atinymonkey

Oh, social science. That's the daddy.

Stingers are long strips of plastic with little nails in it. The strips are held together in a concertina and can be thrown across a road. The little nails puncture small holes in the tires that let the air out gradually. As the air is lost from the tires the car slows down considerably. Stingers can only be used on open stretches of road with no other cars, so criminals tend to stay away from long open stretches of road. That's not to mention in the US cops will shoot people in cars that are attempting to evade, and do so for a significant amount of time. Avoiding being shot is probably high on the drivers mind while running from the police.

Well, for a start he can spell his own name (Annan). Secondly, despite your convincing evidence to the contrary, he's a very intelligent and highly respected man. Thirdly, nobody particularly cares if you like him or not. Either your referring to Blix circa 1997, which is silly, or your completly failing to read what I posted. I even gave evidence timestamped from Blix's very mouth. To suggest he thought weapons existed during his time as weapons inspector is just too silly for words. It was only two years ago, and he was very public about his opinion. It was on the front page of every newspaper in the western world. Where are you getting this misinformation?

From what type of database?

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!11112222

Actually, farming has existed since the stone ages. It damn well existed many many thousands of years before trade markets existed. Hunting was only a recreational activity in feudal Europe in the 14 century, before the gun even became widespread. It's laughable to suggest America is so backwards that hunting is still necessary to sustain the economy, given that it had ceased to be a part of economics thousands of years prior to the colonization of the Americas. Besides all that, I've been hunting. I used to go quite often. I never needed to use a gun though, because I'm not some big flouncing girl that needs a gun as a crutch to lever advantage over a dumb animal. I don't really mean to cause offence, but hunting with a rifle isn't hunting. Only old men use guns to hunt in the UK, they can't really be outside for more than a few hours so they use shotgun and beaters to scare the animals into their path.

OCD isn't just repetition of activities, it can simply be being annoyed at 3 cushions on a sofa and not 2 or 4. Symmetry.

Yeah, there is a contingent in the USA that class themselves as 'Irish American' through one family member 5 generations back. They have no idea about the complexities of the situation and their closest connection with Ireland is only when they put on a green hat on St Patrick's day. I remember the McDonalds IRA funding allegations and Kennedy's support of the Irish militants. For a long time the militant activities were seen as freedom fighting by some sections of the US, especially as people simplistically viewed it as a modern day 'war of independence' that they could draw parallels with. The attitude persists in the general public:- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/talk/index2.html Mhh, maybe. Gentile and Jew have been at loggerheads since the start of written history. But your right, if nationalism wasn't a factor we would have a calmer world. Calmer still if someone locked the whole God thing in a box.

Not to mention their big brother.

Indeed. Like the American colonists who rebelled against George III, like the IRA attacks in Britain, the motivations are noble to someone. If you don't understand what people are attacking you, then there is something deeply wrong. The US is making a big show about how evil the middle east terrorists are, but they didn't pick the US as a target randomly. Personally, I find it odd that the IRA's activitys were seen as freedom fighting untill the US was subject to the same attacks.

It doesn't matter what we say, tbh. Your just going to dismiss it using handwaving. We are not here to try and justify our views to you, nor is your complete lack of evidence going to convince us. Your wasting everyones time, and trying peoples patience.

He was a pilot in the National Guard. His 'unit' was a domestic squadron. The only way it would have been called into duty (notice how even you don't class the national guard as a duty) would be if the entire United States Air Force was decimated. Plus, the decision to activate the National Guard would have to have been passed by George Bush Snr. Pat Tillman managed it, and people actually knew who he was. In fact, all it takes is not to sit crying on daddys bedside everytime someone asks you to do some work. Even Churchill managed to fight in the trenches. S'not the point. Bush jnr advocated the Vietnam war, he thought it was a good thing. Bush Snr is the war hero, his son is the washout. Well, the rest of this mans life involves drug and alcohol abuse, buisness fraud and a mild spell of drooling. That's true, it is all wild generalizations about character. Bush just seems to have given the opposition more ammunition than he can find to throw back. That whole mudslinging method of election isn't something we see much in UK politics, and it's certainly a spectacle. It teaches us so much about ancient Britain and the African Swallow. What's not to love

I think you probably heard 'Perfumery'. I'm not sure where the expression 'bloody' originated, probably from the church's description of a bloody hell to which sinners are bound to end up. Dante's Inferno, John Milton's Paradise Lost and all that lot. We like our blasfamous curses over here.

Yes' date=' mock the French. It's not as if they sacrified millions of men to defend the freedom of democracy. I'm not clear to what you are alluding. There was a time when America fought to avoid defending freedom in WW2. If your inferring the world needed the US as it's saviour, don't forget the efforts were rated third after Russia and the UK. The US did this once before, and hung up it's self proclaimed mantle of the "Worlds Policeman" after the abysmal results in Somalia. The simple fact is that the US is far away from being self sufficient. The US's trillion dollar debt prohibits it's isolation without becoming a destitute state. The US needs the world more than the world needs the US. In fact, most economies would be greatly improved without the US siphoning out funds and oil to support it's increasing consumer culture. It's economics that force the US to perform it's foreign pollicies, to protect it's assets outside the states. Without foreign assets, the US would quite literally crumble. If the US performs illegal actions, they can expect countries to be antagonistic towards the policy:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3661134.stm If the US want's support as the world policeman, they have to stop breaking the law. As for the Illegals, I suppose you have a point. The US should really hand back the land to the Native Americas.

How, precisely, did George Bush behave honorably? Honourable, say, in the same way as Brave Sir Robin? And there was much rejoicing.

I don't really want to open a discussion on it' date=' because it doesn't seem to have firm evidence either way and I was just being flippant. So far as I can see, it's Bush's word against his commanding officers. As Bush proceded to go off the rails with alchohol and drug abuse, I'd lean towards the CO's point of view rather than the alchoholic son of a powerful senator and CIA chief of staff. Right now, it's rather a matter of opinion. No, not during the Vietnam conflict it's not. At least it wasn't seen that way at the time, which I suppose is what counts. It was very much seen as an easy ride, with no combat risk. It's not so much serving your country as hiding behind it's skirts.

Discussions about politics are a bloodsport in the UK, and Bush makes a large target. I suppose in the UK it's not about the subject, more than it is a point scoring match. It's a bit odd really, but we are spoonfed heated political debates through the media which is probably where we got the idea from. :edit: if your goaded while your in the UK, make a quip about superpowers needing different rules to those used in crumbled empires, and that UK politics are really rather innane compared to a state the size of the US. It's all harmless fun

I voted, but it's not really any of my business.

I think someone was going to invite the author onto the site to discuss his book at one point.

Ha, they are right next door. Sometimes when they can't sleep, the Browns can hear the gnawing in the wallspace. It's very stressful for them.