Accidentally, every Polish government prefers to find allies in Washington D.C., not in European capitals...
Maybe that's because all their European "allies" have backstabbed them at various points in Polish history?
it's totally half-hearted, deceitful; but from what I've seen in my life I suspect that's an inherent characteristic of religions
Tell us what you really think asshole. Thanks for reminding me that atheists/agnostics (or whatever you think of yourself as) can be just as intolerant as any monotheistic fundamentalist.
Why would we leave? 94% of the population voted in favor of becoming a US State. Surely most of them were aware of the fact that you can't leave the Union after you decide to join it, right? Yet they decided to do so anyway. So where's your argument?
At the end of the day, America behaves exactly like every other nation-state on this rock -- we engage in policies that advance our own interests. Those interests may be political (spreading our political-economic system), economic (securing access to resources and/or markets) or security driven (keeping rivals out of our own hemisphere). Every other nation behaves in the exact same manner -- the main difference between the US and the rest of the World is that we currently have more hard (military) and soft (economic/cultural) power than every other country.
Eventually that fact will change. It might even be a good thing for my country -- it would allow us to turn our focus inward and address some of our domestic issues that take a back seat to our global adventures. I just hope for the sake of the Western World and our way of life that it's another Democracy that emerges to take our place on the world stage. However much you may hate the actions of the United States on the World stage, I suspect that you'd find the alternative offered by China (under it's current Government) to be much worse.
The same Israelis that have constantly warred with their neighbors
You mean the same Israelis that have warred with their neighbors after being invaded by those neighbors, right?
The same Israelis who now threaten to bomb Iran, despite Iran having been non-aggressive for more than 20 years
How is sponsoring terrorist organizations compatible with being "non-aggressive"?
The same Israelis who claim Iran hates the Jewish faith, despite Iran having a sizable number of citizens who are Jews that it has never bothered?
Yeah, except for the tens of thousands of Iranian Jews that got driven out of the country during the Iranian revolution and whom now primarily reside in Israel and the United States. I guess being forced into exile is your definition of "not being bothered".
As for Vietnam, they don't have an arch-enemy with 100-400 nuclear weapon-tipped missiles aimed at them.
I assume you are speaking about Israel. The fact that Israel is an 'arch-enemy' of Iran is entirely the fault of the Iranian Government. Prior to the Iranian revolution the two countries had friendly relations. After the revolution various Iranian political figures starting referring to Israel as a "cancer" that needs to be "purged" from the region. They also started funding terrorist organizations that murder Israeli civilians and military personnel.
If global cooling became a real problem, food shortage would actually be the most serious impediment to our survival.
It'd be more realistic to say that it'd be a serious impediment to the survival of those in poorer nations. Do you really see the people of the United States or Western Europe wanting for food?
I love how my garmin will show the next 5 exist and let me pick food, sleep, gas, hookers, etc.... and then I can look at that list.
Your garmin has hookers in it's POI database? Shit, if I had known that I wouldn't have gone with the TomTom;) Can you limit the search to ones without STDs?
I just have to buy a new POI and Map database every 2 years
How much does garmin charge you for that? I think TomTom is around $50 for a year worth of updates, i.e: it's not just one download and your done.
Soon, the human race will never again need to have a sense of direction, thanks to our GPS-and-wifi-triangulation-capable overlords!
That depends on how lazy the individual human is, doesn't it? I finally broke down and bought a TomTom for my travels but I don't feel compelled to use it (or even keep it in the car) when I'm near home. When traveling though it's incredibly useful. Even if you have a good sense of direction you'll find that the point of interest database will completely change the way you travel. Hmm, I'm hungry, how about some Italian? *tap, tap tap*, this place looks good and it's only three miles off our route.
I also like the TomTom over the cellular/google equivalents because I know it isn't phoning the mother ship with details about my location and travels. Personally I don't trust Google at all anymore with their data retention policy and sheer size. Perhaps that's a little paranoia on my part but it's the way I feel. A disconnected device has less privacy concerns and doesn't stop working if you wander somewhere without cellular service.
I don't know about you but I can't wait for the "George Costanza" app that uses Google's API to map out the best public and private bathrooms in a city;)
Because the UN has done such an upstanding job at managing everything else. Why if it wasn't for the UN we might have seen genocides in Africa wherein millions of innocent people died. We might see countries like Libya sitting on human rights commissions. We might see aggressive states like Iran and North Korea flaunting international law and getting away with it.
Yep, the UN is a fine upstanding institution. We should hand the keys to the internet over to them. What could possibly go wrong?
