Bill from NYC
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Posts posted by Bill from NYC
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I wish that something other than socialization (which I fully oppose) could be done to curb rising health costs. If it was the doctors making the cash I wouldn't really mind, but it is the insurance company.
A trip to the doctor for a sore throat and a bottle of anti-biotics can impact a working class family in a big way if one has no insurance, let alone a serious illness/injury.
My rates were recently increased, the co-payment was raised, and the doctor gets NONE of this money. It isn't fair, and is an issue that extends beyond unions.
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Pat Williams remains a "quality" run stopping interior lineman with excellent hands in the running game, giving him both the ability to force plays away or make tackles.
Ron Edwards is a known quantity- he's become a solid passing down lineman who plays too high to be effective in the run game and consequently too many running plays go right over him. He is NOT a good run tackler.
We know virtually nothing about Tim Anderson.
Even in the weakest divisions in the league, a rotation including AT LEAST two "quality" interior linemen is the absolute minimum for being competitive today. No objective source would make the claim that we have two "quality" interior D Linemen when in fact we merely have one. The last time a team even got to the Super Bowl with one "quality" interior linemen we watched Tampa run the ball down the throats of Sam Adams and a group of role players like we're looking to put on the field this season.
We'll see Corey Dillon twice, Curtis Martin twice and almost surely Rickey Williams twice this season plus Priest Holmes, LaDanian Tomlinson, Stephen Davis and Rueben Droughns. A good case could be made for us being non-competitive against any of those teams- leaving us lucky to win 7 or 8 games this coming season. It's safe to assume that finishing .500 in the AFC East will be a dead end, and without adding at least one solid interior D Lineman our schedule of potent running offenses will simply destroy the most humble hopes of the 2005 Bills.
What you say is true, but I am not as worried as you. Hey, Anderson played about as much as JP last season. If JP could benefit from the sidelines, perhaps so could Anderson.
PW imo is not getting any better. In fact, he is blowing up like a balloon, and might tip the scales at close to 375. I just cannot see him staying in the league much longer at this size.
As for the above listed teams, I respectfully remind you that RBs are probably the most frequently injured players, and chances are we will not face all of those backs in every game. Your point wrt this however is well taken.
If Edward/Anderson improve as the season progresses, I think that we should be OK.
Or is this me being a homer?
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So American car makers are being run into the ground over all the union perks,
So are you absolving GM's management from having anything to do with their plight? Read some topics on GM management and golden parachutes and you'll see what I'm getting at. (Mind you, I'm not disagreeing that the unions are certainly part of the problem as well.)
I see your point.
The Ford Taurus is/has been a good car. It is probably 8K cheaper than a Camry, perhaps more. They have been a big seller for many years. Who gets the credit for this good, reasonably priced product?
I once rented a Ford Escort. It was a complete piece of garbage. Who takes the blame for this bad product?
I don't know the exact details of the medical coverage of unionized UAW workers, but if it is truly out of control, perhaps the union was short sighted during negotiations. Most workers would prefer having a job if it meant coughing up a 10 dollar co-payment, you know?
I dont know the exact details of why a Ford Escort is so bad, but perhaps Ford management is stupid and greedy to sell junk to American consumers who are offered better products.
So, we have a short-sighted union and greedy stupid corporate bosses, or so it seems. Sounds to me as if there is enough blame for everybody, not just the unionized workers.
PS: I think that the Taurus was discontinued and now only sold in fleets.
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Thank you all
. Go Bills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -
No. He is a talented DE, a somewhat rare species these days.
While he is not a Julius Peppers genetic mutant, I think that many of us take his blazing speed for granted.
Yesterday, I stated that he lost approx. 10 million over the life of his contract by signing a year before he was to be a UFA. Most seemed to think that number was a tad high, which I will concede, but Grant Winstrom signed for much more money than AS as I somewhat vaguely recall. How much better is he than AS?
He also played well vs. Ogden and Pace in 04, not a small task.
In summary, I don't compare him to Bruce, Reggie, nor Richard Dent, but he was a great draft pick; is a very good player, and an even better signing (the extension) by TD.
