TomAiello

In determining if something is (or is not) a personal attack, the topic of the thread has no relevance. To be a PA, something must be; (a) personal--directed at a specific person who posts on these forums; and (b) an attack--it must contain a pejorative element directed at the poster Quade's post fails in the second category. While he's clearly attacking Rush's sig line, he's not saying anything about Rush personally. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Budgeting in California is fundamentally different from other states in several important ways. First, the voters have (by referendum) established some "off limits" parts of the budget--things the government cannot do (to raise revenues or limit spending). The most famous example of this is Proposition 13, which greatly curtailed property tax increases. Second, the state must pass it's budget by a supermajority, which means there is a huge amount of political gamesmanship involved, and it's tremendously difficult to accomplish anything that's even remotely challenging or painful. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

For many Americans (myself included) it's not about personal defense, or home invasion scenarios, and it's not about those macho bollocks of yours. The reason that the citizens here retain the right to arm themselves is because it acts as the final check on government power. We learned that the hard way, a couple of hundred years ago, when our government (at least the one we had at the time) attempted to confiscate weapons from the citizenry. Quite honestly, it matters not one whit to me if the presence of firearms in our society makes it more dangerous, less dangerous, or has no effect on daily safety, home invasion or violent crime. The second amendment isn't about personal defense from criminals, it's even less about hunting, and it's not even remotely about target shooting. I do not wish to give up essential freedom for some temporary security or peace of mind. If you could show that somehow the right to free speech threatened our children with harm, I'd still be in favor of maintaining it, despite the increased danger. If Dick Cheney could show that abrogating fundamental rights makes our nation safer from attack, I'd _still_ be against abrogating those rights. When Barack Obushma talks about our safety being his primary concern, and promises that he can keep us safe without breaching our rights, it makes me feel ill. It's not about keeping us "safe". It's about the fundamental fabric of our social contract. Fundamental rights are more important than temporary safety. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What if mandatory student fees were being used to lobby Congress on contentious issues, where some students believed the opposite of what their fees were being used to lobby? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

They want to get it patented in Germany. No mention of whether it's already patented somewhere else. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Where's the "Change We Can Believe In"? As usual, it's business as usual in DC. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

1) I have no idea who wrote the reports or if they were actually involved in the interrogations on a personal level. Can you point me at that information? 2) Panetta is in a position to investigate the matter himself, and has access to all the records and most of the personnel involved. I trust that he knows whereof he speaks, because I don't think he'd make a written, public statement without knowing. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I was actually thinking the same thing, along with "and if this was about Clinton's sexual relations we'd have exactly opposite answers from 80% of the posters." This is obviously a topic where people have different answers, and equally, one where most people aren't going to be convinced of the opposite side You mean Republicans like John McCain, the latest Republican presidential nominee? It's silly to try to tar a whole group with that claim, especially when their most recently selected national leader was one of the most vocal opponents of the practice, and especially, especially when it's clear that leaders of the other party (like Nancy Pelosi) knew, and said nothing, while John McCain was vocal in his public opposition. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This is a personal attack. I've banned you from this forum for 14 days. WarpedSkydiver, I'm also banning you, also for 14 days. Take some time and cool off guys. This is an internet discussion. It's not worth getting that angry over. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Did you say upthread that you were thinking of using the Saiga for home defense? I decided against doing that because I'd heard that the magazine springs tended to deform the top round if left loaded long-term, and that caused a misfeed after the first shot. Have you experienced anything like that, or do you have a solution (if you think it might be a problem)? At some point maybe I'll try leaving some mags loaded for a couple months and then taking them to the range to see if it's an issue for me. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You should read the other forums here on DZ.com more often. Fincher is a well known ASC/Skyride Troll who has a used more than one login name here. Please don't feed the Trolls, folks. And with that, we're done here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

