Taro T

Furthering your argument: the thing is, you can stop buying soft drinks (it took me three years of trying, but I finally did it). In the short term (say, next 5 years) you can only reduce your oil consumption, not eliminate it. The oil companies are a different beast altogether. I think the govt. screwed up when they let the oil companies remerge. I've heard that Exxon-Mobil controls 40% of the oil supply (unfortunately, I haven't heard a definition of what "control" is). Oil is a bit different from other commodities in that it appears to be a finite resource (like gold or silver) but once it is used it is gone (unlike say wheat or corn or even gold which can be remelted and remolded). Typical supply and demand theory doesn't fully hold, in that someone who has oil resources has a finite supply and (if he has 40% of supply, as I have heard Exxon-Mobile has; again, I repeat, I have not heard how this percentage of supply is defined) isn't necessarily going to put product on the market once his margin cost is exceeded. With a finite supply and no fear of product coming back on the market from customers, it is in the seller's best interest to limit current supply and raise prices both now and in the future. Yes there is a price that will increase conservation and limit demand, but what that price is is not entirely clear. That is part of the reason we have witnessed such large increases in price over the last 2 years. Dave.

No, it shows a complete lack of shame and a lack of respect for her audience. She wouldn't sell this stuff, if she didn't think her audience were dumb enough to buy it. Dave.

I haven't received my notice yet and was wondering how the package was going to work this year. I checked the sports ordering channel and didn't see anything, so I scanned the dial. As of last night, DirecTV didn't have any mention of Center Ice on any of their channels. The season is only 2 weeks away. I figured that they would at least advertise it a little to try to get people to buy it. I checked their web site and had to go down a second level on the sports ordering info page to even get a mention of Center Ice. I hope the NHL does a better job advertising the game this year than they have the past few, but it doesn't look like they will. Did your renewal notice mention anything about the NHL network? Comcast is supposed to be starting one for the States and I was wondering when it would start, whether DirecTV would carry it, and if it would basically be the same as the one in Canada. I've never seen the Canadian version, but if it's anywhere near the quality of the NFL network, I can't wait to see it. Dave.

According to the website, the voting closes 9/27. Of course the website also says Buffalo's the number one seed and should have been going against New England (#4 seed), not KC (#2 seed). Dave.

LOL! When I read that, I immediately got an image in my head of Todd doing the intro scene in Wayne's World when Wayne is describing his "career". "Well, let's just say I have an extensive collection of name tags and hair nets..." Dave.

Answer to question 1 - The previous posts you have made have provided a basis that yes your primary concerns are yourself. Answer to question 2 - I would first ask myself why the govt. won't let me get affordable insurance as the federal govt. keeps most of the flood insurance premiums at submarket rates. As I posted earlier, I don't know much about the flood insurance program details; but what little I do know supports VABills' statements regarding it in that the only places that aren't supposed to get ridiculously affordable flood insurance are areas that the govt. doesn't want to be built upon. Response to next statement - If you would like EVERYONE in the country to support you and GIVE YOU MONEY, you may want to stop making statements saying you can't stand the people in the north. When someone spits in my eye, I tend to not want to provide much help to that person. You don't help your cause by showing your disdain of the people you are asking to reach out to you. Response to next statement - The northern states tend to have the highest tax rates in the country. Also, most of the people in the WNY area that I know have made PERSONAL donations to various relief efforts. Your comments are misguided at best, and unsubstantiated and ignorant at worst. Answer to question 3 - Yes, I remember. Some friends of mine got caught in the path of 2 of them. Response to next statement - How many people are you referring to? What details of these circumstances can you provide? Simply stating a lot of people have yet to receive aid, while sounding very interesting doesn't really say anything. Response to final statement - I don't know what the federal government's actions or inactions have to do with whether you are selfish or not. Also, I find it rather interesting how an individual that was faced with a personal choice (buy insurance and cover the risk of water damage to house/ possessions or save money and hope the dice don't come up snake eyes; or taking it up one notch, if your contentions about the condition of insurance in the Biloxi area are correct (and VABills and others are wrong) then the choice is buy house you can't afford or rent and get renter's insurance) that ended up turning out bad is now chastising everyone on this board for being selfish because they don't necessarily want to have the risks of YOUR decision transferred to them after the fact. Dave.

