miked10270

Yeah, we've had those TV shows, the one where you voted for "The Greatest Briton" & what you got was popularist crap! John Harrison came in at #53, Margaret Thatcher came in at #15, & Princess Diana came in at #2! Go figure. Needless to say Winston Churchill came in at #1. Germany also had a similar show - 100 Great Germans - but "A Certain Austrian" and his colleagues were pre-disqualified! Otherwise, the vote might have been disturbingly interesting? Beware. If this is a similar show, then you can expect the likes of "Elvis", "Eminem" & "Snoop-drivey-by-bang" coming in WAY ahead of George Washington, FDR, JFK, etc... Of course, you can always have fun predicting the Lee-Harvey-Oswald vote!? 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.

Err... Since I've already been asked what a "Wanker" is (I won't say who by), I thought I'd better post this song: http://www.hamncheez.com/media/flash/mbtg.swf Now. For those of you who may not know what a "wanker" is... THIS IS NOT WORK SAFE!!!! BUT IT IS BLOODY FUNNY! 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.

Agreed. Also a great place to live with an independent income & good health. But not to live & work there (although I do believe that hospitals in AZ are crying out for Radiographers!). A few years ago I was in Casa Grande Medical Centre X-Ray, mentioned I was State Registered, and straight off asked if I fancied working there!!! I guess this comes down to the difference in attitude again. We Eurpoeans may gripe about our high taxation & less than perfect public services, but at the end of the day, we sure as hell LOVE our Socialised Medicine & effective Welfare State. There's the phobia around The US that it's a good life if you have money & health & work... BUT... If you lose any of those things there's very little in the way of a safety-net to save you from destitution. 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.

What a heartwarming story about what IS a nasty civil war! Iraq STILL suffers from too many guns and too little government. 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.

Hey John, The TARDIS is back now. At least here in Edinburgh. Only now The Gallifreyians have converted them to fight against the new Evil Empire & threat to the universe! Yep. They're independent Coffee shops and you can patronise them instead of Starbucks! 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.

Prince Charles is NOT a wanker. He is Royalty so he'll have a footman to do that for him! IM(not very)HO he'd probably need it if Camilla wanted the lights on. 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.

Just so that the unwashed know what we're talking about... Now... THese are Nasty-Ba$tardy robots dedicated to the extermination of any species which uses steps or stairs instead of nice smooth ramps. They were frequently to be seen squeaking EXTERMINATE!!! EXTERMINATE!!! and rampaging through 1960's British Television. Their attempts to dominate the universe and destroy all non-wheeled species were only thwarted by a bloke with a VERY dodgy medical degree & a suspiciously long scarf who travelled through space & time in a concrete Police Box. That's right! No Starships. No Photon Torpedoes. No 400 man crew. No Warp Drive. No Dilithium Crystals to realign. No pointy eared closet homosexuals. Just the good Doctor Who, his scarf, his sidekick, and his TARDIS! Oh yeah... Pics of a TARDIS. Note that it is completely Dalek-Proof by virtue of having a step at the door! 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... Here we go. Brit Police overreact against harmless robot. Now look here Aggie. You might not have ever seen Doctor Who, but I have. The Daleks might look funny, and they might be foiled by simple inventions like stairs... BUT... Not only do their lasers incinerate tanks, but the sucker attachment on the other arm can give you a nasty bruise! What WOULD be a hoot would be to drive one toward the white house & see what the reaction would be there? 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.

Of course the former West Germans have suffered a "loss". Perhaps not so much with the fall of the Berlin Wall & reunification, but certainly with the loss of massed NATO forces & the compensation from exercises. Does anyone remember the "peace bonus" that came about after the end of the Cold War? Well... Most of that money ultimately went into the West German economy, preparing for the day the Warsaw Pact forces might come pouring through the Fulda Gap. So... The NATO "Cash Cow" gives less milk, and at the same time the "Hungry Ostland Cousins" move in. Yes. Germany is monetarily poorer, but the German people are far more secure. What some forget is the security they have gained, while remembering the cost of their security. 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.

