BigAL
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Posts posted by BigAL
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Yeah, because Iraq wasn't already a hotbed of activity for terrorists. Abu Nidal wasn't there. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi wasn't there. Ramzi Yousef didn't travel to America on an Iraqi passport. Abu Abbas wasn't captured by the Marines in Baghdad. Khala al Salahat didn't surrender in Iraq, nor did Farouk Hijazi. Saddam Hussein wasn't paying the families of Palestinian suicide bombers $25K. The Phillipines didn't expell an Iraqi diplomat after learning of meetings between them and terrorist groups in that country.
Yes, and the 19 hijackers all came from Iraq too. Those activities do not support an invasion of another country, and as I recall, you did not support the Iraq war at it's inception either.
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Solution to what? Terrorism? The Iraq war? I bet the first thing on your mind after 9/11 was that the best way to fight Terrorism is to invade Iraq, create a hotbed of activity for the terrorists there while alienating a good portion of the world that supported us in Afghanistan right?
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Here is something i heard at a Hollywood dinner party the other night, from the ex-head of the Academy. Maybe it has been all over the news but not sure, I haven't seen it. It seems that a lot of studios are going to start selling DVDs in China and other places like that at the same time the films open in the US, trying to capitalize on the illegal pirating. An "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em policy". Personally, at first blush, I think this is stupid and will backfire. Maybe I am missing something but it seems to me one of the two big reasons that more kids and others don't download DVD pirates is the crappy quality of them.
I would have mentioned my feelings to him but he even though i know him well he just talks and talks, he never listens to a thing anyone else says.
Kelly,
What's the deal with certain movies coming out on DVD without even going on PPV? I was surprised to see Hitch out already, and Vin Diesel's Dsiney flick (can't remember name) is coming out soon. It seems like they're passing up quite a bit of PPV view money. Any thoughts on this? Just curious.
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I watched the Tim Burton Batman the night before seeing Batman Begins. To my surprise, it still holds up well, and I did not realize how many of the lines and scenes I knew from memory. With that said, Batman Begins is a much better representation of what I wanted to see in a Batman movie. As others have said, the other movies spent more time on the villians. This movie does justice to Bruce Wayne, and sets things up in a much more believable world. Tim Burton's movie was set in a comic book world, which is fine, but Batman Begins takes it to the real world where you think maybe this is possible.
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OW...you left yourself open to a lot of darts...easily pointed and tossed ones too. A veritable flurry.
I'll get my shots in now. No troops are "expendable". That is simplistic, bitter, and a very mean thing to say. That said, there are also acceptable risks for the mission. Once again, America, most of it, lives by soundbites, and has not seen more than a few dead American Soldiers or Marines for quite some time. There are two entire generations of America, both of them tuned into the violence, as long as it is a video game, a rap song, or a movie - and ignoring the reality of life.
So, the "troops" are less "expendable" if they die on our soil? Along with your wife, children, friends?
The mindset of this country truly frightens me. Y'all make it so much harder. You really do.
So the acceptable risks for this mission are that hopefully 10 years from now we'll have democracy all over the middle east, and the freedom loving Iraqis, Iranian's, Syrians, etc will rise up against the Al Qaeda's of the world stomp out terrorism. Is that what we're hoping for? To me, that is not a calculated risk. It's a hope and a prayer at the expense of our soldiers lives.
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I've asked questions several times about the parallels b/w the Roman use of military and ours. I never got a reply.
I have become much less a critic of Bush's foreign and military policy in the past few months (his domestic policy has utterly, utterly sucked tho). Maybe after reading BiB's posts, or watching Frontline pieces or just the accumulated weight of what's going on in the Arab Street that's not going to change b/c they live in the 1300s by choice. Kill as many of the enemy as possible and then get out. The Afghanistan model was actually pretty good in this regard; I just hope the Iraq presence is similarly cut by next year and we don't have to rename them the InterNational Guard (see: Parallels w/ Roman use of military). I do agree that Americans' lack of knowledge/involvement in our homeland security (and I mean this in the broadest sense -- food supply, emergency medical services) is abyssmal. But I don't know; it's hard to blame people who come home from 60-80 hours a week and just have enough free time to hang our hard hats, sleep, eat and say hello to the family.
BigAL, our troops are "expendable"? I lament at the loss of the :I starred in Brokeback Mountain: 'smilie.'
