Peter

Yes. Yet, he and eveyone else were horrible last night. Ugh.

VB = yum. - also Australian for beer.

We loved Australia when we went there a few years ago. How did you manage to get thework papers to move there? Where are you living? We went all over and thought that the people and every place we went to was great. Enjoy yourself.

Exactly.

"Grounded"? After all that electricity, he better get grounded.

I agree with your last paragraph. P.S. As a result of this case, I have met some brave and good cops who have risked their careers to tell the truth.

You have always been pretty good with absolutes. This is something I know a lot about. I am involved in a civil rights lawsuit down here as a result of a Miami-Dade County cop who intentionally ran down someone with his police vehicle thinking that the person he ran down was a black suspect. As it turns out, the guy he ran down was ANOTHER cop (who is my client) who was undercover and in plain clothes. When the first cop got out of the car, he admitted his intent and said: "I am sorry, I thought that you were one of the subjects." It turns out that the cop who ran down my client has a history of doing this sort of thing. The County knew about it and did nothing. He also admitted that he believes in the "absolute separation of the races" and his racist views were well known to the department. During the course of discovery, we uncovered case after case of police cover ups and examples of excessive force that went unpunished. Here is one for you. One cop beat up a guy who turned out to be a treasury agent. He falsified the police report (in an obvious manner). The County did not do anything to him. Fast forward a couple years. This same cop responded to a domestic incident. When his partner took away the boyfriend, he raped the drunk girlfriend. It is because the County did not get rid of him to begin with that he was on the force and in a position to rape someone while on duty. Fortunately, a lot of good cops have come forward in this case. But don't kid yourself and think that just because someone is a cop that they are pure as the the snow in Alaska. As you can see, I am not be an absolutist. I just know a lot more about what goes on down here than you do.

Chilling

That is another one. I could wander around that museum for days. I also forgot to mention the Anne Frank house. You all know the story, but going there was one of the more moving experiences that I have had. You have to go there. It is especially sad to realize that she died just weeks before liberation. Anyway, you should go there. It puts life in perspective.

See my other post above.

Sorry, I totally disagree. You are from down here. You should know how the Miami and Miami-Dade cops are. This is total BS. If the cops could not handle a SIX YEAR OLD KID without a taser, they should not be cops. You may recall, that Miami-Dade cops just shot a mentally disabled veteran who posed no threat to anyone. Business as usual.

Hey, the poor guy has to feed his family. Sarcasm off.

You are 100% correct. This is all over the news down here in Miami. The cops are basically saying that they had to hurt this kid so that he would not hurt himself. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water.

It really is a great place and the people are as well. In fact, I married one. The Netherlands is known for being a "tolerant" place, which I believe is a good thing. It is tolerant in an almost libertarian way such that people typically have the live and let live philosophy, which is actually "conservative" in the traditional sense. Of course, when some people think of the Netherlands, they think of "coffee houses" and the red light district. The country is so much more than those two things obviously. Yet, those two issues provide some insight as to Dutch tolerance. For example, the Dutch realize that prostitution has been around since the beginning of time and will be around until the end of time. The same thing with "soft drugs." Their attitude is that, as long as people are not hurting others, it is only counterproductive to make it illegal. There is actually less drug use by the Dutch than here. The Dutch are actually somewhat conservative in their own lives while not telling other people what they should do in their own. My wife, for example, does not even drink alchohol or coffee. We, on the other hand, have spent so many of our resources on crimes relating to possession of pot and prostitution that in my mind would be better spent on schools and fighting terrorism for example. I heard somewhere that California has built far more prisons than schools since the 1970s (I forgot the exact statistic). The need for so many prisons has been fueled by the need to house prisoners that have been convicted of possession of pot etc. Again, our resources could be better spent. One of the problems that many European countries face has been the influx of muslim immigration. [Keep in mind that I am NOT one of the people on this board that reflexively anti-muslim -- there are billions of them in the world and most of them are good people with whom we should be able to get along]. These European countries (e.g., Germany, France, the Netherlands, etc) initially brought these people in after WWII to help rebuild these countries. There have been severe problems of assimilation -- especially lately. For example, did you know that France's population is 5% muslim, yet its prison population is 50% muslim. In some respects, these countries are going through what we went through in the 60's. One of the big issues in the EU is whether to let Turkey join. The U.S. has strongly pushed the the EU to let Turkey join. One of the underlying problems, however, is that many EU countries do not want Turks to be able to freely move to EU countries. Back to the Netherlands. There are so many good things about the country. If you are from Buffalo, chances are you may have had one or two beers in your life. The Dutch have some of the best beers in the world. They also have some of the best seafood, coffee, candy, apple pie, cheese, fondue, pancakes, bread etc. If you are into culture, they have some of the best museums. For example, I think that the Van Gogh museum is the most enjoyable art museums in the entire world. If you go there, you will realize why. Amsterdam, the Hague, and Utrecht are great cities to just walk around -- especially during the Summer. Also, as an American, it is very easy to get around and everyone speaks English -- in fact, most people speak English better than a lot of people I know here. If you are a fan of soccer (i.e. football), they have some of the best soccer and soccer players in the world (e.g., Ruud van Nistleroy of Man U). Finally, if you are a single guy who likes attractive women, the Netherlands is a place for you (as are Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, and the Czech Republic by the way). In any event, there are a lot of very good things about an "Old" European country like the Netherlands. Give me a call if and when you want to talk. You can PM me and I will give you my number at the office.

Have you ever been there?

Mary Pierce.

What kind of comment is that? By the way, the Netherlands IS part of the coalition of the willing. P.S. Did we reap what we sowed on 9/11?

Very funny.

Thank you!!! It depends on the time of year and whether there are any sales. We paid as little as $200 (by travelling on Christmas day one year) and as high as $700. You should go. It is a great country and the people are really nice. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Me too.

Yep.

My wife and son are there right now visiting my in-laws. I cannot wait until they get back on Saturday.

Born under a bad sign. "If I did not have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all." Somewhat of a motto for our dear city.

Q: What was the locker room like when Drew Bledsoe was taking so many shots from the public? WM: There was total support for him. I really don't get into the newspapers and get into all of that hype. They don't know what it takes to go out there and do his job. I don't think anyone of them can come up there and try to throw the ball, make the correct reads and call the right plays in certain situations. From WM conference call with New England media. Linked on TBD

Serena has excellent taste.