How cool is this?!?

Typical injuries include concussion, blindness, rupture of the eardrums, seared airways and collapsed lungs, multiple internal haemorrhages, displaced and torn internal organs.

Wow, what a great Christmas present.

That should stop terrorism.

Until the terrorists get one.

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Typical injuries include concussion, blindness, rupture of the eardrums, seared airways and collapsed lungs, multiple internal haemorrhages, displaced and torn internal organs.

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Until the terrorists get one.

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I loved the smug military fuckhead I saw chatting about the daisycutter on the news. He actually grinned as he said something along the lines of, "It's designed to kill people, lots of people." Wow! What a great application of technology!

[rant]

This is typical of the US military, though. Any armed outing is an excuse to test new weapons or more powerful versions of the old ones. In Panama they tested out a MASER weapon (like a laser, but based on microwaves instead of light). I saw some gut-churning footage of a victim of that weapon - basically, his flesh had partially liquefied, and his muscles were dangling from his bones in ragged ropes. There is no tactical need to use these weapons in these circumstances. It is simply an ecuse to test them, or to test an old weapon in a new environment. As far as I am aware, this started with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but probably goes back further.

[/rant]

*sigh*

Yeah.... That's true. All of the other militaries of every other nation only want to slap people around a bit, and would never be smug or dance in the streets over doing something as horrid as oh, say, killing thousands of people. When will the US Military ever learn that when they kill the enemy, it's genocide, but when other armies do it, it's retaliation for oppression? I feel so ashamed.

[way over the top insane rant]
I'm just glad that we will see an end to terrorism soon. That will be great! I'm sure this campaign will be completely effective and not just fun and games for millionaires. Say, anyone for a massive tax cut? Not me! Let the corporations have it. That's the only patriotic thing to do.
[/way over the top insane rant]

Sorry. Just clearing some bile.

[logical statement]Fuck millionaires. Corporate welfare is bullshit.[/logical statement]

[also logical statement, but soon to be contested] Then again, all forms of welfare pretty much just create poverty.[/also logical statement, but soon to be contested]

Welfare "as we know it" is actually a means of controlling the poor. It may be an overstatement to say it creates poverty, but it certainly is not designed to stop it, either. It's designed to preserve the system as is, which requires not raising the prospects of the poor. So you could say it perpetuates poverty. But then so do a lot of things.

(I'm talking mostly about means-tested programs in the US.)

[non-sequitur]I like toast.[/non-sequitur]

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Welfare "as we know it" is actually a means of controlling the poor. It may be an overstatement to say it creates poverty, but it certainly is not designed to stop it, either. It's designed to preserve the system as is, which requires not raising the prospects of the poor. So you could say it perpetuates poverty. But then so do a lot of things.

(I'm talking mostly about means-tested programs in the US.)

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If my surname was Cutter, I'd call my daughter Daisy. Or Toe.

Am I the only one who just wants to see things go boom?

Am I also the only one who wants to see that daisy pattern? Weapons of mass destruction that leave pretty patterns make me drool. :)

41186

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If my surname was Cutter, I'd call my daughter Daisy. Or Toe.

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42108

There are honestly too many points on either side.

Again, I want to see explosions. They can detonate them in the sky and hurt no one if they want. they can use the damn things to level buildings to put new ones up. I just want to see them go BOOM.

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42108

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Exactly.

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Exactly.

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Stop using the stripcreator for deep thoughts.
I wasn't prepared to look past the surface on that one. Bastard.

Can we just drop them on the Canadians? No one will miss them.

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Yeah.... That's true. All of the other militaries of every other nation only want to slap people around a bit, and would never be smug or dance in the streets over doing something as horrid as oh, say, killing thousands of people. When will the US Military ever learn that when they kill the enemy, it's genocide, but when other armies do it, it's retaliation for oppression? I feel so ashamed.

---

One of my favourite P.J. O'Rourke stories is where he is being held at gunpoint buy some crazed Islamic fundamentalist who is calling him an "American, Imperialist infidel pig" or the like, and in the same breath, tells him that as soon as he gets a green card, he's going to study dentistry in Michigan.

Yeah, I'm quite worried about America.

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Yeah.... That's true. All of the other militaries of every other nation only want to slap people around a bit, and would never be smug or dance in the streets over doing something as horrid as oh, say, killing thousands of people. When will the US Military ever learn that when they kill the enemy, it's genocide, but when other armies do it, it's retaliation for oppression? I feel so ashamed.

---

I'm not "for" war. I think only an idiot is "for" war. If it comes out that the Pentagon and the CIA thought it would be a good idea to fly some airplanes into shit and blame it on Afghanistan and start a fucking war, I will be the first one on the boat to anywhere else.

On the other hand, only a moron would let their nose be rubbed in the blood of their innocent dead and wring their hands and say "Golly" as a response.

We shall see, my old man always said, what we shall see.

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If my surname was Cutter, I'd call my daughter Daisy. Or Toe.

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I am depressed, angry, and confused today.

On Saturday, Australia had a federal election. All the polls said that the conservative wealth-loving poor-people-fucking government that has already had two nightmarish terms of office would be voted out in a landslide.

They won.

