That's it. My next car's a Citroen...

Hairy Homer

..or maybe even a Peugeot.

Have a read (or listen) to this bozo on 'top rated US News Channel' Fox News. Name of O'Reilly. Claims to be of Irish origin. Click on the video tab to hear him in all his righteous indignation.

Apparently France now supports terrorists. Er, bit like it did back in the American Revolutionary days.

If it wasn't so serious, his paranoid ranting style would be laughable.

The Clown Man

Scary, really scary.

true

America does seem to have a good point about the Hezbollah though : why are these not outlawed in France ? The problem may stem from the fact the population of France is 10 % muslim, and growing. Hence it does not take a strong view on muslim terrorism, for fear of alienating some of its population.

BlitzKrieg

answer:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1908671.stm

While, the US listed the group as a terrorist organisation, the government in Beirut declared it a national resistance movement

pickarooney

true wrote:

America does seem to have a good point about the Hezbollah though : why are these not outlawed in France ? The problem may stem from the fact the population of France is 10 % muslim, and growing. Hence it does not take a strong view on muslim terrorism, for fear of alienating some of its population.

Muslim != terrorist. Do you really not get that after all this time?

Hairy Homer

Is it just me or is there a delicious irony in the fact that his piece is followed by an ad that has a voiceover of Roosevelt saying 'all we have to fear is fear itself' ?

The guy peddles paranoia and his producer schedules one of the most optimistic and reassuring speeches ever to follow it.

Oh well. What can you expect from a guy who uses a vibrator on himself? See line 81

Hobbes

Oh come on! O'Reilly did single handly save Sponge bob! :rolleyes:

Goodshape

$15 for a 'The Spin Stops Here' mug in the O'Reilly shop. Right next to the 'Boycott France' bumper stickers.

It's irony on a base level.. but I like it.

ionapaul

Although Fox 'News' is the most watched US news network, the majority of those who watch Bill O'Reilly aren't objective folks looking to find out what is happening in the world. They have made their minds up and just want to watch / be entertained (cause he is entertaining, without question) by O'Reilly spout off on the topic of the day and attempt to bully those who disagree with him. He's not out affecting hearts and minds, just preaching to the choir.

He can also be fairly funny at times, and not as scary / freakish as Coulter.

sovtek

Stuman134 wrote:

