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No: you'd have about 23 million, although the crux of what you're arguing is true. Both South Korea and China would have to essentially fence the North Koreans in, at least until the people and infrastructure achieve some measure of stability and normality. That might be 20 years or more.

On a tangential note, North Korea is a good example to hold up to the people who ask how the Holocaust happened: countries are more interested in their own self-interest than they are in any abstract ideas about justice or fairness or even treating people humanely.

They made their bed, let them sleep (or die) in it.

...

Not PC enuff?- PC in my books= Personal Computer, not Politically Correct, so carry on to your heart's content.

First of all, if you knew anything about me, you'd know that I am anti-PC, and I don't mean personal computer. I grew up in Santa Cruz and in classic form I rebelled against prevailing social attitudes. In most of the country those attitudes are like yours - ignorant and isolationist. In Santa Cruz they're the other extreme, bleeding heart bullshit. Both views are essentially utter failings because they ignore the rational, moderate path.

Second of all, as I alluded to in my prior paragraph, your view is simple ignorance. China's population is 1,313,973,713 (July 2006 est.) (https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geo s/ch.html) A little more detail from the same source: 0-14 years: 20.8% (male 145,461,833/female 128,445,739) 15-64 years: 71.4% (male 482,439,115/female 455,960,489) 65 years and over: 7.7% (male 48,562,635/female 53,103,902) (2006 est.) So of people of marryin' age in China, there's a surplus of 26,478,26 men. That's more people than died in the U.S. Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Viet Nam war and the Korean war combined. In a war of attrition in which China suffered twice the casualties that anyone else did, they'd still win.

Meanwhile, when the youngsters grow up, that's another 26 million unattached men to deal with.

If you think that's not going to affect anyone but China, you are not thinking.

For a counterpoint I would like you to consider these stats:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /sp.html
Spain: 94% Roman Catholic, .13% Pop Growth
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /it.html
Italy: 90% Roman Catholic, .04% Pop Growth

In contrast:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /us.html
US: 24% Roman Catholic, .91% Pop Growth

The facts do not seem to support your conclusion

For a counterpoint I would like you to consider these stats:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /sp.html
Spain: 94% Roman Catholic, .13% Pop Growth
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /it.html
Italy: 90% Roman Catholic, .04% Pop Growth

In contrast:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /us.html
US: 24% Roman Catholic, .91% Pop Growth

The facts do not seem to support your conclusion

For a counterpoint I would like you to consider these stats:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /sp.html
Spain: 94% Roman Catholic, .13% Pop Growth
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /it.html
Italy: 90% Roman Catholic, .04% Pop Growth

In contrast:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /us.html
US: 24% Roman Catholic, .91% Pop Growth

The facts do not seem to support your conclusion

According to the World Factook, the European Union has a population of 456 million people in an area "less than one-half the size of the US."

The most interesting discovery has been a 152mm binary Sarin artillery projectile containing a 40 percent concentration of Sarin which insurgents attempted to use as an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The existence of this binary weapon not only raises questions about the number of viable chemical weapons remaining in Iraq and raises the possibility that a larger number of binary, long-lasting chemical weapons still exist.

And, as noted in the unclassified overview of chemical munitions recovered in Iraq since May 2004:

The purity of the agent inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives, and environmental storage conditions. While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal.

Bush claimed that Saddam had an active program and was continuing to stockpile. This is false, and continues to be false.

Saddam did have active programs involving banned research into WMDs, and research, development, and manufacturing of missile technology, among others. He also retained banned materials. See David Kay's report on the activities of the Iraq Survey Group to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as excerpted below:

What have we found and what have we not found in the first 3 months of our work?

We have discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002. The discovery of these deliberate concealment efforts have come about both through the admissions of Iraqi scientists and officials concerning information they deliberately withheld and through physical evidence of equipment and activities that ISG has discovered that should have been declared to the UN. Let me just give you a few examples of these concealment efforts, some of which I will elaborate on later:

- A clandestine network of laboratories and safehouses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment subject to UN monitoring and suitable for continuing CBW research.

- New research on BW-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin were not declared to the UN.

- A line of UAVs not fully declared at an undeclared production facility and an admission that they had tested one of their declared UAVs out to a range of 500 km, 350 km beyond the permissible limit.

- Continuing covert capability to manufacture fuel propellant useful only for prohibited SCUD variant missiles, a capability that was maintained at least until the end of 2001 and that cooperating Iraqi scientists have said they were told to conceal from the UN.

