Trent Lott: Retaliation plans
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· Score: 1
I just heard this on MSNBC (TV). Sorry I wasn't able to find mention of this on any website and I'm having to paraphrase this from memory so please excuse any inacacurracies (if someone can correct me, I'd appreaciate it) :
Congressman Trent Lott, following a meeting i the White House, has hinted at potential retaliatory plans as being massive and surprising/unconventional (or something to that extent). The idea here, that the news journalists were keying on, was the suprising or unconventional.
What could this mean? Are we secretly working with the Taliban and they are just going to turn the guy over? Are we gonna have a Navy Seal put a bullet in bin Laden's head on CNN? Are we going to torture the bastard until he renounces Allah? Are Afghan rebels rounding up the guy for us? Are Israeli Sepcial Forces going to move on Afghanistan? I have no idea.
Arming Pilots and other Security Measures
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More On Tragedy
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I have a couple of points to make:
First, though I'm not neccesarily advocating the arming of pilots in cockpits, cabin de-pressurization is not that bad of a thing when compared to many alternatives. If a cabin becomes de-pressurized in flight due to a puncture in the fuselage, about the worse thing that would happen is the plane would drop a few thousand feet in order to move to a higher pressurized atomosphere. The plane would not become unflyable. Drop down masks would come down so people can breathe and the plane could be diverted to an immediate landing strip, assuming the emergency situation (terrorists) was brought under control. We all remember stories in the past about parts of planes falling off. We all remember when a huge part of the fuselage popped off a plane and people were sucked out. Even that plane landed successfully, and that is far worse than a 9mm hole in the side of the plane.
Second, air marshals were commonplace on commercial flights in the US in the 60's. Israel has been using them for many years. As a note, Israel, a country more affected by terrorism than any other nation on Earth, has never had a civilian airliner hiijacked. Granted, that is, in large part, due to more than just air marshals, but they are a key part of the security plan that Israel implements.
Personally, I think separating the cabin is a better solution. It would not stop hiijackers (because of the hostage situations which the pilots would have to deal with), but would prevent the kind of suicide attacks we saw yesterday.
However, separating the pilot cabin would require a replacement or significant structural changes to exisiting air fleets, which cannot happen in a very timely fashion. This is part of a long-term approach, but should be coupled with some short term measures including the presence of air marshals on flights and the de-privitization of airport security. Trained police and/or military personnel should be used to ensure airport security. The under $10/hour rent-a-cops should be sent back to the shopping malls.
By the way, I just heard on the news that the FAA has re-instated the sky marshal policy.
Our first responsibility, as Americans, is to recover. To help the families and survivors of this horrible, cowardly act. Give blood (I already have). Call your loved ones, if they think you were indanger. I, personaly, was working in the WTC as little as 6 months ago. If my project had still been there, instead of moving to Mid-Town, myself and nearly all of my friends would be dead. With that said, I encourage discipline, as opposed to knee-jerk reactions, in response to these actions.
Is bin Laden responsible, maybe, maybe not. I don't care. He was responsible for the last attack on WTC and should be hunted down and brought to justice. Anyone who harbors him should face the same consequences. In no way do I encourage mass-invasions or tactical nuclear strikes. Killing more innocents is not the answer.
A better solution is to be aggressive about terroism. First and foremost, protect against terroism. Improve security, be more vigilant about pursing terroist organizations, support governments in their actions against terrorism (England, Isreal, India) and be more forceful (economic) in dealing with countries that support terrorism (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc).
Finally, acknowledge and react to the fact that the US is neither above nor immune to terrorism. Become active in the elimination of terror. This is in two aspects: 1) Become more sympathetic to world-opinion of the US behavior and react accordingly in areas where it does not comprimise our beliefs as a society 2)hunt down and eliminate those who are actively and violently opposed to the US presence in the international community.
How long does it take for us to call an enemy and enemy? How long does it take to or us to realize there is a war oing on aroundus? How many civilians must die before we are willing to go over political concerns and take action into our own hands? Bombing Afghanistan is not the answer, infiltrating and eliminating danerous individuals and groups is. This attack has raised analogies about Pearl Harbor and the 'waking of a sleeping giant'. The US IS A GIANT, but a giant approach is not the reaction that will be effective. Aircraft carriers are not the answer. Nuclear weapons are not the answer. Intelligence and surgical operations are an acceptable response. The US has some of the best trained military professionals in the world. Now is the time to use them. No more courts, no more bombs, no more FBI, just well-placed bullets to the back of the head. And not just Bin Laden, all those who threaten the US with violence should be dealt with accordingly.
