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Is this some American thing?

Yes, and we call it "Ashcrofting".

It's good for you.

Other articles have described the plane as flying at 3,000 feet. These articles also describe the laser as a "high-powered ... commercial grade laser used for checking fiber optic lines," not the sort you'd typically find attached to a keychain. I haven't used a laser like that before, but I suppose I wouldn't be surprised if it traveled a mile and was still bright.

This might prove as dangerous to our freedom as, say, Military IDs.

I'm not saying there aren't valid reasons for the military to be run this way. But how can use offer that as an example of Big Brother's disinterest in running our lives!?

Courtesy of Drudge: Jet-setting supermodel Petra Nemcova survived the terrifying Asian tsunami by clinging to the top of a palm tree for eight hours - wincing through the pain of a broken pelvis and haunted by the sight of her boyfriend being swept out to sea.

Photos courtesy of Google.

[angel-eyez2] o well, i guess he told uz he was hardcore :)

Some people seem to be mystified as to why some others find obnoxious cellphone users so annoying. Personally, I think it's because those loud, one-sided conversations are a bit like audio spam. Not in the sense that it's trying to sell you something, but because the listener is effectively powerless to do anything about it (unless you want to get into a confrontation, which most don't). Think about it: Spam is annoying because there is this sense that someone can reach out and plant irrelevant messages in your inbox that you have to spend time and attention deleting. It's this feeling that someone else has power over you (despite the best filters, I still get a few every day) is what is so annoying. In the same way, it's that these people yacking in a very loud voice is effectively subjecting you to something that you have little or no control over, and you have to spend time and valuable "mental space" trying to ignore or block out. It takes effort. Noise can be very, very irritating, since it's so hard to screen out. The sense of hearing is one of those (like smell) that we cannot easily tune out, without substantial inconvenience (i.e. blocking out all other sounds).

It's no coincidence that the most common "quality of life" complaint is about noise from your neighbors.

So, for all those people who are saying "just chill out, relax, tune it out", you should realize that this is pretty much the same response that spammers give when they are criticized for sending out thousands of useless messages to people who aren't remotely interested in what they have to sell. Saying "oh just chill out and don't listen to it" and "oh, just hit delete and relax" is pretty much the same thing. The key is to realize that even if you personally don't find it annoying, MANY other people do.

I think that with all the loud background noise on planes, this would mean that people would talk even more loudly than normal on a cellphone. And, in my experience, there is always someone who seems totally oblivious to the loudness of their own phone voice. They are totally focused on their conversation, and simply don't care about the people around them. Or, perhaps they actually believe that other people are interested in what they are saying - I certainly think that this is the case sometimes. I have heard cellphone users talking loudly about stuff that seems purposely designed to be heard by the passers by, particularly when it pertains to something "cool" that the person did, e.g. a sexual conquest, or when the person is trying to be "wise" and demonstrate to everyone around them what a great person they are. There's something about having an audience that makes people behave a little differently. In a twisted way, they believe everyone else will be interested in what they have to say, just like those people who believe that everyone in the vicinity simply *MUST* love the song that's playing on their music system (of course, they totally forget that treble doesn't travel so well, so other people mostly just hear the thudding "dmpha dmpha dmpha" of the bass, like a bad headache), or the guys who drive around very aggressively with screeching tires for no apparent reason ("ooooohhhh, he must be *such* a great driver" is what is going through their little heads, methinks)...

I believe that if cellphones became formally permissable on planes then we are going to see an increase in "air rage" incidents because of the closed space and already somewhat tense environment. People are already primed to be annoyed by the time they step on the plane, what with all the parking hassles, lines, delays, security checks and other impediments to their getting from A to B. We certainly don't need to finally settle down into that airplane seat, only to realize that the asshat behind us wants to talk to Lenny in marketing about the latest sales figures. When that happens in the terminal, I simply get up and walk away. On a plane, not really an option.

Just my opinion...

