livendive

Wow, the Westboro Baptists are the gays' fault? Do you also believe women in short skirts are asking to be raped? The Westboro Baptists arose from two things...conservative Christian beliefs similar to your's, and an overwhelming desire for attention. If I had to pin responsibility for them on a larger group, it'd be evangelical christians, not the gay community. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Horse shit. You can't prove that Trayvon knew that Zimmerman was armed and was defending himself any more than I can prove that Trayvon had no idea that Zimmerman was armed at he turned to attack him because he was pissed off that the he was confronted. There is a reason it is called concealed carry. I will be the first to admit I can't prove that Zimmerman didn't have his gun drawn. So the ball is in your court, show me the evidence that proves that his gun was drawn which led to Trayvon attacking him. I will wait patiently. As you said, none of us know whether Zimmerman's gun was drawn, but I'll say it doesn't matter. If someone is chasing me, at night, I'll assume they mean me ill and will treat them as a threat regardless of what weapons they may or may not be showing. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

pretty surprised to see the charge of 2nd degree. If that's not politically driven (jury can consider lesser charges) then she must have seen evidence that spoke to intent. Not being a Floridian, I don't know how their definitions work, but the news article I read said that 2nd degree is common when there's a fight that results in death, but no premeditated intent to kill. Sounds a lot like manslaughter here. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Yeah, that is pretty much the case. Interesting, but kind of sad...you're missing out. Given your especially unusual perspective, I can see how it could seriously skew your view of other people's sexual motivations (be they gay or straight). Like a person without a sense of taste consulting for chefs and winemakers. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I don't know whether Zimmerman is guilty of a crime, and I'm not sure that a jury will find correctly either way. Based on what we've heard in the media (some of which is suspect), Zimmerman seems to have provoked the fight that he ended with deadly force. I think self-defense becomes questionable when one brings the attack on themself, so I do believe there's enough here to ask a jury to decide on at least manslaughter. I also believe the jury will stand a better chance of getting it right (one way or the other) than the local authorities. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Because the first thing I want to do when some creepy dude is following me is show him where I live? Wasn't Zimmerman similarly reluctant? I know I have been (and the cops screwed me over and brought the guy I called the cops about to my front door...I moved the following week.) Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

