mr2mk1g

I honestly first found out about this myth a few years back while watching the Simpsons of all things! It was the Lisa needs braces episode and they were looking at the "Big Book of British Smiles". I'd seriously never come across the myth till then. I read up on it and apparently the idea is absolutely unique to the US. I guess it's one of those things like some people genuinely expect all French people to wear berets and horizontally striped white/black long sleeved t-shirts.

Well you seem to be the only one who has a problem with the thread. Everyone else seems to get the relationship between theft from a nuclear installation and the security of your homeland, the USA... or "USA homeland security" if you will. No one but you has so much as even come close to raising who it was that dropped that specific ball.

The theft from Los Alamos most certainly does affect homeland security though.

It's the first static line. They put 600 out on a pass. Works out cheeper as you still only need 1 instructor...

We've had a couple of similarly funny GPS screw ups in the UK recently. One tells of a farmer who was complaining because a large number of people were being sent by their GPS up his small farm track as a short cut. Not much of an issue until you find out that the farm track leads to a cliff and a dead-end. The GPS units wanted people to continue straight off the edge of the cliff and onto the road a couple of hundred ft below. The units thought the road was continuous. Another funny related to a website providing maps and direction services. The website, when asked to provide the shortest rout between two cities avoiding the motorway which directly connected the two, had the driver go a couple of hundred miles in the opposite direction, catch a ferry to Ireland, drive clear across Ireland, catch another ferry all the way to France, drive up the coast of France to the Euro tunnel, then back into England where they still had a couple of hundred mile drive to go.

It's called irony my dear fellow. You couldn't possibly be expected to understand. Much of the discussion above has been about whether Bush lies right? Some on this thread have tried to displace any suggestion that Bush may have lied recently about what his original intent was in invading Iraq (WMD vs Regime change) by posted that all along Bush was always saying that invading Iraq was all about regime change. I found this argument amusing because it is somewhat ironic or counterintuitive if you will. Now while it would indeed be true that if Bush did order the invasion of Iraq to effect regime change, that would mean he was not lying to people now because this was always his goal. I found the argument amusing however because this would also mean he was guilty of war crimes – an argument one would hardly expect to hear from an ardent Bush supporter. See, invading a country to effect regime change has no justification under international law and can be defined as a crime against peace or 'war crime'. If Bush did as some Bushites here claim, well, I think I've said this before - he's in for a very very unhappy retirement marked by many many court appearances. See how that argument is amusing? A Bushite arguing for their idol to be charged with international war crimes? I thought so.

BEST THREAD EVER Watching a couple of Bushites arguing that Bush isn't a liar - just an international war criminal!

Because they're genuinely going to foil an international plot on the President's life by grilling a 14 year old school girl about a picture she drew once??

I don't think it's the ex-colonies he's having a rant about; it's Eastern Europeans who we're seeing migrating in droves. When Europe expanded easterly 2 years ago our Govt. said they expected no more than migrants 15,000 a year. They were told they were nuts at the time but they poo pooed any suggestion that their figures might be wrong. Well in the last 18 months there have been 600,000 people move here. That's 1% of our total population in only a year and a half and thirty times the figure the Govt. assured us would arrive! The amusing side of the story of course is seeing the confusion in the ranks of the BNP et al. "Paki go home" was an easy enough slogan for knuckle draggers to remember. They're now having problems changing to "Go home white, English-speaking Christian skin-head wearing jeans and a sports shirt". Firstly this doesn't have quite the same ring to it and secondly, (and most amusingly), tends to lead to extreme confusion as that's pretty much an exact description of not only your average Pole but also the archetypal BNP member!

Holly shit. You guys are enforcing thought-crimes now?

Um... yeah, seriously - invading to effect regime change is so SO glaringly in violation of international law that if you're right then Bush is going to have a very very unhappy retirement.

I wonder if they can translate 'the old lie'; "Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori"?

From the article: Well what the hell else would you add Vegimite to???

