Rex Kickass

Not to throw water on this parade, but if our players wanted to win half as bad as some of the Cubs did, we'd have sailed through our division.

The governments that support Al-Qaeda aren't all dead. After all, there is Saudi Arabia, which finally seems to be taking a stand against Al-Qaeda. Pakistan is also at fault... we think Bin Laden is there... and Musharraf is including fundamentalist Islamic parties in his own governing council. Al-Qaeda may not have attacked US on its own soil, but it has attacked soft interests across the globe, including troops in Iraq. Our own government has testified that the network, although damaged, is still capable of catastrophic terror attacks. I won't fault the behavior of George Bush on September 11. However, I will fault him before. George Bush knew of terror threats against the US as early as his inauguration and did little to combat it. In fact on Sept 10, the Bush administration threatened to veto a defense spending bill that would have diverted money from a questionable missile shield to increase anti-terror spending. I will fault Bill Clinton as well. Although he did some things, he didn't do nearly enough. However, in 2000 he did draft a counter terror plan that was not implemented because of impending transition to the Bush administration. The plan was presented to Rice, supposedly of the highest priority from Sandy Berger. The blue ribbon panel that Congress ordered to study the risks a few years ago. Recommendations that came out by the panel in 1999 were ignored by Congress, the Clinton administration and the Bush administration. I know this, not because of any revisionist history article I read, but rather because of an interview with Gary Hart, a member of this panel, on a radio show that I produced in June of 2001. Further, the offer to turn over Osama Bin Laden is an urban myth and never actually happened. However, it is to be noted that two days before the attack on Afghanistan, the Taliban did in fact offer to deliver Bin Laden as well. It may have been a hoax or stalling tactic, but the Bush administration also refused to take delivery. Nuke: A question for you... if another major terror attack happens in the US within the next year, whose fault will it be then?

MSU/UofM is a rivalry game, at least for State. When its at home, you never know what happens. I still think Michigan will win, but MSU is playing well enough to actually get back into a second tier bowl game this year. Much better than I expected.

S.C.I.E.N.C.E. - produced by Dave Grohl. I have that somewhere...

What the hell? I leave Lansing and the Spartans toughen up. I come back to Chicago and the Sox fold. *sigh*

Great. Now lets fire the owners!

Don't worry. I don't have to have it on paper to know that I see it in my line of work everyday. Sometimes a little real life experience is worth more than a lifetime of book data. How many seventh generation welfare moms do you run into? The average welfare mother receives less than 100 dollars a month extra per child, hardly a reason to pop out babies. I'm sure there are people cheating the system, it happens everywhere. I should know, having worked in the real world too. It just seems the people who try to cheat the system more often are more well to do than a welfare mom. Like the mayor of the town where I worked retail, coming in and expecting free stuff. After all, don't you know who she is? Or the cop confiscating drugs and instead of prosecuting the dealer, traffics it himself? Or my State Rep who is also the "HR Director" of a mental health institute and draws a salary for the place he never actually works at? Corruption runs at all levels. And I see it everywhere. Sorry if I'm willing to overlook the mother bilking a couple thousand for the people I see bilking much more on a daily basis. Oh yeah, I'm not in college anymore either.

Psssssssst. There are french military fighting alongside the US in Afghanistan. That aside, this is the army that hasn't won a war since Napoleon. They even lost a war to GREENPEACE!

Dump the Sum 41 and pick up the Descendents. Please. Then you realize the All Killer aint.

Wow. That's completely ignorant. Where are your data on the seventh generation welfare moms? Please? Or are you listening to corporate jet conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who claim to represent the working class between trips to London and Paris, yes even France!, smoking hundred dollar cigars and thousand dollar bottles of wine. Reliable source. Yeah hes such a jerk for enjoying the money he makes right? You jealous f***s are a joke man........instead of calling yourselves liberal, why not just change it to "jealous f***s"? Its more appropriate, no? Hey, all im saying is if there can be limousine liberals, there are plenty of corporate jet conservatives. He acts as if he understands the working class. Well, there isn't much working class about it. His show is a persona, a character that he hides from. He criticizes France, and visits Paris (which, from my experience, is overrated). And why would I be jealous of a man who had to have major surgery to regain his hearing? Pointing out hypocrisy and being jealous are two different things. I'm really jealous of Howard Stern. Now that guy makes some SERIOUS whore money.

Isn't it supposed to rain all weekend?

Wow. That's completely ignorant. Where are your data on the seventh generation welfare moms? Please? Or are you listening to corporate jet conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who claim to represent the working class between trips to London and Paris, yes even France!, smoking hundred dollar cigars and thousand dollar bottles of wine. Reliable source.

