Texsox

LMAO

I do not see too much bunching from the guys in panties, it's the guys in tighty whities that seem to be bothered . . .

But Bryan Adams still sucks. Don Henley ~~ he's great. I do not consider anything the Eagles have done with together of as soloists as a guilty pleasure.

I just didn't want to come across as some old pathetic guy hitting on a much younger and beautiful woman.

it's a local call from Texas . . .

Yeah, kind of like the Beatles selling out with Sgt. Peppers Is it possible for an indie band to record what people would regard as the greatest rock and roll album of all time and still stay indie?

they play in the same division with the Sox

What seemed weird is a much older guy sending flowers.

You know, sometimes is seems easier. Do you want to watch the NFL playoffs or the basketball game? Do you want to rent Die Hard or Caddy Shack? Steak or steak? I would never be asked which shower curtain I like better or to pick tampons up at the store. Winodj, am I missing anything?

I was thinking flowers, but it seemed weird.

By Bonnie Pfister Express-News Business Writer Web Posted : 01/10/2004 12:00 AM As 2003 drew to a close, Texas began to grab some agricultural trade with Cuba just as the Bush administration clamped down on travel there. In the two years since Congress has allowed American farmers to export to the socialist nation, $328 million in U.S. beans, rice, chicken and other goods have sold to Alimport, Havana's food-buying agency. Such agribusiness giants as Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Tyson dominate the market. After hanging back, Lone Star State companies have taken the plunge, with Dallas-based Dean Foods signing a $162,000 contract for coffee creamer in November. Corpus Christi's dry-food packaging firm WestStar Food signed a $1.5 million pinto bean contract with Alimport as well. Two private Texas firms that declined to be named have contracts to deliver nonfat powdered milk and cotton. Cynthia Thomas, president of the Texas Cuba Trade Alliance, said those numbers are sure to grow. Thomas, who discussed that market at a meeting Thursday of Texas corn and grain-sorghum producers in Corpus Christi, said she expects Texas' exports across the Gulf of Mexico to triple to $30 million in 2004. But some Cuba-watchers say the Bush administration is discouraging legitimate travel to the island as part of election year posturing. Business leaders, scholars, religious groups, athletes and artists may visit the island but must be licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department and be "fully hosted," which limits how much U.S. money may be spent there. Flights directly from Miami leave several times a day. In recent years, however, many licensed American visitors have stretched those boundaries into the realm of outright tourism. After Castro jailed 75 dissidents in March 2003, Washington tightened its travel rules. In October and November, Homeland Security officials said they'd caught 44 people traveling illegally to Cuba and noted nearly 600 violations of bringing home unauthorized alcohol or tobacco. Licensed American travelers are permitted to bring $100 worth of rum or cigars home for personal use, and the government now limits U.S. port authorities to a single visit per year. But even those who follow the rules are under increased scrutiny. "Illegal travel, legal travel — they're definitely clamping down," said David Cibrian, a San Antonio-based lawyer with Jenkens & Gilchrist. One client who legally traveled to Cuba nine years ago began receiving queries about that trip last year. John Kavulich, president of the 10-year old U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, said he receives regular complaints from business travelers who say licenses that previously could be processed in a few days now take several weeks. "Treasury was instructed by the State Department, which was instructed by the White House, to use every available means to discourage lawful commercial-related travel to Cuba in keeping with overall publicly stated strategy of decreasing the number of individuals visiting Cuba for any authorized purpose," Kavulich said. A Treasury Department spokeswoman countered that most business licenses are processed within two weeks and referred those interested to the department's Web site, www.treas.gov/ofac, for further information. Washington isn't the only government playing politics. U.S. entrepreneurs have grumbled to Kavulich that Alimport is urging them to be more public and vocal in opposing the embargo and that purchases reportedly have been funneled toward those who do so. But many simply try to avoid discussing politics, focusing narrowly on a new export market during an era in which most of the United States' international trade is principally about buying, not selling. "Balanced trade seems to be a logical thing to me," said Leigh Phillips, president of Houston-based freight-forwarder Biehl & Co., an Alimport contractor. "It's exciting to see a new market for U.S. exports. And it's also rewarding that it's food."

VP would back ban on gay marriage Cheney pledges support if Bush seeks amendment By John Aloysius Farrell Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney, who argued during the 2000 presidential campaign that the issue of gay marriage is best left to the states, said Friday he would support a presidential push to ban same-sex marriage. Cheney, whose gay daughter, Mary, is a close adviser, said recent action by courts in Massachusetts and other states that recognize gays' rights to the civil benefits of marriage has caused the administration to revisit the need for a constitutional amendment. Cheney made his comments on gay marriage during an interview with The Denver Post, in which he also spoke about the war in Iraq and the U.S. soldiers being killed and wounded there, Western energy issues, and the Air Force Academy sex scandal. His comments regarding the sacrifice of U.S. soldiers and their families came one day after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Fallujah in Iraq, killing all nine soldiers on board, including at least four Fort Carson soldiers.

