blzrul

Got home Friday night. Says security is just as easy-going as the last two times he was there. Jay Rosen could probably tell all y'all who I'm talking about. He won't know the guy but his wife will. And my point was since all they needed was a pretty boy, not a business whiz, they could have sourced someone else who looked good for a lot less money. It's not like any particular skill is needed.

Since our government's policy is to fight them outside our own country I don't see why anyone would worry about it too much. London's not New York after all. By the way an American is being questioned regarding the latest London blast (link). It may come to naught. But then on the other hand, it's not unheard-of for Americans to be terrorists. You recall Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, the SLA, etc. So we shall see. This, for those of you too dense to realize it, is being written with sarcastic irony. If your heads explode, trust Tylenol. Or, since it's Saturday, go drink a beer.

You been hanging out with CTM too much, you're getting that Cliff Claven Complex.

I know a CEO of a large company whose name many of you would recognize. He was incompetent when I worked with him, he left and didn't last long at his two next companies as a VP. He landed at this company and has been there since because he's a pretty boy cheerleader and is just what they needed to soften their unfriendly image. I KNOW he's not running that company. How? It's still in business.

You KNOW I am!

Check the lost & found for your sense of humor my friend. I did click a smilie when I started the topic but it doesn't appear to be there. Nevertheless you're smart enough to recognize humor without having to be told....

So the Pentagon is looking at raising the recruitment age to improve its dismal numbers. Pretty soon, these folks may get their wish.

It depends. The network standard is GSM, which is the standard most of the world uses. Cingular Wireless is a GSM carrier. So is T-Mobile. Sprint, Verizon and Nextel are NOT. So if you subscribe to the latter three you are S.O.L. Next - if you have a GSM phone, it needs to be a tri- or quad-band. The frequencies in Europe are different. So check your phone deocumentation and see what you've got. If you don't have it you cna probably find it on the web. You'll want 1800/1900 and 850/900 Mhz. So if you have the right carrier and the right phone, the last thing you'll need to do is check your plan to see if it includes international. Most don't, which means you'll be roaming, in London. Ka-CHING! You may get a reduced rate through your carrier, for instance Cingular has contracts with Orange and Vodaphone (and a zillion others) which makes roaming in 150+ countries much easier. If you are a GSM customer and your phone doesn't meet the band requirements, you may be able to upgrade fairly cheaply. My husband upgraded for about $89 to a quad-band phone the first time he went to London and he's very happy with it. You can just go to the carrier's retail outlet and they'll hook you up.

Found him - I figured the odds of him being a casualty were pretty slim but it's frustrating not being able to get through.

My husband's in London and I can't reach him on the wireless. I heard they've blocked them? Anyone know? That would mean they think there's more detonators out there...and also that would be the reason I can't reach him. At least I reached a live person at his hotel so the landlines are up...I don't think there were any explosives detonated but but doesn't mean they're not out there somewhere.

I didn't like Clinton either. Nor Bush I. Nor Reagan. Nor Carter.

Perhaps since he's a repeat offender they'll confine him to home with a monitor. Don't misunderestimate the ability of the media to freak everyone out. If the news hasn't been on TV and in the paper....call them yourself. The guy won't be able to go anywhere without being recognized.

Stupid people do ask the opposite because the learned about the 3 branches of gov't and their functions in grade school and then poof! it's gone. Their little pea-brains just can't fathom being "non-partisan" in any branch of government. I don't know if it's surprising or not. I don't know enough about the guy. I don't trust the chimp to ever do the right thing, but then again even he can't always be wrong. And given that he can't get Bolton confirmed an extremist would have been Borked for sure.

So let's hear your theory, Einstein.

Then don't read them. Duh.

Then that bodes well. He may have a respect for the law and democracy and our Constitutionthat stands apart from his personal beliefs. That's all anyone could ask.

You give people too much credit. Most didn't think it out that far, including Fearless Leader. It was all about kicking Saddam's ass. That's the kind of sound bite that polarizes them.

