"McDonald’s is hiring"

Vuld U liek Freis Wit dat??
:-)

About frickin' time ...

first?

Absolutely!!!

Let them stew in their own juices.

This is move that is 10 years overdue.

#1 Buckaroo

"McDonald’s is hiring"

Vuld U liek Freis Wit dat??
:-)

About frickin' time ...

first?

Yep, yer first. And that was funny ;)

"Wurde Sie mögen Fischrogen mit dem?"
"Vous aiment des fritures avec cela ?"
and
"너 좋아한다 저것에 튀김을 하고자 했다?"

Get used to it, Eurabia.

Lysander

Finally!

Read the Podhoretz "WorldWar IV" essay here:

[Link: www.commentarymagazine.com...]

It's about the Bush Doctrine and the stakes in the upcoming election.

This is terrific news. F*** the Germans and the ungrateful South Koreans! I am a total
"reactionary" in that I believe that you support and reward your friends and turn your back on your fair weather friends and give your enemies (the French and Belgians and Germans) the contempt that they deserve.
Of coruse if God forbid Jean Francois Kerry wins teh White House expect the order to be reversed.

"Retention crisis" my ass. According to friends who are in the military, they are exceeding their retention goals, especially in the Guard and Reserve.

The Observer is blowing smoke out its ass. As usual.

I agree this is long overdue. If the Germans don't like it, well, Schroeder could have picked some other theme to campaign on, right?

# 3 Ly

We need evariste to get the Arabic for that phrase ...
:-)

At last! We launch some payback. This will do real damage to the kraut economy and possibly wake up the others that they are almost entirely defenseless against the barbaric hordes.

W better start drawing down those troops as much as possible before January to make the policy as concrete as he can. Just in case.

Make that "SUBWAY"...

Jm

GOOD!!!

They have sneered at our dollars long enough.

Now they can live without them...if that's possible.

Charles must have gotten into the pill cabinet again: he's posted three new topics in the last 29 minutes! How can the minions possibly keep up with this pace?

Captain Ed has some comments on this: "Auf Wiedersehen, Gerhard."

Link: [Link: www.captainsquartersblog.com...]

One of the posters calculates that the move will cost Germany at least $600 million per year. "50,000 troops + families X $1000 per month spent on the economy on average X 12 months = $600 million.

That is just straight cash out of the economy. When you take into account the ripple effects and lost jobs by German nationals I think that figure will go up dramatically."

# 12 zombie

Yeah, outnumbering him 900 to 1 turns out to be only so much of an advantage!
:-)

We have 50,000 troops in Germany? Are you serious?

From the article,

The rapid turnaround in deployments in units has resulted in a growing retention crisis.

Editorialize much? No quotes on "crisis"? "We here at the Observer just assume your anti-Bush bias is the same as ours." "Journalistic practices and ethics? Pshaw!"

Is that even true? I've heard special forces are leaving for private security money, but that generally retention is very good.

#13 Connecticut Yankee

That is just straight cash out of the economy. When you take into account the ripple effects and lost jobs by German nationals I think that figure will go up dramatically."

Also consider all the supply items bought by the militar: The food to feed the single troops, the fuel for the aircrafts and tanks, the electrical power to run the bases - lots of stuff.

Also, great news! It's about damn time. Who are we protecting Germany from, France?

#8 Buckaroo

# 3 Ly

We need evariste to get the Arabic for that phrase ...
:-)

Absolutely!

Evariste... where are ya?

#12 zombie

Charles must have gotten into the pill cabinet again: he's posted three new topics in the last 29 minutes! How can the minions possibly keep up with this pace?

I know; I got a RSS reader finally last week, set to update LGF as fast as possible (every 15 min) for the software, and it's still slow! ;)

Lysander

#18 Beagle

Who are we protecting Germany from, France?

We could have a Boy Scout troop do that.

This is only, like 13 years overdue.

I was trying to visualize France invading Germany, but the only image that my mind can summon up is that band trapped in that alley at the end of Animal House

Retention and recruitment are at their highest levels in over twenty years, so the media go shove that lie up where the sun don't shine. I'm glad we are moving our troops to places where they are needed and finally giving the ungrateful nations in Europe the finger. Let's see how much they hate America when the gravy train of billions of dollars that our troops pump into their stagnant economies suddenly pulls out of the station. For too long the German's have hated us and we've been stupid enough to give them protection and money, now they are getting EXACTLY what they deserve BO DIDDLY SQUAT.

#19 Lysander

I know; I got a RSS reader finally last week, set to update LGF as fast as possible (every 15 min) for the software, and it's still slow! ;)

The email program Bloomba will read RSS feeds up once every minute.

Firefox also has a neat and free RSS plugin

And the far left is complaining already:

Anti-war groups International ANSWER and 'Not In Our Name' today denounced President Bush’s proposed troop reductions in Europe and Asia. “We’ve been condemning the fascist spread of US hegemony ever since we got media attention. This is a calculated maneuver by this lying, unilateralist, war-mongering chicken-hawk Administration to make us look like fools. This proves Bush is Hitler!” said Code Pink spokesperson Medea Benjamin from her prison cell, having been arrested at the Democratic National Convention.

The troop pullout, scheduled to begin later this year, includes two divisions in Germany consisting of 70,000 troops, and approximately 35,000 troops from South Korea. “We’re in a Nazi Reich again, with troops being recalled from foreign peacekeeping defensive operations to the fatherland,” added international political analyst Janeane Garofolo.

#18 Beagle

Ever hear the joke about the EU's joint Franco-German army? It's the only military that knows how to be aggressive and rude at the same time.

The timing on this is superb. It throws a huge X factor into global foreign policy everywhere.

And yes, at last Rumbo gets back into the Great Game in a big way.

Actually, McDonalds won't be hiring for long. I heard today that they are about to outsource their drive through window order takers to a database, and they are looking into kiosks for customers to place their orders on inside the store as well as "mechanical" burger flippers.

I'm serious, too!

FU Germany and South Korea...

Hey, I'm stealing the Subway bit, jmeyer. Thanks.

The move is Dig Dog Don Rumsfeld's. Old Europe indeed. Time to end the socialist day reverie and make these cowards pay their way and defend themselves. If I were Big Dog I'd tell the axis of weasel we'll only come back one more time: to save the artistic treasures of Western Civilization and bring home our WW 1&2 dead when the moonbat jihadis make their play to relive the battles of al andalus, tours, lepanto and vienna.

Bwahahahah!

We've been hearing rumblings about this for a little bit at my post, too.

Can't wait to hear the Nazi whining.

You know who else is living off our largesse? Canada. If it weren't for our presence, Canada would have to increase its military budget and cut some of their anti-freedom policies (like arresting pastors for quoting the Bible) and socialism. Their welfare state is a direct result of the American aegis.

Europe, too, is a beneficiary of our dominance. It won't be long before the EUnuchs are forced to reconsider their ham-handed approach to social policy.

This may be a good move, but look at it this way - we're just going to have to redeploy them back in about 20 years after we finish kicking the Crescent Menace out of Europe, liberating that continent yet again.

OT: (but then, not so OT at all)

Perhaps it's been posted already, but here's a good summary which may help you to better understand the Arab-Israeli conflict.

[Link: www.benadorassociates.com...]

