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http://blogs.denverpost.com/westwatch/2006/11/13/colorado-soft-on-drunk-drivers/ Colorado soft on drunk drivers? Two families were destroyed this weekend by Colorado drivers who were apparently driving drunk. Two children and their mother were killed on Friday night in downtown Denver and five members of a Las Vegas family were killed by a drunk driver in Santa Fe who had been convicted three times for drunk driving in Colorado. Should Colorado have tougher laws or is there nothing to be done?

Not exactly a government by the people for the people.

This surprises you? The US Government has already used the 'sovereign immunity' excuse to protect the Pope from legal liability related to child abuse.

I saw another article that linked to this one http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9985333 that had a couple of other details.

It sounds like they weren't just a big happy family...

Missing 'spam king' kills self, family
By Kieran Nicholson, Howard Pankratz and Carlos Illescas
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 07/24/2008 04:52:57 PM MDT
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9985333

BENNETT -- Neighbors say the dead man, woman and toddler found near Bennett are the missing "spam king" and his family.

The shootings took place in the 42000 block of East Arkansas Place about 11:15 a.m. today, and the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said a man, woman and 3-year-old girl were dead.

A neighbor who did not want to be named said the man who was suspected of killing himself and the others was Eddie Davidson, who walked away from a minium-security prison camp in Florence earlier this week. He said Davidson and his family used to live in the house where they died.

The neighbor said the Davidson family -- known in Bennett as the Hills -- "pretty much stayed to themselves."

The neighbor knew
(Click to enlarge)
Davidson worked in computers but not exactly what he did until he was sent to prison in April for 21 months after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and falsifying information in e-mail pitches for low-cost, high risk penny stocks.

Davidson's Bennett-based business, Power Promoters, sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited sales pitches to e-mail addresses around the world, selling a variety of products.

Court filings showed that Davidson's spam operation grossed about $3.5 million between 2003 and 2006.

The Sheriff's Office would not confirm the identities of the victims, saying the coroner had not yet notified family members.

Arapahoe County Undersheriff Mark Campbell said this afternoon that the bodies of a man and a woman were found in a driveway at the home outside a silver SUV. The man's body was beside the driver's door, and the woman's near the passenger side.

A boy, about 7 months old, was found unharmed in a car seat in the SUV, Campbell said.

The 3-year-old girl was found dead in the vehicle.

Federal officials confirmed that FBI agents and U.S. Marshals are assisting Arapahoe County officials on the scene.

A teenage girl, who was shot in the neck, fled to a neighbor's home, the Sheriff's Office said.

A handgun was found at the scene, Campbell said.

The teenager was taken to University Hospital for treatment, and the infant to Children's Hospital, according to the Bennett Fire Protection District.

Bob Cambron lives about a half-mile away.

He said he was working in the yard when he heard gunshots, carried on the wind.

"Immediately after the shots, there was intense screaming," Cambron said.

He drove to the house right away.

"I didn't have any idea what I was driving into," he said. "I just saw the vehicle in the driveway with bodies."

He said he was reluctant to get close "because I didn't want to be the next victim."

He said a neighbor who called 911 also helped the teenage gunshot victim.

According to neighbors, the home where the shooting occurred is about 8 years old and sits on a 35-acre parcel.

"It is a very nice home, two-story yellow, about 4,000 square feet," said neighbor Deborah Haines. The owners had horses and a barn.

Both Haines and another neighbor, Ted Schwarz, said that the current residents were new to the area, having moved in about six to 10 months ago.

Both said their new neighbor was congenial.

"He was a really nice fellow," said Schwarz. "He was out there helping dig out during the snows. The wind blows out here, and we get out the tractors to clear the roads of snow. He also helped mow the ditches."

Schwarz, who is retired, said that the area is normally very quiet.

The worst thing to happen out there, he said, was when somebody -- probably kids -- knocked down every one of the 53 mailboxes of the 53 homeowners living in the area.

"This is something really shocking," said Schwarz.

Haines said she never heard any shots and that her first indication of something being wrong was when she heard a lot of traffic on the road outside her house.

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com

those are quite old stories, any idea what the current situation is now? are they still using the double bridges at denver in double mode? have they rolled them out anywhere else?

