K-9

Truer words were never posted in this forum.

Depends damn well on who is crafting the policy. And you know that. Who was it that taught Dick Cheney that "deficits don't matter?" Blank checks are a staple of neo-con fiscal policy. The problem with the way they do it, is that their checks are written to a concentrated few vs. spreading it around. It's their own private form of stimulus spending but it only trickles down as far as the CEOs and shareholders of the corporations that receive their welfare checks. On a different note, I was wondering how sales of Loy Mauch FatHeads were doing down there? Another Son of the Confederacy to be proud of.

You should try staying at a Holiday Inn Express.

I do have a problem with fundamentalist religious leaders in Iran. As do the majority of Iranian people. Unfortunately, this is what happens when a small minority assumes power of the military and it serves as a good example as to why wing nuts like Broun should be kept as far away from the mechanisms as possible. However, your attempt to goad me into saying we should intervene militarily in Iran because they are beyond reasonable discussion won't work. Ironically though, since it might be one of those events that trigger the Rapture, I'm sure Broun and his ilk would welcome it. Closer to home, there is nothing in your second paragraph I can even find a starting point for discussion on. As to your last paragraph, I am an advocate of having as diverse a set of disciplines and education levels on every committee as possible. The idea that only those with business degrees and big business experience can inform broad macro-economic policies is shortsighted and can be just as dangerous as thinking that only generals should be in charge of the military. You may find that alarming, I find it reassuring.

LA actually wants two NFL teams. Any city with Buffalo's vulnerable ownership situation would have to be worried about losing their team. I think the Chargers are the prime candidates and they would be returning to their original city to boot. GO BILLS!!!

OK, I have to respect the fact that this guy's constituents voted him into office and the fact that he's unopposed for reelection. But he has NO business being on the Congressional Science Committee. He and Akin need to be kicked off that committee. There is simply no room for reasoned debate with people like this on the the panel. It may be of little importance to most, but when lawmakers in a position to affect policies hold beliefs like this, I'm genuinely worried for the rest of us. Fundamentalists not only believe the Rapture is going to happen, there are many that would like to hasten it. I don't want my lawmakers to be among them. I would think it's obvious why that is. http://www.latimes.c...0,4628858.story

When it comes to leadership, you and I are seeing two entirely different teams at the moment. There is a huge vacuum at the moment and it's been painfully obvious, starting from the top. First ingredient to leadership is credibility and I don't know where it's coming from right now. Not from Gailey, who is 3-13 over his last 16. He also has these kinds of blowout losses in his tenure: 34-7, 38-14, 38-14, 34-3, 38-7, 44-7, 35-8. 37-10, 49-21, 48-28, 52-28, 45-3. Not from Fitz and for obvious reasons. When you have a receiver as demonstrably frustrated as his #1 is at the present time, you have problems. Guys have been wide open for a while now and Fitz isn't even missing them HALF the time any more. No credibility at the most important position on the team. Not from ANYBODY on the defense. If leadership was going to take a stand it HAD to be after their FIRST historically bad performance against the Pats. And that leadership immediately went out and spearheaded an even WORSE defensive performance the following week. The leaders on this team have been in that position since Gailey took over. They have a history of folding in the face of adversity by going on extended losing streaks in each of their two previous seasons together. I like your suggestion about the younger guys. In the absence of any credible veteran leadership, they need to take control no matter how uncomfortable it is. Much like when Kelly, Talley, TT and the boys told Smerlas and Devlin to go pound sand. GO BILLS!!!

Don't expect much. After giving up 8 sacks in consecutive weeks against the Phins and Rams, the first priority for AZ is to protect the QB. Look for a TON of max protect schemes. Even the greatest pass rushing teams will have trouble with max protection. Here's the shame of it; even though AZ will only be able to send 3 receivers when they are in max protect, they will have no trouble beating our back 6 or 7 (depending if Wanny blitzes one or not). We saw that last week against the Niners and they don't have a receiver nearly as good as Larry Fitzgerald. And with our OLine hurting and going up a VERY good front 7 in AZ, I don't look for them to win this weekend, either. GO BILLS!!!