Number of times Jerusalem is mentioned in the Old Testament: over 700

Number of times Jerusalem is mentioned in the Koran: 0

Number of Arab leaders who visited Jerusalem when it was under Arab rule (1948 to 1967): 1

Number of Arab refugees who fled the land that became Israel: approximately 600,000

Number of Jewish refugees who fled Arab countries: approximately 600,000

Number of U.N. agencies that deal only with Palestinian refugees: 1

Number of U.N. agencies that deal with all the other refugees in the world: 1

Number of Jewish states that have existed on the land called Palestine: 3

Number of Arab or Muslim states that have existed on the land called Palestine: 0

Number of terrorist attacks by Israelis or Jews since 1967: 1

Number of terrorist attacks by Arabs or Muslims since 1967: thousands

Percentage of Jews who have praised the Jewish terrorist: approximately .1

Percentage of Palestinians who have praised Islamic terrorists: approximately 90

Number of Jewish countries: 1

Number of Jewish democracies: 1

Number of Arab countries: 19

Number of Arab democracies: 0

Number of Arab women killed annually by fathers and brothers in "honor killings": thousands

Number of Jewish women killed annually by fathers and brothers in "honor killings": 0

Number of Christian or Jewish prayer services allowed in Saudi Arabia: 0

Number of Muslim prayer services allowed in Israel: unlimited

Number of Arabs Israel allows to live in Arab settlements in Israel: 1,250,000

Number of Jews Palestinian Authority allows to live in Jewish settlements in Palestinian Authority: 0

Percentage of U.N. Commission on Human Rights resolutions condemning an Arab country for human rights violations: 0

Percentage of U.N. Commission on Human Rights resolutions condemning Israel for human rights violations: 26

Number of U.N. Security Council resolutions on the Middle East between 1948 and 1991: 175

Number of these resolutions against Israel: 97

Number of these resolutions against an Arab state: 4

Number of Arab countries that have been members of the U.N. Security Council: 16

Number of times Israel has been a member of the U.N. Security Council: 0

Number of U.N. General Assembly resolutions condemning Israel: 322

Number of U.N. General Assembly resolutions condemning an Arab country: 0

Percentage of U.N. votes in which Arab countries voted with the United States in 2002: 16.6

Percentage of U.N. votes in which Israel voted with the United States in 2002: 92.6

Percentage of Middle East Studies professors who defend Zionism and Israel: approximately 1.

Percentage of Middle East Studies professors who believe in diversity on college campuses: 100

Percentage of people who argue that the Jewish state has no right to exist who also believe some other country has no right to exist: 0

Percentage of people who argue that of all the countries in the world, only the Jewish state has no right to exist and yet deny they are anti-Jewish: approximately 100

Number of Muslims in the world: more than 1 billion

Number of Muslim demonstrations against Islamic terror: approximately 2

#20 [Engineer]

#18 Beagle

Who are we protecting Germany from, France?

We could have a Boy Scout troop do that.

I debated this years ago for my Eagle project - building a greenhouse was far more effective though. ;)

#24 [Engineer]

The email program Bloomba will read RSS feeds up once every minute.

Firefox also has a neat and free RSS plugin

Firefox does? I'm playing around with it (firefox) and didn't know that.... help?

#25 Bleeding heart conservative

There's no pleasing some people....

Lysander

#25 bhc

Hey, the L3s are already blaming Hurricane Charley (a good thing, BTW, that it wasn't called "Charles," although Kos et al. probably think Lizardoid Masster was behind it anyway) on Karl Rove's spin machine:

Michele at A Small Victory has the highlights of an article from Newsday:

Newsday: "WE QUESTION THE TIMING OF THIS HURRICANE!"

Ladies and Gents, the highlights (in extended entry):

Once Hurricane Charley is gone from Florida, it's a safe bet President Bush will sweep in. Natural calamities present political opportunity, and many crucial electoral votes are in the path of Charley's howling winds.
Bush swiftly issued a disaster declaration to expedite federal aid as Charley tore into the Florida Gulf Coast on Friday. He was acting on a request that had come from his brother Jeb, the governor...
Officials are loath to ascribe campaign motives to emergency response, but politics infuses everything this close to an election. No more so than in the state that handed Bush the presidency.
The hurricane bore down not only on the scene-stealing state of the last election, but one of the most politically dynamic parts of it -
For Bush, lessons of disaster politics are close to home. His father's political advisers were caught flat-footed at a similar point of the campaign cycle -- August 1992 -- when Hurricane Andrew wreaked havoc in Florida.

Barring an obviously inept performance from the White House, natural disasters inoculate presidents from campaign criticism for a time..
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, for example, won't let himself be seen as begrudging Floridians federal relief dollars no matter how generous, analysts say.
In 1992, Democratic candidate Bill Clinton toured Andrew's aftermath but carefully avoided jabbing at his opponent over the halting response
Clinton's on-the-scene empathy after the Oklahoma City bombing moved people during a low point in his presidency, and his visits to disasters including Midwestern floods became a tour de force.
I ask you. Bias or not?

Link to Newsday article: [Link: www.newsday.com...]

The Soviet Union doesn't exist. The countries of the former Soviet Union are not posing any known threat to Europe. So it's about time that US troops were withdrawn. More troops should be withdrawn from old Europe, so that old Europe gets a chance to think about defending itself, instead of merely making money from our misplaced, outdated deployment there.

The weasels of old Europe have taken a pacifist stance for far too long, getting soft from the thought that the US would protect them against anything, and also resenting the US and opposing US foreign policy initiatives left and right, and triangulating against us.

I applaud the Bush administration for this step.

Nice stats, nitpicker. Really says it all, huh?

33 Titus- let them kick the Crescent menace out themselves. If they become a threat to us we will deal with them, otherwise ...
I think we're (the US and Allawi) about to kick major butt in Najaf.

OT- Mike Phelps got his first gold.One downs, six to go.

Good.

They don't "need" us anyway.

OT

Guess who was one of the BBC "journalists" detained by the Israelis the other day:

Held at gunpoint:
The BBC's Orla Guerin tells of her four-hour ordeal in Nablus

Outside the house there was no sign of any military presence. Dr Hamdan went in, and we followed soon afterwards.

But before we found him, Israeli troops found us, forcing us at gunpoint into a disused room on the upper storey - first the cameraman, then the producer, then me.

There we saw Rana, trapped in a chair in the corner, a white headscarf on her silver hair.

She was neatly dressed, and alert, flanked protectively by the doctor and a Palestinian paramedic.

Soldiers seized our phones, confiscated our camera tape and when we tried to leave forced us back, at the barrel of a gun.

Dr Hamdan stood upright, calm and polite, showing more resignation than surprise.

"Three days ago soldiers kept me like this for hours," he said. "It's happened to me about 10 times in the past few years."

It gets worse. Why Israel allows her into the country is beyond me.

Soldiers: young, cocky, murderous.

Palestinians: polite, resigned, would give Orla coffee if they could, but can't because of the ock-yew-pay-shun.

Bitch.

In case you haven't been to THE MESOPOTAMIAN lately, here you go. I want to foward this to the Whitehouse, the pentagon, CIA, etc. Although I'm sure they are very much aware of the situation on the ground, sometimes it doesn't seem as such. 'Alaa' paradigms VDH in his clarity in addressing issues, and being an anti-idiotarian in general. His latest post reeks of patriotism and hope. I don't pray, but I hope like hell his sentiments (and it seems as though the majority of Iraqis) don't fall on deaf ears.

OT but a good candidate for the "pigs fly" graphic to come out of hiding again:

Announcing the launch of American Muslims for Bush:

[Link: www.paknews.com...]

Quote:

"In comparing President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry, the founders of the group, Muhammad Ali Hasan and Seeme Hasan, strongly felt that even on issues like the Patriot Act, Iraq War, and Afghanistan War, President Bush management, leadership, and most importantly, vision, have been above expectations, warranting a 2004 victory. "

Mordred: Wow. Just. Wow.

#35 Lysander

building a greenhouse was far more effective though. ;)

Perfect. I need one before the cold weather gets here for my nepenthes (hanging pitcher, carnivorous) plants. I should worry about the hurricanes first. This year could make up for all the quiet years.

Man, this is a glorious day. Germany, reap.

#33 Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

This may be a good move, but look at it this way - we're just going to have to redeploy them back in about 20 years after we finish kicking the Crescent Menace out of Europe, liberating that continent yet again.

It also removes some targets if Eurabia decides to try on some Phillistine-style semtex suits. AND, lets us use aerial bombardment without a lot of our people on the ground ;)

Lysander

I love it!! I can't even guess at the number of times I have called for exactly this kind of withdrawal on threads here, but I never thought any American administration would actually do it in my lifetime.

