UConn James

Oath Flub With Video

Presidents do not have to be take the Oath of Office with the left hand on the bible. I'm reading that Theodore Roosevelt apparently took the oath with his left arm at his side. JQ Adams swore on a book of law. As for the rest, that's what's happened. There is no religious test to be president written into the Constitution --- yet there is a de facto one in who gets elected. Who gets to say that religion is not something voters should consider?

Could tell that it was Roberts' first time, too. He not only read the passage out of sequence, but the chief justice also bit off a little too much at a time. Especially when a dude's heartbeat is probably going at 140 bpm. And, a lot of people are probably too nice or too disinterested to say anything, but that poem !@#$ sucked.

My father used to know a guy at Bradley Intl whose job was to shoot Canada geese. All friggin' day long. It was some time ago that the animal rights people started to raise a ruckus. Don't know if he's still there. But, hey PETA dumbfu--s! This situation is exactly why that was done. I hate Canada geese with a passion. Loud, nasty, and they sh-- everywhere.

I clicked 'Edit' rather than 'Reply' and lost my previous post to the ether. I'll say again to EII in that regular radio isn't going to be changing. And to DCTom, there are plenty of arguments for and against the transition and the specific legislation. Bottom line, it's better teevee signals w/in local markets that allows VHF-low (2-6) to be used by first responders and was auctioned for commercial use (Verizon and AT&T were the big purchasers) for such things as wireless Internet, cellular services, and so-called "white space devices" which could lead to some economic stimuli in a country that could use some. For some, getting and setting up a box might be a pain in the rear for about 2 hours, but for the vast majority of people, the transition will bring a marked improvement. The below is new content. Just saw a segment on "Greater Boston" where a station manager said that any delay in the transition will cost WGBH (the country's flagship PBS station) about $100K per month. Just not something that's sustainable. As I said above, the cost of the electricity to broadcast both analog and digital is staggering. He repeated that. Imagine having to pay for 24/7/365 of 100 KW (Nevermind that it all goes into having that much less less juice on the nation's grid available --- that's no small power output. Digital channels typically use less power than analog to achieve the same/similar signal radius.) Also, the contracts are already in place to do antenna work that was contingent on the "date certain" that has now become uncertain, which means more costs. This all leads to the conclusion that the faster the conversion can happen, the better. Fully 96% of the Boston market is ready. In more rural locations (e.g. In Iowa, 20% are estimated unready) the number increases. Nationally, 6% of TV viewers are not ready. I just don't see how it's justifiable to sink in the mud for people who always wait until the last minute anyway. I was watching an interview on Charlie Rose last night with Lee Scott, the Pres. and CEO of WalMart. He said something that many people just never grasp. Taking a fast general course of action --- where you arrive at an 80% solution and then gradually work at the other 20% --- is by far preferable to waiting. "The opposite of good is perfect," he said. So many people get paralyzed when they can't do everything in one fell swoop, and so, nothing ever gets done. I really hope Obama does not turn out to be this kind of president, but his admin's signal that they'd like to delay the transition b/c of a single-digit percentage has me shaking my head.

Our govt also requires meeting electrical codes.... yet they don't give you the wiring. Hell, the town required my brother to plant ~30 arborvitaes along his driveway before they gave him a CO (still not quite sure what fuggin' hedges have to do with building occupancy/safety... ). They didn't give him the trees. Do you follow the logic? The govt charges entrance fees for most (if not every) national parks, even tho those lands belong to the public the same way that the airwaves do. No way the govt should be fully funding the transition by buying everyone 2 or 3 boxes. How fair would that be to people who have to pay for locals on sat/cable, and yet the govt doesn't give them a break? I'm saying this as a member of an OTA-only house. A $40 coupon for a $60 box is sufficient for a nominal fee structure.... Not exactly. The coupons for early adopters started shipping in February/March 2008. The spectrum wasn't auctioned until early summer and to be honest, I'm not sure how they're handling payment --- if it was an initial lump sum or will be spread out with discrete payments (I would guess this. Still, monthly? yearly?). Essentially, the govt was/is supplying these with money they didn't/don't actually have on hand. The coupons have been temporarily suspended, tho you can still apply. The plan now includes issuing more coupons equaling the funds that had been allocated to coupons that weren't used, once they figure out how much that will be. One of the main grievances is that for early adopters, who got the coupons when only a few models of CECBs were available and then were enticed by promises of the DTVPal or other boxes that didn't become available until after the coupons expired. The idea for expiration w/in 3 months kind of sucked.

