Texsox

BTW, local angle for me. The Executive Producer and Director graduated from my children's High School.

It is interesting the number of people who have made up their minds before reading any of the debates.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 08:15 AM) "The last time I checked, the first six letters of Christmas still spell out Christ," Braoudakis told the AP. "It's tantamount to celebrating Lincoln's birthday without talking about Abraham Lincoln." We also shouldn't celebrate Independence Day because some citizens are of English birth or ancestry and they will be offended.

QUOTE(FriendsofPAforPresident @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 11:14 PM) Hooray for PA! From the Urban Dictionary 1. sock puppet 34 up, 2 down An account made on an internet message board, by a person who already has an account, for the purpose of posting more-or-less anonymously. by Ian Maxwell Mar 14, 2003 email it permalink: del.icio.us Send to a friend your email: their email: send me the word of the day (it's free) 2. sock puppet 24 up, 1 down 1: A fake personality, usually a 'friend' or 'sister,' created by a drama queen/king for the sake of defending him/herself against others in an online forum. 2: Someone who might be an actual person but behaves like the above, defending someone who really deserves no defense. After mskyootie44 left the board in a snit, she made a sock puppet claiming to be her sister that told us we should all be ashamed of how mean we were because mskyootie was cutting herself in the bathroom. You know, just sayin'

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 10:04 PM) so what are you going to do with the people who refuse to work? put them in jail? what constitutes a legit "service" option? how about working at "family planning" or for a "pro-life" campaign with ties to a religious institution? the idea doesn't work any many levels, one of them being logistical. oh, and the Kennedy quote is great, but he meant it as a suggestion and way to live, not as a mandate. Your Quote: i don't think the government should have authoratitive power to forcefully mandate service to the coutry unless there is a relevant and immediate threat to the survival of the country. Kennedy's quote: Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. Which is the better suggestion? Which is better for our country?

I really dislike repeating myself so often is this forum. Allow me to summarize. We have forgotten why we pay taxes. We pay taxes to run the government. To provide the goods and services that allow millions of people, spread out over millions of acres, to live in safety and security with a high standard of living. President Reagan, who I have a lot of respect for, found the perfect strategy to be wildly popular. Give the elected leaders all the money they want to fund programs and return home a hero, and also give the taxpayers back some money in their taxes. Who wouldn't want free stuff? Problem is we eventually have to pay all this back with interest. Spending goes unchecked when no one has to pay for things. Truly lower taxes comes from lower government spending, not increased borrowing. Lower government spending comes from making the leadership responsible for how they are spending the money. Only through a balanced budget is that accountability realized. I favor a simplification of our personal income tax system. It should not take a trained accountant to file the average Americans personal income tax.

LCR, as a teacher I am certain you have noticed with mergers and acquisitions the reduction in the number of text book publishers that are available to you. Further, with large states, (re: customer for text books) specifically Texas and California, mandating the material that must be contained, we are rapidly establishing a national standard even without standardized tests. A local school board may impose all the standards they like, however, without the resources for a teacher to use, the situation becomes one of frustration for teachers, students, and parents. So I believe a national standard is inevitable. So the question becomes who we would prefer to establish this standard. The writers and editorial board at Prentice-Hall, or via the government? I believe we need to recognize this fact and build within that a system that allows local influences as well. What I would like to talk about more than anything in education is the hijacking of all a child's education and placing that at the feet of the schools. We have allowed the schools to be the final arbitrator and resource for teaching our children. We have removed the parent from the equation. The schools should be considered one of the tools that parents use to teach their children. Allow me to elaborate. I place the parents at the top of the pyramid in raising their children. They alone have final responsibility to deliver their child to adulthood. Asking the schools to teach everything from spelling to morality is wrong. Every child is home schooled. Let me say that again so it is clear. Every child is home schooled. They learn more from watching the adults around them then sitting in a classroom. Parents contract out to others the education opportunities in areas they are unfamiliar and which amplified. Our public school system does an admirable job in teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and all the traditional subjects. We need to give them the time and resources to teach these subjects. We should not make them responsible to be teaching your child morality, ethics, and other basics of life. The parents need to take responsibility for that training. If they need to find help in those areas, much like they do with schools, that is fine as well. Parents need to then find organizations that reflect their family values. That could be through their religion or character based youth activities like sport leagues, karate, Awanas, Boy and Girl Scouts, YMCA, Indian Guides, etc. But let us not ask our nation's pubic schools to take that responsibility as well.

Yesterday I joined with two platoons from a local High School ROTC program to pick up trash and rebuild a shoreline along South Padre Island's Southern tip. Four times a year I join with a McAllen Boy Scout Troop on an Adopt-A-Highway Clean up project. I have built and maintained miles of wilderness trails in National and State Parks. I have helped build and clean urban parks. I am presently growing mangroves to be used in a spoil bank erosion project along the intercoastal waterway in South Texas. Our ancestors have blessed us with a great network of open spaces. From small urban playgrounds to the vast vistas of Big Bend National Park, Americans have an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. I value these living museums the same way the curators at the Smithsonian value our collections there. We have been entrusted with these national treasures that need to be maintained for all future generations. We are also entrusted with the resources that these parks contain. Allowing the harvest of renewable resources in these parks is good land management. We must not dramatically alter the eco-system in the pursuit of monetary gain, and especially momentary monetary gain. However, we also must not ignore their value. Fishing, hunting, grazing, mineral, commercial guiding, and many other activities can be safely conducted with-in the parks. This is also a great time to renew our nation's commitment to the environment. In 1970 I was a 6th grader at Beach School in Illinois. I remember well the activities we did to promote the first Earth Day. We need to once again promote the stewardship which sparked that first Earth Day. We need to take pride in our open spaces.

