PRESIDENT
not as cool as I thought it’d be
(Barack Obama)
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eh… I’m not feeling it.
not as cool as he said he would be
seriously? he punched a robot in the face!! how much more awesomeness can one man attain? well, one man who isn’t me that is. mwa ahahhahahahahhahah
on a side note, i leave for a month and it looks like 2/3 of the people are new… bizzaro
*hugs wallFly*
I thought you were gone forever!
I think they go by which one is the most neutral…. I saw many better ones than this.
The funniest part of this whole site is ” see all captions”. I don’t know why they pick the lamest ones for the front page.
‘They’ don’t pick them, it’s determined by which one has the most votes. If you don’t like the pics, I suggest you go to the voting page and vote for the funnier ones
No- they pick them.
I think so too. I think they pick from the ones that get the highest votes, but they pick them.
It’s the infamous “They”! Run!
The Heavily Endangered Yockles? I do fear them..
Yockles?
They know that, THEY know ALL…
I do vote…… and yet the ones I vote no on continually show up here.
Clearly it is a conspiracy.
clearly its all obama who is behind this – grabs up charro wan dsnuggles her up-
*snuggles*
And that’s just one vote. I don’t see most of the ones I vote win on, and the ones I vote fail on make it too. Kinda sad.
ZOMG IT IS A CONSPIRACY!!!
ZOMG WE HAVE TO TEXT CPT. WOW!!!
Don’t crash!!! *Rando crashes* Crap/
*texts Captain Wow*
ZOMG RANDO CRASHED!!!
Look at the bright side, EWAdams had a couple and they didn’t get selected for the frontpage. There is a merciful God!
Don’t count your chickens yet Eddie. Don’t we still have one more LOL going up this afternoon?
No, I meant on this particular picture. They made me want to do horrible things to him with a fork.
Be careful. He might enjoy it. Seems to me he’s a little… off.
Well, if the horrible things result in his death then he’ll be happy AND we’ll be happy. Everyone wins!
I’m with Mina on this one. Like thunder needs rain, a preacher needs pain.
A Little ?
A real conservative president wouldn’t need all those so-called “books”.
Just the Bible.
An intelligent person wouldn’t need to always be such a douche. But sadly, you are.
That was deserved
So cut it out, already!
not really, it made a very poignant comment on the religious right and the fanatical belief that all things not-them are unworthy and the only things worth considering are what they believe and usually only because they’ve been told to by “god” via a messenger, i.e. the priest, pastor, or whoever not to mention the fiction (emphasis “FICTIONAL”) book of myths they somehow believe should be the foundation for all things.
I say, stand by your comment Sqwirk! Woot! For the Horde! (and all that jazz)
Does go with his expression here, though.
Yeah, but I think that the children riding his a$$ made for better Lols. He totally looks disinterested or annoyed with them.
Gotta agree with you on that one. This one is just…meh.
I love the one captioned ” So you kids don’t know ANY songs about me ?” !!!
I liked that and the one about Joe eating glue again.
LOL!!!!
I’m thinking the one about the teleprompter being broken so eh couldn’t read “The PEt Goat” was pretty original… the creator must be a genius or something..
Honestly, those are all pretty funny. Funnier than this one.
That’s the one I would have voted for!
I’m pretty sure I did vote for that one, and against this one.
The bloom is definitely off the rose.
Gotta admit… I’ve said all along I’d give him time before I’d judge… He had better start following through on several of the reasons I voted for him.
Iraq/Afghanistan… not happy
Healthcare reform… not happy
Economy… not as happy as I could be
Leadership skills… book is still out for me
I’m still believing he can be a good President; I still believe he can do what he promised… but if I have to wait another year… I may be giving up the “Audacity of Hope” and realizing it’s all just “Politics as Usual”.
I don’t fully blame him for the helthcare debachle… the Dems have totally screwed the pooch on it… but he needs to pull the party together and get this thing done. Enough with the bi-partisan effort with those who just want to obstruct everything. Enough with Joe Effing Lieberman. Just get the RIGHT bill passed. Don’t settle on something just because it smells a little like reform… do it right!
Get out of Iraq already!! I understand the surge in Afghanistan, and wasn’t surprised by it (he talked about it in the campaign). I ALMOST understand the idea of the deadline to get the Afghanis to take care of their own country… but why must EVERY decision look like he had to compromise himself???
In terms of the economy… I think it is going to come around… but again… how long?? Quit setting deadlines and timetables that you can’t reach!! It’s like getting healthcare bill passed by X-mas… now they’re going to rush to get a piece-of-$hit bill that the Health Insurance Industry loves passed instead of taking the time to do it correctly!!
Sorry for the rant, guys… it’s been a while since I’ve had time to get on PK…
Actually I don’t like him for the exact opposite reasons.
He’s pushing Health Care that more than half the country doesn’t want. You can’t force a partisan helath care system on about half the population that doesn’t agree with it. Congess is listening to the people (ie saving their own a$$) b/c many a democratic congress person will be out of a job come November if they sign said bill.
