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Comment Re:no future for non-veterans (Score 3, Informative) 69

Most who qualify as veteran achieved that status before President Obama was elected. It has nothing to do with serving HIM but rather serving the country. Veterans have a higher unemployment rate than the general public, mostly because most employers don't recognize the skills they bring and that their military training doesn't always translate clearly into civilian HR job listings.

Also this isn't a jobs program but a training program. If the economy doesn't create 75k jobs for those trained through this program it won't help them. But if the market is there then they will have the training to work in the field.

Comment Re:Why.... (Score 1) 191

And of course there is the fact that such events are most commonly set to all go off together so by the time the Feds react to the first boom, and issue the order to shut down the cell networks, all the other bombs have also detonated. And now mass panic ensues because family members can't reach out and confirm safety to one another.

Real life attacks are rarely if ever as scripted out as in the movies, which is the only place you find an evil mastermind who sets a series of timed bombs being set off at different times for maximum evil doing.

Comment Re:This map is highly suspect (Score 0) 143

We were fighting these beetle infestations back in the 70's when we were worried about global cooling. The beetles are not new, their presence is not a result of global warming but rather of our meddling with natural burn patterns for so many years.

In un managed forests a fire sweeps through every couple decades killing off the beetle killed trees and most the beetles in an area, the healthy trees are singed but not really harmed and are thus protected by the killing of most the beetles. In managed forests where we basically stopped all fires as soon as they started, the beetles killed a few trees, then a few more then a lot more and so on. After several years a dead tree might finally fall over allowing new growth to come up in it's place but mostly they just stood as forests of reddish grey dead trees.
Now we try to allow some burns, manage others and intentionally set many management fires each year. But thanks to the decades of mismanagement managed and natural fires are frequently getting out of control due to the massive swaths of beetle killed trees.

Once burned those forests will at last begin to naturally regenerate. Not right back to the forests of standing conifers, but through the natural stages often first of grasses and shrubs then deciduous trees like quaking aspens and scub oak and then over decades back to conifers. Depending on the water cycle in the area. Other areas with more moisture will get back to the conifers more quickly.

Comment Re:This map is highly suspect (Score 1) 143

Agreed, Looking at the map around where I live. Almost all the pink is the result of fires the last few years. And it takes a while but those trees are growing back. Intentional, accidental or natural wildland fires, they are all recovering nicely, the new growth thriving on the ash enriched soils. It will be decades before the end stage forests that burned return to that point but the natural process is proceeding nicely.

Comment Re: So What (Score 1) 324

But with the exception of the very first generation of recipients that is NOT what it was meant to be. It was supposed to be a forced investment towards retirement with a little extra to aid the first generation of recipients. But then congress repeatedly raided that huge stockpile of money leaving it now little more than a vault full of IOU's and turning it into how you described it. But it was not supposed to be the way it is.

Comment Re:Delivery drones (Score 1) 162

Actually it's very efficient, if it were a one package for one truck relationship you would be right. But it's actually more commonly a 400+ packages many weighing up to 75 or more pounds (let's see the "efficient drone that can deliver a 60" flat screen TV). And they don't just deliver they usually have a pick-up route as well that can easily equal or surpass the delivery count.

I drove for UPS this last holiday season. Most days I went out with about 400 items and because of my pickup route (they gave me a mostly commercial route) I was often bringing 700 to 800 items in. Many pushing the 75 pound standard limit. Residential routes were going out with 600 to 700 items to deliver and coming back mostly empty. But that was the holiday season. The normal volume is about 400 out and roughly the same in. Every day.

Further it's extremely safe, accidents involving delivery trucks are quite rare considering the number of miles they drive every day, regardless of the weather. Even in heavy snow they are usually able to deliver. Can the drones handle a blizzard or high wind situation a human driving a package car can.

And then there is the sheer volume. And the widely varying weights of the packages. Oh and not all packages are neatly balanced something you have to be aware of when flying with cargo. Balance and shifting contents. A driver can handle a package that has most the weight at one end, or one that has the contents shift with little problem since the package just sits on a shelf in the vehicle until delivery.

Comment Re:"principles our nation was founded on" (Score 1) 1168

Yet the implementation of this aspect of the 1st has very little relation to the wording in the amendment. "Congress shall make no laws regarding the establishment of religion." Absolutely nothing about the separation of church and state. Simply that congress shall not try to establish a state religion. or prohibit a religion.

Whereas some try to justify rules and regulations and out right bans on various firearms based on the Well regulated militia clause but there is not much ambiguity to the "The right of the people to keep and bear arms." is pretty straightforward and clear.

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