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 07:08 AM) FEEEEEEEEEEEEVER DAWWWWWWWWWWWWG.... Scratchin' at my back doooooooooooor. Now bring us some friggin' pudding

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Nov 20, 2006 -> 05:25 PM) i don't think the government should have authoratitive power to forcefully mandate service to the coutry unless there is a relevant and immediate threat to the survival of the country. "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." I believe that with the benefits of living in this country should come a debt. Like others in this thread, as long as there is a non-military option, like Americorps, I would be in favor of it. We have too many people who believe they can take and take without giving back. One of the saddest changes in my lifetime is "community service" is no longer a noble thing, something to be proud of, instead it is a punishment handed out for misdemeanor crimes.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Nov 27, 2006 -> 11:03 PM) After reviewing the platforms several times, I am suprised at the many places I agree in part or whole with the lot of you. Especially Rex. However, in the areas I disagree, there is a wide gap. And I disagree with the whole group of you on rebuilding NO. Not going to get into thathere, justI don't think the government should be doing it. At the moment I am torm between Tex and Northside.If I can come up with something to differentiate between you two for me, I'llbe sure to let you know. If only our real elections were this 'clean', eh? It's all about marketing in the real world. Of course there are fundamental differences between the parties but there is far more natural overlap but it gets artificially beaten out by party politics. The best analogy is Coke and Pepsi. They use basically the same ingredients, in basically the same amounts, and then try to make it seem like they are totally different drinks. With politics in this country, and I find it amusing that tics are in the word, we start with an almost universal truth. Most humans want security, physical and financial. They want this for themselves and future generations. The difference really come in on how that is accomplished. For some, following a religious doctrine is important, others is a strong military. For me, I see financial as being the biggest worry. We have stopped thinking in terms of paying taxes to run the country and now think in terms of not paying taxes to stimulate the economy. The thinking is if we can just owe China and the rest of the world enough money, we will grow the economy and pay them back, plus interest, and have all this cool stuff. It's a politicians wet dream. Let me give you all these cool programs and, best of all, someone else will pay for it later. Evil, I doubt you run your company this way, and it's a poor way to run the country. If we need a new social program, expanded Social Security, or to fight a war, come to the American public and tell them we are raising taxes to pay for it. Then we'll really discover what is and isn't important. And back to your original comment, it would be this clean in the real world, if the elections were between two people, instead they are between two huge groups of people and in the process of creating a homogeneous message from those groups, and in creating campaign talking points, issues were divided up like cards in a Texas Hold 'Em Game.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 27, 2006 -> 11:31 PM) To be fair though, Michael Stipe is one hell of a mumbler. Hold me closer, Tony Danza

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 06:03 AM) Happy Fists? I'll take a nice pop culture reference with a twist

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Nov 27, 2006 -> 10:32 PM) wait... If I hopped a SW flight tomorrow I could just sit wherever? You will receive a boarding pass number based on when you arrive for your flight. When your number is called, board the flight and take any seat. My personal favorite is the second row (first facing forward) window, There will be a 6" ledge against the side for you to stretch out and put your feet. There will be someone facing you, but will be better looking, so it's all good.

Let's pee in the corner, Let's pee in the spotlight.

Getting in late,. Happy Birthday!!

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Nov 26, 2006 -> 09:27 PM) my f***ing roommate snores like a pregnant walrus.... i cant wait to move. I thought you would have a non-f***ing roommate. BTW, how do you know what a pregnant walrus snores like?

I can see many places where Foxx would not be a hypocrite in this I can do it, but you can't scenario. Red can call Eric a dumbass, but would probably object if Bob called Eric a dumbass. In the throes of passion, you could possibly call your wife a slut but may have a problem if PA did. I have a friend that refers to himself as a dumb Pollock, but I am certain would be hurt if I did in a certain may. A certain way. Here is another factor, the same words can be used in many ways. As noted earlier, Richards was probably using those words to hurt. Foxx can use it and it's almost like a secret password with the people that share that same race. Someone outside the group uses the same word, it can have an entirely different meaning and an entirely different reaction. I don't see hypocrisy with Foxx. I see someone trying to gather some publicity, maybe a little "street cred" before jumping in his Mercedes, but not hypocrisy.

QUOTE(Rooftop Shots @ Nov 25, 2006 -> 07:45 PM) And little early Buehrle came to spring training very early, and said "Last year my pitches needed a guide!!" Another genius of rock poetry

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Nov 25, 2006 -> 04:01 PM) Who puts up their dukes anymore? vs. I love the sweet jazz sounds myself . . .

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 24, 2006 -> 10:17 PM) He should have just tasered their asses. That would have been funny, he's not funny

interesting story.

I'm coming out, I'm a lesbian. I don't even need to ask. Seems kind of silly to me to care who someone is having sex with.

Sell Outs all over Texas. The McAllen High Bulldog game sold over 5,000 tickets in a couple hours.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews....xml&src=rss In U.S., women go wild for hunting