Texsox

:begood I picked up a cake for you

A gun doesn't care if you accidentaly discharge A gun doesn't care if you look at other guns A gun doesn't care if you don't ask for directions A gun never kept you waiting, while it "got ready" A gun never takes you shoe shopping

Any acts of terrorism in the US for his first 10 months in office will be the fault of George W. Bush. I assume everyone who is blaming Clinton for 9/11 will agree with this statement.

Damn Constitution. We need to rip that damn thing up and let Nuke run the world. Nuke_Gingrich would you like to explain why Clinton did not want to take Bin Laden? IIRC you have excused GOP administrations for supporting Bin Laden and giving him weapons, but then condemn Clinton for following the constitution and not arresting Bin Laden when the US had no legal justification to do so. Who should Bush arrest today because he might commit a crime in 2006? If Kerry wins, does he get a free pass on any terrorist attackes his first 9 months in office? Can we blame Bush for those? Do you support the US Constitution or not?

Did we have enough men to fight WW1? Did we have enough men to fight WW2? Did we have enough men to fight Korea? Did we have enough men to fight Viet Nam? No. We had to add men after the war broke out. What should our staffing be? Do we have the correct staffing now or is Bush weakening us. How big of a tax increase will the American public support to hire more military in times of peace? What if the Chinese come at us in 2007, do we have enough staffing? Last year our budget was just at 2 Trillion dollars. Why don't we ask the military how much they want, give it to them, and then use the rest for the CIA, FBI, Social Security, etc.? ANything less than giving them 100% of what they want is weakening America and by golly we do not want that. I fondly recall the Reagan years when he promised us a peace dividend. All those savings on the military after the cold war ended. All the savings in personnel by going to high tech, and unmanned weapons. I guess those didn't pan out also. We can never have enough military might in times of war. We can never afford to pay for them in times of peace. Although maybe cutting military pay 25% so we can hire more people is the answer. It would make our military competively priced with other militaries.

We're at yellow aren't we? As long as we have that nice color coded system I feel so much safer.

s***, can't we be happy and wait for trouble before thinking about it. Damn, so much negativity around here Sox2004

Hmm, I've had a pussy or two I would like to clone Seriously, try this on for size. Some wealthy geek gets a locket of hair from the worlds sexiest female and asks a company to clone her.

really, I missed that. Too bad in a two party system one side has to defend whatever their leadership says and they have to attack the other whenever possible. Perhaps if we started demanding our leaders work together we may get something done. For example us Texans elected Kay Bailey Hutchinson we should demand that she works well with whomever CW and SS2K4 elect in their states. If they try and pass the buck, pass it right back to them.

Wouldn't Grilli be in position to be given a couple starts if Sho fails. The question is how long do you give any of these guys?

Somewhere I read The Cubs only win today, to make losing tomorrow, all the more painfull. I love that.

We will see how the switch to the #4 spot does for Frank. I have a feeling he will be in more situations that may have him swinging for RBIs and not homeruns. Still, I'm on the Frank bandwagon so far this spring. I hope his on the field accomplishments will equal his new, and slightly amazing, off the field accomplishments.

Makes me proud to be a Republican. The party that allows it's members to speak freely.

He already is. You have to really buy into justice for all to mount a defense. I do agree that in the US we need strong defense attorneys. When someone is convicted, I sleep better knowing there is almost zero chance they are innocent. That only occures when we have active defense attorneys. But I couldn't work on his team. Not in a million years.

The middle class pays roughly 25% and the highest bracket is 35%. Based on availability of tax breaks and the unique nature of a top executives compensation package they rarely pay the full 35%. 2003 brackets With a 2,000,000,000,000 budget and a population of 300,000,000 for the upper 10% to pay 90% of the budget they each would have to pay over $600,000 in taxes and earn 2,000,000 annually. I agree that a graduated tax rate may not be best. I've always thought a simple system with zero deductions that taxed all your income over the national poverty level would be fair. Stop setting a higher rate and offering tax breaks. As much as I loved the bonus each year when they stop taking out social security, it always seemed unfair that we start at zero and end higher. But that's just social security. Not federal taxes.

This was in response to Nuke_Cleveland So we agree that the military was not mothballed and the CIA continued to do it's job.

Mem’ries, Like the corners of my mind Misty water-colored memories Of the way we were Scattered pictures, Of the smiles we left behind Smiles we gave to one another For the way we were Can it be that it was all so simple then? Or has time re-written every line? If we had the chance to do it all again Tell me, would we? could we? Mem’ries, may be beautiful and yet What’s too painful to remember We simply choose to forget So it’s the laughter We will remember Whenever we remember... The way we were... The way we were...

