Tired_Old_Man

I am not using "life and death" matters as a "red herring" or a scare technique. Please explain to me how I as a aircraft mechanic crew-chief could give my subordinate an instruction if we do not agree on the definition of the words or the usage of grammar that I use to give the instruction. I also would like to know how we are supposed to agree on the instructions in the aircraft manufacturer's maintenance manual if we do not agree on the definition of the words or the usage of grammar that are used in the instruction. I made a big mistake in my opening post by bringing in Ebonics. I was actually interesting in the relatively new usage of sentences like the McDonald's ad. I had said that "I am loving it" is not the same as "I love it" and wanted an English teacher to comment on it. I uses Ebonics as a stepping stone to show a possible progression between the standard English, the McDonald's type English and the Ebonics. It is my opinion that language is needed for communication. Communication is more important to me than the freedom to say whatever word you want in place of any other word or in any order. Here is a real red herring. It is also a joke as was the "3 Mile Island" story. A man is in a theater and yells "Fire, Fire". There is a stampede and dozens of people are injured. The police and fire department respond and when no fire is found the man is arrested for disturbing the peace and causing a riot. At trial he explains to the judge that when a good looking actress walked onto the screen, he yelled, "Fire, Fire" because she looked so "hot". It is what all his friends say when they see a "hot" looking babe. No, it never happened, just like the "3 Mile Island" story never happened. If you go back to my post on page 6 of this thread, you will see that I said that it was a joke made about the "3 Mile Island" incident. I only used the "3 Mile Island" joke to illustrate a point. The airplane story was true about a mechanic saying "bad" when he meant very, very, good. But during a televised debate on English, the "Fire, Fire" in the theater story was given to the debaters to ponder. Some said that the man should be found guilty and some said he was not guilty. If we can't agree that he is guilty, it may mean that we actually are agreeing on everything in this thread, but because we don't agree on the same language usage, when you say right I think that means left. So when you say, " I do not believe that the English language should, or can be regulated" I understand that to mean "We had better regulate English language or else the civilized world will come to an end”. See how easy agreement is. But that depends on what the definition of the word "is" is.

RODNEY DANGERFIELD My wife only has sex with me for a purpose. Last night she used me to time an egg. * It's tough to stay married. My wife kisses the dog on the lips, yet she won't drink from my glass! * My wife isn't very bright. The other day she was at the store, and just as she was heading for our car, someone stole it! I said, "Did you see the guy that did it?" She said, "No, but I got the license plate." * Last night my wife met me at the front door. She was wearing a sexy negligee. The only trouble was, she was coming home. * A girl phoned me and said, "Come on over. There's nobody home." I went over. Nobody was home! * A hooker once told me she had a headache. * I went to a massage parlor. It was self service. * If it weren't for pick-pocketers, I'd have no sex life at all. * I was making love to this girl and she started crying. I said, "Are you going to hate yourself in the morning?" She said, "No, I hate myself now." * I knew a girl soo ugly that she was known as a two-bagger. That's when you put a bag over your head in case the bag over her head comes off. * I knew a girl soo ugly, they use her in prisons to cure sex offenders. * My wife is such a bad cook, if we leave dental floss in the kitchen the roaches hang themselves. * I was such an ugly baby,when I was born the Dr. slapped my Mother. * I went to see my DR.,DR.Vinnie Goomba. He asked if I had this before? I said, "yes". He said, "well you got it again". * I'm so ugly I stuck my head out the window and got arrested for mooning. * The other day I came home and a guy was jogging, naked. I asked "Why?" He said "Because you came home early." * My wife's such a bad cook, the dog begs for alka-seltzer. * I know I'm not sexy. When I put my underwear on! I can hear the Fruit of the Loom guys giggling. * At my age, I'm envious of a stiff wind. * My wife is such a bad cook, in my house we pray after the meal. * My wife likes to talk on the phone during sex; she called me from Chicago last night.

