purnell

Vince Kohler passed away earlier this week at the home of friends in Mt Vernon, Ohio. He was one of those rarefied few who touch the lives of all those around them. At his best he could be surly, stubborn, egotistical, and obnoxious. He was also equal parts generous, gentlemanly, caring and good hearted. He was always the first to offer the next round, a place to stay, or a jump ticket to round out a 4 way. Vince introduced me to skydiving 3 years ago and his outgoing nature and sense of adventure led to friendships across the country. There are dropzones in 3 of 4 timezones we are proud to think of as home. I miss you already brother, you left us too early. See you on the flip-side. C

You're ignoring how much additional effort posters will have to put in to their initial posts in order to completely spell out the benefits and the costs. -- Think of the extra time people will have to put into evaluating both sides of every issue. -- Think of the bandwidth wasted explaining both sides of every issue. -- Think of how much longer it will take to read every post. This will never work.

Ohio State is in Columbus Ohio, Univ of Mich is in Ann Arbor, Michigan (also known as the team up north). It's been a great college rivalry. The pick 4 thing (lottery) is admittedly creepy. With the game that close it will be very interesting to see how the rankings come out. The only thing more complicated than modeling global warming is the BCS poll.

it's football. or what we'd call football, as opposed to what you'd call football, or what we'd call soccer good guys 35, mich 24 3rd quarter

discussing politics and guns when you should be watching OSU Michigan. Go Bucks. Condolences to the Schembechler family. Hopefully Bo and Woody are watching this one together. Cheers!

touche. But stop messing up the karma at the tequila bar. We're trying to party here.

No, the US is actually the sixth neighbor down the street with the hot tub and tequila bar in the back yard. 24 hours a day raucous parties and mayhem. No one likes us, and everyone wants to join the party. Now that's arrogant.

I think the idea goes along the lines of: You live on a cul-de-sac with 4 other neighbors. Three of the neighbors hold jobs, pay their taxes, raise their kids, and are generally law-abiding. They also own guns because although it's not a bad part of town,it's not great either. The fourth neighbor has a troubled past. Run-ins with the other neighbors, family members who mysteriously disappear, and he has a habit of standing on his lawn threatening the other neighbors with violent death if they step on his lawn. Is it arrogant to suggest neighbor number four not be allowed a gun? Just a thought...

The people who live there may disagree with you. North Korea is a closed society which we know little about. What is generally acknowledged is that most of the population is routinely in a state of semi-starvation and the government has a habit of putting 10s of thousands of its own citizens in gulags for various 'political' crimes. But, using your logic that everyone should (or at least has the right) to have nuclear weapons, perhaps the best solution is for us to provide Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan with some help with their nuclear programs. By providing working examples to study and play around with.

...shredding UN "Oil for Food" program files.

The key difference is that WMD in Iraq prior to the war was a subject of debate. The genocide in Darfur is well known and documented...

The African Union has peace keepers deployed now, and they are incapable of stopping the violence. I can't buy the argument that the complete lack of post-war planning in Iraq should have any bearing on stopping an incredible humanitarian disaster. What does our 'credibility' have anything to do with stopping the rape and murder of un-armed civilians on a wholesale level?

...and a disgrace to his office, and the human race in general. But it isn't a "GOP" mess, any more than than it's a "people who have grey hair" mess.

It's actually a Mark Foley mess

Afghanistan demonstrates why we should drop rilfles instead of surface to air missles. US intervention certainly isn't guaranteed to make things better, but if we are going to wait for the UN to make a difference it isn't going to happen. We'll all shake our heads two years from now and wonder how the world let another 500,000 people die under our own noses. Maybe we'll get another Caans film festival winner out of it.