Rex Kickass

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 10:07 AM) No, we should just bow to them, sing kumbayah, and toast their efforts. After all, everything they do we caused it. You are aware that this administration is much more hawk and far less dove than most people realize, right? Just because we don't thump our chests and scream it doesn't it make it less effective.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 05:45 PM) Unless said governments align themselves with these nuts, and some do. But most don't. In Yemen, they don't. In Afghanistan, they don't. In Pakistan, they don't anymore. Nor in Saudi Arabia. I'm pretty sure there's no Al Qaida - North Korea connection. You can make an argument that there may be some tie in between the current Iranian regime and Al-Qaeda, but that's even somewhat dubious. In fact, although our actions appear to be much more amenable towards Iran in the past year, our policy and actions have been anything but - but maybe the past eight years have made diplomatic pressure somewhat foreign to most Americans. Given we aren't going to be exercising a military option anytime soon... and nobody believed we were going to under the Bush administration either, using real diplomatic tactics, our only realistic option, may seem foreign to you after the last eight years.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 05:16 PM) We can only hope. This is one time where I hope I am wrong. It is starting to feel like the Shah in reverse with Twitter replacing audio cassettes.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 05:15 PM) Here's the bottom line, IMO. To say that Obama is personally responsible makes about as much sense as saying Bush was personally responsible for 9/11. Obama is not responsible for this. With that said, to want to make nice and want to "reach out" and be "friends" with these assholes is a mistake in policy. An appeasement policy doesn't, hasn't, and will never work, and Obama's policies are more closely to that side then where we were. While his administration's policies don't DIRECTLY correlate to these sorts of attacks, indirectly they do because you can't handle this as a "police matter" or "as it happens", you have to screw over these assholes and put them in their graves before they do any of us, no matter how ugly this may seem to the bleeding hearts. Working with governments is not an appeasement policy when your enemy is a trans global non-government.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 01:43 PM) Word is that Khamenei is reaching out to Russia for an exit from the country. Source?

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 01:22 PM) What is the over/under in days for the fall of the gov't in Iran? My best guess is days to 1 month. I'd take the over on that. I think that things are fluid in Iran, and there may be significant changes in 2010, but I doubt it will happen by Feb.

Two of the four AQ members thought to be behind this attack were released from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia in 2007 to participate in an "art therapy" program. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/men-believed...tory?id=9434065

I'm going to say that by and large, I've been fairly impressed with the Obama administration's reaction to this event. It's been a low key, yet high visibility response.

What about Shingo vs Sosa in 2004 at the Cell? Three straight fastballs followed by an Eephus clocked at 51 that had Shammy wrapped up before the ball was half way home.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 12:12 PM) It also says that those puffer machines are $160k/each. According to the ATA there are 526 airports in the US which offer commercial/public service. Assuming that on average, each airport needs 5 of these machines (more in LAX, ORD, less in Rockford, Bloomington-Normal, etc) that means that the total cost of putting machines in their necessary spots would be $42,080,000. The current US population is 308,248,249 people. Which means that if we implemented a per/person tax of 13.7 cents, we could cover the entire cost of these machines, nationwide. Shoot double it to 27.4 cents per person to cover any costs associated with maintenance and repair. Plus there are also labor costs involved. They need to be used in conjunction with instead of in place of magnetometers.

Flip Video Camera Mad Men Season 2 Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job Season 3 And a big box of change to fly home with.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 11:38 AM) Tampa airport has this machine you walk into, it closes up, shoots a poof of air on you and then traces the air for chemicals prior to letting you through. takes an extra 15 seconds, but it beats having to take your shoes off and getting felt up by a TSA employee. now, the obvious issue here is the international flight issue, not domestic. Domestic screenings are going fine. But how the he*l do you make sure that the airport in Nigeria does everything they are supposed to do when flying to the US? Those are the puffer machines that really should be in wider distribution. Problem is that they're expensive, and you can't shove that expense on airports that are already operating in the red, or a beleaguered airline industry that's having enough issues finding money to keep planes in the air. It's something the government really has to cover the costs of.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 11:33 AM) I just don't understand why everyone has to suffer for DHS' mistake. And honestly, not getting up for the last hour is ridiculous. How about being "escorted?" Or even better, I'll give my toddler in diapers to you for the last hour and YOU can keep him in his seat. I feel horrible for all the Flight Attendants out there having to deal with angry passengers. I can't imagine they would want that job much longer. The US isn't the only country that requires this. If your flight overflies Israel, the same restrictions apply in Israeli airspace, actually. These are temporary measures.

QUOTE (mreye @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 11:14 AM) I heard that this morning. She's saying it worked after the initial incident - we were able to contact all other flights in the air, etc. In other words, after the first horse got out of the barn we were able to close the barn doors. I hope the 278 people that horse almost killed can sleep easier knowing the "system worked." Well, the problem wasn't with the US system per se, it might have been more with the Nigerian and Dutch systems to be fair. The TSA does not control individual security screenings in other countries.

