Nitrox

You are clueless. How many miles of fiber-optics do you need to lay down before you have a market large enough to make a buck? Are you going to start in your neighborhood like a boat builder would? How many parallel communication networks do you want to force real competition? is that really the way you define "efficiency"? Tell us. How many miles of fiber optic cable do you need to lay down before you have a market large enough to make a buck? How many variables is that contingent on, exactly? Do tell. I have no idea how many parallel communications networks are necessary to create real competition. My best guess is that the number is larger than one. Again - tell us what the optimal number of competitors is and what set of variables influence the number over time. While you're at it - how about the average price per gig under the optimal pricing scheme. Along similar lines - how many bicycle manufacturers are necessary to create optimal competition? How about dental sealant wholesalers? Brands of ice cream? How many independent farmers growing the same crop? Clearly if we organized them into a single national collective..... Bend Broadband provides highspeed internet to Central Oregon and they are not considered a large telecom. There are literally hundreds of small telecoms just like Bend Broadband.

much of shipping, cruises, etc.. is now staffed by philippinos workers. These people don't live in the US for the most part and they couldn't afford to do so on their wages. Which industry do you exactly plan on keeping in this country? This is false. The last cruise I went on the staff was largely South American and European. All of whom spoke English and were educated.

No argument regarding rural issues. But you haven't addressed the market failure in U.S. cities where it is easier to provide access. And your assumption that high speed internet is only applicable to entertainment and not commerce and academics is false. The issue is why are we paying such high rates for lousy service in the US compared to the rest of the world where there is comprehensive planning, and lo and behold, solvent communications companies making a profit. What percentage of all US internet use is commerce and education related?

If you donate that Norrona to me I'll pay 20% of your Eddie Bauer down jacket.

Banking is a scam, oil is a scam, telecom is a scam...would you start a thread on what you consider not to be a scam?

Maybe you should have ordered enough pizza for the entire class.

You seem very defensive.

She'd have been better off opposing masturbation on a Bill Maher show. http://www.leftcoastrebel.com/2010/10/photos-pictures-congressional-candidate.html

Are you retarded, Bill? because you certainly sound like it when you spew your libertarian nonsense. I am not for big or small government, I am for the government necessary to do the job properly. Sometimes, in some sectors, significant government intervention is absolutely necessary. Somewhere, at some other time, no so much. If you don't like the social contract as interpreted in your region, you can move to an unincorporated area far away from infrastructure and communities that expect basic services like fire protection. There are still plenty of isolated places in North America and you won't be mooching off services provided by our tax dollars.

Never seen such a whiny, needy, bitch as j_b in all my life. For fucks sake, you're an embarrassment.

Pull up your big boy pants and quit whining.

I like it, a voluntary tax. I bet a lot more people pay the $75 after hearing the story though. I bet after the homeowner takes Obion county to court everyone's property taxes go up regardless of who wins.

A speeding ticket in California is more like $300. I'd rather get busted with weed. Imagine how much the state would save if they legalized and taxed it. Illegal plants, what brilliance!

Its both funny and disingenuous to see you try to act as though you suddenly care about soldiers or servicemen. You are only defending this person person because anything less puts the ACLU in the light of an opportunistic selfserving organization that cost the taxpayers millions of dollars forcing the Airforce to take back an unfit officer. Its obvious this case was never about Maj Witt, as you said. Just because someone is a decorated serviceman doesn't mean they are less of a shitbird. I served with a soldier that received a few decorations right before he was sentenced to five years in a military prison for stealing from fellow soldiers. While in the service I watched soldiers put out for DADT, and while I don't agree with DADT in principle I never saw anyone get kicked out for just being gay. The soldiers I saw get the boot were FTA'ing druggy idiots who also like to advertise they were also gay. While DADT was used they were clearly in need of getting discharged regardless of their sexual orientation. A friend of mine is a retired Marine, we talked about this a few times and he mentioned he chapter'd out a Marine for DADT. Much like the instances I saw, the Marine in question was the same type of druggy shithead who tried to blow his roommate when he thought he was passed out. Being gay was the least of his problems. In the context of this case, IIRC I believe that Maj Witt concealed the nature of her affairs and it wasn't until the ACLU case that she finally admitted she had been involved with the spouses of fellow airmen. Like the instances I witnessed, Maj Witt also had the tell tail personal problems that initiated her inevitable discharge. She was an officer and as such is/was held to a higher standard than some dumb 19yo enlisted kid. She knew better and still acted counter to the UCMJ that she agreed to abide by when she was voluntarily sworn in as an officer. There are a few members here that have been through divorce as a result of a spouse's infidelity and I'm sure they can attest to how fucked up it is. Imagine then that the involved party is your boss, coworker, or subordinate and that you can't fire the person or quit your job to escape. There is a damn good reason why Adultery is taken pretty seriously in the military. The fact that it happens frequently has little bearing on how disruptive to a military command and how seriously it is taken when it can be proved. DADT just happened to be the easiest means to get Witt out, and a copout by her command (IMO). Witt was and is a shitbird, congrats to the ACLU for forcing the Airforce to take her back. Also funny how silent Barry is on this issue. No real surprise to either though.

He got you to listen to him, whose the real moron?

They turned him into batman?

Ever the one dimensional excuse maker, at least you're consistent.

Strange bit of narcissism considering it was "your side" that enacted DADT and "your side" that hasn't done anything legislatively to stop it. And to think, I was never in favor of DADT. I guess I've really lost on this one.

She admitted to it under oath, the AF doesn't need to prove anything. She either faces adultery or perjury. The military usually prosecute adultery under UCMJ with non judiciary punishment. However, in this case it'd be multiple counts so Maj Witt would more likely be facing Conduct Unbecoming. Its funny how the ACLU glommed onto this shitbird just so they could get a crack at DADT, they certainly didn't pick the exemplary officer in the AF. Probably because an exemplary officer wouldn't be trying to nail the spouses of other soldiers/officers. Witt shouldn't have been an AF officer in the first place, this long drawn out court battle seems to highlight that.

Here is a link to some of the back story: http://www.towleroad.com/2010/09/opening-arguments-testimony-heard-in-margaret-witt-dadt-trial.html I agree with the judge, the AF should reinstate Witt as an officer...and then the AF should prosecute her under the UCMJ for adultery (which she admitted to under oath). She was, and is, unfit to be an officer in the USAF for a lot reasons, least of which was her sexual orientation. I think booting her for DADT was a cop out by command because they didn't want to embarrass other officers whose spouses had affairs with her. She deserved to go but not for DADT.

Boots are sold. Big Agnes air mattress is still for sale.

I thought the world liked Barry? Huh, maybe another apology will do the trick.

They're still not going to take you though because of your age.