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Politics "Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -and both commonly succeed, and are right." -H.L. Menken

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Old 04-07-2006, 01:55 PM   #26
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Tipped off by intelligence... coming from the NSA, DIA, DEA, FBI, CIA, CGI, pick your agency. Generally it's the CGI though. That same intelligence gets routed to this Hong Kong company so they can scan it the first time. You honestly think some Hong Kong port company has it's own intelligence wing that's going to know what to scan upon arrival at these ports in the Bahamas?
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Old 04-08-2006, 07:28 AM   #27
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No, not at all. Thats exactly my point. In fact, why should they even care? They care as much about security as any other low paid employee from another country does about their job.

So yeah, go ahead and hire 'em. With no intel, and a bunch of low paid workers from another country securing the US from a nuclear threat, I know if I were living there I'd sleep better at night.
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Old 04-08-2006, 09:55 AM   #28
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Right, there's no motivation at all. It's not like the US is paying them a fat sum of money or anything to act on intelligence we give them and scan the freights we tell them to.
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Old 04-10-2006, 08:17 AM   #29
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Yeah, mercs from outside the states with different political/religious views - protecting your country, employed by a group that pays less than minimum wage?

You are arguing that they will actually be more vigilant at the ports than citizens of the country that are protecting their own families, getting paid a nice salary and living in a first world country?
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Old 04-10-2006, 04:07 PM   #30
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They have a reputation for being good at what they do. This company operates out of dozens of ports across the world, much like DP World does. That's why we agreed to hire them. If they fuck up, we scan suspect shit in our ports anyways. If they scan and find stuff; awesome - saves us from having to try and catch it when it enters a US port.
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Old 04-12-2006, 03:12 AM   #31
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If it's true what you claim, that 'we scan our shit anyway', then why does every article say differently? Why is it you argue against what every new agency says? I mean, this whole ordeal like the UAE ports deal was because THEY were SOLELY responsibly for the PORT SECURITY. Therefore, you DON'T double scan anything according to the news, congress, and the company itself. Show me an articlwe that says cargo is double scanned for nuclear material. Please, go ahead - find me some source, hell, even one on a government website.

Let me help you out here...

Yet another article on this very deal...

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/r...?ArtNum=133858

The administration acknowledges the no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. represents the first time a foreign company will be involved in running a sophisticated U.S. radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present.

Freeport in the Bahamas is 65 miles from the U.S. coast, where cargo would be likely to be inspected again. The contract is currently being finalized.


'Would likely' meaning if they had intellegence to authorise such a secondary scan, meaning NORMALLY it's only the one scan.

But wait, don't take the news, lets look directly at the testimony FROM CONGRESS LAST MONTH on this deal...

http://www.gao.gov/htext/d03297t.html

U.S. ports have programs in place to detect illegal fissile material
or nuclear weapons, but these programs are limited in several respects.

They focus on screening a small portion of total cargo as it enters the country, and they are carried out without the use of adequate detection aids, such as equipment that can scan entire containers for radiation. Efforts to target cargo for screening are hampered by the quality of information regarding which cargo poses the greatest risk.


Yeah, thats directly from congres last month and contridicts your argument 100%. The US government doesn't even buy what your selling.

I mean, why would they spend a few BILLION hiring a company from Hong Kong to scan the cargo, then spend another few billion scanning it again once it's in the states? I mean, that would be the safest thing to do, but wouldn't all that redudancy be silly? Plus, wouldn't it be better if your going to throw all those billions at the problem to hire companies inside the states to do the work?

Bottom line is you are making it up. But please, argue with the findings of congress there and cite us some sources that PROVE your ARGUMENT that cargo is not only scanned, but SCANNED TWICE.
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Old 04-12-2006, 01:24 PM   #32
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I like how you say, "Congress released this last month," yet the release date at the top says, "November 18, 2002," and it uses phrases like, "Customs has deployed about 4,200 pagers among its 7,500 inspectors and expects every inspector to have a pager by September 2003." Hmmm... I'm sorry, what were you saying about making stuff up again?