As for Iraq, since he’s been in office it’s gotten worse, same with Afghanistan. His leadership skills are extremely wanting. He’s trying to appear bi-partisan, while actually still pushing his own agenda, that’s why nothing’s getting done.
Could it be the Seventh Sign of the Armageddon that I’m agreeing with you on this??
I’m not ready to drop my dirty librul card, though!!!
*I’ll agree
I think it is Armegeddon….. **fears religious trolls and liberal trolls who will flame on about Obama = Anti-Christ.**
Man!!! Tim LaHaye is going to have to re-write all those books…
I hate that judgmental prick and his judgmental books. I got the worst paper cut from one of those books.
That’s because you’re a sinner.
…and that papercut will BURN like the fires of HELL!!
Only if you pour lemon juice on it.
Indulge me, froo. I prefer indulgence with fudge.
Mmmmmmm, fudge *drool*
Speaking of drool, I have been drooling all day at the sessy John from Pocahontas………*drools more*
*drools right next to froo*
I do enjoy some healthy sexy anatomy! Present company included, of course!
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Link?
url below. enjoy the pulchritude!
{http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/39849010.html}
Oh wow…
Yesh…..Sessy John is totally my type………*drools*
is that aladin?
Aladdin AND his magic lantern!
Well don’t expect ME to rub it..
I’m just curious as to the other six signs. I know one of them is the Saints going to the Superbowl, and it looks like there’s a chance of that happening. (Snow 2 years in a row in Louisiana=Hell freezing over)
Cubs winning a Wrold Series (I think we’re safe there), Yankess NOT having the highest pay roll on Baseball, politicians getting along and caring about their constituants (if that happens I’m buying one of those Nuclear Holocaust bunkers)….
Does the Walmart thing count if the other person is a friend of yours? If so… crap.
If you’re talking about the Walmart I have to go to… when fighting for a parking space, all friendhip goes out the window…
Hm, it must be a southern thing then. Most of us aren’t that bad… until about a week before Christmas. Then we all become evil.
Tis the Season
just to point out a small little factoid here — not every single adult has been asked what they think about the health care bill – those percentages are extrapolated from a sampling. when you read those statistics or any other polling results, mentally add on ‘of the people surveyed.’
are you aware that most polls are done via the telephone, and they don’t call cell phones, only land lines? out off all the people you know, how many still have a land line, and how many of them were polled?
plus, how big was the sampling that resulted in this ‘more than half’ percentage? did the sampling cover a wide variety of socio-economic levels, education levels, and places of residence?
or is that percentage based on the number of people who responded to an online poll at fox, wsj, msnbc, or some other site that attracts predominantly from a prefiltered viewpoint?
These are all good points, but may I add a very important additional factor: how was the question asked? Besides the importance of a sample that is properly randomized as you pointed out, it’s just as important that the questions be phrased in a non-biased way. This is abundantly evident in polls where they ask the same question different ways.
For example, you could ask: Do you approve of the health care bill in Congress? This is a nonsensical question as there are several bills in Congress, and most people aren’t cognizant of the details even if they knew which one the pollster meant.
Better is to ask about specific ideas: Do you think Congress should prevent disallowing coverage based on pre-existing conditions?
A properly formulated poll tests questions on a small group to see if the answers given accurately reflect the views of the respondents.
Most polls that are talked about, especially on cable news, are self-selected; ie the respondents call/text/login to answer a single question. This is statistically the least accurate method of polling. The bias caused by selecting from a prefiltered audience, which BF pointed out, is further aggravated by the participants self-selecting.
Sorry. Any discussion of polls creates a truly math geek moment in me because probability and statistics was my graduate specialty.
Mabs anf Faire, we’ll see if the Congress pushes this bill thorugh in the next two days in November how the public views said plan. I have a strong feeling the Democrats are in for the Republican awakening we got in 2004/ 2006/ 2008 elections. Just look at what happened in VA and NJ. Look at congress’ approval rating it’s dropped even more since the Dems have ultimate power. Those who think the trend towardsa dem moajority will keep for the next 10 years or so will be crying in November in 2010.
Oh and here are some poll numbers from different polls, maybe not every adult, but when multiple polls so similar trends I tend to follow them:
Gallup Poll: Anti bill: 48% (12/16) Pro Bill 37% (12/16)
CNN/ Opinion Poll: Anti bill: 56% (12/21)
Quinnipiac University poll: Anti bill: 52% (12/10)
Rasmussen: anti bill 55% (12/21)
NBC Poll: anti bill 47% Pro Bill 32% (12/16)
Las Vegas Review Journal: anti bill 53% (12/2009)
Fox News: anti bill 57% (12/10)
I’m still looking for a major poll that says “YAY Health Care Bill”
again, look at the pool of people polled.
as far as a major wake-up for the dems, all things are possible – after all look how many righties are screaming they want their country back… like the rest of us are aliens or something… but anyway, there has always been those fringe elements of society who scream louder than anyone else while the closer to center groups tend to just go about their business. if all the extremes with axes to grind or vendettas to fulfill would quit with the spins and propaganda, things might actually work out to where the majority of hte population would actually benefit
Aside from the “puppies are cute” unanimous motions that go through, nobody likes pretty much any bill that goes through. No one liked Bush’s tax cuts or the war in Iraq either. The polls were pretty damn grim for the republican congress at almost every point as well. And while I agree on many levels, what the heck do you expect when you put a bunch of people that ideologically hate eachother in a room together to figure out what to do next. Anything that comes out will fail to impress either side on several points.