???? Directly into an ambush is more like it. Eye of the beholder I suppose. Martin had just asked him "why are you following me?" And he said he was not. Martin took off again, and he chased him again. From Martin's perspective, the creepy dude who just denied following him is chasing him *again*. Turning to fight someone chasing you is not an ambush. If Zimmerman was truly not following Martin, as he just said, and as the 911 operator had instructed, he wouldn't have been at the location of the fight, and no altercation would have occurred. Personally, I consider someone chasinghe me to be a threat. If Martin had shot Zimmerman at that point, it would have been almost as (un)justifiable. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Can you explain why DC has never had anything but a Democrat Mayor? How about why DC has never gone for a Republican President? I'm not arguing with your contention that they prefer black candidates, I'm arguing that Obama would have won DC just as easily if he was white or asian or hispanic, by virtue of that (D). Blues, Dave Why did Obama win overwhelmingly over Hillary Clinton in DC? 75.33% to 23.77%? For the same reason he beat her in Idaho, 79.5% to 17.2% Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Can you explain why DC has never had anything but a Democrat Mayor? How about why DC has never gone for a Republican President? I'm not arguing with your contention that they prefer black candidates, I'm arguing that Obama would have won DC just as easily if he was white or asian or hispanic, by virtue of that (D). Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Wow, the fact that you think that is pretty sad. Is that also why they voted for Kerry, and Clinton, and Dukakis? Blues, Dave You *are* aware of the increased amount of black voters for the 2008 election, right? The fact that Obama motivated the black vote does not mean they only voted for him because he's black. DC picked Obama over McCain because he's a (D), just like Texas went to McCain because he's an (R). Sure, there are likely some people who voted him solely on the basis of his color, but there are also some who didn't vote for him solely on the basis of his color. I suspect both are trifling minorities who most certainly didn't affect the outcome. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Wow, the fact that you think that is pretty sad. Is that also why they voted for Kerry, and Clinton, and Dukakis? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I'd be satisfied if they would just target the high profile ones. I mean what else do they do day to day? Barry quit being "high profile" in my book when got caught with hookers and blow. Why do people keep giving that loser a platform? Blues, Dave The same people who vote for Barry also vote for Obama. He can do no wrong in their eyes. lol - How did Obama get into this conversation, merely for being a black politician? The same people who voted for Nixon will also vote for Romney, so he must be crooked? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Why do you refuse to acknowledge that Zimmerman chasing Martin was wrong and could very easily be considered a threat? And how do you decide that there are two separate incidents? *IF* Zimmerman lost sight of Martin, what makes you think Martin lost sight of Zimmerman? And how many minutes have to pass before one behaviour is forgiven and the other becomes a separate incident? Something less than three, obviously. Assuming you've been in that mode at some point in your life, you have to understand that you can't turn it off like that. As an adult it gets a bit easier, but it's still not a light switch, much less at 17. The girlfriend relayed her side of the conversation with Martin weeks ago, actually before the 911 transcript was released, if I remember correctly. It matched up well with 911 transcript, including the running/chasing thing. I'll admit that I got the thing about Zimmerman making a silly number of 911 calls from this thread, and didn't verify it. As with anything else on dz.com, that makes it suspect in and of itself. If he didn't actually make a habit of trying to save the world from non-criminals, mea culpa. Edit: Here's a theory that correllates the two phone conversations (Martin's and Zimmerman's). It implies pretty clearly that Zimmerman did quit chasing Martin as directed by the 911 operator, but a couple minutes later Martin approached him, asked why he was following him, he denied it, but then chased him *again*, this time directly into the physical confrontation. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I'd be satisfied if they would just target the high profile ones. I mean what else do they do day to day? Barry quit being "high profile" in my book when got caught with hookers and blow. Why do people keep giving that loser a platform? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Sure it does, as SYG is the reason he wasn't arrested. The story coming out of Zimmerman's camp is that he was attacked by the deceased for no good reason and he reacted with deadly force. The story coming out of the family who lost a kid is that he shot Martin without provocation. Neither story rings particularly true. My favorite parts of the transcript are when Zimmerman bitches about Martin holding something and staring at him. What, he noticed this out of his peripheral vision? Or was he staring at Martin while talking to 911 about him? Of course the subject of his scrutiny is going to stare back. Then he complains that these guys "always get away"...maybe that's because he constantly calls 911 on people who are doing nothing wrong! In any case, at some point Martins's girlfriend makes it clear to him that being scrutinized by a stranger talking on a phone while WWB in a gated community is bad juju. She tells him to leave, so he starts walking away and Zimmerman follows. She tells him to run, he does, Zimmerman relays this to the 911 operator and gives chase. The 911 operator tells him to stop, and at some point (5 seconds? 30 seconds? later, he does). Outside of freaking out and calling 911 over someone doing nothing wrong, this was Zimmerman's big mistake. He had zero reason to pursue. The effect of this choice is clear...you put Martin into fight or flight mode. Granted, when he stops chasing, presumably Martin recognizes it. That said, fight or flight doesn't abate nearly as quickly as it triggers. I've had the leg shakes / adrenaline crash thing delayed as much as an hour after a fight, although more common is just a few to maybe 15 minutes later. The smart, rational choice for Martin at this point would be to recognize the escape opportunity and take it. Of course his blood his up, adrenaline's still pumping, so cool, calm decisions are not his specialty at the moment. Instead, he switches from flight to fight...a mistake on his part that costs him his life. Bottom line: Two young men (one still a child, legally speaking) made some poor decisions. One of them got a broken nose out of it, after which he killed the other one. Do I think race is a factor? Not really. It does seem that Zimmerman was racist, but I doubt he was out to kill a negro. In fact I doubt he planned on killing anyone at all. However I also don't think his actions were completely innocent. He provoked the situation and helped escalate it to the point that violence broke out. Is he guilty of manslaughter? I think that's a very good question for a jury to answer. In my opinion, the stand-your-ground principle went out the window when he started chasing the other guy. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