While I disagree with much of his politics, Leon Panetta is probably the most honest person in government service. His personal integrity (and ethics) are light years above Nancy Pelosi's. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've never met FallingOsh, but I'm skeptical of your claim that he has personally put many black men in prison. How many? In what capacity did he incarcerate them? Was he a police officer? A judge? A juror? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Honestly, I thought it was a bad idea under George Obushma, and I think it's a bad idea under Barack Obushma, too. Again, change we can believe in turns out to look a lot like business as usual. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Perhaps it depends on whether their current lifestyle actually conflicts with their statements? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You have an odd habit of posting totally unrelated things in the midst of discussion. Is that your way of admitting defeat? You also seem to have a habit of linking other people's thoughts rather than having any of your own. At any rate, with regard to your latest posted quotation: I am in total agreement that the US incarcerates far too many people for non-violent (and often victimless) crimes. In my opinion, it's far too expensive to do so. It's also ridiculous to deem something a "crime" that hurts no one. The US, generally, seems to do this because of the amount of crossover morality legislation (trying to tell people how to live their lives), which is a real problem, for me personally. Of course, lots of the rest of the world has similar issues (for example, Sharia law), but often in those places, rather than incarceration in a formal prison, domestic servitude is substituted. I'm against the legislation of morality in either case, although I'm "more" against it here, because here it can impact me personally. I do not, however, have any paranoid delusion that this is a racist plot to keep the black man down. I think it's just a typical screwed up government policy--prohibition didn't work the first time, but still we're doomed to a reprise. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ah, yes, the "it's all Bushes fault" surfaces again. How long can the Obama administration continue to blame Bush for everything? My guess is that we're still going the be hearing this in the 7th or 8th year of the Obama presidency. For what it's worth, Obama looks to me like he's just "Bush plus." He appears to be giving us the 3rd Bush term that he was campaigning against, with major expansions of pretty much all the Bush initiatives, along with the maintenance of various Bush foreign policy objectives. I'm so thrilled to get 16 years of Obushma. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Is there a reason that you put those little smilies at the end of your posts?

Why are you examining the UK? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't think that's a double standard. The beauty pageant chick was spouting about gay marriage. As far as I can tell, she hasn't participated in any marriage, gay or otherwise. And I think it's likely she's only going to participate in a straight marriage. The only way you can stretch the situation to make them parallel is to somehow equate soft porn type photos with being involved in a homosexual marriage, which is a pretty good reach, even with the most gynmastic of logic. You appear to have made performed those gymnastics through the device of invoking nebulous "family values" and then defining the term for yourself to include both an opposition to gay marriage _and_ an opposition to soft-core hetero porn photos. I am not convinced that the term, as commonly understood or even as invoked by beauty pageant chick, actually covers that second part. Al Gore, on the other hand, is pretty openly railing about exactly the same conduct he's engaged in personally. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I thought the best part was the co-director who quit over it, citing it as setting a poor example for her children to continue being involved in a pageant where someone had some near-naked photos. The hilarious part was that the director who quit was a former Playboy centerfold. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not sure who the "we" and "you guys" are in this instance. Can you elaborate? I seem to recall John McCain, for example, who I believe is a Republican, complaining quite a lot about "enhanced interrogation." It's also become quite obvious recently that Nancy Pelosi, who I think is a Democrat, did not complain about that at all. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's amazing how much "Change we can believe in" resembles "business as usual." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nowadays, it's more likely that they end up running the country. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How do you know that they are violent criminals? Isn't that generally something that needs to be established by a court? Honestly, I give a lot more leeway to a civilian than to a police officer. A police officer has (a) a duty to behave professionally and (b) training in how to deal with violent confrontations (and other situations). If that was a civilian (say, the guy had stolen a wallet and the wallet owner had chased him down), I wouldn't be too stressed about it. But this was a sworn, professional peace officer. He needs to be held to a higher standard. People like him (and there are lots of people in the employ of the government who abuse their power) are a major reason to distrust the government. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com