does the same thing. Only she emits a high screeching noise at random intervals while I'm driving, usually articulating something I've done wrong. Or could do better. Or that the turn is coming up in just 3.2 miles. Sometimes I like to aim for obstructions to see if I can short it out but typically it just means the program runs longer. I swear she had a remote but I'll be damned if I can find it.
Fair disclaimer here - I'm fishing.
Chris Cannon, my beloved overlord (whom I welcome), is being challenged by Beau Babka for his seat as Utah Congressman. If you're in Utah, out of work (as over 7,000 people formerly in technology jobs are...), and have nothing to do next wednesday, please contact Jeff Bell at Babka's campiagn http://www.beaubabka.com and lend a hand.
Chris Cannon... he sucketh brotheren. Sucketh almighty.
"Wimpy" handguns have plenty of stopping power if you don't try to shoot someone in the head, which is one of the hardest shots to make if the head isn't stationary. So your gun control had better be in the top 1 percent or that.45 will kill your neighbor. This fundamental flaw in the logic of 'gun advocacy' is going to get all of us stripped of our rights.
Small caliber hand guns are meant to be fired at the body, not the head. A 9mm bullet will ricochet off (and BREAK) bones, shred tissue and cause a great deal of blunt force damage, even if the hole is small. 1 round in the gut or chest cavity can bring anyone down as most of their core muscles will seize when the damage happens. Anecdotal evidence of the guy who was shot 10 times and walked away on PCP is just that - anecdotal. People have been shot by high powered rifles (.762 even) at close range, in the head, even multiple times and walked away. No one has ever had their heart cut in half by a 9mm bullet and walked away. It's not how many times you've been shot, it's where you've been shot. The head is notoriously thick and hard to penetrate.
Having shot your intruder in the gut also has the benefit of making your defense of 'defending myself' seem plausible (and a 9mm wound will cause more serious injuries than a.45 - ask any trauma doctor), where as the 'trying to splatter his ^%(@^ head all over the wall' defense will almost guarantee a date with a judge.
For home defense, if you think you must have a firearm, get a short barrel shotgun. You don't have to be as accurate, it does plenty of damage at short range but is highly unlikely to kill your neighbor. And the sound has been known to scare the crap, literally, out of an intruder.
An untrained person with a firearm is as dangerous to himself as his assailant. A person who has learned how to pull the trigger but hasn't figured out why there are different kinds of guns and calibers isn't any less dangerous, he's just a better shot. 9mm's will hold more rounds, are easier to control, have faster action and are light weight. For most home defense uses this is exactly what people are looking for. The.45 is more expensive to practice with, loud, heavy, harder to control and carries fewer rounds. It's great if you can hit your target in the dark, when your scared and don't have to fire twice - because you can bet your ass when the hand cannon your holding goes off in the dark and you feel the thunder and see the lightning your next shot is going wild.
if one were to abolish the first amendment for everybody
Who said anything about abolishing the first amendment? What we ought to be doing is strengthening the 'free expression' part. As in 'you can say whatever you want, but I reserve the right to express myself by kicking your ass...';)
OH! Of course!; What was I thinking?; I must be out of my mind to not have not seen the 'glaring hole' in my argument. I can't believe I didn't think about checking for an ID on the corpse. I wish I'd thought of that before I played dumb and hoped you wouldn't see why my showing ID at the gate was stupid.
Showing your ID at the gate along with a ticket with your name on it allows the airline to tell your family that yes, you boarded the plane that is currently burning, sinking, or that shattered into a million pieces, but no, we haven't found the body yet. Nor do we expect to, since the largest piece of that particular plane is about the size of a tire. Which, incidentally, is still burning, having been doused by 24,000 gallons of airline fuel that covered it when it fell apart 1/2 hour ago. Sorry. We'll of course pay you for your loss, instead of... I don't know... making you wait a month or two for us to find the pocket in which your family members stored their ID card, which of course will survive the fire.
What any of this has to do with your freedom, right to privacy or anything else is completely secondary to the reason the airlines started recording who was on which flight.
