What the fuck are you babbling about? The US has been providing humanitarian aid around the world for decades. Far more than any other country, in fact.
Far more than any other country?
The US gives 0.19% of its GNI income in foreign aid. It's the 19th in the list.
The top is Luxembourgh at 1%
The US gives the most in absolute terms, at 30,5 billion USD, but the UK, Germany and France together give 38,8 billion USD.
Uh, it [civil rights act] still only applies to citizens which, one notes, Chinese nationals are not.
No, it's only restricted to citizens in so far as it's talking about the rights of citizens (voting for example).
As amazing as it may seem even non-citizens have some rights, and the civil rights act also defends non-citizen access to those rights.
For example, Title II "Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce", so it is as illegal to refuse to serve a black French citizen for being black as it is to refuse to serve a black US citizen.
I assume you're talking about Wen Ho Lee [wikipedia.org], who had allegations that he stole nuclear military secrets for China. Those allegations of spying were eventually proven false,
The whole thing becomes a bigger joke when you learn the story of Tsien Hsue-shen, one of the founders of the JPL who was hounded out of the states, ending up as the father of the Chinese space program. Crazy paranoia as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The RD-180 (Rocket Engine-180) is a Russian dual-combustion chamber, dual-nozzle rocket engine, derived from the RD-170 used in Soviet Zenit rockets, and currently provides first-stage power for the American Atlas V launch vehicle.
Did you mean to imply there's some guy in DC picking drone targets at random?
They're picking drone targets on "behaviour" now. They don't even know who they're bombing - they just bomb people who "smell wrong".
Or that drone warfare has substantially more civilian casualties then any other form of warfare?
It seems that doing things at a distance has taken some limits off that used to exist. The "double tap" attacks are the use of tactics that we always claimed were abhorrent when "terrorists" did them.
Regardless, I didn't say everything the US Military has ever done is necessary for the world as a whole. I said there are things that need to be done, and only the US can do,
So, how about an example then?
You and your Heartland buddies
Uh, I think you misread my sig. I want people to watch it 'cos it's a (right wing) scientists ripping the Heartland idiots a new asshole about climate change. Seriously, watch it, it's great.
Politically I'm a euro-weenie socialist who votes communist in local elections ('cos they run the local services better than the socialists).
Total revisionist history. Slavery and Segregation existed because the Federal Gov't enforced and allowed it.
Slavery existed before the Federal government. Segregation was enforced by the states, not the Federal government.
Bah! Young 'uns. The founding fathers knew that governments were necessary evils when they started the US. That's why they wrote the Constitution to limit the evil that their new governments could do.
Non-Americans say we should cut the military all the time, and then they refuse to use their militaries for things that are clearly necessary
Very few of us think blowing up random Pakistanis is clearly necessary.
Maybe we just have different ideas about what is "necessary" than you do.
For example a few weeks back the thing everyone was freaking out about was Syria.
An interesting case. France was prepared to intervene militarily, the US and the UK said, "hey us too", Cameron lost his vote in the commons and Obama decided not even to ask congress. France left with egg on its face. American leadership?
I heard the FDA had already stopped food safety inspections on imported food. But I think there is no way to verify that because the people you'd have to contact to tell you about it are furloughed:(
YAY!
You mean I can bring smelly cheese in my bags without those cute dogs sniffing me?
I can't believe they got outsmarted by such a small minority.
But that is not whats happening.
The 22 or so Republicans that said they'd vote for a "clean CR" to their constituents and the press in their home states.... didn't. They wouldn't sign the Discharge Petition, which would bypass the Speaker, to bring it to the floor.
So those mythical "moderate republicans" are lying.
They'll vote for a "clean CR" if it comes to a vote, but they won't help it come for a vote.
The President does not 'oversee' Congress -- Congress, the Executive, and the Judicial are separate, independent branches of our government. This ensures, among other things, that even if Congress is deadlocked (as it is now), we can't have a situation where there is no government -- like happened in certain European countries recently where they couldn't form a government for months.
