naomi, don't you mean pro-Zionist rather than proto-Zionist? And the Zionist movement is anything but bad. Their belief is that there should be an Israel, and that Israel has a right to defend itself from attack just like any other nation. While I don't want to argue the semantics of the whole Palestinian-Israel catastrophe, I just want to say that it won't end anytime soon cause neither side wants to take the moral high ground and just stop killing so aggressively.
This is the only comment on the subject I will make, unless someone starts up with me. And you don't want that.

Laemkral, is this the same exciting Zionism concept condemned by a resolution of the UN General Assembly in 1975? Of course the idea (enforced with arms) that Jews constitute a master race in the Holy Land with the right to displace and oppress Muslims is "anything but bad". What was the UN thinking?

Of course, this topic won't be relevant in this forum until they publish a first person shooter in which you drive around in a tank shooting 9 year olds and demolishing houses.

[Editor's Note: The following comment is off-topic and entirely lacking in grace and wit. But we left it alone this time, because we don't want to contribute to Laemkral's burgeoning martyr complex. Ho hum.]

Zionism is the belief that Jews need their own nation in order to ensure their survival. It does not support any "master race" style belief and Judaism states that Jews must never think of themself as better than others with regards to religion. Zionism also does not support taking land from Muslims. All the territory Israel has gained has been gained from war against other nations (none of which they started) or as was given to them by the British government. And if you object to the British, that land was captured in wartime and they were the victors (spoils of war) and therefore theirs to do what they will with (give to Israel). And don't get pissed cause Israel is wrecking settlements. Truces have been offered, peace talks have been initiated, and they have even not retaliated on some occasions. Yet who is it that is breaking these contracts of cease fire? The Palestinians. Are the settlements legal? No, and I don't think the SETTLERS should keep doing it. But just cause someone starts building a house on your land, do you go blow them up? I think not.
But that is what the Palestinians do. Instead of solving the problem according to LAW, they have to take the martyr route and this causes a shit load of trouble, not to mention the multitude of terrorist organizations goading on the normal and relatively peaceful Palestinians who just want it all to end. You want an end to the problem? You kill the terrorists and the Palestinians won't keep getting influenced to blow themselves up. This stops the Israelis from having to come in with military forces and engage a hostile enemy in an urban environment where a tank shell WILL blow up a hell of a lot and a Galil bullet WILL ricochet should it miss and most likely hit a civilian. However, the civs wouldn't be getting shot at if they weren't harboring militants in their towns and tried to help the Israelis get rid of them. I am not fully aware of your history/knowledge as it pertains to the military, but an urban environment is one of the harshest places to have to engage an enemy. A force could send in only infantry to deal with the enemy (thus not having to deal with armoured vehicles moving through streets and that solves problem of bulldozing) but that causes casualties and lots of them for the infantry. Its much easier to just smash over a house or two to make room for the tanks so fire support can be levied and allowing infantry to survive faster.
Conclusion:Do not go blaming Zionism or Israel for all the troubles in the Middle East. Is Israel at fault? Yes, but only because they haven't persisted in taking the moral high ground. At least they tried to settle this, the terrorists are just making it worse and if they aren't eliminated the situation will never be defused. The only way to get rid of them is to hunt them down and exterminate them. That takes military force, and in combat sometimes civilians die. However, I can't help but notice all the Palestinian children throwing rocks at the soldiers rather than taking cover.
I said don't start with me, but clearly you can't listen.

Laemkral, working backwards through your post (the best way to understand it):
1) Opinions (like conquests) cannot be insulated from scrutiny by decree.
2) You seem to think that children throwing rocks should be punishable by death. Lucky they didn't have that "LAW' in my neighbourhood.
3) Thanks for the tactical insights of armour vs infantry your shared with us. You almost make the end justifying the means respectable. Who else promulgated that idea?

I thank you for contributing your enlightened views on public debate, proportionality of punishment and the historical context of irony.

[Editor's Note: This comment was excised because it was vicious, bigoted, frothingly insane, and failed to exhibit any sign of intelligence, empathy or humor. It even cited the Book of Revelation without a trace of irony. And hey, little dudes, that's just not cool.]

You Folks suck SO bad...
How come every time someone makes but the slightest remark concerning jews, someone else will jump on it?!
There are PUPPIES dying on the Highways NOW! And the gas prices are so high, no one even bothers to brake for a little baby dog or even for a baby pig any more. ... wait... maybe thats an zionistic conspiracy against those filthy animals... or even a twisted Anti-Zionism conspiracy to blame the jews...

Have to call Mulder, he might know...

p.s.: The above doesn't mean I do not see your points. I just think this kind of talk doesn't blend well on these pages... But, on the other Hand, when has been the last time a stupid pregnancy tracker start such juicy discussions? ... Have to ask Mulder about that, too.

> Instead of solving the problem according to LAW

Bwahahahahaha. And that's all I'm gonna say about *that*.

