in vaguely related news:
BBC News - The Onion spoofs Iran news agency on Obama-Ahmadinejad story
:laugh:
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in vaguely related news:
BBC News - The Onion spoofs Iran news agency on Obama-Ahmadinejad story
:laugh:
Dave B speaks with much wisdom here:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
Australia in particular has gone to Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iraq again and all because big brother America says "jump" and Australia asks "how high?".
According to the The Australian National Audit Office just over A$3.678 billion has been spent by the Australian Government on the development of the F-35 which I should point out at this point we've got NONE, and just over another A$3 billion was spent by the Australian Government on bailing out General Motors.
Bollocks we don't.Quote:
Originally Posted by Starter
Roughly 15% of Australia's National debt is currently carrying the failures of your political system and if yet another pointless war with Iran is declared that'll be even more.
Decisions which the American Government has made has been affecting AUstralian foreign policy directly for the best part of 70 years. To deny this is either wilful ignorance or more likely sheer bloody-mindedness.
And that's only the effects of American policy on one small country (in population if not in area).
Because of the size of the US economy and its buying power, what happens in the USA affects the rest of the world. That's why we non-Amrericans care about what happens in the USA. We are probably able to be more objective about the happenings there and hence we are concerned if the nation's choice of its president is driven by the likes of some of the polemics we have seen on here.
I don't know if any of you have seen this, but if true, should clear up all of our election problems over here, enjoy:
Subject: THE QUEEN HAS SENT AN EMAIL -
To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II:
In light of your immediate failure to financially manage yourselves and therefore not able to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).
Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
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2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'
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3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
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4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.
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5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
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6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
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7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
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8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
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9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.
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10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
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11. You will cease playing American football. There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders). Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).
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12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (World dominators) first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
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13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
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14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
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15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.
God Save the Queen!
great Starter but what about the Ryder cup - do we play with ourselves now - well I guess we did on Sunday
First seen in 2000 after the election delays of GW Bush.
I figured it might have been around for a while. First time I had seen it. Still pretty funny though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
Here is an article that caught my attention that shows that there are real consequences to actions taken by those whose seek to downsize government:
Back to $chool | History News Network
This is a consequence of the passage of Proposition 13 back in 1978 and several other proposals that followed which greatly handicapped the state and local governments to fund and operate many services for the citizens of California ("... it handcuffed state lawmakers by requiring a two-thirds supermajority any time they wanted to increase taxes, and made a two-thirds vote among citizens necessary to raise local taxes.). I thought Proposition 13 was a huge mistake at the time and nothing since then has changed that opinion.
Words of Joe Biden.... "The middle class has been buried for the last 4 years." Who is he campaigning for ? Does he realize who has been in the office the last 4 years ? ...lol What an idiot. He is as clueless as Obama. Everyday I find it harder to believe anyone would vote for these two.....lol :D
Proposition 13 was not a mistake. I live in Maryland and we had our own version of it in some counties. It was sorely needed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Capps
Spending big dollars on education does not now, and never has, assured a quality education. Those dollars were more likely to go to administative expansion and salaries and union wages than to direct results in classrooms. That's clearly proven when you compare the dollars spent per student against the results and then compare that to models in other location both in the US and elsewhere. It has NEVER been how much you spend, but HOW you spend it. The current US education system is nothing more than a huge government jobs program with little accountability for results.
I recently worked for an on line school which produced better education for a much lower cost - proven by test scores of our students. And our costs included providing computers and printers to our students. We also used the standard curriculum, the same as the public schools in each state we served.