What has happened in the last century to send us back to corporate oppression and labor abuse, betraying government, the dismantling of worker rights and protections, plenty of union-bashing rhetoric and union-busting legislation from politicians, some willing to promise unions anything for election support, and then let them twist in the wind when it comes to follow through on promises?

How awesomely frustrating and disgusting it all is. How much it parallels the plight of those shirtwaist workers who had such a hard fight to attain their rights.

We as a nation have returned to a "haves and have nots" Gilded Age of amorality and elitism. The corporatists, the government, the media have abandoned the working class. Once again, there is massive denial of workers' rights. Public protections of the American workers are steadily being eliminated by our supposed governmental representatives. Once again the media romanticizes the rich and famous and turns its back on the majority of economically struggling Americans. It demonizes unions and their members, encouraging immature resentment for them from workers in the private sector.

Human decency and justice seem of little value to an administration and Congress that continues to sell out to the wealthy elite. Awareness, empathy and integrity mean little to our political and industrial/corporate elites.

Meanwhile, that old white woman from Arkansas is probably your next president.

"evileee?"  Is that any relation to "evil-ish?"

And the first minority president who is currently in power.

And none of the people on your list matter because it's gonna be an old white guy who makes it to your finish line.  But no worries, they won't get further than the Republican nomination.

No. Not a one. Not even close.

What does he think we should do, put airport scanners at every park ?

I guess you could accuse him of being French for that choice.  ;)

otoh, when I used to rag on my old man for his lotto habit and say "You're a gambler Dad, you know the odds are sh*t", he'd reply "I know Son, but it's the only chance I got".  Sad...but at least partially true.

And his Win 4 wins paid for a couple family vacations we probably never would have taken otherwise.  The best was our trip to Disney World, Dad came home from work with a bag on and a Win Four score and told my Moms "Pack the bags and the kids, plane leaves in two hours".  

  Undeniably, some people develop gambling problems playing state sanctioned games. Some people also develop alcohol problems and some states still control liquor sales at the retail or wholesale level and all of them (and the Feds)tax it.

  Anti-drug prohibitionists frequently tout the benefit of legalization and taxation as opposed to the black market.

ScottW314: "This is freaking me out a bit, the guy never says a word, but they know he was alive as they could hear him breathing right before impact. What kind of maniac doesn't say a damn thing before killing 149 people and himself?"

But perhaps he had a stroke or other sudden debilitating physical malady such as a seizure, which could've rendered him unconscious and unable to respond to the frantic attempts of his fellow crewmembers to gain his attention.

(Disclosure: 25 years ago, my cousin and I were with friends on a private twin-engine Cessna 404 traveling from Van Nuys to Las Vegas on a day trip, when the pilot had some sort of seizure while we were over the Mojave Desert. He was totally unresponsive for the better part of five minutes, which were arguably the longest minutes of my life. Such things can and do happen. We subsequently declined the offer to fly back to SoCal with them, despite assurances from the pilot that he was fine, and lied that we had decided to stay in Vegas for another day. Actually, we instead caught a commercial airliner back to Burbank later that evening.)

While I'm not at all discounting the possibility that Germanwings 9525 may have been crashed deliberately by its co-pilot, right now we're getting information in piecemeal fashion. So let's please not immediately give way to panic by jumping to dire conclusions about what actually occurred here before all the facts are fully compiled and known to the extent that's possible, given the generally pulverized condition of the aircraft crash site.

Airbus has a YouTube video to instruct A320 crew members about what to do if one of them is trying to get inside the cockpit, but those inside do not open. According to the video, the crew would tap an emergency code on the keypad outside the cockpit door, setting off a 30-second alarm inside the cockpit, until the door opens for just five seconds, allowing the person to enter.

Rendering inoperable the Natanz and Fordow uranium-enrichment installations and the Arak heavy-water production facility and reactor would be priorities. So, too, would be the little-noticed but critical uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan. An attack need not destroy all of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, but by breaking key links in the nuclear-fuel cycle, it could set back its program by three to five years. The United States could do a thorough job of destruction, but Israel alone can do what's necessary. Such action should be combined with vigorous American support for Iran's opposition, aimed at regime change in Tehran.