RuntheDamnBall

I'll tell you one thing, I hope the sh-- works.

I missed that in reading it over briefly. I think the murder is the gang's fault, no doubt. And I think that the government agency members will have to live with the degree to which they acted to protect this girl's life. If they did everything in their power, they are not at fault. But what a sad situation.

I don't think anyone is equating what a small number of our troops did with what happens in North Korea regularly. If you're sensing that, I feel you're overreacting. What I'm saying, is I expect the best of our troops, and on the whole they deliver. The ones that falter should be disciplined, and they are. At the same time we as citizens should question any systemic allowance or preference for torture, whether at Abu Ghraib, by shipping suspects to countries where torture is allowed, or otherwise. I think that's as pro-American as one can get. I believe we have an important place in the world and we damage our position and credibility by condoning torture of any sort. Nobody is confusing us with the North Koreans. But we shouldn't give anyone any reason to, either.

As a defense for the murdering gang members, it's complete bull sh--. As grounds for a potential lawsuit from her family, I would say it definitely qualifies.

Think on this analogy. You have kids. You've raised them right. They usually do the right thing. When they don't, do you say, "that's OK, you're usually a good kid," or do you discipline them, do you tell them you expect better?

Honestly, there weren't enough professors who weren't raving about an agenda to get a quality education? I somehow doubt that.

Reliance on tired stereotypes, check. Air of unbounded superiority, check. Anger of the ruling right, check. You're on a roll, man. How compassionate, how Christian. I can't wait till our whole nation is comprised entirely of guys like you.

Hypothetically, if a teacher called a gay student a "fag" or something of the like, would you say you had a problem with that?

Your argument doesn't hold any weight. I'm sure people are tolerant of this coach as a white man. They don't have to be tolerant of his actions. I think most people know what that word means out of the mouth of a white person, and I'm sure you do, too. It was at the very least stupid for him to use it, and it rightly made him look stupid. What the hell does race have to do with this, anyway? He could have just said "some players are idiots, my players are smart" and it would have meant the same thing he meant to say. I wouldn't want my kids playing for a guy who said stuff like this, and I would want them to call him out on it and refuse to play if he did.

Too bad you had an experience like that. I hope you let him have it in the year-end evaluations. I also would have approached the department head about that one.

If the conservatives would like to trade the Supreme Court, Congress, and the Executive Branch for a few English professorships, they can be my guest. (I am paraphrasing someone else's words here, but I agree with them). I am not quite sure what the problem is here. Conservatives complain a lot about a liberal presence on campuses, and it sounds an awful lot like the kind of PC liberal whining that they so often drone on about. Liberals have flocked to education while conservatives have traditionally opted for the more lucrative private sector. That has results. If you don't value the kind of education you get from more liberal professors, don't take those classes. Boycott those professors. The university will get the message. I don't get why the legal system needs to be brought into it just because conservative students feel bad that they aren't surrounded by more people like them. Now if teachers are grading students unfairly due to political preferences, that is another problem altogether and administrations should certainly be getting involved. Personally as an educator, I would welcome students who disagree with me and offer another perspective. I don't see the problem with intelligent discourse and the right to disagree.

I'm not sure what you mean here. There are plenty of scientists who are full of "awe and wonderment" when they look at the stars, or a pile of goo. These people are so interested in the vastness and the minutiae of our world as to devote their lives to it. And many are atheists or agnostics. One doesn't necessarily need religion to feel that our world is special. I also have a problem with the fact that a lot of religious people cite the Bible as saying we have domain over this world, where I feel we are an integral part of it, and we owe a certain responsibility to it.

Hey, injuries happen, unfortunate turns, and you never know. On paper the Bills are on the outside looking in, or fighting for that #6 spot. But we don't know how NE will respond to their rather large losses, we don't know if Priest Holmes slows down, we don't know if Edgerrin James is back on the Colts and how that might change things. I think you could be right, but that doesn't mean anything at this stage of the game. And I'm glad for it, because I am excited.

Anyone know, with Everett's injury, if the Bills reach some kind of contract with him how/if exactly it counts against the cap? On one side it would seem kind of unfair if he is lost for the year and he counts against it, but I don't know exactly how else it could work.

Actually, I laughed my ass off at the "Three Weeks Later" intro during the second episode. I think this year has actually had some better moments than the last couple. But definitely not vintage form (for me, seasons 4-5) by any means.

Probably not many people have caught onto this one, but there is a movie coming out of "A Scanner Darkly," a Philip K. Dick book. It's directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, a few other good ones) and shot in the same style as "Waking Life," where the film is shot and then each cell is painted/animated. It looks pretty breathtaking, and perfect for a cerebral sci-fi thriller. For better or worse, Keanu is in it, but it looks pretty awesome to me. You can access the trailer in the Quicktime portion of the apple.com site.

It is becoming more and more apparent that Losman's nickname should be Sandler-related.

Look, nobody held the kid at gunpoint when he signed his extension, and certainly nobody promised him a starting job for the duration of the contract. I know this sounds terribly naive, but what the hell ever happened to signing a contract and honoring it? Again, he's a complete idiot if he thinks this will help his cause.

I bent my wookie.

True. It got to the point where a successful screen pass merited a "Hallelujah" over the past couple seasons. Hopefully these guys are working on their "execution" -- a term I hope I won't have to hear too much during the season these next few years. And conversely, how many times have we paid by blitzing and getting burned by the screen? Hopefully Gray has figured out for next season that the Patriots seem to do that pretty well

If we could run screens it would go a long way toward thwarting the blitz as well. The Pats kill 'em (us) with that one.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. If Henry sits this season he is dumber than we all gave him credit for.

What do you call it Rich? When you're trying to re-write the rules to ensure your success, and to eliminate every last semblance of checks and balances in our government, that sounds an awful lot like an absolute power-grab. The GOP blocked FAR more of Clinton's judges, but still cries foul when a tiny percentage of appointees are blocked, usually for some substantial reason. If you've got another name for this kind of power-hungry hysteria, please explain.

Another Tupelo fan... We've got quite a little community going here! Down that route, if we were going to go with what we've been listening to lately, I would definitely choose Will Johnson and his bands Centro-matic and South San Gabriel. Great music in the "alt-country" vein. Nice pick on the Jayhawks too.