IsthatyouJohnWayne

Yes i got the same impression , Ratcliffe almost sounded like hed been briefed what to say, and it sounds like politics was involved in the decision not to rescue them...

Well maybe Harry being caught smoking pot is just a PR exercise to show how 'in touch' they are with with the real world Placebo- noones forcing you or anyone else to revere royalty,(i dont 'revere' them myself) British people have been insulting them and calling them irrelevant for hundreds of years ,certainly well before the US war of independance for example. But if other people want to revere them, then thats their buisness and i would like to have a royalty to be able to insult (or revere) in the first place. Its one of the things that makes us British, they are indeed part of our heritage (as much as that phrase is overused) and the idea that poor people are starving to death because of them is ludicrous, if 0.0% public money went to them from tommorow it would make almost no difference to the financial situation of the country whatsoever basically theyre harmless to peoples taxes (maybe 0.0000001% ) bring in MASSIVE amounts of tourist money (far more than if they were extinct) and provide mild amusement with their frequent openings of various cultural establishments and the ensueing cringe inducing unpolitically correct ramblings of Philip the greek a president Blair (or other) would also cost a vast amount more money than a mere Prime Minister to maintain, quite possibly to rival royalty. having a republic is boring nowadays +British Navy (BN) British Air Force (BAF)just sound....wrong  RAF- yeah baby yeah ahem. yes this topic could do with closing

Placebo: So your Totalitarian Utilitarian world view is that if people appear to >you< to serve no appreciable use to society they should be exterminated? hhhmm  Tramps serve no use, do no good to the country and yet lots of goverment initiatives ,police time , NHS time is spent on them- but i still dont think they should be shot and turned into dogmeat to make more money how much tax payers money do you think all those fat labour peers spend doing up their fancy London offices- far too much i think youll find- the royals are living on a lower budget than they have for a long time WWWAAAAYYY less than the US prez my point wasnt whether Tony Blair was any good, as a Prime Minister i think hes alright, but i wouldnt want him to be a president (which is what he would have to become without an independant -non political- head of state like the queen) -hes already too powerful as it is, and thats where royalty can come in, the power check of last resort- they still DO have a certain use in the balance of power ,though hopefully it will remain theoretical i think your right that they should play by the same rules as everyone else, but otherwise i must disagree Yes youre right about Andrew i think i somehow got Charles trip to Argentina mixed up with the falklands, i still seem to remember hes trained as a pilot though. anyway more than 50% still want the royal family around so (for now) theyre still safe + what Paratrooper said anyway back to OFP

Placebo- if they were lined up and shot, theyde only be replaced by an even worse bunch of politicians. Now royals might be a bunch of old bunglers but at least (for the most part) they have a genuine desire to serve their country ,unlike self aggrandising politicians, i mean do we really want a 'President Blair'? God knows i dont. Prince Charles served as a pilot in the Falklands(cant really imagine tony making it) ,and even if his brains a bit pickled he'd make an alright head of state. His hearts in the right place even if his head isnt. anyway Republics are boring ,everyones got one +Having a royal family brings in WAY more money than it costs (one of the only reasons tourists come here) well thats the other side of the coin for today

Red Oct -"why not try understand that anybody who claims they know anything about the CIA may they be american or not is full of shit" sorry but i believe you're wrong, the CIA is not one flawless monolithic object but is made up of many (imperfect) individuals with varying degrees of commitment to the agency, and hard as you seem to find it to believe a good few have 'talked' in the past ,though usually only confirming already widespread opinions about past CIA activity ,not really revealing 'secrets'. I remember one newspaper interview with an old CIA man who admitted that to a great extent the Tehran debacle was due to poor (and could have been avoided by better) HUMINT (hardly a revelation) and furthermore went on to say that in many cases he believed HUMINT was WORSE now than it was then. +there were post Spt.11 confirmations by certain CIA members that they had let Humint slip too far down the priorities list in places like Afghanistan if the methodology/training is flawed so will the the organisation as a whole be- the CIA are not as flawless as you seem to suggest, dont let Hollywood dictate your perception of Intelligence forces .

point A: I am British point B: now im ashamed point C: stuff your silent wings where my small dog rapes you i thought this forum was rid of this inanity

