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but let's leave Ben Affleck on the asteroid this time

You could always fly to India or Thailand for a more qualified doctor, better health care facility, and a fraction the price of an American doctor.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/21/60minute s/main689998.shtml

However... If you needed to sue for malpractice then your up the proverbial creek.

http://www.sciencemaster.com/jump/space/shuttle.ph p

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/facts/shu ttlefacts-toc.html

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/factoids/shfact s.htm

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/factoids/orbite r.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/spacesta ts.html

http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/shuttle.htm

You're welcome.

The evidence is everywhere if you'd bothered to look:

http://www.amperspective.com/html/aclu_report_12-2 004.html

The ACLU said that these men were among hundreds of Muslims who were arbitrarily and indiscriminately arrested even though they had not engaged in criminal activity of any sort. The men languished in jail - sometimes in solitary confinement - for weeks and sometimes months, even after it became clear that they were innocent of any charges related to terrorism.

An earlier ACLU report, America's Disappeared, discussed the roundups and detentions. For many, the nightmare began with their arrest. FBI and immigration officials dragged some people out of their houses in the middle of the night in front of frightened wives and children.

Others were picked up for being in the wrong place -- like Ahmed Abualeinen, who was arrested by agents who had come looking for his roommate but took him instead. Still others were arrested after routine traffic stops.

For many, it would be days before they could contact their families with their whereabouts and weeks before they could access legal help. The government refused to release the names of people it had detained. Behind bars, many suffered from harassment and even physical abuse

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM .20050918.warar0918/BNStory/National/

Ottawa -- The new U.S. ambassador to Canada is making no apologies for Maher Arar's deportation to Syria, arguing that it's better to be safe than sorry in the fight against international terrorism.

David Wilkins is also warning that other Canadians with dual citizenship could face a similar fate if they fall under suspicion.

"The United States is committed in its war against terror," Mr. Wilkins said.

"We're committed to making sure that our borders are secure and our country is safe. Will there be other deportations in the future? I'd be surprised if there's not."

Mr. Arar, a Canadian citizen of Syrian birth, was arrested in New York in September 2002, accused by U.S. authorities of having ties to al-Qaeda and deported to Syria.

He denies any terrorist activity and says he was tortured into false confessions in Damascus -- only to be released without charge after a year in jail and returned to Canada.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/06/60minute s/main548023.shtml

Guilty Until Proven

(CBS) Recently, the Justice Department's inspector general released a report criticizing the unduly harsh way our government treated many of the 1,200 Muslim and Middle Eastern men who were rounded up and questioned by U.S. authorities in the months following Sept. 11.

As 60 Minutes first reported earlier this year, and the Justice Department report confirms, many of those men who were held in solitary confinement in maximum security prisons for months on end - without their families being notified, without real access to legal aid, and without being charged with a crime.

If they are noting a decrease in the polar caps I wonder how is this affecting mars atmosphere. Scientists believe they could terraform mars by increasing it's temperature and melting some ice.

Pray tell me, which option that is.

Is it the option that will deny you coverage to get a heart transplant or rehabilitative care if, on a whim, they decide you don't need one, and leave you to beg like a bum at the capricious door of some Christian Conservative charity (assuming you can get up and do so)?

Is it the option that is so repulsive to doctors because of all the paperwork (and the refusal of the payer to pay the doctors an honest amount for their work) that 10% of all doctors now require cash payments? (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/05/health/ main610269.shtml)

Is it the option that is completely avoided, shunned and despised by the entire civilized world outside the US and has absolutely no chance of ever being gaining a foothold elsewhere, no matter how bad socialized medicine supposedly gets?

Tell me again which option that is that you'd rather use.

Me, I'd rather not spend the rest of my life giving all of my income away (and the estate I plan to leave to my kids) to a hospital because one bout of cancer overran my insurance coverage and left me millions of dollars in debt. I'd just as soon leave this world and let my kids have the house instead of letting the hospital put a lien on it. Gee, I wonder which is the only country on Earth where this typically happens?

Hm, I think I see the misunderstanding here. You're working with the understanding that the police (and justice system) are in place to directly prevent harm to you, which isn't a bad assumption in most cases: I can almost guarantee I'd know the outcome of my attempted mugging if I tried it in front of a police officer. So, I think I now understand your side of the issue. "Why burden myself with risk if the police will protect me?" It's a good question.

