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Guard Dog

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Posts posted by Guard Dog

  1. it really is a mystery how i do it

     

    went to a party last night and despite being horribly horribly drunk (apparently shouting "everyone is dead. I steal their biscuits!") and later accidentallly putting my hand through a window, i still managed to get this girl's number and arrange a plan to meet up with her again

    Some chicks dig party guys. Plus who the hell can even guess what you told her.

  2. Carolina @ Atlanta: Yikes, six turnovers last week for the Panthers. Falcons win.

    Minnesota @ Detroit: Detroit is about to get it's first win in two years. They are due. Lions win

    Cincinnati @ Green Bay: Packers are hot, Bengals are not. Packers win

    Arizona @ Jacksonville: Jags gave up almost 400 yards ti Indy last week. Ugh. Cardinals win.

    Oakland @ Kansas City: Oakland was not terrible last week but KC will win. Chiefs win.

    New England @ NY Jets: Are the Jets for real? No. Patriots win.

    New Orleans @ Philadelphia: No Mcnabb? Who dat? Saints win.

    Houston @ Tennessee: Old Houston team vs new houston team. Oilers (Titans) win.

    St. Louis @ Washington: Rams are terrible. Redskins win.

    Tampa Bay @ Buffalo: Bucs do have a good running game. Everything else leaves something to be desired. Bills win.

    Seattle @ San Francisco: 49ers came to play last week but Seahawks will win.

    Pittsburgh @ Chicago: Cutlers woes continue with Pittsburgh in town. Steelers win.

    Cleveland @ Denver: Denver is just ok, Browns don't even know who their QB is gonna be. Broncos win.

    Baltimore @ San Diego: I had SD penciled in to be in the AFC Championship. Not so sure after that game last week. Ravens win.

    NY Giants @ Dallas: Game of the week. Giants win.

    Indianapolis @ Miami: Indy has played poorly in Miami over the years. Dolphins rebound with the win.

  3. Red Sox have been unbeatable lately. Hard to believe they were in a free fall just a month ago. Marlins picked up an epic win, 4 runs in the top of the 9th against the Reds. Getaway day today in Cinncinati then it's back home for the Phillies, screw football I'm watching that! Gonna be BIG!

  4. For Fiction (in no particular order):

     

    Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy

    Moby **** Herman Mellville

    The Sea Wolf Jack London

    Animal Farm George Orwell

    The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck

    The Killer Angels Michael Sharra

    Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway

    For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway

    Shogun James Clavell

    Fields of Fire James Webb

    The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien

    Dune (series) Frank Herbert (and sons and others)

    To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

    Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand

    The Man Who Would Be King Kipling

     

    I could go on.

     

    Nonfiction: Too many to even start but my all time favorite has to be The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz and The Journals of Lewis and Clark

  5. So anyway, I left work a little early yesterday to have a drink with a lady I met last week. Afterwards she suggested we walk around a bit (we were in Overton Park) and we ended up walking in this art gallery. Now I am not a big fan of art, in fact the walls in my house are bare except for some military momentos, a few palques and my diploma. But I saw this picture and I just had to have it. I didn't even ask how much, I just asked if they could change the frame to red cedar. Anyway I paid way more for it than I intended but I really liked it. Well, after we left she suggested that she could help me find a place to hang it. That ended up meaning exactly what I hoped it meant. Apparently women find men who buy art from little art stores attractive. You might want to give that a try Wals! Next girl I take out I might try that again!

     

    Oh, here is the pic I bought. I had never seen it before but it is famous evidently.

     

    post-10997-1253064038_thumb.jpg

  6. I'm just glad Buchanan was able to take time out of his busy schedule defending hitler to predict the coming doom of our country.

    He is not a fine upstanding human being thats for sure, but he may be right about some things. It's hard not to be worried when our own political leaders are calling regular citizens who oppose them "evil mongers" as Harry Reid did. Remember he got mad that Bush called Iraq, Iran, and North Korea evil. Apparently only regular Americans who want nothing more than to live their lives in peace qualify as evil to this man. He writes an Op-Ed with the Speaker of the House (who is supposed to represent ALL Americans) chastising people who do not want socialized health care saying is was Un-American to disagree with your government. It was fine and good to disagree when they were out of power, not now that they have it. Nancy Pelosi calls all of those self same hard working regular Americans a bunch of Nazis and that they were carrying swastikas. Never mind the fact that is was an outright lie. James Clyburn the third highest ranking man in the house said the people who don't want health care reform are just racists for opposing Obama. I see, so if I disagree with the President about anything I'm racist? Rep Shelia Jackson Lee said the same thing and also said we were going to get government health care whether we wanted it or not. John Dingel, a very high ranking Democrat Rep from Michigan said those who opposed health care were probably in the Ku Klux Klan. Commentator Bill Maher has openly said people who have publicly opposed UHC should be shot. Lets not forget the hatred and anger directed at the regular blue-collar folks at the tea-party protests over the past six months. These are just normal people angry about government corruption, and out of control spending. Sarah Palin has been publicly vilified for her "Death Panels" comment. While it was a little out in left field, Obama's own health care adviser Ezekiel Emmanuel has flat out said extended care for seniors is not guaranteed because of the high cost and low return since they are not productive citizens anymore (meaning they don't pay high taxes like a younger person). Another Obama adviser Cass Sunstein has written in favor of forced sterilizations and abortions in the name of population control.

