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The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

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Hatshepsut

Crusader
Gaddafi is a monster. Exterminate him before he hurts innocent people. He wants to cause pain. I say pin Pan Am flight 103 on him and try him as a criminal. I'm so tired or looking back and seeing the harm that one sadistic person caused by reason of their own psychotic motivators. Can we name em all? Power hungry despots have to be co-created. Fear of them contributes to the enigma. Look at the reasons they are in power. Birthright. Military savagery and intimidation for control. :unsure:
There are so many places we did not help. Our policy to not interfere in the civil revolts of other countries has left us embarrassed over the genocides. It does not behoove us either that we have intervened only when our best interests are involved. Our return on investment. :no: It makes one wonder WHO is really calling the shots. Who benefits really from our war policies. It makes me feel queasy reaching into the ethers for the truthful answer to that one.

It is tempting to say we did not know the extent of the atrocities until later in the day when it was too late. But did we?. Sometimes where the technologies often used to brutalize were homemade hand bombs and machetes etc, it would not have been that expensive to interfere. But perhaps its only the big toys we want to bring out to bombard with. Going into the jungle in Columbia or the hilltops in Bosnia or the squalor of Darfur would cause the death and wounding of ground troups in guerilla warfare. I am not a male enlisted in the US military so I have not the right to criticize what sacrifices we will make. But I am tired of seeing so many pits where human remains are unearthed by the thousands after the fact and finding out we knew all along but the American public never heard it on the news.
 
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Gadaffi is a monster. Exterminate him before he hurts innocent people. He wants to cause pain. I say pin Pan Am flight 103 on him and try him as a criminal. I'm so tired or looking back and seeing the harm that one sadistic person caused by reason of their own psychotic motivators. Can we name em all? Power hungry despots have to be co-created. Fear of them contributes to the enigma. Look at the reasons they are in power. Birthright. Military savagery and intimidation for control. :unsure:
There are so many places we did not help. Our policy to not interfere in the civil revolts of other countries has left us embarrassed over the genocides. It does not behoove us either that we have intervened only when our best interests are involved. Our return on investment. :no: It makes one wonder WHO is really calling the shots. Who benefits really from our war policies. It makes me feel queasy reaching into the ethers for the truthful answer to that one.

It is tempting to say we did not know the extent of the atrocities until later in the day when it was too late. But did we?. Sometimes where the technologies often used to brutalize were homemade hand bombs and machetes etc, it would not have been that expensive to interfere. But perhaps its only the big toys we want to bring out to bombard with. Going into the jungle in Columbia or the hilltops in Bosnia or the squalor of Darfur would cause the death and wounding of ground troups in guerilla warfare. I am not a male enlisted in the US military so I have not the right to criticize what sacrifices we will make. But I am tired of seeing so many pits where human remains are u nearthed by the thousands after the fact and finding out we knew all along but the American public never heard it on the news.

Gadaffi is libya's monster.

Governments routinely engage in actions which for any private individual would be illegal. They do not stop at murder. Heads of government do not fancy being put on trial for actions undertaken on behalf of their state hence the international legal doctrine of 'sovereign immunity'. The u.s. government has done everything in it's power to shield u.s. officials, agents, and contract killers from the consequences of international law for the many egregious violations of law & rights perpetrated on behalf of the u.s. government around the world.

Governments are wary of establishing 'unfortunate' legal precedents and the u.s. is already over-extended. Ergo, it is highly unlikely to dedicate a large number of military resources to the task beyond launching a few missles and directing a bit of air traffic in the region. If you feel strongly about taking out gadaffi then do as hemingway did and go join the freedom fighters.

Oh, and welcome to earth.


Mark A. Baker
 

Hatshepsut

Crusader
Gadaffi is libya's monster.

Governments routinely engage in actions which for any private individual would be illegal. They do not stop at murder. Heads of government do not fancy being put on trial for actions undertaken on behalf of their state hence the international legal doctrine of 'sovereign immunity'. The u.s. government has done everything in it's power to shield u.s. officials, agents, and contract killers from the consequences of international law for the many egregious violations of law & rights perpetrated on behalf of the u.s. government around the world.

Governments are wary of establishing 'unfortunate' legal precedents and the u.s. is already over-extended. Ergo, it is highly unlikely to dedicate a large number of military resources to the task beyond launching a few missles and directing a bit of air traffic in the region. If you feel strongly about taking out gadaffi then do as hemingway did and go join the freedom fighters.

Oh, and welcome to earth.


Mark A. Baker

Earth where service facsimiles abound. :unsure:

But you kinda made my point...... Since we've had all of these covert underhanded ops going on, we could send in an agent or two to eliminate a pain in the ass or two to save civilian lives, as in this case, without involving our military on a vast scale. Hell, the satellites in the sky can tell you what kind of fishbones you threw in the trash. Hows come we cannot find bin Laden?
 
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Cutie Pie Times Two!

brown_twins_2.jpg


these are the Brown twins. They are San Francisco icons. Richard Avedon has photographed them .hey have been used in many advertisements. Richard Branson hired them for Virgin America ads among many other jobs that they have had.