I'm an American. I'm everything that being an American entails. I am part of a nationalist society (of course, not in the same context as it pertains to the nationalist/unionist struggle...of course I wouldn't know anything about that since I can't see around my inflated ego to see what is going on in the rest of the world). I am part of a crusader society, though we are not trying to bring christianity to the holy lands as your neighbors once tried, we are just trying to keep the price of oil down. I come from a country that was not created by revolutionaries who felt that they had the right to govern themselves, but from a land that was forged by bigoted terrorist already hellbent on world domination in this fledgeling land. I feel like I'm forgetting something...oh yes I am an uneduceted aMeiracAn trained by a flawed schoolin system, which only spits out rednek hillbillys, who are convinced that John Wayne single handedly won WWII himself (yeah go Duke!!!!). Does this sound about right to you ? Well give this dumb, rude arrogant american a chance to teach you ladies and gentlemen what America really is. America is the world's financial center. You think the world economy hinges on London, Frankfurt, or Tokyo. Nope, it all revolves around New York. When America is booming, it doens't necessarily mean the rest of the world is, but when our economy is flagging, so goes the rest of the world. On top of this, America is the world's entitlement center. We hand out more interest free money to third world nations than any two countries combined. I can't say this for certain, but I would be willing to bet that we also write off more foreign debt owed to us than any other country loans out to those in need. We are the world's police, its defenders. We send our own citizens to face death in the defense of our allies...even when our national interests are not at stake (though I don't blame anyone for thinking otherwise...what media orginization in the world is going to report U.S. military involvement, unless they can find a way to concoct some neferious U.S. plot behind it). We are the world's cradle of innovation. Despite our horrible education system, we somehow manage to put forth the latest technologies, and make the most advances towards improving humankinds quality of living. Our universities teach many people from all corners of the globe in fields such as electrical engineering, computer science, microbiology, physics, astronomy, physical chemistry and much more. We use your universities as a chance to gain life experience, backpack around europe, and be able to come back home and say "I drank guiness in a real authentic Irish pub." Pretty much a year long spring break. We are a nation of international mediators. You know this from the effort our former President Clinton made in fostering a peace in Northern Ireland. It saddens me to see that in the end, he might not make the difference that I had hoped. Just from the posts I have read on this site, the region still sounds like a powder keg waiting for the fuse to be lit once again. But know this. If the isle of Ireland were to erupt into full scale violence, if the whole island fell into a state of civil unrest, the United States would hardly be affected. It would barely register as a small blip on our national interest radar. It didn't stop us from taking an interest though, and it didn't stop us from trying to do what we could to end the violence. Which brings me to the point of this whole rant. The United States isn't a utopia. We have our share of problems, and we have made our share of mistakes (judging by your posts, you certainly haven't overlooked our errors as a nation). We try to do the right thing as a people, most of the time we succeed, sometimes we do not. I know this post will in all likelyhood generate inflamed responses. I know that I am just inviting everyone who posts on this board to carefully comb through this writing and find anything they can contest, and throw it back in my face. In the end this post will not change any of your minds about the United States. All this post has probably accomplished is to bring more hateful speach upon the USA. But know this. You can discredit all that the US has done. You can take us for granted. You can profess your hatred about us. You can call the US the very eye of syphilis upon the world. You can spit on our flag. You can paint pictures of our first lady (the president's wife if anyone didn't know that) standing over bodies of dead Iraqi children. You can do all of this until the end of time. It doesn't matter, when you have a problem, we will always stand by you and the rest of our allies. No matter how you feel about us, we will come when called. Why ? Because despite all our power, despite all our wealth, we will never forget what our duty to the world and our allies is. That is what really defines an American.

P.S. For those of you who participated in the post about America's lack of involvement in the Kyoto treaty...I wonder can you tell me who leads the world in researching environmentally safer technologies? Can you tell me who leads the world in alternative energy sources research? Can you tell me which country is behind the invention of the Displacement on Demand Engine ? Need I go on...

Why are you going on this defensive rant of America when the clear object of derision here is spinmaster Mr. O'reilly?

The Corinthian

Stuman134 wrote:

P.S. For those of you who participated in the post about America's lack of involvement in the Kyoto treaty...I wonder can you tell me who leads the world in researching environmentally safer technologies?

The European Union.

MrPudding

Stuman134 wrote:

