gunman45

I have had my 51 for some time in fact I purchased it in Japan before the USA release and other than the constant upgrade disks that I have to make; it is a great BD player. I especially like the 7.1 audio out which is why I purchased the pioneer. It is linked to my Elite 50” plasma and outside of possibly the Marantz or the Pioneer 5, I can think of no better players but at the 51’s price point, you will not be disappointed.

---------------- On 1/9/2004 7:40:06 AM maxg wrote: Well spoted Gunman - seems I live my tag-line to the letter. My only defence it that I was thinking and writing at the same time and both appeared to be logical conclusions at their relative points in the post. I am not actually sure they are quite as mutually exclusive as we would like them to be. It will take some time for joblessness to rise to levels societies will have to make major adjustments for. In other words - sometime in 20 years we could be facing the first major problem only to have it switch around completely to the second major (opposite in many ways) problem in 50 years... Does that help? ---------------- To tell you the truth, the scenarios are many and freighting. Here is another one for youSomething I heard back in the eighties..by 2025 Chinas population will require all food products produced in the world.

Come now mdeneen, its all the corporations fault! I am sure that when the families of the folks that hwatkins listed above sue and receive millions upon millions of dollars you will raise your fist and shout It serves the corporations right. When in fact it is hard to believe those idiots lived as long as they did. There are thousands of frivolous law sits per year that dont make the local headlines. Some that do include the recent rash of suites against gun manufactures because firearms can be dangerous (well Duh). Thankfully all but a few have been dismissed and the remainder do not stand a snowballs chance in a warm place. 21 cases of hot coffee being served hot. Heaven help the corporation who serves me warm coffee when I order it hot. It will be an actionable offense!!

To give you an idea, the starting wage at McDs where I live is $7.35 per hour so we are not blessed with the 99cent hamburger deals! If you have a Big Mac Attack plan on spending the better part of a fiver and that is not for the meal!

MAXG You need to review these two statements. But than as you post Everything I believe today I will contradict tomorrow. Falling birthrate. This is a huge problem over here. Italy has the lowest birthrate of any country in Europe and Greece is second. The average is something like 1.2 children per familly which means we are not even replacing ourselves. The net result is that an ever smaller proportion of the population is still working, attempting to support an ever larger retired population who are both living longer and costing more to maintain The bottom line, as I see it, it that we are heading towards a society where ever greater numbers of people are jobless, and probably have never had a job in their entire lives. The same is happening here in the states (falling birthrate). By (I believe) 2015 the number of people leaving the work force with 4 year degrees will be twice that of those that are entering. Is that to say that fewer people are willing to obtain a 4 year degree? Nope, just fewer people entering the workforce. Granted, some jobs will be moved offshore but as this situation is happing everywhere there will soon be a time where there is no where to move them (jobs). What I believe we will see is employers going to great lengths to keep employees by offering semi-retirement plans that equate to longer paid vacations (2-5 months per year), better medical, dental, vision, etc. The employers that offer extended care medical will have the ability to keep their best employees indefinitely (by the employees choice). I read yesterday that by the 4th quarter of 2001 our state is expecting the lowest unemployment rate in its history. Dont plan on packing you bags and moving here, be patient because every state will enjoy (?) this problem shortly. Example: It took me 8 months to fill an entry level sales position with someone who wanted to come to work everyday. I am glad I found her because the competition for good employees has always been fierce but I am afraid that if I was looking for that person today or latter this year, I may have been SOL.