Perhaps this is more up to date and will provide you with the information you've been looking for: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06558t.pdf
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Old 04-13-2006, 02:48 AM   #33
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Actually I was citing that a congressional study that recently happened as listed in the aforementioned link above that, plus these links...

Radioactive Matter Gets Into U.S. in Test

GAO: Installing Radiation Detectors at Ports Takes Too Long, Costs Too Much

...In a series of reports, the GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress, found that the Homeland Security Department's goal of installing 3,034 radiation detectors by September 2009 across the United States at border crossings, seaports, airports and mail facilities was "unlikely."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1775581

The link provided from those articles was the one I used. They must have had a mislink on their own site.

But you can find more links and the storey here as well...

Update 2: Radioactive Matter Gets Into U.S. in Test

...A Senate Homeland Security subcommittee, which Coleman leads, released details of the investigation and two GAO reports on radiation detectors and port security before hearings on the issues this week.

http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/...ap2625748.html


But more importantly, I found this one. The company which you so admiantly defend...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060324/D8GI27382.html

U.S. to Contract Foreign Co. to Scan Cargo

...Three years ago, the Bush administration effectively blocked a Hutchison subsidiary from buying part of a bankrupt U.S. telecommunications company, Global Crossing Ltd. (GLBC), on national security grounds.

And a U.S. military intelligence report, once marked "secret," cited Hutchison in 1999 as a potential risk for smuggling arms and other prohibited materials into the United States from the Bahamas.

Hutchison's port operations in the Bahamas and Panama "could provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology or prohibited items from the West to the PRC (People's Republic of China), or facilitate the movement of arms and other prohibited items into the Americas," the now-declassified assessment said.


So three years ago the CIA and the bush admin said this EXACT company is involved in smuggling guns and drugs, but now, they are willing to give them billions in port security deals because they are the cheapest contractor to throw their hat in the ring?

Still back this deal and the company?
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Old 04-13-2006, 02:22 PM   #34
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Mmm'no. You were refering to this link:

http://www.gao.gov/htext/d03297t.html

As cited in this quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by CptSternn
But wait, don't take the news, lets look directly at the testimony FROM CONGRESS LAST MONTH on this deal...

http://www.gao.gov/htext/d03297t.html

U.S. ports have programs in place to detect illegal fissile material
or nuclear weapons, but these programs are limited in several respects.

They focus on screening a small portion of total cargo as it enters the country, and they are carried out without the use of adequate detection aids, such as equipment that can scan entire containers for radiation. Efforts to target cargo for screening are hampered by the quality of information regarding which cargo poses the greatest risk.

Yeah, thats directly from congres last month and contridicts your argument 100%. The US government doesn't even buy what your selling.
As I already mentioned, the release date on that link is 2002. You made information up again to benefit your own cause. Stop trying to weasel your way out of it too, because you also stated that the Bahamas were US territory - information you also made up (and were subsequently called on). This is the problem with debating you, Sternn. You know you're wrong and you don't stop. There's such a long ass list of shit you've made up thus far in this thread alone. Let's not even get into all the information you made up about DP World (i.e. they would be taking over security at US ports). Your track record is, quite frankly, embarassing.

Again, I urge you to read over the CURRENT report on this directly from Congress here: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06558t.pdf

Maybe you'll read it this time. We place radiation detection equipment of our own in other countries all the time, such as Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, and *gasp* the Bahamas. Because they scan shit there, that hardly means we're going to let it come into a US port and not get scanned. Bahamas is the same way. This detection equipment is strategically placed in foreign countries for the purpose of catching shit there. However, we have radiation detection equipment State-side as well, to catch shit ourselves in our own ports. If you read up on the Congressional report, you'd know this. Maybe you'll read it this time around. I'm not going to put money on it. I'll touch on DHS' proceedures after I get done with this:

Quote:
Originally Posted by CptSternn
And a U.S. military intelligence report, once marked "secret," cited Hutchison in 1999 as a potential risk for smuggling arms and other prohibited materials into the United States from the Bahamas.