I have always been proud to be an Australian. I thought that, on the whole, Australians were smart, clever, capable, and good people. Until today. Today I want to find every person who voted for the current government and scream at them. "Are you fucking blind? We have zero economic growth, our dollar is at the lowest value it has ever been, our unemployment rate is about to hit double digits, and the tax system has gone through five years of re-structuring so it targets the poor instead of the rich!!! What is wrong with you people???"

Today I am ashamed to be an Australian.

Sorry all, but I really needed to vent that bit of bile. We now return to the scheduled programming...

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Today I am ashamed to be an Australian.

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I am depressed, angry, and confused today.

On Saturday, Australia had a federal election. All the polls said that the conservative wealth-loving poor-people-fucking government that has already had two nightmarish terms of office would be voted out in a landslide.

They won.

I have always been proud to be an Australian. I thought that, on the whole, Australians were smart, clever, capable, and good people. Until today. Today I want to find every person who voted for the current government and scream at them. "Are you fucking blind? We have zero economic growth, our dollar is at the lowest value it has ever been, our unemployment rate is about to hit double digits, and the tax system has gone through five years of re-structuring so it targets the poor instead of the rich!!! What is wrong with you people???"

Today I am ashamed to be an Australian.

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Today I am ashamed to be an Australian.

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It must just burn you up ladyj, to have a president like we do, and then see that he has the highest aproval rating ever in history.

A dead tapeworm would have a high approval rating at a time like this.

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It must just burn you up ladyj, to have a president like we do, and then see that he has the highest aproval rating ever in history.

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ok, i admit, people would say yes its good he's striking back no matter who he was at a time like this.

And i meant how he had 98% during 9/12 - 9/30

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A dead tapeworm would have a high approval rating at a time like this.

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A dead tapeworm would have a high approval rating at a time like this.

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The "Dead Tapeworm" party never stood a chance and you know it. Too many last minute defections to Ralph Nader.

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The "Dead Tapeworm" party never stood a chance and you know it. Too many last minute defections to Ralph Nader.

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On Saturday, Australia had a federal election. All the polls said that the conservative wealth-loving poor-people-fucking government that has already had two nightmarish terms of office would be voted out in a landslide.

They won.

I have always been proud to be an Australian. I thought that, on the whole, Australians were smart, clever, capable, and good people. Until today.

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No one was really arguing. There's a difference between debate and fighting.

As long as no one gets pissy about another's views, this is very certainly "general discussion".

Just like a republican, to be in favor of stratification.

*wink*

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I have little doubt that America does some fucked up things. But I also have little doubt that all countries do.

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The Iraqis also objected to weapons inspections for another, more obvious reason, which was that a state of open hostility still existed between the US and Iraq, and yet the US insisted on having inspectors on the UN team. Iraq did not exactly refuse the inspection. They barred 6 Americans on a 75-member UNSCOM team. Imagine if Iraq insisted on inspecting US military facilities.

Saddam Hussein showed no hesitation in using weapons of mass destruction on his own people-- a fact that, before the invasion of Kuwait, did nothing to dampen Bush's support for the dictator-- and so weapons inspections were a desirable goal. The US sabotaged that goal by insisting on terms that it knew Iraw could not accept. Weapons of mass destruction, and their use on the Kurds, could not have possibly been the issue. If it were, we would have insisted, on penalty of bombing, that inspections be carried out in Turkey. Instead, we gave Turkey massive material support and pushed to get them into NATO.

For great justice.

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I am depressed, angry, and confused today.

On Saturday, Australia had a federal election. All the polls said that the conservative wealth-loving poor-people-fucking government that has already had two nightmarish terms of office would be voted out in a landslide.

They won.

I have always been proud to be an Australian. I thought that, on the whole, Australians were smart, clever, capable, and good people. Until today. Today I want to find every person who voted for the current government and scream at them. "Are you fucking blind? We have zero economic growth, our dollar is at the lowest value it has ever been, our unemployment rate is about to hit double digits, and the tax system has gone through five years of re-structuring so it targets the poor instead of the rich!!! What is wrong with you people???"

Today I am ashamed to be an Australian.

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Now you know how I feel about this country.

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Well, Obi, you have a friend here on one issue - I share your extremely unpopular view that abortion is a bad thing, and that unborn human beings have just as much of a right to life as those who have spent some time outside the womb.

Let the flames begin. ;)

Extremely unpopular? Not here. The most recent Gallup poll shows an even 46-46 split between "pro-choice" and "pro-life." That's extraordinary, because the average over the past several years is more like 48-43. Still, it's pretty even, and it might surprise you to know that "pro-life" has actually gained a lot of ground since 1995, when the score was 56-33 in favor of choice.

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Extremely unpopular? Not here. The most recent Gallup poll shows an even 46-46 split.

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Yes, as I said, 46-46 is extraordinary, and I'd be surprised if the numbers for the year wandered far off the 48-43 mark. Maybe 49-42, which is still a pretty even split, as these things go. All this is to question the characterization of "pro-life" as "extremely unpopular."

Also, it's worth emphasizing that one out of six Americans polled think that abortion should be illegal in all cases, which presumably covers pregnancies that result from rape or threaten the life of the mother. One out of six holds this extreme view. I'm going to be thinking about that one.