Texsox

Well we are really silencing those Minny fans who believe we cannot win the big games To everyone who felt it was THomas' fault, we've eliminated that argument. Gee maybe we are missing Thomas and Maggs?

Let's use the analogy of driving down the center stripe of a road. The stripe is marked 50. How far can one man, one party truly sway what the US is doing? In my lifetime I have watched every President since Nixon and I just do not see the US moving to either side a huge amount. We bump it a little bit one way or another but you cannot move a mamoth entity like the us very far off the course it is heading.

Kap your numbers are very misleading. Individuals with 100,000 income have many more deductions, 401Ks, homes, investments, etc. which lowers there tax bite. 5% of the taxpayers pay 1/2 the taxes? US population is roughly 300,000,000. 5% would be 15,000,000. Our 2005 budget is 2.4 Trillion. That's a lot of money per person. Do you have a reference to your numbers? I used the CBO and CIA Census. Do we want the America that the poorest among us can afford? Shall we collect the same from everyone and have roads that are equal to Mexico's? Shall we have water and sewer systems equal to Guatamala? We are all able to enjoy a first class existance because people who have greater resources pay more. It is easy to argue that anytime one American pays more than another, regardless of income, it is unfair. But then we live in the American based on the tax bill of the poorest among us. If we then decide that we want a better America, then someone will be paying more.

I spent some time on the Twins message board and shared a couple emails with a high school friend who I noticed lived in Minnesota. Universally they view the Sox as weak in desire. They believe if the race is close, we will find a way to lose. They believe Mark wins easy games and is no better than a 4 or 5 starter in pressure games. No fire, no desire, no killer instinct. They are worried that Oz may change that for a while. Basically they took the second most talented team the past two seasons and out played us.

Sorry, I missed answering this. Nuke, I believe we have a representative government and as such WE are the government. Did we elect anyone who was touting this war on terrorism? The few times Clinton mentioned it, it was denounced as the tail wagging the dog. The GOP certainly didn't want to mention it, they had too much on their hands with Whitewater, Monica, Jones, etc. The Dems couldn't, because they were too busy defending Clinton and his escapades. While we were spending our time and energy on impeachment proceedings we got a little distracted. Perhaps if both parties were keeping their eye on our interests, this wouldn't have happened.

The foreign agent thing is an interesting quandry. When we recruit bad guys, they turn on us. Remember Hussain, Bin Laden, Norega? All former US agents. On one end how can we hire someone who is breaking US law and human rights then fight a war against a country for human rights violations? There is no easy answer, without these bad guys, we cannot infiltrate these organizations. Nuke, check your civics notes. The President approves or vetos budgets. He does not have carte blanche to cut any budgets. Being fair, I also do not blame Bush for the spending spree we are on. It worked for Reagan. Come on, spend, spend, spend deficits are good according to the GOP. It fosters growth. What happened to the "Peace Dividend" that the GOP promised us in the 1980s after the fall of the Soviet Union? I thought the long range goal was to spend on increased military, weapons, intelligence and after the Soviet Union fell we could decrease the spending. At least that's what the GOP was peddling back in the Reagan/Bush era.

Governments should be in the business of providing services that are best, or most effeciently done on a large scale. Buying a hook and ladder truck to protect your home is probably a mistake, unless you own the most successful White Sox fan site. A town buying one makes sense. Setting policies and laws that protect or benefit the majority is probably a good idea. Pollution laws come to mind, mandatory innoculations and immunizations are examples. We have done some amazing things in this past century as a nation, through our government. We have the safest interstate highway system, the safest food and water, the safest work places, we treat the less fortunate in our society better than anyone, we have wiped out a couple diseases from the planet, and many more things. All through our collective efforts, funneled through our government. If we privatize then you and I lose control over what happens, we give control over to some business owner who may or may not have public service in his heart. The roads don't get plowed, fire the mayor. The private contractor doesn't plow the roads, keep giving him contracts if he's low bidder.

THis series will not make or break either team's seasons. We have 6 more games with them in the final two weeks, that's going to be the make or break time.

We all love pork if the money is spent in our district, that is all too true. Some research is necessary, some is seemingly a waste. Some necessary leads to waste some waste becomes a necessity. Imagine injecting a disease into someone so they do not get the disease. Crazy research. Only an idiot would have spent money researching that. And what about these tiny things called germs? Yeah right we all know spirits are what make us sick. All in all every politician likes to spend money, that is what they do. I have become a Dem fan because they at least will tell me they are having to raise taxes to afford some of this stuff, the GOP tells me they can cut their income and increase spending. Do that every year for 100 years and tell me how things look.

The private sector has not shown any ability in the past decade to manage this sort of thing in the public's best interest. How about the Enron department of Energy? Private business have an obligation to turn a profit. IMHO any "waste" that the public employees may cause will be less than the profits that a private company would take.

Trial examines role of dashboard electronics

Regarding the 1993 WTC bombing: It should have been enough. Did you join hands with your neighbors and sign God Bless America? Did you rush out to buy an American flag? Did you adorn your car with I love America bumper stickers? Did you head to your house of worship to pray for our country? Most of us did not, including our government. We were about the last major country on the planet to feel terrorism at our front door.

Any of these scenarios are far fetched at best, but how about he figured out how to hack into the Jeopardy computers and download the questions? He still had to get past the local qualifying, etc.

Killer Bees!!

What is Wrigley Field!

The final Jeopard Answer is this image. . .

If only they could attract bigger crowds, they would have the money to repair the relic.

I haven't noticed any change, the usual strange mix. He doesn't seem to have any glaring weakness.

Cubs order net to catch falling Wrigley chunks

Rolling on the floor, laughing my ass off. green = sarcasm and fat ass refers to no one I tell you, no one. especially not Steff

I've been thinking the same thing. With all the laws and regulations, I just cannot see anyone cheating on that scale, for so many weeks.

Much of those spending stories are misleading. We manuafcture military items to very specific tolerances and for very specific reasons. The $1000 coffee pot was specially shielded and constructed to emit zero emmissions that could be detected. On a spy plane that flys for 20 hours at a time, coffee and concealment seem like good ideas. I do not want our Troops going into battle with Coleman equipment we bought from Wal*Mart. If we are going to send our fellow Americans into harms way, I want them using the top of the line stuff, the truly best stuff that money can buy.

I have to go with Maggs by the slightest of margins. The edge being his defense.

At least with Bush we got that nice color coded system of terror levels that even Bush could understand. Hey, hey this is cool, maybe we could let the public see it too. Imma certain everyone is as confused as myself . . .

We don't call them prisons in Texas, they are more like half way houses, as in half way to old sparky in Hunstville. Prisoner benefits are a tough call. Too little and the population is tough to control, too much and the public, rightfully, is pissed. Sometimes a year or two to sit around, read a few books, make like 19,000 posts, seems kind of appealing.