How showing ID to board a plane prevents mechanical failures is left as an exercise to the reader.
How about accountability then? See, when the plane goes down, the airline would like some way of notifying your next of kin. (This wasn't mandated to prevent any kind of failure, accident or attack, it was done for the same reason the military records the names of people getting on and off combat helocopters - they want to know who died without having to run dental records).
God bless you for having a brain and the wit to use it. I'd hum 'you are the wind beneath my wings' but I'm afraid I'd get sued... or get my ass kicked.
Was I the only one made nausious by the incesent zooming in and out on EVERY SINGLE SHOT? I watched for almost a half hour total (the part where the lady says they'll set off nukes to 'fuse' the fault line... and then drill 11 foot wide holes 2 miles deep in under an hour to do it, with hand crank nukes... wow.) to count the zooms - they averaged 2 per SECOND for 10 minutes straight. I had to look away, but that left only the dialog.
I can't remember a single movie that made me cover my eyes, plug my ears, and squirm in my seat like that ever - and I saw JAWS when I was 8 years old. That was quite possibly the worst film in the history of film. Everyone involved with that show should never be allowed to work in movies again. Extra's included. You'd think at least one of them would have the courage to stand up and say 'no'!
I mean, come on guys, there are places on the world, wehere gun control is whole heartedly supported by the conservatives, and they and the socialists keep overall tax burden far above 50% with a straight face. Where unions as you know them are a state guaranteed right and hold 50%-1 vote on every company board.
Maybe someday we can all join hands, rock back and forth and sing "I'd like to buy the world a coke", but until then I bet most of the world is going to keep running around killing each other, and that's not our fault. So blow me and my proud neuron. We're not perfect, but at least we're doing something, and at no small cost to ourselves.
If we could walk on water we'd run across the oceans of the world to try and help, and you'd be mad at us for ignoring trade agreements by not using ships.
I just got a new Nokia phone via AT&T - it beeps all the time and claims it has a good signal. Then it tells me I have 17 missed calls, doesn't log them, and gives me segments of messages. But hey - it has call waiting. When someone calls on the other line, it hangs up on everyone and thus, we wait for each other to call us back.
I'm thinking I'll take it with me next time I go to a national park in the hopes that I can use it to play games whilst waiting for a rescue.
Bull----, I know this guy who's hot-rod was built by Jesus.
The purpose of faiths is to keep the public happy. This is where the communists made a mistake and the one you are making. Once you remove faith from people then you remove hope.
I think you probably just stepped in it here on accident, but the purpose of faiths are not to control the public, they are to challenge the individual to find his/her own. The churches may have agendas, the government may have agendas, priests, nuns and devil worshipers may have agendas, but the faiths (I assume you mean the doctorine of religions) have almost always been about challenging the individual to discover their own path/relationship/belief in a higher power. Exceptions for the fringes who'd rather not be questioned, of course. And let us not forget that humanists, athiests, etc. all have hope without faith in God. [aka faith is not a religious belief, it's a belief. Like... I have faith in myself, and my friend's hot-rod, being built by Jesus and all.:)]
Quit but take everyone with you from IT (call it a protest or what-not).
Pool your last paychecks and go buy a $35 business licence.
Together, offer your previous company top of the line training for thier new employees. Figure out how long all of you would have been able to work before they laid you off, how much severance they would have given you (or how much you think you deserved... what are they going to do, say no?), and total it. Then double it. Hell... quadruple it, you have a captive market. Then charge them a flat fee, starting with your total, for one month of training for 5 employees. Every month after that you can give them 20 or 30% off for being good customers. If your professional about it, you'll probably get the contract. Some of the employees still at your old company (CFO probably) may not like it, they may even hate it, but if any of them held it against you they'd be fools.
If someone puts you in that position you are not helpless. You simply have to think like the business and figure out what it is they're trying to get. They want cheaper development. That's not you, it won't ever be you again, but they'll need your help with the transition. That doesn't mean they get to set the terms of the transition (unless you let them), just that they want to do it. Help them, but on your terms.
