Illusion of Choice (1011 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: ets_sociopolitical_commentary
Rating: 0.33 on 63 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (View user info) at 2006-11-06 17:25:13 EST
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
Tomorrow elections will take place here in The good ol' U.S. of A. Projected turnout (which is a bullshit projection if you ask me) is a shameful 40%. The democrats will take the house, maybe the Senate too, and nothing will change. We will still be ruled by the same people who rule us today and ruled us yesterday.
Tomorrow, my vote will be cast on an electronic machine with an executable file on its memory card that has predetermined the election. Tomorrow nothing will change, but people will be filled with false hope and celebration. Tomorrow will be a sham, and the whole world will buy it like a used lemon.
One day in the near future, the disillusionment will set in again, and people will clambor for the only other alternative they've been conditioned to accept...until the day the armies of the awakened storm the halls of congress and send molotov cocktails through the bars of their prison into the windows of the elite. Until that day we will be willing slaves with an illusion of choice.
User Reviews
Submitted by Ingsoc (user info) at 2006-11-17 13:44:52 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Use your illusion of choice... II.
Submitted by Istaros (user info) at 2006-11-07 20:38:20 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
"Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 23:25:58 (#)
Ranking: 0
See....this is why I'm sick of coming here. What's the point?"
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahhahahahahahahhahahahahaaaaaaaaahahahaha
Submitted by locksly (user info) at 2006-11-07 20:23:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Jgreening:
"because I, a moderate liberal-leaning independent, LOVE being lumped in with you by FOX News and Rush Limbaugh."
______________
What, you care what fox news and Rush think of you?
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2006-11-07 10:41:31 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
"My country has been hijacked by a shitload of evil individuals who answer to a larger, hidden world power bent on subjugating all of humanity."
perplexing.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-11-07 09:48:12 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-07 09:35:42 (#)
Ranking: 0
Because if I have to rig an election for someone, he is no longer going to be "my guy".
------------------
Gotcha.
Rigging an election to throw off the schackles of the evil bankers and corporations would be wrong, and you couldn't support someone who did that. But starting a violent armed revolution and destroying the infrastructure in the US would be good and you could get behing a leader who did that.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-07 09:35:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Because if I have to rig an election for someone, he is no longer going to be "my guy".
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-11-07 09:24:04 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 23:25:58 (#)
Ranking: 0
There! There's your fucking economy talk. It's all a sham. If you believe the economy is going to do anything but fluctuate at the whim of the super rich and deplete the wealth of the foolish investor and the struggling entrepreneur alike along the way, send me a postcard, because the planet you live on seems much nicer than mine.
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How well do you think the struggling entrepreneur would do "free trade"? What system would you put in place in America thet would give more benefits to someone who wanted to start up a company? When has it ever been easier?
When has the wealth of foolish investors done anything but be depleted?
If Diebolds are so easy to hack why don't you volounteer on an election commitee of some type and rig it so your guy wins?
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2006-11-07 07:08:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Sometimes I am gravely concerned that Katherine has married Timothy McVeigh. Albeit, it a prettier and more musically-gifted version of him.
These elections are about getting a breathing room for debate. Projected turnouts are unreliable. Some people who vote Republican are ashamed to admit to it so they are not associated with the 'nasty party', much like the British who vote for the Conservative party. The basic premise of the Republican platform is sound enough - a strong national defense, lower taxes and a small government. It is only when people involve divisive issues such as abortion, homosexuality, gun control etc.. that the real mudslinging begins. The democrats may well take the house and the Senate, but I would not be sure of it. What ever the failings of the Bush administration and the Republican leadership, Karl Rove is a political operative of great cunning and it would not surprise anybody if he was the architect of an unlikely Republican victory. He may at the very least buy Bush the time he needs to create a quick exit strategy from Iraq.
Change can not be brought about in a day. Hope and celebration are only acts of futility if they are based on a delusion. Anything worth having in this life is not easy, be it democracy, freedom, or survival.
