jimbarry

Hmm... $117 billion. That's about twice the net worth of Bill Gates. Let's see if he'll lay it all on Red at the Bellagio. If it hits, he can write us a check. Don't worry about him, he'll make a few billion by the time his flight gets him back to Redmond.

>>1. (Ideological) We are a sovereign country What makes the UK any more sovereign than any other member nation of the EU? (Not pickin' a argument here, just curious)

To paraphrase PJ O'Rourke, there are 4 types of spending: 1) Your money on yourself. You go for the highest quality for the lowest cost. 2) Your money on others. You lean toward the lowest cost and don't always care about the quality. 3) Other people's money on yourself. You go for the highest quality and who cares what it costs. 4) Other people's money on other people. Who cares what the quality is and who cares the cost? Most government spending falls into category #4. So why should stories like the one above surprise anyone?

I believe my view to be reasonably formulated and unexaggerated based on how I as a citizen believes he has performed. But it differs from your view and I respect that. I wasn't referring to the eulogy (which occurred after my initial post). I doubt many could do a eulogy well, unprepared. I was referring to when the press caught him shortly after Reagan's death was announced. His manner was stilted and hence came off as insincere. Please tell me you also saw his 'Tenet's resignation' announcement. I wanted to scream. And I think I did. No doubt, he's great with a teleprompter. But when he is in a position of communicating directly with someone or with the press, it's painful and embarrassing. But, back to why people hate america: Too many lives are at stake right now. Our country's future and relations with other nations are at stake right now. We need a leader! To lead you need to communicate. To communicate, you need to have well organized thoughts, based on your experience and values, and articulate them sincerely and effectively. I've never seen Bush do anything like that. And that includes the "bullhorn" speech down near ground zero shortly after 9/11, which was close. And ok, I don't *know* that he's dumb, but his actions don't leave me with any other opinion. Look, I support him and agree with many the goals of his administration. I just never get the feeling he's the one driving the boat; just seems to be going thru the motions. And this is just one small, yet important and preventable reason why I think some hate America. Because if Bush is a bit more of a puppet than other presidents we've had recently, then the true leaders of this country are behind the scenes, and that makes me damn suspicious. But then lastly, let's also remember that some that hate america also include: -Iraqi insurrectionists who attack americans AND their own people (police, army, politicians) working toward democracy. And their ill-informed followers. They'd rather have us gone, because right now their weapons are stronger than the democracy movement. -Middle eastern dictators and monarchies who brainwash their people into fabricating america to be attacking islam in general, to keep their minds deflected from the fact that the leaders live in extreme wealth while the people live in poverty. Inventing foreign enemies to pacify the people from domestic problems is hardly a new concept.

>>Drop!! Welcome to the forums Drop? Heh, heh... Checked out tulsa tandems web site on a hunch you used to wear bdu's. Aha! Can I get a REcover at some point? I've been in the front leaning rest all day... ;-) 11B. 5 at abn school in '86, 1 more from a huey at Drum and then some mech inf assigments stopped my jumping for good until 5 more at ameland last month. Can't wait to get backat it. Thanks for the vibe. ATW! speaking of "nightjumps" my #4 at benning was a night tree landing, suspended, toss kevlar, spill reserve, out of harness, slip down, the whole 9. just like they trained ya but never thought would happen. thought i'd be impaled dead, only scratches.

