have doubtlessly made things better. (Except maybe tech and science developments which seem to be very much driven by military “needs”.)
I’d agree with that.
here as in able to freely state your opinions without excessive government interference as opposed to say china where the internet is monitored and the providers cow-tow to government control.
Yeah, China’s internet is teh suck.
Most of the students that go to the same college that started the Tienanmen square protest don’t even know what it is, and when you look up “Tank Man” in China, you get not one SINGLE look at the guy- just a bunch of maps of Tienanmen Square.
My problem is with the retailers here making it POSSIBLE for China to control their people by selling them products that help filter the internet in the country, etc.
I read this, but all I heard in my head was “INVADE US! HERE ARE MORE REASONS TO INVADE SWEDEN!”
Just kidding, Danbala.
Sweden’s WWII history is … icky. :p
But hey. It’s the reason all my family immigrated here shortly after WWII as well – there was a prosperity here which none of the war-torn countries around had.
Hmmm.
LIFE – WAR = PROSPERITY
[I'm really into simplicity, lately.
]
Ferris Bueller, you’re my hero.
*swoon*
Some people seem to be clueless about how the world works and are ’shocked’ to discover that there is really such a thing as this ‘war’ thing. As long as there are people on this Earth there will be violence. I’m not saying that humanity should be destroyed, it’s just a fact that’s been around since we have.
::shrugs:: We do sort of need to have a military…otherwise we become fresh meat for everyone else.
We all have parts of our jobs we like better than other parts. Complaining about the yucky aspects gives us a vent. Yeah, he volunteered. It still sucks!
So we need soldiers, we need scientists, we need historians, we need janitors. We need people willing to fight and people to remind us why we shouldn’t fight. There’s room for everyone, here.
Hey, girl! You just take your logic and pragmatism and go home, now! We don’t need none o’ that ’round here!
This place is all about flinging insults and wildly ricocheting emotions.
(J/K)
Ooh. Who’s this now? In or out of uniform, he’s HOT.
How YOU doin’?
Most men in uniform are hot… its the special ones (like my future hubby) who are still hot out of it!!! <3
And by hot you mean standing outside in a desert with long sleeves on? Oh yeah. Hot… and musty.
But musty can shower, you know. Whereas icky, not so much!
the name written on his flak jacket is mcconnaughy. beyond that, can’t help you out as to who he is.
this being the internet and all, i doubt you’ll ever find out.
“Micknaughty” posted the original photo. The man himself, wife, sister, parent, sibling…fans would love to know.
You volunteered for the job. Cry me a f’ing river. Let’s talk about the people who’s problems are genuinely imposed on them and then see who’s having a bad day, neh?
“BUT IT”S MY BROTHER !!! “You troll!
you just called someone a troll? that’s an interesting turn-about.
But they are getting on to someone who is even dumber!
That person was a troll too.
Troll made decent point!
*head asplodes*
No, not really Jan St Claredo/Igor’s mom/Igor’s gf/Igor’s whatever etc. probably wins the dumbity prize.
And next time on Darwin’s “I f*cking told you so!” We see what happens when those of limited intelligence try to graft themselves into an environment that wholly rejects them.
Iggler gets into the PK timestamp logs, finds his wife’s IP address, where it’s registered to, and hunts them down?
You’ll just have to watch and see!
Like who? gutless wonders like you?
“MOOOOMMMYYYY!!! I WAS TOO SCARED TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SO I DIDN’T AND NOW I HAVE TO SO THE PROBLEM IS BEING IMPOOOOOSSEEEEDDDD ON MEEEE!!!!”
He IS dressed to kill? *oh God no one heard that*
exclamation mark fail.
Punctuation can do that at times… Gnarly little ink spots!
BRING BACK THE INTERRROOOOBANNNNNGGG!
Thank you for understanding and forgiveness, Viking Gal. I will not fail you again.
Hey, I can’t expect people to be perfect when I’m not!!
Being perfect, however, I can.
FROTH FROTH JUDGE JUDGE AD NAUSEAUM POINT!
See? Perfect.
Sorry, Igor, there is a distinct need of commas in your all-caps statement. Just saying!
PERFECT PEOPLE DON’T NEED COMMAS! WHY? WELL CAUSE WE SAID SO! CIRCULAR LOGIC!
QED.
-Snorts-
Yep.
What’s this caption supposed to mean? That no one else is allowed to think their day is bad because someone, somewhere is probably having a worse one? That’s stupid. If my day is bad to me, then it’s bad. Someone else’s perspective on their own day has no bearing on mine. If I said I was having a good day, would someone point out someone doing something they think is better and say ‘no, *they’re* having a good day!’ It annoys me when people try to minimize people’s feelings and experiences by comparing them to the way other people experience things, as if we’re all interchangeable, like snowmobile parts.
like this.
well that was supposed to be “likes this” like a FB tag, but I FB tag failed. Sorry.
You fail in O so many ways!
Not what your mom said.
My mom wants to know if we should think of honour as lies.
-pounces the charro- hi!
Hi bitter love!!
Or do we just lament its aged and slow demise?
Shall I stand, as a total stranger.. On this day, in this stone chamber?
No!! You will stand your ground! Its what we are fighting for. For our spirit, and are laws, and our ways!
CRY HAVOC! And let slip the dogs of war. For heaven or hell, I shall not wait!!
The Dogs of War? Isn’t that a Pink Floyd song? Eddie, back me up here.
All debate aside, this rocks! More!
So why do I cry, and why do I feel that I carry a sword through a battlefield?
So you are trolling as igor’s wicked aunt and Jane St Claredo. Just to clarify.
and as “Soldier-in-the-picture”
Ooh, I missed that one. *stomp* Is it dead?
Trolls never die, they just slink away to a different part of the internet.
Like cockroaches.
I have a friend whose daughter is a biologist or something but anyway, she said NEVER STOMP on a cockroach! Their eggs will stick to your feet and then you’ll spread them everywhere!!
I believed her. Now my nose itches.
I heard they lay their eggs on postage stamps once and haven’t been able to touch a stamp since. I loathe cockroaches.
*chases squiggly around with a booklet of stamps* I left these in a corner for daaaaaays! Lick’em! Lick’em!
Had a pet hedgehog once — insectivore. Short legs, pointy nose, spikes, official household Eater of Inconvenient Insects. She ate exactly two cockroaches. Flat-out refused to eat a third. It says something when an insectivore turns down a big juicy insect meal. ::shudder:: Cockroaches…
My son occasionally says he wants one of those hedgehogs. Stupid fvcking Sonic the Hedgehog.
As far as exotic pets go, they aren’t too bad. They don’t knaw like rodents, though many of them can climb. I’ve had luck having them live in a (water-resistant-sprayed) nylon pop-up dog kennel (thanks Walmart — about $21, tops…and if it gets to smell too bad, cheap to replace.)
Make sure the ‘hog has a large, solid exercise wheel (also about $17 – $21), feed it a low carb/ low iron dry cat food (Taste of the Wild is decent) and dry hedgehog food on the side (about 3 tbsp a day total, not bad pricewise). Have something under its home to provide heat (I use an indoor/outdoor cat nonflex plastic electric heat pad, placed under the kennel, and dense foam camping pad — also Wal-mart — under both kennel and heat pad). Once you handle the inital setup costs, maintenance is pretty decent for an exotic. They’re nocturnal, friendly but generally perfectly okay if you leave them alone, and live 3+ years. Much like a very small cat, with spikes.
My biggest concern is that I’ve heard that since they are exotic that they don’t tend to do well health wise here for some reason. That and they have spikes.
I vote either a very friendly breed of rabbit or a medium sized dog.
It helps (health-wise) if you get one pretty close to the natural coloration (dark grey spikes, varying to white at the base); lighter colorations (in many species) tend to be less generally healthy. Three years is the low end of the life span; if you get a healthy one, 10 years is not uncommon.
The spikes really aren’t too bad! Not barbed, just pointy. Amount of pokiness for any given hedgehog depends on how well he/she knows your scent and how much he/she was enjoying his/her dream before you picked him/her up. (They really do like to sleep.) Pokiness depends on how much the given hedgehog is flexing spikes. Once the hog knows you, they only flex a little (presumably to get their annoyance across), and only minor poking of hands occurs. If they’re scared or REALLY unhappy, they go into full-flex mode and the spikes cross like caltrops. That’s when one uses gloves, or a dustpan, to lift the ‘hog…
I can see the relevance of Igor’s family members and such…. but… Jane St. Claredo? Am I missing a joke or something?
I think there was someone posting yesterday with the name something like Caerdo. But I don’t know if that was what this individual is referring to, or not.
I don’t think it is- I think it’s just them clarifying that they aren’t Janie, but they ARE trolling as them.
Worst troll name ever… seriously…
One of the clones has gone rogue, Max! You need to work on the cloning process.
My recipe is perfect! The Bishop is fool…..
Wait, you can see the relevance of Igor’s family members and such???
*pulls the pin*
*gently tosses to Jane troll*
Catch.
*plugs ears*
*covers eyes*
Have you ever tried to get troll out of your eyebrows?
GOOD QUESTION! HI I’M MILLY BAYES! AND I’M HERE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO THE NEW TROLL-GUTS EYEBROW COMB! TROLL GUTS WILL MAKE YOU NUTS! BUT THIS LITTLE BABY WILL CLEAN YOUR EYEBROWS AS IF THEY WERE NEW! BUY THEM NOW SO I CAN STOP YELLING!
*pulls the pin*
*gently tosses to Milly Bayes*
I’ve got a hundred of these.
Max, that’s the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time. (Whoops.)
MAX, THAT’S THE FUNNIEST THING I’VE READ IN A LONG TIME.
(I don’t know what that says about me, though. Maybe I don’t read enough, anymore.)
True dat.
Well, I think his day is aLOT far worse than any of our days, cuz´He thinks that he is actually doing something for his country, but he is being used by a few ver RICh people to o what they want him to do.
Being a puppet, its Hard.
Being a puppet, its Hard.
apparently so is appropriate capitalization of words (call me a hypocrite, i never capitalize…), spelling, use of apostrophes, grammar, english, and using your brain stem.
As far as capitalization goes, consistency is the key. We (usually) let it go when you don’t capitalize because you’re consistent in your lower case. rafa…just hurts to read.
Interesting knit-picks, considering the brain stem has no effect on your ability to type. Also good job picking on the typing itself rather than the point it makes.
Shortright didn’t say she disagreed with the point, just that it was nigh impossible to read without going insane.
this.
Without a brain stem, how do those impulses reach the rest of the body pray tell?
Well, when God made Baby Jesus, He said “Heigh ho, let the rum flow”- oops, wrong quote, sorry. He said “Oh, let’s make it so they can be decapitated but they crawl upon the ground by moving their face! Yayyyy!”
As you can see, God had a dark sense of humor back then.
“Heigh ho let the rum flow”
It’d have been a LOT different book if he did say that…
Well, the brain stem MUST be used, otherwise breathing and heartbeat wouldn’t take place; say what you will about this person, but they must be ALIVE.
Also, I’m being picky, Shortright, but one doesn’t have a choice in using one’s brain stem . . . it does its job without advice from the higher brain functions.
Does it hurt when you try to think?
If you signed up for the military at any point in the past 8 years (minus one day) you knew exactly what you were in for and have zero room to complain. Good for you for being brave enough to do so, but you knew exactly what you were in for.