Submitted by TheSpook (user info) at 2006-11-07 06:13:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Illusion of choice in a nation of apathy.
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-11-07 06:05:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Isn't it peoples constitutional right NOT to vote blah blah etc and so on.......?
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-11-07 05:02:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
and phauna is kidding him/herself. most people i know dont vote, and i never have, and wont in the forseeable future.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-11-07 05:00:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
ok, im firmly in the anti-ets camp, but freebie is a fuckin tool.
Submitted by Juden (user info) at 2006-11-07 00:51:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
ruled us yesterday
just a quote i didn't even have to think about it.
but still, can we be trusted?
Submitted by phauna (user info) at 2006-11-07 00:36:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Predicted voter turnout for Australia in any given election: 99%
1% being people who forgot (who then get fined unless they had a good excuse)
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 23:25:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by freebie (user info) at 2006-11-06 22:34:11 (#)
Ranking: -2
For two weeks the lib media has told me (CNN, NPR, MSN) the dems are gonna win every race everywhere and take control of everything.
If that happens sign me up for de food stamps, free healthcare, gimme a place to live and you can raise the chillens I be making.
Im done paying 47 grand a year in taxes if idiots you support take over. Sign me up for the welfare.
-----------------
The idiots I support? Did you not READ the post?
See....this is why I'm sick of coming here. What's the point?
You wanna talk about the fucking economy, fine. Let's talk about the $9 TRILLION national debt. Let's talk about rampant government spending on war equipment we shouldn't have fucking needed had Bush and the evil fucks surrounding him had just told the truth about Saddam Hussein and his "WMD arsenal" in the first fucking place! Let's talk about how this president has run up more debt - that our children and THEIR children will have to pay back in blood, sweat, and tears - than all the other presidents COMBINED!
Chew on that while you're pushing 'round town in your Mercedes bitching about welfare.
I am just as much against the Federal income Tax as the next man, but to eliminate that entirely (as I think ideally we should) we will have to make certain sacrifices, namely we'll have to get rid of the Federal Reserve System and start printing our own fucking money again. We'll have to accept that we cannot rule the fucking planet at the point of a sabre that costs billions to manufacture...billions WE DON'T HAVE...and we'll have to understand that "free trade" is anything but "free". It's exploitative and it will drive us all into poverty.
There! There's your fucking economy talk. It's all a sham. If you believe the economy is going to do anything but fluctuate at the whim of the super rich and deplete the wealth of the foolish investor and the struggling entrepreneur alike along the way, send me a postcard, because the planet you live on seems much nicer than mine.
Submitted by Fungah (user info) at 2006-11-06 22:41:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by freebie (user info) at 2006-11-06 22:34:11 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
For two weeks the lib media has told me (CNN, NPR, MSN) the dems are gonna win every race everywhere and take control of everything.
If that happens sign me up for de food stamps, free healthcare, gimme a place to live and you can raise the chillens I be making.
Im done paying 47 grand a year in taxes if idiots you support take over. Sign me up for the welfare.
Submitted by retrospect (user info) at 2006-11-06 22:22:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
KERRY HEALEY FO GUVNAH!! YEEEEEE HAWWWWWWW
im so rockin the vote tommorow
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-11-06 22:15:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 20:13:36 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:51:04 (#)
Ranking: 0
I was on a plane the other day and I overheard a conversation between two guys who were really "hoping Katherine Harris can pull out a win down there in Florida".
