finknottle

I have no idea what you are saying. But you are right - if you're not willing to take responsibility for what happens to your own money, then you might as well count on Uncle Sam and social security, and good luck to you.

No, a Bear market is typically characterized as prolonged, a few years at least. If it's not sustained it is a correction. An example was the 70's, in which stocks were essentially flat for over a decade. Not a good 10 year investment. REALLY.

I'm not quite the raconteur you seem to be in starting threads here on PPP. I'm afraid I've never shared any sites where you shoot Mexicans, or lampoon minorities blaming Bush for a white Christmas. I fear I'm more interested in trying to discuss topics. For the record, the only other one I've started on PPP: here

I was laughing all the way to the bank. But only a sucker assumes things will last forever and doesn't watch out for change. And I'm not say we are going into a Bear market. Merely that the 10 year outlook it is worth contemplating. If the combination of a large deficit, a falling dollar increasingly, mildly rising interest rates, and rising energy and raw material costs doesn't give you food for thought then so be it.

And as so many people are fond of saying, things stay the same until they change. You're right, lets not think about the possibility of what might trigger a sustained Bear market. It will never happen again.

Not whining - would simply like to see some non-partisan thoughts about the economy and the markets. I guess the answer is that nobody else follows them or cares to speculate on where they might be going in the midst of so much going on in the world.

OK, we've erased all of our gains in 2006. With 6 1/2 months to go the Dow is down .11% on the year, the S&P down 1.97%, and the NASDAQ down 6.02%. They are off about 8.3%, 7.7%, and 11.8% respectively from their highs two months ago. Is it still considered unpatriotic to speculate whether we are enduring a brief correction or entering a bear market?

I read the thing and in all honesty I probably have to read it again, I may have missed something - I didn't see much point, and it gave me a headache. Nothing jumped out at me other than overtures between Iraq and the Taliban. The Taliban got what they deserved, but I wouldn't consider them terrorists in the common sense. They were extreme fundamentalists, ideologically ok with and harboring terrorists. But they were internally focused, and busy winding down their civil war; I'm not aware of any terrorist acts they were behind. They made a choice to protect bin Laden (a paying guest). Had they turned him over I bet they'd still be in power. And in Iraq's position it made perfect sense to show solidarity with your neighbors. The lead-in states the meeting was a result of an invitation to mediate in their civil war. As far as I can tell, the conversation never touched on terrorism, but rather entirely on the US, Russia, the UN, and international politics - obviously of interest to both sides.

My reply was intended to give people general background about Zaq. I would not presume to state the obvious to an expert like you, except when it comes to correcting your misconceptions about time and being in two places at once.

ok, I agree, I havn't seen anything from him. I'm really just making the abstract point (not particularly novel) about NE's ability to let good vets walk when they are peaking and finding good inexpensive replacements on the roster.

At his age, if we were NE we'd be saying thanks and moving on to the next generation rather than giving him an extension and hoping he maintains his level of play. Seems to work for them. I say it's time for Ezekial after this year.

He wasn't AQ, and they didn't seem to care for him. His groups were his own, and didn't seem to have all that much impact. His priorities were toppling the Jordanian Monarchy first, and Israel second. Striking at the west was a tool to those ends, not an end in itself. (At first, anyway...) His career highlights: - Afganistan, mixed with time in Europe where he formed a militant cell which - according to the Germans - was Jordanian and a rival to AQ. - Convicted of conspiracy to overthrow Jordan's Monarchy in '92, spent 7 years in jail. - After a bombing following his release in '99, sentenced to death in absentia by Jordan. - Fled to Afganistan, set up his own training camp. (That does not neccessarily mean he was AQ; the Taliban took in a variety of militant groups as long as they payed their own way.) - Took refuge with the Kurdish rebels in Iraq after the US bombed his camp in 2001. His notoriety really only kicked in in '03-'04. Fighting the US in Iraq is what made him an international figure, and allowed him to hijack the AQ mantle. With reference to GG's comment about his Saddam ties and the implausibility of his suddenly appearing in Iraq when the US invaded, well, that's not far from the truth. He fled Afganistan in 2001, spent time in Iran where he was rumored to be recovering from a injury suffered during the bombing, and arrived in Iraq in 2002. And the Kurdish group he took refuge with, Ansar Al-Islam, was friendly with neither Saddam nor the other Kurdish groups. Tucked away in the mountainous Afgan/Iran border within the no-fly zone, were under nobody's control. They were militant seccessionists. Interestingly, one of the arguments for a Saddam-Zaqawi relationship were claims that he traveled to Bagdad to have his leg amputated (the '01 injury). I have not heard a resolution to this issue now that we have the body. Here are some references rotten.com washingtonpost.com

