ChasingBlueSky

Hear, hear! What do you think about the National ID cards provision? (inserting RFID chips is not included yet, but not out of the quesiton either) Who here is comforatble with beigntracked through airports, toll plazas, roadside checkpoints, etc, with nothingmore then a chip reader? I'm sure as hell not. I'm not. Wow, did we just agree? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Sorry Bill, wasn't meant to be an attack. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Like? Nothing compares to serving your country. From seeing what sort of person you are on these forums I know why you haven't/will join. I did an edit to enter some examples. You have a very myopic vision of service to your country. Often those that are part of a group have that limited view to make them feel better about their own choices. Like skydivers thinking only they know how to get the most out of life....while we do know how to enjoy it there certainly is more to living life to the fullest than just jumping from an aircraft or fixed object. I've found that those (but not all) that have served in the military often feel that by going to boot camp and spending a few years in the service is the only way to give back to the country. If you feel that way I doubt there is anything that anyone could say to change your opinion. Besides, you have given plenty of proof in these forums that you don't listen to others that don't share any of your opinions, so why should I bother to sway you? Do I feel that I have given back to this country as much as my family members that have served. Yes, without a doubt. The only difference is, I didn't get paid to do it. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

NBC just was showing just showing World of Adventure Sports with the Red Bull Air Race 2004. Mangold won and had a nice plug for Skydive Perris across the top of his wings! http://www.redbullairrace.com/ http://www.airrace.org/redbullAirrace.php very cool to watch! Interesting to hear that Chambliss has his own course set up in his "yard" at his home in AZ. As flight school becomes more and more of an option for me again for next year (thank god for student loans!), I'm hoping one day I can get to that point!! I would easily leave behind skydiving if I could spend my time flying like that. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

That tells me everything I need to know about you. You may want to re read - that isn't what I said. Nice attempt however. In case you missed it this is what I said: To add to that - on a daily basis I help unemployed people in this city get additional career training for free so they can get back into the work force. Once they are done with the training we help with job placement as well and have a record of 3/4 placement. (And some of my advice on these forums helped one unemployed dz.com member develop job leads) Then there was the 10+ years of volunteer social services I did (starting when I was in 8th grade). To me, helping my fellow Americans domestically is just as important as helping Americans by sitting on the front lines. Also re read the part where I said I don't care if you don't respect or understand my point of view. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I have my own personal reasons I why I wouldn't serve in the military. I don't care if you don't understand or respect that. There are other ways to serve this country besides killing other humans. I have done plenty already in my life to give back and I am not done yet. And as far as a promise from GW goes - it holds as much water as the promise his dad made about taxes. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

FYI I did a quick search in newsgroups related to aviation and I found glider schools with similar complaints, and even linking to Jan's website. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I doubt I would get drafted due to my age and a medical condition. I'd take whatever punishment handed out when I would refuse to serve. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Apparently you missed the fact that this came from a conservative newspaper. This is not coming from the liberals - this is coming from your side of the fence. Apparently you want to discard the facts presented in the article? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Why? If someone wanted to serve for this country they should do it on a volunteer basis. A draft allows politicians more room for error in their foreign policy because they will have countless soldiers to send to their death with irresonsible decisions. This administration has shown it cannot manage finite resources, why should the lives of the citizens be any different? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Where did I say that? Just a quick glance at that link has quite a few items on there. There is good chance I may agree with some and not others. What does that prove if I share an opinion or two with Buchanan? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

When a telemktr is free, the computer just dials the next number for them. If the computer "hears" that the number is disconnected, it removes that number from rotation - this is how the tele-zapper works. Imagine reverse ACD from a call center. Instead of incoming calls being routed to an agent, the calls are outbound then routed to an agent. This thing is banned from cell phones, for now. There was an item in the news the other day that has marketers trying to get a loophole in the DNC list that would allow them to call all the numbers on the DNC list, thus giving them thousands of working numbers for free. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Most likely starting another Corp just in case the other one has to be closed? Or, a marketing plan that has them trying to grab more of the market share by looking like more than one company. Plus, linking between the sites will help raise their placement on Google. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

