Orlando Rays

My ESPN fantasy team as it stands: League: Jaguars Fans United Name: Orlando Highway Hostages (Etymology: In the 90s, drivers on I-4 in Orlando were called "Highway Hostages". I've always used it for my fantasy teams. Except CBS Sportsline censored it in 2002 after 9/11.) QB Chad Pennington RB LaDainian Tomlinson RB Matt Forte RB/WR Chad Ocho Cinco WR Braylon Edwards WR Vincent Jackson TE Jeremy Shockey K Jeff Reed D/ST Bears BENCH QB Carson Palmer QB Brady Quinn RB Jamal Lewis RB DeAngelo Williams RB Kenny Watson TE Heath Miller D/ST Seahawks PENDING WIRE MOVES (trades go through on Thursday: I have the top wire priority) QB Matt Cassel (replacing QB Brady Quinn) WR Eddie Royal (replacing RB Kenny Watson) Royal will likely replace Ocho Cinco as a starter. :mischief BTW: How do I get jersey icons?

From my post in the latest Talalay thread: Braman is nothing more than a blowhard. By the time his appeal is even heard, people will be filling the new Bacardi Field in Little Havana, 37k a night. His seat in the middle of the eastbound lanes of the 836 will be waiting. :mischief

Braman is nothing more than a blowhard. By the time his appeal is even heard, people will be filling the new Bacardi Field in Little Havana, 37k a night. His seat in the middle of the eastbound lanes of the 836 will be waiting. :mischief

The sequel is coming. This is going to get interesting. Or it could crash like most sequels do... :mischief

"Stupid is as stupid does." -Mike Ditka on Monday Night Football, referring to D'Angelo Hall of the Raiders committing a late hit/horsecollar tackle on Eddie Royal out-of-bounds after he picked up a first down in the second quarter. :mischief

They did have almost 1/3 of their starters suspended though. It could have been 100-0 if they were playing. :mischief Or they could have lost 100-0. You never know, those suspensions could be a good thing. :mischief

Although there is nothing but positives out of this particular ruling, why did she have to leave one last detail hanging?

Hell hath no fury... :mischief

You'd think a gynecologist would know better... :mischief

OKC Thunder is cool, but that logo is God-awful. Big-G God-awful. :mischief

Serena's #1 again. :mischief

Bears Bengals Packers Jaguars Raiders Vikings Giants Saints Seahawks Bucs Dolphins Broncos Ravens - PPD Patriots Browns Eagles 6-9 If it's not too late, I missed the Week 1 pick'em. Can I pick Green Bay and Denver for the remaining unplayed games for Week 1? :mischief 2-0

OVER-RATED! *clap-clap-clapclapclap* OVER-RATED! *clap-clap-clapclapclap* (referring to Ohio State. :mischief ) AP Poll Top 25 as of September 7, 2008 (first-place votes) 1. USC (33) 1-0 1,577 2. Georgia (23) 2-0 1,525 3. Oklahoma (2) 2-0 1,458 4. Florida (4) 2-0 1,438 5. Ohio State (1) 2-0 1,347 6. Missouri (1) 2-0 1,336 7. LSU (1) 1-0 1,231 8. Texas 2-0 1,100 9. Auburn 2-0 1,067 10. Wisconsin 2-0 910 11. Alabama 2-0 865 12. Texas Tech 2-0 845 13. Kansas 2-0 825 14. East Carolina 2-0 762 15. Arizona State 2-0 744 16. Oregon 2-0 616 17. Penn State 2-0 607 18. Brigham Young 2-0 537 19. South Florida 2-0 493 20. Wake Forest 2-0 404 21. Fresno State 1-0 290 22. Utah 2-0 258 23. California 2-0 195 24. Illinois 1-1 164 25. West Virginia 1-1 163 Other Florida schools getting votes: FSU 50 Coming off the Top 25: UCLA, South Carolina (losers :mischief ) Results for Florida teams: #5 Florida (2-0) beat Miami (1-1), 26-3 #17 South Florida (2-0) beat UCF (1-1), 31-24 (OT) FSU (1-0) beat Western Carolina (1-1), 69-0 FAU (1-1) beat UAB (0-2), 49-34 FIU (0-2) lost to Iowa (2-0), 42-0 FAMU (1-1) lost to Delaware State (1-0), 35-28 Bethune-Cookman (1-0) beat Alabama State (0-2), 28-7 Jacksonville (1-1) lost to Appalachian State (1-1), 56-7 Schedule for Florida teams: #4 Florida has a bye #19 South Florida vs. #13 Kansas (2-0), Friday 9/12 @ 8:00pm FSU vs. Chattanooga (1-1), Saturday 9/13 @ 3:45pm UCF has a bye Miami has a bye FAU @ Michigan State (1-1), Saturday 9/13 @ Noon FIU has a bye Bethune-Cookman @ South Carolina State (1-1), Saturday 9/13 @ 4:00pm FAMU has a bye Jacksonville vs. Campbell (0-2), Saturday 9/13 @ 1:00pm

