smccrory

I might be into that - I had planned to ride Sunday anyway. Will you be taking your Strom or WR?

Gotta love the logic. If it's not published by credible mainstream sources, it's a conspiracy I tell ya, a conspiracy!

Groovy man, should be a fun time. Keep your ears open for an Iron Pony pre-meet-and-ride.

OK cool, let's see what alansz400's schedule is like and see if we and the weather can cooperate.

I heard this from an old pilot 10 years ago... "If it flies, floats or $&*#s, you're better off renting!"

Of course that's not the real CEO of JP Morgan (Jamie writes in a very different style and would never be bothered with something so mundane), but the person's reply is amusing nonetheless.

Relish not knowing what you want next. Obsession over a particular model will come soon enough...

Fun!

Hi Tigerpaw, I didn't mean to imply he was wounded or killed - my sloppy choice of words. I lost him as a friend and he lost 3+ years of private life refueling jets in-theater. He was (is?) a pilot. Name's Keith. He was pulled out of reserve life with a lovely new girlfriend into wartime. Of everyone, he perhaps had it the easiest, but I think he associated the hypocrisy of warhawkishness with me being at home, doing the same job on the same schedule arm-chair quarterbacking global events without having to pay for it first-hand. Unfair, but I understand. I fell for George/Dick/Don's maneuvers.

Thank god. Pretty raw when that happens. Imagine being stop-lossed, then losing something important in your re-up. I'm sick with what we expect our warriors to bear for us, and then act like a "thank you" in an airport or on a Facebook post is enough. Jesus that gets my blood boiling.

Did he get stop-lossed?

Speaking of, does anyone know if we can finally give up that "freedom fries" silliness, hating the French because they didn't waltz into Iraq based on lies (at least vast exaggerations) with us, forgetting all the while that their support in the revolutionary way was critical in both the Atlantic and great lakes theaters against those nasty Brits? There are still plenty of reasons to take issue with the French, but can we finally give up the "wit us, er agin us" schtick?

I completely agree, and my ethical dilemma at the time was complicated because there were millions of Iraqis, HUMAN BEINGS, poisoned, murdered and jailed by their own leader because they didn't hold the same religious beliefs and tribal alignments. It's morally repugnant for a person, let alone a 1st-world country like the U.S. to stand by and watch while we have the ability to intervene. Add to that, our geopolitical interest in democracy and a coalition (as you mention in #38), and I leaned just right enough to let it happen with my sentiment and my votes. The invasion was... magnificent. Military tacticians will study the first and second gulf wars for 100 years. But America's ability to stabilize infrastructure and provide occupational safety is abysmal, and it lost us the conflict. Had everything turned out OK, our issue with WMD proof might be just an academic quibble.

So, this is where I admit that back then I bought into the WMD argument, in part because of he did indeed gas the Kurds - that's irrefutable. In fact, I lost a good friend (KC-135 pilot and former SAC B-52 nuke bomber) by mirroring what Rummy, Dicky and Bushie lied to us about - it was he and thousands of others who paid with years of their lives (some, the ultimate cost) by doing what we the public told them to do. So, please forgive me for not wanting to dive into conflict so ardently, and for not taking much of anything Rummy has to say as worth a hill of beans.

Right, we're not talking about rounding up and jailing someone for their speech - we're talking about political correctness, no? Speak as "frankly" as you want as long as it doesn't violate other laws (slander, libel, public calamity, etc.), just don't complain about the political consequences of revealing insensitive bias. Remember, we teach children not to act like heathens and use swear words routinely for similar reasons. Not as intellectual terrorism (LOL) but as a way to shape their thinking into more fore-thoughtful planes so that they're not cut off from opportunities. I could draw a tattoo-on-the-forehead analogy as well.

On the contrary. A critical and fundamental part of American Spirit is to give a crap about people who don't look, talk or pray like us.

Oh yea, it says "consider what you're saying before you say it." When that happens, the terrorists win.

And then beyond that, to hear that conservatives don't care what non-whites think about their phraseology deepens the perception divide.

I can't! The NSA told me I had to be part of "Operation Freak Brian Out" or they'd take my Internet away.

I wasn't arguing there was actual bias - that's a different conversation - I was arguing messaging. If you still want to call it horseshit, then by all means do so, but don't cry as the majority shifts and conservatives are left in the cold. CrazySkullCrusher, what you said fully supports the idea that the GOP is trying to disenfranchise minority voters with redistricting and voter ID efforts. Conversely what you say also disagree's with Priebus' recent focus on minority messaging and outreach.

Except it's seen by others as indications of latent bias. You say they don't care, and that's fine, but how's that working out for them in terms of minority market share? They're late in the game realizing that minorities will become a majority in the not-too-distant future, so messaging and impressions will have a bearing on political outcomes whether they care or not. For their sake, they should care. Talk about apes and subhuman mogrels and legitimate rape doesn't help the GOP.

Whoops, yes. The GOP should avoid racial epithets if it doesn't want a party epitaph.

By the way, what is it about conservatives' inability to avoid (unintended?) racial epitaphs? At least they haven't talked about rape in a while.

Like reality TV.

I'll be there for two tubed tires! Likewise weather will determine if that's via two or 4 wheel arrival.