Please don't do it again.

Danny we read all the threads. We read the water cooler. It's not necessary for you to decide what is important and what is not to put in its own frame. It's pretty tacky to take linda's post and dump it in the WC, only to resurrect it in your own self authored thread.

Give it up, Danny.  How old are you anyway?  Are you on some kinda power trip?

Wait till Howard hears about your messing up our blog.  Don't you have something better to do?

and I must say the water cooler is nonsense. I've limited my time here lately -- it doesn't flow as it once did now that every post that is deemed *irrelevant* is sent to the WC. Sadly, I think the blog is going to end if it isn't returned to its former eclectic self. I've been here for five years now (yikes!) and we've rarely been *on topic*. ;-(

Nite folks.

Danny and BFA staff...

Regarding the comments above, don't know where to begin. When things have been done a certain way from the beginning, for someone to come in and all of a sudden *pull the rug out* and say, "no, we don't like your way, we're changing it", well, it's confusing and disheartening putting it mildly. And it leads to what happened to linda b's heartbreaking comment. There is such a thing as the emotion of the moment that can't be recaptured at a later date.

I understand what you're trying to do, but there has to be a better way. Dumping people in the watercooler is demeaning. We used to have "Open Threads". It seems a workable solution would perhaps be a choice of an "Open Thread" and the current topic posted at the same time.

Question: Where are all these people who opined? Most of them just write up an article and don't even bother to be here for the discussion. 

*sigh*

I apologize, Danny, for being abrupt. I'm really pissed, that's all. :)

except for the old timers, none of the thread posters stick around for discussion. its like throwing words against the wall...

when i find interesting news articles on-line, and there's a reply thread, i usually read some or most of it. gives good perspective. on some small amount of these threads the author makes replies to posts. they're usually better reading and more informative that way.

as to linda's soldier: i've known quite a few guys who landed in similar boats. your fella has the added hell that we're talking about iraq to boot. stop loss is complete crap. new rule #1: if you can't recruit or draft enough manpower for a war you can't have a war. this all volunteer force is starting to look more and more like the viet nam draft era force: more without high school diplomas, more with "moral" waivers (drug use, ,minor crimes, etc.), more old guys over 45. used to be that if they wanted an enlisted guy to stay on, they'd offer him a promotion at about year 19. usually to e-8. sounds like this guy's trapped in a bean counter's trap.

i was going to a school at millington, tn with the navy in 1986. the walker spy thingy had broke not too long before that. some bean counter in DC decided that the navy needed less security clearances and just started hacking away without any regard to "need to know." they cut about 20% of the students and faculty at this classified school. "those who got brains...step to the front of the line..."

things are always going to be like this for institutions like the military. my solution to offer is to be friendly with service members. talk to them like humans. don't treat them special, but let them know you think of them that way. and, give them a job, a good job, if you can.

If you really wanna play nice and be fair, Danny, give your idear another week.  Let's see if anyone who voiced their frustrations to you about how the blog was really does appear.

You listened to a few - but what about us, the majority?  How democratic is that?

I call for a deadline.  Please set one.

well, edwin's not an old timer, but he seems to have found his place in here effectively. an acception to my rule above...

one of the rules we have in making improv music (yes, there are too rules!!!) is that if you come out front and take control of a piece you have to own it. you have to believe it, you have to convince the others that you believe it, and you have to carry it all the way to at least handing it off to the next guy out front. anything less is not only failure, but you look real bad to boot. perhaps if the HQ mindset is as advertised, they should impose a similar rule. you can't just post a thread and then take off. you have to own it!!! after all, aren't we in an "ownership society???"

another good rule, borrowing from my military experience, is policing your area.  you never, and i mean never, leave your mess for someone else to deal with.  simple.  straightfoward.  leaving a thread unattended is akin to making trash or graffiti.  "ding, ding, ding...attention all hands, man your brooms, make a good sweepdown of all decks fore and aft..."

its been a long time since i've thought about these things.  should've been:  "ding, ding, ding...sweepers, sweepers, man your brooms, make a good sweepdown of all decks fore and aft..."

one joke used to go: "ding, ding, ding, attention all hands...this is not a drill...man your general joke stations, set condition joke and make sure someone's actually laughing..." the loud speaker on board (1MC) could be really funny at times. well, i guess you had to have been there...

HR HR 362, sponsored by Rep. Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat, calls for the president to enact more draconian economic sanctions against Iran. These include an embargo against any imports of refined petroleum. (While Iran is of course a major exporter of oil, it imports at least 40% of its refined petroleum.) The wording of the Resolution is chilling in the extreme: “Congress… demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by… prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran; and prohibiting the international movement of all Iranian officials not involved in negotiating the suspension of Iran’s nuclear program.” The resolution is moving quickly through the House and could pass as early as this wCongressional Democrats, the IAEA and Factual Falsehoods in HR 362

There is more support now than there was a year ago in Congress, especially among the Democrats, for military action against Iran. Thus HR 362’s co-sponsors include 96 House Democrats and 111 House Republicans. These are the same Democrats whom Americans voted into Congress, in November 2006, as majorities in both houses, based on what voters believed to be the Democrats’ opposition to war in the Middle East.
eek362 and the Alarming Escalation of Hostility Towards Iran

DHS Wants Airline “Shock Bracelet”

Jeffrey Denning
The Washington Times
July 8, 2008

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers.

dan r's comments are OFF TOPIC!!!

Has the ethnic cleansing of the blog proceeded to a point of no return?

woke up this a.m. with an email from danny about my thread. what's up?? I may have wanted to write one more detailed. Danny, this isn't working. who are most of these people posting??? They are here and then gone. Please fix the blog.