Trent

I just wonder why so many people are against ensuring that those registered to vote in a precinct, are indeed the ones doing the voting? Like someone said, you have to show ID to buy smokes, alcohol, and to get into many bars/clubs... I think voting is just a LITTLE more important than those activities. It takes a second to show the nice little old lady at the voting station my ID. See what I said? SHOW. They don't scan it, copy it, or even take it out of my hand. Oh, hello again!

I wonder how Shithead Sharpton will figure out how to blame whitey? ...since 2 of the 3 cops were definitely NOT white. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll implode with confusion. I guess I'm naive, but I STILL think that 99.99% of cops do not go out in the morning hoping to kill someone. I'd like to know what evidence was used to acquit the officers that were on trial. Oh, hello again!

Just want to point out that, in the past, many of the "militia" were armed with their own personal weapons. Since that seemed to be the way it was done back then... it stands to reason that the right is for the individual to keep and bear arms. But that's just my 2nd amendment loving, non-lawyer way of seeing it. Oh, hello again!

OR... the article I read on Yahoo (AP) stated that the mosque's leader was an outspoken critic of wahabbism and al quaida. That might be an interesting lead. Either way, the story of it being an accident reminds me of baghdad bob... a lot. Oh, hello again!

As much as I disagree with McCain on many issues, I can't say that he doesn't seem to make every effort to get people to work together to get things done. Knowing how to talk to the senate and other representatives is experience. Having been an instrument of foreign policy is experience. The fact that he does go against the party line sometimes is, oddly enough, a plus in my book. Compare that to the other two, and honestly tell me you think they'd do a better job. I seriously doubt either one of them even know where to start with this BS "change" that they think they'd make. Oh, hello again!

Useful idiots. Typical to just hop right on in bed with whoever seems to agree with you (not you, lawrocket) politically without checking into who's footing the bill. Tools making propaganda really really easy. Oh, hello again!

Local girl too! I hope we can attend the parade her town will no doubt give her when she comes home. We also have a medal of honor recipient from right near her town as well. Medic from Vietnam, 1968. Oh, hello again!

...again. Oh, hello again!

So how many of the liberals on this board will man (or woman) up and vote for McCain since they liked him so much and how many will play party politics and vote for numbskull #1 or numbskull #2 on the dem ticket? Put up or shut up time!! Hilary and Obama don't hold a candle to McCain's experience and service to the country. Add to that, the parts of McCain that many republicans don't like, who else could you vote for??? I guess you could throw away your vote by choosing Paul... Oh, hello again!

I wonder how long people waited for a certain number so they could attempt to make a point? I hear dancing on graves is bad luck. Oh, hello again!

I understand that, but if someone is suing the USPA, aren't they in effect, suing us? I guess my thinking is that if the USPA exists only because of us, and it is OUR organization, no settlements should be made without being put forth to the membership via their ND-RD's. If WE decide to tell the suing parties to piss off at the expense of bankrupting ourselves, that should be our right. AT LEAST, we should be told how our money (or whatever the conditions) is being spent to settle something we never agreed to settle. How can OUR organization be asked, or on their own, keep secrets from us? Seems like it defeats the whole purpose of the organization. Oh, hello again!

Tamara Koyn has done several world event videos, and is a judge at most events. If she's not doing the nationals one, she might know who is. I think that the dropzone has rights to the footage as well, so maybe SDC is doing something? Oh, hello again!

Quick question... How can the terms of settlement in Skyride's lawsuit against the USPA, which is funded and composed of US, be kept secret from US? We aren't just stockholders, we ARE the USPA, are we not? Oh, hello again!

They do, sometimes. My teammate got pulled from the lineup just before we got on the podium in Germany for the World Games. Another team got tested in the airport before they left to go back home. It happens. Oh, hello again!

How do you measure those emissions in a place like India, where you probably can't even get a decent census. What are the numbers based on? Projections or actual samples (and how'd they sample)? Sorry, you don't get to choose what I'm talking about. Is CO2 really the worst pollution out there? I thought it was CO, wait that was old news. I thought it was C, wait, nope... old too. I thought it was toxins in the air and water, nah... doesn't make the US look like the worst and we can't have that! So we're behind places with less than half of our population? GASP!!! But ahead of places with 5 times our population? SHOCK!! What's the point? Bet we're still doing more on our own than most of the world. Hell, my local sheriff's department has an environmental branch. You just described a great way that the US took care of its own environmental actions. So, you're saying that we DO care and DO things to make it better on our own? Glad you agree with me. Why do we need to sign some politically motivated BS from "the world" to keep doing our own, good, things? Oh, hello again!

Really? What I've seen says otherwise. I'll take our "worst pollution in the world" over a month living in Delhi or Beijing. I'll bet you would too if you'd seen how bad it is there. Convince me that we're worse on our environment than countries where you can't see more than a couple of miles and you never see blue sky because of the pollution. I think that as a whole, the US is at least just as concerned with the environment as the other "western" countries and much more concerned than most countries in the world. If the US didn't care, as a whole, then why are there so many environmental agencies, news stories, activist groups, commercials, marketing for environmentally friendly stuff, etc? Maybe I should have said living clean instead. I think that PEOPLE in the US do care and I think that there are market forces that will make it in the interest of manufacturers to be more environmentally friendly. Just look at the popularity of hybrids, organic foods, smart houses, solar, wind power, etc. It's getting better and it isn't because we've been told to do it by the UN. And to the poster asking if I think the US is lacking in anything, sure. We have bad public transportation in most cities, we have an education system that needs to be better, we have too many people that don't work hard. That's 3... there's plenty more. I just don't think that we're the absolute worst as is often implied by the international media. Oh, hello again!

