Peter

How were the Stones and the other bands last night? I got home too late last night and missed it.

I hear that they are going to wear their throwbacks from their first year in the league.

As I am preparing to go to Buffalo tomorrow to see my family and attend the home opener, I am listening to Sirius radio and am listening to "Truckin'." What a great song to get me ramped up for the trip. Truckin’ got my chips cashed in. keep truckin’, like the do-dah man Together, more or less in line, just keep truckin’ on. Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on main street. Chicago, new york, detroit and it’s all on the same street. Your typical city involved in a typical daydream Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings. Dallas, got a soft machine; houston, too close to new orleans; New york’s got the ways and means; but just won’t let you be, oh no. Most of the cast that you meet on the streets speak of true love, Most of the time they’re sittin’ and cryin’ at home. One of these days they know they better get goin’ Out of the door and down on the streets all alone. Truckin’, like the do-dah man. once told me you’ve got to play your hand Sometimes your cards ain’t worth a dime, if you don’t lay’em down, Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me; Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been. What in the world ever became of sweet jane? She lost her sparkle, you know she isn’t the same Livin’ on reds, vitamin c, and cocaine, All a friend can say is ain’t it a shame? Truckin’, up to Buffalo. been thinkin’, you got to mellow slow Takes time, you pick a place to go, and just keep truckin’ on. Sittin’ and starin’ out of the hotel window. Got a tip they’re gonna kick the door in again I’d like to get some sleep before I travel, But if you got a warrant, I guess you’re gonna come in. Busted, down on bourbon street, set up, like a bowlin’ pin. Knocked down, it get’s to wearin’ thin. they just won’t let you be, oh no. You’re sick of hangin’ around and you’d like to travel; Get tired of travelin’ and you want to settle down. I guess they can’t revoke your soul for tryin’, Get out of the door and light out and look all around. Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me; Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been. Truckin’, I’m a goin’ home. whoa whoa baby, back where I belong, Back home, sit down and patch my bones, and get back truckin’ on. Hey now get back truckin’ home.

I always have hated the Cowpokes since I was a little kid. I always hated the America's team thing. I never have particularly liked the whole Texas thing. (I am changing my mind on that given the response of Texas and Texans in the wake of Katrina however). Having said all that, I wish Drew all the best. He is a class guy, and I think that he is going to prove many on this board and in the front office wrong. As long as it does not effect the Bills' season and rankings, I hope that Drew does well. I also have a ton of respect for Parcells. As for PP, the guy showed in Atlanta what most us knew about him when he played for the Bills. I personally think that the Bills handed over the keys to the car too soon. Having said all that, I think that JP has a lot of talent and seems like a good guy. I hope that he kicks ass this season.

As long as it is not the Dolphins . . . .

I am flying up from Miami.

This string is pretty funny. I remember someone posting Drew Bledsoe's QB rating from the first preseason game. Somehow it was relevant regarding Drew. Perhaps it was one of the guys who has posted in this string. In any event, the regular season is going to tell the story. I personally think that we gave up on Drew too early. I will be supporting JP because he is the Bills' QB and seems like a good guy. Yet, based on what I have seen thus far, I have some concerns. He certainly has the ability. The question is whether he is ready now as opposed to later. At this point, he is the guy. We will know more on Sunday. It is going to be interesting to see how he responds to a full house of screaming Bills fans in a very important regular season game. For those of you going on and on about how great his performance was against Detroit, I really don't see it. I just hope that he has got it out of his system. Go Bills.

Talk is cheap. ND/Miami was one of the best rivalries in the country. It is a shame ND took the Canes off the schedule. It was a great game.

Yeah right. Put us back on the schedule again and then we will talk.

It is too bad ND is afraid to play the Canes and dropped them from the schedule.

I am going to reserve judgment on JP until the regular season. We should be able to evaluate him much better at the end of September. I just watched the first half. I would not use this game to give him many props. He has a ways to go. I just hope that he can do it quickly. I am flying to Buffalo for the home opener. It is going to be interesting to see how he and the rest of the team react to a capacity crowd in a regular season game against a team that we should beat and must beat given some of the other games on the schedule.

Comments from some "liberal rags": Washington Times New Hamphire Union Leader

Arrogant ass?!? Very funny. Even Fox is beginning to get the picture regarding the monumental incompetence. So is the Washington Times. You should have seen the McLaughlin Group. John McLaughlin and Pat Buchanan said pretty much the same things I have written. Even Tony Blankley could not defend the woefully incompetent response of the federal government. By your way of thinking, you should also believe that Bush is an arrogant ass after he said that the response was "not acceptable." To put it mildly, the response was "not acceptable." If that makes me an arrogant ass, so be it.