It's mainly the difference between big-L Libertarian and little-l libertarian. A big-L Libertarian is a member of the Libertarian Party. It believes in stripping power from the government to only those powers expressly permitted by the Constitution, but it has social policy all over the place, even from person to person. The anti-war wing has taken control and made being anti-war a precondition for party membership. A little-l libertarian merely believes in weak government that minimally interferes with the lives of its constituents.

Ever since the end of the Cold War, the South Ossetians have always resisted annexation with Georgia proper. It was the Soviet Union that carved South Ossetia out of Georgian territory. It was part of Georgia as an autonomous republic, which has been its status ever since. But that was never good enough for the South Ossetians. If Russia wanted to avoid this problem, they should have just taken South Ossetia when they had the chance: when they were the Soviet Union. This is the version i've heard, and even further back, that South Ossetia and Abkhazia used to be part of the Kingdom of Georgia. Technically, they belonged to Georgia until they were made autonomous regions of the Georgian SSR. When President Bush (the first) made his statements on recognizing the borders of the former Soviet republics at the fall of the Soviet Union, he stated that the disposition of the Baltic states, Moldova and Ukraine were governed by the fact that they were independent after World War I (except for Moldova, which was part of Romania and Ukraine at the end of WWI). But the dispositions of the Turkestans and the Caucasus republics were regarded as an "internal matter" because at the end of WWI, they were part of Russia still. (Note on Moldova, so people understand its situation: the Moldavian SSR was formed from an ethnic Romanian region of Ukraine called Transnistria in 1924. When Bessarabia was taken from Romania as part of Molotov-Ribbentrop, it was folded into the Moldavian SSR. The region became Moldova with the fall, but Transnistria has resisted being part of Moldova, and has similar status to Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. In fact, when Russia tried to meddle in the affairs of Transnistria, the Moldovan Communist Party turned pro-West and got re-elected in 2001.) Instead of outright taking South Ossetia and demanding the independence of Abkhazia, Russia instead planted their soldiers in the territories and essentially told Georgia, "Just try to keep them." Their "peacekeepers" have been nothing but a poison pill to the entire situation.

I'm glad I moved outta Homestead. Then again, Orlando isn't exactly "safe" from hurricanes. Figured that out with Charley, didn't ya? :mischief

