] According to a report in Friday's Toronto Star, a Wall
] Street financial services corporation and a sports
] advisory firm are prepared to substantially increase
] their initial offer of $3.5 billion to purchase the 30
] NHL teams.

It would be nice if they took it, then got rid of the jokers doing this "bargaining dis-agreement" and went from there. We might even get some real hockey.

Every team would be like a real world fantasy hockey team... The "owners" of each team get a grand in monopoly money, then make deals based on that hard cap. Hell, the hockey "deals" session would be a blast!

NHL - Report: United States firms to increase offer for NHL

"A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Monday to either charge terrorism suspect Jose Padilla with a crime or release him after more than 2 1/2 years in custody.

U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd in Spartanburg, S.C., said the government can not hold Padilla indefinitely as an "enemy combatant," a designation President Bush gave him in 2002."

It's about F-ing time. Actually it was about F-ing time two years ago. If Padilla is a POS terrorist, charge and try him. Or release him - thats the LAW. Can't help but wonder if the real reason the govt. is dragging their feet is that maybe their case is flimsy with a massive loophole that could let him walk.

While I agree totally with Judge Floyd's ruling, I expect it to be over turned by a higher court... and so it will start all over again. *sigh*.

LB

We'll see, I'm not so sure. These guys tend to go odd ways on some things, but I'm not sure the Supremes are willing to let anyone have that kind of power. Too bad it will still take a while before it gets there.

Judge 'Charge or Release Padilla'

] What that means is if you're the Methodist church and you
] sponsor an alcohol treatment center, they can't say only
] Methodists, only Methodists who drink too much can come
] to our program. (Laughter.) All drunks are welcome, is
] what the sign ought to say. (Applause.) Welcome to be
] saved, so they become sober.

I'm curious. What does that mean for agnostics, atheists, or people subscribing to other religions? Okay, so a Lutheran walks into a Methodist chuch, no big deal there. A Jew in a Southern Baptist church? We're starting to head into strange territory there. A Unitarian at a Hasidic Synagogue? Ummmm... An atheist doctor at Church of Christ Science? WHOA NELLY!

There's a reason FDR got the government into the charity business on a lot of levels and that LBJ continued it. It's because while the government may be filled with bureaucracy, it stays out of religion because it doesn't want to get into religion. Why THIS administration wants to force people into church is the problem.

President Highlights Faith-Based Initiative at Leadership Conference

] Dianne Clements, president of the Houston-based Justice
] for All victims' advocacy group, criticized the decision
] and said she hopes that when there is a Supreme Court
] vacancy a strong death penalty supporter is nominated.
]
]
]
]
] "The Supreme Court has opened the door for more innocent
] people to suffer by 16- and 17-year-olds," she said. "I
] can't wait for the Supreme Court to have judges more
] concerned with American values, American statutes and
] American law than what the Europeans think."

Yep! Americans stand for watching little kids fry on Old Sparky! Yep! Uh huh!

High Court Ends Death Penalty for Youths

After seeing this, I want to watch again and compare. Lovely zingers like--

]Billy Bush is a little too chipper about "the genocide of civil war." ]It's "Hotel Rwanda," not "Bringing Down the House."

2005 Oscars Blow By Blow

] The problem comes, it seems to me, when we try to collate
] fairness with sameness, logic with theory, and social
] justice with scholarly taboos. Larry Summers may have
] said a foolish thing, but the fact that such innocuous
] words at a vaunted university of "liberal free speech"
] caused an uproar makes me wonder if we don't need to do
] some deeper thinking about the true principles of
] feminism.

This is one of the reasons I like Georgie. She manages to recast what was a polarizing comment back into a reasonable discussion. This is why she's that "nice old lady" and Ann Coulter is a screeching harridan.

DISCERNING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'FAIR' AND 'SAME'

] He wanted to go to war and he did. He had not the mind to
] perceive the costs of war, or to listen to those who knew
] those costs. He did not understand that you do not go to
] war when it is one of the options but when it is the only
] option; you go not because you want to but because you
] have to.

I filed this here though there were other choices. This sums up some things that I saw last fall better than I did at the time. Now we will see what the results are.

East Hampton Star - In the News

] Security ... what does this word mean in relation to life
] as we know it today? For the most part, it means safety
] and freedom from worry. It is said to be the end that all
] men strive for; but is security a utopian goal or is it
] another word for rut?

And this was written at the age of 18. Sometimes the more you know, the more impressive things become.

Security by Hunter S. Thompson

] The dollar fell on Tuesday, as market worries that
] central banks were diversifying reserves out of U.S.
] assets pushed the currency below key technical support
] levels.

This is the sort of thing that I brought up months ago. A bit fasrther down the article it notes that South Korea holds about $69 Billion in US debt. This brings us right back to the original question, "What happens when the government decides to do some borrowing and no one takes the loan?"

Dollar Falls on Reserve Shift Worries

] "This notion that the United States is getting ready to
] attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all
] options are on the table," Bush said.

This is what's known as a "non-denial denial." For those of you looking for an example of this, go rent (buy) a copy of "All the President's Men" and there are a couple examples in there of places where people say things are totally untrue, but do so in a way that does not deny that the question might be true.

A great example of this is when they ask Stephen Collins if they wrote a story saying that MacGruder had control of the CREEP slush fund, and he said he would have no problem with that. His public response was that he never said that to the grand jury. He hadn't because it wasn't asked, but it was still true.

Maybe our exit strategy for getting out of Iraq is a drive 200 miles east into Iran, or 200 miles west into Syria.

Bush Denies U.S. Plans to Attack Iran