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Recovering jest fan here, born and raised in Queens (home of Shea). When the jests left for NJ, my response was "good riddance" and I never looked back.
At this point, if the jests moved back to NYC, it would not sway me one iota. At the risk of sounding trite, I believe that being a Bills Fan is about more than just the team. Imo, it is also about never giving up, loyalty, and a reigon full of nice people and great fans.
Being a Bills Fan is part of my identity to those who know me, and I am proud to have been accepted as a true fan of this team and reigon on TBD.
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You and your blessed obsession with the OL.
You do make a valid argument for #58, although I'd still lean towards the Keg. Next time I see Chris, I imagine the first question I'll be asking will be how that elbow's doing.
At work last night, someone asked me my thoughts on the upcoming season. Like most, he was focused on how JP will do, and seemed somewhat surprised when I told him I'd be spending most of my time at training camp watching the OL and DL.... just like last year.... and the year before that... etc. ... etc. ...
And we will continue this discussion on 10/16. That is our game this year, the dreaded jests.
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I think we're going for the dreaded "stopping the run with numbers" thing that is spewed so often. The scary part of that is how much it ends up affecting pass coverage.
I hope I'm wrong. Of course, I'm also one of the few who thinks our defense last season was for the most part very overrated.
I think that we do tend to over rate the defense. I also do not think that losing Pat Williams will matter very much. He didn't move all that well, and imo it is good to have 2 young players to step up.
Remember, Gray was also a relatively new DC, and TV and LM suffered serious injuries.
I expect the defense to be about the same as last year if they stay healthy, perhaps better.
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Serious question....... NOT a flame!!
Does anybody here view this as a need, or even an advantage for bus drivers to be Teamsters?
I say this because imo, a good shop steward would have been able to at least try to avoid this kind of incident, which will probably cost the Bus Company millions in settlements and legal fees.
As a shop steward, I would have advised drivers, when faced with this kind of situatuion, to stop the bus, call the police and alert school officials as to the conduct of the students, thus putting the ball in their court.
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I've been house-hunting in northern virginia, and between bouts of crying I check out WNY prices. I think it's a good long-term investment, but for other reasons...
A big problem is this: a half million dollar property pays about $5,000 in taxes in Virginia. In WNY, it's more like $16,000. And everything I read suggests that the disparity will only get worse. So basically, you get a bigger house, but pay more in taxes. This hits retiree's hard, the government has to give them exemptions or support, pushing the burden on the tax-base even higher... It's a spiral that the region has to break out of.
I agree that casinos are a tragic mistake for encouraging high-end development.
Are you serious about the $16,000 tax thing? I haven't made any calls, and the taxes were not listed on the website I checked out.
That is worse than Long Island, and I didn't think that was possible.
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I fully agree. Schobel opted for security and signed before he was a ufa.
I am thinking that if NC doesn't sign soon, RW will not be willing nor probably able to match the deal that NC will get from another richer owner when he is a ufa.
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There's a bad joke in there somewhere about how losing PWilliams makes us "thin" at that position.... but there is much truth to what you say.
There was a great thread on here last offseason, asking which player the Bills could least afford to lose for any length of time. IIRC, thanks to some really hideous play by the offense while he was sidelined, Eric Moulds topped the list.
This year, Adams might just be the answer to that question.
Lori, imo the player we can least afford to lose is CV.
He is the first good RG that I can remember the Bills having in more than a decade, and good is an understatement.
In the games in which CV was out or playing hurt, MW looked pedestrian at best, and as we know, MW is "eating up" 10% of the Bills salary cap allotment.
Now, we have a first year starter at QB, and my man WM just waiting to explode into one of the best RBs in the NFL. Evans has the potential to score 15 or more TDs, but not if Losman is on his behind, and not if the holes are non-existant for the running game to balance our attack.
There is simply no room to lose CV for any long period of time.
Jmo.
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I give the nod to Reagan.
Beefing up foreign policy and the miliitary
where badly needed when he came to office and Reagan addressed those
issues. On social issues, I am not a fan of Reagan, but that's another
story.
