UConn James

When has he taken the Howard Dean approach, short of the Talking Heads saying he has, that we never should have gone into Iraq? He has said that the war is being run by a jackass instead of letting the generals do their jobs (much the same way LBJ micromanaged Vietnam and killed more troops than the VC...), and getting a true international coalition (by opening the contracts up to more than Haliburton, b/c it's all about the money, sad to say). Short of that, we'll need more troops in there. The strategy isn't working, you can be bull-headed or you can propose solutions. Everything can't be summed up by a six-word sentence. Simply accusing someone of being a flip-flopper, a charge that's been used in Pres. races since the '50s, but that still doesn't make it true. "The only issue that isn't complex is one you haven't yet looked at in detail." -- A great nutrition science prof.

OK, Jimbob. Why don't you put the blindfold on and reach out to have Ari Fleisher and Dan Bartlet lead the way. Media is only as good as the sources who come forward. CBS got taken hook, line, sinker. It happens when you think someone's being square with you. We thought Bush was being square with us in his Saddam-is-getting-uranium-from-Africa speech. His source for this was Chalabi(?) who is in jail for myriad offenses. To blame all media (and especially since this is TV news, which let's face it....) for a CBS schlump is dangerous for our democracy. That's what the first amendment was for; so we'd be able to learn all of the facts. Guess what? The first amendment worked here. Those Framers really knew what they were doing, huh? And just b/c they're retracting it, doesn't mean that Bush was Audie Murphy reincarnate. Did he get favors b/c of his name? Pro-bab-ly. A lot of guys did. Does it matter? Not all that much. Maybe we can have some real debate about the future.

That's a lot like how the Raiders (and every team, unless they're stupid enough to provide bulletin board material) say they respected the Bills the week before the game. Then on Sunday afternoon, they laughed their pitutes off.

Okay, then. Let's NEVER put JP in as the starter b/c he might break a nail!! When the doctors say he's ready to go, he can go. PERIOD. And sorry to say, but Brady and Pennington were 2nd year players on paper only. That, and, Manning was probably the strongest part of an otherwise weak Colts team his first season. Just like the Drew apologists, you can't blame him for the faults of others. Only, Manning was able to succeed and get better despite his surrounding cast, then last year they should have gone to the SB when they had the cast assembled. We've got the players assembled around Drew, we actually have a D. But he's too old to learn new tricks and he doesn't fit the offense, folks. That's how Brady is able to succeed. We're still trying to jam the square peg into the round hole.

Well, yeah, I thought I had that point in there but it wasn't.... That too. You think some of them would have learned. Barring leaving the country and letting happen what's going to happen anyway be it next week or in 50 years, namely destruction, chaos and an "Islamic democracy," contractors should be given a few grenades they have on them at all times. Maybe these asssshats wearing bedsheets on their heads would think twice.

Don't forget, We needed to provide humanitarian relief to the Iraqi people. Which, of course, made him more of a bleeding heart than the supposed bleeding heart liberal like Dean who said we should not have gone in at all, in any form. Single-handed paradigm shift from 70+ years of conservative ideology, and getting in the White House with the phrase "no nation-building." Welp, looks like that brilliant strategy went breasts-up 6 months in.... Wow, maybe the Dems were right with the philosophy that it's better to spend a $40M worth of the carrot than $200B and 1,000 soldiers worth of the stick. That's why W and his ilk are labeled "neo-cons." They left conservativism in the dust on their way to the extremist right.

HUH? About 5 percent of cargo containers are checked. Steve Croft on 60 Minutes, *walked into* a chemical plant -- open gates! -- with a reporter in Penn. who did a story that many plants around the country were the same way. Tests of nuclear plant security are done by the same security company who know the details beforehand, and they don't release the results, pro'ly b/c they aren't good. Several governors have called for increased security at nuclear plants and got none. This is a matter of record. And yeah, if Gore were pulling the same stuff as Bush, he probably would have been impeached, drawn and quartered last year for lying to the country when all of his promises were considered false by all but the True Believers. And yeah, when it's a matter of some gravity, I believe the President should be considered "Under Oath" when he's speaking to us.

