Texsox

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 07:38 AM) The info we were getting on incoming flights was passenger manifest information, not reading habits, membership affiliatons and clothing sizes. The names of the passengers were made available, along with info sucj as how they paid and if there was a return flight. Just how would you have the FBI or CIA gather this info if not from the airlines themselves? Start an investigation into each person coming into the country before they are allowed to fly in? And FYI, as I said "Sure, they can pick some winners, but they sure can pick some losers." I always like to see how this could be abused. We know it never stops at this point. What we have is the government tracking how you bought a ticket and when you will be leaving or staying. If this is the slippery slope that we are allowing, where could it lead? The government tracking your road trips as well? Checking in with big brother? IMHO a little bit of paranoia here is a good thing. As a broad overview, the ACLU wants is to have the maximum amount of freedoms and the least amout of government restrictions. With them fighting the government all the way doesn't that keep the government in check? We are smart enough to know they aren't fighting to help perverts look at pornography, they are fighting to let normal citizens look at materials that others may find offensive. It is just to whittle away at those freedoms the government finds loathsome persons to act against. I think we are better served if we look at what is being done, not who it is benefitting in that case.

The cell phone and text messages have been an economic problem for more than one recruit. ESPN ran a report on that over a year ago. When I was being recruited for cross country it was all letters and a couple phone calls through my High School, nothing to my house. The funniest one I received was for football. I was smart enough to know I would never make the team and played golf or ran cross country in the fall. I never played a down of high school football. I called the school, who could resist, and was told a secretary mistook two lists and sent out the wrong letters. I always wondered how well that team played with a bunch of 140 pound linemen and how their cross country faired with 280 pounders. Someone's per diem was screwed.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 10:54 PM) It will be an interesting finals - Dallas can't stop Shaq, Miami can't stop Dirk. I think Josh Howard and D-Wade will offset, and then that leaves it to the other role players - which I think Dallas is just a little deeper, and has home court. Dallas in 7. Texas homer me too

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/03/indianapo...ings/index.html I'll bet Hardees is excited about all the free publicity.

Linked .

Bottom line the ACLU defends the Constitution not the groups whose rights are being challenged. While it would be nice if those persons were always perfect, that isn't how we chip away rights in this country. We trample on the Constitution with groups we don't like, and when it gets applied to us, then we worry. I don't have problems with the military having equal access with other groups to recruit.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 10:57 PM) George W. Bush? LMFAO! I'm sorry, I had to say it. I would have mentioned him up until the past couple years. I still be believe he is of good character.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 08:02 AM) LOL. Who was the last "person of higher character" who made it onto a Presidential Election ballot for the two major parties? Maybe Bob Dole? Michael Dukakis? Jimmy Carter? I was thinking all levels, but you ask a good question.

My fav 3> When my penis gets me into trouble, Lawyer Marty comes to me, Speaking words of wisdom... for a fee.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 01:15 AM) There are a lot of things the ACLU has done over the years that has royally pissed me off. But, I'm glad they are around. The ACLU has been a major pain in the backside to BSA, and seems to always be on the side of some group or cause I would not want to be identified with but, I do agree with YASNY. I can never write this clearly but here goes. Where do we draw the line? things that should be protected ___|___ things that shouldn't be protected As a society, we become rather knee jerk in our reaction to things and start to become more and more strict. IMHO, without someone taking unpopular positions and judging them against our Constitution, we would wind up with things that should be ___|___ protected things that shouldn't be protected So when our Constitution allows people who should not be on the same planet with children, to be 1001 feet away or 500 feet away, I cringe and think we're things that should be protected things that ___|___ shouldn't be protected By protecting the most depicable causes and people and making certain their rights are respected, the margin of error means that everything that should be protected is. IN other words, to assure everyone good has their rights, we put up with a few idiots and perverts having their rights preserved. The alternative is eliminating rights for all the idiots and perverts and having some good people silenced as well. Plus, there is always a check and balance. The legislature can always rewrite any law and try to get it passed on that basis. The fine tuning brings the line back to where it should be. In another X feet away law. McAllen (city of over 100,000 people) passed an ordinance that made strip bars illegal within 750 feet of any Church or School. Seems fair enough until you consider there is no point in McAllen that isn't within 750 feet of any Church or School QUOTE(minors @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 02:05 AM) That's not true they stand up for the murderers, child molesters and every other thug because these are good people and God is the real ememy not these upstanding people. They stand up for the Constitution and anyone who seeks to create laws that are against the Constitution.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 02:31 AM) You may be right. But, what we have now totally sucks. I know Kap will disgaree, but to fix this we need Dems to fix Dems and Reps to fix Reps. Not make excuses, but grab back their parties. Until then, we get what we deserve. Too many will vote for a douchbag from their party instead of a person of higher character from the other. And I believe we are better off with elected leaders of high character over politics.