Paddy had been drinking at his local Dublin pub all day and most of the night. Mick, the bartender, says "You'll not be drinking any more tonight,Paddy". Paddy replies "OK Mick, I'll be on my way, den." Paddy spins around on his stool and steps off. He falls flat on his face. "Shoite" he says and pulls himself up by the stool and dusts himself off. He takes a step towards the door and falls flat on his face. "Shoite, shoite!" he cries. He looks to the doorway and says to himself that if he can just get to the door and some fresh air, he'll be fine. He belly crawls to the door and shimmies up to the door frame. He sticks his head outside and takes a deep breath of fresh air, feels much betterm and takes a step out onto the pavement. He falls flat on his face. "Bejesus . . I'm fockin' focked," says he. He can see his house just a few doors down, and crawls to the front door, shimmies up the door frame, opens the door, and collapses inside. He takes a look up the stairs and says "No fockin' way." But he crawls up the stairs to his bedroom door and says "I can make it to the bed." Again he pulls himself up by the doorframe, takes a step into the room, and falls flat on his face. He says "Fock this, I gotta stop drinking," and falls into bed. The next morning, his wife Jess comes into the room carrying a cup of coffee and says, "Get up Paddy. Did you have a bit to drink last night?" Paddy says, "I did, Jess, I did. I was fockin' pissed, and how did you know?" "Mick the bartender phoned . . .You left your wheelchair at the pub."

I was going to give my opinion on race relations in the USA, but then I realized that most Americans that I speak to are totally confused about race. A coworker started to tell me a joke. He said, “There was a Jew, a Black and a Puerto Rican walking down the street...” but I stopped him and asked how many people there were? I told you, “a Jew, a Black and a Puerto Rican”. I said, “you described one person by his religion, one by his race and one by his land of birth. But it could be all one person.” I asked him if he remembered Sammy Davis Jr. and he said that he did. So I said, “I saw a Jew and a Black man walking down the street. How many people are there?” He said “Two”. “No, it was Sammy Davis Jr.” He was a Jew and a Black man. Most Blacks that I know are part white. I know a man who everyone says is Black, but I went to his house for a party and three of his four grand-parents where white. He married a white woman and had a child, so why is that child considered Black if 7 of the 8 grand-parents are white? That thinking makes it seem like Black is a impurity spoiling the white race. If a Puerto Rican is totally light in color they are called an Hispanic. Hispanic is not a race. If a Puerto Rican has Black skin, why is he not Black? Then we get into the other funny one; calling Blacks Afro-American. Peter Jennings, a few months before his death was reading a story on “ABC World News Tonight” about HIV-AIDS in Africa and he said, “40,000,000 Afro-Americans have HIV-AIDS in Africa” then paused and realized that the writer was trying to say that “40,000,000 Blacks have HIV-AIDS in Africa”, so Peter Jennings corrected the line because the people in Africa are not Afro-Americans, they may be Black, but not Afro-Americans. Think about this. If a Black man moves from Nigeria to the USA and becomes a citizen, does his race change from Black to Afro-American at his swearing in ceremony? Is a person from Egypt who has white skin an Afro-American if he becomes a US citizen? Is a white man from South Africa an Afro-American if he becomes a US citizen? Yes. But they are not Black. Let's see what people accuse me of after this post. That may give me a good idea about race relations in the USA.

I believe the point of the story was that in the USA, if someone who is not Black relates a negative thought about Blacks, then they are called racist. So by retelling a story told my a prominent Black man with a negative twist on modern Blacks, the poster would not be accused of racism. It is a shame that honesty or integrity of a story that discusses a racial issue must be judged first by race of the person telling the story. But it is a fact of modern day life in the USA.

Luckily or sadly, you can't provoke me. I was an oddball on my job. As a white man, I was disliked by about 50% of the whites who didn't think I should be so friendly with the Hispanics and Blacks. The Blacks and Hispanics liked me, trusted me and confided in me more than any other white man, but I was still an outsider looking in. I never worry about class. I always said that any man can make it in life if he has either money, talent, class or looks, but I will still make it with none of the above. When you treat everyone fairly, you hear things like, "you should treat me better because we're the same color, we're the same religion, we're from the same ethnic background or we have been friends for years" or "so you treat him better because I'm black, or because I'm Puerto Rican, or because I'm Dominican" or whatever. People who were like me expected to be given everything, but I didn't and people who were unlike me complained if they didn't get everything. As a crew chief, I usually made up five teams of 2 mechanics and assigned them different responsibilities. My predecessor had warned me to keep the two Irish guys together as one team, the two American Blacks together as another team, the two West Indian Blacks together as another team, the two Hispanics together as another team, and so on and so on. Well that caused arguments over the Irish team getting premium pay for missing lunch or the Black team might get a dirty job, etc. So I solved the problem. I integrated each team. That way when a dirty job came up, no one could complain that I assigned a minority team. Or when a good job came up, they could not say it went to a white team. Just about every assignment was given to a mixed team. But I insisted that while speaking about job related situations, we spoke in standard English with no slang. Most members here at Lap-Band can not know how it feels to wake up in the morning and hear on the TV or radio that a plane from your company has crashed with 150 people dead. You hold your breath until you hear the flight number and then thank God that it was not you that might have caused the plane to crash. I worked on three planes at JFK that left but never returned to JFK in my 35 years. Luckily for my sanity, none of the crashes had anything to do with the work that I had performed. I don't know how I could have lived if I had caused the crash. I know that there are quite a few nurses here at LBT and I would assume that they could relate to what I just said.

