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| 11/23 |
| 2003/9/12-13 [Politics/Domestic/Immigration, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:10168 Activity:nil |
9/12 Interesting article in today's WSJ about legal/illegal Latino
immigration to Europe. At least part of it is the result of
tightened border security in the US, and Europe has a different
take on it. Some welcome it as an alternative to help thwart
illegal muslim immigration (potential terrorists). Other factors
include a shortage of younger workers, workers know Spanish, etc.
Spain allows citizenship after 24 mos. because of special
relationship with latin america which is a lot better than the
previous special relationship in the america's of taking your
land and calling you a foreigner (or heathen, etc).
\_ Oh? Taking the Spanish speaker's land in America? Excuse me, but
that requires an immediate "fuck you". Who do you think the
Spaniards stole it from along with a healthy dose of torture,
murder, rape, slavery, theft, looting, and fire, to say nothing
of intentionally and systematically obliterating the once highly
advanced cultures that were here before the Spanish and their
descendants. I have no pity or sympathy for anyone trying to use
that "they stole our land from us!" line when right now they're
still oppressing the Indians in southern Mexico and putting the
final touches on wiping out the few remaining tribes hiding out
in the deeper forests further south. Learn some history then you
can come back here trolling about the poor oppressed Spanish
speakers and how "their" land got "stolen".
\_ hello, spittle-emitter, you totally missed his point.
\_ Yeah, but what a great rant!
\_ Perhaps the irony of the peoples of latin america immigrating
to Europe caused a short-circuit in your neural synapses
causing you to become a "spittle-emitter".
\_ Aren't Mexicans Indians?
\_ Mexicans are a mix of Aztecs and Spaniards.
\_ Largely. Conquered by the Spaniards. (Of course, Bustamonte
for example isn't--he's a pure-bred Spaniard.)
\_ Aren't Spaniards just Arabs that converted to
Christianity?
\_ So they aren't really caucacians or "white"?
\_ Emotional statement of fact. Mexico is run by an aristocracy
involved in rural cleansing of the poor / troublemakers.
Where do they send them - here for course. Although
casting the Indians as the victims is a little far fetched.
\_ How is casting Indians as victims in any way far fetched?
Have you read or heard *anything* about what's going on
in the southern states? Anything at all? |
| 2003/9/11 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:29532 Activity:high |
9/10 http://CNN.com story - "A UK-based Islamist group is planning a conference on September 11 hailing the suicide attackers who killed thousands in New York and Washington as "The Magnificent 19." http://csua.org/u/49e \_ The UK is a known haven for anti-Western Islamic forces. This 'conference' shouldn't surprise anyone. \_ let's fly a plane into their conference \_ that's a good idea. \_ the Islamist group's web site is down. doesn't respond to pings. why can't these arabs keep their websites up? |
| 2003/9/5 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:29521 Activity:nil |
9/5 Is Bush going to take back the "bring it on" comment he made? With
the number of people dying everyday I'd say that the bad guys have
really brought it on. I hope the french and the germans force bush
to take back that statement before signing on to any UN resolution.
\_ take back the one statement? I'm sure the french and germans
prefer the $ talking. After all, $ is why the U.S. is asking
for UN support.
\_ "take it back"?!? what like apologise?
1) That would never happen
2) It would be a totally empty gesture. "I'm really sorry"
is going to get the world what exactly? Bring people back
to life? Restore US credibility? Maybe the French will
say "it's all good, here's a few billion Euro" ???
\_ You're right. Resignation would be so much more appropriate.
\_ You have just been trolled. Thank you, come again!
\_ Oh my the casualties are staggering! Shows how young and naive
you are. |
| 2003/8/29-2004/2/14 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:29518 Activity:high |
2/13 Is there a flush lever on those Green French toilet contraptions?
\_ No, because the French think their shit doesn't stink.
\_ RACIST! |
| 2003/8/29 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:29515 Activity:nil |
8/29 French Propose Their World Order
"Using force is often tempting," he said, but "can only
be justified if collective security or urgent humanitarian
needs require it." Force must be "a last resort," and
"only when the international community, through
the Security Council, decides."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/972919/posts |
| 2003/8/20 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:29399 Activity:high |
8/19 http://www.etzel.org.il/english/ac10.htm I'm not a rabid Israel hater like some on the motd, but I think this is a pretty good reminder that Israel is a state that was born from terrorism. However because they are "good terrorists" no one ever talks about it. The line between terrorist and freedom fighter is a shakey one. \_ 'Born from terrorism.' Pretty strong statement there. Are you sure you aren't rabid? |
| 2003/7/25-26 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Recreation/Music] UID:29138 Activity:low |
7/25 Kraftwerk is releasing a new album:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1004937,00.html
\_ Touch my monkey.
\_ Monkey, monkey, monkey!
\_ Did you say sandwich monkey? |
| 2003/7/24 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:29128 Activity:nil |
7/24 I'd like to add another item to Germany's list of problems: idiocy.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23109558.htm The idea that
911 was some sort of US Government ordered attack especially after
numerous previous attempts and statements by known terrorists is well
beyond stupid. That enough people in the government could get
together and pull this off without a leak is sheer insanity. That
20-30% of Germans feel this says they're either genetically defective
or there's something in the water. Send in a UN Eco Squad to test the
water immediately! Save the Germans from their own bad water supply
before it's too late!
\_ They're not idiots. They're just very...assertive as a whole and
once they latch onto some notion, that's obviously fact. No more
than any other country. -John
\_ They latched on to the notion despite a huge body of evidence
and history to the contrary. Brilliant. Did all the smart ones
get weeded out in WWII?
\_ a lot of germany does have pretty bad water. but i think there is
value in the idea that the whitehouse influenced the attacks by
providing hints. if you look at the New American Century, it doesn't
sound like it's beyond those guys to do something like that.
\_ influenced? Nonono, it says they believe the US Government
planned and executed.
\_ So what; 20% of Americans believe the sun revolves around
the earth. -tom
\_ Even if so, this is harmless. Germans thinking 911 was a
US government conspiracy is not.
\_ one stupidity doesn't justify or excuse another.
\_ my point being, "people are stupid" is not specifically
a German problem. -tom
\_ stupidity is not a specific german problem, but it is
a problem. and this particular german stupidity is
dangerous and egregious.
\_ yeah people are stupid in many places so it's ok!!!!
you must work for the government.
\_ this response indicates which side of the line
you belong on. -tom
\_ was there an insult in there somewhere? you
can try harder than that. after lunch of course.
\_ In addition 30% of Americans can't find Iraq on the maps and
%68.22 of all statistics are made up ;)
\_ There are 3 types of people in this world - those that can
count and those that can't.
\_ Americans being unable to find anything on a map has no
bearing on anything. Germans thinking 911 was some bizarre
US government conspiracy despite tremendous evidence to the
contrary is dangerous because they make policy decisions and
elect their leaders based on that stupidity which hurts us
all. And no it isn't 68.22%. There are studies that show
that 85% of all people who say some percentage of statistics
are made up are making that up when we all really know it's
only 38% of all statistics that are made up. |
| 2003/7/23-24 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:29114 Activity:very high |
7/23 Time to unionize.
\_ unionize what? you need a job before you have a union. maybe
you missed the part where most unions are giving huge concessions
and letting their members get laid off these days?
\_ concessions are usually given when the business is in
serious trouble (e.g. airlines, auto industry, etc). however,
even in troubling times, union's can still negotiate pay scale,
benefits, no outsourcing to india/china/russia, and basically
keep americans employed. Given that there are still legions of
computer-related workers gainfully employed, they could flex
their clout and be a power to be reckoned with in the company
board room and washington. when the economy is going good, most
people buy the company line that no union is necessary, but now
we are in bad times, and ideas like unionizing starts to gain
some appeal. Imagine what could happen if workers organized
at Microsoft, HP, Sun, and IBM.
\_ the same thing that happened to all those organized
auto and steel workers in Detroit and Pittsburgh. -tom
\_ the same thing that happened to the organized auto and
steel workers in Detroit and Pittsburgh. -tom
\_ the job losses in Detroit could have been much worse
without unions, and also protectionist measures brought
on by both unions and the auto companies.
\_ I imagine they'd send 90% of those jobs to India and the
other 10% would take a pay cut to keep their jobs. That's
what I imagine. Hello? Bad economy? Worker glut! The
airlines, auto, etc industries have to put up with unions
because they can't use Indian pilots and stewards or move
auto production offshore (due to tariffs and protectionism).
Your info job can be moved offshore quite easily because your
physical location isn't meaningful for most IT jobs and since
you're not dealing with the public directly (such as an
airline steward) the public doesn't know or care if you or
someone in Bombay wrote that line of code. And obviously
the IT industry not only doesn't have protection like the
auto industry but through the H1b and L programs the Feds
are actually encouraging the use of non-citizens to destroy
the local job base in IT. End the H1 and L programs and send
the current H1/L people home and you'll have several job
offers to choose from by the end of the same week.
\_ Exactly! these programs won't end on their own because
it directly benefits big business. The only way to change
this is through organizations like unions.
If companies continue to outsource their IP, they will
lose in the end. These foreign companies will in essence
take over since they have such low costs. The future
Bill Gates of india/china/russia should be very happy
about now.
\_ Unions won't stop H1b/L programs. Only lobbying will.
Unions are anti-corporation. Lobbying = change gov't
policy. It's nice to see you understand the
underlying issue if not the correct solution.
\_ anybody have a copy of that picture of Bill Gates getting the
red dot in the forehead in India? That epitomizes the future of
the tech industry.
\_ Wrong. A lot of Indian tech outfits are moving production
to China/Vietnam. First, 'production' is the key word. The
concept of an economic 'core' and 'periphery' assumes that
production of goods/services which have matured (see steel
and electronics) move to places that have better economies
of scale. Note how production of TVs and toasters moved
out of the US--did that kill the US electronics industry?
Next, you'll never get rid of 'on-the-ground' services.
Bad example, but still somehow fitting, is Mango, a Spanish
clothing chain. They produce in Spain, which is pricier
than, say, Malaysia, but lets them get new requirements to
market quicker. The argument against this is that we're
talking about information rather than goods, but face time
will always be important. As for unions, look at Germany
as a good case study for why unions in their current state
(note my wording) are a dead duck. They kill the economy
by refusal to adapt or provide up-to-date services to
members, and are really only relevant to an ever-shrinking
pool of 'grunt' workers. I realize this is an over-
generalization, but suggesting unionization as a solution
to the migration of tech jobs and mistreatment of tech
workers is kind of a dead end. -John
\_ The German worker is the most productive and highly
paid in the world. He also works less than anyone
but the French. This is hardly an argument against
unionization. The German economy is not doing that
well, but the German standard of living is high and
there is almost no poverty. Germany's biggest problem
is due to their unwillingness to admit enough immigants
to overcome the demographic problem of the aging
population. Re: unions, ask a carpenter, plumber,
or electrician how unionization is working out for
them. System administration is alot more like these
skilled trades and would do well with a union. -ausman
\_ "The German worker" includes white collar & service
industry, which make up the majority of the German
workforce. IGM and similar unions pushing for the
35-hour week represent a small, obsolete, and
shrinking percentage of the German workforce. In
addition, the German economy is one of the slowest
growing in Europe, coasting on the success of the
last 50 years. So no, my original point stands. -John
\_ The American worker is the world's most productive
by far, not the German. Germany's economy is deep
in the shitter for many reasons such as population
aging, overly generous benefits and pension plans,
lack of immigration and excessively high taxes to
pay for everything. It's a vicious cycle spiraling
ever downwards. Their current batch of politicians
understands this and is trying to do something about
it without losing their own jobs. The people are
screaming bloody murder of course. I don't think
they'll recover until they've had a complete
economic collapse and all government services simply
cease. Then they can invade France. :-)
\_ THe unemployment rate is 25% in parts of Germany.
\_ They have also been saddled with the former
East Germany situation. Anyway in my opinion,
Europe's concern with standard of living is
the way to go. What's wrong with tariffs and
protectionism against slavedriver countries?
\_ You are simply wrong. Productity (output per
hour worked) is slightly higher all over Europe
than in the US. Do a google search and you will
see. Unemployment is high because of labor saving
techniques and the use of things like robots,
which Germany is #1 in the world. The only thing
America excels at is in the total number of hours
worked. To me, that is a good argument for
unions, not against them. I sure wish I had
six weeks of vacation a year. -ausman
\_ Jim, once again you are basing your statement
on a blanket definition of 'the German worker'.
This does not apply to the (unionized) blue
collar sector, and their unemployment cannot
simply be chalked up to mechanization. A large
part of it is employers balking at the pension
burden imposed by government labor laws. In
addition I should mention that compared to US
or UK organizational culture, my experience
with German white collar workers has shown a
markedly lesser bent towards efficiency. -John
\_ I bow to John's superior knowledge and personal
experience at this point and simply say, "Yeah!
What John said! That's right!" --other person
\_ I was gonna let this thread die at that, but
I came back from lunch and cannot resist it.
Unemployment in West Germany is 8.1% and
falling. Contrast that to the USA, which is
at 6.4% and rising and has 1-2% of the labor
pool in prison. I don't know what the
problem with East Germany is. Got any
urls to back up the blue collar vs.
white collar productivity statement? I
cannot find anything with casual googling
and everything I have read in The Economist
tends to indicate otherwise. -ausman
\_The rate varies widely across the country.
In Bavaria that may be the case, in Berlin
its 25%+. Maybe the German's I know are
lying - what is your source.
http://www.arbeitsamt.de/hst/services statistik/english/s002e.pdf _/
I am pretty sure Berlin qualifies as "East Germany" -ausman
\_ The problem isn't the unemployment. The problem is the doomed
pension system, coupled with an incredible income tax rate (>50%)
and an overly bureaucratic system hostile to innovation. -John
and an overly bureaucratic system hostile to innovation. And yes
I do know a lot about the German economy because I live next door
and follow the situation fairly closely. Germany's economy is
seriously broken, by their government's own tacit admission. And
yes, they're too gutless to fix it (which would mean some serious
pain all around.) -John
\_ We can have a discussion about the effect of tax rates on
long term economic growth another time. I think how
government money is spent is more important than how much
though. See Sweden vs US for an interesting case. All of
the big economies have the pension problem and all will
end up having to solve it the same way (raising the retirement
ago) imo. Dunno about the bureaucracy, but in the past Germany
has prided itself on its union/corporate co-operative culture.
Now I really have to stop participating in this and get
some work done! -ausman
\_ Sweden? Are you trying to say they don't have economic
problems similar to Germany (albeit on a smaller scale as
they are a less populous country)? Sweden isn't exactly a
hotbed of innovation or growing economic power. At least
Germany has something to recover back to if/after their
economy collapses. Sweden? Too small, no real industry,
insufficient base of people in the labor pool, and on and on
and on.... I'd bet 5 bucks on Germany doing better 20 years
from now than Sweden. --other person |
| 2003/7/23 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:29110 Activity:nil |
7/22 Am I the only one, or does http://cnn.com's coverage of Uday/Qusay resemble the Starship Troopers patriotism commercials, especially when the soldiers find the Brain Bug, except this time it's U.S. troops surrounding the Hussein brothers and celebrating? \_ a lot of the propaganda for that film was inspired by nazi and italian fascist propaganda. -sax \_ Of course, that all really misses the point of Heinlein's vision of the United States in the book...but since I haven't seen my copy in months or years, what would I know? \_ yeah, patriotism is a bad thing, down with gov't! if u hate it so much, leave. I hear Canada is looking for people \_ You go first, take your menorah with you. We don't like dying for your kind in the desert. \_ Dude...nationalism != patriotism. Confusing the two is stupid and often destructive to the values this country was supposed to have been built upon. \_ What exactly is nationalism? \_ yes, mindless patriotism is a bad thing. every nation in the world has patriotism and nationalism. if being and American just means blind faith in the stars and stripes to you, it is you who should go move somewhere else. \_ "Remember: Service Guarantees Citizenship" |
| 11/23 |
| 2003/7/14-16 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:29025 Activity:low |
7/13 What are the hotel chains operating in Germany and scandinavian
countries, similiar in comfort level to motels in the U.S. and
Etap in europe?? Searching the web gives too many (bad) answers.
(Yes, I know there are etaps in Germany but am looking for more
choices.)
\_ There are also some Formule 1 (French chain). Your best bet is
probably some small pensions, though. -John
\_ If you can afford a little bit more, there are Courtyard by
Marriott hotels which is clearly an American chain as well.
\_ Mercure is in Germany at least. |
| 2003/7/4-5 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Computer/SW/OS/Solaris] UID:28923 Activity:nil |
7/3 The BLOB: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3039102.stm New Solaris System found: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3041220.stm |
| 2003/7/3 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28908 Activity:nil |
7/2 LURD Performs Ritual To Hold Ganta -Buries Alive Girl, Cow
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/939538/posts
\_ you read free republic.
\_ we all know that it's ecchang posting all the free republic links.
\_ wrong -op
\_ wow, you are pathetic. you delete my freeper post and replace your
own. |
| 2003/7/2 [Transportation/Car, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28904 Activity:high |
7/2 Europe is a strange place:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,989078,00.html
\_ I think you mean, "Europe is a cool place."
\_ Util you're hit by a guy having sex with a hitch hiker at
road speed on the highway.
\_ They're talking about the autobahn here. If a nation has
already shown they're stupid enough to have no speed limit,
why stop there? Besides, I don't think oral sex while
driving is that bad, as long as the driver is the
recipient. It's better than the asses who try to read in
the car.
\_ What was the name of the movie where Robin Williams rams
his car into the back of his wife's car while she's going
down on some kid? You're right. It's not that bad.
\_ The World According to Garp
Seriously though, if you can drive and not be distracted
by a good solid dick sucking then either you're broken or
you need a new lover. |
| 2003/7/1 [Politics/Domestic/Crime, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28880 Activity:nil |
7/01 http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,987933,00.html Okay I have a UK report to share too. This one about lockdown and reprogramming of U.S. youths. I'm sure you'll all be most enthused. \_ US youths need re-education. They need to learn how not to be members of criminal gangs and how to read, write, do arithmetic, show up to work consistently, and not have kids during teen years. \_ RACIST! \_ So you probably didn't read the article, which depicts brainwashing techniques straight out of Red China. I agree with you regarding what kids should and shouldn't be doing, but this definitely isn't the way to acheive it. \_ Yup, all US youths are thugz and smooth criminals. Right. |
| 2003/7/1 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28876 Activity:high |
6/30 It's only war crime when someone else is doing it...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3035296.stm
\_ Perhaps because it is not in our nation's best interest to defer
to vague international bodies on this or any other matters? Also,
while you're chewing over that consider that the US has a real court
system, a culture that creates citizens opposed to any sort of war
crime (in fact, the US invented the concept), and given that any
body that lacks the power to enforce it's edicts is useless so is
the ICC. The US is the only thing that gives the UN or any other
similar entity any authority. If we withdrew and ignored all of
these pesky little socialist clubs they'd all collapse. I'm not
sure if you were trolling or you actually believe in all these
silly little multinational oddities but they do not and in fact
can not work as you might wish. There is no such thing as
'international law' outside the fantasies of certain anti-American
Europeans (France, Belgium, Germany) and the Blame America First
crowd in the US. -xyz
\_ Of course it's not in the purity temple's interest to submit to
foreign oversight. They're all terrorists. Probably have
weapons of mass detruction too. Let's nuke them, because any
nation that threatens another...
\_ If you had a real response instead of knee jerking I'd be
happy to discuss it with you. -xyz
\_ bye bye "isolationism" -- being sold with the same rationale1
bravo doublespeak miracles from the new reich!
\_ I'm not in favor of isolationism. Submitting to the will of
Eurocrats and the third world is not the only way to
participate in the world. -xyz
\_ Most countries' citizens are opposed to war crimes, except that
they tend to overlook the crimes when it's committed by their
own country. It is the same for US. That's why we need UN.
- fgh
\_ It is in our nation's best interest to work through international
bodies rather than act like a gung-ho cowboy. US is suffering
from classic overextension, and its strength is overrated.
Our military rules but it is resulting in huge budget deficit,
and putting a huge drag on our tired economy. States are
close to bankrupt, trade deficit is soaring, fed has no more
room to cut interest rate. US economy is supported by asian
nations buying US treasuries, stocks and US dollars. That should
not be something we should count on forever. - abc |
| 2003/6/25-26 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28840 Activity:high |
6/25 http://csua.org/u/3dc The European Union crazies try to turn the world upside down! This is great stuff. It's so funny watching them destroy themselves. \_ Please shorten your url using http://csua.org/u \_ And surrender my god given right to motd anonymity? \_ then use tinyurl. It is faster and works better anyway. \_ That's simply infantile and self-destructive everyday stuff. The thing that's _really_ worrisome is the EU's fairly quick knuckling- under to US State Dept. rules "suggested" for non-US governments that require things like biometric identifiers in all forms of ID and passports, automatic handover of data on all airline passengers to the US the moment they leave the ground, and the placement of US customs agents in European ports. If you're just looking for the usual silly shit, search for regulations dealing with the curvature of bananas and the likes. -John \_ Biometrics? Nothing wrong with that. The current ID systems are so worthless that identify theft has become common place, destroying the lives of the victims. Automated handover of who is on a flight to the US? Uhm, hello? So what? And what's wrong with Americans screening visitors to America? Give up the Swiss passport and return home before you're completely brainwashed. \_ Wow, you're calling John brainwashed? Just wow. \_ Yes. I knew him when he was an American and didn't spend half his posts talking about his Swiss passport. \_ Don't you have to have a brain to be brainwashed? \_ there are no EU regulations concerning the curvature of bananas. -crebbs \_ http://www.quebecoislibre.org/020119-6.htm \_ That's great. My statement stands. The fact that some media (or in this case some interest group) reports \_ That's great. My statement stands. At the risk of having been trolled, I will attempt some education: That some media (or in this case some political group) reports something doesn't make it so. I notice that page refers to other specific EU regulation numbers when mentioning other (presumably real) silly Euro rules, but does not be that there are not regulations concerning the curvature of bananas? (surprise surprise) mention the regulation when referring to the banana thing. That would be (in case you missed it) because there aren't any. -crebbs \_ So I take it you are in favor of demeaning women and offending human dignity, is that it? \_ Hi troll! Yes, I am. I'm also in favor of more hot chicks on page 3 and eliminating actuarial tables so the insurance industry is destroyed and no one has any insurance anymore. Or maybe the government can insure all the citizens and pay for it with a tax increase. I'm guessing that raising taxes by 40% should do it. \_ Dona botta me mang, Imma onna da dole! 40% of nutin is nutin. \_ We can tax your unemployment. \_ Oh, that poor fragile highly profitable insurance industry! They'd never stoop to taking goverment handouts if they were about to lose money for a quarter! \_ You're an idiot. I don't know about Europe but in the US the insurance companies take a bath everytime there's an earthquake, flood, or hurricane. If it wasn't for Federal help, there'd be no insurance companies. \_ So I am a troll for responding to your troll... Uh huh. |
| 2003/6/22-23 [Recreation/Pets, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28806 Activity:low |
6/22 I *knew* it! I knew they were tapping my brain with electrical
waves! http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1330758&nav=168XGVQf
\_ protect yourself now: http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html |
| 2003/6/12 [Politics/Foreign, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28710 Activity:nil |
6/11 All Hail the UN
Congo observers slaughtered after 6 days of
unanswered pleas to U.N. for rescue
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/927398/posts
\_ This is hardly news. It's the UN. Duh.
\_ Those poor observers. Must be because they are not westerners,
so no one cared about their lives. |
| 2003/6/4 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28626 Activity:high |
6/2 Any independent contractors out there? Are you finding work these
days?
\_ Yes. But I'm in Europe. There is a lot of international contract
work for experienced specialists, but much of it is through UK
agencies, which are slimier than most (and currently there's a far
higher proportion of headhunters just harvesting resumes than I've
elsewhere.) If that doesn't bother you, jobserve.co.uk is a good
start. -John
\_ How hard was it for you to get work authorization in Europe?
\_ Very. The US is the easiest country in the world to get a
permit as an alien. Europe and certain Asian countries are
near impossible. They have their own job loss issues. What
do they need you there for taking up a job of a local? |
| 2003/5/24 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28542 Activity:nil |
5/25 France was crying foul
when Hitler occupied France. Yet after Ally's victory, France
turned around continue its occupation of Algeria and so-called
Indo-China. What justified French occupation of its "interest"
while condemn the Nazi Germany for doing the same thing?
What is the differences between Nazi dumping Jews to ghettoss
versus USA dump its Japanese decents to concentration camp?
Is the fact that USA and France is a democracy justify these
policies? |
| 2003/5/24 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28540 Activity:very high |
5/25 More on US racist imperialism
20TH CENTURY DEMOCIDE
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM
\_ this is a good site in terms of murder by government statistics,
but like (it often seems) everyone, they just aren't too bright.
I'm sick of hearing this drivel about how "democracies" don't
fight one another.
\_ what's the most destructive war you can think of in which
both sides were democracies?
