OP ED-"Little Timmy Wants to Know Why Nobody Likes Airplanes Anymore?

[John Pleisse]

AndyFromCB, on 26 Jan 2015 - 2:39 PM, said:

but in the end, foreign affairs are in the hands of executive not congress

 

I think we finally found some middle ground.

 

Oh yes....and look how we're doing.

[BorealOne]

Zero, 2006. 30k, garage kept in new condition. Got it new for $42k...they could NOT give them away, then. Now...they want a holy mint and won't deal. The F250 has a 5 gal urea tank that only lasts 1 oil change of every  $6k miles (synthetic). The F250 has a governor if you run out of fluid... It electronically limits rpm and speed. If you forget urea in a new Merc same thing. Run either tank dry of diesel and you are looking at $1,500 purge.

 

Several years ago, shortly after the 'blue juice' started to come into vogue, I came across a group of hunters near the Yukon/NWT border crawling along in their new GMC. They couldn't figure out what had happened - one minute they were cruising, the next they were locked down to <20km/h. I suspect it was a long, long drive back to Whitehorse.

 

Nearly 1M km on the 6-cyl turbo diesel in my 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60...suspect someone will still be driving that truck when they shut off the pumps for good.

[AndyFromCB]

  Iran vows revenge against Israel for killing a top general in an Israeli airstrike in Syria on Hezbollah fighters who are fighting for Assad to help him to destroy ISIS. In response, US feels a headache coming on and goes to lie down

[John Pleisse]

Several years ago, shortly after the 'blue juice' started to come into vogue, I came across a group of hunters near the Yukon/NWT border crawling along in their new GMC. They couldn't figure out what had happened - one minute they were cruising, the next they were locked down to <20km/h. I suspect it was a long, long drive back to Whitehorse.

 

Nearly 1M km on the 6-cyl turbo diesel in my 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60...suspect someone will still be driving that truck when they shut off the pumps for good.

 

Bo...we can't buy the diesel Land Cruisers or Rovers here in the states. They have never offered them. Is the used market on them up there any good? Problems importing?

[John Pleisse]

  Iran vows revenge against Israel for killing a top general in an Israeli airstrike in Syria on Hezbollah fighters who are fighting for Assad to help him to destroy ISIS. In response, US feels a headache coming on and goes to lie down

 

 

 

Hey...what's an Iranian general doing in Syria? Yemen? Lebanon? Iraq? He must have lost his way. Tisk, tisk.

[AndyFromCB]

Hey...what's an Iranian general doing in Syria? Yemen? Lebanon? Iraq? He must have lost his way. Tisk, tisk.

 

Expanding their middle east empire and helping us fight Al Quada and ISIS...Yes, yes, I know how all these short term allegiances come to bite us in the ass...Why do you think Saudis are funding ISIS? To fight Iran. Why did they fund AQ? To fight Iran. Why is Pakistan funding Taliban? To fight India. There is so many proxy wars there, I'm having a heck of a time tracking them all. 

 

How is that Arab spring working out? Problem with democracy in the middle east is the population always elects the wrong side (from our point of view) and then we have to back another coup (aka Egypt) while appearing uninvolved. I really hope people working the middle east desks in various 3 letter agencies get extra pay.

[BorealOne]

Bo...we can't buy the diesel Land Cruisers or Rovers here in the states. They have never offered them. Is the used market on them up there any good? Problems importing?

 

Toyota brought the diesel Land Cruisers into Canada for a few short years from 83-87, then decided the market was too small to bother. Mine is a Canadian-spec, LHD model from that golden era. We also have a 25-year exemption allowing importations from Europe, Australia and Japan, so there's a small industry that specializes in buying 25-year old RHD-spec'd vehicles at auction, mostly from Japan because of low-mileage and little real off-road. Those guys deal with the importation and registration into Canada. There's quite a bit of Japanese-spec'd stuff on the road up here - not just Cruisers and Rovers, but other diesel vehicles that were never marketed to North America.

[John Pleisse]

Hey...what's an Iranian general doing in Syria? Yemen? Lebanon? Iraq? He must have lost his way. Tisk, tisk.

 

AndyFromCB: Expanding their middle east empire and helping us fight Al Quada and ISIS...Yes, yes, I know how all these short term allegiances come to bite us in the ass...Why do you think Saudis are funding ISIS? To fight Iran.

 

 

 

OK, I have heard everything. And how about the Iraq war and about a thousand of our guy's legs blown off. This is utterly delusional. I guess it is so complicated to understand, that Iranian Shia taking over Yemen is just part of our swell alliance with them. Then there's the Omani's who just gave Iran a new mountain perch to control the straight of Hormuz. All part of our new world order, I need to read up on. Wow....I need to sharpen my grasp of foreign policy.

