That's great by me. I will have my wish granted. I'll need to stock up on munchies for the nightly news list of how many more Yanks won't be coming home in one piece. :corn:

That thought should win you some friends around here...

Oops. Your hatred is showing!

More appropriately; "Like Buddha without the nirvana."

Why does everyone pick on my user title? Marichiko used to do that, and so did Dov...and Hugo Chavez...

It's because your character is so extremely far removed from anything resembling humble, budhist enlightenment. I would say that you are the anti-budhist and yet you chose Budha as your sig. Strange.

No, my title was a gift from a fellow Dwellar. Um, you know nothing about me, AD. I find all your presumptions amusing. And you seem really angry---being a teenager is a confusing and emotional time. Hang in there and things will get better as you move thru life! Best of luck to you!

:corn:

wow, i think we have a new winner of the "Most Annoying New Dwellar" award. It's been quite awhile since we had such a pompous clueless ass show up here.

AD, if you knew the background behind Brianna's user title, I hope you wouldn't have said what you just said.

It is a reference to her present lack of hair and thin appearance.

This is caused by her chemotherapy.

Yes, she has cancer.

How do you feel now?

You've said some things I agreed with, and some things I didn't like. I haven't yet made up my mind about you ... but your next post should just about let me know.

Well let me just say it is great seeing Bri getting her spunkiness back! Yea!

AD - You're true colors have shown. Best for all if you crawl back under the rock you came out from and call it a day. Your anti-US sentiment and jealousy of what we are adn you are obviously are NOT is transparent. Go grind your axe elsewhere.

Lack of post speaks volumes.

Merc likes spunk. :drool:

Hey....don't we all?

well then, have i got a deal for you?!?:D

Wow. Aretha's Doctor. Mature, spirited discussion is one thing, being mean is another. Actually being malicious is what it seems you are being.

I want to do this with out insulting you. If that's possible. It's not my intention to insult you.

Perhaps you could take a step back and evaluate your intentions, and actions here in this community.

If someone offers me a gift, and I don't accept it, who's gift is it?

Damn AD. How about getting lost?

Here's a bit of a sweet story from Iraq.

Yo AD, a few things. One, you can't come up to anyone in any country and start giving non-constructive criticism and expect to be taken seriously. Look up past threads started by duck_duck and see how irrational she got. Instead of just insulting people, try to look at these issues from our point of view and then hopefully you will see just how complicated they are. Bring up points that you disagree with and give suggestions on how to solve it and then we will respond with why we either disagree with those solutions or why they can not work in the United States. Most of the critical European folks I've debated had very little idea how the United States works and I have a feeling that you might be in that group even though you aren't nearly as extreme as some I've met.

Second, stop with the nationalistic bullshit and pretending that the United States is evil while Sweden (or wherever) is all good. All the Western nations have blood on their hands, including yours, and even if you don't actually do the killing, you benefit from it. As I said earlier in other threads, the United States is just protecting its interests, which are more extreme than your country's, but we do mostly share the same interests, so you still benefit from what we do. All the Western European countries are liberal, not progressive.

Other than recovering from a recent canal root job at the dentist, I feel fine. Thank you for asking

As for our friend and her medical condition - if she is touchy about her self (and I wouldn't fault her if she is) then she ought to hang a sign around her neck telling everyone, "I have cancer! Any reply to me must be made upon egg shells!"

Sorry, Mr. Zen but I can't oblige you. The fact that she has cancer is completely irrelevant to the coments I made about her "sig". You have no idea of the life I've endured either because i don't think it is really anyone's business or anyone's responsibilty but mine. That's the way that I deal with my difficulties but it certainly must not be everyone's way to deal with life. I respect everyone on that point. In any case, if you (or anyone else) happen to say something that strikes a nerve then I'll have to make my own decision whether to ignore it or stay away from the fourm. Calling someone out on the carpet for something he/she could not have possibly known is not my style and I would have hoped that it is not the practice of anyone else either. It's interesting that it is YOU who thinks it's so important to point out her personal problems - not she. She might have informed me on the personal messages, if she thought it would be a good idea, but I'm guessing that she's more in tune with reality than you and is better prepared to get on with life.

How do you feel now?

*shakes head* Have you considered employing the strategy of tact once in a while?

Let this be a lesson to everyone .... Never, never, never, never, ever make a sensitive reply if you're in a rush and about to shut down your computer! Think it through, be sure it's complete and that it states EXACTLY what you want to say with all the loopholes plugged.

