Based on the evidence so far, it seems very likely that those passagers would be alive today had Air France done the right thing and replaced the defective pitot tubes which were a known problem. While I have known about pitot tubes since I starting reading books about flying at 14, I had no idea they were so critically important, nor did I know that they could create such problems for flight computers.

Why have we not heard about the "heroic" actions of the co-pilots who somehow managed to land that plane?

I would not presume to attempt to fly a wide-bodied airliner, perform brain surgery, teach Physics or play the piano in Carnegie hall. People who have not bothered to do the basic research on 9/11 by at least reading some of David Griffin's books or looking at the evidence presented by groups such as Pilots for 9/11 Truth have not done the necessary work to have an informed opinion on the events of 9/11. Rather than rely on the uniformed opinions of others, I would suggest that anyone who wants to learn more about 9/11 should examine the evidence presented by well-respected researchers like Griffin and come to their own conclusions about what the balance of evidence suggests. As a start, I would suggest his book "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions"

Caring for kids is easy; being single and living alone is hard.

Flipping Burgers or sex work. Has the American dream come down to this?

The problem with a career in prostitution is that it so often leads to acting.

The formerly inept, once in debt, will become adept.

Sex work or MacDonalds? I guess it boils down to which you fear most - the fear of flying or the fear of frying.

Here's the catch-22. You can't have sex with a "sex worker" without wearing a condom without risking all sorts of nasty diseases. But sex with a condom is lousy sex, not worth a dime. How to account for men who will pay good money for bad sex?

"The "American Dream" has always been about busting your ass at incredibly hard labor while slowly saving up to advance"

That was the 1950's version. Today it is about becoming a rock star or movie star or hedge fund manager and making a lot of easy money. It's all sizzle and no steak. That's why they call it a "dream". Prostitution fits the fantasy of easy money and lots of sex perfectly. Working hard and actually making things is for the Chinese, who are more like we were in the 1950's. No doubt there will always be iditiotic men who want to shell out money for bad sex and there will always be women glad to take the money. It should be de-criminalized.

"America can't call itself the greatest nation on earth if it can't do what dozens of others already do: take care of it's people"

Americans will continue to call American the greatest nation on the face of the earth. We are suckers for empty rhetoric. We have to wonder, though, just how long others will believe it.

Sorry, idiotic.

Let's see - John has a crappy meal at McDonalds, followed by bad condom sex with a hooker who may once have worked at that very McDonalds, but moved on to "better" things. John! Get a life. Make yourself a nice fresh meal - say a bit of salmon, salad and a decent wine, and find a girlfriend who cares about you. Is it that hard? And Jane - sex worker and former fast food employee - get a life! There are better ways to spend your life than giving blowjobs to jerks.

I'm afraid your reasoning is a little off base. If a woman goes into sex work, she wants to keep all the profits and not give them to a pimp or "madam". If a man goes into sex work, the same applies - he should keep all the profits. Who needs pimps and madams now that we have the internet to pimp for us?

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage"

Lao Tzu

And for Brightstar:

"One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him"

Lao Tzu

I'm tired of reading about the "hard work" of raising kids. Nothing brings more joy and happiness into a home than children. Nothing is more boring than an empty house.

"Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures"

Samuel Johnson

You're right. Americans can be almost unbelievably adolescent. The infatuation stage of marriage last a few years. Long enough to reproduce. Then you raise a kid, or kids for about 20 years. Time to focus on them, not yourself. Once you have kids, you realize it is not about your little self anymore. What a great feeling, to be off your own neurotic center stage. To be behind the scenes. To watch someone else take their turn at living. And yes, to give up your adolescent desires.

Not only health insurance - all kinds - car, home, etc. All are just rackets, like banking. Does your health insurance company perform a colonoscopy? No, although they have a lot of experience in making you take it up the ass.