The language of the politicians and their speeches. All the politicians, it doesn’t matter from which side… When a good man decides to go into politics, has to face a biological transformation that turns him into a sort of alien being, that speaks in the abstract and sails far from the needs of the people…
I see you’ve been following the British political scene…
And the Australian one.
Which leads me to some other things that royally piss me, and everyone I know, off: (1) Politicians who don’t answer the question they’re asked but just spew out the day’s message crafted by their party hacks and spin doctors. (2) Journalists and interviewers who let them get away with it.
I see you’ve been following the British political scene…
Hi Iron Yeoman,
i’m sorry but i didn’t… So i can’t say anything about British politicians. But i can assure you that the Italian ones (Government or Opposition are pratically the same thing…), are so nauseating, that they make me sick… I don’t think that “the grass is alwais greener on the other side of the fence”, cause here in Italy is turned to brown… 
Best regards, Iron Yeoman.
Berlisconi’s antics do provide amusement for the rest of us, while we scratch our heads wondering just how corrupt a politician has to be before you guys will get rid of him. We’ve been getting at least some good news recently though - several of ours are heading to jail 
Hi pdf27,
i’ve seen on your site that you belong to the Paramilitary wing of the CAMRA (if my memory still works, i think it means CAMpaign for the Revitalisation of Ale). You probably don’t know that (for amusement of all of us, but expecially for his pleasure) Berlusconi established the CAMRV (CAMpaign for the Revitalisation of Viagra)… 
Joking aside, i think it’s gonna be hard to get rid of him. He controls almost everythings here in Italy, expecially the Media (private and pubblic TV channels, newspapers, etc.) and the Opposition seems to be unable to face him.
Your previous post proves what some Italians have in their mind : we’ve just become, thank to his antics and behaviour, the laughingstocks of Europe (or of the World…). His favourite defensive tactics, is to call his opponents “Comunist”…
He’ll probably do the same with you, pdf27 :)… Hopin’ for the best… :shock:
Best regards.
Anti Gun advocates, the Media, Politicians and far too many “common” people who don’t know what an Assault Rifle is-yet are quick to condemn them in private hands; don’t know the difference between a automatic and Simi-automatic weapon; don’t know the difference between a clip and a magazine (un fortunately many people in law enforcement and even the military get this wrong); refer to SMGs and Machine Pistols as Machine Guns; etc, etc.
“We’ve (the USA) lost our killer instinct, we haven’t destroyed a country in years. Listen world – don’t get too cocky out there, the real Americans are still here and one day we’re gonna wake up from our drunken stupor… and say “what the hell happened here”. On that day we’ll grab our guns and swig one more beer and kill, and kill, and kill – until this is the great country it once was.” Mr. Floppy (an annamated stuffed bunny in the TV Series, UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER)
Numb nuts who condemn those who serve, especially when they condemn it from the luxury of turning up late or at all for university lectures after wasting themselves on ecstasy etc and have no ****ing idea even, at a minimum, what it’s like to lug a pack and basic webbing plus a weapon over a hard course for a few days, with food and water discipline. Let alone be shot at which, with a high fatality rate, is something that should be encouraged for their social, intellectual and practical development.
The same numb nuts will be the first to demand that the trained killers they hate and despise as morons will defend them if someone threatens their clever coffee culture.
My son is getting a taste of this in the Army Reserve and he thinks it’s really bad. He doesn’t know how bad it was when I was his age forty or so years ago when the Army stopped us wearing uniforms in public because elements of the public beat us up. And we risked getting into trouble for beating them up even if we were the victims!
All those bullshiters that exploit the (supposed) end of the world, of the next December 21st, 2012. All those documentary film makers, pressmen, pubblishers, soothsayers and presumed prophecies experts are breaking my balls! On “History Channel” it seems the last topic left behind. They’re just increasing the sense of uncertainty and agitation, creating alarmism in a world that would need something else. If and when it’ll happen, we’ll just have to face it…
All those “experts” doing the History and Military Channels Documentaries, also some of the alternate history books dealing with the war era, they have editors and fact finders, why do thes professional’s sometime do such shoddy work?
Even after 60 years and access to incredible information (Intel) the still get so much wrong.
The Messerschmitt 109 never existed, it was the BF 109;
Boeings B-17 FLYING FORTRESS was not named due it’s defensive fire power, nor was it the pre-emanate US heavy bomber in the ETO. B-24’s were more numerous and used in many more capacities.
The American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) did not engage Jap aircraft prior to the US declaring war,their record speaks for itself and needs no embellishment, but they probably never met a Mitsubishi Zero in combat. The planes they flew, when in good shape, were faster, better armed, and better armored that their contempories of the IJA, and they had radios.
.50 Cal mg’s and 50 mm cannon are not the same. Some documenters and authors use them interchangeably.
