Ghost of BiB

Two words. Danielle Dolan. Nice cheerleader site.

JP > Picard?

Ironic that it was a rescue sub that got snagged. They might be helping us out someday, you never know. Save the Global Security link I posted. You can usually find news links to stories that don't involve Michael Jackson or teachers screwing their students pretty easilly. I guess they just don't understand what is newsworthy.

And you knew it would be one of three or 4 of us doing it. The man. The myth. The legend. Ed.

I still find it incredible that people still come here for dating help. Has Ed's pain taught us nothing?

It could be worse. Whenever I date a 19 year old I have to pretend she's my daughter.

Fake ID?

Dolphins should sign him. They could use some depth.

Looking back on the memory of The dance we shared beneath the stars above For a moment all the world was right How could I have known you'd ever say goodbye And now I'm glad I didn't know The way it all would end the way it all would go Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain But I'd of had to miss the dance Holding you I held everything For a moment wasn't I the king But if I'd only known how the king would fall Hey who's to say you know I might have changed it all And now I'm glad I didn't know The way it all would end the way it all would go Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain But I'd of had to miss the dance Yes my life is better left to chance I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance

Glad the Russians were able to get the guys back from the sub. Guess they learned something from the Kursk.

O-Line. Hands down. A really strong O-line will allow a lot of options should Willis or JP go down. Defense will be there. Special teams are not likely to be as good as last year...ANYONE would be pressed to duplicate that, but the offense will function well enough not to lose games if the O-line can handle their load. I would also toss in tight end play, which I view as very related.

Not I. Once again, the "subleties" of the game. A disciplined team in most cases will outperform an undisciplined one. Good staffs take notice of these things and plan them in. FFS has a good point on the coaches. If the coaches are going to act out, what does one expect from players? I'd exploit it, if it were me.

Depends on the job. People tend to do it to Presidents and CEO's too. It's the visibility level. The bagger at Wegmans gets evaluated daily , in some form or fashion, but no one but the bagger cares. Part of the pressure of fame and a unique job.

This doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme, but I saw Buffalo and Green Bay basically enjoying what they were doing, and a lot of laughing and joking coming from both sides. Classier, and I can't help but feel that they got better results out of their practice than two teams who got all heated and bothered. Friggen New Jersey teams. "He Hit ME!!!" Whaaaah (sniffle, sniffle) Whaaaah.

If this bunch was in a schoolyard, half of us would be dead or wounded.

No one is remotely suggesting negotiating with them. The focus is on eliminating them. The diplomacy part comes from working with other nations to remove their base and safe haven. Militarily, each COCOM has what is referred to as a "Theater Security Cooperation Plan". State has similar arrangements. Direct contact and involvement with other nations to further our own goals. QUIT focusing on one piece, and expand your mental horizons a bit, and you might start getting it. Sure, they would like to see an islamic world, but even they realize it's generations away - best case for them. They are also very savvy, and what has to be addressed as a priority in the here and now is mitigating their influence, and taking control of the middle east in terms favorable to us. That involves concessions with some, war with others and strange bedfellows on occassion. The bad guys basically can't do jack if they don't control Saudi Arabia.

Agreed. I just hope someone can coach him out of it without messing up all the things he does well.

Scrimmage

Well, somebody has to be the jerk. Yes, JP did pretty well, but I'm still a bit concerned with happy feet. At least 2 incompletions were due to not being set or balanced when he didn't have anyone near him. He threw one pass with his ankles crossed. No, this isn't "we're doomed", but it's a noticeable tendency that is going to result in a few interceptions. We expect that is going to happen, but it would be nicer if it didn't.

Cindy, are you willing to set up a paypal account?

