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Spicy McHaggis

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Posts posted by Spicy McHaggis

  4. Posted · Report reply

    Somehow this is going to end up being Bill Clinton's fault.

    After six years of the anti-Bush crowd blaming the President for everything, even the wind blowing the wrong way, you don't get to make that joke.

     

    After 13 years of Clinton getting blamed for everything by YOUR side, I certainly DO get to make that joke.

    1. What side is it that I'm on?

     

    2. I have never blamed Clinton for anything he did not deserve blame for. Lewinsky, Bosnia... I did not blame him. Lying under oath, sending Jimmy Carter to negotiate, selling military tech, neutering our human intelligence, not responding to the USS Cole... you bet he deserves blame. All of it? No. His share? Absolutely.

  5. Posted · Report reply

    In short, Judge Taylor ran roughshod over all the rules that should have kept her from deciding this case in the first place. But decide it she did, finding that the TSP violates the separation of powers and the Fourth Amendment because it does not seek judicial warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to authorize its activities. She ruled thus notwithstanding that every federal appellate court to consider the issue, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review itself, had previously found that the president has inherent constitutional authority to conduct warrantless wiretapping to protect the nation from external threats.

     

    In disregarding this consensus, she effectively claimed that the only public official elected by all Americans — an official whose primary duty happens to be safeguarding the security of the United States — is powerless to order surveillance against an enemy in wartime unless a federal judge says he can.

    http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGU2O...WFhZTdkNzk3MWU=

     

     

    What always amazes me is that people like you guys, who are so very concerned with governmental tyranny, are not ardently in support of the Second Amendment.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    I thought "The Glass Ballerina" was one of the best episodes of the series. It was very, very deep and addressed a ton of the show's issues. Seriously, at about 27 minutes in I thought that an elongated version of what I had just seen would have been an acceptable episode last season. And then we had 30 minutes more.

     

    Now, my gut reaction when Jae landed on Jin's car was that Mr. Paik sent someone to finish the job, especially considering the fact that Jin let that government official live when he had to deliver his first message. I imagine Paik thought that Jae might let it slip that he was with Sun and Jin might end up too upset to finish it. Suicide is what I thought next. But the idea that Sun did it is gaining a lot more traction with me. Knowing that her father is related to Widmore Corp., maybe he was able to hide her murderous past from whoever collects information for the Others... hence the reason Colleen didn't think Sun was a murderer.

     

    I loved the whole thing with questioning whether Jin could handle a weapon. I also thought Sayid's plan, while shortsighted, was pretty hard-core. You could really see the position the Lostaways are in and the measures they feel they need to resort to because they don't yet understand what The Others are all about. The Others are truly a significant danger right now, and I honestly love what Sayid is prepared to do, and I know why he scares them.

     

    Some classic Sawyer was on display. Still talking trash, still not trusting anyone he doesn't know... and yet you could definitely see the method to it. The defiance in emptying the canteen was awesome. Perhaps, Sawyer didn't trust Juliet, perhaps he just wanted to piss her off. Another example of Sawyer at his best: "This is probably going to hurt me more than it hurts you... but I just want to make life that extra bit harder for you, so fuck off and go fill up your canteen again." Classic. As for Kate, that was the hottest she's ever looked. Claire is going to have to do a lot to win me over again. I never thought they could make chopping rocks so sexy. That was totally primal. I wonder, when Sawyer sees Jack again, if he'll see Jack's "we got caught in a net" and raise him "we were chopping rocks". I kind of got the impression that Sawyer figured he was going to do something stupid enough to get tasered anyway, so he might as well kiss Kate first. I don't think he thought about using the kiss to scout the Others until the moment he was grabbed. Or maybe, as with Kate, he is always scouting. She was definitely interested in more than just scouting as well. I liked at the end how Sawyer used that for the ol' push-pull.

     

    The character of Benjamin Linus is utterly amazing. I love how ambiguous he is. Attempting to shake hands with Jack, how cool was that? I didn't think seeing him observing Sawyer and Kate at the end was that big of a revelation. They showed the monitors earlier... and someone as smart as Ben would assume Sawyer's plan even without the benefit of monitors, especially if you assume they have files on him and Kate. I'm still trying to figure out the significance of mentioning Christopher Reeve. The other stuff pretty much makes sense... they did, however, edit out Joe Buck referencing the 86 year drought since 1918 for the Red Sox win. The huge thing though, is that it totally exploded Jack's concept of fate. Whether he believed his dad or not, it was something Jack had been taught his entire life. You can see how they are breaking Jack's bonds to his old life. I think Ben's deal about "cooperate and I'll take you home" hinges on the fact that he believes if Jack is willing to cooperate (however and whenever that is) he won't want to leave the island.

     

    I was a little shocked at how cold and calculating Juliet came across in her dealings with Kate. She's all into intimacy with Jack, she gives Sawyer water, and then she pulls a gun on Kate. Just threatens her life, plain as day. With Ben saying Juliet never gave him soup and that he had been on the island all his life, a theory started developing. I think Juliet may very well be "Him". I'm not sure how, it may have to involve some weird genetics explanation that keeps Juliet young, or makes Ben older. But I think Ben was either a prisoner or part of the experiment, he somehow recruited Juliet to his side, and he led a rebellion. Now, I think Ben and Juliet lead the Others, perhaps one is in charge of intelligence and the other is in charge tactically. There very well could be another person who is Him, that Ben and Juliet report to, and Ben's soup comment was a red herring that only referred to their defunct relationship... but I'm going to stick with my theory for now.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    No wonder Florida/Auburn is getting that Full Circle treatment, ESPN lucked into the most competitive looking game of the week. Michigan/Penn State would be a nice national night game if I wasn't expecting Michigan to destroy them. I hope Penn State avenges their sole loss from last year though.