When you launch a pre-emptive war to to keep the enemy occupied on their territory instead of ours, then yes the troops are expendable.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it our government's position that it's better to fight the terrorist on their soil rather than ours? Therefore, the fact that Americans, (other than troops, but they're expendable) aren't dying in large numbers due to terrorism is a success.
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According to story (below) 12,000 citizens killed in past 18 months.
I don't know how you can call this winning the war on terror. It's not stopping. It's getting worse. How does the Bush administration say that we are winning the war on terror when so many innocent lives are now being extinguished?
That said, these pigs who kill their own people are sickening. How can you kill innocent civilians like that? Disgusting immoral pigs.
We're winning the war becasue it's not Americans that are dying. That's the only thing that really matters.
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Well, first of all, how do we know when the first Death Star was completed? Second, the Death Star is not something that is being put together out in the open. Even though Palpatine establishes the Empire, there is still a senate right up until Ep.IV. So who's to say that the construction on the first one wasn't much slower due to the fact that it had to be carried out in secret.
Well, I just watched EP IV again, and the Death Star is not completed (tested) until then. You don't have to defend every little inconsistency to death. I've loved Star Wars since I saw it at age 7 in 1977, but it's not perfect. Somehow I don't think Palpatine would be too concerned about building it. He could have called it a big space station, not a Death Star if he wanted to hide it.
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I don't buy that. Bail Organa's ship at the end of Ep III, is the same ship at the beginning of Ep IV.
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Anyone wonder why it takes amost 20 years to build the first death star, then the 2nd one is built (operational) between episode iv and episode vi
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I had similar experiences with Episodes I, II, and now III. I will probably have to see Revenge of the Sith a few more times to really get a full opinion of it. Some things went by so fast that I missed them.
It was pretty sad to see all the Jedi shot down from behind, and even though I knew ahead of time what Anakin was going to do to the kids, and to Padme, I was still shocked when I saw it. It was also brutal to see what happened to Anakin. That was pretty wicked.
I did think that Anakin turned to the dark side a little too quickly. I think it would have been better with a little more indecision, or a really brutal killing of Mace Windu to think that he had no way of turning back. He became pretty subservient really quickly.
All in all, it was still not quite as good as Empire, but pretty damn good.
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I know the CEO of a company that had about a dozen math PHDs working on a software program to figure out the best credit card offer to send to people so that they wouldn't cancel a card that they intended to cancel. I can't remember which bank it was, but the program ended up making millions for the bank from customers who were trying to cancel their cards. The credit card companys have some of the best minds in the world trying to figure out ways to keep you in debt for life. It's not exactly an even playing field.
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Question for the die hard fans that has been bothering me. Why don't C3P0 and R2D2 realize that Luke is Anakins son? In the original Star Wars, they use the escape pods to go to Tatooine and end up at Uncle Owens place. After Atack of the Clones we realize that they had been there before. We also know that Anakin built C3PO. You would think that C3PO would have some recgnition for the family of his creator. Do they get their memories erased at the end of Episode III?
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If you havn't done it yet this year, you can get credit reports from all three of the companies for free by going to:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
If you live in the west or the midwest, you can get all three for free once a year. If you live in the south, you'll have to wait until June 1st, and if you live in the east, you'd have to wait until September 1st, which is probably later than you want.
If you're not eligble for the free reports yet, then you can always go to the source and get them here:
http://www.experian.com/consumer/index3.html
https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/consumer/...Name=FACTB_prod
They should all have roughly the same information (but don't always...).
CW
You do realize that getting your credit report once a year is almost as worthless as not getting it at all. You really should have some kind of monitoring service to get your credit report monthly. That is the best way to protect yourself. Here's a link to the BBB 2005 report on identity theft. BBB Report
As far as the credit agency themselves, they have a bunch of phising sites themselves to fool people into thinking they are getting a free credit report, when really they are signing up for something else. Here's a blurb from an email alert I got on the subject:
In anticipation of the March 1 rollout of free credit reports to Midwest residents, the World Privacy Forum issued a report with startling recommendations*. Consumers may want to order their free annual credit reports by phone rather than online. If they order it on the Internet, they risk paying for a report they thought was free.
Researchers analyzed the official Web site (www.annualcreditreport.com) and close misspellings to see if any “phishing” or scam sites had been put online. What they found was alarming. Their report documents 96 known “imposter” domains. Of those:
· 28 belong to credit reporting agency Experian.
· 68 belong to or are hosted at “pay per click” companies.