     

    Add to all of this the fact that American citizens have been buying firearms and ammunition and a rate unprecedented in US history since Obama took office and that membership in fringe groups like the Alaska Independence movement and a those nutty militias are up. The Governor of Texas has a panel studying the legal and economic implications of secession and has openly spoken of it to the press as have a few others in the Texas State House. There are similar think tanks in Louisiana and Oklahoma doing the same things (privately without State sanction but with some popular support). I know political contention is hardly new in the US but it seems worse to me now than anytime in my lifetime.

     

    I will admit it. I am afraid we are on a road that might well take us to a very dark place. Rather than slow the descent, Obama seems intent on greasing the rails and Congress is working hard to paint the American people as the new enemy of the government.

  7. No joke though, Ron Paul would be a better President than Obama. His international policies are so distantly better than Obama's, and, to be honest, virtually anything bad a President could do domestically does not rival the damage United States has done via military force, coup d'etats, and proxy wars. I could write a significant number of words on this subject, but we all know you guys wouldn't read them.

     

    2368597065_237f897644_o.jpg

     

    How come no one has suggested LoF being Volourn's alt? He is pretty much the WOT's Volo.

     

    Volo is not motivated enough to make an alt

  8. Pat Buchanan went a little nuts for a few years back in the 90's. He seems to have calmed down of late and his columns have been pretty good. Like this one that seems to repeat a lot of what I've been saying here lately. I think the US as a political institution is entering it's last phase of life. I believe a breakup is inevitable because no matter what the divisive issue is, the root of it is what power the federal government should or should not have. One side wants the see the Federalist system eliminated and for the national government to assume control of everything (note: this is not necessarily socialism or totalitarianism, but it could be), the other side wants to reign Uncle Sam back to his constitutionally defined role. The two viewpoints are fundamentally incompatible with each other. At some point one of the two sides must capitulate or they shake hands and go their separate ways, each taking half of the country with them. Lets hope it's one of those two, the third possibility is that one side seizes power and tries to exterminate the other. I sincerely hope that never comes to pass.

     

    Flying home from London, where the subject of formal debate on the 70th anniversary of World War II had been whether Winston Churchill was a liability or asset to the Free World, one arrives in the middle of a far more acrimonious national debate right here in the United States.

     

    At issue: Should Barack Obama be allowed to address tens of millions of American children, inside their classrooms, during school hours?

     

    Conservative talk-show hosts saw a White House scheme to turn public schools into indoctrination centers where the socialist ideology of Obama would be spoon-fed to captive audiences of children forced to listen to Big Brother -- and then do assignments on his sermon.

     

    The liberal commentariat raged about right-wing paranoia.

     

    Yet Byron York of the Washington Examiner dug back to 1991 to discover that, when George H.W. Bush went to Alice Deal Junior High to speak to America's school kids, the left lost it.

     

    "The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," railed the Washington Post. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander was called before a House committee. The National Education Association denounced Bush. And Congress ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate.

     

    Obama's actual speech proved about as controversial as a Nancy Reagan appeal to eighth-graders to "Just say no!" to drugs.

     

    Yet, the episode reveals the poisoned character of our politics.

     

    We saw it earlier on display in August, when the crowds that came out for town hall meetings to oppose Obama's health-care plans were called "thugs," "fascists," "racists" and "evil-mongers" by national Democrats.

     

    We see it as Rep. Joe Wilson shouts, "You lie!" at the president during his address to a joint session of Congress.

     

    We seem not only to disagree with each other more than ever, but to have come almost to detest one another. Politically, culturally, racially, we seem ever ready to go for each others' throats.

     

    One half of America sees abortion as the annual slaughter of a million unborn. The other half regards the right-to-life movement as tyrannical and sexist.

     

    Proponents of gay marriage see its adversaries as homophobic bigots. Opponents see its champions as seeking to elevate unnatural and immoral relationships to the sacred state of traditional marriage.