I'm an American. I'm everything that being an American entails. I am part of a nationalist society (of course, not in the same context as it pertains to the nationalist/unionist struggle...of course I wouldn't know anything about that since I can't see around my inflated ego to see what is going on in the rest of the world). I am part of a crusader society, though we are not trying to bring christianity to the holy lands as your neighbors once tried, we are just trying to keep the price of oil down. I come from a country that was not created by revolutionaries who felt that they had the right to govern themselves, but from a land that was forged by bigoted terrorist already hellbent on world domination in this fledgeling land. I feel like I'm forgetting something...oh yes I am an uneduceted aMeiracAn trained by a flawed schoolin system, which only spits out rednek hillbillys, who are convinced that John Wayne single handedly won WWII himself (yeah go Duke!!!!). Does this sound about right to you ? Well give this dumb, rude arrogant american a chance to teach you ladies and gentlemen what America really is. America is the world's financial center. You think the world economy hinges on London, Frankfurt, or Tokyo. Nope, it all revolves around New York. When America is booming, it doens't necessarily mean the rest of the world is, but when our economy is flagging, so goes the rest of the world. On top of this, America is the world's entitlement center. We hand out more interest free money to third world nations than any two countries combined. I can't say this for certain, but I would be willing to bet that we also write off more foreign debt owed to us than any other country loans out to those in need. We are the world's police, its defenders. We send our own citizens to face death in the defense of our allies...even when our national interests are not at stake (though I don't blame anyone for thinking otherwise...what media orginization in the world is going to report U.S. military involvement, unless they can find a way to concoct some neferious U.S. plot behind it). We are the world's cradle of innovation. Despite our horrible education system, we somehow manage to put forth the latest technologies, and make the most advances towards improving humankinds quality of living. Our universities teach many people from all corners of the globe in fields such as electrical engineering, computer science, microbiology, physics, astronomy, physical chemistry and much more. We use your universities as a chance to gain life experience, backpack around europe, and be able to come back home and say "I drank guiness in a real authentic Irish pub." Pretty much a year long spring break. We are a nation of international mediators. You know this from the effort our former President Clinton made in fostering a peace in Northern Ireland. It saddens me to see that in the end, he might not make the difference that I had hoped. Just from the posts I have read on this site, the region still sounds like a powder keg waiting for the fuse to be lit once again. But know this. If the isle of Ireland were to erupt into full scale violence, if the whole island fell into a state of civil unrest, the United States would hardly be affected. It would barely register as a small blip on our national interest radar. It didn't stop us from taking an interest though, and it didn't stop us from trying to do what we could to end the violence. Which brings me to the point of this whole rant. The United States isn't a utopia. We have our share of problems, and we have made our share of mistakes (judging by your posts, you certainly haven't overlooked our errors as a nation). We try to do the right thing as a people, most of the time we succeed, sometimes we do not. I know this post will in all likelyhood generate inflamed responses. I know that I am just inviting everyone who posts on this board to carefully comb through this writing and find anything they can contest, and throw it back in my face. In the end this post will not change any of your minds about the United States. All this post has probably accomplished is to bring more hateful speach upon the USA. But know this. You can discredit all that the US has done. You can take us for granted. You can profess your hatred about us. You can call the US the very eye of syphilis upon the world. You can spit on our flag. You can paint pictures of our first lady (the president's wife if anyone didn't know that) standing over bodies of dead Iraqi children. You can do all of this until the end of time. It doesn't matter, when you have a problem, we will always stand by you and the rest of our allies. No matter how you feel about us, we will come when called. Why ? Because despite all our power, despite all our wealth, we will never forget what our duty to the world and our allies is. That is what really defines an American.

P.S. For those of you who participated in the post about America's lack of involvement in the Kyoto treaty...I wonder can you tell me who leads the world in researching environmentally safer technologies? Can you tell me who leads the world in alternative energy sources research? Can you tell me which country is behind the invention of the Displacement on Demand Engine ? Need I go on...

Can you tell me what a paragraph is?

MrP

MrPudding

Stuman134 wrote:

LOL...Something I forget to use when I start ranting.

The Corinthian

Stuman134 wrote:

Yeah...I'm pretty sure these great EU environmental technology advancements are the reason the EU decided to not set targets for lowering greenhouse gases after the first period of the Kyoto treaty ends in 2012.

Does that make my statement less correct or did you have another point?

sovtek

Stuman134 wrote:

A fair point Sovtek. Mostly because this was the last post I read before I decided to respond. This post is by no means the most anti-american one located on this site, but the undertones are certainly there.

I think it's an anti-O'rielly post rather than an anti-american one. I rarely see anything on here I would term anti-American.

The comparision of the U.S. to a terrorist state, and the labeling of FNC as the most watched news channel in the U.S. implies that Mr. O'Rielly speaks for a large chunk of the nation kind of torqued me. Yes FNC is the most watched news only channel, however all U.S. news specific only channels are carried over a cable tv signal, meaning that they have a tremendously smaller viewership than over-air networks.

But a scary number of people do watch Fox in America and believe the propoganda they spout.
Seconldy I think the comparison of America as a terrorist state is just as fair as comparing France to a terrorist state?
Do you not agree?
Technically they both could be called as such.

and believe me, there are plenty of other boards in Europe who's members take their shots at the U.S.

Are you sure you aren't conflating "taking shots" at Bush with "taking shots" at America?

Jimboo_Jones

Stuman134 wrote:

Yeah...I'm pretty sure the EU would probably be behind Japan in that regard, not to mention...well you know who

You really should try and qualify some of your claims, as otherwise you come across as ‘hey we are the best because we are America’ which is what I thought you where trying to deflect from in the first place ;p

sovtek

Stuman134 wrote:

We hand out more interest free money to third world nations than any two countries combined.