Pa is a indie fan and if any indie artist he likes actually sold records they wouldn't be indie anymore. He's really downloading to protect them from success and the money that would corrupt their creativity.

And as a public service here is a link to the George Carlin bit that many oldesters are thing George Carlin

Washington -- Editor's note: To read the bill, go to Thomas.loc.gov and enter the bill number: HR 3687. Rep. Doug Ose of Sacramento has seven dirty words very much on his mind, courtesy of such free speakers as U2 singer Bono and Nicole Richie, the rich kid co-star of "The Simple Life.'' Fed up with recent repeated instances of broadcast TV networks allowing language that many people would deem offensive to be aired live, the Republican House member has introduced a bill that spells out the seven awful words that would be banned from the public air waves in all their forms and all their meanings -- "including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms,'' as the bill says. Among the words are such swear-word standbys as those used for excrement, fornication, urine and parts of the body. The list includes one word, a -- h -- , twice, as one word, and in its compound form to leave no doubt Ose wants it banned. The proposal, which seems headed for a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee after Congress returns to work later this month, has stirred a vigorous debate. On one side are those, including Ose, who say recent Federal Communications Commission decisions declining to sanction broadcasters for airing offensive language are unacceptable to the majority of Americans, particularly those with young children. On the other side are free speech advocates who say government should get out of the censorship business and that parents should monitor their kids' TV watching to make sure they don't see programs that might include raw language. "There just isn't any way I want to hear that stuff coming out of my TV on the public airwaves,'' Ose said Thursday. "My kids and my neighbors' kids shouldn't have to hear that stuff.'' Ose's anger was touched off by an incident last January and the resulting FCC decision not to fine television stations for airing the Golden Globe awards show during which Bono blurted out, "This is really, really f -- brilliant.'' The five-member FCC ruled that Bono's words didn't measure up to its standard for indecency because he was using the dirty word as an adjective, not in a sexual context. Since then, a few other incidents over the publicly owned broadcast airwaves have also garnered attention and the anger of those who say broadcasters are stooping ever lower in the race for viewers against unregulated cable TV and other entertainment. On The Billboard Awards show Dec. 10 on the Fox network, Richie said, "Why do they even call it the 'Simple Life?' Have you ever tried to get cow s -- out of a Prada purse? It's not so f -- simple.'' The FCC hasn't acted yet on Richie's words, which were broadcast even though the program was on a five-second delay designed to bleep out such talk. Fox apologized for its failure to bleep out Richie's comments. Ose has had enough. "If the commission wants to split hairs on this, that's fine," he said. "I and a number of my colleagues will be happy to hold them down and shave their heads for them.'' So far, he has one co-sponsor, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, but expects many more when the House returns. The Senate is considering similar bills. One, by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., condemns the FCC decision on Bono's words and calls for stiffer penalties. Another, by Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., also calls for tougher action. One legal expert on censorship, Craig Smith of Cal State University Long Beach, said Ose's one-paragraph proposal, HR3687, seemed to be drafted narrowly enough to withstand legal challenges. Current broadcast law on dirty words stems from a 1974 ruling involving comedian George Carlin and Pacifica Radio. The courts ruled that because Carlin used seven dirty words on an afternoon show on radio, "a uniquely pervasive medium'' available for free to everyone, the FCC could ban those words. Ose is trying to close the loophole that let Bono say f -- by writing a law that would ban the words in any usage or connotation, noted Smith, who is director of the Center for First Amendment Studies at Cal State Long Beach. But even though it's legal, the proposal isn't a good idea, he added. "I think you have to demonstrate that there's a harm'' by allowing dirty words on the public airwaves. "That's a burden they can't meet.'' Another broadcasting expert, Robert J. Thompson of Syracuse University, said the proposal was "just so infantile, so juvenile,'' especially because Ose's bill spells out the words it says should be banned. "It reminds me of a bunch of 8-year-olds looking those words up in the dictionary and laughing uproariously,'' he said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic, but the only reason to bar this is protect the ears of children. But if everything on TV or radio has to be OK for the age of 6, then nothing can be more sophisticated than that,'' said Thompson, a professor of TV and popular culture.'' He suggested that parents more closely monitor their kids' viewing habits. But Ose says such oversight frequently isn't possible today, because of changes in family life. "There are a lot of latchkey kids,'' said the congressman, who has daughters ages 11 and 9, referring to the number of children home alone after school while their parents work. "I don't want to be sitting there when a guy blurts something out over the TV and have my daughters ask me what those words mean.'' He also said his bill had to use the dirty words and spell out all potential usages because "I'm trying to give a statutory prohibition to the provisions the FCC has today.'' The effort to force the FCC to crackdown has attracted the support of the Parents Television Council, a group whose Web site includes a link allowing viewers to complain about alleged obscenity directly to the FCC. Brent Bozell, the council's president, said Fox's apology over the Richie incident was unconvincing. "I encourage parents, Capitol Hill leaders and other family organizations not to be duped by such a meaningless apology and by Fox's latest attempt to back-pedal from an obvious ploy to titillate and shock audiences with indecent programming," he said on his group's Web site. Dirty words Rep. Doug Ose, R-Sacramento, wants to outlaw these seven words because he says the Federal Communications Commission is not policing the airwaves vigorously enough. The words are: S -- ; piss; f -- ; c -- ; a -- h -- ; c -- s -- and m -- f -- . To view the complete words, you can read Ose's proposed legislation, HR 3687, at Thomas.loc.gov and enter the bill number.

