A request of the US - we need to fight the war on...

[gavinlit]

the flu. I recently heard that our govt is stockpiling vaccines for the possible onset of a particular strain of flu. Now that we are fighting the war on flu, as a faithful servant (oops I mean ally) I formally request the US to land troops somewhere. I know, I know that some of you will argue that a structured military force is not the best weapon with which to fight a war on flu but I feel confident that with enough bullets, bombs and media support we can win this war. Anyone who complains can be accused of 'not supporting the troops' or being 'unamerican'. If things don't work out and the danger from the flu remain undiminished we could always say you are planting democracy.

Those nasty little flu germs are spreading and multiplying across all corners of the globe. It has also been shown that some citizens within Iraq have also had the flu at stages - in collaboration with each other no less (you can use this to help your current cause). Nowhere is safe and it has been shown that with little warning a sudden epidemic may strike. Some links have been found to (insert your preferred country here, but not one with a substantial military force or industrial ties to america) - enough to justify landing an armed force. Get to it boys - the world needs you - again.

[dtw]

May I be first to say "get bent".

[gavinlit]

Well - looks like you're the first. C'mon dave - show a bit of humour.

[gavinlit]

Guess my sense of humour is a little different to those that read this. Oh well.

[bryanthompson]

Might want to look up the reasons why we are only down to TWO facilities producing a flu vaccine.

Short answer, there's no money in it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38776-2004Oct16.html

[Purrybonker]

Originally posted by gavinlit
Guess my sense of humour is a little different to those that read this. Oh well.

Naw, it's pretty cute. Your preamble is sufficiently within the suburbs of veracity to qualify it as an effective lampoon or parody.

The problem is your zipcode. Egocentricity completely short circuits any attempts at the delivery of information to the logic and/or humour centres of your audience that originate from external sources.

Such gambits are waved off without further indulgence, as simply being being symptomatic of blatant anti-Americanism.

[gavinlit]

Maybe I should fess up and say my middle name is cleveland (don't laugh - it's true) in honour of my original ancestor on daddyo's side. Perhaps my location will then be forgiven.

[djmcmath]

There's a Cleveland in Australia?

[targa911S]

do they have a burning river?

[legion]

Why do you want to kill the flu?

It's so cute:

http://www.giantmicrobes.com/health/flu.html

It has a right to live and reproduce, does it not?

[techweenie]

Gavinlit, I guess you hit a nerve.

I wonder how long it'll take before the majority of Americans understand that declaring "war" against a tactic is not only preposterous, but encourages that tactic.

[bryanthompson]

Sortof like the war on poverty? War on drugs? Both of those failed before they started.

[techweenie]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
Sortof like the war on poverty? War on drugs? Both of those failed before they started.

Thank you for making my point.

[Moses]

Why is the world so obsessed with American politics?

[techweenie]

Originally posted by Moses
Why is the world so obsessed with American politics?

Because they are stuck with the messes we make.

[Moses]

Originally posted by techweenie
Because they are stuck with the messes we make.

Please elucidate!

Let's see... no free europe without the USA. (But that's ancient history). No Israel without the USA (but that might be a bad thing, right T-weenie?)

Anyway, how have we made a mess in Australia, New Zealand, France or Canada?

[Purrybonker]

Originally posted by Moses
Why is the world so obsessed with American politics?

'cause America is so obsessed with everyone else's politics.

I turned on the radio a coupla weeks ago (local university FM station) and there was a child's voice simply listing country names and years. I think there was some kinda rythmic music behind the listing.

I was about to switch to one of my alternate stations, but became intrigued by what the chanting of country names and dates was all about. The listing went on and on for about ten minutes.

You know what it turned out to be? A list of countries that America had declared war against and/or had invaded since independence. The argument behind the "speech" was that America was the most warlike/war making society in the known history of the planet.

Enough to make anyone anal about American politics I suppose. But no worries, the game and world attention will increasingly swing to asian home court in the next few decades.

[Moses]

So I guess it has to do with the whole "superpower" thing. Throughout history, the big dogs have made war. Alexander the Great, Napoleon, the Persian Empire, it's always the same. Having said that, I can only see justification for three or four of our 18 wars, (I haven't decided if WWI could have been avoided.)

Anyway, control of the global "neighborhood" seems to be an integral part of the superpower thing.

So back to the Aussies and Kiwi's. How did we mess them up?

[techweenie]

Originally posted by Moses
Please elucidate!

Let's see... no free europe without the USA. (But that's ancient history). No Israel without the USA (but that might be a bad thing, right T-weenie?)

Anyway, how have we made a mess in Australia, New Zealand, France or Canada?

Huh? Since I don't agree with a thing you've put up here, I'm not sure there's a point. We don't know what the status of Europe would be, and never will because we entered the war. Would the Soviets have crushed Germany without us? Perhaps. would Hitler have been brought down from within? Perhaps.

The issue is what we're dealing with now -- largely a problem of our own creation (and England's) in setting up middle eastern boundaries to create maximum chaos and supporting various despots in order to keep the oil flowing.

If you think all of this doesn't affect the countries you've listed, I think you need to get out more.

[bryanthompson]

Could you get that list, purry? It'd be interesting to see how many of them are dictatorships, how many of them committed genocide, how many declared war on us first, etc.

For all of our faults, no country in the world has done more good than we have.