· 50 of the “pay per click” domains are live, and some are luring consumers to inappropriate and risky Web sites. Some of the “pay per click” sites lead consumers to Experian and other credit companies’ commercial sites in order to cash in on the credit bureaus’ affiliate marketing programs.
Additional issues were found at the official Web site. The primary finding: credit bureaus are blurring the lines between what is free and what is available for a cost. For example, the TransUnion section of the official Web site automatically selects consumers to receive marketing information and have their information shared with affiliates and partners. Experian and Equifax have potentially confusing menu navigation bars, which do not clearly distinguish between the free areas of credit report access and the for-pay sections.
The best way to protect yourself is monthly monitoring.
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What the hell is wrong with most of you people? We were 9 -7 last season. Why in blazes should we be satisfied with anything less? If JP doesn't give us the best chance to win next season, then keep his butt holding the clip board. Drew may have squandered the #1 special teams, and the #2 defense, but why does being a rookie make it okay for JP to do worse than that? 6 - 10 sucks. Anything less than playoffs next year sucks. Aren't you guys sick of not making the playoffs? I know I am. If JP is a step backwards at QB, then we are really wasting the defense and special teams. Who knows, by the time he does figure things out, our defense and ST might be sh--. What good is that? If Donahoe and Mularkey don't think we will be a playoff caliber team with JP at the helm next year, then he doesn't need to be starting. End of Rant.
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My roommate and I have about had it with our cable modem. We have Patriot Media (small POS cable company) and this has been the first time we could connect to the internet in about 24 hours. I called them and got the run around.
We were thinking of switching to Earthlink DSL. Anyone have any experiences? Is DSL much slower than Cable?
Also, can you get DSL if you subscribe to DirecTV? If so, what are the costs? Thanks!
If you're a gamer, and your connection speed is important to you, I wouldn't switch to DSL. I used to have it, but my ping to online games was always in the 100 - 120 range. I then upgraded to the more expesive faster connection DSL, and that did nothing for my ping. I switched to cable, and that dropped my ping into the 60 - 80 range. I haven't looked back since. I've rearely had a problem. I was worried about bandwidth with cable, but no problems in over 3 years.
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I recall JK saying that he regretted not handing off more to Thurman. Promo is right. This was the no huddle days where JK pretty much called his own plays. Don't blame Marv for it. That being said, the play that sticks in my mind the most is the 3rd and 13 play where everyone in the world had a chance to tackle the Giants WR, but he still got the first down.
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Will do. Was in a rush this morning, and din't give it too much thought.
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Thanks, I've heard good reviews of that RDPD series, been meaning to pick it up. I don't disagree there's some good MLMs out there, but I bet I could find some pretty vicious commentaries and reviews on any one you name - that's all I was saying. The research is pretty daunting. I've been looking at franchises lately; not too many of those appeal to me either, but there's a few interesting ones I plan to get more information on.
Do some research on a company called Everydaywealth. It's actually an MLM that Richard Kiyosaki recommends. It deals with identity theft and debt management. Here's my link to the company, and a link to a Kiyosaki interview.
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Listen, the death penelty here is what it is. What it is not is barbaric. Tell me the last time someones head was severed, or we used a hanging post or fireing squad.
Which do you think is quicker and less painful? Frying in an electric chair, slowly suffocating to death or having your head chopped off? Granted I wouldn't want any, but I would imagine that the head chop is the quickest and least painful. Please do not go into the Nick Berg and the other terrorist beheadings. Those are entirely different.
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So you're into the philosophy of Moral Equivalence. Good for you. Read up on the quaint little practice of "honor killing" (there was even one in Rochester last year!) and see if you still believe that.
BTW one of the myriad of those "capital crimes" according to their laws of the land, as you call them, is simply leaving islam. Oh, and adultery.
Well considering I don't believe in capital punishment, I don't think your moral equivalency schtick applies. I guess if it makes you feel better you can say that we're better than them because we only kill convicted (hopefully guilty) killers.
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I don't see much difference between what he does and what the state of Texas does on a regular basis. Would you feel better if he shot them up with drugs to stop their breathing, or strapped them to an electric chair? He's carrying out the laws of the land just like the guy that pulls the switch or injects the drugs. The biggest difference I do see is that they have more offenses that are considered capital crimes.
Who's seen War of the Worlds?
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
I think it was a British version. I remember my teacher playing it to us when I was a kid in school there. I cut out of work to watch the movie today. It was pretty intense. When it was over, I was surprised that it had been 2 hours. overall it was a very good movie. Batman Begins has still been my favorite this summer.