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Bushzilla destroys Tokyo!

08:47 / 19.02.02

Have you heard in the news? Pres. Georgie went to Japan as part of an official effort to help the country to get out of the crisis, first thing he says is that he was there to discuss yen's "devaluation", instead of "deflation". As a result, the japanese market went down until a PR went to public to correct the mistake.
This is the man that rules the world, ladies and gentleman. Gotta love the spaz.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

08:47 / 19.02.02

Now that's classic.

Who benefited from that little slip, I wonder?

08:47 / 19.02.02

Yeah, I was just thinking "I wonder if a few whitehouse people bought a few billion yen just afterwards?"

except I find it much easier to believe it's pure verbal incompetence

Less searchable M0rd4nt

10:32 / 19.02.02

Priceless. Absolutely pricless.

(Well, exept for the Tokyo stock exchange, that is.)

pointless and uncalled for

10:55 / 19.02.02

Almost as entertaining as the British invasion of Spain.

11:07 / 19.02.02

I beg your pardon?

11:10 / 19.02.02

Sigh... it is pretty funny, actually. Group of UK forces on a training mission, they were aiming for Gibraltar but got their knickers in a twist and ended up on a Spanish holiday beach instead...

pointless and uncalled for

11:15 / 19.02.02

Certainly first winners of this years Slow Clapping Award.

11:24 / 19.02.02

It's just another example of W trying to get out of his father's shadow. He can't just puke on their PM, he has to puke on their whole economy.

15:02 / 19.02.02

...and now he's going to Seoul after slapping that "Axis of Evil" moniker on the people just north of where he'll be at...smart...

15:39 / 19.02.02

The point with North (and South) Korea to my understanding is that they aren't "the people north of where he's staying", but in fact the same people. Common history, language, nation, that just happened to be split in two in the fifties.

So he says "you people are Evil"... to his hosts. Nice.

08:53 / 20.02.02

You know what I think? I think George Bush is a message for those who can read it. And the mesage says:
"We can put anyone there, even this crayon eater, pretzel-choking spaz. We are *that* powerful".

11:11 / 20.02.02

Yehm that makes it easier doesn't it.

Blame 'THEM' whoever 'THEY' are.

Makes it easier to cope with than the idea that people in positions of power (Such as supreme court judges) used their legitimately given power to put 'A republican' in power, without looking at who they were handing power to.

11:50 / 20.02.02

By Mr. Ed: quote:Blame 'THEM' whoever 'THEY' are.

By Mr. Ed: quoteeople in positions of power (Such as supreme court judges)

You said it yourself. There ARE people whose interests are better served having someone like Bush in charge of things. During the last american Prsidential election, I think the whole world learned what Democracy really means in the land of the free.

12:40 / 20.02.02

So who's fault is it then? Who let that happen.

Everyone.

For a country founded on change, its very conservative.

12:48 / 20.02.02

I don't think you can really say that 'everyone' in America was responsible for the shenanigans surrounding the Florida ballots and Bush's subsequent shoehorning into office.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

15:41 / 20.02.02

True, but no one really tried to fix things. It was more of "What an outrage! The very democracy of this country has been revealed to be a sham! Somebody should do something! Somebody else, I mean."

"The government" did it, but the public didn't try to fix it.

16:05 / 20.02.02

sorry, mate. it's their game, the public doesn't matter squat. the public doesn't have in their possession some of those marvellous magic pens. unless you're talking about an upheaval the way the french did it, or the italians.

16:07 / 20.02.02

And yet, this is apparently enough to stop "our man..."

19:43 / 20.02.02

quote:Originally posted by BioDynamo:
The point with North (and South) Korea to my understanding is that they aren't "the people north of where he's staying", but in fact the same people. Common history, language, nation, that just happened to be split in two in the fifties.

So he says "you people are Evil"... to his hosts. Nice.

Apparently the S.Koreans are pissed off and are staging mass demonstrations for the Shrub. Lots of "we were doing fine with re-apporachment and peace talks until you stuck your nose in."

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

23:29 / 20.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Impostor de Jade:
sorry, mate. it's their game, the public doesn't matter squat. the public doesn't have in their possession some of those marvellous magic pens. unless you're talking about an upheaval the way the french did it, or the italians.

Bah. The only reason the government exists is because we think it does. Get enough people to stop believing in it, and it'll go away soon enough.

Nietzsch E. Coyote

23:36 / 20.02.02

Not quite. It is a fiction with guns. It is hard to disbelieve something that shoots you.

02:07 / 21.02.02

quote: Bah. The only reason the government exists is because we think it does. Get enough people to stop believing in it, and it'll go away soon enough.

Get off the pipe, hippy

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:02 / 21.02.02

Slim, I really don't think Johnny's point was any more divorced from reality than the 'God Bless America, poor America, always being picked on' rhetoric which seems to be your raison d'etre.

