America... Watch Out!

In regards to the war in Iraq. I see a pattern in the way not just our President speaks, but all politicians in general, which is what makes them such good liars. They can make statements, give examples, produce evidence, and swear on their mothers head that what they state is correct. But at the same time, they word it so they can say "you misunderstood what I meant" or "what I was getting at". Right or wrong, they are always right to some degree. So, you might say they can snow job anyone in this nation. Believe me, I'm not just picking on the right, I hate the left as well. I find it scary and down right stupid for any person to vote for one party all the time no matter who is running. I just see it for what it's worth. We were told he had WMD or was about to (theres that I told you so part of the statement). He didn't. Maybe look at it this way.

Why have we not invaded N Korea or Iran, the 2nd and 3rd party to the axis of evil? Because we know they have WMD. So if we knew he had them, and from past experience know he uses them on his own soil, why would we invade his country with a good portion of our troops only to get gased or even worse? It doesn't add it up. What does your gut tell you?? Mine is screaming BS. I'm no military guru but common sense is telling me you don't send in loads of troops up against weapons like the ones we feared he had.

Washington, the liars we put their, the Saudis, everyone involved, is loving this. Let us all point fingers at eachother or one side which keeps the light off the true liars. They don't want us to understand what is happening in regards to war, the economy, anything!. Keep us in the dark and we will keep putting blind trust into our elected officials. Look where it's getting us. Do more people (terroist groups) want to attack us now or before we invaded Iraq? Keep the questions simple and you will find the truth.

Tony Blair doesnt dispute the veracity of the memo, though he does say it was taken out of context.

But this is in addition to statements from Richard Clarke, Paul O'Neill, and Bob Woodward who all contend that the Bush Administration wanted to go into Iraq aside from Resolution 1441 and used 9/11 as a backdrop to do so. You are free to look at the totallity of information and draw your own conclusions indeed, but for me, I have been persuaded to the opposite conclusion and, try as I might, I can no longer belive the validity of the decisions that have been made.

I have been forced to re-evaluate everything in light of these numerous revelations. I now belive that it was not a momentary lapse of political saavy but rather an extraordinary moment of candor when President Bush proffered "After all, this is the guy who tried to kill my dad."

As for why the so-called Downing Street Memo didnt get more coverage in the so-called mainstream media, I asked myself that very same question everytime I saw the "Runaway Bride" coverage on my TV!

And, in Bill O'Reilly Style, I'll let you have the last word.

lata, jeremy

--who'd really like to hear (read) this special definition for the word "fixed" *** Edited 9/1/2005 11:42:07 PM UTC by 2Hostyl***

Thanks for the debate my friend... :-)

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Barry Williams said:
RatherGoodBear--you sound like a real Barrel of Laughs. Remind me to have you over to my next party!!

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I'm there, Johnny Bravo, just name the time and the place. Oh that's right, you'll be in Mike's home office with the hanging beads and swirling lights all in place. How about PPP?-- although I think that's located in a red county, two of them actually.

And as far as my colors, no, you know nothing about them. It wouldn't be wise to presume you do.

Let's see, Mr. 19 Coasters.

You know what they say about guys who insist on making penis size jokes--they're usually, well, you know. Miniscule. Insecure. Maybe even, shhhhhhh, gay.

Need I say more, Mr. 'My track record is bigger than yours'? Oh, and didn't you know? Jimvy does like boys. Duh. ;) *** Edited 9/2/2005 12:35:16 PM UTC by TeknoScorpion***

And so the popular expression has it: Give 'em an inch, and they'll take a mile. . .

RatherGoodBear: I look forward to meeting you at PPP. That would be AWESOME. And, by the way, I am a HUGE FAN of Pennsylvania. The parks in Pennsylvania are top-notch and A-one. Some of my best coaster friends live in Pennsylvania and subscribe heavily to the Red State Philosophies. I love them and I love Hershey and Knoebel's and Dorney and, now, Conneault Lake (recently visited for the first time) and Williams Grove.

I'm looking forward to going to Lakemont for the first time.

What other parks am I missing from the Pennsylvania Listings? I'd like to visit a few more before the end of the year. Can you do Lakemont and another park in the same day?

