jasonxctf

"we've still got terrorists living here in the USA.. the big CIA, the Blood's the Cryp's and the KKK"

or maybe those were BS excuses of why he didn't earn the promotion?

I always laughed when I heard people say that Bush won with a mandate. Sorry buddy, when 49% of the Country picked someone else... you didn't win a Mandate. It's going to be an interesting second term for GWB. WASHINGTON — Despite a clear-cut reelection and the prospect of lasting GOP dominance in Congress, President Bush (news - web sites) prepares to start his second term with the lowest approval ratings of any just-elected sitting president in half a century, according to new surveys. That distinction, which pollsters and analysts blame on public discontent over the war in Iraq (news - web sites), comes as Bush begins drafting two major speeches that could quickly recast his image: an inaugural address Jan. 20 and the State of the Union soon after. Bracketed between them is the Jan. 30 election in Iraq, another milestone that could affect public impressions of Bush. His performance in those speeches and the outcome of the Iraqi vote could determine whether Bush regains the momentum from his Nov. 2 election victory in time to push through controversial initiatives such as revamping Social Security (news - web sites), rewriting the tax code, limiting lawsuits and trimming the budget deficit, analysts said. A Gallup survey conducted for CNN and USA Today puts Bush's approval rating at 49% — close to his preelection numbers. That's 10 to 20 points lower than every elected sitting president at this stage since just after World War II, according to Gallup, which has been tabulating such data since Harry S. Truman won a full term in 1948. Bush's Gallup rating echoed a survey published last week by ABC News and the Washington Post, which put his approval rating at 48%. That poll also found that 56% of Americans believed the Iraq war was not worth fighting. Time magazine also put Bush's overall approval at 49%.

whoops my bad. FA Signings not trades. Sorry.

im going to say Mike Sirotka for David Wells. I know Wells didnt have a good year, but how many IP has Mike thrown since the trade?

the spin last night was amazing on this. All of the Conservative Commentators decided to talk about how great it was that our military could engage in a conversation like this with a cabinet member rather than talking about why after nearly 3 years, the soliders still don't have what they need.

As Principal Skinner would say... "Welcome to Dick Cheney's America"

I agree with Kid Gleason here SS2K4. It's sad the guy died, however that doesnt mean that we shouldn't report the truth about his death. It was a nice story about him dying for his country, it's a sad story hearing the truth about how he really died.

