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

Hey!

Surprise!

al-Jazeerafox!!!


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/business/alhurra.htm

And look! People can talk to people halfway around the world without a gun in their hands!

http://www.forusa.org/iraqphoto/index.htm

How misguided some of the people in that Alhurra TV bit are. Especially the guy at the end that says it's about respect and admiration for US policy.
*shakes head*
If you want that you mustn't start a tv station, you have to change the policy!

I wouldn't say the people in that Alhurra TV are misguided. They are doing what the producers of Radio Moscow used to do in the Sixties and Seventies which is exactly what their political masters tell them.

It's out and out propaganda, nothing more and mouthing less, and not very good propaganda. Good propaganda requires a degree of subtly, an attribute that is remarkable in its absence with Bush and Co.

Donald

Excellent! Thanks for the links, clz.

Yeah, hearts and minds and all that... Can't kill them all, I suppose. :-

The director of the CARE organization in Iraq has been kidnapped.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aCGH3cZT1hgU&refer=top_world_news

Perhaps there'll be communication between the director and some management types - or maybe they'll just kill her. Cross your fingers...

Well speak as a Yank. As to the question of wtat's wrong with Americans. I would say alot. But that is an eternal issue. The issue of which you speak well let's just say, the Question could be reversed. I mean FDR allowed the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbour in order to sway public opinon in order to get us into the war *WWIIis the one of which I speak incase you all have forgotten which y'all obviously have.* If you don't buy that fact well our intel Had conclusive proff the attack would be on the 7th of December Why do you think allour Aircraft Carriers were out to sea al at one time on the 7th. So that's what's wrong with Americans

What's really wrong with America, is that there's no Bill Hicks out there to kick the sh*t out of Bush and his policies. I mean, it's not hard to do. It just takes the guts to disagree with a vocal christian-right minority (or is it majority?)

I miss bill hicks.

im too young to remeber the late great and even i miss him

The scary thing about Bill Hicks is that I got a DVD from the Channel 4 life of programme which showed his routines after Gulf War 1 and just about everything he said could have been broadcast as a comment on current issues, with no changes or caveats.

The amazing thing is he didn't have a set routine. He would extemporize on the current events at every show. Bush, the elder gave him plenty work with. Now the Son of Sss..enior is doing the same but with out someone like Bill Hicks to counter it.

Spot on Ictoan. It was his remarks on the first gulf war that made me post that. If he can make the first gulf war look ridiculous, I can only imagine what he could do to the second one.

I miss Bill Hicks too. He had the guts to say what he really thought, which is an attitude that is approaching extinction.

There's still some out there. Bill Maher, Jon Stewart - plenty of guts, just not as funny as Hicks.

Speaking of which...

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/cf.01.html

This is a transcript of Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire, in which he basically told them that they sucked, and they told him that he wasn't being funny. His response to that was - "I'm going to go back to my show, and I'm going to be funny, and you guys are going to continue to suck."

> Well speak as a Yank. As to the question of wtat's wrong with Americans. I would say alot.

Don't mean to be mean... but one of the problems with Americans (speaking as an American) is that our spelling and grammar are frequently non-existent.

Nobody's forgotten about WWII, Kid. There's quite a few discussions about it in this thread - to sum it up, the Russians are the unacknowledged heroes of that war, having prevented Hitler's expansion into the tundra. There's some dispute about FDR allowing or disallowing the planes to attack Pearl Harbor - some say that he knew about it, but allowed it to happen, some say that it was a total surprise. There's also disagreement about when WWII actually started. Us Americans are taught that it started when we joined the war, which is total ethnocentrism. It really started when the Axis joined hands and decided to wage war on the rest of the world. There's quite a bit more, but that's all I can remember right now - if you're curious and you have nothing to do for a week, read through the backlog. Lots of inflammatory dialogue, but some good points made.

another conspiracy theory about Pearl Harbour is that Britain knew about the attack but didn't tell the US because Pearl Harbour would get you into the war which we were desperate to do

The Russians certainly should take the brunt of the glory. Not many people know that on D-day, the western allies only faced 20% of German forces. An even smaller force was occupied in places like Italy, but more than 60% (I don't recall the exact figure, could be more than 70% even) of German forces were fighting on the eastern front.

While we're on the subject, why on earth is France always treated as one of the victors of WWII? They should join the ranks of the gratefully liberated.

They are treated as Victors and see themselves as liberated. As do many of the nations of main land Europe because despite being over run some of them continued to resist the occupation at home while others in exile fought on in land air and sea forces. Have a surf around and find out how many Czeck and Polish airmen fought in the battle of Britain and how many French resistance members were executed by the Nazis.

one love

Well, yes. My countrymen, the Dutch, also had a resistance force, and they also suffered executions. And the sentiment over here is also that 'we' won the war. But France is the only country not to have liberated another country, and recieving the honor of those that have. Take their role in the post-war governing of Germany for instance. Compared with the true liberating countries of the US, UK and Russia (and all the others that put their neck on the line for a foreign country e.g. Canada, Australia etc.) it seems that France is added out of sheer politeness. This has led many people to believe that France is on par, as far as liberation effort is concerned, with those mentioned earlier. This is clearly (at least in my view) not the case.

There is a lot of English-born people in the UK who feel that the other nations who helped in the wars are not given due recognition - not just those from Europe, but those from other continents.