Not as rude as it is to !person

Isn't that what we've been doing in Iraq for the last few weeks?

Isn't that what we've been doing in Iraq for the last few weeks?

You're not bringing us back on topic are you?

I've only ever seen that (never knew it was called a "bingo") a few times.

When you start getting into the really hardcore scrabble tournaments, several bingos per game is not uncommon.

"Extreme" scrabble?....

NAH....

Isn't that what we've been doing in Iraq for the last few weeks?

Yeah. We're just trying to find &saddam_hussein.

We're just trying to find &saddam_hussein

You win

You need a new knew. Or maybe a gnu.

To win really seriously at Scrabble, you need bingos.

My wife had one when she, rmitz and I were playing a few nights ago. She still only beat me by 10 points (226 to 216, I think) after she used her letters first and got the points for our leftover letters.

She had another chance for a bingo which I guessed and blocked.

You don't get many bingos when you have the Old McDonald tiles (EIEIEIO).

Well, it wasn't quite that bad. But I got none of the 5 or more point letters, and one 4 point letter, or something similarly sad.

You win

Woohoo! What do I win?

And just to beat everyone else to the punch...

if ( iraq != NULL ) {
free(iraq);
}

IPA. That still leaves the problem of inventing new (unique-sounding) words.

You need a new knew. Or maybe a gnu.

No /* */.

and pretty much must be used when a simple trailing `s' is unclear.

Yes, I think that's why my subconcious wanted to use it on "Iraqis" and "apostrophes".

Yes, I think that's why my subconcious wanted to use it on "Iraqis" and "apostrophes".

Likely story.

So this can be generalized as:
-Do not use apostrophes when pluralizing.
-Do use apostrophes when indicating any singular possessive. (My parent's car, if I had only one parent)
-Do use an apostrophe when indicating a plural possessive, but do not add a trailing s if the word already has an s for pluralization. (My parents' house, if I have more than one parent; The children's room.)

I was also taught to not use apostrophes on possessive pronouns.

I was also taught to not use apostrophes on possessive pronouns.

Sure, but you already forgot what you were taught, apparently, so why worry about that?

I suspect the Coalition use object orientated language:

while(n) {
n = iraqiWithGun[n].removeGunOrIraqi(); // recalculates number of Iraqis with guns after operation
}

Sure, but you already forgot what you were taught, apparently, so why worry about that?

Hey man, (Hey, man, ...) now you're starting to get a little bit out of line. I've always used my apostrophes correctly when it comes to possessives or contractions. These false accusations are going to hurt my reputation. I used apostrophes on two words that otherwise could have been unclear with a trailing 's', like wfaulk said. It's a loophole or an exception. Someone could have thought 'Iraqis' was something more like 'marquis', or they could have thought 'apostrophes' was 'apostrophess', which would not make any sense.

Arab-American's in Dearborn rejoice at Saddam defeat



This is what's going on in my home town just a 5 or so miles from my house.... I'm heading over there now to check it out - might take my camera with me. One Iraqi-American was just on the radio saying he is (seriously) changing his first name to "Bush" because he is so thankful for what this means for his people. Hundreds of Iraqi-Americans from Dearborn are now returning to Iraq. It will be kinda sad seeing them go.

Now, if we could only make the Palestinian-Americans living here as happy... maybe France can take care of that one because we're a little out of ideas... (Doesn't anyone think that I'm being silly by hoping the newly appointed Palestinian "President" will be a road to peace there?)

To keep on topic, feel free to pick away at my grammar.

I was watching the Dearborn celebration and the Iraqis taking down the statue on live tv this morning. It was quite a sight to see, with the Iraqis banging their shoes on Saddam, jumping up and down, dragging pieces of the statue in the street, tearing down Saddam paintings, setting government buildings on fire, etc. They actually cheered when an american soldier put an american flag over Saddam's head. I would like to hear the opinions of the anti-war people after they see this, especially the french, germans, and various europeans. Al-Jazeera was also carring the live feed of the statue to all of the arab nations.

I used apostrophes on two words that otherwise could have been unclear with a trailing 's', like wfaulk said. It's a loophole or an exception.

Only on abbreviations. Don't take the rules as I state them out of context.

Edit: Oddly enough, they're not ``my rules''.

Then call it civil disobediance.

I would like to hear the opinions of the anti-war people after they see this

I'm sure I haven't really said it, but I do hope that the removal of Saddam helps the general Iraqi populace.

