Trent

Guess the same could be said about Houston. New Orleans springs to mind. Oh, hello again!

That part of my post was unrelated to having neutral peacekeepers. It had to do with the US backing a plan that had the enemies of Israel laying down their arms and rhetoric, and having Israel do the same at penalty of losing all US support. Oh, hello again!

I read an interesting book, don't remember which one now, that had the Swiss guard acting as protectorate of Israel/Palesinian territories. Yeah, the same dudes who guard the Vatican, but without the funny pants. They're very hard-ass and neutral. On another note... the "if enemies of Israel lay down their weapons and there'd be peace but if Israel did the same, they'd be destroyed" comment got me thinking... how about the US back a plan like that. Stop all attacks on Israel, chill the fuck out. If Israel doesn't do the same in return, we withdraw all financial and military support. Of course, if the agreement was made in honesty, it'd work... but I REALLY doubt some fucker wouldn't fire a mortar just to keep the status quo. Oh, hello again!

I like it when you can't answer a question. Save some keystrokes next time and just admit that IF some terrible attack happens again that you'll be the first to piss and moan that we didn't do enough to stop it, and yet... hypocritically, when no attacks are happening, you'll piss and moan about our means to intercept information that may lead to an attack happening. If I had a dime for every time someone used that quote without thinking... you'd prefer anarchy? I mean, we can't give up our freedoms to haul ass down a highway, we can't give up our freedoms to keep our income, we can't give up our freedoms to sell information to "bad guys" because if we did... we wouldn't deserve to be free or secure ever. I guess you can weasel out by saying, "I said essential freedoms!!" which is misquoting Franklin first, and leaving "essential" open to interpretation. Yes, you can still whine about a program that has been around for years and years, while not actually doing anything about it. Is it fun? I'm sure this freedom-robbing program will go back to being ignored once a candidate you like is back in office. Okay, continue with the silliness. That dastardly computer is laughing its terabytes off at your last phonecall I'm sure. After all, because your call data is passing through it... it IS being listened to. It's alright though, because you don't deserve freedom since you submit to being monitored on the highways, when you use you credit card, when you buy weapons, etc. Oh, hello again!

MY GOD!! The US really IS a police state!! I mean... as Bill and Kallend are so honestly making their point... I guess that since we have police who watch traffic for speeders and drunks, we're CONSTANTLY under police supervision... but they only stop us when we step out of line. Not just that, but our oppressive fascist government actually TRACKS us down if we kill someone, CLEARLY violating our privacy. It is now clear that we are ALWAYS under the watchful eye of our leaders. You ARE under surveillance. Dissidents (and speeders) will be shot! What is better? Having a plot foiled because some key words were picked up on Echelon, or having 3,000 dead civilians in your town? Don't like Echelon? Take it to the supreme court or shut up. Personifying a computer by saying that it "listens" to your 976 calls is stupid. Oh, hello again!

While this may be about the "Bodies" exhibition, I'll comment on the "BodyWorlds" that I saw here at the museum in Houston. I wasn't overly offended by the exhibit, but I DO feel that the premise that it is a science exhibit is total crap. If the only reason for the exhibit was to show anatomy, it would be much less a spectacle. As it is, the bodies there are put into some poses that really made me ask if this guy is trying to make "shock art" under the guise of science in order to get it approved by the museums and the masses. Some of the bodies are flayed and mangled in ways that seem pretty tasteless to me. See the guy with his face pulled up like a witches hat and riding is spinal column like a broom. Also, I think I read while at the exhibit that the von Hagens guy is a dentist. It'd have a little less "artsy wannabe" feel to it if that weren't the case, IMO. Not to mention that I've read articles in science mags that accuse the "artist" of buying bodies of executed Chinese prisoners. In retrospect, some of the bodies DID have Asian characteristics to them, even though the fake eyes were blue. The exhibit is interesting, but it could be done with more taste. I'd probably find it just as fascinating if the "artistry" had been left out of it. The fact that it looked as if it was art undercover as science kinda took away from it.EDIT- He's a visiting prof at my alma mater's dentistry school... that's where I got that. Oh, hello again!