Now let me tell you a story about public school mismanagement...
Clifford B Janey was superintendent of Rochester Public schools from 1995 to 2002, until the budget was wrecked and he got the boot while the people cheered (admittedly in poor taste). Career ending event? Nope, he got $262,000 severence and, a year later, the $250,000 a year job as superintendent of DC schools!

That, my friend, is the diference between corporate mismanagement and public school mismangement. It's not just bad students bringing the public schools down.

Let me help further that point.

Spreading the Word (w/photos)

Col. Gary Brandl: Satan lives in Fallujah

In preparation for the attack, Christian Heavy Metal.

As for other interesting Iraq news for today:

US forces demolish a hospital and target another for releasing casualty figures; 70 journalists are embedded for the invasion; mot of the troops doing the invasion have no major combat experience; and a Georgia man commits suicide at Ground Zero to protest Bush and the war in Iraq.

It's simply list of 1,886 of the 46,000 voters registered in both New York and Florida. 68% of which are dems (and 1,700 of which requested absentee ballots.)
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/224449p-192 807c.html

In Missouri they were printing ballots that were missing Bush/Cheney:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/240 041p-205897c.html

BOTH sides are engaging in MASSIVE fraud this year. Expect it to get worse in future elections, until finally we just give up on elections all together an openly become the dictatorship we are inevitably heading towards.

Yeah, yeah, and in Missouri they were printing ballots that didn't have Bush/Cheney on them.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/240 041p-205897c.html

BOTH sides are engaging in MASSIVE voter fraud this year. The winner will be the side that commits the most fraud. The real loser is us: The People.

Yeah, the Rev. Moon's Washington Times would never investigate those reports to see if they're just another Rove frame job:

In the 1996 Alabama Supreme Court race between Democratic incumbent Kenneth Ingram and Republican challenger Harold See, Rove printed anonymous fliers attacking See, his own client. The purpose was "'to create a backlash against the Democrat,' as Joe Perkins, who worked for Ingram, put it to me," Green writes.

I find it totally predictable that a Bush apologist would get behind this Republican terrorism. Have you taken all the shots you can?

That's plainly wrong.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/186 741p-161771c.html

Stern has the #1 rating, Curtis & Kuby are tied for 8th. Stern's rating is more than double C & K.

I'll undo my moderation done to these discussions just to refute one of your points.

"And as you mentioned, he apologized. I'm not sure how you want him to express distrust, but he doesn't give the president a pass on anything."

Read his editorial on the interview, found here. The man sounds like a walking hard-on for George W Bush. My favorite quote out of the whole thing:

"For example, I am known for confrontational interviews, but you simply cannot tell a sitting President that you, the interviewer, know more than he does. That would make you look like a moron. So open confrontation goes right out the window."

This is funny. If you ever saw O'Reilly and what he did to that kid Jeremy Glick (transcript can be found here, you know that he really has no qualms in letting his confrontational interviews lapse into inappropriate areas. Jeremy Glick, for those of you who don't know, was the kid of a September 11th victim who was part of an organization that opposed aspects of the Bush administrations "War against Terrorism". Specifically, he criticized the lack of responsibility being put on previous administrations for the funding of terrorists like Osama bin Laden and the lack of a promise to never make the same mistake again (a look at the situation in Iraq can tell you that, yes, the US is making the mistake of funding a potential enemy again).

Anyway, O'Reilly goes on to rip through Glick, evoke the memory of his dead father and widowed mother to counter his arguments and cuts Glick's mic, despite the fact that Glick throughout the whole interview was very calm and composed. O'Reilly then had Glick escorted by security, but not before telling him that he would tear the shit out of him. Later, O'Reilly claimed in other shows that Glick claimed that George W. Bush planned September 11, though that was clearly not what Glick said.

Suddenly, however, there is a limit to his confrontational interviewing style. Of course, one could argue that it's just because Bush is the president. But it takes just one look at O'Reilly's treatment of Clinton, and his treatment of Kerry will be much the same if he ends up winning the presidency, to realize that such arguments are bullshit. O'Reilly is clearly a huge Bush supporter. Which would be fine, if he didn't insist that he was this unbiased guy (Al Franken's discovery of previous Republican registration by O'Reilly is further proof of that).

