SCREAMING EAGLE-66

---The Southland, and Southwestern Athletic Conf (Texas Southern) are considered D-I in basketball... and there are over 300 D-I teams, 20 in Texas. . We should be able to have schedule containing one more than 1 or 2 non-D-I teams. Several Big-XII teams played several Southwestern Conf teams.

The 9-11 commission states the CIA did not claim there were WMD in Iraq or connection to Al-Qaeda.... in fact believed the reverse... none. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Jun16.html Not a great article but best I could find (quickly) from a good source that is believable and not some "hate-Bush" site.

You just contradicted yourself...... Besides not of lot of them sent COMBAT troops, they sent people later to aid more in humanitarian things.

---I think the whole deal was a mistake but I guess time will tell ... but if the administration was going to do it, then sent enough troops to do the job... it is a very large country. In the early days the troops they found several "ammo dumps" or warehouses of ammo and weapons and were told to make note of location and then move on. We then went back 2-3 weeks later they were empty. We have been getting those explosives back one roadside bomb and bullet at a time. We also did not have enough men to secure many other sites that needed to be controlled. ---There is a lot to getting"control" of a country other than defeating or dispersing their army. Iraq had a pretty fang-less army anyway since the Gulf War had destroyed their most of their armour and modern aircraft...... and what the Gulf War did not destroy we continued to destroy during the rest of Papa Bush's term and even during the Clinton era while enforcing the "no-fly zone". A lot of "stuff" had been supplied to Saddam by us by Reagan during the Iran war and most of the rest was from the USSR which doesn't exactly exist now. They had very little capability to manufacture their own to replace what had been lost. ---Our army was far superior and did a good job with the limited number of troops we had. The problem is the Administration had no real plan or any idea to do with Iraq once they had taken it. I don't really think they understand that once Saddam was gone that various crazy religious groups would try to gain control (just as happened in Iran).... and that is what is happening now. Personally I think Saddam was really bad but maybe less dangerous than what will eventually take control of the place. (my opinion) so---- will it be worth the cost in American lives and money... doubt it. --- besides it is not our responsibility to rule to world and correct all its problems. We can help but not this way. Whether you want to admit it or not this administration had little intelligence to support any invasion and managed to convince Congress that they did.....unfortunately..... they trusted what was claimed by the Administration was the truth. ---Even at the time I felt that the Sudan was much more of a problem... Al-Qaeda absolutely was present there and they were killing various religious groups (Christians included) that disagreed with them (and still are). Ben Laden was far more likely to be there than in Iraq and he was/is the real enemy with connections to 9-11, not Saddam.

---Europe believed Saddam had those weapons.?? They had doubts. If that is absolutely true why did not assist in the invasion as they had in the Gulf War. Hans Blix had not completed his inspections and wanted more time but it was not granted. Only Britain sent combat troops. Spain and POLAND sent a few support personal. France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Norway, Russia, etc. sent nothing because they were not absolutely convinced based on what they knew. They believed it was possible but too early to take action without better information.. ---Congress has access to the same inteligence..??.. not completely.... Congress was not even aware the US was working on an atomic bomb during WWII until we dropped it. Even Truman did not know until Roosevelt died. Giving 437 people access to America's convert/secret knowledge doesn't happen...They may have been told everything he (Bush) actually knew but assumed he knew a lot more than he was "publicly"stating.... No President reveals everything he knows for security reasons and the safety of his sources. ---You are believing a lot of BS and are too trusting of your sourses.