I doubt that the Germans will take any steps to defend themselves - they're hopelessly pacifist and multi-culti these days and will figure they don't need any defense budget at all. But their economy will go down the toilet nevertheless and Herr Schroeder will have plenty of time to repent his shameful pandering to anti-American sentiment.

I'll bet that Poland and Rumania have already been on the phone to Rummy begging for our bases.

Bleeding Heart Conservative #25 -
Is that for real??? That's too dumb even for LLL's.

Charles, do we get another photo of the "Thousand Styles of Rummy"? V the K can doubtless come up with an appropriate caption.

McDonald’s is hiring.

Ouch!

That cruel, Charles. :-p

#25 BHC

“We’re in a Nazi Reich again, with troops being recalled from foreign peacekeeping defensive operations to the fatherland,” added international political analyst Janeane Garofolo.

My fucking jaw just landed in the shag. Not by what the bitch said, because I can see that bullshit coming, it was the "international political analyst" part that made me shit myself.

Its shit like this that makes me happy I'm a damn good shot with a certain high power rifle that I own, with a high power scope to boot. All that deer hunting really pays off.

Sometimes I wish murder was acceptable, if not legal.
*bucksnort*,*spit*

OT: sorry about that.....

[Link: www.mercurynews.com...]

John Kerry doesn't want to go to Florida to see the damage because his campaign entourage would "distract from recovery efforts."

hint to John Kerry: You don't have to bring 'em you dummy!

/rage against stupidity

OK - I see that the "article" posted by BHC #25 is satire.

Whew!

Lysander Go here:

[Link: update.mozilla.org...]

I use the Sage RSS reader plus several other plugins

We should consider who it is we are withdrawing from.

We are withdrawing our troops from Germany. Which means they will have to build up their own army. Which means that the most dangerous men on Earth will be rebuilding their military.

Remember that the Germans were easily the best troops on the field in both WWI and WWII. I'm not so sure that this is a bright move on our part.

Also, keeping our troops in S. Korea is not just to protect the S. Koreans. It is to put a check on Chinese Imperialism (funny, how none of the libs ever use that word appropriately) and N. Korean psychosis.

I have little doubt that the Pres and his staff understand full well the consequences of these actions. What it really says is that this is a desperate move to get more troops on the ground. We are overstretched as it is.

Don't break out the champaine just yet boys...

-ron

If McD's isn't hiring, the Germans can always work for Subway. Wasn't that the chain whose German branch had advertising asking why the "Amis" are so fat?

Folks, #25's article clearly states:

-Satire by Brian Crouch-

Yes, they are crazy. But be realistic, they don't even know this will happen yet.

Should of done it 10 years ago, Now is a good time to pack it in, and let the anti-american EU take care of itself. They think we are imperialist cowboys anyway. If we have to redeploy later to save them from the Muslims, they will cheer us, then hate us. Just like they do now...

#53 ballantrae:

...Germany. Which means they will have to build up their own army. Which means that the most dangerous men on Earth will be rebuilding their military.

Not if their recent pronouncements are any indication.

Remember a few months ago when a German man said that they believe that nothing is worth going to war over?

If that's true, our pacification program really worked.

(Let's try it on the islamists.)

#49
RE: #25

Phheeww! I guess I should actually click on the link and read it before I fly off the handle. I just got done inscribing Jeneanne Garofalo on a .30-06 round. Ahh fuck it, she deserves it anyways.

# 53 bal

"The plan will see a number of US bases in Germany closed down, and troops returned home or redeployed to Eastern Europe"

i.e. if (**big** if given the LLL-infestation of German political and social thought today) some "Adolph Scrhoder" wants to start a 4th Reich, we'll be coming at 'em from the East -- and we know how well they do against opponents in that direction ...
:-~

My computer locked up and exploded this afternoon, and somehow all my cookies were lost.

So, if I remember my password ok, I've cut and pasted my nick, and will do the "remember me" thingie.

I saved addresses for two weeks, and all that is gone, so I have to remember all the cool URLs all over again for tropical weather sites

# 60 Ed

Man, that's like a retailer's pricing computer going out on Dec. 20th ...
:-(

We've known this was happening for the last two years. My little bro is stationed in Germany (although he is in Iraq right now) and he wrote me that there has been a huge downslide in the way the Germans treat the American troops.

Before he left in January (and I doubt it's better now), they were to change out of uniform before leaving base, soldiers had gotten run off the road by German drivers, etc.

And I have to ask, these people think they are MORE civilized than we? What crack are they smokin'?

However, a delegation of German mayors from US installation areas visited Congress right after the German election to make sure that Americans knew that not all Germans believed the rhetoric being slung during that election. They know they will be the first hit with the loss of money.

56 LoFlyer

I say we should redeploy when the DU's say "I'm Lucy" 3 times, then they'll have live in the knowledge that they begged to be saved by the US.

/ In a Dreamworld

My family came from Germany (OK it was a long time ago, but they did come from what used to be PART of Germany).

This news couldn't make me happier. We needed to pull out of Germany ever since the old USSR imploded.

#54 CY

Wasn't that the chain whose German branch had advertising asking why the "Amis" are so fat?

Ach so, die Amis sind fett, aber sie umgruppieren schnell!

Oh, about retention, etc...

I've heard an awful lot of complaints from Army guys about a back door draft.

And they are RIFing Air Force and Navy right now for being over congressionally mandated numbers - so says my Air Force Times issue from a month back or so.

The funny thing is - a lot of congressman want to raise the allowable numbers due to the hectic deployment schedules but the DOD refuses to admit it is necessary. I know Husband has been on Stop Loss for what seems like forever. And I'm lucky to see him 6 months out of hte year (and that's a large amount of time for a military family). I've gotta say - I wish there wasn't so much sunk cost in the whole "meaner, leaner military" by some people, I'd like to be a married person more often.

[Dark, malevolent laughter]

All our base be closed to Weasels :-P

Heh. It's nice to see some good news for a change. Especially after a 10 hour debugging marathon.

Those troops had important missions:

1. protecting the German and South Koreans (and their economies) from reality;
2. protecting them from themselves.

The south koreans have the north korean army breathing down their necks, and the Germans have still uncounted millions of teenage hajis just waiting for the signal to Sharia-fy Herr and Fraulein Deutschland. I look forward to seeing how they will deal with these, er. . . "challenges."

The scary thing is...that satire (from BHC #25 ) is too close to reality. It's exactly the type of thing these people will say, scream and yell about. Scary.

This is a good step all the way around. I expect to hear from the MSM tho that they need to stay to 'protect our interests'...or something similar, or to help their economies just stupid stuff like that.

These days they won't even bat an eyelash when they contradict themselves.

#56 LoFlyer,

Why would we ever redeploy to save those ungrateful shits? Let them experience the glorious state of bliss that is Sharia, and blockade the fuckers.

And if they get pissy about it, wax Bigel on their ass :-)

The AP story Who needs campaign money when you have AP, right Jean Kerrie?

The decision is sure to be a politically popular one at a time when Bush has refused to offer a timetable for bringing home the roughly 140,000 U.S. troops from Iraq.

Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) has said he would try to begin withdrawing some troops from Iraq within his first six months in office.

That promise has drawn ridicule from Bush, who has said it would encourage the enemy to hunker down and wait out the United States. But it has also put pressure on the commander in chief at a time when the death toll on U.S. service members is approaching 1,000.

Bush did not mention his decision at a campaign rally in Sioux City, Iowa.

It's a political decision according to AP but Bush failed to mention it a campaign stop. A self-defeating article.

#69 Mashiki,

Ain't it the truth! I didn't even realize it was satire (I didn't click the link). I simply rolled my eyes, and thought "It figures. What asshats." and went on down the thread.

Ballantrae:

We are withdrawing our troops from Germany. Which means they [Germans] will have to build up their own army. Which means that the most dangerous men on Earth will be rebuilding their military.