A little more googling: United has given up on the dual jetways -
http://www.denverpost.com/airlines/ci_7324922

The company that makes them doesn't list any more recent deployments.
(http://www.dewengineering.com/dewbridge/index.htm)

Many planes also have multiple sets of doors, so that would speed it up even more in exchange for a modest investment in jet ways.

United Airlines is trying this at Denver Airport:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4303305

Not going too well so far:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5558605
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5454789,00.html

Many planes also have multiple sets of doors, so that would speed it up even more in exchange for a modest investment in jet ways.

United Airlines is trying this at Denver Airport:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4303305

Not going too well so far:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5558605
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5454789,00.html

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8354619

The link above points to a case where a federal judge overturned a verdict and punished the plaintifs and their lawyers harshly.

The verdict in favor of Blackboard is junk. It too is ripe for a successful appeal. It, like the linked case, is an example of a company using a patent suit to stifle competition.

BTW, my school used to use WebCT. Now that Blackboard has WebCT, my school is dropping it.

http://www.denverpost.com/popular/ci_8354619

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2007_Dec_31/ai_n21176158

http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:MDT&morenews=10&rating=1&origin=71

Probably baaad news for Medtronic?

They might need to sign up for voluntary procedure at or products from Medasonic.

http://www.cja-jca.org/cgi/reprint/41/4/281.pdf

Maybe Judge Matsch's ruling see inCubation in courtrooms, and maybe the standing ruling will cause need for inTubation in shyster lawyers?

Remember Mr. Mudd, and the saying that followed his demise (your name will be MUD)? Maybe Judge Matsch will be famous for slaying corrupt patent lawyers... The headlines will read:

Cross THIS judge and you will be MATSCHED Out of Practice"

I found something VERY interesting. It looks like UHG's Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer came out in support of Obama for President. Now by UHG's own ethics and integrity rules he had to make the disclaimer that his views were his and not of the company (which he did not do) - unless the company had requested and approved it. So if UHG requested and approved of his endorsement, that must mean UHG endorses Obama. Now UHG is a FOR profit health care company and Obama is for semi-Universal Health Care. So why would a for profit company "endorse" a political candidate that is pro semi-universal health care? More than likely they are not endorsing him - unless they plan on Obama driving business towards them. So then this must mean that Strickland -didn't- have the approval of the company - which means he violated the company's ethics and integrity rules. He may also be violating the company's policy on "Former government employees". (See my references below)

Endorsement:
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_8003428

http://www.politicswest.com/17596/strickland_amon_3_endorse_obama

Bill Richardson's Colorado supporters are moving in different directions, as former Senate candidate and U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland announced his support for Barack Obama's presidential bid this afternoon. Here are the details:
"I am very excited to be supporting Senator Barack Obama for President," said Strickland in a release. "Barack Obama's record of change is something that Americans can believe in."

UHG References:
Tom Strickland is an Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of UnitedHealth Group

http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/about/exe.htm#strickland
http://unitedhealthgroup.mondosearch.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&EXTRA_ARG=SUBMIT%3DSearch&CFGNAME=MssFind.cfg&host_id=42&page_id=557&query=strickland&hiword=strickland%20
http://unitedhealthgroup.mondosearch.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&EXTRA_ARG=SUBMIT%3DSearch&CFGNAME=MssFind.cfg&host_id=42&page_id=165&query=strickland&hiword=strickland%20

Ethics and Integity Brochure:
https://kbpweb2.mercerhrs.com/kblink/UHG/ER/Principles_Ethics_Integrity_brochure.pdf

Page 24
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
If you take part in political activities or committees, you must make it clear that your views and actions are your own and not those of the company, unless the company has requested and approved your participation.

Page 21
FORMER GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
Former U.S. government employees generally are not allowed to represent the company in matters where the government has substantial interest and where the employee had prior
responsibility.

Requirement to Report:
https://kbp4web2.mercerhrs.com/profile_uhg/cgi-bin/athcgi.exe
As a UnitedHealth Group employee, you are required to comply with all laws, contractual obligations and company policies, including the Principles of Ethics and Integrity. Employees are also required to report any suspected misconduct by another employee or one of the company's contractors to their manager, someone else in management or by contacting the Ethics & Compliance HelpCenter. Ethics & Compliance H

This one makes for an interesting turn of events.