On top of that, when these guys aren’t on active duty they are being paid huge sums of money to sit around and not do jack.
So yes, the rest of us do have bad days as well.
Man up.
Written by someone who has never been there and never will ( lacks the required cahones- prefers to hide in cellar and avoid life)
Just because someone makes the decision not to do something he doesn’t believe in doesn’t make them a coward. Often times, the bravest of us all are not the ones who rush out to be issued a gun, but those of us who are smart enough to know that communication and compromise are the only ways to win.
I bet you got beat up a lot as a child and your mommy told you that you’d just have to take it.
I think VNV is right on this one. Bravery is standing up for what you believe in regardless of public opinion. I had great uncles who were conscientious objectors to WW2 of all things. NOT popular but what they believed to be right.
I agree that you should at least try to talk it out, but honestly, how many times does the bully have to hit you before you get to hit him back? Is it not a better thing to be prepared for the bully and make it obvious that you’re not scared of him BEFORE he gets the chance to pull your underwear over your head?
I will always be a fan of Reagan’s philosophy on the matter, that you have to be prepared for whatever they might throw at you before you go in to talk.
United States is the bully in the world. It seems ridiculous to me that we are always painted out as the victim that only in a time of absolute need to we break out the war machine. Our war machine is our first option. We police the planet, label regimes we put in power as evil, and otherwise act as a bully because of our financial strength, which we are losing. So… the comment I have to make is… How long did you think the Bin Laden’s of the world were going to get bullied by US Foreign policy before they hit back? And when they do? Holy Wow! They are horrible evil terrorists that can’t be reasoned with! Kill em all! The US has some serious identity problems. I just like to point em out.
People like Bin Ladin and Al Queda would hate us regardless as the Great Western Devil because of our rather lax standards on things like women walking around with their faces uncovered and being treated equally in the world. We weren’t attacked on 9/11 because we had bullied Al Queda, but rather we were attacked because we are Satan and are showing people who have been kept in the dark for centuries a different way of doing things. Kim Jung Il hates us and keeps his people in the dark about the good things the US does because he doesn’t want his people to get the idea that he’s not God. Bin Ladin hates us because we might take his virgins away from him. Bin Ladin was also directed by religious fervor and anger, which are a potent and lethal combination. His people were not flying into buildings because the US had bullied them, they flew into buildings because they were promised the favor and love of Allah for striking against the Great Western Satan that is polluting the world.
Besides, as far as I know, all of the US military action since we became a member of the UN has been sanctioned by the UN. If we’re such bullies, we have the backing of the ultimate Bully. Why are other countries who back us up in our military endeavors not being attacked? Why are those who support us in our bully-ness not being struck out against as well? This should tell you that there are other reasons for the attacks than just simply “The US is a big meanie!”
“We weren’t attacked on 9/11 because we had bullied Al Queda, but rather we were attacked because we are Satan and are showing people who have been kept in the dark for centuries a different way of doing things.”
I don’t believe that at all. I think the reason is far more along the lines of VNV’s opinion.
“all of the US military action since we became a member of the UN has been sanctioned by the UN.”
The Iraq war?
“Why are other countries who back us up in our military endeavors not being attacked?”
The UK?
I believe that the Iraqi war was sanctioned by the UN under the premise that Sadaam had broken more treaties than he had signed, so yes. Iraq too.
As far as other countries that have backed up our military endeavors, there is the UK, France, Germany, Australia, and numerous other countries who have troops in both Iraq and Afganistan. Not to mention that the invasion of both countries was (again) sanctioned by the UN. So why are there no planes being flown into the UN buildings overseas (to me)? The US has long been the great evil in the world, and been blamed for everything from third world poverty to Kim Jung Il having a bad haircut. I’m not saying we haven’t done wrong in the past and present, but geez, people, we certainly aren’t alone in this world, nor are we alone in the ability to inflict some really crappy things on people.
I remember the UN stance quite differently. They did not sanction the war, even though there were some other countries in the security council who supported it.
So many years ago, my memory isn’t clear. :/
Attacks on US-related sites (USS Cole (sp?), 9/11, the previous attempt on the World Trade Center) were in response to the US still being stationed in Saudi Arabia, ie the home of Mecca. The World Trade Center was a particular target because of its association with western finance. And quite possibly because Osama was a structural engineer by training–which means he knows how things are put together, and how they most likely will fail. So destroying the WTC was probably a big exciting homework problem for him, in addition to the symbolism.
And amidst this civil, intelligent conversation I would just like to add: “BALLS!”
That is all… thank you.
I think there has been quite a few terrorist attacks on other “western” countries.
I agree that the US are not the only ones to blame for just about anything. (Except possibly for taking good sitcoms and movies from other countries and then doing HORRID remakes of them. You wankers. ;p)
But, the US really isn’t the only country to suffer terrorist attacks either (of the same kind as those the the US has suffered). One of reason the UN as such doesn’t get attacked all that could be that virtually all countries are members of it? I’d imagine people can feel they have a way to influence the UN without bombing it.
Yes, I am purely speculating, and I really have no idea, but it was a good question. Why, when so many are involved, does the US get singled out as being the worst, or the leader of the whole thing? Probably because you are the largest, most powerful and (though this shouldn’t affect people I am sure it does) the most high-profile in attitude, often. I mean, not as a foreign policy, but in culture and news and suchlike around war-times.
Start with UNR687 and work your way from there. Selective knowledge FAIL.
NHSparky:
Aimed at me?
“Why are other countries who back us up in our military endeavors not being attacked?”
The UK?”
Another country that does not bow to Sharia. And therefore attacked.
Sir,
You are an idiot. The reason the world hates us is because we have literally created and maintained third world countries, while leaving millions in poverty in our own country and millions around the world. They hate us because we have done this, and yet we flaunt it, and call them backwards and evil because they are not on top. They hate us because we have this warped idea that America is #1 when what we should have used all that corporate might to better the entire planet, not the few CEO’s and stockholders that did. Our country has perverted its own religion, committed genocide on the American Indians, and maintains the attitude that if we ignore the poor and needy they don’t exists. The world hates us and with just cause. Its not the world that needs to change. Its US. When we do, and people don’t have to be pirates to feed their village, or feel they need to blow themselves up just to be heard, then we can start to get to world peace. Which is really what this post is all about in essence. Peace or the lack thereof.
Froo is a she and not an idiot.
I agree with your claims, especially that the US is in a heated love affair with the dollar which has gotten bored with us and is looking for a better Sugar Daddy, but don’t blast on Froo. That’s more a warning than advice.
I will take your advice into consideration. I have to admit though, since I am not afriad of the torrorists, communist, pirates, or even ninjas, I have little concern over an internet prescence.
She’s pregnant. Terrorists, communists and whatnot have NOTHING on that. NOTHING.
Question: Who are the torrorists?
Hee! I’m not afraid of terriers, either, stupid little yappy dogs…
I was offering that only because I like you and think you are articulate and intelligent. I’d hate to see you get fed up and go away.
But watch out. Froo will cut you. It may be after she has the baby, and gets her energy back, though.
Well, since my moral code does prevent me from being too insulting, especially to violent blade weilding pregnant ladies… I suppose it would be best that I recant my “idiot” comment. But I still think people including the above lady could use some more history books in their lives.
VNV, I think you and I can come to an agreement that we just see the world differently. I don’t think that necessarily wrong, or a bad thing in the slightest. If there weren’t different points of view on the causes of things and the solutions to fix them, we’d be in the middle of nuclear winter right now.
I can agree that the US has a love affair with the dollar, but I also see the problem as much deeper than that. The things you mentioned in your above post show a lack of follow-through on the part of our US and world leaders, and that to me is one of the biggest problems of all. The war in Iraq could have been over and done with years ago if Bush Sr had followed through. We’ve been fighting a “war on poverty” for the last, what, 80 years now? with no effects.
I disagree that the world has reason to hate us. There are many countries out there who have done worse in terms of genocide, inflicting poverty and ignorance on their own people, and waging wars on the innocent. People have short memories, and we’re just the latest screw-ups in a long line of screw ups. That doesn’t mean we should go around apologizing for it. That means that we need to pick up and fix it and make it better through action, not through throwing ourselves on the mercy of the world court.
And I won’t cut you. That’s a bad example to set for my daughter
@froo: Agreed!
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*and gives you a quick hug* – doesn’t want a jealous froobear knocking on my door.
Froo, you totally know you’re hoping this baby comes out like me, but with less evil.
And more feminine wiles.
Oh, and without a penis.
Seriously though, if you guys ever visit MA, I call getting to meet the baby!
I just have to say, I don’t think Bin Laden gives a yippy skippy flying fcuk whether our women are skantily clad and we Love Freedom. Or at least, if they care, it’s not enough to kill themselves over it. If they Bin Laden wanted to get back at debauchers, why not Japan? They sell little girls dirty underwear in VENDING MACHINES! What about Amsterdam? What about sex trafficking in Thailand?
Furthermore, Muslim factions are constantly warring against each other and have been for ages, and they all live by pretty much the same standards when it comes to oppressing their women and Hating Freedom.
I agree with VNV on this one, it was the US’s foreign policy which singled us out as a target for Al Qaeda.
And VNV- don’t worry about her cutting you. She won’t do that in front of the baby.
The problem is that when the baby is in the other room… She’ll bite your trachea out.
The very idea that you think you are not yourself a communist is laughable.
Hard to be afraid of something you’re a card-carrying member of.
“When we do, and people don’t have to be pirates to feed their village, ”
Yeah. They’re asking for 7-figure ransoms so they can hand it out around town like Robin Hood. Right.
You really are a brainless dope. Whatever college diploma you have is clearly not worth the paper its printed on.
PLEASE don’t tell me you’re one of the morons that still thinks it’s US foreign policy that caused 9/11. Despite your spelling gaffs, you’re too intelligent for that. At least I thought so.
We were attacked, and continue to be under threat, because the majority of us do not submit to their god. Plain and simple. Worldwide Sharia is their goal, any anyone who disagrees is to be killed, and any government that resists is to be collapsed.
Unless we do something about it, which bedwetters like yourself can’t handle. Hence the gentleman in the photo.
This comment is the silliest thing I have ever seen you write. Being against violence (whether it be on an individual level or on an international level), and finding strength in refusing to partake in it, is not because you can’t.
I didn’t say he couldn’t. But I’m sick of people downing the military because they “rushed in to be issued a gun” instead of being pacifists and talking it out.
People deal with violent behavior in others in different ways. Some people will hit back when hit, others will be able to hit back and choose not to, some will just take a beating to prove a point. VNV strikes me as the type who will go home proudly with bruises just because he’s making a point, and to me, that’s very reckless. Especially when you’re talking about a country that has to deal with threats of violence every day, you can’t always take the pacifist route unless you just don’t want to be a country anymore.
I have no problem with being a pacifist on a personal level. But you can’t do it on a national scale unless you’re Switzerland. And they’ve just been bullied into revealing some very private information to the IRS, which should scare the hell out of everyone.
The United States has caused -far- more violence and death that we have received from others.
I’m not debating whether we should have gone into Iraq or not. Personally, we should have finished that debacle back in the ’90’s when Bush Sr was in office. And I’m not debating whether the war has been handled appropriately under Bush OR Obama. I’m answering your statement about “rushing out to be issued a gun” and your implication that it takes a war-hungry hate-monger to do that.