Here's my side of it, in two parts. The first is the simple matter of police not actually being present in the time of need. This could be for any number of reasons, ranging from a car not being in your neighborhood at the time, to a hurricane taking down the city. Here's an interesting link to a summary of average response times to 911 calls for a large American city.

The second reason is that police (and, for that matter, the government) are *not obligated* to provide protection for any individual citizen. Sounds crazy, but that's what the law of the land (USA, anyhow) says: Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. Ct. of Ap., 1981); Gonzalez v. Castle Rock is another one making its way through the courts, and a disturbing one, but the sticking point isn't actually the matter of the police being obligated, but whether they are liable for specific wording of some of their ordinances and/or some of the procedural mishaps that took place (or didn't), in relation to the wording of the ordinances involved with that locale's restraining orders.

In summary, the justice system (and police) exist as a deterrant and/or to punish crimes which have already occurred. Responsibility for one's own protection rests directly in the hands of the individual person. This is a somewhat simplified matter if there is only one's self to protect: you will either choose to take responsibility, or not. For those with family, it becomes a more involved issue.

Anyhow, I hope I've presented the case clearly, and cleared up some of the possible sticking points. I'll follow this up as a journal entry or something, if you'd prefer.

I'm not challenging your numbers - do enough polls and you'll get almost any result - but I wonder if you can tell me the poll you saw. The numbers I saw doing a google search are 55% (Nov. 2004), 47% (Nov. 1991), and 42% (Aug. 2005) of Americans believing in Creationism.

Schoomaker also pointed out, for example, that the 3rd Infantry Division, the first Army division to return for a second tour in Iraq, has re-enlisted 117 percent of its goal this year, and 1st Cavalry Division retention is at 136 percent of its goal.

"This is important to us because this helps offset the shortfall in new recruits entering the ranks," he said.

Schoomaker said Army recruiting, which exceeded its monthly goals in June and July after falling short from February though May, is looking relatively strong this month. He added that the commander of the Army organization in charge of recruiting and initial military training told him recently that he thinks the Army will fall only "a couple of thousand" soldiers short of the 80,000 recruits it hoped to have by Sept. 30.

Looks like Pat Robertson does have God's ear.

I am also Venezuelan. Those sites that Artemis3 links to are highly biased. The offer from Chavez is nothing more than political buffoonery. Chavez has consistenly played the "protector of the people" card, and this is just more of that.

I'm amazed that someone that actually posts on slashdot (which means he's in a very select few considering the situation of the country), can be part of this machinery.

Please don't "liberate" us. But do understand that Chavez is a miserable liar, who has ties to Fidel Castro and has been properly coached by the former.

Sure, Chavez has done what no other president has done, actually pretend to care for the poorest, offering several programs. However these programs never work as well as he professes on his TV shows (yes he has a TV show called "hello president").

While he has repeatedly posed himself as the protector of the disadvantaged, Chavez has spent ridiculous amounts of money on himself, his trips around the world, personal cheffs, clothes, etc. You can only imagine how the president of one of the richest oil producing countries in the world lives. For those of you who don't know, all oil in the country belongs to the government (supposedly for the people).

The Six Flags offer is actually very generous and very sensible. The hurricane refugees are being relocated to the Houston Astrodome. (See http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/31/national /main808603.shtml) Six Flags Astroworld is across the parking lot from the Astrodome. Rather than having a bunch of bored kiddies sitting in an empty old football stadium for the fifth day in a row, they can enjoy the theme park and take their minds off things for a spell.

I agree with the great grandparent. Nothing is gonna stop terrorism. The more terrorists you kill, the more martyrs you create.

Now we are in Iraq. I don't know who is more evil. Saddam for killing his people with banned chemical and biological weapons or us supplying such weapons to him, knowing that he was using them on his own people.

Nicely put. You'd probably like Philip K. Dick's short story, "The Pre-Persons", if you haven't already read it.

Macka and others who frame abortion as the simple, obvious right of the woman involved are presupposing that the fetus has no rights of its own, which should be a (if not the) central question in the debate over abortion. (Also, those who take the "her body, her life" position should, to be consistent, support legalized prostitution. I don't know how many of them do.)

Unless, of course, you claim that "a fetus is not a human being" and has the same rights as, say, a fly.