Hutchison's port operations in the Bahamas and Panama "could provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology or prohibited items from the West to the PRC (People's Republic of China), or facilitate the movement of arms and other prohibited items into the Americas," the now-declassified assessment said.[/i]
It's funny how you say I defend them. The Pentagon and State Department shelved both of the reports (there were actually two, not just one, but the other only had to do with Panama), that the Associated Press now cite, to testify before Congress saying the company had no collaborative links to the Communist Govenment of China.

http://www.usconsulate.org.hk/ushk/o...1999/1022b.htm

"We have also explored concerns that H-W is a front for the government of the People's Republic of China. We have found no information to substantiate that allegation."

In fact, I already addressed this issue earlier. I spoke about it, obviously since you didn't know anything about the issue at the time, you must have missed it. I'll go ahead and link you to it:

https://www.gothic.net/boards/showpo...1&postcount=16

I'll even quote myself, cause I know you have a hard time reading information that's not justifying your made up stuff:

"Don't come to me with these two tiny, and suddenly popular, reports either. I'll throw official State Department testimony right back at you stating, "We have also explored concerns that H-W is a front for the government of the People's Republic of China. We have found no information to substantiate that allegation." Or statements from Rear Admiral Quigley stating that there is no indication that H-W operates for Beijing. Or statements from Maritime Operations Director Jorge L. Quijano. Go ahead and try. Because when those two reports were written, it came at the same time these statements were made and the State Department officially took the stance that there were no indications that H-W operates for Beijing."

Oh, and I'll also quote your APNews article to back most of this up as well:

"The CIA currently has no security concerns about Hutchison's port operations"

So the CIA doesn't have a problem with them and the State Department and Pentagon scrapped these two minor reports for an official stance that the company posed no security risk back in 1999. Hmmm... Sounds like it's not just me that has no problem with these boys over in Hong Kong.

And to settle the proceedures, go take a look at DHS' website.

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interap...lease_0865.xml

It explains the layered defense plan, which includes the CBP, which scans shit in US ports, and the CSI, which is responsible for "Extending our zone of security outward so that American borders are the last line of defense, not the first."

http://www.bis.doc.gov/News/2004/update04Kassinger.htm
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Old 04-13-2006, 05:49 PM   #35
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Of course they have no 'current concerns'. The US administration is a whore, and once again selling out the US public for money. They had doubts, until they company came in at the lowest bid, now the US administration does a 180 in less than a few months and backs the same company they blocked from owning a private company just months before because they are cheaper than hiring americans do to the same job.

Once again, yer selling yerself and yer countrymen out by trying to back such actions. Don't get me wrong, I don't care, but when a dirty bomb goes off in your country, kills thousands, know it's people like yerself, not the terrorists, who are to blame.

You are willing to sell yer own security for money. If that means the death of yer fellow people, then you yourself, have blood on yer own hands.

Once again, not my problem, but things that would keep me up at night, if I lived in a country that would sell out its own people for money.

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Old 04-13-2006, 05:59 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CptSternn
The US administration is a whore, and once again selling out the US public for money.
Wouldn't that make the U.S. a Pimp, and not a Whore?
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Old 04-13-2006, 09:24 PM   #37
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Binkie rulez!!!

She's the only person I've seen that can take on a few dozen people and win.

Must be a Ninja!


Beat them with your Flail of Knowledge!
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Old 04-13-2006, 09:33 PM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Empty_Purple_Stars
Wouldn't that make the U.S. a Pimp, and not a Whore?
I think it's more a strange sort of whore who's managed to figure a way to sub-lease the work load.









(did ya catch the pun?! har!)
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Old 04-13-2006, 10:21 PM   #39
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He said, he said L o a d..





*huh huh-huh huh huh*







*twitch*







Wot?!
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Old 04-14-2006, 04:19 AM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sobeh
I think it's more a strange sort of whore who's managed to figure a way to sub-lease the work load.
The US is the only country willing to look at the saftey of their own people as a 'work load' and 'outsource' the very security of their lives, and the lives of their children.

I mean, if my government said hey, we are outsourcing the welfare and safety of your children based on the bottom line of what we have to pay, I would be quite angry.

If the people in the US think thats ok, or are willing to sit idly by, then hey, who am I to say it's a bad idea.

