livendive

hmmm...that'd be tough, I guess that'd make me a try-skydiver...I'll try anything at least twice. I have fun on my belly. I have fun freeflying. I have fun doing CRW. I have fun taking AFF & tandem students. I have fun landing. Basically, I like all aspects of skydiving. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

...:5:0 3 tandems, two fun jumps. We had a really nice temperature inversion this weekend that made it nice & warm up there. Picture from yesterday attached...me so sexy in my nerd goggles. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

(cautiously raises hand) "Hi, my name is Dave, and I'm a single sky-guy." So what would the skydiver equivalent be of the age/gender/miscellaneous things normally listed in single ads or chatrooms or whatever? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Not a chance. Some of my best friends have political views that are dramatically different from mine. We joke about having to get smarter friends, and sometimes the discussions get a bit heated, but I love sharing air with them and downing a beer or twelve with them at the end of the day. Something as trivial as politics will never get in the way of that. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

A thought has occurred to me, and I figured I'd bounce it off you people. The myriad reasons given as justification for the war in Iraq fall far short of sufficient by my standards, but this one seems to be valid in at least a qualitative manner (though not quantitative). What if the real reason we're in Iraq is similar to the reason we sometimes buy extra bait to throw overboard while fishing. i.e. Does our invasion and occupation of Iraq smell like chum to the terrorists? The positives of this being a reason are several: 1 - The folks we're losing to terrorists are minimized by virtue of their training, armaments, and state of readiness (as opposed to Joe-civilian over here). 2 - The folks we're losing to terrorists agreed in principle to give their lives to protect our country. 3 - Our presence in Iraq is like a magnet to terrorists, pulling them in together and concentrating them such that we get better bang for our buck when we go on offence 4 - Collateral damage, though regrettable, is at least inflicted on non-American civilians and properties. 5 - The use of massive force (overkill in some instances) is much more palatable on foreign soil than it would be here. 6 - While the terrorists are busy trying to get our forces in Iraq and destabilize the interim government, they're not attacking us here. Thoughts? Just a hare-brained conspiracy theory or possible justification? Is the real reason we're there as simple as chumming up fish? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Is he any relation to Flipper? Or Herman Munster? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Apparently America is...we just elected Bush. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I can think of many adjectives to describe GWB (some of them even positive), but good, decent, hard-working, and honest are not among them. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Bush won the election because a full half of Americans have below average intelligence and many of the other half are only marginally above average. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Similarly, is there a solid argument against euthanasia or suicide that isn't religious in nature? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Once a supporter of terrorists, still a supporter of terrorists? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Bullshit. It's your job to set your own moral standard and possibly to instill a similar version in your children. In a free society, the government's obligation is to protect your right to adhere to that moral standard, and someone else's right to adhere to a different one. If you want a government that will set your moral standards for you, go live with the remnants of the Taliban. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

To answer your questions: No. But if your mother was able to work and simply decided not to then I would be unhappy that the government was forcing me to pay tax to fund her chosen lifestyle. I am unhappy that I am subsidizing people who make such choices as well. But tree was trying to make the case that the offspring of such people become chronic welfare cases themselves. I'm a living, working rebuttal to such an assertion. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

My mother has never worked a day of my life. She has collected welfare and/or social security for the last 35 years. I got my first job at age 14 and have never collected welfare. I did get two unemployment checks last year during a 1-month lag between jobs, but the combined total of those checks was less than I pay in taxes each month. Am I an anomaly that should have been prevented through mandatory birth control? Am I a "welfare sucking human being" or "too dumb or too lazy to pay for [my] own way"? Should I have been given a mandatory vasectomy during that month of unemployment? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Man or woman? So you're suggesting mandatory vasectomies for the men? Will you apply this to industries that rely on government welfare as well (e.g. steel, agriculture, airlines, etc)? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I thought freedom of religion was one of the principles of this nation. One of the big slippery slope fallacies employed by opponents of gay marriage is polygamy... a practice encouraged by several religions. If a gay person, mormon, or muslim belongs to a church that encourages them to marry in a manner other than the christian version widely accepted in this country, are those people being denied their freedom of religion? My personal take on this is that the government should simply get out of the business of marriage. There shouldn't be separate columns in the tax tables for married people and there shouldn't be over “1,138 federal statutory provisions classified in the United States Code in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving benefits, rights, and privileges.” Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Don't be so sure. An excerpt from an assignment I wrote: Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

With an increased majority in both houses of Congress and no worries about re-election, it seems likely that Bush will move farther away from the "center" rather than closer to it. He's now got another term to "legacy-build", and I expect that the downward spiral our country has taken in the last four years will be increased by an order of magnitude in the next four. Oh well, this is a democracy and the people have spoken. This election was to our country what thorns are to a rose. I just hope it's neither me nor mine that die as a result. Of course, it'd be nice if we could also find a way to make only those people who voted for him pay off the additional debts our nation accumulates, but that's just a pipe dream. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

In my book, Tuesday can be used as an excuse for drinking, so Super Tuesday must be a reasonable excuse for drinking super-size quantities. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

You realize it was the GOP poll watchers making this excuse, right? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I was in a flour-bombing competition a few weeks ago, using lunch bags that were filled with flour (~3 lbs) & taped shut. We all got out at 3500 (separate passes) and the rule was no releases below 500 feet, so basically the downwind leg of the landing pattern was the bombing run. Good clean fun...ok, so kinda messy, but fun nonetheless.

I was *amazed* at the turnout this morning. What were others' observations on turnout? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

No point made. Get an intelligent liberal on here and I'll listen to him and be open to his views. There are several intelligent liberals on here that I listen to. Of those leaning toward Kerry, I'd include Kallend, Bill Von, Quade, and PhillyKev (among others). Of those leaning toward Bush I'd include Pajarito, and umm... I'm having a hard time remembering others but I know there are some. There are also some intelligent conservatives on here, e.g. TomAiello, Kennedy, Douva (among others), and I listen to them as well. The arguments (loose use of the word) I tune out the quickest are those shrill rants that most often seem to come from the Republican side of liberalism. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Don't want to see this turn into a political fight that gets moved to Speaker's Corner, just curious how many dz.commers have voted or intend to vote later today. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

None of the above. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)