I don't see why humanness, for ethical purposes, should be a discontinuous, either-or variable. Clearly it is unreasonable to say that a 38-week fetus has the rights of a fly, while a newborn baby has the same rights as you, me, and Abe Vigoda, but it doesn't make much more sense to extend those same rights all the way back to the mindless, microscopic fertilized egg. I would say that factors like the ability to feel pain, to fear death, and to enjoy life are more relevant than any arbitrary, excluded-middle definition of humanity.

Personally I'd say that late-term abortion is sometimes wrong, and infanticide is sometimes right. Location (in or out of the womb) is not in itself a factor with ethical relevance.

Anyway, I'd guess there's quite a bit I disagree with you about, but you're dead on about the lack of rational debate, at least.

-FL

Is it your position that every police officer must always ticket every person they see exceeding the speed limit or safely rolling through a stop sign instead of coming to a complete and utter stop?

The kids are now charged with felonies, and you're mentioning traffic violations? In some states, traffic violations aren't even considered to be crimes, only `infractions' (it depends on the state.)

If a cop sees you speed, nobody's likely to get on his case for giving you a warning or just letting you go, unless you're a celebrity and he stops to have his picture taken with you and it becomes public knowledge.

This case is different. The school district claims that a crime has occurred, and it seems quite likely that the law has been violated in some manner (though I don't think the police should have been involved.) And they're pressing charges.

There's a big difference between a victimless crime like speeding, and a case where you DO have a victim, you DO have evidence, and the victim is actively pushing for the police to take action.

Do you have a shred of authority backing up your position?

I would cite to castle rock, _ U.S_ (2005) for the proposition that police have wide discretion not to arrest people.

Colorado law has not created a personal entitlement to enforcement of restraining orders. It does not appear that state law truly made such enforcement mandatory.

In any event, the police usually don't know much about computers, and they certainly aren't equipped to judge the merits of a case without even talking to the people accused of the crime. I'd say the police chief's reaction was appropriate, even if the case turns out to have no merit (though I doubt this will happen. Though the DA may very well decide not to prosecute, or the school district may drop the charges.)

If you actually read the letter, you'd see he even asked the DA for advice, who suggested that charges be filed.

Margarita Marinova says you are wrong herself right there in that video. (Watch through a commercial first tho.)

NO! That is a recipe for continuation of the status quo. They BOTH need to feel the heat NOW. Otherwise the Dems will take over and think their social agenda of increasing the loss of our freedoms for different reasons was the cause of their "success" at the polls. You wind up in a perpetual seesaw resulting in the steady elimination of all rights equally between the two. You repeatedly trade bully one for bully two, then reverse and repeat.

There is nothing you or I can do to stop the pendulum of the bi-polar polity, other than convince enough people who will vote to actually change it. There was a chance at a third party with clout, but Buchanan, the Republican loyalist to the end, took the FEC money and trashed them in 2000. Demcorats still blame Nader, the fools, they should be blaming Buchanan, Perot and Ventura.

In the current circumstances, the best that can be achieved is an evenness of parties, and the abrasion that comes with it. I think that a large part of the economic boom in the 90's was due to the great friction between the parties. Neither side had enough power to suck their vigorish off of the top, and the free market that could, did. The equities traders screwed it up, but equity traders should be dealt with. If they didn't venture for capitalisation of the business, they are leeches, sucking from the valuation of the compensation provided to the producers of the product.

An Abridged Listing Why I Beat Upon Republicans Presently

The republicans have gained the upper hand in large part by betraying both their core ideology and the Dreamtime America. NeoConservatism's maturation can be traced from marxism to trotskyite CIA stooges to Scoop Jackson DemoHawks to Reagan to the Son of Bush. They have never given up the marxist trait of spewing rhetoric, the truth notwithstanding. The self-confessed American traitor, David Horrowitz calls Kerry and Fonda traitors, and is given stature within the Right. The putrescence of moral relevancy oozing from the partisan defense of a president who fixed the intelligence and the facts around his policy of familial vengence, and took America into an unrighteous conflict without contemplating the aftermath. a president who sings sweet songs of liberty and democracy, yet gives aid to dictatorial destroyers of democracy, has liasons with leaders loathsome of liberty, and goes out on ManDates with Saudi Princes who come to the USA laden with extra baggage.

When did conservatives begin to support due process of law applied inequally to humans? That is a high crime against America, yet they still repeatedly remind us that a stained blue dress is impeachable? Why not decry Blood-Stained Iraq Sands?