     

    The question invites itself. In what sense are we one nation and one people anymore? For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays and share the same music, poetry, art and literature?

     

    Yet, today, Mexican-Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a skirmish in a French-Mexican war about which most Americans know nothing, which took place the same year as two of the bloodiest battles of our own Civil War: Antietam and Fredericksburg.

     

    Christmas and Easter, the great holidays of Christendom, once united Americans in joy. Now we fight over whether they should even be mentioned, let alone celebrated, in our public schools.

     

    Where we used to have classical, pop, country & Western and jazz music, now we have varieties tailored to specific generations, races and ethnic groups. Even our music seems designed to subdivide us.

     

    One part of America loves her history, another reviles it as racist, imperialist and genocidal. Old heroes like Columbus, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are replaced by Dr. King and Cesar Chavez.

     

    But the old holidays, heroes and icons endure, as the new have yet to put down roots in a recalcitrant Middle America.

     

    We are not only more divided than ever on politics, faith and morality, but along the lines of class and ethnicity. Those who opposed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court and stood by Sgt. Crowley in the face-off with Harvard's Henry Louis Gates were called racists. But this time they did not back down. They threw the same vile word right back in the face of their accusers, and Barack Obama.

     

    Consider but a few issues on which Americans have lately been bitterly divided: school prayer, the Ten Commandments, evolution, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, affirmative action, busing, the Confederate battle flag, the Duke rape case, Terri Schiavo, Iraq, amnesty, torture.

     

    Now it is death panels, global warming, "birthers" and socialism. If a married couple disagreed as broadly and deeply as Americans do on such basic issues, they would have divorced and gone their separate ways long ago. What is it that still holds us together?

     

    The European-Christian core of the country that once defined us is shrinking, as Christianity fades, the birth rate falls and Third World immigration surges. Globalism dissolves the economic bonds, while the cacophony of multiculturalism displaces the old American culture.

     

    "E pluribus unum"

  9. Incidentally has anyone established whose alt LoF is?

     

    Here are the odds line:

     

    Krezack 10:1, Pop 4:1, Deadly Nightshade 30:1, taks 10000:1, Walsingham 200:1, Kaftan 15:1, Guard Dog 10000:1, Laozi 80:1 Krookie 75:1, Rostere 100:1, Monte Carlo 90:1, Not an alt just a fool 2:1

  10. Marlins lose a heart breaker last night against the Nats 5-3. C'mon Fish you gotta win games like that. Philly won, Rocks won, Fish lost ground.

     

    Kudos to Jeter for breaking Gehrigs record.

  11. I haven't read through all of this, but I'm not necessarily opposed to UHC, but for the Europeans, ask yourself if you would want a single UHC program that covered all the countries in Europe. The US just has a huge population, and many people see a Universal Health Care system as a total nightmare that will be terribly mismanaged.

    So would an individual state government, if it wished to, be able to organise universal health care for its own citizens? Have any done so? Would this be more acceptable to the public?

     

    I would definately support that, since it would leave accountability to a closer and to a lower level, making it more easy for the taxpayers to verify any fraud or mismanagement. The federal government would simply have legislate the mandate "universal healthcare guaranteed to its citizens" to every state would be enough. Whether if they would adpot the swiss model or the british one would be up to them as long as it was universal.

     

    @Steve: Oregon and Wisconson are working on this very thing right now. I believe it's on hold waiting to see what Obama and Congress are going to do. But their proposals are more manageable, far less onerouss and most importantly are constitutional.

     

    @Meshugger: The Constitution does not permit the Federal government to tell the states "Thous Shalt or Shalt Not Do This" about much of anything unless a program is either 1) Paid for by Federal money, this would not be, or 2) Pertains to inter-state commerce or dealing with a foeriegn power. This would not. If an individual state wished to privide UHC for it's citizens I am all for it.

  12. I'm curious. What does everytone think of interleague play? On the MLB channel on XM this morning they were tlaking about the unbalancing effect it had on the playoff races. For example, The Rockies playes a weak interleague schedule compared to the Cubs and that accounted for 10 Rocks wins over weaker teams where the Cubs had to play in NY and Boston and lost 5 of 6. Remove the interleague games and the NL wild card race is a lot tighter. If I were in charge I think I'd limit the Interleague play to one home and one away series against a cross league "rival" (Cubs vs White Sox for example) and do away with the rest. Ideally I think we should expand the AL by two teams, eliminate interleague play and go back to a balanced schedule, but that will never happen. What are everyones thoughts on Interleague?

  13. or the down linemen (who had previously been getting good pressure without blitzes) tiring out in the face of the no-huddle.