It's about time we left--after 55 years. If the Krauts get too uppity, the rest of Europe will just have to make do. Or make nice.

Ballantrae:

Also, keeping our troops in S. Korea is not just to protect the S. Koreans. It is to put a check on Chinese Imperialism (funny, how none of the libs ever use that word appropriately) and N. Korean psychosis.

The South Koreans have more than 600,000 troops and their economy is good enough to support an even larger contingent, if necessary. As for the Chinese, if they plan to muscle Japan, SK, Taiwan, Phillipines, Ozland, and the Kiwis...those folks better develop a regional military force because we sure as hell aren't going to fight their war given the strength of their collective economies and populations.

Ballantrae:

I have little doubt that the Pres and his staff understand full well the consequences of these actions. What it really says is that this is a desperate move to get more troops on the ground. We are overstretched as it is.

It addresses the political backstabbing we've suffered since 9-11 by many of the so-called free nations in Europe and Asia. They all think we'll be there for them no matter what they do to us. This is the global wake-up call that our erstwhile allies had better start pulling their weight for the rest of the war.

WOOOOHOOOO! This made my... year. Right now I wouldn't even mind if Kerry got elected.

"The problem in Europe is that we will be redeploying from one Nazi Jewhating shithole (Germany) to another (Poland)."

Frankly, I knew there was a reason such lowlifes like [bigoted word]s/islamofacists were put on this earth.

Idiots have to balance each other and, unfortunately, there are plenty of these on our side as well ...

#74 LooseCoin,

Right now I wouldn't even mind if Kerry got elected.

You are aware of my rule, aren't you? If you aren't, read cba's excellent FAQ :-)

While thisis cause for celebration, and drinks for the House are in order, my rule still applies :-)

Well, I do bookmark all my really hard to remember, yet essential URLs.

#53 ballantrae

I have little doubt that the Pres and his staff understand full well the consequences of these actions. What it really says is that this is a desperate move to get more troops on the ground. We are overstretched as it is.

Only the LLL think we are "overstretched." We are not even on a war footing and have been rotating the guys back, even giving some R&R trips back.

DOD wants to get more combat power out of the troops we have by putting unformed people in combat units and using DOD's civil service types for the non-combat jobs, but Congress and the civil service is fighting to keep things just the way they are.

70 Iron Fist

And if they get pissy about it, wax Bigel on their ass :) "

Funny as hell...LOL.

42 Mordred

Muhammad Ali Hasan and Seeme Hasan

To the best of your knowledge, these guys are real?

I am quite worried about leaving Germany to its own devices. This is the country that started two world wars!
And while it was fun to see France overrun and make jokes about the trees in Paris being planted so Germans could march in the shade....history really does repeat itself. Just 60 years ago Germany was the most radical expansionist and racist regime, and there are those who still celebrate it. Plus they make awesome guns (HKs).

I do hope we stick a division or two in Poland to keep the Jerries in line.

#77 Ed....

I would kill for those URL's......

#72 Iron Fist: A drink to you! I did exactly the same thing, rolled my eyes and scrolled down. lol It is very bad to even think that people have sunk to that, the reality is...you can talk to people on the street and they will say that the US is a police state. We know that these are the same people who have screamed things close in the past. It's not a leap in thinking.

I wonder if in the future psychologists and historians will study the left right now as a case of mass-psychosis.

Iron Fist

Notice the 'leaking of the kerry dike'..more are starting to question.

May not be the 'alphabets' nor the nyt/wapo...but the dike has definitely sprung a few more leaks.

"We are withdrawing our troops from Germany. Which means they [Germans] will have to build up their own army. Which means that the most dangerous men on Earth will be rebuilding their military."

Oh please, there is nothing "special" about Germans.
Up until Prussia came along, the people we know as Germans weren't all that formidable and frankly, militarily couldn't compete with neighboring powers like France or Poland.

Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame and XX century was their time.

For God's sake - there was a time when Romans ruled Europe and I don't really know anyone who is afraid of Italians these days ...

#84 warmi

Zee Germanz are comink, zee Germanz are comink!

Tchuess!

Does anybody really think the Urinepeons will actually increase their defense spending now that we're cutting our presence?

I don't know a whole lot about Poland, and I'm sure they had their share of antisemites, and people who probably even cooperated with the Nazis. But they were invaded by the forces of two of the three great evils (Communism and Nazism, and I do believe it was a Pole who led the forces that stopped the third great evil near Vienna), and I suspect the Pope wasn't the only Pole in occupied Poland who resisted the Nazis.

I suspect the percentage of active collaborators with the Nazis in France would be several times higher than Poland.

#84 warmi

For God's sake - there was a time when Romans ruled Europe and I don't really know anyone who is afraid of Italians these days ...

There was that movie produceer. He was pretty damn scared of Vito Corleone....;-)

News of the troops coming home inspired a Niall Ferguson moment.

Oh, this is ugly. I lost all my "remember password" cookies.

Thank goodness I remembered my password for [Link: pro.accuweather.com...] , the best $9/month you'll ever spend.

I was watching TV this afternoon, while watching the news waiting for my storm floater satellite loop to refresh via 56k smoke signal modem when the dread "blue screen of death" popped up, and after the restart, things were different.

#40 SoCalJustice

It gets worse. Why Israel allows her into the country is beyond me.

That Irish whore is married to a Palestinian.

Later a few threats were murmured in my direction."She'll get out of here in a body bag," one soldier said in Hebrew, assuming incorrectly, that we would not understand.

One day that's exactly what is going to happen.

90 Ed Moran

Buy a new box, with Windows XP Pro..eliminates "blue screen of death".

You just have the regular holes in the security system, constant patches for those holes, constant updates (translation, we found more holes in the security system)...BUT there are NO "blue screen of death".

By the way...absolutely outstanding reporting of 'Charley', as well as others.

#90 Ed Moran: Abu GOMEX aoa 28C

56k smoke signal modem

I know how you feel. I am doing a 300 meg site upload and it has ALL my bandwidth hogged thus making LGF like the old 28 k days.

#80 JoshUCLA

I am quite worried about leaving Germany to its own devices. This is the country that started two world wars!

Yep. Let's forget that the US army was in Germany not because the Germans were the threat to the US but because the Soviets were a threat to the rest of Europe and the world.

Would you declare war on Germany if they ask the US troops to leave?

#92 Elcid,

Actually, you are wrong. I have seen the XP Blue Screen of Death.

It's just a prettier Blue Screen :-P

Europe is akin to the lover who takes thier partner for granted. When that happens, the partner says "enough" and leaves.

Cest La Vi France

and whatever is the equivalant in German.

#92 Elcid

Buy a new box, with Windows XP Pro..eliminates "blue screen of death".

True, XP has them in all colors:-)

XP is by far the best operating system Microsoft has built. In another 10 years they might be as good as AT&T UNIX was. Really, it is a good system, but it still can bite you.

Fishing in the 32C waters of Galveston Bay tomorrow, gotta wake up in 6 hours.

G'night.

BTW, just looked at the global models from 8/15/04 00Z, and only the NOGAPS actually has "Earl" as an entity in a week. I suspect Earl does stick around, though it may not strengthen much in the Eastern Caribbean, where storms usually barely hold their own. The NOGAPS at 144 hours is farthest east with the west end of the Atlantic ridge, showing the beginning of recurvature into the Eastern Gulf. MRF and Canadian have the back end of the ridge in the Central Gulf, which means Louisiana/Mississippi would be at risk. Too early to tell, but unless Earl stays far enough south to hit Mexico, it is probably a little over a week away from hititng somewhere on the Gulf Coast.

I don't think my wife will let me spend the money to replace the six year old Gateway running Windows 98

What's Germany's main export besides cuckoo clocks? I ordered one from them once, a good one, the damn thing crapped out after a few months. Ravensburger does puzzles and games, I know that. Just what the hell do they do over there?

