Prior to the Gulf War and the sanctions, Iraqis had exceptionally high life expectancy, literacy rate etc. Sure, Saddam had his political opponents killed, oppressed the Shiites and Kurds and fought a pointless war with Iran (which wasn't politically that pointless, it earned him the respect and support of the West). But he also did a lot of good for his people. He spent a lot of money on medicine, schools, water purification plants etc. But the USA kindly destroyed everything (BTW have you heard that destroying civilians' means of survival, ie. water and electricity plants, is in breach of The Geneva Conventions, and thus the USA has committed severe war crimes) and the country reverted to stone age. Now who is to blame?! Saddam alone?! Don't be ridiculous!
Re:This brings a few questions to mind...
on
SAUNAAB
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· Score: 1
It depends how popularity is measured. At least Lapin Kulta used to be no. 1 with a sizable margin when bars and restaurants were included in the statistics. Dunno if this has changed recently.
Most bars in Helsinki serve Lapin Kulta as their "default" beer and charge outrageous prices for better beers. Bastards!
Re:This brings a few questions to mind...
on
SAUNAAB
·
· Score: 1
Actually, I'm twisted enough to enjoy even the nearly non-alcohol Olvi I. It's dirt cheap and tastes reasonably good. So why not, unless you're aiming to get drunk?
I admit that a slight "nirvana" of 3-5 beers is a preferable state of mind, but sometimes I only want to enjoy the taste and stay sharp.
Foreign beer... umm... Kilkenny... Caffrey's... ah, Irishmen sure can brew beer! A big "cheers" to all Irishmen, keep up the good work!
Re:I'd rather have a jacuzi in my car
on
SAUNAAB
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· Score: 5, Informative
Weather today...
Southern Finland: -6 to -2 Centigrades, sunny (as soon as the sun comes up... only to disappear in a couple of hours... now, at 8AM, it's still pitch black out there) Northern Finland: -23 to -7 Centigrades, half-cloudy (and there's no such thing as the sun, people expect to catch a glimpse of it somewhere around March). (source: Finnish Meteorology Institute / http://www.fmi.fi)
I consider the weather nice and warm. Just last week it was frequently below -20 Centigrades, here in _southern_ Finland. No wonder Hell of the Nordic tales ("Ragnaroek") does freeze over! (not that the Norse mythology was a Finnish thing, we've cooked our own mythos, "Kalevala", which is highly recommendable reading to every Tolkien fan)
Re:This brings a few questions to mind...
on
SAUNAAB
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Lapin Kulta is something I, as a Finn, am quite embarassed of.
It's a nearly tasteless lager which teenagers prefer because it doesn't taste like real beer. Lapin Kulta (translates to "Lappland's Gold") is the most popular Finnish beer. I think that's proof enough that most people's taste (not to mention intelligence) never really matures past teenage.
Personally, I'd recommend Olvi CXX. Much better. Even Karhu ("Bear") will do.
Anyway... any beer, any place and in any circumstances... IS GOOD!!! (especially after sauna)
Seriously, I don't see nuking Texas as a problem, as long as all peace-loving, sensible people are moved out of the way, first. (And I mean _all_ three of them!)
Consensus? Is there? I for one don't agree with your anti-nuke view. If there hadn't been the threat of M.A.D. (not the comic, stupid!;) during the post-WWII decades, probably millions and millions would have died in an ultimate standoff between the Soviets (& satellites) and the US (& their satellites).
About 200000-300000 people have been killed by nukes, and in my POV, unnecessarily. But nukes have probably prevented WWIII - this far.
Guys, you are ABSOLUTELY right. Democracy is dying (while *BSD isn't).
The question is: what are YOU going to do about it? What are WE going to do about it?!
First, vote. Then, when the new gov't turns out to be just another corporate lap-dog, it's time to start mixing those Molotovs and prepare for revolution...
It's simple as that. Most Americans seem to be unable to comprehend that, probably because the American Mythos which assures them that America is and will always be the defender of democracy and the land of opportunities.
FYI, most European countries are far more democratic than USA.
A democratic state exists to guarantee the rights and wellbeing of the citizen - even if it requires decreasing some less important rights. Corporate America on the other hand exists to provide corporations with the infrastructure and manpower they need in order to operate and make profit - even if it requires decreasing the rights and/or wellbeing of the citizen.
Why should I care? I'm from Finland, why should America's degeneration into a feudal society led by corporations concern me? The World Wars leveraged USA to an economical supremacy. Now, whatever USA does to allow corporations make more profit forces the rest of the globalized world to follow unless they want their economy to crash since their corporations couldn't compete with the American corporations.
I'm already seeing Finland steer in the neorightist econoliberal direction set by America, and I really HATE to see that happen. Society must exist to protect it's citizens, especially the weak. Not to protect the corporations - the strong.
