Phi for All

Ooh ooh, here's another:He claimed that all intelligence data pointed to the fact that Saddam had purchased fissionable materials when it came out later that the CIA sent him two different memos detailing their belief that the documents regarding the sale of African uranium were believed to be forged.

Please, please, PLEASE listen to yourself and maybe go back and read this entire thread. Many here have given you a ton of reasons why Bush is so lacking as the world's most powerful and influential leader. Can you list for us some of the good things you think he has done? I don't see a whole lot of that. You've been saying he's not that dumb. Fine. Let's talk about accomplishments while in office. Can you point out some of those, please?

Douglas, you seem to have a pretty one-sided view of things yourself. I try to read articles from both sides, and put it all together. As for Bush being stupid, I'm not listening to anyone else, I'm listening to Bush himself. The man lacks something in his brain that most people have. He forgets what he has just said, or he's not listening to the words that come out of his mouth. He doesn't read reports and memoranda that are prepared at great expense for him. He reads watered down, 1 or 2 page condensations of those reports because he himself admits he's not a big reader. That would be alright, I guess, if he listened to the people who did read those reports. But he doesn't. He has ignored advisors from his own intelligence teams, economics panels, foreign policy experts time and time again. He is trying to use a war involving the American military in Iraq and Afghanistan to wipe out terrorism, when the terrorists who hurt us came mostly from Saudi Arabia, a country he has personal ties to that still, to this day, not only harbors, but funds terrorists more than Iraq ever did. Missiles, planes, ground troops and tanks are no way to stop an enemy who can hide among civilians, disappear at will and who never come at you in numbers large enough to warrant such excessive, costly measures. Nineteen terrorists attacked the US on 9/11/01, and Bush's response has been ludicrous at best. Kerry understands an enemy who can melt into invisibility and hide among the population. He fought in Vietnam where the VC were much like Al Qaeda in their small but effective efforts. Hit the giant in a hundred places, inflict small but important wounds, demoralize and terrorize the giant, that's the way the guerilla warrior works. The Soviets failed in Afghanistan, we failed in Afghanistan, we're failing in Iraq because we aren't using the right kind of warfare. We're using what makes arms dealers and defense contractors rich and our country poor. I almost get the feeling the rich mega-corporations will be there to help take over leadership when the US goes bankrupt. And considering the way the polls are going for Bush, at least half the country are fools enough to think this would be a good thing.

LOL, sounds just like the US Postal Service! Two guys go out golfing and get to a fairway with a lake on the side. The first guy shakes his head and says, "I lose so many balls into this lake!" The second guy says, "You should use one of these balls," and shows his buddy a seemingly ordinary golf ball. "It's fantastic! If you hit it into the water, it not only floats, it has a small motor and some kind of sonar that directs it to the nearest shore!" The first guy says, "That's incredible! What if you slice it into the woods?" "No problem," says the second guy. "If it senses trees around itself, after three minutes it begins to whistle loudly so you can find it anywhere!" "Wow! But what if it gets too dark to see it?" "After ten minutes, it begins to glow brightly and after fifteen minutes it will start hopping up and down, playing Stars and Stripes Forever! You can't miss it!" The first guy is really impressed. "I need one of those. Where did you get it?" The second guy smiles widely and says, "I found it!"

LOL, that's funny. It's still a four point race with 6 points for "other" and "undecided". And a month and a half for things to escalate in the Middle East. You really think Bush has the best approach over there?

No, that's A JOKE!!!

Let's say that you are Vance Coffman, the CEO of Lockheed Martin (up until last month). You make an immense pile of cash every year in salary, bonuses and incentives (top bracket, definitely). You make missiles and planes for the military. Back in 1995, Lockheed had merged with Martin Marietta and bought a slew of other companies, including Comsat, leaving it $12 billion in debt. In 1997, they brought you in as CEO and you promoted the CFO to president, did some insider trading, sold off Comsat, and a few years later, you gave millions in soft money to get Bush into office. He gave you some incredible tax breaks and made you the world's largest defense contractor and the largest arms exporter. So now you supply all kinds of goodies to help overthrow one tiny little pre-beaten dictator, making a fortune from American taxes, of which you pay a lesser amount because of George W's two tax breaks for the richest Americans. Oh, and guess what? There are more terrorists than ever now! It looks like your marketing efforts have really paid off. Because what makes more money for a defense contractor and arms exporter? TERROR! INSTABILITY! WAR! And the biggest laugh of all is that you make planes and missiles which are supposedly being used to fight terrorists, who work in small, secretive, compartmented operations cells, practically immune to such weapons. It's like trying to kill termites in your house with a hammer. A really big, multi-billion dollar hammer. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=9

I think this goes back to what he said about the system they used during the Great Depression. Perhaps it had a lot more brackets with a gentler curve in percentages. Heaven knows we could use a tax system that's not so intimidating. Many people believe the IRS prefers the obscurity the present system provides due to the fear factor. Did you know that you can get 50 different companies to do your taxes, plus figure them yourself, plus get the IRS to calculate them and you'll get 52 completely different answers? Are they teaching you that kind of math in school these days?