95 Iron Fist

"Actually, you are wrong. I have seen the XP Blue Screen of Death."

"It's just a prettier Blue Screen :-P"

Well I have had XP since...oh hell forgot, and have yet to blue screen myself, honestly. And I'm the kind of person that has to wear a sterile suit and be throughly stripped and body cavitied, before turning this bastard on.

But if it's there, I will find...lol.

#92 Elcid, re: Ed Moran

By the way...absolutely outstanding reporting of 'Charley', as well as others.

I concur. Ed, your reporting of Charley was spectacular, man. I mean, I felt that I was right there, experiencing the hurricane, being the hurricane! Every rain band, every squall, every updraft and deepening, I was right there, facing Charley in all his wrath, and staring that monster down.

Oh, and I liked the animated maps, too. They were fun.

OK, now, really, for sure, bedtime.

No better operating system, at least six years ago, than "AIX".

All the Halliburton Wireline and Perforating Machines ran them, and since various offices would actually work on machines in other people's offices (if Halliburton was logging a well for a company in the Gulf, and that company had a partner in Denver, and the engineer in Denver didn't want to come in at 3 am to make a 4mm LIS tape for the partner, he could put said tape in his drive, and I could telnet in, write the tape, and call the salesman.)

Because you never knew when you might have to change protections (in AIX, with a command called "chmod") and might need to be the SU, most engineers/log analysts set the password to "wireline". For ease of use, the ftp and telnet passwords were alos "wireline".

I can say that now, because I'm sure Halliburton is using a different system now, and they did have an external firewall.

We only had two AIX boxes, but three users, but that was ok because multiple people could work on the machine

In the goat locker on patrol once, we watched a movie a guy snuck on board called "Barnyard Animals". Talk about weird shit, and this was before computer animation so it was real. They all spoke German (not the particpating animals, just the people), come to think of it. I bet German AND Porn AND "Animal Sex" will overload a guy's computer.

#99 Godzilla

What's Germany's main export besides cuckoo clocks?

Exports:$696.9 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports -machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles
Exports - partners: France 10.7%, US 10.3%, UK 8.4%, Italy 7.3%, Netherlands 6.1%, Austria 5.1%, Belgium 4.8%, Spain 4.6%, Switzerland 4.2% (2002)

CIA World Factbook

#99 Godzilla

Just what the hell do they do over there?

Um, ever heard of BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Seimens, and Hoechst?

97 [Engineer]

"True, XP has them in all colors:-)"

Oh trust me, I'm not arguing with you or Iron Fist, I believe you...Just hasn't happened to me yet.

Well at least you guys have lessened the shock value, when I have my first one.

Thanks. I was drawing a blank there for a minute.

#98 Ed Moran: Abu GOMEX aoa 28C,

I don't think my wife will let me spend the money to replace the six year old Gateway running Windows 98

[Shudder]

Jeezus, holmes, your wife has you on so tight a leash that you can't spend $500 to replace an ancient artifact?

Admittedly, that system wouldn't be adequate for my needs, but your system wouldn't even be capable of operating at my needs :-)

If you lived closer, I could probably get you a better deal (I've got a friend who is a VAR for Dell. He can usually beat their website), but $500 ain't exactly a lot of money. If you watch Dell's site, you can do better than that, especially if you are willing to buy a refurbished machine.

OT Olympics-related item:

IRAN REFUSES TO FIGHT ISRAEL

They should enjoy not fighting Israel now in Athens at judo while they can, because they won't have any choice when IAF jets are screaming across their skies later to vaporize their reactor à la Osirak 1981.

Hopefully the pay for reactor workers in Iran is handsome. Those were the only casualties at Osirak.

Go check out Drudge - he has a picture of Kerry and just below it an ad for something better than Botox

This is a tricky Question. US Troops are a cash cow for Germany and South Korea (!!) (What happened to the Axis of Evil??? - oh, sorry, it's now going high-tech, w/support of S.Korea troops, {admittedly formidable but) against 1, M. underfed and (potentially rebellious, hopefully) pawns of the Disney-loving nightmare to the North) and

destabilizing countries that through their subscription to the US dollar as the world's RESERVE CURRENCY, well it is a delicate game.

I'll assume that 'dummy monkey Dubya' has already sussed this, and further, that the markets have discounted it. It would certainly explain why gold is not solidly at $460 today, and climbing.

Ok. Let's see what happens.

(realistically, given that N. Korea can smell the winds, maybe they'll open up, and subsequently execute a few hundred officers for the concentration camps that will be revealed. Ya. That's the ticket. Shhhurelly!)(some say, that FIGHT is not 'over yet'...but heck, google it, lizards - Charles might be right, and VDH.)
(That is, I"d let Germany burn and the rest of Europe too if the ol' Russkie's decide to 'come in', in a pinch. But I don't like S.Korea going. Sorry. I like 'em.)

#102 Ed Moran: - Abu

Hope the Fish in fear of the recent tempest, rise to your hook.... :-) Feast Well!

Engineer

I couldn't get past the second paragraph. Kerry is fast approaching road kill. Couldn't the sob defend himself? What a measly pos.

#108 Iron Fist

Well, if it was mine, i wouldn't go 'refurbished'...I'd be particular and spend $6--$7 hundred US and get reliable operating components. Investment like that is good for 3 years.

#106 Elcid

Oh trust me, I'm not arguing with you or Iron Fist, I believe you...Just hasn't happened to me yet.

An hour ago, something renamed the "My Document" folder and all the folders under it by changing the first two letters to %% and it would not let me rename them. Ran Spybot, rebooted and it was fixed. Strange.

Suddenly occured to me, relevant post #111: -

Remember the 48 Hour Rule. I (and I hope we) can look to Schroeder and his buds to watch their own house, now....and only a 'token' withdrawal from S. Korea, who need the US, big time - against perhaps the biggest monster of all. Sun-o-Dogbitch Kim, or whatever his name is....

Time to see if Germany can do the 'military thing' without trying to take over the world. Show and tell. Bit less welfare for the flooding immigration, but so sad.

Welcome to the Free World, assholes. Free Ride is OVER.

Good one, Dubya.

That sucks. They didn't say what units are being redeployed.

I guess Ihave to tell my kid to try to switch MOS and go Rangers. He'll make it. I raised him to be tough and he is smart.

I feel for him, cause his sweetie is a German girl and he was hoping to live there for some time.

He wanted to study there and major in Germanic language and be an interpreter for the State dept.

Shit is getting even deeper.

On the other hand, it's about time. We need troops in Germany like we need more illegal immigrants.

The conflict that we call the Arab-Israeli conflict is, in truth an Arab conflict with Western, and particularly American, colonialism. The U.S. treats [the Arabs] as it treated the slaves inside the American continent. To this end, [the U.S.] is helped by the smaller enemy, and I mean Israel.
In another piece, the same writer expanded on this unusually candid acknowledgment:

The issue no longer concerns the Israeli-Arab conflict. The real issue is the Arab-American conflict—Arabs must understand that the U.S. is not "the American friend"—and its task, past, present, and future, is [to impose] hegemony on the world, primarily on the Middle East and the Arab world.
Then, in a third piece, also published in late August, Murad gave us an inkling of the reciprocal "task" he had in mind to be performed on America:

The Statue of Liberty, in New York Harbor, must be destroyed because of . . . the idiotic American policy that goes from disgrace to disgrace in the swamp of bias and blind fanaticism. . . . The age of the American collapse has begun.

[Link: www.commentarymagazine.com...]

Tiburon:

Did you notice last night at the olympics "the koreas" coming in as one unit holding hands? Looks like they won't leave their friends behind.

Time for US to vacate that land.

Hal Tureed fries ma-hatha?

Do you want fries with that?

115 [Engineer]

An hour ago, something renamed the "My Document" folder and all the folders under it by changing the first two letters to %% and it would not let me rename them. Ran Spybot, rebooted and it was fixed. Strange.

