eddhead

yeah, i agree with that. some of the dealers actually have 'private stock' i.e. stock off premise or in a hidden back room that they you might get a shot at. most of these guys are not on canal street.. they off the main way.. like on mott or elizabeth. it also helps to speak chinese

well said. As I indicated previously, I made up my mind a long time ago to not frequent the reconstitued RWI mostly for the reasons you have sighted. I have had no direct interactions with the person you refer to so this is not as much an emotional positon as it is a thoughtful one, although I will tell you that as in infrequent contriburtor and occassional observier , I have been horrified by the way members have been unilaterally banned for daring to express opinions not consistent with those of the admin team. Worse yet, had thier posts edited. Just incredible. There is just no reason for me to go there until I see sustained evidence of change. Reinstating Pug was a great first step... I do not even know the guy, but I just cannot accept what happened to him, happening to any contributing member of a forum I belong to. I strongly believe the members need to stand up for each other when rubbish like this happens. So while this is a postivei first step there needs to be sustained stability on that site before I will consider it credible again. Let's not forget we have seen this before... Pug is reinstated, mod in question is out.. Pug is out mod in question is reinstated. I need to see some sustained sanity. But that is just one member's opinion. I cannot speak for everyone and don't pretend I can, but in my mind, that board has an awful lot of work to do to get back to the level of quality of the old site. I hope it pans out, I really do .. I cut my teeth on the old site and I recognize many of the previos site members chose RWI as thier primary home, rather than here, so i want it to do well. But for now, I plan to sit it out.

thanks!!

Leaving today for HK and will likely not have access to the net for a while. Talk to you guys later!!

NYC and Chicago are both crafting laws to prevend fast food chains from using trans fats in their products. sorry, could not resist. "Thank you for Smoking"

that is the most overly simplistic thing i have read to in this thread today. unbelievable. do you realize that the korean national who shot up VA tech was law abiding right up until the time he committed the crime?

yes I do. NYC for instance is the most ethnically integrated city in the world. Where live in Hell's Kitchen within the span of 10 blocks in either directon of my apt, you encounter a plethora of ethnic and racial groups of people, shops, restaurants, etc.. I have been to most of the major european asian metropolitan areas and truly consider NYC to be the most integrated city in the world. I will grant you that it is less the case in the rural sections of the country, but along the cities along the southern borders and the east and west coast ports of entry, are quite diverse and integrated The notion that that US schools teach creationalism as an alternative to evolution is also misinformed. In fact in a land mark case last year, in which the he Kansas Board of Ed was challenged by a creationalist group, the courts ordered that Creationalism NOT be included in the science curricula as there was insufficent proof that the theory was founded in accepted science. You will get no argument from me about our President. I consider him to be a national embarrassment. Still, this country has survived poor leadership before and it wil again Agreed. In fact when I travel abroad i am struck by the difference between CNN europe and CNN US in terms of globality of coverage. CNN US has adapted a tabloid like approach to reporting that is unbecoming and harmfull. Still, I would put to you that you are not immune to this... the Murdoch media empire extend to the UK as wll. I would also put to you that the European media is quite biased in its US coverage. Regardless of what you read, US society is not characterized by ill-informed, intellectually uncurious, irresponsibel gun toting cowboys. To an extent, this is the pot callin the kettle black. I live in a 60 story 550 unit building that is more diverse than many european cities i have visited. My neigborhood is diverse and integrated. i live here and i experience it everyday. sorry, i do not know how more plainly i can make that point. More stereotypes. While thes communities certainly exist, and may be more prevelent in some areas than others, they are not close to the norm. And if you think the US is the only developed country in the world with ghettos you need to take a second look I am not slinging anything at you. And if you think I am defending the indefensible you need to re-read some of what I have written in this thread and elsewhere. What I am doing is espressing my displeasure over the use of oversimplifications, sterotypes, generalizations, and biases to describe a very complex multi cultural US Society, and arguing that your views are misinformed.

funny, i was just thinking that same thing.

Sorry but thos is also not true. Divirsity lends itself to greater racial tolerance over time in that it allows people of all colors, oreintations, and genders to become assimlated into the mainstream of society's fabric. A person is far less likely to exhibit ill feelings toward a racial, ethnic, or other cultural group when he or she lives, works and interacts with people in that ethnic group on a daily basis. Not to keep drawing on the same examples, but this is why we see social acceptance of multi-ethnic coupling, and neigborhoods today than in anytime in my life time

and let's again point out that this happened in Va as well. So we have this event, the beltway snipers, and the most recent rampage at Va Techl. Yeah, Virgina does a great job with gun laws.

