They do if you squint hard enough.

I have to say, this kind of crazy does not bolster your agenda. AGW "denialists" (for want of a better word) argue that climate change proponents are loony zealots beyond reason and now you come across as one. Do you seriously expect total anarchy from biblical flooding and world migration requiring armed resistance to protect your "mountain?" Are you a prepper too or just nuts?

This is the US Navy, not the British Royal Navy. Of course it's allowed. Now... The Caine Mutiny might be a different story.

Amen. He was even holding her back during the destruction of Alderaan.

I think you mean political officer.

Really??? How's that work out for identical twins? You are so full of shit.

How did Darth Vader "sense" his son on the Shuttle heading to Endor in RoTJ, but have no clue that he was right behind him in the Deathstar trench in the original Star Wars? Maybe because Luke WASN'T Vader's son in Lucas' storyline until he pulled that out of his ass years later.

It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that Lucas' grand pre-planned nine episode story was created on-the-fly AFTER the unintentional and accidental success of the first movie named "Star Wars", not "A New Hope." Every incongruous element in the series from Princess Lay-uh/Lee-uh's name pronunciation, to Obi Wan's bullshit explanation for his description of Anakin's "death" to Leia's unexpected sibling kinship to Luke was made up on-the-spot without regard to continuity, storyline development, or credibility. Ever wonder why Lucas stopped at RoTJ? He realized he had nothing. His nine episode fantasy was a financial goal, not any sort of developed story he had to tell.

Lucas had no friggin' clue where "Star Wars" was headed immediately after 1977. He had no epic story preconceived prior to "Star Wars" And he obviously didn't have the sense to make one up that was at least internally consistent with what was already created. The 3 prequels were just the exacerbation of his cluelessness begun with Empire. Why would anyone be surprised at midichlorians or some jacked-up rabbit-man with a Carribean accent and IQ below room temperature becoming a "Senator"? Or R2D2's sudden ability to fly which he seemed to forget in the later (earlier?) movies. The re-edits shouldn't surprise anyone. He lucked out mightily in the late 70's by co-opting Kurasawa and throwing in a little space shoot-em-up in the mix and rode out that luck despite having no idea what he was doing or where he was going with it.

We all cringed at the poor acting and dialog and the Deus ex machina and the internal inconsistencies in the original trilogy, but we swallowed hard and rationalized it all away. Then came the re-edits and we were all outraged. Then came the abomination of the prequels, but time had passed and Star Wars was no longer fresh and no amount of fandom could overlook the steaming pile of feces Lucas left on the floor. The signs were always there. We just conveniently ignored them.

Do you think its okay to let people fly into your house or car or you because its some random douche with an R/C airplane he bought and knows absolutely nothing about?

And if someone hits a baseball into your house, do you want the FAA involved? Or if you are involved in a wreck should the NTSB fine you? The failure is in scope and suitability. If your hypothetical "douche" endangers someone or damages property, local authorities should be involved, not the Feds.

Does the same hold true for railroads and their associated federal regulations in the 1800s?

I will be glad to accept your analogy when the Federal Railroad Administration starts fining people for operating unsafe garden and model railroads.

Perhaps the NTSB then? The point being that this is an overreach of power by an overzealous agency. There seems to be a lot of that these days.

No. Based on that logic, since there are no state laws prohibiting it [...]

There are no laws prohibiting it precisely because the FAA has taken it upon themselves to regulate ANYTHING in the airspace from the ground up. Had they not, there would be state laws. Do any states allow a free-for-all on local roads?

So you truly have ignored everything I've said about the difficulty of trying to regulate a national airspace at the state level. I can't fix that, I can only write off the wasted time.

Herein lies GP's exact argument in a nutshell. "Because it's easier" is not a justification of legal authority. That is the same reason why we are left fighting warrantless searches and seizures.

Speak for yourself. I threw out my iPhone when the WiFi failed on it. I still have the Nexus 4 I bought. I don't buy the latest and greatest phone "just because" but then, I don't have a contract which encourages that kind of idiotic behavior.

And since the prices go up and replacement is not something you want to have to do very often. Maybe we stop buying based upon what is cheapest and stop getting something that cannot be repaired and is essentially disposable after one use, and we start buying on quality and repairability. Everything is designed for the landfill these days. it didn't use to be that way before we started importing "cheap" junk.