Ruskie- yeah good move, what did you think the RAF guy would say,? "ah well as it happens sonny theres a newly stolen state of the art Russian gunship, and we were just waiting for someone like you to come along to learn to fly it" hey why dont you marry a nice russian girl and join the Russian airforce , heheh (dont blame me when your shot down and captured by chechens)

Well i reinstalled it and its great, some of the ships really are HUGE!+ i found a bunch of user made campaigns which look good, still wont equal taking out an entire russian helibase with 3 satchels, without being seen (just keeping it vaguely topical there) - but still worth it just for the MASSIVE motherships/ stations but one other thing ,why do all the ships seem to go about 300 mph max? youde think it would be more like 300,000... oh yes and when will someone make freespace corvettes for OPF, that would RUL:E BWAHAHAHAHHHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAH this is Alpha 1 to base: Morton is in sight-OH MY GOD!!!!IT JUST VANISHED IN THE BEAM CANNONS AARRRAABahghghgahgga ......th-the horr-or the hor-r-ror theyll all dead base, theyll all dead..... DAMN THIS ISLAND BASED GALACTIC WAR! DAMN YOU SHIVANS TO HELL TO HELL I SAY! TO HHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL -aaanyway good game yeah.

Hell yeah- ive been thinking of reinstalling that game, though with all missions etc i had it took up nearly 1GB, which wasnt good when ihad only 2GB total yeah DAMN those ships were big, but what i never get in those games, why dont they just use nukes? or like futuristic super nukes (except for the bit at the end of course) OH MAn i have to iinstall that game again# in fact screw college , im gonna play it right now BWAH a hah.

Its a great film, everyone should see it that paranoid US officer was the best i think, General Jack D. Ripper: "Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no. General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." "General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Yes, Jack? General Jack D. Ripper: Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Well, I can't say I have. General Jack D. Ripper: Vodka, that's what they drink, isn't it? Never water? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Well, I-I believe that's what they drink, Jack, yes. General Jack D. Ripper: On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason. Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Oh, eh, yes. I, hmm, can't quite see what you're getting at, Jack. General Jack D. Ripper: Water, that's what I'm getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven-tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that seventy percent of you is water? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Uh, uh, Good Lord! General Jack D. Ripper: And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids. Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Yes. (He begins to chuckle nervously) General Jack D. Ripper: Are you beginning to understand? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Yes. (More laughter) General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rainwater, and only pure-grain alcohol? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Well, it did occur to me, Jack, yes. General Jack D. Ripper: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation. Fluoridation of water? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Uh? Yes, I-I have heard of that, Jack, yes. Yes. General Jack D. Ripper: Well, do you know what it is? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, no I don't know what it is, no. General Jack D. Ripper: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?" "General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream. Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Lord, Jack. General Jack D. Ripper: You know when fluoridation first began? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: I-- no, no. I don't, Jack. General Jack D. Ripper: Nineteen hundred and forty-six. Nineteen forty-six, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works. Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Uh, Jack, Jack, listen, tell me, tell me, Jack. When did you first... become... well, develop this theory? General Jack D. Ripper: Well, I, uh... I... I... first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love. Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Hmm. General Jack D. Ripper: Yes, a uh, a profound sense of fatigue... a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I... I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence. Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Hmm. General Jack D. Ripper: I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women uh... women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh... I do not avoid women, Mandrake. Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No. General Jack D. Ripper: But I... I do deny them my essence." HhHHahahaha  it cracks me up even reading it now, but its way funnier when you see it it does seem to encapsulate a certain kind of distinct American paranoid personality. essence hehehe.

Tenous was a runner boy in the ancient Spartan army who was intended to pass on the order to advance to their allies the Corinthians in the war against the tyrant Polycrates of Samos. Â However Tenous (possibly a derivative of the greek 'Pteleonous') became hopelessly lost and was intercepted by the tyants forces ,whereupon believing them to be Corinthians he is said to have shouted at them the order to advance on Samos -though the order failed to get through to them ,the Corinthians ,seeing a small party of the tyrants men retreating back to Samos (with the boy messenger), decided the tyrants forces must be running from the advancing Spartans and not wanting to miss the glory themselves they charged into the fray on to Samos and victory! Tenous was found and executed by the Spartans ,and was held up as an example of the weakness that could destroy Sparta (hence the 'tenous link') you are the Weakest link Goodbye! see now?

That was the plot? HAHahaha its even lamer than i remember(though admitedly it did look cool)