Trent

Several reasons: 1. The vast amount of data they would have would make it financially ridiculous to do much else with it. 2. What WOULD they do with the uber-secret information that phone number 867-5309 called 555-1414? 3. What reason do you have to beleive that they're doing something MORE with them? 4. I don't think the government as a whole is competent enough to be running some nefarious masterplan to spy on all of us just in case. Oh, hello again!

That's not what I asked at all. I want clarification on how the analogies were honestly comparable. I went back to look at my post to find where I stated any position remotely close to what you may have interpreted... couldn't find anything. You assume too much. See my next post. Oh, hello again!

I'm just wondering about the comparison here to the phone registry database and other stuff... In this case, we have info that THE GOVERNMENT ALREADY HAS being stolen because some idiot had it on his laptop. On the other side, you have the government looking at random numbers and trying to find a pattern. How do you make oranges to oranges out of this? I guess if you consider the government to be criminals, don't like social security or public funded VA care... you could see it as kinda oranges to oranges... Oh, hello again!

He said, "...i cant give you a "HARD" number but on average i treat far more iraqis than coalition forces..." If that's not good enough coming from someone who's there doing it... Sure there is... they're still better than the current alternative of shooting up cars. On the remote chance that they cause some miniscule blindness, it probably won't be 100% blindness and it's still much healthier than a bullet to the eye. Maybe bloody_trauma can explain it better, but "dazzlers" that I've seen do not fire one steady laser beam. For one, it's too small to aim at a target like an eye while at a distance and moving and secondly, it'd only get one eye at a time. I've seen similar devices that throw out a "web" of lasers in a moving pattern to cover about a 5 foot circle at 50 feet or so. So it's a diffused laser that is moving... NOT spending full-time or full-power on one retina at a time. But that's just if they're using something similar to what already existed. They could be using giant frikken' laser beams strong enough to cover a whole head... but I doubt it's financially reasonable, or rifle mountable. Oh, hello again!

You KNOW the difference but SOME people are capable of disagreeing just because... well, just because. Personally, you already argue pretty well... there's no need for the silliness that you sometimes try to pull. You KNOW, Bill, YOU KNOW!! Oh, hello again!

It just frikkin' laser beams people! Oh, hello again!

It has become clear to me that you'd have a problem if giving people hand-jobs at checkpoints became protocol on account of all those innocent sperms lost. There's really no point I guess. I'll stick with lasers are better than shooting the shit out of a "maybe" car at a checkpoint. Oh, hello again!

I am fully capable of being upset at more than one thing at a time... AND in varying degrees of upset. Your analogy is lacking in that the brilliant mayor of NO actually went to people's houses to GET the guns. At airports, we're told not to bring them or they'll be taken. They are CLEARLY different scenarios. I'm shocked that you're okay with a pretty apparent violation of the 2nd. Just as you think some people would worry more about the greater failings of government during Katrina... I'd have thought the mayor would have bigger things to worry about than legal gun owners keeping their only protection in a time of isolation. So there. Oh, hello again!

So you're okay with this particular violation of the Constitution? Just curious. Oh, hello again!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/05/22/canada.climate.reut/index.html So other people are starting to figure out that this won't work if only the "nice" countries do it. Good for them, and the double standard in letting poorer countries pollute more doesn't float well either I guess. Oh, hello again!

I think you guys who are "against" the dazzlers are just arguing because it's something the US is doing now. Really. It's kinda sad. It just shows that people will bitch about ABSOLUTELY anything if they don't like who's in charge. Ridiculous. Oh, hello again!

Was I talking to you? And for anyone who's ONLY against this license plate thing... it stands. The problem isn't the law about the frame... it appears to be people's trust of law enforcement. There are law enforcement officers on this very forum. How about you keep your PA's to yourself? See how fun it is to play sensitive? Did this slippery slope start when cops were invented? Or how about when any vehicle laws were made? Or or or, how about when they made us REGISTER our cars (the fascists!) Or did the license plate frame thing start the sloping slip 'n slide? Oh, hello again!

That's me using hyperbole... sorry you didn't catch that. BUT, you do SEEM to think that using these lasers is not a good alternative to shooting up suspicious cars. Why are you so against it? I'm sure a class 2 laser could cause vision damage if you stared directly into it for a while. The types of "dazzlers" I've seen throw out a web of laser patterns so that the user doesn't have to get his tiny laser beam right on the eye of the bad guy. I'm assuming that the lasers they'll use in the military would be similar. In this case, no direct beam is on the eyes constantly. Sure, I bet 20 minutes under the "dazzler" would cause some damage, but I seriously doubt it'd be used that long. Then again, maybe I'm one of the uneducated ones that you refer to that actually thinks that it's a good alternative. After all, all the "victim" has to do is STOP THE CAR, and COVER HIS EYES (sounds like that THAT is what it's meant to do, no??). Oh, hello again!

