miked10270

Small point... What does 9/11 have to do with Dubbie wanting to spend a load of (government) money on Nuclear Reactors? I'm guessing that this is the opening move in Federal aid and tax-breaks to subsidise the nuclear power industry. My own suspicions are that this is what George-Herbie & his family have just bought shares in and want the value of their investment to rise. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

They could unite against the Evil-Eaters-Of-Unclean-Animals. In the meantime, the "regime-change" looks like it's still on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5122822.stm It's obvious that Hamas hasn't been able to raise its game and actually govern Palestine. An act of war has been committed. The Israeli reaction is nothing if not predictable. As I said elsewhere, I empathise with Israels position in this. You almost wonder if Hamas wants OUT of government, but in a face-saving way which makes them the martyr? Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

(this is what I meant to say) I can't for the life of me figure out if you're joking or not. That's OK Quade... Not everyone gets satire. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

LMFAO!... NOT! This reminds me of the time (I think 1986) when Margaret Thatcher suddenly went "Green" and started talking about how we must do something about CO2 emissions. Then she said the solution was to buy/build 8 nuclear reactors identical to the Three-Mile-Island one. Now it's Dubya's turn. "We MUST do something about the environment... Therefore we MUST go Nuclear! WHY do I get the feeling that Dubbie & his family / pals / etc... Have just bought shares in Nuclear Power companies..? Believe me... I'd be laughing if I wasn't weeping. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

I'll bet that part of the "diplomatic" communication with North Korea is an explanation of exactly how "MAD" & "Flexible-Response" works... Along with a quick count of how many W-80s & MIRVs are still in the American inventory! That further assumes that the test isn't sabotaged doesn't fail for non-specified reasons (like the 500lb bomb dropped from a B-2). Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

I find myself empathising with the Israelis on this. It appears that Hamas has failed to transition into being a responsible government (OK, they weren't given all that much of a chance with the whole finance & aid thing) and actually control their country, and more particularly, the more extreme elements of their organisation. The Israeli reaction is nothing if not predictable. No-one *wants* the israelis back in Gaza, least of all the Israelis, but if that's what it takes to stabilise the area, then it's hardly unexpected that that's what the Israelis will do. This has been brewing for a while, ever since Hamas members started to supplant supplement the local police. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Yeah... In that case, it's fine. Besides, the guy you execute has maybe done some other stuff... Stuff he's not been caught for... So... It's like... Karma! Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Thoughtful, well reasoned, intelligent and sensible. This is precisely the sort of rubbish that'll get this thread kicked into The Bonfire! Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Some people will patronise Cigar-Bars. I think that they are wisely excluded from the smoking ban. Their intent, and the fact that smoking WILL take place there is obvious before either patron or prospective employee enters. Fair warning has been given. Prohibiting smoking there is tantamount to closing that particular business. Living in Scotland, which now has the most extreme anti-smoking legislation in the world, I've been surprised at the degree of support our blanket smoking ban has received, even among smokers! Folk adapt. In the meantime, there's a whole new "doorstep-culture" emerging. (Scotland bans smoking in ALL enclosed public spaces - more than 70% enclosed, that's a roof and two & a half walls. It also includes company vehicles, even if the smoker is the sole occupant!) Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

The thing is that with cars being viewed as a status symbol, and an indication of lifestyle, then bigger, faster, tougher, equals better. We have mainstream motorsport competitions entirely based on how fast (and to an extent, whether) a car can complete a given course. The winner (of the publicity) is the car which completes a given course fastest. Little prominence is given to the amount of fuel used. What prominence is given to a "race" (competition) to see how far cars can go on a set amount of fuel? Are there such competitions? Well, yes. There have been. BUT... They don't garner the publicity or the excitement of a modified truck belting across the desert at 130mph (& 5mpg), do they? Yet, which is more relevant? The fact that the "works" Chevy trucks can cross the Baja course fastest, or the fact that YOUR Chevy Truck (which shares little with the competition one apart from general shape) costs you less at the pumps? Until fuel economy can be made "sexy", economical or fuel-efficient vehicles will be largely the preserve of intelligent environmentalists. The rest of the great motoring public will simply confine themselves to grumbling about fuel prices while simultaneously boasting of their vehicles' size power & performance. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Isn't it Italian? I understand that he's an Italian immigrant. One who's actually embraced the American Culture() Having come to America, he's embraced the concept of being American. I bet he even owns a pair of Burberry-Check trousers! In the meantime, he's hit on this superb advertising scheme which makes him the best known, most discussed restaurant in America! You almost wonder if he sends his employees out to truck-stops with tape recorders and picks the juiciest ones out of overheard conversations!? I wonder what the introduction of these signs has done to his business turnover. He's certainly getting folk to talk about his restaurant, and, if I were ever in the area, I'd probably dine there out of curiosity and because it's the restaurant I'd heard of. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

