[OT]
Yes, -13.4 billion for enormous signature images. We don't need or want the clutter they bring.
@Inouva: custom sig pics have been brought up and shot down on this forum numerous times - in fact, the devs themselves have decided against allowing them in order to cut down on bandwidth useage to make the forum quick and easy to use (not to mention nice to look at). Because of that I think it would be a good idea to drop the campaign. I'd also venture that only a very tiny minority of people really care to know what you've been watching on TV lately, regardless of its quality (besides, there's already a whole thread dedicated to anime viewing habits)
And please, do something about your signature. It's a little desperate and childish don't you think?
[/OT]
Yes, -13.4 billion for enormous signature images. We don't need or want the clutter they bring.
@Inouva: custom sig pics have been brought up and shot down on this forum numerous times - in fact, the devs themselves have decided against allowing them in order to cut down on bandwidth useage to make the forum quick and easy to use (not to mention nice to look at). Because of that I think it would be a good idea to drop the campaign. I'd also venture that only a very tiny minority of people really care to know what you've been watching on TV lately, regardless of its quality (besides, there's already a whole thread dedicated to anime viewing habits)
And please, do something about your signature. It's a little desperate and childish don't you think?[/OT]
Last edited by Hankstar, .
Heh 
Jokes, Arox, hence the "
"
Put the flaming banana down and step away...
Jokes, Arox, hence the ""Put the flaming banana down and step away...
Meh. I'd prefer to ban anyone from Norway with a Homer Simpson avatar. That'd make everyone happy
*puts Racer X on ignore list* =]
I also happily join the "who are you and why should I care" club. I don't know you from a bar of yellow soap and, so far, the worst thing you've ever done is start this whiny thread.
Conviction doesn't necessarily mean jail, in this case the US was ordered to compensate Nicaragua financially, which it did not.
As for the Sandinistas (short version), they were elected democratically in 1984 with 67% of the vote - an election whose results were verified by US allies. The fact that they ran (and were elected in a landslide) on a Marxist platform including broad social & economic reforms made them a danger to US/Reagan ideals. The Contras which sprung up to resist the Sandinistas were funded by US arms sales to Iran (an enemy at the time, hence the approval of Saddam's WMD strikes - and by the way, some people would call selling weapons to enemies "treason"). The atrocities carried out by the Contra paramilitaries eclipsed anything the Sandinistas did in return. The executions, torture and of course murders of women, children, old people, priests, foreign aid workers and anyone else seen to be pro-Sandinista left the body count in the tens of thousands. Strange how it's ok to fund and arm insurgents in a foreign country and call them "freedom fighters", while the same thing happening to "us" in another country is called "terrorism".
As for the Sandinistas (short version), they were elected democratically in 1984 with 67% of the vote - an election whose results were verified by US allies. The fact that they ran (and were elected in a landslide) on a Marxist platform including broad social & economic reforms made them a danger to US/Reagan ideals. The Contras which sprung up to resist the Sandinistas were funded by US arms sales to Iran (an enemy at the time, hence the approval of Saddam's WMD strikes - and by the way, some people would call selling weapons to enemies "treason"). The atrocities carried out by the Contra paramilitaries eclipsed anything the Sandinistas did in return. The executions, torture and of course murders of women, children, old people, priests, foreign aid workers and anyone else seen to be pro-Sandinista left the body count in the tens of thousands. Strange how it's ok to fund and arm insurgents in a foreign country and call them "freedom fighters", while the same thing happening to "us" in another country is called "terrorism".
Maybe I should post a picture I took of these crazy guys playing volleyball (an inside sport) on the beach (which is outside)! And they're not even wearing shirts or shoes!
What a mad, mad world we live in.
What a mad, mad world we live in.
The ones who haven't yet been investigated are the people who deserve to be investigated for war crimes. Bush, Blair (& Olmert, for the 2006 blitzkrieg of Lebanon) should be held up to the same light as Saddam Hussein for their baseless aggression against Iraq & Afghanistan. Of course, the crimes Saddam was actually tried & convicted for were trivial in comparison to his larger crimes of using chemical WMD against Kurds & Iranian forces, but they were left off the charge sheets because the WMD being used came straight from the US & UK, which obviously made them culpable.
The victors always set the rules and the same thing happened at Nuremberg in 1945/46. While Axis commanders & officials were properly found guilty of many of their horrendous crimes, they were charged only with crimes unique to Axis forces. The indiscriminate bombing of civilian populations, just as one example, was left off the sheets: Goering and the Luftwaffe command faced no charges over bombing civilian areas in London, Liverpool etc. as that would have meant the RAAF & USAF commanders would have had to face similar proceedings regarding indiscriminate bombing raids on places such as Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So while Nazi & Imperial Japanese military & civilian leaders indeed were tried & convicted for their activity, no such equivalency applied to their Allied counterparts.
I hold no hope that it's going to happen to any of our contemporary "War On Terror" leaders, either. Even if they "lose" in Iraq they'll still be the ones with the money, power and the massive weaponry, so any attempt to prosecute them under International Law would be an exercise in futility. Vietnam was lost and no reparations have been made. The people responsible weren't held accountable. Reagan's administration was actually convicted by the World Court for high crimes in Nicaragua in the 80s (including selling weapons to now apparent mortal-enemy Iran to fund the brutal Contras) and the US still has yet to comply with the verdict. Why should right now be any different?
