You'd think that someone fabricating an alien abduction tale would at least get the basics right.

[sigh...] And you would accomplish this magic of increasing competition, in a marketplace that is by it's very nature a monopoly..., how? Exactly?
I'll save you some time. You can't do it without regulation. Expensive, complicated, and inefficient regulation. Yes, all of those, which you'd know if you'd ever once read transcripts from public utility commission hearings on things like rate increases for regulated service (think dial tone).
What you can do, and without the burden of enforcing regulation like that, is socialize the operation of the infrastructure (that portion of the whole thing that defines the monopoly) and then open up that infrastructure to all qualified comers.

Man, you must live in some upscale neighborhood. Around here (Houston) the coffee and pastry sold at gas stations is more of the Kwik-E-Mart class than Starbucks or Cinnabon.

You need to charge the insurance company at least five to six times the full retail price or it's not a "real" medical device.

Yes, the jokes will continue.
Yes, the RCC has no one but themselves to blame for the PR mess they find themselves in, so they and all their apologists can STFU, as far as I am concerned.
I'd be happy to explain why my religion has a higher level of sexual abuse, if it had one. That's one of the nicest things about my religion. The "clergy" aren't semi-cloistered males whose normal libido's have been repressed to the point that they must turn to victimizing innocent children because that seems to be the safest outlet for their now twisted urges. It also does not have a "church" hierarchy that could attempt to systematically hide such crimes from it's "congregation" and worse, expose ever more children to the abuses perpetrated by it's priests.

Boy, are you a rube, or what? Lobbyists, by definition, buy influence. With enough money (or other "currency") one can buy anything at all in Washington.

You are the one who invoked Divine "intent", pal. Defend your position or change it.

"Intended"? By whom?
Oh, right - God. That's your set of beliefs. You are welcome to them, of course, but you are not welcome to compel others to adopt them. When, oh when, will otherwise bright and reasonable people grasp this important point?

Where? By saying that an adult male is unfit to be a leader purely because of his sexual orientation? WTF has one got to do with the other? Unless, of course, you're stupid and afraid.

No. I am saying that homosexuality has nothing to do with morality. The whole "homosexuality is wrong - it says so in the Bible" argument is what is behind all this. If the BSA wants to sack up and admit that they're the youth wing of the Christian Dominionist movement and adopt Biblical law as their "code", that's fine with me. Really. But they're not about to do that. They desperately want to believe that their still the ideal "All-American" youth organization when they are clearly not. Bigotry is not something the BSA will admit to, but it is very clearly a part of their "values", and what the values they hold are taught to the boys, and that is a problem in this case.

Yes, but you can then buy "Genyooine Cisko Router" for only $199 American dollar, so is good deal for everybody.

I knew that the Boy Scouts were in decline when they decided to formalize their policy of fear and ignorance when it came to homosexuality. This latest move is stunning in it's lameness, but not really surprising, given their increasingly desperate attempt to remain relevant. And that's too bad, really, because much of what Scouting has to offer is good and noble. Alas, it is being ruined by dipshits.

Oh, my. Where to start with addressing your ignorance? Might as well be at the beginning, I guess...

Hyperbole much? Jeezuz, you make it sound like lead is flying down every street in every border town. Not that there isn't a serious problem going on, but it's the "war on drugs" that's failing here, and BTW, it's not "immigrants" who are doing the shooting. It's smugglers and organized crime. AZ's new "show uz ze papers" law is going to do exactly dick to solve that problem.

Can't argue with that, other than to point out the practical impossibility of shutting down thousands of miles of border. Or did you have some heretofore unheard suggestion on how to do that? Nah, didn't think so.

Though it's been a few years since I retired, as a paramedic I spent a fair amount of time in ER's, certainly far more than you have, and I'm fairly certain most of the people sitting in the waiting room with non-emergent complaints (those who are using the ER as a "clinic") are U.S. citizens who have been kicked to the curb by the rest of our fucked up health care system. You're right about one thing though, the rest of us have to pick up the tab for every runny nose that get's treated in an ER instead of a more appropriate venue (that would have cost a tiny fraction of that ER visit).

No points for repeating yourself. Besides Phoenix isn't a border town. Neither are L.A., Detroit, N.Y.C, Boston, Atlanta, etc., but those towns damn sure have places where it isn't safe to be unarmed and alone. I suppose now you'll tell us that it's just a different color of hoodlum in those cities and that they're all the problem and we should get rid of them next.

Why am I not surprised.

True, but without a doubt, they have perfected the institutionalization of greed and corruption, wrapped in a yummy cloak of "doing the work of the Lord". The RCC has, for centuries, used every dirty trick in the book to gain influence and spread it's power. While The Reformation saw to it that the Church's influence would never again be what it once was, the Church certainly has not given up on those ways. We hear a lot about the pedophile priests and how their crimes have been systematically hidden by the Church, but their other crimes and moral transgressions are just as foul, if nowhere near as extensive, as they ever were. The RCC's pronouncements in Africa alone, on the "sinfulness" of condoms, may be realistically attributed to the loss of thousands of lives.

Halfway done the page before I got to the obvious HHGTTG bit? What is the world coming to?
Better late than never, I guess.