[AndyFromCB]

 

 

AndyFromCB: Expanding their middle east empire and helping us fight Al Quada and ISIS...Yes, yes, I know how all these short term allegiances come to bite us in the ass...Why do you think Saudis are funding ISIS? To fight Iran.

 

 

 

OK, I have heard everything. And how about the Iraq war and about a thousand of our guy's legs blown off. This is utterly delusional. I guess it is so complicated to understand, that Iranian Shia taking over Yemen is just part of our swell alliance with them. Then there's the Omani's who just gave Iran a new mountain perch to control the straight of Hormuz. All part of our new world order I need to read up on. Wow....I need to sharpen my grasp of foreign policy.

 

 

What about the Iraq war? What about our guys' legs? It was a war, during war legs get blown off. Why was the war fought and what goals we were trying to accomplish? At this point, I truly have no idea. I don't think anybody does. But yes, there was a war in Iraq sometimes in 2003 during which then current administration created a giant power vacuum and allowed the country to disintegrate due to lack of foresight and total and complete destruction of their government and military because of some guy name Chalabi.

 

Are you getting all emotional on me? Am I supposed feel bad for the missing limbs? Like you stated before, it's an all volunteer force working on behalf of our empires' interests. They know what they are signing up to do (well, some do, some don't). I am apparently considerably more cold hearted than you are, because I don't care. I pay my taxes which pay their salaries, for which they are willing to get their legs blown off. No different than warehouse workers who die when shelves collapse or programmers who die from sitting around for too long. Every job has its perks (you get to play paintball with real guns) and its pitfalls (your legs might get blown off)...

 

I just wish our empire would know what its interests are as blowing shit up is expensive and while I enjoy precision guided ammo hitting its target on YouTube as much as the next guy, it's a pretty expensive pastime (cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $30K last year if my previously posted budget numbers are correct).

[John Pleisse]

What about the Iraq war? What about our guys' legs? It was a war, during war legs get blown off. Why was the war fought and what goals we were trying to accomplish? At this point, I truly have no idea. I don't think anybody does. But yes, there was a war in Iraq sometimes in 2003 during which then current administration created a giant power vacuum and allowed the country to disintegrate due to lack of foresight and total and complete destruction of their government and military because of some guy name Chalabi.

 

Are you getting all emotional on me? Am I supposed feel bad for the missing limbs? Like you stated before, it's an all volunteer force working on behalf of our empires' interests. They know what they are signing up to do (well, some do, some don't). I am apparently considerably more cold hearted than you are, because I don't care. I pay my taxes which pay their salaries, for which they are willing to get their legs blown off. No different than warehouse workers who die when shelves collapse or programmers who die from sitting around for too long. Every job has its perks (you get to play paintball with real guns) and its pitfalls (your legs might get blown off)...

 

I just wish our empire would know what its interests are as blowing shit up is expensive and while I enjoy precision guided ammo hitting its target on YouTube as much as the next guy, it's a pretty expensive pastime (cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $30K last year if my previously posted budget numbers are correct).

 

 

Run for office on these great notions..start small...say Council Bluffs. I'll come up and help you get out of town when they storm your house. What you don't get is.... "our empire" restores democracy, allows the poor to thrive and allows other nations to prosper. Wrong or not.

[AndyFromCB]

Run for office on these great notions..start small...say Council Bluffs. I'll come up and help you get out of town when they storm your house. What you don't get is.... "our empire" restores democracy, allows the poor to thrive and allows other nations to prosper. Wrong or not.

 

I wonder how many dead Iraqis would have preferred that our restoration of democracy stayed focused on Florida and hanging chads...You cannot claim that we do what we do due to our own interests and then jump back on your high moral bandwagon. We do what we do because it is in the interests of the American Empire. At least we used to. Things were a lot cleaner when we had dictators around the world we could count on. And I really do believe you when you say Bush had great intentions and I even believe him when he says that too. That's where this cluster fuck started. We should have deposed Saddam and installed a new dictator, probably a bit more ruthless but one once again willing to ask "How high" next time we said "Jump". But no, we tried to bring morals, and goodness and democracy there. Guess what, they don't want it.

 

You cannot "restore" something that never existed in the first place and cannot claim it when we were the ones who destroyed it (Iran). Are you denying we did? What about Guatemala? What about Chile? What about every third world shithole dictator we propped up over the years.

