SCREAMING EAGLE-66

-- If my mother named me "Romonce" I might be on drugs too.... LOL. ---The worse I have ever known of was a girl named "Female" but pronounced to rhyme with "Tamale". Apparently the mother saw that on a sign above the girl's crib at the hospital and decided to "go with it". The poor kid attended a school I worked at. That Mom deserved to be shot. ---#2 on the bad name list has to be a girl I had in class named Sno. Her last name was White. --- Honorable mention goe to the Mom named Gable who named her son Clark. I knew him too.

----All these drama/music types are really liberal?, such as ... R.Reagan, A.Swartzennegger, Charleton Heston, Pat Boone (NT) , etc.?? .. I also remember seeing somewhere that these music and drama types can actually make a lot of money, I would love to have the checks some of them receive for their movies or records. The difference there is the extremes of incomes unlike being an accountant who rarely make multi-millions each year. Doesn't Jack Nicholson, Spike Lee, and lot of others appear regularly at sports events.. Generalities often don't really fit. They are a diverse group of people with variety of interests and opinions also. ---Wow, times have changed... only 2% of NT guys belonged to a frat when I was there in the 60's (a lot of frats , about 4, had been kicked off for grades or bad conduct as in Animal House, LOL) I guess the other 98% of us were music/drama majors... funny, I don't remember those classes or my friends being in those either. I think we get that artsy image because those areas have been unusually successful and high profile not because of the amount of them. The business and education departments are far larger. ---I hope some of the small cafes around campus will remain. Most campuses have them which help make the colleges experience somewhat unique. Just because there are "kooks" around doesn't mean I have to associate with them. They will just find somewhere else anyway.

---The Pittsburgh Steelers were close to doing that.. Randle-El was a college QB and I think Steeler QB of last resort. He threw several passes last year including some TDs despite being a WR. Interesting to note, Steelers won several games....including the Super Bowl.

That's where I have seen him !!!!!!!!! Funny post!!!

Mine says: .... "Non-UNT" Sports.... not .... "Non Sports" .... ie. still sports. I see the Tex. Senate is shipping money for academic buildings toward UNT...(another football thread) ...Lets us hope the House will agree and Gov. too. But still no Law School funding it appears.

---Good story. Personally I have been amazed at how many times I have made contact with an ex-student in my personal life and things were made much easier because of his opinion of me. I always imagined I would be lying on the side of the road after a car accident and a student that hated me would come along and just leave me there. The odd thing was that a former student of mine actually was an ambalence driver that picked-up my mom who lived over 200 miles away. I have a rare last name and he figured it out. You never know what your actions will bring. Another involved a disputed insurance claim that I was told forget it, she would take care of it...she did.

Nothing juvenile about schools and colleges being underfunded and tuition climbing rapidly. Since the legislature is in session it seems relevent to NT. Nothing juvenile about entering a war without good intelligence (or none apparently, CIA claims that had none on WMD) or without good reason (name one terrorist act by Iraq committed against us, Al-Queda is not Iraq) .. Americans have DIED as a result of this war. Nothing juvenile about people making claims that aren't true and the gullible believing everything others say. Colleges (I work at one) and mainstream media are getting tired of being called liberal pagans just because they question false claims and report facts that some really don't want reported. These are two of the most informed groups in America and check facts and question statements that are not true which irritates some people. Yes I do want people to THINK about what they hear then look at what is really happening..... conservative doesn't mean doubling the national debt. The claims and reality are quite different. I want honest people in office who do what is right, and not what just benefits them, and I don't care what party. Some college "boards" have a non athletic thread, ours doesn't. Got any good football topics in May?? --One maybe, Texas lost an RB today in a drug arrest. We can't discuss eligibility failures since that is forbidden by privacy laws.

----I do not understand why people fail to vote..... the candidates have the power to set our taxes, spend our money (wisely or foolishly) and in the case of a Presidental election to even get a country involved in a war..........(Don't start a political thread on me)... In short .....vote....and then you can complain if you want to... otherwise... shut up!!! ...you just didn't care.