But then that was in response to the “shut up, you don’t have the balls to be a soldier”-post. :p
I wasn’t talking about Iraq. I am starting with American Indian policy, African policy, and basically moving up and anyone that we have had any disagreements with, we have caused more damage to them than them to us.
As far as the rushing to issue a gun statement. I was saying that just because a person joins the military doesn’t make them brave and just because someone doesn’t, doesn’t make them a coward.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I agree with most of what VNV is saying here. Not 100%, but a solid 95.78%.
I like your number.
I’m gonna go with that too, because it’s a good number.
What the circumference of a pumpkin divided by its diameter?
PUMPKIN PI! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
What is a pumpkin’s favorite sport?
Squash . . .
I disagree. I’m going with 97.58%. Sorry Rando.
94.0348787876657996656588% here
Keep dyslexia out of it.
She likes it.
uh-huh.. uh-huh..
As a former Marine, most of the posts on this page sadden me. I was not drafted or one of the “poor” that was forced into the military because of not having any other options. I joined because I love my country. I fought in Kuwait. Do I think I was doing my part to help protect the freedom of the US? Yes. I believe the fact we have a strong military force is a deterrent to future aggression against the US. Yes the US inflicts a lot of pain and death on the world through waging war. I won’t deny that. But you cannot deny that the US is also the most generous nation in the world with the aid it gives out through its government and through the private sector.
Oooooooooh-RAH!
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Nicely put.. I can well imagine how history would have played out had the U.S. just sat back and said, “Not my problem.. you deal with it.” And thank YOU for serving!
Uh…. thats exactly what we did? Last ones to join both the World Wars. Hello? Last minute entry and Russia won is WW II
We were the last because we tried you strategy to just sit back and not get involved, then the enemy came, bared their teeth and showed us we wouldn’t get by with just saying “Hey guys, play nice, and get along.” In both the world wars, the US sat back, and then got attacked. After the last two world wars, I think we sort-of adapted a “shoot first, talk peace later” approach due to the fact that people wouldn’t leave us the hell OUT of the conflicts.
You’re and idiot, and I think you better go back and review your precious history books. Do you honestly think Russia or the UK would have had a chance without Lend Lease?
Russia merely stopped Germany from spreading, but with a join attack on both sides from Zee Germans and the Japanese, Russia would have fallen, most of their soldiers were under equipped, under-rationed, and cold with poor morale. Any millitary man will tell you those three things could make a force the size of the Persian army crushable.
And let’s not forget that Germany and Italy had most of North Africa tied up as well.
True, but VNV was speaking of Russia, I didn’t feel like going over how the Axis powers had the world by the BALLS… until Japan screwed the pooch by provoking us into helping the allies..
Whereas in previous lols I stated how half my family were teachers over 150 years back… well the other half were soldiers…. I get to hear the BEST stories!
That’s true.. but then, I think Japan was itching for a fight anyway.
“But you cannot deny that the US is also the most generous nation in the world with the aid it gives out through its government and through the private sector.”
Ooh. I would love to see statistics for this sort of stuff. Where do you find them? I tried a few months ago and didn’t see any site that had a comprehensive list.
Regarding contributions to the UN, the US contributes 22% of the budget, Japan 19%, Germany 8% and it goes down from there. Americans privately give at least $34 billion overseas—more than twice the US official foreign aid of $15 billion at that time.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/us-and-foreign-aid-assistance
The numbers stated above are 2002 numbers. Here is a 2004 number. The total of US private giving, since Adelman’s previous report, had increased to a massive $71 billion in 2004.
Ah yes. The US gives more money than anyone else, but measured on %-age of GNP, is like the stingiest of all?
If you add in the private contributions to the government ones the percentage of GNP is higher than reported. I don’t think any country is currently paying the 0.7% of GNP that the UN voted on 30 or so years ago. There is some debate on how and why the .7% number was selected.
In the link you gave it is easy to see that there are a few countries who reach, and surpass the .7%. And one of the bits of the article reports on numbers when private contributions are included.
he says from a position of safety and security provided by someone else.
Say that to my FACE Charlie!
*turns around*
Yeah…. to my face…
Hey Max, turn around, no… turn around, no … FORGET IT!
YES! I win! *takes a step backwards and falls off a cliff* Crap….
Where’s ACME when you need it?
They got bailout money and had to downsize..
They took bailouts? But their stock rose by 75 cents on the dollar just from sales to Wile E. Coyote!
Yeah, but Wile E. was a single source income for ACME and there was no future sustainability.
Not to mention Wile E. also bought warranties on EVERYTHING…. they spent a fortune on the replacements…
Sales plummeted for ACME after Wile E. was downsized by Warner Bros.
::laughing too hard from resulting thread to add anything::
I wish. I was always the “jock in the advanced classes”. I spent most of my middle school and high school career defending the underdogs from bullies. However, I would usually defeat them with words, and rarely had to use my fists, and only in self defense. I was never the aggressor.
But you were fully prepared to use your fists if necessary. That’s my entire point. Go talk it out if you want, but be ready just in case the bully is an idiot and decides to take a swing. Put them on the ground using any force necessary to subdue, and don’t let them up until they call you daddy.
You have to be prepared, and slagging the military just because they chose to go into a violent line of work isn’t fair to those who are essentially taking the role of the jock defending the underdog against the bully.
Not quite – they’re taking the role of the jock who defends/attacks someone versus someone based on someone else saying it is right.
So many Americans don’t trust the US government to run stuff, except for when it comes to deciding where to go to war?
Sorry – I have to be brief now so I come across as more angry than I am. I find these to be interesting discussion topics.
“So many Americans don’t trust the US government to run stuff, except for when it comes to deciding where to go to war?”
Well said.
Wow, that boils it down so well . . . I think the resulting precipitate is really hard to argue.
I’ve been really impressed by you, Danbala, for quite some time now. The above really cemented that into place.
[I'm still torn between thinking the statement so clear and jaw-droppingly simple, yet wanting to laugh at an anti-universal healthcare con's expression as (s)he tries to come back from it. Sheer perfection.]
That’s one of the points we all tried really hard to pound in when my now-fiance decided to enlist in the army about two years ago. One should think really, really hard about where it could go before deciding to irrevocably sign over one’s life, one’s fortune, and one’s sacred honor to the government. (It didn’t prevent him from enlisting.)
Suspect the various militaries get many recruits partly because, in many ways, our Great Big Brains prevent us (especially when young) from imagining ALL of the consequences of our actions. Also explains why most recruiting attempts are aimed at the Very Young.
They are not taking the role of the jock defending the underdog against the bully. They are working for the bully and being the occupying force in a foreign land. There is a subtle difference.
That argument works if ALL persons in teh military take that role. There are SOME who are in the military because they get to swagger and shoot guns. It is a human institution, after all. For what it’s worth, I am very grateful to people in uniform who not only fight the “bad guys” out there, but fight the “bad guys” in their own ranks.
Feeling any better? You aren’t “confined”, are you? You have my sympathy.
Im not confined, but I’m having pains and have a toddler to chase around, so expect me to be a little touchy for a while
You TOTALLY have my sympathy!
I’ve seen women in labor bend steel bedrails with their bare hands – I wouldn’t mess with her if I were you ! ( and that head spinning thing too- it’s creepy!)
I’ve already messed with her, does this mean she’s going to come back and kill me in my sleep?
YES!
-Note to self-
-Do NOT compare Lincoln to Obama when talking to conservative pregnant ladies, EVEN IF you are just doing it to get their feathers all ruffled-
I agree totally. It seems there is a strong idea that any form of pacifism is based on being cowardly, or at least that that’s a great argument against anyone who is not a fan of war and military things. I find that idea rather daft, or closed minded.
They’re so cute when they think the guys cutting off heads can be reasoned with.
do you seriously think that the soldier depicted here said what the caption says?!
are you this blatantly stupid???
it’s a caption. it’s someone’s thoughts/opinions expressed over a photo. this soldier probably sent the picture home to mom or his girlfriend and it wound up here where some ass decided that he was having a “bad day”.
the amount of stupid that gets thrown around anytime there is a soldier in a picture makes my head hurt.
to this forum, that person is an actor, a fictional character. The comments are also fictitious. The posters are responding to a fictional character who is saying something fictional. I am confused at to why you are outraged? Perhaps you mistook this website for CNN?
“…” is a troll who is on here fairly often who always responds as if the caption and the photo are things actually said and done.
i didn’t mistake this site for CNN… it’s more, i’ve been though this dog and pony show before and i’m not looking forward to going through it again.
plus, outrage?? not at all. if i was, you’d definitely know.
fair enough.
“…when these guys aren’t on active duty they are being paid huge sums of money to sit around and not do jack.”
Yes, this explains all of the millionaire ex-military types.
Geez, at least read what you write before you post it. Or, why don’t you just not post at all? Then you won’t reveal your stupidity and ignorance to the world.
FTR, the military is extremely underpaid. They volunteer to go into a line of work that can help them with school and other job opportunities, but could just as easily lead to them getting killed and leaving a pregnant wife and two children behind. Quit being such a douche because someone volunteered to do something that you obviously don’t have the stones to do yourself.
On top of that, when these guys aren’t on active duty they are being paid huge sums of money to sit around and not do jack…
REALLY?! Wheres that money because seriously… maybe I could use it to move out of my apartment into a decent house, get a newer car (you know, one less than 10 years old… that would be awesome) and actually afford to take my kids on trips further than 50 miles away to a free zoo.
The MAJORITY of military are actually underpaid, overseas or at home.
And when you are at home, you do NOT get paid to sit around and do nothing. You still get paid to do your job, whether its fix engines, do paperwork… or to travel to places like New Orleans to assist in the post-hurricane work.
When home, military is the same as any job… hard work and underpaid. They just have the added threat of being sent overseas to be shot at so that ignorant people can sit there and consider themselves better for who-knows-what-illogical-reason.
*golf claps*
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That was much nicer than the replies I almost posted. I’m inclined to believe that had some of these people been around in my day, I probably would have gotten spat at or called baby killer.
Amen brother
She did forget to mention that while they are home they have to do a minor little thing like train so that they are prepared to fight.
Oh, silly me, I forgot, all American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are just mindless robots who sit around waiting to wade into machine gun fire so the rich guys can beat the world into submission.
Well, if you’d just brought me when you met them, I’d have punched them ALL in the face for you..
oorah!
Victory- please forward your real name and address to me so I can give it to some of the vets I see with limb amputations- I bet that even with one leg/arm, they could still beat some sense into your head.
I’d do it, and I bet I have a few years on him..
-Snorts-
Eddie, you have a few years on EVERYONE!
Just kidding. Charlie’s got maybe one or two on you.
And c’mon, I vote we give the VNV flambasting a break and look for other trolls to end.
Trust me when I say, I am older than CF.. by a few years.. and yeah, I’m on the troll hunt thing. *grabs his M-1*
You’re older? I thought CF said he was?
Are you around 70, or is CF just an old-looking 50’s?
Eddie…. Do you actually have an M-1?
No, not quite 70, and I think CF is in his late 40’s but I could be wrong.. and yes, I have an M-1.. but it hasn’t been fired in quite awhile.