[why am I always a day late on articles I know something about...]
I'll figure out who you are don't worry. You'll get a chance to back up your words.
Tell you what, I'll make it easy for you. Name a time and place that's easy for you and I'll try to make it. And if I can't make it we'll figure out some mutually agreeable time that I can. In fact, I think most cities are doing those 'fight club' nights - what do you say we sign up for a grudge match? That should keep us both honest and you won't have to waste a single day looking me up.
Again, it's up to you pal. But for christ's sake, don't threaten to 'look me up' to give me my chance. Either face me or don't, but don't be a coward about it.
LOL! Good lord, did you forget your special helmet today space-boy? They're going to nuke us because we invaded Iraq? Jesus that's rich. Get a clue - they're going to nuke us for a hell of a lot more than Iraq, but you've got your head so far up your ass you wouldn't be able to figure it out if they were carving that laundry list on your skull. Hey - here's a question - off the top of your head name the 3 most active terrorist groups in the middle east and why they're trying to kill us. [Integrity check ass-hole, don't go googling it - just admit that you have no fucking idea who they are. And if our intelligence is bad, who do you think knee-capped it in the first place? 3 guesses and I'll bet you still fuck it up].
Second challenge - quote any of my posts in this chain that you think are obviously republican - and I'll show you someone who thinks that everyone is either republican or on your side. And that's the problem with dicks like you - it's always "us vs. them". Up 'till now I was actually interested in what you were thinking. But you'd have none of that, would you?
Third, you might note the increased contempt of this post. That's because I think your a liar. I don't think you served a single fucking day as a member of the military, and quite frankly I'm offended at your sorry attempt to steal credibility from the men (and women) who EARNED it. I'm betting that you weren't even so much as a boy scout. Why? Because of your comments. You're just another ass hole pulling the flag out of his ass and waving it in the face of someone you don't agree with. Veteran my ass - I am in fact denying you your sacrifice and service because it never happened. I don't believe for one second that you sacrificed so much as a dougnut and coffee for this country.
You want me to say it to your face? I'll be in Vegas June 17th - 24th. Name your day and I'll see you outside the Luxor - I shouldn't be too hard to spot. I'll be the pissed off looking asshole with the high and tight, wearing a black T. The one with my unit on it, crossed rifles and all. And I have *8 years* in the Marine Corps Infantry that says I can kick your sorry ass right off this planet.
If I'm a spectator, you're the screaming, fat, blue painted pot bellied idiot with a half a hot dog hanging out the crack of his too tight jeans on fox news getting thrown out of the stadium for acting like a pompous ass by shouting profanities at the ref for some perceived favoritism against your team.
Republican? Where the hell did that come from? I haven't been a republican since high school. Funny (ha ha funny), but you're not even in the neighborhood of my political bias. And Christian fundamentalist rant? Yeeeah K head, I speaking about the Muslim Holy Land, not the Christian one [I don't even know where that would be]. So did you mean my Islamic fundamentalist rant? I haven't been a practicing Christian in some 12 years (and I wasn't that good at it anyway). Tell you what, let's skip the personal attacks for a minute (seems that you party affiliated people always fall back on personal attacks instead of dealing with the issues - why is that, do you think?).
That whole paragraph is about the FACT that the entire Islamic world stood by while the United States, believed internationally to be a Christian Nation, and the enemy of all Muslims and the Middle East (including Israel), ATTACKED what Muslims believe to be the most promised Islamic land. Not one of those Muslim nations lifted a finger to stop us. The only parallel I can think of is this; Imagine that the Soviet Union, Cuba and France attacked and occupied Washington DC, Pennsylvania and New York City one year after September 11th in order to 'restore freedom to the people', while the rest of the United States (including Texas) stood by and watched because we think that Politicians suck. They'd have the same problems we're having now (guerilla attacks, quagmire, etc.), but you'd have to be a God-damned genius to pull that off without inciting a war with all 50 states... that's what we did in the Mid-East. That's no small trick no matter what you think of WHY we did it. Your personal religious bias, or the Christians, or the Muslims, notwithstanding.
