Glad you felt compelled to qualify yourself before this august tribunal.In case you missed it, it was in response to this idiotic comment by F-Sharp:
And proud of you we all are!
LOL! Originally Posted by Yssup Rider
In case you missed it, it was in response to this idiotic comment by F-Sharp:Well raising kids is a tough job. And one that never ends, especially when they're little and you're alone. Props to you. I've reared three... and sometimes, I feel like I'm the one getting reared!
"Now you can carefully explain how you managed to be such an involved parent while being away 9 months of the year for the last 7 years." Originally Posted by DTorrchia
Well raising kids is a tough job. And one that never ends, especially when they're little. Props to you.LOL, the "ECCIE Confessional"....I like that!
Didn't miss anything, DT. Just thought it was kinda "heartwarming" that you shared that with us, here in the ECCIE Confessional.
Good luck with your kid. Originally Posted by Yssup Rider
From a practical standpoint, if the goal is to have a clear high resolution image capable of detecting even small abnormalities, the choice should have been an MRI. They are, however, relatively expensive as one would expect from the gold standard of imaging ... yuk, yuk. A CT/CAT scan is cheaper but would have a reasonable degree of resolution. A sonogram is basically an ultrasound echo-based generated image, a distant far more sophisticated relative of a sonar trace. Compared to an MRI or CT/CAT scan the resolution is far inferior.Do you realize that a CT will provide the woman with about 80 mrem? That's a HUGE amount to be exposing the baby. Enough so that an abortion might be necessary!!!
But there is another major difference. MRI and CT/CAT scans produce static still images. However, sonograms can be used to see motion and the images can be viewed as a "motion picture" and as such may show the fetus moving and changing position. The argument can be made, based on Perry's own personal publicly stated religious beliefs, that the goal of the legislation was not to assure the woman's health by possibly detecting any hidden abnormalities, otherwise a technique that generates a sharp image would have been required. Rather, it would seem that the goal of the requirement was to hopefully catch a bit of fetal movement, show the woman and perhaps influence or shame/guilt the woman into not aborting her fetus.
I am sure that a physician that suspected that the woman had specific medical risks would order some sort of imaging study to assure that they would be addressed. But if they were practicing defensive medicine to avoid a malpractice suit, it's not likely that their first choice would be to rely on a sonogram as an imaging study. From the standpoint of fiscal conservatism, it seems odd that a proponent of that view would want to require a mandatory medical screening procedure in all cases without regard for the physician's opinion on its medical necessity. It seems like an unfunded government mandate which would incrementally add to rising medical costs and expenditures for the health care system to absorb and pass on to everyone else.
I can't say I understand the reasoning. But then again, I still haven't had my waitress show up with my chips and queso.Originally Posted by Carl
Anything else I can help clear up for you? Originally Posted by DTorrchiaEmm, yeah. Where'd ya find all that time between rounding up drug mules, illegal aliens, and shooting religious zealots in the middle east?
Emm, yeah. Where'd ya find all that time between rounding up drug mules, illegal aliens, and shooting religious zealots in the middle east?F-Sharp, your cowardice knows no bounds.
I'm also curious how you managed to be up on a web cam for hours at a time every night/morning at 1:00AM - 5:00AM...assuming of course you were in Iraq or Afghanistan with GMT +3 or GMT +4:30 at the time. Parent/teacher conferences, helping the kid with homework, followed by a full day of killing and rounding up bad guys with little to no sleep? I wish I had the stamina or that kind of time on my hands! Not to mention the hours spent arguing on escort forums and you even have time to meet for drinks...
You Sir are truly amazing. Guess anything is possible if you put your mind to it right?
It's cowards like you that always question the sacrifices and accomplishments of others.Sorry, I just don't buy it. It's reallity that no one can live off of 5 hours sleep a night as you claim for very long, and given the demands of what you claim you have been doing overseas only further worsens such sleep deprivation. Stop thinking everyone's a freaking idiot and stop trying to play the American hero card. You can save the name calling and insults, they simply don't apply.
I know it's hard when you take stock of your life and realize that you've accomplished little, stood for nothing and never had the balls to put your ass on the line for your Country or anything else that matters.
The sad part is, when you look inside yourself, you KNOW how pathetic you are but you're simply powerless to change it. That is why you developed sarcasm as a defense mechanism. To cover for your inadequacies.
