BIGDANIEL

Absolutely. And sometimes it takes tragedy to make one adjust their opinions. By the grace of GOD I have not had to endure such a tragedy. I might be reading this differently than you meant for it to be read Saint. Are you saying I'm on the sidelines therfore I have the opinion I have?

AMEN!!!!!

I'm sorry to hear about your friends husband HippieChik. Â I hope they've been able to find some type of peace through all of it. I'm reminded, almost daily it seems, by my wife that there are some of us who, a majority of the time, see the worst that people have to offer our society. Â And, that there are those of us who, a majority of the time, see the best people have to offer our society. Â I am, as I believe a couple of others in this community are as well, a member of the first group. Â Luckily for me my wife is a member of the second group. Â Please dont think that my cynicism means that I dont care about the tragedy in other peoples lives. Â Regardless of how it happens I feel for them, their families, and their friends. Â But, when you see so many differing degrees of tragedy on a constant basis you are forced, in order to keep from getting to emotionally attached to the tragedy yourself, to draw that proverbable line in the sand. Â In doing so you are able to find ways to keep yourself focused on the task at hand. Â Eventually you'll find that you've become cynical when it comes to other peoples tragedy and sometimes to your own tragedies as well. Â Its a side effect. Â But its a neccessary side effect. Â The trick is keeping the balance. Â Again, luckily for me my wife is my balance. Â When I start to get to cold hearted she grabs me by the scruff of my neck and reminds me of all the good people I see out there too. Â Shes smart like that. Â Now, when you see things like this on a constant basis you become aware that not every person responsible for the act is a lost soul. Â And, while I applaud those of you who counsel and advocate for those with mental illnesses and severe depression who have the strong potential to bring harm to themselves or others, I cant bring myself to feel sympathy for them in situations where they do hurt themselves or others. Â And thats just so I can keep my sanity. Â If I became emotionally attached to each person I run across like this, I'd be the one needing the couseling. Anyway, its a sad time anyone loses their life for any reason. Â Whether Heath Ledger died due to suicide or due him mixing drugs, which by the way drugs are a sure fire way eventually get you killed, with precription medicines only time will tell. Â As I've said before, I feel for his family and friends and especially his little girl. Â Children should never have to go through things like this. Â So there's my vice in all of this. Â Children. Â I do get emotionally attached when children are directly effected. Â Having kids of my own causes that. Well, I will try, I cant promise anything, but I will try to keep my future cynical posts to a minimum. Â ;D

Since the official autopsy results are not out yet I'll refer to this as an apparent suicide. It's been my experience that suicides rarely "clear their calendar" before committing suicide. His plans and arrangements would have obviously been made prior to his decision to follow through with his apparent suicide. So while he may have had things to do and he may have had every intention of doing them, people in that state of mind will simply (I use this word loosely) decide to do it without any concern about missing an appointment next week. Contrary to believe not all people who commit suicide tell those around them about their thoughts of wanting to do it. Typically those who do are doing so as a way of asking for help. As a matter of fact most people who attempt suicide do so when they feel the likelihood of rescue is at its highest. But, as Tow's Doctor friend informed him, to overdose on pills does not simply occur by taking 3 pills instead of 2. If his death was caused by a large dose of prescription narcotics, and there is no sign of foul play, then he made a conscious decision to end his life. Mistake or not its suicide.

As has been echoed throughout several posts we all fell bad for his family and friends. Especially his little girl who will never get to know her father. And he was quite the accomplished actor. Although I never could get up enough stomach to see Borkeback Mountain, I enjoyed pretty much eveything he was in and I'm anticipating a hell of a performance in the Dark Knight. He'll be missed by many. With that said, I cant imagine ever reaching a point where I thought my life was so bad that I needed to end it. The image of my kids alone with no father would be enough to put an end to that nonsense. The way I see it, and I know without a doubt that this is cold hearted, but he wanted to die and now hes dead. Thats one less weak minded person in the world. People will always find a way to overcome thier problems. Some people just choose the wrong way.

Thought I'd put this up for those who havent heard the song or seen the video. We have this song playing in the background of our site as a token of support for the men and women who serve in the US Military. It's not often, other than in country music, that you hear songs written in support of our troops.

I hope Beaumont, Texas isnt full of heavy users. If so, I wonder if they got a choice in being the test subjects?

I'm getting tired of watching re-runs. >

Should read, "...could possibly be charged with 1st Degree Murder." SInce I dont know all the facts.

To save space I wont quote the quote of a quote within a quote. As you said Goat, "Who the hell knows what it is in Russia?" But just as these charges may differ from country to country, it appears they may also differ from state to state. In Illinois the suspect would be charged with Second Degree Murder. Keep in mind this is all based on the information given in the first post regarding this incident. Below is the reference I was using. West's Illinois Criminal Law and Procedure defines 1st and 2nd Degree Murder as: Section 9-1 First Degree Murder (a) A person who kills an individual without lawful justification commits first degree murder if, in performing the acts which cause the death: (1) he either intends to kill or do great bodily harm to that individual or another, or knows that such acts will cause the death to that individual or another; or (2) he knows that such acts create a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to that individual or another; Section 9-2 Second Degree Murder (a) A person commits the offense of second degree murder when he commits the offense of first degree murder as defined in paragraphs (1) or (2) of subsection (a) of Section 9-1 of this code and either of the following mitigating factors are present: (1) At the time of the killing he is acting under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by the individual killed or another whom the offender endeavors to kill, but he negligently or accidentally causes the death of the individual killed; or (2) At the time of the killing he believes the circumstances to be such that, if they existed, would justify or exonerate the killing under the principles stated in Article 7 of the Code (Article 7: Justifiable Use of Force) but his belief is unreasonable. IMO, and I'm not a prosecutor, I believe it's easily provable that he intended to do, or knew that what he was going to do, would bring great bodily harm to the victim. That act resulted in the death of that victim. Therefore he's guilty of 1st Degree Murder. On the other hand he could also say that he either he was provoked by the victim in which case its 2nd Degree Murder or that he was defending himself, and it wont be hard to prove that he took an active role in setting up the meeting for the purpose of fighting, in which case its 2nd Degree Murder because the defense of Self Defense wont be viable. But like I said Goat, laws are written differently from state to state. Where you're from may not have it written that way. Another example of this is that Aggravated Assault, in the state of Illinois, is a verbal confrontation with a weapon. Laying hands on and causing great bodily harm is Aggravated Battery. I know there are several states out there that have Assault and Battery laws. Illinois separates the two. Assault being verbal and Battery being physical contact. Either way, I have no sympathy for the guy.

