patrick.net

The video is about some Russian fire department and animal control getting a racoon out of a tree and then capturing it. Why I'm not sure.

This looks like the type of cheap publicity that a fire department in the US would engage in to placate the public and make us forget that the city pays them $130k/year plus benefits to engage in these feel-good publicity stunts.

(wage example from San Mateo County in California, I think it was from the city of San Carlos, someone correct me if I am wrong).

Ray, so we won the cold war by exporting stupid American behaviors and institutions to the USSR? I suppose it is possible, but now what do we do?

I am reminded of the old maxim about knife fighting:

"The winner is the one with the fewest knife wounds who lives the longest."

Notice that eventual mortality is not addressed, just who gets labelled the winner. If the winner bleeds out in a hospital later, does it really matter?

I think we took the wrong lessons from surviving the Cold War somewhat intact. Namely that we were invincible, and righteous, and that a rich military industrial complex could solve any problem put before it.

Here's one possible Cold War Lesson:

Ignore your citizens complaints long enough, and your empire will crumble.

This can happen to USA as certainly as it did the Soviets.

Vicente says

Ignore your citizens complaints long enough, and your empire will crumble.

That can't happen here as long as we have Dear Leader in charge. Dear Leader has heard the "citizens' complaints" and cleaned up all that fraud on Wall Street along with the mega bankers. I'm so very happy we have change.

@Vicente

>"I think we took the wrong lessons from surviving the Cold War somewhat intact. Namely that we were invincible, and righteous, and that a rich military industrial complex could solve any problem put before it."

You took the words out of my mouth (or keyboard).

Ruskis lost the cold war because their wonderful socialism ran out of steam. They were outmatched completely by our free market capitalism. Their incompetent leaders went down in flames never admitting to the fact that state ran empire will never be as productive, as free, as flourishing as a free market society where people have rights and make choices without the approval from the crony Gman.

Nomograph says

The USSR disintegrated on it’s own due to the fact that abject Communism and Socialism are not viable governmental systems.

I'm glad to see I've finally had an influence on you. What exactly was it that I posted that caused you to leave the Commie ranks? I'm guessing it must have been this:

http://patrick.net/?p=538277

It's really, really nice to know I'm bringing change to this forum.

shrekgrinch says

Because Reagan put all the domestic commie pinkos in their place. After that, it was super easy to deal with the commie pinkos in Moscow.

The radical left idolized the good old Soviet Union and his destruction of it was the unpardonable sin. They have never forgiven Ronald Maximus Reagan for also destroying their dream of transforming the USA into the USSA.

MX missile: WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

A few boosters got recycled for satellite launchers.

The warheads were redeployed onto old Minuteman rockets.

Most of the expensive MIRVy goodness went into the dustbin except for a few scavenged bits like the RCS.

I'm sorta glad I dropped out of aerospace now, it's too disheartening to see billions of dollars of F117 sitting in the desert with the tumbleweeds, there's no permanence to anything you do.

You could as easily say the Soviets were bankrupted trying to copy our Space Shuttle (see Buran) as they were fighting to overcome our invincible imaginary Star Wars "shield".

The "we caused them to spend themselves over the cliff earlier" argument reminds me of something. So far the "terrorist" elements have successfully used low-tech high-concept attacks. They use a cheap bomb or hijack a plane. We use a million dollar smart bomb to flatten a shack. This may be our undoing. We are not as smart as we think.

America is a great country. Where else could a guy that poses as a duck criticize one of the greatest figures of the 20th. century?

Ronald Reagan was and is HATED by the radical loony Left. That fact alone speaks volumes about his greatness. As the old saying goes; “you can tell an awful lot about a person by who his enemies are.”

RayAmerica says

T If you don’t believe this, watch PBS’ broadcast on “Ronald Reagan.”

Wait, why should we believe PBS? I thought it was full of lying Librul incompetents who deserved defunding?

Vicente says

Wait, why should we believe PBS? I thought it was full of lying Librul incompetents who deserved defunding?

Very good point and I totally agree with you. But, even PBS can't distort what the Soviet Foreign Diplomats had to say right there for your radical eyes to see on the video, i.e. that “Ronald Reagan WON THE COLD WAR.” And here all this time you thought it was that silly Gorby Perestroika nonsense.

@Vicente

>I am reminded of the old maxim about knife fighting:
>“The winner is the one with the fewest knife wounds who lives the longest.”

>Here’s one possible Cold War Lesson:
>Ignore your citizens complaints long enough, and your empire will crumble.
>This can happen to USA as certainly as it did the Soviets.

Most prudent comments on this whole thread.