Just a side note: at the end of the editorial, O'Reilly says:

"In the middle of my talk with the President, my mind flashed back for just a second to my childhood in Levittown, N.Y."

Though O'Reilly always makes this claim (and indeed has produced a deed to try to prove it) that he lived in some modest, working-class home in Levittown, in actuallity he lived in the Westbury part of Levittown, now known as Salisbury, which is not quite Levittown. The stakes of pointing this out? Well, Westbury wasn't exactly "modest". It was rick kid suburbia. Another one of O'Reilly's many lies.

This to my understanding has nothing to do with radiation, but the dust left behind after impact with a target.

Depleted Uranium is a heavy metal and the human body does not react to well when exposed to heavy metals.
Lead exposure, especially to lead dust, can cause various forms of health conditions. Here's an EPA example of lead used in older paints:

http://www.epa.gov/lead/leadinfo.htm

Now, here's an article which seems to discuss the DU dust that I've read about in the past.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/cancer_epide mic_.html

and another:

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/180333p-156 685c.html

How true any of these articles are, I don't know ... I'm just pointing out what I've read before.

Plus, Master of Transhuman pointed out another interesting fact in case his post gets missed.

Cigarette smoke was not proven to be a causative factor for lung cancer for decades. Proving DU is even harder because you cannot just expose perfectly chosen test subjects to DU. You only get accidentally exposed subjects who are not necessary good control groups.

All you have is that correlation; when there is high DU use, there are high rates of birth defects and illnesses. You cannot argue reverse causation. You can say there is no evidence proving causation, but that's the same as saying there is no evidence disproving causation.

So we are left with the ultimate test: would you expose your family to DU, if it poses absolutely no health risk at all? Think about it.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/180333p-156 685c.html

If it weren't, then will you volunteer to inhale some to prove your point?

I'd like to see how, considering Trey Parker has said Bush isn't in the film. Normally when they make fun of someone, they characature them. If Bush isn't going to be shown, he's unlikely to be made fun of, at least all that much. But hey, it's nice to see the story submitter jumping to conclusions that aren't supported by the facts.

And in other news, MS and NBC are about to break up.

Seems the 8-year partnership is doomed and Microsoft is "fuming" over having to pay huge licensing fees to General Electric as part of the deal. Looks like the shoe is now on the other foot. Hey Microsoft!!! How does it feel to be forced to take a bitter dose of your own medicine?

**Possible spolier info below**

If you consider features of the vehicle as spoilers. Supposedly the new batmobile works, and is able to jump 40ft when it gets up to 220/mph.

Article on a showing.

> Moore is a genius in the way Joseph Goebbels, Hitlers propagandist was.

At least give credit when you're parroting someone else.

I thought the statement was really ironic, since Goebbels was the mouthpiece of a totalitarian government and Moore is really just a more-or-less independently wealthy filmmaker with relatively anarchist leanings. The comparison to Goebbels is much more accurately applied to the right-wing propagandist who uttered it.

Also, there is the matter of viewer interpretation - well-earned golf break or not, I saw that clip (and the clip of the pre-press conference makeup work) as an underscore to the superficial nature of the business of politics at the top. The people are emotionally detached and focused on sound bytes and photo ops. This, to me, is more a critique of the state of politics. Sure, Moore probably enjoyed the personal shot at this spin on a "lazy" Bush, especially when you read in his SWM book that he was flustered by GW's dismissal of him in person (one such incident was also shown in the film). Ignore that, and the observation about the superficiality of the interface between government and its populace remains, and it is probably more poignant without the ad hominem element mucking things up.

Otherwise, I agree - Moore's, and any other viewpoint, is biased and no one should take someone's word for it. Clever editing and glossing over official-looking photocopies without clear citations is meaningless on its own. Network news analysts (who we like to call journalists) pull this crap all the time. Anyone who doesn't want to be a dupe should check their sources... no one is going to do it for you without putting their own spin on it. What's the old admonishment? - don't believe everything you hear.