So continue to mock, I know what you are and it doesn't bother me in the least. I simply feel sorry for you. Originally Posted by DTorrchia
Sorry, I just don't buy it. It's reallity that no one can live off of 5 hours sleep a night as you claim for very long, and given the demands of what you claim you have been doing overseas only further worsens such sleep deprivation. Stop thinking everyone's a freaking idiot and stop trying to play the American hero card. You can save the name calling and insults, they simply don't apply.What name calling? You are a coward, that's been established beyond any reasonable doubt. It's like saying the sky is blue or the earth is round. It's not name calling if it's fact. You talk smack, run when you're called on it and insinuate that I'm a liar without any proof to back it up. For someone that's never been where I've been or done what I've done, you sure act like you know a lot about what we can or can't do while overseas. Like I said, just because you're impotent and unable to do those things, don't mean everyone else is.
As for standing for something and putting your ass on the line for your country. Here's what all that "standing for something" has bought you...this was shot yesterday in London. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9mgZkOOh4o&sns=fb Originally Posted by F-Sharp
What name calling? You are a coward, that's been established beyond any reasonable doubt. It's like saying the sky is blue or the earth is round. It's not name calling if it's fact. You talk smack, run when you're called on it and insinuate that I'm a liar without any proof to back it up. For someone that's never been where I've been or done what I've done, you sure act like you know a lot about what we can or can't do while overseas. Like I said, just because you're impotent and unable to do those things, don't mean everyone else is.I am not insinuating anything. You think I don't have close friends that have served? Well I do, lifelong high ranking retired military in fact, and I've inquired about your particular story. I've learned there is internet access at FOB's and COP's and I have a pretty good idea of what your particular schedule might be based on the things you've mentioned here. I also know there's a wait time along with a 20-30 minute time limit imposed on MWR internet access sites while on deployment. That is unless you're paying $1800 a month for a personal connection to a satellite provider, but that simply wouldn't support the bandwidth needed to perform the tasks you claim to be performing. Your entire story just seems rather far fetched based on my inquiries. I'm simply calling bullshit, at least to some degree. It's that simple. What's so cowardly about that?
Gotta get back to my Patriots game!
Enjoy your evening! Originally Posted by DTorrchia
I am not insinuating anything. You think I don't have close friends that have served? Well I do, lifelong high ranking retired military in fact, and I've inquired about your particular story.Now to the cowardly part. You don't need me to spell this out for you do you? You already know. Every single time you look in the mirror, deep inside, you know what you are. Has there ever been a time in your life you made a stand for ANYTHING?
You have "friends"??!! LOL. Dumb*ass, in case you ain't figured it out yet, I'll spell it out for you. In our back and forth posts, we've covered lots of ground. When I mentioned working the border, I told you it was the early 90's. I've served in two separate branches of the military. Key word here genius...."served" as in past tense. The capacity in which I worked in Iraq and now work in Afghanistan is as a civilian, albeit a heavily armed one. Therefor your "high ranking military friends" don't know jack about the job I do. While my work has me travel to FOB's and COP's at times, we have our own camp in Kabul. I have my own room, my own internet connection (let me spell that out for you, our camp has our own satellite internet connection and we each have our own line into that system in our room) and my own TV. As does everyone else on my team. So yeah, once again you're speaking out your ass and making accusations and insinuations without having the foggiest idea of what the hell you're talking about. The fact that you had to "reach out" to your RETIRED high-ranking military friends should tell you that you are clueless and therefor, it stands to reason, maybe you should shut your mouth about things you don't know, can't know and probably won't ever know. Got it?
I've learned there is internet access at FOB's and COP's and I have a pretty good idea of what your particular schedule might be based on the things you've mentioned here. I also know there's a wait time along with a 20-30 minute time limit imposed on MWR internet access sites while on deployment. That is unless you're paying $1800 a month for a personal connection to a satellite provider, but that simply wouldn't support the bandwidth needed to perform the tasks you claim to be performing. Your entire story just seems rather far fetched based on my inquiries. I'm simply calling bullshit, at least to some degree. It's that simple. What's so cowardly about that? Originally Posted by F-Sharp
When I mentioned working the border, I told you it was the early 90's. I've served in two separate branches of the military. Key word here genius...."served" as in past tense. The capacity in which I worked in Iraq and now work in Afghanistan is as a civilian, albeit a heavily armed one. Originally Posted by DTorrchiaHmmm, let's see if we got this staight...
"I told you it was the early 90's. I've served in two separate branches of the military. Key word here genius...."served" as in past tense."
So your claim is to have worked in not one, but two branches of military all before the early 90's. In earlier discussions, you stated you're now 40 years old, so that would put you in your very early twenties. That leads me to this...
"I served on the Texas/Mexico border, in the Laredo sector, as a member of Task Force Guardian with the Texas National Guard. As such we worked in teams consisting of U.S. Border Patrol Agents, U.S. Customs Agents and Texas National Guard soldiers."