We want to keep right-winged people to from glorifying the Nazi time and we want to keep them from using their symbols, if possible.
In other words you want to restrict their freedom of political expression because you find their ideals abhorrent. You can justify it any way that you wish but it's still censorship. Personally I find the notion of censoring a Nazi to be as offensive as his political goals if not more so -- because we ought to know better.
Your reasons for denying the existence of history are over now.
German denial of history has nothing on the Japanese. Bataan death march, what? Rape of Nanking, what? Death railway, what? Those weren't in my history books......
I always maintained in the bunker with Hitler and Eva, Hitler shot first.
<tinfoil hat>Dude, Hitler's still alive. I thought everybody knew that? He's living a peaceful life as a painter somewhere in South America.</tinfoil hat>
Don't you know that human beings are so impressionable that all they need is to see a small swastika and they will instantly volunteer to help load the boxcars? Clearly we need a benevolent government to protect us from such evil.
Apparently this is the reason that it has to be pulled from the market. I don't know about you but I find the rationale for this type of censorship to be utterly absurd. So much for free speech.....
Japanese Knotweed. The stuff grows insanely fast and spreads rhizomatically, so it's a bitch to kill.
I was going to post on this but you beat me to it. It's virtually impossible to kill. I've helped dig it up before and have discovered roots that exceed 20 feet in length. Nothing native to the Americas seems to be able to compete with it. It's a real PITA.
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Accidentally, every Polish government prefers to find allies in Washington D.C., not in European capitals...
Maybe that's because all their European "allies" have backstabbed them at various points in Polish history?
it's totally half-hearted, deceitful; but from what I've seen in my life I suspect that's an inherent characteristic of religions
Tell us what you really think asshole. Thanks for reminding me that atheists/agnostics (or whatever you think of yourself as) can be just as intolerant as any monotheistic fundamentalist.
In the case of Hawaii the US hasn't left yet.
Why would we leave? 94% of the population voted in favor of becoming a US State. Surely most of them were aware of the fact that you can't leave the Union after you decide to join it, right? Yet they decided to do so anyway. So where's your argument?
Anyway neither Israel nor the US appear able to not attack any other country. Maybe if either could keep within their own borders for a year or so
Maybe Israel would keep within her own borders if rockets weren't being launched from outside her borders into her country. Just a thought....
America has proven to be untrustworthy repeatedly
At the end of the day, America behaves exactly like every other nation-state on this rock -- we engage in policies that advance our own interests. Those interests may be political (spreading our political-economic system), economic (securing access to resources and/or markets) or security driven (keeping rivals out of our own hemisphere). Every other nation behaves in the exact same manner -- the main difference between the US and the rest of the World is that we currently have more hard (military) and soft (economic/cultural) power than every other country.
Eventually that fact will change. It might even be a good thing for my country -- it would allow us to turn our focus inward and address some of our domestic issues that take a back seat to our global adventures. I just hope for the sake of the Western World and our way of life that it's another Democracy that emerges to take our place on the world stage. However much you may hate the actions of the United States on the World stage, I suspect that you'd find the alternative offered by China (under it's current Government) to be much worse.
You got modded up for this bullshit?
The same Israelis that have constantly warred with their neighbors
You mean the same Israelis that have warred with their neighbors after being invaded by those neighbors, right?
The same Israelis who now threaten to bomb Iran, despite Iran having been non-aggressive for more than 20 years
How is sponsoring terrorist organizations compatible with being "non-aggressive"?
The same Israelis who claim Iran hates the Jewish faith, despite Iran having a sizable number of citizens who are Jews that it has never bothered?
Yeah, except for the tens of thousands of Iranian Jews that got driven out of the country during the Iranian revolution and whom now primarily reside in Israel and the United States. I guess being forced into exile is your definition of "not being bothered".
As for Vietnam, they don't have an arch-enemy with 100-400 nuclear weapon-tipped missiles aimed at them.
I assume you are speaking about Israel. The fact that Israel is an 'arch-enemy' of Iran is entirely the fault of the Iranian Government. Prior to the Iranian revolution the two countries had friendly relations. After the revolution various Iranian political figures starting referring to Israel as a "cancer" that needs to be "purged" from the region. They also started funding terrorist organizations that murder Israeli civilians and military personnel.
Yeah, I'm part Irish too. I can't stand being in the Sun/insert favorite star here.
Is that why you guys spend so much time in bars? I thought it was because you just liked to drink ;)
especially when I'm at work and some "bra sale" ads decide to pop over whatever site I happen to be reading at the moment
"Bra sale" ads, eh? Which sites are you browsing at work? ;)
If global cooling became a real problem, food shortage would actually be the most serious impediment to our survival.