----Midland.!! I have lived in Midland 40 years. Wife taught Latin MHS 30+ years but is now at Trinity and I taught math in Lee system but teach at MC only now. Agree with your comment and often refer to the local paper as the "Midland Republican Telegram" instead of Midland Reporter Telegram'. Guess it is that way because of Bush and Craddock have both lived here plus Midland is far from typical Texas town..... lot of people born out of state live here because of the oil industry. We may know each other. We are often refered to as Mr. and Mrs. T . The local paper is so slanted that one gets a totally different view of things when reading stories from newspapers printed elsewhere. I suppose that is partly why I have developed the attitudes I currently have.... a balanced truth does not exist here in the news. Lubbock and San Angelo papers tend to tell both sides, the local almost never does but has improved slightly since many are fed up with Iraq. People that live here and still get papers from their hometowns usually understand what the real situation is. The internet has helped some with those who read news on it. (some of your your friends and mine) It is amazing how gullible some people are... they believe everything they are told is absolutely true and are shocked if we state something different. I never trust one sourse and keep an open mind and think for myself (which all educated people should). ---A couple of months my wife was scanning a magazine rack at a store and a lady (that she barely knew) told my wife she would not read magazines (Time, Newsweek etc.) anymore because they were too leftwing and anti-American... She also commented she didn't watch Leno and especially Letterman either because they made fun of the President.. My wife apparently did not say much but laughed about it when she got home.. In short don't confuse me with facts.. my mind is made up. I too am a member of the (Mean) green party.

---Yeah-- Their probably knot going too consider us worthy since we loosed two many games the last too years two bee put on there schedule.

Meatheads...?? General Rules: While debating and discussion is fine, we will not tolerate rudeness, insulting posts, personal attacks or purposeless inflammatory posts. Our decision is final in these matters. None the political posts did this.....LOL... Sic em Dodge..!!

---At the present probably our only chance of getting a NCAA bid is to win our conference, so who we play non-conference as far as wins go is not much of an issue although wins do help the confidence of the team which could help them as conference games show up. I think we should try to upgrade our schedule some which could later help in recruiting and not worry about non-conf. wins so much.. . ---We should be a more attractive opponent at the moment since we just made the 64 team tournament. Most schools of major conferences want games they can win or to help their rating. They do not want to lose to no-names. That was the problem Blakely had after he started winning... no one wanted to play us because we were likely to win and had not built a NCAA reputation (32 or less teams were selected those days). ---Basketball is not football... our arena is large enough and nice enough to schedule about anyone. Our attendence could be an issue, it was awful this past year. We might be a good team to schedule during Winter break since there is a large population to pull from in the Metroplex... our alums and perhaps theirs. Some places don't have much to pull from other than students on campus and they are usually gone during the winter break. I think some of you are underestimating who would play us.... unless they fear we might win and hurt their chances of making the NCAA. SMU and TCU might not want to schedule us because of recruiting the same area issues. I can't imagine any CUSA team avoiding us other than SMU, Big XII teams might prefer an easier opponent.

Good Grief... THIS... It never stated that government was to replace (USURP) parents.... just that Government (Schools, perhaps some healthcare) have a part in raising kids. Not what you seem to think the book was about... READ IT...

---Don't like being called a "Hillary people" which was implied (I am far from it...namecalling??) ... I have a lot of ashes if you need any.. it has been a cold winter in West Texas....out of sackcloth however.... LOL..... and no just because I am not a Bush-lover (my hometown guy) doesn't mean I am a pagan, or non Christian, or even non-patriotic, or that I don't support the troops.... which some seem to imply is true if you disagree with them.. I even attended a (gasp) Baptist college my freshman year. ..Are we locked yet???? ---Recent revelations sure make the Patriot Act look "Big Brotherish". It had good intentions but there are always people that will abuse whatever is available, and they did. That is why various provisions of the Constitution exist.. to prevent these actions by those who will do them. --Adman above has is right.... government has never been larger than NOW... and as for big spenders... none of the years since 2000 have we had a balanced budget (even without Iraq expenses) and the previous six years were balanced and had small surpluses.... So much for what some claim is true and what the real facts are..