-----------
Did anyone else see the HBO special "Hacking Democracy"? Katherine Harris doesn't necessarily have to "pull out a win". Even though her opponent eviscerated her in their nationally televised debate with Tim Russert hosting, even when she's only got 29% of her constituents' support in her district, she doesn't need anymore help than an .exe file on a Diebold memory card.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
That's why this state uses paper optical scan ballots. That was kind of my point about seeing what would happen in precincts around MIT and Caltech. That and there doesn't HAVE to be a conspiracy... because when the people speak, they speak with the voice of a Faulknerian idiot manchild.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 22:05:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by maiorano84 (user info) at 2006-11-06 21:28:12 (#)
Ranking: 0
"You can scoff all you like, and you can sit there with a self-satisfaction of thinking you're just dealing with another idiot racist, but at some point you should really take a look at what just one family - Rothschilds - have done to our world."
Uh...... there was no scoffing. It was a joke. You are the last person I would ever accuse of being a racist, my very sensitive friend.
Dirty hippie.....
---------------
Ok. Sorry for that. I'm a little touchy on that front as I'm sure you can understand thanks to a few select idiots on here who can't seem to read between the lines of what I say and choose to focus on only those things with which they think they can discredit me.
Submitted by Foolproof (user info) at 2006-11-06 21:45:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
America - The Greatest Farce on Earth.
Blind patriotism is the most dangerous thing to democracies.
Submitted by maiorano84 (user info) at 2006-11-06 21:28:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
"You can scoff all you like, and you can sit there with a self-satisfaction of thinking you're just dealing with another idiot racist, but at some point you should really take a look at what just one family - Rothschilds - have done to our world."
Uh...... there was no scoffing. It was a joke. You are the last person I would ever accuse of being a racist, my very sensitive friend.
Dirty hippie.....
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 20:55:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by maiorano84 (user info) at 2006-11-06 20:23:45 (#)
Ranking: 0
"We will still be ruled by the same people who rule us today and ruled us yesterday"
Those damn dirty Jews?
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Central bankers, international corporations, and complicit media people. Some of those happen to be "dirty Jews", some are "slimeball anglo-saxons', and maybe even a couple "uncle Tom niggers". Their race is immaterial to me. I just want them gone.
Call the ADL. Call the NAACP. Call Homeland Security. I'll tell them all the same thing I've told you. I'll tell them we are being ruled by a bunch of cowards who recruit the poor to fight their wars while they rob us with their central banking systems and keep people around the world in dire straits by funding and encouraging war, by funding corportations to go in and basically steal their nation's resources, and recruiting them to labor in their $0.03/hour sweat shops.
You can scoff all you like, and you can sit there with a self-satisfaction of thinking you're just dealing with another idiot racist, but at some point you should really take a look at what just one family - Rothschilds - have done to our world.
http://www.freedomdomain.com/bankfed.htm
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-11-06 20:44:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No no..you don't understand..I get to vote RICK SANTORUM out of office tomorrow.
I hope.
If he wins, please shoot me.
Or at least take me in.
Submitted by lechuza (user info) at 2006-11-06 20:30:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Just to piss off people
Submitted by maiorano84 (user info) at 2006-11-06 20:23:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
"We will still be ruled by the same people who rule us today and ruled us yesterday"
Those damn dirty Jews?
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 20:13:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:51:04 (#)
Ranking: 0
I was on a plane the other day and I overheard a conversation between two guys who were really "hoping Katherine Harris can pull out a win down there in Florida".
-----------
Did anyone else see the HBO special "Hacking Democracy"? Katherine Harris doesn't necessarily have to "pull out a win". Even though her opponent eviscerated her in their nationally televised debate with Tim Russert hosting, even when she's only got 29% of her constituents' support in her district, she doesn't need anymore help than an .exe file on a Diebold memory card.
I can sit here and know the contradictions of my emotions toward my world right now and know they aren't helping, but as always, ubersite acts as my confessional and I say what's on my mind regardless of what any of you might think. I know what needs to be done, but cannot do it alone, and cannot trust my fellow man far enough to know he will stick with me in what must be done.
You're right, I lament for the death of what I thought was my country. Growing up thinking that America is a place that, for all its faults, really is a blessed place with an important and benevolent role to play in the world has been completely shattered, and instead I have been forced to face the facts... My country has been hijacked by a shitload of evil individuals who answer to a larger, hidden world power bent on subjugating all of humanity.