Of course I live in a nation with free healthcare, the best in the world by many standards, and I don't have to pay for it. Most people don't - and we don't get second class or 'bad' doctors because we can't afford a 'specialist'.

So why should a nation that excepts the idea that their own health and the health of their families hinges on the amount of money they can bring in should think any less when the national government sells out their personal security under the same policies.
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Old 04-14-2006, 08:47 AM   #41
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Do you ever give thought to the fact that you are obsessed with bashing the United States?

Yes, our Country is rife with problems, but I don't see people fashioning handmade Rafts and paddling to Ireland to seek Political Asylum by the thousands.

We, the American people are doing the best we can with what we have to work with right now.

People like you do nothing to fix the things that are wrong.

Your country has plenty of problems to keep you busy, wasting all of your time beating up on us serves no purpose.
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Old 04-14-2006, 09:36 AM   #42
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LOL, Wolf. Thanks. ;)

Quote:
Originally Posted by CptSternn
The US is the only country willing to look at the saftey of their own people as a 'work load' and 'outsource' the very security of their lives, and the lives of their children.
Perhaps you missed my info on DHS' proceedures. We handle security in our own ports and extend an extra layer of security in foreign ports. The only outsourcing we do in terms of security is in addition to our own. And guess who's ultimate call that is? The host government's. If that's a bad thing, having two layers of security, then oh well. I feel much more confident with cargo being scanned twice, once by our automated equipment in the Bahamas or Uzbekistan, and again in our own ports.
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Old 04-15-2006, 06:53 AM   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Empty_Purple_Stars
Do you ever give thought to the fact that you are obsessed with bashing the United States?

Yes, our Country is rife with problems, but I don't see people fashioning handmade Rafts and paddling to Ireland to seek Political Asylum by the thousands.

We, the American people are doing the best we can with what we have to work with right now.

People like you do nothing to fix the things that are wrong.

Your country has plenty of problems to keep you busy, wasting all of your time beating up on us serves no purpose.

First, Ireland has more refugees from African and Middle-Eastern countries than most all of Europe. And we have more Iraqi refugees from the currnet war that your country started, than you do, as your country will not allow them in.

But I'm getting off topic here. Back to your question...

I am not participating in 'america bashing'. Once again, when the policies of the bush administration are called into question, people jump onto the 'patriot' bandwagon and assume I hate america. I don't hate anyone. I don't even hate britian, but I hate the government and its policies.

Thats a whole different thing. I mean, do you hate Iraqi? You are at war with them, so do you hate the people there? Did you hate them when you invaded? Do you hate Afghanis as a rule? Is that why the US invaded? Because US citizens hated the people there so much they decided to kill them?

Or was it government policy and the ruling regime?

So why is it when people question the bush regime and it's contridictory policies and lies, do people say 'why do you hate america'?

I hate to see a government, any government, make laws to benefit itself. I myself do something. I was in two protests this week, and will be marching this Easter Sunday, tomorrow, to protest more. And this is for MY government and it's policies.

http://www.sternn.com/ogra/

There is one protest I assisted with. The selling of 1916 items to private collectors. A sad day in Irish history, and even worse our government let it happen, but once again, I digress.

I attack bush, as everytime he says one thing he does another, and he doesn't care who as harmed as long as US corporations maintain their bottom line.

Thats the main point of 99% of all my posts. Only now, is the media and the rest of america waking up and seeing this. As Leno now says 'listen to this, this is the most embarrassing thing the bush administration has done...today'.

Everyday a new scandal, everyday a new 'act' to take away power from the people of america. What you might not realise is with america now claiming it can 'pre-emptively strike' anyone it wants, being the only country that claims it has the right to use DU and other nuclear weapons, being the only country to try and force it's will on half the free world and uses its money and power to 'buy' influence, the only country to allow private mercenary armies to be raised and sent out in the name of US corporations, what you don't realise is that EVERYONE on the planet suffers.

WE are the ones who have to deal with fall out from skirmishes in the Middle East as the US governm BARS all middle eastern refugees. Same with Africa. We have a large Somila population here and various Somolian charities, in Ireland. The US starts conflicts, makes its money, well the corporations do, and then leave the mess for the rest of the world to clean up.