The victors always set the rules and the same thing happened at Nuremberg in 1945/46. While Axis commanders & officials were properly found guilty of many of their horrendous crimes, they were charged only with crimes unique to Axis forces. The indiscriminate bombing of civilian populations, just as one example, was left off the sheets: Goering and the Luftwaffe command faced no charges over bombing civilian areas in London, Liverpool etc. as that would have meant the RAAF & USAF commanders would have had to face similar proceedings regarding indiscriminate bombing raids on places such as Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So while Nazi & Imperial Japanese military & civilian leaders indeed were tried & convicted for their activity, no such equivalency applied to their Allied counterparts.
I hold no hope that it's going to happen to any of our contemporary "War On Terror" leaders, either. Even if they "lose" in Iraq they'll still be the ones with the money, power and the massive weaponry, so any attempt to prosecute them under International Law would be an exercise in futility. Vietnam was lost and no reparations have been made. The people responsible weren't held accountable. Reagan's administration was actually convicted by the World Court for high crimes in Nicaragua in the 80s (including selling weapons to now apparent mortal-enemy Iran to fund the brutal Contras) and the US still has yet to comply with the verdict. Why should right now be any different?
Well, Fidel's very old now and I think he's proved his point: even if you're a small, poor country you can successfully stand up to your large, aggressive neighbour - you can also piss them off for 50 years, just by exisiting. Viva Fidel 
Nordschleife
Koalas have two thumbs on each hand, which is why they're such terrible pianists.
Brands Hatch or Lime Rock. All the elevation-changing awesomeness & challenging corners I love about Bathurst & Nurby but wrapped up in small, easy-to-swallow coatings.
0 right now, the most ever was 2 (then they both got banned ).
I enjoy arguing with people too much. My job gets friggin boring sometimes and it helps to have an outlet
).I enjoy arguing with people too much. My job gets friggin boring sometimes and it helps to have an outlet
If there's noone to be afraid of, there's no justification for the incredible $400+ billion military budgets which provide enormous wins for defence contractors and their subsidiary industries (who all have the best lobbyists money can buy, which enables them to pressurise congressmen to quash or beneficially modify any legislation which has the potential to reduce profits or increase accountability). That's the nutshell. Anyone who tells you it's actually about preventing terror is deluded, lying or just gullible (i.e. someone who watches FOX). Before the War On Terror it was the War On Drugs. Before that the War On Commies and before that was the second World War. WW2, though it was fought for the right reasons, proved so lucrative for some businesses that they didn't want the government contracts and subsidies to stop. Ever. They didn't. Since the end of WW2 there has always been something for the Whitehouse to scare America with and basically every president since then has done exactly that. The threat of the USSR was vastly inflated, as were the threats of its supposed cronies Cuba, Laos, North Vietnam et al. The threat of Iraq was grossly inflated in 1991 (conveniently as the Cold War wound down) and again in 2002. Now we see Iran as the next "evil empire" poster-boy. If that "threat" fails to materialise (i.e. no justification can be made or made-up to invade/bomb the place) I wonder who would be next? Not China or North Korea - too able to defend themselves and not rich enough in resources. Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina? Possibly - noone annoys Washington DC more than a country doing its own thing, taking control of its own resources and telling the US and its multinationals, the IMF and the World Bank to shove it.
The point is, whoever's at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave will always be beholden to the wishes of US multinationals, oil companies & defence contractors to name just three areas of pressure (the rest of the world often underestimates the power US lobby groups have on government). Black guy, white lady, yet another old white guy, won't matter that much who's president (a largely ceremonial title). The average American will get sold the same fear-mongering crap and told to shut up and do what he's told and buy some more consumer goods.
The point is, whoever's at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave will always be beholden to the wishes of US multinationals, oil companies & defence contractors to name just three areas of pressure (the rest of the world often underestimates the power US lobby groups have on government). Black guy, white lady, yet another old white guy, won't matter that much who's president (a largely ceremonial title). The average American will get sold the same fear-mongering crap and told to shut up and do what he's told and buy some more consumer goods.
Yeah, why not muddy the waters even further?
Hey, as long as you leave the GPL forum out of that assumption I'm with you
*sigh*
Another chap who clearly doesn't recognise sarcasm, even when it's got a frickin smiley at the end of it :rolleyes:
I've been playing LFS since 2003. In that time I've developed great respect for the devs and their work - hence my playing LFS since 2003. It should be obvious that I don't waste my time with games that I feel aren't high quality and I object to having to defend myself against people who wouldn't know sarcasm if it smacked their arse with a shovel. You're from England - I would've thought you understood English.
Another chap who clearly doesn't recognise sarcasm, even when it's got a frickin smiley at the end of it :rolleyes:
I've been playing LFS since 2003. In that time I've developed great respect for the devs and their work - hence my playing LFS since 2003. It should be obvious that I don't waste my time with games that I feel aren't high quality and I object to having to defend myself against people who wouldn't know sarcasm if it smacked their arse with a shovel. You're from England - I would've thought you understood English.
I think Geks may have been being slightly sarcastic. Maybe you should learn that before you learn programming and help those slow-ass devs
Ditto! I'm getting a 404 too. Hope they didn't get hax0rd again 
Enormous red text makes baby Jeebus cry.
Yeah face it Mike, you got pwnd. For shame. lol
What the US needs is a second Revolution - one by those leftist militant fundamentalist atheist pacifists that FOX News seems to hate. Then they can round up all those halfwits/psychopaths like Anne Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, every Republican in the White House and every Republican except Ron Paul (who'll naturally need to be de-converted from Creationism and, hey, throw in fscking Michael Moore too - John Pilger, there's a guy who can make a documentary) and make them live in Guantanamo forever
*removes tongue from cheek
*removes tongue from cheek
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG