Trent

It's not just the WalMart crap that is particle-board crap... it's Ikea, it's houses in new developments, it's everything. My beef there is that what Walmart sells IS NOT any different than the crap you buy anywhere else. To complain about the "supporting China" aspect is silly. That's all. NOT providing benefits doesn't bother me either. TONS of places don't provide benefits to workers. Hell, I work on a DZ... we don't get shit. It's our responsibility to find our own coverage that we can afford. I don't think it's my employer's problem if I had 10 kids who all need to go to the doctor. WalMart offers a wage for a job... don't like that? Don't work there. Need health care? I can direct you to where we found ours for under $100/mo. THAT isn't right. They should "WalMart" their employees into buying some affiliated insurance or something. Hell, then they could get even MORE money. There are smaller stores less than a mile from my local WalMart that have been there for years and seem to be doing okay. We've got hardware stores, furniture stores, paint stores, clothing boutiques, all that stuff. They've been coexisting with Walmart for years. Don't get me wrong... WalMart sucks and they're not run on the most ethical model... but I just don't think that they're the "evil empire" that people make them out to be. Either way, I don't and probably won't shop there anyway. Oh, hello again!

Oh, don't get me wrong... I DESPISE WalMart... but I just don't think that the argument that many (not you) people have about how it's all Chinese made... blah blah blah... is crap. I know what your point is, and I agree. It's not necessarily ethical... but it's business. Oh, hello again!

While I despise the few WalMarts in my area due to the seediness of the crowd and the employees, I can't see how people can bitch so much about it. I don't shop there because I hate the "experience" of being there and it usually takes too long to get anything done. Can someone explain how buying something at Walmart is hurting America because it's Chinese made crap... while buying the SAME thing at another store is really different enough to make you feel better? The problem is we let all our manufacturing get shipped overseas. Pretty soon, everything we have will be made somewhere else. How is that Walmart's fault? Oh, hello again!

BRAVO! You said it better than I've ever seen anyone say it. I usually just say, "That's a bullshit argument," hoping the offending party is intellectually honest enough to know when they're caught. How about this idea... NO amnesty for illegals here. They have to leave, go to a special embassy or work visa center outside of the country to apply for the work visa. If they are issued a visa, they can come in and work for some pre-established time frame. During their first visit, they pay no taxes (as long as the income is below some specified level). After the visa is expired, they have to go home and re-apply for a 2nd year visa... which they will have to pay some fee that is close to what the average migrant worker would usually pay in taxes. After, let's say 7 years of doing this... they are given special priority for green cards IF they've paid their fees, IF they have NO criminal record... and whatever else we want conditions to be. This way, they work, they pay, we don't have to regulate WHAT they're paid (since that would "hurt" the farmers), and we get to make sure people getting green cards are following rules. Of course, all this HAS to be combined with increased border protection, and increased penalties for those hiring illegals. Oh, hello again!

Legally, no... but to "the people"... it gets him a little more sympathy and understanding than drunk driving would. I mean, DC has laws against crack smokin' too and they STILL elected Marion Barry, so.... Oh, hello again!

When did I say I didn't want our president to step down? Is my original sentence grammatically incorrect for speaking in the conditional? I didn't think it'd be so confusing. If I HAD more time, I would check my English textbooks before I posted. Oh, hello again!

ZING... ya got me there!! Really... having a past in something isn't the same as having the problem TODAY. But you knew that and just wanted throw out "shrub" and make the reference to drugs again, didn't you? Should we accept someone's current drug abuse (if that's what it is) because someone else (allegedly) had a drinking problem or had used drugs? Really? I hope you don't really think that. Any of you. Oh, hello again!

Just curious here... why would someone enter rehab if they had just experienced a freakish side-effect of a drug that they are taking by presciption? If he DOES have a drug problem that'd require entering rehab... are we okay with having a leader like that? I mean, I know it tugs at heart strings that, like he said in his press conference, he is "afflicted" like millions of other Americans and that he's gonna stand up and do the right thing by going to rehab... but if he really REALLY did have a drug problem in office... do you want him in that office? Not that it's true or that I think it is, but if you look at his choices after being caught driving under "some kind" of influence.... admitting drunk driving is not an option for him, ONLY blaming side effects isn't going to be that plausible for the people, so that leaves.... playing the martyr/victim struggling like any average Joe. Politically, he didn't have a choice... I just wonder if he REALLY did have a problem or if rehab is purely a political move. I would want ANY elected official to step down if they had a drug problem. There's no place for that in our leaders. Oh, hello again!

Excellent article, but nothing new. The rising tide of ignorance...erm... communism in Latin America has been a problem for years. The problem with democracy is that sometimes... people get the leaders they deserve. I guess since people didn't learn how communism destroys itself from the USSR's experience... they've decided they can do it right. The world will just have to wait a few years before they destroy themselves and have to start again at zero. However, we might not have that luxury if things keep going the way they are... these guys are all selling out to China as part of their bid to "nationalize" things. It's just a new name for the same face of corruption in Latin America... let's just hope that the people will do something about it. Oh, hello again!

I have a VISO. It IS a logbook. It keeps speeds, altis, etc for the last 200 jumps, and keeps detailed, real-time playable data for the last 5-10 jumps (can't remember which). It also keeps a running count of all jumps on the VISO. It DOES NOT have the ability to download to a computer (as of now). In the couple hundred jumps I've put on it... it works great, ZERO glitches, battery is still full, and it's accurate as hell. It has no audibles and is primarily a digital visual alti with on-board logging. Great product, but for the audible/logging/downloading, you'll still want a Pro-Track. Oh, hello again!

This post is not about whether or not he did sing in Spanish, it is about the article being written in a way which makes it look like Mclellan is slamming his soon-to-be-former boss when he clearly wasn't. Can you really not see that happening from reading the headline then the article? Oh, hello again!

I edited my last post to include something like you're looking for. Personally, it wouldn't have been a story at all for me if I was an editor, because without the "deception"... it doesn't amount to anything. It could go in the "Have you heard..." section of Skydiving Magazine though. Oh, hello again!

Accurate, and incomplete to the point that the context is lost. In my opinion, that context is very important. Do you really not see how the article LOOKS to be about 1 thing on a quick glance, then is really not that big of a deal once you read the complete info... that is buried at the bottom? The headline and first 3 paragraphs seem to make it look like Mclellan was taking a shot at Bush... who tries to use Spanish on occasion. It's cheap. The whole bit could HONESTLY be summed up in: Mclellan responded to questions about Bush singing the national anthem in Spanish by saying that Bush's Spanish isn't good enough translate and sing it. But I guess that doesn't make a headline. Anyone else? I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy. It was pretty obvious to me. Oh, hello again!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/04/bush.spanish.ap/index.html Bush's Spanish 'no muy bueno,' White House says WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush likes to drop a few words of Spanish in his speeches and act like he's proficient in the language. But he's really not that good, his spokesman said Thursday. "The president can speak Spanish but not that well," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "He's not that good with his Spanish." McClellan's comment was noticeable because presidential press secretaries usually boast about a president's ability rather than talk about any shortcomings. McClellan is in the last days of his job, leaving the White House next week. McClellan made his remark in response to a report that Bush had sung the Star-Spangled Banner in Spanish during the 2000 campaign. Just last week Bush said the national anthem should be sung in English, not Spanish. (Full story) "It's absurd," McClellan said of the report, suggesting that Bush couldn't have sung it in Spanish even if he had wanted to. *** Is it dishonest of the reporter to make this article seem like McClellan was talking about Bush's Spanish being bad when it is clearly in response to whether or not Bush knew enough Spanish to sing the national anthem translated? Look at the headline and the first few paragraphs. You don't really get the gist of how it really went down until you get to the end. It seems a bit shady to me. Just thought I'd show it to you. Not necessarily a "biased media" thread, but it seems that if something like this is done on a trivial subject like this... that it's plausible that it's just as bad for serious issues, which IS a problem. Oh, hello again!

I completely agree with you! But I do think that giving ALL the tax back is too much, and I'd add that people on H2A visas who have children here do not get an instant citizen in the family. Of course that brings up more debates... Oh, hello again!

*sigh* Oh, hello again!

The answer in the frame you use is "they are." What you leave out is that through normal fluctuations, they are getting poorer TODAY, but a few years back they were getting richer, and it's not unreasonable to expect that they will again. It's almost as bad as "michael mooring" a quote in my opinion. Bullshit tactic, Bill. Because I respond to you and disagree, I'm slamming you? I don't care if I "win" any arguments here, but I won't let you put a disingenuous argument forward on me. Furthermore... YOU brought the comparison into play, not me. I read what you wrote, and you know I did. I've gone point by point until now... unlike yourself. If you don't like that you tried to draw a comparison and it didn't work, don't try to make dishonest comparisons. You have yourself a good day and night as well. Oh, hello again!