Ok, I'm new here, and I know this might be a bit long, but... I'd like to suggest that during an election year, both sides will over-emphasize points which they can make to draw swing voters their way and also criticize, through fact (or half-truths, or seemingly plausible fallacies) the other side. We probably won't all get back to the facts until after November. But I'd also like to suggest we revisit a few other facts here which for the past primary cycle through today (and probably through the convention season) have been downplayed when they should be remembered and considered when thinking about the US military approach toward Iraq. - Saddam's regime DID have WMD at some point, even if the last time even election-year democrats will admit he had them was at some point during the late 80s (remember the Kurds and Chemical Ali?) even through the liberation of Kuwait of the early 90s. Saddam admitted that he had them and agreed to the UN to destroy them and allow the UN to independently verify this. He didn't. For 12 years. - Iraq's agreement with the UN included the possibility of the redeployment of troops to enforce its requirements if Iraq decided not to play along. And again, we all waited 12 years. - If Saddam agreed to disarm, but then refused to comply with orders to verify, then we are fully allowed to conclude he still has them. Whether he actually has them or not. Tough beans, it's national defense. - 18 months ago, the shouting was for the US and the UN to give the inspectors more time to find the WMDs. FIND THE WMDs??? The inspectors' job wasn't to FIND the weapons, it was supposed to be Iraqs job to produce the weapons for destruction or document their destruction and for the "inspectors" to verify it all. I could hide some of those kinds of weapons from 100 inspectors in my small home town, let alone across a nation as large as Iraq, and maybe even Syria and Iran too. (Remember what Saddam did during Gulf I sending his prime air force to Iran!?!) - It was the Iraqi oil interests and investments of France, Germany, and Russia that kept them against this war, it wasn't the US wanting to steal oil that put us there, otherwise we'd have taken it already (and would have taken it in '91 too, and didn't) - It was Clinton who put the US on a foreign policy of regime change in Iraq. It's just clear to everyone now that was just hot air. Didn't intend to do anything about it. - UN key leaders on "food for oil" kick backs certainly didn't discourage Saddam's 12-year heel dragging either. Facts above, and my conclusions below... - Watching Bush talk off the cuff, and answer simple questions is laughable if it weren't incredibly embarrassing. Probably the dumbest least articulate president we've had all century. (wait, new century), even last century. For cryin' out loud, Reagan died, and he had to read, YES READ, his heartfelt comments. His press conf after Tenet resigned was downright painful to listen to. Oh my god, he's got to go. But we didn't elect him (the electoral college did, with supreme court help) to be a dictator, we elected an ADMINISTRATION of which he is the chief executive. His administration showed true leadership at a time with regards to Iraq. Leadership which no one else would show. -And finally, if Bush had done nothing, and allowed Saddam's programs to grow, and gave them to terrorist groups (what, he had NO ties to ANY terrorist groups?), it would be the liberals blaming Bush right now for whatever continued attacks the US and its friends would have endured post-9/11, and not taking action to stop them. Or we can just all blame April Glaspie and Ahmed Chalabi...

And if it's not, then how many jumpers would it take to make the reserve?

Thanks all for the replies! :-) >...make sure we say hi! Deal? Michele: deal !

Gosh what a great site! The info sharing, helpful attitudes, and high volume participation speaks well to the sport. I'm brand new to all this, so around the web I trip across dropzone.com. For now it's just been reading-reading-reading for a couple of hours per night for the past week or so. Like a great book you can't put down. Forums particularly awesome. So I joined USPA online, ordered a copy of SIM (and reading the PDF digital copy online, thanks USPA for doing that). I've gotta say here that I found the series of articles by Michele Lesser from 2001 to be particularly helpful. VERY inspirational. Her hyper-efficient, stream of consciousness writing seems to fit the way I think, so it's like you're right there with her. Except for that third jump of hers; no words could completely describe what that must've been like. Short story long, I had 6 static line round canopy jumps in the US Army, and then 5 more of the same last month in Holland where I qual'd for the Dutch Army's para wings. In doing so, I got bit by the 'knees in the breeze' bug again and want more. I found I even like the highly detail oriented task of packing almost as much as the jumping, ...almost. So I live in SoCal and I want to start with AFF. So where should I go: Perris or Elsinore? From the web sites, they both look great. I plan to stop by and visit both. Those seem to be the closest two to where I live. Would be so cool to work hard and qual for a USPA 'A' license before my trip back to Texel next year. - Jim