Dude, Eddie, I think CF has to be at the very least 50… I’ve seen a picture of him fishing, and I remember it with enough wrinkles to make him an elephant…
You would have an M-1. Garand is my favorite gun in just about everything I play, but is there anything significantly wrong with it in the field- I.E high recoil, blinding flash, or something?
I’m just a bit older.. and the M-1 can’t really compare to an M-16. It’s a great rifle, just not by todays standards.
I completely agree that it’s a great rifle when compared to the stuff of its own time, but compared with the automatic weapons of the era, does only the accuracy hold up, or does the stopping power help make up for the fire rate too?
I never really had any problem with accuracy. It’s only going to be as good as long as it’s treated right. Mine has been used for shooting squirrels and rabbits, so yeah, you can say the stopping power is quite significant.
LOL.
For some reason, I can totally imagine you standing out on your porch and making 300 yard impossible shots into a squirrel.
Well, not anymore.. I have the rifle in storage back in the States.
Have you started to develop the Aussie accent yet? You know you can feel it sinking in. Along with the dialect.
No, not really.. I use a lot of the slang but not much of an accent.
Heh…
I was there for two weeks on a government-sponsored People to People trip in fifth grade, I still haven’t gotten the more common words there out of some of my vocabulary.
I like Australia’s speech much better.
I went on one of those People to People trips…. you know where I freakin went? TORONTO! Whoopty freakin do!
Although I will say this… I got PWNED by a Canadian.. hardcore… In my youthful ignorance, I made the joke “So, ya’ll speak french here in canada?”
My canadian host said without taking a break “Yep, in parts, do you speak english in America yet?”
I hung my head… and answered “Yep…. in parts…”
I am unfortunately not a troll. And unfortunately for some of you, I won’t be leaving anytime soon. When there are things to be said, I will say them. And for the record, I am in no way saying that I can defeat anyone in combat. What I am saying is that I will defend myself, and I will not be intimidated by anyone. So bring on your angry amputee vets, and I will tell them the story of why they lost that limb. Sure they may still be mad, but they will be thinking of me later, and thats all that matters.
Uhm, when you make inflammatory statements in an undiplomatic way, you ARE
A) a troll and
B) being just as bad as someone who is physically aggressive.
Telling an amputee why they lost that limb like you are the truth and your opinion cannot be avoided is just a jackassed, idiotic way to act and if you really do that, someone should kick your nuts back into your stomach.
This coming from a liberal who agrees somewhat with the things you say.
This was tried back in the 60’s and 70’s which ultimately led up to soldiers getting spat on. I’m sure your concern would be well noted and the thought as you are carted away is not going to be positive, I can assure you of that.
-Hugs Eddie and the fact that people act like dicks to vets-
See? We can agree on things sometimes!
Actually, no they won’t think of you later because you are one of those forgetable people who cast disparity on those who give you the ability to preach your holier-than-thou nonsense. You, like those on the extreme right go through the motions but you can’t sell it because you have no soul.
-Hugs CF-
By the way, check out DDO.com
You may think it’s for nerds, but the game has gotten pretty good lately, especially since the release of the all-around upgrade.
Plus it’s completely free.
Nicely said.
I’m on it.
*pulls out assault rifle*
I know what you’re thinking, punk. Does he actually know how to use that thing? Let’s find out together, shall we?
*opens fire*
Hey, I got him! Oops, took out the New York Yankees while I was at it. So, double win!!!
And to quote one of my favorite movie lines:
I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
-Yawns happily and watches someone ELSE get some blood on the area around Eddie’s fence for once-
Huge sums of money? So I guess if the Firefighters who are not fighting fires and such are being paid a huge sum of money to sit around and not do jack too?
Dude where’s his ipod? Can’t have a war without some background music…
This is true. Plus, you’ll not know when the battle is finished if the music doesn’t have a dramatic swell and the game stats don’t flash on the screen. *has watched her son play world at war – a LOT*
Whoops – that’s Call of Duty: World at War. My bad.
My brother plays Call of Duty a lot. Also Medal of Honor. I tried to take him on in two-player mode once, but I couldn’t figure out the controls and just ran in circles shooting at my feet. On the bright side he was laughing to hard to kill me so the game end in a tie at zero..
My son won’t play games with me anymore. He complains that I button mash. What he is really objecting to is that my random button mashing sometimes blows his head off. Heh.
BOOM! HEADSHOT!
Son: MOOOOOooooOOOOM!
Me: What’d I do?
Grunt, I would let you play zombies with me any day.
PK regulars > 11 year olds who all have to go to bed “right now” and leave during round 2 and can’t think of strategy.
I can’t think of strategy either. And I hated playing Zombies in Halo 3. Hay. Ted. It.
That’s not strategy, Rando.
I’m talking about gradually increasing waves of NPC zombies that you have to hold off with four other people- and in between rounds, you have to complete tasks to open more doorways. It’s not the same thing in the least, dude. Besides, you’d think of strateg”er”y with me in your party. Or maybe you wouldn’t have to. O.o
I’m not a good strategy guy. More of a run ‘n gun guy. I SUCK at CTF. A little better at KOTH.
I love strategy, but I hate most of my fellow players. It’s a rough trade-off, but when you can’t consider how many windows or whether you should aim out the window or across the catwalk because of the drastically increased hit ratio, it drives Ty-gor up a wall if you keep insisting you’re RIGHT in spite of the mathematical facts.
Doesn’t matter. I’m a shotgun whore anyway.
I’m a trench gun whore, but once you get it upgraded with the pack-a-punch, it’s incredible.
Hee!
Mike Duvall is denying reports that he has had affairs. That’s pretty good considering HE is the reporter!!
jeezz
A lot of soldiers have knee/back problems from the weight of the kevlar, but in my opinion that is better than shrapnel or bullets! I have a lot of respect for the guys/girls overseas.. HOOAH.
WTF is on his head? Is that standard issue now, or is he just being a tool?
“Cover your head. Wide-brimmed hats protect your head and neck. Many scouts prefer straw hats which keep your head cool during the day and worm at night. Improvise a head covering if a hat is not handy. Loosen your clothing, but keep it on, as it keeps body temperature down and reduces the dehydration rate. Shorts and cutoffs are generally unadvisable for prolonged periods in the desert. In hot weather the proper clothing is lightweight (e.g., cotton), light color, loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and long pants. They reflect much of the sun’s heat and protect your skin. Wear your scout neckerchief for it’s original purpose, to keep the sun off your neck. You can also wear it, or a bandanna, under our hat and down the back of your neck to keep the sun off your neck. ”
Those are desert survival tips from some scout guide. Look up “desert, cover head” for more. It’s pretty common knowledge that in deserts, you need to protect your head from the sun so your brain doesn’t overheat and you won’t go into heatstroke, etc…
Because when you’re in a service that requires you to have a haircut shorter than a half inch of hair (Charlie, Eds? Am I right on the length?) and they stick you in a desert, covering up your head is the smartest way to keep from getting a wicked burn and sun poisoning on the ‘ole upper lobe.
And that haircut is teh sexy
*licks lips*
*ding* Good call, Max.
in England we have lost over 100 of our boys, and its not bloody fair, dont know how many in the U S, but its not good , how long will this crap go on, ALL of the armed forses are heros
and by the way it will just go on and on, we cant stop that lot,
Is it just me or does he look a little like A-Rod?
He DEFINITELY looks like A-rod. It’s been bothering me this whole time.
Good. So it’s not just me. *whew*
It makes… the little Red Sox fan… So… ANGRY!
-Searches PK for trolls to take teenage angst out upon-
Hey, don’t get mad. There’s still the Wild Card.
*sits back and enjoys the Cardinals’ eleventy million game lead over Chicago*
Chicago? Eric, are you mixing up the White and Red sox? Because I told you: The pinkies are MINE.
No no no. I’m mocking your team (the Boston Red Sox) for only making the playoffs as the wild card behind teh ebil NY Yankees (who are truly evil) while my team, the St. Louis Cardinals, are running away with their division leaving their own hated rivals, the Chicago Cubs, in their dust.
it was in normandy, with 30+ machine guns pointing at u, u had to go uphill, it was in the beach and u were all wet, no tanks, no airplanes, no UAV’s, no nothing, just u the guy left to u and the guy right to u.
Are you on acid? Your post isn’t coherent, relevant, nor interesting.
Yeah, but the acid really clarifies the situation. Oh wait, I have a feeling he was quoting from Battlefield 1942!
Well, I know he’s talking about D-Day, but do you mean Battlefield: 1942 the video game? Wait, you know about video games? Eddie, do you PLAY video games?
And yeah… It’s not like his quote is overly theatrical or anything. -cough-
Yeah, I do play some.. a lot of FPS one’s, but also play Guild Wars on occasion.
Good boy!
One you can play on the computer free is called Combat Arms- it’s not that terrific, but it keeps me from playing all my Xbox games at once, and it’s free and I can use it while I monitor PK. Any systems, or is it all PC?
(I’m a big fan of FPS’s, but also the third person angle in the right situation can make me like a game considerably more than I might have- FPS seems too tried and formulated sometimes.)
All PC.. I have problems with the controllers for the XBox and PS2/3.
Me too- I have to buy versions with different grooves and button constructions. The regular Microsoft controller, especially the triggers, bumpers, and start buttons just don’t work for me.
And let’s just pretend that neither of us have played the Playstation.
(By the way, good boy on the PC gaming- consoles are eventually just going to end up as “gaming PCs” soon now anyway)
There shall in that time be rumors of things going astray, erm, and there shall be a great confusion as to where things really are, and nobody will really know where lieth those little things with the sort of raffia-work base, that has an attachment. At that time, a friend shall lose his friend’s hammer, and the young shall not know where lieth the things possessed by their fathers that their fathers put there only just the night before, about eight O’clock.
LOL. SB the prophet! BOW BEFORE HER!
Oh Hai! Thx 4 teh Oil! okthxbye!
Please run face-first into a wall until you no longer feel the compulsion to talk like an idiot, and to use your language correctly.
Hooah! That’s what I’m talking ’bout!
I would just like to say: I enjoy breasts.
m e too — check out the ad for evony! holy headlights!!!
bitter troll is less bitter for boobies-nods- send bitter troll your boobies!
to late, B.T. — I beat you to Charro’s headlights, this time!
Eek! My boobies are being fought over! I mean.. Woohoo!
Oh I know. Those are breasts that start wars.
As a former soldier “This I’ll Defend!”
You definitely need to hang around more often- that was great.
That’s something I can get on board with!
Well, that’s a subject I’m never bored with!
Ah, the sadness of age….
I know what you mean, but I like to misinterpret.
Charlie, I’m not exactly an authority but those things look kind of…
Poorly drawn, if you will. The fact that they start up around her neck and appear to continue for about 3 feet is a bit disturbing for me. And Charlie, I tried the game.
Don’t click the goddamn link. It’s terrible.
Are you kidding? I love that game! Well except for the fact that it is slow as Sh&*
Charlie, A) that game runs incredibly fast on my laptop and B) if you love Evony you definitely need to get out and see more of the internet- of the MMO strategies I’ve played, that’s one of the most basic. Are you adamant on the “Money for games is stoopid!” point, or have you played things like WoW and EVE? Cause I’ve got quite a few free online games and even better buyable games for PC that I can find for you within a day.
Cabal online was VERY flashy… repetitive, but flashy!
