Taro T

Hindsight being 20/20, it would have been better that he begin filling the SPR when prices began to dip below $18/barrel; which would have had the dual effect of increasing the SPR rather inexpensively and delaying OPEC getting serious about maintaining their quotas. When oil was in the low $20's OPEC didn't seem to have much resolve; when it fell to ~$12, they got serious. Prices still would have eventually gone up due to increased demand in Asia, but possibly not as much and most likely not as soon. (Which also would have had the side benefit of keeping some money out of the pockets of Chavez and Putin.)

It shouldn't be an issue in Jersey, but it might be a problem in the other 49.

Last time I checked it was Obama vs McCain. But continue to make this Obama vs Palin and continue to wonder why the polling goes against where your guy "should be".

I don't think I can ever forgive them for buying up and closing Two Pesos. THAT was VERY good Tex-mex fast food. TC was good. I miss 2P. (But at least I still have Mighty when I feel like driving an hour.)

Eh, he could probably be there in an hour.

Oh, come on, that Fish game where Ricky had 2 long runs and then the snow started falling and he and his teammates ran for the bus was one of the most fun games I've ever been at. "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." We were in about 8" of snow by the time it was over and it was great.

The election was in '94, but the Republicans didn't take control of Congress until '95.

Which brings to mind a classic "Willy & Ethel" comic strip. Ethel is looking strangely at Willy standing with pie all over his face and shoulders. Willy's response to her quizical look was "part of me said 'duck', but the other part said 'what if it's blueberry'?" That Joe Martin cracks me up. (Eh, so my sense of humor is warped. Whatever.)

The Republicans controlled the House and Senate in 1993?

Did I just get "Crayonzed"?

W/ nearly 2 months to go, I don't see either side burying themselves just yet. There is plenty of time for both sides to get plenty nastier and for people to forget whatever it is you are referring to.

I'd like to see term limits, but I'm not sure how to deal w/ "lifetime staffers". Maybe Yellow Lines has some thoughts on that one.

Wait a sec, is this thread about Creationism or Michael Moore and Gustav?

Hmmmm, $0.02 flag or $1.00 slice? Can't say that's a particularily tough decision. Now, if the pizza was from Domino's and the flag had pepperoni on it, the choice gets a lot tougher.

What was wrong w/ Parrella? He looked strong in the last preseason he had here and had a very serviceable career in San Diego. I'm sure somebody here could explain why they let Parrella go, but I always thought he should have been kept.

Depends on whether you're including the cost of shipping them back to China or not.

I heard the day after her speech that the hockey mom line was an ad lib by Palin.

Yeah, I wasn't very clear on that one. This following attempt at a clarification probably won't be much clearer, but here goes. I have always been opposed to abortion. When I was younger, while I still was opposed to abortion, I could see the validity of the argument for many of the exceptions that are proposed by people that favor "limited" abortion rights. I've been convinced through the years, primarily by pro-choice friends, that a lot of the circumstances that would allow for exceptions to a ban on abortion would rather easily be claimed by either a patient or a sympathetic doctor. The argument my pro-choice friends were going for was, since an abortion could still be obtained rather easily w/ limited bans on the procedures there was no point to any bans. The logic of that view (that a slippery slope exists that ends up allowing all/nearly all abortions when reasonable restrictions are imposed; (yeah, I know that term "reasonable" brings all sorts of unreasonableness into the discussion; it's late and I'm tired and can't think of a better word currently)) has made me believe that certain exemptions that I'd have considered reasonable 20 years ago are no longer what I'd consider reasonable. So, since I see fewer reasonable (legitimate?) exemptions to allow abortions, I'd say I have become more firmly pro-life (anti-abortion, whatever). And, at the end of the day, considering where I live, I don't see my beliefs EVER being imposed on anyone as most of the people where I live are far more liberal on this issue than I am. Nor, were I ever to run for office (God forbid) would I consider my opinions on abortion to be worthy of discussion. I'm sure that there'd be far more legitimate reasons for people not to vote for me.

I'd agree w/ that, which I why it seems foolish for SH to claim that they are born of "convenience"; well, if he had any reason for stating that other than getting a rise out of people, it would be a foolish thing to say. Which is actually (unfortunately) the reason that I tend to find my opposition to even limited forms of abortion growing stronger through the years. The more loopholes that are carved out for legitimate reasons, the more often that someone will stretch the rationale for why they want / need one. I do agree that there are (limited) circumstances in which abortion should be an option. And I absolutely am in favor of post-proceedure councilling as there can be very few decisions that are tougher than to intentionally end an innocent life; especially when that life has literally been a part of you. But I also believe the decision of whether abortion is legal should be made at the state level, and this comes from one that lives in a state (and has no intention of leaving that state over the issue should RvW ever be overturned) that will keep it's laws far more liberal than others when it comes to this issue.

Not sure of the reason for the vehemence of your response, unless it's because it is SN you are responding to; that does make sense. I'd agree w/ you that it would be a travesty to have an innocent man be executed. While there have been several celebrated instances of people on death row being acquitted; I don't know of any innocent people getting executed since Gary Gilmore was executed. I'd say the death penalty should be an option but in limited circumstances such as intentionally killing an on-duty cop or prison guard, serial killings, mass murder, and probably a couple of other similar crimes. While I have serious issues w/ an innocent man to be executed for a crime he didn't commit, I also have serious issues w/ an innocent child being executed for the crime of being unwanted. I truly doubt many abortions are products of "convenience", but I'm sure there are a few (which are in the far minority). It's foolish for SH to claim that abortion is a matter of convenience, but not terrribly surprising that he'd say that. Personally, I think abortion and the death penalty are issues that should be decided at the state level but neither one is my deal breaker in this election. I'm far more interested in the economic and foreign policies and I really dislike one candidate's economic policy and an not impressed w/ his opponent's policy either.

What did you expect / want him to say: that he never even considered, even briefly, going into the military? There is no way he'd ever say that. While there are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize the candidates we have this year, that is an extremely lame one to come up w/.

There will almost definitely be fewer college age voters than Obama would like to see, but I'd expect the turnout to be a little higher than in the past. How much higher it goes will be a function of how well Obama's people do in getting absentee ballots to the kids and how well they followup on making sure they get returned. I didn't expect to see McCain w/ a lead this early in the race. I was expecting post-convention to be essentially a dead heat. If he can hold the lead going into the debates it will make things very interesting as Obama hasn't shown me an ability to "wow" people in debates. If he's behind during / after the debates, I'd expect to see his campaign turn up the negative rhetoric even higher which would go a long way toward cutting into his preferred image of being a "different kind of politician / leader." Either way, it's going to be a real interesting 2 months.

All 5 guys on ESPN's pregame show picked the Bills.

Hey, karma is a witch. While I would never WISH injury on/to an opponent, the Pats* have intentionally gone after QB's knees in the past, so I don't feel too upset that their QB went down on what appeared to be an unintentional hit on the knee. I guess we now get to find out just how much of a genius Bellicheat is w/out Marsha to make it work. It's just a shame that the Cheatriots have more or less 5 bye weeks to start the season.

Can I make a motion that the next WNYTBDGPS meeting be held on ANY Friday other than the 1st Friday of the month? I keep getting hosed. Sorry I missed it; hope all who made it had a good time.