SCREAMING EAGLE-66

RE: "IF": ----After listening to the newscast today (unknown bodies floasting in the river and 11 college student machine-guned on a bus by religious radicals), I wonder IF the people of Iraq prefer life under Saddam or life today??? After all it is their country and the WMD excuse for invading is now worthless. I hope those religious loonies don't get in charge of the country like they did in Iran but it is a possibility..... IF they succeed we will see lots of crazy terrorist from Iraq then because they will use the invasion as justifcation. Scary thought.

I agree!! UT-Norman does quite well with their Texas talent, a lot of it has come from West Texas oilfields. In fact until recently we had a radio station here in Midland/Odessa that carried every UT-Norman game. Oftentimes there are more Texans than Okies on our Norman team. I usually cheer for the Sooners, in fact I usually root for the other Texas teams as well...except SMU.

I would put put the Okies and Nebraska on the list instead of Indiana and Wisconsin. The problem with those two states is no NFL programs and only one college of note in Nebraska although OSU and Tulsa has had a few good moments in Oklahoma. Indiana??? Notre Dame is filled with out-of-state players and the Colts is a pro team without local athletes.. Their home grown football players are nothing to get excited about about. A better case could be made for NY with Syracuse and two NYC and a Buffalo football team in the NFL and it is a bad choice to me. Probably Indiana is the writers home state. Even Bama makes more sense to me. I would think Friday nights in Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Bama would get more attention than in Indiana or cold Wisconsin.

---I think we call tell the age of the posters pretty much as to what is posted. Some still have the young male on prowl attitude and some have the fatherly attitude. She is also exactly the type of person that poeple in education hate to hear about. There aren't that many that do something that stupid, get extrememly flirtaious or go even further but it hurts the repitation of everyone in education. Had it been some secretary somewhere the same age as her it would have never made the news since it was not illegal but since it is a teacher it will make the front page of some section. ---Most school districts seem to try not to put young single teachers in HS if they can avoid it because of this type of situation becomes more likely. Only a total idiot would see anything appealing about a junior high or elementary student so that is where they usually are assigned. Even then there are a rare few of them unfortunately. ---This doesn't excuse any behavior but if a person in education does something illegal (DUI?) it is likely to make the newspaper especially in smaller towns. If a secretary, Walmart employee, or most other people do this, it may not even be mentioned. ---Practically every school district warns personal to not put themselves into situations that they could be accused of something. Guilty or not of what she is accused of doing she was very stupid especially to have writtten/recorded communications. She also has contritributed to the dittzy blond image.....Most beauty pagent types aren't considered mental giants either and she contributes to that image as well.........LOL. .

We all agree,..... he must really be nuts or there is a possiblility #2 -- she was just very flirteous and "did not come through as he hoped " and he is getting even. Who knows?, either is possible. It doesn't make a lot sense for HER (she is not alonely hearts moose) to get involved with him but that type of stuff has happened before... Who knows?? "I'm confused (no comment, please! )...I find it HARD to believe that a chick that hot would have a difficult time finding someone her own age, AND who is NOT in HS!"" quote: NCMean Green My oppinion exactly....which is why I somewhat question his claims.

Really.... how do you know??? --- I voted for Reagan a couple of times and Bush Sr. who was extremely qualified but I never voted for Bush Jr. except when he ran for Representative from Midland in the 80's and lost. I even voted for Nixon who was ran out of office. You make way too many assumptions and ignore facts. Vote for the the most honest, most qualified, and the one who will make good decisions and serve the voters properly ---and not just his financial contributers... Now you are blaming Jonestown on Carter??.....it is getting worse... and I will bet you believe every word Rush says as well. .