 

The problem with most conservatives is you have to see everything in terms of good and evil so you have manufacture your own narrative for what we as a country do and create alternate motives to live with yourself. I don't. We do it all for $$$ and if I had a problem with, I'd stop paying my taxes. Obviously I don't. We do a lot of evil shit around the world to support our standard of living. Survival of the fittest. 

[flyboy0681]

I wonder how many dead Iraqis would have preferred that our restoration of democracy stayed focused on Florida and hanging chads...You cannot claim that we do what we do due to our own interests and then jump back on your high moral bandwagon. We do what we do because it is in the interests of the American Empire. At least we used to. Things were a lot cleaner when we had dictators around the world we could count on. And I really do believe you when you say Bush had great intentions and I even believe him when he says that too. 

 

 

Remember what Henry Kissinger once said: "There are no friends in diplomacy, just interests", or something to that effect.

[John Pleisse]

I wonder how many dead Iraqis would have preferred that our restoration of democracy stayed focused on Florida and hanging chads...You cannot claim that we do what we do due to our own interests and then jump back on your high moral bandwagon. We do what we do because it is in the interests of the American Empire. At least we used to. Things were a lot cleaner when we had dictators around the world we could count on. And I really do believe you when you say Bush had great intentions and I even believe him when he says that too. 

 

You cannot "restore" something that never existed in the first place and cannot claim it when we were the ones who destroyed it (Iran). Are you denying we did? What about Guatemala? What about Chile? What about every third world shithole dictator we propped up over the years.

 

 

Yeah...they were boo'ing us when we rolled into Baghdad. They cried when Saddam was executed. Our interest? An evil dictator gone, WMD's or not. Did we take over the country for a quid pro quo and steal their oil? Any massive air bases or treaties requiring their land and resources?

 

Finally, you expose your deep dark distain for the country that affords you a great career, a turbo prop and side arm to shoot. You petty little whiner...still pissed at Bush v. Gore Supreme Court. Out of the closet. Finally!!! Oh wait, sorry, that was Mike.

[AndyFromCB]

Yeah...they were boo'ing us when we rolled into Baghdad. They cried when Saddam was executed. Our interest? An evil dictator gone, WMD's or not. Did we take over the country for a quid pro quo and steal their oil? Any massive air bases or treaties requiring their land and resources?

No and here in lies my problem: we didn't get shit in return. If all we wanted was Saddam dead then a cruise missile or a drone strike would have done just fine. We accomplished nothing, zero, nada. We could be there for another 100 years and we would accomplish precisely that. They only became serious about running their now country when ISIS showed up on their doorstep and heads started falling.

[flyboy0681]

 Any massive air bases or treaties requiring their land and resources?

 

 

 

No, but we did get the largest American embassy the world has ever seen.

[John Pleisse]

No and here in lies my problem: we didn't get shit in return. If all we wanted was Saddam dead then a cruise missile or a drone strike would have done just fine.

 

You want an airbase and shave 20% off their oil? Sometimes it is merely about our interests that can't be directly quantified. What is ISIS costing us now? What does one day of our financial markets being shut down cost us? Are the Iraqi's destabilizing the region? No, the only problem is Iran and your guy is F%&&*cking it up. June is gonna be great....Supreme Court rulings and Iran will have to turn their library card back in. The withdraw should have been a liberal wet dream for you.

[AndyFromCB]

Are you claiming ISIS is the works of Iranians? Yes, that is precise what Iraq is doing. It's destabilizing the region. You have a giant country with no control of majority of it's territory. It's a terrorist wet dream.

[AndyFromCB]

You want an airbase and shave 20% off their oil? Sometimes it is merely about our interests that can't be directly quantified. 

All interests can be directly quantified unless you fucked up, voted for the wrong guy and now are coming up with an excuse for him. We had only one interest in Iraq. It was to create a buffer between Iran and keep  them busy. And we fucked it up majorly. Once Iran no longer had to worry about Iraq it began its conquests. And now we have no choice but to deal with it. As simple as that. Bush, Clinton and the Bush II gave Iran exactly what they wanted...

[AndyFromCB]

Yeah...they were boo'ing us when we rolled into Baghdad. They cried when Saddam was executed. Our interest? An evil dictator gone, WMD's or not. Did we take over the country for a quid pro quo and steal their oil? Any massive air bases or treaties requiring their land and resources?

 

Finally, you expose your deep dark distain for the country that affords you a great career, a turbo prop and side arm to shoot. You petty little whiner...still pissed at Bush v. Gore Supreme Court. Out of the closet. Finally!!! Oh wait, sorry, that was Mike.