The sad part is that I'm not sure if what susan mullaly has written is supposed to be serious or a joke.

Seriously, a Joke.

Emailware? Now that's just plain stupid, people.

Come on, folks. Why can't we just turn the other cheek?

And this came from an Athiest? Oh wait. PerversionTracker: Apparently Useless Diatribe

How can a thinking person avoid being amused by the freaky juxtaposition of political loyalties on this developer's website? Not to mention those inbred dogs? And let's not forget the hideous pregnancy-tracking application that brought us here in the first place.

Because when you lose the ability to laugh at yourself, you also lose the ability to get invited to parties. And when you choose to see the world only in black and white, us versus them, you condemn yourself to a prison of your own making. Break those chains.

Now y'all act nice or take it outside.

My apologies naomi, I didn't mean to go overboard, but I feel very strongly about this topic.
As for you Grind, we aren't finished here....

Damn. Leave town for a couple days and anarchy breaks out. Oh well, still more interesting than baseball.

What the hell is wrong with you people!? It appears that mostly everyone (except for fuddes, he has "OTHER" problems) has lost sight of the purpose of this web site and is venturing into la-la land. You guys are sucking the fun out of my comments because I can't call you fucking idiots anymore because to do so would be telling the truth and that would be mean. All I will seriously say on these comments is that naomi brought them up knowing that they would be controversial. There is a subtle double standard going on here.

I brought a case of enemas, so let's have a party. We need a comment that is totally irrational at this point and I am the man to do it, so here is another little trick I use with the girls to push their buttons. Next time you talk to your significant other, ask them if they would like you to talk dirty to them. Make it sound as sexy as possible and give them those big puppy dog bedroom eyes. As soon as you got them panting with anticipation at the very thought of you talking dirty to them, get you mouth next to their ear and in your most lustful voice gently begin to say something like, "It just grosses me out how the spaghetti stains on your shirt overlay the vomit you threw up last night. The way you rub dirt all over your face makes me want to turn away. Your total disregard for the use of deodorant is disgusting and your breath could kill a cow...etc." I tell you, talking dirty like that wins more points than actually talking dirty.

What's all this talk of Zionists? The real global threat is our health industry - people are living to long and instead of dying off and freeing up resources, the sickly are allowed to live and breed and the elderly are hoarding more than their fair share of resources.

I've had six children by six different mothers, (I refuse to wear a condom for religious reasons) and I haven't got any health insurance for any of them. And I certainly don't expect my government or society to pick up the bill. Sure I'm sad when their ill and suffering, but I know that we'll all soon be in a much better place.

If only the rest of you could feel the same!

There is no double standard; there is no subtlety. When you visit PvT, you embrace the very real risk of being crushed beneath the wild hurtling chariot wheels of a power-drunk reviewer. And you know you like it. This is not a democracy; this is not a support group for the unfunny; this is not your mother's website. Shake that booty, oh yeah.

I’ve been gone for 2 weeks. You’re probably all quite glad that I missed the heat of this discussion ‘cause I have some great points on Zionism and Religion and, of course, Jews. Oh well, guess they’ll have to wait until the next random topic.
To All- Not a viewpoint but something to think about – If the end doesn’t justify the means then what is the supervisory body for the means? I want oil so I kill you… I am bad. I want to stop weapons of mass destruction so I kill you… I am thoroughly vindicated. If your goals don’t regulate your actions then what, or worse yet who, does?

Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi.
You're my only hope.

Ok, so Zionists should have the right to defend themselves, right? I mean, if they don't, the sentinals will surely overthrow their city, replugging everybody, putting a big grin on the Architect's face and generally pissing off millions of cinema viewers for watching several hundreds of hours of film just to be presented with a *very* un-hollywoodian bad ending to a popular sci-fi trilogy. Plus, Mr. Reeves would be flayed alive on the streets by angry mobs of chubby fanboys.

Now, regardless of whether you'd like that or not, killing people is, to put it in Kevin Kline's words: "not nice"! Let me repeat that: Killing people is not nice!

Now all of you hold the hands of the persons next to you and sing along with the song (not to any particular tune):

    Be nice to your fellow man,
    And help out wherever you can,
    This sadly includes not killing them,
    But yohoho, here's a baguette with jam.

    (repeat 284 times)

Peace, TVM

*Sniff*
Brings a tear to my already overburdened aorta.

[Editor's Note: SIGH.]

Dear naomi,

You are the one who has the double standard and yes it is subtle. You publish whatever you want and then turn around edit and cut other peoples comments that you don't like at your very whim. After you guys did it to me a couple times to me, I then sometimes put out on purpose comments that I knew would push your buttons because I knew you were overly sensitive. It was fun and added to the the mystic of "what the hell is wrong with Norm" when people see another Norm comment cut. Heck, it is your web site and you can do whatever you want, but the plain truth is that I still see some "you can dish it out, but you can't take it attitude" in some of your actions. Is not what you wrote, "But what more can we expect from a rapidly replicating pack of neo-Confederate proto-Zionist dog fanciers?" far more offensive than anything I ever wrote as a comment on this web site. You do have a double standard. Even piglet Bob has more sense than you in these matters.