Maybe that is the planned reason that she is so far out: too make BuSh who is far out, but not quite that far out look, well, normal. For instance, President BuSh didn't look as far out when he said things about Democrats that no president would have previously said: They are the party of cut and run. They don't like listening to the conversations of terrorists. Play the video on this page

How do we get the general public to understand that we are not to be made fun of, to be discriminated against or to be taken for granted, yet still convey to our youth that they should not want to be like us and must get off their collective butts, exercise their bodies while also learning how to eat properly sized and nutritious meals? Their lives depend on the second part of the paragraph and our happiness and sanity depend on the first part.

I received some PM's and you Gals are sharp. Yes, the answer is: NOTHING

This is Meant to be Humorous: Read it at your own risk. Can you answer this riddle? Here is a pretty neat little thing from Paul Harvey. See if you can guess the riddle at the end. Paul Harvey Writes: We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better. I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would. I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen. It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep. I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him. When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her. I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom. If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books. When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head. I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what Ivory soap tastes like. May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove, and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend. I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle. May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays. I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hanukkah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand. These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life. Written with a pen, sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you. Send this to all of your friends. We secure our friends, not by accepting favors, but by doing them. Paul Harvey RIDDLE: When asked this riddle, 80% of kindergarten kids got the answer, compared to 17% of Stanford University seniors. What is greater than God, More evil than the devil, The poor have it, The rich need it, And if you eat it, you'll die?

The other Mark, not Foley, the one involved in the JonBenet Ramsey case has been released with all charges dropped, both in Colorado and California. If Mark Foley was only guilty of the same conduct as John Mark Karr, which is submitting a false confession, then I think that should disqualify him from being a legislator. Both men need profession help IMO.

I think where the 90/10 disagreement that we seem to be having is that while there is federal government influence and maybe yes intrusion in my life and yours, the laws which govern our day to day lives are basically local (state, city). What can I do to violate Social Security regulations? How can I violate interstate commerce laws, unless I am a business owner? And even then, that would be the business rather than me as a private individual who violates the law. The regulations on auto emissions, electrical generating plants, sewage disposal and water quality are not something that we can violate. If we dump anything in the street or the lawn in front of our homes, it will most likely be a local violation, except in rare cases where we got a hold of something extremely toxic. There are thousands of federal laws out there, but except for pirating CD's and copyright infringement, and maybe insider trading, very few of us will ever be charged with breaking them. And even those laws are seldom broken by individuals. Murder, theft, burglary, breaking and entering, rape, sodomy, spousal abuse, spitting in the street, traffic violations, drug possession, loitering, disturbing the peace, concealed weapons, etc. are all violations of local laws. There are some drug charges which are also federal, but most are state and local. I remember a few years ago, a man was challenging the incumbent for his seat in the US Senate. He made promises to clean up the streets of violent crime and many other promises. Many people that I know said they would vote for him, but all the things he promised to change were the jurisdiction of the state. The fact that the states have miniature versions of the federal government is not governed by the federal government. If a state wanted to set up a system with one house and run their state government like the UK runs their government, they would have to change the state constitution and it would not violate any laws as long as all votes counted evenly. I believe that gerrymandering violates the votes being weighed evenly (IMHO). Gerrymandering was never good (and If I was king, it would be abolished by a law making all districts as rectangular as possible), but now with computers and so much information, it has gotten to be an almost exact science. Yes, the governor's race will not be effected, but both houses can be controlled by one party long after that state has a majority of votes from the other party.

