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According to this site, government can use a patent wthout permission using eminent domain laws. The government does, in fact, have to compensate the patent holder.

..."War in Middle East" ... which got nothing to do with terrorism ... the real term should really be "War for Oil"

Iraq's current oil production is 2,900,000 barrels per day. At $70 a barrel, the value of Iraq's entire daily production is $203,000,000. The total cost of your "War Against Middle East" (so far) is $65,000,000,000 and is expected to top $300,000,000,000. If today the war magically became free and we magically got all $203 million in revenue (not profit) each day, it would take a year to "break even" on the war.

Can anyone really believe that a war was fought for oil if it costs more (just in money!) to FIGHT the war than to just buy the oil?

Also, "Climate Change" is more accurate. We're in a period of "global warming" right now (1 to 2 degrees), but we just finished with a "global cooling" - the "Little Ice Age". See here. See how our climate is changing, not just warming? And that this isn't a recent phenomenon? Not that global warming/climate change isn't an issue - climate change just isn't newspeak.

Bushspeak != Duckspeak

There are alternatives out there to most of what they offer. Personally I am a Google fan, but I have tried most search engines at one time or another.

I like and mostly use Google myself. Occasionally Google won't return what I'm looking for and when this happens I'll try DMOZ, Teoma, or Mooter. Usually when Google doesn't give me what I'm looking for DMOZ doesn't either however both Teoma and Mooter do. Other tymes when searching I'll immediately start with About. Actually it was Google that led me to use About. I sometimes search for something dealing with photography or archeology and Google led me to About for both of them, it returned results for both from About. About has pretty good sections for both so I'll use it with these searchs.

I'm not sure if this is actually the case. Since smoking just about anything is hardly likely to do your lungs much good.

It is the case that no one has ever died from overdose of cannabis. It's simply not possible, it would take smoking or eating something on the order of hundreds of pounds of the stuff.

Smoking cannabis may contribute to lung disease, though less so than smoking tobacco - cannabis is a bronchodilatator, opening up the airway, while tobacco is a bronchoconstrictor. (One recent study found no increased risk of lung cancer for cannbis smokers.)

There are, however, other ways to administer cannabis. It can be eaten (though this causes a delayed onset of effects that makes for unpredictability); or the cannabinoids can be vaporized by applying heat, and then inhaled. These methods are quite safe.

Get a brain! Morans

Edison had a vested interest in portraying direct current as safer than alternating current, since his company sold direct current while Westinghouse sold alternating current. While sometimes people with vested interests are honest, Edison proposed incredibly strange things to portray alternating current as unsafe, including using alternating current for the first electric chair. It was an awful experiment, pushed by Edison only for marketing purposes. It was quickly established afterwards that direct current is a safer and faster electricity for electrocutions, and anything Edison had to say about alternating current's danger was FUD.

...corporate and U.S. government crime.

Your argument conveniently leaves out the fact that many factory workers in third world countries were at one time independent farmers whose livelihoods were destroyed by WTO agreements that allowed the dumping of cheap GMO'd agricultural products in their markets thus destroying their livelihood. Once their livelihoods have been destroyed they are easy pickings for multinationals who rove the world in a predatory fashion looking for the lowest possible wages and thus creating downward pressure on wages throughout the world that is exploited by people with high incomes in the west.

Again I don't see you jumping on any boats to work a 12 hour shift in a sweat shop, though that would certainly be more "productive" of an actual real good than your shilling for the forces of oppression and suffering.

The far right in the U.S. tries to make much of individual crimes and has promoted the idea of the victim impact statement:

http://crime.about.com/od/victims/a/impact.htm

This is fine as far as it goes, but I propose an extension, a victim impact statement for all the victims of corporate and U.S. government crimes. Under this arrangement victims of U.S. multinational corporations and would have a public forum to speak of the abuses they suffered at the hands of factories subcontracted to U.S. multinationals, in addition victims of U.S. war crimes such as the innumerable bombings of civilians in Iraq would also be given an opportunity to speak and to confront those responsible for their suffering. This follows from basic logic, after all if victim impact statements are designed to allow victims to have some sort of closure for their suffering ought those who have caused the most suffering be the first in line for having to hear from their victims? Despite the airtight logic of this proposal I doubt apologists for globlization will put it on their agenda anytime soon. After all we wouldn't dare actually hear what the true impact of globlization is on the ground, far better to look at charts whose numbers point, up, up, up, right? Although no proper formal program of this type exists you can read of the stories of the victims of globalization at:

http://globalexchange.org/

After all accountability and responsibility are only for the little people, upper middle class Americans and other people in the west needn't bother with such trifles as responsibility for their actions, and accountability for the suffering and death they have caused right?

