Guard Dog

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.

Buckethead...if they continue to bill you, tell them to shove it up their ass. They accepted your contract under the accepted conditions. If there is an error, it is typically weighted against the contract writer ( as they are expectd to know what they are doing ). If they continue to bill you, protest the billing with you credit card as fraud as they are billing you but not providing you with the agreed upon service. They broke the service agreement, not you. You simply acted as the agent required you to do so. If there is a flaw in the transaction, it is upon the 'agent' to correct the problem not you! This is law. If some slack-jawed piece of crap decides to push the issue, remind them of the Magnisun Loss Act in which case in which case all legal fees will be religated to the looser of the law suit as it is a 'specific performanance' loss. In a nutshell...If you buy a refrigerator, it is not unreaseonable ( sp? ) to expect it to behave as a refrigerator for a reasonable amount of time, reguardless of what the warranty states. Your contract was accepted by a recognised agent of the service provider and it woud be reasonable to expect that they hold up their end of the agreement as they are the professionals. They accepted your contract under the information supplied and in is reasonable to expect that their agent 'had a clue' as to what was required to fullfill the requirements, NOT YOU! They are the profionals ( WTF!!!! Sp? ) and and expected to know how to write a contract. One of the nice thing about the Magisun Loss Act is the legal fees are covered in the suit IF you win. Your legum will know this. If the maggots threaten to mark you credit with an unpaid contract agreement, tell them that you will will file against them with a 'Slander of Credit' with the Federal Trade Commission ( and be ready to do so.). It could get ugly at this point but contact me if you need to and I will let know how to do so as I am in the process of the with my daughter ( and you better believe I am a viscious, knife-in-the-ear, son-of-a-bitch where my daughter is concerned!!! ). Good advice for rattling someone on the phone. It won't work with some one on the other side who knows what they are doing. I've never heard of the Magisun Loss Act and a google turned up nada. The short answer is if the contract states "Thou shalt pay at least X$ no matter what" you really don't have a leg to stand on. However, US law will not help Krezack much I'm afraid, I believe he is in Austrailia. Krezack, I doubt they will continue to bill you. Most contracts have out clauses for both parties. If you wished to terminate a cell service contract early there is usually an agreed upon fee based on how long you have been in the contract spelled out. If the cell company subsidized a phone they would ask you to pay for it (pro-rated value). If THEY terminate it, as in your case, they will probably ask for the phone back. I would get your contract out and read it over and see exactly what their and your responsibilities are. Since the contact is not being terminated due to any faliure to comply with terms on your part (as in non-payment) you will probablt not have a very hard time with them.

I took off work early today and saw I Am Legend. Very well done, but could have been done a little better. It was obvious some things were cut out. I can't wait to see the Director's Cut. This was definitely the best of the three movie adaptations.

Dragon Age, Total War: Empires, more NWN2 goodness, Fallout 3. I think I'm good with 2008.

The restoration team has a restoration team?! This...this...madness must STOP! Good luck guys, I'm curious to see what you come up with.

Season 3 is not out in the US or UK or Europe and there is no idea when or if it ever will be. Fortunately there is such a thing a ebay. I shopped victoriously.

Oblivion again. New chartacter, concept and strategy. This time I will finish. Yes indeed. THIS time. I will get to the end. I won't get sick of it half way through. Yep, this is the run through I finally complete. Mhmmm. this it. yes I know I said that before, but this time...

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13 Denver at Houston 8:15 p.m. TEXANS (Better defense with both teams about the sam otherwise) SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15 Cincinnati at San Francisco 8:15 p.m. BENGALS (It's the Futility Bowl!) SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16 Seattle at Carolina 1 p.m. SEAHAWKS (No strong feelings on this game but picking against Seattle has burned me before) Buffalo at Cleveland 1 p.m. BROWNS (Cleveland has the inside track to the last AFC wildcard) Tennessee at Kansas City 1 p.m. TITANS (KC is already planning for the draft) Baltimore at Miami 1 p.m. DOLPHINS (Relief at last!) NY Jets at New England 1 p.m. PATRIOTS (Not this week) Arizona at New Orleans 1 p.m. SAINTS (NO wants it more) Jacksonville at Pittsburgh 1 p.m. JAGS (Jags lock up at least a Wildcard with a win) Green Bay at St. Louis 1 p.m. PACKERS (Rams have no shot here) Atlanta at Tampa Bay 1 p.m. BUCCANEERS (Bucs win the division here, Atlants is in total disarray) Indianapolis at Oakland 4:05 p.m. RAIDERS (I've got a gut feeling about this one) Philadelphia at Dallas 4:15 p.m. COWBOYS (Philly is done) Detroit at San Diego 4:15 p.m. CHARGERS (The Lions may be out of contention before this game kicks off. Bolts clinch with a Denver loss) Washington at NY Giants 8:15 p.m. GIANTS (Giants are healthy again) MONDAY, DECEMBER 17 Chicago at Minnesota 8:30 p.m. VIKINGS (Bears are too banged up)

In South Florida we call that "Pulling a Saban".

I'm a little surprisd about Petrino. But it does fit the trend of the exodus of coaches who left college jobs for the NFL quitting to return to the college ranks.