I travel extensively around the world, and find it ironic that the USA is the one place where the service workers do not speak English. Seriously, a cab driver in Europe? English. The guy cleaning your room in the middle east? English. The front desk at a Japanese hotel? English. Even the construction workers building skyscrapers - English. If you are born poor somewhere in the third world, English is your ticket to a better life as a guest worker elsewhere. But not the US, apparently - all you need to do is sneak in. English is the international language of Commerce and Science. If people don't want to learn it for whatever reason, they are only condemming themselves to irrelevancy.

Last I heard, the press wasn't hinting that there was dissention in the locker room last season because Fletcher was handed a starting job despite a half-hearted off-season. There has been dissention about JP. The question is, did he push himself 100% last off-season? Either (1) no, and TD was BS'ing us last year, (2) yes, and the Sporting News is drawing the wrong conclusion about the purpose of the qb competition, or (3) yes, but ML/JD are spinning it in order to address the dissention issue. OTA attendence of other players not on the starter-bubble has nothing to do with it.

Sounds plausible.

By TD hype machine I meant: that maybe TD was saying he was a hard worker last summer when really he wasn't... That said, I agree with you. Whatever one feels about his performance, he looked like he took it very seriously and nothing in the early part of the season suggested that he was unprepared. So I'm inclined to think that the QB competition is simply a competition, trying to pick and get the best out of the best qb, not some kind of motivational headgame for JP, and that JP is and already was giving 100% in the off-season.

I shudder to initiate a topic which will inevitably turn into a JP is great/is crap thread, but I have a question about the following blurb from The Sporting News.: INSIDE DISH: Some people in the organization believe QB J.P. Losman has benefited from having to win the starting job instead of having it handed to him like last year. The team is pleased to see him respond to the challenge of trying to beat out Kelly Holcomb and Craig Nall. Losman is working much harder, throwing the ball with accuracy and has shown more maturity than he displayed last season. His decision making still needs to be more consistent, but he could win the starting job in training camp if he continues to improve and finds a comfort zone in the new offense. Love him or hate him, did anybody suggest that he didn't work hard enough in the offseason last year? He was billed at the time as really hitting the books, working super hard at the camps, etc. Was that TD propoganda, or is the Sporting News simply drawing the wrong conclusion about the team's reasoning behind the open competition (pushing JP vs best player)?

Because we are paying their salary to do something we dream of doing. If they can't show appreciation for their opportunity, then it's hard to get excited about supporting them with our consumer dollars.

How would you feel if none of the veterans attended?

But - but - but - he's our first rounder! He has more upside than the new guy, he just needs more time!

Won't he have to buy the stadium too?

I'm going to start carrying around my knife.

As I said, I've never heard it was from warming. I just thought the Maple die-off was interesting enough to mention parenthetically. Since you obviously know about it, is this effecting the entire population, or is it localized? Will we still have maple syrup in 20 years?

Looks like somebody fancies big strapping farm-boys!

You're right, trends do change. It's just oddly coincidental when we happen to be industrializing exactly when 100 million year/500,000 year trends change. And I'm not suggesting turning in my car. I happen to think it is too late.