While they try to avoid shooting the crowd... I've been to light shows where the lasers have hit the crowd in a passing motion, or when making a design over the crowd. Pretty sure no one was burned or blinded. Now if we spent a good 10 seconds directly in front of the laser lens... might not be good. Oh, hello again!

1. Class 1 lasers are used in CD players and stuff. Class 2/3a's are used in laser pointer devices, with which you have shot yourself in the eye and are not permanently damaged. Class 3b lasers are 5-500mW and probably are not the ones being used in this case. I haven't seen in any articles that it's a 3b laser device. Even if it were, there's quite a range between 5 and 500 mW. 2. I would say it's probably more likely to get used when the checkpoint troops have a bad feeling. I don't think it will cause permanent damage, and I DO think it's better than shooting up the cars that are acting a little strange. Why do you assume that they'll be using lasers that will bore holes in peoples' heads? I'm sure it's cheaper to use the kind of lasers in pointers or at most, in light shows... which really haven't blinded me much. 3. This is the "We shouldn't be there!!" drivel that I mentioned in my previous post. Oh, hello again!

If I recall correctly, for those types of offenses you can refuse to sign the ticket and they (used to?) have to get a supervisor come and sign for you. We did that in high school once when a small-town cop was having a bad day and wanted to write 20 of us jaywalking tickets. The supervisor came and told him to take a break and apologized to us. If the cop NOTICES something or smells alchohol... then they should be required to have audio and video of the stop. If they SEE drugs or smell them... they should have to have taped evidence and maybe another officer on scene. Maybe that'd help a bit? Oh, hello again!

You guys crack me up. 2 questions: 1. Should suspicious vehicles be shot up with real bullets or have their drivers temporarily blinded by a frikken laser beam? 2. Ever shot yourself with a laser pointer in the eye? Now, I know it will be hard... but try to keep responses in the framework of the questions. Although we all know someone will post the standard "the US shouldn't even BE there..." drivel. Oh, hello again!

Fortunately, the State of Texas has figured out a way to stop crimes like that. Our registration and inspection stickers are inside our front windshields now. So having a frame to prevent plate-cutting is not an issue. For all the wackos who are ADAMANTLY against this law about our plates... do you realize a cop, if he's as dishonest as some of you seem to think many cops are, could pull you over and just make up whatever excuse he wanted? You swerved, you were 1mph over, you were 10mph under, thought I saw you litter... it goes on. If someone wants to be dishonest... they will be... this law doesn't "enable" anything. Oh, hello again!

Funny how using a laser to temporarily blind them is verboten, but filling the car with lead if it is behaving in a threatening manner is okay. It's about time some of the bleeding hearts get away from the "shoot to wound" mentality! Oh, hello again!

Fine by me. Oh, hello again!

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2218051#2218051 There's been more discussions as well. I've agreed with Bill on another thread that I don't have time to find. Do you think amnesty is a good idea? Or only if we call it something else? Oh, hello again!

But but but... next thing you know... you'll have jack-booted thugs watching your every move!! I mean, it's not far fetched is it? It's sad that we have so much trouble teaching people decency as children that people feel the need to have laws to make people act like they should anyway. Oh, hello again!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/17/immigration.ap/index.html Then there's this gem that tells these morons that it IS being viewed as amnesty... even though they're "against" the word amnesty.... http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/05/16/mexico.immigration.ap/index.html ...Sending the National Guard "will not stop the flow of migrants. To the contrary, it will probably go up," as people try to get into the U.S. with hopes of applying for a possible amnesty program, Nunez said...*** Not to mention the bullshit about Mexico suing us over protecting our own borders... What does it take to get some people in office that will put up a realistic and firm plan on dealing with immigration... or ANYTHING for that matter? Do these fucks not listen to what their constituents want AT ALL? Is there ANYONE who is actually FOR giving illegals a free citizenship after hiding out for 2 years here as an illegal? Throw the bums out. I'm tired of it. Too much politics and not enough common sense. Oh, hello again!

Check your private messages here... up on the top of the screen the red number... click it dude. Oh, hello again!

Like I said... I don't shop there for MANY reasons. However, buying anything from any large chain will contribute to that chain's ability to negotiate prices down with their vendors. It IS capitalism. If consumers want US made shit, they have to make it known with their dollars. That's how it works. If you want to be honest though... you can't just blame WalMart. Oh, hello again!