I was sitting with friends in an Italian restaurant on Nob Hill yesterday when they walked in and sat next to us. They had a window seat. I knew I recognized them, i just didn't know from where.

As we sat and ate, a crowd formed on the sidewalk outside, taking photos of them. They are quite friendly and chatty.

San Francisco is a wonderful place to be. anytime

57078672_a7f396b168.jpg

Aren't they cute!?! I bet they just bought those two matching purses, see the empty shopping bags in the background? They look so pleased!

I really like those red hats that exactly match the red of the suits! Whooo-eee! :whistling:

Those black hats would do any Hasidic Rabbi proud! :D

Mazel tov to the Brown twins on a long and fruitful career! :yes:
 

Leon

Gold Meritorious Patron
Whatever happened to the people who were yelling "No blood for oil!" ?

I agree, the only reason anybody cares is because Libya supplies a lot of oil to Western Europe, and the conflict had interrupted the oil flow. Hardly anybody cared about Darfur.

My issue is that we have no assurance that whoever replaces Gadaffi will be any improvement. Remember the Shah of Iran?

Meanwhile, our bombing Libya gives the Muslim world yet another reason to hate us.


Bombing Libya has nothing to do with why people hate you. They just hate you. Period. get used to it.

:roflmao:
 
... Since we've had all of these covert underhanded ops going on, we could send in an agent or two to eliminate a pain in the ass or two to save civilian lives, as in this case, without involving our military on a vast scale.

The international community 'frowns' on targeting heads of state, which gadaffi is. As you sow so shall ye reap. The only way the u.s. is going to get close enough to 'get gadaffi' is to use enough explosive to take out everyone around him. That would undoubtedly result in 'collateral damage' which the u.s. wishes to avoid for political reasons. What part of 'the u.s. is still stuck with managing & paying for two unnecessary & illegal wars' is hard to understand?

It is also unnecessary. Gadaffi is libya's problem. It is for the libyans to deal with him.

A major problem historically has been the u.s.'s tendency to exert 'empire' by interfering in the affairs of other peoples. This policy of active adventurism has not suited u.s. interests well, although it has proved 'profitable' for various corporate interests.


... Hell, the satellites in the sky can tell you what kind of fishbones you threw in the trash. Hows come we cannot find bin Laden? ...

Obviously he isn't hanging around outside waiting to be spotted. A fallacy has become common place in the last 100 years or so that there is a 'technological solution' to any problem. Often the best solutions are low tech. One of the biggest outpoints in u.s. intelligence services that has come to light has been the over-reliance on technological methods of intelligence gathering at the expense of active and knowledgeable contacts in the field able to understand the complexities of local people & situations.

The u.s. has gotten quite good at intercepting cables, as the wikileaks data demonstrates. It's not so good at interpreting the data it acquires as the events of the last two decades makes clear. However, americans want things 'fast & cheap'. Genuine quality is rarely a significant consideration.


Mark A. Baker
 

Hatshepsut

Crusader
The u.s. has gotten quite good at intercepting cables, as the wikileaks data demonstrates. It's not so good at interpreting the data it acquires as the events of the last two decades makes clear.

I agree.

It's politics vs truth. He who has the power to interpret for others how something is to be viewed gets to control the public sentiment. Excite the polarizations. I remember the United States was horrified when a female soldier, Jessica Lynch (along with another) was taken captive with broken legs during the early Gulf War. All of our hearts stopped at the thought of what those 'monsters' might do with her. The only thing keeping the media from going overboard was probably consideration for her family's emotional reactions. It turned out that she was actually given medical treatment and was not harmed.

http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2007/06/jessica-lynch


However, americans want things 'fast & cheap'. Genuine quality is rarely a significant consideration.
If this were really true, many more of our soldiers would be back home by now instead of left at risk trying to keep an area of an old endeavor stabilized.
 
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Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
Bombing Libya has nothing to do with why people hate you. They just hate you. Period. get used to it.

:roflmao:


Thanks, Leon. That statement is a breath of fresh air.

They hate. Period. The reasons they give are justifications. It doesn't go the other way around.
 

Hatshepsut

Crusader
I saw this above eight yrs ago. Adventures of Priscilla Queen of The Desert. It came on at 4 am when nothing else was on the tube. It was a delight. I like Hugo Weaving. :happydance:

He helped Russell Crowe get his start in an early Aussie film called Proof

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkFdl8AuU7Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=munciFus8uM

And Russell Crowe with Guy Pearce (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) in LA Confidential, the first film to earn Russell enough money to pay his basic bills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfyd9YVo9uU
 
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Hatshepsut

Crusader
Heaven's Burning

In this Australian film, Heaven's Burning, the young lady wants to leave Japan. She wants to run away to Australia. She arrives freshly married with her Japanese husband who she now plans to ditch as he attends a business convention. He has gotten her into the country and she intends to dissolve into the scenery.

She runs. He cannot believe it. He thought they were in love. He goes beserk..

