joke du jour

MACSPECTRUM

George Bush goes to a primary school to talk about the war. After his talk he offers question time. One little boy puts up his hand and George asks him what his name is. "Billy." "And what is your question, Billy?"

"I have 3 questions. First, why did the USA invade Iraq without the support of the UN? Second, why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? And third, whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden?"

Just then the bell rings for recess. George Bush informs the kiddies that they will continue after recess.

When they resume George says, "OK, where were we? Oh that's right question time. Who has a question?" Another little boy puts up his hand. George points him out and asks him what his name is. "Steve" "And what is your question, Steve?" "I have 5 questions. First, why did the USA invade Iraq without the support of the UN? Second, why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? Third, whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden? Fourth, why did the recess bell go 20 minutes early? And fifth, what happened to Billy?"


i used to hear about Soviet jokes like this
my, how times have changed

minnes

guffaw

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MacNutt

The far left and their hapless indoctrinees are currently reduced to making jokes to cover the fact that they would rather still have Usama and the Taliban running Afghanistan and would MUCH rather that Saddam and his horrid sons were still in control of Iraq and sitting on the second biggest stash of oil money on the planet.

There is no way that the UN or any sort of "negotiations" would have EVER changed these intractible situations. Especially since France, Germany and Russia were busy selling all sorts of illegal high-tech gear to Iraq in return for long term oil contracts. They had, effectively, gridlocked the UN, to protect their own economic interests, for more than a decade.

Personally, I'm GLAD that this whole situation has been turned on it's collective ear and I'm REALLY glad that Iraq finally has a shot at some sort of democracy.

I'm also glad that so very many other rogue states are starting to open themselves up to UN inspection.

THAT certainly never happened before!

I should also note that a Norweigan Nobel Commitee member has nominated George. W Bush and Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize this year! [img]graemlins/heybaby.gif[/img]

Quite fitting, I'd say.

But go ahead and make jokes if you'd like. Have at it.

But be prepared to have your noses rubbed in it, at a later date, when this current period is widely seen by pretty much everybody as a major positive turning point in the modern history of the middle east. And the whole world, for that matter.

Moscool

I used to wind up my American friends by telling them that Russia was really like the US. And it is very true:

- Same huge space/abundant resources giving a sense of no need to be careful with resources (yes, even during commie times overheating and windows open was common)

- Same abundance of police on the streets/roads who can stop you on a whim and are totally devoid of a sense of humour

- Same 'brands' ruling everything up and down the country (in the Soviet lands it was because there wasn't much choice, in the US it is because Cosmo Girl and Bill Gates and Anheuser Bush rule)

- Same love for conspiracy theories

- Same huge airports that look like greyhound bus hangars

- Same brazen entrepreneurship (commies use to call it managing state resources, they have their Texans too)

- Same media dominance by pro-government channels

- Same addiction to soaps (mani Mexicans)

- Same extreme weather giving rise to solidarity, particularly outside big towns

In these respects, the Soviet Union was much closer to the US model of living and thinking than to its satellite East European countries.

So it's not surprising that the jokes are interchangeable. We just didn't know how similar the countries were until we visited there in the 90s...

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MacNutt

While I agree that there are some very glaring similarities between the Old Soviet Union and America....

I would just like to suggest to anyone who is interested that they should visit each country for about three or four months before they decide how similar the two countries really are.

Spend some time. Travel all over each country and try living there for a while. No vists to resort areas!

THEN come back here and tell all of us how terribly similar they REALLY are. [img]graemlins/lmao.gif[/img]

I've met so very many people who have told me that they have "visited" a country...but who never really ventured outside of some sort of resort area. [img]graemlins/ptptptptptpt.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lmao.gif[/img]

Russia...which is the central hub of the collapsed Soviet Union...is still about a full generation away from the very beginnings of a modern capitalist society.

They're on their way...finally, after seven decades...but they have a very LONG way to go!

Twenty or thirty years from now, they may be challenging US for supremacy on the world stage!

But right now, they are struggling to make ends meet. It's always really tough when any country decides to abandon socilaism and embrace reality.

Its a horrible adjustment for people who have been living in a fantasy world for so very long. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Doctors in communist Cuba make about ONE DOLLAR per day! Doctors in the failed Soviet Union made about the same. Doctors in modern Russia make less than most busboys in restaraunts. Just like in Cuba, they make FAR less than baggage boys at the local airports.

Waiters with NO educations make fifteen times what well-educated doctors do...in BOTH countries.

No wonder everyone is risking life and limb trying to get out of these places! [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lmao.gif[/img]

Moscool

May I suggest that you take your own medicine and risk a visit?

I have worked in Russia (Moscow and the Urals), Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and most East European countries. So to paraphrase someone: trust me on this one!

PS: going back to Moscow in a couple of weeks. With a dozen hotels each charging US$400 a night, I don't think that capitalism is a generation away!

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MacNutt

Fair enough, Moscool. No doubt that there are some real distortions in Russia these days while they sort everthing out.

But I still think that it will be a couple of decades before the infrastructure is in place, and the average Russian begins to think like a capitalist. They are still in the socialist mode (demanding a raise in their "allowance from daddy"...just as we in Canada like to do o a regular basis)

Just a suggestion here...

Find a hospital. Go there and ask the physicians what they get paid for a days work. Ask them if there is any hot water available at their hospital (under the Old Soviet Union some 60% of all of the hospitals had NO hot water)

Then ask a busboy or a waiter or a baggage boy at an airport what THEY get paid for a day's work.

The answers might really surprise you. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

SINC

MACSPECTRUM, that must have been a "seed" joke of the day.

Look, it sprouted into a horrible long thread that has nothing to do with a joke of the day!

Cheers

[img]graemlins/lmao.gif[/img]

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PosterBoy

The far left and their hapless indoctrinees are currently reduced to making jokes to cover the fact that they would rather still have Usama and the Taliban running Afghanistan and would MUCH rather that Saddam and his horrid sons were still in control of Iraq and sitting on the second biggest stash of oil money on the planet.

Macnutt, if you really believe that then I think you need to take a serious look at what people have been saying. The "far left" are not Pro-Taliban/Pro-Saddam, they are Anti-USA.

And yes, there is a difference.

I believe that the removal of Saddam was a good thing, I've just never been sure that the US was right in the way they went about it.

The joke, as mildly entertaining as it is, is a bit much.

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godot

This could have been a fun thread, but MacNutt's ranting and misinformation have gotten it off track.

Misinformation?
For example:
MacNutt, stick to what you know something about. (The weather on Salt Spring Island perhaps.)

The Nobel Committee members don't nominate. They judge the nominations received.

In the case of Bush and Blair the nomination was made by Jan Simonsen, a far right-wing member of the Norwegian parliament who is opposed to the U.N and saw the Iraq war as a slap in the face to the U.N. by Bush and Blair.

Yes, the same U.N. that Bush is now going cap in hand to in order to help get him out of the election mess he created in Iraq.

MacSpectrum:
The joke was hilarious. Thanks.

Cheers,