As for Carter, good honest person who was trying to do the right thing,
just wasn't the right person for the job. He also got stuck holding the bag when inflation peaked under his watch for stuff started during LBJ's time. One of the better things he did do though (although he didn't directly benefit from it) was appoint Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Reagan benefitted rather nicely from this appointment.
I am not a fan of Reagan wrt labor issues, but I think he was a very good president. Believe it or not, Nixon was a friend of labor.
I will give credit to Carter for negotiating peace between Israle and Egypt, but little else. All in all, I think he was an awful president.
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There is no comparing his situation with Schobel's. Nate is a sure thing, barring injury, when it comes to cashing in big time in free agency. Schobel was and is a pretty mediocre talent. It was by no means sure that he would hit it big so the injury risk probably was a much bigger factor, relatively, in his case. The pay day wasn't going to be all that huge and he could easily have had a lousy year. I don't see that happening with Nate. If we want him we will have to pay him what the market says he is worth even if we think it is too much ala-Winfield.
For me, I say we keep him. You don't get better by losing your best players.
I respectfully disagree that the AS and NC situations are totally different.
True, NC is looking at a bigger payday, but Schobel plays DE and has big sack numbers.
DE is one of the hardest positions to fill. I wouldn't be surprised if AS cost himself close to 10 mil by signing early. My point is that I view the 2 situations as very similar, but the numbers favor Nate because he is one of the best in the NFL at his position.
Jmo.
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I respect you and your postings. Always have.
I am also concerned that we, as a society, have become far too intolerant.
It's OK for kids to eat in a restaurant. Think about it.
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Y'know, I'm all for tasing teenager druggies or shooting at the occasional 12-year-old girl when she's about to drive a car over me, but...ummm...am I the only one who thinks the dude could have just called for the deputy and sat the bus where it was until someone showed up?
I'm not saying the kid wasn't being a dick, but seriously...this was the best way to handle this?
Agreed LA. The little punk was certainly not worth losing a job or going to jail for.
Did the driver think he was going to change that kid one iota?
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I have a hard time defending any kid. I suffer through their snottiness in stores and restaurants.
If you are any kind of a parent, feed your whelp at home and keep them out of commerce. They are no more precious and cute than you are, and the rest of us would prefer silence while we eat or shop...
This is a joke, right?
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From PFW "The Way We Hear It" section"
"After losing starting CB Antoine Winfield during the 2004 free-agency period, and with Pro Bowl CB Nate Clements scheduled to become a free agent following the ’05 season, we hear it would be a shock if the Bills let a second starting corner go next year. Much as they did with DE Aaron Schobel last year, word is the Bills would like to work out a long-term extension with Clements during training camp or by early in the season. Clements, 25, has the size (6-0, 209) and playmaking ability (six interceptions in ’04, two TDs — one via interception and one on a punt return) that make him one of the top young corners in the league, so it’s clearly in the team’s best interest to lock him up before he hits the open market. It may come down to what Clements wants — to choose the security of a long-term deal from a team for which he has enjoyed success, or to roll the dice, risking injury, and potentially land a megadeal in free agency."
The problem, as is always the case with these football periodicals is they never give a source. So...my guess is this is more likely just the opinion of the writer than it is info from a team source.
Well, it makes a ton of sense.
NC might opt to take less money in order to obtain certain financial security vs. the alternative, which is waiting a year and getting more, but at the same time risking injury.
Schobel opted for the security route. Maybe NC will as well. Either way, it is a good move by TD to try and lock him up now.
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I did not know this. It only serves to prove just how much left tackles are valued, which makes it hard for me to be confident about Gandy.
Sorry, I am having a tough time understanding why the Bears would simply release a left tackle if he was any good.
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Anyone see the writeup about Toyota
in Politics, Polls, and Pundits
Posted
You make some valid points, but let us not try to absolve the insurance companies of any blame.
Several doctors have told me that they get bonuses for NOT sending patients to specialists, and if they do this too often they will be kicked out of the HMO.
Doctors also have to hire expensive help merely to argue with insurance company clerks about allowing procedures that their patients need.
Frankly, I would rather a doctor make decisions about my health than an HMO secretary. As I said earlier, there is plenty7 of blame to go around.