jclalor

"Which is precisely why the Republican party is aligned with religion. It makes it easy for them to get votes from the illiterate. A strategy developed during the Reagan era, which is one of the reasons the US has been consistently been going downhill since then." How shallow. From George Washington forward, most presidents have outwardly displayed their reverence toward Christianity (with the exception of the Chicago neighborhood organizer). Lincoln designated National Prayer Day. Do you think he did that for votes? The US has been consistently going down hill since the ultra left gained a foothold in the Democrat Party. Take a look at Venezuela, and you can see where we are headed. What happens when our nasty rich people leave the country with their corporations and have a weenie roast over their burning American passports? When it happens, all the wealth-envy activists with PhDs, will be scratching their heads (in Spanish) and wondering why all their students have left the country for work. Gee, Karl Marx never mentioned living on a diet of baloney (sandwiches) after the revolution. How's has religion fared in competition with science for the last 2000 years? Don't pray in my classroom and I promise not to think in your church.

Would you believe he is my representative? He has my vote next election. I know you aren't, but you should be ashamed of the way you celebrate this kind of ignorance. Wearing ignorance on your sleeve is the new badge of honor for some.

His numbers are plummeting and it's only going to get worse for him. I'm hoping he hangs on long enough just to watch him get devoured during the GOP primaries. Although watching him have to resign in disgrace would also be equally amusing.

It doesn't take long to find quotes such as the one below, from the US Consumer Products Safety Commission in 2010: Those whuffos who-over focus on a single "child" dying in skydiving could be reminded of things like this. (Of course, 142 dead kids says nothing about participant fatality rates, nor addresses whether the activity is considered 'necessary' or 'unnecessary'. Society always accepts more carnage for things deemed normal to do, like driving in cars. To what degree the ATV use was 'just' recreational, vs. useful and normal backwoods & farm transportation, I don't know.) Most people look at skydiving as the ultimate in knocking on death's door, riding an ATV...not so much. I'm not saying it's right, but the perception of skydiving is far different than what skydivers know it to be. I occasionally jump at Lodi, anytime there's an accident there the Bay Area press is all over it, always having to highlight what the grand total of fatalities in the last 10 years that this one makes, they hate the place. If a 16 year old ever went in at Lodi, the press would be all over it.

Let's go back to post 1. Why does society saying you are mature at 18 mean you have a level of maturity? It doesn't. As other posters have said it merely makes you accountable in litigation. And as many have said, 18 is not the age at which people really mature, if they ever do. So worrying about age is just assigning an arbitrary number to something that can't be quantified. Also including smoking as something that something a mature person does is pretty absurd. Smoking is a sure sign of lack of rational mental skills. It would be nice if society could just trust a person's claim that their level of maturity was sufficient for various activities. However, we have had to set a seemingly arbitrary age limit for certain activities, I believe this is more rational than taking a child's word that their sufficiently mature enough to engage in various activities. Even though both child and parent may think it's not a problem for the child to ride in the back of a pickup truck while going down the highway, the "Nanny state" has decided that the child is not capable of making such a decision. I agree with this. I never said that smoking was a mature choice, the fact is there has to be an age where a person is allowed to make all the good and bad choices that they want. Again, it's impossible to judge emotional maturity on a case by case basis, going by chronological maturity, while far from perfect, is the only logical way it can be done. As I'm sure with most other jumpers, my friends, family, and coworkers love to ask me for an explanation of the latest publicized skydiving accident. In the last week, I have had several people ask me if you can really skydive at 16, and how did this accident happen. I think there's a world of difference to most people hearing about a skydiving accident involving an "adult" as opposed to one involving a "child". I really think the publicity does not (rightly or wrongly) shed a good light on our sport. As some people have talked about the pitfalls of a "nanny state" the same could be said about the "I want it now" society, I think waiting 2 years is not a big deal.

Why would she now be exempt from extradition?

Rubbish! I agree that people may demand pills but doctors are not taught enough about nutrition and they seldom use nutrition in their treatments. There are of course exceptions to the rule but generally this is the case. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430660/ I have friend at work who is very anti-vaccine, he is now on this thing about how MD's are taught nothing about nutrition. He gets all of his cutting edge information via Alex Jones, I really hope that's also not you also, if so, what a total waste of time for everybody here. Moonies are more easily persuaded than Alex Jones listeners.

My favorite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnJVkEX8O4&feature=youtube_gdata

I bet they hated him, he helped write the anthem of the civil rights movement, "We shall overcome"

Dohhh!!! And right when I tried to fix it, my IPhone died... For good.

I don't think the average 16 year old understands what their getting into, if you leave it to the parents, what parent doesn't think their kids are much more mature than the average kid. I know of course that I'm in the minority on this issue, I also think it makes the sport look a little flaky.

Pros: Price Great gear Lots of loads Weather Cons: Only one AFFI for all 7 jumps Documented AC maintenance issues Very "clickish" DZ, be prepared to be ignored by the locals No seat belts worn in AC Be prepared to exit right after a tandem when jumping solo Skydance may be a little more, but worth every penny.

In response to the 16 year old injured in what appears to be her first solo jump, I would think that if you are deemed not to have reached a level of maturity to vote, serve in the military, smoke, drink, serve on a jury, and so on and so forth, you are too young to decide to jump out of an airplane solo.

How did you measure that? From three plus years of angry posts and personal attacks. Do you think I've been misled? That's like asking a North Korean if he's been misled... Then again, a North Korean has an excuse.

"supposed debt" what kind of debt do you suppose that is? Why should a person not be responsible for all debt they incur? I don't want to pay for it, or do you suppose that medical debt just disappears? Doesn't seem fair? How old are you? You should have learned about life and fairness long ago. Although I don't know what's not fair about not being able to mooch off the tax-payers.

I just read this in the Skeptics dictionary.

Just out of curiosity, how would an implanted chip be any more secure than a card in your wallet? The data was stolen from the merchants. After the customers used it at the stores. I have a feeling you want the end of the world to come, so that you can watch the nonbelievers suffer. I do not know. People are thinking about the problem and the solution. Something will emerge as a change in the debit/credit card transaction process.

But he was really for it before he was against it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/24/mike-huckabee-birth-control_n_4659975.html

How long have they been saying that now? First part, since about 2007. Second part, a little more than 150 years. Obviously, we are getting closer. 150 years? Paul was saying the same thing 40 CE.

And if I were to stand up from my desk in Akron, Oh and walk 1 step west, I'd obviously be getting closer to the Pacific ocean. He'll, for that matter you take one step east.

The French.

Twerking, one of the least erotic things I have ever seen. (albeit that ain't much)

Refer to post #11

How long have they been saying that now?