Yep, that is strange...what hath algore wrought? Ummm, geez, he invented the internet, not the computer...:). My Dell and XP system has gone sideways on me, but not to that extent. Then there was the wonder event, the lid to my laptop fell off, caught it before it hit the floor, but the damn thing kept working. Held the lid with one hand, while dialing to speak with a Dell tech with the other.

But if you were on oh hell I forget, (mainly because it was a drinking thread) the tale that zorkmidden told, with ants crawling in and around her machine ( I shot her some 'witticisms', (ok, ok smart ass remarks as did other posters) but after (of course) I thought of a brilliant one....she must have an Antsalon processor.

#121 Elcid

But if you were on oh hell I forget, (mainly because it was a drinking thread) the tale that zorkmidden told, with ants crawling in and around her machine

I was there. The next day, I told the story to a support guy at work. He said it happens, just use a can of air to blow them out.

OT
Ed, Ironfist, and others in need of Computers

Dell has an even better deal on a Dimension 2400
$320 ( after rebate) for a real Pentium 4, 2.8 gig. ,80 gig HD, XP Home

plus a 75.00 rebate deal if you order DSL service thru them ( don't need to buy a system to get this)

free shipping too!

Dimension 2400

Just make sure you get 512 MB memory. 128 not enough.

#124 john5z

Just make sure you get 512 MB memory. 128 not enough.

I just upgraded from 512 to 1 gig, made a BIG difference.

Don't Buy a Dimension 2400 if you plan to have more than 1 hard drive & play video games. The 2400 doesn't come the the brackets & IDE cabe to install a second hard drive & doesn't have an AGP slot for a video card. It comes with integrated video. A Lot of people buy the 2400 because of the low price, but don't bother reading the technical specifications before buying. About 60 days later they get very pissed off when they find out the computer does not meet theeir needs & it's too late to return it to Dell.

Aren't these two nation at war? But they're all smiles! I wonder what that could mean...

South Korea is almost an Asian clone of the US demographically. They have their leftist nutjobs and rightist nutjobs just like we do.

They DON'T deserve to be swamped with the "million man army" of the nutcase from the North. Given enough logistical support, I think the ROK Army could beat almost any army in the world, but South Korea has been a steadfast ally of ours. Let's not leave them with their underwear drying on the bushes shall we?

Germany and France can fend for themselves. After the [bigoted word]s take over, we can always carpet bomb the whole continent from outerspace if we have to. If Europe lets them take hold, that is no sweat off our ass.

I know I am thinking bigel here, but the members of Islam have to know how far this shaft goes, if they really want to jump down here.

America won't let Islam take over. We are too decadent for them and enjoy our decadence too much for them. We have a lot of guns, and know how to use them. How will Islam deal with the Hells Angels, Gypsy Jokers, Brother Speed and the Highwaymen? How about Cryps and Bloods? Our porn industry alone drives them wild. I mean, what if their women found out about vibrators?

I forgot about clitorectomies. Bastards.

Islam is evil, worse than any evil in the world today. It is the primary threat to the world as we know it. John Kerry has no clue how to fight it. GW Bush didn't either, but he tried like hell and now has learned a few really hard lessons. Why let this knowledge go to waste?

Kerry = Adeli Stevenson IMO

Bush is the Roosevelt of our day, he is fighting for us, lets not let ourselves down and vote in a complete phoney like Kerry, lets stay the course and show these Islamist bastards we aren't afraid to go the whole nine fucking yards. That's .50 ammo BTW

#128 Postal Worker

You make me both laugh, nod furiously in agreement and cringe. I won't specify.

Kidnap the Bloody Rock.

#127 Bleeding heart

SWEET PIC...Weird isnt it. You would almost think that they liked the American warmongers or something.

128 PostalWorker 8/14/2004 10:19PM PST

World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win

[Link: www.commentarymagazine.com...]

#13 CT Yankee --
WE need the $600 million in our own economy.

It's about time we pulled out unneeded troops and redeployed them more effectively. We certainly could use a few thousand on our borders to stop that invasion. When a million+ people can penetrate our borders each year, we have a major invasion and urgent threat to national security which requires troops, or at the very least, National Guard.

Even with redeployment, we remain seriously short-staffed in the military and National Guard. We cannot ship our National Guard overseas and leave too few at home to meet our security & national emergency (like Charley, or -- heaven forbid -- another "LA Riots") needs, as we have.

And we still need to plan for potential major threats: China, Mexico, Iran, et al.

#84 warmi . . .

For God's sake - there was a time when Romans ruled Europe and I don't really know anyone who is afraid of Italians these days ...

Weren't the Swedes once the military masters of Scandinavia and Russia?

It was also this speech that marked the emergence of the Bush Doctrine, and that pointed just as clearly to World War IV as the Truman Doctrine had to War World III. Bush did not explicitly give the name World War IV to the struggle ahead, but he did characterize it as a direct successor to the two world wars that had immediately preceded it. Thus, of the "global terrorist network" that had attacked us on our own soil, he said:

We have seen their kind before. They’re the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history’s unmarked grave of discarded lies.
As this passage, coming toward the beginning of the speech, linked the Bush Doctrine to the Truman Doctrine and to the great struggle led by Franklin D. Roosevelt before it, the wind-up section demonstrated that if the second President Bush had previously lacked "the vision thing," his eyes were blazing with it now. "Great harm has been done to us," he intoned toward the end. "We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment." Then he went on to spell out the substance of that mission and that moment:

[Link: www.commentarymagazine.com...]

#126,

That's funny; I have five hard drives in my computer. It is one of the reasons I have to buy large cases because most max out at two or three drives (and the third is usually by forcing it under the floppy drive where it isn't supposed to be).

#129 Tiburon

Young or old, nod or cringe, we are gonna fight. I'll die with my teeth clenched before I'll bow to allah.

Fake ass god, not worthy of a capital letter. I'd rather die of a belly wound.

"This conflict will take many turns, with setbacks on the course to victory. Through it all, our confidence comes from one unshakable belief: We believe in Ronald Reagan’s words that "the future belongs to the free."

President George W. Bush

The occasion would be a commencement address at the Air Force Academy on June 2, 2004, where he would repeatedly place the "war against terrorism" in direct succession to World War II and World War III. He would also be unusually undiplomatic in making no bones about his rejection of realism:

For decades, free nations tolerated oppression in the Middle East for the sake of stability. In practice, this approach brought little stability and much oppression, so I have changed this policy.

Some who call themselves realists question whether the spread of democracy in the Middle East should be any concern of ours. But the realists in this case have lost contact with a fundamental reality: America has always been less secure when freedom is in retreat; America is always more secure when freedom is on the march.

#25 heart -

"international political analyst Janeane Garofolo"

Since when is a third-rate actress meriting no more than parenthetical mention in biography.com an international political analyst. She's inept, inane, uneducated -- "all mouth and no trousers."

#131 riverofpearls

Preaching to the pastor here bud, but preach on. This isn't a matter of diplomacy anymore, this is a fight to the finish.

Reduce Najaf NOW! No mercy, no weapons left uncaptured and taken away. The ROP don't need weapons if they are peaceful do they?

Better late than never, and The Obfuscator's opposition is simply more proof that this is the best possible decision.
Slavic hegemonists are not likely to launch a blitzkrieg to seize the decadent plums of Germany and France; and why should we care if they do?

Come to think of it, this Slavic hegemony looks like a pretty good idea. Poland is the most powerful of Europe's remaining civilized countries, and it has quite a few scores to settle with the western tribes. Some adjustment of Poland's frontiers is in order; say, to the Rhine in the west, with possibly a southern corridor to provide access to the Mediterranean? We should give them the green light for standing by us in Iraq.

#6 bigel

The problem in Europe is that we will be redeploying from one Nazi Jewhating shithole (Germany) to another (Poland).

Did you read the quotes I pulled out from the article you posted? Remember the article where the Polish politician referred to Poland as "the epicenter of the holocaust"? Remember how he said Israel should be considered a "strategic partner"? It sounds like some Poles, if not most of the rest of Europe, get it.