     

    Don't you people out west get tired of seeing USC on ABC every Saturday night?

    No way... we love it! Trojan Football is LA's top sporting attraction. Saturday night games are a staple of college football season. Of course, this is coming from a bona fide Trojan himself!

     

    As for Florida, I think both Michigan and USC have better claims to the #2 spot than the Gators do. The schedules of the Wolverines and the Trojans are much tougher overall than Florida's schedule.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    JJ Abrams:

     

    ‘Lost’ is not a puzzle before it’s a character piece. It’s not a science-fiction series before it’s a character drama and an emotional drama. I feel like a lot of people put the facade of what the show is first, and while it is that, to me, the essence of the show is not that at all. It’s about who these people are, and you’ll discover in Season 3 a whole group of people who will add to the mix in, I think, a pretty thrilling way.

     

    http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/vie...rticleid=161388

  15. Posted · Report reply

    Okay, that premiere was amazing! The way they pull off those paradigm shifts is unreal!

     

    Now, I know we've discussed the flashbacks before, but I still think saying that Lost should stop using flashbacks is like saying that 24 should stop using a real-time format. On to my thoughts...

     

    The opening sequence was awesome... I got suspicious when I didn't see any Lostaways, and it took until the earthquake for me to realize they were on the island. I'm still unsure about Juliet's comment that Dharma was "a long time ago." Obviously, the options are either that these people WERE Dharma or that they came after Dharma. Right now, I'm leaning toward the latter. They definitely had pre-existing contingencies for plane crashes.

     

    I loved what they've done with Jack's storyline. I was slightly worried about the mysterious identity of Sara's lover... I was ready to be critical if they used it only to set up another Lost Connection. Instead, they handled it perfectly. As far as I'm concerned, Jack is still Jack, despite what The Others may think. Ben feels that Juliet broke Jack of his old life, and now they can assimilate him. But I viewed it as Jack reasserting his role as the hero by demonstrating that he still is interested in what's best. Perhaps, The Others view both of those outcomes. And yeah, I can definitely see a little Stockholm syndrome with Jack, and Kate & Sawyer developing a connection through shared experience.

     

    Also:

    I'm now thinking that the Psychic works for Hanso/Dharma and the whole Eko flashback was a scheme to get him on the plane. After all, the Psychic said right to Eko's face that he collects information and manipulates people. Maybe he's head of intelligence or something.

    Written on May 11 by none other than... me!

  21. Posted · Report reply

    I completely disagree that recruiting is based more on the school than the coach. If the coach is lazy, then yes, his class will only be as good as his region's players... and he will lose the better players to the bigger name schools in the same region.

     

    But if a coach does his job and recruits aggressively, the name starts to become less important. If it were true that recruiting was based on name alone, then Notre Dame and USC should not have gone into the slumps they did, and Miami should not be getting progressively worse each year. But instead, in the case of the Trojans, Pete Carroll and his staff hit the phones like madmen and took USC to the top of recruiting within one year of Carroll's arrival... and within two years of the worst team the school has ever fielded.

  22. Posted · Report reply

    Like I said before, receivers have a lot of trouble, historically, winning the Heisman based on receiving ability alone. Guys like Desmond Howard & Tim Brown won because of special teams. Also, a great receiver always begs the question of: "Who's throwing him the ball?" It's a problem that will no doubt plague both Ginn and Jarrett (you're preaching to the choir when you mention Jarrett to me).

     

    With regard to Booty, he has faced a TON of pressure at USC. He came early, got beat out by Leinart, sat silently as Mark Sanchez was anointed by everyone (including me), got injured and faced back surgery right as summer camp began, fought through practices despite limited reps, and won the starting job in fall camp. There were plenty of opportunities for him to buckle under the pressure. And he's also being coached by arguably the best coach in the country... his brothers didn't have that. The impact of Chow's absence is a fair point, and is the greatest variable, but I still trust Pete Carroll.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    As far as the early Heisman implications go, I say Troy Smith SHOULD have the inside track. He beat Texas in Texas, and if he puts up big numbers & goes undefeated, I don't see how you can't give it to him.

     

    Obviously, Adrian Peterson is next. But his problem might be Oklahoma on a down year... I say might because, with Texas down, the Sooners could gel and take the Big 12. Peterson is probably the best back of the bunch but Steve Slaton has some things on him. West Virginia has a lot of hype already AND they play in the Big East. People can deny it all they want, but a highly prominent player playing in front of the East Coast media is huge for Heisman contention.

     

    Chris Leak is probably the most well-known player out of the SEC, and Florida is looking good, so he has to be mentioned. Brady Quinn's Michigan game REALLY hurt his hopes, and he has more to worry about than individual awards... but, he plays on national TV almost every Saturday and if Notre Dame gets it together, wins all the rest of their games, and Quinn has a giant SC Game: an Irish quarterback & the BCS bowl berth will definitely challenge Smith's reign.

     

    The only two darkhorses I can think of are Ted Ginn Jr. and John David Booty. With Reggie Bush gone, Ginn is easily the most explosive player in college football. His first problem is that he's a wide receiver. Receivers don't usually win the Heisman for receiving, it's generally because they're good return men. And if they did award a receiver, it would go to Dwayne Jarrett. Ginn's second problem is that Troy Smith is the guy throwing him the ball. As far as JDB goes... his completion percentage is off the charts and if he keeps it up while throwing as many touchdowns per game as he is, he could really make some noise. However, I think his accuracy is a little misleading, as the Trojans offense has been pretty simple thus far. Booty has a tendency to stare down receivers, but if he improves on his technique he could be pretty stellar.

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