UConn James

No it's not. The "anti-gun control crowd" as you wrote have been saying for time out of mind that the federal government need only enforce the laws that are already on the books. If we had anything like adherence to mandatory minimums and actually jailing violent criminals rather than copping pleas where they avoid weapons charges.... You know... to go along with having our own government stop selling machine guns and RPGs to the drug cartels.

Not relevant? NOT RELEVANT?!!? It was directly caused by F&F. YOU.

Who exactly authorized the program, what the highest level of knowledge was about the program, whether Holder lied under oath about when he found out about F&F, why the president is or can be allowed to exercise executive privilege for something Holder says Obama was never involved with or knew about. And maybe above all, what I want an answer for is why the asshat local DOJ officials who concocted the idea and designed it to fail at every level, and then tried to cover up this scheme were actually given promotions to DOJ headquarters in D.C.? ... and what can be done about this injustice. The thought that these people are now responsible for even wider-scope activities is just galling.

Hmm! Well, I always err on the side of the truth of what actually happened, however ugly it might be.

Respectfully, Tom, you're wrong. If you read the links in posts #24 and 26 in this thread, the emails and documents that have been released to the oversight committee implicate Assistant AG Lanny Bruer had knowledge of and gave at least tacit approval for OF&F before Brian Terry's murder and other killings/acts of violence committed with these weapons. This is decidedly NOT about the president taking the bullet for some low-level agents, local directors or analysts who went on a power trip. This goes much higher than that.

I did a whole list of these on Facebook last year, some gleaned from Johnny, some from others across the Internets, and some by myself. It's so hot... Satan went home until it cools off. It's so hot... Burger King is saying, "If you want it your way... cook it yourself!" It's so hot... Rosie O’Donnell is selling shade. It's so hot... I saw a funeral procession pull through a Dairy Queen! It's so hot... I just saw a squirrel trying to cool off his nuts. It's so hot... I saw two fire hydrants fighting over a dog. It's so hot... the ice cream man is now only selling milkshakes. It's so hot... every gay person who's ever come out of the closet has gone back in. It's so hot... L.A. Dodgers fans were seen removing the paper bags from over their heads. It's so hot... you've been getting hot flashes --- and you're a man! It's so hot... Paris Hilton has sworn off making sex tapes until we get a cool snap. It's so hot... I saw a dog chasing a cat --- and they were both walking. It's so hot... Al Sharpton came over to swim at Don Imus's pool party. It's so hot... people driving their Mustangs with the top down and seat belts on have "FORD" branded into their hips. It's so hot... cows are giving evaporated milk. It's so hot... digital thermometers have a reading of “Are you friggin' kidding me!!?” It's so hot... birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground. It’s so hot... when you wear wrinkled clothes outside, they get steam-pressed. It's so hot... you've experienced condensation on your rear from the hot water in the toilet bowl. It's so hot... chickens are laying hard-boiled eggs. It's so hot... straight construction workers are wolf-whistling at the Poland Springs delivery man as he walks by. It’s so hot... not only can you fry an egg on a sidewalk --- you can cook hash browns to go with it. It’s so hot... even the sun is looking for some shade. It's so hot... the retirement center is having a wet T-shirt contest. And it's so hot.... Yes, it is *so* hot... Jehovah's Witnesses started tele-marketing. It's so hot... Dick Cheney asked to be water-boarded. It's so hot... habanero peppers are looking for some buttermilk to bathe in. It's so hot... fish are sweating. It's so hot... hot water comes out of both taps. It's so hot... I saw a turkey praying for Thanksgiving. It's so hot... you need a spatula to remove your clothing. It's so hot... your kids' braces are giving them third-degree burns on their lips. It's so hot... the strawberries are ripe and the cab drivers are riper. It's so hot... I saw a robin dipping his worm in a birdbath. It's so hot... the ducks on the lake come in "original recipe" and "extra crispy." It's so hot... your car overheats before you start driving. And it's so hot... How hot is it, Johnny!?? It is *so* hot... Democrats are taking their hands out of your pockets to fan themselves.

Dude, I'm not dissing you or trying to deflect anything, but this thread is about Operation Fast and Furious. The leaks issue has its own dedicated thread. Keep that discussion there.

Either that, or the documents DOJ is sitting on are THAT damning to this president i.e. that Obama had direct dealings in it. Could easily be a case where they'd rather just let people assume the worst, rather than for the worst to be confirmed. I realize that the people occupying the WH are arrogant to an extreme and know they've bought X amount of votes with public money, but even this is beyond the pale. They aren't that stupid. Which begs the question:Just what are they hiding? Who reviews the legality of "executive privilege"?