washingtonpost.com U.S. to Push Airlines for Passenger Records Travel Database to Rate Security Risk Factors By Sara Kehaulani Goo Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 12, 2004; Page A01 Despite stiff resistance from airlines and privacy advocates, the U.S. government plans to push ahead this year with a vast computerized system to probe the backgrounds of all passengers boarding flights in the United States. The government will compel airlines and airline reservations companies to hand over all passenger records for scrutiny by U.S. officials, after failing to win cooperation in the program's testing phase. The order could be issued as soon as next month. Under the system, all travelers passing through a U.S. airport are to be scored with a number and a color that ranks their perceived threat to the aircraft. Another program that is to be introduced this year that seeks to speed frequent fliers through security lines in exchange for volunteering personal information to the government. The two new initiatives will augment a system introduced last week to fingerprint and photograph millions of foreign visitors on arrival in the United States. Privacy and consumer advocates worry that both programs could be discriminatory because they subject airline passengers to different levels of scrutiny. Certain travelers, such as non-U.S. citizens, could face additional questioning under the program known as CAPPS 2, or the second version of the Computer Assisted Passenger PreScreening Program, some organizations say. Business travelers who typically pay high prices for their seats will likely get an easier pass through security in the "registered traveler" program. Privacy advocates say they are most concerned about CAPPS 2, which would replace the airlines' existing computer screening system. The TSA believes the current system is based on old assumptions about terrorists, flagging passengers, for instance, who paid with cash or bought one-way tickets. Passengers targeted for additional screening commonly find an "SSS" or "***" designation on their boarding pass. The rest of the story . . .

Chemical castration?! Is that like they have to drink a 1/5th of Jack every day?

Chicago radio will never recover from Wally Philips retirement. WGN is the difinitive Chicago radio station. I miss Orion Samuelson and the farm market report.

Ask a restaurant owner or car wash operator or a farmer or meat packing plant how many people are lined up to fill their openings. Farmers need a large number of workers for a couple weeks and then they are unemployed. How many teenagers do you know that will work 12-15 hours per day bent over in fields picking vegetables? Each town needs hundreds of workers. Crops are ready to be picked in waves across the US. Migrants start here in the Rio Grande Valley in winter and follow the crops to Canada and back. Their labor allows cheap produce on our shelves. A guest worker program allows these people to come here and fill these jobs and have a small amount of protection from freedy owners and others who will exploit them.

Environmentaly I have a problem with both parties. With the Republicans we'll have far fewer lands to use, but we can use them. With the Dems we'll have more lands, but there will be restrictions on how they can be used.

fas·ci·nate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (fs-nt) v. fas·ci·nat·ed, fas·ci·nat·ing, fas·ci·nates v. tr. 1. To hold an intense interest or attraction for. See Synonyms at charm. 2. To hold motionless; spellbind. 3. Obsolete. To bewitch. v. intr. To be irresistibly charming or attractive. My girlfriend has a sweater with 10 buttons, but her boobs are so big she can only fascinate.

I'm starting to get really concerned that we are going to go into this season without a chance. A big step back from last season. I expected the players that left but really expected one or two medium to big FA to be signed by now.

Bryan Adams is my all time leader in songs that I have to turn off as fast as possible, and it's never fast enough. I've never bought one of his albums, I assume he has some other cuts, not played to death?

My favorite Dahl bit occured at 9:55 one day as they were getting ready to close the show. Garry started immitating Steve, talking about the wife, the traffic, etc. It was so funny, Steve started hyperventilating. I was working retail and I had to delay opening the store for a few minutes because A. We had to switch to a station the company advertised on (snore) B. All the employees were laughing so hard we couldn't work.

I share the actual CD that was purchased and supports the artist and distributors. I have to agree with the eye on this one