---------------- On 1/8/2004 7:16:53 PM Allan Songer wrote: I have PERSONALLY worked on over a DOZEN Habitat For Humanuty projects over the last dozen years (even if the overtly Christian overtones tend to creep me out a little bit) and I give them money every year. I have done landscaping, taped and mudded sheetrock, installed plumbing fixtures, installed flooring, etc. I have also written more than a few reference letters for people I have found deserving. One deserving and VERY lucky woman I know now owns her own home in North Long Beach because of Habitat for Humanity. It's a REAL charity! ---------------- We do not have HH but I agree, it is a great charity We do have some decent programs though. One is paint the town which volunteers spend time painting the homes of the elderly or infirm. All of the materials are donated and there is a waiting list to volunteer. I dont know if we are just not big enough for Habitat for Humanity or its because we have as fairly strong local economy with low unemployment or ?? Still, I think Jimmy C. is a great ex-president, the best and he and you should be proud of this program but I still would not want him as president.

---------------- On 1/8/2004 7:02:54 PM minn_male42 wrote: hey what happened to all the talk about guns????? ---------------- Of all of the firearms I own, my favorites are (by category): Concealed: Walther PPKS Pistol Target: 1911A1 (heavily modified) Pistol Hunting: Custom Contender 7X30 Waters Rifle Target: M1 Rifle Hunting: Weatherby in 300 Weatherby Magnum *****: Browning O/U *****/***** Choke Upland Game: AH Fox 20 ga side by side

---------------- On 1/8/2004 6:52:52 PM fini wrote: Allan, Geeze, don't get me started on Carter! What's he thinkin', pounding nails to build houses for the poor? ---------------- Great X-Pres, worthless in office!

---------------- On 1/8/2004 1:33:45 PM NOSValves wrote: Mark, I'm a cold hearted blue collar semi republican conservative (talk about a weird mix). I believe that anyone can go out and make a reasonable living in this country if they have the balls and gumption. Why do I say this !! Because I have done it now in 2 careers with nothing more then determination and willingness to work and learn. The problems with this country are mostly the people becoming lazy and wanting everything handed to them on a silver platter. Why else do people from all nationalities come to this country and flourish? Its simple hard work and determination. The average income in this country has fallen because of the publics laziness ! No other reason that I can see at least from my vantage point. Craig ---------------- I will have to agree with Craig on this one, to a point. I was born and raised in Nor Cal. The city where I lived enjoyed 15% unemployment and 45% welfare. My dad was a gas station mechanic and my mom worked as a casher for Woolworths for 43 years so I was not exactly born with a silver spoon etc., etc. It seamed that I was drafted 4.49000 seconds after I dropped out of high school and was lucky enough to get a free vacation in a far away place. I reenlisted for a second tour because all there was to come back to was blight, joblessness and . Hell that was it. After my second tour I came home and was still not old enough to purchase a handgun in California (two years carrying a real Assault Weapon as a grunt and I was not mature enough to buy a pistol?). Anyway, I spent the last year in Berlin where I received my GED and started some college courses. When I returned to the States I worked any menial daytime job that would allow me to go to school during the day and I was a security guard at night. Believe me, the GI bill only helps, it does not pay the way. After four years and a degree later I still took menial jobs just for the business experience. Now, I dont worry about my sons education, my retirement, or if I can afford new toys occasionally (Klipsch comes to mind) but it took hard work and determination. Would I have received a degree without the GI bill, in a word, yes! But it was not a handout and I dont think that I am any better/different than anyone else. People are as a whole lazy but I find it hard to believe that anyone cannot succeed in this life with just a little hard work.

---------------- On 1/8/2004 10:01:29 AM TBrennan wrote: Personally I always hunt elephant with the .470 Nitro Express. Woodchucks too. :-) ---------------- You are a better man than I Gunga Dinn!

