Free Republic

""If our government is going to establish a relationship and push for a new beginning as Sudan reforms itself, they have to live up to international standards. A free press is part of that process."

And tomorrow..."it's Bush's fault"

This is my second try:

It's BS!
A single "key portion" isn't classified, the entire document would be classified.
How'd you get the document pray tell?

(Oh, to hear Colin Powell's name...)

"It's gotten so bad that even third-world dictators throw people like Andrea Mitchell out of press conferences."

There's my line of the day.
Thanks!
(snort/giggle/roll on the floor..)

There are few written words about the reality of that era, even one TV documentary that stunned me by being fairly objective regarding the 'Republican' government and the largely peasant revolt against it.

Equally interesting is the history of China in the same period, and equally hard to find in references.

I had to change the subject of a thesis because instructor (US born Chinese) refused to accept the premise.

(Neat aircraft for modelers in both instances.)

The difference is that no amount of training is going to change a croc's disposition.

Big cats act a lot like little ones and I'll venture you've been scratched more than a couple of times when tabby was grouchy.
(someting on TV awhile back..."the only reason fluffy does not try to eat you is because you are too big")

Dogs, any dogs, are pack animals and as far as they are concerned you are welcome into their pack - cats don't do that.
(I have noticed that other dogs generally don't like Pits, I've seen perfectly tame collies and such go after a Pit that could clearly trounce them. And I've been told that explains why Pits can get so closely attached to a human, they are short on other friends.)

It really is up to the owner, and Cockers really do bite more often than Pits - usually unprovoked and seldom because their owner ordered it.

"...thereof they find want in the country and towns, both of servants for husbandry and of apprentices for trade; and on the other side there being more Scholars bred than the State can prefer and employ..."

Two points:
Bacon was right in that a good education in trades is necessary to society, and a good education in trades would cut the demand for illegal labor; because...
The basic premise in the original article is that a college education is necessary for middle class existence. And that is hogwash.

The guy who roto-roots my pipes makes more in a year than I do with a Master's. My friend who tends bar makes at least as much. Another friend gets by quite nicely just doing back yard mechanics based on voice references. I also work with a small fleet of law school grads, some who passed the bar, and none of whom are willing or able to practice.

The problem is that there is real big money to be made in the college business, teachers unions that need a growing system to sustain their power, and a deeply entrenched ego bias that says one MUST have a degree: even if it's in sports nutrition or aboriginal mythology.

And, to repeat, that's hogwash.

Actually, it's true.

In Los Angeles, lots of plain folks carry something they think will help defend them (even in the really, really, nice areas).

Dumbo (not her name) was prancing down the street looking for someone to pet her - the secretary was/is real, she worked for the doctor, and no one knows or cares about the little old lady of crappy breeding.

Life is sometimes stranger than ideology.

"I would be perfectly satisfied with a compromise solution where a pet owner is responsible for the behavior of the pet as if the owner himself had committed the act of the pet. Anything less is a betrayal of the principle of responsibility that underpins our liberty."

With the exception of mitigating factors (the gun was stolen, the dog was tormented, the battery was in self defense....)
I don't disagree.

What I do not like, or tolerate, is the inflamed discourse that goes (went) before.

That, and the hollow victory (?) of destroying something that simply was in order to punish something that we are unable to even define.

PS: What IS your position of the offspring of crack heads, murderers, or rapists?? [Sorry, had to do it.]

"Human culpability and negligence plays a small role. If my lab escapes there will be a lot of licked faces and chased squirrels. If my buddys pit escapes there will be a dead child. Its the genetics and selective breeding that plays a larger role!"

When my pit got out & down the street, she was rescued by a secretary who watched as a little old lady beat her (the dog) with a club.
Dog spent the rest of the day in a doctor's office playing with patients.

That little old lady must be the result of really crappy selective breeding!

PS: I'd consider changing buddys.

Did I fail to mention the four cats (was eight) who share the same space as the two dogs?

An honest history of the Spanish Civil War, origins and aftermath, would be a really great read.

Another war in which we took the wrong side. Thankfully, America didn't bomb anyone into giving up their statehood. We only allowed a bunch of ideologically inspired loons to go over as sacrifice to communist goals.

Interesting, I'm looking at a really great piece of property elsewhere in Arizona (was stationed at both Davis Monthan and Ft Huachuca, so it ain't a mystery).

Realtors don't seem to hear questions about illegals....maybe if everyone started to ask the question outright, and maybe if more recent arrivals made their situations known, and MAYBE if it hit the state in the (real estate driven) wallet; something would be done.

Maybe.

"even a "jewel" like the one described in the article can turn on its owners without warning - regardless of how well its treated."

That would suit my neighbor's dalmation perfectly.

Get a life.
Bad drivers should lose their license, not because they're old or young but because they're bad.
Bad gun owners should lose their rights by being made felons, but not because they're gun owners.
Bad dog owners should lose their right to own/train/breed any type of dog, not because they were mistreating a particular breed.
Particular breeds of dog should be recognized for their own worth and not because some punk wanted cheap status, or because some wuss came up with a simple 'solution' good only until the punks elected another status symbol.

Problem is, junking a car, trashing a SW model 41, or confiscating a drug runner's house does not kill something that never got to make a choice.
Maybe you're old enough to remember when German Sheperds were 'evil', Dobies were 'evil' and a pit bull starred in popular kid's flicks...maybe not.

What's your opinion on the best way to deal with pregnant Coke heads?

PS: Yes I live with a pit bull & a mixed little fluffy and sort of ditzy terrier, they are pals.
And no, I don't have a mod 41, but I DO have about 15 other nice .22s.

PPS: Pray that your chihuaua never tries to nip me.