As Jimbo says... What I'm hearing is ONE side of the story. Giving your version of the defendants' responses really doesn't constitute the other side of the story. I must admit that I suspect the reason for your posting this is that you lost!? If you did in fact lose, then while you may not feel that is justice, it IS law. As I've said before on far too many occasions: "Justice is something you get in the next life. In this life you have to settle for the 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.

What surprises me is that the amusement park was "out of juristiction". I assume that this is a result of America's very decentralised government and "hotch-potch" system of city police forces, county police forces, & state police forces. Over here at the centre of "The Evil Ailing Empire", a police officer is a police officer and can exercise his powers anywhere in the country, and in neighbouring countries in the UK. This is largely possible (and made simple) by our centralised government and single(ish) criminal 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.

As Half-A-Plan goes, the invasion & liberation of Iraq was brilliant!

"Many of these cars (Delorean DMC-12) are still on the road, with over 200,000 miles on the odometer, purring like kittens, with plenty of parts available across the country." Regrettably the DMC-12 was overweight, underpowered, soggy handling and the build quality when new (for the few cars that actually left the factory) was most charitably described as "Questionable" (spelled $-H-I-T). I'm pretty sure it was LJK Setright (in Car Magazine) who summed the DMC-12 up pretty pithily... "....of course The DMC-15 will be an excellent car... One of Stuttgart's or Bavaria's most exciting vehicles in a decade." Of course, the production quality & quantity weren't entirely John Delorean's fault - any more than the production quality & quantity of The Learfan was Bill Lear's fault. Although at the time they maybe could have asked themselves more cynically just WHY the "cash-strapped" British Government at the time was willing to give them so much monetary aid if they set up shop in Northern Ireland!!!! 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.

... And most defence lawyers ARE! That's why "Billy-Bob" & "Wayne" sit VErY quiet in their (if neccessary rented) smart suits. As far as humanly possible they don't open their mouths (lest the jury see missing front teeth), and they sure as hell speak as little as possible. Part of what an effective defence agent does is draw the jury's atention to him - intelligent, wealthy, smart, engaging, etc... Almost so that they try the defence attorney & not the accused. Then of course there is "The energetic defence"! Ask the prosecution witness questions they can't answer & suggest that their investigation has been a lot less than exhaustive (& in this the "CSI Effect" helps tremendously). There doesn't actually HAVE to be a reasonable doubt, What the defence has to do is introduce a doubt which sounds reasonable to the jury... And as I said before, the median jury consists of 12 people too dumb to think up an excuse or look on days sitting in a courtroom as fun!!? At the heart of this is the basic problem of our "Adversarial" justice system which places winning above truth. 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.

"....sometimes lead to cancer, said researchers led by Randa El-Zein of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston." Of course, there is always the (admitted slim) possibility that Randa El-Zein is NOT in fact a Doctor, but A LAWYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The article NEVER suggests he's a doctor... Only that he is "OF" the institute... And my theory would go a long way to explaining acceptance of a study of 12 kids out of 2 million!? 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.

So... In effect The Italian Prime Minister is retreating from the position that The Italian Army will retreat!? 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.

So... What you're saying is that the best sign of an imminent US invasion of Iran IS when The Italian "Regimento di POW Campe Filluppi" deploys to Tehran? 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, The Italians are going home. Of course it's all the fault of the US Military. Their tactics & doctrine were completely incompatible with The Italian traditions of desert warfare which were set in 1942. It's well known that The Italian Army expected a mucho longer campaign in Iraq - One that would give them a reasonable chance to surrender to the enemy! Since the liberation of Iraq went so quick, they've had to content themselves with the occasional journalist surrendering, but it really wasn't the same thing. The Italians have only stayed in Iraq in the hope of America giving them a decent chance of surrendering to Iran, but Italians arren't the most patient of people... So home they go. 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.

And here we have the fundamental problem of having an "adversarial" system of justice.... Where "winning" has subjured establishing the truth. 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.

There IS a gun in it!!!! A Dirty, Tricky, Evil, Garlic-Smelly, Inaccurate French Gun!!! So it's STAYIN' In SC! Where people like to shoot stuff out of guns! OK? OK! Mike. Edited to add: Oh yeah... 6043 so far. I only hope that NacMacFeegle doesn't construe this game as a personal attack! 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.