Report of Tillman's death describes friendly fire horror Sunday, December 5, 2004 Posted: 9:55 PM EST (0255 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- The last minutes of Pat Tillman's life were a horror of misdirected machine-gun fire and signals to firing colleagues that were misunderstood as hostile acts, according to an account published Sunday of the death of the NFL player-turned-soldier. It took the Army a month to change the record to show that Tillman, the Arizona Cardinals defensive back who gave up a $3.6 million contract to become an Army Ranger, was killed last April not by Afghan guerrillas but by his Ranger colleagues. Even then, the statement by Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger Jr., head of the Army's Special Operations Command, gave few specifics of the corporal's death and implied that he was trying to suppress enemy fire when he "probably died as a result of friendly fire." The Washington Post on Sunday, in the first article of a two-part series, published what it described as the first full telling of how and why Tillman died. The newspaper said it had access to "dozens of witness statements, e-mails, investigation findings, logbooks, maps and photographs." A series of mishaps and missteps began the chain of events that resulted in Tillman's death in eastern Afghanistan, the newspaper said. A Humvee broke down, which led to the splitting up of his platoon. The segment of the platoon with Tillman, Serial One, passed through a canyon and was near its north rim. The other segment, Serial Two, changed its plans because of poor roads and followed the same route into the canyon. It came under fire from Afghan Taliban fighters. Men in Serial One heard an explosion that preceded the attack, and Tillman and two other fire team leaders were ordered to head toward the attackers, the Post said. The canyon's walls prevented them from radioing their positions to their colleagues, just as Serial Two had not radioed its change in plans. Tillman's group moved toward the north-south ridge to face the canyon, and Tillman took another Ranger and an Afghan ally down the slope. "As they pulled alongside the ridge, the gunners poured an undisciplined barrage of hundreds of rounds into the area Tillman and other members of Serial One had taken up positions," the Post said Army investigators concluded. It said the gunner handling the platoon's only .50-caliber machine gun fired every round he had. The first to die was the Afghan, whom the Americans in the canyon mistook for a Taliban fighter. Under fire, Tillman and almost a dozen others on the ridge "shouted, they waved their arms, and they screamed some more," the Post said. "Then Tillman 'came up with the idea to let a smoke grenade go.' As its thick smoke unfurled, 'This stopped the friendly contact for a few moments,"' a Ranger was quoted as saying. Assuming the friendly fire had stopped, the Ranger said, he and his comrades emerged and talked with each other, the Post reported. "Suddenly, he saw the attacking Humvee move into 'a better position to fire on us.' He heard a new machine gun burst and hit the ground, praying, as Pat Tillman fell," the Post reported. The Ranger said Tillman had repeatedly screamed out his name and shouted for the shooting to stop, the Post said. He and others waved their arms, only attracting more fire. Tillman was shot repeatedly by rifles, finally succumbing to the machine gun. Early in the firing, the Post said, the driver of one of the Serial Two vehicles pulled out of the canyon and recognized the parked U.S. Army vehicles in front of him. "The driver shouted twice: 'We have friendlies on top!' ... Then he yelled several more times to cease fire, he recalled. "'No one heard me."' The second part of the Post series, published on the newspaper's Web site Sunday night, tells of "a broader Army effort to manage the uncomfortable facts of Pat Tillman's death." "Commemorations of Tillman's courage and sacrifice offered contrasting images of honorable service, undisturbed by questions about possible command or battlefield mistakes," the Post reported. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, told the Post, "You may have at least a subconscious desire here to portray the situation in the best light, which may not have been totally justified." Mary Tillman told the Post that when she learned friendly fire had killed her son: "I was upset about it, but I thought, 'Well, accidents happen.' Then when I found out that it was because of huge negligence at places along the way -- you have time to process that and you really get annoyed." Eventually, one member of Tillman's platoon received formal administrative charges; four others, including an officer, were discharged from the Rangers but not from the Army; and two additional officers were reprimanded, Lt. Col. Hans Bush, chief of public affairs for the Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, told the Post.

it must be that liberal bias that kept the ads off the air.

this question is somewhat misleading. Since Mitsubishi Mirage's are assembled in Normal, Illinois are these cars coming from the USA or from Japan? by the way, most GM Cars are assembled in Mexico anyway. Check the label on your driver's side door.

England because I love my 1980 Triumph TR7!!! Too bad it's broken down in my garage right now.

Rangers sign Machado to minor league contract November 30, 2004 ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Catcher Robert Machado agreed Tuesday to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers and was invited to spring training as a non-roster player. Machado, 31, appeared in four games with Baltimore last season and has a .237 average with 10 home runs and 58 RBI in 220 major league games.

the end of the month, means sombering news with regards to the US invasion of Iraq. In total, 1,121 soldiers have died since we invaded the country on 3/20/03. We have been fighting the war for nearly 620 days. With an average US casulty loss of about 2 people per day. June- 42 Died July- 54 Died August- 65 Died September- 80 Died October- 63 Died November- 135 Died I ask this question... is it really getting better or are we down a Vietnam-like path where this will continue for years to come.