Am I the only one who thinks it odd that you defend allegations that Bush doesn't listen to people by arguing that he does listen, he just makes really shit decisions after doing so?

When I was 12 I identified a niche business opportunity in the locality and set up my own small entrepreneurial operation taking payment from local land owners. Ask her if she is horrified for me. I was a rat catcher. I was already shooting pigeons for the adjacent farmer and being paid by the kill... his grain barns had rats, so did those other farmers in the area. I had a shotgun, air rifles, a dog, experience on how to smoke rats out and a back hoe with a nice sharp edge. It seemed a rather simple equation to me, even at 12. Now ask her if she is horrified for me.

Only a couple of months ago the UK parliament passed the following legislation: Compensation Act 2006 2006 Chapter 29 - continued -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PART 1 STANDARD OF CARE 1 Deterrent effect of potential liability A court considering a claim in negligence or breach of statutory duty may, in determining whether the defendant should have taken particular steps to meet a standard of care (whether by taking precautions against a risk or otherwise), have regard to whether a requirement to take those steps might- (a) prevent a desirable activity from being undertaken at all, to a particular extent or in a particular way, or (b) discourage persons from undertaking functions in connection with a desirable activity. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is hoped that the above provision will have a dramatic affect on claims arising out of things like playground games (and a whole host of other activities - including skydiving!!). If courts must have regard to how their findings will affect the insurability of any given activity and thus don't find liability against a defendant when they might well have otherwise done so, there won't be the pressure on places like schools to ban activities like tag. This legislation is specifically designed to head off at the pass the litigation society that we see creeping over from the US. I hope it works!

So am I. Hence why I was so surprised this hadn't hit the US news as big as it had over here. Bush has been selling Iran and Syria as the next Nazi Germany for a while now, (quite literally recently with the White House's introduction of the term "islamofascist" into their dictionary). The fact that their own report would then, (reportedly), come out and suggest that the best bet for the region would be to pull out and have Iran and Syria take over security was a big surprise to me. Even if the White House were to agree with the report's findings and honestly think their recommendations were the right thing to do... I doubt they would actually be able to sell the change in stance to the nation anyway!

I'm surprised I've not seen anything on here about this yet. It's been on the radio here for a day or so now. Apparently the Iraq Study Group (headed by a key Bush aid) is about to come out with a report advising of the need to pull out of Iraq and ask Syria and Iran for help in stabilizing the country. Supposedly the report advises that the only option that is most certainly not viable is "stay the course". Iraq is already behind it apparently, with their PM stating it would bring an end to violence within a month (his word's not mine) and be the beginning of the end of terrorism! Any thoughts? http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1541442006

The news on this side of the pond is that they're winding up for a second test. Pundits think they'll probably time it so that it comes as their response to the sanctions kicking in.

Tony Blair has annonced that he "agreed with every word" General Sir Richard Dannatt has said, including the statement that coalition forces are "exacerbating" the situation in Iraq.

haha all the technical equipment of a modern army... and all they're missing is a bloody ride-on-mower!

hehe, I've been plotting for ages to sleep with a number of supermodels and Hollywood starletts.... Not really got any idea how I'm gonna ever achieve the goal.... but it is a plan of mine.

Personally I like his website: http://www.borat.tv/ It's a masterpiece of early 90's tasteless web-design. Splendid.

hmm.. I'd say the next photograph after the shot from above of an inflated PC would the interesting one.

They shouldn't have to - they're not. The old British Empire was, even centuries ago, all about multiculturalism. The English were English, the Indians were Indians, the Scotts were Scotts, Welsh Welsh, etc etc etc. The fact they had laws made by the same Parliament didn't change their national identities and there weren't any moves to do so. As for the language thing - go to India now. Everyone speaks English. It is the de facto lingua franca. It saves a billion people from having to constantly translate between Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali, Manipuri, Punjabi, etc etc etc. Same probably went for the languages of Central and South America - over centuries the language of the ruling elite simply won out over the old variant mother tongues because it solved the communication problems which came with greater population mobility and international communications.