\- how many democracies were there in the world between
1648 and 1945? --psb
1648 and 1945? how many democracies were there in
the year 1812? --psb
\_ world war II, Hitler was democratically elected as was
mussolini. Finland was a democracy at the time they
were fighting on the side of Germany et. al. The whole
idea is just stupid. It is more true and slightly less
meaningless to say "countries with mcdonald's in them
don't go to war against each other." That is to say
that countries with stong economic interdependencies
and countries with similar cultures, are less likely to
\- the interdependence theory [sic] is pretty iffy.
in fact it isnt really a theory. does it apply to
france and england since 1066? were the alliances
of the peloponessian was explained by "cultural
and econ ties"? how about the post 1945 relations
between the US, Su and China? and of course the
war of 1812 again. the main problem is like that
with freudian theory ... it's hard to test because
it is so vague. it's not so much right or wrong
but either meaningless or more charitably an
assertion not a theory. (see APSR Dec97,pp913-917)
the %GDP in exports in 1900 was quite high ... that
level wasnt equalled for almost 50yrs after ww2.
remember states (should) seek security. interdependence
(often) means vulnurability. do you think germany
and japan liked being "interdependent" on other
countries for oil in the 1930s? there is a
huge lit on this since kohane and nye book.
e.g. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/copeland.htm
--psb
go to war; but the idea of being a democracy somehow
magically keeping you from making war on other democracies
is just stupid.
\_ They were elected but then took over and made them into
100% dictatorships. They were not democracies in any
sense of the word by the time any shooting started. I'm
so tired of know nothing smart asses like you spouting off
like you know something. This isn't a dorm lounge chat at
3am about whether or not God exists. It's the motd and you
can't get away with making up shit like that here.
\_ dear moron, i notice you didn't address Finland. Also
I can name a number of other examples of democracies
\_ Finland was a semi-autocratic nation under Field
Marshal Mannerheim at the time. Likewise, it was
not a case of 'two democratic nations', as their
alliance with the Germans was a logical continuation
of being invaded by the USSR in 1939 and losing >10%
of their territory. Your point about nukes is wrong,
and your historical points are shaky. Likewise, your
list of criteria about nations with residual
totalitarianism below will find few applications in
modern Europe. Plus, 'dear moron' is not a way
to win arguments. Just some free advice. -John
fighting one another, but you will just explain all of
them away until you are left making some stupid
statement which boils down to "Europe hasn't had any
warfare since world war II". (btw, the reason for this
is simple: NUKES). I was asked for the "most
destructive" example and i gave it. It is not the best.
It was the most destructive though. Asking to specify
"the most destructive" is practically an admission of
defeat already. If you don't accept democratically
elected govenments that turn dict. then you prob.
don't accept countries with nominal/residual monarchy
or countries with slavery/without universal suffrage
with makes the NUMBER of democracy/years in existence
pretty damn small with which to be making sweeping
generalizations like this. Of course, a complete
lack of data points (or intelligence) has never been
enough to stop Poly Sci folks from spouting nonsese.
\_ aristotle hated democracies cos he felt it ruined athens.
caused them the wwar.
\-how is this relevant? i'm tempted to say this is
wrong, but it is really more correct to say this is
meaningless. --psb
\_ Very well stated. who is this? -scotsman
\_ Exactly. There may be some anecdotal evidence that
\- it's not "anecdotal
evidence". it's an
issue of is it a
"mere corrletation"
or is there a causal
explanation. and then
is the data fudged
on the correlation at
all. --psb
democracies don't go to war with one another, but
if you consider why countries go to war, there is
no reason a democracy wouldn't go to war with another
democracy.
\_ Ooo Yea baby! I've been waiting to hear this for some
time.
\_ And you're incapable of typing it yourself?
\_ Too hard for me.
\-Hello, YMWTS: ~psb/DemoWar.commentarii. --psb
\_ How about adding another counfounding variable:
the deep fear of war European nations
(where a large number of the world's
democracies are) had after WWI and WWII,
which broke down the barriers for greater
efforts at integration such as the EU.
Or is that weak?
\- What are you trying to explain?
yes weak. "fear went down" is not
an explanation; it is an assertion.
why didnt the EC happen after the
"fear went down" after napoleon was
defeated? the concert of europe was
a very different answer than the EC.
how about "the frenchies stopped
fearing someone capturing paris again
aftger developing their "force de
frappe". on the period between ww1/2
see EHCarr 20 yrs crisis. that is a
damn good book and Keynes: Econ
Conseq Peace.
On the point of everything being
warm and fuzzy among the euro-allies:
what do you think is more likely:
--brit/france turn over their nuke
arsenals to a "EC joint nuke command"
--"team player germany" builds its
own nukes.
now it is possible neither will happen
in the next 20yrs, but if you were a
betting man, which would you bet on?
--psb
\_ But but but, isn't it true that the
nationalism and naitional rivalry
among European nations as seen in
the earlier half of the 20th
century very much went away? Isn't
that part of the reaction to the
horrors of WWI and WWII? Or do you
there a better theory for it?
\_ To add to it, another coun |
| 2003/5/13-14 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28425 Activity:high |
5/13 http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/05/13/microsoft.hoax.ap/index.html \_ just another example of how microsoft announces a product they don't intend to finish, just to fuck people over. \_ fuck over who exactly? anyway, the truth is they put this out there to see how people would respond and everyone made fun of them so they dropped it and retracted. if the response had been positive they sure as hell would've done it. it wasn't a hoax. \_ Okay, now that's just weak. Why use a sexual reference when a scatalogical one would be so much better? \_ I'm devastated that i won't get to brows the net while I dump. \_ bring your own keyboard \_ womens restrooms have dual purpose mousepads \_ MS clarifies: Actually, it wasn't a hoax. link:www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/5852697.htm \_ Maybe it was originally a US idea. Then after it got laughed at so much, they blaimed it on the UK division. \_ Blame the French! |
| 2003/5/5-6 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28331 Activity:nil |
5/5 Has anyone noticed problems with getting parts through customs
which were ordered from France or Germany?
-waiting for parts
\_ they're on the 'helping the terrorists' list. |
| 2003/4/30 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/Asia/India] UID:28270 Activity:kinda low |
4/30 http://nypress.com/16/18/news&columns/cage.cfm \_ Nice. In all fairness, description as follows: Scathing Op/Ed piece on NYTimes' lack of journalistic integrity. |
| 2003/4/29-30 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28258 Activity:very high |
4/28 "Remember, I am above Internation Law"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2983911.stm
\_ I'm not sure that the reporter did all their homework here. I
remember hearing about this being planned a few weeks ago, and
that Belgium had changed their law to prevent exactly this from
happening. I don't believe this is a credible new news story.
\_ Ah, the gauntlet is thrown down. A Belgian suing a non-Belgian for
doing stuff outside of Belgium, by Belgian law. Can't we just make
that illegal, and the two bizarro-laws will cancel out?
\_ how come you weren't bitching when Serbian leader were
on trial?
\_ The motd is not the only forum I participate in. Additionally,
the court for Milosevic was convened by multiple countries,
after massive attrocities were exposed and he was deposed. It
wasn't a random person in country A suing him.
\_ we don't participate in your other forums so it doesn't
count for shit here. So you seem to think that as long as
multiple countries want to try the leader of another
country it's ok? Or only after he loses an election?
\_ Um, Milo. was deposed by force. You remember the bombing
campaign that Clinton authorized without the approval of
anyone else?
\_ He was voted out.
\_ Given the precedent of s/France|French/Freedom/g, anyone
want to guess what Belgium|Belgian will be replaced with?
\_ haven't you read Douglas Adams? Belgium is the worst word there
is.
\_ Which book is this in? I've read most of the books, but I
don't remember anything about this.
\_ One of the original three HGttG books.
\_ Bravery waffles!
\_ chocolate floormat?
\_ Nothing. Except for the random international burping like this
no news comes out of Belgium. They only do shit like this so
we don't forget they exist. They have no power so no one cares.
\_ France has no power (except in gourmet and fashion circles),
yet we do stupid shit like French = Freedom.
\_ Wow, Mommy bred 'em pretty willing to shoot off their
mouths without knowing a damn thing didn't she? Read up
a little son. We all wish France was powerless but it
just isn't so. They are simply less powerful than the
US or the UK. They are every bit as sleazy.
\_ The US/UK isn't at all sleazy. Both have plenty of
problems but sleaze isn't one of them. |
| 2003/4/28-29 [Reference/BayArea, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28252 Activity:low |
4/28 Am I the only one who's noticed that if you compare the map of
Middle Earth to the U.S. Mordor is right where Texas is?
\_ It's New Zealand
\_ And if you compare it to Europe, it's France.
\_ No, it's more like ... Austria.
\_ Yes, you are because it would take some serious drugs and a hard
core blind hatred of a passing political figure to see that. If it
was the bay area, it'd be San Jose. So what?
\_ my hatred of Bush is not so blind, I have plenty of
valid reasons.
\_ passing political figure? you mean Bush? pah! I'd associate
him as much with New England as with Texas. Texas just really
really sucks. Try actually spending some time there, and
you'll see that people don't hate texas because of some
"passing political figure," they hate it because it's a
fucking pit(except Austin). |
| 2003/4/22 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28184 Activity:insanely high |
4/21 Further evidence of how fucked up California, in
particular SF, has become (a multicultural utopia).
Bill would force hiring of cross-dressers
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32177
-ax
\_ and the Klan has to hire them black people to do their organizing!
\_ No bible shop is complete without a flaming queen cross dresser.
\_ If you don't like California so much, why not move to a place more
to your liking? I hear they kick some faggot ass up in Laramie,
Wyoming.
\_ Funny how when the other side says to folks, "America, love it
or leave it", you lefties get upset but it's ok for you to
blather out little lines like that.
\_ Because "Love it or leave it" has an implicit threat. His
question is formed as just that. A question.
\_ good point!
\_ I know you are but what am I?
\_ A hypocrite if you're a "California, love it or
leave it!" leftist.
\_ I also love how you completely missed the
reference to Matthew Shepard.
\_ I didn't miss it. I ignored it because it was
meaningless in this context. It may come as a
shock to you but some people who don't share
your politics read newspapers and watch cnn.
\_ You don't know jack shit about what was here before 1960.
Read a little history. This place has been a little different
since the first tent went up in Yerba Buena. Of course straight
idiots have decorated it from time to time.
-- born here, been here.
\_ actually that's not true.
\_ You have no sense of history. Kerouac and the rest of
the beatniks (a term coined by Herb Caen) were here in
the 50's, and were attracted to the area by its alternative
culture. -tom
\_ Ding! Indeed. Also, read up on the suffrage movement,
the hallucinigen researchers in the 30's and 40's, etc.
My family has lived here since well before the turn of
the century. California has always been "progressive",
though I think a better term is "tolerant." --scotsman
\_ Really? Tell that to the natives, the Spanish and
the Mexicans.
\_ Okay, granted, my use of the term "always" was
ill-advised, but this comment is irrelevant to
the current discussion. --scotsman
\_ Not if you're a native, or Spanish or Mexican.
The fact is this state has only been so-called
'progressive' if you're part of a big group that
has votes, money, power, or some other form of
control over the government and media.
\_ California has been the land of the risk-takers and the eccentric
since the gold rush in 1849. For example, Joshua Norton, a failed
speculator on the rice market, flipped his lid in the 1850s and
declared himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States and
Protector of Mexico, becoming the first famous homeless person
in San Francisco. Tourists from all over the country knew his
name. He minted his own money, dissolved the union in the Civil
War, and declared there should be a suspension bridge connecting
Oakland and San Francisco, at the time a ridiculous notion.
He also was known for stopping a race riot, making him one of
the earliest Bay Area activists. -brain
\_ The gold-mad and profiteers are a big part of the story, but
the Mormon settlement Brennan created amidst the Russian
holdings can't be ignored when trying to understand how we
found enough stability to keep the region from tearing
itself apart.
\_ What does some random insane guy from the 1800s have to do with
modern politics in CA?
\_ Not just any random insane guy. Over 10,000 people attended
his funeral.
\_ Yes, that still has nothing to do with anything regarding
politics in CA in the last century.
\_ HISTORY HAS NO EFFECT UPON THE PRESENT! NOTHING
HAPPENED BEFORE 1900! HISTORY IS A LIE!
\_ What's 1900? This is the year "03" and there
aren't any non-positive years, right?
\_ Idiot, don't put words in my mouth. I said no such
thing and claiming it in ALL CAPS doesn't make it so.
The funeral attendance for one insane guy from 150+
years ago has *nothing* to do with modern politics in
this state. That is at best a minor footnote in the
history of this state. Why do I respond to such
infantile noise anyway?
\_ They already have laws like this in much of Europe and somehow
the sky hasn't fallen in there. -ausman
\_ Really? Seen the unemployment rate in Germany and many other
EU countries? Their economies are wrecked. Ours is doing
fantastically well by comparison. Not only that but we have the
additional burden of essentially being the EU military. Let's
bring the troops home, let the EU defend themselves and see
what happens. I bet the sky falls.
\_ not discriminating against cross dressers leads to
the economy falling apart?
4-6% are "discouraged" workers, which don't count in
\_ Nice try. Go check the unemployment stats. I'll explain
since you insist on being intentionally stupid: having an
endless array of laws that restrict and over control the
economy leads to inefficiencies which leads to a poor
economy and high unemployment rates. See the Soviet
Union for a great example of what should have been a
power house economy collapsing in on itself due to
over control and lack of incentive.
\_ Hm, I suspect that you're neglecting to take
into account that the Soviet Union was a massive
military state. I'd be willing to bet that had more
to do with it's complete collapse than 'over control'.
-mice
\_ The US was also a massive military state during the
same period of time. Yet they collapsed and the
US only grew stronger.
\_ Not really. I can probably dredge
up numbers if you care, but the soviet union
was maintaining an active wartime economy
for decades. Compare the relative sizes of
the militaries for the US and Soviet Union
in the late 80's. If my memory serves
correctly (at least wrt to armor units) the
Soviets had NATO outnumbered by a factor of
3-1 or something obscene like that. As a side
note, I don't think the US has had a wartime
economy since WWII, though I'm probably
mistaken. You might also want to recall that
the degree of corruption was obscene and
certainly didn't help.
\_ cross-dressing laws are like communism? go
fucking read atlas shrugged five more tiems or
something
\_ I'm done responding to the intentionally stupid.
If you don't have a real response, don't bother.
I've been trolled enough by you and have given up
trying to draw you into a real conversation on the
topic.
\_ I'll take that bet.
\_ If you can get the troops home and get the EU to pay for
their own defense I'd vote for you for President and
happily concede the bet.
\_ Don't kid yourself. GDP/hour worked has been increasing
faster in Western Europe than in the US for over a
generation. They also have more free time, longer,
healthier lives and a more even income distribution. The
US unemployment figures only look good because 2% of
our working age population is in prison and another
2-6% are "discouraged" workers, which don't count in
the official statistics. Germany and France are running
favorable trade surpluses and have a smaller government
deficit. I agree with you about bringing the troops
in Europe home, though. We cannot afforde to subsidize
European defence any longer. -ausman
\_ Do you have figures for GDP/hour worked? Not the rate of
increase but the raw value, like $x/1hour? What's x?
Rates aren't that interesting if it'll take 50 years to
catch up.
\_ Unemployment in Germany in >25% in many areas (e.g.
Berlin). The only commercially viable area is Bavaria.
Most of Europe enforces a maximum work week of
35-40 hours to keep unemployment down - this is a sign
of a strong economy? French and German
pension liabilities are
well in excess of their GDPs, and in France between
1/3 and 1/2 of all children under 10 are Muslim.
Europe is economic powerhouse, indeed. Their are
Muslim slums in France where the police do not ever
go, they have lost complete control of these areas. |
| 2003/4/11 [Politics/Domestic/RepublicanMedia, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28092 Activity:high |
4/11 Saw a poll somewhere. U.S. people think our greatest threat is:
1) North Korea (~39%?)
2) Iraq (20 something percent)
3) France (7%)
4) China (5%)
5) Liechtenstein (17%)
6) Swaziland (pi%)
\_ 5) Liechtenstein (17%)
6) Swaziland (pi%)
\_ France? How did it get in this poll?
\_ Dubya should end every speech with "And France must be destroyed".
\_ Can you post the source please?
\_ saw it as a news bulletin at the bottom of screen on fox news.
\_ Threat may not be purely militaristic. |
| 2003/4/7 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:28019 Activity:very high |
4/5 French Football Signals
http://www.jerhad.com/football.htm
\_ I'm missing something about all this French-hating. France,
Russia and China all threatened to veto the use of force in
the UN security council. So why is everyone singling out the
French? Because they are allies whos ass we saved in WWII?
the same could be said for New Zealand, who is also opposed
to the war. Perhaps you should boycott Return of the King when
it comes out so you don't have to support kiwi-eating surrender
monkeys.
\_ I'm missing something about all this French-hating.
France, Russia and China all threatened to veto the use of
force in the UN security council. So why is everyone
singling out the French? Because they are allies whos ass
we saved in WWII? the same could be said for New Zealand,
who is also opposed to the war. Perhaps you should boycott
Return of the King when it comes out so you don't have to
support kiwi-eating surrender monkeys.
\_ Because the French not only spearheaded it but did
really obnoxious and uniquely french things like saying
they rejected a British compromise proposal to avert
immediate war before the Iraqis had rejected it. If
you'd been paying attention you would know "why the
french?"
\_ That's pretty funny
\_ well, no.
\_ Get a new sense of humor. It was fucking hilarious.
\_ you're right! the french are cowardly and smelly!
ha ha!
\_ Hey, this is as funny as conservatives get,
enjoy it while you can.
\_ Silly boy, must everything with you be this bi polar
conservative vs liberal nonsense? Maybe sometimes,
just sometimes, something can be funny because it's
just funny. This is one of those times. Laugh.
The link is funny. -!op
\_ Vote:
funny .
not funny ..
\_ *laugh* a motd vote... ok, whatever. Did
you run elections in Florida'00, too? |
| 2003/4/6-7 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:28007 Activity:insanely high |
4/5 What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the
homeless, whether the mad destruction is brought under the name
of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
- Gandhi
\_ Gandhi was a British subject, disgruntled because he could not
become an officer, who slept with preteen girls in the
nude, was fixated on his own feces, gave tacit approval
of the wholesale slaughter of Muslims after independence,
advised the Jews of the Holocaust to go quietly, and was a
supporter of the caste system.
\_ Interesting; could you cite a few sources?
\_ So what? Look up ad hominem.
\- i imagine this is a troll, but in case it leaves some of
with mistaken impressions:
1. he was a british subject as a consequence of birth.
g. washington was also a british subject.
2. "couldnt not become an officer" ... "yes, g. washington
also was disgruntled because he couldnt become archbishop
of canterbury"
3. girls and feces ... feces not quite right. something
possibly to the girl stuff. i dont think there was any
accusation of molestation. YMWT(see) the play "gandhi vs.
the mahatma".
4. muslim: the main reason i replied. that is 100% opposite
to the actual state of affiars.
5. jews: dunno the answer there
6. caste system: more complicated than that
People in india have much more complicated and diverse
reactions and mpression of Gandhi in india. I dont think
much of this particular quites but he has some others that
much of this particular quote but he has some others that
arent to be believed slavishly but worth thinking about.
\_ You want a real answer? The answer is that it doesn't matter to
the dead, but for millions of others who didn't get dead it
matters a lot. It's a naive and childish but catchy little quote.
\_ It matters to me, if I get a good paying job because the economy
improves because market and consumer confience recovers because
of a decisive military victory for whatever reason and because,
in time, we will have virtually unlimited supply of fuel.
\_ In time we will have a virtually unlimited supply
of fuel, but not because of Iraq or the war. Rather
the source will be our own waste coverted to fuel
via a fast depolymerization process (see this month's
discover for more info).
\_ moron... in time, we will only be running out of fossil fuel.
\_ The world has 2000-4000 years worth of coal, much of which is
in the U.S. Probably a good 200 years of oil, also.
I'm not advocating relying on fossil fuels, which is
a bad idea for alot of reasons, but we're not running
out any time soon.
\_ on the contrary, estimates of oil reserves can vary widely.
there are those who think oil will run out by the 2050's.
I.e. well within your projected lifetime.
\_ 2000+ years coal and 200 years oil!? Are you serious? URL
for sources please?
\_ I got those numbers from a UN report, which is
available on the web, but I can't find it right now.
if you're patient, I'll post it tomorrow, when I can
ask the guy who showed it to me(I'll post it anyway.) |
| 2003/4/1-2 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27944 Activity:high |
4/1 Anyone have an english URL for Leslie Cheung today?
\_ First result in Yahoo search: http://www.lesliecheung.com
\_ http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2487595
(4/2) Yesterday I didn't realize why someone was asking for this
until I watched the news last night. Sigh.
\_ http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2487595
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/2906999.stm
others found by searching on http://news.google.com
\_ It's on <DEAD>sjmercury.com<DEAD>
\_ And http://www.sfgate.com |
| 2003/3/31-4/1 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27928 Activity:very high |
3/31 Apparently, having the Americans behind you is ever worse than
having the French behind you:
"Combat is what I've been trained for. I can command my vehicle.
I can keep it from being attacked. What I have not been trained
to do is look over my shoulder to see whether an American is
shooting at me."
"There was a boy of about 12 years old. He was no more than 20
metres (yards) away when the Yank opened up. There were all these
civilians around."
"After this I am quite pleased to be going home," one of the
wounded, Lieutenant Alex MacEwen, told the paper.
"'Blue-on-blue' has always been one of my biggest fears. It is
something that my friends and family joked about. 'Don't worry
about the Iraqis, it's the Americans you want to watch'. The
proof is in the pudding really."
(Times of London)
\_ ...and the point is? That combat is dangerous? Than being on the
front line with bombs falling, jets screaming over head, and
incoming enemy fire is confusing? I think that ought to have been
well established by now.
\_ I think the point is, while the U.S. has spent a lot of time
on U.S.-on-U.S. friendly fire, this hasn't translated to
reduced U.S.-on-UK incidents.
\_ Hmm, yeah I see what you mean -- but I don't care for the
presentation.
\_ Am still searching for a semantic thread ...
\_ You misspelled 'semitic'
\_ Who's ever had the French behind him?
\_ You must've missed the putative Patton's remark about
the French posted here the other day.
\_ The US, or the American Colonies as they were known then.
\_ Just from reading the news, it indeed seemed that the British
casualties are disproportionally high, specially friendly-fire
related. |
| 2003/3/31 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27923 Activity:high |
3/31 An old Iraqi woman shouted at an American invader in Nasiyria,
"Go home, you have desecrated our land." She told him "Everybody
will fight the invasion even our palm trees."
Sources: reporter, Italian TV.
What a stupid old hag!
\_ you sure she wasn't yelling at the Italian reporter? |
| 2003/3/28 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27895 Activity:high |
3/28 "IF a coalition of French and Canadian forces invaded the
United States with the intent to liberate Americans from
the regime of George W. Bush, would you fight back?"
-- Rob Morse in today's SF Chronicle
\_ Hell no. Why would I fight to save Bush?
\_ You want Chretien or Chriac instead?
\_ Which Guy-in-Chair did they give the war?
\_ Hell yes. The last thing this country or the world in general
needs is the French running any more of it than they already do.
\_ If this country was run by a nationalist socialist family run
empire that holds power through death squads, torture and fear,
then I'd welcome just about anyone. If it was the French, I'd
make sure it was a short stay but they'd be welcome to shed their
own blood for the duration.
\_ Hah! No chance it would be the French. They'd leave you
to twist, not in the wind, but in the pain of the grip of
a family of torturers. |
| 2003/3/28 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27891 Activity:insanely high |
3/28 News of Foreign Sources:
* Morale of US troops start to budge. Troops start to avoid
certain color of candies as believed they bring bad luck
* Some units of US troops' rations are reduced due to supply
issue
* 8 civilian death 33 injured in latest US bomb raid
\_ Rather than posting from "Foreign Sources", how about you state
where you got each bit of news, with a URL if it was from the
web? Anyone can make shit up and post it on the motd. Also, I
know anti-American propaganda and American defeatism isn't the
only thing "Foreign Sources" are publishing yet I note that's the
only thing you are posting. Sources would increase credibility.
\_ Keep this up. Some (but by no means all) of this I haven't
heard about, particularly after Al-Jazeera got shut down.
Even the Guardian has been curiously monotonous about its
coverage. -- ulysses
\_ they will bring the 70,000 sunni kurds from the north.
\_ Those damn green M&Ms. Gonna get laid? In this desert? Lying
sacks of sugar.
\_ That's funny. The army here ride these 40 year old 3-gear
monsters that weigh a ton. Says something about how well
they built them that they're still in use. -John
\_ Did they report about those 40,000 gorillas from Brazil that
Hitler is training to storm the Maginot Line, or the Gulf War
Virus?
\_ I hope the military equipped the soldiers with Linux.
\_ I think you're joking but all of that equipment will need
some sort of rudimentary operating system. Most of it is
probably Wind River stuff but just imagine an army powered
by M$ equipment....wait some recent news is starting to make
sense...
\_ "Windows: Famous for stranding billion-dollar battleships at
sea." http://csua.org/u/bdc
\_ They will all ride bike.
\_ http://www.militarybikes.com/military.html
\_ That's funny. The army here ride these 40 year old
3-gear monsters that weigh a ton. Says something
about how well they built them that they're still
in use. -John
\_ Maybe they just can't afford new ones? Example, "It
says something about the T-55 that it's still in use".
\_ The paratroopers aren't as good as the old
American and British bikes (I used to have
a 35 yr old Raleigh) but they are still
better than what passes for a "rugged" mtb
these days.