Well, it's been a while since the Navy had a turn at the Government welfare tit. Suck on, gentlemen! Ahoy!

Fitz is the entire problem on offense. No debate. End of story. We need a better QB desperately. But as inconsistent as he is, he's not even close to the entire problem on the team. That distinction clearly belongs to the defense as a whole. When you have historically bad record setting performances on defense for two consecutive weeks, there is no debating the issue. This defense has me longing for the days of Harvey Johnson, Kay Stephenson, and Hank Bullough whose teams I remember quite well and whose defenses I thought I'd never see the likes of again. Well, this defense has surpassed those in terms of ineptitude. I'll save you the trouble of arguing that if we had a QB capable of staying on the field and keeping our defense off of it, then our D would be so much better. First and foremost, a defense has to get off the field on their own, all by themselves. If they're tired and rundown, they have themselves to blame before anyone else. Our D is literally our WORST DEFENSE EVER. And if you've seen some of the defenses from years ago that I alluded to above, you'd know how epic that level of suckitude really is. GO BILLS!!!

Haha. I'm completely surprised by this. Biden can be a cartoon at times but he's had some good debate performances in the past. If nothing else, he's got a lot of experience with them. I don't know what kind of debater Ryan is either, but I imagine he will have his numbers lined up. And those numbers are what Romney misrepresented in his debate last week. I'm sure Biden is going to mention Romney a lot as a result. And he can do that without having to worry about looking "vice presidential" because there is really no such thing. If Ryan spends more time defending Romney's flip-flopping and abrupt move to the center, he'll be forced to reveal his own abrupt move to the center as a result. There is an opening for Biden to hammer him with that change in position. Then again, Biden may punch himself in the head, like you said.

LoL. Definitely, that too.

Just heard a blurb in the background, not sure what channel, talking about the upcoming VP debate. I look for Biden to come out swinging and hitting hard on all the inconsistencies Obama couldn't or wouldn't throw back at Romney. Presidents have to look presidential and can't be attack dogs. But VPs on the other hand are made for that job. By tying Romney's plans to Ryan's and citing the stump rhetoric of Romney over the last 18 months, the stage is set for Biden to lay the hammer down. Now, if Biden is seen with a grimace and those long downward stares at his notes, then all bets are off. But I gotta think they've looked at the tape and made corrections. Unlike Dave Wannstadt.

To me, the saddest aspect of American politics is that the best and brightest who used to be attracted to it, will continue to stay away in droves. Public service used to be a noble pursuit. Now it's demonized; from dog catcher to president.

Used to love it whenever Bert would circle behind his net, gain possession, and Ted Darling would exclaim, "...Perreault, winding up in his own end..." I remember the very real adrenaline rush in my stomach, like when Juice got the ball, that he was gonna go end to end and pot one. There has never been a player to come close to that since. For as long as we've lamented our hard luck pursuit of championships, we've been just as lucky to have seen a once in a lifetime talent like him. GO BILLS!!!

I meant to post this earlier when I got to thinking of the dollar ties to oil and Hussein's threat to value it with a different currency. I know I'll get painted as cynical and a conspiracy nut, but it's just too damned coincidental for my tastes. And again, it's why I think Romney will have no problem being convinced we have to invade Iran. http://lewrockwell.c...atusa1.1.1.html Another article I found interesting. http://business.time...ced-in-dollars/

I felt a stirring in my loins reading that about Girgs' hitting ability. 18 years old and not afraid to let the bigger boys know they're in a game. He can't make the big squad fast enough. GO SABRES!!!

It's amazing how quickly we forgot about the Savings and Loan scandals of the late 80s and early 90s. A DIRECT result of our rush to deregulation among other things and a precedent setter for bailing out lending institutions. It always strikes me as ironic the way these staunch vanguards of free market principals don't mind socialistic government when it comes to bailing them out. "Too Big to Fail" is an interesting contradiction in terms to me. As to the dollar, am I wrong in assuming the major reason it hasn't collapsed already is because of it's tie to oil?