Happy Friday to all!!!

Barry J.

you could head to pittsburgh and hit kennywood and idlewild. if they are open

Kennywood should be open for Phantom Fright Nights or is it Phright? ;)

If you haven't done KWood during that type of event, YOU HAVE TO! Sure most of the other flats will be closed but Jack Rabbit, Thunderbolt, and of course Phantom are just nuts during that time. Of course Racer deserves some love too.

~Rob "Yes, indeed happy Friday!" Willi

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Colin Fisher said:
Only if everyone drove a Hybrid, that would be a start atleast. We drive the Hybrid to Theme Parks, and the standard Gasoline cars to local things. So pretty much Hybrid for long distance, and gasoline for short distances. They Hybrid cars acually really do save you money. ***

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Ah but the drawbacks with Hybrids are numerous as well as you need to replace the battery every year or so on most models at $800-$1000 a pop! You'd have to drive an awful lot to save that much on gas...

PA parks (as of right now):

Hershey, Dorney, Knoebels, Dutch Wonderland, Sesame Place, Bushkill, Williams Grove, Del Grosso's, Lakemont, Idlewild, Kennywood, Waldameer, Conneaut Lake... I think I'm missing one, there's 14 of them right?

Better move fast, Johnny Bravo, Lakemont is only open till Labor Day. You can easily do Lakemont and Del Grosso's in the same day-- they're only 12 miles or so apart.

Dragon, Idlewild will be open Saturdays in October for their Halloween event. Apparently this is the first year. What days is Kennywood open for Fright Nights?

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BrownStreak said:
Ah but the drawbacks with Hybrids are numerous as well as you need to replace the battery every year or so on most models at $800-$1000 a pop!

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Nonsense. That's not true at all. In fact, the battery is warranted just like any other part in the car.

You do realize that when the time comes to throw the batteries (no matter how long they last), they are full of toxic chemicals and a huge enviromental hazzard, dont you?

I thought the battery stores the energy generated from the brake rotors when you depress the brake pedal. The battery is supposed to last 5-7 years from what I've read. I have a friend with a Civic hybrid and it felt EXACTLY like my Civic, only the car is dead silent at a traffic light, while my provides a very soft hum.

At the time when I bought my car, it would have cost me about $7,500 more to get the Hybrid version since the concept was still so new. So while I'd be filling up with less gas, I figured with the price of gas at the time ($1.25) and figured I'd be paying close to $2.00 - $2.25 (silly me) for gas when the payments are up I would have to have had more than 175,000 miles on the car in order to equal the cost of buying a hybrid.

Keep in mind you are still filling the hybrid with gas, just not as much as a normal car. So buying a hybrid in my case wasn't going to work since I will be paying much more. I still bought an environmentally friendly car because it has the ULEV sticker on it (That's Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle for those keeping score) and sort of decently put my money where my mouth is.

On one hand, I may sound like I want to kill the environment because earlier I said that SUV drivers should drive their SUV's if they want. I still stand by that notion. While it affects me and the quality of air as someone pointed out, they are still paying a hefty price in doing so. The more gas they use, the more taxes they pay (sort of like a luxury tax), which comes back in the form of services. Either way, there is still a price to pay whether or not an SUV is on the road.

At this point now, if I had been paying $3.00 a gallon for gas since I bought the car, I would need 87,000 miles on the car to break even. In this case, it is beginning to be beneficial to get a hybrid if you're looking strictly at cost. However, if you want to do your part to benefit the environment, you can still do so by getting a hybrid. Since most people I've seen who buys a car and doesn't lease, they usually keep the car until about 120k - 150k miles.

Just my thoughts...

~Rob Willi

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RatherGoodBear said:
PA parks (as of right now):

Hershey, Dorney, Knoebels, Dutch Wonderland, Sesame Place, Bushkill, Williams Grove, Del Grosso's, Lakemont, Idlewild, Kennywood, Waldameer, Conneaut Lake... I think I'm missing one, there's 14 of them right?

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Depends on how you classify a 'park', but both Fun Fore All and Pocono Play Park have a kiddie coaster on property.

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Keep in mind you are still filling the hybrid with gas, just not as much as a normal car.