Keep in mind, just because the numbers say the current bill is unpopular doesn’t mean they don’t like it for the same reasons you don’t. A lot of liberals don’t like it because it isn’t liberal enough. In fact, given the general popularity of the public option in many of the same polls, I’d say it’s a pretty big contingent that would rather it be MORE liberal. Be careful what you wish for.
I’m not happy with him either. I don’t like his new No Mr. Nice Guy attitude that he’s trying out. I don’t like all the war-mongering he’s suddenly a fan of. I have this awful feeling that the health care reform is going to be totally half-assed. He’s either waffling on, half-assing or totally abandoning liberal issues. We’ve got 3 years left, but year 1 for Obama wasn’t spectacular.
I said it the other day, and I’ll say it again: He’s so worried about pleasing everyone that he’s pleasing no one.
He needs to go full socialist already and make at least half the country happy while pissing off the other half. It’s the best you can hope for if you’re truly a leader with a vision that you feel will make the country better. Until we’re automatons and the machines take over, no one is going to agree on anything. You might as well work off your own personal ideals for what will make us better and fricking DO SOMETHING.
Totally. By trying to make everything all bi-partisan, neither side is happy, including & especially his supporters. When the Republicans control things, they push Republican ideals hard. The last 8 years (bailouts excluded) Bush & Cheney pushed Republican ideals hard. We Democrats finally got control back, and he isn’t using it????? He’s squandering it, and all the plans we Dems had made are slipping through our fingers due to someone trying play moderate in an age of extremes.
Oh, and like I’ve said before, Obama isn’t nearly extreme enough to be socialist. At best, he’s kinda liberal. At worst, he’s a wishy-washy moderate.
And what’s wrong with wishy-washy moderates?
I mean… Okay, you’re entitled to your opinion. Forget I said anything.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on exactly which shade of gray Obama occupies in the political spectrum. Whether he’s too liberal, too socialist, or not socialist enough isn’t his biggest problem.
Regardless of the perceived symptoms, the root problem is that Obama lacks management and leadership skills. Any pretty face with a nice voice can do reasonably well as a member of the cheering squad, but it takes some level of management and/or leadership skills to get things done.
Let’s say the job at hand is to get to hell. A manager will do what it takes to get you and your team there, like it or not. A leader will not only get you there, but get you to believe it’s your idea as well, and will leave you with the expectation that you’ll enjoy the trip.
Say what you will about Bush, but he did perform capably as a manager while in office. While he rarely got everybody on-board, he did get things done. Not everybody agreed with him on what needed to be done, or how it should be done, and he may not have achieved perfect results even by his own measure, but he did get things done.
As for leaders, in the post WWII era, only Eisenhower and Reagan really qualify as such.
It’s one thing to preach/cheer to the choir and have the fiercely partisan members of your own party on your side. But it takes true leadership to get your opponents to not only go along with you, but to do so enthusiastically.
Obama has an unstoppable majority in Congress, all but a few mass media outlets completely in the tank for him, and started out the year with more than half of voters on his side.
Starting out with those resources, if he was a manager even remotely worthy of the title, he would have had the entire DNC agenda enacted by Easter, and if he was a real leader, he would have been able to have repealed the law of gravity by now.
But I don’t want to go to hell. Is it better to have someone who is capable of taking you places you don’t want to go or someone who wants to go where you want to, but isn’t doing a great job of it?
You’ve missed the point. Sometimes we need to do things we don’t want to.
Would it have been easier to follow if “cleaning the bathroom” had been substituted for the “getting to hell” task?
Or to paraphrase your query, Isn’t it better to have someone who is capable of getting your opponents to go places they don’t want to go, than somebody who can’t even do a good job of getting to where you and he want to go?
No, that wasn’t the point; I was just using your analogy.
Your question was a bit convoluted (made more so by beer), but if I understand it correctly, no, I do not prefer someone who succeeds in policies I don’t want to someone who doesn’t succeed in policies I do want. I would rather have nothing done than the wrong thing done.
BTW, Obama has a majority in Congress in name only because many of the so-called Democrats are so conservative that they are opposing Obama’s plans as much as any Republicans.
Those Democrats opposing Obama’s plans aren’t conservative, they simply know how bad his plans are for this nation, and that their electorate knows it to.
Convoluted? Thou doth project too much. Or it could be the beer.
It’s not a question choosing between adverse ideologies, but rather, a question of the skills desired in the person you’ve chosen to advance *your* ideology.