Tbrennan Yeah, SMLEs are fun to shoot; very fast, smooth action. Definately the best bolt-action combat rifle ever made. I like the ugly looks too, thing looks purposeful. There is more and better lumber in those things than in my new sofa and loveseat combined. My grandfather was an Old Contempible, 1st Bat. Royal Irish Fusiliers, one of the small army of British Regulars who went into Belgium in 1914 at the start of The Great War; long service professionals many with experience soldiering in India and such places. Every Regular soldier had to qualify yearly in the "mad minute": 15 rounds into a 2' circle at 300 yards in one minute. Pretty damned fancy shooting and I don't think any other bolt gun would be capable of that kind of speed. The Krag might have the speed of action but has a lousy magazine. The 03s bolt was like a round peg in a square hole, it fit but not too well. I have forgotten about the Krag. I always imagined the poor soul, in a dire situation and on horseback trying to reload that magazine under fire. I used to have an 03A3, sold it to a buddy of mine. Nice rifle, very accurate but much slower (and harder kicking) than the SMLE. If you look at the stock dimensions, the SMLE s a little straighter than the 03 and though I have not looked at the ballistics for some time I believe the 06 ball has a bit more torque. Bell who was a White Hunter in Africa and a game management officer used to practice with the 303 SMLE on cormorants, though he used a 7X5 Mauser on elephants (akin to playing tag with a Greyhound bus on the freeway in a Morris Minor) he was known to hit 9 out of 10, flying, at 200 + yards. The kid was good and it does say something for the hardware!

---------------- On 1/7/2004 10:32:13 PM Allan Songer wrote: Ownership of firearms should NOT be an automatic right of every non-felon adult in the the USA. I am all for making sure someone KNOWS HOW TO HANDLE a gun before letting them own one. Sorta like not allowing someone to buy a new pickup and drive it down the road without being checked out first. I am a die-hard left-leaning Democrat who will NEVER vote Republican EVER and I own a couple of guns (a Glock and a 12-guage pump). You know, for when the revolution comes . . . Here's my theory about Bush and Bin Laden. I think our spooks have him in a cage somewhere and I think he'll be "captured" at some opportune time. How about mid to late October? ---------------- So then you dont believe that it should be an automatic right to assemble, to be secure in our person or be innocent until proven guilty? What test would you give to allow us those aforementioned rights? A right is right. The only thing you could possibly do in change the constitution and make gun ownership a privilege for the Elite Classes as it was in England.

---------------- On 1/7/2004 9:52:06 PM Clipped and Shorn wrote: "I wonder what they said about Klinton and his lies before a grand jury and ensuing disbarment? blah blah...." Clinton lying about a blow job and Bush's lies that are costing the lives of hundreds of American sons and daughters and tens of thousands of civilians in foreign lands (and still counting)....what a comparison! What a comparison! Don't tell me Americans are not messed up about sex. Murder and Violence=no big deal. Blow job=big deal. right, and Dick Cheney is not a criminal..... ---------------- What was happing in Iraq while Klinton was getting his job? What was OBL planning while Klinton was turning OUR White House into his personal ***** House? The liberals said it was Klintons Military that did such a good job in Iraq. Klinton in 98 said before the whole world that Iraq had WMD. Why is it not Klintons CIA that provided the information????? Hilly on Meet the Press said that we received erroneous information? Why does the HATEFUL left not listen to her? By the by, you may want to look at what Klinton did with Iraqs oil in December of 1998 and you may want to look into whos family is on the board of directors and controls a huge percentage of stock at Halliburton! (hint, if you run into Lady Bird Johnsons family, dont be surprised)

syclone385: Most peoples' sense of self preservation But then I remember seeing 18 year old kids who were literally afraid of the dark risk and give everything in a futile attempt to help someone they hardly knew.

---------------- On 1/7/2004 7:32:47 PM boomac wrote: I would help any man getting a beating whether he was rich or poor, liberal or conservative, from SC or PA, any color, of any race or of any national origin. I would even help a poor bugger that owned Bose Speakers. It seems to me that America is all about helping people in need. Some Americans do it through their actions and others try to do it through academic BS but most people care and try. BTW, this thread is rapidly going down hill. ---------------- I concur, if you dont watch out for your neighbor they certainly wont watch out for you. I say that just as I have finished shoveling my elderly neighbors snow from their sidewalk. Guess Im feeling full of myself.