I think that is contrary to what the director of FEMA said last night on Nightline. He said that he had these guys at his disposal. Separate and apart from the National Guard, the federal government has numerous resources at its disposal that it could have deployed earlier. Now that we are getting heat, I think you will see exactly what the federal government is capable of doing for our fellow Americans.

Interesting comment. As far as I am concerned that is one of the principal responsibilities that government has. To take your reasoning a bit further, why does government "bail out" communities with transportation money? Why does government provide disaster assistance in any case? If we are not going to "bail out" our own people, what the hell are we doing in Iraq bailing out the Iraqis?!? We should be "bailing out" our own people long before we even think about "bailing out" anyone else.

Thanks for proving my point. Everyone knew that the current system would not survive such a storm. Yet, we did not do what was necessary to fix it. Moreover, given that we knew (as you have shown and I have posted) that there would be massive flooding with a storm such as this, why did we not react swiftly enough when the storm was still in the Gulf and we knew (or should have known) of the pending devastation. At one time, the storm was even a category 5 as I recall. It is curious that you left this out:

Ok. We f***ed up. Big time. Aren't you embarrassed at all about the depth of our f**k up? We have every right to expect better. It is comical to read the knee jerk posts on this board attempting to defend the indefensible.

Actually, it was pretty bad down here. Until Katrina, Andrew was the worst natural disaster in our history. Somehow, we managed to make sure that people did not die because they lacked the basic necessities. I would like to think that we are a first world country and that we could have responded to the coming storm and its aftermath better than we did. Indeed, if the news media can be there to cover the story, one would think that the federal government with all of its resources could have done an adequate job. By the way, now that you brought up the levees breaking, what do you think about the administration and Congress gutting the Army Corp of Engineer's request for money to help prevent this type of catastrophe in order to pay for the war in Iraq? As I mentioned in a post yesterday, there was a professor on the O'Reilly factor two nights ago who wrote a paper three or four years ago, which stated that what actually happened would in fact happen if NO was ever hit with a category 3 storm or higher. Apparently, this was common knowledge among the experts. Nevertheless, the federal government chose not to take the appropriate actions. Accordingly, we should have known that this would happen and should have done something about it well before this storm. After failing to take the appropriate actions, our federal government should have known the devastation that was going to take place once Katrina became a category 3 storm and should have taken the appropriate actions before and after the storm. We did not. As a result, many many people have and will die. This does not exactly sound like a record about which we can be proud.

I don't recall people dying (anywhere around Miami) because they did not have food, water, or medicine.

About a day or two.

I lived through Hurricane Andrew down here in Miami. At the time, I lived in Coconut Grove. For those of you unfamiliar with the Grove, it has its nice part, which is right next door to a part of the city that is not so safe. George H.W. Bush sent down the National Guard to keep law and order. In fact, there were troops right on my street corner, and I was very happy to have them there. There is absolutely no excuse for looting (especially the looting of electronics etc.) It would be nice to think that there would be no looting in these types of situations, but it is extremely naive of anyone to think there would not be. It is expecially naive to think that hungry people would not become desperate. If my three year old son had to go through what these people are going through, I would do ANYTHING I could to feed him. People are dying of dehydration and not receiving basic items that FEMA is supposed to provide. To argue that the failure to provide security and the basic necessities was not a mistake of monumental proportions is foolish. This is what we should be able to expect and demand of our government in times like these. Otherwise, we should expect anarchy, which is what we have now in New Orleans.

This is a national disaster that cries out for a national response. That is what FEMA is for. That is what the Federal government is for. Bush now is even saying the response was " not acceptable." It was not. We look really stupid. This whole situation looks more like Darfur than the world's only super power.

Very telling time line. If people start making the connection between cutting the Army Corps of Engineer's request and paying for the war in Iraq . . . look out. The support for the war already is dramatically lower than it was.

I was wondering the exact same thing.

Interestingly, there was a professor on the O'Reilly Factor last night who wrote a paper three or four years ago which said that exactly what happened would in fact happen if the Federal government did not undertake the necessary mitigation efforts. He said that we should have learned the same lessons that the Dutch learned after their infamous flooding in the 1950's. Because we did not make the necessary improvements, many many people have and will die. I do not know that we can place blame on one particular administration, but we look pretty stupid right now.