FTFA:

Salt Lake City - Utah Supreme Court justices acknowledged Tuesday that they were struggling to wrap their minds around the concept that a 13-year-old girl could be both an offender and a victim for the same act - in this case, having consensual sex with her 12-year-old boyfriend.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4783650

It should be noted that Coffman believes that these problems can be fixed in time for 2008 using upgrades and patches, so this is definitely not a death knell for e-voting in Colorado.

A few dozen? I don't know about you, but I'm seeing reports like this and this on a weekly basis. I wonder how many go completely unreported in the "western world"?

With the ruling taking that many years, that many millions of dollars, and that much invested time, only a major multinational like IBM or Novell could survive long enough for "justice" to be served. The reality is that ordinary people like those kids and grandmothers the RIAA is suing can't afford to defend themselves so they either settle immediately or, after going bankrupt with a legal war of attrition, settle later.

Obviously the good guys won here, but could you imagine if it had been startups or midsized companies that SCO targeted?

This happens all the time. Vicious, predatory legal tactics are indicative of a system that is completely failing. I'm pretty happy with how our country is doing in general and how our system works compared to others, but the judicial system is a major exception. Much as we joke about the systems in third world countries where you can buy the verdict you want, when you strip away our elaborate rituals, our judiciary is little different.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7248448

Rockies spokesperson:

"We are as frustrated and disappointed as (fans) are," Alves said.

He said the servers were overwhelmed this morning and that officials had no idea that so many people would try the website.

Yeah, who could have seen 30,000,000 people trying to buy tickets to the championship series of the only baseball team for nearly 1000 miles in any direction? Boston fans certainly wouldn't want those tickets either.

They didn't put anything on their site for hours to let people know there had been a crash. Just a series of timeout errors.

And what about the guy who went through vasectomy to get his iPhone? http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_6552323

Will he get one of his balls back with his discount coupon?

You don't necessarily even have to live near water

It's being done in Denver right now... http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_4938875/

I agree, it's much more honorable and brave to speak out while you are still in office, rather than waiting until you have little left to lose anyway. That said, perhaps more people will do that now... for example here is an op-ed piece by a (non-retired) Department of Justice attorney speaking out about the unacceptable degradation of that department under the Bush administration. If enough people like this speak out at once, Bush can't possibly smear/fire/silence all of them. (err, can he?)

They were BOTH charged with "Sexual abuse of a child". Both are considered simultaneous victims and perpetrators.

declining job market like computer engineering

Sorry, are you on crack?

However, the best opportunities await those who studied engineering, computer programming . . .

AeA Announces Job Growth Despite Decline In U.S. Competitiveness

Better hunting, bigger salaries greet graduates

You might want to do a quick Google News search before posting a bunch of unsupportable crap next time . . . just a thought.

It just grates on this American's ears to hear about countries where this kind of thing is illegal, since it is one of our founding principles and deeply-held values that you ought to be able to say any sort of insult you want about the king or any of the rest of the government.

Here is Freedom of speech in the USA.

I guess that's just what happens here when we criticize our leaders.

Effectively 'Rewritten' (that is to say, very 'creatively interpreted'), or openly disregarded, in many instances, yes.

The Bill of Rights was too inconvenient for the Shrubinator, so thanks to Patriot, and other absurdly dangerous legislation, they have systematically attempted to create a 'new, convenient, streamlined legislative environment' free of such cumbersome restrictions, all, they would have it, in the name of 'national security'.

To be very clear, I agree with the quote generally attributed to Benjamin Franklin:
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

Who's been paying attention? Let's take a quick inventory to see where we stand.

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Freedom of speech, and the right to peaceably assemble
This now appears to apply only if you're in a 'designated free-speech *zone*' far away from the Shrub, or other government officials.

Similar aggressive tactics have been employed when confronted with any public opposition to administration positions. Steven Howards was arrested for simply voicing disagreement with Administration polices during a chance meeting with Cheney during a mall photo-op. Howards was taking his son to a piano lesson, and took the time to voice his opinion.

Another example is of the peaceful protesters ejected and threatened with arrest at the Ohio State commencement where Dubya spoke, simply because they attempted to peacfully and non-disruptively express disagreement with the Shrub and his his policies.