---Saddam was a terrible guy but will the replacemnt government be any better or will it become something like exists in Iran, a crazy Islamic country. I just don't think it was worth the cost in American lives or money. ---I and apparently most Americans now also dislike the claims that were used to justify the war, that we were in danger from Iraq terrorists (name one terrorist act by Iraq against us... ever!) or that they had large WMD programs. The claims weren't true and besides almost no other country believed them either, ----and they were right. This brings into question honesty and the credibity of the claims. If anything very important said is not true can you believe anything else or do you still have convidence in their ability? The CIA claims they never gave the administration any reliable information about WMD programs... How can anyone ignor this info? Not me, it just looks like they made it all up.. ---If an employer had an employee that stretched the truth or just made up facts plus was making bad decisions....How long would he keep his job???? Why is government any different???? .

---As I said, it is a meaningless argument. My above post was bad logic and sarcasm. I suppose I should hate the GOP for denying the Confederate part of my family the right to vote during Reconstruction or for the banking policies during the 20's that cost my family a 1/2 section of land.. I don't. It is time to get over it and just pick the best and most honest people today that will make good decisions. Think for yourself and don't listen to some progaganda radio person that makes a fortune by talking nonsense.

---Maybe it is true and maybe it isn't. A friend of mine was hand-cuffed and thrown in jail for a couple of days for rape before the girl confessed she made it all up. It all hit the fan when she was asked to describe the interior of his pickup truck and could not do so she just described her father's pickup.... At that point she admitted she made it all up because she was afraid of getting in trouble because of something else she had done including getting home several hours late.. My friend had not even seen that girl in a long time, she had been his student the prior year. The media had made a big deal of his arrrest but not so much of his release and her confession. Wasn't right. ---Just because they are minors don't mean they are honest and sometime they just want to get even for a bad grade or for being disciplined. It has even happened to me but on just a minor deal, nothing like that, she claimed I struck her, I didn't, and other students confirmed it. ---Teachers/profs. are big targets, a few are guilty but most aren't. Another instance I knew of a girl was trying to blackmail a prof for a good grade. He had helped her in his office but absolutely nothing had happened and apparently she had tried it before and it worked, this time it didn't. ---Something to remember, always meet people (especially the opposite gender) in a very public place with other people around or coming and going regularly. --Another big problem is many people always believe what that read is true, sometimes it isn't. Arrested does not mean guilty either. When in college I was shot at and handcuffed as a burgler, put in police car, and was being taken to jail before they learned I was a late night employee tending to refrigeration equiptment.... It was spooky and I was Irate. . -----After reading the complete article, she looks guilty or very stupid which also is possible. He might be wanting to brag about being with a Miss Texas contestant.

---Well, let us not forget the Civil War with Lincoln, Republican and a Liberal since he supported change instead of the conservative same ol'thing, more slavery .... 500,000 dead--give or take a 100,000 civilians who were killed when their homes were shelled or burned by Sherman or someone else on either side.. This war statement is a dumb argument unless they just started it [iraq, Bush Jr. ?]. Many of those wars were joined after they were progress, who was president is meaningless, almost as meaningless as who won the World Series that year*. Even Bush Sr. just reacted to an invasion and was at no way "at fault" for that war. . *maybe we can blame the Yankees since they were likely the World Series winners just prior to WWII and WWI and Korea and probably Viet-Nam as well. I already don't like the Yankees because Pres. Wilson was from NY and as stated earlier he is responsible for millions of Chinese, Russians, Jews, and Cambodians being killed. We can blame the entire Middle mess on Pres. Wilson too since without WWII the Jewish people would not have gone back to the Holy Land and caused all the problems we have had the last 50 years there as well. He was definitely worse than Hitler or Stalin....wasn't he a Democrat?? .. Blame them too for all the worlds problems.... I wonder if Rush needs a replacement! .