Me too. But this is May and June. There are no games, no recruiting, no NFL drafts, schedules are set, no spring games... ie. not much football going on. We can only talk about the QBs or Cobbs so much. Things are so dead there is even a thread about a Pecan tree in Weatherford... no objections??? ...LOL What started this, my one little comment about Notre Dame football and their TV contract: --"Not much fair about NCAA football. The rich get richer... sort of like some of these tax-cut programs. "-- ---Then the "think they are rich people" got bent out of shape. If you have $10 million then maybe you are rich, lots of folks can find one million nowdays, no big deal). meanwhile the State of Texas continues to reduce educational funding and allows tuition to increase. Texas is the ONLY state to cut educational funding the past few years. We are now 50th in many areas, embarassing. Meanwhile the legislature in Austin been spending more energy trying to increase their party's power (gerrymandering for Delay) and increasing their donors (and personal) wealth than serving the state of Texas. --A small part of my income comes from being in college education....and I see what is happening to public education and colleges... The legislature approved a NT law school and then did not fund it. There is a completely finished pharmacy school at UTEP but no funds to operate it. This is not football but it is about education and public funding which is what the primary purpose of North Texas is. Schools need money to operate, and teachers/profs. do require a salery. Instead the state and national government is concentrating on nutty tests which looks good in the media but not in practice. Tax money is what supports colleges and schools so when every tax reduction comes, education is the first to take a hit. My biggest complaint has been who usually gets cuts--usually the people who really don't need one anyway, the Ross Perot types with millions of dollars of real estate and other income. Increased sales tax will not really effect him much but it will the average person. Everyone benefits from a well-educated country.... if you don't think so-- try moving to Mexico or Somalia. One of the things I do is teach......but really the big thing I try to do is GET PEOPLE TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES and don't just take what they hear on radio or TV as the absolute truth!!!! Maybe I accomplished a little of that here.

----When people get frustrated they start yelling liberals or some other name.... Abolishing slavery was a liberal idea, giving women the right to vote, birth control, were liberal ideas, the liberals even claimed the world wasn't flat as the Pope declared it was, and the conservative Pope almost executed Galileo for saying the Earth revolved about the Sun. The Pope said it was impossible because the earth and mankind was the center of the universe.. In society liberal usually means you support or accept change or modernization. Conservative in society means "resisting change---in fact the past was better". Financially conservative means not spending more than you "take in". I am definitively one of those, unfortunate the group in Washington lately are really not conservative and have almost doubled the national debt since 2000, unlike the previous administration then when the budget was balanced for 6 consecutive years. No one is all liberal or conservative either. You need to think what the term liberal means.... and in what area you are talking. If oilmen were "really conservative" then they would just hold on to their money and not risk drilling a well 5000+ feet into the earth with no guarentees, in fact the odds of success is poor. When it goes to convervative family values ..I am now lost, Rush is supposedly unltra-conservative and has been married 3-4 times and Newt Gingrich has destroyed at two mariages with his infdelities He continues to marry his younger and younger secretaries. Is that considered conservative?... and they even support the admistration that has doubled the National debt.... To me They seem to be liberals when it comes to family values....The VP and Newt have family members that are gay and activists.. Kerry, Gore and Clinton doesn't.....It is confusing what conservative and liberal means. Does being married once and not chasing shirts mean that I am a liberal morally? Let me know when you figure out why those guys are considered conversatives... .and it seems the last post thinks I am a a liberal..... I guess it is because I think all people should be treated fairly.... You got me... Maybe it is because my family has a lot of math/science/engineering type degrees... we change the world so I guess we aren't conservative. .

Things are getting "nutty" in the off season.

Absolutely.....plus those who are making a small fortune every year aren't really in NEED of a tax cut....balance the budget instead (a truely conservative idea) . The tax RATE on $1000 long term capitol gains and dividends is now often less than the rate on the next $1000 of income earned by working hard. Doesn't seem right that the man who works and sweats for his NEXT $!000 should pay a higher rate than dividends or capitol gains which mostly go to the wealthy.

---I am not beating up the the super-wealthy (after all they do create a lot jobs)... just saying that a lot these latest tax cuts have favored them instead of the people who really need it the most. And absolutely no tax should ever be assessed on property that is not sold as you said. (stock, real estate, etc. even ones home). First it would be a nightmare by the IRS determining value every year and second it just isn't right and as you said they might have to sell some of it every year to pay taxes, crazy. This is also a problem with inheritance tax... Sometime some of the business or land must be sold in order to raise money to cover the tax. This is can be especially bad if the business has a number of employees or if this large farms or ranchland that has only one sourse of water available which means a part of it would be rather worthless without the part with a water sourse....(typical of West-Texas) ---RE: Capital gains when sold-- and if it is never sold.. a lot of property has been in families for decades.!!.. I have property the family has owned for 100+ years. Besides inheritance taxes don't show up as income taxes. I accept income tax more than inheritance taxes which can destroy businesses and put people out of work... it is a problem when one is land/property rich and cash poor... a big problem..... it can force one to sell their means of income which can effect others as well. Final comment: Everyone sells their "lemon" stocks at the end of the year to offset their gains to show $0.00 or a small loss. (I do) In truth the person may be worth as lot more at the end of the year because his total value of assets increased (oil stocks last year?) but on the tax form he may owe nothing... Why do I say this??...The people who pay the most taxes are not necessarily the weathest people which was my contention to start with.......

