UConn James

The only people I know who can actually speak well without notes and for that long a time, sell snake oil, time-shares and used cars. Frankly, I don't trust people who can go into a diatribe of persuasion because time and experience has shown they're so keen and full of vim/vigor because they're out to help themselves, not me. We've come to the point where Santorum is hurting the party. I expect it from Gingrich because he's quite simply a narcissist. But for Santorum to have any hope of being the next cycle's front-runner in GOP style, he needs to step aside soon and say he supports the presumptive nominee who's gotten ~40% of the delegates needed. Romney will probably have enough on the 24 April primaries, or certainly with California. The GOP will not forgive him if this intrasquad match contributes to Obama getting 4 more years and a "progressive" agenda that would have nothing left to lose. Polls late last week were showing a Romney +5 and +9 lead in Alabama and Mississippi.... and showed him winning by 3 points in November. That was Rasmussen. And ABC/WP yesterday has Romney winning the general by 2. Looks like Obama 1) was on the wrong side of the "free" contraception story and 2) is going to take a beating with gas prices this summer.

He's not the only one. Brandon(?) is a complete and utter *. Just like that, some little thing doesn't go their way and he's like 'We should quit the race.' He isn't fly-off-the-wall angry, from what I've seen --- he says crap like this very coolly. Which to me makes him more of an * because I can partly understand saying things when someone is really pissed and worked up. And frankly, I'm not sure what he does have to be mad at. Rachael, while she is a whiny be-atch, has mostly kicked butt in the roadblocks and stuff. I don't know whether to say that she'd be like this without him (her thing with Vanessa has me thinking that no, Rachael is just a be-atch); I get the sense that their relationship is like vinegar and baking soda. Apart they may be somewhat stable (if volatile) but when mixed together, they erupt. But I'm not qualified here. Anyone who can comment who watched BB? The Army dude and his wife aren't far behind in the dysfunction department. That dude needs to chilax a bit. They went a little heavy in the in-show endorsements with the Ford Focus, but this is one time where it was actually pretty cool with the park assist thing. It works. It actually works. Now we just need autopilot cars (and pray that these companies don't offer a 'Drive like a Mass-hole' function ). That was a nice gesture from the Border Patrol guys. They finished early with the express pass and hung around for Bopper and Mark when they could've banked that and gone to the hotel or whatever for some ZZZs. That was a bad break for the Kentuckys that they missed the travel agency. Something small and it really screwed them for everything this leg. Still annoyed by their accents, but they've grown on me as people and yes, I enjoy their attitude of being happy just being together. Maybe a lot of people on AR don't wear it on their sleeves nearly as much, but they all signed up for it with someone they know and like/love. And while it's sometimes easy to forget this as they're in the heat of things, this race will always be a big part of their relationships in those "Remember that time...?" moments.

In the Reuters link, the reporters "poured over" Eisenhower documents. Grammar is more and more becoming a lost art. When papers laid off, who do you think went first? That trickles down into a society that learns more and more not to care about accuracy.

A smarmy sentiment, but perhaps Mr. Santorum should get off of his grandstand. Does it really matter whether one uses a TelePrompTer to deliver a speech versus repeating what has been said in message meetings, etc.? The latter takes a good memory. Speaking for myself, I've taken some public speaking classes and it can be terrifying up there, even for someone who is trained to do it. Speaking off-the-cuff is admirable for those who can do it and stay on point, but I would not expect it from a guy who's giving a 30-minute talk, and where his/her words will be recorded and used for posterity --- the chance of a misstatement is too big and the consequences too real (especially when talking about foreign policy/military issues). When talking about Iran, Republican or Democrat, I don't want an errant comment be misunderstood because of a lapse in wording/brain fart/foot in mouth; there's a reason why those kinds of speeches are so strictly controlled. Besides that, depending on a candidate's level of involvement in the process, those speeches have been looked over by him/her and tweaked or approved, have been written by someone who knows the candidate, their ideas, and their language. If Rick can speak extemporaneously, fine --- good for him. But I don't want someone who can't do that well, but is otherwise a good candidate excluded because s/he isn't a parrot or an actor.