Slashdot Mirror
Is that an uninformed post or what?!
Prior to the Gulf War and the sanctions, Iraqis had exceptionally high life expectancy, literacy rate etc. Sure, Saddam had his political opponents killed, oppressed the Shiites and Kurds and fought a pointless war with Iran (which wasn't politically that pointless, it earned him the respect and support of the West). But he also did a lot of good for his people. He spent a lot of money on medicine, schools, water purification plants etc. But the USA kindly destroyed everything (BTW have you heard that destroying civilians' means of survival, ie. water and electricity plants, is in breach of The Geneva Conventions, and thus the USA has committed severe war crimes) and the country reverted to stone age. Now who is to blame?! Saddam alone?! Don't be ridiculous!
It depends how popularity is measured. At least Lapin Kulta used to be no. 1 with a sizable margin when bars and restaurants were included in the statistics. Dunno if this has changed recently.
Most bars in Helsinki serve Lapin Kulta as their "default" beer and charge outrageous prices for better beers. Bastards!
Actually, I'm twisted enough to enjoy even the nearly non-alcohol Olvi I. It's dirt cheap and tastes reasonably good. So why not, unless you're aiming to get drunk?
I admit that a slight "nirvana" of 3-5 beers is a preferable state of mind, but sometimes I only want to enjoy the taste and stay sharp.
Foreign beer... umm... Kilkenny... Caffrey's... ah, Irishmen sure can brew beer! A big "cheers" to all Irishmen, keep up the good work!
Weather today...
Southern Finland: -6 to -2 Centigrades, sunny (as soon as the sun comes up... only to disappear in a couple of hours... now, at 8AM, it's still pitch black out there)
Northern Finland: -23 to -7 Centigrades, half-cloudy (and there's no such thing as the sun, people expect to catch a glimpse of it somewhere around March).
(source: Finnish Meteorology Institute / http://www.fmi.fi)
I consider the weather nice and warm. Just last week it was frequently below -20 Centigrades, here in _southern_ Finland. No wonder Hell of the Nordic tales ("Ragnaroek") does freeze over! (not that the Norse mythology was a Finnish thing, we've cooked our own mythos, "Kalevala", which is highly recommendable reading to every Tolkien fan)
Lapin Kulta is something I, as a Finn, am quite embarassed of.
It's a nearly tasteless lager which teenagers prefer because it doesn't taste like real beer. Lapin Kulta (translates to "Lappland's Gold") is the most popular Finnish beer. I think that's proof enough that most people's taste (not to mention intelligence) never really matures past teenage.
Personally, I'd recommend Olvi CXX. Much better. Even Karhu ("Bear") will do.
Anyway... any beer, any place and in any circumstances... IS GOOD!!! (especially after sauna)
Seriously, I don't see nuking Texas as a problem, as long as all peace-loving, sensible people are moved out of the way, first. (And I mean _all_ three of them!)
Consensus? Is there? I for one don't agree with your anti-nuke view. If there hadn't been the threat of M.A.D. (not the comic, stupid!;) during the post-WWII decades, probably millions and millions would have died in an ultimate standoff between the Soviets (& satellites) and the US (& their satellites).
About 200000-300000 people have been killed by nukes, and in my POV, unnecessarily. But nukes have probably prevented WWIII - this far.
Actually, that just happened last year. Damn poodles, they ate my poor ol' grandma!
Guys, you are ABSOLUTELY right. Democracy is dying (while *BSD isn't).
The question is: what are YOU going to do about it? What are WE going to do about it?!
First, vote. Then, when the new gov't turns out to be just another corporate lap-dog, it's time to start mixing those Molotovs and prepare for revolution...
America != democracy
It's simple as that. Most Americans seem to be unable to comprehend that, probably because the American Mythos which assures them that America is and will always be the defender of democracy and the land of opportunities.
FYI, most European countries are far more democratic than USA.
A democratic state exists to guarantee the rights and wellbeing of the citizen - even if it requires decreasing some less important rights. Corporate America on the other hand exists to provide corporations with the infrastructure and manpower they need in order to operate and make profit - even if it requires decreasing the rights and/or wellbeing of the citizen.
Why should I care? I'm from Finland, why should America's degeneration into a feudal society led by corporations concern me? The World Wars leveraged USA to an economical supremacy. Now, whatever USA does to allow corporations make more profit forces the rest of the globalized world to follow unless they want their economy to crash since their corporations couldn't compete with the American corporations.
I'm already seeing Finland steer in the neorightist econoliberal direction set by America, and I really HATE to see that happen. Society must exist to protect it's citizens, especially the weak. Not to protect the corporations - the strong.