This is actually the only thing Bush is NOT responsible for. Outsourcing is made possible more by technology (robotics, e-commerce, etc) than by cheaper labor. The same people who are profiting most by the war in Iraq, and who are now paying the least to support it. And it's going to get worse...

We currently have 6 different "brackets" of income tax. http://taxpolicycenter.org/TaxFacts/TFDB/TFTemplate.cfm?Docid=325

There doesn't seem to be any musculature on the horse. Considering it's in the act of rearing, there should be some tendons and muscles showing through the hide. The hide itself looks like a lunar landscape or possibly orbital cloud photography.

You`ll NOT be making a Canoe out of me ya buggers! That's one of my favorite jokes EVER, YT!

These three English guys are out drinking one night and decide that they want to have a fight. They stagger from pub to pub looking for a likely victim to pick on when they come across a single Irishman in this one bar. "Watch this." Says the first Englishman, heading over toward the guy, "I here that St Patrick was a shift lifter." "Really." Says the Irishman, calmly continuing to drink. With that the second English guy decides to join in, "Yeah, and here he was a pervert too." "Is that so?" the still calm Irishman responds. "I know how to rile this tosser," says the third Englishman, staggering toward the Irishman. "Hey, did you know St Patrick was really an Englishman?" The Irish guy casually looks up and says, "Yeah, so your mates were telling me."

It seems the US Federal Aviation Administration has a unique device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. The device is a gun that launches a dead chicken at a plane's windshield at approximately the speed the airplane flies. The theory is that if the windshield can withstand the carcass test impact, it'll survive a real collision with a bird during flight. Apparently, the British were very interested in this and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, high-speed train they were developing.. They borrowed the FAA's chicken launcher, loaded a chicken and fired. The ballistic chicken not only shattered the windshield, but went through the engineer's seat, broke an instrument panel, and was imbedded in the back wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to review the test to see if everything was done correctly. The FAA reviewed the data thoroughly and had one recommendation: ''Use a thawed chicken.''

Which is weird because her normal accent is even sexier, imo. I guess they wanted cute/loony, not sexy. Personally, I think the producers/directors made many bad choices concerning Daphne Moon, particularly about having her character take up binge eating to cover Jane Leeves' pregnancy. Clever at the time, maybe, but in hindsight some of the worst shows I've ever seen. Earlier, blike asked what words or phrases might be associated with Americans when someone was attempting our accent. I'm curious also. Jane Leeves used the word "sure" a lot. Are their others?

Saving and picking up where we left off is a must. I've heard the user-made modules are actually better than anything WotC came up with. Can you play with them and still save your campaign? I just don't have the time any more to sit down and write up missions, especially with the new 3.5 rules. It just gets more and more complicated, though I totally love the new revamp. They really fixed a lot that needed fixing. But it's so different! Heroes on the X-box is cool and there's lots of action with no setup work on my part, but I like a little more plot and I miss that part of designing dungeons and campaigns. I need to download the demo to see how it plays on my comp. I don't have a game graphics setup (hard to expense on a business computer). I'll check out the toolset. Thanks!

Hey, Lance, some of my buddies want to get set up to play Neverwinter Nights online this winter when we may not be able to get together due to bad weather. Right now we either struggle through the new D&D 3.5 rules (been playing D&D since it first started, almost), or we play Heroes on my buddy's X-Box. How do you like it? Do you ever play it online with friends?

Remember Bob Hoskins from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I didn't know his normal accent is British until I saw him do Hook (I thought he was putting it on). I think it's what accent you hear them use first that gets fixed in your mind. When Jane Leeves (she played Daphne Moon in Frasier), who was raised in Sussex, did her American accent on the show it was hilarious, and as they say, spot on. Do you UKers think it weird or funny when an American actor does a British accent? Who's got the best, who's got the worst?

I haven't seen any of the comic books yet, but i love the names like Squee, Wobbly-Headed Bob and Happy Noodle Boy!

