Dan

I can agree with that... me being special of course. ...and perhaps the rest of it. Most people are stupid. But, why do we have to follow stupid laws for stupid people? You can't legislate our stupid. I've seen plenty of people that can't drive for **** regardless of what they're doing, yet they're still out there driving around. I've had plenty of close calls while driving on my phone; unlike the idiots you mention though, I just drop the phone and grab the wheel - phone be damned.

It's something you see all the time. It's easy for so many of us to rail against the poor people after Katrina saying all they want are handouts and free housing. As though these people are any different than any other individual on the planet. Let beach erosion occur on Long Island and look at how many wealthy people expected the government to help. How many millionaires do everything possible to get out of paying taxes or move their factories wherever they get the cheapest land/labor/and tax rates. How do you attract the soccer mom to the mall... buy one get one free sales. Bottomline is... everyone wants something for nothing; from the wealthiest individual on the planet to the poorest. The real issue shouldn't be that they wanted it.. but should be that we gave it to them. And should the government be giving any residents, rich or poor, free money - in the form of housing or tax breaks or whatever. And if so, what's the most fair and equitable way that promotes our overall growth as a nation and a civil and secure society.

The Seat Belt laws are horrible. A great representation of my civil liberties being infringed upon with legislation that has to be passed because if you're against it you're anti-kid. I'm sure a 5-point seat belt would be safer; why not helmets while you drive; fire retardant suits? All of those would make driving safer if you got in a wreck. If I'm willing to risk putting my life in danger by not wearing a seat belt; I should be allowed that right. It's a stupid law, that I don't abide by (and have paid the fine for on numerous occasions). Cell Phone laws are just about as stupid. How is talking on my cell phone any more distracting that talking to someone in the passenger seat? And I don't buy the idea that one hand is holding the phone. How many people drive with both hands on the wheel at 10 and 2? Few, if any. Again, it's just something that legislators have to pass because if they don't they're deemed insensitive to some dead kid/person. I am just as capable of maintaining control of my vehicle while holding a phone to my ear as I am sipping on a cup of coffee while switching the radio and talking to my buddy in the passenger seat.. just that none of those things are deemed bad. Texting.. yeah I can see that. It's by far one of the more distracting things you can do while driving (I do it), due to the reading and typing involved. However, is it a law that we really need to enact and then spend invaluable resources trying to enforce when there's so many other things we should be spending our law enforcement dollars on. Which brings me to my final point below.... And that is my problem with these checkpoints and traffic stakeouts. How many tax dollars are spent checking to see if I have an insurance card in my vehicle while far more serious criminals are roaming the streets freely. Certainly, I'm sure there are occasions when a checkpoint or traffic stakeout gets a real criminal off the street; but it seems far more successful at stopping people and nickel and diming them for minor offenses than anything else. Why not spend the same amount of time trying to find the guy that's selling drugs to everyone in town, or stealing cars, or breaking into houses, or any other serious crime. I guess it's easier to get me for a faulty tail light or out of date inspection sticker than it is to run down drug dealers and armed robbers. If the intent is to get drunk drivers off the street then set the check point up outside the bars and get the drunks. If you can't do that.. then stop wasting all our time just to make sure we've gotten our insurance cards up to date and actually in my car.

To get this discussion back on track... I offer that NASA is the one that's vindicated. It's been what... a year? and already all the muslims love us and want to be us. Problem solved. These guys drove a car on Mars!... the Middle East was too easy for them.

A couple obscure or lesser thought about ones, perhaps... Modern English - I Melt with You. < John Cougar Mellencamp - Ain't even done with the Night < John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band - On the Dark Side <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgloaS4NGyM> Go Go's - We got the Beat < Prince - Little Red Corvette <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDduqH5cci>

Talk about being damned if you do and damned if ya don't... If Obama refuses to give in and fights to repeal the Bush tax cuts; he's partisan, far left and seen as refusing to work with Republicans. If he compromises and extends the Bush tax cuts; he's a follower that doesn't know how to lead. So, what would you have him do - be a far left-leaning, partisan president or have him try and work with Republicans?

Switch banks and/or credit cards. I haven't seen any increases in my transaction fees. I really dislike the logic that if you do regulate the industry they'll charge you more; therefore, you shouldn't regulate them. Not every bank has increased their fees, my small local bank hasn't. Use your power as a consumer, switch banks and tell them why. If enough people did that the bigger banks would catch on and lower their fees again. But, I guess it's just easier to pay the extra money and complain about it.