\_ Yes, keep posting. We want to know. |
| 2003/3/27 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27878 Activity:nil |
3/26 How are the US and UK troops integrating with each other? Namely,
are British troops allowed to take orders from American officers,
or vice-versa?
\- yes
\_ sure about that? I can't imagine US would allow its force
under British command
\_ There are some US marines in some odd ball 'report to the
Brits but can go above their heads to an American if they
don't like the orders' situation. And no, they don't like it. |
| 2003/3/27 [Recreation/Celebrity, Computer/SW/Apps/Media, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27877 Activity:nil |
3/26 I am outside the US right now. Would you guys be interested in
some other stuff I heard from non-US news media?
\_ Sure, but what kind of motd poster asks before posting
contriversial stuff?
\_ a polite one? (a polite motd poster??)
\_ Uhm, sure whatever but it's not like we don't have browsers and
aren't reading the same stuff you're going to post. Us poor dumb
provincials just don't know what's really going on and could use
the help of European and Arab media to educatin' us!
\_ Thanks. BTW we can also get non-US news media on Channels 26 and
32. |
| 2003/3/26 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27846 Activity:very high |
3/25 The difference between France and the US: The French "take"
decisions, as in "they take it up the ass". Americans "make"
decisions, as in "we make the dull rusty knife jammed up the French
ass".
\_ That's the stupidist thing I've ever heard. That's the kind of
joke you'd expect from a kid in Junior High. Nice try, troll.
\_ Junior High French covers the difference between "prendre
une decision" and "faire une decision"?
\_ Translated:
Je suis un Americain stupide qui pense que le monde est simple
et que les gens d'autres pays ne sont pas interessant penser
environ. Tuez-moi, svp.
\_ Yep, we Americans are a simple people. But at least we don't
roll over and we keep faith with our friends.
\_ Like Saddam Hussein, to whom we gave approval to invade
Kuwait?
\_ Uh, this is bullshit
\_ Okay, then, like the Iraqis who rose up against
Saddam after GW1 because we told them we'd support
them militarily?
\_ "I would rather have a German division in front of me
than a French one behind me." - General George S. Patton
\_ The french-germans-russians are responsible for every major conflict
since Napoleon. Together, they have killed tens of millions. France
was once a great nation, until all of soldiers and able bodied
men were killed. Eventually, the only men left to repopulate
were the queers and effet expresso sippers of Paris who were
afraid to fight. We now see the result. Much of europe
is dying, both economically and demographically.
They will go the way of South America. There is a reason
American ancestors left Europe.
\_ Yes, we went east looking for better hunting grounds. Then we
crossed a large icebridge and went south. Imagine our
surprise when you bastards came over in your ships.
\_ It should be French-Germans-Russians-Japanese.
\_ France has usually been governed by prostitutes.
- Mark Twain, Notebook #18, Feb.- Sept. 1879
French are the connecting link between man & the monkey.
- Mark Twain, Notebook #18, Feb.- Sept. 1879
\_ The only time the French didn't fight well is during WWII.
The French fought decently in WWI. Uncle Ho did kick their
arse at DBP, but he also kicked our arse, so that's a draw.
\_ Wrong.. South Vietnam was free for 2 years until the North
invaded and Democrats refused any foreign intervention. |
| 2003/3/25-26 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27845 Activity:high |
3/25 Now that european countries are boycotting American products, when
are we going to start bombing them to protect our corporate profits??
\_ I don't think this war is primarily about oil,
but it certainly doesn't hurt.
\_ This war in Iraq is not primarily about corporate profits or oil.
\_ yeah, keep telling yourself that. and why are france and russia
so against the war? billions of trade and loans. we're all
bastards on this bus.
\_ I thought it was more about no preemptive wars when
inspections were keeping Saddam boxed in, and if he kicks
them out, then the U.S. could pass a resolution for force.
\_ If you thought that, you're a moron. Inspections did
little until Bush raised the gun to Saddam's head.
\_ And I bet you still believe in Santa Claus too.
\_ I don't see what's wrong with saying "inspections were
keeping Saddam boxed in", "no preemptive wars", and
"if he kicks them out ... pass a resolution for force".
\_ What inspectors? The ones there from 1998 to last
October?
\_ The ones headed by Mr. Blix
\_ As if Europe mattered , they can't even agree on a common language
\_ sure they can; it's english.
\_ You might want to check with the French about that.
\_ I work with several French scientists, all educated
at french schools through the phd level, and they
have always, even in france, written all their papers
and even their phd theses in english. scientists
are perhaps more willing than most to adopt international
standards, but *all* european scientists with any
ineternational influence speak english.
\_ 1) "Several French scientists" is representative of,
well, several French scientists. 2) That they can
speak English does not necessarily imply that they
are willing to accept English as the de jure European
common language.
\_ 1) I know what I'm talking about, and 2) you don't. |
| 2003/3/24 [Science/GlobalWarming, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27830 Activity:nil |
3/24 This crazy world, from
http://www.petting-zoo.net/~deadbeef/archive/5318.html :
"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a
white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, France is accusing
the US of arrogance, and Europe doesn't want to go to war." |
| 2003/3/24 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27826 Activity:very high |
3/24 THE WAR THAT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/71309.htm
\_ The New York Post is a tabloid with about as much credability as
as the weekly world news. Please don't post NYP articles, it just
makes you look like a moron.
\_ oh, as opposed to freerepublic
\_ is there a list of 'motd acceptable' news sources? I should we
should only allow NPR quotes and Salon.
\_ This is a serious question. What makes you think that our attempts
to create a democracy by force in Iraq will be any more successful
than our attempts in Afghanistan, Panama, Haiti, etc?
\_ We never attempted in Afghanistan, it seem to be going
as well as expected thus far. It worked in Japan,
South Korea, Europe, Taiwan, Chile, and was working in Iran.
What is the alternative? I propose there are only two:
1) kill the Arabs ala colonial Europe or Rome.
2) make it more attractive economically to lay down arms
and live and prosper with a non-belligerent society.
\_ Taiwan? South Korea? Europe? What the heck are you
talking about?
\_ history?
\_ History? US invaded Taiwan to bring about
democracy while it is under dictator CKS?
\_ You do not build weak, nascent democracies
to counterbalance the Soviets. You align
with stable dictatorships with capitalistic
tendencies in order to transition to liberal
styles of government.
This was the essence of US Cold War policy,
I'm actually expected to explain this?
\_ Sure, but how is this relevant? We are
talking about the feasibility of a direct
US invasion and regime change here.
This is not analogous to any of the
countries you mentioned except Japan and
Germany. Vietnam, for example, blew up
in our face because while we were thinking
of fighting against communists and the
soviets, we miscalculated vietnamese
nationalism.
\_ "except Japan and Germany" is the
point. thanks.
\_ I would grant you that, but I
would also point out that Japan
and Germany were actually occupying
nations they invaded when we decided
to topple their regimes. Perhaps
there are better ways to change /
mellow out the regime in Iraq under
scenarios similar to what happened
in places like Taiwan and South
Korea, given that there is limited
evidence that we would be successful
in building a democracy in Iraq.
How much effort and resources are
we willing to devote to this
enterprise, or would we just get
another puppet dictator, someone
like Ferdinand Marcos or the
Saudi sheiks, who constantly steal
from their people? |
| 2003/3/22 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27802 Activity:nil |
3/21 http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110003234 "Jacques Chirac says France will not authorize a U.N. resolution allowing the United States and Britain to administer postwar Iraq." \_ France also threatned to veto a resolution that authorized the use of force against Iraq. \_ "Authorize" a UN resolution? How arrogant. \_ The U.S. has to come back showing respect to the UN after having defied it. \_ Too late. Another international institution ruined by Bush. \_ Let's return the Statue of Liberty. She's an ugly biotch anyways. |
| 2003/3/17 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27727 Activity:nil 50%like:27711 |
3/17 Vive La France!
<DEAD>216.239.39.120/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://fr.news.yahoo.com/030312/5/33csk.html<DEAD> |
| 2003/3/17 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27719 Activity:high |
3/16 the History Channel special about Saddam's French nuclear reactor
getting distroyed by the Israeli air force is on tonight at 7pm.
\_ ohh give me a break, *WE* provided Iraq with the atomic
bomb's know-how right after War War 2.
\_ "after WW2". Uhm, yeah. whatever.
\_ And the USS Stark hit with two (French) exocet missiles launched
\_ You mean the reactor provided by Chirac.
\_ No, Miterrand. This was the reactor in Osirak which they
were about a week away from taking into operation. -John
\_ Yes. Curiously, the only person killed in the attack was
a french scientist that was working late that sunday evening.
\_ Huh. I wasn't aware France *had* scientists.
\_ Are you really this ignorant, or are you just jumping on
the France-bashing bandwagon?
\_ let me guess.. when someone says "it's raining cats
and dogs", you're outside looking for falling animals.
\_ They do but they're on strike all the time in support of
the Parisian trash haulers and long haul truckers.
\_ And the USS Stark hit with two (French) Exocet missiles launched
from a (French) Mirage fighter.
\_ Did you know that the reacter was named the Ochirac Reactor?
\_ Did you know you need to re-read your source?
\_ It was a joke. I know it was named oshirak. |
| 2003/3/16 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27711 Activity:high 50%like:27727 |
3/15 Vive la France
French connections
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/67450p-62790c.html
\_ jewish drivel |
| 2003/3/14 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27693 Activity:very high |
3/13 Why do something intelligent about a situation, when you can do
something incredibly stupid? (CNN article behind url shortener)
http://tinyurl.com/7fta
\_ no big deal. it's just political posturing. you'll see a lot of
this from every party in this country and all others as you grow up.
\_ dear god.
\_ All these people wanting to change french fries to freedom
fries and all this other non-sense. I guess we need to
change the name for croissant, because it's french. This
is stupid, counterproductive, and immature.
\_ That's exactly how I would characterize the French.
Of course, I felt this way long before all this
blather about Iraq.
\_ The most pathetic part of the whole thing is that the one
thing the French hate more than Americans is American food.
If we really want to annoy them, we should be naming MORE of
our food after the French, not less.
\_ French fries aren't American.
\_ I think that was the point.
\_ We didn't name "our" food after the French, which is
mine.
\_ I dare you to Freedom Kiss your sweetheart.
\_ So you view the French as victims?
\_ Yes. Yes I do. I think the French would make splendid victims.
When do we invade France?
\- we should take france before we have to "take it back" --psb
\_ I wonder how much it would cost to ship back the Statue of Liberty
and when Congress will propose this.
\_ It isn't the French Statue, it's already the Freedom Statue (by
a similar name) so we cna keep it. Same thing for Louisiana. |
| 2003/3/11 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27657 Activity:nil |
3/11 Portugese lose it and declare their anti-European philosophy:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030310-081013-9767r |
| 2003/3/4 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27596 Activity:very high |
3/4 Umberto Eco on the US, France, and Iraq:
http://csua.org/u/a2c
(from http://Haaretz.com)
\_ I like that. "We should let evil assert itself fully
before we do anything about it." Apparently nobody
informed the UN that an ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure.
\_ you're an idiot.
\_ I admire your intellectual prowess and quick wit!
You've completely won me over to your point of view
with a clever sense of the moment intertwined with
a rich philosophy of the state of mankind.
\_ How 'bout this. The sentiment expressed above is
exactly what Mr. Eco is talking about. And if you
weren't blinded (deafened?) by sabre rattling, you
might be able to see that. A first-strike aggression
is not "an ounce of prevention." --scotsman
\_ First strike is prevention. Waiting them to
strike is like waiting for Hilter to invade
Poland before taking him out.
\_ Just because Umberto Eco wrote it, it's true?
Besides, he was saying that it is prevention,
he was just saying that prevention is not
necessarily prudent. And his main point had
nothing to do with that anyways. -mlee
\_ Mike, you're talking over yourself. (pronoun trouble)
What comments are you disputing? --scotsman
\_ The first line was a rhetorical question so "it"
clearly refers to anything that Eco may write.
The "it" in the second line refers to
first-strike aggression. Eco was writing more to
the effect of how improper emotional responses
can be--especially in these times--regardless of
whether they are emotional pro-war or anti-war
sentiments, much like the sentiment you wrote
in response to the op. -mlee
\_ I was actually referring to the plethora of
"he"'s, but I see what you're getting at.
Mine was less of an emotional response than
the "op"'s [sic]. His is a fear based response.
I believe calling for measured response based
on a multilateral platform is far less
emotional than saying "bomb them before they
bomb us" --scotsman
\_ True. op was emotional. But we should
bomb them--so that our bombs don't rust.
-mlee
\_ why isn't this 'intellectual' protesting the invasion of Ivory
Coast by France?
Coast by France? And he states 'as the Western democracies
eventually managed to eliminate the Soviet dictatorship
without launching atomic weapons.' Sorry Eco, you are
wrong- it was overwhelmingly the UNITED STATES, with the
help of Koreans, Vietnamese, etc. that defeated the Soviets.
The US taxpayer payed for it and the US soldier died for it.
France tried to play the Soviets against the US, all the
while secure under the US nuclear umbrella. All of Europe
treaded towards massive socialist behemoths, all subsidized
by Uncle Sam. Exactly how are France and Germany able to conduct
billions of dollars of business in Iraq with 17 UN sanctions
in place. Sorry, this article is trash.
\_ You should learn history before spouting. Korea? Vietnam?
Chinese supplied. They're still around. How many left-wing
terrorists were there in the US during the Cold War? Europe
took the brunt of that. And the US has companies that have
bypassed the sanctions too. See Dick Cheney? He partnered up
with Haliburton and helped Iraq out. There are 6000 pages of
the report given by Iraq about who supplied them with their
suspected WoMD. US, France, Germany, Britain, and Russia have
had the UN censor them out so the companies listed aren't
exposed. Viva Capitalism! Viva Free Market!
\_ Umm yea, a country who finished one civil war,
and in which 10-20 million died in the Cultural Revolution,
provided the material support for the Cold War - please.
My point was both the Koreans and the Vietnamese suffered
large casualties. The same can not be said of any European
country. France turned tail and ran after Bien Dien Phu.
I did not deny US businesses have operated in Iraq - however
this activity is not a full-scale blatant ignoring
UN sanctions as is for Germany and France.
this activity is not a full-scale, government sanctioned
flagrant disregard for the UN sanctions in place,
as is for Germany and France.
The point is thugs need to be removed once they exhaust
their usefulness. Also, I'd be very interested in
what 'brunt' Europe endured - it would be very
enlightining.
\_ So it was the Soviets that fought in Korea and Vietnam?
And those 30+ million who died in the Soviet Union during
WWII made them helpless? And if the US didn't give the
okay to ship stuff from US to Iraq who did? During the
Cold War, Europe endured ongoing assasinations, terrorist
bombings and actual invasion threats by the USSR.
\_ Regardless of who footed the bill, "the Western Democracies
eventually managed to eliminate the Soviet dictatorship
without launching atomic weapons." His argument stands.
\_ I find your cavalier attitude about 100,000 + dead
US troops and several trillion US taxpayer dollars
pathetic. |
| 2003/3/3 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27584 Activity:nil |
3/2 From the Congressional Record:
Liberation of France in Violation of Covenant of League of Nations
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/855027/posts
\_ ohh give me a break. League of Nations was dissolved after
American's ally, Japanese Empire, invaded Northeastern region
of the old Chinese Republic. France didn't fell into German's
hand until 4-5 years after that. |
| 2003/2/28 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27559 Activity:high |
2/27 Editorial defending Washinton Post's pro-war stance:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8531-2003Feb26.html
\_ The huge problem with this editorial is "[Saddam] unquestionably
possessing and pursuing biological and chemical weapons". It's
still a question. If a group of smart people can't get this
right, what can you say?
\_ What smart people? The French? Or the Germans who sold them
all of it between '91 and now?
\_ The Washington Post editorial staff, of course.
If you can do a good job convincing people of your assertions
please contact Colin Powell.
\_ hmm... theory of evolution... |
| 2003/2/26 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27529 Activity:nil |
2/25 At a party attended by Congressman Tom Delay to a French diplomat,
after discussing Iraq:
Delay: "Do you speak German?"
Diplomat: "No"
Delay: "You're welcome"
Delay walks away.
\_ Boy, that'll show em! Those Frog Eaters!!! How dare they
disagree with us about anything after all we did for them
55 years ago!
\_ Not to mention trying to draw a parellel between Iraq and
Nazi germany is just plain silly. |
| 2003/2/21-22 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan, Politics/Domestic, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27478 Activity:nil |
2/20 Do BNO passport holders need a visa to visit Japan for short-term? The
web site only says British passport holders are exempted. I tried
called the Consulate but it's closed. Thanks. (Yeah I can wait till
tomorrow.)
\_ yes.
\_ BNO officially means second class. It is all insult no benefit.
\_ Just curious, what is "BNO"?
\_ British National Overseas
\_ Thanks.
\_ I called the consulate: (415) 777-3533. The answer is yes. |
| 2003/2/15 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27421 Activity:nil |
2/14 http://www.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/trends/08/30/ilo.study American's work longer hours to make up for being less productive per hour. |
| 2003/2/14 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27417 Activity:nil |
2/13 The Boomerang Effect
http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson021403.asp
Spot on commentary except that about Kosovo. |
| 2003/2/14 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27414 Activity:insanely high |
2/13 The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War With Iraq:
A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html
\_ We Should Go to War With France for Fucking up Capitalization
in the English Language After 1066.
\_ interesting. this whole war thing stinks of Henry Kissinger.
\_ his writing style gives him away as an alarmist. take this with
several grains of salt.
\_ Interesting article. Not long ago, the WSJ has an article
saying that the US dollars used to be propped up by both
european and east asian buyers, but the european buyers had
pretty much dried up, so the US dollars is now all propped
up by asians. They are the only ones left supporting the US
budget deficit and trade deficit. Once that stop, what will
US government do? Increase interest rate? Nah. Probably
start printing money. Need to keep the economy going even if
it makes us poorer.
\_ Except there is no substitute for the dollar. European
countries are far worse off then the U.S. and Japan is
not large enough. All other oil transactions are
denominated in dollars, so until that changes...
\_ Nah, many well respected economists, fund managers,
etc. are betting on Europe. The fruits of economic
integration is yet to be realized and profited from.
\_ You have to be kidding me. Both Germany's
and Frances pension liabilities exceed 110%
of their GDP, unemployment 15%+, they created
zero jobs during 90's.
their own citizens not foreigners so
it won't affect currency. Bad 90s doesn't
mean bad 00s. Remember 80s and 90s for
Japan and US.
\_ Pension liabilities will not by itself
affect currency. We are in 00s not 90s.
Remember 80s and 90s and Japan and US.
Rewards of EU integration are just waiting
to be reaped. Eastern Europe is up and
coming. Euro has already appreciated
quite a bit. I am gonna buy some european
or far east mutual funds, ones without
dollar hedging.
\_ So government debt has no effect on
exchange rates... in your dreams. Its not
even worth debating if
you believe this.
\_ If the financing is within the euro
area, then it won't. Foreigners don't
own massive amounts of the euro. They do
own massive amounts of the dollar. About
1 trillion in east asia alone. And that's
just forex owned by the asian governments.
\_ 15%??? Where did you get this figure. The
real statistic is more like half that.
Remember that the US figure is kept
artificially low by the 2M in prison
and out of the labor pool. If you add
them back in, the rates are about the
same. US social security has the same
underfunded problems as European pensions.
Europe doesn't need to create jobs, since
their employment pools are not growing.
Europe has been focusing on productivity
growth, and it is paying off. German workers
are the most productive on the planet.
The US is in trouble with its huge
imbalance of trade and growing deficits.
The dollar is going to deflate much more
before long. |
| 2003/2/13 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27392 Activity:nil |
2/12 "As Berman reported, Mr. Fischer (German Foreign Minister),
you rose in public life as an important
figure in the anti-American, anti-liberal, neo-Marxist,
revolution-minded German radical left of the generation of 1968."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59725-2003Feb11.html |
| 2003/2/6 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27323 Activity:very high |
2/6 Yesterday at the UN:
UN French Ambassador: "this whole issue could be solved if
Iraq would pass a law banning the production of WMD."
\_ HAHHAAHHAHA! I haven't had such a good laugh in a while.
\_ No worse than the US's "let us invade and we'll show you the WMD
after we find them. Really."
\_ France has already acknowledged Iraq has WMD.
\_ the u.s., uk, russia, china, france all believe iraq is hiding
their wmd. russia, china, france think, for good reason, that a
u.s. attack now would be destabilizing. the argument has been
and will always be, 'why look like the world is submitting to
u.s. hegemony? saddam can't do anything while inspectors are
there. the longer the inspectors are there, the better chance
they'll find something damning, which can be leveraged.'
\_ They are hoping for a reach around.
\_ Nonsense. While the inspectors waste time, he's doing shit
in other parts of his very large country. And then what are
you going to say when he kicks out the inspectors and announces
he has a nuke in 6-9 months? More inspections? Sanctions?
Or just welcome him to the nuclear club as the nice guy that he
is? Join this world, please.
\_ france is asking for more inspectors
\_ Then Iraq joins like Pakistan, India, Israel, and South Korea
did. So what? Saddam is a meglomaniac, not suicidal. Power
is his kick. And the 6-9 month guess is crap.
\_ Everytime the inspectors get close to something, Iraqis with
guns tell them: "You can't go there." They had to get led to
the empty warheads by their nose, otherwise they wouldn't
have found those either.
\_ I think you should check your facts about this ...
\_ France and Russia have oil deals with Saddam, if the sanctions
are ever lifted. They want Saddam to behave and stay in power.
Unfortunately neither of those will happen.
\_ And don't forget how much business France and Germany have there
in non-oil deals and how much WMD related shit the Germans have
been illegally selling them since '91. All that is going to come
out and make the Germans look exceptionally bad after Saddam's
Iraq is crushed. |
| 2003/1/30 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27244 Activity:very high |
1/30 "Canada 'Inspectors' to Hunt for Deadly U.S. Weapons"
http://csua.org/u/8a5 (news.yahoo.com)
The Canadians don't realize they're also under our blanket of
protection.
\_ The 51st State needs a reminder here and there. So does Germany,
France, and the rest of Europe that forgets they owe their very
existence to the US.
\_ Doing one good deed is not an excuse to commit a crime.
Likewise, you could say that Bush owes his presidency to
those that voted for him into office and he should honor
their wishes. Of course, if the Supreme Court's wishes are
to go to war, then he's certainly doing that.
\_ Oh jesus f. christ. get over it already. your own leftist
media went over the whole thing for months and came up with
zippo. you're on the edge of rationality.
\_ Why do France, Germany and the rest of Europe owe their
very existence to the US?
\_ Without US intervention in WW2, Europe would now
be called Germany. Large parts of Africa and the
Middle East would be German as well. Asia would
be part of the Japanese Empire.
\_ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
\_ Uhm yeah. Try a history book, son. Whatever.
\_ that is total bullshit. only part of poland and maybe
part of czech republic.
\_ Do you really think that the French would have
liberated themselves? How do you think that the
UK survived the Battle of Britian? HINT: it was
US naval support in the North Atlantic and US
crypt-analysts working in the UK. In North Africa
it was US troops that assisted Montgomery. In
the Pacific, it was MacArthur and Nimitz that
stopped the Japanese advance.
\_ What do you think Germany would have done with
its European conquests? As it was, it merely
set up a puppet state.
\_ Given time Germany would really have
messed things up.
\_ So you think the German controlled puppet
France was a real country? And after 60+
more years there'd be anything left of the
old France? They'd ever free themselves?
Madness. It took *millions* of dead
soldiers from the US, Britain, and Russia
(more Russian dead by far, gotta give credit
where it's due) to conquer Germany. You're
insane or stupid or ignorant if you think
any of the Conquered nations would ever see
freedom again in 50 lifetimes.
\_ Okay, truth time. UK survived because of US
material support (merchant ships, not Navy), the
UK broke Enigma (cypto), the US got it's ass
kicked in Africa (it was nearly done by the time
the US showed up). And Japan was fighting the US
in the Pacific, not Austrailia. But the Aussies,
Indians, and Chinese kept Japan from shifting
full efforts vs. the US.
\_ Nah, the cold war would have been between the US
and Germany, instead of the US vs USSR.
\_ You're right on Asia, but military historians
credit the Soviets with preventing the German
takeover of Europe, not us. E.g.,(search for "Russians"):
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/fallows/jf2003-01-08/vandergriff2.htm
\_ but the Soviets took over Europe themselves, from
east germany onwards.
\_ Hitler would have beaten Stalin if not for the
two other fronts opened by the US.
\_ Oh yeah. D-day was totally a turning point for
the Russians. Seeing as how it happened in 1944,
AFTER Stalingrad and Kursk. Yeah. Go Yankies go!
\_ The western front involves more than
D-day. The battles of the north atlantic
were far more critical.
\_ Uh, no they weren't. How did the few
U-boats the blundering anti-submarine
program managed to sink before 1944
really help the russians? The north
atlantic battle was won, to be sure,
but too late to make a difference.
Only trucks and spam really helped
the russians, they did all the actual
work themselves.
\_ Look at it this way, without US involvement in WW2,
who would have opened the Western and Southern
fronts? Neither France nor the UK had sufficient
resources. Even if they did, how would they have
kept up their industrial production to sustain a
prolonged conflict? Without the US Europe would
have been lost.
