Piles is one of those left wing anti-America Americans. I donât find his sarcasm funny.
No problem buddy.
Flano, would you be one of those gun-toting, good olâ boy, right wing, humour deficient types?
Good to have you here sir. Balance is always a good thing.
Dey tuk ar jabs
Hey Obama youâre so fine,
Youâre so fine you blow my mind,
Hey Obama
Piles is attention seeking here by trying to be controversial. I donât agree with what he is saying but I will fight to my last breath to defend his right to say it.
Happy Veterans Day everyone. Still hope to get out to see the parade but have a conference call at an awkward time with an inconsiderate Irish client at about the time the parade passes by my place of work. Still though, Iâll console myself with the fact that my minute taking skills are absolutely necessary for this call to go ahead.
Signing in.
Actual client tinnion or is that my former place of employment?
Hey how ya doin buddy?
Your old place. I use the term client in a loose sense there although the actual real client is also on the call.
Iâm doing good buddy, will be hitting the Galway Hooker followed by the Fat Black Pussycat again tonight :ph34r:
tinnion, it looks like Iâll be home in NYC on work related business next year for St Pattyâs. Would be great to hook up for a pitcher of beer in Three Sheets or The 13th Step if youâre about.
Thatâs just fantastic news Bandage. Why donât you tell your bosses that you donât need a hotel and come stay with me? Iâm sure theyâll be delighted with the positive impact the savings on the hotel bill would have on the bankâs capital ratios.
That means youâll also be here for the first few games of March Madness. Get your colors nailed to a college mast early for that one.
They wonât keep you for long tinnion as the MDâs going away party is this evening.
No sign of Isabel or Rachel yet? Keep on trying. Iâll fly back if you find them.
March Madness - itâs gotta be Syracuse.
Georgetown for me.
[left]
US patriot act ensures one hell of a show
By John Riordan
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
AMERICA could never stand accused of doing things by half.
And whoever came up with the idea to stage a college basketball game on an aircraft carrier as the sun set over San Diego last Friday night could never stand accused of cutting corners on patriotic fervour.
Maybe Iâve been numbed by the relentless mawkishness of this nationâs preoccupation with its own military but hardwood on a billion dollar ship felt oddly appropriate, residing as it did at the respectable end of the Veteransâ Day commemorations, the US version of Remembrance Day.
Veteransâ Day is a big deal here, an annual opportunity (on top of all the other opportunities) to right the wrongs of wars past when the ordinary serviceman or woman was poorly received at home, bearing the brunt of conflicts that registered too little or far too much.
At sports events up and down the country, military personnel spent the weekend being hugged and backslapped, standing awkwardly for cameras and applause. From the ceremonial opening of the college basketball season through Saturdayâs college football programme and on into the NFL on Sunday, the soldier enjoyed VIP status, benefiting from the various teamsâ apparently limitless commitment to out-honour each other.
The USS Carl Vinson was reportedly the aircraft carrier off which the lifeless carcass of Osama bin Laden was tossed back in May. So where better to host a basketball game between the nationâs top team, the University of North Carolina, and another powerhouse of hoops, Michigan State University?
Along with the 7,000 fans, military personnel and veterans, President Obama, a genuine fan of the game, also sat courtside. It was a lopsided North Carolina victory but the full moon and calm conditions ensured that whatever transpired on the makeshift court was secondary to the uniqueness of the setting.
On Saturday afternoon, I found myself in Yankee Stadium for, of all things, a football game. Conveniently enough, it pitted Army against Newark-based Rutgers University, two of the more ancient institutions in college football.
Tucked neatly into the baseball expanse normally occupied by the Bronx Bombers, the temporary football field stretched from home plate to centre field. Hundreds of grey-uniformed army cadets, obligated to attend games involving the military academy, stood in the bleachers either side of the promo-wielding plasma scoreboard.
It was a jarring clash of old world tradition and the bawdy commercialism of corporate America. In their wide-topped visor caps, they ironically bore an uncanny resemblance to the rows of military youâd picture attending CSKA Moscow matches in some ungodly bowl of concrete in Russia. Nicknamed âThe Long Gray Lineâ, the graduates of the West Point Academy probably have more in common with their eastern counterparts than theyâd care to admit.
Normally, Army play at the beautifully appointed Michie Stadium. It sits, almost improbably, right on top of the Hudson River, upstream from New York city.
Theyâve been playing there since the 1920s but for a long while during their heyday just before, during and a couple of years after the Second World War, they also played occasionally at Yankee Stadium, drawing massive crowds for classic tussles with Notre Dame, Navy and the other giants.
But itâs all different now. The pro game, which grew in the decades following the war, has diminished the appeal. College football is a means to an end which is knee-deep in dollar signs. A cadet is a soldier in the making, his obligation after graduation is active service. Football is a past-time in the old school sense. But judging by one video montage beamed out from the massive screen during a break in play, much of the pageantry of the past has stayed the same, the Fourth Regiment marching out before kick-off just as they have done for decades, the cannon fired after every restart.
The game itself was mediocre, Rutgers eventually pulling away for victory at the end, but none of that mattered to those in attendance and even for us four neutrals (two more Irish and a Belgian) in the upper tier, it was all an experience, to say the least.
At one stage, veterans among the crowd from the different branches of the military were called upon to stand up and let themselves be known. The navy, the air force, the marines and then, last of all, the army, who of course received the biggest cheer.
We didnât know what to do. It was hard not to feel awkward or a little conflicted. They hadnât fought for us. But we did applaud. Thatâs the least we could do.
Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/sport/gaa/us-patriot-act-ensures-one-hell-of-a-show-174035.html#ixzz1dr96AiJ0[/left][/left]
The congress of this great country has, in the last few days, declared that pizza is in fact a vegetable for the purposes of serving kids in school at least 2 pieces of fruit or veg a day. Itâs classed as a vegetable due to the presence of tomato in the sauce :rolleyes:
Here Mac - fook off.
At least Americanâs donât have to go and ask the Germanâs how they can spend their money.
This is the biggest weekend of the American sporting calendar. I canât wait.
I hope all of my fellow Americans have a great Memorial Day Weekend.
Jewishly :strokechin: :lol:
âFreedom isnât free. Thank you to all service men and women, past and present, who have sacrificed for our well being.â - Dominic Cervi, recently released former Celtic third choice goalkeeper. 
Just emailed Flano there at his work address. Got an out of office reply saying he was back in the office on July 4th - which means heâs taken time off but not bothered to extend it to July 4th. He also used the European dating convention - 04/07/2012. Not very American.
:shakefist: