IntenseDebate - B

14 years ago @ Big Peace - 1-Mar-12 World View --... · 0 replies · 0 points

Having lost two uncles to cancer from being inveterate smokers (both died ugly, one from colon cancer and the other from cancer that metastasized to his spine), I definitely can see both sides of this argument (the other side being that everyone has the right to merrily go to hell in their own, personalized handbasket).

But this argument strikes me as the worst kind of legal sophistry possible. The intent of the image was not to warn the user "You may get autopsied when you die!" but "if you smoke, this is what you doing to your insides!" The consequence they are warning you about is the destruction of your internal organs due to smoking, not having your body cut open post-mortem (at which point they really don't care). The last time I checked, autopsy was one of the few ways to examine organs post-mortem. So that particular argument is ridiculous.

14 years ago @ Big Peace - 1-Mar-12 World View --... · 1 reply · +3 points

"They call me Mister Beausabre!"

You're welcome!

IFF codes are somethign that can be changed fairly easily, to prevent just what you are suggesting from happening.

Apparently, the latest generation of electronic warfare suites are powerful enough to actually go into the computer systems of a hostile emitter and turn them off. This was apparently done in Libya by the US to kick in the door.

14 years ago @ Big Government - Clueless Socialists Pr... · 0 replies · +6 points

Well, the problem is that they thought they were protesting the MacGuyver Institute. They take objection to his inappropriate and unethical use of devices beyond the role authorized by the Federal Government!

14 years ago @ Big Peace - 1-Mar-12 World View --... · 3 replies · +4 points

The Tor-M1 missile complex is a surface-to-air missile system, not a ballistic missile used to attack cities. The Israelis would be interested in the "codes" for those missiles as it would enable them to conduct air attacks against the Iranian missile facitilies. I think the "codes" they are referring to are likely the software command dictionary for the system's data links, including the guidance channel from the ground station to the missile in flight. This would allow Israeli electronic warfare specialists to divert missiles, or even shut down the entire system by hacking their network. You can't really change those codes without rewriting the entire software package for the system.

14 years ago @ Big Peace - 29-Feb-12 World View: ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Continued:
Its not the communists you should be worried about, its the rabid nationalists who count here. The Chinese government tends to use nationalist sentiment to cover up their own shortcomings, stirring up trouble about the "dignity" of China when dealing with the US or Japan. This is exactly how Imperial China found itself at war with Europe and the US during the Boxer Rebellion. Court officials decided to exploit an unsettled population and embraced a virulent anti-Western popular movement. The end result was US Marines bivouacing in the Fobidden City, and the beginning of the end of the Quing dynasty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_rebellion

14 years ago @ Big Peace - 29-Feb-12 World View: ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Then why did Germany go to war with its biggest trading partners (UK, France and Russia) twice in 20 years? In 1909, there was a book written by Norman Angell called The Great Illusion. In it, he posited that war in peaceful, integrated, industrialized Europe was impossible because it didn't make economic sense. Billions of dollars in trade, equity and funds would be flushed down the drain if Europe went to war with itself, which is obviously ridiculous! And yet, less than 5 years later, peaceful, civilized Europeans were killing each other wholesale from Poland to France, and would do so for 4 more years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Illusion

As to the debt, I'm sure they would rationlize that they can force us to continue to honor those bonds as part of a peace settlement.

14 years ago @ Big Peace - 29-Feb-12 World View: ... · 1 reply · +2 points

Who says it would be a total war, besides John here? They could be planning for a local, limited conflict over either Taiwan or the East China Sea, and thinking, based on their analysis of our leadership (weak and fragmented) and optimistic appraisals of their own strength versus our own (probably inflated by scripted test results and perjured testimony from generals looking to keep their jobs. Hey, it happens here, why wouldn't it happen there?). They could be thinking that after taking a significant number of casualties, we would cede regional ascendancy to them as part of a negotiated settlement. This is exactly the sort of thinking the Japanese had at the start of the Pacific War.

14 years ago @ Big Government - Geithner: Rich Need to... · 1 reply · +4 points

She'll let you have a bite of her bacon-onion ring-double cheeseburger with extra cheese, bacon, onion rings and arugula after she's done with it.

14 years ago @ Big Journalism - John King Twists Audie... · 0 replies · 0 points

And you just contradicted yourself. How can the CIA say they have 3-5 nukes, when GEN Dempsey is saying “We also know, or we believe we know that Iran has not decided to make a nuclear weapon”.

Those two statements are mutually exclusive. It appears that you are arguing out of both sides of your mouth - ie we don't know that Iran has a weapon, but since Iran has a weapon and hasn't used it, they can be trusted to have them.

14 years ago @ Big Journalism - NYT's Charles Blow Moc... · 0 replies · +4 points

Or Joe Lieberman's "magic beanie".

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