In the background....Russell Crowe has just fallen in with a Turkish gang. A family of mafia type hoodlums. He agrees to be their driver for one bank robbery. While in line at the bank Youki Kudoh accidentally sees the face of one of the robbers while she is trying to cash some of her wedding gift checks. Fearing to be identified, the robbers kidnap her and take her to the outskirts of town where they are going to shoot her dead. Russell foils the plot in an act of chivalry by shooting the turks instead. She has now become attached to him as the only friend she knows. He adamantly tries to shake her but she will not go. She decides that she can help him now rob banks as she has seen how it is done. They do.

As one of the turkish gang members survived and reported back, the family of the dead ones are now chasing them intent on dismemberment... Russ and Youki flee across Australia in a 1960s old car.

Fanatic husband trails behind in hilarious motorcycle garb, blasting down the dirt roads through Alice Springs hot on their trail.....hear the motor runnnin....dead out on the highway... Helmut is complete with mohawk and the leather jacket is complete with silver studs. Funny for a conservative Japanese businessman. Added to the scene are the feds as the couple is toting bank money. So we got the cops, the jilted husband, and the Turks pursuing a bank robber and an ex bride who would rather die than go back to the strict family who betrothed her. Anyhow it ends up like Thelma and Louise only ending at the ocean shore, vehicle ablaze rolling over in foamy surf. Russ is dead. Youki, only half dead, sitting next to him with the cops closing in reflects on the fact that she has experienced this one small taste of freedom in her life and uses the bank gun on herself. Good film. Unique plot. Hope I didn't spoil it for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avKgvSAASlg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KN8UPcDu74
 
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Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
Gaddafi is a monster. Exterminate him before he hurts innocent people. He wants to cause pain. I say pin Pan Am flight 103 on him and try him as a criminal. I'm so tired or looking back and seeing the harm that one sadistic person caused by reason of their own psychotic motivators. Can we name em all? Power hungry despots have to be co-created. Fear of them contributes to the enigma. Look at the reasons they are in power. Birthright. Military savagery and intimidation for control. :unsure:
There are so many places we did not help. Our policy to not interfere in the civil revolts of other countries has left us embarrassed over the genocides. It does not behoove us either that we have intervened only when our best interests are involved. Our return on investment. :no: It makes one wonder WHO is really calling the shots. Who benefits really from our war policies. It makes me feel queasy reaching into the ethers for the truthful answer to that one.

It is tempting to say we did not know the extent of the atrocities until later in the day when it was too late. But did we?. Sometimes where the technologies often used to brutalize were homemade hand bombs and machetes etc, it would not have been that expensive to interfere. But perhaps its only the big toys we want to bring out to bombard with. Going into the jungle in Columbia or the hilltops in Bosnia or the squalor of Darfur would cause the death and wounding of ground troups in guerilla warfare. I am not a male enlisted in the US military so I have not the right to criticize what sacrifices we will make. But I am tired of seeing so many pits where human remains are unearthed by the thousands after the fact and finding out we knew all along but the American public never heard it on the news.


That takes notice of a lot of injustice. I'll add a few of my pet peeves: CEO's who run companies into bankruptcy but walk away will $millions in bonus. American Airlines of a few years back comes to mind. In a similar vein, senior execs who falsify stats and/or use creative accounting to jack up their bonuses. Franklin Raines of Freddie Mac comes to mind.

What about Bill Clinton giving the Red Chinese secret military tech in exchange for campaign donations?

Why does it seem that criminal behavior at the highest levels comes from graduates of Ivy League colleges? What are they teaching in school these days?

Just wait until we find out the extent of the financial atrocities since the distribution of TARP funds. :omg: Politicians should not be allowed to vote themselves pay raises and perks. None deserve retirement pay if they fail to balance the budget during their watch.

I am tired of old men sending young men, and now women, off to war--especially for specious reasons. Putting a woman in a battle zone is just wrong. I know that some women are into it just as some guys are. But this opens the door to a female draft and that is so very wrong. Sure, there's no draft today, but do not count on it never coming back.

I am disgusted with the way politicians throw money around in the name of foreign aid. If a country needs food or some other item, send it to them. Do not send money. Make certain the people receive the aid, not some small group raking off the top.

I could go on with a long list of observations calling "Bullshit!" at each and every one. I wanted to chime in on the abortion discussion of several days ago. Your bolded text above leads me right into it:

The entire matter of abortion is a female matter. Guys, your duty is to stand by. When the female has made her decision, your duty is to support her in whatever that decision and outcome may be. That's it. You can discuss, provide information, whatever. The moment you attempt to control or sway her opinion, you have stepped over the line.

Abortion is a female matter best left to females. I do not care if you are the representative of some law, written mostly by men. I do not care if you are God's chosen spokesman. If you are packing nuts in a sack, you don't belong in the abortion debate, and with no skin in the game, your opinions on the matter are just that. If the idea of abortion is under consideration, you can reassure the female that she has your support no matter what the decision might be. That's the best you can do. The event, no matter which way it swings, will be traumatic enough with or without support.
 
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