Then control the world oil supply by keeping the price of oil pegged against the US dollar, and threaten violence in any nation who tries to break the strangle hold. Then the money is used to fund more war and violence worldwide.

But whenever you mention this, your 'anti-american'.

I'm not anti-america, I'm anti-corporation. Just turns out the bush regime is in the pocket of the largests and most powerful corporations in the world, and continually sells out its own people for money, and those people, like yourself, defend the actions as you have been taught standing up for your rights is 'un-american' and true patriots back the government no matter what bad polices they put in place.

True patriots question everything. True patriots protest when they see their leaders going in the wrong direction. True patriots, stand up when they see injustice right in front of them.

Another brilliant articles today touches on this...

One more job for immigrants

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...ome-commentary

OVER THE LAST few weeks, it's become obvious that the immigrant community is seriously out of the American cultural mainstream.

Mainstream Americans don't go in for protest marches anymore (mass protests are so '60s). But demonstrating a mind-boggling degree of cultural obtuseness, hundreds of thousands of immigrants turned out for nationwide rallies opposing the punitive Republican-sponsored immigration bill passed by the House in December.

Maybe it's a language problem. This nation's immigrant communities must have taken literally those lines in the Constitution about the right to assemble peaceably and petition the government for the redress of grievances.

Whatever. Real Americans — that is, those of us whose immigrant ancestors made it to the United States more than a generation or two ago — gave up on that sort of foolishness long ago. (The Bill of Rights is so 1791.)

When we Americans have a grievance we want redressed, we don't assemble. Assembling en masse is a sweaty, fatiguing enterprise requiring the purchase of lots of poster board and the occasional use of Porta Potties. Yuck.

Instead, real Americans sulk and whine. What's more, because we take pride in individualism, we mostly do our whining and sulking alone. As a result, even when we're really, really mad at our government, an outside observer would be hard-pressed to notice.

And we are pretty mad at our government these days.

Recent polls tell us, for instance, that 60% of Americans disapprove of President Bush's overall job performance; 74% disapprove of his handling of rising gasoline prices; 62% disapprove of his handling of the Iraq war; 63% think the president's role in the intelligence leak scandal was either illegal or unethical. Further, 45% of Americans think Bush should be censured or officially reprimanded for authorizing secret domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency, and an astonishing 33% of Americans think Bush should be impeached. (As a point of reference, public support for impeaching President Clinton averaged only 26% in the summer and fall of 1998.)

In many foreign countries, such a high level of popular discontent would translate rapidly into mass protests. In France this spring, polls suggesting that more than 60% of the public disapproved of a new labor law were soon paralleled by massive street protests against the legislation and a general strike. In Ukraine, public dissatisfaction with the pro-Russian regime led to mass protests in 2004. In Serbia, polls showing widespread unhappiness with the government of Slobodan Milosevic were followed by a popular uprising in late 2000, after Milosevic claimed victory in a disputed election.

By definition, immigrants are all foreign-born, so maybe this explains why the ones here have not abandoned the politics of mass protest. Not very assimilationist of them, is it?

Of course, sometimes mass protest actually changes things. In other countries, anyway. On Monday, for instance, French President Jacques Chirac was forced to withdraw the labor measure that sparked the protests; in 2004, the so-called Orange Revolution brought a democratic government to Ukraine; in 2000, the Serbian popular uprising forced Milosevic to step down and ultimately led to his transfer to The Hague to face trial for crimes against humanity.

Come to think of it, mass protests over the punitive Republican immigration bill may have brought about a change in U.S. politics too. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) suggested a new willingness to reconsider several of the bill's harsher provisions. All this because hundreds of thousands of the country's most politically marginal residents took to the streets.

What would happen if mainstream Americans did that sort of thing too? If the 33% of Americans who think Bush should be impeached took to the streets to peaceably express their views, that would be almost 100 million marchers — enough to wake up even the most somnolent of politicians. If the 47% of Americans who think U.S. troops should leave Iraq ASAP actually marched on Washington, our troops would already be on their way home. If the 60% of Americans who disapprove of Bush's job performance decided to stage a peaceful sit-in outside the White House, they'd spill over into a dozen neighboring states, and the American political machine would grind to a screeching halt.