We come bearing the banner of peace for all to see while secretly murdering, pillaging, and infecting the world with our drugs and disease. We virtually ENSLAVE entire populations under the banner of "free trade". We are infected with a desire for trinkets we do not need at prices that cannot exist without this enslavement. And not only do we like our state of living...we seem to revel in it.
We see events like 9/11 and are stifled to ask questions. Instead we sit in front of CNN with our families to receive our daily helping of bullshit that doesn't add up from a bunch of talking heads who receive their paychecks from the very people who SHOULD be on trial.
Whatever. It's coming. Their New World Order is falling into place and their neon god is smiling in approval. I have never been more sickened with humanity than I have been in the last 2 years. The lengths we will go to keep from rocking the boat are simply unbelievable.
I'll be the first to say it...if anyone wants to start the revolution, I'll be right beside you. It's both sad to say that we desperately need one and sad to know that I could be sent to a prison without a trial for the rest of my life for saying that...for wanting freedom...
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:44:23 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:32:38 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:03:26 (#)
Ranking: 0
Pic up a gun and then you'll have some credibility.
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If I did, would you come with me? Would you fight beside me?
===
stop acting like a medieval hero rallying troops for his noble cause. it's the fuckin' internet. tone down the melodrama.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:39:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
who are you fighting, dude? seriously, you can probably name a few people, maybe even 50 people, possibly more if you are crazy enough, but at the end of the day - whats going to happen? a whole bunch of ghandi's appear out of nowhere to take their place?
no, youll get a bunch of middle class shmoes like you who will take their spot and proceed to do things pretty much exactly the same. see every single national revolution in history for details.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:32:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:03:26 (#)
Ranking: 0
Pic up a gun and then you'll have some credibility.
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If I did, would you come with me? Would you fight beside me?
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:22:44 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:15:46 (#)
Ranking: 0
the funny thing is, my third post ever on this site was one on a very similar topic (my belief that as far as australian governemtn is concerned that it doesnt matter who i vote for - im getting the same politics either way), with the EXACT same title.
i guess you can call me batshit, too.
you post is better than mine though.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/9266
No, this one's NOT better than yours.
They're tied; They both suck ass.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:22:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
yeah that was pretty gay
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:21:08 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
until the day the armies of the awakened"""
omfg!
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:15:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
the funny thing is, my third post ever on this site was one on a very similar topic (my belief that as far as australian governemtn is concerned that it doesnt matter who i vote for - im getting the same politics either way), with the EXACT same title.
i guess you can call me batshit, too.
you post is better than mine though.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/9266
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:12:27 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Thanks for the update, Edward Murrow.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:11:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
further evidence (if any really need any more) of of bradley's divergent personality:
1: Tomorrow elections will take place here in The good ol' U.S. of A. Projected turnout (which is a bullshit projection if you ask me) is a shameful 40%
compared with...
2: Tomorrow, my vote will be cast on an electronic machine with an executable file on its memory card that has predetermined the election.
---
one half of his psyche (well, i am assuming that he has only 2 personalities here, but im open to discussion on the possible number) is lamenting the lacklustre voter turnout, especially given the apparently large proportion of dissatisfaction of the general public in its government.
at this point - sane.
the other half: quiet, resigned conspiracy theorist who basically contradicts himself in saying that while its 'shameful' only 40% of the population turn out to vote - it doesnt matter anyway, because THEY have got it all rigged. quiet resigned conspiracy theorists are scarier that their more common loud, raving lunatic ones. its always the quiet ones you have to watch.
at this point - well what better word is there than 'batshit'? it really does cover all the bases.
aside from the lunacy, welcome to my cynical world, brad. good quote at the start.
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2006-11-06 19:03:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Pic up a gun and then you'll have some credibility.