The issue is honesty and about good decisions.. not parties or personalities.... [ We have had enough of the false statements, WMD? ] State things as they really are and what is really really known, and don't make generalizations or just call names to belittle people... any party, anybody... This is why we are in the mess we are in.... As previously stated--- sometimes bad guys have good ideas and and sometimes good guys have bad ideas. Keep an open mind. Yours truly, Not A. Hillary People --- (not really even a liberal nor a radical conservative, and quit running up the national debt)

----The proposed state budget (SB-1?) contains no salary increases for teachers and those other in education and does not RESTORE the health insurance allowance that was taken away in one of the past two sessions. What this means to Texas residents is that any increases to teacher's benefits will be paid by local taxes----which in turn means local districts have to raise more money -----which means higher Ad Valorem (property) taxes for us. ---My wonderful school board and other government agencies announced TAX RATE CUTS last time in my home county... which sounds good until you realize that they raised the evaluations 14% or more (mine was more) .... so I actually wound up paying even more taxes than before. [ where was that $2000 average cut that Gov. Perry bragged about last summer?? ] On some other property that I own in another county, the state is complaining to that local county tax district that tax evaluations are too low and that they should raise them...... which means even more taxes for me. Thanks again state!!!! ----Be sure you are really informed about what is going on and think about the consequences of what the state politicians claim. They are considering dropping TAMS at UNT (saves money) and means less money for UNT and don't hold your breath about the funding for the UNT Law School or you may turn blue or green in the face. It would not shock me to learn in the next session and TAMS has been refunded...... at A&M (Perry's university). ----This is not really meant to so political but just informative as to what they are trying to do. Tax cut claims and no new taxes are not always what they seem at first. Low salaries in education often mean that the best young teachers just leave and never return. [ I no longer work in public schools ]

----We were once in the same conference as Memphis (MVC) ..... We have never been in the same conference with A&M.

---What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... from : "Cool Hand Luke" ... ----Seeing that kids get BASIC health care when parents can't afford it is not exactly about big government. Of course my view is if you can't afford them don't have them, but that brings in another subject that doesn't need to be mentioned here... It seems to be the Christian and decent thing to do is help kids when they need it, they did not ask to be born and are not responsible for the situation they are in...... Don't always trust people to tell you the truth about the contents.. maybe you should read it instead. ---I am no fan of HRC, but as I stated earlier even people I don't care for sometimes have good ideas... ie. have an open mind to others even if you don't care for them, I thought that was one thing a college education was supposed to teach. -30-

Neither did the original comment... although some dishonestly tried to "paint " it that way. The point was that parents, coaches, teachers, friends, neighbors and even government have an influence on children's lives and what they become. .

Funny.!!!-- ---We just need to recognize that the worst of people sometimes have good ideas and the best of people sometimes have bad ideas. ---Our interstate highway system was "borrowed" by Eisenhower from Hitler's Germany who recognized that the "autobahn" was a great idea. The whole purpose was a bit different, one was to move troops in as hurry, the other to help commerce and transportation in general. Building the autobahn also created construction jobs for unemployed German's during the world-wide depression. ---No one is all good and no one is all bad .... (although a few get really close to the all-bad) ---Too bad a lot of our politicians think the other party is all evil and that they are all good. Neither is true. This wise accepts good ideas from whatever source is responsible. The "It takes a village" is one of those comments... we all are the result of everyone we have known...good examples and bad examples. We once had a neighbor that was a great role model of what not to do... and my kids realized it ( see Dean Wormer comment below). Nice guys can finish first..... if they try to do what is right, listen, and try to get along with others and not belittle those who disagree or compete with them. This was the big difference in Tom Landry and some that did not succeed as well. Congratulations to T.D.