That, however, does not change my stance on this war. It was started for, IMO, selfish reasons, and despite any initial positive images, is likely to have very detrimental long-term consequences in the continuing of Arabic hate towards the US. In addition, it sets a very bad precedent in favor of ``preemptive'' (read ``unprovoked'') invasions.

And the supposed reason that we went in, to find nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons appears to have been a bust. I'm willing to wait for that, as I'm aware it's not the grunts' jobs to do that, but to have not heard of anything more than the Ortho store is disheartening. In some ways, I hoped that our administration wasn't simply lying to us and the world, but, for right now, it seems that that was the case.

I wish that the UN would prosecute the Bush administration for conquest. I only assume that there is some sort of international law against what we just did. If not, there ought to be.

In reply to:

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I wish that the UN would prosecute the Bush administration for conquest.

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You've got to be kidding me. Did I miss some press announcment saying that Iraq will be the 51st state? I'm hoping that comment was just some bitter Bush-hatred leaking out and not an honest opinion on international law (or Belgium Courts to be more accurate).

EDIT: And how about waiting until the bullets stop zipping through the air before you reach the conclusiion that WMD's were not found?

So I guess if we would have attacked Hitler before WWII for breaking the agreements of WWI, that would have been considered "preemptive" and "unprovoked"?

The invasion of Kuwait was the provocation. We decided to let them stay in power as long as they followed certain rules, which they failed to do so.

but I do hope that the removal of Saddam helps the general Iraqi populace.

Clearly, it's helped them out already. They're rioting and looting as we speak.... That's right, we've Americanized 'em!

I've been out of line for years.

I went in my brother's place of employ today to look at a computer they were having trouble with, and nearly immediately started cursing at it. It was running Windows 98 and the PCI-Cardbus bridge my brother installed wasn't working correctly.

One of the guys he worked with made some crack that he could tell we were related, and I asked why. Referring to my attitude, he said "you sound just like him."

In the "full circle" vein,

Arab-American's in Dearborn rejoice at Saddam defeat

What belongs to "Arab-American"? Or is this "Arab-American is in Dearborn"? If so, I'd like to go see him (or her).

Then call it civil disobediance.

I might have considered calling it civil disobedience.

In reply to:

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continuing of Arabic hate towards the US

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This is one opinion that I shared with you, although to a lesser degree, concerning "fall out" from the current war in Iraq. But consider this: Blaming the US for all hatred directed towards it by the Muslim (not Arabic) world is akin to blaming rape victoms for wearing sexy clothes. Think about it, it's very similar. "So, just because we should have known they were going to fly two planes into the Twin Towers we never should have stationed troops in Saudi Arabia to protect them from an invading army."

But all of this is really irrelevant. The point is, the Iraqis are joyous for this. ABSOLUTELY BEYOND WORDS: THEY ARE SO HAPPY. Thinking that the televised coverage of Dearborn, Michigan was being blown out of proportion, I drove over to East Dearborn to check it out for myself. People had been calling into radio stations since 8:30am saying how there were parades of people driving up and down the main streets waving American and Iraqi flags, honking their horns and dancing in the street. Then I heard NPR mention this and report from the scene. Donald Rumsfeld even mentioned the reaction in Michigan during the opening of his press conferance. So I looked it up online when I got to my PC and posted a link here. But for some reason, I had to see it for myself. Perhaps news crews were there at a certain time and people hammed it up for the cameras. Maybe it was all staged. Or if it wasn't, maybe it was just a fleeting moment that passed with the lunch hour.

Let me tell you this: What I saw there at 8pm tonight - a full 12 hours after it began - was one of the most wonderful things I've seen in my life. There were (and are) hundreds upon hundreds of Arabic peoples (mostly Iraqi, but not exclusively) celebrating in the streets. I have never seen so many people, so happy in my life. This even topped when the Wings won the Stanley Cup (and even my friends in Toronto consider Detroit to be "HockeyTown") celebrations - and these people were sober. Seriously though, I can't over stress how happy these people are.