Taking care of our own. What a concept. Used to be you could say that, believe that, and devote your life to that ideal without being labeled a socialist. But in this fractured society it's a dying concept. There has been a clear drumbeat of American imperialism as those neo-cons that started out as young bucks in the Nixon White House and who eventually rose to power in the Reagan administration only to be sidelined by a democratic administration (Clinton had to go) seriously started to implement their foreign policy in 2000. This doctrine is an interesting conflation of American ideals like democracy and big business interests. Guys like Wolfowitz, Cheney, and Rumsfeld to name but a few, literally feel it is America's manifest destiny and divine responsibility to spread our form of democracy around the world by opening up free markets through the development of natural resources in those countries. I'm not saying they're bad people. Just people that are convinced their way is the best way. Perhaps going uber-isolationist is the way to go. I don't know. But I really think it's too late for that. That genie loves the wide open spaces outside of the bottle and she ain't going back in there. Natural occurrences and repercussions as various societies evolve will make it impossible I'm afraid.

Talk about turning it on its ear! As to your foreign policy, I think the genie's out of the bottle but I'm convinced the biggest reason we went to war with Iraq was because Hussein threatened to get his oil off the dollar valuation. That may be cynical and some might even think downright conspiratorial, but so be it. And it's that foreign policy aspect of big oil that I won't vote for Romney. I think he's right out of the neo-con playbook and his rhetoric towards Iran has me convinced he can be easily duped into believing Iran poses a real threat to the US that only military intervention can prevent. And the best part is, a war with Iran will pay for itself because we can use their oil profits to cover the costs. Just like neo-con poster child Paul Wolfowitz said about the Iraq war.

Huge factor to be sure. Here's something that won't please our healthcare professionals around here and I apologize in advance. I don't mean to offend. Only to point out a seeming contradiction I've long noticed and I'm not advocating anything. It's just something I think contributes to ever rising costs and it's the entire concept of: For profit health care. There is HUGE downward pressure from shareholders on so many care facilities around the country. How can hospitals turn a profit when they just can't lower costs? Is it just a question of ordering so many costly procedures? The ones that insurance companies often won't cover very much, if at all? Is it just easy as a $20.00 advil? How do they attract the best care givers? And the quality of care has gone down in this country as costs have risen. Yes, at the top you won't find better qualified specialists in their respective fields. But the BEST care is just not available to the masses. What does that REALLY say when you strip it to it's core? But we no longer lead the world in many health categories. Infant mortality rate just being one. I find that worrisome. I swear I'm not a communist. So please, don't anybody go there. Just curious what others think about it, that's all.

Well, healthcare and insurance premiums have been going up for decades and long before 'Obamacare' was even a pipe dream. Why? I'd look to those dynamics before making a link to Obamacare.

Send it. Captures my spirit perfectly. Wish I had the eloquence. GO SABRES!!! (oh, I see you've already gone)

Ross Perot was dead on when he warned of the floodgates NAFTA would open. That "giant sucking sound" is now just ambient noise that nobody pays attention to. But great patriotic American companies have been buying cheap foreign material for far longer. I never felt sorry for the US auto makers when they cried "buy American" when they themselves were importing foreign steel to build their cars and starting manufacturing components over seas and in Canada and Mexico. "Buy American" is something I used to believe in and live by. But it's virtually impossible nowadays.

Assuming Romney didn't hurt himself after that giant leap to the center Wednesday night, there's no reason for me to believe he just won't stay there. He spent the first debate trying to mitigate damage of the "47%" remarks and I look for him to do the same from here on in. It won't matter one bit if Romney says he's now for the the full choice of women to choose, that he's for gay marriage, etc. And it doesn't matter that he'll say the EXACT opposite on the stump at rallies.