Toy Drone a Sellout Hit!

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
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The Maisto Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) RQ-1 Predator has been flying off the shelves faster than Tickle Me Elmo. It's now already sold out at Amazon. The 6" x 3-½" x 1" 1:97 scale $49.99 toy is a replica of the RQ-1 Predator, an unmanned aircraft that the U.S. Air Force has used in combat over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Serbia, Iraq and Yemen.

You've had a busy play day - You've wiretapped Mom's cell phone and e-mail without a warrant, you've indefinitely detained your little brother Timmy in the linen closet without trial, and you've confiscated all the Super-Soakers from the neighborhood children (after all, why does any kid - besides you, of course - even NEED a Super-Soaker for self-defense? A regular water pistol should be enough). What do you do for an encore?

That's where the US Air Force Medium Altitude, Long Endurance, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) RQ-1 Predator from Maisto comes in. Let's say that Dad has been labeled a terrorist in secret through your disposition matrix. Rather than just arrest him and go through the hassle of trying and convicting him in a court of law, and having to fool with all those terrorist-loving Constitutional protections, you can just use one of these flying death robots to assassinate him! Remember, due process and oversight are for sissies. Plus, you get the added bonus of taking out potential terrorists before they've even done anything - estimates have determined that you can kill up to 49 potential future terrorists of any age for every confirmed terrorist you kill, and with the innovative 'double-tap' option, you can even kill a few terrorist first responders, preventing them from committing terrorist acts like helping the wounded and rescuing survivors trapped in the rubble. Don't let Dad get away with anti-American activities! Show him who's boss, whether he's at a wedding, a funeral, or just having his morning coffee. Sow fear and carnage in your wake! Win a Nobel Peace Prize and be declared Time Magazine's Person of the Year - Twice!

This goes well with the Maisto Extraordinary Rendition playset, by the way - which gives you all the tools you need to kidnap the family pet and take him for interrogation at a neighbor's house, where the rules of the Geneva Convention may not apply. Loads of fun!


We also have the Playmobil Security Check Point.

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All the kids need now to have a fully stocked educational toy chest is an EasyBake Backscatter Nudity Scanner, the Pat-Down edition of Operation and a GI Joe Seal Team Six bin Laden's Lair Play Set. Oh, to be a kid again.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I would HATE to be a kid these days. Everything I liked to do as a kid is either illegal, frowned upon or deemed bad by those who know. It would suck to be a kid now.

Imagine, no taking the .22 rifle down to the dump and shooting rats. Not being allowed to roam the woods, either because they are no longer there or they are posted. Not being able to ride your bike down to the River to fish, that land is posted now too. As are most of the catfish holes I used to fish in.

Everything today is ORGANIZED too. Hardly ever see kids playing pick up baseball or pond hockey. They have coaches, leagues and no fun.

You can have it Turtle, toys ain't worth it, even dumb one's.
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
What, no waterboarding kit? How're we gonna raise patriots if we can't teach them how it's done?! :eek:
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
They don't need to know how it's done, just that in rare instances, against terrorist enemy combatants, it is necessary to potentially save thousands of citizen's lives.
 

AMonger

Veteran Expediter
They don't need to know how it's done, just that in rare instances, against terrorist enemy combatants, it is necessary to potentially save thousands of citizen's lives.

...why am I not surprised?
 

AMonger

Veteran Expediter
I would HATE to be a kid these days. Everything I liked to do as a kid is either illegal, frowned upon or deemed bad by those who know. It would suck to be a kid now.
I notice many of the things that kids get in trouble for at school, and I did far worse. I can't imagine being a kid in school now, with zero-thinking zero-tolerance. Adults shut off their brains and react, Dalek-style. I'd be expelled inside of a month.
 

RLENT

Veteran Expediter
...why am I not surprised?
Well ... lessee ... let me count the reasons ... which are myriad ...

That the statement you refer to comes from someone who has laid claim to being of a "libertarian" bent (while at the same time carelessly having made a long list of other comments of record ... many of which serve to reveal them to actually be more of an ultra-conservative right-wing statist) certainly tells one much about how much confusion and misinformation likely resides in the particular quarter from which the statement issued ...

Encompassed in the statement is the premise that folks don't actually need to know ...

IOW, it seems that it is the poster's inclination that an informed citizenry which can render it's own judgements as to the true nature of such things as waterboarding - based on actual facts - is not necessarily a good thing ... but a citizenry that is completely accepting of the assertions of the State would be ... ideal ...

Sure sounds much more like a neocon than a "libertarian" to me ...
 
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layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I notice many of the things that kids get in trouble for at school, and I did far worse. I can't imagine being a kid in school now, with zero-thinking zero-tolerance. Adults shut off their brains and react, Dalek-style. I'd be expelled inside of a month.

Kids are not allowed to be kids these days, boys even more so. I would have been expelled in a week. It is no wonder we have so many problems these days.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
They don't need to know how it's done, just that in rare instances, against terrorist enemy combatants, it is necessary to potentially save thousands of citizen's lives.

