It’s not really something that you could say, I guess. Anchient american Indians(pueblo, I think?) used it as a symbol of the sun. It’s been around for a while.

The Nazi swastika was hitler’s design. An absolutly facinating piece of history is the paper hitler used to sketch various designs for the swastika. He tried varying it, a little here and there, before he settled on it’s final look. One of the single most striking artifacts of history. One of the most vile men in modern history’s brainstorm on what would become the symbol of one of the most evil organizations the world has ever seen.

Banning images? Words? What the heck is going on? The EU trying to act like a european version of a religious theocracy??!? The banning of religious clothing in France, banning of swastikas, hitler salute…they keep it up, it’ll be like a euro-taliban.

What good does the government think they’re going to accomplish by BANNING things like these? Crazy.

All that’ll do is promote ignorance. Can you imagine historical artifacts being censored? God, they need to concentrate on real problems. I hate it when government gets so full of itself it does crap like this.

For example, yesterday, we get an expensive Hallmark card in the mail from governer Mike Easley, congradualing u son th ebirth of our baby girl. “How nice.” most people will say. And that’s his intended goal, people will think he’s nice. He probably thinks he’s doing a nice thing for the people too. and that’s the problem. He thinks it’s his job to do nice things with tax dollars.
He has no buisness doing this. Let’s say the average car costs $2. there are more than 100,000 births a year in NC. He is spending $200,000+ a year on this. The government has no buisness spending tax dollars on stuff like this, and it would be better spent–MUCH better spent–in just about any other way.

Similarly superfluous legislation like bans on images, words, gestures and clothing are not only a waste of money, but a misappropriation of power.

I hope they don’t go through with it. Germany seems to be so outwardly guilt ridden from WWII, that I wonder if they aren’t going to cause harm. If aspects of history are hidden, they might come back to haunt.

why? semi-autos are safer. Revolvers have no saftey, no way of securing it against accidental firing. You COULD remove a bullet from the cylinder, but hat doesn’t gaurentee that the cylinder won’t rotate. Plus, it’eaves you with only 5 shots.

A Semi auto must be manually cocked in order to chamber a round. that requires considerable force. Without a round in the chamber, there is zero chance of the gun firing. furthermore, with a round chambered, there is a mechanical saftey in semi-autos that can prevent it from working. Revolvers are simple hand cannons, a barrel, a bullet chamber, and a hammer and trigger–very simple and reliable, but simplicity means it can very easily be fired.

With a semi-auto, if a round is not chambered, the only way it’s going to misfire is if the round is cooked off. If temps get that hot, you’re already dead anyway.

Oh, I guess you were talking about the crazy people…hehe. Can’t do much about them, can you? The deranged mind does not listen to anything, except maybe the voices. so you can’t expect them to follow the law. In that case, better arm yourself. We have a huge country, and, as a result, lots of crazy people. thankfully they tend to migrate to cities, staying far from me.

I had a “friend’ a few years back. discharged form the Marines for “mental reasons”. good guy. A bit ‘off’ , but his heart was in the right place. I got along well with him, but he did always make me nervouse. Lots of sharp things. knives, swords, guns…survival gear. He just seemed to enjoy being able to go out into the woods for a week or so, with nothing but his guns and knives, and survive…. Most people would describe him as antisocial, being that he didn’t like being “looked at” a certain way… I see him being the proverbial “crazy gun nut”. Mainly because he was a gun/knife nut, and was, by his own admittance, legitimatly insane…

Definatly not the best representation of the American gun culture. Of course, you don’t hear about the typical gun-toting american. We’re boring law abiding citizens, we just abide our laws and own guns. The only people that make news are the ones that shoot their toes off, or kill someone(or themselves) for whatever reason, or have a religious cult/separatist group. they’re crazy too.

It’s funny, people are making a big deal out of the fact that michael moore has a bodygurad with guns. People think Moore is against guns because of his movie. He isn’t against guns, he’s just got warped views on how to deal with gun violence, and warped views on gun-culture. I do believe Moore IS a paying member of the NRA.

there is nothing hypocritical of his bodyguards having[legal] weapons.

Mac 10’s aren’t impractical for bodyguard use because they’re semi-auto, they’re impracticle because they’re not accurate. ANY semi-auto handgun would be ideal for a bodyguard, provided it’s not too large or unwieldy. Surely a 9mm glock would be far more effective than a 9mm mac10. Not only would you lessen the chances of hurting innocents, you have a good chance of hitting what you’re aiming at.