Submitted by Adamness (user info) at 2006-11-06 18:29:26 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
This was useful.
Thanks for contributing to cynicism and apathy. There's not enough of that here.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-11-06 18:26:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-11-06 18:20:45 (#)
Ranking: 0
Pop Tarts are NOT TO BE TOASTED!
===
They're not?
I can understand the government lying to me, but the toaster? That's just the final straw. WHEN WILL THIS MADNESS END.
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-11-06 18:20:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Pop Tarts are NOT TO BE TOASTED!
Seriously, the frosting gets all mucked up in a toaster, and has a wierd burney-taste to it.
Trust me and Rad on this.
We're fat.
We know how to eat.
Super-cereal.
Submitted by marginwalker (user info) at 2006-11-06 18:20:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Melancholy.
But well executed.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2006-11-06 18:17:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:49:44 (#)
Ranking: 2
Lack of freedom is the price we pay for air conditioning and a pop tart setting on the toaster.
====================
do you actually toast your pop tarts?
WTF is wrong with you people?
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2006-11-06 18:05:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Man....if only you would turn your mind to enacting some change....wonder what would happen then?
Submitted by Death_Metal_Dude (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:59:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
thanks for the info grand inquisitor
Submitted by matrix2681 (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:54:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm not going to have much faith in the voting system until some third-party candidate takes office. There are way too many people who are traditionalist voters, and it seems like most people vote now for bragging rights rather than to take a stand on any one issue. So whatev. I'm penciling in Carrot Top for '08 when I get the chance.
Submitted by whocares229 (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:51:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
make your vote count
Vote GOP
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:51:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I was on a plane the other day and I overheard a conversation between two guys who were really "hoping Katherine Harris can pull out a win down there in Florida".
At the supermarket some woman on a cell phone was telling whoever she was talking to that she doesn't pay attention to politics, she just "votes for whoever Ed is voting for." (I assume Ed is her husband, although I suppose it could be Mr. Ed the talking horse).
The only thing predetermining this or any election is the absurd and shameful willful ignorance of the public.
I'm hoping at least one voting machine in Cambridge or Pasadena turns up with 3,141,593 write-in votes for Stephen Colbert, or a Battlestar Galactica character or something.
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:50:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
*sigh*
You know, for as much as you bitch about things and call for change, you seem pretty damned resigned to the fact that things will play out in a specific way, and act as though you don't/won't care until it does, and then you'll be high and mighty with your sword of "I fucking told ya so".
Jesus, man, shit's no where NEAR as bad as you think it is. But please, keep bleeting out your "everything is rigged for the Republican Military-Industrial Complex, so I urge you to do something even though it won't matter" because I, a moderate liberal-leaning independent, LOVE being lumped in with you by FOX News and Rush Limbaugh.
Really.
I do.
Honest.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:49:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Lack of freedom is the price we pay for air conditioning and a pop tart setting on the toaster.
Storming congress wouldn't change anything - nobody wants to pay the true cost of what they have, not even you, and that's what brought this about.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:49:26 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Illusion of Choice - that's my favourite Guns 'n' Roses album!
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:40:33 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Run for office, then.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/92676
Submitted by NerfHerder (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:38:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
USA!
USA!
USA!
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:36:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I wonder why I bother.
Submitted by Sinistral (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:33:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This turned very violent and dark very suddenly.
Submitted by HotWillie (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:32:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Worth reading.
Submitted by forensicgirl3 (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:31:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
*sigh* depressing but true
this is why some become apathetic
Submitted by foster (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:31:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Sorry Brad, but:
"Tomorrow, my vote will be cast on an electronic machine with an executable file on its memory card that has predetermined the election."
---
If your 'choice' is so predetermined, why even vote?
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:30:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:29:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/23390
Submitted by Amontillado (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:29:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'll still hope for something better.
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:27:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:27:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2006-11-06 17:27:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
yes