We all know that Dubya fearlessly and selflessly defended Texas during the Vietnam War... And he did a damn good job of it! To my certain knowledge there wasn't a single attack on Texas by either the Viet-Minh or NVA! Not on his watch. We also know that Kerry served in Vietnam. We know this because he took a camera, actually lots of cameras, with him! Kerry then fearlessly and honestly testified in a Congressional hearing to all those things which would get him the maximum publicity, all without any thought of personal pain (to others). The old saying about Pots and Kettles springs to mind. Are either honestly qualified to accuse the other of anything concerning Vietnam? Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

In fairness Bill, I've amended your crossing out of #2 above. Iraq DID present a threat to the US. He started selling his oil in Euros, remember? Even those satanic incarnates, Chavez and Ahmadinejad have only threatened to do that so far. In the meantime, we have to wait for the Iraqi situation to stabilise and ensure that the new, independent, democratic Iraq WILL act like a colony, and that the natives won't go doing anything stupid with democracy, like voting for who THEY want to govern them. In the meantime, "The Big Green Fighting Machine" will continue to protect "The Big Green Printing Machine"! Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

MNealTX, The issue isn't whether capital punishmant acts as a deterrent. The issue IS that once someone has been executed, then it's impossible to have the sentence reversed if evidence comes out that he was in fact innocent. NO criminal justice system is so infallible that miscarriages of justice NEVER occur. The difference between life imprisonment (or that wonderful Americnism; "Life + 99 Years"), and execution, is that should a convicted murderer be later found innocent, the "lifer" can be released. The "executed" can't be brought back to life! In the De-Luna case, and others, an innocent man has been killed! Isn't that premeditated murder and conspiracy to murder? Morally if not legally. Lucky, Regardless of the seniority of the court, mistakes still happen. Innocent people are killed. Howq can you defend a system which by it's own admissions kills innocents? The "competitive and adversarial" Criminal-Justice system is basically good and usually gets to the truth of a case, but there are occasions where it doesn't. It's not so infallible to bet a human life on it. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

If everyone would like to mount their favourite hobby-horse, we'll start almost imediately! I have no doubt that there was sufficient evidence to convict at the time. The appeals process will simply examine the original case for procedural correctness. There will be no actual retrial without MAJOR new evidence. So... Now that the guy is dead, his conviction appears to be unsafe. This isn't the first time this has happened. In fact, it's not all that unusual. This exposes the insane barbarity of capital punishment. A criminal-justice system which is so arrogant it believes itself so faultless that it can adopt a position it can't withdraw from. Lets say for a moment that an independent investigation DOES show that De-Luna was innocent and that the perpetrator was Hernandez. What do you do? Try Hernandez for murder? While you can pardon De-Luna, you can hardly bring him back to life, can you!? Should the prosecutor and investigating police officer be tried for conspiracy to commit murder? They put together a case and succeeded in having De-Luna killed. If the killing turns out to be unlawful by virtue of De-Luna's innocence?... I've been a cop for 20 years. I've seen how ANY police service works. I've commonly been their most vociferous defendants on these forums. BUT... I also know that when faced with a crime, police officers set out to "get a result". Once they have a suspect "in the frame", then they focus on collecting evidence of his guilt. They approach interviewing him as a guilty person who's trying to get out of being punished. What doesn't help their case tends to get ignored as "irrelevant" to THEIR case unless it all starts to suggest a suspects innocence. Then comes the adversarial trial system, with failures to disclose evidence on BOTH sides. Each side on;ly presents the evidence they found which supports their own side of the argument. And the better argument wins. It's not surprising that mistakes are made. What IS surprising is that so few mistakes are made. What is idiotic is that this flawed system is given the power to kill a person if it wishes! Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Who defines suitable? It's actually defined in the Firearms Acts. Generally speaking it's no serious convictions, nothing detrimental known to the applicant's character, mentally stable, etc... In effect, a normal, law-abiding, mature, reasonably intelligent, responsible person. Somebody that you'd trust with a gun. There's tens of thousands of such folk in Britain who've held firearms without incident for years, from which 2 fuckwits spoiled it. Have a look at "Firearms Act" on a .gov.uk website. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Full scan or scout cut with a single head slice & abdo slice? That's the sort of idiot thing which shows up a hithertofore undiagnosed problem. Then again, I guess you "Whippersnappers" are too young to remember Mass-Miniature CXRs A van with a tube, screen onto 100mm film and built in processor! Worse, in the early days of CT, it was suggested that prospective student radiographers be scanned to evaluate ventricular size (to assess intelligence even)! Until a professor at the Radcliffe was scanned and found to have massive ventricles. Mike. Edited to add: NO! I'm serious! Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

