Taro T

When the heck did we switch this discussion from Detroit to NY?

How are you defining the loss on the sale? Is that against the sunk costs (which aren't recoverable anyhow) or against revenues they could have generated by keeping the plane?

Considering my vote is a throw away anyhow as I live in NY and the chance of anyone beating Obama here is roughly equivalent to the odds of the '07 Bills winning the Super Bowl; I'm seriously considering going for a write in candidate. When one candidate will get 60+% of the vote, you gain some leeway in your own choice.

Wouldn't that be Phil who nearly died for his sins. (As long as we seem to be going for new style Messiahs, might as well set up for the "2 men say their Jesus; one of them must be wrong.") But would a true OT voice over guy allow himself to be filmed w/ a pig (cloven hoof issues)? Maybe they should have signed Don LaFontaine a little earlier in the season.

To answer the 1st question, the distinction is that every "innocent" life is sacred. (I'd like to come up w/ a better word than sacred, but after several beers that's the best that I've got.) There are some people / crimes that are so depraved that our society does need to impose the ultimate penalty on. I'd say those are rather limited (e.g. killers of on-duty, well identified police officers / prison guards; serial killers; mass murderers) and I support safeguards that exist w/in the system to keep innocents spared. You point out the nuance of the pro-choice position, and then use the sledge hammer on the pro-life position. There should be nuance to both sides, but far too rarely does it get expressed for those one doesn't agree with. You also state that there is no definitive answer as to when life begins. I would say that there IS a definitive answer(s) to when viable life begins, but we are too ignorant / stubborn to realize what it is.

I thought the proper wording of the phrase was "heck yeah, I'd TAP it."

Glad that you and your family all survived the storm. Very sorry that your house is @#&$'d. 2nd (or 3rd) what Lori said.

I think that is a bit slower than Obama wants to see. Hopefully, if he does win this November, he has the good sense to heed Petraeus's recommendations. Managing to turn this one back into a defeat would be a monumental mistake.

I don't see any way that he drops her that doesn't blow up into his face. For good or bad, I see her on the ticket in November. I'd still like to see how her speech goes tonight and how McCain's goes tomorrow. A lot of questions have been raised about her, depending on how those questions are answered, this COULD be a long term positive for McCain as you've even got Susan Estrich saying she's amazed at the visciousness of the attacks on Palin. If middle America see the attacks as unfounded or piling on, this could be drive "undecideds" away from Obama.

I'd be surprised to have seen a male w/ 2 years as Governor as the VP candidate, but that doesn't necessarily mean one would have been a bad choice. The flip side to your question is: would a 4 year Caucasian Senator have made it through the Democratic Primary? The answer is most likely no. Either way, interesting though they are, the questions are moot. They've both put themselves in the "right place at the right time" to get to this point. It takes political skill and luck to get there, you need both.

So, that's what caused it?

That makes 11 provinces where the Iraqis are the primary security force. 7 more to go.

Where's the "envy" smiley when you need it? IA was an incredible author. His non-fiction work was equal (or superior) to his sci-fi.

Huh? No offense, but if someone is too lazy or too indifferent to vote, their opinion on who should run the country really doesn't matter. A person that cares can get an absentee ballot if they won't be able to vote on that 1st Tuesday. There is no excuse to not vote other than being ignorant. That is a VERY valid reason to not vote, and I would hope that if a person is ignorant of the issues and the candidates that they don't vote. The Dems appear to be certain that they have a "slam dunk" this time. We'll find out if they are correct in ~2 months. I'm not sure that they thought it was a lock in 2000, but they sure seemed confident in '04. The Republicans self destructed in '06 and Pelosi and Reid have done very little w/ that since then; it looks like Pelosi and Reid will have larger majorities this time but the top spot appears to be a toss up right now. This is setting up a very interesting season.

Perhaps by the Dems nominating darn near the only people that the American public wanted in that office LESS than Bush?

Apparently he votes "present" on a lot of bills. Is that for or against?

I have a 1st printing of all the "Bloom County" books. That, and $1 should get me a cup of coffee at Dunkin.

I have yet to see a poll where Obama is gaining 50+% in any poll, so your claim that "most Americans are cool with" him is a bit overstated currently. You are comfortable w/ him, and that is fine. He has a very thin resume (as does the Republican VP candidate as well) to date and it will be interesting watching the next 2 months as he makes his case that the thin resume (and very liberal policies) should not be a deal killer.

Good for Obama. The children should be off limits.

And if Obama wins, he will be 0 heart beats away from the Presidency. Your point being?

That works.

No, but just let me know what you're looking for, I'm sure I can get you a great deal on it. You are still drunk, right.

You've got 2 kids and you are surprised that Palin looked preggo in the "first pics after the birth". You wouldn't be interested in a "wife swap", by any chance, would you?

Interesting is a good word for it. The guy did a fantastic job at his past stops, I really had high hopes for what he could do here.

I'd be very surprised if she doesn't have a "nanny" helping w/ the care; but regardless, I don't see a problem w/ her taking time to get Trig to the Dr. As manufacturing continues to become a smaller %age of our economy, I would expect flexible hours to become more prevalent. (The downside to flex hours is that you are essentially expected to be available 24/7.) Provided the job doesn't require the employee to be available at particular hours, I don't see a problem w/ flex hours (or working from the home for that matter). Even in your job, (and I have no idea how much, if any, flexibility you have) I can see a lot of room for flexible hours. When you have to be operating the lock, there isn't much any room for flexibility, but if you are painting a room in a building does it matter if you do it at 1PM or 1AM? Or if you are mowing a lawn, does it matter if it's mowed at 10AM or 1PM?