Some notes: 1) Please DO NOT post links to illegal streaming sites here. It's against the Terms of Service for TBD. 2) There's a lot of ways for this last season (or is it going to be 2 short seasons? Has Gilligan settled that yet?) to go. Walt vs. Hank/DEA. Walt vs. Jesse. I think the whole storyline with Jesse learning to think and strategize more than a couple steps ahead is going to lead him to suspect Walt of poisoning the kid. Maybe it's just me, but I saw a lot of tension in that parting handshake. I really hope (and I do have confidence that) BB can go out well and not feel like a tack-on. 3) IIRC, the teddy bear eye was in the pool filter. As I understood it, the clean-up people for the plane crash missed it. I believe the flashes have all been closed. 4) As I wrote somewhere in there, I can see "Fly" for what it is: an outward expression of Walt's internal state/nature of obsessiveness and the building tension. Something so small, and he lets it ruin his life for that amount of time, and they were taking such risks (Jesse up on unsteady stacks of stuff) to get rid of something that had an infentesimally small chance of impacting anything in the superlab. I can understand how some people had a problem with it. But, like I said, it did have a purpose in deepening our view of Walt's character. 5) Re: The Sopranos, I read something recently that a number of the actors on the show were confused and then did not like how it ended, at least initially. Sacrilege! Anybody who didn't get LOST expected way too much or didn't put enough time into it to resources that are available. ("The LOST Encyclopedia" is awesome, BTW. Especially the "Heart of the Island/Source" entry.) I don't get how "The Tree of Life" ending can have impressed so many people and yet they found the LOST ending unsatisfying. I'm sorry, but that was an excellent series from start to end.

Yes. Just because Charleston Chews might hire a new marketing team, that team cannot independently make changes in the wrapping design. So it is for the NFL as well. Anybody who's freaked that Nike would/will be able to force those Combat Gear mock-ups on teams is stupid. I imagine that would be along the lines of seams and fabric type, etc. The Bills wore a new "more breathable" proprietary Reebok fabric. Why they would do this for a one year contract I don't know, but.... Hopefully, some of the striping issues will be worked out/standardized, mostly the sleeve striping where for some guys it was horizontal (Freddie), and for some guys it was over the shoulder.

ABC News: An American Auto Bailout --- For France

But you know what? Still better than Obama 2012. (Unless Kony picks Biden for his running mate too.)

I wonder what Clippers thought of "The Shawshank Redemption".... Maybe it would've been better had Red turned into a Transformer at the end.

Honestly expected him to at least "test the waters" and didn't think he'd re-up. Always nice to have guys who want to be there. Chandler was one of last year's bright spots, even with some injury and inconsistency in the middle of the season. Gives Fitz a big and trusted target, especially at the part of the field where it counts. Next is FA, of course. After that, keep this going and once establishing his leg is healthy, let's get Fred Jackson a well-deserved new contract.

That was the single stupidest thing I've ever seen in gameplay of any kind. The merge is a mile !@#$ing away. If the men were smart, they would smile to Colton and then vote his ass out. They're not with him because he's a leader or because he's going to be with them post-merge (when he would still have an idol and group with some women). The sooner they realize this rather than bending over for him.... But after what we've just seen, I'm not sure which tribe is the "bunch of women" --- the men look like a group of little eunuchs from my vantage.

Immunity challenge: Wow.... Wow.... And that Alicia's laughing about it? Another episode of outright cheating. Probst even suggested that the women go look at the pyramid puzzle. That's total crap and AJ is right that the producers should step up on this. If they put up a shield in Jeopardy!.... I mean, c'mon.

People can sound all offended when replying to the notion that nothing will change in African politics --- from the coups-d'etat, military dictatorships, tribalism and/or religion determining who wins 'elections' and divvies up that country's spoils to benefit their own group, tribalism turning into war/genocide, drug-lords / warlords who carve out swaths of control, a fundamental breakdown between the electorate and people who are actually in charge and even after the 'Arab Spring' it's largely just changed the faces and places of who grasps onto power, weak central governments among both leaders who we hate and leaders we hope can change things (i.e. Sirleaf), limited resources and particularly limited agricultural means. Reduced prescription drug costs that businesses are coerced and guilted into eating. Loan forgiveness after loan forgiveness when G-Whatever Western/industrialized nations and their programs are hitting the snide and our coffers are finally !@#$ing empty and now some people here are waking up to the fact that we as American businesses and citizens are going to be forced to pay for all this aid that we've put onto our credit card. People can sound all offended at these notions that this is largely what the continent is and how things have gone for time out mind, but their offense that is taken can't outweigh the reality. It is stuck in a slow motion between nothing will change and change happens in millimeters. We can wish it changes for the better all we want, but as the saying goes, you can wish in one hand and stevestojan in the other and see which gets filled first. But then, the cost and feasibility of 'changing hearts and minds'... we can't do this. Beyond any discussion of ought we do this, is it our place, absent pressing situations (and even then...). We can't do this to our public anymore. We can't do this. If NGOs and charities and the Peace Corps want to do what they can, great. But there have been so many well-meaning things we've done that have just turned to stevestojan and been a total waste.

She could !@#$ tigers for all I care, but it doesn't make her arguments that the entire cost of these RXs needs to be eaten by the insurers (or rather, that the insurers can just charge more for everything else and play a game of Three-Card-Monty to explain where the money comes from and goes) or against Free Exercise more valid... nor does it make her testimony less third-party. If the Democrats were interested in getting testimony about the pill's use for ovarian cysts, etc. perhaps it would've been pertinent to get testimony from a woman who did that. Not someone who says she knows someone who did. The main reason Issa nixed her testimony was that her story couldn't be vetted. Know why? Sandra Fluke = Democrat operative. Still waiting for any kind of a bio on her from the MSM....

