Gorgon

Thy readeth from page one of his crackpot manifesto, infidel !

I don't know how many cancer patients you can provide for with a few million, but I'd wager not very many. Certainly not as many servicemen as would be affected by smoking related illnesses, whatever that number is.

Because if you had actually been in anything remotely resembling a combat outfit, you'd know better than to go around pontificating with these "facts" of yours. And considering that there are cases of world-class athletes who smoke, I have a hard time imagining you have a clue at all. You are mixing things up, for a rather comical effect. Administrative regulations, of which militaries have a lot, have very little to do with restricting the personal freedoms of soldiers. And your average grunt doesn't bother with those if he can help it. Other than how and when to salute, what's the insignia for a Sgt. and, depending on their assignment, ROE and prisoner treatment stuff (there's always at least an NCO to remind them, anyway) "regulations" in the sense you are speaking are of very little concern to soldiers outside offices. They are not civil servants, trust me on that. But yeah, I guess it makes sense. If you ignore all evidence to the contrary, that is. You are the one insisting that military rules have to do with maintaining discipline and that anything above that, specifically the smoking ban, constitutes misuse of power. I think they call that 'stating opinion as fact'. I basically agree with your opinion, but for purposes of definition, the right to smoke on the job is not guaranteed anywhere in the constitution. I'm curious, whats your stand on the Weyco smoking ban. They are the ones who offer health insurance to their employees, don't they have the right to make sure they can have the best bargaining position with their insurance carriers.

I don't understand the 'doing your bit for your country' thing at all, I never have. Unless your country happens to be doing the right thing at the particular moment, which is usually rare, but that's another discussion I suppose. On balance banning soldiers from smoking is too meddlesome, but I don't feel strongly about it obviously.

No. Discipline is about enforcing a code of conduct and ensuring the fighting ability of the force. If a rule cannot be reasonably ascribed to either it's arbitrary and, consequently, an abuse of power. That's not the point, and I seriously doubt any army would conform to your high standards. You need a bureaucracy to run any large government controlled operation, that means loads of rules that don't make a lot of apparent sense. This one does, it's intrusive, but it makes sense.

The army is all about rules and regulations so you could say it goes with the territory. It might affect recruitment in the long run but this is the way of the world now, no smoking in bars, public places, hell the only (legal) place left is in my apartment. Don't meet my smoker friends in cafes anymore, they can't have their poison. The second hand smoking complaint is genuine, but out in the open, come on.

uhh apparently the NY times don't allow remote linking. Anyway google 'Weyco smoking ban'

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/08/business/08smoking.html I believe the standard answer to this story is that people are perfectly free not to join the company and therefore it's health care plans don't infringe on individual liberty. I Imagine Obama is considering the army ban for much the same reason as Weyco. I smoke myself, and yet I can understand why it's being considered. It would save money in the long run, and I believe the US army already has 'socialized' medical care.

How many percent chance of spontaneous death again.

I like the smug look on Zarkosi(sp?)

About the trials though, I seriously doubt anyone would come away clean if an army of investigators dig into your past life looking for ammunition to weaken you as a witness.

The really awful thing about pedophilia or related accusations like sexual harassment, they generally stick permanently even if they aren't true.

I don't remember what priests get the two hander, but I dualed one to weapon master. Was kinda hard because every single feat was already spoken for (priests hardly get any and are starved for skill points as well) and would not be really useful until I was ready to switch. Overall I was quite pleased with the result. Doing that with a scythe instead should pack quite the punch, they have the highest combination of critical ranges and multipliers. Whatever your build do yourself a favor and cheat yourself a pile of XP on a trial character, and then walk your guy through the levels, making sure everything pans out the way you planned.

I felt the urge to jump in. These questions and their explanations seem lacking, but the arrogant atheists at least take them on face value rather than dismissing them outright with some mumbo jumbo about there 'being more between heaven and earth'. If god exists why does he have to be so timid about it, seems like he could settle the dispute in a day, perhaps by coming to earth and holding a seminar. Think of the implications for philosophy. He can't be 'too busy', he's omnipresent and omnipotent, the usual rules of space-time don't apply.

Singing or performing is laying yourself bare in a much more fundamental fashion, I don't do either, I salute your courage.

These kinds of things have never bothered me, well singing in front of a crowd would bother me, but thats because I don't know how. Gennerally speaking though, I just don't have any shame and am ruthlessly direct in anything I do, it does come back to bite me ever so often.

Going tomorrow I think.

I hear 'an historic' quite often on the news. More often than the correct usage I'd say. Some people get confused when historic is used premodifying a noun, but it still isn't 'an historic occasion'.

I do that all the time, also cursing in English has very few negative connotations, among Danish people at least no matter how vile it is if it's said in English it loses most of it's semantic load. As long as it doesn't stop you from learning your mother tounge properly I don't see the need to play language police. It's much more preferable to be naturally curious than to be conservative about language use, just IMHO.

The rancor level was pleasingly high.

Hitler was a vegitarian

Watchmen. I thought it was awesome, haven't read the comic so I have nothing to hold it up against.

I mostly believe he is guilty because he chose not to fight the allegations, but I have a small lingering doubt that the parents were indeed gold diggers and manipulated questionable behavior, I mean who hangs out with kids whose parents one barely knows, into a crime. It would be pretty terrible if he had his life and what remained of his sanity ruined in this way.

After I fiddled a bit with the settings, I take it back, it sounds a lot better than my creative player. The extra output means it sounds like you plugged your headphones into a proper stereo. One silly decision though. Instead of a lock switch it locks automatically after a few seconds meaning you press the lock off button constantly while browsing the player, it's even active while you play tetris. Brainfart that. The Pigeon English in the menus is funny though. 'Upgradable the player now'. Mkay...

So far it can play anything I throw at it, except .flv files. The sample .flv files on it play just fine though. Firmware issue maybe. I could just convert them but that takes time. Sound is just as good as my creative player, It can even play a little louder, 19mw. (what is that, mini watt ?) on each channel. It's cheaper, has a bigger screen, more battery life and can play FlAC and .ogg files. I'm pretty happy with it.