Alaska Darin

I've never rooted for a player to get injured but Mike Williams has made me question that particular stance on more than one occasion. Including right now.

Rare indeed. But Eric is also rare to disappoint with his special brand.

So I guess nature is populated with a bunch of robots since they have no written laws. You obviously have no understanding of causal relationships. You do know the "Deceleration of Independence" (sic) and the Constitution are two completely different documents, right? Life DOESN'T exist on paper. If it did, people would stop killing each other because we wrote a law. They'd stop doing drugs because we wrote a law. They'd stop polluting because we wrote a law. Life is what happens while people like you are busily making plans. I'd love to jump on board but I'm afraid you're completely wrong and basing your opinion on nothing more than passionate ideology. There's nothing wrong with that but you're going to spend a lot of time being disappointed. I think the only thing that could possibly work is a giant reset but that's unlikely to happen as our government has been bought and paid for by special interests for far too long. Until the average American realizes that re-electing these criminals at a 96% clip is killing us, we're going to continue getting exactly what we deserve.

I'll send him on vacation. I swear I will.

Can anyone explain why independent dealerships cost car manufacturer's money?

No one is immune to the possibility of smacking...

You keep holding onto that as if it's somehow relevant. Legally you're not entitled to police protection. Being able to sue an entity because one of their employees beats your ass in the commission of their duties is wholly irrelevant to the topic at hand. Morally? Laughable. How about fewer health care professionals? Significantly less innovation in the industry? An even larger bureaucracy brought to you by the people with the compassion of the IRS and the efficiency of the DMV, only now YOUR life depends on it? Loss of the ability to sue for malpractice? How about further job losses overseas because of even more employment tax to pay for this new "entitlement"? Surely companies wouldn't move jobs to countries without health care to save money? Nah. Different doesn't mean better. I KNOW the government won't do a better job. The government is completely bankrupt now and spiraling deeper every day. Virtually nothing they put their hands on ends up better, instead being less efficient and more expensive. That's to say nothing of their ability to take tax money earmarked for one thing and spend it on something else. I'm sure they wouldn't take money from a new health care tax and use it for other things like they do with Social Security. Medicare is certainly cheaper and better, right? Find a veteran and ask them how good their health care is... If you want to see where the current crisis began, you only have to look at the HMO Act of 1973. Ask yourself why a hospital is the only place in this country where they don't have to tell you what something costs or where what you pay for something isn't EXACTLY the same as what another person pays for the same thing? Imagine going to a store and picking up a gallon of milk and them billing you $12,000.00 because you have a better job than your neighbor, who is only paying $2.50? How about going to have your car fixed, having the mechanic fix the problem you took it in for but while doing that, breaking something else, fixing it as well and then billing you for that repair as well. Welcome to the health care system Congress has essentially given us. Now certainly anything new they give us won't be nearly that messed up. Ignoring the fact that the 2 statements aren't comparable in the least (Life exists on paper? Really? ), could you please cite specifically where that phrase exists in the Constitution?

Ah, couldn't give examples. Yeah, you can file suit and spend your money but you're not going to win. Go ahead and tell us about these consequences. How exactly does being able to sue them for things that have nothing to do with protection somehow provide a standard of protection? I can't wait to have this explained. I'm almost giddy. Horsecrap. There are ALWAYS going to be interests who'll band together and lobby to screw over the little guy. This "Rainbow Bright" ideology that you're attached to is seriously clouding your judgement. There are SERIOUS consequences to turning over things like health care to an entity like the Federal government. I'll take "What is the Dumbest Question Anyone Asked Me Today?" for $400 please.

More like 2 or 3 minutes. I'm never too out of kilter to smack you around.

If you're indicative of the "American soccer fan", then I'd say it's likely weaker than ever. Go ahead and keep defending half hearted Beckham, who is basically NKoTB on a reunion tour. What a joke. The most likely reason that "ratings for international soccer" is higher probably has to do with the number of people from other countries who live here. I'd love to see a breakdown that shows more than minimal gains in non-kickball fans who weren't (or whose parents weren't) born elsewhere.