Don't let your delusions get in the way of your posting. Slashdot ran this story. What does that say about their "lefist" agenda? (Not that you understand what lefist means, but please do go on.)

Is this part of the "lefist" agenda?

Btw, an alternate interpretation of the doctoring of a photograph to increase the smoke and apparent destruction in the aftermath of Israel attacking Lebanon: perhaps Hajj is trying to convince the Lebanese people that Israel is inflicting major damage so they might be more apt to consider acceding to Israel's demands. On the other hand, probably not.

Still, from the end of that article, one might get the impression that GOP-linked blogs are in fact trying to discredit the media reporting on death and destruction from the war in Lebanon:

[Hajj] was among several photographers from the main international news agencies whose images of a dead child being held up by a rescuer in the village of Qana, south Lebanon, after an Israeli air strike on July 30 have been challenged by blogs critical of the mainstream media's coverage of the Middle East conflict.

Reuters and other news organizations reviewed those images and have all rejected allegations that the photographs were staged.

This is the last nail in the coffin for AOL I would say. This is a horrible invasion of privacy for people. Many people, myself included have probably searched for our own names, addresses, cities, credit card numbers, etc. I really hope that an attorney somewhere sues AOL into oblivion over this.

Some intresting tidbits:

17556639 how to kill your wife 17556639 how to kill your wife
17556639 wife killer 17556639 how to kill a wife
17556639 poop 17556639 dead people
17556639 pictures of dead people 17556639 killed people
17556639 dead pictures 17556639 dead pictures
17556639 dead pictures 17556639 murder photo
17556639 steak and cheese
17556639 photo of death 17556639 photo of death
17556639 death 17556639 dead people photos
17556639 photo of dead people 17556639 www.murderdpeople.com
17556639 decapatated photos 17556639 decapatated photos
17556639 car crashes3 17556639 car crashes3

160689 light brown colored semen 3/2/2006 16:30 9 http://experts.about.com/

6497dog eat monkey5/22/2006 5:39
6497dog eat monkey5/22/2006 5:39
6497capuchin monkey dog5/22/2006 5:39
6497dog eating monkey5/22/2006 5:40
6497dog eating monkey5/22/2006 5:40
6497dog eating monkey5/22/2006 5:40
6497dog eats monkey5/22/2006 5:40
6497dog eats monkey5/22/2006 5:41
6497eating capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:41
6497eating capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:41
6497eating capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:41
6497kill capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:41
6497killing capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:41
6497slaughter capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:42
6497feeding capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:42
6497feeding capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:42
6497eyes capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:42
6497tail capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:42
6497tail capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:43
6497tail capuchin monkey5/22/2006 5:43

6497beach stud speedo5/23/2006 1:24
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:24
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:25
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:25
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:25
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:25
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:27
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:27
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:28
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:28
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:28
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:28
6497beach martin ricky5/23/2006 1:29
6497-5/23/2006 1:55
6497-5/23/2006 1:55
6497recent5/23/2006 1:55
6497speedo triathlete5/23/2006 1:55

3302children who have died from moms postpartum depression
3302children who have died from moms postpartum depression
3302rotovirus2006-03-24 19:55:12
3302statistics on infancide
3302statistics on infantcide
3302statistics on infanticie
3302statistics on infanticide postpartum depression
3302statistics on infanticide postpartum depression
3302statistics on infanticide postpartum depression
3302pictires of tom cruise and his wife
3302people magazines pictures of tom cruise and katie holmes

2652898my space.com (about 100 times)
2652898different ways to jerk of
2652898how to not ejaculate so early
2652898my penis has a big erection
2652898free videos of big dicks

Thanks to FARK.com for the snippits.

First, the market is not granular enough. The consumer will never be given the choice of DRM'd CDs vs. DRMless CDs. The options are decided by marketing teams, and they will give consumers choices such as DRM'd CDs or nothing.

Odd that Circuit City, one of the main backers of DIVX- the "disposable" DVD alternative touted by studios like Disney (and, of course, Circuit City that lost like $500 million US), would offer this service.