well he did pass a backgound check. the gun shop owner followed all the relevent state laws with respect to fire arms sales. He was provided with 3 peices of id all of which indicated consistency in name and address. He was never arrested, and he was not on the FBI's suspect list. The problem in this case is not lack of enforcement.. the local laws themselves are just not enough. There is no extra scrutiny involved for resident aliens. No checks are conducted on public court records ..a judge actually ruled he was mentally incompetant and required he be treated in a mental health facilitly.. but that piece of information is not part of the screenign process. No cooling off period.. after all we would not want to inconvenience anyone looking to purchase a gun anmd intefere with their right to bear arms.

racial issues have gone in the wrong direction since the 60's? maybe for whites, but in general this is just not true for society as a whole. There is a MUCH greater level of racial tolerence and harmony in this country now than there ever has been before. When I was growing up, interracial dating was quite rare, and interracial couples were sneered at and persecuted. Today, in most major cities interracial couples do not even draw a second glance. In addition most middle class and upper middle class neighborhoods when a black family moved on the block the rest of the families looked upon them with absolute horror. That just does not happen today. Moreover, blacks and other people of color were systematically denied housing in "white neighborhoods" by real estate agents, brokers, and a lack of desire to create and enforce housing discrimination laws. Blacks and persons of color were discriminated against in the work place, in the educational space, and in the housing market. I am sorry but that is just a fact. It is true that racial quotas in the work place sometimes crowd out qualified white candidates, but i would put to you that the number of white candidates crowded out today is far less than the number of black job candidates who were denied positions solely on the basis of their race 30 years ago. And I say this as a "qualifed white male" candidate who has beed crowded out of advancement opportunities for reasons of gender and racial diversity more than once. But objectively, by and large society has benefitted from these changes. Affirmative action programs for instance have succeeded in enabling families who have been underprivledged for generations to climb out of the poverty cycly and move into the mainstream. Has there been collateral damage? Certainly. But if you think race relations and society in general was better off 35 to 40 years ago, than as someone who is old enough to remember those days, I must respectfully disagree.

Granted. But I for one strongly believe that the US far and away more multi-cultural than most european countries largely as a result of decades of liberal immagration policies and traditions. NYC alone is represented by literally dozens if not hundreds of first generation ethnicities.. restuarants, shops, etc... the chinese food in china town is comparable in authenticity to Hong Kond and Taiwan. I am not sure make that statement any where else,.. at least in my experience... there is nothing comparable in any european country i have visited.

Do you think it is really that much beter BEFORE 'liberal social engineerint'? I am not sure how old you are, but I am old enough to remember the civil rights protests and marches in the 60's. They presented a picture of America that was horrifying. And I do think that we are beginning to see the fruits of some of the equal rights initiatives (if not the social welfare ones). US Society as a whole is much more tolerant on diversity issues, especially racial ones, than it ever was largely as a result of the mindset that created the social welfare state you so decry. You see it everywhere.. more interracial dating, greater diversity at senior corporate levels, etc.. the assimilation of people of color into the middle and upper-middle classes... I do get your point that in some cases it created the paradymn you described, but it was not ALL bad.

With all due respect (and I hold all armed service veterns in the highest regard) I do not agree. As I said, I think there is a big difference in what you can expect your life to be like when you are living on a college campus vs. what you can expect when serving on active duty. This will always be the case for me, unless our society transfoms itself into something more similar to what we see today in Israel or to a more extreme degree what ancient Sparta must have been like. Culturally, however, this is not consistent with our national identity however. Nevertheless, as I previously stated, the article is quite thought provoking, and something i need to digest. p.s. you guys are wearing me out..

No it is not OK. We blew it on this one too. But that does not make me any less concerned about Iran.

interesting and thought provoking.. I am not sure I know how I feel about this. I get the point, but I would suggest that there is a big difference in terms of what you can expect your life can be like from living on a collage campus vs. being stationed in bagdhad. Because we do not live in a militristic sparta like society I do not know if it is reasonable to expect our 17 year olds to be equipped to deal with these type of incidious acts. Honestly, were any of us really that grown up at 17, 18, etc.. I was actually quite impressed with the poise and intelligence evidenced by the students who were interviewed on the news channels reporting the event as well as the speeches delivered at the rallies. They really moved me. Remember these students were not selected on the basis of their competancy but rather on the basis of their close relationships with the deceased. They showed themselves to be articulate, reponsbile high-spiried and very bright.. and illustrated anything but the passive attributes described in the column you posted.