So unless, I hear otherwise, I am taking it as a signal from you guys that the areas I once considered untouchable are now accessible and valid areas for mixed metaphors and turds. The gloves are off baby and old Norm is looking for some action. Maybe I will start out banging some of those GMC monkeys and show them what a really good time means, if you know what I mean.

I initially refrained from adding fuel to this already engorged inferno, but now that "the gloves are off baby" according to Norm, here is my comment:

Laemkral said "...neither side wants to take the moral high ground and just stop killing so aggressively."

So your solution is that everyone should keep killing each other, just try to do it as non-aggressively as possible, maybe even going so far as to passively kill each other?

To paraphrase Mr. Mackie, "Killing is bad, umkay?" There is no moral justification for murder, period. So yes, both sides are wrong, and calling murder "defending our country" is just as evil as terrorist strapping on bombs and loitering outside a bus stop. And yes, I do blame the British, and the French, and the U.S. for the current mess in the Middle East.

Naomi: I think that your comment on the "neo-Confederate proto-Zionist dog fanciers" was spot on. Most of the time I don't even bother to go to the web sites of the developers reviewed here, but in this case I did, and I agree with your assessment.

I can't comment on the nature of Norm's edited/deleted posts, but I have a feeling we're in for a wild ride here, folks!

All together now:

Be nice to your fellow man,
And help out wherever you can,
This sadly includes not killing them,
But yohoho, here’s a baguette with jam.

Boy, do I feel better now!

All together now:

Fuck'em,
Fuck'em good,
Just call it accidental road kill,
But yohoho, here's a turd with crap sauce.

Boy, do I feel better now!

There are those that do not get along with their fellow man, and I HATE people like that.

In keeping with the tentacular nature of PvT's organizational chart, we have an evolving and revolving policy on editing reader comments. We edit rarely, but when we do, it is with surgical precision and the kind of perfect beauty that takes your breath away. Our typical division of labor is summarized below:

LADD edits all posts that use the words "hedgehog" and "soup" in the same sentence. He also removes the word "tintinnabulation" if the context fails to justify its use. He has zero tolerance for people who mention their Mensa membership as if it's relevant to real life. He inserts the word "poop" on a random basis.

JAN edits all posts that pretend to be something they are not. He often removes the phrase "smarmy little woodlouse." He inserts gratuitous references to the practice of trephination. He is a big fan of rhyming posts, long jokes about cloned sheep, and surfer slang. He does not like tinny words like "pink" and "tonic."

NAOMI edits all posts that have orangey-red auras. She does not permit the phrase "giant undulating tits" to be used in descriptions of landscapes. She removes posts that suggest we should "decapitate the Muslim beast" and/or "get jiggy wid it." She often amends Norm O. Tidwell's posts to make him appear nicer and smarter than he actually is.

PIGLET BOB does not edit anything. He believes that freedom of speech is sacrosanct, and that tiny people live inside the radio. He is also building an elaborate drilling rig to extract the jellybeans from Jupiter's hollow core.

I hope this information is helpful in your ongoing quest for truth, fairness, and hot weasel love. If you need anything else, just ring the front desk and ask for Mister Winkles.

Perhaps Naomi and N.O.T. could roadtest this app and write a journal of their experiences.

Is ANYBODY going to comment on the software?

Dear rubberchicken,

I'm up for it.

In spite of naomi's misguided attempt at social reform in trying to make me appear nicer and smarter than I actually am, I think would rather enjoy whispering dirty talk into her ear after she passes out from three kegs of beer. The only question remains is what to do with the leftovers?

How about it naomi? I think you really want Norm...you WANT Norm...you and me over the internet...we could exchange bits and bytes over TCP/IP and sip on POP3 protocols...then I will take you into the chat room and show you my Unicode...oh baby, think of the binhexed files we could share!

Once you go Norm, nothing else matters because deep depression sets in.

Norm, you amuse me. Your previous post is excellent.

Do you think 3 kegs of beer is enough?

Perhaps a couple dozen wine casks will do the job instead.

People, people, people. Can't we all pull our collective heads from our butts and agree that the real problem is the GMC? This petty bickering over Palestinian/Israeli problems is insignificant compared to the threat that the monkeys of the world pose. First let's take care of that, then we'll move on to the next problem.

Anyone unable to appreciate the simplistic beauty, nay the elegance, of TargetDate, is cordially invited to go pound sand up their ass.

Sincere neo-Confederate proto-Zionist regards,
The totally unbiased RebelTech Software team.

P.S. The dogs say Hi!

You know what's interesting about Washington? It's the kind of place where second-guessing has become second nature.