Both prior examples begin with the assumption that you’ve already agreed that x “must” to be done. Who really “wants” to clean the bathroom, or take out the garbage? You may not want to do x, but you’ve agreed x must be done.
With that now hopefully settled, the question all along has been, what qualities (not ideology) do you want in the person you choose to get x done?
A leader would convince almost everybody to support your agenda as if it were their own, even if they started out as opponents of your agenda.
A manager would market, lobby, barter, haggle, bribe, or force enough people to support your agenda to get it accomplished.
A member of a cheering squad can only get like-minded people to go along with your agenda, only as long as it’s convenient for those people to do so.
As for the DINO/RINO issue, that’s not a significant obstacle for a capable manager, and no problem at all for a leader.
So, if one can avoid the urge to reflexively argue points not at issue, one might learn what qualities to look for in one’s next candidate (demonstrated success as a manager, or more preferably as a leader), regardless of what one’s ideology may be.
but mabsba, you’d be in the best of company. it’s supposed to be full of free thinkers, scientists that followed the evidence instead of dogma, people who didn’t fall for the invisible man in the sky, and lewd women. and according to both my fundie sister and my headinarse ex, i’ll be there
You are correct. If the choice is heaven with people like the ones who tell me I’m going to hell, I’d definitely pick hell. At least according to those people, there won’t be any proselytizing. Probably endless arguments about string theory.
i guess that would depend on which level you are on. best be careful, otherwise you might end up on the level where the discussion is strings with the only theory being which is better for cat toys and tying packages
I believe that is the third level, reserved for those you don’t know when to stop using lolspeak.
reserved for those WHO! WHO! WHO!
*looks around for the owl–’cause owls are cool!*
Wow, that is one of the best comments on PK that I have ever read.
*High Fives*
“Obama has an unstoppable majority in Congress”
An unstoppable majority that is inexplicably stopped. I like the idea that I heard the other day. Lower the bar again on philibusters or eliminate them completely, but set it to sundown on a date 6+ years in the future when there’s no garauntee of who will be in control. That way no one cries foul on the party in power making a power grab to get this or that bill passed. In fact, a 6 year window historically practically assures that the opposing party will be in power.
The cloture vote and philibuster were never meant to be show stoppers. And while I wasn’t a big fan of the so-called “nuclear option” during the Bush years, the idea isn’t a bad one. It was the timing and reasoning I took issue with.
He’s voting “present”, but nothing is happening…
now bitter troll is not happy about it either, but does wonder if not supporting the president still = not supporting the troops. or if people are just pissy cause obama did it, if brush sent the same people..again…to that dreadful place, then would most of those people still cry? well the libs woud but would the cons?
Most cons are happy with what he is doing in Afghanistan. That’s the one thing I give him points for. The rest, crap.
Which frightens me. I heard on the news the other day that the conservatives were actually pretty happy with a couple of “force is necessary” speeches (including the Nobel Prize speech, what a fvcking joke that was). That attitude is exactly what I thought was voting against with Obama.
Yes, many of us are, the surge is what finally turned things around in Iraq and I hope it does the same in Afghanistan and we can finally be done with it.
I wouldn’t count on it n00b, we can send every UN soldier we want to Afghanistan. The Taliban forces in Afghanistan are almost non-existant, and are only doing damage because in that terrain they can basically move with impunity. Everyone is just too scared to put pressure on the country still pumping troops in to Afghanistan against us because they have nukes.
At last Intel, the Taliban was entrenched in Pakistan.
Iraq was a mistake from the get-go and we Canucks are apparently pulling our forces out of Afghanistan by 2011.
Until, of course, our Prime Minister starts to cow-tow to the US President again (which he inevitably does)… which will push our deadline right back up to ‘indefinite’. lol
So, the six mounties and the canoe are leaving us to fight this war on our own!? *cries*
Default I want to preface the following by saying I deeply respect you and I know you were just making a joke. A joke however that Canadians find deeply offensive.
Of the forces in Afganistan we have suffered the third highest death toll behind the US and UK. Since day one we have had troops on the front line, and there has been no point in the war in Afganistan that we have not been in the active combat zones. Yes, our fighting forces are smaller and less well equipped than yours. Our specialty for the last 40 years has been in soft power, cleaning up the mess so the combat forces aren’t in a perpetual state of fighting.
It wasn’t always like that. In WWII we were responsible more successful engagements, sent more troops, and had more casualties in spite of the fact we had 10% your population. We were arguably the most important non-European member of the Allies in the battle for Europe (granted, we couldn’t have done it without you guys selling us cheap guns, and you guys took on Japan basically single handed).
So with all that said, please show some respect for the Canadian forces currently deployed in Afganistan.
All 10 mounties, 6 dog sleds, 2 guys in canoes and a French Canadian to taunt them.
We <3 our northern neighbors! And we have beer tonight! *gives GB beer* Justacanuck said we were not to drink the screech, but she works at a liquor store, so she hooked us up!
BTW, do you all have provincial liquor stores like BC? Is that a nation-wide thing?
