IMHO. This is one of the most asinine threads I've checked here. I have a thing about telephones, you will not eat my ass out or curse me, because I'll hang up. Same for computers.
Some people whom I thought were my intellectual betters have made post that really supprised me.

TW. I don't have a clue as to his mind set. Merc post a lot of news links. News to me is a misnomer for BS!!
I've been here a few years and never had words with anyone, (note disreguard any post under Geo. Dickel #12)I hope. Would like to keep it that way.
Put this SOB to bed. :bolt:

This thread explains the whole thing, including the truth about the ban key.

:lol2:

I don't mind if TW and Merc want to hop up and down and spew their political and military and business opinions around. They're both irritating as fuck. However, the wife insults, foillowed by the insistence that "he started it" is ridiculous.

Fights escalate. TW decided to throw a tantrum so that we could all see how mistreated he was. My take is that, act the ass, play Superior all the time, you'll piss people off. Expect it. Deal with it. Own it.

Yes, I participated in that thread, but it didn't make any sense at the time and makes even less now. ;)

Oh, you want Mari back?

You are completely right. I thought I had the energy to be merc's merc but it is too exhausting being negative. My apologies to everyone but the target. The Cellar will survive themercenary.

Do you think that's what I said?

I wouldn't mind having anyone back who was banned for anything other than spam or hacking.

I think there's a fine line between disliking someone and demonising them.

Yes.

It's disappointing to me that that's what you choose to take from what I've said. And I can see that I've wasted my time trying to discuss/understand this, apparently I don't deserve that courtesy. Good to know.

Courtesy? I've listed and disagree, is that so fucking hard to understand?
You said you want only UT to be able to ban people. He didn't ban Mari, so I asked if you want her back.

UT banned marichiko first actually, before you did.

I give up.

Sorry I do not know how to embed...


@ Nirvana, if you quote this post you can see the format.

Not yet having googled FTR... "For The Reaming?" "Fighting The Rastafarians?"

Hell, tw, Radar, Piercehawkeye, and you are about all equally attackable. In your particular case it is perhaps the most needful, as your intellect is entirely consumed by hatreds and resentments -- what's left is leftover Soviet propaganda about these United States from which you will not exile yourself. You show us a thoroughly ugly life of the mind -- a way never to be.

Well, if Dazza says something I think is really dumb and poorly thought out, I'd say so. That's as far as I'd go, in the going-far-out.

And he'd be welcome. Not only for the intellectual input, but also because he's with-it enough to have married you. No, I ain't foolin'.

awww...I'm feelng all warm and fuzzy now. Thanks UG. :) Nicest compliment I've had all day!

I'd been wondering who The Third Man was myself.

I have never used the Ignore feature on any BBS I've been in. It was handier on chat.

But to this question: I eyeball a selection of tw to keep an eye on what leftover-Communist, far-left opinion looks like, trying for suitable polarization on the BS filters to compensate for tw's... quirks. Tw's Soviet/Maoist point of view has of course been offensive to me, a freedom person, since first exposure some years ago.

No idea what this guy is going to do with himself when he doesn't have any Bushes to kick around any more. He'll be like the post-Reagan Mary McGrory... that was a sorry display of inability to let go.

{Trying trying trying to get through the whole thread before posting... not doing so hot exc. on the posting part.}

Well there's still GM to beat up. :)

Um... "With courage raaaaare/And resolution ma-anly/For Debt prepaaaare,/Unhappy Morgan Stanley!"

Big business/high finance/big bailouts... that's the free-association...

And if anyone's moved to wonder since when has UG turned Savoyard enough to quote Arthur Sullivan -- since late last year. Now I'm in early rehearsal for The Gondoliers.

"Security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad." George W. Bush's Farewell Address, 15 January 2009

Practically Holy Writ.

Truer words were never spoken -- and such true words have been severely ignored by certain Cellarites, who put themselves in disgrace thereby. Hey, people, blatant anti-Republican prejudice is practiced only by the second-rate. Or worse.

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." Brack Obama Inaugural Address

Practically Holy Writ....we dont have to torture...we dont have to spy on citizens w/o a warrant...we dont have to withhold documents from the public's right to know based on dubious national security claims.

Truer words were never spoken.

Nice if he can, redux. But it was doing things that way that cost us the Beirut Marine Barracks, a hole in the USS Cole, and the WTC in the first place.

The annoying thing about our enemies is they don't have a nation to look out for. This makes targeting difficult -- and nuclear weapons particularly tempting to them. What really got us outgeneraled early in this war was a want of good HUMINT -- it will be the personal kind of scouting and intel that wins us this war.

No, the Democratic Party has refused for long years to actually try and fight this war against the forces of undemocracy and oppression, which is why the Dem Party is so very untrustworthy and not trusted among freedom's disciples. What a pack of myopic morons!

Meanwhile, redux, you don't strike me as irredeemably stupid -- have a look at Thomas P.M. Barnett's works and tell me what you think. Maybe he's only got a corner of what we'll actually need in this new century, but it looks to be a well-done corner. I'm sorry my compliment is so lefthanded -- but there are people here who really seem to want to stay dumb, and these are the people who fight me hardest.

