h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah, you should have seen Ted Kennedy last night. He was pretty pissed off, shaking his head no while Bush was talking about the threat saddams WMD posed. It makes me feel to go to know he's MY senator, and he's a thorn in bush's side.

dave

I suppose another way to put it would be that if you're in the middle of the road, you get run over by both the people going left and those going right.


CZ, feeling squashed.

"remember when Empty Sky was complaining about Americans driving the gas-guzzling ford F-150? Here's some exciting news: on the thread linked below, Empty, Della & Math Wizard are discussing how great a sports car the Audi S4 is, how it can go 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds."

Dave, you've been told before that it's simply not possible to make a comparison between American gross self-indulgence wagons like the
F150, Silverado, Explorer etc and low volume specialist sports cars.

Cars like the Audi S4, Aston, Ferrari etc are made in the hundreds (at the most) per year worldwide and are very rarely used as everyday transport. In fact they're often bought by speculators who specifically use them very rarely, in order to maintain their value.

Grotesque, enormous American vehicles are sold in the hundreds of thousands in America alone. They're the biggest selling "cars" in America. They're used as everyday transport by people who will never come close to needing all the power and size they offer. They represent pure, willful, wasteful indulgence by the majority of the population.

There is no comparison.

In any discussion about the wasteful use of natural resources and the saving of the planet, it's not the specialist car nuts who should be targeted. They're contribution is comparatively negligable.

"I've always thought that it'd be fun to export some of the European trucks and 4wd's to the US, then you could have the power and be able to boast about how cheap it is to run."

But Americans would never buy European vehicles. The seats are not wide enough for their voluminous arses and the cup holders are not large enough for their gigantic styro-foam buckes they call cups.

Everything is larger in America, because Americans have taken grotesque self indulgence to a new level.

Why? Because they can!

Its just as irresponsible to buy a sportscar as it is a hummer. Just because there are more irresponsible people in the U.S. doen't excuse Kiwis or Brits or anyone else

If anything is to change, though, it makes sense to start with those doing the most damage for the least reason.

If supercars were gone from the world tomorrow, the world's oil usage would not be significantly less.

If Americans squeezed their enormous frames into sensible, responsible vehicles tomorrow, there'd be no need to invade Iraq ever again.

No, I don't think so... the Kraft cheese put me off the most.

Hi, Dave. Glad to see you enjoyed our discussion about the Audi S4 - on the PlayStation game Gran Turismo II!
We'd love to have one in RL, but the game's the thing!

I have got the impression that John Kerry doesn't really amount to much, in the way of *real* opposition...

OK I'll forgive you having an Audi S4 on the playstation
After all I have a whole railroad on my computer

What you're really trying to get at is that you hate Bush and want to see him gone. So do I. So do a lot of other Americans.

> But those who profess not to support Dubya, yet insist that Americans are superior and not truly capable of evil so Dubya is deserving of nothing more than mild rebuke at the polling booth, do Dubya more favours than anyone else.

Excuse me? Are you saying that this is my belief system? You have no idea who I am or what I believe in.

> Yes, the American public are responsible for atrocities committed in their name. Who's in a better position to stop them and doesn't?

If Germany hadn't been so hard-hit by the vindictive nature of the other European countries after WWI, then they wouldn't have felt so isolated, and WWII wouldn't have happened. It's people like you that cause wars, because you think in terms of black and white. "I'm good, everybody that doesn't think like me is evil."

> Yet not only do you do nothing about him, you keep insisting that it's not even possible to do anything about him. Except waiting until the end of the year and declining to vote for him. (Yep, that'll really get his attention.)

So what, exactly, are you suggesting? Instead of pouring bile upon me because you're frustrated about the current situation, why don't you try to find a solution that will help America out? I'm frustrated too. Apart from voting and telling my congressman how I feel, which I have done and will continue to do, I can't do a damn thing about it. I'm not on a political committee that could arrange an impeachment. I'm not a senator or congressman, or even the local garbage collector. The only power I have is the power of the vote.

So cut it out. Stop using me as a punching bag.

Della! Touche! I hear it's a great game.

dave

First on the super cars thing. If driven at normal speeds ie within the speed limit, then they are, generaly, safer than ordinary cars. If you're driving along in a Ferrari, Porche or Lambi and someone steps put onto the road in front of you, you've got a better chance of stopping in time than you have with something like a Ford Escort.

Also, Americans did do something to stop GW from being president, they elected Gore. The fact that the supreme court, and not any other supreme being which GW might blame, chose GW as president kind of makes a mockery of the US electorial system.

oh, and one other thing, Wes Clark for President

Ok, Empty Sky... We get it... You hate Americans. Point recieved, taken and understood. Now could you leave the vitriol and personal attacks aside? It's really making this an unpleasant thread.

JD - Wasn't Dubya who said "You are either with us or against us?"

I had a cousin named Roadkill.

rev

or, you could be ...

"Today President Bush has clarified his world view saying 'You're either with us or you're with the terrorists. Or you're with the terrorists but you have oil [graphic shows Kuwait]. Or you're with us but you hate us [graphic shows Egypt]. Or you're with us, but you fund all the terrorism in the world [graphic shows Saudi Arabia]. Or you're a hundred percent with the terrorists accept for one little guy in charge [graphic shows Pakistan]. Or you're with us but you can't really help us [graphic shows Iceland]. Or you're with the terrorists with each other and against us even though you really hate each other [graphic shows Iraq and Iran]." —Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update"

dave

lol, that's great.