Our first responsibility, as Americans, is to recover. To help the families and survivors of this horrible, cowardly act. Give blood (I already have). Call your loved ones, if they think you were indanger. I, personaly, was working in the WTC as little as 6 months ago. If my project had still been there, instead of moving to Mid-Town, myself and nearly all of my friends would be dead. With that said, I encourage discipline, as opposed to knee-jerk reactions, in response to these actions.
Is bin Laden responsible, maybe, maybe not. I don't care. He was responsible for the last attack on WTC and should be hunted down and brought to justice. Anyone who harbors him should face the same consequences. In no way do I encourage mass-invasions or tactical nuclear strikes. Killing more innocents is not the answer.
A better solution is to be aggressive about terroism. First and foremost, protect against terroism. Improve security, be more vigilant about pursing terroist organizations, support governments in their actions against terrorism (England, Isreal, India) and be more forceful (economic) in dealing with countries that support terrorism (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc).
Finally, acknowledge and react to the fact that the US is neither above nor immune to terrorism. Become active in the elimination of terror. This is in two aspects: 1) Become more sympathetic to world-opinion of the US behavior and react accordingly in areas where it does not comprimise our beliefs as a society 2)hunt down and eliminate those who are actively and violently opposed to the US presence in the international community.
How long does it take for us to call an enemy and enemy? How long does it take to or us to realize there is a war oing on aroundus? How many civilians must die before we are willing to go over political concerns and take action into our own hands? Bombing Afghanistan is not the answer, infiltrating and eliminating danerous individuals and groups is. This attack has raised analogies about Pearl Harbor and the 'waking of a sleeping giant'. The US IS A GIANT, but a giant approach is not the reaction that will be effective. Aircraft carriers are not the answer. Nuclear weapons are not the answer. Intelligence and surgical operations are an acceptable response. The US has some of the best trained military professionals in the world. Now is the time to use them. No more courts, no more bombs, no more FBI, just well-placed bullets to the back of the head. And not just Bin Laden, all those who threaten the US with violence should be dealt with accordingly.
My God......it's full of stars...
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MenuetOS Debuts
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· Score: 2, Funny
I just upgraded my entire company to this OS and we are blazing ahead into the early 90's. Some of my 'less-educated' users are complaining about the lack of support for StarOffice but I'm assuring them that it will come with time. In the meantime I'm working on a Lynx port. I never knew I could get 10% (!!!) improvement on my existing Pentium II 1 Ghz machines!
Slashdot Mirror
I just heard this on MSNBC (TV). Sorry I wasn't able to find mention of this on any website and I'm having to paraphrase this from memory so please excuse any inacacurracies (if someone can correct me, I'd appreaciate it) :
Congressman Trent Lott, following a meeting i the White House, has hinted at potential retaliatory plans as being massive and surprising/unconventional (or something to that extent). The idea here, that the news journalists were keying on, was the suprising or unconventional.
What could this mean? Are we secretly working with the Taliban and they are just going to turn the guy over? Are we gonna have a Navy Seal put a bullet in bin Laden's head on CNN? Are we going to torture the bastard until he renounces Allah? Are Afghan rebels rounding up the guy for us? Are Israeli Sepcial Forces going to move on Afghanistan? I have no idea.
I have a couple of points to make:
First, though I'm not neccesarily advocating the arming of pilots in cockpits, cabin de-pressurization is not that bad of a thing when compared to many alternatives. If a cabin becomes de-pressurized in flight due to a puncture in the fuselage, about the worse thing that would happen is the plane would drop a few thousand feet in order to move to a higher pressurized atomosphere. The plane would not become unflyable. Drop down masks would come down so people can breathe and the plane could be diverted to an immediate landing strip, assuming the emergency situation (terrorists) was brought under control. We all remember stories in the past about parts of planes falling off. We all remember when a huge part of the fuselage popped off a plane and people were sucked out. Even that plane landed successfully, and that is far worse than a 9mm hole in the side of the plane.
Second, air marshals were commonplace on commercial flights in the US in the 60's. Israel has been using them for many years. As a note, Israel, a country more affected by terrorism than any other nation on Earth, has never had a civilian airliner hiijacked. Granted, that is, in large part, due to more than just air marshals, but they are a key part of the security plan that Israel implements.
Personally, I think separating the cabin is a better solution. It would not stop hiijackers (because of the hostage situations which the pilots would have to deal with), but would prevent the kind of suicide attacks we saw yesterday.
However, separating the pilot cabin would require a replacement or significant structural changes to exisiting air fleets, which cannot happen in a very timely fashion. This is part of a long-term approach, but should be coupled with some short term measures including the presence of air marshals on flights and the de-privitization of airport security. Trained police and/or military personnel should be used to ensure airport security. The under $10/hour rent-a-cops should be sent back to the shopping malls.
