It is if you are transferring that data over a HF link, I mean ostensibly once you are over the pacific or the Atlantic you could switch to communicating over satellite, but in all likelihood, most aviation radio for OTH transmissions are probably HF signals, not sure you have ever tried transferring data over a HF link, but let me put it this way: 9600 bps is considered HIGH speed.

I'm all for equal opportunity and right-to-work and all that, but, I really would prefer that the people in control of the thing that lifts me up to 10.000 feet and travels at 500mph is fully certified as "not even a little crazy"

So, don't be a work 24 hour hours a day, seven days a week.

What's to stop their employer from doing this now? I mean, doesn't the cockpit audio recorder already record their conversations?

They might not work like that when the condition causing them is Epilepsy, which I agree isn't really a thing that just randomly happens.
That said, there still could be some kind of neurological condition behind this, I am not a doctor so I am not going to argue the specific diagnosis, I'm sure your wife is right.

The thing that makes me think there was something physically wrong (be it drugs or pathology), is the fact he is reported as "breathing normally" during the whole thing, even if he was a terrorist or suicidal, he would still have the fight or flight reaction, and there is no way rapidly approaching a cliff wall and knowing you are going to die and kill 200 (or however many) people in the process would not trigger the fight or fight response, and one of the main symptoms of a big adrenaline surge is an increase in breathing and heart rate.

You would not always notice that you are becoming light headed, yes, the CO poisoning case he might have had time to radio down.

But, what about a sudden stroke or an absent seizure?

That said, in all likelihood autopilot would have been on already, the co-pilot (as I understand it) just told it to begin a decent.

Guy could have had an absent seizure, he would still be breathing but not necessarily conscious of the world around him, what's more it could cause him to exhibit automatism

They are releasing news as they get it, it's not like they can look up on Wikipedia why this dude crashed the plane.

Danish news (haven't found an English language version) reports that there have been cases before where there were "gas leaks" (Although the described symptoms - headache, fainting and nausea - sounds more like CO poisoning) in planes of this type before, so if there was a carbon monoxide leak in the cockpit, that could explain the abnormal behavior of the co-pilot, not sure you have every tried being hypoxic, but it makes your brain not work very well and it could explain why he could be doing these irrational actions.

That said, reports of the pilot being "detached and monosyllabic" haven't reached any of the sites I've been following this on, so I will take your word for it being that way; if this is the case this would seem to rule out the CO-poisoning theory, it is unlikely the guy would have been huffing CO way before actual take-off. However, it does not rule out either a brain injury (aneurism or stroke) significantly altering his behavior or him being wacked out of his skull on drugs or booze.

I tend to assume incompetence or unfortunate circumstances before I assume malice, that said - I am holding off judgment until the police or security services have taken a good hard look at the co-pilot, but so far I am more inclined to think that either there was one of those CO leaks or the pilot had a stroke or something along those lines.

You are referring to the revelations about Biopreperat made by Ken Alibek and a few others.
This is not just some rumor, hear-say based report, US and UN Inspectors visited many of the Biopreperat sites, including the Sverdlovsk site that supposedly caused an accidental release of Anthrax.

I have a feeling the human participation in this mission is just as much for the sake of science/engineering. It's been a long time since we had humans any further out than the ISS.

All depends on your frame of reference, yo.

Always thought it was more of a comfort thing, to have the limiter in I mean. Like, you set your limiter to whatever you want, then just slam your foot to the floor and newer go faster than whatever speed you set the limiter to.
I (sometimes) prefer this over cruise control, because you can always lift if you need to go slower, you can do it with cruise control, I know, but doing it with your foot just feels more responsive.

Of course, this does not touch on the fact that at least here (Europe) cars over 3500KG tend to be limited to 90 km/h, so many cars over that limit (or close to it) will have limiters too.

Yeah, a Javelin missile, or hell, even an AT-4 would stop a high speed chase pretty quickly.
I mean, you might kill a few civvies now and then, but hey, collateral damage yo,

The US isn't going to open up on anyone with nuclear weapons, don't be silly.