Offering constructive criticism to the social cripples in our midst since early 2005.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
From North Korea and - for that matter - China, absolutely.

Unless the Administration - in frustrated acknowledgement that the missle defense shield can't actually hit anything that's airborne - has recently redirected the shield's efforts to protect the ports of Oakland and Long Beach from ships entering the harbors, I'm not sure why you feel this way.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
On the other hand, there's a lot to do in the world besides writing opinions or, for that matter, posts.

With that, I have decided that it is time to announce my own retirement. At the end of the day, I will sign off for good.

Much as I've enjoyed the old thrust and parry here, and come to respect those who enjoy a good substantive debate (and even seem open to occassionally changing their mind), my plan is to be spending a lot more time out on the farm with my family and a lot less time working and, of course, proscrastinating and delaying work (which is what I do here). I wish you all good debates on zoning, 401(k)s, and the Middle East. May your Penske socks be few, may Hank and Bilmore be sober, and may the good guy (that's you, Ty) always win in the end.

I know there will be a bruising debate to fill my spot here, and I only ask that you all think first of the institution, and not of partisan politics.

Is this place so engrossing that you need to take such a melodramatic all or nothing stance? Jesus, you're not leaving the fucking Church or heading to Iraq. Its a fucking chat board.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
One thing that 's never been satisfactorily explained for my liking is Clinton's 1969 student trip to the old Soviet Union. I don't believe that Clinton was ever formally on any State Department security risk lists but as far as I am concerned he has never fully explained his travel to the Soviet Union. Enquiring minds and all that.

You and Coulter having another threesome with McCarthy's corpse?

Bush I got his ass handed to him when he raised this charge.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by bilmore
Natalya. She was nineteen. And those lips . . .

Did they have trailer parks in the USSR?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Is this place so engrossing that you need to take such a melodramatic all or nothing stance? Jesus, you're not leaving the fucking Church or heading to Iraq. Its a fucking chat board.

Originally aired: March 31, 1966 on CBS

Writer: Budd Grossman
Director: Jack Arnold


The Skipper begins to itch and sneeze whenever he is around Gilligan. Soon all of the Castaways appear to be allergic to him. The Professor develops a vaccine, but it doesn't seem to work. It turns out that everyone is allergic to the papaya oil used in Gilligan's hair tonic.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Is this place so engrossing that you need to take such a melodramatic all or nothing stance? Jesus, you're not leaving the fucking Church or heading to Iraq. Its a fucking chat board.

I thought it was tradition.

Shit, no one thinks of the institution anymore (except Hank, of course).

[SlaveNoMore]

sebastian_dangerfield
This from the same man who held a press conference to announce his bisexuality a few years back, which he then later recanted. Does anyone have a link to what Joan Baez thinks?

If you think the London attack would not have happened but for the Iraq War... fuck, I've run out of insults and ways to malign you as a goddamned idiot.

This is an Editorial from Tariq Ali this morning's Guardian :

During the last phase of the Troubles, the IRA targeted mainland Britain: it came close to blowing up Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet in Brighton. Some years later a missile was fired at No 10. London's financial quarter was also targeted. There was no secret as to the identity of the organisation that carried out the hits or its demands. And all this happened despite the various Prevention of Terrorism Acts passed by the Commons.
The bombers who targeted London yesterday are anonymous. It is assumed that those who carried out these attacks are linked to al-Qaida. We simply do not know. Al-Qaida is not the only terrorist group in existence. It has rivals within the Muslim diaspora. But it is safe to assume that the cause of these bombs is the unstinting support given by New Labour and its prime minister to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

One of the arguments deployed by Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, when he appealed to Tony Blair not to support the war in Iraq was prescient: "An assault on Iraq will inflame world opinion and jeopardise security and peace everywhere. London, as one of the major world cities, has a great deal to lose from war and a lot to gain from peace, international cooperation and global stability."

Most Londoners (as the rest of the country) were opposed to the Iraq war. Tragically, they have suffered the blow and paid the price for the re-election of Blair and a continuation of the war.

Ever since 9/11, I have been arguing that the "war against terror" is immoral and counterproductive. It sanctions the use of state terror - bombing raids, torture, countless civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq - against Islamo-anarchists whose numbers are small, but whose reach is deadly. The solution then, as now, is political, not military. The British ruling elite understood this perfectly well in the case of Ireland. Security measures, anti-terror laws rushed through parliament, identity cards, a curtailment of civil liberties, will not solve the problem. If anything, they will push young Muslims in the direction of mindless violence.

The real solution lies in immediately ending the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. Just because these three wars are reported sporadically and mean little to the everyday lives of most Europeans does not mean the anger and bitterness they arouse in the Muslim world and its diaspora is insignificant. As long as western politicians wage their wars and their colleagues in the Muslim world watch in silence, young people will be attracted to the groups who carry out random acts of revenge.

At the beginning of the G8, Blair suggested that "poverty was the cause of terrorism". It is not so. The principal cause of this violence is the violence being inflicted on the people of the Muslim world. And unless this is recognised, the horrors will continue.

WTF???

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
tradition.

This ain't Fiddler on the Roof here. But enjoy the farm. Godspeed. Its been real. Don't take any wooden nickles and always shake twice before sticking it back in your pants.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
WTF???

It's pretty easy to follow. Start from a basic premise -- "I was against the war in Iraq, and I disagreed with the notion that it would make us safer, and I think the facts have sadly borne me out" -- and then take it and drive it off the fucking deep end.

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
This ain't Fiddler on the Roof here. But enjoy the farm. Godspeed. Its been real. Don't take any wooden nickles and always shake twice before sticking it back in your pants.

Is this a generally applicable rule, or only for those who go commando?

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Can you pronounce "non sequitar"?

Yes. Can you spell it?

eta: STP. Thanks for stealing my thunder, gatti.

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
During the last phase of the Troubles, the IRA targeted mainland Britain: it came close to blowing up Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet in Brighton.

So close, and yet so far.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
This is an Editorial from Tariq Ali this morning's Guardian :


WTF???

You didn't expect that backlash? Its a bullshit argument. AQ's goal is to spread radical Islam worldwide. If we left all three of those nations tomorrow, this shit would still fucking happen. These people are fighting time. They want to live like barbarians and they are desperately scared of losing their patriarachal system. At its core, radical Islam is nothing more than a system to keep women down and men in charge. They know they ultimately can't win because time and the progression of modern thought it brings can't be fought. So they personlify their enemy as The West. The make it a clash of cultures, but really, what it is are neanderthals railing against the world changing around them. They're going to bomb everything they see as representative of progression.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
May your Penske socks be few,.

I was going to wish you good luck, god speed and give you my SkyyNett pager number if you ever needed to hit me up for a reference but after that line I hope the door hits you in the cyberass on the way out.

eta: are your socks retiring too?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Penske_Account

eta: are your socks retiring too?

I was going to pass them on, maybe keep one or two around for old times sake. Is there one in particular you'd like?