"They're fucking taking all the money back from you guys?" complains an Enron employee on the tapes. "All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?"

"Yeah, grandma Millie, man"

"Yeah, now she wants her fucking money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her asshole for fucking $250 a megawatt hour."

And the tapes appear to link top Enron officials Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling to schemes that fueled the crisis.

"Government Affairs has to prove how valuable it is to Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling," says one trader.

Cool. I can just see what a stealth car would to your gas consumption though. All those angles and shit. Take a look

Killing yourself while on IRC.

Air America Host 'Jokingly' Calls for Bush Hit

One of the leading hosts on the unofficial radio network of the Democratic Party recommended in an apparent "joke" earlier this week that President Bush should be assassinated, reports the New York Daily News.

Comparing Bush and his family to the Corleones of "Godfather" fame, Air America host Randi Rhodes reportedly unleashed this zinger during her Monday night broadcast: "Like Fredo, somebody ought to take him out fishing and phuw. "

Rhodes then imitated the sound of a gunshot.

Since you probably don't consider NewsMax a reliable source (it's your loss, not mine), here is the original article.

That makes it 240000 computer hours ... too cheap .. Think about this :

"Toy Story 2" had about 800,000 computer hours worth of rendering.
"The Hulk" had 2.5 Million computer hours
My office has nearly 400 fast machines , imagine this running them makes it 25 days . Running that every weekend makes it 12 weeks or 3 months ... It's a weekend job if I can sneak this in as along with the next upgrade.

DDoS time is over with all networks being careful about... the next big windows worm will be a distributed processing program :)

The only ones who are really affected by inhalation are people who are being shot at.

"Four soldiers from a New York Army National Guard company serving in Iraq are contaminated with radiation likely caused by dust from depleted uranium shells fired by U.S. troops, a Daily News investigation has found.

They are among several members of the same company, the 442nd Military Police, who say they have been battling persistent physical ailments that began last summer in the Iraqi town of Samawah.

"I got sick instantly in June," said Staff Sgt. Ray Ramos, a Brooklyn housing cop. "My health kept going downhill with daily headaches, constant numbness in my hands and rashes on my stomach."

A nuclear medicine expert who examined and tested nine soldiers from the company says that four "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from exploded American shells manufactured with depleted uranium."

Local troops may be victims of america's high-tech weapons

This kind of reminds me of the Microsoft butterfly campaign in NYC. How much do you wanna bet this was the clueful idea of some champ in marketing? When will they learn?

Agreed. They shouldn't cast Scientologists in lead roles period... it just ruins the movie.

Come on, this is this the type of people we want acting in movies? Sounds like he should be in a mental hospital.

How can you even begin to take a movie seriously if someone like that is in it?

Stray voltage

Here's a link about Scientologists trying to cash in on 9/11 victims by offering a detox service to people. The treatment starts at $5,200 a pop. Nice. So far, the NYFD doctors have found no evidence that this method works.

But hey... if our Hollywood overlord Tom Cruise endorses it...then hey, he's gotta be right. He's a doctor right? What? No? Uhh... then he's acted as one before too right? Huh? No... oh.

Walmart doesn't sell at a loss.

There are many assertions otherwise, and here are some samples: gasoline, toys, groceries.

Wal-Mart's enormous capital base allows it to use a new store to bankrupt an area it opens in, and once the competition declines from that, it raises prices back to profitable levels. Companies who wish to return to the area must climb the investment wall again, and will probably eventually face Wal-Mart's returning to selling at a loss to drive them out again.

Selling at a loss has long been an illegal practice, but nonetheless companies do it to woo the market. I support such laws since it is the government's function to regulate between businesses and consumers, and between businesses and businesses.

How long until Ashcroft rules porn is a crime?

And how long will it take for Ashcroft to realize that spam should be criminalized, and the minimum punishment should be the spammer being hit with a steel rod by every person who received the spam (the parents if the receiver is a minor), and the maximum punishment should be a long and painful death?

Thanks for comming out, try again next week New York officials blamed Canada as a potential source of the largest blackout in U.S. history, but across the border, the finger was pointed in the other direction.