Hey, Johnny Park....been a while since I listened to The Colour and the Shape....one of my favs from that disc was "New Way Home" I almost got the chance to "liberate" one of their platinum records for The Color and the Shape at a station I worked at in Kansas. Unfortunately, someone else got there first. All that was left was a good record for Soul Asylum *blech*

I get the feeling Big Frank is here to stay. I doubt we could unload him... he is a veteran, and as a DH he has value. Chicago Tonight had the Sportswriters on yesterday and they were talking about Crede being the guy to build the team around. Having Maggs would be great too, but if we can get someone to take that salary and we fill our defensive and pitching holes... we would be in a better position. The fact is that the Sox sadly were never as good as their hype this year and there are a lot of holes that this ship needs to fill over the winter. Here's to hoping that KW or whoever has that job this winter will get the right people in.

Pharrell feat. Jay-z - Frontin' Panjabi MCs - Jogi Frank Popp Ensemble - Hip Teens Don't Wear Blue Jeans Metallica - St Anger The Raveonettes - That Great Love Sound and you?

er... wait maybe not. http://www.msnbc.com/news/971734.asp?0cv=CA01

Hey the French DID stand up to Greenpeace. Even sank their ship! Of course they lost that war too....... hmmmmm nevermind.

I'd be in the working world, but the Bush administration has been so good at creating jobs that I just can't seem to find one. Oh yeah, this lefty has worked in the real world for the last three and a half years. And if Bush doesn't want the blow job giving intern... I think I have an opening.... IN MY BED!!!! (rimshot) Thanks ladies and gentlemen, I'm here all week... dont forget to tip your waiters!