I may not win any friends (despite this addition) but what I left out of my message was thoughtless. I don't even know how to apologise sufficiently. Anyway, what I carelesly failed to say was this .....

Every dead American will be one more small step in bringing the Americans home again. We're witnessing a carbon copy of Vietnam on that point. It is when the mothers and fathers of dead American soldiers take to the streets in the thousands and DEMAND the end to U.S. involvment in Irak that a retreat will take place. But probably not before then.

yup, I'll second that

U R DUM

http://cellar.org/2008/1iraqVietnamGraph.gif

drawn before the latest, and very striking reduction in casualties per month for the last six months. 23 casualties in December.

U R DUM

And here I though the odds of a US 'victory' in Iraq was a snowball's chance in hell.

Now that we actually have snowballs in hell, I need to come up with a new analogy.

How about "An apology's chance from Bush".

Griff you responded to the argument by implying that there are countries which are far worse than the U.S. I don't think anyone here disagrees with this.

As for democratic principles, this census shows that in recent presidential, not off-year elections, of potential voters only 70-72 percent are registered and 58-64 percent vote.

Even in some countries where compulsory voting is not or is no longer practiced, they manage better turnouts.

IDEA places the US 139 out of 172. I am still trying to figure out if countries which exclude women from voting are penalized or rewarded in the counting, but in any case based on voter turnout alone, the US is not the most democratic country in the world.

Is voter turnout the sole criteria? No, but turnout can be an indicator of apathy, which can be either a cause of, or effect from, the failure of governments to truly represent the majority of citizens above special interests.

Are we the worst? No. In general, in terms of safety, wealth, and freedom, the US is better than most countries in the world. We are also not the world's most populous. A child be born in the world today has (I'm guessing) about a 1 in 20 chance of being born a U.S. citizen. The child would be 4 times more likely to be born Chinese, 3 times more likely to be born Indian, and 2/3 to 1/2 as likely to be born in Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, or Bangladesh.

If I were given a choice from that list, knowing what I know now (to quote a famous politician), I would still choose to be born here.

Right now the system is a bit f***d up. However, our founding fathers gave us a self-correcting and non-violent system to effect change if we choose to use it. Personally, I think we will simply because deep down we all know things can't go on this way much longer.

Those are all French instances of anti-democratic and / or poor international acting. Through several threads we've seen commentary from A D about our poor record which I readily admit and questions about our stability which I also have. Assuming he's French, I just want to be sure he isn't holding France up as a model for stable democracies.

What? How dare they interfere with the free travel of Swedish citizens. Outrageous.

I agree. The French and the U.S. have very similar pedigrees. We were both created by revolution from monarchies. We are both Republics. We both annexed colonies or territories. We both are struggling with immigration issues.

The reason that the French appear to annoy Europeans more than Americans do is

a) Proximity - France is not quite in the middle of Europe
b) Military - The U.S. has one of the largest armies in the world. We currently have only one loss due to forfeit (Vietnam) and one tie (Korea). The French have pretty much lost any conflict in the past 100 years to any country that had access to gunpowder. In spite of this many people feel they are as arrogant as the US. If a bulldog growls and barks it gets respect. If a miniature poodle does the same it gets annoyed looks.

That being said, they do have great food, nice music, grand architecture, and some of the most beautiful women in the world.

I'd also trade GWB in for Sarkozy in a heartbeat. The man has even managed to out-Clinton Clinton in the mistress department. Instead of a chubby intern, the man is screwing a supermodel!

Yep. France is awesome, but they have many of the same issues we do. American women kinda rock though, being from everywhere and all.

Difficult to make a comparison without a taste test.;)

We now return you to your previously scheduled thread.

AD sent me a PM asking why I am not defending him against you all and your bashing of him due to what he said about my sig. as he couldn't possibly know about me (yet he presumed to know about me by saying I have no "nirvana"; clearly, he's never seen me post-demerol injetion) so here is this: Please leave AD alone and let him say whatever he wants without censure or contrariness on your part(s). He is only trying to express himself and if you can't see that he is in PAIN and is a HUMAN and it's not his FAULT that your tiny mind(s) cannot understand him and his brilliant strategy for running the world and taking over America (really, he's only trying to save us from ourselves--somebody has to!)


Sufficient, AD?


You're kind of a snot, aren't you? Presumptuous asshat.

France Sux.

What did I tell ya!

:blush:

thanks, xob!

Brianna,

I don't know you really. I thought you handled that very well.:notworthy

Fuck the French and the Swede's...