And any fair comparison is measured by GDP...which America is dead last in amongst the first world nations.
Nevermind that almost half is to arm Israel and their illegal occupation of the Gaza strip and West Bank and still more for the oppressive government in Cairo.

I can't say this for certain, but I would be willing to bet that we also write off more foreign debt owed to us than any other country loans out to those in need.

....and I'm not even going into what the US uses the IMF for (while acknowledging the EU is no saint here either)...so I wouldn't brag about that.

We are the world's police, its defenders. We send our own citizens to face death in the defense of our allies...even when our national interests are not at stake (though I don't blame anyone for thinking otherwise...what media orginization in the world is going to report U.S. military involvement, unless they can find a way to concoct some neferious U.S. plot behind it).

Which would explain the virtual silence about (in America and Europe) Haiti and the "rebels" that are slaughtering Aristide supporters after his "democratic" toppling by ex-CIA assets.

We are the world's cradle of innovation. Despite our horrible education system, we somehow manage to put forth the latest technologies, and make the most advances towards improving humankinds quality of living. Our universities teach many people from all corners of the globe in fields such as electrical engineering, computer science, microbiology, physics, astronomy, physical chemistry and much more.

And Europe shares prestigious Universities that excel in all of the above as well.

You can take us for granted. You can profess your hatred about us.

I'm sorry but I haven't seen one person do that here.

P.S. For those of you who participated in the post about America's lack of involvement in the Kyoto treaty...I wonder can you tell me who leads the world in researching environmentally safer technologies?

Who leads the world in carbon emmissions?

delop

Stuman134 wrote:

. I come from a country that was not created by revolutionaries who felt that they had the right to govern themselves, but from a land that was forged by bigoted terrorist already hellbent on world domination in this fledgeling land.

???? Was that terrorist an English King? And was he worried about terrorist's running about flouting his tax laws, did not the french support those terrorist's and help kick the english out of America, No they werent terrorist's, they were just resisting a cruel greedy Regime ... As someone once said One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter...
An example of this is Nelson Mandella, a good frien of Clinton, was deemed one of the worst terrorists by Bush 1, along with the ANC

Stuman134 wrote:

America is the world's financial center. You think the world economy hinges on London, Frankfurt, or Tokyo. Nope, it all revolves around New York. When America is booming, it doens't necessarily mean the rest of the world is, but when our economy is flagging, so goes the rest of the world.

Seeing as how America controls the World bank and WTO, does not suprise me

Stuman134 wrote:

On top of this, America is the world's entitlement center. We hand out more interest free money to third world nations than any two countries combined. I can't say this for certain, but I would be willing to bet that we also write off more foreign debt owed to us than any other country loans out to those in need. We are the world's police, its defenders. We send our own citizens to face death in the defense of our allies...even when our national interests are not at stake (though I don't blame anyone for thinking otherwise...what media orginization in the world is going to report U.S. military involvement, unless they can find a way to concoct some neferious U.S. plot behind it).

Id like to see some Facts and figures on this, if possible please? Are you speaking about Israel and Turkey? because military aid dont count !

Stuman134 wrote:

We are a nation of international mediators. You know this from the effort our former President Clinton made in fostering a peace in Northern Ireland.

Regime change in Venezuela, Nicaragua and attempted Regime change in cuba dont count...

Stuman134 wrote:

I know this post will in all likelyhood generate inflamed responses.

Is that how the current administration thinks also, 'we are going to invade this country regardless of how upset any one else is, with me or agains me!

It struck me one day, that America Attacked Afganistian because they were attacked by people who were being supported by the Gov of Afganistian , no proof was fortcoming , So Does that give the Palestinians the right to bomb america from the air because of the support America gives Israel ???

Look Im not qualified to comment being a non american and not being a blimp on your radar, so why not listen to one of your own...