One good thing about a lot spread out receivers is that the other team has to cover them....which means there are less defenders near the line of crimmage and the running game..........and if they don't cover them then throw to them. It is a win/win deal.

Have you have looked across the street from A&M? Almost nothing looks less than 70 yrs old. Not a lot better close to Texas either, at least the last time I was there and 6th street is even older looking.

---For sentimental reasons I hate to see the College Inn go. It opened in fall 1964 (all male) and I was one of the original 300 residents. The back portion opened in 1965. As for Fry street, I have no real opinion (some are dumps) but I like a lots of little coffee and snack shops around campus to create atmosphere especially if they are maintained fairly well. Have you ever been across the street from A&M where the Dixie Chicken and other bar/restaurants are? They look like some red-neck bar in the backwoods of East Texas. Not exactly new or neatly kept but lots of character and atmosphere.

---Who said the $70,000 by Joe History was before deductions? I didn't. A married couple in education could very easily have $70,000 income after deductions and $8000 is 11.4% which is pretty much your number. I did not take the trouble to consult a chart. Careful with your assumptions. The $0.00 by Earl was after deductions also. I do understand depreciation tables but it still would be very possible to have an income of $0.00 especially if the wells were drilled in the fall and little production was realized in 2005.. Suggest you learn about the oil industry, production takes time especially when the well is 5000+ feet deep which most are out here.. You don't learn everything at Curry. In any case the value of the lease increased by $20,000,000 which would be untouched by taxes. ----Thanks... I am glad you pointed the Canada comment out. The USA does have low tax rates compared to most developed countries. But we have some political groups still complaining how bad it is and want to cut taxes more even though we have a national debt approaching $10,000,000,000. The debt did not grow during the later half of the 90's but has almost doubled since. The NT degree comment was just meant as a NT complement...not a brag. Not that it matters but also teach a lot of math classes designed for business majors. A lot of them are pretty bad at finance concepts and comprehending numbers even business numbers. Quite a few of my students are working in banks and in accounting and some even transfer from here to NT and Curry. I also have family members who have graduated from Curry. LOL --I love digging holes that people fall into by making bad assumptions....LOL ---No one wants to pay taxes but they serve the common good. We haven't been invaded since 1814 by foreign troops. We have good roads, good schools, good universities (UNT), law enforcement, and many good public facilities. Mexico has less income tax. maybe you should consider moving there but it seems a lot of those people are risking their lives to come here where there are taxes and more opportunities. Does Mexico have great roads, schools, hospitals etc.??. How about moving to Somalia.. I don't think they any taxes at all any more, just chaos.

Stated problem: Earl Oil: (I live in Midland oil fields, once lived 1/2 mile from W, have mathematics degrees) Earl at the beginning of 2005 was making a decent living and owned $10,000,000 of oil leases. During the year the price of oil went crazy and these leases are worth $30,000,000 by the end of the year. Earl then has wells drilled, bought pumps, trucks, tanks, etc and spends every cent he made ungrading his oil field. Net income for the year $0.00. He owes no taxes. Meanwhile Joe a history teacher has a family income of about $70,000 owes about $8,000 in income taxes and still owes on his house and car? Who is wealthiest? The man who paid no taxes or the one that paid $8000? Those tables stated would say the teacher....... The info is seriously flawed. ________________ Lot of luck trying to out-debate me... I have a couple of North Texas degrees... they are difficult to beat.......LOL ... I believed what North Texas profs said, a college degree is the beginning of an education....