Of course, political protest isn't easy. Effective protests take money, endurance and courage. Protesters have to take time off from work; they have to travel to distant cities and come up with somewhere to sleep and eat; they have to risk encounters with police who may not always distinguish between peaceful protesters and those who are breaking the law.

Especially when the stakes are high, political protest can be difficult, exhausting and dangerous work.

This may explain why so few Americans are willing to express their discontent through public protest. As with so much unappealing work here in the U.S.A., we leave that kind of thing to the immigrants.


So before you call me 'anti-american', you should look at your own views towards your own government, and ask yourself, do you see any issues?

-S
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Old 04-15-2006, 11:22 AM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CptSternn

So before you call me 'anti-american', you should look at your own views towards your own government, and ask yourself, do you see any issues?

-S
Of course I see "Issues".

I would still be a registered Republican if I didn't.

However that was not my point.

My Point is you don't just bash Bush.

You Bash just about every damn aspect of American Life.

It's gets old after a few years.

I never see you say anything positive about America.

Never.

This is our country, and we do hold it dear.

Apparently Millions of Immigrants do as well.

I don't believe all of these people would be risking life and limb to become US Citizens, if there wasn't something wonderful about this country.

When you call us fat, lazy and stupid, you aren't targeting the Administration.

You are targeting the American People as a whole.

Not okay.

You yourself have friends here, and spent time in the states.

You know very well it isn't ALL bad here, and neither are all of the people who populate my country.

America still means something to MILLIONS of Americans.

We still have pride and faith in our country, and hold desperately to Hope for our Children's future.

People like you tearing us down all the time, doesn't fix a godamn thing.
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Old 04-16-2006, 01:37 PM   #45
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I merely post articles from news sources that back my views of the current US administration.

The fat, lazy,stupid part I have never said. Fat yes, many times, but thats backed by scientific studies. Lazy? Not so much, as unlike the rest of the world the US gets less time off, less vacations, and has longer work hours than any other first world nation. Americans also don't have a social welfare system like most of the rest of the world that allows its citizens to stay unemployed for as long as the like.

So I never said lazy, or stupid. With that being said, I have implied stupid, but thats because no one there seems to get worked up over anything. I mean, americans find out their government is corrupt, like the current Abrahmoff scandal, find voting districts were illegally sectioned, gerrymandering, finds out its own government lies to them, allows corporations to pollute the air, water, and cut down protected trees, finds out the same government allows coprorations to take short cuts in food preperation that costs americans their own health, but yet all they do is get mad at the people who point out these issues.

You should get more angry at the government thats screwing you, instead of outsiders who live without all those issues who point out what you need to fix.

Before you say anything about outsiders pointing out your shortcomings, remember your country is currently in:

Afghanistan, Iraq, Columbia, Phillipenes etc.

In efforts to 'make change' for the people there. Currently, your government is trying to 'pressure Iran', all while giving nuclear technology to India, without the consent of anyone else. Pakistan is not so happy about that, but does the american government care?

My point being is, if america is going to invade and oust and start uprisings in other countries because they alone have decided to take it upon themselves to 'change' these countries/governments/people/culture because they 'feel' the american way of life is so much better, then people outside the US should be able to point out why the US, its policies, and culture are not so hot, and why america should focus on its own issues before invading and trying to get every country in the world to follow the rules it feels are best.

Not everyone likes or needs 'democracy'. Many of the US allies (readin: Saudi Arabia, UAE, and many South American nations) are not democracies. Half the 'coalition of the willing' were nations that were not democratic. So why does the US feel its way of life is soooo good, it can invade sovern nations and force governmental change? Who gets to make that decision? And who gives the US the right in interfere in places like the Phillipenes, Columbia, or Bolivia?

Bottom line, as long as the US continues to impose its will in an imperalistic fashion, those of us outside its borders have the right to point out why its not as good as it tries to sell itself as.