Circuit City offered DIVX discs that users could "rent" for 24 hour periods for about $2.95 (yes, they had to buy it first for a higher price)in an attempt to thwart the dangers of users copying DVD's. Circuit City was VERY anti-DVD at the time.

Check out an interesting link here http://hometheater.about.com/library/weekly/aa0621 99.htm that tells of the Divx demise....

Boy how times change! And they said Divx wasn't all about profit, it was protecting the studios...just who is profiting/protecting now?

Dude - you have NO idea how things work in the real world. We have see the world without the FDA.

Yeah, like Vioxx?

Again, I will reiterate, I'm not saying we don't need some kind of drug review. All I'm saying is getting FDA approval on a product is one of the most difficult and expensive steps in the pharmaceutical business. Current estimates are that FDA approval costs $800 million dollars. The US is the most expensive country in the world to get approval. Heck, the FDA still can't agree on the benefits of ASPIRIN for heart attack patients.

The FDA panel was merely being scientifically "pure" in making this vote. One of the panel members noted that what was needed is a seven-year trial enrolling 15,000 patients in the moderate-risk group, and until such data was available FDA should not give its stamp of approval.

But while agreeing with this opinion, another panel member further noted that aspirin's overall benefits have been so well-documented that it would probably be unethical (and certainly unfeasible) to actually perform such a trial.

It's quite possible that the FDA has cost as many lives as it has saved by being slow and expensive to approve drugs. I think you are the one who has NO idea how things work in the real world.

my my aren't we a troll

can you prove to me the 2004 election was fraud free? can you even support the statement that it was fraud free? Of course fucking not, even a cursory glance at Ohio will tell anyone who has a brain that we can never know if bush really was the honest winner of that state (not to mention several others) or not.

Why did they make up a fake terrorist threat claim on the last county to count it's votes (which prevented all observers from seeing the count)? We know it wasn't a real threat, and we know counting votes in secret like that is one of the fundmantal signs of a flawed election.

How about the ESS tech who, without authorization, accessed on of the voting machines used in voting between the voting and the "recount" (retabulating insecurable inauditable unreliable data tables doesn't constitute a recount).

Insecure elections is NOT a partisan issue, just like jerrymandering ISN'T a partisan issue. The last two national election cycles the insecurities in the voting system have merely happen to have been taken advantage by the republicans - there Is no gaurantee that the democrats wouldn't do that same thing, and I have no illusions that they are immune to the temptation.

Insecure balloting techniques, jerrymandering, etc should ALL be illegal. Jerrymandering is impossible in exactly ONE state in the nation: Iowa, where I happen to live. One state with only 5 house reps is the only state where you cannot jerrymander

Unjerrymandered:
Iowa http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/77GA/Congressional /Maps/Map.gif
Hawaii http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/HI-d istricts-108.JPG
(probably) Idaho http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/ID-d istricts-108.JPG
NH http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/NH-d istricts-108.JPG

Jerrymandered:
Texas http://z.about.com/d/uspolitics/1/0/w/texas_congre ssional_map.png
California http://www.senate.ca.gov/ftp/SEN/cngplan/CNGMAPS/C D_STATE8X11.JPG
Florida http://www.democracyinaction.com/dia/organizations /karin/images/congressionalmap.gif?
Illinois http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/IL-d istricts-108.JPG

see the difference? Jerrymandering leads to complex districts most of the time, unjerrymandered districts are as geographically simple as possible.

rather obvious are they not? Jerrymandering is just another form of election fraud and both parties engage in it.

The wear and tear on a road surface is proportional to the fourth power of it's weight(see the section on maintenance) so actually a light fuel efficient vehicle should have to pay a lower price per gallon of fuel, or large vehicles pay a higher price per gallon.

eg. if you have a 1000 kg car compared to a 2000 kg car, then the 2000 kg car is causing 32 times as much wear on the road surface, so the road will need repairs much sooner. a 4000 kg car would be causing 256 times the wear.

Hey, Kid, There is no way to get most of the fat and grease out of food, no matter how you cook it. Unless you flame it with a plasma canon and eat the charred remain. Fast food is fatty and unhealthy, period. You just have too high of a metabolism to know what I am talking about at this stage of your life. Check out the calories and fat content of a properly grilled burger with tomato slices: http://nutrition.about.com/od/rateameal/a/whopperm eal.htm

I don't think it's required, but not hearing your miranda rights can make a big hole in a case against you. The cop who blew it won't look so hot at that point. It's kinda funny in that it doesn't apply if you're not in custody. more reading here: http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/mirandarights/a/mira ndaqa.htm

I don't know about that, but would you like to read some Slashdot news?