I don't support the NY Yankees either because Wilson lived in NY....That is almost as logical. True--- G.Washington did say "Avoid foreign entanglements"..... but at that time it took weeks to get to communicate with a European and weeks or months to attack so the advice was probably excellent at the time (1700's). Now communication is immediate and attacking takes minutes if not seconds. ---Sorry, the world has changed, like it or not, buying more canons and Kentucky longrifles are not what we call defense anymore. I also don't think we need to station more troops at Fort Davis to protect West Texas from Indians either. Had we realized by 1939 that the world had changed greatly we would not have had only had 200,000 troops, we thought the distance of the Atlantic and Pacific was safety... it wasn't, and sure isn't now with ICBMs and nuclear weapons..

I am not "allow" is really the word. Stalin was taking Poland from the east as Hitler was invading from the west. The USA, so I have read, had less than 200,000 troops in 1939 and our aircraft were pretty much museum quality and we had few military weapons because of the extremely small military. The navy was fair at best. That left the Britain and France pretty much alone and France wasn't prepared at all and the British weren't much better and got pushed off the continent at Dunkirk rather quickly. The English Channel saved them. To me the air Battle of Britain was huge. Britain stayed in the war and it gave us a place to organize and invade Europe. Had it fallen then Germany could have sent those Western front troops elsewhere as well. That is the big "IF" for Germany that could have changed everything..... and the history of the world. We were supplying British like crazy and the U-boats were sinking us big time before 1941 but we could not afford to enter the war with no real army.As my parent often told me that even in 1942 we were getting our tails kicked in North Africa against the Germans and in the Pacific by the Japanese... It was not obvious who would win. The Soviets paid in millions of men but they likely could not have survived without American industrial might and agriculture (food) which was untouched by war. Had the Germans completed their development of jets and nuclear weapons a little sooner it would gotten nearly impossible. It was a war to survive that we HAD to win unlike any other recent war.

Napolean basicly just starved out and was out of supplies. Winter and the inability to move supplies during the winter got him. The Americans kept the Soviet Union in the fight in WWII with supplies and especially food which they were hurting for especcially in the winter months. The History Channel once stated that Stalin attibuted his army's survival to Spam which the Americans supplied. Scary thought--absolutely.. the took the Americans, British Empire, Dutch shipping and oil, and the 100's of millions in the Soviet Union to defeat the German army and not in any short time either. Hitler was an evil man but the German army was unbelievable. There has never been another battle like Stalingrad... 1.2 million died, mostly Russians. I understand it was not lost on them that the Western Front commander was Eisenhower..a German name.... as was a US Pacific Naval commander, Nimitz.

---Absolutely different... if the darn French had just surrendered in the beginning of The Great War ( WWI) and not sent the taxi-cab army out from Paris to stop the Germans then there would have been no France and the German Royal family would have still have been in power after the war. (WWI) .... thus no Hitler.... ---Blame the French...... it is the in thing.... Too many "IF's" to make reasonable "what if" conclusions ---other than --- Things would have been somewhat different. Of course had Napolean succeeded in 1812 in Russia or not gone into Russia. things would have been different as well, for a while he had taken most of Europe. Too many "IF's" to make reasonable "what if" conclusions ---other than --- Things would have been somewhat different. [ A descendent of a Prussian soldier and member of the Prussian Select Guard ]

My guess" Tyler County Junior College, don't they play football? I would not be surprised if some of the undecideds have SAT or some other type of problem to yet be resolved, perhaps waiting on results of latest test.

