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qazwart's Comments
Re: Privatising Security in Iraq: Blackwater
Even more interesting, they are exempt from both U.S. and Iraqi law (This wasn't something the Iraqis did. Bremer on his last day as Proconsul issued a decree exempting contractors from Iraqi law). These guys can literally get away with murder. At least a dozen have been accused of murder, assult, robbery, and rape. Unfortunately, since no action can be taken against contractors and no records are kept of complaints, we have no idea of the total.
Contractors fill a nice need in the role of government. They keep the official count of Americans employeed by the government down. For example, if we count U.S. security contractors as part of the American army, we wouldn't have 160,000 troops in Iraq, but 210,000. And, if you count non-security contractors, that service the army, you'd have to add another 30,000 to 40,000 on top of that. These people perform services that the military use to perform like cooking, laundry, cleaning, etc. That means there are over a quarter million Americans in Iraq either in the military, working for the military, or doing military like jobs. And, these people are also not counted in the military body count either.
BTW, wanna bet when the official count of solders goes down in six months, the number of security contractors will rise?
Contractors fill a nice need in the role of government. They keep the official count of Americans employeed by the government down. For example, if we count U.S. security contractors as part of the American army, we wouldn't have 160,000 troops in Iraq, but 210,000. And, if you count non-security contractors, that service the army, you'd have to add another 30,000 to 40,000 on top of that. These people perform services that the military use to perform like cooking, laundry, cleaning, etc. That means there are over a quarter million Americans in Iraq either in the military, working for the military, or doing military like jobs. And, these people are also not counted in the military body count either.
BTW, wanna bet when the official count of solders goes down in six months, the number of security contractors will rise?
By: qazwart
Re: Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War
Give me one shred of Evidence that GE owns a news company.
Umm...
Who do you think owns NBC/Universal which broadcasts NBC, MSNBC, CNBC? They
also control USA Network and Telemundo:
http://www.ge.com/products_services/media_entertainment.html
Enough "proof"?
Umm...
Who do you think owns NBC/Universal which broadcasts NBC, MSNBC, CNBC? They
also control USA Network and Telemundo:
http://www.ge.com/products_services/media_entertainment.html
Enough "proof"?
By: qazwart
Re: The Impossible Knot
A knot you can't untie? That's my specialty! I don't need a YouTube video to show me that. Of course, I don't make untieable knots on purpose.
By: qazwart
Re: Handmade Vegetable Musical Instruments
Didn't his mother tell him not to play with his food?
(Yes, we were all expecting this comment, but someone had to say it)
(Yes, we were all expecting this comment, but someone had to say it)
By: qazwart
Re: Physics Experiment
As someone noted. The guy in the truck wears a fire suit and a helmet (which they make a great deal of) while the guy outside in the back has just civilian garb and doesn't even look like he's belted in.
Racetrack, firesuit, dramatic play. Quite a bit of work for a rather simple experiment. I think if this was played on Mythbusters, they'd keep it simpler, but in the end, they'd find a way to make something explode.
Racetrack, firesuit, dramatic play. Quite a bit of work for a rather simple experiment. I think if this was played on Mythbusters, they'd keep it simpler, but in the end, they'd find a way to make something explode.
By: qazwart
Re: Tortoise Defends Turf Against Cats
That was the fastest turtle I've ever seen.
Was that turtle under its own power, or did someone attach a radio controlled skate under that thing?
Don't know why none of the cats simply didn't flip it over. That's what my cats like to do with turtles. Then they like to spin them.
Was that turtle under its own power, or did someone attach a radio controlled skate under that thing?
Don't know why none of the cats simply didn't flip it over. That's what my cats like to do with turtles. Then they like to spin them.
By: qazwart
Re: Jet Blast Blows Truck into Water
Of course it was being towed! Would you want to be the guy assigned to drive this truck?
Engine or no engine, that truck flew. I don't think a 700 hundred pound engine would have made all that much difference in what we saw.
Engine or no engine, that truck flew. I don't think a 700 hundred pound engine would have made all that much difference in what we saw.
By: qazwart
Engineer?
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Missler:
In 1999, Chuck Missler received his Ph.D. from the unaccredited Louisiana Baptist University where he is currently a speaker.
In 1999, Chuck Missler received his Ph.D. from the unaccredited Louisiana Baptist University where he is currently a speaker.
By: qazwart
The Atheist's Nightmare: Peanut Butter
Before I read the comments, I thought this video was going to be a spoof of that rather famous Kirk Cameron video: "The Atheist's Nightmare: The Banana" .
Instead, I now realize that this is merely another video in a long unwatchable series. What's next? "The Atheist's Nightmare: Chocolate"?
Instead, I now realize that this is merely another video in a long unwatchable series. What's next? "The Atheist's Nightmare: Chocolate"?
By: qazwart
Re: Alexander Courage: Author of the Star Trek Theme
Looks like you can't use angle brackets to quote URLs:
For more info: http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/trek1.htm.
For more info: http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/trek1.htm.
By: qazwart
Re: Alexander Courage: Author of the Star Trek Theme
One of the more interesting stories is that the Star Trek theme actually had words written by Gene Roddenberry. The words were never really used, but it allowed Roddenberry to claim half of the royalties from the theme song every time it was used.
For more information, see .
For more information, see .
By: qazwart
Re: The Point: Think About Your Troubles
Ringo Starr? I thought Dustin Hoffman played the father and was the voice of the narrator.
By: qazwart
Re: Duck and Cover with Bert the Turtle
Now this is more like it! This is the type of stuff I really like to see on Milk and Cookies. Snippets from TV shows get a wee bit monotonous at times.
By: qazwart
Project Plowshare was a plan promoted by Edward Teller to build a port in Alaska by using nuclear weapons. The Alaskan Chamber of Commerce supported this project. A small group of environmentalists, native people, and a few individuals concerned about the use of nuclear weapons and the fallout over Alaska fought the project and successfully killed it.