Bush's SCOTUS nomimee Roberts is a dangerous and activist judge who DOES NOT adjudicate using original intent, and all the country can think about is which way he'll decide on abortion cases. His assent in the Hamdi v Rumsfeld appeal is frightful. It posits that a president is above the very law that legitimises his power, stating this is a function of war power, in a war upon unstated enemies, of an indeterminate duration. Why hasn't anyone asked Roberts just what the hell he was doing during that ongoing criminal enterprise: The Reagan Administration? This is ano

Policy among airlines is full compliance with terrorist demands

That's kind of a monumentally stupid thing to say. I'm afraid "airline policy" is and always has been pretty much inconsequential during an actual terrorist hijacking. What really matters is conventional wisdom among your average traveler, which used to go something like, keep quiet, wait it out and someone will eventually negotiate your release. This face tells you pretty much all you need to know about the new conventional wisdom.

If they were to take hostages among the passengers and demand this armored cockpit to be opened, there is no person with a conscience who would keep the cockpit locked down.

Another gem of conventional wisdom that's been trashed a while ago. This one took all of 23 minutes to go out the window. Where've you been?

the doors would have to be opened for other reasons(runs to the john and for refreshments) which could be exploited to gain entry.

First of all those are openings that would occur at fairly irregular intervals, so a carefully choreographed operation among multiple hijackers is almost out of the question. However, use two doors, like an airlock, and it becomes totally out of the question. Sorry, yes, it really is that easy.

you lose

You can see an article about it here.

What is this "war on terror" that you speak of? Ahhh... I bet you mean the "struggle against violent extremism"...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/26/news/terror .php

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/27/opinion/ smith/main712317.shtml

That's even more shocking!!!

"Christians" are so arrogant that they believe they can kill anyone they like, and their killing should not be considered.

The "Christian" U.S. has supported a government that has killed perhaps 3,000,000 people since the end of the Second World War. None of those people threatened the United States.

The "Christians" in the U.S. think these people and their families and friends don't matter: Iraqi Civilian Body Count.

Osama bin Laden said that he attacked solely because of the U.S. government support for killing Arabs. Is that true? Did the U.S. government kill Arabs? Yes.

If your gov't chooses killing as policy, expect others to choose the same.

I'm against violence. In my opinion, violence is caused by mental illness, and has nothing to do with religion.

Many fundamentalist "Christians" believe that the "end time" is near. They believe that during the approach of the "end time", the Jews will have power over all of the region around Israel. Then they believe Jews will either die or be converted to Christianity.

Wait, there's more: The Jews support the Christian violence because they want U.S. citizens to be involved in "defense" of Israel. That reduces the cost to them. The Israelis believe that, this time, the Christians won't really kill them. That's in spite of the fact that, during the Second World War, "Christians" killed half of the Jews in the entire world. (At present, there are about 14,000,000 Jews in the entire world. More Jews live in New York than live in Israel.)

Read all about it: Zion's Christian Soldiers

Again, if your gov't chooses killing as policy, expect others to choose the same.

Those who want corruption want stupid patents so they can scare others away from working in their area of technology. They don't care if they sometimes lose a few court cases due to stupidly weak patents. In general, taking something to court is so expensive that the corrupters win just because of the threat.

A major way those who want corruption destroy government effectiveness is by starving the agencies of operating funds. That's what happened to the patent office. The corrupters won't allow hiring of enough people to do the job well.

For a discussion of starving the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, regulates the stock exchange), see this article: Keeping the SEC on a Starvation Diet. The corrupters don't want their stock manipulations discovered. They want more of this: Enron fraud, this: WorldCom fraud and this: Tyco fraud.

They are corrupting the IRS (U.S. Internal Revenue Service, collects taxes), too. The corrupters definitely do NOT want their tax returns to be audited, so they arrange that there is not enough money for audits: Bush Request for IRS Not Enough, Report Says

They are corrupting the courts. Those who want corruption spend huge amounts to get lazy judges elected, and work for the defeat of judges who do a good job.

Another major way that corruption of the courts is accomplished by not giving the courts enough money to operate. A 2003-06-24 op-ed article by Charles Williamson, then president of the Oregon State Bar, in The Oregonian, the Northwest's largest newspaper, said, "The crippling loss of nearly one-third of their staff have left our courts unable to hear criminal cases such as car theft, shoplifting, prostitution, fraud and identity theft."