- Plans and advanced design work for new long-range missiles with ranges up to at least 1000 km -- well beyond the 150 km range limit imposed by the UN. Missiles of a 1000 km range would have allowed Iraq to threaten targets through out the Middle East, including Ankara, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi.

No relevent devices have been found to this day.

Plenty of banned programs, research, and equipment have been found, just no newly manufactured weapons filled with chemical or biological agents. That hardly vindicates Saddam, especia

If everyone in China (1,313,973,713 per https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /ch.html) climbs on a chair and jumps off at the same time they should be able to adjust the orbit of the planet.... figuring a mere 60lbs per person, the 78,838,422,780 pounds landing on one side of the planet should have quite an effect. By distributing special watches to everyone they could repeat the move as often as needed.

No weapons of mass destruction... I guess the evil W. is just lying again huh.. read a book, maybe.. https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd/Iraq_Oct_ 2002.htm#05

Reference https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd/Iraq_Oct_ 2002.htm#05

This one. You know, the one where 2% of the population is black?

Now, if you're a member of the BNP then you're too stupid to understand this, but black != Indian or Asian or Pakistani.

It is all relative, so it really depends on where you live. If you live in Southern California, they might not even bother mentioning any murders save for the really sensational ones... But you are talking about a metro area (SoCal) with more people (24 million) then all of Australia(20 million)... I doubt Australias national news news reports on Perths murders (except for the really sensational ones), but I could be wrong.

If you live in a smaller metro like here in Grand Rapids/Western MI a metro of about .75 million, all murders definitely make the news (as do the followups on who, what, when, and what the sentence was).

It is all about scale my friend.

By our, do you mean mine as well? If so, when do I get to go into our space?

I am being 100% serious; I want to know when I will be able to go into space.

My tax dollars help pay for the program.

According to the CIA Factbook there are 298,444,215 people in the US.

Doing the math says you pay US$6.07 a year for the space program.

If you can get yourself into space for that amount, let me know how it turns out.

According to the CIA factbook....$12.36 trillion! Next time either don't use unreliable sources, i.e. http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/Historical_Statistics /horizontal-file_2006.xls, or read/transcribe them correctly.

That is odd the current projections by the UN's Population Division, based on the 2004 revision of the World Population Prospects database shows that the population of the world is decreasing and this one claims that the US population is increasing.

Seems that while we have fewer people in the world, those that are born head to the US.

Source

You may also note the US population growth rate @ 0.91%

Oh and as to the oil usage, So what! Look at what we give the world back for the oil we use.

agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn), industrial supplies (organic chemicals), capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment), and consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) (In order of quantity)

For you will surely receive it. If there's one thing slashdotters love, it's a simple bumper-sticker slogan that makes everyone feel better.

Yet we all cede various amounts of "essential liberty" for safety - temporary and permanent.

We do not drive as we wish to ensure proper order on the roads (we hold to the proper lane... well... most of us).

We cede liberty to do as we wish when we want to constantly. Building codes, taxes, standards, all interfere with us doing precisely what we wish to do.

Certainly there is a question here between "liberty" and "essential liberty" - is it essential to drive precisely as we wish? - but the fact remains that giving up liberty allows for order.

Quoting Ben Franklin is wonderful and all, but can one quote another founding father in response?

"There is nothing more necessary than good intelligence to frustrate a designing enemy, & nothing requires greater pains to obtain." - George Washington

We can play dueling quotes all we want - do the "pains" Washington mentions include potential conflicts of interest with civil liberties? - but until a mature discussion that doesn't depend on what men said well over 200 years ago out of the present context comes up, I don't think it will be very productive.

At present, I have no opinion on the bill as I have yet to read it and do not trust the media's ability to interpret anything correctly. When I have a chance, I'll read it and some more insightful (non-blog, non-mass media) commentary and then form an opoinion.

If you're talking about the European Union, which can hardly be considered to have 'put its markets together', the U.S. still consumes and produces more than all the countries in the Union combined.

Except of course for the whole common currency thing. And the removal of internal borders. And the part where we're making common trade laws. You're right, that's definitely no sign of becoming one market. Also, it's not like Germany alone has a higher export volume than the USA. At least you spend 23% more money on foreign goods than we do.


We are the sole superpower, period. There are no others.

Because surely China doesn't have an enormous economical growth and many more workers then you have. And the EU could never hope to have nearly as much trade volume.
Note that I did acknowledge your military strength. I'm merely pointing out that military strength isn't that useful when dealing with people you don't want to attack (for example because half of your economy depends on them as a market).


We have the most powerful economy in the world, by an enormous amount. I'd say that puts us in a better position than anyone else on the planet.