Still another is when two women, one the wife of a Congressman, were ejected from the Capitol building, simply for wearing T-Shirts with anti-Bush slogans into the Congressional Gallery. (The article references numerous other examples, as well.)

Freedom of the Press
Mostly, journalism from major news outlets in the US appears to be in significant danger from numerous sources. While it is still possible to find information if you dig for it, many of the significant stories never make major headlines, if they even see the light of day.

The Shrub has significantly reduced press events, and when holding them, has required journalists to submit questions in advance, selecting only those questions he chooses to answer, and calling only upon reporters who agree to 'stick to script'. Rather than challenge these policies, reporters have agreed to these stipulations, resulting in chilling effect, effectively self-censorship, rather than ask questions the President didn't like, at the risk of press room access.

Concurrently, starting in 2001, regulations limiting the scope of ownership of media outlets, designed to maintain diversity of opinion, so as to prevent control of too much of the media by a small number of individuals have been systematically attacked and dismantled. The result is that now most major media outlets in the US are owned by a small number of conservatives. (This has bee

Well, not 17 year olds, but in a case last year, a 13 year old girl turned up pregnant, and subsequently both she and her 12 year old boyfriend were charged with "Sexual Abuse of a Child". Both were simultaneously perpetrators and victims.

Refit about 1000 coal power plants with Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle:

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_4187912

Not cheap.

Don't know if it's on Google's maps, but GeoEye has done it already.

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5047747

[John]

Intellectuals are known to be the easiest people to hypnotise. A hypnotists greatest asset is an authoritarian manner because people are conditioned to suspend their own critical factors and take suggestions from authority figures. Wide spread belief in anthropogenic global warming is a good example of hypnosis among educated people. An uneducated farmer would not be fooled by Al Gore (who is obviously demented) but a lot of egg heads will be. Ice ages have ended have they not? Was there pollution at the time? It's clear we have been in a warming trend in some areas. To think people created it and can reverse it is ego psychosis.

With reagrds to the article, it's plain to see the author wanted to portray all the dissenters as rubes and a lot of people here fell into it as if that was the whole story.

Bill Gray has things right in this paragraph:

"The only inconvenient truth about global warming, contends Colorado State University's Bill Gray, is that a genuine debate has never actually taken place. Hundreds of scientists, many of them prominent in the field, agree.

Gray is perhaps the world's foremost hurricane expert. His Tropical Storm Forecast sets the standard. Yet, his criticism of the global warming "hoax" makes him an outcast.

"They've been brainwashing us for 20 years," Gray says. "Starting with the nuclear winter and now with the global warming. This scare will also run its course. In 15-20 years, we'll look back and see what a hoax this was."

Gray directs me to a 1975 Newsweek article that whipped up a different fear: a coming ice age.

"Climatologists," reads the piece, "are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change. ... The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality."

Thank God they did nothing. Imagine how warm we'd be?

"Let's just say a crowd of baby boomers and yuppies have hijacked this thing," Gray says. "It's about politics. Very few people have experience with some real data. I think that there is so much general lack of knowledge on this. I've been at this over 50 years down in the trenches working, thinking and teaching."

http://www.denverpost.com/harsanyi/ci_3899807

Snap out of it!

According to this 1.41 million have sold. That would be a 590,000 surplus worldwide. That is providing they gave the US as many as they gave fans in Japan. Logic would dictate that Japan would get more, but calling them even would be a conservative estimate.

Most also don't "believe in" global warming.

I'll bet there's nothing keeping you from placing all those pennies on railroad tracks and having a train stomp those suckers flat.

And stop linking New York Times, you [expletive deleted]s. I don't want to fucking register nor do I want to have to take the goddamn time to go to bugmenot.com to get a NY Times uid & pwd. Here's some links that don't require registration to read: here , here , here , and here . Anyway, now that they said don't melt those coins, guess what they are going to do? Melt those coins.

Laws for sex offenders are out of control. Just recently, a 12 year old and a 13 year old were both convicted as sex offenders for having consensual sex with one another (admittedly too young, but...). And of course the registry will, for the rest of their lives, merely say that they raped a child, not noting the details. And now this...

