StrangeSox

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 8, 2011 -> 12:11 PM) Soldier #1: I was spit on when I returned from Vietnam. Liberal #1: No you weren't you imagined it or exaggerated it. Nope, looks to me like they are being called liars. Where are the soldiers making these claims? How much more clear can that be made? There's no one here saying "no, you are making that up" to individual soldiers' claims. What is being challenged is the idea that this sort of thing was even somewhat common and what's been shown is that there's little support, even anecdotally, for it. That doesn't mean it never happened or that the handful of incidents that were reported on at the time are being called lies or exaggerations.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 8, 2011 -> 11:06 AM) How is using "they" for "soldiers who were abused when they returned home from Vietnam" mysterious? It is pretty clear who I meant. Who are these real, actual people making these claims that are now being called liars?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 8, 2011 -> 11:02 AM) Of course not. Saying it didn't really happen is telling me that you think they were telling the truth. Who are these mysterious "they"? That's the whole point.

No one is calling soldiers liars because there's a distinct lack of actual soldiers that make this claim, certainly not enough to support it being a widespread phenomenon.

BTW the rape victim analogy doesn't hold up because no one's saying "well, they deserved it" or questioning soldiers' character and whether individually some of them were bad people. People question whether the supposed incidents even happened because there's not much evidence that they did and certainly not enough to support it being a widespread phenomenon.

The burden of proof is on someone making a positive claim ie "this event happened" because it's impossible to prove a negative.

That's still the thing: there's not much evidence to support that this is actually, you know, history, something that really happened more than a handful of times at most.

Again, that's the thing: actual eyewitness accounts are sorely lacking.

But that's the thing, you don't have a "vast majority of soldiers" claiming this. You've got a handful here and there at best(/worst, because it is a terrible thing).

Balta wasn't saying that returning Vietnam vets were or weren't treated poorly. He was pointing out that there's little or no evidence to support the "spit on in airports" claims.

New study out on efficacy and efficiency in healthcare programs. Britain's NHS was the main focus but other countries are examined as well. Paper here

New York's teams don't even play in the same state.

I just do not trust helicopters period. Those things are always crashing.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2011 -> 08:22 AM) I'm guessing that's why they did this on a Friday night. They wanted to make their political statement but they didn't want to set off an instant panic while the markets were open. bingo.

lololololol way to go, chicago park district!

why is it we put so much stock on the same ratings agencies that helped tank the world economy?

If they have no wage income but only capital gains income, you won't pay income taxes.

politics is not 1-d!

also I love what this thread has become

Can you distinguish between leftists and liberals?

QUOTE (The Sir @ Aug 5, 2011 -> 09:18 AM) Unchecked wealth redistribution that doesn't even require people be tested for drugs = social safety net. You're a sad little "man". :lolhitting :lolhitting

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 5, 2011 -> 08:55 AM) That didn't last long.

QUOTE (The Sir @ Aug 5, 2011 -> 09:16 AM) I didn't say we should put them in internment camps or something. But I will look at them suspiciously. keep digging.

QUOTE (The Sir @ Aug 5, 2011 -> 09:09 AM) Are you any different? Sure. Pop into some other threads. Look at the back-and-forth discussions that try to cite relevant information. You just come in and make proclamations. It's another way of saying you're not actually making a case for your position.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 5, 2011 -> 09:06 AM) Most Muslim Americans See No Justification for Violence that, like all of those "reports" that show Islamic terrorism by the liberal think-tanks known as the FBI and Europol is really a minor occurrence in the West, are simply lies. We know the enemy, and the enemy is Allah. All social safety net spending should be diverted from the maggots in the US to a $10T military budget to smash all those who would stand before us.