Iron Crotch

The NYSE is the world's largest stock exchange by a huge margin. It's about twice as big as the second largest, which is NASDAQ. It isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The Shanghai exchange is growing fast though (currently 5th or 6th biggest). Not sure what Singapore has to do with anything... BTW - stocks actually tend to perform better when a Democratic president is in office. Since 1900, the S&P 500 gained an average of 8.4% annually during all the years the U.S. had a Democratic president, compared with an average 5.3% gain for Republican presidents. And corporate earnings grew by an average 16.6% a year, compared with 4.2% under Republican administrations. It defies conventional logic, but the empirics are what they are.

I don't see today's Republican party as being fiscally conservative at all. If we look at the ~$3.6 billion in yearly Federal spending, defense spending comprises a bigger percentage of the total outlay than ALL other sources of discretionary spending combined (not including social security, medicare/medicaid, interest on the debt, and mandatory spending programs). And the current Republican platform is to INCREASE defense spending while again cutting or maintaining Bush-era tax cuts that we can't afford. IMHO, the Libertarians are the only ones who really want to cut spending in a consistent, across-the-board manner. With the 5 presidents we've had since 1980, all but Clinton left office with bigger national debts than when they started. The Reagan administration was perhaps the worst offender as it started the current debt-train. We're all of a sudden now worried about debt? And Obama is entirely to blame? Yet, this unchecked borrowing and spending has been going on for 30+ years regardless of which party controlled the White House, and which controlled congress (with the exception of what the Clinton administration was able to achieve). From my perspective - admittedly I'm a microeconomist and not as knowledgeable about macroeconomics - I don't see much from either party to make me believe we're not just going to keep racking up more debt and raising the debt ceiling for the next 30 years. Every decision is made for political gain and the long-term best interest of the country is ignored. Meanwhile the rank-and-file just fall in line with the typical party rhetoric that is spewed forth by the usual talking heads. And, the partisan bickering above pretty much illustrates that point. I've decided that party platforms are a great evil because they take away the free will of an elected official to decide what he/she believes, what his/her constituency believes, independently of outside influence. I'm all for voting in every Independent that runs... heck I'd support Libertarian and Green candidates... anything to break this two party mess. But realistically it'll take some powerful financial backing to make that happen...

There is some research that suggests that armed citizens are more likely to hesitate in using deadly force compared to criminal or the police. Who knows if this is true, but it does make some sense to me...

This thread is like a bad highway wreck... Terrible, but at the same time you can't look away!

I post over there every once in a great while. But IMHO, TBD is a cesspool of mouthbreathing idiots for the most part... yet strangely, some really brilliant posters are mixed in with them. (Maybe the rare moments of brilliance over there come courtesy of SabreSpacers?) :P

The Preds were top-10 in the NHL (8th) in scoring last year. They are as balanced as any team in the league scoring-wise, so that may be why there is a perception that they lack firepower.

The Preds signed 33 year old Scott Hannan for 1 year, $1 million. Seems like a bargain for a guy who has played more games than any other NHL defenseman over the last decade. He's no Ryan Suter, but a reasonable depth signing.

Saw Jim Gaffigan last night. Does that count as a concert?

...this thread still going? No Shane Doan news to discuss I take it? :P

I don't mind Ryan as a person, he has "the look" and is a good family man and everything... and I like that he is a Catholic given all the evangelical types that have been paraded through the Republican party lately... but the theme of his very conservative economic plan will scare a lot of people, especially seniors: cut the hell out of all programs except defense and lower taxes. It's like deja vu all over again - the standard far-right economic mantra that has been a tough sell over the past 30 years and still is. Hard for me to believe this move does much to convince those in the center and/or those undecided to move toward Romney. Although I personally believe we need to mess with Medicare/Medicaid, about 100 million people rely on these programs. Very dangerous to propose massive changes when seniors vote in a larger % than younger folks. And, I always laugh at the "rallying the base" argument. As if any conservative was going to vote for Obama (and any leftie was going to vote for Romney). The base knew who they were going to vote for long ago. My personal issue is his budget plan would cut spending on programs that support academic research, such as the National Institutes of Health, and would make several changes to the federal student-aid programs. It also calls for a complete spending cut for the National Endowment for the Humanities. I'll bow out now because politics/religion and message boards are generally a bad mix (although the conversation on this board is always unusually civil - one reason why I love SabreSpace).

Catalina Ponor! http://sphotos-a.xx....001651950_n.jpg

She was like a punch drunk boxer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=5NP8y63Ms4o

Smart ass. :P One of these "rumors" was Rob Brindamour's wife as I recall...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4KTebUT6Mw

I seem to recall rumor #2 coming out of Philly every time a player gets traded. Didn't we hear this about Eric Lindross? Others? I call "b.s." on that one.

Speculation from an Oilers blogger: http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Richard-Cloutier/An-OilersSabres-Deal-Ill-Take-a-Stab-at-It/131/45999 (Gagner & Eager for Sekera & change)

Nope. I was shocked, however, that Ek was on the media conference call with Shea Weber a couple of weeks ago (after the Preds retained Shea). He even asked a question or two. Apparently someone considers Eklund to be "press."

I've stayed out of this conversation since I was uncharacteristically vocal in the last shooting thread. However, if you are so inclined: http://www.wearebetterthanthis.org/

Love Opeth. They've been around for a long time... they were one of the biggest heavy bands in Europe for years before they caught on in America more recently. Saw them live in Germany once and it was an AMAZING show!

Sunn O))) strikes me as more theatrical (performance artists?) than muscial... almost unlistenable, except in small doses. A better version of tuned down and slow but heavy IMHO is Crowbar's old stuff from the '90s. (my all-time favorite band!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfcEAd22gPo&feature=fvwrel

In the "holy crap" category: Joe Finley was a 1st round pick (of the Washington Capitals) in 2005!

Yeah, this guy is actually WORSE that Eklund. I blocked him on twitter long ago. He is not a "source." There is so much misinformation on twitter these days, unless I see something from multiple outlets, I have a hard time believing it. Supposedly the "trade talks" for Shea Weber were actually teams calling the Preds and saying "what would it take to get Weber?" ...not exactly "trade talks."

I believe you! :P

I'm a little hazy on my Buffalo geography, but this would be across Scott St. from the new Courtyard Marriott that is going in?