I sat through some s***ty Bulls teams in the 70s and 80s, but this one has to be in the bottom 5. Is the season ticket waiting list still at 65,000 names Isn't it time for the NBA to rig the lottery so Chicago gets back on track. AKA Nicks getting Ewing

I don't remember the GOP claiming we needed Carter in the White House to help release the hostages. I think it is a mistake to allow our elected leaders to pass the buck to the other party. There are too many politicians willing to take credit for everything and none of the blame. We have to hold every elected official responsible. Did the GOP campaign on a platform of "well Clinton is the President and there isn't anything we can do? Bush was only in office for 9 months prior to 9/11. Did he need Clinton to stay and read the reports to him? 9/11 was not the first attack on US soil, hell it wasn't the first attack on the WTC. Where were all our leaders? Where was the US people?

Go Astros! They added a couple arms in the off season and should be competitive. I just wish they hadn't taken such a hit in the bullpen.

Nuke, are there any laws you believe in?

Nuke, We have to demand leaders who will work together. It was EVERYONES fauilt. Was the GOP just sitting there with their thumbs up their ass? I voted for two GOP senators to go to Washington and work. What the hell were they doing? If they were not going to do anything then why the hell did they run? I thought they had a hand in the budget process. Since only the Dems were responsible for this did the GOP at least get the hell out of the way if they didn't want to help; or did they actively try and make Cinton look bad? I can't believe you do not think our elected representatives have any responsibility in this. Mothballs the military? You guys were just sitting around reading Playboy? What the hell was the military doing? Do they stop working when a Democrat is elected. I thought they had some pride. Instead it was "Nope, we can't do anything, he cut our budget 5% and won't fund any new stuff so we are defenseless and cannot do a damn thing." Any soldier, any CIA agent, any FBI agent who will stop doing their jobs if Kerry is elected should be tried for treason. Using your logic the Dems should not be blamed for anything that happens while Bush is President? All the lawyers and all the Presidents men could not find a LEGAL reason to hold him. Too bad some people actually believe in our constitution. Do you think Clinton did not want to make a major arrest and divert some of the attention from the Impeachment hearings? How many people should we arrest now because they might commit a crime in 5 years?

I have a great deal of respect for our weapons developers. We have set a standard around the world. I believe it s wrong to describe anyone who objects to a piece of military spending as weak on defense. Just like it is wrong to describe anyone who objects to a child welfare bill being branded as wanting to starve babies. I would rather everyone has great body armour than everyone having good body armour so a General's pal can be the supplier.

Yet corporate profits are up, at least accoding to the White House. The biggest reason is US Corporations have a moral obligation to their share holders to bring them the highest return on their investment. We could drop minimum wage down to $2 and compete with China. Nuke, how about we cut military benefits so we can fund more programs? Do you really need all these forward medical units? Insurance benefits are not even close to what they were ten or twenty years ago. Businesses in the 1980s used expensive benefits packages to lure top talent to their firms. These are not government mandated benefits. It was all about competing for employees. In Mexico medium size companies and large are required, by law, to employ a Doctor in their facility whenever they have more than 75 (maybe changed in three years) or more employees on the floor. They are required by law to offer transportation or transportation benefits for all their employees. They are required to offer a free meal to every employee. The amount of benefits easily exceeds their salaries. Yet businesses are still moving to Mexico. It is the standard of living that people are willing to accept. In the US we demand indoor plumbing and waste water management. Many homes in Mexico do not have that. Many streets in poor neighborhoods are dirt and flood into the houses when it rains. The US is unwilling to accept that. Only a small percentage of laborers in Mexico can afford cars. Public transportation is a way of life. We do not have a decent public trans system in the suburbs because everyone owns a car. We cannot, nor should we try and compete based on absolute lowest cost of labor. We will lose. Nuke, if our military was a US corporation, what would you think of the argument that we are paying you guys too much in salary and benefits and will begin to employ the Chinese or Mexicans in your capacity? Really, aren't you the highest paid military in the world?

Spending money on the Osprey doesn't solve the problem either. Not every item in the Defense budget is critical to our safety. It would be nice to spend a couple trillion dollars per year on defense, but we can't afford everything. My biggest objection is do not go cheap on the stuff we do have, to fund more stuff. Do not cut back on training, pay raises, and comfort items to fund some boon doggle that a General's pal proposes.