aphid

I respectfully disagree.

From an outside perspective, and just my opinion; Bush and his Administrations foreign interventions and Homeland Security expansion were viewed as both dangerous and damaging to America's reputation abroad. Obama has been, in a word, a disappointment. The currency of goodwill he enjoyed both internationally and domestically when initially elected has effectively devalued to almost nothing. Ultimately I think history will be very critical of Bush, Cheney, et al. Obama's presidency will be regarded simply as wasted opportunity. That's my $.02.

Rob comes back to Canada on regular occasion and is still involved with CSPA dealing with National Teams and the Coaching Ratings programs. I have no direct knowledge of the suit, but it is possible that it was an action of one insurance company versus the other. Quite common and the individuals are always named primarily in the litigation. A requirement of all insurance policies is that the insured agrees to assist their insurers to win financial recovery with testimony (among other things). That "may" have been the situation there. Or, I could be mistaken...

Here are some officers offering up a little push-back. (source: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024465395_lawsuitfundraisingxml.html) A Seattle police officer suing to block new use-of-force policies has set up an Internet fundraising page to help pay for the legal fight, calling the federally mandated reforms “the greatest threat to the city’s public safety in our time.” The use-of-force policies, which went into effect Jan. 1, grew out of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found Seattle police had routinely used excessive force and displayed disturbing, if inconclusive evidence, of biased policing. The lead plaintiff seems to have made the news previously. (source: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2009161180_spdappeal02m.html) Mahoney's case also illustrates the difficulty of carrying out tougher police-accountability rules adopted by the city last year, which included a presumption that officers will be fired for dishonesty in their official duties. Dishonesty was defined as intentionally providing false or incomplete information about material facts.

true - in many other countries the government would just shut that dialogue down completely before the uppity populace gets out of line thinking they can talk about whatever they like instead of topics approved by big brother Measurement against Third World cesspools or dictatorships is hardly a defense. Many countries do not shut down the uppity populace for dissenting dialogue. Aren't those the types of societies you'd prefer to be measured by?

They believed that, irrespective of my investments, assets and ties to Canada, I intended to immigrate and work illegally. It likely didn't help that after a few hours I got a bit "uppity" and stopped behaving like a polite Canadian... Anyway, life is finally back to pseudo-normal, so can we concentrate on suggestions for scenic motorcycling in AZ? J

Was given a waiver last summer so I've visited successfully as couple of times. Ban formally ends this fall anyway.

Might need some long underwear in the winter though... it can get chilly up to the north or up in the hills Heated electric gear. I have some.

The plan is to spend a bunch more time having fun at Eloy this winter (continued retirement is grand), and I'd like to spend a little more effort getting out on the Harley. I'm quite familiar with the southwest portions of the state (Tombstone - Globe - Phoenix - Yuma) having ridden all through there for quite a few winters. So I'm looking for suggestions for all good rides elsewhere, in particular Rte. 66 and Monument Valley. Speaking of Monument Valley, any suggestions for iconic photo/op locations would be great to hear as well. (I've done Winslow - Holbrook) Thanks in advance. John

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When not hanging out at the DZ or riding my motorcycle, I fiddle around with my other hobby... this one from yesterday: (May be mildly NSFW in some places)

To each their own, I suppose. :( "We are setting up a reward/fund for the police officer who shot this thug," said an email from the South Carolina-based New Empire Knights, according to the Alabama-based civil rights organisation. source: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/15/ku-klux-klan-michael-brown_n_5681227.html

As the very proud father-in-law of a drop dead beautiful mixed race daughter-in-law and the uncle of a young black man, this just grinds me to no end!

My apology if I presented it poorly. I think that he was expressing sincere gratitude to the support they received from the American public.

Thanks, eh. Private Gordon escorted home to Canada “That is diametrically opposed to my opinion of the American people. They have been incredibly kind, generous. We’ve had escorts by the Patriot Guards, state troopers and city policemen every step of the way from Wisconsin through to the border today.” source: http://medicinehatnews.com/news/local-news/2014/08/12/private-gordon-escorted-home-to-canada/

I recommend he also follow up with some study of Korea and Afghanistan. Sigh...

FIFY: http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Motorcycles/cvo-breakout.html

I've had requests from the US and Europe. I don't, but I'm sure somebody will chime in with the affirmative for you. Aside from the stunning visuals, they kept it very real with the dark-side of the sport when dealing with both Shannon's and JT's accidents. It was a very good program, imho.

