I read the news today oh boy! Page 1,686

Several of my ancestors were combatants.

So DaButt is it true you have a family history of stealing sugar and squirting formic acid at people who threaten your way of life?

Quote: DaButt @ 21st December 2014, 4:58 PM GMT

Several of my ancestors were combat
ants.

I assume they weren't red ants?

Quote: DaButt @ 21st December 2014, 1:29 PM GMT

"Death of a President is a 2006 British high concept mockumentary political thriller film about the fictional assassination of George W. Bush, the 43rd U.S. President, on 19 October 2007 in Chicago, Illinois."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_President_%282006_film%29

Well, ok, DOAP may be the closest example in that Bush was President at the time. That distinguishes it from "Jackal". But it depicted the President as a martyr. It was saying "look how horrible those nasty people in the Middle East can be". The propaganda in the film about Kim Jong-Un is along the same sort of lines except it purports to be comical and the nasty person, in this case in North Korea, is killed. So, yes, I will have to revise what I said about Obama and Cameron, not that your example applies to either of them, if only to the extent of saying that no film of their killing would be made in their lifetimes unless it had a "this is terrible" slant. In other words, if half the British suddenly turned to an extreme form of Islam, you can bet your bottom dollar that there would be many such films. All would be showing the end of the Prime Minister and all of Britain as we know it for propaganda purposes. And very obviously none would be in satirical form.

While Obama has some merits - I was delighted when he was elected as the first black President - it is also worth noting how the climate of foreign affairs has changed since the mid 2000s and particular during 2014. The souring of American and European relations with Russia is deliberate and strategic and it will ultimately backfire. Simultaneously, there has been sabre rattling in regard to China and it would be greater if there were not such business potential. The claims that relations with Iran could be improved have never been followed up by much action. And now a situation with North Korea has been orchestrated. Presumably the Americans feel that this somehow reinforces their sense of self-worth. The decision to be friendlier towards Cuba which preceded it suggests that they are less than sure about the range of impacts that could result.

Crucially, the other change has been the formulating of foreign policy on the basis of Hollywood style myths rather than hard facts. Franklin D Roosevelt and Eisenhower it most certainly ain't. What happens time and again in very modern politics is that someone sets light to a classroom and the head says that the most frequent trouble maker is guilty unless he or she can prove otherwise. I am not sure how to describe that phenomenon but what it isn't is mature judgement. Nowhere was it more true than in the case of MH-17 and it is happening again with "The Interview". Few would doubt that such stances can be used as a warning to trouble makers. But for those of us who believe the safer approach for western populations is to have their leaders applying principles of international law, it is disappointing. In an odd way it seems fey, not least because in the case of North Korea there is no question they are rightly subjected to scrutiny via espionage every day. So even if it turns out that the hacking wasn't undertaken by US youths, it is double standards.

Quote: DaButt @ 21st December 2014, 4:18 PM GMT

http://www.cabelas.com/category/Crossbows/103854780.uts

Are they legal in the UK?

Probably not.
Might be safer (for everyone) if I got a nice normal bow and arrow.

Quote: zooo @ 21st December 2014, 8:30 PM GMT

Probably not.
Might be safer (for everyone) if I got a nice normal bow and arrow.

Do you think a green ensemble might go with that?

Crossbows are legal up to 60lbs pull strength no license or nothing

I happen to look lovely in green.

Quote: sootyj @ 21st December 2014, 9:24 PM GMT

Crossbows are legal up to 60lbs pull strength no license or nothing

Ooo.

http://www.ukpreppersguide.co.uk/crossbow-laws-uk

so dis is legal innit blood

Image

To late to ask Santa?

Cor. *rubs knees*

Looks great for hunting socialists.

Quote: Aaron @ 21st December 2014, 11:45 PM GMT

Looks great for hunting socialists.

A rare breed and probably protected.

Quote: Oldrocker @ 22nd December 2014, 12:07 AM GMT

A rare breed and probably protected.

To be studied as curiosities?

Quote: sootyj @ 21st December 2014, 9:24 PM GMT

Crossbows are legal up to 60lbs pull strength no license or nothing

that article you posted later says:

5; Exception.

This Act does not apply to crossbows with a draw weight of less than 1.4 kilograms.

A pull weight of about 1.4 Kg ? Blimey I think you can do more than that with a few elastic bands in the office.

Quote: Aaron @ 21st December 2014, 11:45 PM GMT

Looks great for hunting socialists.

It's difficult to tell what is what these days isn't it. I am a bit Green myself but Mr Farage tends to agree with me about Russia. Give it a few decades and he might start seeing sense in a number of other areas. :)

From our local paper.

Man we met at gay nightclub died on our sofa.
A married couple found themselves at the centre of a murder enquiry after a stranger suddenly died on their sofa.

Warren Bird, 41, his husband Johan Oller, 29, and a third man were arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of 26-year-old Londoner Nicholas Widgery.

Mr Bird said: "We were trying to move him and then the sofa table was quite close to the sofa and I think his arm might have hit the [the table]."

They also accidentally hit his head against a table while trying to move him, drawing blood.

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11681337.Man_we_met_at_gay_nightclub_died_on_our_sofa/