TomAiello

It's kind of tough to pin down who "us" is, though. The majority of my ancestors immigrated (legally) to the US between 1910 and 1950. It seems reasonable that other people ought to be able to do the same, but it also seems reasonable that those other people ought to abide by the rules in place about how to do that. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Wow. I don't even know what to say, after having read up on that. They _admitted in court_ that they were in that neighborhood looking for a car to steal. I'm not sure how much I blame the guys who beat them up. I mean, if they came cruising by my house looking to steal my car, I'd be pretty angry, too. Sounds to me like maybe everyone involved was in the wrong. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think you're missing the distinction. I don't think he's arguing that folks here legally (in other words, people born here, regardless of their extraction) are the problem. You appear to be setting up a straw man (an argument that citizenship is somehow based on race or ethnic derivation) in order to claim that is his contention. I'm pretty sure it's not, and while your point is valid, it is not on point to the original discussion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There is also an extremely large difference in what you can get when you are here. Today's immigrants have access to a large set of publicly funded social services. For what it's worth, I'd personally be in favor of totally open borders and immigration, coupled with zero social programs. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The fact that he's here legally, and in accordance with the current governing law of the land? The fact that he is a citizen? The fact that he was born within the borders of the US (and hence, is a citizen)? Just a few things that might make him "special". Well that and he's one of the tallest people I've ever met. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Reposting a personal attack that you were banned for posting in the 1st place isn't recommended. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've edited the name of the Italian terminal wall in a couple of posts in this thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I suspect the NPS would be quite pleased if no one showed up at BD. They'd love to cancel the whole thing and be able to stop doing it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I used to have an all white S1. I washed it in a washing machine on gentle, with woolite. It worked, but probably wasn't recommended by the manufacturer. I'd imagine that the recommended cleaning is pretty much the same as for a canopy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

So then I guess the question is: Do we treat them as individual criminals, or do we try to engage in some kind of massive re-education (as in post WW II Japan, for example)? It doesn't sit well with me to punish an entire culture because of the actions of a few. But then again, if the entire culture is truly the root cause? I wonder what the Islamic equivalent of a karaoke bar is? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I guess the point I was trying to make is that almost anyone who would murder a bunch of innocents is a lone wacko. Whether or not he's using religion (or whatever else) as an excuse is beside the point. He's still a wacko, no matter how he wants to justify his wacko-ness. The fact that he uses something (whatever it is) as a justification isn't really a reflection on the underlying thing. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Do you have a news link? Ah, here's one. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Do you have a news link? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um...HealthSouth, anyone? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The British invented Fish and Chips, which is one of my personal favorites. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not sure how to answer. I'm an atheist, so I've got no real religion to consider. But I'd say the dictates of my conscience take precedence over the dictates of my government, so in the sense that my personal ethics are my "religion", I guess my religion wins out. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Anyone who would accuse John Glen of never having a real job is criminally delinquent in their knowledge of 20th century history. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My personal knowledge and evaluation of his current jumping skills. I taught his FJC, I've jumped with him on multiple occasions since then. I'm not just basing this on the info he gave out on this forum, in other words. Edit to add: I've also jumped that site multiple times, so I've got an idea of what the difficulties are, along with what his skill set is. Edit to add also: This is not meant as a general recommendation for any other person or any other set of sites. My comment was particularly directed at Jaap, and particularly at one specific site. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I know a current jumper who has a job as a tower maintenance guy. I also had a student earlier this year who works as a tower builder. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I dunno. Total number of people who died seems like a pretty good yardstick for measuring who "lost" a war. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Damn straight! And don't you derned furreners forgit it! Everything is bigger and better here because we're bigger and better. That's because we have McDonald's Happy Meals. Come visit, and eat with us, and you too can be bigger and better upon your return home. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that's a fair comment don't you? Is not the %GDP a better comparator of how generous a country is? If bill gates gives $100 to charity that's far less generous than a 10 year old kid who gives their $50 life savings to charity. I strongly disagree. If you want to really change something for the better, you're best off to spend some time building up your resources so that you can make contributions of larger absolute value. In the final analysis, the true value of the contributions is going to determine their efficacy. The relative value to the giver isn't terribly relevant. Look at it this way. Say you are a high school student, and you want to change a law that you find terribly unjust. You could drop out of high school, get a minimum wage job, and spend the rest of your life giving half of your (minimum wage) income to that cause. Or, you could finish high school, go to college, and go to law school (during which time the guy who dropped out could deride you as "not doing anything"). Then, you could throw a much larger chunk of change, as well as some personal expertise at the problem. By identifying the most efficient way to create the change, you are more likely to actually get the change made. You may not have the luxury of feeling superior about your personal sacrifices in the interim, but you are a hell of a lot more likely to actually make a difference. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, dude? You may have missed it, but the UK and Canada are pretty much the US's two staunchest allies. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You'd laugh if you heard all the names that were suggested when this forum was created. Personally, I voted for "the Trash Can." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Wacko people are going to do wacko stuff. Folks will then cast about searching for something to blame it on. They'll settle on video games, or rock music, or religion, because it's an easy explanation that doesn't challenge them to face the facts that sometimes wacko people just do wacko stuff because they are wacko--and they're no way to prevent that. Even if you could totally eliminate all vestiges of Christianity, Quake, Judas Priest, and Islam from the world, we'd still have wackos out there doing ridiculous things, and saying twinkies made them do it. And then we'd have concerned citizen's groups running around trying to ban twinkies... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com