Hey Max- a little secret about Cabal and Two Moons- they’re free, albeit terribly done, knock-offs of WoW and Warhammer.
I played Cabal, but then they made it so only people from Europe could download the client.
Listen, more boobs talk, less gamey geek talk.
Oooh. Games with boobs are the bestest.
I love the Witcher.
Fallout 3. ALL the girls had good boobies in that game.
We’ve gotten this far into video game boobs and haven’t mentioned Dead or Alive? Those games are an experiment in “how big can we make video game boobs without our polygon models falling over?” The answer? Apparently cup sizes in the middle of the alphabet. O_O
Erindo, don’t forget, they have to be *quality*…
Talking isn’t in the plan. Boobs like it when you make those blowing bubbles noises in their close proximity!
Just once, Charro, can’t we talk about something I DO know about?
Um… blood elves have proportionally large boobs compared to their spine?
elves, smelves — gimmie some good o’ A”Merican Boobs, or Brit, or Scot, or Irish — especially Irish Boobs. course there’s Auzzie, Kiwi, german, Russian…
God, it’s finally nice to meet your son…. Charlie.
sorry, charro got me carried away…
She does have that effect!
I prefer American boobs, because well, homegrown is always best. That and if you love Un-American boobs you’re a commie… libtard… socialist… monkey-F*cker… or something….
I’m really bad at channeling Anniee….
I love American boobs, don’t get me wrong, but I do love me some foreign accents.
But too many American boobs are made of plastik!! They don’t bounce right… Much sad for the non-bouncy boobs.
Yeah. Real is best, regardless of the size!
There are some very, very nice boobs all over the world. Let’s hear it for breasts!
(Brought to you by the Breast Council.)
I have rather small ones myself, and the only reason I wish they were bigger is because I wish my tummy were smaller. You know, proportion and all that.
But then I realise I’d rather have a smaller tummy than bigger boobs.. And I don’t want fake boobs. Icky.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – Oi! Oi! Oi! (I’m partial to Aussie boobies)
Dirty deeds…. done dirt cheap my friend….
I’m a fan of Aussie boobs too…. But I don’t want to be killed for my Communist sympathies.
See what Charro started, then she left them hanging…. hmmm, a new thread, perhaps? Can’t gotta get some sleep!
Boobs!
You win at life, Max. Have you seen humans, though? Human females shouldn’t be allowed to be anything but casters- because I can’t see them actually being able to move a melee weapon around those.
Yeah.. but DAMN could they mother some children with those hips… they were wider than their freaking shoulders!
And also a fun fact about WoW… tauren females during the alpha had udders, but it was scrapped due to the fact that the developers couldn’t animate udders in a full run rationally and maturely…. Just so you know.
Yeah, Evony is OK for me too.
If you like Evony, try Age of Empires. It’s almost exactly the same, but AoE is HEAPS better. I tried Evony and found it mind numbingly boring.
I have never played Evony, but most of the advertising sprites make good eye candy.
I’ve just had a really great idea guys:-
Why don’t we dress Again up in desert camo and full kit, then send him for a 20 mile run in the Sandbox, with insurgents shooting near him, then see how he feels about men with guns?
Major Nesting FAIL!!! This was supposed to be a reply to Again @Sept 11th 01:50 AM!
*clicks link* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Having ad-blockplus has never made me so sad….
It makes PK run faster, but I refuse to get it because I like to test out games in their beginning phases and, if I like it, I can get a good 30-40 of my friends and a bunch of people from the internet to look at it- some of them need work, though…
Man in this case you are deprived… dem TaTa’s is NICE! guess why it’s a fiction game!
[LINK]
I think that one chick needs a bra, though.
Here we go, idolizing the pawns again… *yawn*
*Real men don’t pick up guns and kill other people*
As a former “pawn”, I take exception to your comment. Perhaps if you were in his shoes for one, just ONE, day, you might appreciate what he and so many others do for you on a daily basis without so much as a thank you or even the expectation of same. Perhaps you should read up on your John Stuart Mill:
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
…you may run along now, sonny.
Patriotism will kill us all. Nationalism with destroy the world. Be a world citizen. Be a man of Earth.
“This is your world, and these are your people. You can live for yourself today or help make tomorrow for everyone.”
Sorry, abandoned my love of Marx and Lenin when I joined the real world, thanks anyway.
Not sure how Marx and Lenin come into this one. I mean, I do like a lot of what Marx and Lenin has said. But my thinking that believing that your country is superior to anothers leading to nothing but conflict…. well thats just common sense. Maybe you missed the real world when you didn’t take that left turn at Albaquerky.
I have to concur Victorynotvengeance…
The only point of contention is that the name of the town is spelled “Albuquerque”
Dammint! And I googled it and everything! blasted spelling…
MY point of contention is that Albuquerque is HARDLY a town..
I have to concur with the emphasis on quirky.
I’m glad you responded so quickly.
I’m confused by this *tilts head quizzically*
It’s where you’re supposed to make that left.
He speaks, but doesn’t know why he fails, the poor sod. You hear people saying that a lot about you, don’t you? Perhaps when you move out of mom’s basement and have to depend upon the harsh scrub of your own sweat to provide your way and not the effort of your betters will you begin to understand. Until then, c’est dommage, little one.
I feel like this is directed to me… but … i’ve been working full time since I was 15… and have been living on my own since i was 18…. so…. it couldn’t be about me. I wonder if that the sore butthole syndrome from being pwned for making a dumb comment? I am not sure. Either way, trust me friend, I have done my fair share of “harsh scrub.” Now that scrubbing can do one of two things. Teach you how much you have and give you a passion to help others. Or turn you into… well … you. A jaded, angry person with nothing constructive to say and only insults and comments about how hard or not hard others have worked. And so you know, normally when people say my comments fail, its because they can refute the arguement, and they certainly don’t have a better one. Welcome to that club.
I agree with that. What makes anybody’s country better than anyone else’s?
Yeah. Because “pawns” aren’t people too, right? Stop being an asshole and treating others like they’re not worth your time just because you don’t think they’re as intelligent as you. It’s enough to make anyone think you’re an asswipe.
Some validity to this point. Soldiers of pawns of Generals, who are pawns to politicians and corporations. We may not like them. We may not agree. But… they -are- people. The men and women of the armed forces have just as much right to the same love, compassion, and justice that everyone else I have fought for or against does. I promise that anything I say on PK will ensure my believe that -everyone- is created, lives, and dies and equal. No person, soldier, farmer, or terrorists has any more right to the lifeforce than I do, or any less for that matter. We are all the sum of our experiances and our evironments. We cannot change what we have experianced. What we can to is work to change our world to a better place. Through communication, tolerance, forgiveness, and love.
Hmmmm…don’t recall WalMart, General Dynamics, or BofA anywhere in my chain-of-command. Maybe you’re just clueless?
Or maybe you don’t really know how to follow a chain of command? I’m betting on that. Political Pundits, paid for mainly by private companies push for policies. Policy is what dictates action. Our corporations have a great deal of stock in US foreign policy, because they are moving all of their factories overseas so they can make more profit. Foreign policy is where your chain of command comes in. And since “soldier’s don’t ask questions”, I suppose thats why you never got that information.
Your missing the link where you “the people” vote in the congress ect that makes the policies. So I guess we are all pawns. As for your statement “No person, soldier, farmer, or terrorists has any more right to the lifeforce than I do, or any less for that matter” I would disagree that a true terrorist has as much right to the “lifeforce” than other people. All the problems of the world can not be solved by a big hug.
Thinking that you or anyone desearves life more is your first problem. Work on that and get back to me. I will explain my “cosmic hug” theory then.
I think the point he is making is that at birth we all have that right, but that being a truly evil person throughout your life sort of negates that right.
Which is a matter of opinion. (I take the same stance as VNV on that one.)
So does that mean you are against abortion? Or does life not start until out of the womb?
I would be against abortion if the alternative wasn’t so bad. As a compromise, I consider the usual time limits for abortions to be an acceptable view of where life starts.
Not trying to start a flame war here, as I know this is way off topic, but if all life has a right to the “life force” then who decides when that life begins? By supporting abortion, especially late term abortion, wouldn’t you be contridicting your agreement to VNV’s statement?
Just saying….I will stop now as I do not have the energy to defend my pro choice stance…I chose life btw
Abortion is tricky in that there is no way to decide what it right for the mother. One can have thier own beliefs but they cannot enforce them on others. And when it comes to the extremely grey areas like those of abortion, one has to make the choice to let the mother decide and hope that she makes the right one. And in this case, i don’t think there is a right or wrong, and either way, it wouldn’t make her good or evil.
@Semperfidd:
No risk of a flame war with me, I think. I find this topic too interesting and too sensitive to get frothy about it. ;p
Yes – the definition of life is hard. Really hard. I know I’d much prefer there to be no abortions (but through no unwanted pregnancies rather than a ban on abortions). But, since there are unwanted pregnancies, or pregnancies where the woman’s health is at such a high stake that her life cannot be safe, abortions is – as I see it – the only viable option.
As I cannot decide who can decide where life starts, I fall back on trusting those who have devoted plenty of resources to finding decent definitions. (“Decent” as in “not too bad”, not as in “morally appropriate.) As for late term abortions, those really should be (and are, here at least) restricted to extremely difficult cases. When (in those few and extreme cases) doctors face the choice of saving the mother or the so far unborn child, I think saving the mother is the sensible choice, rationally speaking.
Not an easy issue, not an easy question. (And I am very glad I have never found myself in a position where I have had to make the decision.)
Good answer. I think we should leave it at that.
I am happy to do so. But, as you say, it would be neater to never have to make any form of exception to the inalienable right to life.
Who said life should be neat? :p
And my belief is that there are no “truly evil” people. Even the worst terrorist obviously believes that they are doing what they are doing because of some belief that they have. If you trace that person back to the time of innocence then you will find that it was their environment and experiances to lead them to believe whatever it is the believe, and so in essence, they are still doing the best that they belive they can. I don’t think there is ‘evil’ there. I don’t even think Bin Laden himself is sitting in his cave twisting his mustache like Dastardly Dan. He may want to hurt the west/”infidels”/America, but he is doing it for what he considers his spirit, his cultures, and then invasion of our beliefs on his lands. Same reason the American Indian Movement took over Alcatraz, or seiged Wounded Knee. Know because they were evil, but because they felt they had been wronged and betrayed. Everyone has a right to live.
Are there “truly good” people in your world or is everyone good?
People are simply people. They make good and bad mistakes. Some are friendlier, some are nicer, some are gruffier, some are social rejects, none are “bad people.” And I think on that line, just as there are no evil people, I can’t really say that there are “saints” either. We all make mistakes. So.. yeah. I think people are a little to the left or the right of neutral at any time. No -true- anythings,
I agree with that statement that people are simply people. I do believe there are evil people. I am a christian so I beieve in good and evil and the existance of both. I also believe that most people are good. I would also add that since people are simply people than they will be both peaceful and violent, some more than others in both. That would be my argument for needing a military force/violence.
I have already stated that having a military is not an option. We definately need one. We have to be able to defend ourselves from all the people we have screwed over across the planet. I may not like it, but in history, whenever any group has decided to put up the weapons, they were invaded and destroyed by an outside source.
