Guard Dog

I seriously doubt it will be Edwards. Obamas whole message is "change" and trotting out a tired and continual candidate like Edwards only undermines that. Elections are like chess games, you have to think tactics. He has lost to Hillary in both the northeast and southwest so his weaknesses are there. He will choose a running mate from one of those two areas. He is a Senator so his running mate will probably not be (A senator-senator combo has not won in over 100 years) so we are down to a US Rep, Governor, or political icon not in office. He will not concern himself with ideology since this is a "democrat year" so he will feel comfortable choosing another liberal. Since he is young he will probably take someone older with real stage presence. My guesses are: Bill Richardson, Wesley Clark, Tom Vislak, or possibly Michael Bloomberg (that would be a bold choice).

This was just awful. I was listening to this game on the radio, really sacry stuff. At least Zednik will be alright. Hockey can be a really f-----g danerous sport. Zednik Stable after Freak Injury

Too funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvQNu7QnQtY Not as funny as the last two Kelverin found, but still pretty good.

Sand.... umm.... Ok look, I usually enjoy debating with you and you are a smart guy even if you do post things that are a little nutty sometimes. But this entire post demonstrates a total lack of understanding of how the US Government works, how the US Economy works, and what the two have to do with each other. You also draw a line connecting the war in Iraq to the current economic problems when there simply is not one. I have a homework assignment for you. Pick up a current copy of US News and World Report, and The Wall Street Journal, or Forbes Magazine and the Washington Times and read both of them front to back. Then come back and reread your post. You'll realize whats wrong with it. I'd post here whats wrong with it but it would be long, off topic and begin with the phrase "What is Economics?"* *That is the first line of "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell, one of the most brilliant men of our time. I highly reccomend reading it to anyone with a higher than room tempreture IQ.

Just for laughs!

Romney has pulled out of the Republican race. He endorsed McCain. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/07/rom...aign/index.html That means 2 things: 1) McCain no longer needs to make an aliiance with Huckabee so the Hucksters shot at being the VP has just been reduced to zero. Thats a good thing. 2) McCain can now begin to focus on the national race right away wheras Hillary and Obama still need expend a ton of blood and treasure fighting each other. That race is so tight it may go all the way to the convention and no matter who wins the losers supporters will be pissed off. And the winner will be facing Mccain who had a 3 month head start and will have more money. This makes McCain the most likely candidate to become the 44th President of the United States. There is a labored truisim in American politics, "Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line." You will begin the hear conservative criticisim of McCain fall mute.

Like what? We are wandering OT here but I'm really curious what you are driving at.

Teeth, Wall Street (although it is inaccurate in the extreme to refer to is as an actual entity) IS completely private. In the United States companies are ALL privately owned. Either by single owners, board of directors, employees, or stock holders. The federal government has VERY limited constitutional powers in regulating private business and it sounds like what you are calling for is expansion of government power beyond constitutional bounds. That is very dangerous road to go down. Or are you calling for the nationalization of private business? That my friend is communisim.

....... I'm speechless. Have you ever heard the phrase "cutting off your nose to spite your face"?

I still trade e-mails with some people I worked with back when I was involved in politics. One of them just stepped down at the treasurer of the Republican Party of Florida. He thinks (based on the buzz in Talahassee) the McCain running mate will be either former US Rep JC Watts from OK or Charlie Crist the Governor of Florida. JC Watts is an interesting choice. He is fiscally very conservative, almost libertarian. But socially he is more along McCain's mold. But he has been out of politics for a few years now so I doubt they will go that way, or that he would even be interested. I really like the man though, I'd vote for him alone. Charlie Crist makes a ton of sense. He is a very popular southern governor that is ideologically VERY much like McCain. He has created a real bi-partisan coalition in Florida and has succeeded in everything he has tried to do so far. I would hate to see him go but he would make an outstanding VP and would be a solid choice for President in 2016 if they win this year. And if they come up short he would be well positioned for 2012.

I found this picture in an old back up disk from two computers back. I thought you guys might get a kick out of it. I was a Panthers Season Ticket holder from 1999-2004 and I got to go to the All-Star Game in 2003. I took this during the national anthems. BTW, Panthers 8 Leafs 0. How about that!