She's backtracked on that today. I wanted to talk about this yesterday, but I was flying home and my layover was through Detroit, and I was superstitious. I think we're using the wrong kind of machines in security. We need puffer machines, not magnetometers. Millimeter Wave technology would also be a smart thing to apply across the board here. I know that there are civil liberty concerns with that, but I think that these technologies provide the capabilities to identify the new most likely threats. Truth is that the day of the hijack is dead and gone, After 9/11, hardened cockpit doors and a more aware American population has basically ensured that. Explosive detecting screening devices on passenger luggage has made a Lockerbie attack much less likely as well. So there are really two areas that are primarily vulnerable to attack in air security - cargo and explosives like PETN. Better cargo inspections take care of the first, and there are plenty of technologies that will help root out the second. I do want to say that I think we have a pretty good security system in the US for flights, by and large. For all the craziness, there is a genuine effort to make us safe in the air, and with the exception of PETN type attacks which are very difficult to carry out, we have made attacking us in the skies much more difficult.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Dec 23, 2009 -> 09:55 PM) The IDEA is being debated, but how many people have even seenthe final bill? And by the time they all finish f***ing with it adding pork and removing ann the compromises they originally put in, even if they HAD seen it before, would it even resemble what they first read? The Republicans insisted every word be read on the Senate floor actually. Pity none of them stuck around to take notes.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 23, 2009 -> 02:21 PM) I once sent a letter to my house rep when I was living in Tennessee. I was writing in support of a decision by SCOTUS - I believe it was the decision that children should not have to be forced to say "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance (I am fine with the pledge generally, but dislike the idea of forcing the later-added religious part on kids). Of course, living in Tennessee, my letter was in the minority opinion, but I saw that this particular rep was trying to pass legislation against the decision. I got a letter back - saying that he agreed with me... except he was saying that he too was disgusted by the SCOTUS decision. Basically, some lacky in his office just saw "pledge of allegiance", and assumed I was against the decision, and spit out a form letter to that end. That was annoying. In most cases, its rarely read. If you want an actual audience, your best chance is to handwrite the letter.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Dec 23, 2009 -> 01:25 PM) don't know if this has been linked yet. http://www.omaha.com/article/20091221/NEWS01/712219890 lol That's not that uncommon with controversial legislation. I'm sure he's gotten more than a few pieces of mail containing dog or human s*** too. That's also surprisingly common.

So what seemed like a disaster for the Democrats is quickly becoming a disaster for the GOP instead. http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/the-repu...th-care-blunder And I lost a lot of respect for Lindsey Graham yesterday. Never a huge fan policy wise, but in the last two days, he's saying that South Carolina will have to spend too much money on medicaid expansion because "South Carolina has a 31% African American population." Here's the exact quote from the Senate floor. I'm not saying Graham is a racist, but this damn near looks like someone trying to play the race card in a GOP effort to absolutely throw the kitchen sink to stop a bill they can't stop.

I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed with the Malibu, Cruze and the Volt when it comes out. The GMC Terrain too. I'm also starting to get a crush on the Ford Flex. And if Chrysler lives long enough to start releasing Fiat platform products, look out. Fiat's been making some great autos the last ten years.

I just wanna know what would be so awful about having a Rex Kickass 2010.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 22, 2009 -> 02:37 PM) That's ok, they can just charge 100$ a bag instead of whatever they charge now. All fixed. This could be a whole other thread. But flight pricing hasn't gone up if you adjust for inflation in nearly twenty years, despite the cost of business being much, much higher. So things like fees bring in ancillary revenue which make up some of the difference.

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Dec 22, 2009 -> 04:05 PM) Board of review = IMAB = dreaded death panels. Weird that there's more protection here than any where else in the bill. They chose this section regarding the Independent Medicare Advisory Board to have the biggest roadblocks for change or repeal? Seems to me the reasoning is if the GOP wins back the house and seante this guards them from altering this part of the bill. So it's kinda like play by my rules even if I'm not there, I know whats better for you anyway. Basically, I think what it means is that Congress can't overrule the board's reimbursement decisions. Except the very next paragraph says that this paragraph can be appealed by three-fifths majority in the Senate. So essentially, a board decision can't be altered except in the case of enough concern that 60 senators vote to review it in house.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 22, 2009 -> 03:04 PM) It's not often I get to cite the Washington Times here, but this seems like a legit scoop. Someone can correct me if it turns out this is more common than they make it appear; as it is the Washington Times, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted Steele gone anyway. That may very well be the reason he has the time to give speeches. I'd bet he has a lot less to do than the average party chair.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 22, 2009 -> 02:02 PM) The logical response to that is to increase airport capacity to actually meet demand. Except that's expensive and unnecessary. There are a few airports that could use expansion (in particular JFK, LGA, MDW) but by and large that isn't necessary. And since maintaining that kind of rarely used capacity is extremely expensive, that's just another way to make sure airfares go way way higher.