Go Canada, eh!
I thought I had responded to this when it first appeared! I personally <3 our northern neighbors (grew up in a border state). And this is all true. Canadians kick butt when it comes to wars. Probably in other ways also, but I, ahem, wouldn't know about that.
Beer for GB! (Justacanuck said we were not to drink the screech, but she works at a liquor store and hooked us up.)
I saw that, Justacanuck may have a point, screech is what you drink when you want to get hammered yesterday, I prefer to talk a bit before the alcohol poisoning sets in.
*accepts beer, takes a pull, realizes its American beer and subtly pulls out a mickey of whiskey*
Ahem. American, yes, but a very nice microbrewery dark lager. $1 per bottle (which is pricey here
).
Hey, do you have provincial liquor stores in all your provinces or is that a BC thing? Our liquor laws are state to state. Here you can buy liquor at the grocery store or drug store.
No, not all provinces have provincial liquor stores. Alberta’s are all private but have to be separate from any place that sells food or other things since they can’t allow minors aren’t allowed inside without adult supervision. Many grocery stores have an attached liquor store though.
Arguably? I would have to argue with you on Canada being the most important non European member of the Allied forces.
Not disrespectfully, mind you. You guys did do a bang up job.
And I also need to point out that we didn’t take Japan alone. The UK was fighting them long before we got into the war, and the entire time we fought. And it is certain that their efforts allowed the American Navy/Marines to focus on taking back territory. Look at what all our tea drinking friends did in China.
*sigh* now I have myself with the Bridge over the river Kwai earwig. So I must now share it with you. (It’s law, you know)
I did say arguably, I won’t split hairs as to who did more, and there is no question we couldn’t have done anywhere near as much without your financial and industrial support.
As for the Japanese thing, my military history is a little rough on the eastern front in WWII, I was under the impression the UK was mostly doing containment, since most of their troop commitments were in Europe, but if I am wrong on that point my apologies to our British cousins.
Don’t forget the Aussies.
@Mabs: No one can ever forget the Aussies. my grandfather once told me about about an Australian unit that was practising ‘Australian Repelling’ near where his unit was positioned. Apparently ‘Australian Repelling’ involves hooking up your ropes and running down the side of the cliff face first using the rope to slow your decent 8O…!
My dad’s dad was in the Pacific theater, but he never talked about it. Some of it was pretty bad on those islands.
I had an English professor who was on Iwo Jima. He told me he didn’t like the horror genre because he already had enough bad pictures in his head that wouldn’t go away. Wow.
You guys did some amazing support/transportation work, and DID fight in some serious battles. But it was American and British forces that took the brunt of the worst battles.
Think about daylight bombing that we did, and Patton charging like a woman with new credit card. And Montgomery and all his craftiness. You guys were certainly there, and there is MUCH praise for all you did. But in no way do I see how Canada could be the most important non European Allied force. Remember, we were providing not only you, but the Brits and Soviet supplies to a large extent too.
And all that containment the Brits did made a HUGE difference in the pacific. There are tons of heroic stories there before the US ever entered the war. Keep in mind that the fighting kept large numbers of Japanese troops occupied so that they weren’t on Iwo Jima. (And such)
One of the reasons the Doolittle raid was so important was forcing the Japanese to commit troops to defending the homeland instead of strategic island defense.
I’ll certainly buy you a beer or a steak.
By the way, there was 45,300 Canadian deaths, .40% of population, and 416,800 American deaths, .32% of population. Per capita, you suffered more, that much is true.
The Soviet Union had 8,800,000 to 10,700,000 (estimated) deaths, 14.18% of population, on top of 12,254,000 to 14,154,000 civilian dead.
You know, JAC, when someone says that they’re upset that people are making a joke about their military, the really polite response is just, “We’re sorry.” Not to nitpick their comments apart.
GB was obviously upset with some comments that had been made by some Americans, probably rightly so (but that’s not really the point), and I felt as fellow Americans we should just say sorry and offer him a beer.
I am not trying to be preachy, but sometimes it’s nice to make the other person feel better and worry about being right later.
I wasn’t commenting on the offensive, but rather supporting the Canadian position. They were heroic. (Still are)
Maybe if you weren’t nit picking my comments, you could see that I was having a great conversation with my frozen friend.
I was pretty much noticing that he hadn’t answered a single one of your posts after the first one when he said that he ‘won’t split hairs.’ But that’s okay. You said what I expected. Good night.
And, as usual, you missed it entirely. I was praising our northern friends, while providing the actual information. And as I left off some of it, that I felt was relevant, there were several posts. I would hope that explain a few things to you, but I doubt it.
I certainly don’t mean to diminish the American contribution in WWII and you guys deserve a great deal of credit for what you did. However the daylight bombing runs were somewhat less effective strategically than is often portrayed. While they certainly had a demoralizing effect on the German forces, their usefulness in breaking the German industrial core was much more limited than some is often reported.