Randi Rhodes is a bitter spiteful creature. She has about as much shame as Michael Savage and is almost as intelligent as Jessica Simpson. She was still harping about Ohio election results this past February, it wouldn't surprise me if she is still harping on them. For crying out loud, even Kerry doesn't believe Ohio was "stolen". I would not be surprised to hear anything come out of her mouth, provided it is bashing the heck out of the right. Al Franken, annoying as he is, at least only massively distorts the truth. He typically doesn't go and pull something out of thin air to make up. The only left wing radio I've heard that does a reasonable job of staying civil and using facts without major distortions is Ed Schultz (sp?). That might be part of the reason that he gets a show during the afternoon drive hour and Randi gets one around midnight. Also, I think Ed is part of Mother Jones Radio, not Air America. Dave.

Nope. Daughter, maybe. But definitely not the son. Dave.

Scary s**t. Isn't the Netherlands the country that will perform non-self-elected euthanasia? Logan's Run, here we come. Dave.

3,500 out of how many? There are over 18MM people living in NY. I don't know how many are 18 year olds, but if the 3,500 is out of the entire state, that is fantastic, if it is out of the Buffalo City School District, that's not so good. I don't know what exam you are referring to so I can't comment on the results. By the way, I did a little digging on the internet and found one source that had MS rated all the way up at 47 in 2004. I apologise about exaggerating about the MS school system deficiencies. (In case you were wondering, NY was ranked 6.) Dave.

It's NOT Drew's fault Williams got his jock handed to him. It's not Drew's fault the team lost. However, Drew was provided 3 chances in the late going to win the game for Dallas. It DID NOT happen. I don't take issue with Drew losing the game. I take issue with Drew NOT winning the game. He's kind of like the anti-Flutie. Flutie typically stunk in the 2nd and 3rd quarters but would score on the opening drive and then find a way to get things done in the 4th. Drew seems to be the opposite. He does reasonably well before the game is on the line, but then when the 4th quarter comes he can't get it done. When I watch him play, I always get the feeling that he doesn't know how to function once the game gets to a pressure situation. That is probably unfair and a bit of an overstatement (I mean he played well in the Minnesota game a few years back), but he just seems to be lacking something. It kind of stinks that he gets that way. He seems like a good guy and he has some tremendous physical tools; I was very psyched when the Bills got him. However, I also was glad that the Bills realized that Drew won't take them any farther than he has. Is JP the answer? I don't know, but I do know Drew isn't the answer for the Bills. Maybe he will be for the Pokes, but I sure wouldn't want to have any money on him being the answer. (Also, I know for me personally, it would be a LOT easier to root for Bledsoe if he didn't wear that evil star on his helmet. I don't want him to do bad, but I really wouldn't mind seeing them go 5-11 for oh, about the next decade.) That game was there for Drew to win. It simply didn't happen. Once again, it's not his fault the Pokes lost; but it is his fault they didn't win. Dave.

Thanes05, First off let me preface this with saying that I am very sorry to hear that your house was destroyed. I hope you and your family came through intact. I am going to stay away from the comments on the flood insurance as I have no experience with flood insurance. However, when you talk about NY needing a lot of help and MS being wonderful; all at the time you are asking for more money from NY, I take exception. NY pays the 2nd most money to the federal government of any state! In 2004, NY sent $171,948,716,000 to the federal government. It received back 80 cents on the dollar (2003 stats, I couldn't find 2004 info.). MS sent in a WHOPPING 8,951,397,000 to the fed and received back $1.89 for every dollar it sent in. So NY sent in about $34 BILLION more than it got back and MS got more than $7 BILLION more than it sent in. (But MS hasn't needed that much help in the past. They get MASSIVE HELP EVERY SINGLE YEAR!!!) No wonder people support the MS government and complain about NY's. In NY, the government is EXPECTED to find a way to pay for what it spends (unfortunately, a lot of that is through issuing bonds and basically mortgaging the future of residents) and it is starting from a hole of $34 BILLION; in MS the government provides much more limited services for the residents and it is starting out with excess money from the federal government. Now you are saying no state could possibly be expected to cover the damages within its borders. Well guess what, if NY had an extra $34 BILLION EACH AND EVERY YEAR it would go a long way towards covering a mess like this. By the way, has the wonderful government of MS gotten the school system rankings ahead of DC yet, or is it still 51 out of 51? And finally, gas prices are as high as they are in the UK due to TAXES, not because they aren't close to the US refineries along the Gulf Coast. Dave. PS I do hope you manage to rebuild. I realize you probably wouldn't be railing on NY under normal conditions, but I couldn't let groundless acusations go unchallenged.