Whether acupuncture is efficacious or a placebo is subject to scientific research. There is no scientific consensus over whether or not evidence supports efficacy

And...

In 1997, the following statement was adopted as policy of the American Medical Association (AMA) after a report on a number of alternative therapies including acupuncture:[37]

"There is little evidence to confirm the safety or efficacy of most alternative therapies. Much of the information currently known about these therapies makes it clear that many have not been shown to be efficacious. Well-designed, stringently controlled research should be done to evaluate the efficacy of alternative therapies."

Which goes back to my original post that there certainly are people who contest whether acupuncture works. Here's another link, found with the google search terms 'acupuncture' and 'fake': http://atheism.about.com/b/a/169142.htm.

Penn & Teller may have done an episode on using magnets for healing, but this is hardly relevant since I made no mention of using magnets for healing. Further, I find it curious that you quote performers as definitive sources on the state of reality. Penn & Teller, and James Randi, as clever as they are, are not scientists. They are stage magicians with tunnel vision and egos to protect.
Granted, you didn't mention magnets, but, since usually acupuncture and magnets go together, I thought I'd head it off at the cuff. As far as definitive sources on the state of reality, stage performers make their living with trickery. The ones I referenced happen to ADMIT that it's trickery, rather than trying to pass it off as some mystical bullshit. Please do some basic research on them before dismissing them merely as people looking to protect their egos. Whatever flaws they have as messengers doesn't negate the honesty of their respective messages.

I think there's a bit of a difference in using directed electricty, which you can immediately observe in a laboratory environment, versus sticking pieces of metal into various places on your body and saying there's some sort of benevolent effect.

And, again, 'working but not knowing how' could be said of prayer, as well. While you're free to believe what you will, that doesn't change those beliefs into anything resembling the actual reality that exists, despite whatever faith based approach you may have developed in perceiving it. Nor do your beliefs translate into a blanket consensus of agreement amongst everyone. This is just common sense: Even for things that ARE agreed upon by the vast majority, there still are those who'll contest them, despite the evidence. For example, the moon landing. That's why it's important to have reproducable results, and understand WHY and HOW something works, not just that 'it seems to'.

The problem is that the answers are very upsetting to the power structure of the West.
No, not really. Fruits making money selling acupuncture, reflexology, and sugar pills certainly do take away from the profit of large drug c

Well, in answering my own question I found a contradictory opinion. About.com seems to think this is grey area. It may or may not be illegal, and the lender may be able to demand the funds be returned.

Go to the bank and get a CD. The longer you have it, the better the interest. The more money you put in, the better the interest.

http://banking.about.com/od/cds/a/cdbasics.htm

Yeah, but you do realize that you don't knit an afgan, you crochet it. You think that these guys know their technology, but they on't even know their point needles from their hooked ones.

You might want to re-check your facts. To quote, "An Afghan is a blanket, wrap, or shawl of colored wool, knitted or crocheted in geometric shapes.". Look here for just one example of a knitted afghan. Many more can be found with an appropriate Google search.

True. Other differences to consider:

- Sony had a prior console under the brand name (PS1) to help push the PS2, while Sega didn't have a previous Dreamcast. But here, both have previous models.

- DVD already had the time to become an established media format by the time the PS2 was released. HDDVD and Blu-Ray on the other hand are only just emerging.

As for the 10 years...this basically says it all: http://nintendo.about.com/library/bluray/blblurayp en1.htm

No, they are absolutely fake.

I know it is difficult to accept, but such a claim has never been substantiated. The best you can do is say the documents have not been proven to be copies of the authentic documents showing that George Bush stopped showing up for his plum National Guard service duty (back when the National Guard stayed in the United States) the very same month mandatory drug testing was implemented. And, as the substantiated records very clearly show, George Bush never showed up for his mandatory physical this same year he went missing from his duty. Kill two birds with one stone -- stop showing up for duty and never have to fail your drug test. That's our boy!!

Next you will tell me the August 6, 2001 presidential daily briefing was a fake: Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US (more than one month before 9/11).

Then again, you will probably deny George Bush has a substance abuse problem. These documents (very presidential) must be fakes!

No, they are absolutely fake.

