I personally think this is a good thing. Like others have pointed out here, many of these statues acknowledge local ballplayers who, for whatever reason, endeared themselves to the city. This seems to be particular to baseball; a good but not great ballplayer who somehow comes to embody the spirit and attitude of the team and the city. The player's popularity is often lost on those who are not fans.

The previous poster's example of Mookie Wilson is apt (although one can argue that D. Strawberry more accurately reflected '80s NYC, but good luck getting that statue built). I think I can safely say that anyone who rooted for the Mets in the 1980s loved Mookie. He's no HOFer, but he is definitely one of the great Met players of all time.

420.thrashbarg.net/star_wars_awesome_rock_band_motivator.jpg

Downloading movies will be the future, without a doubt. But there will always be a market for DVDs. Christopher 1988 is right, DVDs offer more (i.e. commentary, alternate versions, docs, correct transfers, etc). Downloading is fine for a run of the mill popcorn flick. But there will always be a demand for DVDs that offer more for cinephiles. Criterion Collection is the best at this, and they may offer the model for the continued existence of DVDs.

Empire is not as much fun as the British made it out to be. :P

What do you know about the military? You talk tough, but you sound like a sissy posing as a real American to me.

In your previous letter you talk about Democrats relying on the military to protect their rights, as if there was a serious question as to whether Dems deserve their rights. So I was merely curious about what YOU would know about protecting Americans and their rights. Why bring up Obama? I was addressing YOU, since YOU seem to know all about protecting Americans.

A civics lesson for elephantman: The Constitution protects everyone's rights, regardless of political persuasion. Sevice members take an oath to protect and defend said Constitution. So do national elected officials like the president and senators (incl. Sen Obama).

So again, I'm curious, what do you know about serving and defending the country, tough guy? When did you take an oath to protect and defend? I'd respect you more if you were at leat honest. But when you chickenhawks talk about the military like you guys had some sort of special social membership I get pissed. You sir, are a hypocrite. Time to put up or shut up.

BTW, I wouldn't mind if you got a social membership at my Legion though. You could serve me my beer and fried chicken! Of course you know what that would make you, right pard?

I mostly agree with Walsh here. Kaine? Bayh? What do these guys do for him outside of strategy? Biden or Richardson would be good picks.

That being said, I still think Anthony Zinni would be perfect.

The article quotes an officer stating that NCOs are the backbone of the armed forces. This cannot be overstated. I was an E-5 when I got out after 10 years. The same month I got out, SIX fellow E-5s also left the same unit (if you are wondering why they have stop-loss...).

One of the problems not mentioned in the article is the fact that, increasingly, people are being promoted to E-5 without first going to PLDC (Primary Leadership Course). I started to see this before I got out. PLDC is sergeant school, a rigorous school indoctrinates prospective Sgts with administrative, tactical, and operational aspects of leadership under stressful circumstances.

The other problem is essentially a self devouring problem: Training. Besides leading soldiers and completing the mission, a sergeant's main job is training. For example on the squad level (6-8 people)every soldier (down to the lowliest Pvt)should be able to perform everyone else's job (soldiers die). It is the E-5 squad leader who is responsible for this training. This has been increasingly neglected as Sgts who are only marginally trained themselves become NCOs.

Thanks to Mr. Sasser for this important and relevant article.

The government may technically be allowed to do this, but it should be completely unacceptable to any thinking citizen. This is of course a clear violation of the 4th amendment. The only acceptable response is to flatly refuse. Get arrested. Contact the ACLU. Contact the press. Contact your representatives. Make a stink. Sure they'll still take your info, but it is important to take a stand against this type of egregious privacy violation. Our rights mean nothing if we don't stand up for them.

People will say that this type of stand is unrealistic. People will say that jobs and reputations can be ruined by an act of civil disobedience like this. Perhaps. That is what the government is counting on. Your FEAR. Doing the right thing is rarely easy or profitable.

I can't believe no one has commented on this quote yet: "We have the most sex workers per capita (in D.C.) than any other city in the country."

Think about that sentence for a minute. With all the issues that prostitution raises regarding power, exploitation, and legality what does this factoid mean? Sort of opens up all kinds of interpretations of the term "getting screwed by your government."

Cheney's bunker and "undisclosed" location is Site R (or Raven Rock). Site R is colloquially known as "the underground Pentagon." It is about ten miles north of Camp David.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/raven-rock.htm

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/raven_rock.htm