I was thinking we could agree on Zeppelin And YAS, are you saying North America would have been better off if the Indians had controlled their borders?

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 08:23 PM) How about having all the primaries on the same day? This way Iowa and a few East Coast states don't decide who we have left to vote for. Or divide the states into 3 or 4 groups. One year, group A votes first, next year, group B, etc. Almost anything would be better. Perhaps even make it geographical and rotate the schedule each election cycle. Hell is freezing over.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 08:31 PM) You know, I think hell might be freezing over or something. Tex, I agree with what you just wrote! While the reasoning he gave for lowering NY's was pretty bad, he should have just said "Hey NY, quit hogging all the dough, other places need a bit also!" We can make fun of our country all we want, but we rarely do something unbelievably stupid. Stupid, yes. But not on that scale and in such a high profile project.

June 2, 2006 NOTE FROM CHRIS: Seeing as how it's Friday, and summer, and everyone here at TopFive is feeling all Fridayish and summery, we thought we'd go for one of our extra-long lists today, and open the doors so everyone can see it. ClubTop5ers, of course, are used to this treatment, since they get ALL our delectable goodies EVERY day. For all the details on membership privileges, go here: http://www.topfive.com/html/ClubTop5.shtml Paul McCartney and his wife of four years have separated. The Top 30 Beatles Lyrics About Divorce 30> My attorneys, Maxwell, Silver & Hammer, will come down upon your head. My attorneys, Maxwell, Silver & Hammer, will make you wish that your were dead. 29> And I don't care too much for money Money can't buy me love. Can't buy me lo-- Wait! What the hell am I saying?!? 28> You'd better give me your money, Or I'll serve you some legal papers. And when we're finished with negotiations, You'll be broke, clown. 27> All you need: pre-nup. All you need: pre-nup. All you need: pre-nup, yup. A pre-nup's all you need. 26> Maybe I'm amazed at the way you're after half my cash. And maybe I'm afraid you'll probably get it. 25> Why don't we do it in the road? Can you say, "Irreconcilable differences"? 24> Hey, dude, don't be a mouse -- Raise an objection about her blouse. The minute the judge gets sight of those tits, He'll lose his wits -- and me, my house. 23> Happiness is a warm gun -- and much more satisfying than a court-ordered division of property. 22> Dear Sir or Madam, will you take my case I used to love him now I can't stand his face. Bathes on occasion, maybe once a year, Man, I hate the slob, so I'm looking for a good divorce lawyer. 21> Yesterday, alimony seemed so far away. Now it looks as though I'll pay and pay. Where's my pre-nup from yesterday? 20> I have to admit it's getting bitter. It's getting bitterer all the time. 19> I saw a lawyer today, oh boy. Ten thousand pounds for only half an hour. The news he offered made me sad: "Paul, she even gets your grass." Now I understand how John could make that Yoko Ono thing last. 18> You said, "Goodbye." Now I say, "HELL NO!" 17> Jojo was a man who said he was a woman, When he boinked another man. The former Mrs. Jojo said he's got it coming From Arskovitz & Moran. Get back! Get back! Get back at least 100 yards! 16> Will you depose me, Will you just hose me, When I'm 64? 15> Ooh, then you suddenly ditch me. Ooh, now I've got to enrich you, Every single day of my life. Got to get you out of my life! 14> .deb ni ysuol saw lauP .deb ni ysuol saw lauP 13> Busted marriage, money spent. Got no future, just torment. All the cash withdrawn, nowhere to go. Lawyer's got me by the sack. By Monday morning, jury's back. The house belongs to her, nowhere to go. And oh, that homeless feeling, nowhere to go. 12> Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be. Since that gold-digger castrated me. 11> You say you want a dissolution, well, you know, We both know this marriage blows. But when it comes to retribution, well, you know, I'll soon be paying through the nose. 10> Uniformed bailiffs appear at the door, Coming to drag you away. Look for the girl with your balls in her hand and she's gone. Lucy got your jewels and diamonds. Lucy got your jewels and diamonds. Arghhhhhhh! 9> There goes old Heather, she goes sneakin' and fakin'. She got dollar eyesight, she one bad ballbreaker. She got lawyers crawling on their knees. Better grab your wallet, 'cause it's gonna get squeezed. Come together, right now, in courtroom 3. 8> Hey, you've got to hide your 401(k). 7> Golden ingots fill your eyes. Piles await you as your prize. Sue, little darling, don't be shy. And I will kiss my loot goodbye. 6> Oh, my lawyer will tell you something, I hope you'll understand. You can keep the homes and autos... I wanna own your band! 5> Day after day, he's over the hill. A man with big wads of cash, but as for brains, he's got nil. And nobody wants to know him, They can see that he's just a fool. First he let Linda sing some backup, Now Heather's got him by the tool. 4> I'm licking a ho when my wife walks in. I just can't stop philandering. Now she will go-o. 3> When my penis gets me into trouble, Lawyer Marty comes to me, Speaking words of wisdom... for a fee. 2> I once had a wife, or should I say, she once had me. She showed me her leg, it looked so real, Norwegian steel. and Topfive.com's Number 1 Beatles Lyric About Divorce... 1> Sitting in a courtroom, waiting for the judge to come. Cough up all your assets, stupid bloody cheater, Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your zipper down. I am the plaintiff. You're the defendant. He's my attorney. OOH, OOH, YOU'RE SCREWED! Join ClubTop5 to see the whole 30-item list and the Runner Up/Honorable Mention submissions for today's list: "Bad Apples" and "Tragical Misery Tour" http://www.topfive.com/html/clubtop5.shtml