Fact 1: Saddam attacked Israel a number of times during the first war with Iraq (remember the scuds? I do.), and has been threatening to do so ever since. He's wanted to wipe out Israel since before his war with Iran. He never threatened the _United States_. Never. So again, why do you think the US is so interested in protecting such a small group of such obviously violent jack offs?
Fact 2: He had an extremely limited capability of reaching Israel with a missile (I would hesitate to say 'no capability'), scud or otherwise, but [if I remember the intelligence reports right] they think he intended to drive the nuke (or chemical or bio weapon) over, so a delivery capability wasn't really a consideration. If he got one, he WOULD use it. And that would be bad for everyone. Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Repulican, Democrat, homo eructus, you name it.
Fact 3: Saddam had money. Lots of it. We tried an embargo against Iraq for 10 years to limit his ability to _afford_ weapons or weapons programs. The fact that he had a pipeline feeding Syria a considerable amount of oil is simply evidence that the embargo wasn't working, and that Saddam still had plenty of cash-flow. It's not proof he was seeking weapons, I never said it was - but it did mean that Saddam had a steady source of income from friendly nations to him, and as such, the embargo's were failures. Saddam could AFFORD a weapon. The intelligence community believe(s,d) that if Saddam could afford a weapon, he would buy one. And if he bought one, there's no doubt in anyone's mind he would try to use it.
Do you think he would really give a rat's ass which President the US had in office if he had a weapon? Are you really such a thick skulled ninny as to believe that the world's problems are caused by which ass-hole we put in charge this week?
Get a clue. Start reading intelligence reports, foreign policy and sources of information other than the trash your reading now. You've taken a hard line anti-bush stance that will do nothing than get you kicked in the balls until your blue in the face. You'll gleefully kick back at the swinging nuggets of the hard line bush supporters, but the only thing you're both doing is turning blue. Now - look back at what I've been saying and tell me where
Slashdot Mirror
I've seen those pictures... /*shudder*/ put some clothes on man.
does the same thing. Only she emits a high screeching noise at random intervals while I'm driving, usually articulating something I've done wrong. Or could do better. Or that the turn is coming up in just 3.2 miles. Sometimes I like to aim for obstructions to see if I can short it out but typically it just means the program runs longer. I swear she had a remote but I'll be damned if I can find it.
Fair disclaimer here - I'm fishing. Chris Cannon, my beloved overlord (whom I welcome), is being challenged by Beau Babka for his seat as Utah Congressman. If you're in Utah, out of work (as over 7,000 people formerly in technology jobs are...), and have nothing to do next wednesday, please contact Jeff Bell at Babka's campiagn http://www.beaubabka.com and lend a hand. Chris Cannon... he sucketh brotheren. Sucketh almighty.
"Wimpy" handguns have plenty of stopping power if you don't try to shoot someone in the head, which is one of the hardest shots to make if the head isn't stationary. So your gun control had better be in the top 1 percent or that .45 will kill your neighbor. This fundamental flaw in the logic of 'gun advocacy' is going to get all of us stripped of our rights.
.45 - ask any trauma doctor), where as the 'trying to splatter his ^%(@^ head all over the wall' defense will almost guarantee a date with a judge.
.45 is more expensive to practice with, loud, heavy, harder to control and carries fewer rounds. It's great if you can hit your target in the dark, when your scared and don't have to fire twice - because you can bet your ass when the hand cannon your holding goes off in the dark and you feel the thunder and see the lightning your next shot is going wild.
Small caliber hand guns are meant to be fired at the body, not the head. A 9mm bullet will ricochet off (and BREAK) bones, shred tissue and cause a great deal of blunt force damage, even if the hole is small. 1 round in the gut or chest cavity can bring anyone down as most of their core muscles will seize when the damage happens. Anecdotal evidence of the guy who was shot 10 times and walked away on PCP is just that - anecdotal. People have been shot by high powered rifles (.762 even) at close range, in the head, even multiple times and walked away. No one has ever had their heart cut in half by a 9mm bullet and walked away. It's not how many times you've been shot, it's where you've been shot. The head is notoriously thick and hard to penetrate.