\_ Let's remember that France fell in an eye blink
very early. There was *no* France for most of WW2.
\_ Only part of France fell, some of it was
still free from German occupation, but
you are right.
\_ The reason the US intervened in Europe was that Germany
declared war and allied with Japan. It is doubtful the US
public would have gone to war vs. Hitler if not for that.
\_ Fortunately, the US public doesn't declare wars. |
| 2003/1/18 [Recreation/Dating, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27144 Activity:high |
1/17 How hard is it to have sex in an airplane lavatory without
getting caught? What do they do if they catch you?
\_ Why do you ask?
\_ Any law against that? Why would they try to catch you?
\_ well, that's what I was wondering. so i asked the motd.
\- legal unless you disable the smoke detector
although that might be ok on air france --psb
\_ The *French* (snicker)
\_ "do you smoke after sex?"
"I'm not sure, I never checked" |
| 2003/1/15 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Recreation/Media] UID:27102 Activity:high |
1/15 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2661409.stm \_ Harry potter drivel. |
| 2003/1/14-15 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27093 Activity:insanely high |
1/14 Related question to the French question below. Why do Americans
continuously kiss up to the french? French fashion, french food,
are always "in". And paris is like the #1 tourist city in Europe
for americans. Even the language. Americans who speak french think
they're superior than americans who speak spanish.
\_ You are a barely literate moron. --aaron
\_ Marquis de Lafayette. Also most people who speak
french also know how to READ french and perhaps
have read the works of men like Dumas, Moliere,
hack, about the level of _/
sydney sheldon. (ref.
star trek)
Voltaire, Hugo, Rousseau, Decartes etc.
\_ btw proust is likely the greatest argument
for being able to read french. not to
mention baudelaire, apollinaire, etc.
As far as french fashion is concerned, have you
ever been to a Hermes shop?
\_ so your claim is that the spanish literature tradition
is inferior to the french one? by extension, if there
is a perception that people who speak language x is
less cultured than those who speak french, then the
french must also have a superior literary and cultural
tradition than speakers of language x? fools rush
in where angels fear to tread indeed.
\_French was the language of science during the Age
of Reason. It's had one of the greatest affects
on the English language because of that, and the
fact that after the Norman conquest French was the
language of nobility in England for quite a while.
Although Spain and Latin America have a huge,
brilliant tradition, some of the major building
blocks of western philosophy have come out of France.
Does that mean that France is the best? Maybe not.
Does that mean you should shut the fuck up? Yes.
\_ hey, will you be calling me a nazi and comparing
me to hitler soon?
\_ so your argument now is that french is
politically and philosophically superior?
and this argument is better than the french
cultural and literary superiority argument how?
(remember, you included dumas, moliere, and
hugo on your list, so you were hardly arguing
philosophy or politics. but i'll ignore that
thorny issue.)
\_ I'm superior to you because I can speak English. --aaron
\_ Same reason there's Japanophiles and other Whatever-ophiles. It is
just different than what they know and therefore must be better in
the "grass is always greener" kind of way. I was highly unimpressed
by Paris when I was there. Italy was very cool however. Paris
was just like NY or any other large American city except they don't
speak English and they don't shower. Most American cities are
cleaner.
\_ How about french women? Any comments on french women? Are the
stories of menage a trois true? Or just more american men kissing
up to french women and making up fantasies.
\- they dress better and carry themselves differently but that is
true in nyc as well.
\_ Stories of threesome? What are those?
\_ As if huge numbers of people aren't do 3somes here.
\_ They smoke a lot, if you like chicks that smell like ash trays
try french chicks.
\_ dude, there's dog shit everywhere. literally. most
of my parisian coworkers thought it was disgusting too.
i repeat. what dope are you smoking?
\_ I was there in May, perhaps it is cleaner then.
There was a lot more dogshit on the street in
Amsterdam. I didn't even notice it in Paris.
I have heard from locals that you are safe
if you stay on the main streets.
\_ Have you ever been to Paris? It is, no joke, the most
beautiful and nicest city in the world. I have not been
to all of them yet, but I have been to many.
\_ nicest? can i have some of what you're smoking? parisians
are rude and annoying, probably even in comparison to residents
of other cities of comparable size. residents of large cities
in latin countries are probably the nicest. dubliners or
londoners are probably the nicest in europe. fyi, i've lived
in paris for about 4 months, so i do speak from some experience.
and, yes, i even speak french, so don't pull the "oh they're
nice if you tried to speak french".
\_ I don't mean nice in that way. I mean the streets are clean,
the transit system works well, food is good and there is
\_ This is like saying "seattle is beautiful when it's sunny"
You must have missed the nigh-continuous transit strikes.
plenty to do and see. I even found the people to be
reasonably pleasant. I went to Paris expecting to not
like it, but I ended up being charmed.
\_ i will give you credit for the food though; it's
certainly well past acceptable, and i don't mean
just the grand vefours/tour l'argent axis.
regular grub at normal restaurants are of a pretty
high standard, and i've been having a yearn for a
good frisee aux lardons. as for the dog shit, if
you stayed in the touristy areas it's not too bad,
but you should see what they're like before the
cleaning crew got to them before ~8am.
\_ i have bad impression of paris. dog feces on the street, rude
drivers, and being cheated on subway station. :(
\_ All dogs should be banned from public places. If you want a dog
go and live in the woods with it.
\- i thought most of the people in paris were quite nice ...
and my french is really lousy. maybe some of you people
are just barbarians? physically and historically there is
something really cool about a city with such a long history
and depth [nyc has some of this is in the usa]. while i am
glad i dont work in retail, there is something pleasing about
retail-heavy cultures ... e.g. the small shops every where,
If you don't think nob hill is charming, you are a clod.
The weather is great, too. If you like LA so much,
you should move there. Most people who live in LA
hate it.
a street culture. not filled with bitter cockroaches likes
telegraph ave. and there is something just amazing about
tuning a corner at dusk and seeing the notre dame ...
i still remember that jaw dropping "holy shit" moment. --psb
\_ yeah we all know you're a bloody francophile. too much
exposure to cabanne (sp?) at a young age.
\- as i country i think the french need a beating. --psb
\- so what is so great about SF other than restaurants?
yes the sunset over mt. tam is nice ... but people dont
get credit for that. the newspapers is for illiterates by
illiterates. "even la" has better museums. etc etc etc
SF has one of the biggest reputation gaps. --psb
\_ SF has the GGB. That's about it, I think.
\_ SF has a lot of beauty, most of it physical beauty:
Every neighborhood has a hill with a great view.
If you don't think nob hill is charming, you are a
clod. The weather is great, too.
\- well i acknowledged SF has reasonable physical beauty.
but la has some nice areas too. i'm talking about the
kinds of things people can claim credit for. --psb
\_ Preserving your city's history is something people
can claim credit for. Ever been to Las Vegas?
Almost nothing there is more than 20 years old.
If you took away all of the strippers and lights,
much of the new world worth visiting. ok, except vegas.
there's not much left.
\_ liberace museum. hoover damn. valley of fire.
gambler's book store. lake mead.
\_ The crestfallen looks of those who have lost
their life savings...
\_ SF has Berkeley, one of the most fascinating
places in the world.
\_ hahaHAHHAHHhaHAHHAhhah
\_ If you're a crack whore.
\_ Weather, restaurants, physical beauty, historical
presence, metropolitan, shopping, multicultural,
liberal attitude (appeals more to tourists), past
reputation, and it can showcase it's high points
very well. SF looks good from a distance.
\_ Can't you ask this of pretty much any (north?) american
city except new york? if you discount restaurants,
amusement parks and non-world-class museums, there's not
many cities in the new world worth visiting. ok, except
vegas.
\_ Boston? Chicago?
\_ so? unless you have people there, they're both
not more than a 1 to 2 day sort of destination.
\_ As for French vs. Spanish, I guess Americans don't associate Spanish
with Spain, but rather Latin America. When you hear someone with
a French accent, you think "Wow! He's (Western) European." But
when you hear someone with a Spanish accent, you think "Gee, another
border crosser."
\_ If you're an asshole, maybe.
\_ So when your maid and gardeners are speaking Spanish you
don't think, "Thank God I'm never running for office", you
think, "How fascinating! We have so many Spaniards here
doing menial labor at below minimum wage! The European
economy must be hurting to come all this way for these jobs!"
Italian lingerie makes Victoria's Secret look like the crap that
\_ If you hear a Spanish accent and think it's a Mexican
accent, you're not just an asshole. You're a fucking
idiot.
\_ There's a distinction between Spanish accent and Mexican
accent? I have a Chinese friend who was born and grew
up in Spain, whose first language is Spanish and second
language English, The accent in his English sounds just
like those Mexicans here.
\_ When I hear you trying to talk to your maid in really loud
simple English, I think "what a fucking worthless moron
who has never worked a day of real work in his life."
\_ there is a difference actually. Spanish spoken by
Europeans sounds differently than Spanish spoken
by central americans, supposedly because a king of
Spain had a slight lisp and mandated the lisp become
part of the pronounciation of the Spanish language,
it's also what is taught in American schools, I don't
know how true the story of the Spanish king is.
\_ ok i just googled for "lisp" and "spanish" and
"monarch" and found a linguistics paper discounting
the mysterious lisping spanish monarch theory, but
a better explanation is that the version of Spanish
inflicted on Central America by raping conquistadores
has diverged slightly from the Spanish spoken by
non raped villagers in Spain.
\_ You linguistic neophytes.
\_ It's all because we've feeding our kids with French Fries all these
years! :-)
\_ Paris is one of the best cities in the world. The food and wine
are fantastic. The architecture is amazing. There is so much to
see and do and so much history. Overall, I think France is a
rather dirty country compared to the rest of Europe. The people
are not my favorite either. There's a lot to dislike about
France and the French. However, when it comes to food, wine,
fashion and the other things France does well it's pretty clear
why everyone "kisses up" to them for those. As for the women, it
comes down to their clothes, especially lingerie. French and
Italian lingerie make Victoria's Secret look like the crap that
it is. --dim
\_ Let's conquer Paris and make it into the 58th state of the USAE.
Then we can claim that we have a nice city too!
\_ Just re-elect Bush!
\_ The third entry in today's IDIOT CLUB! Congratulations! |
| 2003/1/5-6 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:26997 Activity:very high |
1/5 Good analysis of America, its empire, and the role it should play
in the middle east:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/05/magazine/05EMPIRE.html
\_ Fuck the NYSlimes - the article couches arguments in the
context of a republic but the whole paper is full of nothing
but leftist statists. The Slime's politics are anithetical
to a Republic.
Take this pithy quote for example - '...America backed stability
over democracy, propping up the autocratic rule of the shah,
only to reap the whirlwind of an Islamic fundamentalist
revolution in 1979...".
Well no fucking shit, this was the U.S. paradigm of foreign
policy throughout the cold war to contain Soviet influence.
You can't build a democracy in civilizations a 1000 years behind
the West. But wait a minute, wasn't it the left's
Messiah Jimmy Carter who reversed U.S. support of the Shah only
to embolden Khomeini. This was militant Islam's first success,
a success that ignited the situation we face today
- all thanks to the fucking moron Jimmy 'moral foreign policy'
Carter. The man who brought us Stansfield Turner and ethics
to the CIA. So much for 'Good analysis' eh?
\- hello, you may wish to read the "Living with a superpower"
article in the "Mr. Kim" issue of the E'ist. International
Security is very good on for more technical discussions,
although you may unknowingly miss some things because the
authors take some shortcuts because they assume some
familiarity with IR literature. e.g. take a look at:
http://csua.org/u/763
[IS is better than FA, FP, WP etc.]
n.b. JSTOR may give you better access. --psb
\- oh this article may also make you feel better:
http://www.policyreview.org/JUN02/kagan.html
i dont agree with all of it but it is more interesting
that the article by that communist from the TLS the asp
walled about. --psb
that the article by that communist from the TLS or LRB
the asp walled about. --psb
\_ Kagan's article is very long and extremely boring, to
the point that his points become irrelevant. BTW,
\- the kagan article is a little repetitive
but he raises an interesting "large issue"
and the reset of the world (where American power
while the only interesting thing in the
article the asp mentions is the democrats'
"manhattan problem". i am unable to
respond at greater length to these comments
via wall. by the way, if you want to acquire
some culture, if you havent read it, read
the Melian Dialog at the end of BookV
should it pursue for the rest of the world?
in the History of the Peloponnesian War.
it's a fantastic read. (i'm not suggesting
it's immediate relevance, but this is a
good thing to have in your pocket) --psb
communist or not, that article from LRB was at least
entertaining and the view could represent any
"conservative realist" of another country. To people
who know what that word means, Bush and his troops
sound very much like the Bolsheviks.
\_ Hi. I know what the word 'Bolshevik' means. You
do not. You are likely the same moron who was
comparing US under Bush to USSR. You have no sense
of scale. Go kill yourself now before you get smacked
again like last time.
\_ There is no disagreement between Kagan's article
and the NYT article. They deal with different realms
of the world, Kantian vs Hobbesian, Europe (where
American power is needed only for external threats)
and the rest of the world (where American power
is needed to impose internal order). The NYT article
deals with what US should do in the rest of the world.
Should US act entirely out of its self-interest or
should there be a 'moral foreign policy'? If it is
entirely for self-interest, how is it different in
essence from the Europen empires of the 19th century
and earlier? It could not be, so what other options
should it pursue for the rest of the world? When
Kagan argued that "Americans ought to be the first to
understand that a threat to one's beliefs can be as
frightening as a threat to one's physical security",
he is referring to post-WWII Europe's belief in
solving problems between nations through international
laws, negotiations, diplomacy and forging of economic
ties which is the essence of the European Union,
which many Europeans feel is being threatened by
America's unilateralism. The same, however, can also
be said of the third world's experience of throwing off
colonialism to attain self-determination and self-rule,
after significant hardship and sacrifice. For many
people these beliefs are similarly threatened by
American unilateralism, which is why many nations
outside of Europe also feel uneasy about US's
unilateral exercise of power. |
| 2002/12/12-13 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:26797 Activity:nil |
12/11 http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1511364 Whacky Germans at it again! \_ the word is "wacky". now, don't you feel like an imbecile? \_ If you read the article you'd get it. Since you didn't, it's your loss for missing it. So, uhm, no. I don't Do you? |
| 2002/11/8-9 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:26482 Activity:very high |
11/7 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/021108/80/de8zy.html Bush has learned well from Sharon. If there is anyone you don't like, don't bother with arrest, don't bother with a trial, just execute 'em from the air. A US citizen murdered, too. \_ Not murder. Proactive attack against terrorist elements. \_ Not murder. Assassination. Prohibited by Exec. Order, and therefore illegal. Arrest the CIA. \_ It isn't assassination unless you figure that every random fuck towel head with a bomb is a foreign leader. \_ http://dictionary.com says: assassination: a killing by treacherous violence. http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/eo12333.html#2.11 says: 2.11 Prohibition on Assassination. No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination. 2.12 Indirect Participation. No agency of the Intelligence Community shall participate in or request any person to undertake activities forbidden by this Order. Read carefully, tool: nowhere does it say "foreign leader." \_ US abolished slavery at the cost of a civil war. Sweden sat on its ass like a coward until someone else did the dirty work. Being humane entails knowing when to fight for what you believe in. \_ Be thankful the US isn't lining the roads with crosses like the Romans. They could, and I bet they would actually be successful in stopping attacks that way (as Romans were). \_ So has Genghis Khan. Yes, I am thankful that the US is not like Genghis Khan. \_ Romans are too close to home, eh? Had to come up with a big bad asian example, right? That the US occasionally fires rockets at cars loaded with dynamite (which I consider a good thing) does not change the fact that it has produced the most humane society the world has ever seen. \_ Have you ever been to The Netherlands? Sweden? Canada? \_ What was Sweden's stance on the Nazis again? \_ What was USA's stance on slavery again? Sweden merely maintained independence. \_ The US got rid of slavery at the cost of a civil war. US citizens lost lives trying to oust Hitler when it became obvious he was a threat. Sweden just sat on its collective ass and waited for Nazis to take over the world. Being humane is knowing when to fight for what you believe in. \_ Why did they ignore Stalin then hm? You know, it's just silly to say Hitler would really be able to "take over the world". At most, possibly some of the eastern european nations that Stalin ended up ruling for the next 50 years anyway. \_ If there wasn't a Western Front the Nazis would have taken out the Russians and then Britain was next. After that, the US would stand alone for freedom in the world against the Nazi controlled Euro/ Asian continent (as well as the oil in the middle east and the more valuable parts of Africa). \_ A Russian friend of mine said Russia has always won wars that others launched against it, and has always lost wars that it launched against others. \_ Your russian friend is wrong. Russia lost the war against the Golden Horde. -- russian \_ Yes, we can take that historical fluke as divine providence that it is fated that no one can invade and conquer Russia. Thanks. \_ The Civil War was over state's rights, not over slavery. \_ Wow... welcome to Oversimplification Of History 101. \_ Why did you erase my question? US sat back on the same haunches as Sweden while the nazis were sweeping through europe. We would have let england be taken before we did anything if it weren't for pearl harbor. we had business dealings with the nazis that couldn't be disturbed. \_ Uh oh.. *this* assertion definitely needs some URL backing. \_ major IBM contracts for Nazi Germany. \_ dont be a git. we didn't avoid war with the Nazis for IBM's sake. Duh. \_ and what did sweden contribute to the effort? \_ Those cool knives? Oh no wait that was the swiss, the Nazi collaborators. \_ That the Romans had a little civilization going does not change the fact that cruxifixing people is barbaric. Do not confuse "inspite of" and "because of". \_ You know, you would pull off that lecturing tone much better if you knew how to spell 'crucify.' \_ You know, you need to brush up your grammar a little. \_ Um.. to what grammar are you referring? --scotsman \_ "would have pulled" \------"still [christians] others were burned alive as living torches to light Nero's garden at his Golden House." ... that's a funny story but untrue ... probably some exaggeration of suetonius. why are you focusing on rome? look at the decree on megara or the melian dialog. that is more appropriate. well i suppose you can look at the destruction of corinth in 146 by L. Mummius: Cary \& Schullard describe the aftermath as follows: ``In other Greek towns they restored the rule of the wealthier classes, and they made Corinth safe against social revolution by razing it to the ground and selling its inhabitants into slavery.'' This was the hard edge to the vaunted {\it Pax Romana\/}. See also famous speech of calgacus in the Agricola: A rich enemy excites their cupidity; a poor one, their lust for power. East and West alike have failed to satisfy them. They are the only people on earth to whose covetousness both riches and poverty are equally tempting. To robbery, butchery and rapine, they give the lying name of 'government'; they create a desolation and call it peace. --psb \_ You're confused. You kill the enemy, you arrest criminals. They were the enemy. As far as one of them being a US citizen, I'm not shedding any tears since our insanely open borders make the concept of US citizenship almost entirely meaningless. \_ Especially when some politicians are trying to give residency to illegal immigrants in order to buy votes from certain ethnic groups. \_ The Republicans are guilty of 'excusing' illegal aliens and making them magically into citizens (1986) while the Democrats prefer to not bother with the citizenship thing and just have endless numbers of people come over so they can raise taxes on the citizenry in order to 'solve' a social problem they helped create. Fuck them both. \_ Reagan 's amnesty was a political compromise with the Dems. He later stated it was the biggest mistake of his Presidency. Unfortunately, today there are many RINOs in Congress beholden to business. \_ Saying, "I'm sorry" afterwards is too fucking late. |
| 2002/11/4 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:26402 Activity:very high 80%like:26397 |
11/4 http://www.fairvote.org End the 2 party system. \_ Yes it's a much better system. Now if I could see something indicating how to do it. Changes to the Constitution are ...difficult. San Francisco enacting the instant runoff system was a hopeful thing to see, though. \_ Fuck that noise. The two party system has given us a stable and functional government for 200+ years. What? You want something like what Italy has? Get stuffed. \_ They done brain-washed you real good. \_ Ad hominen is a waste of bits. Go to Italy. The last thing this country needs is extremists in office that PR allows to happen. Government and voting is about getting a functional stable government, not about letting every little 2 bit crack pot group that can garner 3% of the vote a say in governing the 97% of the normal people. \_ The cutoff wouldn't have to be 3%, and if it was, that wouldn't affect you because 3% of congress can't force the rest to do anything. \_ You mean like how if some crackpot group had only 3 Senators right now that would be ok with you? Nutty. \_ I want something like The Netherland, Belgium or Germany has. \_ I don't know about the first two but German government is in the shitter. \_ Strangely enough, most reasonably stable democracies I can think of tend towards a two party system, both of which tend to gravitate very close towards each other, except in times of economic crisis (take Turkey), at which point they get replaced by...another two parties. France, Germany, the UK, Russia, Italy, Spain, Israel... there's usually a rightist and a leftist party, with some smaller ones sniping from the sidelines. The only difference being that the countries with parliamentary as opposed to three-branch systems of government tend to see coalitions with a whole bunch of smaller parties... -John \_ You are right, and the two parties "gravitate" as close together as possible. Just like gas stations. -crebbs \_ Does parliamentary necessarily equal proportional representation by party? i.e. by "parliamentary systems" do you mean those Where if a party gets 10% of the vote it gets 10% of the reps? And is that a common understanding of "parliamentary" versus US-style democracy?? \_ no. \_ No. Parliamentary in this case meaning a system lacking separation between legislative and executive branch (i.e. the prime minister is chosen by the legislative, with no or only a weak president to balance it out--Germany, the UK, and Israel are examples. As for proportional representation, I think most major democracies require at that at least an initial hurdle in terms of vote percentage be cleared for a person to obtain a seat. Whether this is done on a per candidate or per party basis differs. -John \_ That's fine that there are two major parties, but that's a lot different than ONLY two parties. This country gets lowest-common denominator politics, whereas in for example Germany small parties like the Greens can and do get representatives in the gov't. Essentially there's 0.01% chance of another party getting any power, and this directly lends itself to corruption and special interest politics. \_ Many people see it as a good thing that an extremist minority party like the Greens don't have any power in this country. If you and enough others like the Greens so much they'll get some power. But they won't because they don't represent enough nutcases to allow them to ruin anything for the rest of the country. I laughed my ass off when the German Green party got into power. It was the end of Germany's chances at \_ Shhh! He hadn't figured that part out yet! recovering and becoming a great nation anytime soon. \_ It's not about extremist minorities you buffoon. Look at California; with PR you would see more conservative representation. \_ I don't want to see more of any representation. I want to see a functional and stable government which is still responsible to the people. PR fails the first and part of the second. Idiotic response from clueless third party purged from motd. \_ This is cool. Don't mathematicians study voting systems? Can anyone recommend a mathematics text on voting? \_ http://www.ctl.ua.edu/math103 \_ Yeah, yeah, we all read slashdot. Troll harder. |
| 2002/10/30 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:26358 Activity:nil |
10/29 Break out your wallet...
'Haitians coming ashore in Key Biscayne, FL'
By some estimates there are 13 million illegals in this country.
http://csua.org/u/48c
\_ Freeper Guy - I thought something bad had happend to you.
I love you, man! |
| 2002/10/12-13 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:26165 Activity:very high |
10/12 You'd figure a pacifist country like this wouldn't be a target, but:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2322275.stm
\_ "According to a government spokesman Mikko Norros, a foreign
terrorist organisation is not believed to have been
responsible for the bomb - rather a deranged individual or
an organised crime group. "
personaly, I believe him. they're finns. what motivation
do they have to lie? as to pacifism, finland has mandatory
military service for all men. no cookie.
\_ more like swiss "armed neutrality"
\_ well, I think it's more just "hey, let's not get fucked over
by russia like all the other countries nearby"
\_ *laugh* You're so naive. Yeah, the first time in history that
the mob has used a suicide bomber. That makes a lot of sense.
Duh, by definition anyone who blows themselves up in a mall is
deranged so that's a meaningless statement as well. It was your
standard PLO/Hamas style suicide bombing in a public shopping
center. Just like the French trying to claim the tanker wasn't
an act of terror, also. A five year old could see this govn't
spokesman's statement is ridiculous. They haven't even collected
all the body parts and he's already claiming it wasn't an act of
middle-east style terror. Nonsense.
\_ The person jumping to conclusion is the person who said:
"You'd figure a pacifist country like this wouldn't be a
target, but ..."
\_ This is a silly response. The motd isn't a public forum
and I doubt the OP is an official government spokesman
feeding propoganda to the public. You're ducking the
issue. I stand by what I said before: they haven't even
collected the body parts and know almost nothing about
what happened when this mouthpiece puts out official word
that it wasn't an act of middle eastern style terrorism,
but was instead some garbage about the world's first
suicidal mafia hit (on a mini mall, no less). For now,
I'm willing to grant them benefit of the doubt on not
releasing identifying details about the bomber beyond his
age and gender, but they don't get that benefit forever.
\_ i'll keep being naive and you keep being paranoid,
and we'll see who has a better life.
\_ This is why we need a regime change in Iraq. Terrorist attacks will
continue while Saddam is in power. -G.W. Bush |
| 2002/10/6-7 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:26117 Activity:moderate |
10/6 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2303363.stm Just because you're French and cut deals with terrorists on a daily basis doesn't mean they won't attack you too. \_ which deals are those? \_ You live on Earth, circa 2002AD, right? The French have a looong history of cutting deals and _trying_ to placate terrorists. It never works but they keep trying. \_ well, they're french. what alternatives do that have? it's cut deals or just surrender and let the terrorists goose step down the champs elysees. \_ hey that worked out well last time. |
| 2002/9/20 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:25960 Activity:very high |
9/19 ""The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for
'Entrepreneur'"-GW Bush"
\_ ETOOMANYQUOTES
\_ But they have 1000 words for 'surrender'. --dim
\_ And snow. They have hundreds of words for "snow".