Noam Chomskey - Hegemony or Survuval

sovtek

Stuman134 wrote:

I checked his latest ratings and he is pulling in a solid 2.4 million viewer audience. A lot of people...almost 1% of the nations population. I don't think that 1% is quite enough to topple the government and install a hard line right wing regime in the white house...but they are getting there .

I think the Bush regime far right enough.

As far as France and the U.S. being the same kind of terrorist state.

I was refering to what kind of groups they fund and give aid to all over the world. A fair few of them could be called terrorist orgs.

As for the Bush or USA argument, maybe I have misinterpreted who or what the venomous statements were directed at. However I see my country called out by name, much more than I see my president. Show me the error in my thinking on this issue and I will glady apologize for that too.

I think most comments are aimed at the US government...which has itself to blame for it's own reputation.

Lemming

Stuman134 wrote:

As for the you know who...America of course, I can qualify my statements. We lead the world in number of environmental research companies, we lead the world in the number of environmental related patents. Our universities have more grants for environmental research than any other nation. That is what I'm basing America's dominance in the environmental technologies (consider this as my other point Corinthian). As for my previous rant I stand by what I say and challenge you to disprove them.

There's a failed, mistaken belief in that above quote that patents are a good thing. Patents are only as good as the manner in which they are used. There are many fortune 500 companies who have massive patent portfolios for no other reason than to stop their competitors.

It's all about control. I'm willing to bet that the car & oil industries have huge environmental patent portfolios for no other reason than to block emerging technology that could threaten the status-quo

If you want to see examples of such patent-abuse, just take a look at the software industry inside the US for myriad examples of tactical patent applications & actions.

As for your claims on academic excellence, there has been a sizeable drop in the number of foreign applications inside the last few years with the increasingly xenophobic & invasive-to-the-point-of-abuse immigration control and the PATRIOT act. If I can find the article, which quotes a US senator, I'll post it. In short, students are starting to look elsewhere.

ionapaul

sovtek wrote:

...a scary number of people do watch Fox in America and believe the propoganda they spout.

That may be true, but as I mentioned earlier, O'Reilly and Fox aren't making many 'conversions' of liberals here, they are merely preaching to the choir. There is an element of conservatives / right-wingers / whatever in that country that believe all the rubbish spouted by O'Reilly, Coulter, Carlson and the usual suspects, but its not like their audience is made up of objective independents or anything - they are watched and listened by dyed-in-the-wool conservatives.

It is the same in our own country - I bet you'll find that readers of An Phoblacht are mainly Sinn Fein supporters who believe Gerry Adams when he says he knew nothing of IRA involvement in the recent bank raid, while readers of the Sunday Independent are more likely to believe he is lying, with or without any prompting or influence from newspaper articles or editorials.

Lemming

Stuman134 wrote:

As far as Israel's "illegal occupation" lest us not forget Israel did not start that war, they just won it.

And then proceeded to abuse that position.

We do sometimes support opressive regimes, I will admit that, but it isn't bychoice, it is because it is a matter of national defense.

I believe the correct term is not "national defense" as opposed to "national interest". Which is much less benign.

Really, do you think America and its leaders say to themselves "Lets find us some evil corrupt despots and give them cash for the fun of it." We have our reasons and sometimes we are wrong, but we do have to defend ourselves as a nation at all costs...

US foreign policy seems to have been wrong most of the time in whom it chose to back ...

I don't have a problem with defence - I have a problem with the "at all costs" bit. US foreign policy has created far more enemies and dissent than it has achieved any sort of successful results. The US is now engaged in a war that cannot be "won" in the conventional sense of the word. It's people are now an even bigger target around the globe and the people are paranoid of their own neighbours.

Sometimes "Defense of the nation" involves trying to preserve what your nation stands for. As soon as a nation changes and restricts its citizens freedoms terrorism has succeeded.

