America has become an empire, K, it isn't a matter of "believing" it or not. Your platitudes regarding our "greatness" is misplaced if you aren't a good enough citizen to understand exactly what has been going on in this country, especially over the last half century -- and more particularly in the last decade. This country was hijacked by a fascist, neoconservative cabal on 9/11. It was an economic, military, domestic and foreign policy coup d’état -- an utter disaster the full consequences of which is only just now beginning to become apparent.

I know you don't like to read lengthy posts. They bore you. I wonder if you have a sufficient attention span to sit through about 45 minutes of a talk given recently by Larry Wilkerson, a retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell (i.e., a conservative and a Republican). He lays it all out on the line for you and your generation and pulls no punches -- but you won't see or hear much of what Col Wilkerson and others like him are saying on TV. I suggest you and your friends wake up because this is your future he's talking about:

Since this was SUPPOSED to be a light hearted thread and K and I have taken it in a considerably more serious direction, I thought I'd share with you this little story:

A noted psychiatrist was a guest speaker at an academic function where Nancy Pelosi happened to appear. Ms Pelosi took the opportunity to schmooze the good doctor a bit and asked him a question with which he was most at ease.

'Would you mind telling me, Doctor,' she asked, 'how you detect a mental deficiency in somebody who appears completely normal?'

'Nothing is easier,' he replied. 'You ask a simple question which anyone should answer with no trouble. If the person hesitates, that puts you on the track.'

'What sort of question?' asked Pelosi.

Well, you might ask, 'Captain Cook made three trips around the world and died during one of them. Which one?'

Pelosi thought a moment, and then said with a nervous laugh, 'You wouldn't happen to have another example would you? I must confess I don't know much about history.'

My point is that its not necessary to needle him about it.
**shrugs** Just doesn't feel right.

As for your other post. There's no way on earth I'm going to touch that one with a ten foot progressive-stick. No way on earth **twitches from laughter**
**snort**

**broken**
way to go, you shattered my brain again. I was just getting used to it sorta maybe working, thanks

You can't just misappropriate popular phrases with a defined meaning and then get defensive when someone misunderstands your statement!

u ladies want a math thread?

Lets not, but say we did?