I'm not saying you should trust all Poles, given their history of Jew-hating that would be foolish. Maybe you should give them some effort points for at least coming to grips with their past in a way, say, FRANCE never has.

Seriously, what are you accomplishing by painting all Europeans with the same broad brush? My family -- along with most Americans, for now -- came from Europe. We still have countless (literally, as I have no clue) relatives there.

The question is, how are the whiners and anti-realist left going to spin this?

McDonald’s is hiring.

Good news for our soldiers that decide to stay on!

#49 One of these Days sez:

“We’re in a Nazi Reich again, with troops being recalled from foreign peacekeeping defensive operations to the fatherland,” added international political analyst Janeane Garofolo.

Ah..OOTD, if you go to the link you'll notice that it was a satire piece, not an actual quote.

Not that I particularly like that piece of offal, Janeane Garofolo. If there is anyone who deserves a thorough bitch-slapping, it's her. She has enough real quotes that'll stand your hair on end, then a miss-atribution of a satire piece.

Regards- Bucky Katt

#146 bigel
It's appropriate to look at yesterday to get some understanding. But in making plans it's more important to look at today, and to try to look ahead to tomorrow.
Poland has expressed its regrets for yesterday. It holds out hope for tomorrow.
[Link: www.jpost.com...]

One big difference for the US between old Europe and new Europe is the large and growing Muslim population in old Europe. Old Europe is on its way to becoming a region of Islam in the future, a province of the caliphate in the future, and they are becoming dhimmitized.

Dhimmi old Europe has revolted against the coalition, refuses to put troops in Iraq, and conspires against the US.

We need to take our troops out of dhimmi Europe because it only serves to convince the Muslim minority that Europe is too close to the US, and drives dhimmi Europe to find ways to oppose us, to demonstrate their independence.

The new Europe does not have this problem, because it does not have the large and growing Muslim population.

Retention crisis- I don't have official figures but from anecdotal experience I can say this. One of my nephews (E5 in the Army) has reenlisted even though when he went in in the summer of '01 his plan was 4 and out, get money for college. His brother, an O2 in the Army will also probably stay in for one more tour when his obligation is up. My husband who's just in the Naval Reserves (just left for "extra training" on a ship this morning-- sounds ominous to me) will also sign on for another tour when the time comes in a few years if they want him to. Perhaps my family is overly patriotic?

About time we got the troops out of Germany. Hey-- Bush finally came up with the exit strategy for WW2. Do you think he'll get the credit for that?

148 skoi

Of course Bush won't get the credit for a WWII exit strategy. The Leftynuts are never happy with anything Bushitler does, and the bloody Germans see the US military as a jobs program for their contractors and otherwise unemployable half-retards (they put them to work on the bases at the Burger King).

But it does warm my heart to think of them all broke and out of work, at some point in the future. It's more than time for the US military to leave Germany.

"The Poles are STILL rabid Jewhaters and always will be. It is in their blood."

And Jews are bloodthirsty baby killers who are bend on world domination ... and always will be - it is in their blood..

...or is it ?

Bigel , bigel you are one sick puppy ...

They DON'T deserve to be swamped with the "million man army" of the nutcase from the North. Given enough logistical support, I think the ROK Army could beat almost any army in the world, but South Korea has been a steadfast ally of ours. Let's not leave them with their underwear drying on the bushes shall we?

I agree, but it's not like the U.S. military is pulling out of Asia entirely. We've still got bases in Japan (especially Okinawa), and who knows how many nuclear subs patrolling the waters to keep the ambitions of the PRC in check.

Just for the record: This will cost some jobs on the local level, but it means hardly anything at all for the German economy, the world's third biggest.

Just a hint: After the cold war was over, 230.000 US troopßs left Germany, and also several hundred thousand troops from Great Britain, Canada, France etc

Get some sense of perspective, people ;)

Come to think of it, this Slavic hegemony looks like a pretty good idea. Poland is the most powerful of Europe's remaining civilized countries, and it has quite a few scores to settle with the western tribes. Some adjustment of Poland's frontiers is in order; say, to the Rhine in the west, with possibly a southern corridor to provide access to the Mediterranean?

The Poles should team up with the Czechs -- just imagine opening your morning newspaper to see the headline POLAND, SUDETENLAND ANNEX GERMANY.

Pleese get a grip now. For years the U.S. military hasn't been in Germany to "protect" Germany, but because it made logistical sense to be there. Excellent infrastructure, fast deployment of troops in the ME, perfect airbases, hospitals etc.

From 500000 troops in the 1980s, 75000 are left by now, and this did not affect the German economy.

Also the calculation Connecticut Yankee quotes is nonsense:

"One of the posters calculates that the move will cost Germany at least $600 million per year. "50,000 troops + families X $1000 per month spent on the economy on average X 12 months = $600 million."

Only a rather small fraction of that monthly income is spent in German shops, more when the dollar is high, less when it is low. Most of that income is spent in PX shops etc. It is true that the troops do have an importance on the local economies, but not nationwide. Also Germany spends quite a significant sum on the U.S. presence in Germany (Infrastructure, protecting U.S. installations while troops are elsewhere etc.) U.S. presence may still be a net gain for Germany, but is largely irrelevant for the German economy.

If you move to Poland, excellent. Closer to the Russians is fine with me, just in case.

A little reminder: German pilots (AWACS) patrolled U.S. homeland during the Afghanistan campaign.

An another reminder (not an urban legend)

GERMAN WARSHIP LUTJENS & THE USS WINSTON CHURCHILL

"We were about to do a man overboard when we got a call from the LUTJENS(D185), a German warship that was moored ahead of us on the pier in Plymouth, England. While in port, the WINSTON S CHURCHILL and the LUTJENS got together for a sports day/cookout on our fantail, and we made some pretty good friends. Now at sea they called over on bridge-to-bridge, requesting to pass us close up on our port side, to say goodbye. We prepared to render them honors on the bridge wing, and the Captain told the crew to come topside to wish them farewell. As they were making their approach, our Conning Officer announced through her binoculars that they were flying an American flag. As they came even closer, we saw that it was flying at half-mast. The bridgewing was crowded with people as the Boatswain's Mate blew two whistles
-Attention to Port-
the ship came up alongside and we saw that the entire crew of the German ship were manning the rails, in their dress blues. They had made up a sign that was displayed on the side that read "We Stand By You". Needless to say there was not a dry eye on the bridge as they stayed alongside us for a few minutes and we cut our salutes. It was probably the most powerful thing I have seen in my entire life and more than a few of us fought to retain our composure.
It was a beautiful day outside today. We are no longer at liberty to divulge over unsecure e-mail our location, but we could not have asked for a finer day at sea. The German Navy did an incredible thing for this crew, and it has truly been the highest point in the days since the attacks.
It's amazing to think that only a half-century ago things were quite different,and to see the unity that is being demonstrated throughout Europe and the world makes us all feel proud to be out here doing our job."

You think these people changed to much in two years? Schroeder is not Germany.

"GermanObserver"

What do you expect ?
This is a friggin internet board where people come to vent their frustrations and "charge their batteries" reading like-minded stuff.

Nothing wrong with that - just don't expect level-headed and cool responses ...

#155 warmi

No day can be called perfect before being nuked by Bigel's "Samson Option".

OT:

Alien vs Predator seems to suck:

[Link: www.rottentomatoes.com...]RATING: ROTTEN READING: 12%

Damn, I have been waiting for this one for a long time.
:(

Dole cuts are indeed underway, and the fear of a sink-or-swim society is the key issue of all kinds of anti-Western resentment here. However and such as it turned out that most of the Neonazis in East Germany are not the underprivileged unemployed as wich the media portrayed them in the 1990s, the new leftist consensus does not emerge from the fact that the 20th century marketing illusion of full employment turned out to be just that. In an export-based economy, at the end of the day it's not the collectivisms of the proletariat that matter but the interest of the capitalists in good relations with the Islamist customers. Such as between terrorism and poverty, there also is no relationship between leftism and poverty. The average Green voter in Germany earns EUR 250 more than the average Liberal voter.