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said yesterday that the huge outage might have been set in motion when lightning hit a massive hydroelectric complex in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

But Gov. Pataki and New York officials, while unable to explain the cause of the power failure that at one point cut off 80% of the state's electricity, disputed that it originated on the American side.

Here's to hoping there wasn't too much sand involved...ouch!

Ouch...that smarts

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH IRAQIS? I'D STUFF MY COCK INTO HER PUSSY, ME LOVE HER LONG TIME, BUT INSTEAD THEY FUCKED HER UP THE ASS? WTF IS THAT ABOUT?

# rtant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) # If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal.

# rtant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) # If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal. # rtant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) # If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal. # rtant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) # If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal.

Oh, I see. You have no actual information, so you're going to try to be a wiseass instead. No. I don't expect to make an impression; facts never do with your kind. Here's reality anyway.

Shouting "millions of dollars" doesn't change the fact that a few million here or there means very, very little to a big Hollywood studio. Small budget Hollywood films have budgets of at least $15M these days. Independent films have miniscule budgets by comparison; My Big Fat Greek Wedding was made for $5M, but that was a non-Hollywood indie film. To put this in perspective, the original Japanese version of Spirited Away cost 1.9B yen, or less than $20M US. If they spent more than $5M on the dub with that cast (the biggest names were John Ratzenberger and Suzanne Pleshette, not exactly top draws) they spent too much even by Disney standards.

By contrast, Treasure Planet which was released in the US a few months after Spirited Away and was a critical and commercial flop, cost $140M to make. Got some perspective now? The risk in distributing Spirited Away was absolutely minimal. They could have spent twice what they did, and it still would have been a tiny risk compared with what Hollywood normally gambles when releasing a film.

Now, bear in mind that before the US release, it had already taken the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival and grossed $250M worldwide. It was the top-grossing film ever in Japan, out-doing Titanic, which was just as popular over there as it was here. Critics nearly unanimously raved about it. This was clearly a film with huge potential. If the goal was to make a good profit on it -- and in Hollywood, that's always the goal -- there was absolutely no reason not to place the full power of the Disney hype machine behind it. For once, they had something on their hands that could live up to the wildest hyperboles they had to offer.

Instead, they didn't hype it at all. There was practically no publicity for it. There was a great deal of free press from the critics, but that only affected those who pay attention to what the critics say, which is a distinct minority. It hardly mattered. Disney opened it on fewer than 30 screens, and in it's initial release it never played on more than 39. It was given a wider release following the Oscar win, on nowhere near as many screens as a typical Disney release, but as the re-release was very abrupt and still practically unpromoted it didn't do particularly well.

This is odd behavior for the film industry, no matter what you think of the matter. I'm not the only one to notice it either (just to pick the first example I ran across). There is a serious disconnect between the way this film performed overseas (in every other market in the world) compared to how it performed in the US. It's not something that can be easily explained away. The writer above attributed it to simple mishandling, but if that's what it is then Disney has systematically mishandled every other Miyazaki film it's had the rights to, too.

Fox's ineptness with Totoro, as a singular example, is less relevant than you try to make out here. Fox isn't exactly known for its animated features, and Totoro is odd enough that it's a good bet they had no clue what to do with it. Disney, however, promotes animated films as their stock-in-trade. They ought to have known what to do with Spirited Away, just like every other distributor who's handled it worldwide knew what to do with it. Somehow, they didn't. Same with Mononoke. And Kiki. And Laputa. Someone might be forgiven, I think, if he has trouble attributing a

The FBI does indeed have a "terrorism watch list", but it is completely useless. Apparantly there are 13 million people on it!

George Bush said that because he, unlike you, is not a fuzzy brained bunny hugger. If the enemy is predisposed to run himself up onto your bayonet, shout encouragement!

Wow, wouldn't that be great? Meanwhile, back in the real world, that's not what they do. Damn. For a second there you almost sounded like someone who gave a shit about our soldiers wounded and dying in Iraq.

Your grain of salt for the article:
Fox is one of the four motion picture studios in the MPAA that do not share revenue with a major U.S. record label.