\_ excellent delivery.
\_ they eat very well... and have lots of vacations. I'd like to
live there. except that they hate jews.
\_ Don't forget they only work 30 hrs a week.
\_ Only in weeks when the trash collector's union isn't on strike
again bringing the entire country to a smelly halt.
\_ French seem pretty arrogant. I once met a French who has a strong
accent. When I saw him reading out some French signs, I ask him if
he's French, and he replied "Yes I am French. I'm proud to be
French."
\_ Wow, that's a great story.
would I? Actually he did swear (I think) in French when he
got stuck behind slow drivers or people crossing the street
slowly.
\_ Nice try troll boi, but no self respecting frenchman would
say "Yes I am French. I'm proud to be French." No, a true
frenchmen would say, "Oui, je suis francais, mon pauvre
amie de l'etats unis."
\_ But if he said that in French I wouldn't understand that,
would I? I quoted that verbatim. Actually he did swear (I
think) in long French sentences when he got stuck behind slow
drivers or people crossing the street slowly even though I was
the only passenger and I don't speak French.
\_ Tout le monde sait le francias, excepte des sauvages et
des hommes anglais.
\_ The above responders are all dense. The joke is that "entrepreneur"
comes from French. Haha.
\_ Wow. humour runs shallow on the soda...
\_ That'd make GW Bush on par with Quayle.
\_ Wow, you figured that one out all on your own? The rest of us
already heard the joke and didn't think much of it the first
time around so we ignored it and went on about more interesting
things related to the smelly French. Where have you been?
\_ like banging yermom? talk about smelly.
\_ Alas, Bush never said it: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/bush.htm
\_ Good job. |
| 2002/9/19 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:25945 Activity:high |
9/19 Any chance that a military coup happens here in the US? Nobody seems
to worry things like this.
\_ Citizen army of volunteers. Also, notice that there hasn't been a
military coup in England for well over 300 years.
\_ The money in this coutry already has both the government and the
armed forces at their beck and call, so there's no need for a
military coup.
\_ None. That's why no one seems to worry about things like this.
\_ What is being done here to prevent this altogether while other
countries have to worry about such thing? All I know is that
the US military is not supposed to talk about politics, but not
talking about it doesn't mean they can't quietly have a view.
\_ basically, we prevent it by giving the military everything
they want. -tom
\_ typical useless agenda driven reply.
\_ snide uninformed counter troll.
\_ None of those things. Correct, precise, accurate.
\_ Random yermom double entendre.
\_ Double entry on yermom? how...interesting.
\_ DVDADO.
\_ Dude. Is that even possible?
\_ Modern and civil countries do not have to worry about such a
thing. Most of western europe, the US, Canada, and Australia
have no reason to fear a military coup. Compare those to the
rest of the world such as Africa and Central America where
coups are a relatively common occurence. Rule of law and
civilian control of the military as well as functional
electoral systems and a tradition of respect for civil
authority keeps modern nations safe from their own militaries.
\_ Read the 2nd Amendment.
\_ right. you and your gun-nut friends are the "well regulated
militia" the second amendment refers to. i'm not a
proponent of gun control for other reasons, but the idea
that the US milinary is afraid of a bunch of citizens
armed with legal weaponery is laughable. the iraqi army
is better armed than you and your local gun buddies, and
we will soon see them get slaughtered--again.
\_ Well regulated? It's all about fiber, son.
\_ I'm a big 2nd amendment supporter but that's not what keeps
western nations safe from their own militaries. You might note
that the other western nations have very strict gun control laws
compared to the US but no greater odds of a military coup.
\_ What do you think happened in December of 2000?
\_ What do you mean? The election? |
| 2002/9/15-16 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:25897 Activity:nil |
9/14 'You have to kill in the name of Allah until you are killed'
http://www.observer.co.uk/islam/story/0,1442,640288,00.html |
| 2002/8/11 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:25538 Activity:moderate |
8/10 what is the second most wired country in the world? a
western european country, like France, or a tech-savvy
one like Japan? or neither?
\_ Korea and Finland are very high up there. -John
\_ Singapore, maybe?
\_ i think in order: US, Japan, Hong Kong.
\_ I'd say, Japan, Hong Kong, US....
\_ Wired? Wired with what? Phones, cable, dsl, what? What does
'most' mean? Most feet of cable, most people, largest percentage
of population, what?
\_ percentage of population, and wired for internet.
\_ there are charts and maps with this info everywhere... google it.
Wired Mag for ex, had something a while back. |
| 2002/7/2-3 [Transportation/Airplane, Reference/Military, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:25266 Activity:high |
7/2 Anyone reading the Yahoo news on the plane crash in Germany? How come
tens of photos are about the wreckage of the Tupolev? Where's the
wreckage of the 757?
\_ Maybe cuz the 757 is a cargo plane and there weren't any children
on board and no one died 'cept for the crew? |
| 2002/6/23-24 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China, Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:25176 Activity:insanely high |
6/23 CNN finally admits bias in reporting and promises to not be such
incredible fuckups in the future.
<DEAD>library.northernlight.com/EC20020623270000029.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0<DEAD>
\_ When US bombed China's embassy a while back, I don't recall
there was ANY coverage on the victims neither. Join the club.
\_ Yes there was. I recall names, body count, professions, and a
bit about their families.
\_ Hmm, I don't see any pro-Isarel US media being pressured to correct
its bias.
\_ Name em.
\_ ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS
\_ *laugh* They're all pro-Palestinian if anyone ever was.
Anyway, no one who wants real news goes there anyway.
That's bubblegum news for the masses. Why do you watch?
\_ yeah they go to http://freerepublic.com instead!
\_ Yawn. What a weak reply. Total strawman. There's
only one conservative on the motd lame enough to
use biased propaganda pseudo news like the free
republic web site as a source and I'm beginning
to think it's a lefty shill looking to create an
artificial strawman. Get over it.
\_ At the end of the article: "Jordan said the company was taking
criticism from both sides, with Palestinian officials he met on
Saturday accusing CNN of serving Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon. ``They believe that CNN is the propaganda arm of the
the other way round.
Sharon government,'' he said."
\_ Palestinian whining is not at all the same as CNN admitting
they fucked up. The first is just a PR tactic. The second is
about CNN's guilt and correcting that misbehavior in the future.
I can honestly claim CNN doesn't run enough stories about my
daily events (zero so far! shocking!) but that doesn't mean CNN
is biased against me since I'm not newsworthy, nor am I a savage
terrorist murderer who targets school buses.
\_ What's wrong with targetting school buses? The goal of
terrorism is terror after all. Get the fuck out of those
settlements.
\_ You mean the settlements in places like the capitol where
buses and cafes are targets? Settlements my ass. They
won't be happy until the jews resettle in Atlantis.
\_ I thought the US media has always been accused of pro-Isarel, not
the other side.
\_ Spend less time listening to Berkeley-style "liberal"
pseudointelligentsiya.
\_ Uhm, no. And as the above points out, accused by who exactly?
SF/Berkeley is not the center of the country.
\_ Arab countries, Europe, Japan, China. Pretty much the whole
world, except maybe India.
\_ Arabs countries? Uhm ok whatever. European journalism is
extreme left wing and Europe is the home to anti-Semitism.
Japan is opposed to anything that might drag their economy
even further down. It's easy to whine when someone else
is covering your ass. And China is an enemy state which
is opposed to the US and her allies on general principle.
\_ and the principles are: complete disregards of
international treaties of any sort, completely
disregards of sovereignty of other nation, for the
sole purpose of expand its economic interest and
overwhelmingly dominance over the world...
\_ This is what *all* countries do. Next!
There was a time where Chinese were really look up
toward Americans (through out the 80s). It's American
themselves start to treat China as an enemy after
TeinAnMen Square 13 yrs ago, after the collapse of
Soviet Union, as China become the only country
left has remote (and i mean REMOTE) chance to
chanllenge American's dominance over the world.
\_ You mean when the Chinese ran over peaceful
pro-democracy protestors with tanks? With friends
like that I'd rather have enemies. |
| 2002/6/20 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:25156 Activity:high |
6/19 What does the lowercase "e" on food packages from europe mean?
\_ "edible".
\_ Seriously?
\_ erection
\_ KOSHeR
\_ this isn't the same thing as that described in sec. 5.1 of
http://lindt.com/switzerland/german/chocomania/health/pdf/additive.pdf
, is it?
\_ No, that's a number prefixed by an uppercase "E". but thanks.
This is a single large lowercase "e" after the net weight.
"600g e"
\_ No, that's a number prefixed by an uppercase "E". but
thanks. This is a single large lowercase "e" after the net
weight. "600 g e"
\_ "Also, the amended rules define the term "e" mark -- a
certification mark used in the European Community (EC) to
establish that the package is appropriately filled in accordance
with EC standards. Failure to allow the use of this mark could
impede American companies selling in the EC."
from http://www.ftc.gov/opa/predawn/F95/fairpackaging.htm
\_ No fucking way! You trying to say they're creating artificial
barriers to trade as a form of protectionism?! It's madness!
\_ Except that they themselves have to follow those standards?
\_ Except that they themselves helped create these barriers
which simply codified their previous practices whereas a
non-EC country will have to go through a compliance
test and spend money changing their business methods to
comply. Thanks for playing Trade Barrier 2002! |
| 2002/6/19 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:25152 Activity:nil |
6/19 Is this true or bogus or biased:
\_ biased.
----------
Ah, Gandhi, the one that sat on his ass for months while the Indian
National Army men(those former Indian soldiers under the Japanese) were
campaigning for the release of their leaders and rioting on the streets
even getting killed. When Gandhi began to see an opportunity opening he
began a peace march which seem laughable to the Brits because all they
had to do was wait until they go away. But the riots and mutiny was
another matter.
"In 1956 Lord Attlee(former Prime Minister of Great Britain)
was asked a question about Britain's hurried withdrawal from
India in 1947. The British statesman who presided over the
transfer of power to the leaders of India and Pakistan was
halting in Calcutta for two days during his passage through
India...Attlee was as good as his reputation for plain
speaking. Without caring about the official British propaganda
line, he mentioned a number of reasons for Britain's momentous
decision, the most important among which, he emphasized, was
that "the loyalty of the men of the Indian Army to their British
commanders had been UNDERMINED by Subhas Chandra Bose's
(Leader of Indian National Army) actions..." Incidentally,
Governor P.B. Chakaravarti asked Lord Attlee his opinion on
an allied subject as well. "Toward the end of the discussion",
he wrote, "I wanted to know to what extent Mahatma Gandhi's
non-violent movement had influenced the British decision to
leave India. There was the flicker of a cautious smile on
Attlee's lips as he uttered with slow deliberation the word
'MI-NI-MAL'..." Who had brought the country(India) so near
its goal? General Sinha's answer is: "The above facts confirm
that the INA(Indian National Army, which Japan helped to create)
had a great psychological and political impact even though its
military impact was not so significant. They also bring out that
the Indian Army played a silent but significant role toward
bringing about the independence of India.
(Pandit's "The Last Days of Netaji")
---------- |
| 2002/6/16-17 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:25109 Activity:kinda low |
6/16 What is/are the legal driving age(s) in western european countries
like France, England, etc?
\_ 18 is the norm.
\_ Better question - when do girls become legal?
\_ In Denmark girls in the teens are legal. Great country unless
you're looking for a cute virgin.
\_ Again with the virgins... why would you want a virgin...
teaching is a turnoff.
\_ Certain people perfer certain things. For example, some
people love to be school teachers even though I can't stand
kids these days.
\_ As usual, the internet, is, once again, your friend.
http://www.ageofconsent.com |
| 2002/6/7-8 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Recreation/Sports] UID:25024 Activity:moderate |
6/7 A female company manager makes an employee shave himself and skate
through Southampton city centre in a pink bikini so he could watch
England's next World Cup match:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_602658.html
\_ This sort of misandry will NOT BE TOLERATED!!!
\_ In Southampton, the guy raised 470 quid skating a circuit of the city
center three times and it made the news. If he did this in Berkeley
or, better, the city, I doubt anyone would even notice.
\_ In Southampton, the guy raised 470 quid skating a circuit of the
city center three times and it made the news. If he did this in
Berkeley or, better, the city, I doubt anyone would even notice.
[ reformatted - motdformatd ]
\_ Sure they would. The headline would be, "Male employee sues
female manager for sexual harrassment."
\_ 1: this is from ananova. ananova is not a real news source.
2: if at all true: lawsuit, firing, etc and rightly so.
\_ Sounds more like something that was said as a joke, and he
took her up on it. |
| 2002/5/29 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24972 Activity:nil |
5/28 Poor Britain... sucked into the European quagmire. Maybe they'll
"get it" someday soon. Pity them until then.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200205\FOR20020528g.html |
| 2002/5/1 [Politics/Domestic/Crime, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24657 Activity:high |
5/1 Happy May Day! Woohoo! Let's celebrate the rise of communism and
the oppression and murder of millions!
\_ mayday predates communism. go away.
\_ Yup, it's been around since the 13th century, according to
Webster Dict.
\_ http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/mayday.html has a
\_ http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/mayday.html has a nice
little ditty at the end plus some history. It's all communism.
nice little ditty at the end plus some history. It's all
communism.
\_ I prefer to celebrate the 8 hour work day, fool.
\_ Is this May Day the same "May Day" that a pilot calls out on the
radio when the plane is in trouble?
\_ No. The pilot is using a French phrase that literally means
"Help Me".
\_ How do you spell it? Why did it beat out "Help"?
\_ Aidez-moi.
\_ That's not pronounced "Mayday." Google is your friend.
http://www.m-w.com/wftw/00may/050100.htm
(and the version that's pronounced as "mayday" by english
speakers is "m'aider")
\_ Yes, but "m'aider" doesn't make sense as a French
command for "help me." Unless you mean "Venez
m'aider." |
| 2002/5/1 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24654 Activity:low |
5/1 http://www.theregus.com/content/3/24823.html 14 minutes and ticking... \_ I don't see a reason for the US version of the reg. It's just a shortened version of the original UK version. If I wanted to skip the UK stories, I'd just skip them. Some are worth reading. I have yet to see a story show on the US Reg but not the UK Reg. |
| 2002/4/29 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24634 Activity:high |
4/29 4th Amendment RIP:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3936063&BRD=982&PAG=461&dept_id=467992&rfi=6
\_ It's only Michigan. How many can find Michigan on a map?
\_ It's only Poland. How many can find Poland on a map?
- N. Chamberlain
\_ Peace with honor! Look ma! We got a piece of paper!
\_ "An officer executing a search is not required to give a copy of the
affidavit to the person or leave a copy at the place from which the
property was taken" - so the cops can take your stuff and not tell
you that they did?
\_ yes.
\_ Yeah this is obviously about giving cops the power to burglar
your cd collection under the cloak of the law. Duh. Not. |
| 2002/4/29 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24630 Activity:kinda low |
4/28 Yugoslav massacre, Israeli massacre.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27423
\_ Umm, yeah. Poor Sharon, just like Milosevic. Vicims of
an obvious European plot to frame them for genocide.
\_ Maybe you didn't notice but Milosevic was doing quite well
defending himself in court, eh? And on what do you base this
oddly trusting warm fuzzy feeling about the Europeans? Are you
trying to claim the stuff in this article is untrue?
\_ Why no mention of Victor Drazen in this article? |
| 2002/4/27-28 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24614 Activity:high |
4/27 http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/26/germany.shooting/index.html Thank God they have strict gun control or who knows what might have happened! \_ clearly fewer would have died because the targets would have been able to protect themselves! NRA4EVA!!1! |
| 2002/4/25 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24582 Activity:kinda low |
4/24 What exactly is so special about French laundry methods? Why are
alot of cleaners "Parisian"? I tried looking this up but kept finding
references to the restaurant in Napa.
\_ Since the French don't bathe regularly their wash has to be done
extra well. That's all.
\_ they might be using french kiss to clean them up. |
| 2002/4/24 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24558 Activity:insanely high |
4/23 Le Pen must be doing something right. Every 'group' in France is
really pissed off. news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=288329
\_ yeah, every 'group', like immigrants and jews. some people
might regard it as a bad thing that the far right is ridsing
again in europe. go back to freeper, you fucking shithead.
\_ bad troll! BAD! TROLL!
\_ Ridsing? Oh, you mean rising. No, you're confused. Nazi-ism
is the far left, not right. Read up on the philosophies and it
will become plain that total state control of all industry,
education and other aspects of daily life is the antithesis of
what conservatism is about. Freeper? Never read it. Fucking
shithead? Resorting to very weak and 6th grade level personal
attack only shows you have no real points or ideas. Anytime
you'd like to try again without ranting like an ignorant 6th
grader I'll be here to help you out.
\_ Nazi'ism is on the far left? Hahahaha. And Orwell was
a conservative, right?
a conservative, right? And Buchanan is actually a closet
liberal. You can make up your own definition for words,
but don't expect to be able to talk to anyone else.
\_ Le Pen is not a fascist. He's a reactionary bully, and
he won because he picked up on topics that the traditional
centrist parties were too complacent to deal with (have
you read the socialist and RPR election platforms? Note
any similarities or slightly bland statements?) He's also
had a lot of support from Jews in France, interestingly
enough, because of a lot of the anti-semitic vandalism from
north African immigrants. Also, he won 17% of the vote...
...out of the 28% of the electorate that actually bothered
to go vote. Pay close attention to the parallels to US
third-rate candidates, who won because not enough people
went and voted. Whining after the fact is easy...can you
say "serves you fucking right?" -John
\_ http://slate.msn.com/?id=2064643 - danh
\_ Why isn't anyone condeming the Palestinians (Muslims) for sending
their early teen children strapped with TNT belts to blow
themselves up. It is absolutely disgusting. Arafat and Muslims,
together with Kofi Anan and the UN have completely twisted
any sense of the morality in West vs Mideast relations.
Where is the revulsion (from the media for example)? Impressionable
children are indoctrinated to commit suicide, that is noble?
\_ It all depends on whether you believe in the cause.
\_ No, there is NO excuse period! It is evil in its purest
form. Any practicers of that kind of barbarism
deserve to be wiped from the face of the earth. Picture
when you have a child preparing him to commit suicide-
strapping on the belt, dressing him, assuaging his
fear and trepidation, and finally sending him off.
\_ So collective punishment is good?
\_ "...deserve to be wiped from the face of the earth."
Answering barbarism with barbarism is not the answer.
\_ Firstly, from what I read, they are like "late
teens", not "early teens". Have you seen the movie
Spartacus? Kid was given weapon to fight against
the Roman legions in the movie. Not many people
objected to that, cause they were supposedly
fighting for "FREEDOM"!
\_ Many, many people, including Arafat, have condemned attacks
on civilians. |
| 2002/4/20 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24502 Activity:kinda low |
4/19 Related to European post below: What are some ways for an
american programmer (like me) with little spanish and
less french, to find a job in a european country? How
important is the language issue? (eg, are there places
that operate in english?) Are tehre other obstacles (eg,
work permit, citizenship, etc) (John, you seem to have alot
of experience.) Thanks.
\_ I had the impression that Europe hates having foreign workers
except in the most menial of positions? --PeterM
\_ Where "foreign" is defined as "anyone not from their village". |
| 2002/4/19 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24492 Activity:high |
4/18 How's the culture different at work between an american and european
company in high tech industry?
\_ European workers work hard AND play hard. American workers do only
either one. Based on my obsrvation. YMMV.
\_ what are your referring to with playing hard? Computer games?
something else?
\_ Drinking, dancing, (=) clubbing til 4am.
\_ Europeans work hard? At what? I wouldn't call standing in
line at the gov. office for your check from the state hard
work. Perhaps you are referring to the grueling 35 hrs/wk
plus 2 mos vacation/yr along hard work.
\- in my experience a lot of europeans i have met [german and
french] are a lot like stanfraud people: they are bright but
are interested in working in "glamorous" roles like "making
deals" and "architecture" rather than working in the trenches.
Curiously the hardcore hackers from France I have met are
not "ethnic french". but maybe some of this is a function of
their having a telecom and finance orientation. --psb
\_ I've worked for French, Swiss, German, and American companies
in Switzerland and around Europe, as well as with loads of Brits.
The work ethics and styles vary widely--i.e. I've seen the Germans
as generally technically bright but aloof from menial shit, the
Swiss tend to be great workhorses, but get up to leave at 5 pm
sharp (unless in an American company culture), and the English
are very punctilious and reliant on rules. It varies widely,
what cultural environment someone is in (i.e. a Brit working in
a Swiss company, where the hierarchy is pretty low-key, is far
more useful than one in the UK, where there's a lot of
backstabbing.) In general though I've found Europeans to be
a lot less whiny than Americans in their work environments,
but once again, this exludes American expats. Also, among all
the managers I've worked for, the French have been by far the
most agreeable, as they leave you alone if you make them look good.
American and English managers in their native environments and
corporate cultures are permanently in my shit list. However, with
the employees t really depends on the situation. -John |
| 2002/4/18 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China, Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:24487 Activity:nil |
4/18 Toursists don't read the news!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1936000/1936241.stm |
| 2002/4/18 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24482 Activity:nil |
4/18 American vs. British journalism. Compare & contrast.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7366-2002Apr18.html
and more from the Chicago Sun Times:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/commentary/cst-edt-edits18.html |
| 2002/4/11 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24421 Activity:high |
4/11 I love the use of the passive third person through out this whole
news piece. As if the rocks just sort of attacked the school bus.
Not a single mention of _who_ might be throwing rocks. I guess the
reporters don't want to 'humiliate' anyone....
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020410/ap_wo_en_ge/france_jewish_school_bus_1&printer=1
\_ The people are identified as "stone throwers". That the reporter
didn't identify a group of people may have been because they
got their information from second hand sources.
What did you want them to say? Palestinean supporters?
You can't just make stuff up if you don't know for sure.
\_ C-. Back to e190 and Subject A. The reporter couldn't find
one first hand witness with an entire bus load of victims?
What a total crock. Also if it was Arabs then why does the
What a total crock. Also if it was[n't] Arabs then why does the
rest of the article talk about "tension" between Jews and Arabs
in France? |
| 2002/3/27 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24239 Activity:insanely high |
3/26 With regards to reparations, anyone who receives $$$ should be stripped
of citizenship and forced to return to the country of most likely
origin. These people have benefitted from coming here, despite the
trials of their ancestors. If they take the money then they need
to go back where they would've been as a condition. --dim
\_ i learned everything i know about african history from
the iron maiden album "number of the beast," so i disagree.
\_ Did we send those Japenese-Americans who were paid reparations
back to Japan?
\_ The legal aspects of this case are vastly different. The
reparations was compensation for violation of their 3rd
amendment rights. These people were FULL CITIZENS at the
time thier constitutional rights were abriged. They had
a legitmate legal claim to be compensated for illegal
search and seizure of thier property and possessions
without due process.
In the case of those asking for reparations for slavery,
the plantifs have no case since they were not guarenteed
any rights until the passage of the 13th amendment. (By
the 3/5ths compromise slaves counted as people for census
purposes but were not protected under the bill of rights).
The reparations for slavery have already been paid, in the
lives of the men and women who fought and died in the civil
war, in the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments
and in the end of segreation. That the original intent of
the founders (all men are created equal) is present in
modern america and is as prevasive nowhere else in the world
should be enough for anyone of any race. A handout cheapens
and renders impotent the Freedom and Liberty that has been
gained and defended. - !OP
\_ I'm undecided on the issue of reparations, but it's clearly
ridiculous to claim that slaves have no right to reparations
because slavery was legal at the time. Their claim is about
moral rights. -tom
\_ Moral rights? Property has no moral rights, no rights
period.
period. Yes slavery was a terrible thing, but it was
positive for any of those inititally brought
over... though you raise an interesting
point... I'd be curious to see the
statistics comparing the percentage of
people killed in, or travelling to, the US,
vs. the percentage killed in Africa during
a comparable time frame. And it is only
arguably positive for any ancestors when
you consider the conditions that most
legal when it happened. They have no claim to compensation
because the there was no crime committed. I think that
these people should get on with thier lives instead of
sitting around pretending to be perpetual victims and
childern of slaves. You are what you believe yourself
to be, if you think that you are a victim, you will be.
\_ There's no claim against a slave owner, who was
within the law. There may be a claim against the
government for enacting immoral laws. (The fact
that the government says it's legal doesn't absolve
it of its own moral responsibility). -tom
\_ Legal precident is that the just compensation
of the enactment of a immoral law is to repeal
the law in question. As the laws in question
have been repealed, there is no basis for this
suit.
\_ That's overly simplistic. It's not only
that the law was immoral, it's that it caused
damage, and a claim for damages certainly could
have merit. A claim for damage 150 years after
the fact, perhaps not. -tom
\_ [ comment about holocaust reparations being paided
dispite the holocaust being legal at the time time
inadvertently deleted, sorry ]
\_ Reparations paid by eurpoeans to other eurpoeans,
is not sufficient legal precident in the US.
I am talking about crimes commited in territory
where the Consitution is valid.
