Iron Crotch

Not sure if it is an option in Buffalo, but I use these guys: http://www.tomjames.com/ ...and if you want academic job market advice, I got a whole lot of that. :D

Phantom Tollbooth was my favorite book as a kid! ...I recently read Generation Me by Jean Twenge. Highly entertaining.

Spurs just beat Manchester United at Old Trafford. First win there since 1989... and Clint Dempsey had the game-winning goal!

This is largely done to create an incentive for joining, and achieving a certain status in, a hotel's loyalty rewards program. That's the real reasoning behind it. (but, yeah, I get how these charges create a whole lot of customer dissatisfaction)

God Is An Astronaut... one of my favorite "post-rock" bands... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMEGJ-Jk58Q&feature=list_other&playnext=1&list=AL94UKMTqg-9BO0mvKQHXXSc9l00s2uKN7

ESPN mentioned that he is 2-9 since getting paid the big bucks. Urgh.

Is it too early in the season to start rooting for the #1 overall pick next year? :P

I thought our best player tonight might have been Cherundolo. I don't think he gets the credit he deserves sometimes... he's a really good defender and is a tireless worker. Bradley should be back soon. Quad injury (out 2-3 weeks, supposedly)

Both England and Canada use a single payer system where the government provides insurance for all residents (or citizens) and pays all health care expenses except for copays and coinsurance. Our system will be a modified insurance mandate system where the government mandates that all citizens purchase insurance, whether from private, public, or non-profit insurers. The two systems are very different. An insurance mandate system is what Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, South Korea, and several other countries use.

I'm sure the response to that question will vary greatly depending on political party, but the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that it will dramatically reduce the number of Americans without health insurance and will also help reduce the deficit. But, as usual, there is a ton of political spin going in both directions - the ACA is so complex few understands it... http://www.cnn.com/2...ings/index.html

Many think there is much going on behind the scenes (hidden from the public) to ensure that hockey starts on time. We shall see...

IMHO, few people know what is really covered in the Affordable Care Act. I cut and pasted a reasonable summary... Right Now Young adults can now stay on their parent’s health plan up to age 26. Some small businesses with fewer than 25 employees can get help paying for the cost of providing health insurance. Insurance companies can’t deny health coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions. Adults who have been uninsured for at least 6 months and have been denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition may now get coverage. Insurance companies can’t place dollar limits on the health care they cover in your lifetime. Those in the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” get a 50 percent discount on name-brand prescription drugs and a 7 percent discount on generic prescription drugs. Those in Medicare can get preventive services and screenings, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, at no cost to them. New health plans must offer preventive and screening services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, at no cost to the patient. Coming Soon Insurance companies won’t be able to deny coverage to anyone with a pre-existing condition. Health insurance will cover essential health benefits and coverage will be guaranteed for nearly all Americans. Most Americans will be required to purchase health insurance if they don’t already have it – and depending on your income, they may get help paying for it. Insurance companies won’t be able to place dollar limits on the care they cover in a single year. Americans without health insurance will be able to buy it through state-based marketplaces called exchanges. More Americans will have access to health coverage through Medicaid.

Glad I didn't watch today. Is it hockey season yet?

The last estimate I saw is about $1.24 trillion in excess cash reserves across U.S. companies. This is one of the difficulties of the ongoing recession. A government can't make corporations hire and/or spend. And they are choosing not to right now. Corporate boards are by-and-large choosing the conservative route. What is going on in the rest of the world is a significant factor in all of this. BTW - Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Google, and Pfizer are your top-5 cash hording firms.

This is correct. Corporate profits are at an all-time high. Companies are sitting on record amounts of cash given uncertainty in the credit markets and excess production capacity. For example, Apple is sitting on over $117 billion in cash. They can buy Ford in an all cash transaction if they wanted to... they could pay off the debt of 8 different EU countries...

The irony (and I'm sure you partisans are going to have a field days with this comment) is that the jobs report was pretty good with the EXCEPTION of the manufacturing and automotive sectors... which, of course, we heard a lot about in yesterday's speech.

Technically, I can't answer since I'm not a Democrat... Clinton was better, of course... but I think the economy from now until the election matters a whole lot more than a single speech.

What a shock that you would say something disparaging about the president. So unexpected. :D

The market absolutely blew up today on news that the European Central Bank would buy large amounts of bonds from struggling EU countries. S&P 500 up 29 points... stocks at a 4 1/2 year high. The news out of Europe is exactly what investors (like me) were looking for. Y'all can bicker about politics all you want, but if you have the means and the inclination, you might want to have your eyes on the market tomorrow...

http://www.washingto...onomy/#comments (not Senator DeMint, but a video of Mitch McConnell)

IMHO, this is why it went through. The impetus behind almost everything that happens in Washington, regardless of party, is $$$. There is a lot of money to be made by a lot of folks in healthcare... but this is no different in spirit than defense spending, where a lot of money is also made by Washington insiders (Haliburton being an obvious example). I did my time in Washington (8 years). Lobbied on behalf of the broadband fixed wireless industry at the FCC. IMHO, personal monetary gain is a primary motivator for many of our bureaucrats, as is reelection. What is said publicly to rally voters tends to be very different from what is said privately when deals are brokered in D.C.

Above you post "demonization is too high." Then you post this garbage. Hypocritical much?

I'm finding a lot of truth to something you posted earlier in this thread. People who claim to be "independents" and/or non-partisans really aren't.

Yeah, Clint is most definitely a libertarian. Here is a quote from Clint on gay marriage: "These people who are making a big deal out of gay marriage? I don't give a f**k about who wants to be married to anyone else. We're making a big deal out of things we shouldn't be making a big deal out of. They go on and on with all this bulls*** about 'sanctity.' Don't give me that sanctity crap! Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want." :P

Now, here is where we disagree... I can stare at Erin Burnett of CNN all day, every day. :D