One of the responses in the link got it right: 'The people who still haven't gotten a box are the same people who won't get off the couch until it's lifted out from under them.' It will literally take their TV being just static before they do anything. On Feb. 18, if they need teevee, they can go to Best Buy or CC or WalMart and get one. Ba-da-bing. Like there hasn't been enough publicity for the transition? You have to've been living under a rock. I have no pity for those who couldn't take a few minutes to make a phone call or go online to order the coupons and then go spend ~$20 on a good converter box. This is the !@#$ problem in this country. Nobody does what they say they're going to do when they say they're going to do it. Always a delay or a grace period given to help out procrastinators. I'm really disappointed that the Obama administration is going to start out on this note. Real 'Progressive' politics doesn't happen unless you're prepared to leave slackers behind if they don't get up and walk for their damn selves.

Even tho we won.

Oh come on. Looking blankly at the Jumbotron and clapping your hands repeatedly is .... kinda like getting pissed and demanding better. ........ Isn't it?

We gave up more than a first for a guy that started one game, then gave him $25M/5yrs. That Ralph W sure knows football! Pats* will do the same with MC as we did with Peerless Price.

I'll just say that I have newfound respect for Mularky after this season. Dude was forced to make bricks w/o clay with TD's Look-at-me-I'm-so-smart picks and forced to retain Jerry 'Blitz on every play' Gray. He had enough sense to see the writing on the wall when Ralph decided to stick his feet back into the bathtub. I'm not going to defend every coaching move he made while here --- he frustrated me like every coach since Wade --- but at least he saw Bledsoe for what he was and didn't stubbornly stick with something that obviously wasn't/couldn't be successful. More than you can say for the current operation at OBD.

From TSW Archives: Maybe I spoke ahead of myself. That was for the Bills theoretically moving to Toronto. Not sure if it would be different for other franchises moving elsewhere. Owners can also decide the lower or waive fees by majority vote. I doubt they'd give up the LA market for anything less than a king's ransom, tho. The "LA-ians didn't care about the NFL when it was there" argument really doesn't matter. Prospective owners will have to pay for how much it could potentially be worth.

IIRC, the relocation fee was raised last year to b/w $600M-900M. I don't know the criteria for the difference in the fee. Could be a percentage of the value of the franchise/purchase price?

Is it similar to "The Hunt for Red October"'s device? As I wrote in an earlier thread on this movie, a good friend from childhood and high school is in this and from what I hear, has a decent-sized part.

This is something that really hits home for me, in more ways than location. Sadly, a lot of things being foreshadowed in books like Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, 1984, Total Recall, et al are happening and we seem powerless to stop them. May not have been exact, but they were an impressionistic view by these authors of where this country/mankind was headed. These books told of a future where people would stop reading and instead be mesmerized by television screens that would throw mostly garbage information at them. It becomes a time when people work their lives away and become too scared, too tired or too hopped up on drugs, Rx and illicit alike, to raise any alarms when people in positions of power take the wrong course. The coming decline of local news is something we're really not prepared for. People seem to have become accustomed to not paying for information. 'County School Board proposes $4M budget' etc. The real meat and potatoes news. Soon there isn't going to be anyone to cover this stuff of basic democracy. The Internet just hasn't really taken off in terms of local papers or news sources as the financials just aren't there. Can it? Don't know. You can bet your 6 that your local teevee news station won't do it; they're too busy showing you some grip'n'grins, a couple of national news stories over and over, the Lindsey Lohan / Ronson quasi-lesbianism and squirrels on waterskis --- wire content that they don't have to pay much for b/c gathering and reporting news costs actual money. Meantime, entities public and private who used to fear their secrets being uncovered become more bold. One more chunk toward the decline of America. But I guess this is where we're going as a culture, and it's where we deserve to go. Govt should not be bailing out newspapers/media, just like they shouldn't have bailed out the banks, but who knows what happens. The people who fear socialism/soft communism have good reason to worry in these times. From my seat, borrowing more and more money from the rest of the world [ Link: US could be facing debt 'time bomb' ] is a proposition for disaster. Many civilizations that collapsed did so b/c they couldn't juggle their economic system anymore. That looks to be the case for us, tho I'm hesitant to put any kind a date on it... you just look what's going on and you know it's not sustainable.

True enough. More like a state-funded foster parent who keeps you in the basement, feeds you Quaker Oats at every meal and hires from among Michael Jackson, Lemony Snicket's Count Olaf, and Louise Woodward as governesses.

Yeah, I'd say that bolded number is incorrect. Did you see how many empty seats were at the Pats* game? And, otherwise, how many Pats* fans were at OBD? Between the economy and the commitment to mediocrity, expect many more people not to renew.