A 1.47 percent GDP difference is hardly enormous. You're still 40% ahead of China, but they have just started serious industrialization and they have a lot more workers than you. In fact, their GDP grows 2.8 times as fast as yours.


America has been busy integrating Asia into its own economy since 1945, something that Europe still hasn't caught on to. Europe is a *customer* of Asia for the most part and doesn't have anything like the mixing of economies that the U.S. and Asia has. And Asia seems perfectly content with that situation - more than content as they eagerly take any American business they can get.

Considering how China is becoming more and more important for us, Asia doesn't seem to be very picky about who's business they take. And who's maglev train they badly copy.


Perhaps you haven't been following the news, but EU IP laws are pretty much the same as U.S. IP laws. And if you knew a bit about Asia, you'd realize that none of the countries here (where I'm at, this very moment) give a flying fuck about I.P. laws made in the U.S. or Europe. They pay lip service to those laws and nothing more. Really, they don't care what whitey has to say on the topic, whether whitey is from the U.S. or Europe.

Yeah, you forced the DMCA upon us, but software patents are void over here. We don't have laws explicitly banning them, but they already are covered under the current ones. Plus, we have a rather successful anti-software-patent lobby (as several foiled attempts to sneak them in show). Also, once the market over there matures IP and its enforcement will become increasingly important for them - and then they might reconsider dealing too muc with an economy where the progress bar is patented.
Also, our political system allows the upcoming Pirate parties to have a say in how things work (if they get more than N% (usually about 4 or 5) votes they get as many seats). I the USA they'd have to get at least 1/3 of all votes to be significant. We also have the Greens opposing some of the things the Pirats are opposing (like software patents) - and they already are an established political power.


Given the difficulties the European Union is having politically and economically, there's no guarantee it'll even be around in ten years. But as for three big players in the next few decades, you're right: the U.S. (with Canada, as always); Japan; and China. Brazil is coming up fast too, but it'll probably be another fif

If you're talking about the European Union, which can hardly be considered to have 'put its markets together', the U.S. still consumes and produces more than all the countries in the Union combined.

Except of course for the whole common currency thing. And the removal of internal borders. And the part where we're making common trade laws. You're right, that's definitely no sign of becoming one market. Also, it's not like Germany alone has a higher export volume than the USA. At least you spend 23% more money on foreign goods than we do.


We are the sole superpower, period. There are no others.

Because surely China doesn't have an enormous economical growth and many more workers then you have. And the EU could never hope to have nearly as much trade volume.
Note that I did acknowledge your military strength. I'm merely pointing out that military strength isn't that useful when dealing with people you don't want to attack (for example because half of your economy depends on them as a market).


We have the most powerful economy in the world, by an enormous amount. I'd say that puts us in a better position than anyone else on the planet.

A 1.47 percent GDP difference is hardly enormous. You're still 40% ahead of China, but they have just started serious industrialization and they have a lot more workers than you. In fact, their GDP grows 2.8 times as fast as yours.


America has been busy integrating Asia into its own economy since 1945, something that Europe still hasn't caught on to. Europe is a *customer* of Asia for the most part and doesn't have anything like the mixing of economies that the U.S. and Asia has. And Asia seems perfectly content with that situation - more than content as they eagerly take any American business they can get.

Considering how China is becoming more and more important for us, Asia doesn't seem to be very picky about who's business they take. And who's maglev train they badly copy.


Perhaps you haven't been following the news, but EU IP laws are pretty much the same as U.S. IP laws. And if you knew a bit about Asia, you'd realize that none of the countries here (where I'm at, this very moment) give a flying fuck about I.P. laws made in the U.S. or Europe. They pay lip service to those laws and nothing more. Really, they don't care what whitey has to say on the topic, whether whitey is from the U.S. or Europe.

Yeah, you forced the DMCA upon us, but software patents are void over here. We don't have laws explicitly banning them, but they already are covered under the current ones. Plus, we have a rather successful anti-software-patent lobby (as several foiled attempts to sneak them in show). Also, once the market over there matures IP and its enforcement will become increasingly important for them - and then they might reconsider dealing too muc with an economy where the progress bar is patented.
Also, our political system allows the upcoming Pirate parties to have a say in how things work (if they get more than N% (usually about 4 or 5) votes they get as many seats). I the USA they'd have to get at least 1/3 of all votes to be significant. We also have the Greens opposing some of the things the Pirats are opposing (like software patents) - and they already are an established political power.