Some pretty thorough research turned up this document...
http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=439459
...which concludes operations for Task Force Guardian at the Laredo POE wasn't funded and didn't even start until post-1997, this comes straight from the Secretary of Defense at the time William Cohen according to the document. More specifically:
"Task Force Guardian's mission statement asserts
that they will assist the U.S. Customs Service in denying acts of
illegal drug trafficking and providing for the seizure of illegal
drugs and contraband crossing over the border into the U.S. at
the border stations."
This seems to be in complete contradiction to your "early 90's" claim. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but this very official document doesn't support it. It's also happens to be pretty specific about what your job was; inspecting cargo at the Laredo POE. I believe this is what you also made an important reference to and asserted "...unlike YOU, I have actually put my ass on the line".
I guess inspecting cargo is indeed very much unlike me, and I guess one can find ways to appreciate you putting your ass on the line inspecting that cargo.
So at least that part's cleared up.
Now, on to this statement...
"It's been my experience working on behalf of my country for the better part of 20 years in various functions that no statistic in the world will provide you with as accurate a picture as will good old fashioned "ground truth".
http://www.eccie.net/showthread.php?...41#post1584441
As you've already established for us, you're now 40 and you've claimed to have left the military some odd damn near twenty years ago in the "early 90's", and here you state you've "worked on behalf" of your country for "the better part" of 20 years. And then there's this:
"...but I've been there first hand, just as I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan, I've spent the last six years of my life in the latter where, once again I've observed the drug trade, up close and personal"
Are we expected to believe that you somehow acquired all this "ground truth" as a civilian contractor in just the last six years? Or was that ground truth actually obtained during the few short years you spent inspecting cargo at the Laredo POE in your early twenties? As you can imagine, Now I'm REALLY confused!
I hate to be nitpicky, but let's sum this up; "early 90's" in your twenties as a cargo inspector + 6 years as a civilian contractor...there's seems to be a 10-15 year gap in putting your ass on the line and working on behalf of your country in some form or fashion.
"When I mention having hands on experience in a subject matter we're discussing you insinuate that I'm lying or making up stories."
I'm doing nothing but revisiting information you yourself have provided. We know that you were a cargo inspector for a few years, and you've been a civilian contractor for the last 6 years. We know you haven't been active military for nearly twenty years now, and we know from the timeline you're far from an expert at any subject matter. What you do seem to be an expert at is bullshit and name calling.
So now by all means, carry on with the name calling, the physical threats, and the tall tales of heroism of putting your ass on the line for us fellow hobbiests, keeping us free from the threat of elicit drugs hidden in Mexican cargo and the like. Don't get me wrong, I rather enjoy your stories of manliness and expertise in the various fields it turns out you have little to no actual experience in. I'm especially fond of the patroitic parts, because everyone loves a patriotic "hobbiest". Incidentally, don't you find your so-called field of expertise just a little hypocritical? Escorts good, drugs bad, or is that just a risky paycheck for you? I guess we all have to draw the line somewhere right?
Hmmm, let's see if we got this staight...No tall tales here, just the way it is. As I've told you many times, there's plenty of guys who do 1000 times more than I do. Men who's shoes I couldn't fill even if I wanted to.I highly doubt you can keep yourself straight F-Sharp. You are beginning to look really, REALLY stupid in these posts.
So your claim is to have worked in not one, but two branches of military all before the early 90's. In earlier discussions, you stated you're now 40 years old, so that would put you in your very early twenties. That leads me to this...
"I served on the Texas/Mexico border, in the Laredo sector, as a member of Task Force Guardian with the Texas National Guard. As such we worked in teams consisting of U.S. Border Patrol Agents, U.S. Customs Agents and Texas National Guard soldiers."
Some pretty thorough research turned up this document...
http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=439459
...which concludes operations for Task Force Guardian at the Laredo POE wasn't funded and didn't even start until post-1997, this comes straight from the Secretary of Defense at the time William Cohen according to the document. More specifically:
"Task Force Guardian's mission statement asserts
that they will assist the U.S. Customs Service in denying acts of
illegal drug trafficking and providing for the seizure of illegal
drugs and contraband crossing over the border into the U.S. at
the border stations."
Did you really read the document you posted in YOUR OWN LINK????
I'll quote from the link you posted above:
The Texas SOD performs LP/OP kinds of missions with personnel possessing infantry, scout, communications, ranger, and specialforces backgrounds. Beginningitsoperationsin1985, the SODrs initial operations were along the Southwest Border.
So you were saying F-sharp? What wasn't funded until when?