Also, I never said I didn’t believe in the concept of good and evil. Just that I don’t believe people are good or evil. And being a good Christian that you are, you also believe that noone is beyond forgiveness right? And that you not only forgive terrorists and foreign “evils” but you love them as brothers and sisters, and not only that, but you would rather let yourself be killed by them than be violent against them. Because… well… thats pretty much what Jesus did and said to do.
“Also, I never said I didn’t believe in the concept of good and evil. Just that I don’t believe people are good or evil.”
Curious how there can be evil and not be evil people.
“We have to be able to defend ourselves from all the people we have screwed over across the planet”
You speak as if all the US does is screw other countries. I am pretty sure we have done some good in the world. According to your previous statements, if we thought we were doing the right thing then we shouldnt be convicted of doing something wrong as I am pretty sure that not everything we did we set out with the goal to “screw” the planet.
“And being a good Christian that you are, you also believe that noone is beyond forgiveness right?”
That is right. If they ask for forgiveness from Jesus. Good luck with that working in the middle east lol.
“and not only that, but you would rather let yourself be killed by them than be violent against them”
I am not as well versed in the bible as I should be but I don’t recall anything in the bible stating that you should just accept evil and not fight it. I give people the benefit of the doubt but if they try to say cut my head off or blow up my family, I am not going to go up to them and give them a hug and try to just work things out.
I am by no means trying to start a religious squabble but
“I give people the benefit of the doubt but if they try to say cut my head off or blow up my family, I am not going to go up to them and give them a hug and try to just work things out.”
I believe that before Jesus was killed he said something along the lines of “forgive them father, for they know not what they do.” Basically… Jesus was asking God to give the Romans and Jews a hug and to work it out.
I’ll be the first to admit that Jesus is way, way better at forgiving people than I could ever hope to be.
haha! Same here dissimilitude! But we can always try the best we can. But, and I say again, I do believe in defending myself, those arounds me, and my loved ones. Just no aggressive violence, othe than the occasional collegic wrestling match with my old college buddies. (Beer and wrestling. It can make you sick faster than you think)
Sorry. Didn’t know you were an expert on the worlds problems. Work on figuring out that you don’t know everything then get back to me. Then I will explain why your kumbaya theory is a load of crap.
Didn’t say I knew everything, but I obviouly have a great grasp on human existance than you.
In your own oppinion. I beg to differ. You are against violence but for keeping a military force for defense. What are they for? Giving the enemies of the U.S. hugs if they attack us? Violence is human/animal nature. It will always be there. Would it be nice if everyone in the world could get along and there was no poverty and no one had to worry about money etc.? Maybe. I think that if that universe existed then not much would get done.
On another note, I admire you for your self stated community service. I think there is a great need for that and for people with your views. I also believe there is a need for people with views opposite of your views. Life is not fair, the world can be both a beautiful place as well as a horrible place. There is a place in it for both peace and violence. I personally would not sit there and compromise what I believe is right like you would.
I am against violence except for defense. If we were attacked we would only be attacked by someone else’s military. And even if we needed force to defend outselves, we would kill no civilians. And I have a feeling our defense is so good, the enemy would have barely a chance to harm any of ours. Animals kill for food and defense. Humans kill for property, profit, and greed. It doesn’t have to always be there. If you give in and say things like “it’ll never change” then something horrible will occur. Nothing. Its up to you to decide to make that world happen, just like its mine.
And worrying about money and improving your conditions doesn’t have anything to do with poverty. If you do not have a TV, something is wrong. You -need- it, if for nothing more than an emergency channel and the weather channel. You do not need a 57′ flat screen LCD. And people will work for it.
And thank you for the compliments as well. I do not come here to insult, and I truly never try to outright offend. Mine is not to come here and make enemies. Mine is to come here and hope to make a difference, and perhaps come away with a few friends.
Never compromise what you believe is right, but please don’t just chalk social movements up as being impossible. Its the great men in our histories that believed in messages like love and peace that made us get as far as we have gotten. (Jesus, Muhammed, Buddah, Ghandi, MLK and oh so many others). Now I am certainly not adding myself to that list, but if one day my name appeared, I would not be saddened.
So many people will listen to your communication, tolerance, forgiveness, and love right up till the moment they punch you in the face.
I respect your unwillingness to move from your stance of peace, and I admit we need more of it, but I also think you are a bit naive with it.
I mean no disrespect I just thought I’d add it because people seem to bash you quite a bit.
I would like to think that “hope” is a better word than “naive”. And when that punch is thrown, and it well may be, its up to me to be like “Ok. Not sure if I desearved that. I can tell you are frustrated, and my nose hurts. So now can we talk? Waybe there is something we can do to help each other.” I also find that when people are forced to live in poverty, they are far more likely to be willing to throw that punch, especially if they get the chance to throw that punch in the direction of the force they believe is causing the poverty. And when that happens… can I really blame them?
Oh, and don’t worry about the bashing. It comes with the territory. But you know what? It only makes me want to try harder to explain to people that there -is- a way to solve these problems, and its not with violence.
VNV, much like your belief that people aren’t 100% good or evil (although….is that including sociopathic personalities? They’re somewhat unclassifiable as they seem to operate on pure self-interest, but arguably close to evil) I’d take the position that neither 100% pacifism or 100% violence is entirely “right”.
I think there’s a time and a place for talk, and a time and a place for actions; sometimes the appropriate response is a violent one.
I also think that one reason you’re getting bashed a bit is that, in my perception, you’re coming off a bit smug and superior and “Well Of Course My Opinion is Correct and You’re Just Violent and Uncivilized.” Possibly you’re not meaning for it to?
Do sociopathic personalities choose to do evil things with the purpose of being evil?
From what I understand, they do what they do without caring at all about other people, a total lack of empathy that makes it palatable to, say, swindle an old lady out of her retirement savings or slice a person into serving sizes because you enjoy the sense of power it gives you. I’m not sure if that’s evil by definition or not.
Well, a sociopath basically just lacks the part of the brain that contains empathy. They didn’t willingly remove it, they just don’t have it. So, evil or not, it’s not a WILLFUL evil. People tend to think that a sociopath is being willfully evil, but they are really incapable of making that distinction. They just do as they do because it’s how their brain works.
Please don’t at all think I don’t believe that sociopaths don’t deserve prison time if they commit a crime. We live in a society of laws and if you break the law, then you have to abide the judgment of society’s rule.
It’s simply having no care for the consequences of one’s actions. This inevitably leads to doing things for one’s self interest.
I like getting bashed. It furthers my cause. And well… ofcourse my opinion is correct, at least for me. I have heard all the opinions stated above, and I still firmly hold that mine are by far the most solid and most likely to let human kind survive in the long run.
And to say again, although I don’t think you are attacking me, but I don’t believe in 100% pacifism. I believe in defending oneself. I do not believe in agressive violence.
Profylactic self defense!
*Real men don’t pick up guns and kill other people*
Sure they do! Real men do what they have to do when the situation calls for it. Sometimes, it’s kill. We’re all kinda fat and spoiled in America. Easy to forget that it isn’t like this everywhere.
Just because its done doesn’t make it right, and even when its right, it doesn’t make it less of a tragedy.
Agreed.
Real men would never even touch a gun, let alone use one.
It really is that simple.
I’m sorry, did you say “Real men would let their families and themselves die if they were attacked with a firearm”? Because that’s what I heard- I’m not talking about war, I just mean that in self-defense or defense of others I see the use of a weapon as fine. Especially if you don’t own it.
Yeah, right.
Nothing, dickwad, is ever that simple. You’re doing it again, Again. You’re making me take sides against my own beliefs. Fvcking cut it out, anal douche!!
Not you again, Again. You know, we don’t believe you’re real. Take that sock off and show us who you really are! He would’ve gotten away with it if weren’t for those meddling kids.
I’ll bite…I can see how a good argument/discussion serves to make us all think about our position and consider those of the others in the discussion, but how does getting bashed help?
I don’t know why I can’t manage to hit “reply” when I’m replying to the bottom comment…DUH. X-P
Because it gives me a pretty good measure of how far I still have to go.
For your cause? Bad news, bud. That light at the end of the tunnel will never get bigger.
I’m not exactly sure why, but it seems appropriate to put this here. It’s how many people who do choose to volunteer in the military, past and present, feel; it may explain a bit of the reasoning to others who don’t feel this way.
Excerpt from a (rather famous) letter an American soldier wrote to his wife:
“I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing – perfectly willing – to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence can break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly with all those chains to the battlefield. ”
He was killed a week later in the first Battle of Bull Run.
“Amerian Civilization” *shudders* What a scary concept.
Not that its not a beautiful and well written letter, but if you find yourself about to go into battle, wouldn’t you have to make yourself bellieve the cause is just? Otherwise… how in the world could you fight it?
Sounds to me like the writer felt the cause was just.
Thats what I was saying.
Oh, right.. sorry ’bout that. I reread your comment and yeah, you did.
I guess I’m still a bit put off by your earlier comments, so I was ‘itching’ for an argument.
I sometimes have that effect on people.
Are you pregnant? Because that seems to be an easily milked excuse around here
I wish I was so that excuse would work. I am stuck with “I have really strong views that are very hit or miss with the people I share them with.” Its the same way with my jokes or with my cooking. You get use to not knowing whether to duck and cover and laugh out loud.
Well, I was that way for the 8 months I wasn’t pregnant before this one. And since this will be the last one, I’ll have to be that way again.
I see no reason not to be civil, however, even though you and I seem to be complete polar opposites on pretty much everything
*checks grill* Stuffed mushroom? *offers*
Well… i do love stuffed mushrooms…..
*nom**nom**nom*
One of the toughest *nom* things to do is to sit across *nom* the table with people of completely *nom* opposite views and *nom* converce civilly. *nom* It -almost- happens and each of my families *nom* Thanksgivings. almost….
How do you manage it? I’d love to have a family holiday that didn’t involve tears and acrimony by the end of it.
Aloof.
Aloof really is a keyword.
If you’re terribly self-important enough (like I can be when I try), it’s easy to ignore just about anything by thinking “Oh well, they’re too ignorant to know better, and they’re too old to change” (even if that’s not normally any form of sensible reasoning). That, and fair amounts of alcohol, took me through plenty of dinners at my (anti-racist) ex’s family’s (quite racist) dinners.
Oops – I didn’t have dinners at their dinners. Exchange the latter “dinners” to “place” for me, please.
Well… most of my family Thanksgivings start off by one member of my family or another reminding me that politics, religion, philosophy, sociology, history, or science is not to be discussed. Limits me pretty good.
I generally just avoid them…
Old people are too damned conservative. I have a great aunt who is CONVINCED that Obama will start killing people soon and bring us to the Fourth Reich.
Talk about a f*cking irrational idiot.
Never trust an old Liberal, and never trust a young Conservative. That is all.
VNV – sounds like you have some boring family members.
I can’t have political discussions with my family…..or religious ones…….I’m far too middle of the road with certain of my political beliefs for them to listen, and my Neo-Con parents are convinced that I’m going to hell for thinking that Jesus was a hippie. So we stick with how my dad’s assistant pastor is a total tool and leave it at that
And on a side note, this assistant pastor is such a tool that he makes other tools ashamed to be tools.
Froo, you’ve got it all wrong. The other tools know he’s such a tool that they wish they could be a big a tool as he is.
If you met this guy, you’d know what I mean. His tool-dom is so all-encompassing that you’re afraid to get too close because it might jump over and infect you.
