<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Sep 6 2007, 02:40 PM) [snapback]508077[/snapback]</div> You can't say that just b/c it makes you look bad David. It's quite accurate. The whole 'party line' on this thing has been that we went in to help the people, oppressive dictator, all that. Please, quote my exact comment from that post and explain carefully for those of us who are a bit slow to understand your higher understanding of these topics how it is that I'm "totally wrong"--I assume that to mean that there is absolutely nothing in there that is close to the truth.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Sep 6 2007, 07:49 AM) [snapback]507915[/snapback]</div> Hell, the U.S. government is one of the most hated by its own people. And the prez needs massive security here as well as abroad. As an American citizen, who deeply loves my country, I regard the government of my country as an organized criminal gang that ought to be in prison. (A few on the extreme neo-con fringe, will assert that I hate my country, because to them, the government is the country. If I hated my country I would not stay here. I can afford to live elsewhere if I liked. This is a great country. But we're being run by criminal psychopaths.)
Sounds like the first thing we need to do is ground all of the B-52s. They're obviously very unreliable. Next, I would feel totally safe with the one and only Daniel put in charge of our entire Nuclear program, including the DOD. That is if he feels he's up to the task.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Sep 6 2007, 08:26 PM) [snapback]508333[/snapback]</div> Coming from a devout, self proclaimed hater of the U.S. government . . . what a shocker of a statement. I wonder if daniel is specifically referring to the Democrat controlled Congress . . . which has even lower poll numbers than President Bush :lol: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Sep 6 2007, 08:26 PM) [snapback]508333[/snapback]</div> By virtue of being just being the President of the United States, ANYONE . . . even Mother Theresa, would need the same level of security. Even with the massive security afforded the President and other APEC Summit attendees by the government of Australia, two unauthorized men spent hours wining and dining in Bush's hotel's lobby . . . http://www.worldnewsaustralia.com.au/regio...9®ion=21 . . . and a group of Australian comedians were able to spoof their way past a couple of layer of that massive security effort . . . even with one of them dressed as Osama bin Lauden. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=14208189
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Sep 6 2007, 08:44 PM) [snapback]508353[/snapback]</div> That statement shows you have absolutely no idea of that which you speak. http://www.spacewar.com/reports/B_52_Bombe...Future_999.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-52_Stratofortress <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Sep 6 2007, 08:44 PM) [snapback]508353[/snapback]</div> And then what Frenchman would you bestow the honor of heading the Official Invasion Force Welcoming Committee? Do you people really believe in that kumbaya, "can't we all just get along" . . . "if only there weren't any weapons" . . . "everything would be hunky dory" . . . world? If so, let me be the first to slap you up-side the head and say, "get real, Pollyanna."
This thread is starting to demonstrate why we need some form of national defense. We can't even get along discussing whether it's a good thing to loose nuclear warheads. :blink: Tom
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Sep 7 2007, 01:05 AM) [snapback]508442[/snapback]</div> I include both Democrats and Republicans in my categorization of the U.S. government as an organized band of criminal psychopaths. I've always made it quite clear that I see relatively little difference between the two big parties. However, I wonder what's happened to the Republican Party when they choose a moron as their party leader and Presidential candidate.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Sep 7 2007, 09:01 AM) [snapback]508489[/snapback]</div> The bickering is part of the thread. All posts are part of a thread, even if off topic. Tom
Dr. B, i suggest you read a book called Red Storm rising by Tom Clancy. In it, the Soviets look at thinks much the same way you do (this was back in the 80's). They have a rather large terrorist attack at one of their oil refineries, cutting off a lot of their oil supply. given that it was the cold war, they couldn't ask us for oil - it would be giving us too much control over them. Anyways, they come up with this elaborate plan where they'll split the NATO alliance politically using Germany as an unwitting pawn, and use that to take over the oil fields and refineries in the middle east. If you were President, you would have said screw Germany, and the soviet plan would have gone off without a hitch. Instead, we preserved the NATO alliances, held everything together and saved the day. I know, it didn't actually happen. however, i think it's a darned good example of what might happen if we followed your suggestions.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Sep 6 2007, 10:26 PM) [snapback]508333[/snapback]</div> I think the tradition of the US throughout our history is to generally hold the government in low regard regardless of who is in power at the time. How many government organizations do you find it easy to do business with? How much government we should have is the main difference between the liberals and conservatives here, but even the most ardent liberals in the US generally don't want the socialist type of governments found in Europe.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Sep 7 2007, 06:36 AM) [snapback]508505[/snapback]</div> And exactly at what point in this string was that? And how do you know that I'm not utilizing double secret sarcasm, and it is your sarcasm detector which is confused. Maybe we should put Carrot Top in charge of our entire Nuclear program, including the DOD. Only then would everyone be so confused about America's nuclear weapons policy that they wouldn't dare joke around about the subject . . . for fear of the response from the "new and improved" Carrot Top. http://www.thesuperficial.com/archives/003301.html
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Sep 7 2007, 09:32 AM) [snapback]508558[/snapback]</div> Couldn't have been said better daniel.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Sep 7 2007, 03:36 AM) [snapback]508446[/snapback]</div> I always said Neocons had no sense of humor.
A lapse in memory or good judgment or a symptom of a military that has been stretched beyond its breaking point and is starting to make stupid errors that it wouldn't be making if its commander in chief wasn't such a complete idiot? :shrug: Ralph Nader nailed it on Bill Maher's show on Friday when he said that if Bush had been brought up by Nader's parents, that things would be different because he would have been taught history and critical thinking. Both of which G.W. Nostradamus seems to be lacking. Just shows you that all the money that his parents had didn't guarantee that he'd learn a damn thing except how to play hooky and do drugs. We're still in deep trouble because who knows what W is going to screw up, or cause someone else to screw up, next from all of the pressure of working for a president who's just waiting for the rapture.
"When given the choice between the laws of physics and the laws of congress, I am pretty sure the laws of physics will win." ~ Bill McKibben Ignoring the natural world to play these petty international games is going to cost us big time in the not too distant future. It reminds me to two children fighting over a ball while a tornado works it's way towards them. Only this tornado won't miss.
I thought I would give a follow up to this thread: On the 5th of June, SecDef Robert Gates fired the Secretary of the Air Force, Michael Wynne, and the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Michael Moseley. This was for the poor handling of nuclear weapons and missile components. Later, he fired the Secretary of the Army, Francis Harvey, the Commander of Walter Reed Hospital, George Weightman, and the Army Surgeon General, Kevin Kiley. This was for the neglect experienced by veterans at Walter Reed. Looks like someone actually cares about accountability. This is RARE at these levels. (I bet the standards have experience an upward swing.)