UConn James

Interesting reads. I'm noting an increase in the number of people who ID as conservative Democrats, as Republicans more and more push the social side of their agenda and ignore the fiscal responsibility stance that got them so many votes over the years. As for the PBS link, does Shaw intersperse "you know" in his sentences all the time? Just like people who say, "Look, blah blah blah" that really puts me off.

What the Palestineans want is: Death. Death. Death. Death! Death! Death! Death! And then there's those of us who don't think it'll get "better." It's a downward spiral. All the more reason for us to get more and more uninvolved.

I dunno about that. They never tried to take Rose.

That far worse alternative being that the U.S. will be forced to clean up the mess. Like always. Don't be surprised when Israel elects a true hard-liner in retaliation, and the sh-- hits the fan. Where do you get off disagreeing with our president, who says that we must forcibly spread democracy (and this was a democratic election by all accounts) b/c 'no two democracies have ever had wars against each other.' Along come Iran and "Palestine" to prove him wrong on the last reason left why we absolutely, positively needed to invade Iraq.

I was referencing Eko's brother Aaron, the priest who was killed. At least, I think that was his brother's name. Wasn't it? That's why he reacted the way he did when he found out the baby's name was Aaron. Both of them have brothers who they tried to save and who tried to save them. Tho, this episode seemed to deal more with spiritual "saving" rather than from imminent physical harm.

It was an obvious setup. She probably worked in the mental hospital that Hurley was in. Count that as one of my more anticipated flashback episodes. Why was he in there? I was fuming a little when Locke clocked Charlie. And then, as everyone just kind of walked away (which was similar to everyone's turn-and-walk-away reaction when it was publicly aired in the S1 finale that Kate was a criminal). But Locke kind of has good reason for what he did. What Charlie didn't learn by being told to stay away, he might learn by being punched. Still, not liking the bad anima building b/w Locke and Charlie; it's headed somewhere.

To be fair, there was the game vs. Cleveland last year where we held them to like 4 yards. Then again it is easier to beat a team whose talent level is below East Bumf--- High School.

Not the best, not the worst, as has been the case in the past few episodes. I think it was an episode where Charlie's flashbacks reveal to his contemporary self that he needs to save himself. But it's weird, how Liam was able to get clean was to screw over Charlie by selling his piano (which = his livelihood (and btw that was a really good song he had going)) and starting a new life in Sydney. It's a complex story going on w/ Charlie and Liam, contrasted with Eko and Aaron last week. So, Liam got clean by needing to save his wife, daughter, marriage. Maybe Charlie figures he needs Claire and Aaron so he can do it by the same method. Pepper in among that, the flashback of his mum saying he needs to "save the family" by playing the piano, and the delusions on the beach (Hurley in the robe was fuggin' hilarious). Problem is, he's on the outs with her. He's tried it before with the British chick and the copier salesman job... which didn't work out either. We've had how many kidnappings of children that coincided with fire/burning? Rousseau set the fire to take Aaron to trade with the Others. Walt was taken and the raft was torched. Charlie starts the fire tonight to baptize Aaron. I want to say that there was another one, but I can't remember who it was. Why did Locke keep the statues in the arsenal? Set them very carefully on the shelf, like he was thinking about something. Blackmail? Some serious red flags are going up. And then, Charlie put his hood up in the last scene; a sign that he's going evil? (I'm referencing the first ep when they met the pilot and he was getting his drugs and he used the hood a lot back when he was using, and tonight right before he set the fire). His eyes had a pretty nasty stare there. And he's probably thinking about getting back at Locke. Line of the night: "You hittin' that?" -- Ana Lucia

Everybody dust off your Bibles. The previews have a lot of early Moses imagery. Given that the baby's name is Aaron and Eko noted that name's relevance in the Moses story, it's not an accident. Come to think, a lot of the backgrounds have biblical-parable-like properties. The Prodigal Father, the Gifted Child, the rich man with a curse, the Man who must serve his father-in-law to earn his wife's hand (I forget who that was... Joshua?). The handicapped man who was healed. .... Can't wait to hear Sawyer's nickname for Libby. I'm going to be breaking out the pineapple for the LOST party, which hasn't happened for the past few episodes. Guava and flukefish are special buys, reserved for the season finale. And leave the inflatable Jack, Kate and Hurley dolls in your passenger seats so y'all can take the high-occupancy lanes on the thru-ways tomorrow.

Jerry, we hardly knew ye. (But what we did know of you sucked bum.)

A restaurater down this way in the '60s used to have a hiring policy as follows for his waitresses: 1. Fold your hands together (as in playing Church-and-Steeple). 2. Place hands behind head, and have elbows jut straight forward. 3. Walk toward the wall. If her elbows touched first, she didn't get hired.