on a side note... Swiss Voters OK Stem Cell Research Law By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer GENEVA - Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a law allowing stem cell research Sunday, rejecting a hard-line campaign that compared researchers to the Nazis' "angel of death," Dr. Josef Mengele. Some 66.4 percent of those polled — or 1.1 million voters — approved the law passed by the government last December. The law will take effect in March. Opponents had called the referendum to try to overturn the legislation, even though it sets stricter limitations on research than exist elsewhere in Europe. The Swiss bill only allows the use of embryonic stem cells left over from in-vitro fertilization. Embryonic stem cells form in the days after fertilization and can turn into any tissue of the body. Many researchers believe stem cells harvested from embryos could be used to regenerate nerve tissue or cure diseases, including Alzheimer's. But extracting stem cells from an embryo kills the embryo, which opponents say is tantamount to taking a life. In the United States, President Bush (news - web sites) has approved federal funding of embryonic stem cell research for only the 78 stem cell lines in existence on Aug. 9, 2001. At last count, less than two dozen of those lines are still available. The government said the law will permit Switzerland — which has major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies — to take part in vital research. The opposition alliance, which included Roman Catholics and Protestants as well as left-wing and green groups, said the defeat was a setback for scientific ethics. "In a few years, we will be voting on therapeutic cloning," said Pascale Steck of the referendum committee. One opponent organization, Familiaplus, distributed a petition titled "No to Dr. Nazi Mengele," a reference to the doctor who conducted infamous human experiments at the Auschwitz death camp during World War II. The government said the law strictly prohibits human cloning or the creation of embryos for stem-cell research and stressed the restrictions on the research, which include a requirement for the written consent of the parents, the approval of an ethics committee and the Swiss Health Ministry for each research project. European nations that permit stem cell research include Sweden, Finland, Greece and the Netherlands. Britain allows the creation of human embryos for stem cell procurement.

Russert hands down.

sh*t Fox News simply pales in comparison to The Springfield Daily Shopper. (think Simpsons) Shutton: Uh, Dave Shutton, Springfield Daily Shopper. Who are you? Where are you going? Kent: Oh, do your research, Shutton! Uh, Kent Brockman, Channel Six News. How does it feel to be accused of the attempted murder of your boss and mentor? Smithers: Kent, I...I feel about as low as Madonna when she found out she missed Tailhook. Kent: Oh. I'm going to say "Ouch" for Madonna!

all I know is that if our tax money is going to pay for BS projects (see an earlier topic post by me http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26464 ) then our tax money should go to helping develop this awesome scientific technology.