United States of America. Is it time to forget about the whole states thing and start thinking nationaly?

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 02:31 AM) A few years of political gridlock might be just the ticket. These two poor excuses of of political parties, so called representives of the American people, are so busy scratching each others back behind closed doors that they don't know how to properly represent the American people any more. Rob the blind, yes. Represent, no. Yes, put a third party, with a third of the power, in Washington. Let the political gravy train come to a grinding halt. Then, we'll get to see who really wants to represent Joe & Jane Citizen. When things come to halt, the stuff that matters to the people will be the only thing that can get accomplished. When the people care enough about something, and nothing is getting done, they'll have to listen. Right now, they can put fiasco legislatation out and say they are doing something, but they aren't doing s*** FOR the American people. Just TO us. You are much more optimistic than I. The budget has to pass, to get it to pass, the gravy train would be out of control getting enough votes. We'd see more pork than a Jimmy Dean sausage factory.

Not the Promised Land, but a land with promise By Warren Smith This Memorial Day, as most of the country was enjoying a long weekend, I was driving across the country, on a long-distance road trip with my 20-year-old daughter Brittany. But before I tell you that story, let me back up a bit. You see, 30 years ago this summer - indeed, 30 years ago this very week -- in June of 1976, I began a job at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. You may have heard of Philmont. Certainly if you've ever been involved in the Boy Scouts you have, because Philmont is the largest Boy Scout Camp in the world. Each summer, more than 25,000 Scouts and adult leaders go there, and they are served by about 1000 seasonal staff members. Thirty years ago, I was one of those staff members. And, for that matter, so was my wife, Missy. That's where we met, at Philmont. And almost 10 years later, in 1985, we worked there again as husband and wife. We were both teachers who had our summers off, so it was also at Philmont that we discovered that we were expecting our first child, this same Brittany. This summer Brittany herself would be working at Philmont -- in exactly the same backpacking guide job -- they're called "rangers" -- that I had 30 years ago. So on Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend, Brittany and I got in her little car at 5:30 in the morning, and started driving West. We had a sense, as Huck Finn famously said, of "lighting out for the territory." Robert Penn Warren less famously, but more directly, said that the West is where Americans have always gone to flee their lives, to remake themselves. To lose themselves, and to find themselves. As we turned on to Interstate 40, which for much of its way follows the path of the famous Route 66, all the way to Santa Monica Pier on the Pacific Ocean, Phantom Planet's "California" came up randomly on the CD player. It's a song that many people today know as the theme for the television program "The O.C." But, more to the point here, it's a bittersweet song about reaching the end of the road, literally and spiritually. "California here I come, right back where I started from." The words are from an old "Tin Pan Alley" song, but the minor chords give this version a new meaning. The earlier song was one that fully embraced the idea of a Golden West. But this new version, with its minor chords, said something different. It said this: "What you discover at the end of this road is that there's no avoiding yourself. No matter where you go, there you are." We were not going all the way to California, but we were headed into the Far West, ending up in Santa Fe by Sunday evening. And on this trip I would not go all the way to Philmont, either. This summer I would not, as Brittany would be able to do, throw away my watch and walk as I pleased in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, named for the cleansing Blood of Christ. For me, now, there was not enough time. I had to get back home and get to work. Like Moses, who led his people out of bondage but did not get to enter the Promised Land himself, so I had to return to the captivity of work, and the tyranny