Is a magician saying he doesn't like the presidency news? This "magician" is a fellow of the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, and a leading contrarian thinker. And the source is CNN. So if they let him have a forum...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/02/jil...ency/index.html Everyone I talk to seems to think the president of the United States right now is stupid. The Bush presidency is stupid speeches, stupid high gas prices, stupid bad economy, stupid war on terrorism, stupid war on drugs, stupid hurricane fixing, stupid global warming, stupid war -- stupid, stupid, stupid. They all seem to think we need to get a smarter guy in the White House fast, and Bush is so stupid, that task shouldn't be too hard. Not me. I'd like to say that I believe every president in United States history, including the stupid one we have now, is smarter than me. My alma mater is Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth Clown College, so I'm damning with faint praise, but I'm stupider than this here stupid president. Maybe I'm less stupider than Bush than I'm stupider than Jefferson. But I'm stupider than all the stupid in both of them put together. The idea, especially from the Democrats that I know, is, we just get a smarter guy in the White House, and all the problems will go away. We'll have smart speeches, smart high gas prices, smart bad economy, smart war on terrorism, smart war on drugs, smart hurricanes, smart global warming, smart war in Georgia -- smart, smart, smart. Barack Obama is way smarter than Bush -- so way, way smarter than me. Obama is way more charismatic than me. He did his big speech for about 80,000 people; I'll do my show tonight in Vegas for about 1,000 people. He's more ambitious than I; he's going to be the next president of the United States, and I couldn't even get to week three of "Dancing with the Stars." Obama is a great leader. He can fire people up and get them to do what he wants. He does smart speeches that promise everyone everything they need and make us feel good about our country and how much greater our government could be. But I don't think our next president being a great leader is a good thing. I'm worried about someone smarter than Bush taking over that tremendous power. Charisma and ambition increase my fear exponentially, and a great leader scares me to death. We need someone stupid enough to understand that the president of the United States can't solve many problems without taking away freedom and therefore shouldn't try. The only reason John McCain scares me a little less is because I think he's a little less likely to win. They both promise a government that will watch over us, and I don't like that. I don't want anyone as president who promises to take care of me. I may be stupid, but I want a chance to try to be a grown-up and take care of my family. Freedom means the freedom to be stupid, and that's what I want. I don't want anyone to feel my pain or tell me to ask what we can do for our country, or give us all money and take care of us. Gene Healy at the Cato Institute explains that the Founding Fathers wanted the president "to faithfully execute the laws, defend the country from attack and check Congress with the veto power whenever it exceeded its constitutional bounds." That sounds like plenty to me. You gotta be smarter than me to do all that, but you don't have to be as smart as Obama, and you sure don't have to be a great leader. Our first seven presidents averaged a bit more than three public speeches a year, and they didn't promise jobs for everyone, day care, dental exams and free stuff. It's really hard to find someone who trusts Americans to take care of themselves and each other without government force. It's hard to find someone running for president who would be content to be what George Washington humbly called the "chief magistrate." I think Ron Paul and Bob Barr mean it when they say they want much smaller government. But the government is already big enough, powerful enough and bipartisan enough (and "bi" means exactly two and no more) that Ron and/or Bob won't even be in the debates. People won't even hear someone suggesting that our president should do less and individual citizens should do more for themselves. The choice shouldn't be which lesser of two evils should have the enormous power of our modern presidents. The question should be, who would do less as president? Who would leave us alone? If we could find a lazier, less charismatic, stupider person than me to be president, I'd be all for it. But, it's not going to be easy; stupider than me is rare breed. So remember, the only way to waste your vote is to vote!

Why isn't this in the locker room? :mischief

Apparently the Alaska Democratic Party have a 63-page dossier on Sarah Palin, which they tried unsuccessfully to use against her in the 2006 Governor campaign. Someone from the state party gave it to the Politico, and they released it. RedState, a conservative blog, read it. Apparently the PDF also contains her personal phone number and has a space over what should be her social security number, suggesting they have it too. Now, conservative bloggers want blood. http://www.politico.com/static/PPM106_palin_doc.html (If they take it down, I have it saved, and I'll throw it up.)

She may be under experienced, but I still do not see her being the reason he loses. There are other reasons McCain could blame for losing. You're talking like Obama's already won. Thomas Dewey says "Hi." :mischief

I'm not sure about UCF vs. USF, but UCF's defense held on strong this weekend, though the offense wasn't exactly I-A par. Could be a damning indictment of Michael Greco. I think USF will win, but I don't think they'll score much. It'll be more like the opening day last year vs. Texas. :mischief

Her approval ratings are in the 80s which is a rarity for someone two years into her term so I would say her skills as a politician are just fine. You may disagree with her views but that's a diffrent issue. It was in the 90s her first year. The only reason it's in the 80s now is because of the trooper scandal, which she is fully cooperating with.

The Obama campaign is not going to make an issue of this. Of course not. He said himself he does not want the bloggers going after Palin's children. That will be a huge weapon for the GOP to take on DailyKOS as a crazy, careless fabricator of lies. Nobody will ever be able to trust DailyKOS as a credible source of information ever again.

The Chicago Fire's D had been stifling all season. Then they rolled into Houston, where the Dynamo kicked their asses, 2-1. :mischief