Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? I worked at Area B for 3 years with the AST used to be SYG. The people I speak to over there all have differing thoughts on the whole war, but I have yet to speak to someone in Uniform that feels that flying the Flag union down is acceptable. I don't find it acceptable either. I am glad that we have people in this country opposed to the war. Why? Simple, checks and balances. We need to have both sides of the issues represented. I think that it needs to be done in better ways though then disrespecting the flag. I am not trying to flame you here nor am I trying to impose my will, I just have a respect for the flag that I feel goes above and beyond political stances. But anyway glad you are working over there, kinda cool to see the C-5's coming in now. Hey do you play soccer in the area? Go to Englewood for over 30 indoor on fridays if you are over 30.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? Well I am a Chicago fan so being fast of thought isn't a strength.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? you say you read it did you notice that it was a guide and not legally binding????? i would have to say that you did not... again, your ignorance... not mine
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? I said it was a code of conduct not a legally binding document. Read what is written not what you want it to say.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? you are the one making stuff by saying that i'm breaking that code not i, as i am not
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? You seriously have some major problems. Why dont you just leave if you are so upset with the way things are. Go fly your flag upside down from canada. You lost the election the majority of the country spoke. So grow up be an adult and move on.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? lol i wouldn't exactly say i'm a supporter of either candidate... nor any that was running this round i think i'll stick around here because i am an american and i have every right to say what is going on is utter bull... i'm sorry, but censorship isn't legal keep trying, i'm sure hitler and the ilk like him would support you and your efforts
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? No one here is asking for censorship we are just asking for people to have a little bit of respect. but your parents probably never taught you what that was. You were prob. a spoiled little brat that everyone hated.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? I dont know but it is funny you used the name hitler. Because the thing you call a senseless war got a rid of a man that was as evil as hitler. but i guess you would say that world war II wasnt justified either. I bet there are millions of jews that would disagree.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? if you could read... i've previously stated that getting rid of saddam was fine but he's long taken care of
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? lol you are fun my parents would be irritated if i didn't do something... if i sat back silently and let stupidity reign i'm sorry i'm not for killing every u.s. soldier we have... i'm sorry i'm not willing to fight a war to pad the pocket books of the wealthy in this country... i'm sorry if i feel we've accomplished the only attainable goal in iraq respect is earned... the flag gets it's respect... that's why it's used in the manner that it is... because when used this way... it says things are ********ed up... which they are i'm sorry that no one ever taught you about the freedom of speech, the right to express your thoughts... i'm sorry that you believe censorship is the answer when people don't toe the line you walk although i'm sure you can find a lot of people to join you in your hitler youth movement
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? Boy, this thread's a lot of fun... not one, but TWO lightning-rod issues: Buying Beckham AND how to appropriately display the US flag. Good thing we're all staying restrained, too... Seriously, in answer to the original question, it's about value for the money. MLS can't/won't buy Beckham because it's in neither the short-term nor long term interests of the league to do so. To put this idea in perspective, one of the previous posters mentioned Freddy Adu, and that's an excellent example. The league gets revenue from the bump in ticket sales, t-shirt and jersey sales, marketing, and lotsa free pub from a $500K/year (and no transfer fee) investment. Fast-forward to after WC06, when David Beckham's value isn't likely to be as expensive. The only way MLS would see a return on investment is if they get the player on a very low-fee (less than $5M) or free transfer, particular since his wages would be very high. And what are the chances that'll happen? If MLS is going to make money, it's going to do so primarily by selling, not buying players. Look at Holland. Look at Portugal. Look at Argentina. They have reasonably successful domestic leagues that seldom buy players, they develop and sell players.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? Sorry to get involved, but he has every right to fly the flag upside-down. The United States Flag Code says it should be flown "with the union down" in times of distress or danger. If he feels these are times of distress or danger, he can show it by flying the flag upside down. Republicans did it when Clinton was acquited, so it's not one party or the other that does it. He IS respecting the US Flag Code, and therefore IS being patriotic, by showing his concern. I could post links but I'd rather you looked it up for yourself. Don't criticize what you can't understand.