RuntheDamnBall

As a spouse of someone who works for a public employee union, I think they are essential, especially living in a city where rent is really high and there are few other safeguards for working people, especially working people who have spent time on real training who have spent a lot of time and money on degrees and might be taken advantage of otherwise. They are trying to weaken the public unions and I think it will eventually really hurt the public at large. As it is, policemen/women start at $25,000 a year. There is going to come a time when you're not going to find the best people for thankless jobs such as these and the entire quality of life will suffer. That's what public employee unions should be there for. I've agreed on one hand that the TWU's demands are too high. But it shouldn't have come to this and MTA is not using the surplus to "repair a crumbling system." They're using a surplus that they gained from jacking up prices while crying poverty, and blowing a significant portion of it on holiday discounts without having consulted ANYBODY. As MTA is supposed to be publically accountable, it shouldn't be run like a corporation -- it should be working for the good of the public. It should be giving its workers reasonable compensation in a tough city to live in. And it should by no means be charging the public more than it needs to. Also, I forsee their projected deficits as more a result of supreme mismanagement (and you know for a fact it's everywhere to be found) and not the regular wages and benefits of their employees -- save for the health care mess that is dragging companies down nationwide.

I'd argue our unfettered adversaries have already won if they can get our own leaders to set fire to it themselves with less than half the leg work and investment. We can fight terror and still figure out how to adapt (to/with) the constitution, instead of eliminating everything we stand for in the face of the enemy. I think Mickey has already pointed to that fact. And again, the administration is not claiming that the current standards don't allow them to do what they want to do. They are claiming that, well, they want to do it, and that's why they're allowed.

Are you available to coach this weekend? Because as far as I'm concerned, you're hired.

That is in every way a crazy idea. You have any clue how many weeks of HR, hiring, training, that would take to run the largest public transit system in the U.S. safely and successfully? It'd mean months -- months of not being able to get around. Meanwhile, loss the state would incur, the hit to businesses, and the money out of every New Yorker's wallet trying to get around while they figure it the !@#$ out would be astronomical. Fact is, while I think the TWU is asking for too much (the 8% raises a year are ridiculous), they are needed much more than they need the city, especially this time of year. The real sticking points anyway are the pensions for future employees and the fact that MTA ran up a huge surplus while raising fares on customers twice, claiming financial hardship, and not including their workers in the discussion with what to do with the surplus (I'm sure if they were brought in from the get-go, their demands would be lower -- they are that offended). I don't trust their numbers in the least. !@#$ the MTA and the city for letting it come to this around Christmas.

My thoughts exactly.

Unless he keeps eating. We could use a 5'6" H-back. He could scurry under the defense.

I'm getting with the program. Or, since the Bills have gone against just about everything logical this year, I am trying on a new logic to see if they'll go against it.

sh--, we better hope we don't lose Jerman. That guy is a rock.

Joe, I wish we could. I wish we could. We can say he helped us get to second-best. But that Pack team needed Reggie White and he delivered.

I would have drafted Alex Smith, the TE.

eh? Two words, Joe. You know 'em: Reggie White.

Nope, just 3/5 of a hand full of rings. I'd be pretty patient for the rest of my life if we got just one.

I'd like some percussion.

If you're using TD's logic as the basis for discussion, you're not going to get very far. One could also ask, if we needed OL help, why did he use his first pick in the 2005 draft on Parrish? If our TE's are both coming off ACL injuries, why did he use his first pick in the 2005 draft on Parrish? If we lost our run-stuffing DT, why did he use his first pick in the 2005 draft on Parrish? No need to go on further.

Go back and watch the game tape. This defense was harassing the hell out of Frerotte and was doing the same to Jake Plummer. Then to figure out what happened, go listen to Shanahan's halftime interview before he hit the locker room -- something to the effect of, "they started letting up in the second quarter." All you need to know right there. Gray couldn't coach these guys out of a paper bag. They get by on aggressiveness early on, and then they lose all direction and unravel over the course of a game. It's less personnel and almost all Jerry Gray. As for personnel we do need: Plug a big-ass, stuffin' DT in the middle (get Pat Williams 2.0) and a lot will be solved. Get a hungry, hungry Takeo back and send Posey to the cleaners and things are going to look A LOT better. Get rid of this chump coaching them, start pressing the WRs and this defense could be back on top.

I'm rather getting used to his inexplicable entry after a big Willis gain and on crucial third downs. It's sort of a microcosm of the WTF mentality of watching a Bills game these days.

Shouldn't they be taking away signs that say Every Season Playoffs Nonexistent on grounds that they are commercial for ESPN?

I'll step up to the bar and admit I've been a bit wrong about Moulds, only because I'm willing to bet it is this coaching staff's fault that he was used really poorly throughout the year and that he might still make a good contribution to the team. I also think Evans can really be taken out of the game if facing a premier corner (like Bailey) or if double-teamed, and there needs to be a genuine threat on the other side. The only way I think it's worth getting rid of Moulds is if Reggie Wayne or a similar contributor with youth on his side could be gotten for the difference of what subtracting Moulds would mean in terms of the salary cap. I don't think that's going to happen. Add to that the fact that Moulds seems to have the ear of his teammates a lot more than the coaches do, and I think it's essential that he stays, especially if Mularkey is (hopefully) gone. To that I might add that I would really, really like to see JP connecting with Moulds -- I think it would go a long way for both players and it would resonate with the team.

Piss off. The team is 4-10, they wouldn't have won the KC game without Losman (thus the one credited win is BS) and your assessment sucks. Go root for Flutie or something. He just wins, after all, all on his own. We should have such an awesome QB who does it all singlehandedly.

So perhaps they could design a play or use a QB that can get it past the line.

How naturally reductive and nuanced of you.

I find it encouraging for next year. Bring on Ferentz!

Come on, Chicago! He could have still won about 3-4 more games with this dismal roster if he (and Gray) had made some better decisions! This staff is shite, sorry.

Will is a smart guy whom I have fundamental disagreements with. To me, environmentalism is about sensing something larger than oneself, something we are all a part of, and something that will remain when we die. We are mere caretakers for it. If he wants to call that collectivism and stress that the generation and consumption of energy is more important than this, that's his prerogative. But the fact is, oil is limited, whether we drill in ANWR or not, and we're doing next to nothing about it, even when the demand for sustainable energy sources is there (and I've come around a bit on nuclear energy, so don't throw that one at me). The people who hold the cards in this matter don't want to change, because things are going great for them now -- they'll change when they have to and when they can maximize their returns doing so. What government could do, since it is subsidizing the energy industry anyway, is make energy companies accountable and provide incentives for sustainability, instead of doing business as usual, which is leading down a road to nowhere at best, toward serious damage at worst.