There’s nothing wrong with California a significant rise in sealevel wouldn’t cure.
I’m not sure I accept the abandoned property angle here, not because it is invalid, but because that isn’t the excuse the police gave for their inaction.
They also implied that they would take action if the fence owner filed a complaint. That indicates to me that they consider the items on the fence to belong to the fence owner.
Maybe the attempt to stop them in the act would have resulted in a way bigger problem all around, and the police decided to just make sure the vandals didn’t get too out of hand, and deal with any arrests later?
I suppose, except that the article mentions that there were all of three of them. Based on that, the police would be ill equipped to handle a drunken altercation at a ball game.
Oh, I’m not saying it IS far-fetched, theoretically. If the world had left Iraq alone for another 5 years, there’s a good chance SH would be supplying WMD’s to one band of rogues or another, if only to spite the US.
The thing is, that’s not the case. We need to look at where we stand NOW. There’s hundreds of UN weapons inspectors turning every stone in the Iraqi desert, thousands of journalists documenting their actions, and enough military pressure on the Iraqi borders to make Rambo think “fuck it, I’m outta here”. In other words, SH is not going about his business unchecked, is being forced to destroy WMD’s on a daily basis, and will most likely not survive this ordeal as leader of Iraq, and if he does, it’ll be with three shotguns and katapult as his full arsenal. Sure, he pisses off the West by playing mind games (like destroying 2 Al Samuds at a time rather than all 200 of them at once), he walks the line. What did we expect, for him to lay down and die? Point is: he won’t make it in the long run, and WILL be dethroned, war or no war.
Therefore, the whole “we must attack Iraq because he is supplying terrorists like OBL with snazzy weapons” approach (without any proof whatsoever) is nothing more than a disingenious way to sell a war that didn’t turn out as popular as GWB c.s. thought it would be.
Sorry, Coldy, but this is one of those things i can never help correcting: I think you meant “disingenuous,” although i concede that “disingenious” can reasonably be used in any thread dealing with Bush and his policies. 
You’re absolutely right. As a defense, I’ll use the old “I’m not a native speaker routine”. An edge I have on GWB, for sure. Or do I? 
I would like to beat some sense into them…preferrably by bashing their skulls in with a lead pipe.
Looks like you were too fast on the trigger there gobear.
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Ah yes, the Neanderthal approach to societal disagreements. I’m surprised you can type after a lifetime of dragging your knuckles all the over the place.
Coldfire.
Maybe I’ve missed something important or being whooshed or possibly just plain dumb, but I haven’t heard of SH actually destroying any WMDs. I know he is being forced to tear up a delivery system (Al-Samoud) and I understand he claims to have destroyed various WMDs but can’t prove it. I can’t really blame people for being a bit sceptical of SH’s claims. As far as Iraq being connected to AQ, that’s probably crap right now but in the future, who knows? He is certainly pissed at the US, as is OBL/UBL and it is easy enough to see the two of them deciding they had a (temporary) cause in common.
Regards.
Testy
Testy, you have not been wooshed. Nor are you dumb - well, not that I can tell from this post, anyway. 
I incorrectly used the term “WMD’s” where I should have just used the generic “weapons” or the specific “long range missiles”, because those are what’s currently being dismantled.
As far as the WMD’s go: Blix et al haven’t been able to find any so far, and SH hasn’t been able to prove that he destroyed them all. Then again, how does one prove that something isn’t there anymore?
No way SH is EVER going to prove a negative. Especially not to a somewhat critical audience like Bush. S
I saw a JAMA article about Bio weapons where they mentioned that SH had manufactured 9000 liters of Botulinus toxin and couldn’t really acount for where it went.
Given that, I have this little internal vision of SH calling OBL and saying, “Hey, I’ve got this really nasty toxin and you’ve obviously got a good stash of maniacs, what say we go after the Great Satan?”
OBL obviously doesn’t care for SH but might cut a deal with him. As far as Iraq funding OBL, I think the US badly damaged their credibility trying to make that connection.
Regards.
Testy
An update on the OP.
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,207~12026~1239953,00.html
Well, you gotta admit- They probably wouldn’t be vandalising anything else. Or eating solid foods.
Whoosh!
Great! Another person who’s been posting to these Message Boards for the proverbial five minutes, and yet who still expects that everyone will magically know, in a text-based medium, when s/he is being ironic.
Your post (although not you in particular) has inspired a Pit thread.
Read_Neck, that link is interesting… According to the fence owner “He said he was told by police that he couldn’t file the complaint because he was not the victim.” This is along the lines of “abandoned property”, which I still find odd because the items were on a fence that is on (or on the edge of) private property.