Having shot your intruder in the gut also has the benefit of making your defense of 'defending myself' seem plausible (and a 9mm wound will cause more serious injuries than a
For home defense, if you think you must have a firearm, get a short barrel shotgun. You don't have to be as accurate, it does plenty of damage at short range but is highly unlikely to kill your neighbor. And the sound has been known to scare the crap, literally, out of an intruder.
An untrained person with a firearm is as dangerous to himself as his assailant. A person who has learned how to pull the trigger but hasn't figured out why there are different kinds of guns and calibers isn't any less dangerous, he's just a better shot. 9mm's will hold more rounds, are easier to control, have faster action and are light weight. For most home defense uses this is exactly what people are looking for. The
Gag order, lawsuit, violation of the DMCA and/or Patriot Act and theft of 'Intellectual Property'.
And SCO will sue. Think about it.
Who said anything about abolishing the first amendment? What we ought to be doing is strengthening the 'free expression' part. As in 'you can say whatever you want, but I reserve the right to express myself by kicking your ass...' ;)
So are we going to start using a Party sorting CAT scanner? [please not slitherin... please not slitherin...]
Showing your ID at the gate along with a ticket with your name on it allows the airline to tell your family that yes, you boarded the plane that is currently burning, sinking, or that shattered into a million pieces, but no, we haven't found the body yet. Nor do we expect to, since the largest piece of that particular plane is about the size of a tire. Which, incidentally, is still burning, having been doused by 24,000 gallons of airline fuel that covered it when it fell apart 1/2 hour ago. Sorry. We'll of course pay you for your loss, instead of ... I don't know... making you wait a month or two for us to find the pocket in which your family members stored their ID card, which of course will survive the fire.
What any of this has to do with your freedom, right to privacy or anything else is completely secondary to the reason the airlines started recording who was on which flight.
How about accountability then? See, when the plane goes down, the airline would like some way of notifying your next of kin. (This wasn't mandated to prevent any kind of failure, accident or attack, it was done for the same reason the military records the names of people getting on and off combat helocopters - they want to know who died without having to run dental records).
Gag order.
God bless you for having a brain and the wit to use it. I'd hum 'you are the wind beneath my wings' but I'm afraid I'd get sued... or get my ass kicked.
BULLSEye... oof.
Was I the only one made nausious by the incesent zooming in and out on EVERY SINGLE SHOT? I watched for almost a half hour total (the part where the lady says they'll set off nukes to 'fuse' the fault line... and then drill 11 foot wide holes 2 miles deep in under an hour to do it, with hand crank nukes... wow.) to count the zooms - they averaged 2 per SECOND for 10 minutes straight. I had to look away, but that left only the dialog.
I can't remember a single movie that made me cover my eyes, plug my ears, and squirm in my seat like that ever - and I saw JAWS when I was 8 years old. That was quite possibly the worst film in the history of film. Everyone involved with that show should never be allowed to work in movies again. Extra's included. You'd think at least one of them would have the courage to stand up and say 'no'!
You mean Massachusetts?
Maybe now Wiley Coyote will catch that damn road runner.
Maybe someday we can all join hands, rock back and forth and sing "I'd like to buy the world a coke", but until then I bet most of the world is going to keep running around killing each other, and that's not our fault. So blow me and my proud neuron. We're not perfect, but at least we're doing something, and at no small cost to ourselves.
If we could walk on water we'd run across the oceans of the world to try and help, and you'd be mad at us for ignoring trade agreements by not using ships.
Don't laugh, it keeps the fish out...
(sorry, couldn't help myself)
I just got a new Nokia phone via AT&T - it beeps all the time and claims it has a good signal. Then it tells me I have 17 missed calls, doesn't log them, and gives me segments of messages. But hey - it has call waiting. When someone calls on the other line, it hangs up on everyone and thus, we wait for each other to call us back.