You should focus on getting the things I point out fixed, not try and hide them and lash out at the messenger who points out the shortcomings.
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Old 04-16-2006, 07:11 PM   #46
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CptSternn

You should focus on getting the things I point out fixed, not try and hide them and lash out at the messenger who points out the shortcomings.

Oh believe me, I can do both.

Thanks for caring about my ability to Multi-Task though.

Armchair Polticians like you, still don't improve the situation in the slightest. Your Country has enough problems of its own without you being the self-appointed Judge and Jury of a Country you don't even live in anymore.



Socialized Medicine is a joke, and I can say that firsthand.

If that travesty of Healthcare slithers its way into our already warped Social Service System, I'm fucking out of here.

And yet again you completely ignore the fact that you do nothing but whine about how terrible the USA has become. You are just as narrow minded in your views, as the people you condemn.

Of course none of your Bias comes from getting in legal trouble in the States. You are completely objective in your observations.
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Plus I have some Swamp Land for sale in Louisiana.

It's really funny that you think you have us all figured out..

You keep thinking that okay?
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Old 04-17-2006, 06:57 AM   #47
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Actually, I'm an elected politican who actively participates in my own government.

But another article I though went along with the previous post...


Obesity Finds Niche in American Marketing

http://news.**********/s/ap/20060416/...BhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

Baby seats, doorways and caskets are but a few examples from a long list of life's accouterments that are getting much bigger to accommodate much bigger people. There are also vacation resorts for those embarrassed to be seen in a bathing suit.

..."You should not be embarrassed by how big you are," said William Fabrey, whose online business "Amplestuff" offers larger versions of everyday things from umbrellas to footstools. "You can't just yell at someone and tell them to lose weight.

...Seemingly every day, another study appears that shows the United States is becoming a country of fat people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 71 percent of men weigh too much, along with about 61 percent of women and 33 percent of children.

As Americans grow in weight, their life expectancy becomes shorter — by as much as five years, according to the latest national statistics — more than the impacts of heart disease and cancer. Obesity is fast approaching tobacco as the No. 1 cause of preventable death.

The price tag to taxpayers, according to the CDC, is a whopping $117 billion a year, a figure that some health experts dispute, claiming the government numbers are based on faulty data. Not disputed, according to obesity specialists, is the amount Americans spend trying to get thinner — $33 billion a year.

U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona sounded a dire warning last month, telling university students in South Carolina "obesity is the terror within," and that unless people start getting thinner, "the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9-11 or any other terrorist attempt."


*snip*

As mentioned, I didn't point the finger and call americans fat. It's science. Also as mentioned, I personally feel the US government is just as responsible as the people themselves. Allowing the sugar industry to put sugar in, well, everything, fighting bills that keeps candy out of school vending machines, fighting laws that would regular sugar intake in food served at school cafeterias, allowing fast food operations to run school cafeterias, and the list goes on.

The thing is, in Brazil as I mentioned, they make ethanol which they use instead of oil to completely free itself from oil dependency. The US has a large sugar industry, which could supply enough sugar to do the same in the US. Why don't they work on that? Answer: the oil industry in the states, halliburton, etc. all have ties to the government and keep them from doing that.

Thats something, much like the whole telco/internet/cable monopoly ye have going on over there that keeps out new inventions and keeps broadband costs artificially inflated because of their lobbying power.

But we are getting off topic. My point was the 180 the government did on the deal was only done for money, and it will put lives at risk.

And socialised healthcare rocks. I went to the A&E just a few weeks ago when I got stitches, again, in my face, and ye just walk in, sit down, the nurse cleans ye up, the doctor puts in the sitches, and yer gone. No paper work, no bills. Life is grand.
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Old 04-17-2006, 07:00 AM   #48
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How advanced you are! Amazing that condoms are now available for use as well.

Huh.
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Old 04-17-2006, 07:06 AM   #49
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Hey, your healthcare is free as well! How do you feel about the quality of the health services you recieve?
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Old 04-17-2006, 07:09 AM   #50
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Ever heard the saying, 'There's no such thing as a free lunch'?

Think about it.

And no, it's not...no matter who told you so.
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