Defending our country is terrorism huh? RIIIIIIIIGHT. We didn't need commies in our back yard back then and we don't need terrorists blowing up our buildings today. Personally, I think we are justified in everything we have done since 9-11 to combat terrorism. We may not have caught Bin Laden yet, but we will. Meanwhile he is reduced from planning terrorist attacks to making blustering audio tapes & cowering under a rock somewhere afraid to stick his head up more than a few inches above the surface for fear a Hellfire Missile will take it off. Saddam? You saw what happened to his sons & it's only a matter of time before we serve him up on a slab on Fox News for all to see. My only regret is that I'm not still over there to be in on the kill. People like you and the media ramble on & b**** about the casualties we've suffered over in Iraq but the people doing the fighting don't share your views. Nearly all the people I've served with over there and all the folks I've met that are about to go into harms way are not only willing, but EAGER to go and do their part. APU. I shudder to think about what the world would have been like had your ilk been in charge after 9-11. We would have done nothing. NOTHING. Myself and the rest of the military would have been forced to sit idly by while more jets crashed into buildings and thousands more were killed. If your type were in charge then 9-11 would have been only the tip of the iceberg. All these people over there understand is force. They are taught from the time they are toddlers to hate America and to hate our way of life & that is not something that singing koom-ba-f***ing-ya a few times is gonna change. You talk about anti-terrorist measures like the patriot act like they are making the sky fall in. Only a myopic leftist like you would have a problem with Law enforcement finally having the leash removed and be allowed to do their jobs. Had there been a patriot act before 9-11 then 9-11-01 would have been just another Tuesday, two tall buildings would still be standing and a lot of innocent people would still be alive. Oh Lest we forget. Remember 1996? It's not brought up nearly enough, but while Slick Willie was getting sucked off in the oval office Sudan was holding a terrorist by the name of....drum roll please......OSAMA BIN LADEN. What did we do about that? Clinton told them to get f***ed when they asked if we wanted him extradited. Gee, 9-11 could have been prevented before the f***ing planning even got started. Thanks a lot BILL. Finally, I've read a lot of your stuff on here and talked to you a lot on the IM since 9-11 and I still have yet to hear what you would have done different. For a person as eager as you are to trash the Bush White House over it's conduct of the war against terrorism I think it only fair to ask what you would have done different? How would you, Mr. Can't Be Wrong, have dealt with the situation. Can I interject something here? Although I understand the need to defend a country... in fact, I think certain things the Bush administration began to fight the war on Terrorism were wise and well founded, the invasion of Afghanistan, for example. However, the problem lies in what happens after we break things. In this the Bush administration has been a COMPLETE FAILURE. Example #1: We went into Afghanistan and ended a nightmarish totalitarian regime in the name of the Taliban. We liberated several million people, and immediately improved the situation for women in the state. We flushed out Al-Qaeda training camps and chased Bin Laden out of the country and at least put him on the run. Since 2001, the US has propped up Hamid Karzai, a man that is the "President" of Afghanistan, despite the fact that his government only controls most (and not all) of the capital city, Kabul. Unfortunately, because the American governments and the many European coalition partners in this conflict did not take a long term view to this conflict, infrastructure has not been built, aid has been slow to come to this country, terror camps are reopening and anarchy is descending back into Afghanistan. And the situation for Afghan women is, sadly, reverting back to the Burkha and unimaginable repression. George Bush promised his installed leaders of Afghanistan $3 Billion of aid which he promptly forgot to include in his budget offered the following month. We went in and destroyed, but we haven't helped to reconstruct. Example #2: We went into Iraq with the justification that there were grave threats to the American people by a hostile Iraqi government that possessed weapons of mass destruction and is actively producing nuclear weapons. It was also argued that the Iraq government had ties with Al-Qaeda and it was suggested (if not explicitly stated) that there was possibly a connection with September 11, 2001 attack on the WTC in NYC. This was a preemptive strike. It marked a definitive sea change in the way the US fights war, moving to a tactic previously used by Saddam Hussein in 1980 (Iran-Iraq war), Adolf Hitler (1939 invasion of Poland), and other less savory people in the history of the world. It would seem that for the US to consider such an action, the intelligence suggesting this threat would have to be "bulletproof." After all, the US is supposed to hold itself to a higher standards than schoolyard bullies like Hussein, Hitler and Stalin. Unfortunately, much of the intelligence turned out to be false, wrong and incomplete. More than five months after Baghdad fell, the US's own weapons inspection teams have found nearly nothing... and some of the evidence leaking to the media is suggesting that remaining WMD stockpiles were completely destroyed in 1995 and that Saddam Hussein merely intended to hide that information for a tool in brinkmanship negotiations with the US. In turn, although Saddam's regime is decimated and nonexistent, it still is awarded a sort of pyrrhic victory. Why? Every reason to justify moving beyond our active containment policy of Iraq has been disproven. The US is spending between 50 and 100 billion dollars a year to keep the peace in Iraq, and this is only with the most basic reconstruction costs figured in. It was argued in some circles, this would be a cheaper solution to the Iraq problem. The WMD don't appear to be there, although there is a slim, faint hope of its discovery. The Al-Qaeda link is tenuous at best and there is not even consensus within the American intelligence communities that it ever existed. In fact, one story stated that Bin Laden had no interest in working with Iraq. Meanwhile, the Iraqis did not act in the way the US government ever expected. Resentment over the occupation has grown significantly over the last few weeks. Just today, two more bombings in Baghdad. The UN has begun to pull staff out. The US is finding it can't afford to go it alone, but has burned so many bridges that it looks to receive only 10% of the help it expected from other governments financially, even less militarily. Example #3: Perhaps the timing of the Hamas remark is important. It seemed to be released shortly after the speech of George Bush at the UN in which he called yet again for a settlement of the Israeli/Palestinian question in language which seemed to implicitly agree with the Israeli government's stance on removing Arafat, by any means necessary. Although Arafat's contribution to actually maintaining peace in the region is very much in question, the US can not live in an ideological dream world. Israel's isolation of Arafat has backfired and returned Arafat to the height of popularity with his own people from a position of irrelevance just three years ago. He is now a living martyr to his own people and for the US to be dismissive of a legitimate Palestinian leadership in a speech to the UN is not helpful to the war on terror. Nuke, what a lot of people don't seem to understand is that the war on terror is fought on several fronts. Just one of which is military. Just as important is the image war. If the US is cleaning out a swamp but following the bombs with butter and taking care of the aftermath, the US would win the image war. Unfortunately, the US military still hasn't learned that Psy Ops play just as important a role after the battle as before and during. These are what I feel are the main problems with the war on terror. It isn't a matter of bad policy, more a matter of common sense and level headedness, which I don't think the Bush administration has had since January 2002. Sorry about the length, but you know its the college professor in me.

I was a Manuel supporter until this year. If he can't get his team fired up when they're two games away from putting the Twins basically away. He doesn't deserve to manage.

Just a smart ass kid. Who cares? Personally, I'd like to start the Human Club, where all species are welcome to celebrate humanity. That'd be awesome.

I thought the Path trains were running again. I love South Manhattan, Greenwich Village, etc. but I wouldn't wanna live there. This summer I was in Rego Park, Queens and it reminded me so much of some of the middle class neighborhoods on the Northwest side... I think there's good to be had in both cities. But Chicago has Frank Thomas.

Part of the deal when Comiskey II was built was that if the Sox don't pull in a specific attendance target, they don't have to pay rent on the stadium to the city. This year, attendance is approaching 2 million, which means that the Sox will have to pay rent.

Northwestern won 28-10.

this may be the only week where in michigan its better to be a state fan. at least til basketball season.