----I will not dispute the tables but it an odd way it confirms what I said. I did not stay the wealthiest based on income tax forms which shows the upper middle class taking beating... There are many of the ultra-rich who pay few taxes because of tax shelters based on tax-free Munies etc. I refered the the richest 17% by NET WORTH not the the 17% of people that showed the HIGHEST INCOME ON TAX RETURNS.. that is a totally differnet group. ----I am not knocking Bill Gates but most of his $50 billion in total worth has never been taxed. The value of his Micro-soft stock has increased 1000's of times but since it has not been sold it has not yet been taxed and no capitol gains have been paid... as it should be. I do not doubt your stats....... The the richest 17% and the 17% that pay the most taxes are not the same group... as I said. I know exactly what I am talking about... the wealthiest by NET WORTH not the group who show the highest income for that year on a tax form... You did not understand what I meant by the wealthiest people. There is a huge difference. There are people whose NET WORTH increase by millions if not billion each year but will pay no taxes on the increase becasuse none of resourses (real estate, stocks etc.) was actually sold. Wealth is all about how much you own, not what your "taxable income" is. Your neighbor may earn twice what you do and paying more taxes but you may wealthier than he is ... in fact he could even be facing backruptcy if he owes too much. _____________________________ I absolutely agree with you on the border issue.. we are the ONLY major country in the world in which being born here makes you an automatic citizen. Most countries requires at least one parent to be a citizen. We should change our laws.. We got in this position because the amendment that freed the slaves stated all native born people were granted citizenship which automaticly made former slaves, American ditizens. We also need to remove some of the incentives for coming here such as illegals getting extensive free health care and free education and other welface items. True, low income people pay very few taxes other than sales tax....... but I don't want to be one of them in order to avoid taxation, (LOL) besides they probably need every cent just to survive....some of them are lazy and but alot of them have health, age, mental, or other problems which limit their capabilities to earn. Again illegals should in no instance qualify, they are illegally here. .

According to the IRS the wealthiest 19% pay only 17% of the taxes...less than their expected share. (lots of tax-shelters and other means of reduction) Even Cramer of CNBC commented something about the upper middle class those making $50,000-200,000 were carrying the tax burden and not the wealthy such as himself who has seen capital gains taxes and dividend taxes reduced plus other items reduced he mentioned. That helps most people very little, just people owning LOTS of stock. . Even Warren Buffett commented a couple of years ago about the latest proposed tax cuts were just going to gave him millions more and that he would just spend it on Wall Street stock. He also commented that his secretary level employees who spent all they made were the ones that need reductions, not him. Yes, I do watch CNBC and am not poor by any means. I am amazed by all these folks making 50-100,000 a year that think they are the rich getting all these cuts. They get very little if any. By the way have you noticed the only balanced budgets occured in the past 26 years occured during the late 90's without tax-increases. This group has increased spending again. (Iraq et. al.) which apparently had no WMD and had committtd no part in terrorist acts as claimed. I do agree that that on the national level something needs to be done about all these crazy expenditures (many congressmen do it in both parties) A line veto and no last minute additions to the budget that no one really has time to read would help!!! On the state level there is little waste, in fact Texas is 49th in state taxes per capita (Mississippi is 50th) . Texas was the ONLY state lately to decrease spending for education... instead Texas students now pay much more tuition and public schools just have to collect more local taxes somehow or do without. Too many corrupt congressmen... see Congressman and party leader Delay for example.. the worst ...who took every personal advantage he could get away with...until it hit the fan. Enron contributed millions and the use of a corporate plane to a few candidates... guess who?? Everyone should read and get informed from many sources, not just one..

The distence from the stands to the field serves a very useful purpose. Most of the Coaches realize that few fans can throw accurately at them from that distence ..plus.. they can't hear many of the "encouraging" comments either. LOL.

---Unless things change UTEP doesn't get a lot of players from Midland/Odessa/Abilene/ San Angelo area, North Texas has been getting more players from this area than UTEP. Tech really hasn't had had to compete much with them at all for recruits. Yawl don't seem to realize Midland is just as far from El Paso as it is Fort Worth/Dallas, Abilene is much closer to the Metroplex than El Paso.....that is why we are called Midland, half-way to ElPaso.... West Texas is one big place. Besides except for the past couple of years UTEP was been one of the NCAA worst teams....they couldn't recruit worth a hoot anyway....Recruit West Texas..lots of good players out here that like to win.

Reminds me of some girls I have met.... a lot better looking from a distence. LOL.

Notre Dame has a huge recruiting advantage.... they can tell recruits that, "You will be on national TV every week! ". Plus all the money they earn is ALL theirs... no conference members to share with. At least the NFL divides up the money and it doesn't matter if which teams appear on the big TV games that are nationally broadcast. Not much fair about NCAA football. The rich get richer... sort of like some of these tax-cut programs.

May we hope that UT has as little respect for us as TCU did for SMU......and a BIG upset occurs.... TCU had just defeated Oklahoma on TV and thought they were invincable. SMU showed otherwise and TCU woke up won the rest. With out Vince, is UT inVINCEable now??? I would smile at a TCU-type season, beat UT, lose to SMU, and win the rest. Pass the Green cool-aid.