---Actually HE tried to correct what I said. I just restated what I had said earlier with a website......He did not get upset but you did.....You may want to read back and see.....Why did you not go after HIM about the knats-hair instead of me. ---I don't dislike Bush, he and Laura once lived a 1/2 mile from me in Midland and he would jog by my house during the early 80's... I just hate his decision to go to Iraq and put American soldiers lives in danger. He should have been more certain about his claims before going to war. Most Europeans did not support him because they did believe there were any WND either. The Sudan was a bigger problem with ethnic cleansing even then and Al-Queda was located there. -- I don't care for the current Texas Legislature leadership which continues to hurt education...I have also had personal dealings with Craddock as well, end of comment. Do you really believe the last Perry ad. that he reduced your homeowners tax by $2000 and teachers will get a $2000 raise. The money can't be there to do this and fund schools and other programs properly. It costs a "given amt" to fund programs in this state so where is that money going to come from???? If it works I will be amazed---- after the elections we will likely find that there are serious state financial problems.... stay tuned, you read it here. You should understand because your job (fire-fighting) is tax-supported as well. ---Kinky: I met him briefly at a HS where my wife works about 3 weeks ago here in Midland (even have his signature now). Interesting guy, rather crude talking but interesting. I don't think he will win but will get a large percent of the votes which many doubt he will. I suspect most of his support will be young voters and from those who rarely vote, maybe 15-20% which is lot considering there are 4 name candidates and several minor ones (Liberiterians etc.). I am guessing 35% will win. Should be interesting about Oct/Nov. ---I introduced myself to you in Austin as SE-66 while eating BBQ and have talked to you at least two other times, once in Waco and I think twice in Denton, once when I bought the trailor-plug. Obviously I did not make much of an impression, maybe I should have worn a "green Speedo". or green-spiked hair. LOL. .

---I have never called or implied anyone was stupid or anything else on this board. I show respect for others. My history post was about us invading another country without first being attacked or being declared war against. A person corrected me about WWII but his correction was in error. I did not insult him, just posted a site that stated facts. He did not take offense. None of us are always correct. I have even talked to you "in person" several times and that went ok, but now you seem to dislike me big-time just because I think the Iraq war was a wrong. Obviously you don't know who I am when you see me. I even bought a "NT trailor hitch plug" and some shirts from you personally. You mentioned Black Scholes but he has never insulted me or I him. Besides you are are an intelligent person and don't need his help commenting. Scholes and I don't always agree........ big deal. This America, we state opinions as long as we are polite about it. ---I love the Jefferson quote above by Silver Eagle, some people need to remember this----- ---I do not understand why you have a problem with me. I have never insulted you or even suggested what is wrong with firefighting or anything about you. I do think a few years in the classroom gives me more insight that someone who has never walked into one. I am tired of the way the Texas Legislature is now treating education and I have a right to say so. I guess I could suggest that the way to improve firefighting to to double the number of fireplugs especially around chemical plants and oil refineries but I doubt that is correct, I have no experience at firefighting. Experience does count for something in any field including education. I have degrees in math/physics --not education, but teach. I am far from stupid as you seem to think I am. My sons are even computer engineers and one is in law school [not at North Texas, ours was passed but not funded], so we are not a family of total stupids. ---I comment on education because people keep electing the guys that are not supporting education including North Texas...[where is the funds for the law school?] They cut 3/4 Billion from the university budgets in 2003 and tuition climbed to make up the shortfall, and then did not even pass a state budget in 2005 which effect universities and public schools, meanwhile they keep passing more "testing programs" which improve nothing despite what many people think....actualy it hurts by taking hours of time away from meaningful instruction for years... Even Strayhorn had had enough of them and went independent. The state once paid about 2/3 of the public education budget but now it is approaching only 1/3 and that is part of the reason property taxes have gotten so high because local districts have had to pick up more of the bill.. I am sure you know that because of the occupation you are in --or do you kept up with education issues as educators do? Who is elected does matter, they set taxes, spend money, and get us in and out of wars. It is not about which party they claim to be or how religious they claim to be but how honest they are and the decisions they make. --Sorry that you do not like my posts but all of us have a right to speak as long as we are polite.....even if we don't say things you agree with. Football needs to start!!!!