It'd be more realistic to say that it'd be a serious impediment to the survival of those in poorer nations. Do you really see the people of the United States or Western Europe wanting for food?
You're billed by the call too, so it's pretty darn nice.
How is being billed by the call "pretty darn nice" as opposed to something which has a one time fee and which you own?
Goog 411 can help you find the place
Google 411 can help me find an Italian/Japanese/what-have-you restaurant based on no information besides "I'm on I-81 in Virgina at mile marker 157"?
trusting in your GPS when you don't have cellphone reception can, you know, lead you off a cliff.
Huh?
Nothing beats simply planning your route *BEFORE* you leave.
What if I decide I'm hungry along the way and didn't want to plan my lunch at a precise time?
I love how my garmin will show the next 5 exist and let me pick food, sleep, gas, hookers, etc.... and then I can look at that list.
Your garmin has hookers in it's POI database? Shit, if I had known that I wouldn't have gone with the TomTom ;) Can you limit the search to ones without STDs?
I just have to buy a new POI and Map database every 2 years
How much does garmin charge you for that? I think TomTom is around $50 for a year worth of updates, i.e: it's not just one download and your done.
That works real well in rural areas without cell phone service.
Soon, the human race will never again need to have a sense of direction, thanks to our GPS-and-wifi-triangulation-capable overlords!
That depends on how lazy the individual human is, doesn't it? I finally broke down and bought a TomTom for my travels but I don't feel compelled to use it (or even keep it in the car) when I'm near home. When traveling though it's incredibly useful. Even if you have a good sense of direction you'll find that the point of interest database will completely change the way you travel. Hmm, I'm hungry, how about some Italian? *tap, tap tap*, this place looks good and it's only three miles off our route.
I also like the TomTom over the cellular/google equivalents because I know it isn't phoning the mother ship with details about my location and travels. Personally I don't trust Google at all anymore with their data retention policy and sheer size. Perhaps that's a little paranoia on my part but it's the way I feel. A disconnected device has less privacy concerns and doesn't stop working if you wander somewhere without cellular service.
I don't know about you but I can't wait for the "George Costanza" app that uses Google's API to map out the best public and private bathrooms in a city ;)
Because the UN has done such an upstanding job at managing everything else. Why if it wasn't for the UN we might have seen genocides in Africa wherein millions of innocent people died. We might see countries like Libya sitting on human rights commissions. We might see aggressive states like Iran and North Korea flaunting international law and getting away with it.
Yep, the UN is a fine upstanding institution. We should hand the keys to the internet over to them. What could possibly go wrong?
And Germany has been sovereign for what... 60 years?
Less than 20, actually.....
We want to keep right-winged people to from glorifying the Nazi time and we want to keep them from using their symbols, if possible.
In other words you want to restrict their freedom of political expression because you find their ideals abhorrent. You can justify it any way that you wish but it's still censorship. Personally I find the notion of censoring a Nazi to be as offensive as his political goals if not more so -- because we ought to know better.
Does it flip some sort of switch that makes them slobbering monsters?
This might explain my ex-girlfriend from Bavaria. She must have played a game of Wolfenstein right before we met. Damn you ID!
Free Speech is an inalienable right, not something doled out to you by a friendly Governmental overlord. Nice try though.
Your reasons for denying the existence of history are over now.
German denial of history has nothing on the Japanese. Bataan death march, what? Rape of Nanking, what? Death railway, what? Those weren't in my history books......
I always maintained in the bunker with Hitler and Eva, Hitler shot first.
<tinfoil hat>Dude, Hitler's still alive. I thought everybody knew that? He's living a peaceful life as a painter somewhere in South America.</tinfoil hat>
but the invisible-to-my-eye Swastikas are not?
Don't you know that human beings are so impressionable that all they need is to see a small swastika and they will instantly volunteer to help load the boxcars? Clearly we need a benevolent government to protect us from such evil.
Apparently this is the reason that it has to be pulled from the market. I don't know about you but I find the rationale for this type of censorship to be utterly absurd. So much for free speech.....
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
That's an awesome sig, just so you know :)
Japanese Knotweed. The stuff grows insanely fast and spreads rhizomatically, so it's a bitch to kill.
I was going to post on this but you beat me to it. It's virtually impossible to kill. I've helped dig it up before and have discovered roots that exceed 20 feet in length. Nothing native to the Americas seems to be able to compete with it. It's a real PITA.