Given the difficulties the European Union is having politically and economically, there's no guarantee it'll even be around in ten years. But as for three big players in the next few decades, you're right: the U.S. (with Canada, as always); Japan; and China. Brazil is coming up fast too, but it'll probably be another fif

If you're talking about the European Union, which can hardly be considered to have 'put its markets together', the U.S. still consumes and produces more than all the countries in the Union combined.

Except of course for the whole common currency thing. And the removal of internal borders. And the part where we're making common trade laws. You're right, that's definitely no sign of becoming one market. Also, it's not like Germany alone has a higher export volume than the USA. At least you spend 23% more money on foreign goods than we do.


We are the sole superpower, period. There are no others.

Because surely China doesn't have an enormous economical growth and many more workers then you have. And the EU could never hope to have nearly as much trade volume.
Note that I did acknowledge your military strength. I'm merely pointing out that military strength isn't that useful when dealing with people you don't want to attack (for example because half of your economy depends on them as a market).


We have the most powerful economy in the world, by an enormous amount. I'd say that puts us in a better position than anyone else on the planet.

A 1.47 percent GDP difference is hardly enormous. You're still 40% ahead of China, but they have just started serious industrialization and they have a lot more workers than you. In fact, their GDP grows 2.8 times as fast as yours.


America has been busy integrating Asia into its own economy since 1945, something that Europe still hasn't caught on to. Europe is a *customer* of Asia for the most part and doesn't have anything like the mixing of economies that the U.S. and Asia has. And Asia seems perfectly content with that situation - more than content as they eagerly take any American business they can get.

Considering how China is becoming more and more important for us, Asia doesn't seem to be very picky about who's business they take. And who's maglev train they badly copy.


Perhaps you haven't been following the news, but EU IP laws are pretty much the same as U.S. IP laws. And if you knew a bit about Asia, you'd realize that none of the countries here (where I'm at, this very moment) give a flying fuck about I.P. laws made in the U.S. or Europe. They pay lip service to those laws and nothing more. Really, they don't care what whitey has to say on the topic, whether whitey is from the U.S. or Europe.

Yeah, you forced the DMCA upon us, but software patents are void over here. We don't have laws explicitly banning them, but they already are covered under the current ones. Plus, we have a rather successful anti-software-patent lobby (as several foiled attempts to sneak them in show). Also, once the market over there matures IP and its enforcement will become increasingly important for them - and then they might reconsider dealing too muc with an economy where the progress bar is patented.
Also, our political system allows the upcoming Pirate parties to have a say in how things work (if they get more than N% (usually about 4 or 5) votes they get as many seats). I the USA they'd have to get at least 1/3 of all votes to be significant. We also have the Greens opposing some of the things the Pirats are opposing (like software patents) - and they already are an established political power.


Given the difficulties the European Union is having politically and economically, there's no guarantee it'll even be around in ten years. But as for three big players in the next few decades, you're right: the U.S. (with Canada, as always); Japan; and China. Brazil is coming up fast too, but it'll probably be another fif

If you're talking about the European Union, which can hardly be considered to have 'put its markets together', the U.S. still consumes and produces more than all the countries in the Union combined.

Except of course for the whole common currency thing. And the removal of internal borders. And the part where we're making common trade laws. You're right, that's definitely no sign of becoming one market. Also, it's not like Germany alone has a higher export volume than the USA. At least you spend 23% more money on foreign goods than we do.


We are the sole superpower, period. There are no others.

Because surely China doesn't have an enormous economical growth and many more workers then you have. And the EU could never hope to have nearly as much trade volume.
Note that I did acknowledge your military strength. I'm merely pointing out that military strength isn't that useful when dealing with people you don't want to attack (for example because half of your economy depends on them as a market).


We have the most powerful economy in the world, by an enormous amount. I'd say that puts us in a better position than anyone else on the planet.

A 1.47 percent GDP difference is hardly enormous. You're still 40% ahead of China, but they have just started serious industrialization and they have a lot more workers than you. In fact, their GDP grows 2.8 times as fast as yours.


America has been busy integrating Asia into its own economy since 1945, something that Europe still hasn't caught on to. Europe is a *customer* of Asia for the most part and doesn't have anything like the mixing of economies that the U.S. and Asia has. And Asia seems perfectly content with that situation - more than content as they eagerly take any American business they can get.

Considering how China is becoming more and more important for us, Asia doesn't seem to be very picky about who's business they take. And who's maglev train they badly copy.


