Taro T

But it's worked so well for Tampa spending a ton of their money on 3 players.

He used to with regularity, but this past season, he seems to have bought into the Sabres system. Of course he does appear to hate Briere, or B-Rod as he likes to call him.

Have you read all the ones at Sabres Space? Mr. Deluca keeps things interesting there as well as here.

Actually, that ain't the song you like. Marvin Gaye's song is pretty cool. The 4 Non-talents song has no connection to the other one, no lyrics, no riffs, no anything, except they are probably both 4/4 time.

So's Mandy out for the weekend?

Cool. Congrats and good luck.

Does anyone know if Hamburger U has graduate level courses in cheesesteak?

Actually, the line item veto wouldn't be of much, if any, use in this particular instance as the individual funding items each have the deadline written in the same sentence as the $'s are mentioned.

Actually, I think the threat of us leaving before the institutions that will/should protect the citizenry are capable of handling the task on their own is a bigger threat towards stability today. (Ask me again in 12 months and my opinion may have changed.) While being far from an expert, I'd wager that the reason the country is having problems with developing an army and police force have to do with punting ALL officers from the old Iraqi army and not finishing the job when we have gone after the Mahdi army and other militias. Throw in the history of what happened after Desert Storm and the constant media barrage that makes it sound like it's inevitable that we will cut and run within the next 2 years and I think you have some legitimate reasons for these institutions to have difficulty staffing. Also, could you please show me some sources for the information that "anyone who works with us is killed"?

Me thinks he was going for choice B. As for the rest of your post, all I can say is "wow".

Dean, that's baaa,aaaaa,aaaad.

It is possible. (I also wouldn't be shocked to find out that behind the scenes we HAVE been telling them what conditions wll cause us to say it's hopeless.) But considering the way the U.S. basically turned it's back on the Shia after Desert Storm, I don't see how saying we're out of there on 9/30/08 doesn't prevent Iraqis from supporting a government that currently doesn't appear to be able to keep order without outside assistance. I do believe that given time, things can get better over there. (Not saying they will, saying they can.) I don't see where a radically different leadership / government would or could be a good thing (for us or the majority of Iraqis). Will the current government fail regardless of what we do? Again, it's possible. (Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if it's probable, but I think it is currently far from a given.) From my position, far outside the loop, I don't see how it can succeed without our help in getting it going. I don't see any particularily "good" options currently, but if we hold our ground (or ramp up security around Bagdad) I believe people far smarter than I will come up with some better options. Right now, I'm not certain what the best scenario that could be hoped for is. But I do see some worst scenarios, most of which begin with the U.S. turning tail and telling the world, once again, that we don't care about Muslims / Arabs / however else you want to state it.

I can't speak for others, but setting an arbitrary date to be out of Iraq because it sounds good or is nice "round" date, such as September 30, 2008, is what I would consider arbitrary. Especially when that date is not tied to ANY on site results or situations. We're out of there ~5 weeks before the 2008 election whether we're winning, losing, or somewhere inbetween. If the deadline isn't "arbitrary", I'd be interested in hearing (reading, actually) what it is.

I do appreciate the serious reply. I don't think we will see eye to eye on this one though. I don't know how much longer U.S. troops will be required there, but I don't see where setting an artificial deadline for withdrawl has any realistic possibility of resulting in an outcome we'd consider successful. Perhaps it will scare the moderates into getting their acts together, but I just don't see it happening. I don't think the whole region will descend into chaos when the U.S. declares victory and walks away, but I see it creating a lot more problems than we currently have.

The thing that unites us is, as Bill Murray so eloquently put it, and this is a paraphrase "our forefathers were kicked out of every self respecting country there is". We ARE mutts. That is where the cohesion comes from. The people that are here want to be here. I don't dispute that there is the potential that our country could break down, I just believe the people that are here are smart enough not to let that happen. Immigration isn't the issue. Illegal immigration is an issue and the paltry # of green cards and visas issued is also an issue. Personally, I think we should increase the # of legal immigrants allowed into the country AND make more efforts to limit the illegal immigration. But I don't have a problem with our country becoming a little "browner" than it was when I was growing up. In many ways, I see that as a positive.