I like the premise, but I think the metaphor is wrong: there is no actual debt, and in now way does being in prison function as repayment. Aside from other philosophical issues around the meaning of justice, individuals that demonstrate that they are a danger to society must be segregated from society at least until (arguably, only until) they are no longer a danger to society. The idea that someone presents such a danger that they need to be tracked suggests they are too dangerous to be "out." The theoretical streaker is unlikely to present any danger to society, whereas an unrepentant serial rapist with multiple prior convictions probably shouldn't be let out again, or at least until there's some plausible developments in psychiatry. But the same holds true for violent criminals, so clearly sex crimes are singled out solely for their prurient interest, by providing an opportunity to gratuitously describe sex in an offensive way that winds up voters but is without any political or legislative merit, which sounds a lot like a sex crime itself to me...

On balance though, we should be grateful for Lawrence & garner v. State of Texas. It would be a great help to pass a constitutional amendment barring laws that dictate the private behavior of consenting adults. Ask your legislators.

As the "Won't somebody please think of the children" subject alludes, the Simpsons have effectively commented on bogeyman politics, in particular with the bear patrol episode. It's just transparent pandering, creating a false fear and exploiting it; and all the better that the subject be indefensible, though simply defenseless will also work when all the good ones are taken. Sex criminals will always be an easy target, but once that bandwagon has left the station (again), it's time to attack immigrants (poor Groundskeeper Willie), or Albania, or homosexuals, or whatever.

The best thing about this sort of moralist pandering and posturing is that politicians are just as morally complex as everyone else and their utter humiliation is a nice reward for the harm they do, so we should all thank Limbaugh, Haggard, Barnes, Bakker, etc for the joy they've given us.

Apparently in Utah you can be both a sex offender and a victim at age 13 for the same thing.

typically 15 years payback - 40 years lifetime
1-30 yearback, typically 5 years; 40 year lifetime.
some more from Xcelenergy that will help you get past your mistakes

Interesting that you are paying 9K for your system. There is a LOT more rebates for install and yearly from both XcellEnergy and the Feds. But, if you really live in Colorado, then you would be aware of that (colorado voted on this).

Why not check in with Xcel or check your friend google. Of course, if you have this calc, that implies that you live here and surely you read DP or RMN which runs articles about this at least once a year. (the DP shows 11.5 years for one house and shows you the calcs with the state incentives in there).

Surprising people with free food can land you in court.

I didn't think Cheyenne Mountain was actually being permanently shut down.

This Denver Post article and this Washington Post article say Cheyenne Mountain is being put on a sort of standby status with minimal personnel until the U.S. government figures out how the facilty fits into the changing priorties of our national defense strategy. The main justification given was that a nuclear missile attack from Russia or China is very unlikely. This seems a bit short-sighted to me, as there are other potentially dangerous nuclear powers emerging right now.

I find this rather ironic, since in the pilot episode of SG-1, the whole Stargate program had been mothballed and the facility was only being manned by a skeleton crew - until the Goa'uld decided to pay us a little visit. Hmmm... Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

>>>I really don't understand that part about "wire bound". It still needs to be charged,

Ever heard of lightning Bolts????

God is the original Ipod killer.

Wow, So being a cop for 18 years means you can violate civil rights because you THINK you are right.
Hmm. Lets go over the run down of bullshit things cops have done to just me (35 year old male)
Got pulled over once when a cop was behind me and he said after I ask why he pulled me over, "you where driving to carefully." NO KIDDING a cop car behind me and I was driving carefully. Then there was the time my girlfriend and I where driving in a car and I was pulled over and when I ask why he said he want to count the occupants of the car. So I counted for him, 2. Then there was the time I witnessed a cop car run a red light with none of its lights on and smash into a another car. The cops kept insisting that I did not see what I said I saw. Even to the extent that they tried to put words in my mouth through intimidation. That time was so bad I called a family friend of mine who is an FBI agent (lawyer would have charged me) to come to help me.

Then there was this Guy on his porch in the Bronx that got shot for reaching for his wallet. 41 times I believe. (Diallo's case)

There was a case in Devner of raiding the wrong house and killing the dude inside and then LIEING and puting a gun in the dudes hands. HOLLY SHIT.

http://v6.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~4330~11 29795,00.html

Now how about the cop in San Bernardino California that shot the air force security officer IN COLD BLOOD. http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,86767, 00.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS

Let me put it simple. You are a cop, (probably don't even know where the term cop comes from I bet, quick Google it) Have you ever heard of the Blackstone ratio? LOOK IT UP.

