Alaska Darin

That would be anytime Ralph has had input on the football operation. Despite the 2nd round pick, even you have to be enamored with this draft.

Keep telling yourself that. If you repeat it often enough, it's sure to become truth.

I think my point is there isn't a single recipe for guaranteed success in the NFL. The 3 teams with the highest rushing totals in the NFL last season were KC, Oakland, and Jacksonville. Half of the top 10 rushing teams in the NFL didn't make the postseason.

How's Green Bay's running game? Or New England's?

I'd do this in a heartbeat.

Sometimes young dogs pee their beds because they're insecure. Others pee when they sleep because they have a urinary tract infection or can't hold it. You mentioned he was recently neutered - perhaps that's a trigger and he's got some discomfort. At his age he's on the very edge of bladder control anyway. You didn't mention when he's doing it or if his bed is in a crate. Are you at home when it's happening or is he by himself?

I'm not sure it's fair to look at how much recent draft picks play. The Chargers are a better team, so it makes sense that draft picks shouldn't be expected to contribute as much. They probably figured Matthews would be a big part of their offense but I doubt there was another pick in the draft that had much expectation. They're pretty much set across the board.

Only Republicans sell out the taxpayers to corporations. This is simply economic stimulus/job creation.

DUI checkpoints don't get drunk drivers off the road. If they did, we wouldn't have the recidivism rates we do. DUI checkpoints are about money.

I didn't but if it's a "consumption tax", it'll never work. That's a rainbow farting unicorn. The only fair tax is a flat tax and enforcement is pretty straight forward. The IRS would be able to retool pretty quickly and instead of going after families to enforce the current "interpretable" code, they could go after non-payers and under payers (who would be far more obvious). They might actually earn their keep.

We had/have no business in Iraq, but the U.N.?

That's just another unenforceable mandate that would be ignored/corrupted. It'd be much easier and cheaper to simplify the tax code and eliminate the need for "experts".

Who condoned it? Pretty much everything should be taxed at a flat rate. That all but assures there's no "slight of hand" on the part of the payer or the payee. Won't happen.

Why are you surprised? This is how the world works. Everyone does what is best for them. Companies owe it to their shareholders, employees, and customers to keep their costs down. This is one way they do it. The government better serves the citizenry by making the economic climate more suitable to business. That means low taxation and only necessary regulation with rigorous oversight. The problem has long been the reactionary posture the government takes to every "crisis". They never look at the long range implications/complications. The tax code is incredibly complicated and Congress has been using it for years to screw the average citizen. It's their best weapon for keeping power.

On less than half an acre?

No doubt.

I'd give you the last 5 weeks of the season but they were in dog fights almost every week before that, and got freakin' crushed by the Browns. Their defense was statistically worse than the BILLS last season. Imagine the BILLS spending back-to-back top picks on the secondary and ending up 30th in the NFL against the pass. There's a reason that JETS linebacker said they "couldn't stop a nosebleed". The difference between the Patriots and most teams is they know how to win, especially with the bright lights on. Most of that has to do with Brady and Belichick. They're not more talented than anyone and never have been.

Lead paint chips are not the "Breakfast of Champions".

McCaskill Pays $300k for back taxes The Republicans are going to be all over this, doing everything they can to win this seat. In my mind, this is the biggest problem we have - everything is about party politics. The real issue is how complicated the tax code is. McCaskill and her husband probably pay a nice chunk to a reputable accounting service (or have their own staff) and they still can't keep up. It's kinda like the "attack on the middle class" in Wisconsin, which ignores the dire straights virtually every state is facing with regards to public employee pensions/benefits. At the end of the day, America is facing tough choices and we continue to make the same mistakes. If Senator McCaskill were worth her salt, her next bill would be to simplify the federal tax code (granted, it's not a federal tax issue that she's facing).

Given the Pats recent draft history, they'll be lucky to get anywhere near 50%.

No one has made a statement even resembling that remark. Looking at it from the 30,000 foot view, unions do little more than ensure their continued existence while helping eliminate the middle class. I don't expect you to understand this because you've never been able to look at anything outside of your tiny world. Pretty much. Most people don't understand the butterfly affect of the graft/corruption that is the politician/public employee union relationship. You certainly don't. That's generally the way revolutions work. It starts in one place and continues when successes are seen. Democrats refuse to hold unions or their fellow politicians in check, which is why "nuclear options" are pretty much the only thing left in consideration. Democrats in Illinois changed pensions last year, but it was the equivalent of putting a bandaid on a brain tumor - another failed effort to kick the can down the road a little further. They compounded the mistake by raising taxes yet again. That's going to cause further private flight to surrounding states, which will make the pension problem even worse going forward. The country is broke. At the state level, one of the major reasons is because liberals and public employee unions negotiated deals that taxpayers can't afford. We've only hit the tip of that iceberg because the boomers are just starting to retire. It's going to get much worse and all the sound bytes and slogans aren't going to change it.

It tells me that most Americans still don't understand the issues and are eating up everything the soundbyte media feeds them. More of the same.

Move Wall Street to Buffalo and see how long it quickly the "problems of success" move northwest and buildings start to empty in the Boroughs.

You ought to spend some time rewriting your signature quotes before you write condescendingly about someone's stupidity.

Take the Commodities Exchange away, the pension theft money that they're spending and not replacing, and the downstate tax revenue that doesn't get returned at even $.50 on the dollar and Chicagoland wouldn't look so rosy. Illinois is among the most broke states in the union and Chicago politics IS the reason. You don't have more than a pedestrian understanding of what you're talking about.