And sabotaging the EPA, the FDA, and all the other regulatory agencies. Paul is old enough to know how filthy the air and water was before the EPA and how much more dangerous factories were before OSHA. As head of all these agencies he could have done a lot worse to the country than even Bush did.

If you put someone in power who thinks government is always the problem you're going to have a shitty ineffective government. I'd like to see more politicians in office who would keep corporations on a short leash. I LIKE being able to breathe while driving past a Monsanto plant. It was impossible before the EPA.

The mailing list would not be valuable to Paul but it would be to advertisers. If Ron Paul deserves to take over ronpaul.com than I should be able to get my own name. Why should fame have anything to do with it? Paul was in the wrong here.

This isn't an Islamic country and that wasn't an Islamic family. Islam has absolutely nothing to do with it.

You're too modest. You guys have a hard job, mentally and physically. You save lives.

As to the karma bonus, I don't want to permanently disable it, just when I have an offtopic comment to a single slashdotter, like giving you and your fellow firefighters a pat on the back.

TFA said nothing of his religion, and the guy didn't look Arabic. So WTF does the tenets of Islam have to do with it?

I'm offtopic here (wish the 'no bonus' buttons worked), but I just wanted to say that you fellows have my thanks. IMO you're the most important of all city employees, and I say that as the son of a retired lineman that worked for CWLP (the city owns the electric company here). I've had need of paramedics more than once and you fellows do great work. Thank you.

And you're right about perception, one bad apple does spoil the whole barrel.

Of course it can, and it doesn't need a supercomputer. A competent programmer could do it with a 386.

You're missing the point. If I lived in Canada or practically any European country, I could have gone to any state-sponsored hospital in my time of need and gotten treatment whether I had money or not. This is what taxes are supposed to pay for.

It only provides the best care if you have enough money to pay for it. No one gives a shit about you if you happen to be poor.

Have you ever had to do without healthcare because you couldn't afford it? I've had to do so on more than one occasion. Most recently, I broke a bone in my hand and I didn't have insurance. I had to let it heal on its own and it took three months to do so. It still doesn't feel right. How in the fucking hell does that happen in the "best healthcare system in the world"?

I wish we could have single-payer health services like every civilized country on earth. But no, there's too much money to be made so we're stuck with this fucked up for-profit system that provides less care at a higher cost than any of the alternatives.

I hadn't heard about it either. Need to get a download started before I go back to work...

Wow... (head asplodes)

Yes, I have said that before but never expected to be quoted. I'd thank you if I thought you'd see the response, AC.

I couldn't agree more.