of the clock. But Brittany is a part of the Joshua generation, the generation that gets to enter the Promised Land. At least for now. So on Memorial Day Monday, the third day of this expedition into the West, I catch a shuttle from Santa Fe to the Albuquerque airport and fly back to the East. Brittany would drive the last two hours to Philmont on her own. As I sat on the plane, literally on the runway in Albuquerque, my cell phone rang. It was Brittany. There was excitement in her voice. "I can see the mountains," she said, almost yelling into the phone above the road noise and the sound of her specially burned "road trip" CD. She called their names to me over the crackly cell phone, and I thought about how oddly appropriate these names were for this conversation. Brittany didn't know it, but she was describing my world at mid-life: Baldy. Touch-me-not. The Tooth of Time. The flight attendant gave me a hard look that meant I had to turn off my "portable electronic device." So I told Brittany I loved her and hung up. What this summer held for her I did not know. Sure, I had an inkling, but every generation must make the journey for itself, and every journey is different. I did, though, recognize that excitement in her voice. It was the same excitement I had, at times, heard it in my own. It was the excitement you feel when you are at the edge of -- well, not exactly the Promised Land, but a land of great promise. And you are about to enter in. Warren Smith is the publisher of "The Charlotte World." He can be reached at [email protected]

God luck children, your genetic material ain't the best. :headshake

QUOTE(Random @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:47 PM) what about retrieving the rally crede???? Done.

Gee, can kids be successful without pushy parents and becomming social nerds? Believe it or not but some kids enjoy intellectual challenges.

We can't protect every target. Who would have thought that the Federal Building in Oklahoma was a target? Are we erecting defense shields? Big cities already have plenty of police protection. New York has FBI out their butts, etc. It's the smaller communities that don't have the resources that really need the help. Possibly the results aren't as stupid as it sounds, althought the reasoning is dumb.

I have no problem with a business refusing service to any citizen or tourist. Put up a sign that says no Southern rednecks for all I care and I'll stay away. Stores and restaurants have dress codes. Of course, with his neighborhood attracting thousands of Mexicans, he could have made his restaurant spanish friendly and added business, but it doesn't say that every business owner should try and make more money. And how smart can he be, he can't figure out when someone is pointing to an item that they want it Now here's an interesting point, could a deaf person point and be served or is he just discriminating against spanish speaking?

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 03:38 AM) This bill would totally nullify the will of the voters in the state. I can't believe anyone is endorsing this. Considering that California is almost always a guarenteed huge chunk of blue EC votes why aren't the Dems howling about this? Am I missing something here? Of course it couldn't possibly be Dems doing the right thing? Scary when you actually agree with California Democrats?

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 02:01 AM) I knew you guys would jump to this douchebag's (Moore) defense. And of course the only thing you look at is Moore's politics. We have a system in this country that when you are wronged you can legally seek remedies. People buy and sell other people's intellectual property all the time. That is the law in America and I respect that. Even scumbags are protected. If George Gittoes wanted complete control over his documentary, he should have paid for it himself and owned the whole thing. But he didn't and the company that took the risk on a documentary about soldiers singing songs, allowed it to be used. And they proably even made a few dollars more than from the hippies that went to art houses to watch it the first time. Damon could have refused to appear, but signed a release and it gave ABC the rights to the interview. Lesson to all, don't appear on TV and you won't have that problem. We'll see how his case pans out. That's why we have a legal system.