To add another aspect to your first point: imagine the oil "windfall" the U.S. could be experiencing, had we started drilling five years ago... However, if we had oil ready on the tap, would OPEC have the incentive to drive prices up as high as they went?

StoryTribe.com

I do not believe that it was unintentional on Jacksons part, but I truly believe it was not CBS's fault.

Silly to punish a station, that had no idea that was going to happen.

Some folks can dish it out but cannot take it

on the thread below.

As evidenced by the Cleveland - Pittspuke rivalry. ;-)

I'll take Cedar Point over Kennywood any day. Maybe #1 in US but CP is #1 in the World 10 years running (See the September 2007 News Release):

http://www.cedarpoin...

My FAVORITE pic although we all must witness its results every FOX pre-game on Sunday:

http://www.brownshis...

I always wondered where the "Terrible Towel" came from. From Wikipedia (search: Green Weenie ... don't ask me why, you'll see):

"In 1974, Prince invented another talisman, encouraging female fans to spark a Pirates rally by waving their babushkas
(folded kerchiefs used as head coverings, especially by East European
women, a large immigrant minority in Pittsburgh). "Babushka Power," as
it was called, most likely inspired the Terrible Towel, another sports gimmick created a year later by sportscaster Myron Cope for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's football team. The Terrible Towel has remained popular with Steeler fans for over thirty years."

"All generalizations are false, including this one.” Mark Twain

I followed a link to recreate68.com, those who this ban is aimed at, pretty much. Seems it's justified. WOW! These folks are seriously weird! They want to:

"end all illegal imperialist occupations in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Hawaii, North America, and others."

Say what? They want to deport everyone from Canada and the US back to Europe??? What's really twisted is the "others." Gonna give France back to the Goths? England back to the Druids? What happens when they run out of places to deport people to?

And check this out:

"Join us as we encircle the Denver Mint (where U.S. currency is produced) and use our collective power to raise the mint building in the air and shake the money out of it for the people."

Lest you think this is just some high-flying metaphor, take a gander at this:

"Don’t forget a sack to put all of your loot in."

How, you may ask, are they going to "shake the money" out of the Mint? No problemo:

"Bring noisemakers, energy, spells, magic, costumes, anything that gives you power. We’ll need it!"

All I can say is, WOW! Not only are these supposedly adults, but they can VOTE, too!

Denver '08: It's gonna be one hell of a show!

This should alay all questions, of the world, where the NYT stands as a source of "news".

Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!

Maybe McCain should simply ask Obama(or Shipley) to write it for him.

"NYT's Shipley advised McCain to try again: 'I'd be pleased, though, to look at another draft."

Hopefully McCain has enough sense not to do this. Instead, he should take his article elsewhere, maybe even to a campaign commercial. The only change he should make is to inform readers of what the NYT did.

Unfortunately, he'll probably "reach across the aisle" and do just what they demand he do.

Poverty has been reduced by double digits-- perhaps.  But given that we live in the 21st century, why isn't Chavez investing more in reducing poverty to the levels of the first world?  Gosh, it wouldn't be that difficult to become a major economic player in the world simply by quashing poverty.  If people have money, they'll spend it.  Wait-- people?  Money?  People and money?  Now that sounds like a free market.  Nevermind-- poverty should stay high in Chavez' socialism.

However, your assessment still fails to shed light on the fact that Chavez has openly denounced America.  I already know your defense-- it'll be something like, "Oh, America has one dinky warship sorta near Venezuela so they have a right to purchase a plethora of military goods and start beefing up their military."

You know, if Chavez was as smart as you portray him, why hasn't tried simple negotiations?  Good question, me, allow me to answer me's question: Chavez has ulterior motives.  If you can't figure them out-- well, I'm sorry your primitive brain is still functioning.

I'm not gonna fight about this.  You're right that they have the right to purchase arms but given their past and the comments by Chavez, I don't trust that fool one bit with any of it.  Like I said, after this comment I am not responding, so don't bother with a debate.

Doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside to see a liberal whack job defend poor old misunderstood Hugo Chavez, lol? He can't help doing what he's doing, it's all America's fault. I mean, Pat Robertson said bad things about him, for goodness sake. If that doesn't call for a military build up, what does?

Freakin' liberals...

but it seems a bit like the pot calling the kettle black when US pundits criticize another country for spending money on their military infrastructure.

Hmm let's see - America's military is pretty much the de facto strongarm of the UN and is used to stop genocide abroad. Chavez has a well-known interest in attacking Columbia and is consorting with the likes of Iran. And last time I checked "weapons" were a far cry from "infrastructure." Thus Chavez doing this is more akin to Hitler rebuilding an army in the 30s.

a failed coup which got full blessing from the present US administration

Submarines and missile defense are needed to prevent an uprising?

pat robertson (once a US presidential hopeful) publicly calling for the assassination of chavez, a democratically elected leader, on TV.

Bill Maher called for Dick Cheney to get assassinated..should he go shopping for weapons in Moscow to protect himself?

recent commitments to the military to curb violent crime in the country

Again, he couldn't have used that windfall profit to hire more police, build more jails, or crack down on drug dealers - buying military weapons will achieve lower street crime? This is a non sequitor.

it is not unreasonable for a central/south american leader to prepare for the possibility of military actions at the hands of the US

Translation: America might step in to stop Chavez from building himself an empire - and we can't have anyone impeding the growth of socialism!

Operation Pliers

Boosting the unhappy peasants to try another uprising is bad. Those people need to take their food rations and be thankful.

the USS george washington conducting military operations in the caribbean, as a show of force

See my above translation regarding America.

beefing up the military helps to tackle the problem of drug trafficking, which are coming out of colombia, (who is close ally of the US).

Right...Chavez just wants more resources to catch the drug dealers. That whole deal he made with FARC is water under the bridge.

is fair to point out one part of another country's budget that has increased in spending without mentioning the increase in spending throughout their budget

This type of spending is the only kind that can possibly be a threat to us.

As for the ISS...neither of us have the credentials to analyze such data, so we should accept the figures we're given.