Ok, in an effort to stop you from further embarrassing yourself, let me reiterate what I told you in an earlier post.
FOIA requests are your FRIEND, F-Sharp.
Put in an FOIA to HQ TX Army National Guard, Camp Mabry and ask them when they first started sending out the above teams if you don't believe YOUR OWN LINK.
And while certain locations may be listed, for OBVIOUS reasons, the SOD teams would be assigned to a certain Sector (on paper) but where the actual missions took place varied based on many things. Surely even someone as slow as you can grasp the necessity for this.
This seems to be in complete contradiction to your "early 90's" claim. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but this very official document doesn't support it. It's also happens to be pretty specific about what your job was; inspecting cargo at the Laredo POE. I believe this is what you also made an important reference to and asserted "...unlike YOU, I have actually put my ass on the line".
Ahmmm, gotta tell you, the SOD teams did NOT perform Cargo Inspection....but, hey whatever makes you feel better. Why don't you read the above posted link again to see what kind of reconnaissance and observation duties were carried out. By the way, you DO realize you are reading an UNCLASSIFIED report on those activities right??!!
I guess inspecting cargo is indeed very much unlike me, and I guess one can find ways to appreciate you putting your ass on the line inspecting that cargo.
So at least that part's cleared up.
YEP, sure is, hahahahah! Let's see, according to YOUR OWN LINK the teams were sent out as early as 1985 but you want to dispute me being there in the early 90's? Ahmm, ok....if you say so, LMAO!!!!!
Now, on to this statement...
"It's been my experience working on behalf of my country for the better part of 20 years in various functions that no statistic in the world will provide you with as accurate a picture as will good old fashioned "ground truth".
http://www.eccie.net/showthread.php?...41#post1584441Originally Posted by F-Sharp
As you've already established for us, you're now 40 and you've claimed to have left the military some odd damn near twenty years ago in the "early 90's", and here you state you've "worked on behalf" of your country for "the better part" of 20 years. And then there's this:
"...but I've been there first hand, just as I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan, I've spent the last six years of my life in the latter where, once again I've observed the drug trade, up close and personal"
Are we expected to believe that you somehow acquired all this "ground truth" as a civilian contractor in just the last six years? Or was that ground truth actually obtained during the few short years you spent inspecting cargo at the Laredo POE in your early twenties? As you can imagine, Now I'm REALLY confused!
I hate to be nitpicky, but let's sum this up; "early 90's" in your twenties as a cargo inspector + 6 years as a civilian contractor...there's seems to be a 10-15 year gap in putting your ass on the line and working on behalf of your country in some form or fashion.
Damn right there's a 15 year gap. During which time I continued to serve in some capacity. You want to know what I did during those 15 years? If you had come to Hardtails I might have told you face to face, but, alas, you took the cowards way out so guess what? It's none of your business what I did during that time. But I stand by my original statement that I continued to serve in one form or another.
"When I mention having hands on experience in a subject matter we're discussing you insinuate that I'm lying or making up stories."
I'm doing nothing but revisiting information you yourself have provided. We know that you were a cargo inspector for a few years, and you've been a civilian contractor for the last 6 years. We know you haven't been active military for nearly twenty years now, and we know from the timeline you're far from an expert at any subject matter. What you do seem to be an expert at is bullshit and name calling.
Hmmm, let's see. We already addressed the Cargo Inspector, we already addressed the 15 year time gap and oh....by the way, do you know what my job as a civilian contractor entails? NO? I'm shocked F-Sharp. You don't have the FOGGIEST idea what I do in Afghanistan yet you want to mock me spending 6 years there and having acquired a certain amount of "ground truth" compared to.....oh I don't know, let's say YOU?
YOU, the guy that talks crap on the internet, has NEVER served in the military, has NEVER put his ass on the line, not ANYWHERE, has NEVER been to Iraq or Afghanistan but wants to MOCK the amount of perspective and first hand experience one gathers from spending 6 years there.
You are too much my friend! This isn't even a contest.
So now by all means, carry on with the name calling, the physical threats, and the tall tales of heroism of putting your ass on the line for us fellow hobbiests, keeping us free from the threat of elicit drugs hidden in Mexican cargo and the like. Don't get me wrong, I rather enjoy your stories of manliness and expertise in the various fields it turns out you have little to no actual experience in. I'm especially fond of the patroitic parts, because everyone loves a patriotic "hobbiest". Incidentally, don't you find your so-called field of expertise just a little hypocritical? Escorts good, drugs bad, or is that just a risky paycheck for you? I guess we all have to draw the line somewhere right?
Originally Posted by DTorrchia