Here is a great post to a editorial comment on NYC police brutality.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0 6E1DD1239F935A35755C0A96F958260

Or maybe police cover there own asses.
http://www.aclu.org/police/gen/14542prs20040128.ht ml

I mean Google searching for police abuse returns 70 million hits. Teen sex only returns 72 million. Seems that maybe Police abuse could be nearly as pervasive as teen sex. WTF?

If there is any doubt as to whether to shoot or not shoot. You DON'T SHOOT. I would rather the police offer was shot then he shoots an innocent person. Sorry but that is the job YOU CHOSE. The civilian has more of a right to survive a misunderstanding then you. If you are unsure of the outcome of the situation you withdrawl rather then risk an innocent life.

yeah, i was fearing picking up some malware off that site mearly by visiting it. intersting article though. i recently read in the denver post how over the last 100 years or so there have been fears of warming followed most recently in the 70s by cooling followed by warming...

Even Rove is admitting that Bush's approval rating is taking a pummeling because of the war.

But I don't think you even bothered to look at question 7. 66% of the respondents disapprove of Bush's handling of the war, vs 32% that approve. Believe what you want about the specific reasons for the overall dismal ratings, but the American people don't like the job Bush is doing in Iraq.

The point is, the US is not going to stay in Iraq for very much longer, regardless of the President's "resolve". He doesn't have the political capital to escalate, and as soon as he's out of office, the next president is going to pull the plug.

But, who CAN do it safely? Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Hanford... and now Rocky Flats. Fact is it will never be done safely, and it cant. So, as long as you are willing to live with known risk, even if considered to the smallest degree, of human endangerment, then i say go for it, build away.

I just had to google a bit. Apparently, this is still on the board, and possibly not a go. Apparently, arni needs to make the final call. Considering that he is pushing the solar industry in CA, it is possible that he will not approve the importation of Coal-based electricity. Wait and see time.

Trash like you have lead to the downfall of America. I am probably wasting my time offering this little bit of an education, but hopefully it will somebody else. For those that read through /., please learn to seach and check the accuracy. There many here who simply spout off with little to no knowledge. This person has shown over and over that she/he has no regard for truth or education.

I mean, really, various on-line resrouces even tell us where the bars are that the congressional staffers hang out at!! What would this country do if the Senators and Representatives had to read those thousands of pages of documents themselves!?

I don't even want to think about what would happen if the terrorists thought about using THIS map.

Think carefully about giving up your freedoms; you won't get them back.

Well he did appoint the man in charge, someone who had been on the board of International Arabian Horse Association. He seems to have left there under a cloud about contributions to their legal defense fund and immediately got a job as FEMA director. I think he is highly qualified in disaster planning, unfortunately not disaster releif planning.

http://www.denverpost.com/katrina/ci_2999761

I think Bush can take some heat for this kind of miss-use of the public trust. These are not choice political plums to be given to big contributers or supporters but to qualified hard working capable individuals with credentials for the job. Especially when the lives of our mother and fathers and sons and brothers and daughters and uncles and neices are involved.

The buck needs to stop where the fundemental problems stem from, not only where the problems show up.

I can't remember the source, but when the shuttle was designed, I believe it was stated that every mission there was a 1 in 52 chance of critical failure. The shuttle has actually shown itself to be much more reliable than that, in fact. I don't see what the panic is, it isn't like the astronauts don't assume some risk when they take the assignments. Let's face it, hurling a chunk of metal into space going in excess of 12,500 MPH isn't ever going to be 100% safe.

You have it backwards. The shuttle was INITITIALLY thought to be extraordinarily safe. Before the Challenger explosion, the odds were put at 1 in 100,000 of a critical failure happening. Then the Challenger accident occured. They raised it to something like 1 in 52 chance. As more shuttles launched, they lowered the estimate again to around 1 in 200. Columbia happened.

The latest estimates put the risk of failure at 1 and 100. However, the ACTUAL statistic, based on successful missions vs disasters is 1 in 57. So the bottom line is that the Shuttle has shown to be quite a bit less reliable than we originally thought.

There some concern fancy big TVs will exacerbate the energy crisis. TVs are on there way to being the biggest energy hogs in the house. Computers almost fit this category, but they had to become green to become portable.