Ronald McDonald gets le boot

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Originally posted by jpbtennisman


Tell that to my fellow moderator at PCTS online who has served in the Air Force for the United States. If the two of you were face to face, he would probably laugh at you and kick your ass.

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Yes, yes, we can all talk big though can't we?

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Originally posted by jpbtennisman
Don't trash our military forces, flying a plane to bomb someone/something requires bravery even if it's not ground fighting, if the country has sufficicent military force they could shoot down your plane...

:mad: [/B]

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Well they're hardly gonna have much strikepower after you bomb them with guided missiles from warships in the ocean, now, are they?

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Originally posted by mikeycorn
If you ask who has the biggest economy and you try to lump a bunch of countries who have different constitutions, different laws, and different judicial systems, YOU'RE CHEATING!

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But that lump of countries are controlled by the same laws and harmonised judicial systems.

European Law is a real thing, it does exist.

Calling Europe a country is far fetched, but I never tried to do that. I merely tried to point out that because the structure is so similar, why can't they be compared?

Oi Chris go to bed!

Truth be told, I could really care less about who has the biggest economy. You ask a representative sample of 1000 citizens of the world and 980 of them will tell you the U.S. I guess we found some of the other twenty here.

Like I said though, I could really give two sheets about this whole thing. I really am just so furious with the people who are coming out of the woodwork with all their snide comments and anti-American sentiments that I just want to argue with these people over anything at all.

Losers.

You should be greatful that the U.S. was the country that became the unchallenged world superpower at the end of the 20th century. Had it have been the Nazis or the Commies, you wouldn't even be able to air your petty little gripes.

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Originally posted by rjlohan


Yes, yes, we can all talk big though can't we?

Well they're hardly gonna have much strikepower after you bomb them with guided missiles from warships in the ocean, now, are they?

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Yes we can, which makes you pretty damn lucky that it's how the world works.

So you take the US's military power and you label it as a weakness. You bore me. :o

My Alg 2 homework is more exciting than you, see ya.

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Originally posted by Pix
Oi Chris go to bed!

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:p

Nah I'm having a debate with these fine gentlemen about the why's and wherefores of the EU.

How come you're not in bed? ;)

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Originally posted by mikeycorn
I really am just so furious with the people who are coming out of the woodwork with all their snide comments and anti-American sentiments that I just want to argue with these people over anything at all.

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WORD.

Although Chrisjk is not really the person to argue with as it's rjlohan who is commenting like that mostly...

Chrisjk = :cool:
rjlohan = :rolleyes:

Fair enough :p

I was in bed but couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come back here for a bit :)

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Originally posted by mikeycorn
I really am just so furious with the people who are coming out of the woodwork with all their snide comments and anti-American sentiments that I just want to argue with these people over anything at all.

Losers.

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I hope you're not including me in that because I have deliberately sidestepped all snipping and anti-american comments.

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You should be greatful that the U.S. was the country that became the unchallenged world superpower at the end of the 20th century. Had it have been the Nazis or the Commies, you wouldn't even be able to air your petty little gripes.

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Had it been the Nazis and not the US, then frankly neither would you be able to.

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Originally posted by chrisjk
Had it been the Nazis and not the US, then frankly neither would you be able to.

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:p

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Originally posted by Pix
Fair enough :p

I was in bed but couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come back here for a bit :)

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well good to see you.

Is your bed compy enough, sounds like you should demand a new one

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Originally posted by chrisjk
What are your states made up of?

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Same thing....so you don't any division in your country that have the word State in it. So what ??

UK is a country, France is a country, etc. Recently combining them under a single banner may be a wet-dream for all the "one world, one prez" people but if that is the wave of the furture, then all comparisons need to be changed. Lumping 12 or so existing countries together for whatever reason and then comparing them to a single existing country is asinine at best, *****-envy at worst.

hehehehehehe

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Originally posted by jpbtennisman


WORD.

Although Chrisjk is not really the person to argue with as it's rjlohan who is commenting like that mostly...

Chrisjk = :cool:
rjlohan = :rolleyes:

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thank you!

JK is OK in my book, too.

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Originally posted by chrisjk
well good to see you.