I'm thinking I'll take it with me next time I go to a national park in the hopes that I can use it to play games whilst waiting for a rescue.
Bull----, I know this guy who's hot-rod was built by Jesus.
:)]
The purpose of faiths is to keep the public happy. This is where the communists made a mistake and the one you are making. Once you remove faith from people then you remove hope.
I think you probably just stepped in it here on accident, but the purpose of faiths are not to control the public, they are to challenge the individual to find his/her own. The churches may have agendas, the government may have agendas, priests, nuns and devil worshipers may have agendas, but the faiths (I assume you mean the doctorine of religions) have almost always been about challenging the individual to discover their own path/relationship/belief in a higher power. Exceptions for the fringes who'd rather not be questioned, of course. And let us not forget that humanists, athiests, etc. all have hope without faith in God. [aka faith is not a religious belief, it's a belief. Like... I have faith in myself, and my friend's hot-rod, being built by Jesus and all.
What do you think they'll do if they run out of toilet paper when they get there?
This is what all those movie stars must have been swimming in when they get out of the pool dry...
Quit but take everyone with you from IT (call it a protest or what-not).
Pool your last paychecks and go buy a $35 business licence.
Together, offer your previous company top of the line training for thier new employees. Figure out how long all of you would have been able to work before they laid you off, how much severance they would have given you (or how much you think you deserved... what are they going to do, say no?), and total it. Then double it. Hell... quadruple it, you have a captive market. Then charge them a flat fee, starting with your total, for one month of training for 5 employees. Every month after that you can give them 20 or 30% off for being good customers. If your professional about it, you'll probably get the contract. Some of the employees still at your old company (CFO probably) may not like it, they may even hate it, but if any of them held it against you they'd be fools.
If someone puts you in that position you are not helpless. You simply have to think like the business and figure out what it is they're trying to get. They want cheaper development. That's not you, it won't ever be you again, but they'll need your help with the transition. That doesn't mean they get to set the terms of the transition (unless you let them), just that they want to do it. Help them, but on your terms.
[why am I always a day late on articles I know something about...]
I'll figure out who you are don't worry. You'll get a chance to back up your words.
Tell you what, I'll make it easy for you. Name a time and place that's easy for you and I'll try to make it. And if I can't make it we'll figure out some mutually agreeable time that I can. In fact, I think most cities are doing those 'fight club' nights - what do you say we sign up for a grudge match? That should keep us both honest and you won't have to waste a single day looking me up.
Again, it's up to you pal. But for christ's sake, don't threaten to 'look me up' to give me my chance. Either face me or don't, but don't be a coward about it.
LOL! Good lord, did you forget your special helmet today space-boy? They're going to nuke us because we invaded Iraq? Jesus that's rich. Get a clue - they're going to nuke us for a hell of a lot more than Iraq, but you've got your head so far up your ass you wouldn't be able to figure it out if they were carving that laundry list on your skull. Hey - here's a question - off the top of your head name the 3 most active terrorist groups in the middle east and why they're trying to kill us. [Integrity check ass-hole, don't go googling it - just admit that you have no fucking idea who they are. And if our intelligence is bad, who do you think knee-capped it in the first place? 3 guesses and I'll bet you still fuck it up].
Second challenge - quote any of my posts in this chain that you think are obviously republican - and I'll show you someone who thinks that everyone is either republican or on your side. And that's the problem with dicks like you - it's always "us vs. them". Up 'till now I was actually interested in what you were thinking. But you'd have none of that, would you?
Third, you might note the increased contempt of this post. That's because I think your a liar. I don't think you served a single fucking day as a member of the military, and quite frankly I'm offended at your sorry attempt to steal credibility from the men (and women) who EARNED it. I'm betting that you weren't even so much as a boy scout. Why? Because of your comments. You're just another ass hole pulling the flag out of his ass and waving it in the face of someone you don't agree with. Veteran my ass - I am in fact denying you your sacrifice and service because it never happened. I don't believe for one second that you sacrificed so much as a dougnut and coffee for this country.