---Not sure why you continue to mention the stock market... I didn't to begin with and even stated you were mostly right. Not a lot of credible politicians mention it much or blame Bush for that. It was all about -- 1990 had no Internet and few computers --then came 10 years of rapid change and constant new developments and people constantly upgraded equipment to the point in 2000 the market was saturated with good equipment and ideas ---so many unsound companies then fell apart . It had little to do with politics.. The NASDAQ was very tech related the DOW was not so much. The number I quoted were correct... check this one of Dow averages.... http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EDJI&amp...p;z=66&y=66 I am not pulling numbers from the sky... The Dow did not really decline until 2001. Even then I never implied Bush was to blame.. but you started defending it for some odd reason. Oh yeah --Gore never stated the "invented" the Internet and so many Republicans often claim he said. He did sponsor the legislation that changed it from a government communication system to put it into the "public domain". That legislation is largely responsible for the boom of the 90's. Be sure to read the final paragraph. http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp This is another GOP misrepresentation of truth... or a credibility problem. ___________________________ Your comment: "I not sure why anyone would ride Iraq into the ground, both parties voted for it and at the time most of the nation was hot for blood and Iraq was the best place to hit from a world opinion point of view". ---Both parties voted for it based on the fact that they thought what the WHITE HOUSE SAID about WMD and being in danger from Iraq because of that was true... It wasn't and the CIA apparently did not show that either..... That is the only reason the invasion occurred..... The nation wanted the GUILTY parties to pay for 9-11... Iraq was not involved in that either......meanwhile Ben Laden is still free......

The first is by Reagan's Secretary of Defense (not a journalist or objective person).. the next two are not objective journalist and obscure sourses and might as well been written by some Bush buddy and even quote biased sourses from Fox Network.. Might as well read the Daily North Texas on how great SMU is.... about as objective... they are absolutely propoganda papers not journalist efforts.... just read the front pages and what the articles say..... ---The last is pretty reliable and a credible source.... Harper's...It basically shooting the two films apart as propoganda (as is the first three articles here, not news sources) and not Clinton that much. He did try once to kill Ben Laden but had to cross Pakistan with rockets to do it.... after missing... their government was livid at us shooting Rockets across their airspace into Afganistan and the Congress did not support any more efforts either. He might have done more but 9-11 had not occurred yet and it was still unclear just as dangerous Ben Laden was (the big problem) ..... just as it was unclear about the WMD in Iraq.... but we acted on that one and have regretted it every since. (check the polls even GOP supporters and politicians are not very supportive any more) Invading the Sudan made a whole lot more sense than Iraq.... they are killing Christians there and Al-Q. has a big presence and was even a small possiblity Ben Laden or supporters were holed up there. No one defends Clinton's moral conduct... but that bad decision did not get anyone killed and Gingrich was doing the same with his 29 yr. old secretary at the same time which ended his second marriage (don't feel bad for wife #2, she did the same to wife #1 of Newt's). Great morality there as well by GOP leadership. Number 2 under Gringrich, Livingston resigned (same problem) and Hyde who led the attack in the Senate had several affairs when he was younger (40's) but was not at the time (what was he, 70 then?) ... Both parties had equal slimeballs in that area. ----Beginning to sound like the phrase: "Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house'".