The rigid is a real hoot for bar-hopping. And it's equipped with a vibe-rider (tm), so my pax's seem to like it too. The V-rod comes out when I tire of the punks with their sportbikes. The Breakout is... amazing! 110" of pavement-shaking therapy.

Nice. These are mine. Most of my miles have been around Eloy, but I'd like to spend some time in MT and CO someday.

I'm with you on that. For me it has stretched into two years now and being treated as a whuffo by the 100-jump-wonders is just another kick on the cancerous parts. :(

Foreign Aid: Country (Rank) Total Dollars: USA (1), UK (2) source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_governments_by_development_aid#Official_development_assistance_by_country_in_absolute_terms_in_2012_.28April_2013.29 Aid relative to GDP: Denmark (1), USA (19) source: http://www.princeton.edu/~soapbox/vol2no4/24noveck.html Aid per capita: Norway (1), USA (16) source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0930884.html "September 5, 35 military divers were poised to depart by air Sunday from Halifax and Esquimalt, B.C., for the New Orleans area. September 4, On the request from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Canada sent thousands of beds, blankets, surgical gloves and dressings and other medical supplies. On September 2 the Government of Canada announced it was sending three warships along with a Coast Guard vessel, and three Sea King helicopters to the area. Over 1,000 personnel are involved in the operation, including engineers and navy divers. The Canadian Heavy Urban Search and Rescue out of Vancouver was in Louisiana from September 1, due to security they started their mission on Sept 3. Ontario Hydro, Hydro-Québec, and Manitoba Hydro, along with other electrical utilities, had crews set to go to the affected areas. On September 2 Air Canada participated along with U.S. member airlines of the Air Transport Association, in a voluntary airline industry initiative to support rescue and relief operations. Money donations although were very high, the province of Alberta alone threw in 5 million dollars. Although it is hard to put an exact number on Canadian cash donations because of some Canadians donating directly to the American agencies, Canada is widely believed to be the highest international donor nation, and with Mexico was one of the two countries in the world to supply direct military assistance in addition to civilian donations and supplies as the US Government declined direct military support from all other nations." source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina Hurricane Sandy didn't pay attention to border lines on a map so some of your friends and neighbours were kinda busy themselves. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy#Impact "The Administrative and Budgetary (Fifth) Committee of the UN General Assembly decides on the scale of assessments for contributions to the Regular Budget every third year. The scale of assessments reflects a country's capacity to pay (measured by factors such as a country's national income and size of population). The Peacekeeping Budget assessments are based on the Regular Budget rates, but with discounts for poor countries. The five permanent members of the Security Council, who approve all peacekeeping operations, pay extra fees to compensate for those discounts. A "ceiling" rate sets the maximum amount of any member state's assessed share of the Regular and Peacekeeping Budgets. The US is the only member that is affected by those ceilings. Consequently the US pays less than its share of the world economy. (There is also a minimum rate of 0.001% to the Regular Budget for poor countries.) " source: https://www.globalpolicy.org/un-finance/tables-and-charts-on-un-finance/member-states-assessed-share-of-the-un-budget.html BTW: I don't necessarily disagree with your posture. I do hope though it would then display an equal reluctance to mess around in foreign countries sovereign issues.

When I read something from the AP, I tend to accept it at face-value until evidence proves it wrong. Just my opinion, but I don't think AP (or Reuters, or UPI, or Agence France-Presse) is prone to knowingly regurgitating "propaganda". I only offered it up as a counter-point to some of the other sources commonly quoted in these types of threads.

Go figure "White House Says 'Most' Children At The Border Will Be Sent Home" source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/white-house-border_n_5564452.html

Hopefully somebody will get video of this tonight? "Revelers at this year’s Seafair Summer Fourth will see something different in the sky above Lake Union Friday: Humans. Twice during the evening festivities, skydivers will parachute over the lake, the second time equipped with large sparklers firing from their feet. “It will look like comets streaking across the sky,” said Pete Moran of Seattle’s Rezin Marketing. That second jump, by Shelton skydivers Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington, is set for 10:10 p.m., with the skydivers to land in the lake shortly before the fireworks show begins." (source: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023988884_fireworksshowxml.html)