[ 21-02-2002: Message edited by: Flyboy ]

07:22 / 21.02.02

My (admittedly limited) understanding of the situation in S. Korea is that opinion is divided over the Sunshine approach to N. Korea - and some people there feel that the South Korean regime should be taking a more confrontational approach in the peace dialogues. But they are committed to the dialogues themselves... and that's where Bush seems to be putting his foot in things in a major way. He is aggressive in labelling the North Korean regime 'evil' - and have a look at this depressing article for a report of his latest speechifying:
quote: Dressed in a green army jacket, he cited an episode in 1976 when two US army officers were killed by North Koreans with axes in a scuffle on the border. "No wonder I think they are evil," he called out from a camouflaged bunker to waiting journalists.

... I also understand that a great many of the protests in S. Korea have been connected to the fact that WTO regulations have been forcing Korea to open its rice market, with the result that Korean farmers are being undercut by cheap imports and are struggling to keep going...

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

14:54 / 21.02.02

quote:Originally posted by fenris23:
Not quite. It is a fiction with guns. It is hard to disbelieve something that shoots you.

The fiction doesn't have guns. People who serve a fiction have guns. "The government" doesn't shoot you, a person does. Convince them they're serving a fiction with no power other than what they give them and it's a different story. Which is not to say I think this is easy or likely to happen to a significant part of the population, but it's the best way I can think of to get rid of the government.

Slim: Attack the argument, not the source. Whether or not I got this idea by smoking a lot of hash or tripping acid or by reading a book is irrevelant.

15:13 / 21.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Impostor de Jade:
sorry, mate. it's their game, the public doesn't matter squat.

Oh right, I'll just go home and watch TV then. Better not bother with the papers either, I mean THEY control the media as well don't they.

quote:
unless you're talking about an upheaval the way the french did it, or the italians.
Doesn't actually have to be that extreme It's just that inaction is an action.

15:34 / 21.02.02

quote: Slim, I really don't think Johnny's point was any more divorced from reality than the 'God Bless America, poor America, always being picked on' rhetoric which seems to be your raison d'etre.

Hey, that fact that I wake up to the tune of the Star-Spangled Banner and proceed to masturbate to a picture of George W. Bush doesn't mean that I like to spread around "'God Bless America' rhetoric."

Excuse me, but I thought I had made it quite clear that I am not here to praise all things Americana. Have I ever even came close to saying something along the lines of "Golly gee, America sure is great"? No. Do I support a some of America's foreign policy? Yes. I guess in your mind that makes me a simple-minded idiot. Which is something I can deal with because you've shown me that you are not afraid of leaping to conclusions and labeling me, not unlike some of the conversatives I talk to here at school. That's right. I likened you to a close-minded conservative. Deal with it.

quote: Slim: Attack the argument, not the source. Whether or not I got this idea by smoking a lot of hash or tripping acid or by reading a book is irrevelant.

You should know that I was only teasing you. You should also know that I consider the idea so ridiculous that I don't even bother attacking it.

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:36 / 21.02.02

But that's the problem. You didn't attack his point in any intelligent sense, you attacked him with a dismissive remark. When someone does the same to you, you object, and quite rightly so...

The point is, if you think his point is ridiculous, explain why. Others may find your take on international events ridiculous, but they have done you the courtesy of providing lengthy and detailed explanations of why they disagree with it. Doesn't Johnny deserve the same respect?

[ 21-02-2002: Message edited by: Flyboy ]

15:58 / 21.02.02

By Mr. Ed: quote:I mean THEY control the media as well don't they..

As a matter of fact, they do.

And this one is really easy: The media HAS owners. You have to agree with me with this one, because big mediatic corporations aren't created by spontaneous generation, nor they are self-sentient beings. BBC has a president. So does ABC, The New York Times etc.

So, first thing to clear up: The media HAS owners. So, progressing logically, one can say that *THEY* (the owners) - doesn't matter how loosely organized they are, or even if they aren't organized at all - control the media. And they use it.

Now would be the end of my rebuttal, since I believe I have tackled the issue I'm disputing here, but I'll go a little further (you know, in the land of those loony, paranoid types) and provide a little piece from Noam Chomsky, who once gave a short example of how things are supposed to work. Here is an excerpt of the thing:
quote:"The elite media set a framework within which others operate. If you are watching the Associated Press, who grind out a constant flow of news, in the mid-afternoon it breaks and there is something that comes along every day that says "Notice to Editors: Tomorrow’s New York Times is going to have the following stories on the front page." The point of that is, if you’re an editor of a newspaper in Dayton, Ohio and you don’t have the resources to figure out what the news is, or you don’t want to think about it anyway, this tells you what the news is.". The rest of the article is here.

[ 21-02-2002: Message edited by: Impostor de Jade ]

18:02 / 21.02.02

quote: Doesn't Johnny deserve the same respect?

Ha ha, probably. But I'm not going to give it to him. Believe me, I understand your point and normally I'd agree. But not with Johnny. It's no hard feelings- he brought me to this board, after all.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

00:33 / 23.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Slim:

You should know that I was only teasing you. You should also know that I consider the idea so ridiculous that I don't even bother attacking it.

Ha! I only just now figured this out...from Pittsburg, eh? Have fun. I'm going to have to go re-read all your posts now.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the one man who can defeat me on Mariokart(tm). Go ahead and ignore any and all banter between this man and myself.