Yeah, our resident geniuses are right. To hell with the thousands of citizens in the World Trade Center and the hundreds of responders. Who needs them? We have plenty more citizens left. It's much more important that people know the exact mechanical procedure of waterboarding, the "how" it's done, than we save even one citizen's life by using it against some terrorist. Saving even one life by being mean to someone isn't worth it. It isn't the right thing to do. Lousy **** citizens. How dare they expect everything possible to be done to save them. Yeah, lucky thing we have perfect people as members here, geniuses who know more than anyone and can look down their noses at everyone beneath them, that being everyone.
 

RLENT

Veteran Expediter
Yeah, our resident geniuses are right. To hell with the thousands of citizens in the World Trade Center and the hundreds of responders. Who needs them? We have plenty more citizens left. It's much more important that people know the exact mechanical procedure of waterboarding, the "how" it's done ...
When things are being done - particularly on one's behalf or in one's name - by others, a reasonably moral person would insist on knowing exactly what's being done ... in order to be responsible and render judgement on the matter ... and withdraw consent if warranted ...

Contrast that with someone else, who argues for ignorance on the part of the population ...

The latter position is actually advocating for stupidity and irresponsibility ... and, by default, empowering the state ... at the expense of it's citizens ...

than we save even one citizen's life by using it against some terrorist.
Yeah ... but then you probably consider email spammers "terrorists" ...

You squeal constantly for vengeance (not justice) and for the use of force and punishment by the state ... and seem generally unconcerned that the State might make an error, or what the consequences of that might be ...

Apparently you are unfamiliar (or disagree) with Blackstone's_formulation that:

"better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer"

... a precept that has much older foundations, going back all the way to the book of Genesis and Abraham's conversation with the Almighty on the matter of wickedness and innocence ...

Saving even one life by being mean to someone isn't worth it. It isn't the right thing to do. Lousy **** citizens. How dare they expect everything possible to be done to save them.
Nice straw man ... particularly it's hysterical tone ...

Got any more ?

If you'll notice my argument in this thread only addressed the aspect of a fully informed citizenry ...

Apparently, you feel that is somehow a liability ... perhaps because you know it won't lead to the outcome that you personally desire ...

Thus the desire to keep 'em ... dumb and barefoot, down on the farm ... and to conflate the matter with peripheral issues that really have nothing to do with what I was commenting on or arguing for ...

Yeah, lucky thing we have perfect people as members here, geniuses who know more than anyone and can look down their noses at everyone beneath them, that being everyone.
You are probably utterly unaware of the irony involved in you saying these words ...
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Now you know why I put this in The Soapbox instead of the Loading Dock. :D

I got one of these to play with while parked at the PilotFlyingJ. I named mine "Spirit of ConstiFreedom." It's now flown four freedom fighting, Constitutional-protecting sorties to other truck stops and one sortie to North Borneo in offense of American freedoms! I've taken out several US citizens who were suspected of associating with potential terrorists driving yellow Penske trucks. Penske and Ruskie sound too much alike to me.

I've also ordered the Branches of Government Accessory Pack to go along with it. It comes with Congressional Inaction Figures with the Kung Fu Grip, nine Supreme Court Justices with Removable Blindfolds, and a Presidential Printing Press so you can print your own money.
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
I'm envisioning the 'Congressional Inaction Figures' with strings attached: pull them and hear phrases like "Bipartisan legislation to create new jobs" and ""Tax incentives to create new jobs" and "Removing regulations that don't create new jobs" and "Yadda yadda yadda"
Just hope you don't have to provide for two homes for every one of them, too! ;)
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
Yeah, our resident geniuses are right. To hell with the thousands of citizens in the World Trade Center and the hundreds of responders. Who needs them? We have plenty more citizens left. It's much more important that people know the exact mechanical procedure of waterboarding, the "how" it's done, than we save even one citizen's life by using it against some terrorist. Saving even one life by being mean to someone isn't worth it. It isn't the right thing to do. Lousy **** citizens. How dare they expect everything possible to be done to save them. Yeah, lucky thing we have perfect people as members here, geniuses who know more than anyone and can look down their noses at everyone beneath them, that being everyone.

Torture is illegal, immoral, and counterproductive. And unacceptable to any citizen who would like their country to be a force for good.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Torture is illegal, immoral, and counterproductive. And unacceptable to any citizen who would like their country to be a force for good.


Yeah, citizens would much prefer that thousands of their fellow citizens die in a terrorist attack on the towers than for one terrorist to be waterboarded. Citizens don't give a **** about their fellow citizens being murdered by the thousands, only about protecting terrorists from being waterboarded.
 

moose

Veteran Expediter
all you have to do now is take one of those and attach to it the Dash-cam we already have in our trucks, and there you have it.
anyone's bet they'll allow drones to be used by LEO's, but will prohibited citizens from using it?
gun control is nothing...nothe'n...
 
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