     

    I think this is the right answer. More to the point, the no huddle prevented substitutions so they could not set the defense they wanted.

  14. My point was mainly that for comparable money he'd get something probably in the same ballpark in terms of workability, but he probably couldn't rebuild his car because of all the tech that's in there now a days.

    Good point. He probably could not. The days of shade tree mechanics are long gone. Heck I don't even do my own oil changes anyome. It costs more to buy the filter and oil and pay the disposal fee for the old oil than it does to take it in to a shop.

  15. As to GD's comment, how much did that car cost you?

    $800. Engine was shot. I bought a rebuild kit and a new carbuerator and 4 new tires for $500 so all told I had $1300 in it by the time it was drivable. My dad and I did all the work. Whatever I know about auto mechanics today I learned from him.

  16. Titans @ Steelers Steelers repeat begins tonight

    Dolphins @ Falcons Atlanta in a close one

    Chiefs @ Ravens No QB no win for KC. Ravens win big

    Eagles @ Panthers Carolinas defense is good, Phillys offense is better. Eagles win

    Broncos @ Bengals No real opinion on this one. Bengals

    Vikings @ Browns Browns are in disarray, Vikes win

    Jets @ Texans Prediction, Jets will be elimated from contention by week 9. Texans win

    Jags @ Colts Gut tells me the revamped Jags running game overpowers small Indy defense. Jags win

    Lions @ Saints Bad team + rookie QB on the road = Saints win

    Cowboys @ Bucs Let the futility begin. Cowboys

    49ers @ Cardinals I doubt they go all the way again but the Cards are way better than SF. Cards win

    Redskins @ Giants This will be a great game. Giants win close

    Rams @ Seahawks I wonder if anyone will watch this game? Seahawks

    Bears @ Packers Bears

    Bills @ Patriots This one will be ugly for Buffalo, Pats win

    Chargers @ Raiders Prediction: Chargers will get more sacks than the Raiders get touchdowns. Chargers win.

  17. Week one is upon us, time for the picks! You can cut and paste this one:

     

    Titans @ Steelers

    Dolphins @ Falcons

    Chiefs @ Ravens

    Eagles @ Panthers

    Broncoes @ Bengals

    Vikings @ Browns

    Jets @ Texans

    Jags @ Colts

    Lions @ Saints

    Cowboys @ Bucs

    49ers @ Cardinals

    Redskins @ Giants

    Rams @ Seahawks

    Bears @ Packers

    Bills @ Patriots

    Chargers @ Raiders

  18. I got my driver's license today!

    Good deal. Now you need a car, got one in mind?

    Bad choice letting your kid pick his/her first vehicle imo. Then they get the idea in their head that they can have anything they want but that's wrong and they need to be hit in the face. You get what you can take which is why I haven't killed myself for the two horrible jalopies that were handed down to me over the years. I do however get to pick my next vehicle and I'm basically just biding my time until something worthwhile comes along or the piece that I'm driving now falls apart and I'm forced to get a new vehicle.

     

    regardless, grats awsomness. Welcome to complete and utter slavery to your vehicle and of course the overly frightening experience of "blank driving" where your brain turns off and 15 minutes later you arrive at your destination with little or no recollection of the time spent operating your vehicle and the countless lives that you've likely endangered. Great times.

     

    If he gets a job and buys it himself he can pick whatever he wants. I bought my first cat at 17. It was 1978 Camaro, I earned the money cutting grass at a horse farm.

  19. A part of me wishes for the current administration to simply put public single-payer as the only option, and passing a law that would outlaw the entire healthcare insurance industry as whole. Then, the history books will tell that this was the start of the Second American Civil War, the only war ever in history that was fought over a healthcare insurance policy.

     

    The war was won by "The People's Liberation Army for Freedom" against the "National American Front for Justice and Prosperity".

     

    I think thar i need to play Civ4 or something similar for a while.

    It would never pass. Simply put we (the majority of Americans) just don't want it. I know it's used in many other places and it works fine. We just don't want it here. It really is that simple. Heck I keep reminding everyone, the US in not Europe. It's not Austrialia. We may have far more in common than not but we have fundamentally different attitudes about what the role of government should be. Most of us do at least. That is not to impugn the viture of state run healthcare as it is practiced elsewhere. I know Krezack in particular is guilty of this but many non US posters here look at the US and wonder "why aren't they more like us?" We are the product of our history. If you really want to understand why the US is how it is I highly reccomend this book: http://www.amazon.com/5000-Year-Leap-Mirac...0994&sr=8-1

     

    I know you were joking about the civil war part and while I do believe a break up of the US is certainly probable at some future point, I very seriously doubt there will ever be another civil war.

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