Maybe the London food will help her lose weight....

Light-colored eyes on a dark-haired woman always freaks me out a little. I dunno. I'm sure I could get used to it tho. Rachel may have the personality of a battle-axe but what Vanessa was going on and on about there ("I can see her entire ______" Did they bleep "ass"... or was she saying she could see something else? ) was really unnecessary to give voice to. I, too, don't get this impression, Rico. E.g. last night they were saying 'If we don't get first place with this lead time something is wrong with us' since they finished the watermelon challenge so quickly while everyone else was having difficulty. They didn't say they'd finish first because everyone else sucks, they were talking about their own gameplay. Now, if you want to talk about who thinks they're better than others, why don't we point to Brachel's use of "poopyheads." I'm glad we finally made it through an episode without hearing the phrase "tears of a clown." What's up with the eliminations on three of three legs? Phil's showing no mercy! There's gotta be a break next week. And I'm expecting something that will level the timeline. First team showed in bright noon sun; last team came to the mat in darkness.

I don't mean this to be a Tom-Donahoe-Drinks-Baby's-Blood post in any way, but it's just another log on the fire of learning things about Pres. Obama that I had never heard before. There's a story in the AP Exclusive today that confirms that Obama's nanny in Indonesia when he was a boy was/is a transvestite who is now living in fear in the streets. Seriously. I couldn't make this up. Now, I'm not going to make any comment... it takes all kinds in this world, I suppose. It doesn't reflect on him any more than that... let's go with... he had an odd upbringing.

All kinds of truth in this thread! We've seen the castration of defense.

Damn near everyone but Melody Gardot and the woman who does the "Jane (U.K. English)" voice on my TomTom.

If the Bills face sanctions after an appropriate investigation, then so be it. A couple of things to note: What was described in the Graham article, if it was an accurate depiction of what went on, doesn't have the hallmark of an institutional system. N.O.'s problem is that the coach, FO and subsequently even the owner were aware of the goings-on. And even when it was ordered by the owner to end, it didn't. In a sense, the NFL caught the Saints red-handed. Very different from saying "Oh, 10 years ago, GW..." Because how far back are they going to take this issue? If they dug around, they would shortly find damning evidence from every team. Just like the steroid scandal, this is a bag of stevestojan Goodell doesn't want to open up very wide. There's vague public knowledge that many players in the 60s, 70s and 80s used, it's not something the league wants to investigate very thoroughly and uses those eras as a vague justification of why testing for substances and heavy penalties is needed so badly. There's a history of the NFL sweeping nasty things under the rug, and indeed, destroying evidence. And even with any legal liability, I wouldn't expect the gov't to get involved in something that could damage such a tax cash cow as the NFL. GW will take the fall and the league will be like, "OK, from now on, let there be NO mistake..."

I believe we can counter ANY claim that Gregggggggg Williams was doing this as Buffalo's HC with videographic evidence of Eddie Robinson getting juked out his shoes by Chadwick Pennington circa 2002 as he bumbled in for a TD --- on 4th down (and it wasn't even 4th-n-short). That D wasn't organized enough to tackle, much less injure.

I believe we can counter ANY claim with videographic evidence of Eddie Robinson getting juked out his shoes by Chadwick Pennington circa 2002 as this joke of a QB bumbled in for a TD --- on 4th down (and it wasn't short). That D wasn't organized enough to tackle, much less injure.

I just watched all three parts of the "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" series. The Swedish ones, not the blah American redub, as I've seen it called by many viewers. (Netflix just added Extended Edition versions as well.) Wow!!! is all I can say.

An interesting article on this topic... Razzies vs Oscars: Can bad movies ever be good? As Ebert writes, "There is truth here. Bad movies these days are often content with being disgusting. Not long ago they wanted to be fun. They grinned instead of spitting."

Mm-hmm. I'm also on the Do-Not-Call list. And lately I'm getting a lot of calls from 877 (especially), 800, 888 and RESTRICTED numbers. I tried googling / reverse directory of some and a lot of people report answering only to discover dead air. What seems to be the case is telemarketers/survey-takers/etc. making multiple (6-10) calls at a time on spec that just a small percentage of lines will be open or will get someone who picks up. Whatever, I too am getting REALLY sick of this. I just recently ported the landline over to a cellphone (we didn't want to lose this number; it's the one everyone in the extended family knows) and now if I were to just blindly pick these up, it uses minutes. Answer is, now that I have the caller ID thingy on the cell, I don't pick it up if it has these numbers or others that I don't have in my contact list or recognize. If it's important, they'll leave a message. But it is a bother of me washing dishes or something and having to rush over to the cell 10 times a day... only to see it be one of these. There's not even an option for a block list (at least, I don't think there is).