Hillary is what we call a "machine politician". She will not go "Rambo" believe me. However, she will give this country a double barreled gut shot blast of big government that will certainly begin with massive tax increases. She will increase not only the scope and power of the federal government (that is a bad thing in the US) she will exponentially increase it's rate of growth. That will only accelerate the current trend of major corporations leaving the US for foreign shores because it has simply become too expensive and difficult to operate here. She will not consider privatization of any public service no matter how inefficiently it is run by government. She has shown utter disdain for the military and the men and women who serve in it, and she will ransack it's funding much like Bill did. At the same time she will not want to be perceived as "weak" so she will keep up the same operational schedule and tempo. In the judiciary she thinks Ruth Bader Ginsberg (who was HER choice, not Bills) is the ideal supreme court justice. So she will appoint judges who (like her) have utterly zero respect for the Constitution in both letter and intent. In short, a Hillary presidency would be an utter nightmare, the worst of all possible scenarios. Couple that with a democratic congress and I might have to move to Canada because the taxes will be less and they will have more personal freedom. Obama is Jimmy Carter take 2. People are comparing him to Kennedy but that makes no sense to me. Kennedy believed in strong national defense, measured confrontation is foreign policy, and smaller government intrusion in business. That is NOT Obama. He is a big government liberal who thinks all problems are solved by raising taxes and throwing money at it no matter how wasteful it is. In foreign policy he has said we would 1) Pull out of Iraq now no matter the consequences. That will of course leaves another war to fight 10 years later just like the gulf war did. 2) Negotiate with Iran and Al Qaeda (as if that were possible). 3) "Take our allies to task" were his exact words. He has even mentioned attacking Pakistan. So he wants to attack allies and make nice with sworn enemies? Yes, sounds like Carter to me. He has little business experience and will make at best an ineffective domestic policy executive. Since he is not a "machine politician" he may actually create some meaningful policy and reforms and he will not galvanize a natural opposition to everything he does like Hillary will. In the judiciary I expect him to show little regard to the Constitution and appoint judges in the mold of John Paul Stevens and David Souter. For the Republicans the primaries are now essentially over. Romney, well, he was a good candidate but after today he's done. Huckabee is a potential running mate for McCain but he's going nowhere by himself. And thats good because he has disguised himself as some kind of "southern preacher/politician/prophet" come to save the country from itself. He talks like a political conservative but he certainly did not govern Arkansas that way. I find people like him extremely disingenuous and I thin he's make a terrible president. McCain is the lesser of all evils. He is pretty moderate in all areas except national defense. He is a big proponent of developing and expanding defensive technologies such as missile defense systems. I believe he would reduce the size of the military while at the same time upgrade the weaponry and technology and move more in the direction of unmanned systems. Bush and Clinton before him believed defense spending was mainly Boots, Beans, and Bullets. That was true in the 20th Century but not now I think. In the judiciary he says he will appoint constructionists and points to John Roberts as his ideal so I like that about him. He will expand the scope and power of the Federal government and has shown a disturbing attitude towards the Constitution, particularly the 1st and 4th amendment issues like wire tapping and campaign finance reforms. But he would not be near so harmful as Obama or Hillary would. In domestic policy I believe he will increase personal income takes, that is a bad thing but he will moderate by reducing corporate taxes which will help keep unemployment and overall consumer costs a little lower than a Dem would. McCain is not a GREAT choice but given the current field, he is the BEST choice. I'm voting for him

I'd think if such a thing were possible any change would happen instantly, the very moment a time jump happened. Heck the very act of sending someone through time cannot help but change the future from the point they appeared. No matter what they do they will effect some change that may seem small in the present tense but make unknowable changes in the future. That was the premise to Ray Brabury's The Sound of Thunder. But of course it is impossible. I think Stephen Hawking said it best, if time travel were possible they would already be here telling us about it.

Actually, if you really want to start poking at the whole concept let's look at the first movie: Event 1: Skynet has a time machine, they are losing the war. They send terminator back in time to kill JC. Event 2: Shortly after resistance wins, finds time machine and sends someone back in time to stop teminator. Why did they bother? If time did not change the instant the terminator went back it's obvious he blew it and there would be no need to save anyone. And if he did kill Conner, none of the resistance or machines would ever know about it anyway. The whole concept is a little screwy no matter how you look at it.

Kudos Tale, that is one of the most intelligent posts I've read here in quite a while. A few years ago I did a design project for a site in the Micosooke Reservation in west Miami-Dade county. The property manager out there and I got to talking about that very subject. He said something to the effect "I'm not an indian, I was born in Florida, not India. I'm a Micosooke." So I guess the answer to Fengs question is to move to India. At least you can say hello to Ros once you get there!

Link: Article If Croc wrestling ever bcomes an olympic sport you know the Aussies will own it. it will make up for not getting any marksmanship medals! The part I like best is the victim was shot after the croc let go. But he will be ok so it's funny.

Can't say i disagree with you GDM. It's not nice to speak ill of the dead but there are some folks we are probably better off without them around. This was one of them.

Link: Link You know, based on that last sentence I could swear he posted on this board.

Based on the reccomendations of Musopticon (and others) I picked up a copy of China Mieville's The Scar. If it's good I'll send you a 6 pack of Flying Dog. If it's bad I'll send you something else! Something else.

I was making a joke Pop, I thought that was obvious.

Slug when I first read this I laughed because I thought you were blending sarcasam and drama. Then I realized you were serious. I was going to post something to repudiate you until I realized the Mexicans have owned Mexico for almost 200 years and they haven't exactly turned it into a paradise. So...

Reading A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffet. Unlike most of his other stuff this is not a long winded version of one of his songs. It is a pretty good story. Just started The Wild Within by Paul Rezendes. This book was seriously overated so far but I'll stick with it.

You (and Pop, WITHTEETH, and others) have posted a number of time about how dumb the current admin is, and how dumb Bush in particular is. But at the same time you think he is capable of the most devious and subtle of Machiavellian plots. Hmmm. Sounds like a logical disconnect to me. But cynicisim does fit you like a second skin.

Link:http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/12/28/hollywo...s.ap/index.html I guess this comes as no surprise to me as a well written/excecuted/produced computer game is vastly more entertaining than any dreck TV series theses days. But since I only watch Football, Hockey, Baseball, Discovery and National Geographic anyway this writers strike hasn't impacted me in the least anyway. I spent more time on NWN2 & Oblivion last year than watching network TV I think. Now if only we can get a few more well written/excecuted/produced computer games!

Glad to see one good review. I hate all this "Oh Will Smith is ruining classics!!" I happen to be a very big Will Smith fan and I think he's a great guy and a good actor. I thought I Robot was a decent action flick and I was really hoping this one turned out good as well. I also want to read the book too since I heard its good but the movie is quite different. Not too sure how I'll like the cgi but w/e Will Smiths body looks awesome in this one and I mean that in a totally hetero I'm jealous of how lean and sculpted he is. I can't think of a single actor who could have done that part better than Smith did. He was front center for 98% of the movie, and only the dog gets as much camera time as he did. It takes a lot of gravitas to pull that off and he did it very well. My only complaints with this movie were: None of that detracts much from the story. The tension this movie builds is incredible. It is similar to 28 days but better.