US aircraft at the start of the War were not obsolete or obsolescent. All of the US Army and US Navy premier fighters were at least in prototype form and some in production and in service when the war started. The few that were not were on the design board at least.
The B-17, B-24, B-25, B-26 and the A-20 were all in service when the war started. Work had already begun on the B-29 and the B-32 at the start of the war and an aircraft, the B-36, was being planned for which would have bombed Europe from US bases.
All German guns were not “88’s”.
The USMC gets, and deserves, much recognition for its Amphibious landings in the Pacific; but the US Army made, by far, more amphibious landings, of a much larger scale, and with less losses.
Facing fanatical Japanese soldiers, sailors and airmen was absolutely a daunting task. But were SS military formations, German Paratroops or Otto Scorzeny’s special operators less of a challenge?
The Maginot Line was not a failure, it did what it was designed to do- made the Germans go around it.
I’m sure members of this site could go on and on but I think I made my point, If we, average men, lay historians, know these things how do the documentaries’ and books get it so wrong so often?
I would be glad to be asked to consult and I’m sure many of you would too - all they have to do is ask.
Things that piss me off -
Meetings being scheduled during my lunch hour by some f**kwit, who then uses the meeting to massage his own ego and go on at length on a subject of no real business importance and ends up achieving nothing in said meeting.
Being told I have to reschedule my holiday so my boss can have his when he wants.
And finally - bloody tourists wandering around with their brain’s in neutral, especially the johnny foreigner school kids who run into people, are generally rude, disruptive and loud. Although it was highly amusing when some German kiddies bumped into an old lady because they thought it was funny and were very shocked when I being witness to said event shouted at them 'Funse kinder, Geh scheissn!!’
Anyway sorry for the moans gents, sometimes it’s good to vent one’s frustrations.
I think that this is the main reason why this thread has been conceived… 
It’s like an internet confessional, who needs a priest eh? (Not me anymore, as I just found out my old school priest has just gone down for possession of kiddie porn)
Funny to see Guinness talked about a few posts back.
A bad pint of the stuff can be vile, the first pint been bad is enough to turn me off the stuff for the rest of the night.
Also spotted Smithwick’s mentioned as well, not bad but certainly not my drink of choice, one thing i noticed with some older drinkers here was a pint of Smithwick’s with a Guinness head.
A lot of things piss me off, the above post is a topic that seriously pisses me off, the churches handling of child offending priests.
Well, (thankfully) my old school priest never touched me, I must have been an ugly child.
Well, the child is the father of the man.
Well after playing in the scrum since I was eight years old, and apart from a brief season as a wing, I’m defintely no oil painting. Although I’ve managed to avoid cauliflower ears.
A lot of this comes from journalists and, worse, journalists turned supposed historians who write readable if inaccurate books. They are able to parade themselves to the uninformed (notably producers of television shows and book publishers) as experts. And the rest of the public is too ignorant to know they’re being fed tripe.
A perfect example is the ignorance of ranks. I squirm every time I hear some journalist address or refer to a major-general as major; a lieutenant-general as lieutenant; and a sergeant-major as major or sergeant. If they don’t understand those simple things, WTF qualifies them to comment on the capacity or failures or whatever of the people holding those ranks in the performance of their rather different duties?
Similarly, weapon identification. Has anybody in any country in the last 20 years held a weapon other than a Kalashnikov / AK 47 / assault rifle in the view of a journalist?
I wouldn’t know an AK 47 if it went off up my arse, but I do know that it’s not an SMG despite seeing occasional photos of people with SMGs captioned as AK 47 etc.
Also, is Glock the only manufacturer of handguns in the world?
Can journalists tell the difference between a pistol and a revolver, and a semi-automatic versus other types of weapon? Apparently not, or my education has been sadly deficient, because I have seen a few references to ‘semi-automatic revolvers’.
I’d like to see a journalist explain the difference between an RPG and a grenade launcher after experiencing both from the comfort of the target medium tank.
Many moons ago, due to clumsiness, I scraped a shop door very heavily across one of my ears while leaving the shop.
It caused a magnificent throbber.
I proceeded to the butcher shop, where I waited patiently to order. While patiently waiting I was necessarily focused on my seriously throbbing aural organ. It caused me to wonder about how cauliflower ears were caused, and whether I might have one.
When my turn came to order my pound of meat, there being nothing else in the meat shop, the butcher looked at me and I announced, preoccupied with caulflower as I was, to a rather full shop, “May I have a pound of cauliflower, please?”
This seemed to cause general puzzlement among the staff and customers.
When you say ‘gone down’, are you referring to:
(a) Being ‘sent down’, in the sense of being sentenced to a term of imprisonment, or
(b) ‘Going down’ in the sense of gobbling as the price of acquiring, or creating, some porn?
Given the recent history of the priesthood, one cannot assume which is more likely.