The Avenger

Really depends on how you write the letter and who the target audience is. Audience - Your target audience needs to be those people you care about but don't often touch base with durring the year. Prime example would be folks you knew in college but don't talk with. When I get a letter from one of these people I enjoy reading it to find out where they are and what they've been up to over the past year. Sure, lots of things have happened since you got their last letter, but you didn't expect they would call you up when little Billy hit the game-winning home run in July, did you? Close friends and family will know everything that you are going to write, but more distant folks may enjoy catching up and knowing that you care enough to let them know what's up in your life. What you write - Don't be a braggard in the letter - nobody wants to hear how their ex college roomie now lives the perfect life with the perfect wife and family - they also know it's BS. Tell people about major events, but don't make it a list of accomplishments, etc. Don't get all preachy about your views on a certain subject - nobody wants that, either.

2 songs that should really be on the list: "Muskrat Love" - Captain and Tennille - good God almighty - who writes a overly-sweet bubble-gum pop love song about 2 smelly swamp rats falling in love and dancing? More importantly, who the hell cares? Whoever wrote that gem should have put down their pen and put a gun in their mouth.... "When the Children Cry" - White Lion - A touchy-feely anti-war utopian ballad lamenting the current state of the world and how the children will cry - wow. Not only did the song suck, but the lyrics were overly sweet and melodramatic. All this from a "metal" band my grandmother could have beat up.

The Best Star Wars Face Off

Actually, every time a Bills kicker misses a FG an angel gets his wings....

The thing that gets me is that everyone screams about the illegals who don't have healtcare being a drain on the system and not looking at the impact of all 48 million uninsured people have on society. By most accounts, there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. - hard to get a real accurate number. Of the 48 million uninsured people in the country (yes, the folks using your local emergency room as their family doctor), at most 12 million of these people would be illegal. Accordingly, the other 36 million uninsured people are here legally - what's their cost to the average taxpaying family? Call me simple, but I'd think these folks would cost each taxpaying family 3 times what the illegals are costing you. "Yeah - but the legal residents are paying their taxes and the illegals aren't" - don't be so sure. Not all legal residents provide much tax revenue (especially if they're poor - and if you don't have health insurance I think it's likely you are unemployed and/or are poor). Not all illegal residents skip out on taxes - many do pay because they have forged SS numbers and have this deducted from their checks. They also pay things like sales tax - no meaningful way to continually avoid that if you buy goods and services. The cost to the taxpayer for uninsured people is what it is (people can argue over the numbers) but I don't think there's anyway to say that illegals are costing the taxpayer MORE than legal residents. The difference seems to be that legal residents are more likely to be members of the tax-paying public from which these funds are plucked (but remember, too, these folks consume more taxpayer dollars as well).

CBS Sportsline is the only online system that allows me to customize our scoring the way we want and also provide live scoring - can't live without live scoring. Sure, it costs $130, but when you split that up 10 ways it only adds $13 to each entry fee.

The guy made his own mess by not helping out - he's got to deal with the consequences. I tend to believe that if he was fired for something like this he probably already had other strikes against him. What's tough for you is that it appears to the outsiders that you came in, immediately cried to your boss and/or HR and got the guy canned. If it happened like you say (and I have no reason to doubt you) and you were asked how things went and you never personally went to HR or suggested that this guy be fired then things were beyond your control, but don't expect others to believe that's how it unfolded. Tough situation, but what could you do?

And thus is the beauty of Fox News. That was almost their slogan until someone came up with "Fair and Balanced".

Anyone else notice the bear's head the the fridge when Borat finally reunites with his producer who tells him that the bear "ran off"? I stayed for the credits and there was an actual credit that said, "Mr. Baron Cohen's feces provided by James Smith" (I forget the actual name).

Just got back from seeing it - CRAZY!!! There were parts where I hurt from laughing. There were parts where I couldn't help say, in full voice, "oh no - no way!". How he stayed in character through some of that is amazing - the anly other comedian I've ever seen stay that true to a character is Andy Kaufman and he's generally regarded as a genius. Wow - that's all I can say - wow!

Are you saying that he had a gay relationship because he's mentally ill and may have actually not enjoyed it but rather was tortured by it? And we need to show him sympathy because he's sick? Not sure I read that right or understand if that's the point you're trying to make. BTW - I love your signature line - I loved that SNL sketch and it converts very well from Star Trek to football.

