Concealed weapons and airport security; choose one.

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Wednesday March 10, 2010 · 1:24 AM PST

2010/03/10 · 01:24

I'm sure that at some level I am seeking a sympathetic ear, but at the same time I'd just like to make sure that I'm not missing something. Recently, I engaged in someone with an argument over the following statement:

BTW, if they'd let people legally carry (handguns) on planes, they could save billions on airport security.

The debate digressed (well maybe debate is a polite way to put it); but I'm just trying to make sure that my points were somewhat grounded in logic and reason. Please note that I had never talked to this person before in my life.

Poll

36 votes Show Results

What weapons do you carry onto planes?

36 votes Vote Now!

What weapons do you carry onto planes?

Big hairy arms that hog my armrests

2 votes

Body Odor

4 votes

Razor sharp wit

13 votes

Handguns and lots of them

5 votes

Knives like that guy from Desparado

4 votes

Pies!!! And one hell of a throwing arm

8 votes

War Profiteering + Outsourcing + Bad Health Insurance

demotarian

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday January 28, 2008 · 3:18 PM PST

2008/01/28 · 15:18

I came across an article in the LAT that ties together the ills of war profiteering, outsourcing, and the health insurance labyrinth. The article details the hardships that befell Gregorio Calixto, after he was sent back to Peru after being injured by shrapnel from a mortar.

Iraq contractors tap Latin America's needy
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 28, 2008

...He is one of several thousand Latin Americans who have taken jobs with U.S. contractors as security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 1,200 Peruvians are in Iraq, mostly guarding sites in Baghdad's Green Zone. Chileans, Colombians, Salvadorans and Hondurans have also served as part of the polyglot assemblage providing "conflict labor" in U.S. war zones.

One of the many private security firms profiting from the war in Iraq, Triple Canopy, has been recruiting personnel from Central America to see if they can run the gauntlet of Iraq for a year or two on end. Triple Canopy is barely paying US minimum wage.

Poll

55 votes Show Results

If we could stop war profiteering today what should we spend the saved money on?

55 votes Vote Now!

If we could stop war profiteering today what should we spend the saved money on?

Pay down National Debt

16 votes

Free Universal Health Care

22 votes

Sci-tech research (Energy, Medicine, etc...)

2 votes

Better pay and benefits for military personnel and veterans

7 votes

Tax refund

1 vote

pie

6 votes

other

1 vote

Hilbamwards? Who Cares? Indies go blue

demotarian

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday January 08, 2008 · 11:32 PM PST

2008/01/08 · 23:32

With 96% of New Hampshire reporting, here are the numbers from CNN.com:
Ballots for the Democratic Primary: 277,068
Ballots for the Republican Primary: 228,531
From a state that has 850,836 total registered voters -- 26% Democratic, 30% Republican, 44% Independent

That's right!!!
Even though there are still over 30,000 more Rethuglicans registered in NH than Democrats, yet almost 50,000 more voters chose to vote in the Democratic primary.

Poll

31 votes Show Results

Will overall voter turnout continue to show "moderates" breaking for the Democratic party?

31 votes Vote Now!

Will overall voter turnout continue to show "moderates" breaking for the Democratic party?

Yes

19 votes

3 votes

Maybe

6 votes

As a moderate, I refuse to identify my stance on this issue

2 votes

pie

1 vote

Fund dKos with money from wingnuts

demotarian

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 17, 2007 · 12:00 AM PDT

2007/10/17 · 00:00

I noticed an ad for the Jim Inhofe 2008 campaign website. Having remembered that Jim Inhofe is an absolutely horrible repug senator (especially when it comes to theenvironment), I was a little confused as to why the hell he was advertising on dKos?

Poll

41 votes Show Results

Would you click on an ad on dKos simply to move revenue from wingnuts back to dKos?

41 votes Vote Now!

Would you click on an ad on dKos simply to move revenue from wingnuts back to dKos?

Yes

22 votes

4 votes

I don't see the ads

6 votes

I am a bot that is already clicking all the ads

5 votes

Pie

4 votes

Why the netroots will dominate wingnut/MSM radio/TV in accuracy

demotarian

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday August 16, 2007 · 7:07 PM PDT

2007/08/16 · 19:07

It has become apparent that this medium of political discussion/debate/news-sharing has an advantage over talk radio and news TV. Regardless of political affiliation, using the web instead of the radio/TV allows the listener/viewer/reader to employ a much better BS detector/filter, especially considering the locations both forms of communications are used.

Wingnut radio/TV, as with all radio and TV, is essentially one way communication; sure you can call in or write-in, and if you've found enough four-leaf clovers that day AND the hosts/station are mildly agreeable you might get some airtime with which to point out mistakes (lies) and so forth. I'd bet that the bulk of talk radio is listened to while driving, which further complicates the dialog that can take place (it can be hard to drive and debate politics on your cell-phone, especially in Southern California traffic).

Also, if you're stuck in a car and some crazy AM radio type spouts something completely insane, you have pretty much zero options to check the accuracy of their statement. You're only hope is to probably wait until you get somewhere with internet access. This can make BS detection/filtering of anything via radio/TV very difficult; but don't panic, jump the fold!

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