Pro Bowl selection tells you nothing about talent on OL. There are no statistics for it, so it's basically done by "Team X has a good running game, so Player Y that they picked in the first round must be a good run blocker." Quality OL have little to nothing to do with where they were acquired in the draft or off the street as long as there is talent and they get an opportunity to play and develop. Problem is that TD picked up guys who had demonstratably failed at their job to the point where their original teams (struggling on OL themselves, so what does that tell you?) dumped them. Which simultaneously undercuts the ability to develop younger players. You have to make an honest attempt to pick up OL/DL talent --- whatever is there --- when OL and DL are your weaknesses. Instead we got glamor picks.

Thought it pertinent to note Sarah saying that Jack "will always need something to fix." He takes on the toughest challenges rather than the ones that provide the most success. To wit, he stays with Boone when it's apparent that a miracle was needed rather than finding Claire and delivering Aaron. He fixates on Sarah in the ER and ignores Shannon's dad. He tries to fix the hardest problems and then, he moves on. I think people here are being too hard on Sarah, much like everyone thought they had Shannon pegged only to later see that she had a mitigating reason for her cons. Jack comes home from the unsuccessful surgery and kissing Gabriela to a cold dinner and a sink full of dishes, which he says he'll wash b/c it's "theraputic" (I can relate. It's satisfying to go from complete chaos and dirty plates to a rack full of clean ware. You feel like you control something). The dishes aren't the problem this night, and come to find out that he's grossly misdiagnosed the problem in his marriage, at which point he sincerely says he'll fix it, by working less, etc. But just like anything else, he'll fix it, then move on until it needs that kind of serious fixing again. Did Jack's father know about the marital problems and that's why he told him to go home? Maybe. I think he saw a son that was dedicated to his job in an unhealthy way (even tho Christian himself was on the other side of the coin). I am now trying to ponder how Jack's pattern of tackling problems is going to go down in the coming battle against the Others.

Government spending + Investment (business) spending + Consumer spending + Net exports = GDP. There's no point where you can spend more in one by taking the same amount out from another where it's going to change the GDP (or GNP or whatever you use). Not making excuses for TSA or whatever agency, but I know plenty of private business endeavors that do much worse or no better at managing their money and employees than gov't. Cost and efficiency b/w the two doesn't change all that much.

Most teams will allow other teams to interview their assistants for an upward-move job (tho not for a sideways move). It's a courtesy thing plus you don't want those assistants to harbor feelings such as "These $%#%^s kept me from getting the OC job!" Coaches aren't happy that their staff gets raided, but most accept that it's going to happen and they're happy that the person is getting an opportunity.

I can't tell, but that would surely be a zinger. Jack was staring at that photo really hard back in the premiere, as if he knew the girl....

Her watch? I didn't catch that part.... Could you ellucidate? I had a whole big write-up last season on Jin's watch=handcuff. Probably which no one bothered to read, but it's there anyway....

There's a section on the S1 DVD with Daimon Lindelof who basically says that it's ABC's call on how fast to advance the storyline and how long the show will last. If they don't like how the writers are doing it, and want more seasons out of it to make some money on a popular show, what Lola wants, Lola gets. I don't think the show suffers too greatly from it if this is what they are doing. Just that the payoff needs to be good. And I think it will. Have faith. Desmond probably doesn't want to be seen. He took off from the hatch quick after his 'repalcements' arrived. Plus, his knowledge of how things came to be the way they came to be is tapped. He has nothing to really add now except another furrowed eyebrow. Like everyone else. The monster was in the finale; it was dragging Locke down the hole. It certainly hasn't been missing since halfway through S1. As for Sayid, some people deal with death by becoming quiet. That would really throw me for a loop too.

I thought Gabriela was pretty hot. But I've always had a thing for brunettes. My money would be on the pilot.

There's a Sawyer-centric coming up in a couple weeks, I think. I would be surprised if no other major characters die this year. My money is on either Charlie... or... get ready.... Locke.

That's what the "centric" usually means. Should be good. Haven't had much depth from Jack in a while, and there's still a lot of questions revolving around him. How did the marriage to Sarah end? Also, I'm growing a little more convinced that Michael is hallucinating the messages on the computer. However, there is that breathy sound clip in the preview for tonight that, "This is our island!"

This is a Jack-centric ep.

I'm watching the repeat now and thinking about some stuff to fit into the framework of the ongoing use of Black and White that has gone unmentioned: Black smoke apparition of the 'monster' Black horse in the Kate ep Eko's brother preist clothing is black with a white collar Seems that each character is coming to find that something from their past is physically (or metaphysically) on the island. Jack and his white-haired father. Kate with the black horse, Eko with the drug plane....

Bear in mind that the sports media at this time of the year gets used as a weather ballon. A lot of times, teams float that they're interested in Coach A so Coach B might make a deal sooner (see: for less money) just so he can be assured of having the job. Question: do any of the coaching candidates even buy the rumors anymore?

The Steelers and then the Jags had to find a new equipment manager when they signed Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala. At least I can pronounce Hoosh-man-zah-dah.