The Bush administration has been appointing heads of government agencies who reduce the role of those agencies. After they destroy the effectiveness of the agencies, they go back to running their businesses, and the corruption gives them more profit.

The book Other People's Money discusses corporate corruption. It's excellent. Secrets and Lies: Operation "Iraqi Freedom" and After: A Prelude to the Fall of U.S. Power in the Middle East?, by Dilip Hiro is an excellent book about the corruption that led to the most recent U.S.-Iraq war.

The corruption is extremely widespread. The books mentioned above and the 3 movies and 34 books reviewed in this article are not enough to tell the story: Unprecedented Corruption: A guide to conflict of interest in the U.S. government.

In general, most Americans don't want to know how corrupt their government has become. Most don't read books. The TV news they watch is heavily influenced by the corrupters. For example, GE, one of the largest sellers of weapons, owns NBC, one of the major ways Americans get their news.

The main reason that instant messaging (IM) is popular among young adults is that it provides the kind of instant gratification that e-mail cannot provide. IM gives you instant interaction with the other party: friend, girl friend, etc. E-mail responses are usually not instantaneous and depend on whether the recipient of the e-mail note has logged onto her computer and actually read the note.

True. Of course, there's still a 300-odd G$ deficit, and a seven-point-mumble T$ debt.

The US political system is so stable that nothing short of a nuclear holocaust could pull it apart

You obviously haven't read enough of the "Peak Oil" doomsday scenarios. The general theme: "Inadequate petroleum supplies impact fertilizer and fuel production; with reduced fertilizer availability and increased farm equipment operation (fuel) costs, crop yields go down while prices rise. Fuel costs increases also impact current (diesel trailer) transport systems, impeding local distribution of food supplies. Food shortages and rioting ensue." Enter "peak oil" and "food" into your favorite search engine for colorfully terrified elaborations.

Of course, there's the likelihood of a serious oil war (think "Fallout", not this current localized mess) breaking out when things get that hairy, and that might involve someone throwing nukes around, but "nuclear holocaust" would then be effect of (or shared effect with) the US political collapse, not the cause.

Anyone know the source (and original phrasing) of the quote: "Civilization is only three missed meals away from anarchy?"

Bush's approval rating was below 44% in October 2004. Link. That didn't help Kerry a whole hell of a lot.

And even some decent - albeit basic - analyis. Here's a Real Media link. If you prefer a different format other than Real, you'll have to find it yourself. Right now, the video segments are available at the main CBS News website, via the link titled, "NASA Celebrates and Studies." Apparently there were two "events" NASA is looking at. One is a piece of tile that apparently came off the shuttle, and the other is a piece of mystery debris that came off the main fuel tank or a solid fuel booster.

And even some decent - albeit basic - analyis. Here's a Real Media link. If you prefer a different format other than Real, you'll have to find it yourself. Right now, the video segments are available at the main CBS News website, via the link titled, "NASA Celebrates and Studies." Apparently there were two "events" NASA is looking at. One is a piece of tile that apparently came off the shuttle, and the other is a piece of mystery debris that came off the main fuel tank or a solid fuel booster.

I realize that it's hip to bash on Americans these days--especially if one is an American. Hell, I've done it. But in this case, it's not America that has the problem, it's one asshole lawyer from Florida: Jack Thompson

Do a google search for him.

Jack isn't just against nudity, mind you. He's out to convince everyone that video games are a direct product of satan himself. He deplores pretty much every aspect of video games, and isn't afraid to link pretty much anything to them. It won't be long now, and he'll be telling us that games cause cancer and explosive diarrhea.

I can't believe it, but for once, I'm actually rooting for the evil empire.

Dear Congressman Sodrel:

I am appalled by your vote in favor of HR3199, "USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act". As I am sure you are aware, and as can be found from http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID =17920&c=206 and http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/21/attack/m ain564189.shtml (as well as many other places), The USA PATRIOT Act has been misused several times. This sort of reactionary bill passing is a disgrace to our country, and should not be tolerated.

Respectfully,
[...]

Ah, you know what? I think we need more links:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5. A rebuttal for some sense of "objectivity", whatever that means.

I know, I know, they're all quack theories... but what about this one. I mean, just look at this site and all it's pictoral evidence.

Duct Tape, the savoir of mankind, can do anything it puts its mind to. First and foremost, it can cure plantar warts! Hooray.