While I can’t deny the effectiveness of both Patton and Montgomery, I would like to point out that we weren’t just THERE we were on the front lines of as many of the ‘worst battles’ as you were (Dieppe, Juno Beach, the push for Caen, and the battle for Paris, Battle of the Scheldt, liberation of the Netherlands, as well participating in the liberation of Sicily and mainland Italy). I’d also like to point out that after the Battle of Britain most RAF pilots and many of there ground forces were Canadian trained.
I may have spoke hastily by saying we were the most important, but in terms of actual combat the difference in our contributions in Europe was negligible (if you throw in the fact that you supplied most of the Allied weapons that may well push you past us).
As for the British contribution in the pacific, I’ll grant that there was some impressive heroics before you entered the fight, but in terms of total effectiveness they were getting their butts kicked before you guys entered. And I don’t mean to belittle the usefulness of the British containment, an enemy trying to look both ways at once is certainly useful. What I was driving at is that the major offensive victories were nearly all yours.
and it’s alright Mabs, I don’t mind having a reasonable debate, and JAC’s comments prompted me to do some fact checking. He is right on several points and I am willing to concede when I’m wrong. It’s the ‘Canada are all pacifists and don’t have an army worth mentioning’ attitude that bugs me, which JAC has clearly stated isn’t his position.
Definitely not my position, and I also agree with you on the effectiveness of many actions, such as the bombing, but they were part of paying the cost. As necessary as any other part of the war. The same with what the Brits did in the Pacific. Both nations got caught behind on tech at the beginning of the war, though we both had plenty in the pipelines. If it were not for the bombings and such, we would have been overran.
But I do have to tease you a bit, in this conversation. Why did you let John Candy conquer you? All he had was Rhea Pearlman!
LOL… we got our revenge when the Canadian Air Force bombed the Baldwin brothers. I may take you up on that beer if I’m ever in your neck of the woods.
“(granted, we couldn’t have done it without you guys selling us cheap guns, and you guys took on Japan basically single handed).”
We’d have been happy to leave the Japanese to take China, et al (all “we knew about Pearl Harbor ahead of time” conspiracy theories aside). But unlike the Germans who were too busy fighting a war on more fronts than they could handle, the Japanese had enough firepower and societal will to pick a fight. We fought bravely when we got there and really did take on the Japanese head to head, but we weren’t really volunteers until someone pointed the gun at us. And for that I give you guys on our northern border a lot of credit.
And lest we forget, the pre-commonwealth nations, ANZAC and Canada especially, laid some serious lives on the line in WWI as well. WWI was where you guys caught some attention. It was like the leaders of all the nations involved on both sides collectively said “Canada? Really? Who knew?”
My opinion may be a bit biased being from Wisconsin and having a ton of friends and family from northern WI and the UP of Michigan. We’re not Canadians beyond superficially, but the upper Midwesterners and the Canadians take turns crossing eachothers borders for hunting and fishing trips pretty regularly ’round here.
Great President? Or the Greatest President?
I am kidding, but I do remember seeing that as the title bar on Fox News when referring to Bush about midway through his second term. It also made it onto a few Colbert Reports. Time will tell w/ Obama, but until something amazing happens I fear it will just be SSDD for the majority of the population.
I would give so much to see what history books a century later will say about Bush and Obama….
Quick! Freeze yourself!
Just look at Nixon and Carter for a sneak peek.
In spite of the perception of Nixon when he left office, the good he did with regard to opening up relations with China has far outweighed his re-election shenanigans in the cold light of history.
Conversely, there was the national shame that was the Carter era. While the media was in love with Carter when he was in office, perpetuating the myth that his unfinished training as a boiler operator somehow equated to being a nuclear engineer and that he was oh so smart, the reality of his many foreign policy failures is now becoming unavoidably apparent, even to the media, and it’s the Carter economy that the media unwittingly uses as the metric of how bad the Obama economy is.
I’m sorry, but not everyone agrees that opening up trade with Mainland China was good. At least not to the extent that Nixon did it. That’s a matter of opinion, not historical fact.
Relations, not trade, as trade with China wasn’t significant till well after the Nixon era.
The historical fact is that China had the only standing army large enough to wipe out NATO in a war of attrition, and a continued policy of adversarial isolation wasn’t doing anything to mitigate the possibility of said war.
The media seems to be the real common denominator. Too much spin and sensationalism without any substance. Hence why I find it so hard to have much sympathy for large media conglomerates screaming about how the internet is killing investigative journalism. Lets face reality, investigative journalism was on life support long before the internet arrived and considering the quality of what has been printed in the last 20 years I would say it was DOA before the first usenet posts were ever made.
If anything the internet is the only hope of investigative journalism. Aggregators funnelling readers to small independent papers and professional bloggers is the only hope for finding decent reporting these days.
I would just like to say how incredibly impressed I was with the paper in Victoria. The writing was excellent, and the stories interesting. I can’t say if the investigative reporting was any good as it was mostly about BC politics, and I had no frigging idea what they were talking about.
Our papers have their own issues, too much opinion and spin being the big ones.