Yeah, and nothing about his play in MLS makes anyone who wasn't already a kickball fan care at all. It's always funny to watch someone defend something indefensible. Beckham came over here with all the pomp and circumstance and none of the effort. Welcome to another reason kickball will NEVER be more than a fringe sport in America.

You know it's been done? How about a little proof to back it up? In 1856, the U.S. Supreme Court (South v. Maryland) found that law enforcement officers had no affirmative duty to provide such protection. In 1982 (Bowers v. DeVito), the Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit held, "...there is no Constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminals or madmen." In 2005 (Gonzales v. Castle Rock), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, even a woman who had obtained a court-issued protective order against a violent husband making an arrest mandatory for a violation. So now you need to come up with ONE example to the contrary. Good luck. Life doesn't exist on paper. The government already manages health care for selected individuals. Ever hear of Walter Reed Army Medical Center? Any controversy involving the VA or military health care in general? Reality says that the government does things very inefficiently for a price that is significantly higher than the market. There are a variety of steps to try before we simple stand aside and make the government even bigger and more powerful. Nice dream world.

Remember this post if T.O. decides he's had enough...

C'mon libs, chime in! Tell us how you don't support this and will show up in force on election day to oust these criminals!

Try suing your police department for not protecting you and find out just how "entitled" you are. I don't disagree with the rest of your post but I also don't know the answer to the problem, other than it isn't a gigantic government program.

"Activist Court" isn't one of my mantras, nor am I a "conservative" as you use the word. I'm pretty convinced that Congress critters created that "argument" to pass the buck from their incompetent lawmaking. If you continually pass laws that require legal interpretation, you're going to have judges deciding the direction. It's been the case since this country was founded. "Holding up a ruling based on precedent" is a garbage excuse that can only exist in the legal profession. It's also one of the cornerstones of why our democracy continues to erode. I can only imagine what a blindly pro-labor idiot like yourself would do if big company "management" arbitrarily decided to throw out their promotion system because only union folks passed their test and then the Supreme Court decided 5-4 against you along partisan political lines.

I've always hoped that one day the US would be just like China.

Can you translate this?

This board hasn't degraded at all. People pine for the "good old days" because generally we remember them for what we liked and forget what we didn't. This board has spawned some genius level flaming (a few examples already given) and you pretty much invited it. sh--, even I used restraint and that's not exactly my strong point. You're a good dude, John but you're way too defensive on the internet to invite virtual strangers into your life. There's some pretty damn solid advice in this thread and you're basically running around being a victim. Get over that.

I wish you guys would stop saying "no charge" as if the magic medical fairy pays for it. Everyone pays, it's just in a different manner. I think single payer could work in the U.S. if they fixed the things that are broken - but that's highly doubtful given the effectiveness of lobbyists/special interests in the current system.

I think sometimes it is "black and white". In this instance, the rules were in place and everyone abided by them except the city. When everyone knows the rules going in, it simply isn't fair or reasonable to change (or in this case disqualify) them because you didn't get the perfect result. Life is rarely perfect. Sotomayor's ruling was patently wrong and the fact that 4 Supreme Court justices played partisan politics with the decision is even more disgusting. People do have the right to be promoted when they fulfill every requirement put in place, regardless of any race/creed/color/religion. To state otherwise is ludicrous. I don't think there's anything wrong with people being allowed to take the same test in a different manner (auditory versus read, as your example states) and doubt there is even a slight advantage. People simply learn and process information differently and shouldn't be penalized for that. What is wrong is when they arbitrarily change or disqualify results to fit a twisted ideology. These are not school children competing on a playground. These are adults who have plenty of both job and life experience and this decision removed both merit and sense from the process. Sonya Sotomayor should be ashamed of herself.

You could help him get started on his future... No one should EVER plan on being a professional athlete. The failures are epic and those who don't have a fallback plan often end up in jail or dead. It sucks that your son suffered such an apparently serious injury but in reality it's probably a wake up call to both of you. Sometimes tough love is the only answer.

Why should he be any different from you?

Your idiotic masters ran a candidate that couldn't win his own home state?

And why exactly is that? Is it because of the health care system or are there many other factors? That sounds like another scare tactic bent on getting us to move to another ridiculous government program that will cost a ton, not fix anything, and likely be worse than we have now.