I'm calling BS on your link and a biased account of the story. The link you referenced shows how the NY Post reporter Vincent Morris reported the story. Vincent Morris and the Post twice had to post corrections to stories they wrote slamming Franken. The account I read can from the local NH newspaper who actually had reporters at the event - I tend to believe that account a bit more as 1) They don't have an anti-Franken bias and 2) Were actually at the event. Manchester Newspaper Account I guess it all boils down to whose account of the incident you read, but I'll take the local guy without the biased political agenda.

Them's fightin' word, Rich! Next time I see you I'm gonna twist you into a pretzel! (oh wait, you're like the biggest, most intimidating person I've ever met - I'm a big guy and you make me look small - never mind...)

Didn't mean to bum anyone out - just wanted to try and make some sense as to why we can't seem to claw our way back to being a good team. Other teams seem to be able to find good draft picks, make the most out of their free agents, etc. but the Bills have really done a poor job here. Talent evaluation is what killed the Bengals for so long but they finally found some talent and their playoff droubt ended. That Pats have been excellent at finding talent and that's why they've had only 1 losing season since 1995.

It was a Dean rally, and Franken didn't punch anyone. News reports of the incident and statements by the theater manager of the theater where it happened indicate that a heckler elbowed and punched security, the theater manager and elbowed Franken's glasses off his face before Franken took his legs out. If a heckler is getting physical and assaulting people I don't have a problem with him getting tackled, but if you tackle someone simply because he shouts a question you don't like that's a different story.

8:00 show tomorrow night in Tyngsboro, MA - can't wait! The early reviews, as collected by rottentomatoes.com are very good - the critics seem to really like it (93% fresh rating).

That's a real morale booster to the girlfriend huh? Your guy would rather screw a dead dog than you. Not sure how you recover from that one.

Is it the chef or the ingredients? We certainly haven't seen any o-line talent come through in awhile (except for Jason Peters - possibly the only "gem" we found over the last 7 years).

Welcome to "journalism" by Rupert Murdoch.

I saw a fight almost get really ugly at the Jets game this year (the opener). Bunch of seriously drunk fans ripping on a kid in a Jets jersey and at first it was just kind of fun back and forth stuff. As always, someone who has had WAY too much to drink suddenly starts to take things all seriously and starts getting physical. Unfortunately, said drunk was surrounded by his drunk buddies and they all start going after this kid. Some Bills fans try and tell everyone to simmer down, but of course the drunks are now not having any of that. Fortunately, some of the parking lot attendants (the guys with the flags telling you where to park) stepped in and broke it up, even though I don't think they're paid to be security (I was impressed that they stepped in, particularly because they were pretty much just kids themselves). This stuff happens everywhere, even in Buffalo. Add enough alcohol and an "us vs. them" situation where a mob mentality can flourish and you get some really ugly results.

The derby was embarassing - I thought racing perogies at Pirates games was as low as things could go, but Monday proved me wrong.... My immediate thoughts as I watched from a TV in the airport: 1. Why do none of the costumes/masks look anything like the guys they supposedly resemble? 2. When is Michael Irvin going to stab the guy in the Michael Irvin costume in the neck with a pair of scissors? 3. This is what happens when you can't get acting work - you have to dress like Tony Kornheiser and run a fake race in huge floppy shoes - time to kill yourself?

SHOULD be opposed to fertility clinics, but aren't. 2 Points: 1. Like it or not, the fertility clinics discard blastocysts because there is no way to keep them indefinitely - they do have a "shelf life" if you will - after a certain point they will never be able to develop, hence the need to discard. 2. Why do the right to lifers offer no outrage to the discarding of embryos at fertility clinics? It happens every day, and I don't see anyone up in arms about it. Give them an false argument that those blastocysts would grow to be children or that stem cells come from abortions and they rally in the streets, sing hymns, display graphic pictures, sit in traffic, get arrested, etc. - seems a bit duplicitous, don't you think?

That's just the point - these aren't from "aborted embyos". We are talking about blastocysts (call them embryos if that's what you view them as) that were created at fertility clinics and are going unused and would otherwise be discarded. Let me re-emphasize that point - these are stem cells that are due to be discarded. These are NOT blastocysts/embryos that would otherwise be used in the fertility clinics to be implanted and possibly become babies. Likewise, these are not the products of abortion - you can't harvest a blastocyst of 16 cells from the abortion process. The Christian conservatives have completely middied the waters on this issue by getting folks to believe that new stem cell lines are coming from embryos that would otherwise be used to create children and/or aborted fetuses from abortion procedures - neither is true at all.

Enter. Win. Sell the seats. Buy something nice (like a Bills jersey).

That was my favorite as well - really helps capture the MADD vote, don't you think? Good Lord, why not just post a meth recipe?