A month ago, Schröder spoke about "a nearly pre-revolutionary situation" in Germany, referring to his wicked choice either to read from the lips the Islamist regimes to make money and gain popularity, or to risk further meltdown of his own political power-base by dole cuts. He tries to balance both because he knows that the high oil price will eat up all the export growth but where will that lead us? This week Germany fully resumed normal business with Libya, which had been partly suspended after a terrorist attack 1986 in Berlin - and that even though Libya did not take any responsibility for the attack.

Politically, this move might finally shift the balance in the German-Polish conflict over the Nazi past and an optimistic analysis would see it as a leverage to turn the European Union's stance on the "right of return" (i.e. inheritability of the refugee status). Bigel, you are a pessimist not a realist when you portray Europe as a monolith without rivaling interests. In the end the Poles know their nation would not exist today if it wasn't for Woodrow Wilson, and even though there is Polish anti-Semitism there is no Polish 1968er left. Don't you see a future in your crystal ball, are you indeed convinced that this planet has already crossed the event horizon of global thermonuclear war?

Will the redeployment trigger a growth of the German military that would make us another North Korea again? IMHO no - unlike in the cold war, Germany now is a Nato indoor state, and the war on terrorism needs political support more than troops that might suddenly go bankrupt somewhere abroad. Now it's time to go forward into the preemption era and fully demilitarize this country such as it was planned in 1945 on the eve of the nuclear age. Works fine for the Marshall Islands, would also make us vote more realistic in the United Nations.

#154 GermanObserver

The great majority of LFG (I believe) have nothing but respect for the German military and their actions post-9/11. The Lutjens salute still bring stears to my eyes.

Schroder, on the other and, has done much damage ...

bring stears = brings tears

LOL. How did that happen?

other and = other hand

{Nice Cockney accent there, Bubba. Sheesh.}

#158 leo

"A month ago, Schröder spoke about "a nearly pre-revolutionary situation" in Germany, referring to his wicked choice either to read from the lips the Islamist regimes to make money and gain popularity, or to risk further meltdown of his own political power-base by dole cuts."

Huh? Where in that article do you read that?

Btw Libya did not take responsibility for Lockerbie either (or the downing of a French airliner), just agreed on a pay out.

Right now Germany imports 20% of its oil from the Middle East.

Well, since the reason the troops were in Europe to begin with was to keep the Soviet Union on their side of the wall and to let the Russkis know that we ain't playin' and they need to be keepin' they hands off the Germans, it surely looks like it is time to be packin' up the tanks and headin' home.

I'm uncharacteristically indecisive about whether we need to establish (temporary) reinforcements along the border to keep illegals in check, though. To begin with, it sure is easy to have communities become dependent on the base and then that temporary becomes permanent. After all, how long did it take us to shut down forts whose primary mission was to protect the settlers from the Injuns?

I would consider the securing of the borders to be national security and therefore in the province of the military, yet I suppose it could be argued that it is a violation of Posse Comitatus. Since I'm not a lawyer, I am not in a position to make a cogent argument as to whether using the military to secure the borders would abrogate the civilian law enforcement authority.

And, like most other Americans, I am all in favor of securing the borders yet personally know some illegals that I would not dream of ratting out to la migra.

#162 German Observer: Schröder did not mention the foreign policy context on this occasion, but everybody knows that talking about the German economy means talking about export markets. Have you seen the government posters "Exportweltmeister Deutschland"?

Read about Rezzo Schlauch's 2003 visit to Tehran and his efforts to get Iran into WTO or Gerhard Schröders nearly parallel visit to Saudi Arabia. The recent move missed an opportunity to push Libya to ratify the Additional Protocol to the NPT it has signed and thus set a precedent for Iran to end the unbearable 'stand on the doorstep' status that the IAEA assigns these two countries:

The Islamic Republic of Iran and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya have pledged to apply their Additional Protocols pending entry into force. IAEA

No other countries are allowed by the IAEA to permanently substitute the completion of the ratification process with a noncommittal pledge. They either ratify it or don't get the rights from ratification.

A massive troop withdrawal like this should embarass Clinton & his many fans, but won't because they have no conscience. Why couldn't President Marshmallow do something this progressive? No guts, Mr Don't Ask Don't Tell?

This major liberal move by the Shrubonator exposes mainstream Dems as the gutless hollow hacks they are.

I guess Germany will have more housing for EVER more Turks and other Muslims. Guess who is bringing the housing up to German specifications - the US Army. Guess who has to pay for all these improvements - the US taxpaper. You see it all over Germany - looks like a minor construction boom (Mannheim, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Ramstein, K-town). Germany's Olympic team will look surprisingly like Frances in a few yeras - notice how few Europeans are on the French team - mainly North African Muslims. Most of jobs held by local nationals at AAFES are non-Germans - Muslims and non-Muslims of African descent, Turks, and Albanians.

"McDonald’s is hiring."

Oh Master Chas., so cruel, yet so just and true!

Boo freakin' hoo

"Base closures would hit us very hard," said city spokesman Ole Kruse in the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg, home of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division.

I'm sorry that our military is not a welfare program. I can understand why you Germans might make that mistake.

Nothing like a bit of karma to shake you out of your reflexive anti-Americanism, eh?

From the who-didn't-see-this-coming department: NYT opposes the move
I wish someone at the NYT understood our real relationship with Europe, or anything about EU nationalism and politics, but I'm not holding my breath.

I guess it's possible the French and Germans will rush troops into Iraq when / if Kerry is elected, but I'm not holding my breath for that either. Also, since when is Germany a critical ally, but the UK, Australia, Italy and the rest are chopped liver? Only in the highly-partisan, logic-immune minds of the NYT editorial board could this editorial make any sense.

I won't even get into the rank hypocrisy of a bunch of ex-hippies opposing bringing troops back to the United States. End the U.S. occupation of Germany now!

The NYT should read Steyn, or even better: hire him!

This will undoubtedly be welcome news to the likes of Goran Persson, the Swedish prime minister, who famously declared that the purpose of the European Union is that "it's one of the few institutions we can develop as a balance to US world domination". It must surely be awfully embarrassing to be the first superpower in history to be permanently garrisoned by your principal rival superpower. But it's also grand news for those of us who've long argued that America's six-decade security guarantee to Europe has been a massive strategic error.

Get it now, NYT? Never mind. Steyn continues:

...Like any other form of welfare, defence welfare is a hard habit to break and profoundly damaging to the recipient. The peculiarly obnoxious character of modern Europe is a logical consequence of Washington's willingness to absolve it of responsibility for its own security. Our Defence Editor, John Keegan, once wrote that "without armed forces a state does not exist".

You should understand this insular elitist mentality yourselves, NYT. Steyn:

But Europe increasingly resembles those insulated celebrities being shuttled around town from one humanitarian gala to another – like Barbra Streisand flying in by private jet to discuss excessive energy consumption with President Clinton. Just as elderly rockers and Hollywood divas are largely free from the tedious responsibilities of rich industrialists or supermarket magnates – payroll costs and plant upgrades – so the EU can flaunt its "concerns" about the world and leave the logistics to others.

Oh, how I have nothing but contempt for the NYT. I can't count the number of obviously stupid things they've argued, big stories they've ignored, or the amount of history they've revised, all to help the Democratic Party.

Opinion Journal Understands

I realize this is a *radical* idea, but perhaps they could work a bit more?

Perhaps the most striking of all the differences between American and European working patterns relates to working hours. In 1999, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average American in employment worked just under 2,000 hours a year (1,976). The average German worked just 1,535 — fully 22% less. According to a recent U.S. study, the average Frenchman works a staggering 32% less.

Bone-Tired? You Need a Job in Europe