I know it is difficult to accept, but such a claim has never been substantiated. The best you can do is say the documents have not been proven to be copies of the authentic documents showing that George Bush stopped showing up for his plum National Guard service duty (back when the National Guard stayed in the United States) the very same month mandatory drug testing was implemented. And, as the substantiated records very clearly show, George Bush never showed up for his mandatory physical this same year he went missing from his duty. Kill two birds with one stone -- stop showing up for duty and never have to fail your drug test. That's our boy!!

Next you will tell me the August 6, 2001 presidential daily briefing was a fake: Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US (more than one month before 9/11).

Then again, you will probably deny George Bush has a substance abuse problem. These documents (very presidential) must be fakes!

Its on http://nintendo.about.com/od/editorials/ss/marioco mpare3_10.htm (page 10) is this a racist joke?

About.com says: Luigi was Papa, and Toad was Mama The Mushroom Kingdom and Progressive boink: Luigi was Mama and Toad was Papa The about.com article seems unreliable http://nintendo.about.com/od/editorials/ss/marioco mpare3_2.htm. The various links provided by other Slashdot users all say Luigi was originally the taller, high-jumping Mama http://themushroomkingdom.net/smb2_ddp.shtml and http://www.progressiveboink.com/archive/dokidokipa nic.html. Considering the Progressive boink article has a copy of the ROM included and strong indications that it's author played the Doki Doki Panic version (instead of only looking at screenshots) I'm inclided to give the nod to him.

I bet to differ... When was the last time you used a zipper? How about any form of wireless device? watched TV lately?
... and many, many more.
I feel you are just trying to be an asshole... trying to make it appear that we Canadians are worthless to the planet.
Go back to school for fuck sakes.

Oh, I know I will get flamed for this... but I don't care. I am Canadian, so fuck off.

I bet to differ... When was the last time you used a zipper? How about any form of wireless device? watched TV lately?
... and many, many more.
I feel you are just trying to be an asshole... trying to make it appear that we Canadians are worthless to the planet.
Go back to school for fuck sakes.

Oh, I know I will get flamed for this... but I don't care. I am Canadian, so fuck off.

I bet to differ... When was the last time you used a zipper? How about any form of wireless device? watched TV lately?
... and many, many more.
I feel you are just trying to be an asshole... trying to make it appear that we Canadians are worthless to the planet.
Go back to school for fuck sakes.

Oh, I know I will get flamed for this... but I don't care. I am Canadian, so fuck off.

Now, if I had a look at, say this page linked from this article, noted here, then I probably wouldn't need TFA to tell me that Mario 2 was an almost complete rip off of some other game.

Now, if I had a look at, say this page linked from this article, noted here, then I probably wouldn't need TFA to tell me that Mario 2 was an almost complete rip off of some other game.

A maroon who has abused his laptop battery? I can never tell whether people who misspell "moron" are being deliciously ironic...

Why is there concern about the MMR vaccine causing autism?

A small study in London in 1998 first raised the possibility that autism is linked to the MMR vaccine. While the study did not prove that MMR causes autism, it did increase the level of concern of many parents [Emphasis mine].

This website allows you to read an entire Holt, Rhineheart, and Winston textbook online if you already have a keyword from a textbook you buy online. If you're into foreign languages, it has French, German, and Spanish, and aside from that,

These sites teach you basic Japanese if you study enough.

Parents just have to watch to make sure their children aren't looking at porn instead of studying and help them along.

This website allows you to read an entire Holt, Rhineheart, and Winston textbook online if you already have a keyword from a textbook you buy online. If you're into foreign languages, it has French, German, and Spanish, and aside from that,

These sites teach you basic Japanese if you study enough.

Parents just have to watch to make sure their children aren't looking at porn instead of studying and help them along.

This website allows you to read an entire Holt, Rhineheart, and Winston textbook online if you already have a keyword from a textbook you buy online. If you're into foreign languages, it has French, German, and Spanish, and aside from that,

These sites teach you basic Japanese if you study enough.

Parents just have to watch to make sure their children aren't looking at porn instead of studying and help them along.

cow-tipping is not actually feasible, as far as I can tell.

I discovered my first fake female chatter on Quantumlink.

This is arguably off topic, but I am reminded of Qlink. This was the primordial rich content service offered by Quantum Computer Systems which trumped all others at the time, and it was strictly for the Commodore (C=64) line. Other offerings such as Compuserve and Delphi were text-only.