You want me to say it to your face? I'll be in Vegas June 17th - 24th. Name your day and I'll see you outside the Luxor - I shouldn't be too hard to spot. I'll be the pissed off looking asshole with the high and tight, wearing a black T. The one with my unit on it, crossed rifles and all. And I have *8 years* in the Marine Corps Infantry that says I can kick your sorry ass right off this planet.
If I'm a spectator, you're the screaming, fat, blue painted pot bellied idiot with a half a hot dog hanging out the crack of his too tight jeans on fox news getting thrown out of the stadium for acting like a pompous ass by shouting profanities at the ref for some perceived favoritism against your team.
Republican? Where the hell did that come from? I haven't been a republican since high school. Funny (ha ha funny), but you're not even in the neighborhood of my political bias. And Christian fundamentalist rant? Yeeeah K head, I speaking about the Muslim Holy Land, not the Christian one [I don't even know where that would be]. So did you mean my Islamic fundamentalist rant? I haven't been a practicing Christian in some 12 years (and I wasn't that good at it anyway).
Tell you what, let's skip the personal attacks for a minute (seems that you party affiliated people always fall back on personal attacks instead of dealing with the issues - why is that, do you think?).
That whole paragraph is about the FACT that the entire Islamic world stood by while the United States, believed internationally to be a Christian Nation, and the enemy of all Muslims and the Middle East (including Israel), ATTACKED what Muslims believe to be the most promised Islamic land. Not one of those Muslim nations lifted a finger to stop us. The only parallel I can think of is this; Imagine that the Soviet Union, Cuba and France attacked and occupied Washington DC, Pennsylvania and New York City one year after September 11th in order to 'restore freedom to the people', while the rest of the United States (including Texas) stood by and watched because we think that Politicians suck. They'd have the same problems we're having now (guerilla attacks, quagmire, etc.), but you'd have to be a God-damned genius to pull that off without inciting a war with all 50 states... that's what we did in the Mid-East. That's no small trick no matter what you think of WHY we did it. Your personal religious bias, or the Christians, or the Muslims, notwithstanding.
Fact 1: Saddam attacked Israel a number of times during the first war with Iraq (remember the scuds? I do.), and has been threatening to do so ever since. He's wanted to wipe out Israel since before his war with Iran. He never threatened the _United States_. Never. So again, why do you think the US is so interested in protecting such a small group of such obviously violent jack offs?
Fact 2: He had an extremely limited capability of reaching Israel with a missile (I would hesitate to say 'no capability'), scud or otherwise, but [if I remember the intelligence reports right] they think he intended to drive the nuke (or chemical or bio weapon) over, so a delivery capability wasn't really a consideration. If he got one, he WOULD use it. And that would be bad for everyone. Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Repulican, Democrat, homo eructus, you name it.
Fact 3: Saddam had money. Lots of it. We tried an embargo against Iraq for 10 years to limit his ability to _afford_ weapons or weapons programs. The fact that he had a pipeline feeding Syria a considerable amount of oil is simply evidence that the embargo wasn't working, and that Saddam still had plenty of cash-flow. It's not proof he was seeking weapons, I never said it was - but it did mean that Saddam had a steady source of income from friendly nations to him, and as such, the embargo's were failures. Saddam could AFFORD a weapon. The intelligence community believe(s,d) that if Saddam could afford a weapon, he would buy one. And if he bought one, there's no doubt in anyone's mind he would try to use it.
Do you think he would really give a rat's ass which President the US had in office if he had a weapon? Are you really such a thick skulled ninny as to believe that the world's problems are caused by which ass-hole we put in charge this week?
Get a clue. Start reading intelligence reports, foreign policy and sources of information other than the trash your reading now. You've taken a hard line anti-bush stance that will do nothing than get you kicked in the balls until your blue in the face. You'll gleefully kick back at the swinging nuggets of the hard line bush supporters, but the only thing you're both doing is turning blue. Now - look back at what I've been saying and tell me where