Here’s a mental image for you:
We were at a baby shower at the church a few months ago. This guy, who is about 350lbs and dresses like an old school Bible salesman (think John Goodman in “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”), decided that he wanted a balloon after it was all over with. He was standing there in his tweed pants, white shirt, and suspenders holding this balloon, and all the hubby and I could think was that all he needed was a giant lollypop and a beanie to make the illusion complete.
… I can’t think John Goodman, I end up thinking John Candy. :p
Hey, that works too! This guy’s about that size. But less fun to be around.
Here’s another way to put it into perspective: My mother is a staunch Neo-Con and anti-Obamite. Not that she’s terribly outspoken about it, but she just doesn’t like anything he’s done to date. Anyway, this tool shows up at church one morning with 11 bumper stickers on the TAILGATE of his brand spanking new pickup truck, all bashing Obama. Everything from Obama is a socialist to Obama is a communist, and everything in between. Including a One Big Ass Mistake America sticker (this guy is a PASTER!!!!!).
My mother saw those stickers and told him that he wasn’t welcome at her house until they were gone. I was so proud!
Meh.
I think my great aunt may be a bigger tool.
Makes me eat her brisket… tells me how Obama is going to turn me into a commie socialist homesick abortion dead ghost thing… feeds me AWFUL tasting muffins… muffins are supposed to be delicious!… and then has the audacity to SMELL BAD while doing it? Hell no!
Thumbs up to your mother!
(And yes, I have triple checked to make sure the “to” didn’t drop out of that sentence… ;P )
Oh, boy…in my family, my mom is the farfarleft liberal; her sister’s conservative; I’m more to the conservative side (but mostly on the “politicians are just not to be trusted” side). I explained to my mom at least three times that I really didn’t want any anti-Bush bumperstickers so she didn’t need to buy me an extra when she got herself one. Not that I thought he was going to go down in history as a great president, but…the whole respect the office thing, plus I always suspected he had good intentions at heart. Now I feel the same way about the anti-Obama stuff I see from some of my other friends. He’s the president, like it or not, and…yeah, I suspect the guy means well, even if I don’t agree with some of his positions.
Our family holiday fights tend to be less political and more Ancient Family history and personal conflicts. Perhaps I should suggest we only talk about politics and religion and avoid bringing up people’s decades-old personal failings….
Igor, clearly your aunt is trying to poison you. Muffins are not supposed to taste bad.
Diss.
Do not touch the religion bit. You won’t BELIEVE the things people can spring on you when you ask them directly about that…
Your great aunt is anniee?!
You think that’s bad? I’m not looking forward to the fallout from telling my family we don’t want to do holidays with them this year. It should’ve been Sydney’s first, and that’s gonna make the holidays a nightmare for us.
Maybe you guys could tell your respective families you are going somewhere else for the holidays to be alone. And actually do it. Might be good, you never know.
*hugs*
Going somewhere requires money. And I’m sure we’ll want to be near Sydney’s grave for Christmas. If it weren’t for my son & daughter we’d likely skip the holidays altogether and stay home and sob all day.
I don’t expect my grandparents to be particularly supportive of this. In fact, I fully expect to have all Christmas presents revoked (kids included) if we skip Christmas at their house. My grandma told me before Mother’s Day that my wife and I should concentrate on the two we have because I said MD would be hard on my wife. This WILL suck. There’s no doubt about it.
Anyway, I think I’ve pretty well killed the conversation now. Moving along…
Well, before we do, you get another hug from me *huggles*
I don’t understand non-supportive family members. *hugs*
My family has been banned from discussing politics at holidays. My brother is just as liberal as I am, but with far less tact and twice the melodrama (I entertained the thought that maybe VNV was my brother posting here for a split second LOL). My mom and my wife are also extremely liberal. (Those who know me on FB can trace this easily with my FB comments about Obama’s speech to kids and his health care speech). The rest of my family (grandparents, uncle, some cousins) are the direct opposite. Sometimes one of us will drop something political in there, totally trying to troll Thanksgiving.
My family can have really good discussions sometimes. My dad’s.. kinda conservative, but he is very tolerant. He has to be, since I’m his daughter..
I’m kidding, I love him. Best boyfriend my sister ever had.
My mom is even further left than I am and a hard-core atheist. My sisters are pretty middle of the road. But we all have varying viewpoints based on life experience.
Though, my oldest sister had to go and get involved with this genius (literally, he is a genius), who has this habit of poking holes in our arguments and making them irrelevant LOL.
Not to toot the (Name Deleted to Protect the Innocent) Family horn, but we’re smart people. We like being smart and Mr. Pokey Holes is annoying.
My brother and I think the same about almost everything, but he’s right and I’m left. It’s rather strange. It’s like we have the same base values totally, but the way we phrase them, or where we lay the emphasis, make us pinned at just about either end of the spectrum. As soon as we start actually talking about any particular topic, we always end up agreeing, but it’s all in how you say it… :p
My dad’s family is all pretty much in the same boat politically speaking. We’re all pretty darn liberal. I almost never see them at holidays (the last time I saw my dad at Christmas was probably in the early 90’s), but they’re fun to talk to on Facebook.
Oh, is he the heroin guy?
*sigh* Yes, the heroin guy. It’s supposed to be funny because he’s a substance abuse counselor.
(Somehow I knew letting PK & FB overlap would end up being bad. LOL)
I guess you’ll have to change your name… Again….
But you’re implying (or pretty much directly stating) that he’d have to make himself believe that; like you don’t understand how anyone could consider and come to the independent conclusion that, yes, the war they were about to go fight was justified; I think that’s what I’m taking issue with here.
Not to sound all “love it or leave it”, it’s a big old country with room for all viewpoints, but out of genuine curiosity I have to ask: You seem like a reasonably intelligent and capable person, although we disagree on some issues. If you genuinely feel this way: “Amerian Civilization” *shudders* What a scary concept. why do you choose to continue living here? (I’m taking a leap assuming that you are, I guess, but I’ve gotten that impression)>
To explain my question a little further, it’s like the guy who rants on about his horrible job, or the woman who is constantly complaining about her asshole husband — eventually you find yourself wondering why they don’t leave if they’re so unhappy; my general conclusion is that they enjoy the complaining more than they mind the situation.
Sometimes people stay in a horrible job with intentions on rising above it. Got to put in those hours of suffering sometimes to prepare for hours of greatness.
Pfft. I put in hours of suffering to prepare for more hours of suffering.
Couple of things. I was saying that a person writing their potential last letter home is going to write something like that no matter what. Anyone would make themselves believe it. He may or may not have believed it when he joined. There is no way to know. I would like to think he believed in it. Because thats always the hope we have when we receive letters like this from people far from home.
As for America. I do in fact live here. The reason I am staying? I intend on changing it to the the America it could/should be and not the America is is/was. Its the responsibility of a good citizen I think, to take it upon themselves to change their surroundings for the better.
Well….that’s a good answer. On both.
“I intend on changing it to the the America it could/should be and not the America is is/was. Its the responsibility of a good citizen I think, to take it upon themselves to change their surroundings for the better.”
Who decides what is better? I intend to stay to keep it from being changed to what I believe would be worse.
And this is what every form of society needs – different opinions and goals. Whatever my political views are, I think that a society where everyone had the exact same opinion would just go belly-up in … a few split seconds, or so.
Agreed. I feel like I have been dogging VNV all day today. I would like to say that even though I don’t agree with most of what VNV says I do appreciate the intelligent input and hope there is more to come.
Agreed. Except for the one he posted about telling a soldier why they’re missing that arm or leg.
That one REALLY set me off.
I was responding to threats to have a bunch of amputees kick my ass. What else was I to say?
And for what its worth, if I could go back in time, I would have volunteered to fight in the Spanish Revolutionary War.
However, you must keep in mind that keeping it from being changed is not improving. You must improve, even if its different from my view from improvement. And on that note, I hope to one day square off on the floor of the congress, a filibuster you till I’m blue in the face! haha. Just kidding. Well… about the last part.
Sort of.
lol…I am not a smart man but I am smart enough to know that I would never want to be a member of congress. Way too much BS in taking a job like that. I also think that it would be almost impossible if not impossible to do that job without sacraficing your principles and morals. I don’t think you could avoid the coruption.
When you believe as I believe, nothing is impossible. And if that’s where I have to be to get justice for those voices who can’t be heard, then I must never stop trying.
Here’s the thing, though, VNV. You could probably be the most honest senator ever…which would almost guarantee you’d be voted out next time around.
My lord, I’ve become a cynical human being.
this book will be in the shops v.soon, all this from 1 picture
This isn’t the best we’ve done comment-wise, but
oh well lets all talk randomly
like were high
like this
my sister has brown hair
where did this mole come from
i like sugar free pudding almost as much as the sugary stuff
My sister does too
That’s not a mole, that’s some chocolate, my bad
I like custard
… who likes short shorts …
… stabilise the stabled horses …
… two things too many and the sky is too large …
Or, as a Haiku!
We who like short shorts
Stabilise the stabled mares
Two things too many.
You must riddle it with ellipses to get that special Llllll flavour of randomness, incoherence and nonsense.
Great, now you’ve probably summoned it. WTG!
… Kennedy = Murder …
It’s not lib … or con douchebag!
It is … what it is …
Sorry about that. I might have been a little harsh…which happens when Llllllllllllllllllll is around. LOL
I’m lost. I thought R-ness was summoned. Who’s Lllllllllllll?!
Avatar in light turquoise. Posts during European daytime. Not often, but when it posts, it posts somewhere between 10 and 40 posts at a time, all as replies to the previous one. It builds long chains of (probably attempted surrealistic, thought-provoking and interesting) complete and utter nonsense.
Thanks, D. It’s ringing a faint bell. I haven’t been able to read all the posts.
*suppresses fleeting concern that they’re talking about me*
I googled a little, on Lllll and pundit, and one early hit was on this lol. It’s not Llllll at its worst, but it’s a couple of shorter samples…
Don’t know how I managed to miss all that. Eek.
Or ellipses achoo
we ellipses short short lips
Ellipses too many.
This must be the night of the living nesting fail.
Diesel brother?
“Terrorists are going to exists someplace. We aren’t being threatened by space men or mer-folk yet. And because they exist, the will unfortunately be behind one dotted line or another.”
Not threatened by aliens and mer-folk? I beg to differ….
Did anyone else get a particularly good giggle out of this quote? They’s going to exists someplace, and I thought when I read it he was saying that aliens and mer-folk were hiding in other countries, not terrorists….
I did also say we weren’t threatened …. yet…..
Hear that, charro? We’ve got our eyes on you mer-folk!!
ZOMG! Oh noes.. Foiled again
We keep hearing something about BMD’s being hoarded there. Breasts of Mass Destruction. Word on the street is, some of you mermaids modeled for the Evony ads. You’ll have to come with me.
She is *Channels Walken* Da Best for that sort of thing…
I think he did…
I HOPE he did.
I’m quite sure he did. But better be on the safe side and ask anyway.
Yes I did. Sometimes on one of my explanations i forget some of the important things like not, or the n’t s on can’t and things like that. Makes for awkward e-mails sometimes, and apparently blogs.