Is your bed compy enough, sounds like you should demand a new one

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Hee hee, my bed is ok I think, I've just got a lot on my mind at the moment. Oh and I've had a lot of caffiene recently so that might have something to do with it :p

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Originally posted by chrisjk
Says who, you?

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Uhmmmm....obviously.

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Originally posted by Patoooey
Lumping 12 or so existing countries together

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It will happen, whether I or any other euro-sceptic Briton wants it or not.

So the member states of the EU are existing countries, oka, they are, fine. But, wait, wasn't Florida a country owned by the Spanish before they sold it to the US? I'm guessing there are more states that were in a similar position.

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Originally posted by Pix
Hee hee, my bed is ok I think, I've just got a lot on my mind at the moment. Oh and I've had a lot of caffiene recently so that might have something to do with it :p

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tut! Caffiene is bad for you! :p

It probably will happen, I doubt in our lifetimes, though. I mean, having your whole country's identity overshadowed by merging into one giant European country is the kind of idea that will take more than a few generations of brainwashing before people will accept it.

Who do you think will be the last European country to hold out on the deal?

I know it is but it keeps me awake during revision :p

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Originally posted by mikeycorn
It probably will happen, I doubt in our lifetimes, though. I mean, having your whole country's identity overshadowed by merging into one giant European country is the kind of idea that will take more than a few generations of brainwashing before people will accept it.

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I don't know about being generations, things have moved shockingly fast in recent years. Some new European-wide thing is in the news virtually every day. But no it probably won't be my generation.

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Who do you think will be the last European country to hold out on the deal?

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it's a toss up between the 3 who didn't take on the Euro; Britain, Denmark and I forget the other :rolleyes:

My money (if I had any) would be on britain though. Particularly (and I'm not being funny) the Welsh and the Scottish, because they are more nationalistic than the English.

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Originally posted by Pix
I know it is but it keeps me awake during revision :p

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well so long as you're not doing yourself any harm. Pixies are precious creatures :)

What were the individual states in the US called before they combined? I remember there is a clause in some US legal-type-arrangement to do with the unification of the states that says Texas is entitled to leave the US at any point, should it wish to do so. I'm guessing it would be a country then. I don't know if they were individual countries before though.

I can see the parallels that Chris is drawing here and they're valid from a certain perspective. There are definite similarities in structure, and eventually I believe the EU will become more and more of a federation with closer links legally, culturally, and (as you're discussing here), economically. Perhaps you're not happy to consider the whole EU's economy as a reasonable way to group the economies of the various areas of Europe, but there will come a point (in the not-so-distant future I think) where it's not going to be reasonable to claim the EU is unlike the US in terms of economic structure.

I don't really think it matters anyway. It's a subjective question.

What does it mean that the Brits didn't take on the Euro, does it mean that British shops don't accept both or does it mean that the accept both but didn't ditch the Pound?

They don't have to accept Euros (it's foreign currency here) and most don't, but some shops will accept Euros now, albeit at a slightly higher price to cover administrative costs.

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Originally posted by chrisjk
It will happen, whether I or any other euro-sceptic Briton wants it or not.

So the member states of the EU are existing countries, oka, they are, fine. But, wait, wasn't Florida a country owned by the Spanish before they sold it to the US? I'm guessing there are more states that were in a similar position.

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We bought a large part of our land-mass from long-dead European idiots who had no clue of the resources here. *** has that to do with anything ??

How far back in UK history do we have to go for all this land-grabbing and nation-building that seems to bug you so much.

Granted, our use of the word state for our collection of 50 is confusing, and they should really be called districts or boroughs(or whatever), it's been over 140 years since they considered themselves to be nation-like.

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Originally posted by mikeycorn
What does it mean that the Brits didn't take on the Euro, does it mean that British shops don't accept both or does it mean that the accept both but didn't ditch the Pound?

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It means the Euro is not officially legal tender like it is in the countries that did adopt it.

Whilst it isn't legal tender officially, it is up to the individual store/companies whether they take it or not. Most shops in popular tourist areas (parts of London for example) will take it, but I couldn't go down to my local and start buying beers with Euros.