\_ Uhm, where does it say its a 3rd amendment issue?
\_ Internment was a 3rd amendment issue. JAs had a
legal claim. Slaves cannot make any legal claim
under the law as it existed when they were wronged.
\_ I misread the indenting. Nevermind. Makes sense.
\_ maybe. but that was different, it was wartime. wartime rules
are different than peacetime rules.
\_ yeah, fucking people over because it's wartime is somehow
a more outright offense then doing it peacetime. whatever.
\_ Yes, at least there was some rationale in WWII, however
cooked up, for locking up American citizens because
they were of Japanese ancestry. --Jon
and not the euro-boat-people. Think about if the
same things were committed today and you'll see some of
the flaws in your logic.
\_ There wasn't any rationale in any other cases? I'm
assuming that dim's ignorant original comment was
in regards to slavery? Are you trying to say that
there weren't countless "scientists" and philos-
ophers making justifications for why it was ok
to enslave brown people all around the globe? - rory
\_ Excuse me, but I think that if you think about it
you will find my comment enlightening. Has slavery
helped or hurt the people in question? --dim
\_ I have thought about it, and I never said your
post wasn't enlightening... It is enlightening
of the fact that you are ignorant and/or
racist. Are you really trying to argue that
slavery has had a net positive effect on
Africans brought to America? - rory
\_ It certainly was a net positive for their
descendants (they live in a prosperous society
vs whatever african shithole they originally
came from), and it may have been a net positive
for some of them (in a sense that they would
have been executed as POWs in some tribal war
otherwise, or perhaps died of malaria).
\_ wow when did david horowitz get a CSUA account? - danh
\_ It's a net negative - hundreds of years
of slavery, crappy lives up till the
the Civil Rights movement. And it is
the black people themselves who
stood up, fought for their rights, and
made better lives for themselves.
Incredible to see rightwing fuckheads
talking out of the their arses and
trying to give credit to the slave
traders for what is good in the lives
of today's African Americans.
\_ Excuse me but the civil rights movement
was a Republican agenda item. You still
have sheet/hood wearing ex-KKK members in
Congress right *now*. Thanks for adding
your biased agenda driven bit of weak
historical revisionism to the motd.
\_ Yup, Abraham Lincoln was black.
\_ That Abe was a good man doesn't
negate the fact that it was a net
negative. As for standing up for
themselves, I am referring to the
Civil Rights movement, not during
the Civil War period.
\_ Oops, sorry.
\_ Are you kidding me?? It certainly *wasn't*
positive for any of those inititally
brought over... though you raise an
interesting point... I'd be curious to
see the statistics comparing the percentage
of people killed in, or travelling to, the
US, vs. the percentage killed in Africa
during a comparable time frame. And it is
only arguably positive for any ancestors
when you consider the conditions that most
blacks were living in for the larger part
of the last century and a half... and the
fact that I'm sure that almost all brought
over were perfectly content, and that most
tribal warfare was caused by colonizing
countries anyway.
\_ The evil Westerners made the poor
africans fight each other? What, they
have no free will? Do you have a source
on this last point? People often forget
that 'people of color' can be just as
nasty as the blackest (whitest?) western
imperialist pig-dog.
\_ This is always the stupidest argument
put forth.
\_ People also often forget that
European countries. If you
disagree, feel free to go
home.
before colonization, and subsequent
"development" by former colonizers,
Africa did not consist of formal
nation-states at all, but rather
loose tribal nations. These coexisted
in relative peace (compared to how
things are now). Now you tell me
what all this "tribal warfare" is
about... - rory
(Hint: details of the arbitrary
borders imposed on the continent,
and who gets to be the recipient
of all the western development
money.)
\_ Talk to the British and their Euro
allies about the fucked up borders
created in Africa to intentionally
cause chaos and worsen tribal
warfare. This was not an American
action. We were a bunch of total
world nobodies when this all went
down. The historical revisionism
on the motd is sickening. If you
can't make a point without the
outright *lying* then you don't
have a point and should go away
and shut the fuck up. Thank you.
\_ This whole subthread is
pointless. That US is better
than African nations is
besides the point. US is
also better than all the
European and Asian countries.
If you disagree, feel free to
go home.
\_ That argument assumes the slavers knew
that the slaves would be better off in
the new world. Since tens of thousands
died enroute and tens of thousands died
at the hands of their owners, this would
be a very poor point to make.
\_ We have benefited from them being here too. Should we therefore
go back to wherever we came from?
\_ Of course we have. That is why we are paying them. Then they
need to leave. --dim
\_ You shell out my $9m and I'm outta here! Be glad to go!
\_ To, say, Nigeria? Doubt it.
\_ have you any idea what $9m can buy in NIgeria???
\_ I'm off to the slums of eastern europe where my peoples
came from... *with* my $9m bucks! Gladly. As soon as
that money clears I'm soooo out of here.
\_ No, I think dim should go back to where s/he came from, but
dim's money stays here. That's more fair.
\_ I totally agree that reparations are impractical when both the
criminals and the victims are long dead. In the case of
Japanese-American internees, it made some sense since the
the reparations were paid to actual victims. Having said that,
it's kind of funny when you see people so ready to draw a
line between themselves and the crimes committed by their
ancestors, and in the very next breadth, they want to send
other people "home" because these people's ancestors came later
then their ancestors, seemingly saying that they have more
right to be here simply because their ancestors came earlier.
\_ I only want to send the people home who want the money, not
all of the "victims". Capiche? --dim
\_ First their "home" is here. Second, then those who
"benefited", the perpetrators/benefited should leave
unless they pay. but you can argue that is all of us in
some way, even those who just arrived yesterday. However
you a very confused if you argue that their
descendants are better off. You are mixing up your idea
"of going home" with reparations. You are missing the
big picture. If their ancestors were not exploited
and perhaps let to live/work/immigrate freely they
may have been the ones running the country today
\_ hahahhahahahhah! yeah right!
\_ michael jordan, oprah
and not the euro-boat-people. In any case, you cannot
put a condition onto people because Americans are free to
live where they want to. Think about if the same
things were committed today and you'll see some
of the flaws in your logic. It does not follow.
They are not related. That said, I agree reparations
are not going to work. The only thing possibly more
un-feasible is your plan!
\_ thank you...
\_ Even if both parties were alive, the claim would be on a poor
legal footing. They're seeking reparations for something that
was legal at the time. I suspect that such reparations would
be deemed unconstitutional on an ex-post-facto basis.
\_ Doesn't matter if it was "legal at the time".
\_ Of course it does, duh. Go look up the "ex post facto"
concept. Jesus Christ some people around here are so dumb.
\_ You can argue it but ex post facto does not matter
\_ It was legal to keep innocent men behind bars
but after they are freed, they still sue.
\_ WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN????!!??!???
\_ I FEEL YOUR PAIN! I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH THAT WOMAN! I DID
NOT INHALE! IT WAS NOT AN ASPIRIN FACTORY!
\_ CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?!?
\_ IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD! |
| 2002/3/15 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:24121 Activity:insanely high |
3/15 US aid paltry:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1034243
"Not only is the United States the stingiest of all rich-country aid
donors (spending only 0.1% of its national income on foreign aid,
compared with the European average of 0.3%), its aid is particularly
inefficient."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/15/international/15PREX.html
"President Bush today proposed a three- year, $5 billion
increase in American foreign aid to poor nations that support human
rights, adhere to strong systems of law and have open markets."
\_ Whelp! That's that! Our TAX PAYER FUNDED AID is being wasted so
we should just stop bothering and end all aid programs. Thanks for
the link.
\_ Get a f'ing clue. Who exactly footed the bill for all
UN excursions around the world the past two decades? Who
stations the 5th Fleet to guard the Saudi Arabian oil
predominantly used by Europe? The US has been the de facto
national defense of Europe the past 5 decades.
\_ Stationing troops in the Middle East for the benefit
\_ So in the glofified world of political virtue you live name me
one country that would want us to leave. And then
of (primarily) American owned oil companies can't be
called foreign aid, by any stretch of the word or idea.
Most people would consider it thinly veiled imperialism.
\_ You're right. Let's pull out and let the whole area fall to
shit and see exactly how this had no benefit to Europe who
gets the bulk of their energy from the Middle East. It's
funny how if we go somewhere it's imperialism and we're bad
and if we don't then we're isolationist and we're bad.
\_ Did Europe clamor for the US to come to the aid of
Kuwait? Your knowledge is history is very rudimentary.
Kuwait? The only people who cared were the Texas
oil boys and their puppets in Kuwait. If you don't
think American foreign and domestic policy is
in the service of Big Oil, you should at least
consider it.
\_ how does middle eastern oil help texas? as an
alaskan, i can tell you that poeple up there
are more against our dependence on middle
eastern oil than anyone. alsaska has a negative tax
because of *alaskan* oil riches, not oil company
profits in general. i don't see why texas would be
any different.
\_ you do know we get more oil from the US and Canada
than we do from the middle east don't you?
\_ Not Texans so much as Exxon, Mobile, Texaco,
and Chevron executives and shareholders.
\_ So in the glofified world of political virtue you live name
me one country that would want us to leave. And then
ask yourself why you don't live there?
\_ South Korea. And I did.
\_ South Korea wants the American military out of the
DMZ? You're stupid and a liar.
\_ He answered your inane question and you call
him stupid and a liar. You are a dolt.
\_ And what a complete disaster US involvement
in South Korea has been. Great point!
\_ the problem is not with the hard core figures. It has to do with
perception and marketing. US should save that money and spend it
on marketing (setup proxy radio+TV stations) which portrays that
we're not all that greedy and evil. And it should do that in
Muslim countries ASAP.
\_ Why? Why do you care what "The Arab Street" thinks? That's not
who the terrorists are.
\_ Sympathy lends legitimacy. |
| 2002/2/23-24 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23958 Activity:insanely high |
2/22 Just curious, when the Olympics was held in Berlin back in the 30s
how many gold medals did Germans get?
\_ ya gotta love google...
Top winners G S B Total
1. Germany 33 26 30 89
2. USA 24 20 12 56
3. Italy 8 9 5 22
\_ wow those Nazis are really good... or not :)
\_ wow, taking performance enhancing drugs even then, eh?
\_ Keep in mind, that Germany before WW2 was the techincally
most advanced nation in the world. Nazi party managed to
pull Germany out of depression which lasted 10 years.
Too bad, among other things, Hitler never been to Asia
at the time, otherwise, he probably will not complain about
lack of "living space" for the German people.
\_ Max Schmeling and Jesse Owens would tell you otherwise. -John
\_ Nah, Germany was really advanced pre-WWI. By pre-WWII,
it has slipped a little relatively speaking. Also,
Germany is crowded even by Asian standards.
\_ Hitler not complain about bad engrish on motd not either!
\_ Why does UK suck so bad in the Olympics relative to the
other European nations?
\_ because their wide success in rock music has encouraged
more youth to pick up music as opposed to sports.
\_ They don't have mountains. -tom
\_ they have bad teeth
\_ All the males died in WW I / II, leaving mostly
effeminate noncombatants to repopulate. Plus they are
socialists and their societies are dying, literally.
\_ But UK is less socialist than Sweden and Norway!
\_ Sweden and Norway don't have zillions of foreigners on
welfare swamping their shores.
\_ Is it "dying", too?
\_ yeah that's it - blame the foreigners.
\_ Blame goes where it belongs. shrug.
\_ Canada is just as socialist, has just as many
foreigners, and still did well at the Olympics.
Your explanation is stupid. I like Tom's
explanation better. But then UK also kind of
sucks at Summer Olympics. The rock music
explanation ain't bad either.
\_ Hey genius, the topic moved beyond medal count.
Try again.
\_ Why do you insist on trying to explain
your stupidity. I suggest the best way
for you to cover it up is to delete
this thread in its entirety.
\_ No one was explaining anything. You were
being corrected. So this makes two times you
needed correcting on the same thread. You
stick around, son, you'll get it one day. I
suggest a basic reading comprehension course
at a local community college for a good start.
\_ The only time the topic changed was when
it shifted from medal count to how stupid
you are.
\_ Maybe you're not ready for community
college basic reading comp. courses. |
| 2002/2/22 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23950 Activity:nil |
2/21 To the French/Sartre/existentialist buffs out there...is there
an english translation of "Les Jeux Sont Faits" available? My
French has completely degraded over the past few years so I can't
read the original version.
\_ Babelfish!
\_ Run the motd archive through the french version of jive. Same
effect.
\_ OK let me rephrase the request. Is there a good or reputable
translation of the book? -op
\_ Why the f&%k are you asking the motd this (other than
anonymously boasting about your erudite reading requirements)?
\_ Because the motd is sometimes a good source of info.
\_ Consider me duly slapped and carry on. (!sarcasm) |
| 2002/2/15-16 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23880 Activity:very high |
2/15 This olympic figure skating contraversy brings out something that
reminded people of the cold war. All the eastern block former
communist countries still stick together. Yeah, they may be
democracies now, but they still remember their communist roots.
\_ a Deep Thought, by Jack Handy.
\_ uh, yes, I'm sure you're the only one who noticed this. Are you
next going to point out the French joined them and post the standard
anti-French tirade about them, too?
\_ Actually, I think the original post was cut and pasted from
a SJ Merc article. Either that or http://ESPN.com.
\_ That's not quite the situation. The fact that many of these countries
were under the the thumbs of Soviet-backed military dictatorships
complicates the "old buddies" theory.
\_ Then the OP needs to get bashed for not providing a link or
quoting ths source in addition to posting the obvious. I'm
still trying to decide if the SF Comical is better or worse
than the SJM but neither is a 'good' source of news.
\_ Just like US and UK still sticking together after two and a quarter
centuries of independence.
\_ Uhm, more like since WWI or thereabouts. 1777 wasn't a good year
for US/British relations. Also 1776 wasn't the US becoming
magically independent. We "declared" it. That's why we call it
the "Declaration of Inde" oh nevermind. Go read a book. Why do
I bother?
\_ Yeah I know we declared independence. What's your point?
\_ 1812 wasn't so hot either. --dim |
| 2002/1/3 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23438 Activity:very high |
1/2 Why the Euro conversion is a Good Thing (tm):
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020102/od/germany_dc_1.html
\_ Let's see... 1 euro = $0.90... Damn that's nice.
\_ CSUA-field-trip-to-Deutchland-P
\_ nil -- russian jew
\_ The idea was originally 1 euro = $1.00.
\_ There's a better reason: it'll take the europeans years to recovere
from entangling and mushing up their different economies, legal
system, transport, etc, etc, etc, during which time we'll leave
them in a far distant second place economically while we continue
to ship more cigarettes, Coke, and McDonald's over there. There
is more than one way to win a war. Conquering your enemy's
culture without bloodshed is the best long term method of victory
and it creates jobs along the way. I'm all for the Euro.
\_ In 20 years we are going to be second to China anyway.
\_ Laughable.
\_ Yeah, the World Bank is a bunch of jokers.
\_ do you know the real reason the american economy
has been having problems? ever since the motd.public
has been unreadable to those without csua accounts,
allan greenspan has been unable to read it, and
has been without it's wisdom for quite some time.
the effects are obvious.
\_ finger motd@soda.csua.berkeley.edu
\_ When you subtract out all of the .com crap which was transient
growth, Europe actually had better productivity growth than the
US. They also work less than we do.
\_ which why Germany test scores are so high |
| 2001/12/30-31 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23405 Activity:moderate |
12/30 Can I use U.S. cordless phone (900MHZ, 2.4GHZ) outside U.S.
(Europe, Asia)? Will I cause or receive inteference? Where
can I find out more about this?
\_ European cordless phones uses a standard called DECT. It runs
in the 1.8-1.9ghz range. Plus, GSM in any place other than the
U.S.A. runs in 900 or 1800 mhz, so you will most likely cause
and receive interference if you're in the 900 mhz range. |
| 2001/12/28 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:23390 Activity:high 75%like:23392 |
12/27
"So what ties us together? We're tied together by our belief in
political democracy. We're tied together by our belief in religious
freedom. We're tied together by our belief in capitalism, a free
economy where people make their own choices about the spending of
their money. We're tied together because we respect human life. We're
tied together because we respect the rule of law. Those are the group
of ideas that make us Americans."
''12/28 Europe / Arabia vs. Isreal / U.S.
...from the Spectator, a read so awesome, I wet my pants:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/fr/597547/posts
\_ The kind of crap that sodans read is scary. And even scarier is
that they read it on a regular basis.
\_ Agreed - at least as concerns the nutty freerepublic guy.
\_ reiffin
\_ When are you going to learn to format properly? Let me guess,
this is from George "What election law?" Bush. |
| 2001/12/22 [Politics/Domestic/RepublicanMedia, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23343 Activity:nil |
12/21 Ann Coulter: Attack France! (It's at least worth reading
before you delete)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/fr/593954/posts
\_ Is this supposed to be funny?
\_yep. Not only supposed to be, but is.
\_ Nope. Not funny. It is like a bad Saturday Night Live
skit that never ends. Not one laugh in it.
\_ How on earth does this woman stay syndicated?
\_ because some people aren't dumb humorless liberals.
\_ They are stupid shit-kicking half literate rednecks?
\_ ... although I think Ann missed one very important point,
France bought Iraq's war debt from Kuwait.
- original poster |
| 2001/12/14 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23244 Activity:high |
12/14 http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001571536,00.html I'm not sure if the first or the second article on this page is more scary. Either way, be glad if you're living somewhere else besides France or Britain. \_ be forwarned the UN wants to have this ability over Americans. they want to gut the 2nd amendment and take away our guns. \_ it was a good try until you forced the 2nd amendment thing in there and you really blew it with the "our guns" bit at the end. theres no need to whack people over the head with the bait. \_ Just because you don't hear about it on CNN Headline news doesn't mean its not true. \_ Yes I know the UN wants to take over the US. The UN = enemies of the US and the jealous third world. However, just because they want it doesn't mean they're going to get it. Just stop voting in anti-americans and it'll be ok. \_ Actually, the US benefits a great deal from the UN, without which US political clout would be vastly reduced. Don't be stupid. \_ As soon as the guns go, so does your freedom. What other deterent is there? \_ the smell? \_ Uh, hmmm... the military? \_ The greatest threat to this country is from within. Where have u been the past 10 years? \_ Your vote counts. Stop voting for enemies of this country. |
| 2001/12/7-9 [Computer/SW/Security, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23179 Activity:high |
12/7 What is the best way to transfer funds between accounts in U.S. and
another country (in Europe) without fee or getting riped off
by special conversion rate? The amount is small and just to cover
my expenses when I travel or order internationally, i.e. < $2000.
\_ My dad has a US checking account at B of A. Every month I make
a deposit to his account at a branch here, and he withdraws the
money at a branch in Hong Kong. No transaction fee, but I don't
know if the conversion rate is the same as the standard rate.
\_ I asked at the Bank of America in Hong Kong whether
one can access his US account in HK, the answwer I get
is plain no, as Bank of America Asia supposedly cannot
access account of its parent bank in US. If you are
converting from USD to a foreign currency, you are bound
to pay a conversion fee (3% I think in most banks). You
can open an USD account in a more established financial
houses (like SG), so you can withdraw funds outside of US
much more easily. But for $2000, it's easier to get
travel's checks.
\_Tnx for the reply. However often the need to transfer
money arises and the amount becomes known while I am outside
U.S., not to mention carrying traveler's check is like
carrying cash other than being much safer.
\_ I've heard from a lot of people that ATMs are good,
you get better (minimal but still significant)
fees. Better than changing cash out.
\_ but you cannot deposit foreign currency to your account
from abroad.
\_ Go back and read the stated objective, duud.
\_ Use your credit card. You'll get the best exchange rate
and if you pay it off, the fee will be minimal. No cash
that you need to carry which should eliminate the cost of
foreign->US.
\_ Depends. While I was in Europe this past summer, it was
cheapest for me to just withdraw cash from ATMs: BofA
was tacking a "foreign currency conversion fee" to each
of my CC transactions, while for the ATM withdrawals, I
was getting the interbank exchange rate without any
additional fees. When I lived in Germany, I had my
paychecks direct-deposited to my credit union account
in the US and paid for everything in cash: if my needs
exceeded the daily transaction limit, I planned ahead
and visited the ATM multiple days in a row. If you
want an account at a bank that has a presence on both
sides of the Atlantic, I've heard that Citibank and
HSBC are good choices for US->Europe expatriates,
although I have no experience with either. -- kahogan
\_ which ever route you choose, make sure you don't go to
the foreign currency exchange booth at traverler's spots.
Their rate is horrible. (something like 8%)
\_ That's strange. Maybe my dad makes his withdrawal by writing
himself a check and then cash it at a B of A branch there?
I've never asked him.
\_ The more I think about it, this is a good way for money
laundry.
\_ Yes, this is exactly how my father got money at a BofA
branch in Taiwan. |
| 2001/11/14 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23040 Activity:very high |
11/14 Is United States is the only country in the world that advertises
"weight control" pet food? For pets that are too fat? You really
have to have lived in an improverished country to realize just how
absurdly rich this country is. And why so many people in the world
hate us for it.
\_ So you are saying envy is good and excusable? Maybe they should
get off their asses, and invest, and create business and wealth.
There is no such thing as absurdly rich.
\_ It's not about envy or jealously. You're making that up.
\_ Have you no sense of shame at all?
\_ The only thing it means is that Americans and their pets are
both fat.
\_ They probably have it in Japan too... and maybe France or UK.
\_ Ah yes. We should feel guilty for living in a country with enough
fucking FOOD. And those poor bastards who keep having 5 kids when they
can barely feed their own ignorant AIDS-ridden selves should hate us
because we live in a civilized society. I'm not ashamed to be living
above the level of animals.
\_ What a fucking asshole!
\_ you have never lived in an improverished country have you? Ever
wonder why they have so many children? Because one or two of
the kids will die. Also because children work and bring in
income. I'd seen first hand children whose only purpose is to
haul buckets of water up a hill because their shack has no
running water. They do that whole day everyday until they die
or, if they live, they can get a paying job. Paying job meaning
shining shoes or collecting scrap.
\_ If having more children really increase overall productivity,
how come those countries haven't solved famine after people
have had so many children?
\_ Look, being poor does not necessitate such a crappy life. There
are many other "poor" societies in history. These problems go
deeper than just poverty. It's a breakdown of civilization.
In some cases the religion makes them not even attempt to raise
their living standards; they say the worse they live now, the
better they'll have it in the afterlife. Look at how early
western societies behaved...most of them didn't have running
water either. Towns had a well in the middle.
\_ What religion is this? Cite a passage out of some holy
book instead of making shit up. You're almost as bad as
Jon Katz.
\_ In Islam, this (as in, RIGHT NOW, BEING ALIVE) life is not
as vivid or important as the next life, the afterlife.
\_ How about: "It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the
Kingdom of God."
Or this: "They that will be rich fall into a tempatation
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts...
for the love of money is the root of all evil:
O man of God, flee these things, and follow after
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
meekness." The Bible is full of this stuff.
\_ The bible also extols us to work hard and not be lazy.
Yes, the bible want us to trust in the Lord rather
than trust in our money. The bible is not against
wealth but against greed, wastefulness, and money
obtained through improper means.
\_ If anyone bothers to read the Bible they would
quickly realize it is a awesome commentary
on human existence, it is packed full with
perfect wisdom, and a path to self-awareness.
It's the best book you could ever read.
\_ Read "All the trouble in the world", there is a chapter on famine.
\_ If we all donate our old PCs and Linux software and DSL hubs +
ethernet cards their standard of living will totally improve!!! |
| 2001/11/12 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:23013 Activity:nil |
11/12 In Saving Private Ryan there is this skinny tri-lingual guy who is
always afraid of combat. Toward the end of the movie he walks
up the stairway and meets this German guy. How come the German guy
didn't kill him? Also what did he say to the Germans, and why did
he shoot only one guy?
\_Why is Darth Luke's father? Why is Barney pink? Who cares? |
| 2001/10/25-26 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Recreation/Food] UID:22833 Activity:very high |
10/25 Can anyone recommend a good Italian restaurant in SF?
\_ Basta Pasta (if you like the whole mofia atmosphere).
\_ http://www.pizzahut.com
\_ Price range? How many? What's the occasion? More info please.
\_ around $30 / person, romantic setting would be nice ..
\_ Caffe Sport, Steps of Rome, Pasta Pomodoro (decreasing price)
\_ Steps of Rome sucks. The food is so-so, they are overpriced,
and if you actually speak Italian (or know Italians who
pantomime a lot), you'd realize that the waiters usually insult
you.
\_ Reminds me of the movie National Lampoon - European Vacation
where Chevy Chase and the family went to a restaurant in
France and the waiter commented on his daughter's round ass
in French.
\_ the Americans rarely make fun of the Europeans. Why do
they make fun of our big belly and Lewdwinsky round ass?
\_ It's an American movie, so it's Americans trying to make
fun of Europeans making fun of Americans.
\_ The food is decent, and it is definitely NOT overpriced, but
actually quite cheap (pasta < $10). It's all about the
atmosphere. $2.50 for a cafe to sit in a loud restaurant
watching people go by... go back to Denny's.
\_ Agreed. Yeah, the waiters will hit on your girlfriend if
she's cute, insult you on the sly, and the like, but the
atmosphere is fun and the tiramisu is excellent. It's a
\_ Go to a real Italian resaurant like Mangafuoco or Trattoria
great place to go if you're mildly drunk.