My disdain is only for lack of intellectual honesty. My motives are selfish. I admit that. If I have only learnt one thing in business over the years is that a customer who tells you he is not in his business for the money will be your biggest pain in the ass. I like honesty. Even when you have to perjure yourself, it pays to be as honest as possible. And I love the USA. Where else on this planet could we have this forum, this topic and not have to especially worry much about a few guys in dark coats knocking on our doors late at night. As long as that stays, all else will eventually be solved as much as anything can be solved.

[John Pleisse]

All interests can be directly quantified unless you fucked up, voted for the wrong guy and now are coming up with an excuse for him. We had only one interest in Iraq. It was to create a buffer between Iran and keep  them busy. And we fucked it up majorly. Once Iran no longer had to worry about Iraq it began its conquests. And now we have no choice but to deal with it. As simple as that. Bush, Clinton and the Bush II gave Iran exactly what they wanted...

 

Sorry...we kept the Iraqis and Iranians at war for a decade. They played well in the sandbox together.  Wanna make it better? Sign up for a veteran service.

 

Star Wars was a ruse. Ended 30 years on nuclear detente. Then there are others, like the Camp David accords that can be quantified as abject failures. In your world, you actually believe that Iran is running around, causing trouble because we withdrew? We weren't there to keep them occupied? Well, first of all, that is y-o-u-r boy's doing and in some way, you ignore the fact that we lifted sanctions, allowing Iran to run wild and do all of this. They are making a power grab, not because we left Iraq, but because we entered into a nuclear treaty with them. Strength, in exchange for weakness. I mean, it was you who said yesterday that all of this was very complicated and involved some bullshit, like back door trade routes to China. C'mon Man. To suggest we went to, or withdrew from Iraq, to keep the Iranians busy, well, this is material for the Rosie O'Donnell blog.

 

Iraq war expensive? Sure. Two stimuli to provide union election paybacks, that cost twice as much as Iraq, have left us with crumbling bridges....now that is rich.

[rob]

It's not a luxury car. If you buy a 3 series to be a luxury car you're missing out what the 3 series is all about. You want entry luxury, buy C series or a little Lexus or a pimped out Accord or an Avalon. Or a Fusion.

You want a thing that moves, corners and brakes, you buy a 3 series. Gives me a smile every time I drive it.

Wait, you're driving it thinking it's a performance car? That's even worse. Man, seriously. Get outta that thing! You don't even know what you're missing.

I intentionally put luxury in quotes in my first post. The 328xi doesn't do anything well, it's an econobox with a propellor logo on it.

[rob]

I just got a 2005 325xi, I know what you mean, it's a driver's car. It has a soul, my 2005 Honda Accord is just an appliance. If they would stop using cheap plastic shit in the crankcase vent system and the cooling system it would be bulletproof.

The older ones are better, but still, you guys need to get out more if you think these entry level 3 series are "drivers cars."

[AndyFromCB]

Sorry...we kept the Iraqis and Iranians at war for a decade. They played well in the sandbox together.  Wanna make it better? Sign up for a veteran service.

 

Star Wars was a ruse. Ended 30 years on nuclear detente. Then there are others, like the Camp David accords that can be quantified as abject failures. In your world, you actually believe that Iran is running around, causing trouble because we withdrew? We weren't there to keep them occupied? Well, first of all, that is y-o-u-r boy's doing and in some way, you ignore the fact that we lifted sanctions, allowing Iran to run wild and do all of this. They are making a power grab, not because we left Iraq, but because we entered into a nuclear treaty with them. Strength, in exchange for weakness. I mean, it was you who said yesterday that all of this was very complicated and involved some bullshit, like back door trade routes to China. C'mon Man. To suggest we went to, or withdrew from Iraq, to keep the Iranians busy, well, this is material for the Rosie O'Donnell blog.

 

Iraq war expensive? Sure. Two stimuli to provide union election paybacks, that cost twice as much as Iraq, have left us with crumbling bridges....now that is rich.

 

John,

 

You obviously have not understood a single point I've ever made. I'm done with you. Want to talk airplanes, boats or cars, I'm in. Foreign policy, not so much. It's over. Going to take little shits for an evening walk around the lake.

 

Andy

[AndyFromCB]

Wait, you're driving it thinking it's a performance car? That's even worse. Man, seriously. Get outta that thing! You don't even know what you're missing.

I intentionally put luxury in quotes in my first post. The 328xi doesn't do anything well, it's an econobox with a propellor logo on it.

 

Well, I'm sorry I cannot afford a real performance car and really like my crappy BMW. 

[AndyFromCB]

The older ones are better, but still, you guys need to get out more if you think these entry level 3 series are "drivers cars."

 

Weren't you the one making fun of Scott's porsche too?