Exactly what color is the sky in your world? It is blue here. You throw out words that have no meaning. You’re arguments deliniate a level of self-serving immaturity that is indicative of much in our pampered society today. Like the self-righteous right wing Christo-nazies your extreme leftishness is merely a smokescreen covering a sad, selfish individual. Good Day to you I hope that you have a good life and perhaps someday you may grow up. In the meantime, I will no longer converse with you since I cannot understand your ignorance.
Oooh! Ooh! Converse with me instead!
Have you tried the DDO game I told you about?
not yet, i’m still slogging through the evony world, prob will until i get bored and go downstairs and did out my old standby AOE. However, I’ll gladly continue to discuss PK stuff w/ you, Igore ol buddy.
Charlie, you know Evony was created by a company owned by one of the world’s largest barely-legal employers, right? His company also sells World of Warcraft gold, conning Blizzard out of millinos of dollars a year, and he’s known for including trojans in his add-ons that will take your email address so the company can spam you advertisements. Also- Evony is probably the most hated game on the internet right now, Charlie, mainly because of all the blogs the company is spamming to get players- they’re being sued by both Microsoft AND Google at the moment for spamming comments on blogs… Oh, and the graphics are mostly stolen from Age of Empires, while the content is incredibly similar to the “Civilization” series released years ago…
What’s your standby AOE?
going down to get it right now. thanks for the info
O.o no problem- sorry if that killed the game for you, but that annoyed the crap out of me when I read it. The part that made me laugh, though, was this- did you know the advertisements are cut and patched pictures of lingerie models?
What are you talking about? You just made like 15 cliches in a row without actually refuting anything I said. You have to be the worst debater in the universe. Why don’t you break it down in your terms for me? Otherwise I will benefit by your lack of conversation.
He was telling you the same thing Barnie Frank was telling the woman at the town hall meeting, VNV: he finds your points illogical, rude, and non-linear, and doesn’t want to discuss with you anymore.
Just explaining- when you say “I don’t even care; I’m not debating with you anymore”, you don’t have to refute the argument.
I think he may find my very well explained points counter to his belief, and since he has no way to rationally say anything but insults he has instead taken the “i am too good for this conversation” way out which falls into the same category of “took R freedoms” or “took R jobs” or “what color is the sky.” I reiterate, he will not be missed.
What have I said about soldiers? I don’t have any problems with soldiers. I have spoken of the military and government.
I can’t answer that for you, I just remember Charlie saying you portrayed soldiers in a negative light or something like that… Oh, well.
The soldiers are following orders, and think they’re doing something noble. More power to them for the best intentions. Sadly, the wars are all so pointless. It’s not the soldiers’ fault. They shouldn’t be there. They shouldn’t be dying. They’re not dying for freedom, as much as we like to pretend in our patriotic chest-beating. It’s very sad. I don’t think overall that VNV is that far off the mark. His delivery could use some work, but the point remains: the government is sending our soldiers to die for nothing.
That is exactly what I feel, Rando, and have said since the beginning. The cost of these wars–not just in dollars, or time, or attention, all of which would be better spent elsewhere, is NEEDED elsewhere, but in young lives–is horrible and should NOT be tolerated. We tolerated the loss of life in previous World Wars because of REAL threats, not will-o’-the-wisps! Even looked at sans emotion, the cost outweighs our illusory “benefits”.
Oh, but–hey! If the soldiers had been brought home sooner, say, before the crash of one year ago, imagine what our unemployment rate would be!
:::with nary a trace of real humor::: :-/
Actually, since the persons directly responsible for 9/11 (the guys actually taking the actions) came to OUR territory to carry out their actions, I think it’s entirely reasonable to consider that an invasion, if on a limited scale. When you come from another country into my country and start killing people and blowing shi!t up, I call that an invasion, even when it’s carried out by a non-governmental entity.
To call that an invasion would be really stretching it. It was like a hundred guys. Invasion means an army. Now they did trespass and kill a lot of innocent people. But.. invasion? I don’t think so. Now the day it happened before everyone got the whole story it seemed like it might be that way, which is why I keep saying a good defense is a good offense.
Ok, so how about Pearl Harbor? The Japanese didn’t land on Hawai’i so it wasn’t an invasion, right? They destroyed oh so much in just a few short minutes, but we shouldn’t have retaliated, right? I’m all for trying to live a peaceful life, but honestly, there are times when you’re just going to have to step out of your comfort zone and kick someone’s ass.
-
In fact 9/11 was an invasion. Maybe not in the classical sense, because face it, terrorists have changed the way the game is played.
Pearl Harbor was a lot lot closer to an invasion, yes. And I have stated about 50 times the need to defend oneself. I also think that helping to end the world wars was a good thing. I do not think 9/11 was an invasion, and neither of those instances did any army land on the ground on US soil and start marching through the country taking over cities. Only by controlling the area around us can they “take away our freedoms” and since we do have such a good defense, and oceans surrounding us, it is unlikely that is to happen. I still stand that our “freedoms” were only threatened by the “safety measures” imposed after the attack. I further stand that the US government is the only power currently capable of limiting our freedoms. And as far as changing the rules of the game, it was our economy and ways we deal with “capitalism” that changed the rules. It was our horrible foreign policy that changed the rules. It was our “God bless America and No place else” attitude that changed the rules. We are as much to blame for the presence of terrorism as the “evil” regimes that support them.
Good defense, VNV? KEEP THINKING LIKE THAT AND WE’LL LOSE THE WAR AGAINST THE ALIENS AND MER-MEN!
Preemptive strike to Atlantis! Because even though it may be fictional, the fact that it might one day surface to “attack” us we should invade and kill as many potential threats as we can!
Finally! Someone who doesn’t think I should be put in some sort of institution! That “institution” is probably controlled by dem der aliens and fish peeples anyway!
Hehehe…
I think the actual definition of invasion might help the discussion.
From Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (see, guys, I can cite stuff!)
1 : an act of invading; especially : incursion of an army for conquest or plunder
Hmmm…that doesn’t help much. How about defining “invade”
1 : to enter for conquest or plunder
Hmmm…I dunno. Were they really looking to conquest or plunder when they came here? Did they really plan to take over the country on 9/11? I hardly think so. Throw us into a panic, disrupt the nation, and kill a bunch of people, sure. But conquest and plunder? Eh. Is that ever the goal of terrorists?
I think “attack” is the word we’re looking for. There’s no doubt they attacked us:
1 : the act of attacking with physical force or unfriendly words : assault
Those guys used planes. Bin Laden used the “unfriendly words.”
I know, it’s a semantics battle, but I think it’s a silly one.
Eddie, just think about why terrorism works — it uses horrific events to scare certain elements of the population and elicit a response from the more convetionally powerful government in the hopes that the government will overrespond, say by attacking a different country, then the people will over respond and blame the government for the terrorism, not the terrorists and even begin to sympathize with the terrorists, after all, it’s our fault that they attacked us, isn’t it? I mean, look at it this way, Pearl Harbor was really our fault since we imposed economic santions on Japan because of their invasion of China and the slaughter of their people. So we really should have kept selling them war material so they wouldn’t have to attack us.
*sanctions*
Although, I’m not sure the terrorists think that far ahead…
Seems more like a terrorist’s intent is “Make this country afraid!” or “Show them how WEAK their government is because it couldn’t protect them!”, even though in the long run, Charlie, that is what happens.
Sorry, Igor, but political terrorists do think that far ahead. A political group doesn’t choose to use terrorism because they are crazy, it is a deliberate choice because they don’t have the means to fight a conventional fight. This is what the government means when they use the term “asymetric warfare.” It is also why insurgencies take so long to fight (10-20years or longer), the initiative lies with the insurgent who choose when to attack based on the alertness of the target, the amount of fear &/or sympathy that they can stir up in the local population.
I think we’re talking about two different types of terrorist, Charlie- I’m talking about the radical and malevolent ones, like driving into an abortion clinic for the purpose of killing everyone there or using your religion to justify your belief that a certain group of people need to be eradicated- not so much political, because that I think of as a different type of terrorist.
No, I disagree, you’re talking about political terrorists, why do you think they bomb abortion clinics, nothing to do with religion, other than using religion as a club to gain political control, both of your examples are attempts to establish different levels of theocracy. There are also criminal terrorists and psycopathic terrorists as well. But, Sep 11, 2001; the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma city; the bombing of the USS Cole; the American Embassy’s in Africa; in Atlanta the 1996 Olympic bombing and the 1972 Munich Olympic hostage killings were all political terrorists.
Yeah! you are doing a good job for the country and it seems that you are well prepared to fight for a country. I can only say one thing “Best of Luck”.
and what did you do?
*I* didn’t do any of the above, fvcktard. I didn’t start a war. I didn’t reelect Bush. I never bashed the French. I hate the Patriot Act. And I want us out of Iraq ASAP. Who the fvck are you to be judging all Americans, huh?
Damn, PK ate my response.
Rando, I never cared much for fmr Pres Bush either. As a geography teacher I was disappointed that the POTUS couldn’t seem to find Afghanistan on the map so he settled for any foreign country with sand.
Ok, I’ve bashed mimes…does that count?
And Rando, don’t forget that you are also personally responsible for the genocide of the Native Americans, slavery, the Tuskeegee project, and Paris Hilton. Bad American! Bad, bad, bad!
Well, that’s probably all true, though.
Motherf*cking Paris Hilton! ARGH!!!
jebus this still going, p,s, still stalking you
Yeah, because you know what you’re talking about. You seem really well-informed and educated, what with your horrid spelling, grammatical, and logic errors.
I’m against the patriot act and I’m not a fan of Bush, but I only French-bash because I’m French, and self-deprecating jokes are a way of life for my family.
I’ll admit it, I bash the French.. and derp..
No political comment, just came to call him a hottie! Pun intended.
YAWN! 8 years in and we are still getting the whole, look what I do, what have you done today thing..BAH! ok i get it, you either fight fires, save people, fight for freedom, catch criminals and i dont. Yes you are great, no i am not. I EFFIN get it already.
I bash the French because it’s the ONLY thing the entire world has in common.
those of you arguing that ‘they’re just following orders’ might do well to remember what happened to adolf eichmann when he tried to use that excuse.
Whoa! That’s harsh, don’t you think? I’m as anti- this, “War on Terror” as one can be, but I would never, nevercreate a parallel between what they’re doing and genocide!
absolutely harsh naoyusimi i agree, i do not wish to compare it to genocide; the point is that passive evil is still evil – saying ‘i just did what i was told’ is simply not an excuse, especially in times of non-conscription.
“Passive evil”? I guess I don’t understand where you’re coming from . . . Are you trying to say soldiers are “passive evil” no matter what they do, because they sometimes have to kill?
I believe we never should have invaded Iraq–the 2nd time; we should’ve finished the job the 1st time, and saved a lot of Kurdish lives!–but still: our soldiers may have killed, but I don’t think they’ve committed war crimes!
Sometimes killing IS moral . . . do you disagree with this statement?
Geez…I was only tryin to show some awe for what these men and women do.
To all of those with the fortitude to do what I can’t….Thank you!
To the others who don’t give them their due… (turning the other cheek)
If i knew that My friend Lopez taking this picture that day would have sparked all of this i wouldnt have posted it on myspace, im assuming thats where they got it. I had nothing to do with the words posted on it. I love my job and my country, but for me its also a pay check. I could care less of the reason or perpose in being in afgan or iraq. If there isnt war im outta the job….
myspace.com/micknaughty0080