Budget includes funds for shrimp, fertilizer and rock Wednesday, November 24, 2004 Posted: 11:10 AM EST (1610 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- Austerity in big-ticket government programs hasn't dulled lawmakers' appetite for special interest spending items that curry favor back home. The spending plan awaiting President Bush's signature is packed with them, doling out $4 million for an Alabama fertilizer development center, $1 million each for a Norwegian American Foundation in Seattle and a "Wild American Shrimp Initiative," and more -- much more. Despite soaring deficits, lawmakers who approved the $388 billion package last weekend set plenty of money aside for home-district projects like these, knowing they sow goodwill among special interests and voters. They also raised the ire of Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a pork-barrel critic who took to the Senate floor to ask whether shrimp are so unruly and lacking initiative that the government must spend $1 million on them. "Why does the U.S. taxpayer need to fund this 'no shrimp left behind' act?" he asked. Among items in the package: $335,000 to protect North Dakota's sunflowers from blackbirds, $2.3 million for an animal waste management research lab in Bowling Green, Kentucky, $50,000 to control wild hogs in Missouri, and $443,000 to develop salmon-fortified baby food. Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, won dozens of special items for his state -- enough to fill 20 press releases. In one aimed at northern Alabama, Shelby took credit for the $4 million budgeted for the International Fertilizer Development Center. "In addition to the important research conducted at this facility, the facility employs numerous Muscle Shoals-area residents," he noted. Government watchdog Frank Clemente contends such special spending -- often based more on a lawmaker's clout on appropriations committees than on objective factors such as a state's population -- winds up costing even those who win a new road, park or research project. "I think that's the biggest unfortunate thing about these special earmarks -- they eat up billions of dollars," said Clemente, spokesman for Public Citizen. "Meanwhile they're cutting billions of dollars for environmental programs, or education programs or cops on the beat or what have you. That's kind of the unintended effect or the secret effect of these programs." The time-honored practice flourished despite the ballooning national debt, less money for federal programs and rising concern about how government will finance the futures of Medicare and Social Security. When Bush first took office, he vowed to cut pet projects from the federal budget, but the president has yet to veto a single spending bill. He is expected to sign the new plan as well. Within hours of the spending bill's passage, lawmakers were touting the projects they brought home to constituents -- a reminder that in federal budgets what is derided as pork-barrel spending by one constituency can be embraced by another as local assistance. Missouri Republican Sens. Kit Bond and Jim Talent and Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson on Monday announced federal money for three-dozen projects in southern Missouri, including $50,000 for wild-hog control. Ohio Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Democrat, and Steven LaTourette, a Republican, boasted about $350,000 for music education programs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Nicole Williams, a spokeswoman for Tubbs Jones, said another lawmaker requested the money but Tubbs Jones supported it. With a deficit in Cleveland's public school system and music education among the programs getting cut, the museum aid could benefit the city as a whole, Williams said. Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens claimed credit for channeling federal money to the state's salmon industry, including money to research use of salmon as a base for baby food. "The goal is to increase the market for salmon by encouraging the production of more 'value-added' salmon products," Murkowski's office said. Michigan's two Democratic senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, let it be known they had won $4 million for an environmentally friendly public transportation system in Traverse City. Many of the special items that made the cut were promoted by lobbyists hired by interest groups, companies or communities to convince lawmakers money was needed for their projects. "No, a bike trail in X, Y, Z part of the country doesn't benefit the country as a whole, but the people in that district or community [also] put their money into the pot," said Jim Albertine, a lobbyist who successfully pressed for research and development money for the superconductor industry. The targeted spending was so prolific that McCain had no problem filling a half-hour speech with examples. The shrimp program really stuck in his craw. "I am hoping that the appropriators could explain to me why we need $1 million for this -- are American shrimp unruly and lacking initiative?" he asked. McCain's query went unanswered, in part because spending documents don't identify who proposed each item or why.

here's the easiest way to explain it. Let's use US Dollar versus Canadian Dollar as an example. If the US Dollar is strong versus the Canadian Dollar (let's say $1-$1.50) this means that every dollar exchanged would equal $1.50 Canadian. If the US Dollar is weak versus the Canadian Dollar (let's say $1-$1.10) this means that every dollar exchanged would equal $1.10 Canadian. Now, with a strong US Dollar, one could purchase items from Canada cheaper (basically with less US Dollars) than one could with a weak US Dollar. In return with a strong US Dollar, Canadians pay more for US products and with a weak US Dollar, Canadians pay less for US products. The main problem our nation is facing with weak US currency is tied to us importing more than we are exporting. (Trade Deficit) So with a weak US Dollar our trade deficit grows because our money isn't as highly valued and thus forces us to pay more for foreign items. (Cars, electronics, etc) We as consumers indirectly pay more with weak US Currency because importers/exporters as well as manufacturers and retailers jack up the price on these goods to make up for the weak currency rate. The flip side is that with a weak US Dollar, products made in the USA are cheaper for foreign consumers. This might spike demand for our products, but with a weaker dollar, once these foreign monies are converted... revenue dips.

Free Throws, Free Throws, Free Throws. I hope UIC learns a lesson from tonight. We can play with anybody, but to beat them.. we need to do the little things. Awesome game. I hope we play this well versus Duke and DePaul later this season.

just thought I'd let you all know that I had the honor of attending a wake this weekend for a 25 year old Marine who recently died in Iraq. He was a White Sox fan.

i saw it, and it was a very good movie.

:sleep Maybe they'll be another "Girls in underwear playing football" pay per view event.