Then you'd rather be here in both cases. Our lack of ability to turn the sick and injured away is better than what they get over there... no matter how many photo ops Chavez makes with his "free" clinics. Having an increase in families living below poverty lines due to "pretty" normal fluctuations in inflation is not unusual. Skyrocketing inflation, which happened in Venezuela, and people being fired for being in the wrong party resulting in them becoming newly poor is VERY different. Having a 12.7% poverty rate versus a 47% is a BIG difference. Also, looking at the poverty rate in the US we've been hovering between 10 and 15% since the 60's. Fluctuations are normal. So... because it happens less here on a smaller scale... we're just as bad? We're no different? Come on! It's RAMPANT there and it involves everyone from the top down. You're just being dishonest about the issue. Sure, we have our problems but NOWHERE on the scale that they're happening in Venezuela right now. To say that things are similar here is misleading. It's not about who's better or worse... YOU brought that into the equation... not me. I really really do think you're just arguing for the sake of it. Oh, hello again!

Where would you rather be a victim of the wealth gap? Here or there? Are our "poor" getting poorer or just not getting rich as fast as the "rich"? When our government nationalizes many major companies then gives itself contracts, then hires supporters only to work in those companies so that they can embezzle at will... THEN talk to me. It isn't the same... wait, no it is... they breathe air... and we breathe air... I think you know that you're being argumentative for the sake of it. Oh, hello again!

It doesn't surprise me that the people bitching about how companies will have to pay more to have citizens do the "illegals'" jobs will cause the prices to go up on things... when many of them also advocate increasing minimum wage thinking that THAT would actually make anyone better off. Oh, hello again!

It's not about who's more well informed... it's about the difference of opinions in people who are "chavistas" or are working with them because it's easy to make a buck, and people who stand to lose everything because they voted for the other guys... Sure, on a small scale, some people might be doing better in their specific areas... but everything I've heard is pretty bad... or seems like it'll take them down a road to nowhere. That typically happens when the educated people leave the country because the government makes it very uncomfortable for them. Chavez will find it easy to keep putting himself in office as long as he keeps his populace really ignorant. That's pretty typical in these situations, from what I've seen. It seems to be VERY similar in what might happen in Mexico. Most of my friends there who aren't really rich, but not dirt poor feel that this new wave of socialism will really hurt the country and the progress they begrudgingly attribute to Fox. They see what happened in Bolivia and Venezuela and they say it looks mighty similar to what's about to happen there. But hey, more power to all the idiots who vote commie... maybe they can make it work when it hasn't ever really worked anywhere. These new guys must have it all figured out. Oh, hello again!

Come on... you don't really think that our government has anything in common with Chavez's do you? Tell me you're just being contrarian here. If you can't see any differences, then that really puts a new light on how you think, Bill. Oh, hello again!

Trickle down economics works? I thought a buncha people said that it didn't way back when... They won't have to provide much more than a competitive rate if they hire them on as contractors... like most DZ's do. Right? Oh, hello again!

Not one Venezuelan I know (and that's a handful) thinks that ANYTHING has gotten better in Venezuela. I don't know who you're talking to, but you have those people who are rich and unaffected, those who support Chavez (who are becoming rich), and then those that are practically illiterate who were manipulated into supporting Chavez. For those people, it's all fun and games till someone has to pay for it. Skydives are cheap because gas is produced there, and subsidized. Don't kid yourself... it WILL get worse and it has already gotten worse than it was before Chavez. 2 of my best friends just got back from there this week... aside from the localized laid back attitude and parties... the consensus was that things were not looking good. You can count on this "communist" government that was made to help the people to make its cadre rich and make its people poorer. Oh, hello again!

And we all know the extreme good that has been done by Latin American commie leaders! Mexico will get worse, just as Venezuela did... we'll see more immigration... Mexico will see more domestic problems and poverty... and instead of blaming the corrupt commie leaders, they'll blame the US. It's par for the course. Ignorance breeds communism it seems. Oh, hello again!