No one is discounting the role or the importance of history. History, though is only the backdrop for the current situations being faced. The fact that Turkey aligned itself with Germany in WW1 and the results had a profound effect on not only the ME, but the Balkans and other areas as well. All of it is history, in some form or fashion. Our present adversary in this instance (we have more adversaries than just these guys) is not the Ottomans, though. It is a radical extremeist form of Islam and recent history is what is most germane to what must be addressed and countered at this point in time. This entire abortion started because I thought I was helping a fellow poster explain what was meant by a statement. I didn't say it was right, wrong, up, down or sideways. Melon Head came after me with both barrels, calling me whatever he did. After I said "WTF" to myself I pretty well let it go. To not much avail. Truth AND FACTS are that in terms of what is currently going on, the removal of Soviet influence throughout the ME DOES have a lot to do with this. Besides Afghanistan (which technically isn't the middle east, but whatever) the USSR never had a real presence in the region, though they were the main suppliers of several ME governments and factions. I'll skip over why Iraq wouldn't have invaded Kuwait had the cold war still been going on and move ahead to the coalition response. The US and friends proceeded to stage a few hundred thousand troops on Saudi Soil, with the permission and approval of the royal Saudi family. This wouldn't have happened under the Soviets. Problem here is two-fold, and enter the Wahabi. Wahabism was invented in the 1700's, but never was much of a factor in anything. It resurged with the rise of the Saudi Royals, and became the doctrine of the Saudi political, social and religious process. Wahabism in and of itself does not preach terrorism, but it's precepts are easilly adapted to sponsor it. Now, you have Bin Laden and his faction, fresh from what amounts to victory in Afghanistan staring at a few hundred thousand foreigners sitting within miles of Mecca. Like it or not, this was viewed as one of the ultimate insults, and to compound problems, it was sanctioned by a Wahabi regime. Double blow to the true believers. They were positively incensed. This is an important benchmark within the history of this situation. Why? Because this is where Bin Laden and friends declared war on America, and also the Royal Saudi Family. At this point, is where they decided to export their war, to our shores, and attack us in the Homeland. That, boys and girls is significant. In 1993, a truck bomb goes off in the World Trade Center. Before this turn of events, there had never been a significant incident on American soil. A lot of hype has been given to 9/11 being when the world changed. No, it changed when a rental truck exploded in a parking garage in Manhattan. Facts. Not opinions. I take some amusement in being told that my statements are uncorraborated opinions with no merit, because much of the information I use comes directly from the interogations of captured Al Qaida leadership. I suppose that the Washington Post might have better information than AQ themselves, but I doubt it. Going back to my earlier long post, prosecuting the GWOT (yes, that is what it is called no matter what the talking heads are saying these days) has different facets and objectives but the most important is defense of the homeland. So far, we haven't been doing so badly since 9/11. The strategy, in very simplified terms is to act as far away from our borders as is possible, using all means of national power. At the same time, to guard against and tactically structure towards primarily the catastrophic attack. Although it sounds cold, the NATION can withstand a suicide bomber at a shopping mall. This is not critical damage to our infrastructure. I'm not saying that this isn't of great concern - a lot of resources are devoted to preventing this, but it's not devestating in the grand scheme. In this we have so far been successful. AQ is seriously damaged, and has been forced to restructure itself and rethink it's operations. We have, as they have done so adapted to their shifts and changes. None of this can be done turning a blind eye to the rest of the world. Things have to be done in balance with other objectives in mind. Has anyone noticed how nice India and Pakistan have been playing together lately? Anyone think this is an accident? Think the PRC is pissed? It's very hard to show patience when the reports of things getting blown up are splattered in the news daily, but this isn't a question of "whimps" not allowing for things to be done. As has been mentioned to this point ad nauseum, there are hundreds of inter related pieces to this puzzle, and ignoring any one batch of them to jump on the others is not going to solve the problem. None of this is Kumbaya. The US is going after this in terms of being the big kid on the block, no matter what anyone wants to think they know. We are going shove our influence into every corner of the globe, as much as we can and within our power, basically to make folks do what we want them to. This can be done gently and it can be done violently. Once again, I use the phrase "all elements of national power". This is not a strictly military mission, nor can it be. It also involves politcal, diplomatic, economic and informational activities. It's also not going to happen in a matter of weeks, months or even years. But, until something drastically changes, it needs to happen or the US becomes irrelevant.

It just came on, thanks - I feel better now.

I thought it was supposed to start at 7. 212 has some locker room Cincinatti or whoever crap on it.

I didn't start the name calling. Read back.

Like I asked, what's your problem, prick? I've posted what I could for 4 years here, on these subjects. I'm not starting all over for you.