This I will agree with you on. Though I will say that we certainly teach a considerably larger amount of foreign students than any other nation (only because we have the most universities in the world I will admit).

in relation to my last post, that has begun to change over the last few years. Even the student summer work-visa numbres in Ireland have begun to shift. To blame is the PATRIOT act and the increasingly xenophobic beauraucracy and immigration policies faced by foreign students

You want us to cut our emissions. Stop buying our products. Lobby your government to boycott american goods. Throw our factories out of your union. Say "No American company that contributes to global warming shall have a foothold in the European Union!" That will get our attention, and get us to cut our CO2 emissions. Plus, I'm sure the EU economy would suffer no adverse affects from that...yeah right

You seem to be forgetting something .... the US would be affected to. Global trade is global trade Stuman. Nobody is immune to its effects.

delop

Stuman134 wrote:

You want us to cut our emissions.

How many miles to the gallon does your car get ?

mr_angry

Stuntman, do you not think that America could be even better if they cut out all the negative stuff they engage in? I think Ireland is a great place to live, and a brilliant country in general, but that doesn't mean I stick up for people like Liam Lawlor when they do something obviously wrong. In fact, I'd like to see our corrupt politicians weeded out.

Would I criticise people for criticising Liam Lawlor? Hell no. So fair enough - make the point that America has a number of good aspects to it, but as for condoning assasination attempts and funding dictatorships... national security? Yeah right. Stinking self-interest more like.

Jimboo_Jones

Stuman134 wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean by "measured in GDP" Do you mean money donated in relation to a nations GDP ?

True - but the % of GDP does show who is the most generous country. Though your right in saying that, though Americans are less generous, they are richer and alot more of them than there are europeans and therefore give out more money, which to the people reciving the money is the main thing.

This said - its all speculation on my front as neither of the above posters have linked any proof. I seem to remember the Scandinavian countries being listed as the most generous in the donations measured against GDP though.

sovtek

Stuman134 wrote:

As far as Israel's "illegal occupation" lest us not forget Israel did not start that war, they just won it.

Which one is that? 1948? 1956? 1967? Because Israel started all three...and it doesn't matter who started it...the UN Charter makes it quite clear (nevermind a pile of resolutions telling Israel to give the land back).

sovtek

Jimboo_Jones wrote:

which to the people reciving the money is the main thing.

Not if it's to buy attack helicopters.

Jimboo_Jones

sovtek wrote:

Not if it's to buy attack helicopters.

ahh to the people reciving the money to buy the attack helicopters it is the main thing .. and looking into the stats it would seem that the lion share of the aid given by America is to israel, which I would guess is hardly going to pay for food and shelter.

The link to the stats by the way

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/eco_eco_aid_don_cap

The big suprise would be that America is only second in total amount of money (though their stats are a couple of years out of date)

This is backed up on this site as well

http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp

*edit* sorry stuman's stats are backed up on this site ^ *edit*

Lemming

Stuman134 wrote:

As far as the patriot act, it is a typical reaction from a country that has never experienced large scale terrorism on its shores before. It will evolve with time. I'm curious, have you read the Patriot Act ?

Yes I have actually. And most alarmed that such an act could get passed with little or no debate. Most politicians seemed to be so afraid of appearing to be "unpatriotic" in the aftermath of 9/11 that they just rubber-stamped anything that came their way.

I was even more alarmed when it was found out that Ashcroft was drawing up PATRIOT II, and the TIAA

Incidentally it's not a "typical reaction" since most of what the PATRIOT act did was allow the unparalleled monitoring of the US' own citizens. The act was a power-grab by a lot of security branches who basically "wished they could trim a little fat off the constitution" ....

delop

Stuman134 wrote:

As far as the patriot act, it is a typical reaction from a country that has never experienced large scale terrorism on its shores before.

You having a laugh? It was the Irish that were the first in the world to invent/use the car bomb, nothing to be proud of!!

And it was the israel, Perpetrated the first major terrorist act of the 20th century, against the British... Now werent they good teachers, and they have only got better at it....

Nuttzz

delop wrote:

You having a laugh? It was the Irish that were the first in the world to invent/use the car bomb, nothing to be proud of!!

And it was the israel, Perpetrated the first major terrorist act of the 20th century, against the British... Now werent they good teachers, and they have only got better at it....

I think he means that the US when he says "it is a typical reaction from a country that has never experienced large scale terrorism on its shores before."