They are definitely going to miss Weis. Right now they are still running things pretty much the way Weis used to. Once teams are used to what they are calling, I'd be surprised to see the new signal caller be able to devise new stuff the way Weis did. It kind of reminds me of '92 with the Bills. The Bills offense looked great the 1st 4 games, but then they started putting in Bresnahan's plays and adjustments and never looked the same as they did with Marchibroda. Dave.

Isn't he the guy who used to cover the Sabres for the News? Dave.

I think he forgot to mention that he picked it back up in the 3rd grade. Apparently he was a very nice child in 2nd grade. Dave.

Are you including the social security surplus to get to a surplus or are you doing something that hasn't been done in decades and actually proposing a budget surplus? I never did figure out why no one (or very few) made mention of the fact that the late '90's surpluses weren't true surpluses. The government had a surplus if the SS money was thrown in, but considering that money has been earmarked for future spending, I don't really see how they could claim they had a surplus with a straight face. It's like somebody making $50,000 in a year, taking out a 2nd mortgage for $1,000,000, and spending $1,040,000 but claiming they MADE $10,000. Duh, looks good to me! I just don't want to be around next year when the mortgage payments begin to come due and the salary hasn't gone up any! Dave.

I also liked the part in the article about emissions reductions: My guess is that the rocket scientist who wrote the article considers carbon dioxide to be a pollutant. If I am correct, the author will be terribly disappointed as CO2 emissions will actually increase (IF this guy's device works as he claims) as combustion efficiency increasing will necessarily increase CO2 production. Oh, well. Dave.

Thanks for the info. Dave.

Do you mean credits to get the $49 price or some others that would drop the price even further? Thanks, Dave.

I thought I saw it in an earlier thread but can't find it now. Somebody posted that people that had Sunday Ticket last year can get a discount on the upgrade package that includes Sunday Ticket Shortcuts. Could somebody please post a link to that post or repost the information? I can't deal with the commercials any more! Also, could somebody also tell me if there are set times that the 30 minute version of each game is shown or if all are shown at the same time and you can pick and choose which one to watch at a given time? Thanks in advance. Dave.

I agree. Dave.

All Bills road games are shown on local TV in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. All home sellouts are shown in Buffalo and Rochester. Home games not sold out won't be shown in any of the 3 markets. (F*cking CBS - when CBS took over the AFC broadcasts, the league relooked at which broadcasts carried within 75 miles of each hometeam's stadium. Because of one small sliver of territory (7 houses and 1 defunct restaurant) that fell within the 75 mile radius, they started blacking out Syracuse. They changed that territory to Rochester market officially the next year, but Ralph and the league would not budge on allowing Syracuse to show blacked out games.) The 2 Fox games, if sold out, MIGHT not be shown in Syracuse - depends on which network has the doubleheader and what time the Bills and Giants games are on. (Syracuse Fox shows Giants preferentially.) Dave.

They did in the past at the superbowls. Dave.

The thing that surprised me is that he said he throws up at the beginning of EVERY game! I was not aware of that. With all the sideline reporters and WGR (and prior to that WNSA & Empire) and all the other local sports reporters, how come I have to watch NFL network to hear about that? Or is it so well known, that all the local reporters think that is no longer news? Dave.