TomAiello

So? Lots of resources are scarce and depletable. Are we regulating the amount of gold, or diamonds that people can put in their jewelry? No, because we already have a very good, self-regulating mechanism for sorting all that out. People who are willing to pay more for things get them. Same situation with oil. That's an externality. The removal of CO2 from the atmosphere is an externality just the same as releasing a pollutant. I have no idea how that example bears on this argument, but perhaps you can explain. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What's the bearing of some old test from Australia? How does it relate to a fire department exam given in the 21st century, in the USA? I think the only relation is that you are using it to divert attention away from the real issues here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Amazing how "Change we can believe in" follows a timetable written by the last administration. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Please provide the evidence you mention. It tells them where you are standing... But it also says you ARE ready. Personally, my home defense plan includes moving to a good position between my family and any intruders (yes, I've picked out a couple of them in our house), and then loudly announcing that (a) I'm armed, (b) I've called the police, and (c) that I will fire on any intruder who approaches me/my family. I'm sure that they'll now where I am. I'm also pretty convinced that unless they're professionals coming to kill me, they're unlikely to advance further. edit to add: FWIW, my primary home defense weapon is a Benelli M4. I'm happy with it's reliability (and rate of fire) regardless of it's failure to have a loud racking noise. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Absolutely. It gives the Obushma administration more guys to send to Afghanistan. Hooray! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If there are no externalities (no pollution released, full price paid for fuel), then there is no reason that anyone ought to care about other people's gas mileage--it simply doesn't have any impact on them. Increasing gas mileage is a means to an end--not the end in itself. If you can find a better way to the end, there is no reason to continue worrying about the (obsolete) means. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A better solution would be to require complete internalization of exhaust (and it's disposal at the expense of the vehicle owner). If you don't subsidize the fuel, and you don't allow the externalities of exhaust, people can choose whatever vehicle they want to pay the (true) costs of operating. CAFE limits are a very strange (and silly mechanism) since they encourage the conglomeration of auto manufacturing, handicapping those smaller companies that would create very fuel efficient vehicles (and creating a distorted incentive for them to be taken over by the large conglomerates, hence putting them under management control of people who don't necessarily share an underlying "high mileage" ethos.) You might be able to make such a system work if you had some kind of tradeable credit scheme in place, but honestly, why bother making a byzantine solution yet more obscure and complex? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I bet McCain would have moved faster (and stronger) on the Gitmo issues. Having actually been a POW, he seems more sensitive to that sort of thing. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Probably that the mere quality of being a minority (although, in this case, not a Latino--maybe that's just for women) would make one "wiser" regardless of actually having studied the material. It's downright scary that promotions in a totally results-based profession could be awarded (or denied) based on skin color. I doubt very much that the fire cares what color the guys fighting it are. And if someone's home is consumed by an out of control blaze, it will be scant consolation to them that they have advanced racial "equity" by making such a sacrifice. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nor are the anti-war folks. I don't think that when they said they wanted to withdraw troops from Iraq (right on schedule with the Bush timetable) that they meant they'd like them redeployed to Afghanistan. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Which might matter if you happen to live in Los Angeles. But what about the people who live elsewhere (or are in that minority of Angelenos) and don't want a one size fits all solution imposed on them by some self-righteous lawyer from the big city? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

WTF? It's a recycled pet name--we heard frequently during the last administration, along with caricatures of the president as a monkey. It's been resurrected by the other side now that their guy isn't president. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Self righteous much? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

22 people can't fit in a C172 but one person can fit in a toyota corolla. Which uses more fuel, one Twin Otter load or 8 Cessna 182 loads? I honestly don't know the answer to that question--do you? If it's the Cessna loads, then aren't most skydivers guilty of "driving an SUV" whenever they can, because almost everyone would prefer that Otter? I guess that depends on what other vehicles you have at your disposal. What if you need the F350 to haul your lumber, because you're a contractor? Then would it make financial sense to buy a Corolla to drive sometimes? Would it (in net) increase or decrease your carbon footprint? I don't know the answers to those questions, but it sounds like you are certain that you do. Or are you just stereotyping people you see driving around, and assuming that you know all the circumstances of their lives, without actually having any information about them? Of course you wouldn't do that, would you? Skydiving basically involves burning fossil fuels for our personal entertainment. Living in a glass house like that, it's odd to be throwing stones at the choices that other people have made. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Do you have some fuel consumption numbers to back that up? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Box o'Truth Shotgun tests, where he fires 12 gauge shot of varying kinds into a box holding sheets of wallboard 3 inches apart, and counts the number of sheets penetrated. Not terribly useful for determining penetration into human targets, but combined with the gel tests linked earlier, gives more info on wall penetration. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ditto. There's a great tendency in our politics (and law) to dismiss views with disagree with as uneducated, unwise, or just dumb (and people we disagree with as "unqualified"). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have you read his book? It's pretty interesting stuff, actually. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yep. Just an unwise black man. We all know his privileged upbringing has warped his views. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. But the truth is that a new Saiga 20 is only about $425 or so. It all depends on your budget. If you've got a larger budget and want it all tacticooled up, have a look at Red Stick Firearms. I think there are only Saiga 12's on the web site, but I've seen a couple Red Stick Saiga 20's that were pretty much the same as the 12's. Mississippi Auto Arms If you're looking for accessory advice and/or leads for good deals, read through the Saiga 12 forums, too. Here is their Saiga 20 forum. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I was thinking that "ignore him" ought to be sufficient. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Whose pain, and whose gain? It's very easy to hold onto your lofty environmental principles when you have enough to eat. When it becomes a matter of feeding your children? Things might look a little different. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Does anyone know of any case law related to self-defense shootings and various shotgun rounds? Personally, I decided that if I'm willing to point the gun at a human and pull the trigger, I want to kill them. My "warning" load is #4 hardened buck or 00 buck, and I generally don't load anything else. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That or a used 20ga. Saiga. Second the Saiga 20. They're reliable, rugged and take magazines for higher capacity and faster reloads. Plus, they're fairly cheap. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How is oral sex degrading to women? Is cunnilingus degrading to men? What about genital intercourse? Who does that degrade? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com