I actually heard someone complain about his youth and lack of long-term judicial experience. Granted he's kind of a pretty boy and all, but certainly he's at least on par with Clarence Thomas as a jurist...of course that's a pretty low bar. The only thing that I wonder about is his political background and experience as an attorney represented big bidness. But you know - he may be ok. His political affiliation and beliefs may not matter if he's an ethical man. To illustrate: when the Repigs contested the gubernatorial race in WA, they selected the venue to file their lawsuit. They had the whole state to choose from, it being a statewide election. So they chose a conservative county and a known Republican-leaning judge in Eastern WA (which is Red enough to discuss secession) ... and he ruled against them. And that's what a jurist is supposed to do - rule on the law, not on personal ideology, public opinion or anything else. Obviously interpreting the law can be influenced by personal views, but an ethical judge tries to avoid that. Given this administration's overall lack of ethics one might wonder if their choice is any indication of HIS, but I'm willing to wait until I learn more about him. It could be far worse based on what I know so far.

"A bunch of people"? Where?

He's supposedly a smart guy and a jurist with an impeccable reputation. I don't give a rat's ass about his idealogy as long as he checks it at the door when he goes in. A real jurist rules on the law, not on the issues.

You and your wife should do what you'd want someone else to do, that is testify against the f-ing scumbag and make sure the media and entire world knows what he did, and his situation, so the public pressure to ensure his lockup for life is immense. As to the danger - well, that guy in Idaho who killed the family to snatch a girl shows that it's possible. But I'd hold off on the gun unless the guy's released. Make sure that the DA, PD and everyone else knows all your contact numbers in the unlikely event he makes bail. I testified against a serial arsonist once. As most people know, most serial killers start out with crimes like arson, and this guy was a nutbag. Plus he was from a wealthy and influential family. He was a very big man and quite intimidating. When I went to court the TV cameras were all there...and he sat behind that defense table and glared at me. Scary? Yup. Add to that the fact that it turned out he'd lived in a complex right across the street from my family. But it never occurred to me not to testify, because his next fire may have killed someone. No-one ever said doing the right thing is easy. You tell your wife she is a hero and a lot of kids owe her a big thanks!

All religion is stupid. Why? Because it's administered by fallible human beings. THEY decide how we should worship. THEY decide how God's Will is interpreted. THEY make the rules. That's why there have been wars time out of mind over religion. Everyone's afraid they may be wrong, so if they wipe out those who follow different rules of worship, they'll be the only ones left and therefore they HAVE to be right. The men who have had stewardship over the Catholic Church are no more corrupt or evil or stupid than the men who have stewardship over other denominations. I do not take everything they say literally, it first has to pass the litmus test of "what is really the right thing to do?". And if, as in so many things, it's a grey area, than one must trust one's own judgement and be willing to accept the consequences of making a well-intentioned error in judgement... The ritual and stuff is all very nice, but after all it's what goes on in daily life that matters. And as to THAT, most of us learned from mom and dad the difference between right and wrong. Which is really all we need to know.

It is human nature often to dislike traits in others that we most dislike in ourselves. Just a thought.

My mom became a lay teacher at our local religion school and she and the others who didn't teach STRICTLY to the good old Baltimore Catechism were kicked out. For example, my 5th grade book had, literally, a picture on the cover of people climbing out of this filmy-looking Purgatory, up a ladder into the clouds where a lily-white Jesus, some saints and angels awaited. And anyone who didn't follow this fundamentalist mentality and threatened to bring reality and humanity to religion in that parish, was a "heretic". The pastor in that parish (not the dead one I referred to, a different parish after we moved) was a big lush too. What a hypocrite. Hard to believe that the Diocese headed by Bishop Fulton Sheen had nut jobs like that. Maybe if he had stayed longer he would have done some housecleaning. My favorite priest as a child was cool like the one you describe - we love him. He literally dropped dead of heart failure at age 33. We always thought there was something to him dying of a broken heart at the same as a Jesus was when He died. When I was 12 we ran into a bunch of nuns in the inner-city and they were cool. One took us to see Jesus Christ, Superstar and when I asked what the funny smell was she immediately asked "you've never smelled pot before?". And by age 13 we dropped the Church and pretty much everything to do with it. So my last memories weren't so bad but the first 12 years were pretty much a nightmare.