Perhaps you haven't been following the news, but EU IP laws are pretty much the same as U.S. IP laws. And if you knew a bit about Asia, you'd realize that none of the countries here (where I'm at, this very moment) give a flying fuck about I.P. laws made in the U.S. or Europe. They pay lip service to those laws and nothing more. Really, they don't care what whitey has to say on the topic, whether whitey is from the U.S. or Europe.

Yeah, you forced the DMCA upon us, but software patents are void over here. We don't have laws explicitly banning them, but they already are covered under the current ones. Plus, we have a rather successful anti-software-patent lobby (as several foiled attempts to sneak them in show). Also, once the market over there matures IP and its enforcement will become increasingly important for them - and then they might reconsider dealing too muc with an economy where the progress bar is patented.
Also, our political system allows the upcoming Pirate parties to have a say in how things work (if they get more than N% (usually about 4 or 5) votes they get as many seats). I the USA they'd have to get at least 1/3 of all votes to be significant. We also have the Greens opposing some of the things the Pirats are opposing (like software patents) - and they already are an established political power.


Given the difficulties the European Union is having politically and economically, there's no guarantee it'll even be around in ten years. But as for three big players in the next few decades, you're right: the U.S. (with Canada, as always); Japan; and China. Brazil is coming up fast too, but it'll probably be another fif

but much of the rest of the world regarded the United States as a democratic bastion protecting them from the Soviet empire.

Western Europe, in particular, was totally reliant on the US for protection from the massive Russian ground army.

Put it another way - 23 years ago citizens of Britan, Australia, and Western Europe would never have seriously felt that they might be 'disappeared' by US intelligence agencies from a third-party country, tortured, detained for years without any recourse to the law, and eventually tried in an extra-judicial process with the possibility of the death penalty.

We spend more money on defense, both total and per capita, than any other nation in the world, including China and North Korea.

Not to nit pick, but no shit, I would hope we do. The per capita GDP of the US is $41,800, for China it is $6,800, and for North Korea it is $1,700(*1). If we were to spend just 4% of our per capita GDP we would be matching North Korea's attempt to spend 100% of its per capita GDP. I certainly hope that we are spending North Korea into the ground as a raw per capita dollar value or else we would be lucky to have armed police, much less an effective military.

What is a far more interesting figure is to compare the percentage of the GDP spent on the military from nation to nation. For shits and giggles I pulled the data from the CIA Factbook and did the numbers(*2). North Korea tops out at number 1, spending a massive 12.5% of their GDP on the military. Israel comes in at number 3 with 6.1%. Positions 4 to 10 are taken by various Middle Eastern and African nations. The US comes in at number 11 with 4.2% of their GDP spent on the military. France comes in at number 20 with 2.5% spending China sits down at number 68 with 0.9% spending on GDP, though this number might be much higher then reported. I know that there have been rumblings that China is massively under reporting their military expenditures. That said, I doubt that they come anywhere near the US.

So there you have it, the numbers... what was this post on again?

*1 Source: CIA factbook https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rank order/2004rank.html

*2 Some countries were missing military spending estimates. Most were not nations of much consequence or had no spending. That said, at least one biggie was missing. The military spending of Russia was not reported.

Actually, it's not.

Here's a link to Crank, Nuts, and Screwballs:
https://www.cia.gov/csi/kent_csi/docs/v09i3a09p_00 01.htm

"Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages" hasn't been declassified. However, in a different paper, "The Intelligence Revolution and the Future", the CIA has this to say:

"Should project SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) ever receive a signal from outer space, there will be yet another role for intelligence services, not in arming the lasers, but in trying to decode the messages."

You can see this link for that quote: https://www.cia.gov/csi/kent_csi/docs/v37i4a04p_00 06.htm

It looks like they got the messages, AND THEY FOUND THE KEY TO DECODE THEM!

[cue 50's theremin music]
WooOOoooOOOooo-ooooOooooooOOOoooo..

Actually, it's not.

Here's a link to Crank, Nuts, and Screwballs:
https://www.cia.gov/csi/kent_csi/docs/v09i3a09p_00 01.htm

"Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages" hasn't been declassified. However, in a different paper, "The Intelligence Revolution and the Future", the CIA has this to say:

"Should project SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) ever receive a signal from outer space, there will be yet another role for intelligence services, not in arming the lasers, but in trying to decode the messages."

You can see this link for that quote: https://www.cia.gov/csi/kent_csi/docs/v37i4a04p_00 06.htm

It looks like they got the messages, AND THEY FOUND THE KEY TO DECODE THEM!

[cue 50's theremin music]
WooOOoooOOOooo-ooooOooooooOOOoooo..