Okay here's the participants for the 16-way: (in no particular order except for the organizers) Jed Lloyd, Trent Alkek, Steve Boyd, TJ Landgren Shannon Kidd Scot Fittz Philippe Thibodeau Alana Fulvio John Klueg Aimee Kratovil Jason Jerusalem Anita Grundherr Robert Smith "Goat" Griffin Rodney Kennedy Alli Richard Video: Eric Boyd, Iwan VanDerSchoor Congrats again to all. Thanks for making it happen! Contact me with your email addresses if I don't already have it so we can get you info for getting the vids and pics from our camera guys. Oh, hello again!

Thanks to all the freeflyers who trekked out to the heat of Texas for the Skyfest Freefly Bigways. We have submitted the paperwork to make the formation "official" via the USPA. The formation was a 16-way, and included flyers from all over the country, as well as a couple of "ferriners" as well. We had a great mix of guys and girls on the jumps, which was nice. Congrats to all who attended. Info on pics and vids will be in your inbox shortly. Thanks again to all of you (list of names tomorrow), it was great to get to meet you and jump with you! See you all soon! Oh, hello again!

Did our president really say "diss"?? THAT'S it!! All you lefties were right!! Oh, hello again!

I'm sorry I was away the last weekend he was out at the DZ. I'm sorry we were training so much that we couldn't get on his jumps when he asked (sometimes). I'm sorry I couldn't be at the service. As much of a character as Conway was... he was almost always the first to say "hello" and shake your hand when you came to the DZ on a weekend. It will just not be the same. Blues skies, Conway. Oh, hello again!

What kind of hair-brained idea would it be to let people who are NOT affiliated with your party to vote in a PRIMARY where your party selects the candidate they will put forth for the real election??? The Dems decide who they want to run on the general election ticket, and the Reps do the same... then it goes to the general election where you can pick the R or the D or the I or whatever other party is running... OR you can write in Mickey Mouse if you want. Seems pretty free to me, but I'm an ignorant American... I must be missing something. There ARE some dumbfucks out there that register as the party the oppose so they can try to get the worse candidate elected in the primaries... why make it easier for that to happen? Oh, hello again!

Congrats guys! I'd have loved to be there, but Norway was just sooo tempting. Hopefully we'll see some or most of you guys at Skyfest not only for bigways but for some really nice "other" jumps as well. Congrats again, good to see TX being represented. Now if we could just get more teams in the comps!!! Oh, hello again!

Hahaha, all of you guys are deluding yourselves. You have TWO examples to use... stinger missiles and the contras... forget that those are pretty uncurrent and that we don't see many of those weapons doing much damage. We also don't see many Japanese or Taiwanese F-16's at the muzzle of the jihad or the genocides in Africa. No... those conflicts are reserved for the RPG, AK, and the machete. If you guys want to insist that the US is contributing to global unrest with it's arms deals MORE than the manufacturers of the actual weapons being used all over the world... go ahead. It's really amazing that people will argue against the obvious. It's okay though... whatever makes the US look bad must be true because you all say so. Go ahead, tell us how the AK is NOT the most prolific weapon in the hands of bad guys worldwide... then tell us how it's the US's fault that there are guns everywhere. Oh, hello again!

Decent: England, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Taiwan, Japan etc. etc. Crackpot: Iran, North Korea, Bolivia, Cuba, Liberia, take a pick of some African countries, now Venezuela... etc. The majority of sales are to "allies" or should I say, "allies at the time of sale", do you not think so? Or is it just more fun to ignore the reality that the AK's, RPGs, russian rockets, mortars and shells DON'T come from the US and consistently seem to be the weapon of "bad guys"? Oh, hello again!

Don't suppose that came from a hummer that they blew up or something. It's a red-herring. The VAST majority of weapons in the middle east come in the form of russian design. They probably purposefully used the SAW to make people say, "THE US IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST ARMS PROLIFERATOR" or "SEE? THE US IS SUPPLYING THE BAD GUYS!" Looks like it worked, even though it is still bullshit. Oh, hello again!