"Let me put it to you bluntly. In a changing world, we want more people to have control over your own life."George W. Bush, Annandale, Va, Aug. 9, 2004 "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 It was a dark and stormy evening. The swanky Georgetown costume party was in full swing, and all the Beltway bigwigs were there. President Bush and members of his cabinet stood in a corner, blocking access to the open bar, cackling like loons as Secret Service goons tossed another Democrat out the back door for having the temerity to ask for a refill. Here they felt at home. While Ted Kennedy held court across the room, dressed as a martini with a huge plastic sword stuck through his head, his hair died green and his face a normal pimento red, Bush & Co were wearing their street clothes. Bush's matted hair stuck up in all directions, even from under the collar of his blue chambray work shirt and the frayed cuffs of his jeans. His teeth were huge as he let his tongue loll from the side of his mouth, and his nostrils flared at the smell of alcohol in close proximity. Cheney wore his signature black cape with a waxed widow's peak pointing down between his crossed eyes, fangs drooling scotch as he tried to mesmerize each passing serving girl. Ashcroft was there as well, his body draped head to toe in narrow strips of musty linen, both breasts covered securely, the stench from his putrid, mummified decay earning him a healthy comfort zone even from this rotten bunch, including Rice, whose ooze-coverd body trailed muck and twigs across the fancy carpet. Suddenly, the main doors swung open with a thunderous bang as the Secretary of Defense stumbled into the party. Stitched together from the bodies of the American military dead, Rumsfeld made his way jerkily across the ballroom floor to join the President and his cabinet by the bar, where he angrily ordered a cigar and some hot soup. The President smirked at him. "Well, Donny-boy, you look all worked up! I haven't seen you this upset since Dick fired the Big "O", Paul O'Neill, before we found the money to pay for your war! Now stop playing with your neck-bolts and tell Daddy what's wrong!" Rumsfeld's eyes, one brown and one green, looked anguished as he said, "Uuhhnn, some photos were taken at Abu Ghraib." Cheney said, "I know, we all ordered a full set. Good stuff, very high quality. Nice work there, Don." "Uuuhhhnnn," Rumsfeld shook his head, growing ever more agitated. "Unauthorized photos. On the Internet. Too late to get them back." Bush howled. Cheney hissed and showed his fangs. Rice began edging towards the veranda overlooking the swamp. Ashcoroft paled, even through his mummy wrap. Rumsfeld stuck the wrong end of his cigar in his mouth and screamed, spilling hot soup down his leg as he proceeded to wring the neck of the bartender. Suddenly, the disembodied, bald head of Ari Fleischer appeared, spinning slowly around as he clucked and tsked to calm the agitated politicians down. "Don't worry, boys! Here's the way we'll spin this: the Commander-in-Chief can't be held responsible for the actions of the military. It'll work, I know it will!" They all stared at him for a few moments, then Bush turned on Rumsfeld and screamed, "You're the one going down for this, torture-boy! You're the one who authorized this! You better have your resignation on my desk by tomorrow..." Cheney calmed the President, saying, "Look into my eyes, George. No one is resigning. Haven't I told you a million times before that no one cares about mass death and torture? Tell them you're going to purposely kill 500,000 Iraqi civilians and a circus clown and everyone will ask, 'Why the clown?' No one cares about them over there! No one remembers that Jesus was from the Middle East! The American public sees all terrorists wearing robes and turbans because that's the image we've payed billions for! You mark my words, we'll throw some mud on Kerry's war record, we'll raise the price of gas, we'll bring Bin Laden out of hiding and pretend we just captured him, and then, come election time, no one will remember a bunch of pictures of filthy, naked, abused Muslim prisoners, I guaran-f*cking-tee you." "I'll remember them, especially the ones where they made them look... you know, gay," Ashcroft mumbled, grinning under his rotting bandages. Cheney and the others, including the President after a brief pause, all began to laugh at their absurd fears. Cheney beamed and said, "That's the spirit! And after the re-election, we'll give the State Department a Colin-oscopy, merge Haliburton and the Carlyle Group, move their headquarters into the vacated United Nations building and start ourselves World War III, now won't that be grand, boys?!" And they all agreed that, yes, it would be grand, monsterously grand, and they were all happy to be a part of it. The President howled, then smirked, and finally howled some more. The End?--The Mask of Terror by Phi for All

I've had that since the first time you recommended it, and I love tabs vs windows. It still opens either two tabs or two windows every time I use a link from Outlook 2000.

In the US, an innuendo is an indirect, and usually malicious, implication. But in Italy, it means suppository. j/k

ROFL!

A young executive was leaving the office late one evening when he found the CEO of the whole company standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand. "Listen," said the CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document here, and my secretary has gone for the night. Can you make this thing work?" "Certainly," said the young executive. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button. "Excellent, excellent! I can't tell you how important this is and how much I appreciate your help," said the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine. "I just need one copy."