? \_ I like Pasta Pomodoro. Another one that is good is Buca Di
Beppo. You need make reservation. Otherwise it's 2+ hour wait.
\_ Pasta Pomodoro is passable Italian. It's about on par with a
Stouffer's frozen Italian Entree heated in the oven.
Waits at Buca di Beppo are weird. Sometimes you wait a long
time, and sometimes you get lucky. Plus, making reservations
can be a pain because they only have half of the restaurant
available for reservations so they tend to get booked up way
in advance. If possible, try requesting the Kitchen table at
Buca di Beppo. It's rad.
\_ Buca di Beppo is the worst Italian food I've ever had. The
atmosphere is tacky (think TGIFridays), the waiters are rude
and the pasta is slathered with enough garlic to make it
inedible.
\_ Not to mention the ass tiramisu.
\_ Agreed with the worst Italian comment -- do not go there
\_ Go to a real Italian resaurant like Mangiafuoco or Trattoria
Contadina. These losers are sending you to cheapo places with
mediocre food.
\_ Fuzio is a PastaPomodoro competitor. I prefer Pomodoro, but Fuzio
is acceptable.
\_ DiBeppo is not Italian, it is Eye-talian.
\_ I've always like Pane e Vino. Casual and pretty tasty. The
other places recommended tended to be more Americanized or
touristy.
\_ North Beach Restaurant _used_ to have incredible Italian.
\_ Via Vai on Union & Cafe Pazzia on 3rd. Good but not cheap food.
Both have reasonably priced(~$8) thincrust pizzas that are great.
\_ Last time I went to Pazzia, my pizza was $13.
\_ What about Joe's down by the Exit Theatre?
\_ Figaro is terrible. Avoid the place. The Stinking Rose is also
terrible.
\_ Zagat says: Delfina, Scala's Bistro, Trattoria Contadina, Emma,
and Antica Trattoria (in that order). Also, Mazzini Trattoria
on Telegraph in Berkeley got good marks. Also in Berkeley is
Venezia, which I like. Oh, and E'Angelo on Chestnut in SF
makes great lasagna. --dim
\_ Venezia is ass.
\_ Uh. Okay. It's not on part with the others I mentioned,
\_ Uh. Okay. It's not on par with the others I mentioned,
but it's not Olive Garden. --dim
\_ I like Milano on Pacific in SF. Top notch service, romantic (cozy,
intimate) and in your price range.
\_ Not bad for what it is, but if that's your idea of top-notch
service you need to get out more. This is a good place for a
a casual dinner when you don't want to spend a fortune, but
it isn't upscale or top-notch in any way. --dim |
| 2001/10/10-11 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:22682 Activity:very high |
10/10 How was dynamite better than other explosives before its time? Why
was it such a big invention? Thx.
\_ it's stable?
\_ Easy to make, cheap, powerful, detonates rather than conflagrates,
safe to handle (i.e., stable.) i.e., yes.
\_ Before, nitroglycerin was the explosive of choice. Nobel used
to make it before TNT. Lost relatives, labs, and manufacturing
facilities due to the explosive's unstable nature. Lots of
mining and transport accidents too. Real ugly stuff.
\_ What was that classic John Wayne film where they are
transporting the nitro in a wagon. It was based on another
classic (b&w) euro (french?) film...
\_ The John Wayne movie is probably Rooster Cogburn.
The French movie is probably Le Salaire de la
Peur (The Wages of Fear), which was remade as
The Sorcerer. - ok
\_ Wrong on the Duke film.
\_ Are you sure that's not it? See the synopsis at
http://users.orac.net.au/~mhumphry/roosterc.html |
| 2001/9/23 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/India, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:22596 Activity:nil |
9/22 "Afghanistan Is Like Nothing You've Ever Seen, Soviet Vets Say"
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000075191sep19.story
\_ Unlike the Russians and British, we're not trying to take over the
country and rule the people.
\_ Unlike the Russians, the British, while having Gen. Elphinstone
lose a > 12,000 man army the first time around, actually whupped
them something good, blew up their main mosque, then left,
having made their point. They were not trying to take over,
but rather to prop up a suitable puppet capable of keeping the
Russians from moving in and threatening India in their desire
for non-isolated warm-water port. As Afghanistan, under the
English-installed kings was actually quite stable from 1847-
1965-ish, at which point the British were no longer in India,
and with a government in place there which was friendly to
the soviets, one might conclude that they were pretty
successful. So none of this untameable tribal barbarian stuff,
please. -John |
| 2001/9/19 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:36334 Activity:nil |
9/19 For those inclined to post articles from the Guardian.
"... the extrapolation of your own adolescent rebellion into a
cosmic political philosophy in which the most powerful
country in the world personifies the domineering adult
authority against which you pit yourself"
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3ba8322940da.htm |
| 2001/9/19 [Politics/Domestic/Crime, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:22524 Activity:very high |
9/19 For those inclined to post articles from the Guardian (undeleted)
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3ba8322940da.htm
\_ Quite reactionary don't you think? It seems to me that this is
an attempt to break down an argument that isn't being made by
British left. Namely that mass murder is somehow acceptable in
this case. |
| 2001/9/18-19 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:22514 Activity:high |
9/18 http://www.foreignaffairs.org/Search/document_briefings.asp?i=19981101facomment1428.xml&nb=0 \_ A link to Patton's speech: http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/patton_20010914.html Patton was already using terms like "He Man" and "superman". I thought those were first created as comic characters after WWII. |
| 2001/9/12 [ERROR, uid:36270, category id '18005#9.31' has no name! , , Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:36270 Activity:nil |
This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing. America: The Good Neighbor. Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record: "This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars! into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon -! not once, but several times - and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those," Stand proud, America! |
| 2001/9/10 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:22361 Activity:high |
9/10 Antimasturbation devices for csua members (no pun):
Check out http://free.freespeech.org/shockingtruth/pittjohnson.html
esp. the quotes at the bottom. These guys are serious...
\_ It can't be real. How do you pay for something priced at 34.99
pound sterling in British currency? -- not from Britain
\_ too bad it isn't true.
\_ It can't be real. How do you pay for something at 34.99 pound
sterling in British currency?
\_ it's obviously not real |
| 2001/9/10 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:22360 Activity:very high 66%like:22353 |
9/9 Take the red pill:
http://www.wholeearthmag.com/ArticleBin/374.html
\_ i will save the rest of you the trouble:
"capitalism bad, communism good".
\_ If that is what you got from it, I question your reading
comprehension skills. It is no way complimentary of
comprehension skills. It is no way complementary of
communism.
\_ I love it when morons criticize people. "Duh, your
reading comprehension sucks." Look up "complementary",
it doesn't mean what you think it means.
\_ Your vocabulary sucks too. "comlementary" !=
"complimentary". Look it up. He, unlike you, used
the word correctly.
\_ this is unfair. someone corrected the original post.
\_ well, okay, maybe just "capitalism bad". not sure what other
point the overlong drivel had. at some point i ceased caring.
\_ I think either the article failed to point out that the USSR,
being the biggest communist country, also did more or less
the same things as mentioned in the article, or it purposely
avoided that fact.
\_ What does USSR have to do with it?
\_ The article seems to blame warfare and imperialism on
capitalism, while in fact those problems were common to
both capitalism and communism. It's like when someone
finds that a big percentage of students in every
university cheats in their exams, he writes an article
on the topic "a big percentage of students in University
biased.
X cheats in their exams". It's not incorrect, but it's
unfair.
\_ I guess that is one way to think about it. But I don't
know anyone who seriously advocates a communist
dictatorship as a response to the problems of
limited democracy and corporate control of the media.
both capitalism and communism.
biased.
\_ I guess that is one way to think about it.
\_ sorry, i couldn't get past the stupid matrix analogy.
"The propaganda lies of yesterday were recorded and
became consensus history--the fabric of the matrix."
I just can't make myself believe that anyone who could
say this with a straight face has anything reasonable
to say.
\_ Donate all your belongings to PETA and go live in a cave
deep in the forest.
\_ DEEP in the forest. I don't want to run into you
on a random hiking trip.
\_ People for the Eating of Tasty Animals? |
| 2001/9/8 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:22353 Activity:high 66%like:22360 |
9/7 http://www.wholeearthmag.com/ArticleBin/374.html \_ "Escaping the Matrix. What if consensus reality is a fabricated illusion? Are you ready for the red pill?" |
| 2001/8/14-15 [Politics/Foreign, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:22112 Activity:high |
8/14 What's the purpose of an air show with military aircrafts? Why would
a country want to let other countries know what their jet fighers
can and cannot do?
\_ intimidation
\_ in this day and age, it can be an advertisement -- buy my MIGs!
\_ it's a major recruiting tool, and PR stunt. Plus what they show
at the shows is already known. The airshows held in the states
are for the public and are quite frankly very boring compared
to the ones at industry air shows held in UK and Paris. There
the Russians come and show off their stuff and challenge others
to do the same (certain Su-27 are more acrobatic than anything but
the F-22). You get to see things like the An-225 Cossack, too.
the baddest MF cargo plane on the planet
\_ Isn't the Su-37 far more acrobatic than the F-22?
\_ I think Pearl Harbor the recent movie gave away our biggest tactic
of playing chicken with each other and making the enemy follow and
crash
\_ The air show is that industry's equivalent of a trade conference.
All the stuff for public consumption is usually a side product.
You're not seeing the 3rd worlders in th background writing checks. |
| 2001/7/20 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:21888 Activity:nil |
7/19 Cow filled with fireworks dropped from helicopter (picture included)!
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3b582ff81eee.htm |
| 2001/7/20 [Computer/Rants, Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:21884 Activity:very high |
7/19 Yet more people with too much time on there hands:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010719/wl/india_bush_s_cat_1.html
\_ Is India even called "India" in India? --PeterM
\_ Sure, they all speak English anyway (there's no one "Indian"
language.) The word comes from the Indus River, or Sindhu,
also the word Hindu, and Hindustan. But it's irrelevant;
they seem to think it's insulting on the principle, like
if you named a pet dogshit France, even though the French
don't call themselves France.
\_ Bharath is the real name for "India". Hindu is also not
a indian word, it is a arabic term invented by muslim
invaders.
\_ Are they suggesting that our pres should get a lion instead?
\_ ^t a^t eaten by a |
| 2001/7/17 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:21826 Activity:nil |
7/17 Go Lance!
\_ Tour de France? |
| 2001/6/21-7/20 [Science/GlobalWarming, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:21589 Activity:high |
6/21 Don't you ever wonder about what is going on in the world?
1. South Africa - Ya there was alittle news about how debeers is
going private but not much else- they control a good deal of
energy and recently Africa is coming into its own- why- rich
people have finally realized that they can buy all the land- and
they have. But again no one talks about it
\_ the black man will just wake up and hack off both
your arms, like in neighboring rwanda
2.http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/published/ESP_Lists/esp_udc.htm : They
don't have commercials about this- Everyone assumes all those
rate increase are mandatory---- well not really.......
3. Australia: There economy is based a lot of raw material
production. In 9th or 10 grade had class where we played a game
called simpolican or something like that- a pred of civilization.
But you actually had to produce raw materials to produce
everything else. So why is it that our press never talks about
the foundation of our economy- commodity production.
4. What about going ons in france
5. What about changing demographics- US simply has to many
people- if you look at like euro countries people don't work
nearly as much- thus the need for employees is more- you can
sustain higher employment if people lets say take off a month
here and there.
6. What about families- US just wasted 5 years with no family
economics- why because everyone was working instead.
7. I am still waiting for a good story in the news about Japan or
the Tigers. It is like Taiwan, ah I forgot the 5 tigers and did
a quick search and came up with http://www.theglobalist.com
\_ A... WHAT WERE SMOKING WHEN YOU WROTE THIS? |
| 2001/6/12 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:21489 Activity:moderate |
6/12 An American in Europe:
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/06/12/itinerary/index.html
\_ USA #1!!!
\_ and you wonder why http://Salon.com is going bankrupt. |
| 2001/6/11 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:21476 Activity:high |
6/11 Anyone has experence moving from the U.S. to Europe? I am looking
for a good shipping/freight company.
\_ once your parcel gets to france, the french people piss on it.
i'd say hand-deliver it, otherwise pay a courier like DHL./
FedEX.
\_ But it's FRENCH piss!
\_ yummy |
| 2001/5/23 [Politics/Foreign/Europe, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:21338 Activity:very high |
5/22 Vous etes l'homme maintenant chien!
\_ qing bu shuo fa yu zai motd. Wo men zhi you shuo zhong wen.
\_ Mandarin?
\_ dang ran! duo shao ren zai CSUA hui shuo guang dong hua?
\_ ni shi ge xiao ben dan. (you are a little idiot.)
\_ Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble, tres bien ensemble.
\_ Sean Connery is huge in france, doncha know
\_ Je suis l'homme chien! - S Connery
\_ Is this French?
\_ Kimochi!Kimochi! chichirin ga hoshi
\_ anta ga hentai. yameroo.
-\- omanko mo hoshii
|---- What no girl talk ?` |
| 2001/4/21-22 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:21049 Activity:high |
4/20 Stupid protesters. They should study history. Idiots don't understand
globalization prevents war by making countries dependent on trade.
\_ although the "interdependence theory" is one many people argue for
[see e.g. Rise of the Tradin State by R. Rosencrance] the naive version
is simply not true based of the evidence. You think Germany and the
rest of Europe didnt have complicated trading relationships in the
early 1900s? --psb
[see e.g. Rise of the Tradin State by R. Rosencrance] the naive
version is simply not true based of the evidence. You think Germany
and the rest of Europe didnt have complicated trading relationships
in the early 1900s? --psb
\_ (Though if they don't play by the rules, we beat them up, like Iraq)
So in the end they shouldn't be protesting the loss of jobs, it's
better than the loss of lives. - ex-protestor/communist
\_ And we declared war on Iraq because of our trade agreements with
Kuwait...
\_ because by disrupting the flow of oil to heavily dependent
europe and japan, it would affect the global econ. |
| 2001/2/6-7 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China, Politics/Foreign/Europe, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:20517 Activity:moderate |
2/6 Patron Saint of the Internet (how dumb can the pope be?):
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/02/06/pope.internet.reut/index.html
\_ not dumb, senile [moved by the motd mind reader]
\_ Neither. Quite aware of the humour value.
\_ Here in America we spell it "humor".
\_ I see Brit spellings on motd all the time. Who is a
well known Brit in CSUA?
\_ Wouldn't anyone from Hong Kong use the british spelling?
\_ yes, or from Australia, or (I would assume) from almost
any other English-speaking nation, aside from the US. |
| 2000/11/16 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:19786 Activity:high |
11/15 Please read the text without ragging on the source. Dr. Laura had
the easiest to read (in terms of fonts, etc) copy of this quote:
http://drlaura.com/letters/index.html?mode=view&tile=1&id=115
Any opinions on this quote? Was Tyler full of shit? Where do you
think we stand on Tyler's timeline if he had it right?
\_ Tyler is full of B.S. True democracy in a country where the people
are 100% educated won't vote for more money. That happens in
the U.S., in Philipines, in Mexico, etc, where the average voter
has no clue of what's happening. We haven't even progressed to
true democracy yet, much less going on to bondage again.
\_ unless by "100% educated" you mean 100% brainwashed into your
or my particular ideology (and even the latter would be a high
price to pay for what wouldn't really be a democracy), you,
like most people, have an entirely irrational faith in
education. -crebbs
\_ You missed the point. "true democracies" dont last, you always
degenerate into the haves and the havenots, which then
accelerates like how the US is going now.
\_ Its a moot point, since the US is not and has never been
a true democracy. The US is a representative republic.
A true democracy is not much different than mob rule. A
simple majority often makes hasty and ill considered
choises. The founding fathers knew this and created a
system of government resistant to drastic changes that
can plague a democracy.
\- that quote does better on style than substance. the fall of athens
has a lot to do with the peloponessian war. See Thucydides and
Kagan IV: The Fall of the Athenian Empire. You know being invaded
genreation, that men intheir prime could not be found or
[by the macedonians] also didnt help. I dontthink we need to worry
about invasion. The point about populism is interesting. See the
rule on land reform legislation in Republic of Rome. --psb
\_ It's not across from France anymore? Where did they move it to?
\- here is an interesting quote from Kagan:
"It is revealing of the state of Athenian politics that
the Athenians believed they must seek such qualities
["prudent cautious, moderate leadership"] in an earlier
genreation, that men in their prime could not be found or
trusted to provide it.". --psb
\_ The U.K. wasnt "invaded" either, but it is no longer where
it once was
\_ It's not across from France anymore? Where did they move
it to?
\_ Thanks to the liberals who turned it into a socialist
welfare state.
\_ The British Empire fell long before that. Unless you
are calling Winston Churchill a liberal.
\_ It was still an empire into the early 50's, well
after Churchill was out of power.
\_ The British EMPIRE is anti-democratic. That's why it fell.
\_ Actually, it fell because it actually tried to be
somewhat nice to the people it conquered, rather than
ruling with an iron fist forever.
The last straw was of course the massive draining of
resources due to WWII.
\_ Yeah sure, massive draining of resources from the
colonies to the European front. When the Japanese
Imperial Army came with 30000 soldiers, the 80000 Brits
ran so fast down the Malayan peninsula, the Japanese
soldiers had to grab bicycles from the locals to
keep up with the retreating British (note
that the terrain in Malaysia is unsuitable for
armored vehicles).
\_ They will face a problem 10x worse than what the
French had when they persisted in their anti-
democratic ways in Algeria and IndoChina.
\_ Nice? Please explain in what ways the British were "nice"
conquerers. Taken a history class anytime in this life?
\_ yeah, thats a pretty fucking dumb thing for someone
to say. it's always hard to tell on the motd who is a troll
and who really is a moron. there are so many true morons
and so many really devoted trolls who have honed there
skills over the years and they both seem to like to post
to the motd. -troller
\_ The democracy/republic which is the United States will persist
as long as most people feel that the U.S. is the best country to
be a citizen of on this planet. It also persists on a common,
nation-wide feeling of what is right and wrong, what is fair and
not fair, and that honest, hard-working people can better
their situation in a reasonable way, in the face of all that
is wrong and not fair. Voting to give yourself money is
generally accepted as corrupt and embarrassing, unless you
have a good reason that other people will buy. For example,
most people will vote to give veterans money, but most people
will not vote to give only rich people tax breaks. People
may want to abolish taxes, but most people understand
this will upset the system and create a situation where
the U.S. is no longer a great place to live. Anyways, the
bottom line is that Tyler makes a lame, inflammatory college
frosh argument that you'd hear in section and from your
\_ Explain then, why every democracy in existence has
a higher tax rate now than it did 50 years ago? And higher
50 years ago than it was 100 years ago, (obviously you can
keep going with this).
\_ Interesting trend. Explanation not available. Opinion
unchanged. |
| 2000/11/12-13 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:19737 Activity:kinda low |
11/11 For those simple minded enough to want to abolish the EC, please
read:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60939-2000Nov1.html
\_ so what?
"The Electoral College has evolved, shaping and being shaped by the
two-party system, which probably would not survive abandonment of
winner-take-all allocation of electoral votes."
= another good reason to scrap it.
\_ Ever live in a country with a bunch of small parties?
Selling support is big business. It *always* works against
the interest of the people.
\_ Like Italy, for example. Now there's a country with lots of
little parties you don't want emulated here. Stability is more
important than getting to pick from 1 of 50 tiny parties that
screw up the country. Think *this* country is screwed up?
Think the Demos and Repubs are bad? Go check out any of the
counties that don't have entrenched two party systems. You'll
be deeply awed at the wisdom of "The Founding Fathers".
\_ you mean madison && co. Tommy J would have gatted Jimmy on
the spot if he had found out about the EC. Anyway it's
important to note that at one point in time there was the
Democratic-Republican party - they weren't 2 parties until the
Rad Repubs. |
| 2000/10/19 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:19519 Activity:very high |
10/18 Does US have jurisdiction in Yemen? Why is the FBI, a US law
enforcement agency, conducting investigation on an attack occured in
that country?
\_ don't you know that the US has jurisdiction anywhere it wants?
\_ Speak softly and carry a BIG stick (or an aircraft carrier)
\_ Yeah, but I mean how do they justify it?
\_ The aforementioned big stick.
\_ Presumably, the excuse would be that terrorist attacks as an
external threat may reflect tendencies that can easily become
internal threats. I doubt the govt of Yemen gives them much
leeway
\_ A lot of governments "invite" the FBI in when US installations
or large numbers of Americans get whacked. While this is probably
mainly to avoid pissing off the US, it makes sense, as the FBI
is probably the most technically advanced and experienced
investigative outfit in the world, like it or not. -John
\_ Scotland Yard.
\_ oh yeah! when was the last time you heard they investigated
something big without having to resort to the Big Brother/
national DNA database that the Brits have? Using a computer
to match DNA samples is easy. Using tried and true
investigation methods is not - like most things British
it's past its time or is way overrated
\_ Scotland Yard? The guys *still* haven't resolved the
Lockerbie terrorism. Sherlock is dead. |
| 2000/10/9-10 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:19443 Activity:very high |
10/8 I HATE THE YANKEES
\_ people who follow sports have A)too much time on their hands
B)to be dumb to want to follow those overpriced/overpaid
franchises/players C)to truly ignorant if any of it matters
\_ He could be a RED CHINESE COMMIE PIG who hates americans,
or he could be a EFFEETE INTELLECTUAL EXISTENTIAL PERSON
OF FRENCH ORIGIN who feels that the inferior boorish yankees
are diluting the pristine culture of that most favored of
nations, France.
\_ damn yengeese!
\_ yank yank yank
\_ I hate the metes too
\_ you mean the NY Mets are not your favorite squadron?
\_ I hate the Raiduhs!
\_ I hate Arizona State.
\_ I hate team sports and their fanatics. |
| 2000/9/24-25 [Science/GlobalWarming, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:19317 Activity:high |
9/21 The Czech Republic is not a third world nation. It is a
\_ % webster "third world"
[deletia]
3 : the aggregate of the underdeveloped nations of the world
developing nation with $11700 per capita GDP, growth rate of -0.5%
(1999), and an external debt of 24.3 billion. USA's per capita
GDP is $33900. Malaysia's per capita GDP is $10700.
international no-car day! see http://www.carbusters.ecn.cz
\_ *.cz? Like they'd miss their cars for a day in the Czech republic.
I'd like to see something like International Fix Your Fucked Up
Third World Country Day coming from a place like that instead.
\_ Do you know your geography? The Czech republic is a modern
European nation. Just because it's considered Eastern Europe
doesn't mean that it's a Third World country.
\_ It's not a third world country. It's just a poor,
decrepit ex-Soviet-bloc nation suffering from 40+ years
of commie mismanagement. Otherwise, quite nice. -John
\_ What's the definition of third world then? I thought
"thrid world" is the PC term to describe poor countries.
\_ "First" or "Old" World = Europe. Don't forget that
Bohemia/western Czechoslovakia/Czech republic has
historically been a political and cultural center.
"New" World = Americas. "Third" World was some
mid-20th-century play on that to describe all
the second-rate backwaters discovered afterwards
with economic problems. -John
\_ % webster "first world"
[deletia]
Etymology: after third world
Date: 1967
: the highly developed industrialized nations
often considered the westernized countries of
the world
apart from getting the order of usage wrong (i.e.
third world -> first world rather than the other
way around) and being ignorantly eurocentric,
you're correct.
\_ At least I speak a FOREIGN LANGUAGE, am
not INCORRIGIBLY FAT, and DON'T EVER
WATCH JERRY SPRINGER. -John
\_ perhaps. but at least i knew what
"first world" meant.
\_ No, you know how to have your mom
read a dictionary to you, and you
obviously have no clue about what
countries are industrialized and
developed. -John
\_ you made ad hominem attacks, good.
but you should throw in Hitler and
the Nazis in there to distract from
the fact that you had no idea what
first and third world meant when
you started shooting off your mouth
on motd.
\_ then it doesn't sound like he has a problem with geography,
does it? it's more of an economics deficiency he has.
\_ No deficiency. Have you seen it? I think you need to
check on what the word "modern" means. CZ is a third
world country. Just because they're vaguely white doesn't
make it a modern western nation. They're little different
from any South American banana republic. It isn't just
blacks, hispanics and other non-whites that live in the
Third World. Thank you both for trying though.
\_ Have you ever travelled outside the Bay Area? -John
\_ Nobody noticed. Some cities had even worse traffic. Barely
anyone even knew it was happening until they heard on the news
what a flop it was this evening. -John
\_ Cars are here to stay (at least until transporters become
generally available).
\_ Chech know a thing or two about mechanical engineering and cars.
Pop quiz: which Western car compay buy out entire Tatra design team,
why they did it and what they are working on now?
As far as being 'vaguely' white which I take as they don't quite
fit a canonical definition of white, how to do explain
disproporationate representation of Czech chicks among the ranks
of 'supermodels'? -muchandr
\_ Volkswagen, right? They bought Skoda too. -John
\_ Volkswagen is a joke. In fact all european cars are jokes.
The only car manufacturers that matter are American and
Japanese. With Japanese you get quality, with American you
get power. - Proud owner of a 260 HP Lincoln that routinely
smokes the finest that Europe has to offer.
