I just wish we could get people to respond on other issues, too. Many of which are far more important but go essentially ignored by an apathetic population.

'They're going to tiptoe in this area very carefully.'

Why should they have to tiptoe? The People have spoken loudly and clearly. They've told them exactly what they want and how they should vote. There is no tiptoeing. You either do what your employers tell you to do or you're fired. "Tiptoeing" implies that you'll still try to do it anyway, but in a way that won't piss off several million constituents.

I agree! Why try to find a better way to do something when there's an out-of-date, inefficient way already invented? I mean, think of all of those useless hours you'll spend learning something new when you could be spending that time reflecting on life, or maybe humming a song!

Here's 3/8" steel scrap at 50 yards with 7.62x39 fired from an AK47. I recommend muting the volume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zke2JLYWlMc

It'll go right through it and then proceed to shred the occupants of the vehicle, incidentally also spraying whoever is missed with molten steel.

I wouldn't even call it an armored car. That looks like scrap steel, which won't even stop a rifle round. They won't need an RPG to shred the driver. If they're extremely lucky, their attackers will be coming head-on, so the angled front plate will help slightly, but any flank attack with small arms is going to decimate it.

1/4" (or even 1/2") scrap steel won't stop a rifle round. They'll hardly need anti-armor munitions to punch finger-sized holes all over it. This isn't even an armored car, let alone a tank. It's got barely more steel in it than a regular automobile.

"Because unfortunately, there is a still a strong perverse culture that equates staying at home when sick with weakness. This is a flawed belief and should be questioned."

That's not it at all. People still go to work when they're sick because:

A: They don't want to use up sick days unless they absolutely have to because if they get sick without having any time left, they don't get paid
B: Some employers equate staying home sick with "not being a team player" (or some variant thereof) and will actively discourage any time off unless forced

Laws are for me and you, not for big corporations, police, or governments.

Voyager is moving at 10.5 miles per second. They gotta catch it first.

Ah yes, "Hot Mouth Disease" can be pretty awful.

Bullshit. For almost 12 billion dollars, you should have an army of accountants and lawyers going over every book with a fine-toothed comb. The whole point of due diligence is that YOU DON'T TAKE THE WORD OF THE COMPANY YOU'RE BUYING.

Newsflash: Students usually cheat because they DON'T have a strong grasp of the task.

Yet another reason on a very long list of reasons to not buy Sony products.

No, actually, I don't think things would have been different under Gore. I have zero faith in either of the two major candidates. I had zero faith in both Bush and Gore, as well. We know how Bush turned out. Speculating on how Gore would have behaved is irrelevant, but I don't believe he would have been any different. It doesn't matter who the President is, every year we lose one or more of the three things I mentioned in my OP. Is that a cynical and pessimistic attitude to take? Of course. But it's one born of long experience. The joke about lying politicians is as old as politics. Politicians will say absolutely anything to get elected and none of it has the slightest bearing on how they will perform their job. The new role of government in the 21st Century is to feed itself and to keep itself in power. Serving the People comes in at a distant 20th or 50th or 100th.

Our choice this year is either John Jackson or Jack Johnson. Two moderates who won't do anything substantial except work to erode more of our freedom, privacy, and wallets.