"Should we as the public know every detail of their personal lives including who screwed who, again as long as it was consentual?" As long as we can agree that to be able to consent, you must be of age, then I agree 100%. If you don't care about the age, then that is my one point of disagreement.

I'll post the answer later for all those who want to keep on guessing.

For a crime, yes that is true. But one who pontificates about morality, attempts to pass laws doing what he himself does, describes his own (at the time secret sexuality) in evil terms and as evil, does not have to be prosecuted for any crime to be seen for what he really is and he should not be a spokesman for the causes he has championed. But most of all, he confessed, so there is no need to believe him innocent. His lawyer referred to Foley's alleged communications. Did Mark Foley or did Mark Foley not admit sending improper communications? If he did, they are no longer alleged, they are admitted communications. NOTE: There is a difference between a confession in a locked room with interrogators and one made only with your self-interest in question.

Maybe some people don't see the humor in what I write, but I use sarcasm and wit, quite often. Please do not take me any more seriously than I take myself.

I just posted some in the "Lap Band Talk Lounge" Section.

The doctor said, "Joe, the good news is I can cure your headaches. The bad news is that it will require castration. You have a very rare condition, which causes your testicles to press on your spine and the pressure creates one hell of a headache. The only way to relieve the pressure is to remove the testicles." Joe was shocked and depressed. He wondered if he had anything to live for. He had no choice but to go under the knife. When he left the hospital, he was without a headache for the first time in 20 years, but he felt like he was missing an important part of himself. As he walked down the street, he realized that he felt like a different person. He could make a new beginning and live a new life. He saw a men's clothing store and thought, "That's what I need... A new suit." He entered the shop and told the salesman, "I'd like a new suit." The elderly tailor eyed him briefly and said, "Let's see... size 44 long." Joe laughed, "That's right, how did you know?" "Been in the business 60 years!" the tailor said. Joe tried on the suit.. It fit perfectly. As Joe admired himself in the mirror, the salesman asked, "How about a new shirt?" Joe thought for a moment and then said, "Sure." The salesman eyed Joe and said, "Let's see, 34 sleeves and 16-1/2 neck." Joe was surprised, That's right, how did you know?" "Been in the business 60 years." Joe tried on the shirt and it fit perfectly. Joe walked comfortably around the shop and the salesman asked, "How about some new underwear?" Joe thought for a moment and said, "Sure." The salesman said, "Let's see... size 36. Joe laughed, "Ah ha! I got you, I've worn a size 34 since I was 18 years old." The salesman shook his head, "You can't wear a size 34. A size 34 would press your testicles up against the base of your spine and give you one hell of a headache." New suit - $400 New shirt - $36 New underwear - $6 Second Opinion - PRICELESS

I am not advocating policing language by police, just the requirement to learn a standard language in schools. If People want to speak Italian in their homes as my grand-parents did, or Spanish as the parents of my childhood Puerto Rican friends did or as many modern day immigrants from Mexico and the other countries south of the USA's border still do, that is their prerogative. And Ebonics is fine when spoken among people who can agree on its usage it their personal life. The problem though is that practice makes perfect and speaking one language in private situations and one in public places makes one proficient at neither. Also, it becomes difficult to communicate between groups when (and if) each group decides to speak these different languages in the market place or at intergroup functions. As long as a common language that all can understand is stressed, then there is little harm in having a second and even a third language. I believe that it is a fact that learning language is very beneficial to brain development, but when people can only speak one language and that language is not the common language and worse yet when that language is a hap-hazard hog-podge of words, slang and grammar, then things do become chaotic. Part of the benefit of the learning the second language to the brain has to do with the discipline of learning the rules and the translations between the languages. One language alone, no matter which it is, does not give the same benefit. Many of these experts who foster Ebonics have never lived in a neighborhood where people do not have the ability to communicate with each other. They have not witnessed the acrimony which develops when one person thinks he is being spoken about in a derogatory way because a person who intervenes in a bi-lingual (non-lingual may be a better description) argument speaks only the language of one of the combatants. On my previous job where everyone spoke English (or else they would not have been hired) and there was a meeting between a supervisor who spoke Spanish and 10 mechanics, 7 whom did not speak Spanish and three that did, when a Spanish speaking mechanic asked a question in English and the supervisor answered in English and then added something in Spanish with a laugh and the four Spanish speaking people all had a laugh together, the non-Spanish speakers were annoyed. We were discussing how to do our job, not socializing. No one complained when some Spanish speaking people were on break and they spoke Spanish, but for work, communications must be understood by all. Suppose something went wrong and the supervisor said, “I remember telling them not to do that” and he did tell us, but it was in one of those comments he made in Spanish. As usual, I have drifted all over the place. But I feel passionately that people need to communicate. Many people feel that I am paranoid about the political situation that we are in. The people who control government have no problems communicating in a common language (and with a common goal). If the people who must vote can be split by the language that they speak and if many people can not get an education because they can not communicate in anything but a dialect that has no consistent rules from city to city, or state to state, then the future is bleak. While words of 4 syllables or more are not removed from the so-called language or dialect of Ebonics, they are seldom heard. At least that is my experience and I lived more than 80% of my life in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