It seems pretty clear to me that he pursued, rather than "stand his ground". Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Based on the 911 transcript and the girlfriend's account of her call with the deceased, I think lawrocket's version is probably more accurate. That said, even if you've got it exactly right, the ground Zimmerman should have stood was back in his car. Everything else that happened was a direct result of his choosing to follow a kid who was doing nothing wrong. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Yeah about like the head wound that wasn't there but turned out to be there. In the end if the nose wasn't broke it will come out. Broken noses don't bleed forever, they don't always result in a lot of visible damage. I don't understand why a minor head/nose injury is all that important. He was stalking a guy who was doing nothing wrong, and that guy punched him...a reasonable response. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I only drop in here occasinally and am not going to read 39 pages of whatever's already been said, I'll just quickly post my opinion. I have my CCL and firmly believe in a right to vigorous self-defense. The stand-your-ground policy in Florida sounds good on the surface to me, but it seems to have a flaw...there should be some limits on which ground you can stand. If you're in my house and I ask you to leave, you shouldn't have the right to shoot me when I threaten to forcibly throw you out. Even if we accept everything this Zimmerman guy said as truthful, he wasn't *standing his ground*, he was intruding on the deceased's. Regardless of color, if I'm walking through a neighborhood and someone starts staring at me suspiciously, I have the option of ignoring him, fleeing, or fighting. By all accounts, the deceased started running, and Zimmerman chased him. If I'm in that situation...running from some creepy dude and he starts running after me, you're damn right I accept that flight is not a good option, and I turn around to fight. At this point, I'm the one standing my ground, it's the chaser (working against 911 operator direction) who is the aggressor. The law doesn't (or shouldn't) work in such a mannner that I can antagonize, antagonize, antagonize, and then shoot you when you resist. Zimmerman provoked by giving chase, without any reason whatsoever, and then chose that ground to stand? BS imo. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I'll echo what Chuck said, Tony's multi-suit is very durable. I'd consider another of those, but I seem to remember it being expensive. When mine died, I bought some kevlar reinforced freestyle motorcycle pants and those lasted me a couple of years, for $80 I think. The last two years I went with some $30 plain jane jeans from Sears and those worked fine, but aren't really good for much other than tandems, or on cold days. I'm shopping now for a 2-piece suit that I can use for non-tandem jumps too. Booties are great in the air but they suck in the plane and on the ground so I'll probably go with freefly style. Looks aren't that important, I want durable, comfortable, and cheap. Does whomever suggested Firefly know if they use fabrics other than supplex for us plus-size models (6', 210 lbs)? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

No, I am. Ohwait... Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Sure enough you did. I guess I just saw the sentence in the middle about mandate and was feeling contrary. That sometimes happens in here lol. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

My insurance doesn't decide which procedures I do and do not have. The simply decide which ones they'll pay for. If there's a procedure I want that they wont cover, I'm free to pay for it out of pocket. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

So he should read it rather than guess? But, you will just go ahead and guess? his guess was that this 1.76B was the total cost, not the increased cost. That's clearly wrong, given we're spending many times that already. And that was my only stake in this thread. No, that wasn't my guess. My guess was that the original poster was implying that the $1.76T was an increase in costs paid by the government, and my question was basically how much of that is actually new spending, for treatments previously not received vs how much is simply the government covering costs that were previously written off by caregivers or paid by private insurers and individual patients. Did the total cost of healthcare in the US actually go up by $1.76T, or are we just paying those costs thru a different channel? And if the former, how much of that is for health issues that would have previously gone untreated due to a lack of insurance? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

The costs of Obamacare are associated with some treatments of some patients. Prior to Obamacare, did similar patients just go untreated? Or did they get treated, but someone else write the checks to cover the costs? "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)