I really wish I could put into words what I saw and felt. I imagine you'd have to know this community to really understand the scope of it. However this community has never been a flag waving group of pro-American people. If anything, they have never been afraid to speek out on favoritism in Palestine, our questioning of Arabs after 9/11 or our past in-action in Iraq. But today I saw something I thought I'd never see: make shift stores on the street selling American flags on the sidewalk with a line wrapped around the block. There were cars, hundreds of them lined up for miles, horns blaring, lights flashing and people hanging out of moonroofs and windows waving American flags and home-made signs saying "We Won" and "Saddam: Iraqis Enemy". I wish I could share the joy on these people's faces with you, but I can't even begin to express the sight. I was litterally at the edge of tears. I'm even moved by it now as I write this. This isn't something I saw on TV or read about. I was there, less than an hour ago.

And, there were no television crews present. This wasn't a publicity stunt. This was people celebrating. Iraqi people celebrating for their families that are still in Iraq and for their homeland that they love. And it appears that the same thing is happening in Iraq.

So how on Earth, does anyone have the right to say this wasn't the right thing to do? How can anyone, sitting behind their keyboard, mad at the Supreme Court, dare say that all these people - people who were more affected by the war with Iraq than you or I - don't deserve this new found hope? Would it have been better to wait for Saddam, then his sons, then his sons' sons to die in order for this to happen? Because that is the ONLY way anything would have changed if action wasn't taken. France promised to veto ANY resolution, no matter what it said or what timeframe it laid out if it had ANY mention of holding the (former) Iraqi government accountable for its actions.

What would have made these conspiracy theory weavers happy? Would they sleep better at night knowing that the Iraqi people are living under tyranny so long as the Security Council was okay with it too? How do they explain their glee that they felt when they made little comments saying the US's war plan was failing? Do they get a little skip in their step everytime the US death toll goes up because it means that Bush looks bad? I swear, some people posting here sound as if they are wishing for our troops to get slaughtered and Iraqi homes to get bombed just so that they can jump around and say "I told you so!"

But anyway, back to my experience here in Dearborn. It solidified one thing in my mind. I truely believe that the Iraqi people will see us as liberators and will build a successful democracy (despite France's official stance that the Middle-East is not sofisticated enough for one yet). They will be an ally. And so will Afghanistan, Qutar, Kuwait and Turkey. And these other countries who sent fighters to Iraq to fight the Western imperialists will soon find out - from the Iraqis themselves - that they had it all wrong.

EDIT: I've gone over this post a dozen times and I still can't express the joy that is on the street right now.

In reply to:

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What belongs to "Arab-American"? Or is this "Arab-American is in Dearborn"? If so, I'd like to go see him (or her).

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I had to throw that typo in there to keep on topic!

First, this is markedly offensive:

Do they get a little skip in their step everytime the US death toll goes up because it means that Bush looks bad? I swear, some people posting here sound as if they are wishing for our troops to get slaughtered and Iraqi homes to get bombed just so that they can jump around and say "I told you so!"

I hate it when anyone dies, including the probably thousands (my bogus estimate) of Iraqis, military and civilian, that died at the US's hands, as well as the US soldiers and international journalists that died. Yes, yes. I know that Saddam was likely to kill that many people on his own, and I'm glad that he's gone.

But this whole dog and pony show about humanitarian aid is just a smokescreen. If that's the reason that we were going in there, then that should and would have been the first words out of our administration's mouth. But it was not. It all centered around how Iraq was somehow complicit in the deaths of thousands of people in New York and Washington several years ago, despite the fact that those attacks were demonstrably committed by Saudis, who we support, and supported by Afghanistan, or that they might somehow be complicit in some crime in the future.

Again, I'm very happy for the Iraqis who are happy. But I've seen any number of reports of Iraqi civilians who are not happy. It may be that all of these people are friends and family of killed civilians, but even that seems unlikely.

Also, the reports of Iraqis in Dearborn who are overjoyed is not surprising. Those people are no longer in Iraq for a reason. They are likely the ones who were oppressed under Saddam. Of course they're glad he's gone. They have a personal interest in it that overshadows any potential international ramifications. So that's certainly a biased sample.

Again, I'm glad for the Iraqis. I'm glad that Saddam is, likely, gone. But I'm scared for us. I'm saddened for those that lost loved ones, whether they be Iraqi, US, or anything else. And this is not a wound that will close cleanly. It will leave a scar so big that it may have been better to leave the cancer. And it's all due to an incompetent doctor who wouldn't listen to the rest of the medical community.

I hope that I'm wrong. I hope that this isn't the start of more selective ``regime change'' in the Middle East. We'll have to wait and see. But I don't think that we should assume that the ends justify the means or the intent. The ends now exist, and I'm glad of them in and of themselves, but that doesn't excuse the rest.