---Sorry You feel offended, Rick I was not attacking you and never have.. I have spent 40 years in a classroom and feel that entitles me to an opinion on education. I know nothing about fighting fires and don't claim to. On the flipside everyone thinks they are education experts because they once attended school. So many who haven't spent any time there on the other side of the desk really don't get it.... including a lot of the folks in Austin. If they really did they would not keep passing bills to require more testing and claiming it helps education. The average student showing up in my college math classes have gotten worse since we have gone "State Testing" mad. I supported the TABS which was about basic skills but about none of those tests since. The latest dumb idea passed requires 4 years of math for graduation. It makes sense for those going to college (maybe) but not the masses that graduate and enter the job market out of HS. You don't need trig or calculus to work at Walmart and business math classes make sense but the students don't really see how it applies to them so it is a waste as well. A lot of educated people really don't get it. I am a math major and schools can't even find enough decent math teachers now and now they will need more. It is crazy, but the public buys it and votes for those who pass those things... ---I may be wrong but I personally see absolutely no justification for sending our military to Iraq. I am tired of those who think we are unpatriotic and don't support the military if we disagree with the decision to invade. Nothing could be further from the truth. I want them to enjoy life and live to be a senior citizen. Most wars especially WWII was unavoidable and necessary, but not this one. (my opinion)

---I know this has been an argument for generations but I do agree with part of it. I first walked into a public classroom in 1966 and college classrooms a little later. The best students are as good or better than they ever were but the the middle half has really go downhill in determination and achievement. What was about average when I started was close to the top quarter when I left... I teach college classes now. That is what has changed, public school students have no fear of failing anymore and all this idiotic testing in public schools has hurt education since often the content covered is so limited. When students see the goof-offs passing and they they did little better grade-wise by working ... guess what... they will soon be goofing off as well. Fortunately this doesn't work at college level very much. ---Sports-wise I oppose so many teams making playoff in HS, two per district make sense but it has gotten to the point that teams with very and poor losing records make it.. "Let's give everyone a trophey" may make sense for little kids but not as they get older, it de-emphacizes doing well. ---Attention-deficet does exist but near as much as claimed. It is profitable for doctors. It is another way for many to claim "it is not my fault" which is getting worse. --I really don't see the scoring issue related to wussificastion because sports is a game and some "class" should be shown. If one team just quits then they deserve it, otherwise show some mercy if they are just out-matched. Rick: You will also notice that 9 of 11 of our declared wars were joined while already in progress including the one in 1812 (Britain/France). Other than the Mexican War which was more about our common boundry, we did not invade another country without being unprovoked or in response to their declaration of war.. Almost all the "minor" ones was in response to action taken by them against us, and none were against a large established country except Iraq. (Russia was already in choas and we did very little anyway except support one side of the revolution). Nam occured as the French-Indo China war ended and was more like a bad poker game as both groups kept adding more and more troops until it got rediculious..

---Sorry, you correction of my post seems to be wrong according to Britanica and Wikipedia and other sites. My original statement was correct, we declared war on Germany on Dec. 11 several hours after they declared war on us earlier that day (Europe is also about 6 hours ahead of us due to time zones). We had officially declared war on Japan on Dec. 8 which was as soon as Congress could meet. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-210413 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_o...arations_of_war http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/dec/dec04.htm#germany ---I will not contest the greatest generation comment but also took a lot of courage by my great grand-parent's generation to go into the western wilderness, get out of a wagon with their family and decide that they were home with no house, no reliable water supply, no legal protection, no utilities, little food, and a store perhaps days away...plus there were people wondering around that wanted to kill you (Indians) and others that would take everything you had (outlaws) if they could. Each generation has courageous people and this is great country. ---My family appeared on the Texas frontier in 1870's and was near where John Wesley Hartin killed the local Sheriff and in the case of the other one near where Sam Bass got in a fatal shoot-out during a bank-robbery. The Chisholm Trail ran through part of their land. Another family member was scalped while hunting horses. Even my grandfather at age 12 with older brothers( he was born in 1870's) caught mustangs in Central Texas and drove them and sold them to the army at Fort Smith, Ark. They crossed the Indian territory (Oklahoma) to get there. Those were tough courageous people that chose to be in the situation they were in. Another generation back, part of the family had been 49ers and crossed the uncivilized plains to California. Howdy Plum, we are decendants of very tough determined people.