Fear of change at the macro-level. Also, he doesn't want to be in the ditch with Art Modell (that said, Ralph also doesn't want to pick himself up from the very edge of the rim of the ditch). The "It's a Wonderful Life" reference was exactly what I was going to post. But let's be careful with the casting. George is the collective of Buffalo/Erie Co. & fans near and far. Ralph is more like Uncle Billy --- the one who does the the day-to-day stuff, counts the money, makes deposits, ties strings on his fingers and still forgets to do simple things that even a moron could keep track of. The business survives on the margins. He somehow managed to keep the ship halfway righted back in the day with a lot of help, but he's slipping with age, and now comes the time of crisis where a few actions doom everything and threaten to collapse a small-time money-shuffling enterprise. The thing that IAWL doesn't show us is what happens to Uncle Billy after George is saved by the kindness of strangers and his community. Think Uncle Billy makes deposits anymore? I think not. Think George will ever remember him w/o the context of "the guy who almost drove me to suicide"? My guess is that Uncle Billy goes off to the old folks home. I don't get the mentality of people who stand there and preach forgiveness while the stupidity is ongoing. Sure, it's Ralph's team, he can do what he wants with it, but that mere fact doesn't mean that he's automatically owed something. And that doesn't mean he's owed respect for his dottering and pinch-the-nickel decisions and for what he's allowed his business to become.

Really? Gee, I was under the impression that the most qualified person should represent Ill. But I guess there's no white or Latino or Asian people who could possibly be the best choice. Basically, Ill. needs to put a token in the Senate, just because. Bobby Rush = racist.

Just the record against our division was enough for me to want DJ gone last year, and especially this year. If you have a coach who is buffaloed by all the teams in your own division, what hope do you have? DJ took this team as far as he could.... which wasn't very far at all. And as much as DJ's performance has been a failure, so was every level of this organization that had a voice in hiring him and all the other string of losing coaches we've had here. Yes, the rot goes all the way to the top. Dan Deirdorff was dumbfounded at the stupidity of that series, even commenting on those seconds that DJ/TS let tick down after the 2:00 warning. When Dan 'Ssssuuffffppppherrrin' succatash!!' Deirdorff of all people is dumbfounded by your seeming stupidity, Dick Jauron, you are in trouble.

Well, let's be real clear here. Cheaper materials are selected for a reason --- to keep DOT employees in a job and to max out budgets so they can get more $ next year and piss that away on more stupid and/or half-ass projects. I think it was someone here a while back that compared govt spending to "Brewster's Millions." Where Richard Pryor had to blow through $30M in 30 days so he could get an even bigger $300M inheritance, only there were loopholes in how he could spend it and all that. People come up with some real whopper metaphors and comparisons here, but I'd have to say that's about the best simple explanation of how the govt budgeting/spending process goes that I've heard.

I think the same thing about Wes Welker and BB's use of him. I hate him and I hate that they have so much success, but I do respect the little dude. He's taken some serious hits and pops right back up, and catches most everything thrown his way. And then it makes you scratch your head why Roscoe can't be used more than he is. Hate and respect-through-envy. BB plays to win. Anything that deviates from helping the team win is unacceptable. We've had a string of coaches here who've been more interested in being the players' best buddy and trying to play gentlemanly than getting the most out of this group of men, coaching smart and making the other team hurt. I watched "Miracle" last night on ABC and thought, "We so need Herb Brooks reincarnate!"

WNY is like the island in "LOST." When you cross the invisible-dome space-time continuum barrier just west of Syracuse, it's like everyone loses their minds if they don't have a 'constant' that reminds them of the real world. If they manage to survive and get out, they'll forever be haunted by the things happened to them in WNY, but it is possible to go on to certain success.

Trent had a bit of a sophomore slump in the mid-season. He needs to play his way out of it, just like Brady did, just like both Mannings did, etc. He's kept in there, got us a W last week, played about as well as you can (with what he had to work with. See: Turk? ) today.... By far, TE is not the biggest problem on this team / in this organization. Next year is pretty critical for him, tho.

Chris Kelsay. When the man got into the backfield this year, he almost made plays. Always a finger's grasp away from getting a hold of a QB's foot (before he throws for a gainer) or latching onto a RBs arm (before he hits the hole created by the DE being on the ground). The only success he's seen in this league hasn't been by anything he actively did, rather than what fell in his lap. If he is not an early June salary-cap cut, be prepared for another year of no pressure on opposing QBs.