Dollar amounts of sales to "decent" countries vs. amount of weapons sold to crackpots... don't be disingenuous. How many AK's would have to be sold to make up the cost of us selling Japan 1 f-16? Oh, hello again!

Other than the fact that it's a symptom of the growing disease? No. Just a sign. That's all. Hahaha.... how many M-16's are they using? What other American weapons are they using? How many aircraft are those old Stingers shooting down? How's that for trivia, Bill. Your argument is dishonest at best, willfully blind at worse. When we were supplying Venezuela, they weren't run by a nut. In fact, they were a good ally and we had good relations. Notice how we stop supplying them once a crackhead gets in power and the Chinese and Russians are all to eager to supply them AFTER a crackhead comes into power? Do you REALLY think that the US is supplying "most" of the arms to the crackpots of the world? REALLY? You think quoting 2 outdated facts is proving a point? It IS bullshit, and you know it. You only have to open your eyes to see where most of the munitions and weapons come from, Bill... but I won't hold my breath. Oh, hello again!

Bill, Bill, Bill.... *sigh* THE ISSUE isn't that he's making some guns. THE ISSUE is his continued push towards becoming a military dictator hell-bent on regional destabilization. It doesn't take any stretch of imagination at all to think that he'll be supplying his "revolutionary" friends in neighboring countries soon. This is just one more straw on the back. I didn't think I'd have to spell that out for you. BULLSHIT BILL! Show me how many crackpot regimes are using our weapons versus how many are using the Chinese and former Soviet supplied weapons. Get real, man. Think N.Korea is dangerous? Who sells them their shit? Think Iran is dangerous? Who sells them their shit? Think Chavez is dangerous? Who sells them thier shit? Think Islamic extremism is dangerous? What kind of weapons are they shooting in the air while babbling anti-western crap? Come on. But... you have your argument all planned out. Don't let me interrupt. Oh, hello again!

Surely you're not spinning, distracting, or otherwise trying to put words in someone's mouth so you can make some kind of "point", are you? Nah, YOU'd never do that! If you don't think that Chavez's lunacy, military buildup, coziness with the Chinese, modifications to the constitution to keep himself in office, and extreme corruption are a problem... there's not much helping you. Good luck with your next "logical" deduction. Oh, hello again!

When ALL of your friends inside and outside of a country express their desire to be invaded to get rid of Chavez... it makes you wonder. When you talk to people from a country and they PREFER when they had a totalitarian dictator to the quack they have now... it makes you wonder. When Chavez villifies some of his best customers and raises cries of "power to the workers, to the poor" it makes you wonder. When a "democratically" elected president nationalizes many major companies and replaces the people who built these companies with his own, mildly retarded cronies... it makes you wonder. When a president allows Chinese military access to his armies... it makes you wonder. It doesn't take a puppet government to NOT be a fuckin' retard. Just wait. Oh, hello again!

This guy's quickly moving from funny little wack-job banana republic dictator to danger to his neighbors. If he's a socialist hero, then socialists are some ignorant motherfuckers! Oh, hello again!

I think you can find more info on that in the "I Don't Want People to Take Me Seriously" section of your local bookstore. Oh, hello again!

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How can you trust a dictionary that misuses the word "who's", when clearly it should have used "whose"? That definition lacks as well. I'd find a new dictionary. Oh, hello again!

Okay, just another reminder for all the head-down flyers out there... Spaceland Anomaly will be organizing the first ever Texas 20 way head down jumps! We're expecting a big turnout so far with jumpers from all over Texas, Florida, California, Mexico, and Canada. It will be a DAMN good time. We're planning on bigway attempts on Friday and Saturday (July 14-15). We'll do about 5 per day so participants will have time to jump with other friends and get involved in some of our other organizing. Drop me a PM if you're interested in the bigways! Hope to see you here! Oh, hello again!