As a further clarification. The Wikipedia page on Mad cow disease lists the countries with infected cattle and/or infected people.

Interestingly the poorest country on the list is Thailand, with a GDP per capita of $8,300.00 (Middle income).

Strangely enough they only made the list for the human form of the disease, suggesting that it came from imported beef.

Both Iceland and Great Britain, off the top of my head. What is it with the US education system?

I believe when the US revolted, Great Britain was a monarchy (technically.)

And Iceland didn't become a sovereign stat from the Danish crown until 1918 and received full independence until 1944 (as a condition of US victory in WWII, I believe.)

So where did you study, genius?

- A generation ago is NOT 1994. A generation ago would have been more like 1976, so...WRONG

- According to a 2001 article published by a Doctorate in Psychology on behalf of another branch of the government you so choose to blindly believe in(Außenministerium); and I quote, "There are more than 70 million children in the United States under the age of 18, comprising 26 percent of the population. Violent crime against children was relatively high in the 1980s and early 1990s -- " AGAIN, whether you choose to use the date of the article or the date of the statistical analysis, this is NOT a generation ago, THEREFORE your claim that we(in which you included, or at least implied in the inclusion, children) are safer now than we were a GENERATION ago is...WRONG.

- Here's another fun filled quote from our completely objective and accurate "trusted" Minitrue website: "Sources: Rape (excluding sexual assault), robbery, and assault data are from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Ongoing since 1972, this survey of households interviews about 134,000 persons age 12 and older in 77,200 households twice each year about their victimizations from crime."

Firstly, they DIDN'T include crimes against children UNDER the age of 12, which makes their sources questionable at best with regards to the decline of violent crime against all children.

Secondly, Ohhhhhhhhhh look at that....They interviewed a whole 134,000 people, out of the current population(according to another branch of Minitrue) of 298+ MILLION U.S. Comrades, a purported 26%, or 7,7595,496, of which they say are children. I'd hardly call it conclusive truth AT BEST.

Now let's take a look at the source of their "facts":

"BJS criminal victimization data collections
National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is the Nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization. Each year, data are obtained from a nationally representative sample of 77,200 households comprising nearly 134,000 persons on the frequency, characteristics and consequences of criminal victimization in the United States. The survey enables BJS to estimate the likelihood of victimization by rape, sexual assault, robbery, assault, theft, household burglary, and motor vehicle theft for the population as a whole as well as for segments of the population such as women, the elderly, members of various racial groups, city dwellers, or other groups. The NCVS provides the largest national forum for victims to describe the impact of crime and characteristics of violent offenders.
Ongoing from 1973; Redesign 1992."

And who designed and owns the NCVS? The Bureau of Justice Statistics.

And what Minitrue arm is the BJS a part of...well looky here, the DOJ.

So, based on the inadvertant admissions of your Minitrue's sites, they summarize an ENTIRE NATION'S crime statistics based on interviews with less than 1% of that same population, using their own methodologies which cannot be verified by an outside independent source, and you take that at face value.

Way to lack critical thinking skills, comrade.

• Canada
• New Zealand
• Australia
• South Africa
• Republic of Ireland
• Costa Rica
• Brazil
• Norway
• Sweden
• Denmark

According to the CIA:

China:
total: 9,596,960 sq km
land: 9,326,410 sq km
water: 270,550 sq km

US of A:
total: 9,631,420 sq km
land: 9,161,923 sq km
water: 469,497 sq km
note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia

So we have more inland water than them, but they have more land. And a higher percentage of the US is arable land.

Hey, I've heard that they've started mining coal by clearing off the tops of mountains. It's safer and cheaper. Let the Chinese do this and then fill the mountains back in with our garbage. Everyone wins!

Even in the US the coverage is more than 50%, and in many European countries it's close to 100%. There are actually at least a couple of countries with more than one cellphone subscription per person (I think Finland and either Taiwan or South Korea, but I may be mistaken).

And why not moving the spaceport further south east? To Puerto Rico, maybe.

Or, is there a need for a land connection to the rest of the US Mainland?

Right now I'm working for one of the "culprits" in this phenomenal growth. Digicel allegedly sold 300,000 phones in it's 1st month of operations in Haiti. If you check the CIA Factbook, it basically says this is the worst run country in the western hemisphere. I have been here for 3 months now and I can say it's the worst I have seen.

Despite that, Somebody sold 300,000 phones in a month. How? Because a prepaid cellphone with free incoming calls is exactly what you need when you are impoverished. Looking for work? Put the number on your resume. Family members in a developed country? Give them the number so they can call you and you can ask for remittances.