Not so. "It's privileged. Nothin' to see here. Ask Obama, he'll tell you!" Have to tip my hat to CBS News' Sheryl Atkisson, who's broken a lot of the news about this story. Whether the average American will actually give a sh-- as long as they keep getting their free stuff / government monies... well, that's another story. I've never advocated for armed rebellion, but I think this country may be pretty close to it.

USAToday | Obama team: Fast and Furious documents are privileged In other words: "These documents would be REALLY politically damaging to the administration once it's proved that the head muckity-mucks approved of Gunrunner to advance their domestic anti-gun agenda and that AG Holder flat-out lied under oath about when he first knew about the operation." Unless they still go forward with holding Holder in contempt and barring more breaking news on the story (certainly not out of the question) the Democrats have decided to punt and absorb it in November. They aren't even trying to be sneaky at this point. It's just a brazen middle finger lifted up to the Constitution. Sold thousands of full-auto weapons and RPGs to Mexican drug cartels, then ordered to stop surveillance once they crossed the border. It's unconscionable that this admin is actually in the running for another go.

Property taxes are less than I was expecting. (But then again, there's the school tax, the county tax, and there'll likely be a reassessment now). My cousin just outside Rochacha paid ~$12K/year for a LOT less home than that. I love the area, but I wouldn't move to WNY unless I were making Mario-style $.

Heaven is where you meet all the dogs you ever loved. amiright?!?

My cousin has a thing where he put up two 3/4 steel pipes and a horizontal section connecting them, then runs string down from that. As the tomatoes climb, he attaches a plastic clip to the stem. I dunno. I'm sticking with the cages. The thing for tomatoes is to pinch off some of the lower leaves and plant them deep and they'll root out to get the plant more water and nutrients. Gotta pinch the "suckers" as they appear, and remove fruit that's not developing right. My garden's really taking off. ~8x30 with squash, cukes & pole beans on a firm trellis (the storms knocked me down several times last year (the tornado passed about 10 miles north of us). Poured some concrete in buckets with a hole through it and got 10' metal poles this year. If this thing gets knocked over, losing a few veggies won't be our biggest problem), bell peppers, kale, beets, dill, Swiss chard, sunflowers, and trying garlic for the first time. Nice weather for it here in CT so far. Have to cut down a smallish oak that's now starting to block the morning sun....

Maybe we can get debt forgiveness from the same countries we've done that for time and time and time again. Oh wait. That's different.

Well, maybe if the biggest spender in world history weren't part of taxing the private sector to death.... Watching David Starkey's "Monarchy" series really opens ones' eyes up to how little anything has really changed WRT government, taxation, polling/unpopularity/opposition rising up, thirst for power and money.... Different faces, different places, but the song remains the same.

What I may remember most about last night was a palpable level of phony-ism. All the "Thank you, Jesus!" and the like... and then the slip-up moment where he says the weather gear he had to wear he felt like a "jerk-off" before he caught what he said and tried to soften it. And then back to the Jesus stuff. The over-hyping of this reached new heights of futility. It was like an hour and a half of happy-talk like when the local station has a minute to fill at the end of the newscast, and 30 minutes where something actually happened, tho with all of the drama sucked out of it. And I'm sorry, but his family was Stepford-like.

Not necessarily an inconsistency. SPOILER MATERIAL yellow-fonted. Highlight to read. The Promethean beings told the humans they contacted that this was where they were from, and ostensibly provided the graphic placement of the stars... since those humans sure didn't have the technology to see them. Then, when Earth's people were advanced enough, and curious enough to gamble going there.... When it drank that stuff, it was committing suicide; if the opening is Earth and the creation moment/injection of DNA, was the "Prometheus" a criminal/undesirable of some sort? Was it being hunted by its own kind, determined to wipe out all existence of it and its progeny? But if that were the case, why wouldn't the visitors just annihilate early man with their ooze? (Then again... what that stuff did was create a totally disgusting other being.) Which pretty much brings me to the idea that it was an experiment by the Promethean beings, at the end of which the task was to exterminate the subjects. I don't have a problem with Charlize Theron or the character. She's a control freak of the first order, following the whims of her father. She'd stop it if she could, but for all her control freakiness, as the story goes for those types of people, the core of the psychology is she really has very little power. You'll remember that she uses the analogy of a king dying and leaving the kingdom to his children. She was the princess who was always kept from becoming queen. Note that the ship captain asked her whether she was a robot (like David). Have to tell ya, I watched it through, up until that separate pod conversation with her father, with that in mind. That little bit of David wearing a spacesuit to keep up appearances really had me thinking that the special surgery thing was to cover that she was a robot too. Having never seen the Alien series, only the vague images I've happened to see over the years, I have to say that this stood up fairly well on its own. I guess I'll be checking out Ellen Ripley soon enough.