From the front page of today's Chicago Tribune. You will need to log in (use this as the username and password:dan67engr from bugmenot.com) http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412030396dec03,1,6578822.story?coll=chi-news-hed (as a reminder, the Trib is usually a conservative paper that endorsed GW) While at it, here is story about the troops in Iraq that just found out they are not coming home: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412030285dec03,1,5202563.story?coll=chi-news-hed Fears grow of military spread thin Expanded force needed, some say By Michael Kilian Washington Bureau Published December 3, 2004 WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's announcement this week that it will increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to 150,000 to provide more security for the Jan. 30 national election highlights a growing concern that America's armed services are dangerously overextended and possibly nearing a breaking point. With nearly all of the Army's 10 divisions serving in Iraq, preparing for deployment there or refitting from a combat tour in that country, there are few forces available to deal with a new major threat or emergency, military experts say. As Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, said at a congressional hearing last month, "I'm committed to providing the troops that are requested [for Iraq]. But I can't promise more than I've got." The Army is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and maintaining a military presence in the Balkans, Germany, South Korea and other foreign countries with a total force of just under 500,000. It had more than 800,000 under arms when it waged the brief Persian Gulf war in 1991. "You need a bigger Army if you're going to carry out the Bush national security strategy," said Lawrence Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. "Right now, you're really using the reserves at an unsustainable pace, and you're violating the norms that you have for deploying people overseas that you've established not only for equity but for retention." The U.S. has more troops in all branches serving abroad than it averaged from 1950 to 2003, and three times as many overseas as it had in December 2001, according to a study by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation. "If you look at the world--and what we're likely to see in the future in terms of potential threats and areas where we need to be involved, either to deter or actually conduct operations--I think it's clear that we need a larger force than what we have," said Michelle Flournoy, a former deputy assistant defense secretary now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has long maintained that the U.S. has been supplying all the troops the commanders in the field require. "If they ask for more troops, they'll get them," he said. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki was pushed into early retirement and Army Secretary Thomas White resigned last year after they argued that the U.S. would need several hundred thousand troops in Iraq to maintain security after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime. Since then, Pentagon commanders have been reluctant to contradict Rumsfeld, on or off the record. But in testimony last month before the House Armed Services Committee, Schoomaker hinted that an expanded force may be required, particularly because so much of the military burden is being borne by National Guard and reserve members who were considered part-time but have virtually become part of the active-duty force. "If the Army National Guard or Army Reserve cannot muster and provide the formations that are required, perhaps we need to increase the size of the regular Army," Schoomaker told the committee. The Defense Department announced this week that more than 183,000 National Guard and reserve troops are on active duty, compared with 79,000 on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Of the 138,000 troops still on duty in Iraq, 40 percent are Guard or reserve members. For years the Pentagon operated on the theory that even with reduced force levels it could fight two "medium regional conflicts" simultaneously. Rumsfeld, who favors a leaner, more flexible military, has insisted the U.S. still has that capability. But increasingly that premise has come under question, and the Defense Science Board, an advisory panel for the defense secretary, has called for more manpower. "While I don't think we're going to invade countries and attempt regime changes as a matter of routine," Flournoy said, "I do think it is likely that we'll need to engage in more than one theater at once, and the force we have today in terms of ground forces is not large enough." Specter of the draft The increasing seriousness of the situation emboldened Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to assert during the campaign that re-electing President Bush could mean bringing back the draft. "With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same, and the potential is great for a return to the draft," he said in an interview with The Des Moines Register. To rebut that assertion, House Republicans arranged an election-eve vote on a reinstatement of the draft that saw it defeated 402-2, sending a clear signal that the idea was politically unpalatable. While arguing against a draft, Kerry called for expanding the Army by two divisions, or about 40,000 troops, a position supported by Korb and Michael O'Hanlon, a national security specialist for the Brookings Institution think tank. Rumsfeld has said more pay increases will be required if the Pentagon finds it necessary to add to the force. There also is a danger that recruiting standards might have to be lowered, as happened in the post-Vietnam era of the 1970s. Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) successfully sponsored legislation for a permanent increase of the authorized ceiling on Army troop strength from 482,000 to 502,000. The administration already had used emergency powers to increase it to about 497,000, but only as a temporary measure. The White House has refused to fund permanently an increase in troop strength out of the regular Defense Department budget, insisting that the money come out of special appropriations because the increase is temporary. Every 10,000 troops costs the U.S. about $1.2 billion a year. "I find it baffling," said Reed, a West Point graduate and former captain in the 82nd Airborne Division. "You don't have to be a trained military strategist to know that you needed more people in Iraq, and the only way to have more people in Iraq is to have more people in the service." Pay raise this year As a recruiting and retention inducement, military personnel received a 3.5 percent pay raise this year, plus increases in housing allowances and other benefits. About 40,000 servicemen and women have been held in the military beyond their retirement or separation dates under emergency "stop loss" orders, or kept overseas beyond their transfer dates under "stop move" orders. The Army National Guard achieved only 87 percent of its recruitment goal in the fiscal year that just ended. According to Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, the reserve is short about 5,000 captains--officers who fill vital roles as company commanders or perform other important duties in the field. Reserve and National Guard units also are losing midlevel non-commissioned officers. "There is no question that the pace of our nation at war challenges our Army," Schoomaker said. - - - Size of military drops in last three decades The number of U.S. troops on active duty has decreased considerably since the end of the draft and the Cold War. Some experts say the military must grow to meet U.S. commitments overseas. U.S. ACTIVE DUTY TROOPS All service branches, in millions, 1950-2004 1973: Draft ends; switch to all-volunteer military ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY PERSONNEL As of Sept. 30, by service branch Total: 1.4 million Air Force: 376,616 Army: 499,543 Marine Corps: 177,480 Navy: 373,197 COUNTRIES WITH MOST U.S. TROOPS BASED THERE* As of Sept. 30 Total: 287,802 Germany 76,058 S. Korea 40,840 Japan 36,365 Italy 12,606 Britain 11,469 * About 170,000 U.S. troops are deployed in and around Iraq but have home bases elsewhere, including in the United States. Source: Department of Defense _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Well here is an idea - how about better planning? Bush turned down many different ideas on the amount of troops and plans needed to invade Iraq. He turned down plans from the experts!!! On top of that our troops went in without the right armor or camo's. Because Bush had to have his deadline for SH poor Private Johnny was left out there all alone already, and is most likely dead due to the mistakes made before the war ever started! Now Bush has to keep throwing bodies into that country after he basically declared victory. How many troops or civilians would still be alive if Bush had used the right amount of troops in March of 2003? He probably thought he could do things just like daddy and bomb Iraq from the air without very little loss of American lives. He essentially made the same mistakes in Afghan. And now he is beating his war drum about Iran? We'd probably be better off never considering an attack against them with his track record. If I was to make a golf analogy - he has a poor back stroke with no follow thru. He is running this country and the war just like he did with all of his companies. Right into the ground. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Nope, after some searching tonight I found it - Dark Castle. Also found just about any game I ever used to play for download if I really wanted it. I miss those old DOS games. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Would a reserve be able to handle a high speed opening above 25k? I remember seeing some test video of canopy turning to shreds during a high alt drop test. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Is it me or does it seem that some people are taking a sports team fanatical loyalty towards what side of the fence you are on? It's funny - around here in town you could take an argument between a Bears fan and a Packer fan and it would sound like some of the arguments we have seen in this forum lately. Hey - maybe we can start selling branded shirts, hats, styrofoam fingers so people can represent their political party??? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