If you think this is going to happen under Obama because of a speech you are sorely mistaken. Who gets to say what is dubious and what is not if you never see them nor know if such a document exists?

Why am I mistaken before even giving the new admistration an opportuunity to demonstrate greater transparency. Executive Orders are a good start

The fact that ouor enemies dont have a nation is a reason why many experts believe that a militry response is not the most effective.


The Rand Corp, a conservative DoD connected think tank, addressed the issue in a recent report:
UG..you might also recall several NIEs over the last few years that concluded that our Iraq invasion/occupation and our actions at GITMO have created a "cause celebre" for terrorism recruitment.

The military is not always the answer in counterting terrorism and forging new democracies.

History works against you.

History does not always repeat itself.

But lots of Dwellars do!

Ha ha.
Ha.

Even though you are probably makin fun of me clod - that was good :)

Nah, you weren't even one of the ones I had in mind. Not that I had anyone in particular in mind... ;)

You know, I've been wanting ask about this thread title since it appeared.

Just exactly what of 'his' is Bush going out of. :D

"There is no conventional military solution to terrorism. If there were, Israel would be the safest country in the world." ~Bradley Whitford

Office.

I am glad I lived to see it. If God is kind, in 20 years or so, I'll still be around to lay a steaming pile of "respect" on his grave.

Which is why most of our efforts have actually been not conventional and many of them effective.

Wow - shows how our brains fill in the gaps. I had to go back and check the thread title - I had no idea a word was missing.
I have a standing date with Trafalgar Squre when Maggie finally hangs up her cloven hooves. I will be there for the party, singing Elvis Costello ("...and when they finally, put you in the ground, I'll stand on your grave, and tramp. The. Dirt down.")

:lol:

What song is that, again?

Tramp the Dirt Down by Elvis Costello :)

In case you're serious

Very serious.

However, having seen it, I am kinda disappointed. I have always liked Elvis Costello, but that isn't his best work.

Still, I appreciate the sentiment.

pffftt

Altogether now.... "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more! No I ain't gonna work on Maggies farm no more!"

and let's finish off with a rousing chorus of "Maggie Thatcher, Milk Snatcher" and a quick burst of "Maggie, Maggie Maggie.....Out! Out! Out!"

Sundae, I think you just flipped some kind of switch in my head...

Well something's flipped. lol

For example?

The ones you never get to read about in the papers. Here is a sample list of those publically known.

I do the history surrounding the eventual death and killing of Pablo Esocbar.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/IS...tlanticmonthA/

There is a short list of killed and captured on wiki which should be easily substantiated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_Most_Wanted_Terrorists

1998 U.S. embassy bombings

http://www.indopedia.org/1998_U.S._e..._bombings.html

Abu Zubaydah

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terro...aydah_4-2.html

Abu Sabaya

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200703/bowden-jihad

Kaplan nails most of how and why to do it.

http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/i...2003-06-18.htm

Nice.

On the other hand, the CIA tried to kill Castro 26 times that we know of, including once with an exploding seashell (for Chrissakes).

Also, there's the mess with Allende.

So I'd say we're batting about .200. Not bad, but not Babe Ruth, either.

Well if we go back into the post ww2 era the list would have been much longer. I was trying to stay within the last 2 presidents times in office which included some of my servcie time.

???

The post WWII era was a series of unimaginable embarrassments for the CIA. Hell, the late 50s is when they got the nickname "Criminally Insane Activities" by the FBI.

There was no CIA in the immediate post WWII era. It was not formed until 47 and had no teeth till 48. The FBI called it that because it was based on inter-service rivalry and crossed into areas that were previously only handled by the FBI. In short they were jealous. For every major bungle there were 100's of successful operations.

So, what assassinations are we feeling proud of, between 1945 and 1948?

What assassinanations should we feel proud of under any conditions. You think the CIA was/is nothing more than an assassination squad? I assume this is a rehtorical question so you can bring up the point that the CIA, under the direction of the President, attempted or carried out an assissination or two. BFD. It was the time in history for that thing, like it or not, agree with it or not. What's your point?

No, I think the CIA fucks all kinds of things up. Cambodia and Laos, for example.

Naw. Before the 90s, the CIA was totally out of control. After that, it just tortured people.

Who gives a shit. Before 1960 all kinds of shit happened in the world. Let me guess, you actually have ancestors who were involved in some stupid crazy stuff before then. I blame them for the worlds ills.

I accept your surrender.

You fail.

:artist:

Outstanding.

Why Dana?

Go get 'em Merc. TGRR has no idea how shitheaded totalitarians are -- it's an occupational disease -- and the CIA has an intimate knowledge of just that very thing. As do the more honest sorts in State.

A hypothetical that TGRR cannot answer: just how fucked up would Laos have gotten without the presence of any communists within its borders? Would Cambodia have even risked loss of a fifth of its population if there were no communists there? Could the CIA have ruined either country?