A mac10 that discharges all it’s mag in a few seconds is far more trouble for the bodyguard firing it. Save his client or not, he’s going to jail. FULL-AUTO is pretty much 10 years in jail.

A mac 10 that’s semi-auto only is for image only–it’s not accurate, and it’s much less effective than a semi-auto pistol.

Moore would be a hypocrite if he’d ever said people should not be allowed to have guns. I don’t think he’s said that. I despise him, and he’s probably hypocratical about lots of things, but I don’t think this is one of them.

Besides, Moore would be wise to hire a bodyguard–or a troop of them. He’s very good at pissing a lot of people off in ways that tend to really, REALLY **** them off. Certainly, if you check the percentages of crazies out there, some of them fall in with the “pissed off by michael moore” group.

I’d venture to guess that at least SOMe crazy people own guns. I think it’s also fair to assume that at least some crazy gun owners were pissed off by Michael moore, since it was esentially THEM that BFC made fun of. It’s a safe bet that there are many people throughout the US that have the means, and the desire to kill him–and more than likely the insanity to actually try. He SHOULD have a bodyguard. Pissing off any group is taking a risk, but pissing off gun owners??? He’s probably gotten more death threats by people that are seriously considering actually killing him than anyone else.

Good bodyguard guns should be: Semi-auto, high capacity, modest power. 9mm’s or 380’s are good. the new Ruger 45 is a good choice as well, if you want more stopping power. you definatly want semi-auto. revolvers are slower, take forever to reload and fire, and are much more dangerous to carry around. Semi-autos are more useful in a firefight, and are much safer to stick in your pants.

Well, me too. The anxiety is killing me. Just wait till you’re in THIS position… it’s insane. My Wife’s due date was Monday. We’re waiting… She’s had quite a few signs of progress, dialation, effacement…but no contractions as of yet. stress stress stress.

I’ll be happy after she starts labor, though. At least we’ll know the wait is coming to an end.

congratulations.

Actually, the laptops warrenty is THE ONLY oe that is ever reccomended by “experts”. Laptops see use and abuse that no other electronic device does, excepting cell phones and portable audio devices. Thsoe are cheap, if not free. Laptops are not. Plus, they have moving parts and are outrageously difficult to repair. Most of them DO wear out within a few years.

A regular PC will last much longer, and will not be moved.

I woldn’t buy a warrenty from Best Buy. they have their system designed so that they get the money, but don’t keep their end of the deal up. Many more complaints of them declining people of a replacement or refund, for many reasons, including the “lost reciept”. Best Buy requires a paper recipt for the warrenty. circuit city had everythign opn record. Both systems were nearly all profit, but Circuit city and best buy had different methods.

Best buy sells cheap warrenties with very small payoffs–almost like minimum coverage, with a high deductable.
Circuit City sold very expensive warrenties(sometimes twice the price of BB’s), but they actually had awesome coverage on electronics(except the computers, they farmed them out to another company, that provided less than spectacular coverage).
Also, we had relativly few complaints about people having a hard time getting use ot of their warrenties. Most of the time the customer service managers would go out of their way(and beyond the limits of the warrenty) to help people that purchased them. If a TV crapped out a few months after the warrenty expired, they’d sell them a new one at a highly reduced rate, if not give them a free repair. The point was to keep people buying a warrenty. Especially considering we were on commision(TV’s and camcorders got us 2.5% commison, warrenties got us 10-15% commision).

CC is no longer on commision, but their service seems to be just as good, though much less informed.

If you are even considering buying one, check all the fine print. After reading the fine print on CC’s and BB’s, I would have to say Cc’s is not worth it for me, but it would be for someone who uses their camcorder ALL THE TIME. BB’s warrenty seemed to be worthless, even though it was far cheaper.

The two party system is what our government is based on nowadays. To change that would alter things so drastically, the government wouldn’t know how to react. Think of the reprucussions of a president elected with only 25% of the vote? Thik of the different colors states there’d be(instead of red and blue). Congress wouldn’t be arguing over partisan bills, and voting for something because it’s “for the party”. The present US government would be esentially a thing of the past.