\_ Bring it over here. By the time you get up to 10mph
I'm halfway over the horizon, you coal-burning hairy
tractor-driving barbarian. -John
\_ I don't want your drool lowering the value of my
car. Filthy commoners and thier COMMUNIST cars.
\_ that proves they are 'vaguely'! Per the current fashion trend
\_ When was the last time you bought a Czech car? I don't see
many trambant dealers around.
\_ Moron. Trabants were East German and they're a massive
cult object (like VW bugs.) Tatra were/are a Russian truck
design bureau. And Skoda (Czech) is about as big as
Saturn in the US. -John
\_ Czech supermodels are hot and slutty. |
| 2000/9/24 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:19315 Activity:very high |
9/21 The Czech Republic is not a third world nation. It is a
developing nation with $11700 per capita GDP, growth rate of -0.5%
(1999), and an external debt of 24.3 billion. USA's per capita
GDP is $33900. Malaysia's per capita GDP is $10700.
international no-car day! see http://www.carbusters.ecn.cz
\_ *.cz? Like they'd miss their cars for a day in the Czech republic.
I'd like to see something like International Fix Your Fucked Up
Third World Country Day coming from a place like that instead.
\_ Do you know your geography? The Czech republic is a modern
European nation. Just because it's considered Eastern Europe
doesn't mean that it's a Third World country.
\_ It's not a third world country. It's just a poor,
decrepit ex-Soviet-bloc nation suffering from 40+ years
of commie mismanagement. Otherwise, quite nice. -John
\_ What's the definition of third world then? I thought
"thrid world" is the PC term to describe poor countries.
\_ "First" or "Old" World = Europe. Don't forget that
Bohemia/western Czechoslovakia/Czech republic has
historically been a political and cultural center.
"New" World = Americas. "Third" World was some
mid-20th-century play on that to describe all
the second-rate backwaters discovered afterwards
with economic problems. -John
\_ % webster "first world"
[deletia]
Etymology: after third world
Date: 1967
: the highly developed industrialized nations
often considered the westernized countries of
the world
apart from getting the order of usage wrong (i.e.
third world -> first world rather than the other
way around) and being ignorantly eurocentric,
you're correct.
\_ then it doesn't sound like he has a problem with geography,
does it? it's more of an economics deficiency he has.
\_ No deficiency. Have you seen it? I think you need to
check on what the word "modern" means. CZ is a third
world country. Just because they're vaguely white doesn't
make it a modern western nation. They're little different
from any South American banana republic. It isn't just
blacks, hispanics and other non-whites that live in the
Third World. Thank you both for trying though.
\_ Have you ever travelled outside the Bay Area? -John
\_ Nobody noticed. Some cities had even worse traffic. Barely
anyone even knew it was happening until they heard on the news
what a flop it was this evening. -John
\_ Cars are here to stay (at least until transporters become
generally available).
\_ Chech know a thing or two about mechanical engineering and cars.
Pop quiz: which Western car compay buy out entire Tatra design team,
why they did it and what they are working on now?
As far as being 'vaguely' white which I take as they don't quite
fit a canonical definition of white, how to do explain
disproporationate representation of Czech chicks among the ranks
of 'supermodels'? -muchandr
\_ Volkswagen, right? They bought Skoda too. -John
\_ Volkswagen is a joke. In fact all european cars are jokes.
The only car manufacturers that matter are American and
Japanese. With Japanese you get quality, with American you
get power. - Proud owner of a 260 HP Lincoln that routinely
smokes the finest that Europe has to offer.
\_ that proves they are 'vaguely'! Per the current fashion trend
\_ When was the last time you bought a Czech car? I don't see
many trambant dealers around.
\_ Moron. Trabants were East German and they're a massive
cult object (like VW bugs.) Tatra were/are a Russian truck
design bureau. And Skoda (Czech) is about as big as
Saturn in the US. -John
\_ Czech supermodels are hot and slutty. |
| 2000/9/21-24 [Science/GlobalWarming, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:19303 Activity:high |
9/21 international no-car day! see http://www.carbusters.ecn.cz \_ *.cz? Like they'd miss their cars for a day in the Czech republic. I'd like to see something like International Fix Your Fucked Up Third World Country Day coming from a place like that instead. \_ Do you know your geography? The Czech republic is a modern European nation. Just because it's considered Eastern Europe doesn't mean that it's a Third World country. \_ It's not a third world country. It's just a poor, decrepit ex-Soviet-bloc nation suffering from 40+ years of commie mismanagement. Otherwise, quite nice. -John \_ What's the definition of third world then? I thought "thrid world" is the PC term to describe poor countries. \_ "First" or "Old" World = Europe. Don't forget that Bohemia/western Czechoslovakia/Czech republic has historically been a political and cultural center. "New" World = Americas. "Third" World was some \_ Will this finally make the LINUX! RIDE BIKE! people happy? \_ no but it will make lotus notes save the universe. mid-20th-century play on that to describe all the second-rate backwaters discovered afterwards with economic problems. -John \_ % webster "first world" [deletia] Etymology: after third world Date: 1967 : the highly developed industrialized nations often considered the westernized countries of the world apart from getting the order of usage wrong (i.e. third world -> first world rather than the other way around) and being ignorantly eurocentric, you're correct. \_ then it doesn't sound like he has a problem with geography, does it? it's more of an economics deficiency he has. \_ No deficiency. Have you seen it? I think you need to check on what the word "modern" means. CZ is a third world country. Just because they're vaguely white doesn't make it a modern western nation. They're little different from any South American banana republic. It isn't just blacks, hispanics and other non-whites that live in the Third World. Thank you both for trying though. \_ Have you ever travelled outside the Bay Area? -John \_ Nobody noticed. Some cities had even worse traffic. Barely anyone even knew it was happening until they heard on the news what a flop it was this evening. -John \_ Cars are here to stay (at least until transporters become generally available). \_ Chech know a thing or two about mechanical engineering and cars. Pop quiz: which Western car compay buy out entire Tatra design team, why they did it and what they are working on now? As far as being 'vaguely' white which I take as they don't quite fit a canonical definition of white, how to do explain disproporationate representation of Czech chicks among the ranks of 'supermodels'? -muchandr \_ Volkswagen, right? They bought Skoda too. -John \_ Volkswagen is a joke. In fact all european cars are jokes. The only car manufacturers that matter are American and Japanese. With Japanese you get quality, with American you get power. - Proud owner of a 260 HP Lincoln that routinely smokes the finest that Europe has to offer. \_ that proves they are 'vaguely'! Per the current fashion trend \_ When was the last time you bought a Czech car? I don't see many trambant dealers around. \_ Moron. Trabants were East German and they're a massive cult object (like VW bugs.) Tatra were/are a Russian truck design bureau. And Skoda (Czech) is about as big as Saturn in the US. -John |
| 2000/8/8-9 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:18924 Activity:high |
8/8 What's the rule in pronuciating Jewish names? For example, is
Epstein pronouced as ep-stine or ep-steen? Is Feldsenstein
pronouced as feldsen-stine or feldsen-steen?
\_ MY NAME IS FRANKENSTEEN!
\_ In original Yiddish, it's pronounced like English -stine or -shtine
(the choice between the two depending on dialect/preference);
however, many Americans with these names have long since forgotten
what Yiddish is, and some will pronounce it as -steen as well.
So use the former by default, unless you've heard the
person in question pronounce it himself. AFAIK, the same goes
for German surnames with the same suffix. -alexf
\_ thats because "yiddish" basically IS german. aka
"Hebrew with a german accent"
\_ there are jews all over the world, speaking probably over 100
languages, including chinese. to attempt to find consistency accross
aall these languages' names is impossible.
\_ there are jews all over the world but they are mostly two kinds
left these days, and of those two the eastern european jew is
the most prominent, especially in America. Stop being such an
ass. -jewboy
\_ Racist. That's not funny.
\_ http://www.icebox.com
\_ SCHNELL! JUDEN!
\_ Yay! Holocaust jokes! Fucking idiot. |
| 2000/7/22 [Recreation/Dating, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:18753 Activity:high |
7/21 What's the name of that sexy French looking CS girl who worked in
Barbara Hightower's office back in 1995-1996?
\_ Marie Paxton
\_ define "French looking" please
\_ Duh. Watch a movie or travel. Don't try to be PC. The
idiotic correctness thing was dead before you were taking
your PSATs.
\_ Actually, PC wasn't in yet when i was taking my PSATs,
I certainly wasn't trying to be PC with my question,
and I've spent time in france and seen plenty of
french movies.
\_ Then you should know the answer.
\_ Huh? There was a sexy TA for cs188 awhile back and cs170 last sem.
\_ If this is in reference to Xuqing Tian, you are one sick mofo
\_ 170? You must be talking about Tracy Riggs.
\_ HI PAOLO!
\_ I love 172, 174. I love to study. I love academia. -paolo |
| 2000/7/13-14 [Recreation/Travel, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:18659 Activity:moderate |
7/13 I'm looking for a good resource for finding decent and cheap
hostels/dorms in Europe (spec. Italy). Any recommendations?
\_ Hostel International?
\_ You can find a lot of info on the Web: the world Hostelling
International Web site has a link to each country's national
hostelling organization at http://www.iyhf.org/ihyf/world.html.
Searching on Yahoo for <city name>+"Hostels" works, too. Buy a
copy of the _Let's Go Europe_ guidebook and use it to cross-check
particular destinations you're interested in. I've used this
technique for 6 months so far, and it hasn't killed me yet. (The
_Let's Go_ guidebooks are for the "I'm a *really* cheap college
student" crowd; Rick Steves and the Lonely Planet guidebooks are a
step up, but still reasonably budget-oriented.) -- kahogan
\_ I second the recommendation for Let's Go and Lonely Planet, they're
both pretty high quality (I've used both very often.) Also,
maybe you can get some info from AIESEC (http://www.aiesec.org
If you spend the $15 or so for one of their cards (assuming
you're a student) you can get a lot of discounts on lodging and
transportation. -John
\_ Oh yeah, the _Rough Guide_ books are also quite good. -John
\_ At least in the US I've found that the non Hostel International
hostels were much more interesting than the associated ones. But
yah, you should go the hostel route. |
| 2000/3/21-22 [Politics/Foreign, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:17814 Activity:very high |
3/20 link:www.yale.edu/implicit/measure3.html I'm an Asian male with a strong automatic preference for blacks. Is there something wrong with me? \_ all that proved to me was I was incapable of remembering which key was associated with which keyword. \_ White male with weak auto pref. for blacks. I also associate men and women equally with science, apparently. \_ apparently your subconscious is not very bright. (not due to the weak auto pref. for blacks due to the = men/women). \_ I'm a White male with a strong automatic preference for Asians. Especially if they happen to be female and hot. Is there something wrong with me? something wrong with me? -aaron \_ me too! -nickkral \_ me three! - sky \_ Damn rice chaser! \_ is that you jj? \_ The test is hokey. Definitely not "science" in my book. All it shows is the speed of building cognitive relations not your "implicit attitudes".. Well what can you expect from a liberal arts school like Yale, they have nothing better to do than shit like this. \_ every school has idiots doing pseudo science. Yale just got 500 million dollars earmarked for expansion of the engineering and sciences and they are hiring like mad. do you think berkeley should be judged by the chicano studies or sociology departments? \_ Do you have a link to this? I'm thinking about going there for grad school in the fall. \_ Oh woe! An online test with no proctor determines we're all evil racists! What next? I don't think these guys understand that what they _think_ they're testing for is not what they're _really_ testing for. Even the lower div. Cal psych classes do better than this. \_ I'm betting that the first section always starts with "white+good". Which automatically biases ALL takers. \_ which association comes up first definitely primes the results. doesn't seem like this test says anything at all. \_ it doesn't. Not that the test isn't crap. -aspo who took a couple of tests several times and got way different results each time. \_ You can't take a test several times without 'ruining' the results. It also isn't appropriate to take a battery of similar memory tests like this and expect valid results. This is really basic psych/cogsci testing methodology and I find it sad that a school like Yale can't get it right. What does that say for the rest of the country's colleges? \_ thankfully, not a goddamn thing. \_ I hope you're right. \_ Your neurotic pseudo-pessimistic generalizations are annoying. Please stop. \_ right, trust a psych experiment conducted by yale over the advice of a bunch of anonymous motd posters! \_ point being that this isn't an experiment conducted by anyone. this isn't a valid test method. it isn't even bad science. this is something down there with the astrology section of the comics. \_ The story about this on Dateline pointed out that just as interesting as the results was people's reaction to them. \_ Woo hoo! Thus proving their test group consisted mostly of self-"correct"-ing guilty whites. I'm white and I'm damned proud of it. We built this country. Blacks are killing it from the inner cities outwards. \_ It's the chinks that built this country, so fuck you. Go back to Europe white barbarian. Long live Mao. \_ Shut up, white boy! \_ The Jews built this country. The Jews built every country. They are the God's CHOSEN people. AND they have all the gold. Again. \_ Not "again". "Still" is the word you're looking for. -Mark of Kings \_ What a load of crap! No slant ever did anything worth half a damn for this country! \_ What did you personally do to build this country besides mouthing off your racist trash? And by the way, stop using Yahoo. \_ I beat slants like you into place and what's Yahoo got to do with anything? \_ are all CSUA users like this? \_ No. Only about half the CSUA is slants. \_ What did you personally do to build this country besides mouthing off your racist trash? \_ Already told you, slant boy. Most whites felt guilty over preffering whites, but the blacks who preferred blacks attributed it to racial pride and overcoming the negative images of blacks that pervade american culture/media. \_ That's about political correctness. Sigh. \_ SUBTHREAD SUMMARY: Too many sodans have time on their hands to troll aimlessly. \_ You're an idiot. Your summary sucks. Stop 'summarizing' humorous subthreads with your inadequate summaries. |
| 1999/11/9 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:16854 Activity:high |
8/11 you konw, you americans are strange. why is the it the month first
then the day? confusing since the month changes only 12 times, but
the day everyday.. wouldn't it make more sense this way?
\_ You French people are strange using military time rather than
twelve hour clocks.
\_ military time makes SO MUCH more sense. DST is also the
dumbest thing this country has... that and GWB running for prez
\_ MTF! The only thing wrong with DST is that we end it in OcT.
We should be tacking on more hours until we can eat dinner at
10pm and still watch the sun set. You don't understand this
because your freakish Euro sun doesn't set till 10pm in the
summer already. BTW, I'd hate it if my files were dated by
day and then month.
\_ Military time makes sense if YOU'RE IN THE MILITARY! I'm
not and quite happy with my AM/PM. Thanks for the chance
to convert to a different yet still completely arbitrary
'standard' for marking time. If you knew anything about
this country, you'd know why DST makes perfect sense.
\_ I dunno about this one, but some of th US's bizarre habits
date from right after the Revolution. Supposedly, we were
trying to be different from the British.
\_ No. We continued to follow British standards such as feet and
pounds and which side of the road. The British changed later.
Why do completely ignorant people try to answer simple questions
on the motd? Oh yes, it's the motd. Silly of me. As far as
the original question: We don't say "12th of November, 1999".
We say, "November 12th, 1999". This turns into months first.
So, no, you foreign fuck. It doesn't make more sense to use
your ill conceived notions of what makes sense. I suppose you
might think it makes sense to appease terrorists too. |
| 1999/9/28-30 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:16613 Activity:low |
9/28 If my passport is stolen while I am traveling in Europe what do I have
to do besides reporting the incident to the local authorities and the
US embassy in the country? And, will I be able to quickly (like in a
day or two) to get a temporary passport to continue on with my travel
around continent or will my trip be screwed over?
\_ I had mine stolen in Poland. It took three weeks to get a new
passport and visa. Just don't let anyone steal the thing.
\_ my friend got her passport stolen in Paris. the experience
will probably
\_ My mom got hers stolen in China. Really messy situation. You should
be worried about whether you can get back to the US sometime soon.
The bureaucracy you have to deal is going to take a long time if you
don't know the right people.
\_ Crime?! In China?! This would never happen. |
| 1999/5/22-25 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15858 Activity:low |
5/22 Are modem standards the same between US and UK?
\_ Yes, but the phone plugs might be not. -muchandr
___ ___ ___ ___ __ __ ___ _______ _ _____ _ _ _ _ _ ___
/ __|/ _ \| \ / _ \| \/ |_ _|_ / __| | |/ / __| || | /_\ | \| |/ __|
\__ \ (_) | |) | (_) | |\/| || | / /| _| | ' < (__| __ |/ _ \| .` | (_ |
|___/\___/|___/ \___/|_| |_|___/___|___| |_|\_\___|_||_/_/ \_\_|\_|\___|
\_ The plugs in UK are wider. You can buy phone cords that have
a US plug at one end and a UK plug at the other. I forgot
where I got mine. -- yuen |
| 1999/5/20 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15844 Activity:high |
5/19 Wow. At least _some_ legislators don't think that key escrow
is a good thing.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/sci/tech/newsid_347000/347550.stm
\_ Meanwhile, US Senate passes bill against bomb-making info
\_ Any info links on that? Also isn't that against
1st amendment or something?
\_ Knee jerk over-reaction to the columbine hs shootings.
Sure it's whittling away your rights, you don't really need
them anyway. They just get in the way of the government
protecting you from yourself. |
| 1999/5/13-14 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15804 Activity:insanely high |
5/13 A Tomlinson published a list of MI6 agents' name on a US based web,
according to AP. But I could not locate the site.
\_ Richard Tomlinson
\_ Isn't it down? http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/cybercrime/features/story/0,3700,2258075,00.html
\_ http://jya.com/MI6dir.htm
if Bond were real, he'd be pissing in his pants now
\_ Ooops. I suspect some people are about to meet with
accidents/suicide. Either that, or it's the end of the
UK monarchy.
But either way, tomlinson is a traitor for exposing
the operatives who were not directly related to the
assassination.
\_ A traitor to the british, sure, but not to us directly.
to police officers and armed forces personnels?
Anyway, he'll soon have an accident and that'll be that.
And oh yeah we need to censor the internet too.
\_ This jerk is full of bullshit. How can he compare MI6 agents
to police officers in general and armed forces personnels?
Would he publish a "list of current undercover police officers"?
Why didn't he identify himself "I'm an MI6 agent!" when he was
still working there??? I think he just wants to get rich from
publishing books later. I wish other MI6 agents kill him soon,
very soon.
\_ Why do you care?
\_ I thought the British intelligence was called MI5. When did it
become MI6? And what does "MI" stand for?
\_ MI5 is like the FBI. MI6 is the like the CIA
\_ Military Intelligence, dumbass.
\_ Your mother taught you to speak that way? You're
a foul mouthed child idiot. (Yes, my mother did
teach _me_ to speak that way)
\_ No, yermom taught me everything.
\_ Do others actually find yermom jokes
funny in any way or do they just use them out
of habit. I never really saw any humor value
in it beyond the obvious repetition. It's
rather grade schoolish. Have I missed out on
some vital bit of the High Art of Humor? I'm
guessing not on this one. |
| 1999/4/1-2 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15680 Activity:kinda low 50%like:15676 |
3/31 I am interested in learning german. does anyone know of any cheap
\_ hook up with a German guy/gal !
\_ "Hi! You look Germanic and if you're a native fluent
speaker who yearns to teach an eager younger computer
scientist your father tongue and an active interest in
getting laid on the side, I'd like to take you out! How
about it? Next Thursday around 2am in the WEB?"
\_ if you get more responses than you can handle, please
let me know . . . I'd like to learn German too!
\_ ah yes, the ins and outs of adult german...
classes in the east bay or elsewhere for basic german? adult
schools, jc, etc... |
| 1999/3/31-4/4 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15676 Activity:high 50%like:15680 |
3/31 I am interested in learning german. does anyone know of any cheap
\_ hook up with a German guy/gal !
classes in the east bay or elsewhere for basic german? adult
schools, jc, etc...
\_ hook up with a German guy/gal !
\_ "Hi! You look Germanic and if you're a native fluent
speaker who yearns to teach an eager younger computer
scientist your father tongue and an active interest in
getting laid on the side, I'd like to take you out! How
about it? Next Thursday around 2am in the WEB?"
\_ if you get more responses than you can handle, please
let me know . . . I'd like to learn German too!
\_ ah yes, the ins and outs of adult german...
\_ Learn from me, you can lose 20lbs in one week!!!!
\_ JA! DAS VON INK DER UP HOPKERDINGEN! IST GUT SCHNITZEL!
Dude, why would you want to speak German. It's a horrible
language. In fact, it's not a language, it's a throat disease.
Trust me, I'm a native speaker. When you argue with a German
about this, they'll inevitably try to convince you of how
beautiful and elegant it is by pointing to the same three
or four books over and over again. It's ponderous, ugly-
sounding, and overly complex. Learn a nice language, or
something useful, like Spanish or French or even Italian.
Maybe something cool like Russian or Chinese or Japanese. But
don't put yourself through this trouble; German is awful, with
the culture to go with it. Aside from that, I'd be glad to
help out with anything. -John
\_ I love to sodomize you in the WEB at 2am, John.
- owner of http://www.mybigdick.com
\_ Will you meet me in the WEB at 2am with some sex on the side?
\_ you oldtimers are showing your age. there has been no WEB
for the last 4 years or so.
\- What happened to the WEB???
\_ They filled it with Macs and turned the
OCF end into a Calculus-on-Computers lab
for Math 1a/b.
\_ I love John. He's the bomb. But I also love German. Es macht
kuhl. Ja, stimmt Beavis! Feuer! Feuer! -space nazi
\_ They're dubbing South Park into Kraut. -John
\_ What about Rilke, dude?
\_ Rainer Maria Rilke is about the epitome of
hitleriffically funny, light-hearted teutonic
literature. And no, you CAN'T sodomize me in the WEB,
I'm immune to such things. I kicked Roy out of pure
excitement while netsex-h0zing as a freshman at 2am;
he was sleeping under the table, and I thought he
was a backpack. You can't touch me. Nyah. -John |
| 1999/2/23 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15465 Activity:kinda low |
2/22 This is not a troll. How do you say in French
"This (that) is (a shitty) life"?
and "pretentious" or "pseudo-cultured", say to describe somone
who like to throw in a few french words in conversations.
\_ literally, something like "c'est la vie de merde"
\_ sounds about right. |
| 1999/1/28-29 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15307 Activity:kinda low |
1/27 I just turned on the radio to KCBS and I heard a sentense which
apparently is the end of a piece of news: "Pluto might not be a
planet, but it has been for a lot of time." What's going on? Is
there some new space discovery that shows that Pluto is not a
planet? Thx. -- yuen
\_ http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9901/20/puny.pluto
\_ It's all poltics. Disney didn't pay off the right astronomers. |
| 1999/1/21-23 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15274 Activity:nil |
1/21 http://www.cnnfn.com/worldbiz/europe/wires/9901/21/lego_wg Lego loses moeny for the first time. \_ I hate losing moeny, there is so little of it as it is... |
| 1998/12/30 [Reference/History/WW2/Germany, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:15149 Activity:nil |
12/28 Sorry for the length of the URL. This is what it is. Anyway,
"German kills pitbull with his bare hands". Don't mess with those
German dudes....
http://www.yahoo.com.sg/headlines/291298/entertainment/914867160-1228184645.entertainment.html |
| 1998/9/22-23 [Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:14651 Activity:high |
9/22 News headline: "Europe Fears For US Democracy After Clinton Videos"
\_ Remember what I warned you about democracey? - a communist.
\_ Like this country should give a flying fart's fuck what
the European's think about democracy or anything else for
that matter. Can anyone here possibly imagine how completely
fucked up this country would be if we ran it the same way the
Euroidiots _try_ to "run" their countries?
\_ See, that's cause we put all of our stupid people into
journalism and politics, then let them get in fights
with the Americans, while we're busy driving good cars,
having sex with gorgeous slutty European chicks (the
miniskirts got better since they started shaving their
legs; do _your_ women wear miniskirts?) and drinking
better beer. -John
\_ Let's have another Patriotism Flamewar! Fun for the whole
family! |
| 1998/3/24 [Computer/Rants, Politics/Foreign/Europe, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:13856 Activity:insanely high |
3/24 I know some Indian friends who are BIG AND BUFF like football players,
and some even have blue/hazzle eyes. I sware they almost look white!!!
\_ swear
Why are a lot of Indians like that? (this is a serious question!)
\_ Mutations as a result of the massive radiation and pollution
released by British experiments on the fusion reactor from an
alien starship that crash-landed in the Ganges River valley during
the winter of 1945.
\_ That's right. In fact, the reason that they decided to make
India independent wasn't Gandhi . . . During the course of their
experiments, they created a hole in the space-time continuum
that threatened to SWALLOW THE ENTIRE BRITISH EMPIRE WHOLE!
The only way to avoid this was to make sure that India was no
longer a part of the British Empire. That way, if the hole
expanded beyond their control, India would be lost, but the
Empire would be safe. Hail Brittania!
\_ is it just me or does the motd get dumber every day? -aspo
\_Would you like to see Brittania rule again, my friend?
All you have to do is follow the worms.
\_ Brittania rules the waves! |
| 1998/1/28 [Politics/Domestic, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:13574 Activity:high |
1/27 whom is by no means a dead form. it's the indirect object form --aaron
\_ Exactly. It's dead.
\_ Sign, so we can mock you when you use an indirect object --pld
\_ Indirect objects aren't dead in general. Just the overly
haughty and elitist "whom" which sounds like a wannabe
British Royal. This is America, speak American, God damn
it! |
| 11/23 |