For years, not only Blacks, but many other groups fought for equal rights, civil rights and an integrated society. For years, not only Blacks, but many other groups helped Blacks fight for equal rights, civil rights and an integrated society. Allowing one sub-group of a group to have their own language will just split this country in half or at best continue the unraveling of this nation. Not all Blacks speak this so-called language, just the poor under-educated ones and the ones who can make money from using it and supporting it. What's next? Will we allow children and maybe even teach children a new form of writing in which they leave out many of the vowels and spell phonetically as they do when they text message? This acceptance of less than mediocrity is just another example of dumbing down the American citizenry to promote a proletariat too ignorant to complain about their plight. Without language, our thoughts are hindered and muddled. With ambiguous language, our thoughts are chaotic, our reasoning is flawed.

Sorry. I saw Jesse Jackson on one list and since he was never an elected official, I got confused, Plus I thought a little humor couldn't hurt.

What is most scary about Ann Coulter is that many people, when reading her books often accept the points that she makes based on facts that are not facts but distortions, because there is no one to refute her. I saw her on two shows in the same week a few years ago. On the first show, the host let her sell her book by allowing her to quote from it and make any points she wanted. Later that week, she was on Bill Maher's show where the other people stopped her every time she quoted something as fact which was not a fact. Her arguments soon fell apart. At two other web forums, she was revered by the majority of the members. Members at each site, started a thread by quoting some passages from "Treason" and then asking the questions, if you are not a patriot, are you guilty of treason or if you disagree out loud with the official government policy are you a traitor. Of course patriot was defined as going along with BuSh.

But, you cna't tlak taht way!

How do you define Democrat and Republican? Do you mean an elected official? Statewide, local or Federal only? I am a Democrat. Could I be involved in a scandal? And would it count? If Michael Jackson is a registered Democrat, does he count? I heard that Michael is thinking of running for congress. If a Catholic priest is a Democrat and molests his alter-boy, is that counted? I heard that Michael is thinking of joining the monastery. Is Pee Wee Herman a Democrat or Republican?

I didn't limit federal intrusion to 10%. I just said that 90% of the laws that govern me are state laws. The Coast Guard does not come to my home and tell me what to do and since I do not own a boat nor travel on a boat on the ocean or intercoastal water ways, I do not get involved with them. The federal laws on interstate commerce that you cited do not govern me. They are there for my protection, but I am not governed by them. If I speed on Interstate 95, the Fed's can not give me a ticket, even though it is a Federal road. As far as the ridiculously named “No child left behind” law, I may be wrong, but all the Federal government can do to enforce it is to withdraw federal funding, but if I am wrong, it may be in the 10%. But, either way, how would I break that law? And if I did, they couldn't stop funding me. If I kill my wife, it is none of the Federal government's business, unless I drag her across state lines to do it. As far as marriage and driver's licenses being valid state to state is concerned, those are also state laws. Each state has a law saying that they will reciprocally recognize the other state's marriages and driver's licenses. If Massachusetts allows same sex marriage, Georgia or Idaho might say that they will not recognize those marriages. I was told as a child (50 years ago) that NY State and Florida had no reciprocal driver's license agreement, so technically a driver from either state could not drive in the other way back then. As far as voters go: Have you ever heard of gerrymandering? Also, while polls sometimes have shown that 85% of voters do not like what congress is doing, 60% think that their congressman is doing a good job.