You can contest most things right on the websites of TransUnion, Experian and Equifax now. Only one charges you to dispute a claim (IIRC Experian). I found false bad items on my credit report for three loans that I never took out at a bank I was never a member of - and they were on there 15 years from the date of the supposed loan. A company has to try to reach you and notify you that failure to pay will cause a report against your credit. Even if a company has stopped bugging you to pay back a debt, a credit management company may purchase the debt at a reduction and report the defaulted debt. Many people get surprised when several old bills pop up at one time and all get listed on your credit report, causing a huge drop in your score. It doesn't take much to get your credit score to go up. Get a credit card or any other loan and make at least 6 consecutive payments and your score will go up. I've seen people double their scores in two years. Most basic loan companies will look at the previous two years when making a decision on a loan, but if you were to go for a major purchase (house), they will pull the last ten years and EVERY bad mark will show up on that. Wouldn't it suck to be denied a morgage because you forgot to pay off a $10 late charge on a video rental or a late utility bill? FYI- 13 states in 2005 will have the ability to see your credit report at any time for free (the midwest starts first in March). The only way to see it for free right now is to get denied a line of credit, unemployed or fraud. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Personally I don't like sitting on the glass - you can't see everything that is going on. Give me seats higher up in the Mez or in the 1st balcony and I'm a happy camper. An old boss of mine used to have season seats on the glass at the United Center he would give to me about every other week. I'm pretty certain I lost my connection to the United Airline Corp seats as my friend was just relocated out of the VPs office (those were some damn cool seats - 2nd best suite in the stadium next to the owners, as well as glass, 1st balcony, 3rd balcony and some VIP Penthouse suites as well). I'm going to miss going to as many games as I once did At least we have Wolves here in town. I even went to a couple Rockford minor league games to watch a friend play. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

At least we still get the fights! And there are plenty of overpaid baffons in the NHL. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I miss two games from my old MAC classic - Hitchhikers Guide text adventure...and the other I can't remember the name of it but you were a little stick figure guy that had to do a lot of jumping puzzles thru a castle (IIRC). For PC I want the old DOS game Budokhan. I finally found someone with Covert Action earlier this year. Also, I've wanted to play the old Commodore 64 games I used to have as well - like Spy V Spy! I have the Atari Classics on my laptop ($20 for 80 games), and there is the Intellivision collection (I still want Bump N Jump and Lock N Chase) for PC and XBox. I just saw the Activision pack for the PC as well. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

The numbers in Iraq will go from 138,000 to 150,000 (the largest force we have had there to date). That's more than just 1,500 troops from the 82nd. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Yup, those are some of the reasons I like the car. I've taken it for a test drive a few times now and want the one with the full option package. (with XM radio and my MP3 DJ I would never have to worry about commercials again!) _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

A Neon - which is why I don't want to invest too much in upgrading the stereo system. My plan is to get rid of it within a year or year and a half. (going to get a Prius or similar gas friendly car) _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....