What I don't get is, why not fight back? In some of the videos, their hands were free to hold up IDs. Why not try to grab a gun and see how much damage you can do? Instead they sat there and endured what must be a very painful death, and I for one, wouldn't want my death to be propaganda. You think they're going to release tape that shows one of their guys getting hit alongside the face? Might get shot, but what're they going to do, cut your head off? NEVER GIVE UP.

They said that about Jim Kelly. When is JP supposed to start the NFL growing pains? And actually, this so-called poor rookie season didn't seem to happen for Brady, Manning or Pennington. Too many people are in the McNabb-McNair mode of thought that by holding them back a year, they'll magically be better than they were. And for the ones who start right away and tank, they weren't good enough for the NFL to begin with(!) --- Leaf, Boller, Mirer, etc. I think JP's got that special quality/fire you need to be a great QB.

Hear, hear! (Or is it "Here, here!"?)

A panda walks into a bar and orders a sandwich and a beer. After seemingly enjoying his meal, he pulls out a revolver and plugs the piano player. "What are you doing?" asks the bartender. "I'm a panda, and I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. Look it up!" replies the panda as he walks out the door. Wondering what that was all about, the bartender opens a dictionary, the only reference book he has, and there it is. Panda: A large bear-like animal. Eats shoots and leaves.

When my uncle had his first, which showed no problems, he asked for a certificate from the protologist that he was a "Perfect A $ $ h o l e." He always comes out with one-liners like that....

Bills 51-3.

Yup. The U.S. is as strong a democracy as it is b/c we fought off oppression on our own. "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the truimph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives everything its value." -- Thomas Paine FREEDOM® for Iraq is largely via another country's troops, weapons and money. There is no loyalty to what we're installing. Does anyone think that government will last one iota longer than we occupy the place, be it 6 months or 50 years?

Read a few pages. Interesting. But to say we've regressed probably goes too far. On averge, it's probably about the same level of illiteracy. Not many things change in the course of human history, we just think they change. That said, I think universities and professors rely FAR too much on multiple-guess exams. Sure, it's easier to grade in a class of 300, and it produces a nice simple Bell Curve, so everything's hunky-dory, right?... Right? I don't get why people think English majors are useless. Wasn't my major but those were some of the most challenging classes I ever had, b/c you actually have to think and come up with ideas of your own while writing papers. A lot of other majors use the crutch of the BubbleSheet --- where you just need to retain info for about 24 hours. Education is big business nowadays. That really needs to change.

A lot of times, it fall under the category of "I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person." When I do bother to talk to many righties, people agree with all the points I make about what Bush has done to this country, then say they're still voting for him. It boggles the mind! and you shouldn't waste your breath debating about it. If you can't explain something in six words and without subordinate clauses, the Bush masses won't hear you. Not that Kerry is the next coming, but he's better than what we've got -- a weak-minded(1) former cocaine addict(2), alcoholic(3), pathological liar(4). And, AD, I refuse to throw my vote away on a third-party candidate. Two-party system is what we've got until major reform / revolution happens. The first order of business is to get this liar out of office. (1) By his own admission. (2) Per his ex-sister-in-law, who's now recanting b/c you don't mess with the Bushes. (3) This is a matter of record. (4) Per his Harvard MBA prof. "He showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him." When asked to explain a particular comment, said Tsurumi, Bush would respond, "Oh, I never said that."

17-7 The D is holding them a lot better than last time. The O has been a force under Orlovsky the past two years. If only our kicker didn't royally, royally suck.... Missed 3 FGs so far. He's been the difference in so many games, it's not funny. Kind of parallel to the Bills kicking situation.