.... From all the ills of the world! No more Chinese invasions, missiles in DC, Michael Jackson, HIV, Guns, Bush Etc... And go back to a gentler time! A time when The Muppets ruled the airwaves... And the most important thing in the world was how good you are at getting The Great Gonzo into a tub of water! http://muppets.go.com/games/muppets-flyinggonzo.html IT'S WORK SAFE and even the gun involved shouldn't upset tThe Brady Bunch too much!! Enjoy... Post scores! 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.

Like Drunkmonkey said... "Believe me, some of the things the Joint Strike Fighter are able to do are staggering." Britain is also committed to the Joint Strike Fighter - At present one of the "amazing things" it CAN'T do is take off with a load. It reminds me of the early days of The Hawker P1127, which in the words of one official "Couldn't carry a cigarette packet across a football field!" But back to China Vs. Formosa... Or is it Taiwan... Or is it The Republic of China...? Maybe the solution is for the Taiwanese/Formosans/RoC to change their name again! Then when the Peoples Liberation Army come a knockin', they can just say: "Velly solly. RoC move out last week with no forward address. You go 'way now!" But seriously, I seriously doubt that the PRC can sustain a campaign of invasion on Taiwan. I likened it to the Falklands War because that's the most recent conflict involving an island where neither side gained air superiority over the battlefield... ANd thus the campaign was won by the side which was capable of "Sea-Denial". (Yep. The General Belgrano WAS sunk for a reason - the reason being; "Look what we've got! Wanna send some more ships toward Port Stanley? No..?") Now. An army in combat goes through "consumables" (food, water, fuel, ammunition spare parts, etc...) at a horrendous rate, and air supply isn't very effective (transport aircraft ARE easy meat for defending fignters) so it comes down to resupply by sea - and hence, sea denial. One way to cut this back in the early days is to stand troops & weapons down into a maintenance cycle before launching a conflict This is a very visible pattern of behaviour as far as intelligence is concerned and thus gives some notice of intent. Like Napoleon said: "An army marches on it's stomach." Finally, there is the commercial dimension. Yes, the world DOES get a lot fo cheap goods from both China's, but an invasion & conflict, whether successful or not would effectively end this trade (for example, who would buy a Japanese camera in 1942?) and while the US does presently import chinese goods, if this stopped, then there's plenty of other markets all ready to take up the slack if the US stopped trading with China(s). And let's face it, the PRC needs the foreign exchange that exports to the "West" provide. So at the end of the day, I doubt that The PRC will invade the RoC. 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.

Really? On the one hand, they can be seen as a family of dishonest "trailer-trash" on the make from an altruistic rich man who selflessly befriended them in their hour of need. On the other hand, their behaviour can be seen as a the response of a poorly educated family faced with terrible abuse by a man whose wealth & power protected him. The child can be seen as a troublemaker at school... Or a child trying to come to terms with what happened to him. Are his schoool discipline problems simply due to his character? Or are they a (common) symptom displayed by victims of abuse? And as for coaching... ALL witnesses in a serious trial ARE coached to an extent to prepare them for the ordeal of giving evidence. Like I said before: NOT PROVEN! Which in The US will probably translate into a majority "Not Guilty" verdict, followed by allegations that he bought the doubt through his legal team & comparisons to The OJ Simpson trial. 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.

Etc... Etc... Just one quick question: Who are you and what have you done with the REAL Matt? Given the US Navy's capacity for Sea-Denial (their attack subs) & air-denial (Aegis & Phoenix Vs. transport aircraft), how would the PRC propose to support & supply their invasion force?... Always assuming they actually believe they have the ability to deliver an amphibious force across the Formosa Strait in the first place! Mike. Edited to add: 200Km/120 miles (narrowes part of Formosa Strait) is a hell of a long supply route by either sea or air in a hostile environment. 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.

So... Who is the child lying to? The court now? Or his teacher then? Mike. PS. I'm still waiting for the "anatomy" pics 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.