By God, they might even have to vote in a manner which they believe, and not which way their party wants them to!!! The horror of it all!

George Washington’s farewell speech. It should be read by all.
He spoke of the dangers o political parties, and how they endanger freedom. They are self-serving, while the entire purpose of the government was to serve the people. The problems caused by the destruction of the two party system would be huge, but I believe, worth it in the end. Lawmakers woud find themselves being elected not for who they’re with, but who they are, and what they vote for. god forbid!

Basically every aspect of our government is ineffecient and screwed up, bloated and self-serving. Taxation, social security, lawmaking…all could benifit from a massive renovation.

I worked at Circuit City for a year, selling All types of TV’s(except plasma, they weren’t really affordable at the time), camcorders, dvd players, etc.

For projection TV’s, a repair, should you need one, is usually very expensive. I know 3 people that have had projection TV problems, and all repairs were over $300. I’m not usre if I’d buy a warrenty if I got a bigscreen. Definatly not for a CRT, but maybe for a big bigscreen. Probably not though.

Overall, it is definatly NOT worth it. Odds are, your TV isn’t going to break. If it does break, the warranty IS worth it(usually). Ultimatly, for TV’s, it’s gambling on the failure of the product. You’re placing a wager on the “hope” that it breaks.

Power surge coverage IS a nice plus, however. We’d sell a TON of it on Sattelite sytems, and it actually saved many people lots of money. After every big storm, we’d have peole lined up at the door bringing back their directTV boxes for a replacement.

the only time I would reccomend a warrenty is certain circumstantial camcorder usage. If you buy an expensive camcorder(~$1,000), AND you use it very often, a warrenty might be worth it. At Circuit City, their 5 year camcorder warrenties are much more expensive than other places’. they have a no lemon clause where they refund the moeny to you(plus the rest of the warrenty, prorated)if the camera needs repairs on 3 occations. (The lens cover jams, the power button gets stuck, then the LCD doesn’t work) As long as it’s NOT from fall damage, water, or abuse*, when that third problem occurs, it’s a lemon, and they take it back. They refund the full purchase amount, and you get to buy a NEW camera, of equal price. Best Buy gets to replace it with what they see fit as an equally performing product, AND theyneed 4 repairs, not 3. that’s why thier warrenty is cheaper.

Most people do not use their camcorders enough to break them. However, the few people that really do use them a lot would benifit form the expensive(I’m talkin $300+ on a $1000+ camera) warrenties. I was there(and fortunatly so…we worked on comission) when a few people came in with problems for their cameras. I’d help people out it their problems, and it paid off on many occations. Often, I’d notice the people had the extended warrenty, and I’d check to see if it had been in before. Several times, it was the third time in for repair. It was like a gift, a free sale, lots of comission, and an awesome deal to the customer. One guy had an almost 4 year old JVC mini DV camcorder. He paid $2200 for it, PLUS $375 for the 4-year warrenty. I showed him his records, refunded him $2200(plus a little for the rest of his warrenty), and sold him a new Sony mini DV, that was FAR superior to his old camera, and only $2000. He ended up buying a 3 year warrenty, some tapes along with the camera–and got some cash back–because he bought the warrenty.

OF course, this is rare. However, camcorders are the only really expensive electronic device with so many moving parts for its size. If used very frequently, it’ll wear out and jam. Circuit City can afford that because 90% of the people that think they’re going to use it so often that it breaks simply won’t use ti so often!

It’s almost 100% profit. Profit margins on most electronics is usually very low, especially computers. Audio products are a different stroy. Speakers and Amps were markd up 40-60%. If they sell them 10% above cost, and add a warrenty to 1/5th of all sales, they’re doing great.

I was pretty good at selling them(never pressured people, just read them, and figured out who liked to buy them). The only things I ever bought “cheese”** on were a cordles phone(which needed to be replaced a year later) and well…that’s it.

*Very subjective. If you’re an a$$ to the customer service rep, they’ll be an a$$ to you and say you abused it. But if you’re nice to them, they will let you get away with a pretty banged up camera, and STILL refund the money.

**Cheese is the slang term for an extended warrenty. Derived from the fast food add-on phrase, “Would you like cheese on that(burger)?” where a one dollar burger is covered with a 2 cent slice of cheese that costs the customer an additional fifty-cents. Perfect term, I think.