A great safety improvement would still be proper armor. Doesn't take a genius but then the current administration is one of anti-geniuses who can't handle the truth even when their faces are rubbed in it, but sure, let's have more contests while soldiers die left and right in Iraq, and who will ever benefit if they still can't get properly-armored vehicles?

There was a 60 Minutes peice on a country in South Africa, I think it was Mozambique, but I don't remember.

South Africa is a country. If you want to talk about the region it's Southern Africa.

Also, the only mention that I could find to something similar to what you discuss in your post is Equatorial Guinea, which is part of West Africa or Central Africa, depending on who you listen to. Either way, you're off by a few thousand miles. Oh, and they have a president, not a king.

Ok, moron, since this is such a big deal to you, maybe it would help if you actually knew what happened?

There is a little problem with your rant. He admitted he lied, or do you consider "false testimony" and "a lie" to be different things. That would be classic if you do though.

"(CBS) Overcoming his earlier defiance, President Clinton on Friday acknowledged that he gave false testimony in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, just as prosecutors have contended. Mr. Clinton's admission in a deal with Independent Counsel Robert Ray brings an apparent end to the legal woes that have plagued his presidency and spare him from a possible criminal indictment after he leaves office."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/01/19/politics /main265539.shtml

Your failure to understand this is very dangerous. No citizen should be so easily manipulated by lawyer-types into believing what the lawyer wants them to believe.

And when you bought into the spin that "false testimony" and "a lie" are not the same that was not manipulation? Open your eyes, no president should be allowed to lie to the court, oh, excuse me, give false testimony to the court. Not even the sympathetic ones you like. That is a line that should not be crossed, its too dangerous.

I'm just wondering, with all these "hacks" to Google Maps when they're going to unlock the hidden sex game in Southern California?

The Amish have an incidence of autism that is less than 1/10th of the general population of the US.

60-Minutes did a story recently on their developing genetic problems. Among the numbers mentioned in the link, of a hundred or so cases known worldwide of Cohen's syndrome, over a dozen are found in in the Ohio community.

Not to ruin a perfectly good joke, but for whatever reason, the Amish seem pretty gung-ho for biotechnology and what not (at least in their embrace of GM crops and what not). Another reason may be the fact that the Amish also all descended from a few hundred Swiss Germans (who did and continue to marry within themselves) so they suffer from the founder effect.

According to the wikipedia article on the Amish, there was a 60 Minutes piece some time ago about a clinic the Amish themselves set up in Ohio in order to investigate Amish-only genetic diseases (including one that caused severe mental retardation and various other maladies).

> I would run up and give every Pakistani soldier I
> saw a big wet smooch on the cheek.

Yeah, don't forget that the mustard gas was sold to Bush by Pakistan. That "comerce" took place for many years, until something happened, then Bush was no longer a friend and guess what? There was lots of bussineses to be made invading the US, which would mean more money,so they give you a little democracy, they liberate you, of course in the process of it they kill part of your family because they mistakenly bombed your house instead of the insurgent militia, who cares? Now you go and kiss every Pakistan soldier... I suppose you would have lots of dinamite stripped around your body when you kiss them!!

"Science sees no racial distinctions among us"

Sure about that?

I'm no fan of the Iraq war (I would have been in favor of it if it hadn't happened under such false dishonest pretenses) but the posts spewing crap about "that's what you get for..." are vitriolic and ignorant.

Sept. 11 happened without Iraq, the Morocco bombings happened without Iraq (Morocco? Arab/muslim country? Hello?), the Turkish synagogue bombing happened without Iraq, the Paris bombings happaned without Iraq, and many others did as well. Get over yourselves.

My sympathy for the poor bastards who were killed or hurt in London.

Slashdot comments have made me aware of how little Americans know about the activities of their own government. Yet surprisingly those with little awareness often have extremely strong and angry opinions.

Michael Moore's information about the involvement of Saudis with the Bush family came from this book:

The Iron Triangle: Inside the secret world of The Carlyle Group by Dan Briody, Wiley, 2003, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. Reviews: Powell's Barnes & Noble Amazon

With what don't you agree concerning this book? Do you doubt that both the rich Saudis and the Bush family have investments in oil and weapons companies? Michael Moore's movie showed network footage of George W. Bush and a Saudi holding hands. Do you doubt that Bush holds hands with Saudis? Then read these articles from The Christian Science Monitor and CBS News. The Bush family calls one of the Saudis "Bandar Bush", and believes that he is their friend; that's completely untrue of course. Fifteen of the 18 attackers of the 9/11 bombings were Saudis, and some rich Saudis have supported al Qaeda.