---I can't disagree with that one, or even Papa Bush, and in fact any President since the depression including Nixon. At least Tricky Dicky did some good things especially in international relations with China and others. ... I just want an honest guy who can make good decisions ... decisions based on facts and not someones wishes and to increase friends wealth. McDougal (wife ) was imprisoned for refusing to testify to what THEY wanted to hear... even if it wasn't the truth.. she had testified several times and refused to say what they wanted to hear so they locked her up for COMTEMPT not a Watergate (make that White Water) crime ..... that was really awful... They spent $60,000,000 for nothing.. Starr must have been incompetent if that is all he could find for that much money spent investigating. ( $200,000+ per acre) That doesn't very sound conservative to me. . Who knows why Foster did what he did.. at the time it was mentioned how many in others in various administrations had done similar (suicide) just not greatly publicized. You mentioned the economy and the reason which is pretty much correct.. I didn't. The market did drop briefly to 7500 from 10,800 after the 2000 election but it had been about 3000 when Bush Sr. left office and was back to 10,300 today which is still less than in the Fall of 2000.. slightly. Repeating --Iraq was not a radical Muslim country and no terrorist acts against us came from there.. (name any if you can) .. Iran, Syria, Libya and some others even the Sudan could be considered as ones...and we left them alone. After this is over expect Iraq to be as full of Islamic crazies as the others have. Meanwhile Ben Laden who DID have a connection to 9-11 is still loose and dangerous... We went after the wrong guy, the one easiest to find who had no 9-11 connection. How does that make sense???? --The point I was making was the GOP version of Democrats and the truth just is not the same... Neither is the comment that all GOP members are honest, moral, Christian, caring, rich people. --which some want to believe [ lots of scandals have shot that to pieces, Delay, Gingrich, Haggert, Foley, etc. ] Both groups have their problems but one sure isn't what is trying to convince people it is. Their agenda is tax cuts and more tax cuts and to hell with education and public services....which often drive up local taxes ..... has you homeowner's taxes dropped lately... mine is getting ridiculous due to cuts by the state which once funded 60% of schools and now is less than 30%. (facts not just politics) Until recently the US gov. was trying to close lots of veterans hospitals including the only one in West Texas (Big Spring)... They have backed off just recently or since the last election. Now it is really hitting the fan as the results of decreased hospital funding. [you would think funding would increase with a war going on but it has been the reverse]

next--?? But he wasn't worth 3000 American lives and all the money it has cost to remove him..... meanwhile Ben Laden, the real enemy, has gotten away.

--Obviously a case of "VANDALISM" ..... LOL... too good to let that one get by.

The surprise to me in this tournament was to hear Oral Roberts called "Golden Eagles"... They were once TITANS... guess they thought a Greek God reference did not fit the school image very well.

--Interesting... So Stanford really has no mascot, just a color.... The tree that the band uses is the symbol of the city of Palo Alto (where Stanford is located). ---I think the name change had something to do with the Alcatrez take-over when Indians occupied the Island for about two years from 1969-1971 and protested all sorts of things including cartoonish College Logos. Stanford which was not far away and changed their name long before the NCAA action. Several colleges about this time also did away with Confederate symbols as well. UT-Arlington was once Rebels as well then changed to Mavericks and hated the NBA club for taking THEIR name. Sometime we old geezers actually remember the past and understand how things got to this point. The Stanford band (and Rice band) have always marched to a different beat... Rice once constantly irritated the Aggies. My favorite was their formation of a fireplug as a tribute to Revelle (the Aggie dog). http://siouxme.com/lodge/alcatraz_np.html

---Which Democrats??... the ones the SOME GOPers claim exist [the socialist, pinko, gun-banning, pagan groups ] or the real Demos. that care about education, and government programs that serve the people schools, colleges, parks , hospitals, veterans etc. and people in general? Of courses the GOP also claim to be all about tax cuts for all (wealthy seem to get more), which hurts education and other programs but after all they also claim to be more religious, moral, honest (Delay?) and patriotic. [look around and see if that is really true]. Unfortunately many believe this propaganda just as they trusted the statements that Iraq was about to attack us. --- Actually about everyone mentioned now is fairly scary.. hope things clear up more... I trusted McCain but now he seems to be caving into the Falwell types just to get votes... it worked for the last one who never received 52% or more. Without Falwell, Robertson's and TV evangelists support, Bush would have never won. [ and we might not be in Iraq either without their mouthing off constantly about Islam, we know Halliburton (Cheney's company) and oil interests were not an issue either ] ---It was not necessary to invade Iraq... do what Reagan did with Kadafy of Libya... bomb the hell out of him personally ... he lived over it but he behaved then. Besides Iraq was just a Moslem country but not some crazy Islamic republic like Iran. We are much worse off. Afganistan demonstated we meant business....