---I don't see much similiarity in a game and war other than you win or lose. In a war you and your family may not be alive after it is over, in a game you will. There is not much at stake other than bragging rights. That changes everything and effects what you do and how you treat people. Personally I have never dragged a friend out of my house after defeating him at cards, dominos etc. I LEAVE HIM HIM WITH SOME DIGNITY even if I may have beaten him severely. I see any sport the same way. If college sports are truly war, then we should break some necks, arms, legs etc. on purpose----in fact biting and stabbing seems acceptable as well. In war the only rule seems to be humain treatment...but then again is "deliberately" scoring 80 points on someone humain? ---Any comparison between Hitler in WWII and Saddam is crazy. Hitler had conquered several countries, was sinking our ships going to Britain, and even declared war on us after Pearl Harbor BEFORE we took an action or declared war on him. Saddam had not crossed any borders in over 10 years and did not declare war on us. In fact when he invaded Iran in the 80's, he did it with our blessing and with a lot of weapons we (Reagan) sold/gave him. If you honestly think Iraq was a horrible terrorist nation.....name ONE terrrorist act against us or Europe supported by them. I think you will find Al-Queda and other groups which had contained no Iraq citizens were responsible instead. Saddam was a terrible person but the world contains a lot of those that we have not attacked. 16 of the 19 people involved in 9-11 were from Saudi Arabia, none from Iraq. ---I did not start the war comments. The above paragraph contains facts, not opinions or emotional statements. Don't even think I am the least bit unpatroitic or don't support American soldiers..... I just don't think the decision to invade had any merit nor did most European countries who refused to participate. It appears we are now in another Viet-Nam type mess... I lived through that one too but as draft-bait. ---I do not think today's 20-yr olds are any bigger "Wusses" than we were during the Viet-Nam era or my parents during WWII or my great-grand-parents on the Texas frontier. They all met the challenges placed in front of them. Sometimes it even takes a lot of courage to speak up when others just go along with what is going on. Too bad more did not speak up in Germany during the 1930's. Loud Americans in the 60's and 70's changed how minorities and women were treated and in some cases it cost them..

---Nebraska would be in trouble with the 50 point rule. Osborne was the worst ever. They have defeated teams by 50 or more points 76 times, and unlike most others schools most of those have been since WWII. If you look at most schools the ridicious "stomps" took place in the early pre-WII years when teams did not travel as much and terrible mismatches occured. They"earned the 70-10 loss to Txtech a couple of years ago. That one I liked. they defeated us 76-14 the only time we played them. http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/bi...elta_points.php

Fry: In his last three years he lost 7 games to: Texas [26-16, 17-14] , Florida State [21-20, 35-14, Miss. St.[17-5],SMU [38-31] , and Okla. St. [16-10]. A lot of good teams and no embarrassing losses, mostly when given little or no chance to win. Only one loss was more than 10 points.

---Yes it is better..... I least you have some respect for the winning team trying to show some mercy, now the responsibilty shifts to the losing team. We once had a coach in Midland that loved to run-up the score and played the first team all the way to the end. He never won state because by post-season his team was beat up and worn out. [He was hated by other district members as well] His successor won three state championships by playing the bench a lot more. As my other post quoted Bill Yoeman after Houston stomped Tulsa using 80+ players. The opponent did agree to play and not just stand there. Usually that is BS about needing work unless it is one of the first 1-3 games and the player has no experience such as the UT QB this year. ---I really think when Wood at Brownwood played reserves that he knew what he was doing.... he won state NINE times and got close several others... He did not have the best talent all those times but kept morale up by using a lot of players and got the most from his players.... Rarely did anyone have "gaudy" season stats....playing time was split up a lot.. For the first 20 years in Brownwood he averaged over 10 wins a year..... which is tough since only 10 games are scheduled and playoff wins had to be off-set all their loses for 20 years.