Albany,n.y.

I know this is going to drive the Flutopians and anti-Bledsoes nuts, but I think a strong case can be made that Bledsoe was better than Flutie. Both were here for 3 seasons. Flutie played for a team with a much better defense. Bledsoe started every game, 48 total in 3 years and was never injured enough to miss a start. Flutie started 30 games in his 3 seasons and missed the 1st 4 games of the 2000 season due to injury. Both had about 1/2 a season of greatness their 1st year with the Bills and then fizzled. Each made the Pro Bowl as a result of his 1/2 of a great season. Flutie may have been more popular with fans and was a good example of style over substance, but the better QB, with the Bills, pre-Bills and post-Bills is Bledsoe. With Flutie's teams D, Bledsoe might have been able to win a playoff game, something Flutie never did.

I get a kick out of the younger or bandwagon fans who view the Bills as a team of excellence whose recent down years are an abberation. The facts are that this team is down a lot more than it's up. I loved the late 80s early 90s teams, but the abberation was those teams and the teams of the mid 60s. Here's something to remember: This team went 22 years without a home playoff game from 1966 until 1988. We long suffering fans have seen things a lot worse than we've got now. Since the merger, we've had the worst record in the league as many times as we've been in the Super Bowl. I know this post is a bit of a downer, but in reality, there's a lot more hope for this team than some of the truly dismal teams with virtually no talent that we've had in the past. I think we've got a chance to get better in the next couple of seasons. If we don't I won't be giving up or start thinking this team has abandoned their history of winning, because the bottom line is the Bills have been losers a lot more than winners and the true fans have been there through the bad as well as the good.

People who actually think politicians are honest are living in a dream world. My philosophy when it comes to politics is to accept that they are all liars and thieves and vote for the crook who is more likely to push agendas that I support or vote against the crook whose agendas I don't support. The people who believe ANY President is an honest man really need a slap in the face.

Odds are one of the Dolphins' players is responsible.

The Bengals have been doing this for years, long before Marvin Lewis got there. The best of their gambles on a guy who was a thug coming out of college was Corey Dillon, a guy we passed on when we took Antowain Smith. We kid the Dolphins, but their picks are choirboys compared to the Bengals. When I see a guy with talent and a rap sheet, the first 2 teams I expect them to go to are Cincinnati and Seattle. For some reason, Mike Holmgren thinks he's running a halfway house for alcoholics and criminals. ...and speaking of talented players with questionable character: Bengals | O. Thurman suspended for four games Thu, 13 Jul 2006 14:35:08 -0700 Mark Curnutte, of the Cincinnati Enquirer, reports Cincinnati Bengals LB Odell Thurman has been suspended for four games of the NFL season for violating the league's substance abuse policy, according to a source close to the situation. The source said it was not necessarily a positive drug test that led to the suspension, as a missed test counts the same as a positive test.

Since you live in NYS, I can tell you why your house and most houses in NYS SHOULD be under-assessed. The typical assessment in NYS is for a valuation date 1 year prior to the date of the final roll. For example, I live in Bethlehem, which just completed a reassessment. For the final roll, established as of July 1, 2006 the inventory date is 3/1/06 but the valuation date is July 1, 2005. Therefore, if values have increased in the past year where you live, and you're supposedly assessed at 100%, in reality, you're assessed at less than 100%. Of course this assumes proper valuation. For example: Say your house was worth $180,000 on 7/1/05 and values have increased 10% in the past year. It's worth $198,000 today, but it should be assessed at $180,000. If not, it is overassessed. The reason is that the assessor needs time to compile the data necessary for valuation. At some point the data on sales has to end. NYS has decided on 7/1 of the prior year for the valuation date. However, since it is this year's roll, if your house had major additions such as a new area that added to the square feet of living area (or on the other side, burned down), your assessment is based on the physical status as of March 1st, this year. I know it's weird, but that's the Real Property Tax Law. EDIT: PS: It takes months for public records to catch up to sales. If any website is using public records (like from my agency's sales web) they won't be giving you current valuations. The reason that private appraisers and realtors can capture the market better than sources using government records is because most have access to Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which gives you the most up to date data. Recently, Albany County has put deeds on their website within days of closings, so a county may be current as well-but chances are pretty good that the assessor's office is, at best, a little behind the current market.

I found it to be a horrible site. I'm very familiar with the market in my area. There have been 16 sales of homes comparable to mine in the past 3 years, including 4 this year, all within 3 blocks of my house, yet Zillow couldn't come up with a value and has my lot size as .08 acres instead of .28 acres. If they did so poorly in an area loaded with comparable sales, I can't imagine how bad they are in other areas.

It's one thing to express your views, it's another to try to impose your religious beliefs through legislation, which is the aim of the "pro-lifers" a term I believe is an oxymoron since many pro-lifers are in favor of the death penalty. When you tell me I should believe in your God, I can tell you to buzz off. When you legislate your religious beliefs and throw me in jail, kill me, or ban me from your country as a result of my not accepting your religion you become (our friends) Saudi Arabia.

He has it upside down. JP will emerge as an elite QB and lead us to the Super Bowl Championship, while Ben Roethlisberger's face will fall off and he'll be forced to miss the season awaiting a face transplant.

A few years ago one of the preview magazines had worst first picks in the entire draft-Walt Patulski "won".

I'm against the murder of women based on their ability to buy safety. As for abortion is murder, that's your opinion. If it's based on a religious belief, then it's your right not to have an abortion. Trying to get others to follow your religious beliefs is intolerance. So you're for intolerance?

