"Define troll, because I've been around here a long time. Maybe just for convenience's sake, you define it as someone you don't like. That way you don't actually have to use your head." -- The drone formerly known as Hornet Driver. He, too, has been recently reactivated . . .

"Yeah, I'm the same Hornet Driver. I just couldn't remember the darn password I'd given first time I logged in (as two words "Hornet Driver"), so I re-signed up and used HornetDriver (one word). Oh, and rupert_c, check out what a Hornet Driver does for a living before you ask stupid questions."

Which is scary because I think he's saying that he's operating equipment of some sort. And you're right, someone is waking up these dead-enders and sending them out to, stir up, you might say, the hornet's nest. Save yourself the trouble, and I know it's hard to resist slapping them around when they're down. But, they rdeally really ain't very dangerous, and hey, being here keeps them off the streets, or the fairways, or whatever.

Pedinska confesses: "I wink a lot... ;-} " in reply to:

"I still wish there was html coding for sarcasm/ stinger tweaking!"

Hmm. Sometimes I just drink a lot . . .

doesn't help much with the spelling / syntax / logic, but hell, whatever gets you through that dark night. And the sad thing is that folks like HornetGuy (whether he's what he says he is or not, it's still sad) and Dubya don't miss a wink. Something about conscience, or what separates us from the insects . . .

"Absolutely spot on. The terrorists are stateless international criminals, nothing more or less. Dignifying them with words like 'war on terror' is not helpful, and indeed has been quite harmful."

I see. So when 'they' (the 'bad-guys' aka not-in-our-interest little brown / black / yellow people) catch some dickweed sporting sunglasses, kelvar-vest, a black t-shirt, skinhead, silly little goatee (did I forget the tats??), bad-ass attitude and a side-arm, then 'chop-chop', swaying in the breeze in some foreign country, or being dragged around by a Toyota is okay?? Is that why BlackH20 & the other free enterprise / spreading-democracy / defending democracy / it's about protecting money / Wackenhutt folks pay these goons so much dinero??? Good to know.

thomas c, being properly chastised, tugs his forelock, shuffles his feet, looks downcast and writes: "Thank you, Derbig Mooser -- I've done a cursory review of Pachyderm's posts. As you suggest, disengagement is appropriate. Sorry, Elephantdude. Perhaps you can be more serious next time?"

Well, you can look into anyone's past and chart that some are more or less stable than others. You can really following the arc, so to speak. The sparkling wit that ebbs & flows / wanes & waxes, the drunks (and you can really see the nights they get into mom's sherry cache), the unwavering descent & headlong rush into madness / silliness (it is the reader's call), the phases of the moon, even. Enfantman, Shooter, Anonymoose: these are the bulwark of the cause. They are the cutting edge of the blunt instrument that has been whacking at America for a long time -- strong industial white capitastic predominate America good / everyone else FO&D. Then you have the re-activists like the Amazing Latin Bros (Ostentatious / Audacious / Rambuncious / Maximus Anus / et al)., the "Sir, yes Sir guys" ("Dude, before I rack out & paint some confirms on the nose of my bitch, just google & find out what 'wedding-crasher' really means"), and the other drive-bys. Mix 'em all together, add some leniancy, some really incredibly silly feces-flinging: "salonoid / salonista / salonik" and others of "your ilk", and you have a sometimes interesting forum. But on a really really really bad day -- when it comes down to middle-aged folks talking about their life-experiences, kumquat preserves, and stream-of-consciousness ad-lib poetry and quotes of misty-1960s rock bands, well. Anyway, just a thought.

And I shudder, and actually lack the courage to even consider looking back at my own back-ages, so to speak.

Actually, Mr. Spoonerism:

Did I really say, My Back Ages??

I meant, My Back Pages -- by everyon's favourite Uncle Bob:

"Crimson flames tied through my ears

Rollin' high and mighty traps

Pounced with fire on flaming roads

Using ideas as my maps

"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I

Proud 'neath heated brow.

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now"

Well, whatever . . .

It could have been worse, I could have said,

Back Ladder . . .

Sorry Rowan.

Yes, Friday The Thirteenth. Lots of scary stuff out there, but the scariest thing I've read all day:

"The United States should remain on the offensive to protect the American people. It should continue to bring the world’s most dangerous terrorists to justice, and it should do so in the context of the rule of law. One of the most enduring features of the American system is the fact that the United States is a government of laws and not of men."

Actually, not just scary but extremely offensive.

"The American People".

Shee-it, almost as bad as "God's Chosen People".

So, in a nutshell, Americans are really really special folks and anyone who disagrees, gets in the way of America's special right to be #1, tries to cut in on the action, doesn't salute the flag, gives the finger to the President, resists, or just plain ain't American, then it needs the Raid treatment.

A government of law, indeed. The thing is, the American law is a Borg -- it changes and adapts and considers itself above the laws of others.

And the scariest thing is, it puts the folks who make those laws, write those laws, evoke those law and enforce those laws as above any other entity.

That, my scuttering little friends, is why 95% of the planet do not like America.