The difference is that in the Belgian case services stayed open and government employees were paid even though they had no government.
America, unable to achieve the administrative competence of Belgium.
Oh, yeah, icing on the cake:
Belgium has one of the best healthcare systems in Europe.
Medical care is publicly funded through the compulsory state insurance system which covers the majority of the population, along with a number of private schemes.
Hundreds of thousands of Federal employees including many charged with protecting us from terrorist threats, defending our borders, inspecting our food, and keeping our skies safe will work without pay until the shutdown ends.
Ok, that seems not to include the armed forces, but it does say people are working without pay.
No, the guards are not being paid neither are your brave soldiers, sailors, airmen or marines. They are still required to protect the bums in the house who are still being paid.
When I was young ('60s, early '70s) I was not allowed to touch the telephone except in case of emergency. The first telephone call I ever made was to the Fire Brigade because the house was on fire.
In my first job the phone on the desk nearest mine (there was none on my desk) couldn't make calls outside the company.
(I was working for a company that built telephone exchanges).
Slashdot Mirror
What the fuck are you babbling about? The US has been providing humanitarian aid around the world for decades. Far more than any other country, in fact.
Far more than any other country?
The US gives 0.19% of its GNI income in foreign aid. It's the 19th in the list.
The top is Luxembourgh at 1%
The US gives the most in absolute terms, at 30,5 billion USD, but the UK, Germany and France together give 38,8 billion USD.
So no, not "far more than any other country".
Uh, it [civil rights act] still only applies to citizens which, one notes, Chinese nationals are not.
No, it's only restricted to citizens in so far as it's talking about the rights of citizens (voting for example).
As amazing as it may seem even non-citizens have some rights, and the civil rights act also defends non-citizen access to those rights.
For example, Title II "Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce", so it is as illegal to refuse to serve a black French citizen for being black as it is to refuse to serve a black US citizen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#Title_II
The good, secular, Iranians left in a large exodus in the 1970's
Somewhat true. The dates are amusing, given that Khomeni came to power in 1979. I wonder why people were fleeing Iran in the 1970's?
I assume you're talking about Wen Ho Lee [wikipedia.org], who had allegations that he stole nuclear military secrets for China. Those allegations of spying were eventually proven false,
The whole thing becomes a bigger joke when you learn the story of Tsien Hsue-shen, one of the founders of the JPL who was hounded out of the states, ending up as the father of the Chinese space program. Crazy paranoia as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsien_Hsue-shen
The RD-180 (Rocket Engine-180) is a Russian dual-combustion chamber, dual-nozzle rocket engine, derived from the RD-170 used in Soviet Zenit rockets, and currently provides first-stage power for the American Atlas V launch vehicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RD-180
(Slashdot - fix your fucking unicode handling you losers).
Splendid. Congress isn't stuffed with cunts because Obama is a cunt.
Ah fuck, they didn't fix my typo!
(Well, they have now, so thanks for pointing it out Mr AC).
So you don't bother to respond to my first point.
How could the Federal government be the cause of slavery if slavery existed before the Federal government.
Is faster than light travel involved somewhere?
Did you mean to imply there's some guy in DC picking drone targets at random?
They're picking drone targets on "behaviour" now. They don't even know who they're bombing - they just bomb people who "smell wrong".
Or that drone warfare has substantially more civilian casualties then any other form of warfare?
It seems that doing things at a distance has taken some limits off that used to exist. The "double tap" attacks are the use of tactics that we always claimed were abhorrent when "terrorists" did them.
Regardless, I didn't say everything the US Military has ever done is necessary for the world as a whole. I said there are things that need to be done, and only the US can do,
So, how about an example then?
You and your Heartland buddies
Uh, I think you misread my sig. I want people to watch it 'cos it's a (right wing) scientists ripping the Heartland idiots a new asshole about climate change. Seriously, watch it, it's great.
Politically I'm a euro-weenie socialist who votes communist in local elections ('cos they run the local services better than the socialists).