When it's based on a religious belief, as it was portrayed in the tv show, it's an example of intolerance because you are trying to impose your religious beliefs on others who do not have the same beliefs. It goes back to the premise that your religion is the right one and everyone else's beliefs are wrong. I would classify that as intolerance. I don't know if you're old enough to remember when abortion was illegal, but back then poorer women had no option to get safe abortions and many ended up dying, while the rich were able to travel to places where abortion was legal and safe. People convieniently forget why there was a need to make abortion legal, because women were having them and it being illegal wasn't stopping the ones who wanted an abortion. It was only making it a life threatening decision for the ones without a lot of money.

Sage Rosenfels.

It should have said Eric Moulds caught 81 passes for the Bills last season, but his per-catch average of 10.1 tied for the lowest of his career, he asked for Kelly Holcomb, he got Kelly Holcomb.

Safety courses teach to lock them. I drive with the car door unlocked because it's a habit I developed early since one of my early cars would not open until you pulled up the knob to unlock it. My current car opens as if it was unlocked when locked, but I still keep it opened unless I'm driving in a seedy area.

When you're in the fastest growing state in the USA, yeah, they do. Supply & Demand. More people moving to Nevada, homes will cost more until enough are built or people go back to where they came from...or they all gamble away their $ and get foreclosed on.

Staements like that cost John Kerry the presidency. "I voted for it, before I voted against it" -dumbest thing ever said by a presidential candidate.

What makes housing affordable for tenants in NYC is rent control & rent stabilization. There are many people paying well under market rents because of these 2 forms of "afordable housing" measures. There are actual death watch people who are out there hunting down apartments of the recently departed because the rents on some of these units are low & can't be raised too much. Housing in NYC is much more affordable for some people than it is in the suburbs. As long as one is a renter instead of an owner, housing in Manhattan can in fact be very affordable.

I still don't get the original post's title "I hope the market crashes". What benefit does RL get if the market crashes? Is he just a miserable guy who wants to see people suffer, mad at the people who have cashed in on the high prices, or hoping to pick something up cheap-which won't be any easier than now if higher interest rates cause lower prices? What is his point?

Last night's episode may have been the best yet. This is one of the few shows this time of year that I really look forward to seeing. Eventually they'll be bringing back Jordan Collier, since he's not really dead. The message in the envelope was a great way to shake things up even more.

Good reply. I'm very bitter towards Mularkey and while he may have showed a little more on field ability than some of our other bust head coaches, the fact that he was trying to win meaningless games late in the season, rather than finding out if his younger players actually can play in the NFL or not is unforegivable. Sure, Hank Bullough was a bad coach and hated by his players (except Joe DeLamielleure who loves Hank so much that he included him in his HOF speech), but even Hank never put himself over the team. Years from now, when my bitterness subsides, I'll probably rate MM higher than Hank, Harvey Johnson and Jim Ringo, but I still think because he never lost the team like Mularkey did, Gregg Williams was the better coach. Also, Gregg will get another shot as a head coach, I doubt Mularkey will. But, if they both do, Gregg will have greater success than Mularkey, even though I still think he'll be a dud, just not a bomb like Mularkey.

Please explain why you feel this way, just throwing an insult out does not show me any knowledge on your part. On the other hand, I've stated why, using Sam Adams for the locker room example-Gregg never had problems with players like MM had. In addition, Gregg did not try to pull as many tricks as Mularkey. Gregg Williams was a bad coach, and we've had some bad coaches in the past. However, none of them ever put himself above the team like Mularkey did. The lame attempt to save his job late in the season, retarding the teams growth by not finding out if JP could play or not is one thing among many that are unforgiveable as a head coach. I stand by my statement-worst coach in team history. Now, would you like to respond with an intelligent answer, or is that out of your range of ability? For the record I saw every game of both Gregg's & Mike's eras, and attended every home game.

I wouldn't call the recent real estate market a bubble. It's more like flowing with interest rates. If mortgage rates continue to rise (they've gone up over a point this year already) you'll see a slowing of the real estate market, all other things being equal. However, if you're in an area of growth where jobs are being created, there won't be any bursting of a bubble-supply & demand. Without getting too detailed (I'd have to spend hours talking about it to get you to fully understand all the dynamics involved) I'll show you why mortgage rates are the leading factor in home prices after accounting for local economic factors which can cause a boom in a bust period locally & vice-versa. Also, the more interest only mortgages and variable rate mortgages there are among homeowners in an area, the less long term stability when rates change & equity doesn't increase exists-but that's local. Where I am the majority of mortgages are fixed rate. In California, most new mortgages are not fixed, so if a bubble is going to burst, California will be among the worst hit. In rounded #s: Say you can afford a $1,500/month mortgage for 30 years. At 10% interest the amount you can borrow is $171,000 At 9% $186,000 At 8% $204,000 At 7% $225,000 At 6% $250,000 At 5% $279,000 At 4% $314,000 At 3% $356,000 So, if you look at the difference between 8% & 5%, $75,000, you can see why real estate increased so much when the rates dropped from around 8% to 5% in the early 2000s. A person can afford to pay an extra $75,000 +/- for a house because it's the same monthly payment. The big winner is the seller, who gets the cash. If the rates stay around 6-7% you probably won't see much of a crash. If they go to the 8-10% range, there will definitely be some "correction" in the market. For a 1st time buyer, it won't help much because the monthly payments will be just as high. The impact is a little less than shown because of income tax benefits as interest rates rise because more interest is paid, but for simplicity sake I hope this explains what's been going on & what might happen in the future. I can't type type well enough to explain things like I'd like to, it would take too long. If Pyrite Gal knows real estate you might be in luck.

Years ago there was Joe Delaney, a RB for the Chiefs who died trying to save someone from drowning and drowned himself.