US deaths in Iraq hit four-year low
Published: January 2 2008 02:11 | Last updated: January 2 2008 02:11

Love ya Bri! :biggrinlo

AD sent me another PM. It speaks for itself:

"Considering your public response and my studies of psycological matters, I’m now compeltely convinced that you haven’t any life-threatening illness at all and that you are merely putting it on to win sympathy unjustly. You’re a very sad human being indeed."

He thinks I'm faking having breast cancer--oh, if only he could've seen my breasts!! He'd know I'd never joke about them!!

what a maroon!

anyhoo---he's a sociopath. I suggest we poke him with a stick until he says "Uncle!"
__________________

That he was devoid of manners and empathy was clear, but that line ... :eek:
It's a pity 'cause some of what he says is kind of interesting.
I had been working on the theory that he had arrived from other boards which were by default adversarial, assumed that it would be the same here, and was taking a while to learn that it is generally otherwise. But I dunno ... when do we unleash the pet dog discussion?

Well...I'm generally quite uncomfortable about PMs being shared with the board and I also know the ease with which a small community like ours can slip into bullying/gang mentality....in this instance, however, I'd say a PM like that constitutes harrassment.

AD if you are reading this, can I very politely ask you to fuck off? How dare you jump to such a conclusion based on a smattering of board replies. Brianna has shared the ups and downs of her illness, from the fear of her first diagnosis, through to seeking advice on treatment, the depression and nasuea of early chemo and the loss of her hair (hence the Buddha sig) right through to the up days of late when she's been able to return to classes and go out and about.

Again, I repeat, fuck off. You took a risk in sending that PM. The risk being if you were wrong (which you are) you could be seriously upsetting someone who is dealing with one of the hardest trials possible in life. That you took that risk tells me that you either a) cannot conceive of being wrong, or b) don't give a shit if you upset someone in those circumstances.

Either way you just lost any respect/liking that was starting to build in my mind. The anti-American stuff, well, we've had that before and its not the worst thing in the world. But you just walked into our bar and insulted our friend, insulted and risked hurting/upsetting deeply. Fuck you.

wow. thanks, Dana.

You know, I've never shared a PM before now but I DID share these--the one in full glorious quotes--because AD is bothering me with these things. I want to know if Tony can keep him from sending me PM's.

Brianna, thanks for being who you are - Its great that you have the wherewithall to deal with this asshat as well as you have considering all the other "crap" you are dealing with in your life. Oh and to answer your question - banned people cannot send pm's - just sayin.

Dana, Thanks for such an eloquent response. Your political acumen is shining.

AD, Just go fuck off.
(sorry, couldn't resist)

Then you ought to have reserved your judgement until which time that I might sink so low to have posted her MPs to me. I'm guessing that had both her PMs and mine been posted here for you to see, that you would not have continued with this below ...

I'd rather that you NOT "fuck off", Dana. I think you should remain for the duration of the hump and you may come to realize that you have made an error in judgement.

To answer the burning question ... will I post those PMs "in full"? The answer is "no". Your first instinct was the more sensible one and you should have followed that instinct of being "uncomfortable about PMs being shared with the board".

I'll make you a promise never-the-less. If Briana posts ALL of my (AND HER) PMs here ("in full", without any paraphrasing, etc.) ..... and you still feel that I should "fuck off", then I'll do exactly that, never to return. Simple, yes? That should sound fair to you.

Until your profane outburst above you were the one I respected the most on this board, but I'll ignore my distaste for your reply and fall back on both my first impressions of your character and my promise to you, above. It is beause of my better impressions of you that this promise applies to you, Dana, and to no-one else. It is your decision and yours alone.

So ........ ? What will it be?

I"ve NEVER PM'd AD!

can we just skip to this part?

you have made the trip from the registration page to the land of unwelcome faster than any poster i remember.

Tony--I am being slandered. I have never ONCE PM'd AD. Is there any way for you to prove this? This guy is getting scary.

PM number one from AD to me:

Brianna.
You know very well that my comment about your sig had nothing to with your illness. I would have thought that anyone could clearly see that. And all that crap in my direction because of it is completely unfair. You also must realize that my comment couldn’t possibly have anything to with it ANYWAY as I didn’t know anything about your condition in the first place.

Now I’m curious to know why it is that you haven’t spoken up in my defense? That’s not very kind of you, is it.

Aretha's doctor

I gave no response except the public one on the board. same goes for PM number two.