By the way, I just heard on the news that the FAA has re-instated the sky marshal policy.
Our first responsibility, as Americans, is to recover. To help the families and survivors of this horrible, cowardly act. Give blood (I already have). Call your loved ones, if they think you were indanger. I, personaly, was working in the WTC as little as 6 months ago. If my project had still been there, instead of moving to Mid-Town, myself and nearly all of my friends would be dead. With that said, I encourage discipline, as opposed to knee-jerk reactions, in response to these actions.
Is bin Laden responsible, maybe, maybe not. I don't care. He was responsible for the last attack on WTC and should be hunted down and brought to justice. Anyone who harbors him should face the same consequences. In no way do I encourage mass-invasions or tactical nuclear strikes. Killing more innocents is not the answer.
A better solution is to be aggressive about terroism. First and foremost, protect against terroism. Improve security, be more vigilant about pursing terroist organizations, support governments in their actions against terrorism (England, Isreal, India) and be more forceful (economic) in dealing with countries that support terrorism (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc).
Finally, acknowledge and react to the fact that the US is neither above nor immune to terrorism. Become active in the elimination of terror. This is in two aspects: 1) Become more sympathetic to world-opinion of the US behavior and react accordingly in areas where it does not comprimise our beliefs as a society 2)hunt down and eliminate those who are actively and violently opposed to the US presence in the international community.
How long does it take for us to call an enemy and enemy? How long does it take to or us to realize there is a war oing on aroundus? How many civilians must die before we are willing to go over political concerns and take action into our own hands? Bombing Afghanistan is not the answer, infiltrating and eliminating danerous individuals and groups is. This attack has raised analogies about Pearl Harbor and the 'waking of a sleeping giant'. The US IS A GIANT, but a giant approach is not the reaction that will be effective. Aircraft carriers are not the answer. Nuclear weapons are not the answer. Intelligence and surgical operations are an acceptable response. The US has some of the best trained military professionals in the world. Now is the time to use them. No more courts, no more bombs, no more FBI, just well-placed bullets to the back of the head. And not just Bin Laden, all those who threaten the US with violence should be dealt with accordingly.
Our first responsibility, as Americans, is to recover. To help the families and survivors of this horrible, cowardly act. Give blood (I already have). Call your loved ones, if they think you were indanger. I, personaly, was working in the WTC as little as 6 months ago. If my project had still been there, instead of moving to Mid-Town, myself and nearly all of my friends would be dead. With that said, I encourage discipline, as opposed to knee-jerk reactions, in response to these actions.
Is bin Laden responsible, maybe, maybe not. I don't care. He was responsible for the last attack on WTC and should be hunted down and brought to justice. Anyone who harbors him should face the same consequences. In no way do I encourage mass-invasions or tactical nuclear strikes. Killing more innocents is not the answer.
A better solution is to be aggressive about terroism. First and foremost, protect against terroism. Improve security, be more vigilant about pursing terroist organizations, support governments in their actions against terrorism (England, Isreal, India) and be more forceful (economic) in dealing with countries that support terrorism (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc).
Finally, acknowledge and react to the fact that the US is neither above nor immune to terrorism. Become active in the elimination of terror. This is in two aspects: 1) Become more sympathetic to world-opinion of the US behavior and react accordingly in areas where it does not comprimise our beliefs as a society 2)hunt down and eliminate those who are actively and violently opposed to the US presence in the international community.
How long does it take for us to call an enemy and enemy? How long does it take to or us to realize there is a war oing on aroundus? How many civilians must die before we are willing to go over political concerns and take action into our own hands? Bombing Afghanistan is not the answer, infiltrating and eliminating danerous individuals and groups is. This attack has raised analogies about Pearl Harbor and the 'waking of a sleeping giant'. The US IS A GIANT, but a giant approach is not the reaction that will be effective. Aircraft carriers are not the answer. Nuclear weapons are not the answer. Intelligence and surgical operations are an acceptable response. The US has some of the best trained military professionals in the world. Now is the time to use them. No more courts, no more bombs, no more FBI, just well-placed bullets to the back of the head. And not just Bin Laden, all those who threaten the US with violence should be dealt with accordingly.
Can be found at: http://www.robocode.net/
Can be found at: http://www.robocode.net/
I just upgraded my entire company to this OS and we are blazing ahead into the early 90's. Some of my 'less-educated' users are complaining about the lack of support for StarOffice but I'm assuring them that it will come with time. In the meantime I'm working on a Lynx port. I never knew I could get 10% (!!!) improvement on my existing Pentium II 1 Ghz machines!