But, it's a well known east German fact that it takes 3.5 times the volume of peanuts to make a volume of peanut butter. And we ALL know that peanut storage is merely a precursor to manufacturing peanut butter and/or fulfilling an elephant's wildest fantasies. While the latter, in a VERY sick way, could be considered a service (but not for human consumption) I see no way to consider the former anything but a stage in manufacturing. So, except for a very small percentage, of which I am certain a political appointee could choose which of those peanut farmers/speculators qualify for subsidies, peanut storers do not DESERVE to receive a subsidy for their wanton efforts.

Some interesting straw men you've set up. If the "GOP enablers" truly wanted to convert Iraq into a very large glass museum or 20MM hole golf course, shouldn't they have done it by now? I, for one, will admit that I supported the war initially, but now wish we never made the effort. Not because I think our troops will fail or that it was a wrong headed effort, but because I think politicians have (and will continue to) mess(ed) things up. And, we don't seem to have the political will to see things through to a victory. Unitl someone in power figures out how to get the U.S. out without giving the Al Queda supporters free reign, I don't see how the U.S. can leave. I would be very interested in hearing (reading) how you would get us out of this situation without creating additional problems in the future. (Seriously.)

Is this strictly corporate welfare for Peter Pan, or does this protect all domestic peanut butter suppliers? Isn't peanut butter a tangible good, shouldn't molson goldfish be upset about this subsidy to a non-service provider? (Of course, if they provided peanut butter education, perhaps this subsidy wouldn't be egregrious.)

See, that's what I don't understand about PETA. They think (know) that humanity is the largest destructive force on/towards the planet, but yet very few of them kill themselves. I think their rhetoric would be much more acceptable if they practiced what they preached.

I think I remember that episode, and you are correct.

Didn't the Myth Busters debunk this one yet? I could have sworn I saw them deploy a small hydrogen bomb near the Golden Gate Bridge and all it did was cause the guy from "Dirty Jobs" to deficate himself. While the balistic jell Grant did not fair well, Torry could NOT destroy an entire city, much less a state, nor 5% of the globe with his tests. Although Carrie did look hot with the "No nukes, better dead than red" tattoo on her butt.

Are you really so daft as to believe that bird flu virus is man made? Obviously many, but not all, forest fires are man-made. How would you have us prevent the sun going nova? Does a 50% reduction in emissions eliminate that issue? IF the sun is the source of global climate change, and it very well could be from what I've read to date, how does destroying the U.S. economy effect global climate change? UNDERSTANDING the CAUSE of global climate change SIGNIFICANTLY effects the responses to it. If it isn't caused by the activities of humans, it is VERY possible that humans can't reduce/avert it. If that is the case, then rather than tilt at windmills, we'd be better off adjusting to it's effects. And you explicitly stated that you don't care whether global warming is man-made or not. Thank you for playing, I'm glad you are not in charge of my tax dollars.

Actually, YOU compared the drug company to MickeyD's. You said (paraphrasing here) that as long as a company provided a service, there was no problem with receiving a govt. subsidy. Well, most people consider restaurants to be part of the "service" sector. So, by your posts, it appears that restaurants, such as the one with the clown and golden arches, should be subsidized. Robble, robble, robble. And just purely out of curiosity, how much money do you think the researcher (and his team) that develop the cancer cure should be paid? And, should the individual whose tissues were used to develop/test the cure be paid anything, and if so, how much?

In biochem that's been happening for at least the last 15 years. A good friend of mine was continually harping on how any journal article methodology she tried to reproduce from Japan would inevitably need her to add a step or modify a reagent concentration to actually duplicate the results. Which makes me ask, doesn't any peer reviewer EVER try to replicate the experiments that are described in a technical article? (The answer may well be, they never do, J Coli or yourself would know much better than I about this issue. I just always found it amazing that, anecodotally at least, this practice went on (and appears to continue to this day).

So basically, PETA is correct and we should euthanize all humans. Unless, of course, they roll a 3.5. (It COULD happen.)