Quite honestly AD, it wouldn't matter in the least what has or hasn't been put in PMs. The single line about her not having cancer, is enough to me. I neither want nor require your respect.

Banned.

As people point out, the FAQ says...

AD barged in, declared loudly that he despised half the people in the tavern, and then picked up a full lager and poured it over the favorite regular's head. When asked to apologize, he refused and picked up another beer. Sometimes you don't need to wait to see what comes next.

Wow... I leave for a few days and all heck has broken loose. Now, I'm not for censorship, and this is a place for free expression, but can we all be adults (AD)? We don't have to agree or get along, but there is something to be said for respecting other people.
There is no need for anyone to defend anyone else. The fact that others came to Bris defense is because she's... well, liked and respected. AD - if you have to ask someone to defend you, are you worth defending? Why couldn't you be mature and post a simple gomen-asi, instead of continuing to rant and asking Bri to defend you?
On your opinion that US isn't a democracy, the majority of your posts are backed by no truth whatsoever. We restrict media? Come on. Anything but. In fact, I wish we would restrict them. Frankly, I don't need to see Brittney Spears ta-ta. Our media makes it a daily program to Bush bash and state how bad things are in Iraq without actually reporting any news. Not that I am a fan of Bush or the Iraq war, but the media is definitely left-wing. And they have the freedom to report on anything, no matter the truth.
The UN? What were they doing? Oh, yeah, having the inspectors kicked out, or when not kicked out, being refused in to see the facilities. Oh, yeah, that's real progress. So let's see... they were accused of having WMD (and rightfully so... they had the material, and the desire), and the refused to let inspectors inspect. Yet we were in the wrong? Oh, let us not forget that Saddam gased his own people for decades. Killing hundreds of thousands. Sarin and mustard gasses were discovered post-invasion. Hmmm... I wonder who he was going to use those on? If not a US target (and it probably wouldn't have been) then it would most likely be his own people (as usual) and then the US would be accused of doing nothing to stop him.
Stop accusing the US of being undemocratic without any facts to back it up.

Well that spin has long since been proven false - a complete outright lie that has no responsible sources but was promoted, as a lie, for a political agenda. The worst kind of spin.

No, that is a fact. Go check it yourself.

You made the claim. Least you could do is provide some supporting facts. Well the facts have been repeatedly and widely published for a long time now. First the 75th Exploitation Task Force searched all over Iraq and found nothing. Then David Kay was assigned a (1000 man?) task force. When they could find no chemical weapons production, then the new theory was that Saddam had built a 'surge capacity' to quickly create those chemical weapons on demand. Meanwhile Cheney kept promoting spin - lies - on Meet the Press. There is the spin source for mythical chemical weapons. The same source was 100% wrong about all WMDs - including chemical weapons. Same source even claimed an allied relationship between Saddam and bin Laden when every responsible person knew otherwise.

Liar also created that spin about chemical weapons found? That myth still survives? Even a 'surge capacity' never existed. Sarin and mustard gasses were NOT discovered post-invasion. And yet some spin doctors still promote the lie long after well proven false.

aimeecc - that is reality once we eliminate the spin promoted by Cheney and Rush Limbaugh. No sarin or mustard gas weapons were found. None. Nada. Even the production facilities - the 'surge capacity' - did not exist - in direct opposition to what you have posted. I checked it out long ago. I learned the facts by asking damning questions. Did you? Or did you just believe the first thing you were told? That would make you a perfect target for Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson.

You are the one spinning, so quit the accusations and do a google search. Almost every mainstream media reported on the finds. Or do I have to google for you? Or do you not believe the news? I can't find one mainstream media that claims it was a hoax of any sort. Or do you have your own intelligence agency you get your spin from?

I'm not a Limbaugh fan, can't say I've heard him in years.

Oh what the heck, I'll google for you for news
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...081300530.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/i...aq-sarin_x.htm
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120137,00.html

And don't forget the entire ISG findings, in which you cherry picked.
http://www.nti.org/e_research/profil...cal/index.html
Since you cherry pick your points, I will mine. Actually, I leave the majority in

From your links:

"Some of them are very corroded. They are probably not usable,"
"the mustard gas was "stored improperly," which made the gas "ineffective.""

If you count these old corroded non-functioning shells left over from the Iran/Iraq war as WMDs, then I guess there were WMDs, but I think they have to work to be counted.

It's sorta a case of proving tw to be incorrect in one sentence-

"No sarin or mustard gas weapons were found. None. Nada."

- while simultaneously bolstering his argument and supporting the rest of his argument.