Slavery and segregation in the US was CREATED by the government.
A-historical bullshit.
Total revisionist history. Slavery and Segregation existed because the Federal Gov't enforced and allowed it.
Slavery existed before the Federal government.
Segregation was enforced by the states, not the Federal government.
Bah! Young 'uns. The founding fathers knew that governments were necessary evils when they started the US. That's why they wrote the Constitution to limit the evil that their new governments could do.
Apparently they didn't consider slavery evil.
Non-Americans say we should cut the military all the time, and then they refuse to use their militaries for things that are clearly necessary
Very few of us think blowing up random Pakistanis is clearly necessary.
Maybe we just have different ideas about what is "necessary" than you do.
For example a few weeks back the thing everyone was freaking out about was Syria.
An interesting case. France was prepared to intervene militarily, the US and the UK said, "hey us too", Cameron lost his vote in the commons and Obama decided not even to ask congress. France left with egg on its face. American leadership?
Yeah, the country would still be in a great shape if we'd kept all those palefaces out.
I heard the FDA had already stopped food safety inspections on imported food. But I think there is no way to verify that because the people you'd have to contact to tell you about it are furloughed :(
YAY!
You mean I can bring smelly cheese in my bags without those cute dogs sniffing me?
I can't believe they got outsmarted by such a small minority.
But that is not whats happening.
The 22 or so Republicans that said they'd vote for a "clean CR" to their constituents and the press in their home states .... didn't. They wouldn't sign the Discharge Petition, which would bypass the Speaker, to bring it to the floor.
So those mythical "moderate republicans" are lying.
They'll vote for a "clean CR" if it comes to a vote, but they won't help it come for a vote.
Scum.
The President does not 'oversee' Congress -- Congress, the Executive, and the Judicial are separate, independent branches of our government. This ensures, among other things, that even if Congress is deadlocked (as it is now), we can't have a situation where there is no government -- like happened in certain European countries recently where they couldn't form a government for months.
The difference is that in the Belgian case services stayed open and government employees were paid even though they had no government.
America, unable to achieve the administrative competence of Belgium.
Oh, yeah, icing on the cake:
Belgium has one of the best healthcare systems in Europe.
Medical care is publicly funded through the compulsory state insurance system which covers the majority of the population, along with a number of private schemes.
http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-belgium-healthcare-medical
I get paid on the last working day of the month.
And what do you do if you don't get paid on the last working day, your boss mumbling something about "well, I'll pay you when I can get around to it".
Maybe I'm wrong, but usa.gov says:
Hundreds of thousands of Federal employees including many charged with protecting us from terrorist threats, defending our borders, inspecting our food, and keeping our skies safe will work without pay until the shutdown ends.
Ok, that seems not to include the armed forces, but it does say people are working without pay.
No, the guards are not being paid neither are your brave soldiers, sailors, airmen or marines. They are still required to protect the bums in the house who are still being paid.
The UK has just undergone a massive reorganisation
You've made the opposite of the usual Engerland/UK mistake.
The UK doesn't have a health system - it has 4.
England, Wales, Scotland and Norn Ireland all do it differently.
Again, the U.S. wasn't intended to be a democracy. It was set up as a republic.
This banana isn't bent, it's yellow.
"republic" and "democracy" aren't incompatible.
The whole US federal govenment is non essential. Only the state and municipal governments are useful. So nobody will miss anything.
Great.
Where is the New York embassy in France so I can arrange a visa?
Uh, France fought and won a war like 8 months ago.
Recently enough for you?
Oh, damn, I just ordered 3 tonnes of sorbet to clean my dirty pallets.
When I was young ('60s, early '70s) I was not allowed to touch the telephone except in case of emergency. The first telephone call I ever made was to the Fire Brigade because the house was on fire.
In my first job the phone on the desk nearest mine (there was none on my desk) couldn't make calls outside the company.
(I was working for a company that built telephone exchanges).