They usually get the facts straight at least, but the curse of trying to make mountains out of molehills and nitpicking triviality has dropped their circulation to the point that only the two biggest, Canwest and Quebecor, and their individual brands have managed to survive, and Canwest is in the Canadian equivalent of chapter 11 bankrupcy.
Our biggest issue now is the fact our telecom infrastructure is entirely owned by 4 companies (one duopoly in the east, one duopoly in the west) that are trying to sandbox our internet. For those Americans opposed to Net neutrality regulations if you need an example of worst case scenario look up.
*ding ding ding* We have a winner ladies and gentlemen!
Or even the entire population. I think America will not shine very bright in future history.
Empires can’t last forever. The question is how far will we fall when it’s over?
Burning Empires..
Okay then.
LOL Sorry Rando. VNV Nation Burning Empires
Hopefully the damn hyperlink works this time.
OH FOR FUKC’S SAKE. *beats head on desk* I can’t figger out what I am doing wrong.
Try this if it doesn’t work I give up.
K, click linky in name.
It was then that he felt the cold sting of realization upon his ass… Being in charge is nothing like the campaign tells you or growing up would imply. Those men who made it look so easy or so noble merely knew how best to craft the lie, even if it was just a lie to themselves.
Every lackey was just another leash and every diplomat another hound to feed lest their barking drive him mad. Party playing was a sick board game that nobody who depended on him ever won. Every action was a faux pas and every inaction a declaration of cowardice.
These things and more mulled through his mind like a lake of molasses and him without a waffle to raft upon. It was maddening, harrowing, and a couple of other deep sounding adjectives but none of that mattered.
One of these brats had his Blackberry and he was getting bored as hell waiting for Secret Service to search them all.
You know, it’s times like these that I remember how much I miss having you around PK more….
That? Was awesome.
*hugs* Glad you liked it dear and it is even relevant this time. XD
*sniff* I miss you DWN.
Miss you too love. *huggles*
*huggle squeeze*
GET A ROOM
Yeah, I’m that guy.
Do you want to join us in the room?
Yeah, I’m that girl
I have a strict no whiners clause in my sexual contracts, my dear. Igloo can go soak his head in kerosene.
Well, we could just duct tape his mouth and tie him to a chair and force him to watch and not be able to join.
I can dig that.
I figured you could.
Sounds like fun. Can I join?
Duct tape? KINK-AY.
Oh DU you can join.. May I duct tape you to the bed with your cute little butt in the air?
Oh please do!
I mean no! Don’t! You can’t! *makes vague attempts at struggling* Don’t! Stop!…Hey…why did you stop? I said don’t stop!
*grabs DU roughly but tenderly and pushes her facedown on the bed*
You’re in for it now girly..
*looks over the scene* A gift for me… Nice.
*adds ornaments, lights & tinsel to the scene*
MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN!!!!
*struggles to escape the trimming of the Default Tree but only succeeds in wiggling her butt*
If you’re upset about a litle snuggle and squeeze, don’t go to the other thread and read the pizza delivery scenario going on.
Unless you want to join in, of course!
I needed a cold shower after reading all that.
or a hot bitter shower-nods-
With lots and lots of soap
I don’t know what to say. The man hasn’t done much, but i whole-heartedly support him. He needs to buckle up and get his act together.
PS: and to all those people calling him worst president ever… what do you think it would be like if McCain/Palin won instead?
Better?
Well here is the obvious problem right here. The brains not even plugged in. No wonder the moniter is just flashing nonsense.
*Input not found*
Please get your brain plugged in before the next election? kthanxbai
Weeeeeeeeaaaaaaaak. Sorry, n00b, you were pwned.
Sez you!!
Responding to an insult with the same insult is weaksauce, dude. Srsly.
Tough. Live with it.
Oh, and I’m not a dude, I may need to change my name…
n00bette?
Not bad!
I like it! The name has the suggestion of female ‘assets’ in it, too!
n00bies!
Yay!
n00bile n00bies? Lol…Glad I could help.
n00b is a CHICK?! Whoa. I never knew. Now I feel bad for being so man. I prefer to save the nastiness for the PK guys. Except for the A-word, but she hardly counts as a lady…or human being.
Rando no longer feels bad about those strange feelings of lust he’d been having for N00bs.
Orly? I’d loooooove to hear how.
I’m unhappy with his first year, but I don’t regret voting for him in the slightest. I keep hoping he’ll get it together and be the President we thought he was going to be. If not, 2012 is gonna SUCK.
Well for one thing we wouldn’t be flirting with this scary scary health care “reform” thing that looks like at this point it will only help the insurance industry (the ones we’re all suppose to hate??) and hand the American people a big fat bill for Christmas. We wouldn’t be having that if McCain had won.
Dang it!! This was supposed to go up ^^
It has to pass first. Jury is still out on that part. I want some real health care reform, but I don’t want it all half-assed and stuff.
*steals Rando’s rolled up newspaper and whacks him with it* I thought you said no partisanship on Vladurday! *hands Rando beer* Here, this will help you stay neutral.