I am not justifying current US unilatarlist foreign policies and will be the first one to step up and say US geopolictical polices under the Bush administration have been an abject disaster. Trust me, I am not a fan of our president and never have been. I will also tell you that the policies enacted first by Reagan (supporting what later turned out to be the taliban, and arming Iraq) and later by Bush I were at best, short sighted. I am familar with them and take your point. And I agree that it may be true that the Iranians are justfied in feeling threatened by the US, and shame on us for that... but the fact remains the country is unstable politcally, and a nuclear armed Iran would present a huge threat to the western world. Ahmadinejad is a sociopath... anybody who could deny the existance of the holocost is capable of anything.. I think he even scares the some of the mullahs in his own country. And rightfully so. Moreover, he is sympethic to terroist organizations who are not friendly to the US in particular and the western world generally. Wheather their fears of a US attack are justified or not, given that they sponser terrorist organizations we cannot risk them having access to nukes... there is too great a chance they will use them, not properly secure them, or turn them over to other terrorist organizations.

my point exactly... ummm i think... i.e. the amendment was created to facilate national and state defense, and in and of itself does not confer rights for weapons possession for personal use.

As I have previously posted, regardless of my own personal beliefs, given where we are on this issue, I would happily settle on a more pragmatic approach that would constitute better controls over who gets what kind of weapons and ammo. As to the portabilty of explosive devices, I am far from an expert but I am discerning portable highly destructive devices iare not easily available and require a higher degree of expertise than the usd of hand guns do.

well i guess i stand corrected on that issue.. but it still does not justify not trying to control the things we can control.. i.e. the use of firearms to facilate violent random acts.

Well for one thing, the US is not the only country with a dependency on foreign oil. Most of the developed world shares that dependency, especially the Peoples Republic of China For another the US did not use the nuclear weapon in japan "out of anger" but rather out of a desire to not extend the war. It was a calculated sobering decision made in partnership with our key allies. We can argue about the morality of using the bomb but not the incentive. The overwhelming consensus amoungst the allies at the time was that Japan was not ready to surrender as a result the war would continue to drag on for years at the cost of tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives if drastic measures were not undertaken. I should also point out that the US would never have been able to use atomics without the tacit support of our key allies including the British. If using the bomb was morally wrong, or even if it was morally correct, all the allies have to accept some level of responsiblity fo the act. We are way off topic here, but I could not just let this statement stand unchallenged. In additon, I think you are woefully misguided on the threat a nuclear Iran holds on the entire (not just US) west.

Please re read my edited post... I am not as US Centric as you make me out to be.. I travel abroad frequently and was a frequent vistor to Canary Wharf during the 80's and 90's. I am quite familar with the effect the IRA had on the local population and remember the street bombings and the lives lost. If the IRA had nukes back than, they very well might have used them except for perhaps concerns about the collateral damage those symphetic to thier cause. Simlarly, if Iran gets them they too might very will use them... they are a terrorist state ...but they will not be so concerned about collateral damage...

I am not able to highlight the spefics because of the way you used the quotations but if you truly beleive there is a lack of capacity for discourse in the US on this matter you are not familar with how these issues are debated in the US and you are not paying attention to the posts from US citizens in this thread You cannot seriously be comparing Israel to Iran in terms of their responsiblity to the world community. I understand that not everyone stands behind Israel.. I do not always stand behind them either. But if you are honestly proposing that the world community is as save with Iran possessing nuclear weapon capability as they are with Israel, you are quire frankly out of your mind. I cannot see how you cannot feel threatened by the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Iran. And no, I do not believe terroism was fist experienced here and yes I do recognize the IRA as a terrorist organization. I am not as US centric as you make me out to be. I travel abroad frequently and have been to Canary Wharf many times. But that is not the point. The point is to mitigate the risk going forward. We cannot change the past, but we can influence the future. I have really tried to take responsible positions in this thread and temper my comments with the understanding that over the past 8 years US foreign policy has been unilateral and irresponsible, and as a result their constitutes a lack of understanding within the Global community on just where the US poplulace sits on issues like this. But even considering all of that, some of the posts here are insulting and demonstrate a STRONG predjudice and incredible lack of sensitivity toward some of the people on this site who are supposed to be your friends as well as cohabitants of this virtual community. Let's not forget the issue that sprung this debate happend on US soil and is emotional to most US citizens. .. under the cicuimstances the sarcasm is completly out of line. Some of the posts here demontrate a form of bigotry at least im my mind people feel empowered to engage in because it is easy to pick on people who are not underprivledged. We are not all a bunch of gun toting cowboys shooting it out at the local saloon nor are we a bunch of neanderthals incapable of discussing the issue in an intelligent and reasoned fashion. And it is not the first time I have detected this bias here and it leads me to sometimes wonder why i visit. EDITED for clarity.

ok, so now you're scaring me to Except an exposive device is not as portable as a handgun and that is a big deal. Plus you need an awful lof of chain padlocks and fertilizer to create a bomb that would kill that many people at one time.. Not to say it could not happen, but I beleive there are laws in most states about how much fertizlier for instance you can purchase. And even if they are not, I do not beleive we should be using our inability to control one method of armed crime to justify our lack of instituting controls over another. It lies with both. the trigger itself is at the very least an enabler