It should be noted that shooting down Flight 93 or the unnamed fifth aircraft (if there was one) doesn’t imply any sort of massive government conspiracy, either. It doesn’t prove or disprove it one way or the other. For all we know the USAF or ANG could have gone up, got no response from 93, and in the light of the WTC crashes blown it out of the sky. Hell, four Boeings hitting buildings piloted by AQ members doesn’t even rule out the concept of a conspiracy.

One other theory is that the aircrew regained control of Flight 93, and were heading to the nearest airport to land when they were shot down. Dead men tell no tales.

[QUOTE=TangoLima1]If Israel was truly “independent”, it would have sold the Phalcon to China regardless of US protests and threats and it would not have agreed to subject its future military sales to China to US government scrutiny and veto.QUOTE]

Not that easy. The threat from the U.S. was that they would withhold whatever amount of money Israel received from the Phalcon sale from their yearly annual stipend.

Why the excitement about the Lavi. There was no excitement when Israel exported the Patriot system they acquired during the first Gulf War to China.

earliest memory

You jogged my mind with that question as I hadn’t thought of it in many, many, years.

My first memory is my Dad taking me, on a cloudy day, to either Brainard or Bradley Field in 1945, to watch the victorious 8th Air Force returning to the States. I can still see my Dad’s car parked up against a long wooden set of logs, me sitting on the logs with lots of other folks, and watching what seemed to be hundreds of B-17, P-47 and P-51’s in the sky, landing and taking off. I can remember all the viewers seemed very happy about things but at that age I couldn’t understand what. It must have been their first refueling stop on reaching American shores. Wish I could go back in time for a few hours and do that again.

What? you say 15% for all that work. Get them to offer you at least 33%, I’m positive they will go for that. Then tell them you’ve reconsidered and want half in order to take part in their little scheme. If they are calling internationally, keep them on the line as long as you can while negotiating an even higher cut for yourself. When you feel they are getting suspicious agree to the last price, then ask if they will take Reichsmarks as currency.

Not the name, but who picks the name.

When I was in USAF Air Defense Command, circa 1961, a contest was held among the troops to name the new interceptor prototype from NAA. the F-108. The name “Rapier” got some lucky airman a hundred dollar bill. Too bad ADC didn’t get the Rapier. I believe the NAA “Valkyrie” was named in a similar fashion by SAC personnel.

Bottom line, the user should get to pick the name.

They’re from all the same mold.

My answer is simply to say ‘Yes’ to everything she asks for before she even reaches the end of the sentence.

Of course I don’t comply with those requests, but they are soon forgotten. Save a lot of arguments around the house.

Iran.

Very interesting discussion.

“Iran is the greatest threat the United States has faced in the post WW II era.”

I’ve notice that there is no interest in the North Korean “Nuclear Threat” lately. At least not since that “accidental” huge explosion in North Korea a few months ago.

My own prediction is that Iran will have one of those large “accidental” explosions somewhere and that will be the end of the discussion on the Iranian “Threat”.

The train of thinking worldwide seems to be that if you have a few Nukes you’ll be left alone.