My sentiments too.

Not getting on a soap box here, BUT

Why is it that in the good ol' U.S. of A. we have the military priding themselves on being able to get men on the ground in very short order to kill people. But we do not have the same or better response capability to do good? 

It doesn't get any closer than Katrina or CA earthquakes. One would think that Haiti would be close enough that we could respond with much better results?

And just to put some top spin on the issue, why can't our military use events like Haiti as world class missions for real crises? Nearly everything required to respond to a military crisis happened in Haiti except for the desire to kill people. If I read the papers correctly and listened to the radio reports correctly, the danged chinese were on site and helping out faster than we were? How the heck is that possible?

Eisenhower warned against the idiocies of the military-industrial complex. He didn't know the half of it. And didn't include the political pork barrel part either.

I hope that our personel are getting about the area easily on motorbikes. (OMC)

nobody rides half as well as they know how.

I think for the most part, we all live relatively comfortable lives and I am quite sure we've all worked very hard for everything we have. the economy has hit everyone in some way.

I was just in our local grocery store and not because we're going to get a foot of snow, but because this is our regular shopping day. Let me tell you, the place was an absolute nightmare. People were actually fighting over loaves of bread!  You wouldn't be able to tell by the amount of food in the baskets that the economy is in any kind of peril, that's for sure.

If our two kids are home from college, our food bill triples. The people in Haiti were happy to just have one bowl of rice, some baby formula and clean water.

It sure puts everything into perspective when you take a second to look at the bigger picture.

2008 Silverwing, aka Sir Lancelot of Swoyersville.

Dang?! I thought that was how those MREs were stored when they aren't stacked ready-to-go in those air-drop crates? Bwah-ha-ha..

Thanx for the fun and the clarification, Moto. I only know what I read in the papers and see on TV/web.

On a more serious note, one would think that field hospitals would be fairly easy to insert except for perishable meds and man-power?

OMC: Rider Magazine (March '10) has an article on a guy who is riding daily this winter on a Ural in Minnisota. AND Mark Tuttle, p.8. was pretty funny. That right there lets you know how desperately I need a laugh this winter. I especially liked his "Forge Ahead or Turn Back Indicator"  I am going to make my own FA/TB Indicator with proper labeling for my bike.

nobody rides half as well as they know how.

After you drop the plow blade off the truck, find a spot on the truck mounted plow frame to mount a trailer ball. When you get home, unhitch the trailer off the back and drop it on the front ball. Thus you can drive foreward pushing the trailer back into your drive. You should be able to see where you are going, have finer control over which way the trailer in moving, and end up easily parking your trailer wherever you need it. This is an old boat yard trick. Makes moving a lot of boats on trailers easier for a one man operation.

If you do this, let me know how it worked for you.

nobody rides half as well as they know how.