I think that the incidents which led to our current draconian laws were unusual and exposed faults in our firearms laws. I also think that the changes in law in response to Hungerford and Dunblane were ill-thought, and more focussed on obtaining soundbites for politicians than to address the actual problems. I'd therefore like to see handguns allowed along with the removal of restrictions on magazine-fed weapons. I'd also like to see firearms ALL licensed as firearms. An end to the Shotgun-Licence. If it goes bang, it's a gun. In effect, IF you are a "suitable person", and can show good cause to hold a particular firearm, then you should be able to hold it! Mike. PS: Hi Scoop. Don't tell me you had your appointment confirmed!! Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Hi Tom, I took the seatbelt one as agreeing with what you say. If YOU drive down the street with 2 kids in your vehicle who're not wearing seatbelts, a cop will ticket you. Twice. One for each kid. Thus the city gets, say $100, off you as punishment for putting your kids in danger. Then the school bus (provided by the city) goes past with 20 kids in it. None wearing seat belts. Q: So why isn't the cop giving THAT driver 20 tickets for putting those kids in the same danger that's just earned you tickets? A: Seat Belt laws are about money. Specifically, making money for the city. Not road safety. If it was about safety, then your school busses would have seatbelts (like the ones in The UK - not cheap, but do-able). In the meantime, the cops ticket private individuals but not city vehicles for the same circumstances. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

SInce I posted in the other Casa D'Ice thread, here's the url for ALL the signs: http://www.casadice.com/signs/index.htm Superb! Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

The place has a website: http://www.casadice.com/ For those of you who can't be bothered to browse to the signs: http://www.casadice.com/signs/index.htm And local newspaper comment: http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/archive.cfm?type=News%20Briefs&action=getComplete&ref=6206 And yeah... I find them funny, sharp, and apposite. Good satire and comment. They're certainly no reason not to eat there, in fact, I'm more attracted to the place for having the guts to voice this stuff. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

I read this as putting a stop to the "Eminent Domain" scandals which have plagued America... While still allowing for enforced property sale for the common good. After all, not even the worst Communist digtatorship ever confiscated property from an individual or private entity with the intention of giving it to another private entity! In that case, it is something which badly needed to be done, and more power to POTUS for doing the right thing... To prohibit theft under the guise of law. Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Sure... Just stop short of doing any cartoons about it this time! Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Hi John, Because almost ALL modern infantry engagements take place at under 200 metres. Weapons such as the FN, M-14, M-1 SMLE, KAR98, etc which are comfortable tools out to 600 Metres+ are less effective than the AR or AK which are more controllable, lighter, and allow more ammunition to be carried. Hence, either the AK or the AR are better tools for an infantry engagement. My original argument (did you read it?) was against the FN-FAL and in favour of the AK and AR. I went on to say that the AR was a better weapon for well trained & disciplined troops while the AK was a better weapon for poorly trained troops such as the army Venezuela is likely to have! You wouldn't be! ALmost all infantry engagements take place at.... What is the relevance of recreating the battle of Spotsylvania in miniature? Remenber what happened to the American General there thanks to a supposedly "rubbish" British rifle?: "Why are you men cowering in trenches? They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..." If the weapon you're comfortable with is the M-16, fine. I'm most used to the SLR, SMLE No.5 or LMG. Do you really want to do this? I'll take an ex (Brit) army LMG or SLR or No.5 and you stand 600 Metres away... It still doesn't make any of them as good an infantry weapon as the AK or AR. We could recreate a modern infantry engagement? Start 600 metres apart in rain, smoke & shit visibility. put 500 rounds through our weapons and drop them into muddy sandy water. Then we start. I figure to get to within 50 yards of you with a working AK by the time you've got your AR clear of the jam and stripped for cleaning! Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

Typical left-wing liberal crypto-commie response! Instead of admitting your familys inability to swim through mud, you choose to blame the government for not intervening, the invading army for not moving on it's original schedule, Government lies and shifting responsibility, Etc... ANYTHING to AVOID accepting YOUR familys OWN shortcomings. I'd expect that of someone who by their OWN admission (and by virtue of their survival) has NO FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE of these marshes! Mike. Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable. Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.