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So if Sen. Specter wants to stay after the NFL, then fine
because we have seen just how much they are willing to overlook
when they are "policing" themselves!
-- Eric Edwards
Walnut Cove, North Carolina
A couple of points, if I might. First, you might want to inform Mr. Ryan as to which teams are the favorites of Sen. Specter. Sen. Specter is from the Philadelphia area and was, is, and always will be a devoted fan to all teams coming from that city. The only time that he gives a whit about any teams from Pittsburgh is during campaigns and when they can possibly serve to put him in front of the TV cameras. He was offered $500K by the chairman of the Judiciary committee to pay for a Senate staff investigation, but turned it down. That would not have gotten him the TV air time that he wanted. If George Bush had kept his big nose out of it, Specter may well have been defeated in the primary the last time around. Then we would have been rid of this erstwhile Sen. Schumer in training.
Secondly, perhaps Mr. Ryan, or Sen. Specter, can inform us as to what state or federal law the Patriots have violated to give the esteemed Senator jurisdiction in this matter. If they don't have enough to do to take care of the legitimate business of the country, perhaps they could go the heck home and quit harassing the American public. America is never safe when Congress is in session.
All that said, I believe that the combined fine levied against
the Patriots should have been $1 million, instead of the $750,000
and the Pats forced to surrender their highest first round pick,
regardless of whether they got it in a trade or wherever. I would
also have suspended Belichick for the remainder of the season. But
that is simply because I see Belichick as a thoroughly arrogant,
paranoid, and unpleasant person. Technically he is a part time
genius, but as a person, not so much. I also have not had anything
good to say about the owner, Bob Kraft, since he went all nuclear
because then coach Parcells called receiver Terry Glenn "she."
Kraft's wife didn't like it, so Kraft had a hissy fit over it. Big
PC deal. Athletic coaches and military drill instructors say a lot
of things to and about their charges to motivate them. Anyway, I am
NOT a Patriots fan.
-- Ken Shreve
New Hampshire
Of the legion embarrassments in the Bush 43 years, the President's
successful effort to save Senator Specter is among the
greatest.
-- Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut
CONCESSION STAND
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s Appeasers
and Bullies:
I've been a fan for years and look forward to many more.
Regarding "'Appeasers and Bullies," you failed to expound on one point. Obama would have us unilaterally concede by yelling 'stop!' and calling us names. When we don't will it be pointed out that his words had little of the desired effect, much as if they had been spoken to Brezhnev? If only we had been offered a photo-op as well...
Follow-up -- would there be a teleprompter at these
head-of-state meetings or would he be winging it? I trust his
speechwriters more.
-- George Potts
You are right on the mark. However, what we need is a Conservative
LEADER to emerge. If you see one, let me know. I don't see
Flip-Flop Amnesty McCain as being that Leader. If fact, I don't see
much difference between him, Obama and Hillary.
-- David Cox
Why is it that conservatives have such difficulty comprehending the possibility that diplomacy is more than just telling another country what to do and them doing it? I imagine it must have something to do with their misplaced arrogant self-righteousness. If you look at matters from a more realistic viewpoint it is easy to see why some countries might be reluctant to just do, what America tells them to do. Let's take Iran for example.
In the 1950s it held free and fair election that resulted in the election of a popular President. However the polices that that President proposed did not sit so well with the U.S. oil companies so the CIA helped to organize a coup against him and installed the Shaw of Iran in his place. For the following 30 years America provided the Shaw with the military hardware he needed maintain power through force. His reign of terror being equivalent to that of Saddam's in Iraq.
After the Shah was deposed, America provided the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with military weapons (including WMDs) to fight a 10 year war with Iran, in which millions of Iranians died.
Then this Administration after calling Iran part of the Axis of Evil attacks and occupies it neighbor, all the time threatening to attack Iran and even rattling the nuclear sabre.
Given all this history is it any wonder that the Iranians don't trust America. Yet the conservatives are under the naive illusion that nothing in history matters other than Iran's current refusal to stop enhancing uranium.