Seriously. That's why it makes sense to sell a U$75 phone for U$25 to someone who had to save for weeks to pay that price.

So yeah. A nation doesn't even have to be emerging for Cellphones to take off. It could be a textbook case of "How to, not develop".

PS: Another sign of underdevelopment is when you must import almost your entire technical staff.

Don't loose focus, governments are solely graded on their Infant Mortality Rate. Here is how the World is graded - https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rank order/2091rank.html

Or maybe, just maybe, it's that these coutries have: A: Higher population density B: Government OFFERED internet access (As opposed to regulated, as you stated)

From the CIA factbook: Sweden: land area 410,934 square km, population 9,016,596, so density=21.94/sq km ; USA: land area 9,161,923 square km, population 298,444,215, so density=32.57/sq km. No, internet access is not `offered' by the government.

In any case, it's the population density in the cities which matters. I'll leave it up to you to figure out whether New York City has a lower density than Stockholm.

Perhaps you should check your own facts? Nah, much better to make them up based on your own prejudices.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's that these coutries have: A: Higher population density B: Government OFFERED internet access (As opposed to regulated, as you stated)

From the CIA factbook: Sweden: land area 410,934 square km, population 9,016,596, so density=21.94/sq km ; USA: land area 9,161,923 square km, population 298,444,215, so density=32.57/sq km. No, internet access is not `offered' by the government.

In any case, it's the population density in the cities which matters. I'll leave it up to you to figure out whether New York City has a lower density than Stockholm.

Perhaps you should check your own facts? Nah, much better to make them up based on your own prejudices.

  They are in debt and are spending to much. They don't have any money. They spend 19 billion and only bring in 17 billion. The Republic of Croatia is looking to cut expenses. Though, it should be easier to cut 2 billion in expenses compared to 200 billion USA needs to cut.

And in case if any slashdotters wants to move there.

Croatia has GDP of $35 billion and $11,000 per capita. Unemployment is 18% compared to USA's 4.6%. Croatia is also mostly Catholic with only 1.3% is muslim as of 2001.

  If you want to congratulate the government. You can contact them through Ambassador Neven JURICA at 2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008. Phone is 202-588-5899 /Fax 202-588-8936.

More information available at your local CIA office.

What are you smoking? Over population hasn't been a problem for years now. The new bogeyman is overconsumption; aka, SUVs, $3 gas, plastic+paper packaging, disposable diapers, etc.

Don't believe me? Look at the CIA factbook for Japan, US, and China:
Japan's birthrate is lower than it's deathrate. It's fertility rate is only 1.4.
China's birthrate is higher than it's deathrate for now, but it has a below 2.1 fertility rate. That means they too will have a smaller population in the future.
The US also has a below 2.1 fertility rate (at 2.09), so it too will be seeing population decline were it not for immigrants.
See Overpopulation.com for more about the fertility rate and population growth.

What are you smoking? Over population hasn't been a problem for years now. The new bogeyman is overconsumption; aka, SUVs, $3 gas, plastic+paper packaging, disposable diapers, etc.

Don't believe me? Look at the CIA factbook for Japan, US, and China:
Japan's birthrate is lower than it's deathrate. It's fertility rate is only 1.4.
China's birthrate is higher than it's deathrate for now, but it has a below 2.1 fertility rate. That means they too will have a smaller population in the future.
The US also has a below 2.1 fertility rate (at 2.09), so it too will be seeing population decline were it not for immigrants.
See Overpopulation.com for more about the fertility rate and population growth.

What are you smoking? Over population hasn't been a problem for years now. The new bogeyman is overconsumption; aka, SUVs, $3 gas, plastic+paper packaging, disposable diapers, etc.

Don't believe me? Look at the CIA factbook for Japan, US, and China:
Japan's birthrate is lower than it's deathrate. It's fertility rate is only 1.4.
China's birthrate is higher than it's deathrate for now, but it has a below 2.1 fertility rate. That means they too will have a smaller population in the future.
The US also has a below 2.1 fertility rate (at 2.09), so it too will be seeing population decline were it not for immigrants.
See Overpopulation.com for more about the fertility rate and population growth.

The Continental Congress regularly received quantities of intercepted British and Tory mail. On November 20, 1775, it received some intercepted letters from Cork, Ireland, and appointed a committee made up of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Johnson, Robert Livingston, Edward Rutledge, James Wilson and George Wythe "to select such parts of them as may be proper to publish." The Congress later ordered a thousand copies of the portions selected by the Committee to be printed and distributed. A month later, when another batch of intercepted mail was received, a second committee was appointed to examine it. Based on its report, the Congress resolved that "the contents of the intercepted letters this day read, and the steps which Congress may take in consequence of said intelligence thereby given, be kept secret until further orders."

