kapkomet

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 11:04 AM) So...last year's nobel prize winning economist yesterday gave us this figure from the bad BLS numbers, showing that not only is the job market shrinking, but wages are stagnating and could soon start trending downwards. That's how one gets in to a deflation spiral. Wages go down, forces prices down, forces wages down. Yea... this is becoming a big problem.

Flying "jumpseat" in the cockpit of a cargo plane is interesting. And cargo guys don't really give a crap if they go through some turbulence. I've experienced terrible landings, aborted takeoffs, turbulence that really would make you s*** bricks, mechanical failures where you think you're going to not see the ground in one piece again, etc. One of the weirder times was flying on a very hot summer day. Now, yes, it's cold above, but static electricity is higher in the summer (duh, thunder, etc.). So many times, the front of the plane is conducting static electricity - it looks like little lightning dancing across the front of the plane - and you wouldn't know it sitting in the back. It's weird. Nothing to worry about, just weird, sitting there watching it. Good times.

QUOTE (Chet Lemon @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 11:26 PM) Afghanistan and Iraq are totally different. The Taliban controlled the Afghan government and provided shelter, training and money for the 9/11 terrorists. The Iraqi government did not. So? That's not the point.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 09:15 PM) And you know what? They did a hell of a lot more than just adding 20000 troops. They fundamentally shifted strategy and literally threw the bums out who were insisting that the old strategy was fine. They also got plenty lucky on the timing of the thing because the surge happened just about the time that the ethnic cleansing of Baghdad of everyone who wasn't a Shi'a was complete. And altogether, it caused a dramatic improvement. It wound up working. Hell, if you want me to say I was wrong, sure I didn't think it would work that well, but the shifts in strategy were huge. Had they not done that it may very well just have been more of a bloodbath. In Afghanistan, they've tripled the number of American troops in country and they're trying the same basic shifts in strategy. We'll see if it works. Sure they did a lot more. And yes, they had to change strategies. But it was "lost" and the strategy was "wrong" and... and ... and ... (insert whatever countless negative connotations from Democrats here). Now, the same thing is being done in Afghanistan, and Obama's a GENIUS for doing it. At least that's how it's being reported. What a f***tard that Bush was, no matter which way you want to slice it.

The larger point is that the "surge" is damn near the same in Afghanistan, and three years ago, everyone was against it that had a (D) behind their name. Why? For political motivations. PERIOD. Yes, there were a lot of other factors. And there are now. But the tactics are largely the same. Those (D)'s were pretty damn quick to dismiss it all because it was political, now the same tactics are supported.

It's amazing how much people go out of their way to find documents/websites/blogs that justify everything Barackus the Great and his Democrat buddies do, and how much people go out of their way to make anything GOP related look like they're evil incarnate/wrong or whatever on damn near any issue.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 06:53 PM) One more bit of data to fire back on the "It's never going to be profitable!" discussion; it appears venture capital sure thinks it will be. Why is this a surprise? Follow the money...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 06:16 PM) Really, there have been so many books written about all the things that needed to change to get Iraq back under control that this isn't even good kaperbole, it doesn't serve to illustrate any larger point, it's just kind of annoying. Yes, yes, I see. It's different now that Barackus the Great can take credit for all things well in Iraq. Or something. It's totally different now!

Oh, is this the Afghan "surge"? I thought that "surges" didn't work?

You know what's really f'ed up about this is how he keeps going to the press to talk about more encounters, women, bulls***, the whole nine yards. And it occured to me why: this asshole is trying to throw s*** back at his wife. It's nothing more then that, it can't be. This guy is the biggest piece of s*** a man can be. Someone needs to neuter this asshole so he can lose his ability to "love" ever again.

After his horrible start, he's coming on. He'll go through some more down times as the league adjusts. If he can get out of the "slumps" quicker and make adjustments to the adjustments he will see, he'll have a real good first season under his belt.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 10:39 AM) Did you just ignore what Balta and others have posted, that the amount of purchasing of this sort of equipment is skyrocketing? The facts are quite clear, demand is increasing at a very large pace, and there is zero question that this is where things will continue to go. The only questions are about which methods work best, what the pace will be like, what countries do which first, etc. There is absolutely nothing artificial about that. Its real demand. It just doesn't fit in the nice little nothing-changes box that some people want to stay in. Why is it skyrocketing? Because everyone knows the governments are mandating it. Duh. Otherwise, it would have been done long before now.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 12:31 PM) Stop crawling through sewers. Every time I've gone to the doctor's office the last three years, the nurse reminds me that I'm 5 years overdue for a tetnus shot. Today I finally gave in, and now I remember why I kept saying no. The damn things hurt. I have an ulnar nerve entrapment on my left arm - it feels like I have perpetually hit my funny bone - that sucks too. I really hope that I don't have to have surgery. Ortho appt. tomorrow.

Tetnus shots suck.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 09:11 AM) Yet Like I said... and like SS keeps trying to say - we're being forced into an artificial demand. That doesn't work well.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 07:55 AM) Seriously folks, I feel like I have to say this again as no one seems to see it, on either side of the aisle. The growth this country saw in the 80's, 90's and 00's was NOT MANUFACTURING. It was in areas where the US gets to the leading edge in technology, get it out the door in initial manufacturing, then move on to the next great thing, leaving secondary manufacturing growth to go overseas. We are not capable of competing with the costs structures that countries like India and China can output technical hardware and software at. Therefore, we have to be at the FRONT OF THE LINE. That is the most important aspect to growing these "green" jobs - more important even than getting off foreign oil or reducing pollution or avoiding future resource risk, all of which are very important. The world is about to launch into a huge need for this stuff, its just starting - if we get out in front, we win BIG. If we fall behind, we're in deep doo-doo. Its that simple. We need to invest in this now to get the payoff later, or we'll be the ones paying later. This right here is why our economy will NEVER be what it was ever again. You cannot experience real growth in the private sector without taking some of the money away from the government side. You have to produce stuff to make that happen. I know that our green president is trying to make a demand for this stuff, but if people think this is our ticket to economic growth, good luck with all that.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 08:03 AM) Of course there is, there is a ton of demand out there for this stuff. Its just a matter of deciding if you want to be leading edge - higher investment risk but higher return - or wait until the market grows. If you want, you can't keep up on cost, so you just became a buyer, which is a mistake. There's a ton of demand? If there were, then people would pay the price, no matter what it is, right? I mean, basic econ here. There's not as much demand as the green president would like you to think. He's trying to create demand.

George W. Bush sucks ass. So do Republicans.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:18 PM) Specifically ordering torture or deliberately turning a blind eye while your subordinates order torture however, is a war crime. WOOOO WOOOOO WOOOOO! GIT' THAT MOTHERf***ER! HHANG HIM!!

Oh damn, I missed it.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 29, 2009 -> 01:37 PM) And "liberal" viewpoints by judges always makes them Activists. Always. No, it makes them "right". Always.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 29, 2009 -> 01:44 PM) There's plenty of people who still call it a myth or a hoax. Nevermind. It's been addressed/

I don't think anyone says anything about climate change being a myth.

"Conservative" viewpoints are always wrong. Always.

Exactly, just give us the Euros and get it over with.