Unocal, and many other oil companies, want to build a pipeline across Afghanistan, because that is the shortest route from rich oil fields to Pakistan and the ocean, with the exception of through unsafe Iran. Do you doubt this?

Notice: The links to the book are tied to my accounts with the booksellers. If you buy the book and don't want me to have a commission, do a search for the book to get a link that is not connected with me. After a year, I have made exactly $0.00 from these arrangements. I spent months reading the books and writing short reviews of them for my article Unprecedented Corruption: A guide to conflict of interest in the U.S. government.

Microsoft is funded by terrorists who use their software to plot devilish crimes. (Windows 2K in fact.)

As far as CS programs are concerned, I think University of Texas at Dallas is bigger and better. The CS faculty at UT Dallas numbers about 60, vs about 35 for UT Austin. Of course there are corresponding differences in enrollment. Also, UT Austin's enrollment is declining, whereas UT Dallas's is increasing, and the average SAT for incoming freshmen to UT Dallas is perhaps the highest in the state at 1230. UT Austin has to deal with all those 10 percenters.

Eminent domain is supposed to be able to be invoked for the public good. What's changed is that now it can be used merely to benefit the politically connected. This decision says eminent domain is no longer for roads and schools, it's now for Costcos and condos.

Our forefathers would have been marching in the streets with pitchforks and axes.

We're too busy checking our email, playing our consoles, reading Slashdot, and fighting over distros to care.

This is awful, and was already being severely abused. Walmart is by far one of the biggest offenders, but they won't be the last.

With this new law watch for cabins to be knocked down for ski resorts, and beach front homes to be leveled for new beach resorts. Watch neighborhoods be leveled for new shopping malls.

This is a major, major problem that is now going to get much worse.

And people thought Bush wouldn't accomplish anything in office...

You say "Military recruiters recognize the more limited future of these kids and that they have something to offer them. Military recruitment is usually a win/win proposition." If we had responsible leaders who used war as a last resort, you might be right. But in the current debacle, it's atrocious the some people justify getting poor Americans to fight a war led by hawkish politicians who won't put themselves or their families in harm's way.

About 1700 young Americans have been killed in action thus far, it shouldn't be only the poorer families be the ones to risk their children's lives in order to have a better future. Do you support these 1700 deaths, along with tens of thousands of cases of physical and psychological injuries, such that other soldiers have a chance to lead a better life?

When you say the military takes care of you, that sentiment is greatly questioned by those in active duty. Where were you stationed during your service, and how many of your fellow soldiers were killed on the front line?

Also due to the current recruiting crisis, military recruiters have resorted to unethical practices to get people to enlist. Shouldn't these potential recruits make the decision to join on their own, without pressure from the recruiter?

The current class gap recruiting policies are nothing more than a technique to allow poor soldiers fight a war that the rich politicians support but don't want their own family members fighting in.

<rant style="color:political; rant-type:offtopic;">

I [am] Jesus and I like John Ashcroft's singing, you insensitive clod!

If you were Jesus, you never would have let anyone in America even know who John Ashcroft is. I will still always remember him neither as the Attorney General of the United States nor as the number one runner up to Shatner's "I Want to Sex You Up" as the biggest earbleed of all time, but as the guy who lost his senate seat to a dead guy.

Voters of Missouri: "Hmmm... Ashcroft or dead guy. Ashcroft or dead guy... I'll take the dead guy!"

George W. Bush: "Yep, the loser to the dead guy is the person I want as one of the most powerful people in my administration! Oh, and could you please vote for me again in 2004?"

Voters of Missouri: "Okay, no problem..."

Karl Rove: "I AM A GOD!!!"

Me: (sigh)

</rant>

In the light of these statistics, I would expect some sort of diversion soon:

# Only 39 percent approve of his handling of the economy.
# Only 39 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy.
# Only 37 percent approve of his handling of the war in Iraq.
# Only 25 percent approve of his handling of Social Security.
# Only the campaign against terrorism gets the approval of more than half those questioned.

Citizens clearly need to be reminded again that it is imperative to keep on hating and fearing the arab terrorists and getting fucked in the poopchute by the government is a small price to pay for safety.