Last Throes

[andyfox]

The date wouldn't be arbitrary. We could base it on setting goals and meeting them. It is something that is, by his own admission, anathema to Rumsfeld: planning.

[Zeno]

I was cheerfully confident of my means when I pinched the magazine.

Pinch (number 9 out of 11 possible verb usages), from the OED:

9 verb trans. a Steal (a thing); rob (a person) slang.

-Zeno

[slamdunkpro]

My point wasn't tactics but the will to win and the level of force being used. Treat it like a war – WIN.

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
anathema to Rumsfeld: planning.

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

From the OED:

Anathema 1. Something or someone accursed or assigned to damnation; something or someone detested. 2. The formal act or formula of consigning to damnation; the curse of God; the curse of the Church, excommunicating a person or denouncing a doctrine etc: a denunciation of alleged impiety, hersery, etc.: an imprecation.


I can hardly wait for a post to be titled "Last Throes of Armageddon".

Maranatha!

-Zeno

[wacki]

Well congrats. You've made me feel like an ass. So you're a sweet talking con. Good for you. For a second I wondered if you meant sanguinary but that would be a bit too much.

BTW, your location says Spitsbergen. Are you from there? Or is that where you were in that pic you posted? That is one hell of a remote location.

[Cyrus]

[ QUOTE ]
It would be interesting to see what would happen if you could muck with time and all this [Iraqi insurgency] occurred on Reagan’s watch.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not go by a real precedent ?

In 1983, United States President Ronald Reagan deployed the U.S. Marines in Lebanon, in an effort to help pacify the civil-war torn country. A suicide bomber's attack, carried out by a still unknown side in that civil war, hit the Marines' barracks killing in one go upwards of two hundred Americans. A visibly shaken President Reagan, went on national TV and stated his intention to resist those who would "drive us out of that area."

In short time, however, the American President had turned tail and ordered his troops to depart from Lebanon, admitting failure and allowing the ostensibly anti-western side to ultimately prevail in that conflict!

In other words, the Gipper made a poorly planned decision, caused the death of 241 Marines in one day (a record that George W Bush will not likely break) and then departed hastily - and without a post-departure plan either.

Hooray for the Gipper.

[Cyrus]

[ QUOTE ]
Some dying persons, said to be in their "death throes", may undergo violent spasms, contortions or convulsions. One common meaning of "throe" = spasm.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just knew that our eminent linguist MMMMMM would step in, sooner or later, to clarify the meaning of the vice president's wise words !

So, according to Dick "Allah" Cheney, the all-merciful, the all-seeing, the all-knowing, as His words are interpreted and conveyd by His Prophet MMMMMM, peace be upon Him, a dying person who is said to be in "his last throes" can be having spasms for the next ten years !

Ah, where is Terri Schiavo when we need 'er ?..

[MMMMMM]

Cyrus a lot goes over your head doesn't it?

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ACPlayer]

Christianity is in its last (one great big) throe.
Neo-conism is in its last (one great big) throe.
Liberalism is in its last (one great big) throe.
Atheism is in its last (one great big) throe.
Good sense is in its last (one great big) throe.

[MMMMMM]

ACPlayer, both you and Cyrus have a strong tendency to miss partial tongue-in-cheek, don't you...even when it's made obvious by a ;-)