I've been saying for years that the only sensible plan would be to withdrawl all US troops away from the major cities and spread them out in smaller field bases along the borders between Syria and Iran to prevent foreign fighters from entering the theatre. Aerial patrols would make up the bulk of US troop movements. The remaining occupying forces can then be brought home immediately.

US military commanders need to stop the daily convoys in Baghdad and Falluja that draw IEDs and sniper fire which are the #1 cause of death and injury to our soldiers. We need to fall back and let the Iraqi government step up to manage its own affairs.

We all need to accept the fact that Iraq is a failed state - civil war is inevitable. The most we can do is to keep it contained and not let it spill over into a regional conflict. The most likely outcome will be a fractured nation of semi-autonomous sects - Kurds in the North, Shiites in the South and East and Sunnis in the center.

I fly a lot - almost entirely for business. Yet, I have never flown paid Business or First class (upgrades, sure - but that comes out of my own pocket).

The problem is very few, if any, businesses will pay for business class tickets anymore. Maybe if the fare difference was a few hundred dollars instead of a few thousand - but we all know that's not gonna happen.

I agree with the earlier poster who proposed doing away with frequent flyer programs. Frequent flyer 'elites' are the worst type of passengers. Here's a tip: spending a large amount of time stuck in giant aluminum tubes does not mean you are more "special" than the rest of us.

Here's another idea: how about coming up with some sort of boy/girl/boy/girl seating arrangment for solo travellers. There is nothing more sad than seeing three big guys squeezed together into a row of seats trying desperately to make themselves thinner.

Why can't they show Olympic coverage the same way they do a PGA golf tournament?

Especially for gymnastics where everyone is doing routines simultaneously - show a complete routine which lasts maybe 45 seconds then switch to time-delay and show another on a different apparatus, and so on... just keep showing only the routines of everybody and save the commentaries for the dead-air times.

Why must we always have to watch a 30 second routine followed by 2-3 minutes of the gymnast walking around, looking at the scoreboard, talking to the coach, etc, etc...?

McCain is demonstrating what's kept him in Congress for 26 years....very smooth and polished in his answers even while he's going on the attack about earmarks.

Unfortunately, the expectations for McCain coming out of this debate were already low so it appears that he currently has the advantage.

BUT...Obama's not backing down and is trying to steer the debate back to taxes which is his strength.

How would a blanket spending freeze even be possible?

I guess in McCain's mind the war began and ended with the surge.

What about the 5 years before that?

Get a grip. He's not advocating for those that truly suffer from life-threatening allergies should throw caution to the wind and down that PBJ, he's simply pointing out the fact that this is not the catastrophic epidemic that it's being made out to be by fear mongering pediatricians and uber-vigilant allergy parents.

As a result, we shouldn't be basing our entire school and government policies around flawed scientific "studies" like the one FAAN uses.

Yes, caution and awareness is called for but treating an errant peanut as a biohazard is over reacting.

I think I speak for many when I ask....WTF??!

I have come to really appreciate the smaller, regional airports like Colorado Springs, Manchester, Providence, Albuquerque, etc.

They're quiet (no CNN!), certainly less crowded, easy to get around since typically there's just a single terminal to navigate, and most now have free wi-fi, kid's play areas, local gift shops and restaurants and easy access.

Whenever possible, I deliberately choose one of these smaller airports as my starting/end point (even though I usually end up connecting through one of the major hubs) but it makes all the difference in the world with regards to the typical hassles of luggage, check-in, security, parking, etc.

So far we've read at lenght about the USAir landing and the recent Colgan crash but what ever happened with the Continental 1404 aborted take-off crash in Denver just before Christmas?

The last I heard about it before Capt Sully's heroics superseded the news cycle was that one or both engines lost power on take-off. Since then there's been no information about what caused the power loss.

Maybe it's because everyone survived unharmed and it didn't happen over water caught on film that it means it's a pretty routine and boring event?

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

Welcome to life. Grab another drink and join the party.

if you happen to be one of the hoards of the recently unemployed, the prospects of any new jobs being created anytime soon is still dismal.

So we peaked 3 weeks ago - big effn' deal. Tell me where I can find a job and then I'll be excited.

It's more impportant to know the number of jobs created not jobs lost.

This recession will not turn a corner until the number of jobs created starts to climb. Until then it really is just statistical noise.

Perhaps your were thinking of Carole Lombard instead?