Also beware of the New York Daily News which does not share revenue with a major U.S. record label.

Beware of NY Newsday which does not share revenue with a major U.S. record label.

Beware the New York Post which does not share revenue with a major U.S. record label.

Beware of USA Today which does not share revenue with a major U.S. record label.

Beware of WNBC TV News 4 which does not share revenue with a major U.S. record label.

Beware the Jewish World Review which does not share revenue with a major U.S. record label.

Beware of the California Sacramento Bee which does not share revenue with a major U.S. record label.

According to Gogle News this story is only 12 hours old, expect the list to expand. It is absolutely SHOCKING how many news sorces do not share revenue with a major U.S. record label. SHOCKING I say! This media bias cannot be permitted to continue!

-

Source:

Story

Bush relaxes with family in Maine.

Jobless at 20 year high.

Don't forget Bush was on vacation the entire month of August, 2001. Maybe if he was on the job, the intelligence on Sept 11 would have allowed the tragedy to be averted.

But Bush was on vacation.

With medicine, an artificial restriction on the supply of doctors keeps their salaries high. It's still tough as hell to get into, but once you're in, there IS no competition.

Not really a fair comparison...presumedly, those governing bodies are *primarily* there to maintain some standards of competence - keeping the Dr. Nick Rivieras ("Hi everybody!") out of medicine.

A better contrasting example would be to the trade unions in this country that pump up janitor's salaries to $60k-$120k a year.

So then Inspector Plod duly notes this. Later, when you speak out on a public issue unpopular with Inspector Plod's superiors, your affection for [insert odd sex act] is mysteriously leaked to the media.

You might want to ask Scott Ritter about a misdemeanor "sealed" arrest record that strangely became public knowledge after he publicly criticized recent Iraq policies.

i found it just incredible what this woman writes in her articles. Browsing through a pretty recent one about anti-war demonstrations (from April 2nd) she is complaining about all the additional costs the "anarchists" e.g. in san francisco are creating by putting heavy load on police forces. well i have to say that since i live in san francisco about one year now (i'm not american) the reason is not the anti-war demonstrators, which in 99.9% are protesting in a peaceful way (it's ANTI WAR, duh!) that create these costs, but it's the government of the city and of this country that employ more heavily armed policemen than there are protestors!! the police forces literally outnumbered the protestors. my opinion is that this is crazy and an attempt to make any anti-war protestors shut up (nice democracy you got here...)
i also found it ridiculous of the to suggest " other avenues for expressing one's views about the war" by organizing "communication campaigns directed to the White House and Congress" - i'm pretty sure that this has happened, but since mr. bush has never even talked to one of the anti-war activists this is obviously not the truth - i have learned about americans that actually think themselves only by seeing these anti war protests in the streets.
but what really made me think was the last sentence of the same paragraph where she suggests that "Protesters can hang banners and flags outside their homes or wear black or red-white-and-blue armbands"...kind of reminded me of the situation in Germany in the time between 1933-1945 where the houses of jews were painted with "Jew" and they had to wear a " Star of David" in public...maybe a strong comparison and not really exact, but apart from this i have seen and felt other similarities between the US these days and the old germany. nationality might be good (although i never got the point really - we're all human beings right?) but it can be really bad too.

it was really sad to see people on tv saying things like "it's useless to protest against the government - it won't change anything" (nice democracy again) i think this mentality made it possible for hitler to come to power (apart from powerful helpers - already mentioned in this thread).

sorry for bothering you with this, but i just felt like i would have to express my thoughts on this and i hope the usa does not transform into the dark side with darth bush as it's "fuhrer"

Anti-war and pro-war demonstrators need to suck in their egos and face an unflattering truth: the nation has something more important to attend to right now than the regulation and policing of street protests, however fervently held the protesters' beliefs.

Yeah, you'd be surprised...

According to http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/56873p-53217 c.html, there are no handholds under the shuttle, so astronauts can't spacewalk there. There's also the risk of doing more damage to the tiles, and the inability to repair them.