So Wall Street returning to form is not progress? GM being back from the brink of bankruptcy is not progress? The problem is Obama, like Bush, used the backs of taxpayers to give these corporations billions upon billions of dollars in an effort to save them. Give the businesses the money and they'll re-invest their profits by making more jobs and we'll all be happy. We'll, these businesses were saved. But, they're not re-investing they're money by hiring more workers and building factories and such here in the US. But, that's always been the problem with "trickle down" economics; yet no one ever seems to call them on it. Now, you want to blame Obama for not magically creating jobs and lowering the cost of everything you might buy as though he's the only one that has a hand in any of this. In fact, the only jobs he can create are government jobs, but if he does that then you blast him for building the size of the government. So, what exactly would you like to see this, or any President, do to actually create jobs? I know, I know he's created an "atmosphere" that's unfavorable for business growth with the health care law and such. I call BS. Corporate taxes are as low as ever. Unemployment taxes are as low as ever. Regulations, across the board, have been loosened over the past decade or more. Yet, corporations still aren't hiring. They're doing what business do.. pocketing the profit and making their shareholders happy. Yet, we all cry that they need even more breaks because we're all certain that that's what it'll take to get them hiring again. All the while neglecting all the breaks they've gotten for the last decade that did nothing but lead to the economic mess that we're currently in.

My guess is the answer depends upon whom you're asking. Wall Street brokers, Bankers, AIG execs, high level execs in the the big three automakers... they all seem to be doing quite a bit better than 2 years ago. I think the issue is... expecting anyone to come in and turn around the worst economic collapse since the great depression and make it all better in 2 years or less is just simply having expectations out of line with reality.

Hamdan ...still... Rocks!

.. that I don't have to wear a seat belt if I don't want to. I'm in no way infringing upon anyone while driving in my car going 70 in the right lane with people passing me and not wearing a seat belt.

Of course.

IMO, yes. There's zero security getting onto trains. Unless there's some "hidden" security that we don't see.

Exactly. If you can no longer use a standard scale to weigh yourself.... you're weight might be getting out of control.

This.. IMO, is a perfect example of the "whatever the Bills do, it's wrong" mentality. The vast majority of Bills' fans have hated the current uniforms since almost day 1. There's not been a season go by where there's not at least a dozen threads, here, started asking why or when we can get rid of them. The new FO office finally does that... and it's a money grab? Why can't it just be seen as the new FO recognizing what we fans know all too well... the uniforms are hideous and need to be changed? Does it help the play on the field? No. But, there have been too many mistakes to count over the last decade. Changing the uniforms was one. The new FO appears to be slowly trying to correct many of those mistakes. Again, I see this as just another indication that Buddy and Co. get it.. they're trying to fix what's been broken. And, yes, the uniforms have been part of that; albeit a small part. I really see no reason to interpret this move in any sort of negative light, at all. Yeah.. we may be a laughing stock; but I'd rather be a laughing stock in a nice dress than a laughing stock in a clown costume. To be honest, you're not the only one here that can't have reasonable discourse. There are a number of posters here (and I suppose everywhere) that post for the sole purpose of being contrary and trying to piss people off. So, you're not special in that regard, unfortunately. Honestly, JW, I appreciate your comments as I appreciate all intelligent, reasonable discussion. So, just put those posters on ignore (or have some fun with them), but if we all let the idiots control the asylum; then all of us that appreciate intelligent, reasonable discussion lose out.

Yes... I fear your "blasts". If that helps you sleep at night, by all means I'm shaking over here. The thought of your stinging rhetoric leaves me chilled. ..whatever. See that's sarcasm. It's kinda like how I might write a post expressing several arguments as to why the high speed train wouldn't work and then end with a ... yeah but what the hell spend the money anyway statement. It's how I might respond to Wacka's correction that's its billion, not million's of dollars. See a sarcastic response to further illustrate the absurdity of it would be... "Million.. Billion what's the the difference? Just move a few zeroes around." You, on one hand, would over react and claim how crazy a notion that is and conclude that I'm a tax and spend liberal that's lost touch with reality. A more rational, thinking person would read that and think obviously this guy is joking and let it go. Tip: one way you can usually pick up on sarcasm is when someone trivializes an outlandish statement. You say what about everyone else that's worried about spending the money. I should listen to them. I don't know any poll numbers for whatever good they may be, but for the sake of argument, what if the majority of people on the east coast want to spend the money? Shouldn't their voices be heard? Is yours the only one that matters? At one point, I recall arguing with someone here about building sand barriers in the gulf to keep the oil off the coast. Well, I thought it was a waste of money, as it turns out, it was. But, enough people supported and argued for it that they took my tax dollars and wasted it on a project that did absolutely nothing to keep oil off the LA coast. The lesson is we can't all, always get what we want. For every thing you don't want the government to do, there's someone out there that wants it done. Who's right? Who's wrong? That changes from day to day. I'm sure you disagree with that because you're always right and have all the bestest answers. As Wacka pointed out, we're talking $53Billion with a B, so yes I'm sure the 4X53Million is a good starting point. Doing some googling, the best I could find is that from 1971-2009, Amtrak got $5 billion from USDOT and $4Billion of that went to the Northeast Corridor. So, you gotta figure the Acela Express got the lion's share of that. So let's estimate it's cost at $2-3 Billion. Interestingly, Amtrak says the Acela Express is the only one of it's lines that make a profit. Making about $300million/year in 2005. I'm not sure what any of this has to do with anything other than to point to the massive amounts of money that have been spent on the Acela train, already. But none of it really addresses the concerns that I and others have brought up regarding the success of a high speed train. That's ok though, because I'm sure you've stopped reading and already prepared your response to rant about me wanting to spend Billions of your money now on something that I've clearly said I doubt will be successful.