I like the idea of a dual/parallel currency system, it might be a bit more complex but it would satisfy both sides. Obvisouly that's not an indefinate solution, but something that could be looked at

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Originally posted by Patoooey
it's been over 140 years since they considered themselves to be nation-like.

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So they were at some stage. That's all I was saying. It's not my fault if you try to read more into it than that

The reason for the military and technological strength of the US is, in my opinion, almost (if not) entirely based on the growth of the US economy thanks to the political system - democracy (well it's republicanism but it's almost the same). The US had low taxes and a great boost to their economic activity thanks to it, and has got a headstart of the rest of the world. It has lots of natural resources to exploit, and plenty of freedom of trade. All in all a recipe for a good economy.

A good economy is the fundamental basis for broad-based military and technological strength. The simple fact is the US can pay for things most other countries couldn't support. The F-22 is pretty damn expensive and couldn't reasonably have been done by anyone else, so the Eurofighter Typhoon was made to a tighter budget and designed to beat anything but the F-22. There's not much threat from arguably your closest ally after all.

The same goes for any other military advantage, like super-carriers. It all comes down to the money.

>I don't really think it matters anyway. It's a subjective question.

Oh, quit being so rational and go off like a loose cannon like the rest of us! ;-)

With the Declaration of Independence from that oppressive British tyranny, the colonies were united as one. (The sad thing about it is that we as a people are taxed much more heavily now than we ever were back then, but that's another thread.)

When territories were staked out, they were bound by federal law (although there often weren't enough lawmen to go around.) Once there was enough of an infrastructure in place, the territories would achieve statehood, which would actually give them a bit more autonomy, but they were still bound by the constitution and state law was and still is always superceeded by federal law (once again, rendering the analogy between Euro countries and American states ineffective.)

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The reason for the military and technological strength of the US is, in my opinion, almost (if not) entirely based on the growth of the US economy thanks to the political system - democracy (well it's republicanism but it's almost the same). The US had low taxes and a great boost to their economic activity thanks to it, and has got a headstart of the rest of the world. It has lots of natural resources to exploit, and plenty of freedom of trade. All in all a recipe for a good economy.

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You'll never find a more accurate and succinct description of the reason why America became the world's only superpower.

I was just being an ******* when I said it was because we were smarter.

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Originally posted by mikeycorn

Oh, quit being so rational and go off like a loose cannon like the rest of us! ;-)

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Yeah, it's no fun when someone spoils all my hard work at stirring them up with mindless drivel by acting moderately...:p

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Originally posted by mikeycorn

I was just being an ******* when I said it was because we were smarter.

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That's the spirit! Take note all - that's how you start an argument!:D

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Originally posted by mikeycorn
When territories were staked out, they were bound by federal law (although their often weren't enough lawmen to go around.) Once there was enough of an infrastructure in place, the territories would achieve statehood, which would actually give them a bit more autonomy, but they were still bound by the constitution and state law was and still is always superceeded by federal law (once again, rendering the analogy between Euro countries and American states ineffective.)

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Should how they were formed matter?

Your "federal law" is like the European law. Granted, the european law is in it's infancy, is quite ineffective at times and can be ignored pretty much willy nilly by member states (like those bloody Frogs are doing at the moment). But everything has to start somewhere.

Dude, just admit it rjlohan, you love America and everything America stands for! You always wished you had been born in the U.S.A. and all of this is just a mask to hide your bitter disappointment at having been born down under.

Anyway, i'm going to bed, it's 2:20am

It has been enjoyable gentlemen, may we continue to agree to disagree ;)

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Originally posted by mikeycorn
Dude, just admit it rjlohan, you love America and everything America stands for! You always wished you had been born in the U.S.A. and all of this is just a mask to hide your bitter disappointment at having been born down under.

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*ponders if this was sarcasm...*

Oh, go **** yourself you bloody seppos white trash piece of ****, your mother ****** your ***** and then she **** with a goddamn ***** Frenchman! Now I know where you got your **** wit and ******* charming perso******nality you stupid ****** - the milkman!!!!
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:o That feels better....:D

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Originally posted by chrisjk
It has been enjoyable gentlemen, may we continue to agree to disagree ;)

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No.

Well I wouldn't expect you to since I thought you were agreeing with me...