I think you’re allowed to be partisan on non Vladurday lols on Vladurday, you just can’t be partisan on Vladurday lols any day.
Well, dang. Someone needs to explain all these rules!
no way, not codifying the rules! how else can we inflict that feeling of stupid in the newbies if they can figure out the rules right off the bat, especially if the rules never change? this way the rules get modified at the expense of any mal-bred newbie at our whim – keeps them quiet and in their place long enough to learn where their place is and how to behave there
So, sort of like Calvin ball?
(“The only rule is that the rules are never the same.”)
Yes!
Or like every little group having their own Very Important definition of what a ship is and what a boat is. It’s all about making you* insecure.
*) Yes, you.
*pouts* I am taking my ball and going home then! So there! *stomps off*
*comes back, grabs six-pack* AND my beer!
I love Calvinball!
*hits mabs with the Calvinball*
Score is watermelon to brisket!
*runs off with pirate flag*
bitter troll has touched the base, everyone needs to name a state and capitiol before they can proceed
mabs, *raising drawbridge across moat and cackling maniacally* now that you know the calvin rule, you can never leave, you shall stay here forever. but don’t worry, in time and with ‘good’ behavior, the inmates become the guards and get to change the rules too. and good times are had by all (but the current crop of newbie trolls)
Ahah! I declared the opposite rule when you weren’t looking! Now you are the inmate! *runs off laughing maniacally*
*headdesk* “Opposite DAY”
lol, jokes on you, you’re still it because i’m an inmate for life… it’s the only way i can explain my life ;-¿ they just let me play at being a guard here
Hmmmm. *goes to check Calvin & Hobbes books for more loopholes*
Hey, how did you do the Spanish question mark?
Here’s a rather verbose list of “& … ;” for various letters and symbols.
It seems a bit German, but since I understand it well enough, that can’t really matter.
frick & frack – see below, nesting failure and i blame pk needing to new and improve so they took away the reply in location ability! grrr
Oh, just a wee bit German.
Hey, I can read all the Greek symbol’s names.
I scored a goal in the last 10 seconds of the 5th quarter! That means I get to run around the track and eat all the candy bars I find along the way!
I’m so glad it’s fryhighday.
*noms vi-codin* me too.
Hey! You said you had et all those already and didn’t have any left for me! *cries*
I bought more. LOL.
Well, did you save one for me this time? *sad puppy eyes*
Er..
*buys more for DU*
If you didn’t bring enough to share with the whole class . . .
*decides to play around with HTML down here*
VNV Nation Burning Empires
Woohoo!! *pats self on back*
I am so proud! (I still muck them up about half the time.
)
Sounds as if you all have been seriously into the alcoholic beverages while I was gone.
*hands mabs a daquiri* You’re welcome to join dearie.
Totally Failed!!!!
I can’t blame the guy. I feel the same way around small children. *shudder*
trying this cr@ppy@ssed thing again –
Danbala gave you the smart way of doing it, but here’s how i do stuff like that — go to your character map (might have to run ‘find file or program’ to get to it. then chose new times roman since that’s the usual default, and from there i just scrolled to what i wanted, clicked copy or whatever the little button is called, then did highlight, copy, and then paste over to here. of course i knew it would work just perfect – not!
Ah. Yes, I believe I found that way, but was too lazy to use it. Thanks to both of you.
@BF, yeah, I know, Danbala’s such a smartie. Green Beard’s pretty good at this kind of thing as well.
as are several others too, wish i could remember their names, but senior moment here (and not the college senior who’s partied too much either)
it’s weird, in a good way, hanging out with everyone here — i’m used to being the smart one, at least when it comes to this sort of trivia stuff, but here, i’m at the opposite end of the spectrum — gives me hope for your generation and all that mushy stuff.
Um, yeah, I may not qualify for being the ‘next generation.’
mabs sweetie, from where i sit, you are the next generation, and if you have kids, they’re the next generation once removed
Danbala, just because a person is on the pc all day, doesn’t mean they know sh!t (case in point – me) i play all day, which is how i’m here now, then in the evening and half the night, i work — i know there are keyboard shortcuts for almost everything, but dang if i can remember more than just a few, and that includes the programs i use on a constant basis such as excel. it sucks because i know i used to use more, but i can’t recall them for love nor money,,, or even love of money…
sorry Danbala, re-reading that comment to you sounds snarky, and i didn’t mean it to be, not one bit….
Oh, I didn’t see any snarkiness in it at all, no worries!
Sooo, continuing with the ‘how to’ discussion, what’s your avatar? Is there a way to make them large enough to tell what they are?
I sit at a computer about 25 hours a day, it’d be immensely embarrassing if I didn’t know these things or at least knew fairly well how to find out about them. ;p
It seems that the president Obama is thinking so much on how to put in on his twitter update. ;P
Obama is trying his best and the Republicans are being Assholes who should just shut the heck up and hope the death jury isn’t real because most of them are old farts and will die when they go before them
Obama is obviously messiah incarnate.