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My understanding is that there are differing degrees of fuel economy by model---just as in the regular non-hybrid models. I've been roughly checking them out the past 2 years since I drive so much with the job (but I own my current Civic and would have to take a loan to get a new hybrid)! I've also noticed that the prices of these things are going through the roof (in Vegas) as the gas prices go up...talk about gouging! So far, they keep the pricing just out of the range where it would be practical form a pure financial perspective.

Out of curiosity…do you think the guy who drives the super-hybrid with the most superior of gas economy thumbs his nose at “obnoxious jackass” following “Satin’s plan” who is only driving the 50 mpg version of hybrid?

P.S. Humor fellows…humor… :-)

Gonch, I would classify them as "family entertainment centers" for whatever my system is worth.

Re: hybrids, the latest issue of Consumer Reports discusses them. I just haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Referring way back to an earlier post, the real deciding factor in our loss of passenger train service in this country was when the airlines lobbied Congress successfully and persuaded them to transfer the mail contracts from railroads to airlines. This transfer occurred during the sixites, taking several years to phase in gradually. Railroads never actually made money on passenger trains. They ran them for 150 years as a public service as required by government contracts. Passenger trains lost money on passenger service but made it up on mail subsidies and actually made a small profit. That is why when you see a picture of old passenger trains, they all carried one or more mail cars. Postal workers actually sorted mail in the cars while they were travelling down the tracks, so they could throw the mail off the train at small town stations without even stopping. They also had those arms extending out which could pick up mail bags without stopping. So those famous fancy long distance trains were made possible by Mail, and when the mail went to the airlines, passenger trains were doomed.

That was also why passenger trains were so famous for running on time. They had to get the mail from city to city overnight. Truth is, when we actually had a nationwide network of mail trains, mail service was faster and more reliable than it is now, because trucking mail out to the airports and loading it onto planes is inherently less efficient, especially as far as small towns are concerned.

Now, despite all this, Amtrak keeps trying to provide passenger service to various places and has to abandon it because nobody will ride the trains. They tried very hard for two years to generate traffic in Louisville and hoped to create a Chicago-Louisville-Nashville-Atlanta-Orlando run. They could not attract the riders, and finally abandoned the effort. It was a good deal. Leave Louisville one evening, arrive in Chicago next morning fed, refreshed and ready to go. Driving that route is nerve wracking and exhausting. You could leave Lousville Friday night, spend all day Saturday and Sunday in Chicago, leave Chicago Sunday night, arrive back in Louisville at 7 a.m. Monday, and go back to work after a pleasant breakfast on the train and a shower. But not enough people were interested.

Maybe if gas goes high enough we'll start riding trains.

Remember, modern railroad engines are electric. They don't use gasoline. And we can produce electricity from water power, solar, wind or other methods.

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Trekker Park said:

Remember, modern railroad engines are electric. They don't use gasoline. And we can produce electricity from water power, solar, wind or other methods.

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Not entirely true. There are still diesels. I'll post more later on other parts of the thread.

In fact, pretty much every freight-hauling locomotive built in the US since, oh, 1940 is powered by diesel fuel.

Everywhere outside of the northeast corridor, Amtrak uses diesel locomotives -- F40s, P7s, and F59PHs.

In PA, the electric trains are limited to the lines from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, and from Philly toward Trenton and Wilmington (eventually NYC to Washington).

Trekker, also don't forget how the trucking industry totally took over the delivery of freight and other goods from the railroads. That directly goes back to subsidy from the federal government (Your Highway Taxes at Work). The original intent of the Interstate system was for the movement of military vehicles, troops and supplies. They were also capable of landing an airplane if necessary-- at least one mile out of every five along the original interstate system was required to be perfectly straight to allow this.

Thinking about it, there's a lot to be said about the old passenger rail service. My mother grew up in a poor coal mining town during the Depression, but you know what? Thanks to the railroads back then, she's been in NYC more times than I ever have. Trying to drive it now is a major hassle, and even taking a train into the city would require me to drive 98 percent of the way anyway.

It would be nice to have a real alternative to driving. I say real alternative, because as long as the federal government has their finger in it, it will be royally screwed up and prove to be totally non-competitive and mostly unfeasible.