I found these links, that some of you may find nostalgic:

http://www.jbrain.com/vicug/gallery/qlink
http://internetgames.about.com/od/gamingnews/a/tim eline.htm [scroll down to 1985]

And get the Quantumlink client @ http://www.quantum-link.org/

also.. of course.. the UNBIASED slashdot commentary:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/19/232123 6

Actually, you can marry your first cousin in many many states.

Disclaimer: my wife is in no way related to me by blood. I swear.

Like the rules that determine if a word is neutral, masculine or feminine... wiat a sec, oh yes, they don't exist!

yes they do. masculine nouns, femenine nouns, and neuter nouns

Like the rules that determine if a word is neutral, masculine or feminine... wiat a sec, oh yes, they don't exist!

yes they do. masculine nouns, femenine nouns, and neuter nouns

Like the rules that determine if a word is neutral, masculine or feminine... wiat a sec, oh yes, they don't exist!

yes they do. masculine nouns, femenine nouns, and neuter nouns

mosquitoe is the British spelling much like colour is the British spelling of color.

Perhaps this might be more meaningful:
% echo colour | spell -b
% echo color | spell -b
color
% echo mosquito | spell -b
% echo mosquitoe | spell -b
mosquitoe

As an earlier anonymous coward mentioned, if you do a whois on wineverygame.com you find that Chandler Kant is the administrative contact. At the same time LinuxCertified has a major employee named Chandler Kant (see http://linux.about.com/b/a/062983.htm for one reference). It is quite unfortunate when a dealer of linux systems will lie on a forum like slashdot about his identity in order to sell systems.

Of course it did. Educate yourself before posting any more pointless snide remarks.

Dumping is only if you are selling your product under cost. Intel has big fat profit margins on its chips, and can easily reduce to these prices without falling under the cost.
http://economics.about.com/library/glossary/bldef- dumping.htm

On March 29, 2006, students at Mackenzie High in Detroit staged a walkout to protest the lack of textbooks and tiolet paper. 32 were arrested, with 8 charged for disorderly conduct, and 1 for inciting to riot. Some parents were fined $500. here

You have no rights in a crappy neighborhood.

Detroit Cops used to regularly round up anyone nearby a murder and hold them in cells, and although they signed a concent decree saying that they wouldn't, when they cut the budget, they made sure to cut the people responsible for monitoring those decrees.

When cops began random searches of the people mover, there was no protest or question.

Relax, all of these efforts to curtail citizens rights have kept the homicide closure rate at a remarkable 45-50%, while the number of homicides rises faster than the city's population can dwindle.

"I could see the truth that most Americans never think of. I knew who the next likely enemy was after the cold war ended"

I know you won't hear about this on Fox news, but both Saddam Hussein and bin Laden were at one time US intelligence assets in the middle east. Bin Laden sent into Afghanistan to ferment opposition to the Soviets and Hussein, a one time hit man for the CIA put up to organizing a coup against his own Ba'ath Party. Their chief crime being trying to organize unification with Syria. You see a fragmented middle east is much easier to control that a united Arab front. Of course one of the side effects of this policy is out of control 'freedom fighters` organizing suicide bombings. This wasn't considered a problem until they attacked the US.

The war against terror being largely bogus as once the USSR collapsed the US had to create another pretext to occupy the worlds mineral rich territories. You see we here in the gap have been suffering from terrorism for a long time (the Lockerbie bombing, Canary Wharf etc) the difference is we never saw the need to cancel democracy.

"My world was a world of security fences and guards carrying AK47s"

Are you sure what continent your grew up on. The AK47 was designed by Timofeevich Kalashnikov and used primarily by the Red Army.

'"They keep telling themselves that. "Oh it'll be all right, the government is protecting us."`

Who's going to protect us from your government.

"I want everyone to remember, why they need us!"

Adam Sutler
http://quotations.about.com/od/moviequotes/a/vende tta2.htm

This has been around for a while, but it's an even better example -- they improved it over time by moving the fly's image slightly off center. The image of a fly on the bottom of a urinal cut "spillage" by 80 percent:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_fly_in_ur inal.htm

(In answer to the post I'm linking to, there, a black dot or target wasn't as effective as the not-quite-realistic fly. Men didn't aim for a truly real-looking fly, either.)

During the last shuttle launch the ET impacted with a turkey vulture. Had the strike occured at a higher speed and altitude the vehicle could have been brought down.