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? Still, it shouldn't take you a life time to figure out whether you have the capacity to see beyond your own thoughts.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? I'm glad the majority won this time as opposed to last time when Bush's boys won it for him. Sorry, couldn't help it. I was more checking in to see if this thread was still talking about Beckham coming to the US. I'm glad to see it hasn't and it had disintegrated into typical BS blather.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? blah blah blah, blah blah blah, something about nothing, blah blah blah.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? Let me ask this, we got rid of saddam, in his place we have al-qadia stepping in and fighting us. It isn't Iraqi's that we are fighting. These insurgents are almost all coming into Iraq just to fight us. Isn't it better to fight them there then here? I mean really, look at what they are doing over there, beheading people, car bombing mousques. I think that the war isn't the same as nam. We know who the enemy is, we know that they will attack us using anything they can get their hands on. They have no morals, they are killers who kill in the name of a religion that is a peaceful religion. These people are scum who pervert all that they touch. SO anyway that is mho, doesn't mean I am right, and like I said before, if you want to have a differing view I am all for that. checks and balances. We need to have our countries actions questioned at all times lest we become what we have fought against. You have stated why you fly the flag upside down. Fine. I think that stating that you feel the country is in dire straits is not what was meant in the code. But again that is speculative. Lets just agree to disagree, I hope that you can at least view this issue of the flag from my point of view and see why I think it is disrespectful. That's all. Maybe you will reconsider your avatar, maybe not. That is your choice. So lets put this to rest and get back to soccer.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? You know, if it had been just after September 11, 2001 and you flew the flag upside-down, I wouldn't have said anything because it would have been justified at that point in time. Now? No way. This *is not* Vietnam 2.0! Do you even have a clue as to how many troops were over in Vietnam? Or how many of our country men died there? Please. Go read a newspaper my friend and then we'll talk. The current administration may be doing something you don't like, but to fly it upside-down to say that we're in distress only shows you don't understand what a country in distress actually means.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? "Of the more than 1,000 men between the ages of 15 and 55 who were captured in intense fighting in the center of the insurgency over the last week, just 15 are confirmed foreign fighters, Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. ground commander in Iraq." "[Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad] Allawi acknowledged in an interview Monday that the insurgents were largely made up of his countrymen." November 16, 2004 LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-fighters16nov16,1,4015301.story Amazingly, I think it's actually less off-topic here than the thread that I copied that from.
The upside-down flag talk has started to drown out the original topic: Becks. Thread split, and moved to Politics.
That's funny. As someone who get's sucked into political arguments quite a bit here, I still hate it when it happens. This has to be one of the worst ways to have a political conversation/argument. There's such a chance for flaming and trolling. I try to stay out of "Conservative/Liberal" or "Democrat/Republican" arguments, especially when it comes to foreign policy. My fights are usually over gender/sexual politics and racial issues. So, if I had a "Marriage For Everyone" avatar, I'd imagine that quite a lot of people who don't like homosexuals would come after me. I support jmeissen0's avatar in the same way that I support maxim-1's avatar. They aren't personal attacks, just representations of how someone feels about the political culture of this country.
I have a tough time myself understanding why some people get so upset over an upside down flag. To me, it's just a form of distress call, and the equivalent to jmeissen0 typing ... ---... over and over.
jmeissen0 - your a classy guy...just to stop all this crap put the US flag right side up... I'm 100% USA to a fault, as in i hate foreigners, but they are people and i treat them with respect, i'm just overly caustious about something happening to the US, well at least the west coast, i don't like the east that much either but they are US so i'de fight for em...anyways, it bugs me seeing it now with the flag upsidedown, disrepect, i don't know, to me it is...anyways, i didn't want to read through the whole thread to see why you have the flag that way, maybe you have a good reason, if not just go with a normal US flag.... do i still have this yellow card from a year and a half ago because i say things like "i hate foreingers"????