Nice designs... and if you scroll through some of your other pics, there's some nice logo redesigns as well. Like most, I like #1 best. But, like most fans, I prefer the more simplistic and basic designs of the past. Hopefully, that's the direction they take. However, ALL of those designs are better than what they currently wear. For me at least... I just hope they get the colors right! Enough of this dark, dark navy blue.

I can't speak for everyone, but for me, being a Bills fan is part of my blood. It's a way of life. When they changed the uniforms in 2002, they changed them to some multi-colored abomination that was anything but a Bills uniform. Yes, I cheer for the players. But, more than that I cheer for a team that represents a City I identify with. I'm proud to be a Bills fan. I'm proud to wear their colors. I wasn't proud to wear the dark blue, red, grey, light blue, black, white, and whatever other stupid color they threw in there stuff. Hell, the I wasn't even sure it was a Bills jersey when I got a Bledsoe for Christmas years ago. That's how horrible they were. I'm excited because I'm hopeful they'll do away with the horrible garb they've been wearing and bring back the Bills colors that I bleed. So that I can once again wear a jersey that I'm proud of and know that it represents the history of the team and the City that I love.

Nice rant... really. But, seriously, did you read what I wrote? Most of what I posted was an argument against the train. And that last jab... about the $53mill.. I thought was obvious sarcasm. Apparently not. Just a quick thought... you asked when is that my $53mill to bandy about. Well, as a taxpayer paying city, state, and federal taxes, at least a portion of that money is mine. But, that's neither here nor there. Just thought you should take that into consideration when you throw statements like that out there. But, in most every instance rail travel, on a high speed train only connecting major cities, would be far and away faster than air travel. Yes, the flight from Philly to DC may only be 45 minutes. But, try getting to PHL 45 minutes minutes before a flight and you'll be darn lucky to get on the plane. The 45 minute flight easily takes 2-3 hours out of your day. So, you'd save time. As is the case... for short distances like that you're almost always able to save time by driving and high speed rail would cut the drive time down considerably. Of course, most people don't routinely make that drive because time driving isn't always seen as valuable as time flying. OC, before you blast me mercilessly again, don't take any of that as an argument in support of the train system. I'm merely stating opinion that a high speed train would be faster (and almost certainly cheaper) than flying from Philly to DC. I will offer this for rebuttal though... who paid for the nation's interstate and intrastate highway system? How is that the train system has to be privatized and the highways don't?

This is a somewhat disparate comparison. The problem with rail lines is that once they're built, they're built. It's not so easy to just discontinue a route and start up a new one. It's an inherent problem with any rail system which makes it harder to drop less used routes and add newly needed routes similar to the airline industry. That's the big problem as I see it. According to the maps I quickly googled... link1, link 2; the trains would eventually connect most major US Cities. But, IMO, the only way it becomes successful is if they convince people to use the rail system rather than fly. So, how will the airlines feel about that? Because you can't use the system for "casual" traffic because few of those major cities have adequate public transportation. So, when I get there I need a way around. Air travelers are used to that; most others are not. On one hand, it's a great idea to connect most of our major Cities with a high speed rail system that's cheaper and faster than the current interstate system or air travel. However, there's quite a few inherent problems that have to be addressed; otherwise, its destined to fail. Americans are a car culture. We value the independence the vehicle gives us. Add to that the lack of decent public transportation in most US cities and there's a steep hill to climb to get people to accept it. But then again, it's only $53million. What's the big deal? Congress appropriates that much money before most of us get out of bed.

Hilarious. We were trying to figure through the whole show whether that was a dude or a chick. I still don't know!

Yes, let's draft a WR, then a RB. Then go for the trifecta of wasting another draft by drafting another CB. How great would that be!! Of course, I would only support this is we cut (no trades) Jackson and Evans so they don't cause a locker room problem.

As near as I could tell... granted I wasn't glued to the set... it's a show about gay people doing gay things with some gay music thrown in just to ensure the gaiety of it all. ..not that there's anything wrong with any of that.

You've got the single biggest sporting event and television event of the year, with 100's of millions of people all over the wold watching and you're gonna get a never heard of, no nothing band? I think not. The half time show isn't for the die hard football fans, its for the millions of other people out there watching. So, like it or not... it's big acts, half of which will suck.

Wife just made me watch it. ....uhhhh ok.. I don't get it. I'll hope to never have to endure that again.