So congrats on being great and finding fault but said fault was irrelevant. You do earn an A+ for arrogance and being an ass (I would call it trolling) with your "Why do I even bother with Games postings..." comment, however. Thanks!

So congrats on being great and finding fault but said fault was irrelevant. You do earn an A+ for arrogance and being an ass (I would call it trolling) with your "Why do I even bother with Games postings..." comment, however. Thanks!

The fricking CIA say no WMDs.

End of story.

I have, and I dont see a single post within this article with your name on it containing any link that provides evidence to support your claim, I did find this only a few posts down though.

Clearly it does. Some moron modded him informative. =P

This is the actual report saying no WMDs were found in Iraq.

Damn liberal CIA. Always twisting the truth. Gotta listen to Fox News, because, you know, they're Fair and Balanced.

And many claim to be Christians and go to church to worship a person who advocated pacifism and told people that when you are attacked you should turn the other cheek.

It should be noted that "turn the other cheek" would not have meant the same thing in Jesus' setting as you probably believe it to (see here). That being said, Jesus (the mythological character presented in the New Testament) definitely suffers from some form of intellectual deficiency, as becomes apparent when Jesus' life is contrasted with the more historical and far less mythological Mohammed (Jesus: killed 0 people, marryed/slept with 0/1 women, led 0 armies into war, conquered 0 land, was complicit in his own murder; Mohammed: killed many people, married and slept with many women, led meny armies to victory, conquered much land and many people, was not crucified). Furthermore, the influence of Jesus' illconceived ideas upon modern faux liberal thought (not to be confused with classical liberalism, or "liberalism" up to and including JFK, but preceding the rise of Carter) is quite apparent, leading me (and I assume others) to cheer the left's de-Christianization policies.

spends roughly the same amount of money on so-called defense[sic] as the rest of the world combined,

Perhaps in absolute terms, but remember that the US also has far higher manufacturing costs and much higher salary costs than a country such as China. This is also due to the non-Communist US economy performing a bit better than that of other countries; if you look at US Military Expenditure in terms of GDP, you shall find that the US is 26th in the world, far behind many countries that you like a lot more than the US.

fighting a war on Iraq that everyone from the UN Secretary General, to the late Pope, to the Dali Lama has bluntly called illegal.

Oooh, a war condemned by three unelected pompous theocrats (including the UN Sec. Gen.). If the war in Iraq was truly illegal (as you assert) and not just poorly thought out and executed, you would not find the need to invoke the name of the aforementioned three theocrats, but could instead produce a logical argument for its very illegailty.

As someone who is "pissed off" about pacifism, you're simply reflecting the attitude of the US

Correct. Anybody who rejects pacifrism as a ideologially sound system, or as a pragmatically functional system is merely "reflecting the attitude of the US." You have certainly won this argument, sir.

the country which has launched more interventions and wars of aggression in the past century than any other country by far.

Aside from your claim being unsubstantiated, let us examine the wars in which the US has participated during the 20th century.
WWI (justified, with the collapse of the Eastern Front, necessary in order to prevent British and French defeat, and ensure Ottoman defeat), WWII (I'm neither blue eyed, not blonde haired, so I cannot say I have much sorrow for the 3rd Reich, as for the Japanese, they attacked the US first, so that was their own undoing), Korea (UN Sanctioned, not that it matters, South Korea -- now rich, democratic country, North Korea -- starving peasants in poor totalitarian, ultra-militarized "country"), Vietnam (poorly executed in that the North Vietnamese were not properly attacked and defeated by the US, noone on the left seems to care as to what happened in Vietnam after the US departed (the invasion of South Vietnam by North Vietnam, the war with Cambodia, the war with China, the Boat people, furthermore, based upon the South Korean/North Korean Model*, a free S. Vietnam would have prob

I was so pissed off I mixed up the href and the text of my links. Let's try that again, shall we?

Wikiapedia Link

CIA World Factbook link

ask the cia

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /cm.html

Not many know it that Vatican City is a country.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /vt.html

They even have their own country code.
http://www.va/

Also, I'm a bit surprised no one has tried bringing up the Indian nations in America. America, the swiss cheese country, as I could call it.

To get back on topic, like I said, make Jerusalem it's own country. Let the people physically residing in it make it's own laws. Freedom of religion, of which acts do no harm, would be very important.