Scraps

What about the hardware collecting the data?

If it weren't for conservatives here or on talk radio, I wouldn't know what this woman was doing.

Look in the mirror.

So now you're arguing that we should act as World Cop?

Oh puhleazze, stop treating me like Petrino in Albany. That is not what I said and you know it. Pashto and Dari are the official languages of Afghanistan, however there are at least 26 other languages spoken there. Arabic, Kurdish, Assyrian, Turkmen, Armenian are among the languages spoken in Iraq, but there are certainly more. I'm sure Farsi is common to both countries to some extent. That really isn't the issue. The fact is that there were plenty of Arabic speaking members of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Many linguists who might know Uzbek or Pashto might also know Arabic or Farsi. There was, and still is, a shortage of linguists in these languages who can also hold clearances. It is common sense that if you move most of these assets from Afghanistan to Iraq that the prosecution of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan will suffer. There are many factors that allowed Al Qaeda to grow. Bin Laden making world wide contacts during the Afghan struggle against the Soviets, the abject corruption by the ruling families in most Arabic countries and in Saudi Arabia in particular, the Saudi decision to rely on western forces to counter Saddam in Gulf War I instead of embracing Bin Laden's proposals, the Saudi refusal to confront the Bin Laden situation, the Palestinian/Israeli issue, the presance of Western forces in Saudi Arabia throughout the 90s and Clinton's refusal to try to kill the bastard even if it meant collateral damage or mistakes were made were among them. Trying to kill Bin Laden and his top lieutenants with extreme prejudice was not a strategy that allowed Al Qaeda to grow.

Dude, you do that all the time.

Yes I did. Box cutters were detected but by law box cutters were allowed on planes at that time. Given that, is the problem private security guards or the laws and rules at the time?

That wouldn't prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons though.

When did I say that security then was better than or equal to what it is now? My argument was that the problem was the rules in place at the time, coupled with what CTM said, allowed 9-11 to happen. Do you think that things would have been any different if federal employees were doing the screening? The weapons were found under the old system. Couldn't the old system have been improved? Couldn't Argenbright have been fired? What's easier, firing and incompetent contractor of fixing a government agency? Can you answer any of these questions? Can you avoid arguing against positions I have not taken? You were probably in favor of the Airline bail out and the creation of the Homeland Security Department too.

What about it? Everybody assumes they have them.

So you're advocating the Israel become only the second country to use Nuclear weapons?

Don't know about the cruise missiles but my understanding is the ballistic missiles can't carry enough payload.

I'm not a Democrat, nor have I ever been one. I don't know why you thought I was one, other than the fact that I disagree with most of what GWB actually enacts. I was a Repbulican for 24 years. I've come to realize the Republicans only give lip service to Conservative ideas, so I no longer belong to a party. You haven't responded to the fact that under the privatized system worked the way it was supposed to work. You never responded to the idea of raising the standards on the industry. Nope, your solution is Big Government! You're not willing to toss out the TSA despite the fact that its falling into a gorvernment monolith? I didn't want expansion of the TSA to begin with because I knew it would turn into a government monolith. That has been the history of Government programs. Why did you think it would be any different this time? Who is the Conservative here?

Because the role of police officer and that of a security guard are different. Security guard functions are contracted out quite frequently at government facilites. I know that at the base I work at there is a small contigent of federal security people and a larger group of contractor security guards that man the gates. The TSA people doing the passenger screeenings are similar to security guards. Why can't that role be contracted out? I thought you were a conservative? Why don't you try acting like one.

Actually it worked the way it was supposed to work. The hijacker were detected but they used weapons that were permitted on the planes using the rules at the time. Recently, the TSA has decided to relax the rules almost to the point to where they were back in 2001. Couldn't the rules have been changed and standards been raised but the work still have been contracted out? Its easier to fire a bad contractor than to fix a government bureaucracy.

I'm rather skeptical that Israel has the capability to take our Iran's nuclear program. I thought they were at the edge of their range when they hit Iraq. Even if they did strike Iran, what neighboring country is going to take on Israel? I heard part of a program where one "expert" estimated that it would take a 3 week sustained bombing effort by the US to stamp out Iran's program. I'm not sure why it would take so long, whether the program is more dispersed or hardened or what.

That I know of, the 5th Special Forces Group that specializes in the Middle East and Central Asia, a squadron of RC-135 survelillance planes and the linguists who manned the platforms, at least 30 CIA Case Officers and the CIA station chief in Islamabad and Predator Drones were among the assets that were taken out of Afghanistan and went to Iraq. So you're defending something that is unwinnable and can easily be used to entangle ourselves in other countries affairs at great financial and human costs, subvert our rights and divert focus from the people who have repeatedly attacked us and declared war on us because a war against said people is short sighted? I'd prefer to think of it as more focussed and manageable.

Terrorism is a method that has been used at long as man has walked the Earth. No I don't believe the GWOT will ever end because I don't think terrorism will ever end. However I am not using a concept I don't believein , GWOT, to diss a concept I can believe in, a war against Al Qaeda.

So am I to take it that you don't think either the GWOT or War on Drugs will ever end?

Ignoring for the moment that the war in Iraq siphoned off valuable resources that could have been employed against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it would probably be wise to reduce the Global War on Terrorism into a war agains Al Qaeda. You're not foolish enough to believe that a Global War on Terror can actually be won, do you?

Yes, I've had surgery to repair a torn labrum as a result of 3 dislocations. No, it is not necessary to immobilize the arm for 6-8 weeks. The length of the immobilization time corresponds to the technique the sugeon uses, all other things being equal. The labrum is covered by the subscapularis muscle. To get to the labrum, the surgeon must get by this muscle some how. Most surgeons will clip the tendon attaching the subscapularis to the humerus, reattach the labrum, then reattach to ends of the clipped tendon. Some surgeons will cut the subscapularis along the muscle fiber and split the muscle to get access to the labrum. Surgeons who use the first technique claim they get better access to the joint, which may allow them to find other problems they did not know about. Surgeons who use the second technique claim that since an athroscopy is routinely done prior to a open procedure, they learn everything they need to know about the scope of the damage. Since muscle get better blood flow than tendons, the second technique leads to faster healing and faster recovery. My shoulder was immobilized for a few of days. After that, I was allowed to take it out of the sling while at work, sitting in front of a computer or at other times if I was mindful to limit how far I articulated the joint. Keeping it in the sling at other times was more to prevent me from being careless than anything else. I was in PT within 2 weeks of the surgery. I wouldn't just settle with the doctor you've seen. Perhaps a younger one with a sport medicine background might use the more up to date method.

How much would Picard's stones fetch?

Well given the way you started "Oh look, another lefty circle jerk with Mickey in the pivot." And immediately following the reference to me with "Perhaps RCow will finally come back now that there is some semblence of a united front." Since both Mickey and RCow are liberals, I thought it was reasonable to ask for clarification. Still haven't seen either you or KRC answer the question. I can see why they made you both moderators.

So are you calling me a lefty?

Are you calling me part of the radical left?