> The notion that everything can stay the same as it was in the past is
probably at best naïve. (JD)
I was born in London after WW2, my parents having lived throuhg the
Blitz. Some of the tales I heard at my mother's knee were quite
harrowing, all very matter of fact but I for one can't imagine what it
was like to have V2's falling on you (you never heard them until after
the explosion). I grew up with bomb sites and the occasional unexploded
bomb.
More recently we have the attacks in London. Bad, but mere pinpricks
compared to what the IRA has dealt in its time. Life will go on -- the
people behind this stuff will be caught and prosecuted. Its just a bunch
of kids playing guerillas and they're going to get smacked down hard for it.
We -- that's Americans -- have got to get a grip. You're being spooked
by shadows. Worse still, people are rather cynically exploiting your fears.
>How we preserve our sport will require some insightful proactive
thinking, and willingness to compromise.
1) Slope (AGL has a different meaning)
2) Simulators
I will not participate in any version of this sport that has been
artifiicially crippled by paranoia. I am a responsible person and I
expect to be treated like one. I will not bend to paranoia. I just will
not yield.
Something that I mentioned to others recently -- sorry if its not
strictly soaring related -- is important here. If you watch "Turner
Classic Movies" or similar channels then you see odd one-reelers that
fill in the odd quater-hour. Some date from '41 or '42 and show the
American army ready to fight the Japanese. A more pathetic operation is
difficult to imagine -- obselete equipment, uniforms that look like
British hand-me-downs, just a mess. Fast forward two years -- just two
years, note -- and you're dealing with a powerful machine fighting and
winning a war against two different enemies. We've now beein "War in
Terror" mode for about the same length of time as the whole of
WW2......if this nation could organize itself to fight some real enemies
in a couple of years why are we still cowering in terror over a handful
of rag-tag irregulars hiding in caves? Why are we even discussing this?
Martin Usher
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