JANUS

Wise words Tom, too bad you can't follow them yourself.

This review was like thinking you are about to get a BJ from Angelina, only for her to rip of a mask and realize it Rosie O'Donnell.

I do not need to wear this hat to know that 65 dollars (or $75 or $120)is crazy expensive for a hat. I am glad you and the other consumers of this finery can afford to throw down such change for a hat. For the record, I did not "shit all over it". I could not afford to shit all over it, unless someone else let me borrow theirs to do so. I was merely observing that the price seemed a bit high for a hat. However, I'm not the hat connoisseur that you must be. Or perhaps inflation has risen to new levels and I did not notice. I was not comparing this finery with more expensive hats (that is insane). I was more comparing it with the general outdoor hat market, which averages somewhere around half the cost (or much less on sale). But lest I become associated with the gentleman with the Walmart Puptent, I will bid you adieu and wish you all the best with your fine boutique couture, which I'm sure outperforms its competition in the very expensive hat market and will be highly successful.

Sarah Palin will be very angry with you Mr. Pink.

wow. 59+6 shipping = 65 dollar hat. of course that is a relative bargain compared to the Champrau d'Amour.

If you would kindly look at my previous statement in this thread you'll see that I'm not faulting Americans, but rather human nature. "The worst we do is rename our foods". Do you really believe that statement? Give it some thought. Maybe you can't see the forest because of the trees, but what I'm talking about is not finding a way to assign blame on someone we can then destroy, but rather talking about the human tendancy to categorize and demonize the "other". Its an extremely useful tool for dividing people. Do you remember what the reasoning was behind the proposed Freedom Fries? Anyway, all the best, I have work to do so I'm out of here. Have fun!

Yes. I think it also highlights the problem that is being discussed here.

I think Americans are fundamentally more generous and even-handed than others. Indeed our rep among many people is that we are "naive" because of this. We trust too much and are too generous with folks who hate us. BTW, the French comment was a friggin' joke. Were Freedom Fries a joke? It seems to me there were actually national leaders behind that.

KK, I've heard several people say it with full intent. One exact quote, by a young enlisted man speaking to his buddies, "I'm going to Iraq to kill me some towelheads." I've also heard "sand *" used in this context. It's understandable, killing another human being is not something to take lightly, and it's easier if you can dehumanize your target. Perhaps "infidel" is sufficiently pejorative to serve that function on their side. Certainly some form of this process has been around as long as warfare. That doesn't mean I have to stand up and applaud it. Hatred of the Other, whether based on race, religion, gender, sexuality, or social class, is the central flaw of humanity. My brother in law speaks Azeri and Turkish. He used to work in a copy store downtown and often had muslim customers come in and talk shit about America and Americans amongst themselves (in Arabic, Farsi, etc). My brother in law could understand quite a bit. One time two guys were going on and on about American women being whores, beneath contempt, etc, and my brother in law proceeded to chew them a new one in their own language. And you should hear his stories related from friends who are veterans of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Anecdotal evidence is great. I've never heard anyone who supported our troops talk about killing towel-heads or sand-n***ers. In general I think our troops and American people are about as good as you'll get. I'd much rather be looking down an American barrel than an Iranian, Russian, N. Korean, or Chinese one. I guess only a French barrel would be preferable, since it would never be fired (I'd just have to yell "boo"). I have heard plenty of insults regarding "towelhead" and "camel jockey", etc...but perhaps since I don't a know language used by Islamic people I don't hear this hatred of America you talk of here in the streets of the US. I'm SURE there is plenty of that kind of talk over in the Middle East however. Keep in mind that we have Gitmo, etc. I don't think you can say that American hands are clean. IMO it is more accurate to say that bigotry and racism is an unfortunate human characteristic that pervades pretty much all cultures. Anecdotes may help you bring home the anger, but then forest is lost in the trees. They help you develop nice stereotypes and the like (Such as your diss of the French at the end of your post. )

Hi JayB. For some reason that graph reminds me more of Scorched Earth than Missle Command. If you haven't checked out Scorched Earth it is a pretty fun game.

So who are you rooting for? Hillary or Obama?

Chuck appears to be referencing the government and not you or "FW".

Many apologies, I thought you were using the tragic deaths that occurred on 9/11 and somehow relating them to the casualties that are occurring in Iraq. I know many people like to make this comparison, but I don't understand why. I guess I'm not sure why you brought up the 9/11 casualties at all.

Great point. But I'm still struggling to connect what happened on 9/11 to Iraq. Perhaps you could connect the dots for me?

Hey now, I'm just a janitor.

I hope you are correct. I just don't remember the country being here before. 9 trillion is a large number, and we keep getting told that it doesn't matter. Does it? That I don't know, and I don't really fully understand what it will mean to our position in global economics. It seems other countries are better positioned to become what we have been.

did you just dose Sexual Chocolate?

Not to mention that Mr. Optimism has ignored that every economic indicator is showing that we are circling the bowl headed for the "R" word or worse.