Posts by bill

United grounded by computer failure

Industry gossip.

So after being in an airplane for 4 hours and then getting off at the same place where I entered, I began asking the untied associates what happened. The usual line of excuses... Then I began asking other individuals in the industry for insight on why this has happened 3 times this summer, I mean are the using 386 as their computer system? Well as it turns out, United and American have overbooked many of their flights 3 fold to make sure that they have enough people on the flight... This has created a backlog and if one small issue arises then suddenly that hiccup cascades into a major issue for everyone involved! Sad to say, but subsidising crappy companies leads to crappiness of unheard of levels. If an airline is mismanaged don't give them money to perpetuate the problem, let them fail. Then another company will fill that gap. Socialism in a capitalist soceity doesn't work.

American gamble or bluff: WTO members bet on Antigua

Yes, USA looks after it's own interests...no kidding.

Is gambling a problem in the united States? Yes it is; we have created a society based on monetary gain, and the lure of that has created a market for gamblers, especially those with addictive personalities. Is that the root of the issue? Hell no, it is who can tax what?

I think we can all agree that North America and it's allies don't always make the wisest decisions for the rest of the planet. (Too many pieces of evidence to even begin naming here.) But I ask you, when was it the USA's job to look out for a few wealthy men in Antigua? You think Ponce the Antiguan chicken farmer is the one that is going to benefit from free trade relations? No, it will be the Magistrates and the Lawyers that will be making the money. Do I give a damn about helping out the elite 5% of the Antiguan/Japanese/Bohamemian ruling class? Nope. Not a bit. Now if this debate was over grain, poultry, resources and human rights, we would have something to argue about. But alas it is a debate over a vice that clearly harms everyone but the business owners that run the sites, and for that I say: F&%^ them if vices are their main source of income. Look into manufacturing widgets, it worked for us!

So what's in a URL? The Reg URL?

I think the .com thing is just a fad.

I say that the .com thing is just a bubble waiting to burst. This "internet" is just a fad that will go the way of the pet rock. It is not a dump truck, but a series of tubes, just ask an American congressman.

Or, ok I guess you guys could go with a .com and make my life a lot easier, I think of my little vultures as international ambassadors of unsolicted editorial info, making your site a universal leader in dis-information!

Illinois baby issued with firearms permit

I carry a handgun.

Freedom to chose how we want to live our lives is something that most Americans take for granted, and most EU citizens find is our greatest flaw. We are allowed to choose whether we would like to carry a gun for self defense or just to look like John Wayne. It really doesn't matter, why we have the gun; 'cause everyone is allowed to make their decision. And what matters is that we are allowed to make the choice. Criminals will get the guns no matter what we make illegal; we can't even stop a herd of humans and cocaine, how are we going to stop a gun?

One of the main arguments for allowing the people to remain armed is too allow every man woman and child to protect himself, not just from each other but from our Government. You EU'ers out there think that the US gov. is out of control and makes bad policy choices. And then you call for the common law abiding citizen to give his only defense to the same people that you rant about on these comments. If you think about it, governments are always in a state of flux and they need to be changed periodically because like a diaper they get filled with $h!t.

And as for quoting the rates of death by gun; the EU and the US are fundamentally different when it comes to how we approach personal freedoms and therefore weapon laws. But that is why I haven't applied to work in France, and I don't see a lot of the 5 million French Muslim's applying for US visas. We are allowed to make that choice. And I will be damned if I am going to allow GW and his clan to decide what I can do with my personal freedom...