Exactly. I think it is intellectually dishonest and shows the true political side of the global environmental movement to single out the US as it does, constantly. Why harangue the countries that ARE doing something to get better and who will continue to get better, then let the bigger (IMO) polluters slide??? I think the US would take care of itself with all of our environmentalists here and the fact that we like to live healthy (for the most part). Why do we need to sign onto some international, politically motivated accords? Why not pester those that probably won't improve on their own and most likely don't even care to? Oh, hello again!

Actually, I just got back from India this past week... interestingly I see a topic on something that really bothered me as I watched the international news media bash the US for the Bali stuff. Anyone, ANYONE who says that the US is a bigger polluter than India or China is misinformed, lying, or just dumb. I was shocked to see that the DAILY visibility is less than a couple of miles because of the pollution. Yeah, sure, Delhi's a big city... so it's dirty, right? Wrong, it did NOT get any better within the 300 mile radius from Delhi either. The amount of factories belching God-knows-what is ridiculous there. There may not be more SUVs there, but there is traffic as far as the eye can see. I get back home to Houston, which is supposedly one of the US's worse polluters, right? Visibility unlimited. No chemical or burning stink in the air. No black snot when you blow your nose. If visible pollution levels are such that you can barely breathe in places like India and China (been there too and it was not as bad as India but it wasn't nearly as nice as it is at home), then what can we assume about the harmful stuff that we don't see? Makes me wonder how they really measure these pollution levels and if it isn't easy for some pretty obvious bad-stuff to get missed. Oh, hello again!

I seriously doubt (read: really don't want to believe) that the deceased's parents see their son's death as an opportunity to score some cash. I'd be willing to bet that it has more to do with wanting a reason as to why this happened. I don't know, I wasn't in the office when this lawyer helped them decide to sue. Regardless, the actions of someone's family would not change the way I remembered the person. Oh, hello again!

Yeah, and instead of letting it get bigger with Russia setting up huge bases there... we handled it. Chavez can run the country how he wants, however, once it starts affecting us and those around him... it becomes our problem, at least in part. You seem to not understand that figure of speech. I'll stop using it. NO... it is NOT the government's JOB. It is something they CAN do when it affects their country and IF they can help. If/when it is deemed to be becoming a big problem that will affect them eventually. You've spun this into something that you seem to have hoped would be a "gotcha". No matter how you try to twist it, a government's PRIMARY concern should be for its own people. If their actions, in the benefit of their people, help out other countries... great. But it is not their JOB to make sure other countries are doing well. If country B is making country A's people's lives worse, then it is in the best interest of A to handle it. If those actions actually benefit others, great! What's so hard about that? Oh, hello again!

And we "paid attention" to it, didn't we? We "fried that fish" before it got even bigger didn't we? You're smart, Bill. You can figure out a figure of speech, can't you? I agree. I think being completely isolationist WOULD be a bad thing. I think trade is good. I think helping when we can is good. I think stopping nutjobs that could actually hurt us is good. We wouldn't bother with that if we were 100% isolationist. Maybe you'd like to use a better word for "semi-isolationist" if it'll help. A country SHOULD act in the best interest of its people. That should be inspected. Sometimes that will involved doing things in/with other countries. Oh, hello again!

Regional stability, availability of resources, and NOT having an Iran or North Korea 3 hours away IS in the interests of Americans. I was asking people to pay attention, not to eliminate anything. It is, IMO, a nice real-life, current example of a new fascist regime. That Chavez is destroying his own country DOES affect us... and will probably affect us more as he's allowed to gain more powers. Having a government concerned MORE for the well being of its people DOES NOT preclude it from trade, alliance, or assisting other countries when it can. Unless of course, you think that the only way to have a government that works well for it's people is to be completely isolationist... Nice try though... Oh, hello again!

I'll join the love-fest. I whole-heartedly agree. What did the mortgage companies think the definition of "sub-prime" meant? Risk vs. Return? They deserve all the loss they get. As for the borrowers... if they can borrow $150,000, they'd damn sure be able to read the contract they sign! Ignorance and/or greed can really get you in a bad spot. Oh, hello again!

Please don't be too harsh on the parents. I can understand being angry and wanting to blame someone. I'm sure they know that winning any lawsuit won't bring their son back. Fire away on the lawyer though, because he's in it for the money, IMO. As far as the lawsuit goes... I fail to see how flying a non-FIKI plane into known icing, marginal vfr at best weather, without talking to any controllers or en-route weather stations can be anything but the pilot's fault. Cessna did not force anyone to make the decision to fly in those conditions. It's a terrible tragedy, I'm sure we all agree. Filing lawsuits like this will only make GA more and more restrictive and prohibitively expensive even if the suit is thrown out eventually. Thanks, lawyers! Oh, hello again!

Regardless of whether or not your assessment of western states is correct, the governments of those states SHOULD primarily be concerned with those who "won the birth lottery" and are citizens. It is not the governments job to ensure the welfare of non-citizens and those outside the country. Why should it be? Should countries with decent government and a decent lifestyle feel guilty because they're doing well? Oh, hello again!