Huh? I wasn't talking specifically about 1945 when I wrote that. I was talking about Axis Powers Part III, the non-country-specific version, w/ N. Korea or Iran's nukes, Al Qaeda's minions, plus whatever other group wants to get into the mix (and it may suprise you) of the 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' equation. This is in large part a result of the goading of the "Axis of Evil" speech combined with the pre-emption doctrine. It's just a matter of time the way things are spiraling, and we're just being pulled deeper and deeper into it. You pick a fight, you better be able to win it, and the extent that the military is stretched, we might not. The Roman Empire found that out. But, "Those who remember the past are condemned to repeat it too, that's a little history joke." -- Michael Herr in "Dispatches"

If you think that by going toward the right on the political spectrum, you're going to get ANY less government (it just changes who gets the money, namely that we've got to find more and better ways to be able to blow the world up 600 times over) you're kidding yourself. FYI -- I don't agree with many Democratic platforms, it's just that when I bring all to mind, they're closer to what we should be doing in the world. The political system is done broke. Whatever happened to intelligent people who thought about more than themselves or their own inner circle of contributors? Who had a clear vision of the fundamental nature of things, macro to micro? Yeah, Einstein helped develop the bomb. If "we" didn't build it, "they" would and he put his cards with the U.S. I don't think he imagined who'd come to have their finger on the trigger. Call everyone a hypocrite if it helps you sleep. I also maintain that he was the smartest person ever, (Da Vinci is right up there tho) maybe limited by the technology of the time, and knew far more than can be expressed with 26 letters of the alphabet. (BTW, I do like the Rosie O'Donnell joke in your sig.... The 2nd Amendment protects the rest of 'em.)

For starters: Make an attempt to use the carrot instead of the stick. The U.S. is merely feared in the world. And fears can be overcome. Ask George III circa 1781. We screwed up when we didn't listen to Washington's farewell address.

Tracy, you'd better watch what you say around here; surprising that as Democrat-heavy that NY is, we seem to have ALL of the far-right Republicans as Bills fans. I myself don't mosey in here often b/c I hate when people automatically say 'You don't know what you're talking about' when they disagree with your logical argument. Kudos to you for fighting the good fight. Myself, I faced recruitment coming out of high school b/c I took a year off before entering college that I had to borrow heavily to even think about (scholarships came later, thankfully). Both of my brothers are in the military, and I learned from their experience that I don't plan on joining up in a place where even when an order is stupid beyond compare you have salute and do it. This stupidity has increased exponentially w/ Dubya and Rummy. When I took a leave of absence for a medical issue, Guard recruiters started calling me again. I went the education route and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Einstein was a pacifist. I don't agree entirely with that, but it helps to know that the smartest person to ever live in this world was closer to the Dem. viewpoint than the pre-emption doctrine that if this guy is back in the White House, other countries are going to give us a taste of, b/c what do they have to lose?

Exactly. If we're at the 30-35 yard line with 2 seconds left, and we're down by 2, do you try that FG? Or do you have to have DB heave it up? Having a kicker with little accuracy limits the options a coach has and forces him into what may look like stupid decisions. This is the same thing that's happening with the UConn team. The kicker, as nice a guy as he seems, just has no accuracy. Almost cost us the game this week, and it's getting the QB pleading with the coach to just let him try, b/c what the hell, Nuzie's not going to make it anyway.

When a coach has to second-guess his player's ability to make even a mid-range FG.... that shouldn't happen at the uber-paid professional level. If TD believes that kickers can be found on the street, then why doesn't he sign one of those guys, instead of retreads and area college players who have NO chance?

No, that would be Milloy. This will become apparent in the next few weeks with Wire out there. I like him as a person and potential ST demon (they should really get Tasker in to teach him) but effective all-around SS, he ain't! It looks like Losman will be back in time to get some practice reps and possible mop-up/emergency duty late in the season. I don't think it's much of a setback. He has the physical skills, the mental game is what he and all others need to acclimate to. The injury will help him study the playbook and film a lot more. And yes, the timetable was b/w weeks 8-12. Don't lose the enthusiasm. I think we'll see a lot from this team and the coaching this season.