Some people may find it macabre. And that's fine, it is a little macabre. But, having watched David Starkey's "Monarchy" series just recently, it's not dissimilar to how important kingly succession was in the medieval era. If the king dies without an heir, history showed this led to a LOT of stupid bloodshed from within (and from without, for enemies who attacked during a time of disarray) by warring elements of the people who could pay for the biggest army. Likewise, Ralph has named no successor... just leaving it to the several groups of rich people to duke it out with $ rather than swords. A king was not a good king who didn't provide for the continuity / stability of his people in the event of his death and to have this planned well beforehand and as common knowledge. You can attack this parallel, you can say that there's a secret plan, you can say that's just how it happens sometimes.... But the truth of it is that in the measure of things, Ralph has failed the fans in this regard. At his age, one thinks about a legacy and what will be thought of you when you're no longer here. Yep, he was part of the early league, kept the team here while he was alive and did quite a bit of good for the community. But will that impression of the man last long after he's gone? If he provided a solid future, he would be SAINTED. If the Bills leave through this, he's going to be looked at as little better than Art Modell.

Does that matter? IIRC, SJ was well out of bounds when he flashed his "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" message, got flagged and was pulled from the Pats* game.

IIRC, the NYT is cutting down to 10 per month. Their model is what has started to propel all this at faster than the snail's pace. Gotta agree with Kelly about a sports-only subscription for out-of-town fans, but I'm not sure how feasible that is WRT making a special/partial access parameter for just one section. I'm not sure how much it would entail to create such an option. You don't ask the supermarket to remove half the loaf of bread b/c that's all you'll need. It will probably remain an all-or-nothing proposition, as Sports is one of the most popular sections; if people want it, they'll pay for it.

You've obviously never been to Connecticut....

OTOH, unpopular columnists face a lot more pressure when revenue is less dependent on advertising and more on subscribers. To wit, a columnist in the Hartford Courant, who wrote social commentary in the main section and is just to the political left of Karl Marx, last week was finally handed her hat. So... there's that. Don't like him? It's the same with Internet trolls --- don't read him, and don't respond to his stupid crap. The paper's metrics on customer choice of articles will catch up to him.

An expanded football program that could get in on a new downtown stadium (or even nudged over to Niagra Falls) would be the dream scenario b/w the two. Not going to happen in the near future. It'll take the next owner to decide on whether, where and how to build a new stadium. And I don't envy the amount of tonnage it'll take for him/her/them to do to see it through among the numerous levels of government in NY and groups that want their say. Ninety-something-year-olds don't routinely go building new houses. At best, they paint. Which is essentially what Ralph is going for.

I think this is essentially what's going to happen industry-wide (among bigger papers). Print editions available on Sundays when people have time to sit down, and digital-only through the week. The NYT instituted that Sunday-only still gets the digital package free, which is referred to in the biz as the 'Frank Rich Discount.' With all the adverts, Sunday is their cash cow. It would be nice if our Hartford Courant would offer the same terms as the bolded section. We get home delivery (sporadic at best Monday-Wednesday but then again, the paper has been cut about 10 pages on those days ) but, last I looked, they were charging for the e-paper even for print subscribers. And despite saving them material costs (paper and ink are hella-expensive), production costs and delivery costs... the e-paper is $2.50/week. After a standard discount (basically, call them up and say you're going to cancel unless ...) home delivery of a physical paper is $1.75 per week. Explain that, please! Add to it that there's no accessibility for the iPad, and the interface for it on the PC is beyond stevestojan.

NYPost: Holder's Last Days? Contempt of Congress vote has been scheduled for next week, barring the release of subpoenaed documents that DOJ has been fighting tooth and nail to keep to themselves, showing that the highest level officials knew about and/or championed "Fast and Furious / Gunwalker" prior to February, contrary to Holder's sworn testimony. Not one part of the administration's actions in this whole mess is without shame. Much further than that, tho --- treasonous.