Yeah thats murder. No sympathy here either. Conduct yourself with Honor and Integrity and keep your personal info to yourself. Thats how you play the game. I've been playing for 4 years next month and not one person knows any of my personal info.

You allow your PS3 to link up with other PS3's to create the worlds fastest SUPER COMPUTER. And for you conspiracy theorists out there; Do you think curing illnesses is the only thing they're doing with their new SUPER COMPUTER?? I doubt it. Human nature says we push the limit on all we do. Just imagine what limits they're pushing with this.

Life size COD4 would only be fun if they were to create a 6 axis Rifle controller. They could make one to look like the MP5 and one to look like the M4. Set the additional buttons on the hand grip of the M4 or on the barrel of the MP5. Now that would rock.

The CFL will take anyone who can help shine a light on it.

Weren't the 2 dogs RCA? Also, Console TV's are what they were called. Those TV's in nice custom wooden boxes. Some with wheels some with none. Some even had hinged doors on them so you could cover the screen of the tv when no in use. Just a nice trip down memory lane for those us old enough to remember when they were the thing to have. ;D

I had to make my reservations 4 weeks out and the earliest I could get in was at 2150. We got there as the fireworks started spent about 10-15 minutes at the bar before we got seated but in the end it was worth it. The best thing about Buca di Beppeo was the serving sizes. You order family servings not individual. Next time I ago I'm holding out for the table in the kitchen. I enjoy the atmosphere, the experience, and the fod of every restuarant I listed but the one I like the most, is The Grill Room in Chicago. Everytime I go I get the best steak I've ever had. I like tomato soup and they have the best Tomato Bisque I've ever had too. The atmosphere is unmatched IMO. If you ever get a chance to go, do it. On average with drinks, meal, and tip you'd probably be looking at $80 plus for 2 people and you'll get large servings as well. Its worth the trip and well worth the money.

Chicago - The Grill Room (on Madison) Cincinnati - Montogmery Inn (on the Ohio river) Inverness, Scotland - Pizza Express (next to the train station) Las Vegas - Nine Fine Irishmen (New York, New York) Las Vegas - Toby Keiths: I Love This Bar and Grill (Harrahs) Orlando - California Grill (top floor of the Contemporary) Orlando - PF Changs (The Mall at Millenia) Orlando - Buca di Beppo (The Mall at Millenia) Orlando - Texas de Brazil (on International Drive) Salt Lake City - Famous Daves (near downtown) Salt Lake City - Joes Crab Shack (south of downtown) Shaumburg - Shaws (Woodfield Crossing) Tampa - Leroy Selmans (a few blocks SE of Raymond James Stadium) Tampa - Grillsmith (on South Dale Mabry) Waikiki - House Without a Key (Halekulani Hotel)

Looks like Crush is the crowd favorite by 2-1.

It seems to me, after reading all this talk about how much of a dominating force the SEC is, that the BCS Committie should just simply cut out the National Championship Bowl game and give the trophy directly to the team that wins the SEC each year. Â The SEC is a tough conference. Â No one has said anything to the contrary. Â In fact the since 1999 the SEC and Big 10 have met twice in the BCS Championship game and the SEC is 2-0 in that match up. Â In fact overall the SEC only leads the Big 10 13-12 in bowl game match ups since 1999. Â The SEC, since 1999, is 3-0 in BCS Championship games while the Big 10 is 1-2 so in that aspect the SEC is dominant. Â But I dont think anyone can say that the SEC dominates over the Big 10 just because they're up by one game in the record. It was a good game last night and another good year of bowls. Â And like D_dubya mentioned, its time for College Basketball now so BRING ON THE MADNESS!!!!

Awesome. I like the Wikipedia. Thank you for the info.

That Brady would be the only starting QB in the league?

I'd like to have a handicapped match, 3 vs 1, against Crush, Siren, and Venom. And to make things fair they'd have to allow me to oil them up. A LOT!!!!!!! I'd also like to wrestle Christie. She's listed in the contestant section. It says shes the current Female Grappling Champion. I wanna graaple with that.....ggggrrrrrrrrr ;D http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/contestants/christie_philips.shtml

Damn it. I quoted the wrong Rage post. Here's the one I meant to quote.

I thought the same thing when I read that. The article says the treatment is only at Leavenworth. I'm sure there were some negotiations going on before he pleaded guilty to arrange all of this. The govt gets its man and Vick gets off easy. I agree. Goodell upheld the suspension of PacMan Jones for a lesser incident. Allowing Vick back would undermine his position as NFL Commisioner. We're not talking about some drug abuse, substance abuse, or druken brawl incident here. Hell its not even about the fighting of the dogs, and IMO thats pretty damn bad in and of itself. Vick was involved and responsible for the murder of dogs. Dogs that didnt win were killed. Its a good thing that doesnt happen to shithead QB's in the NFL when they lose a game huh? If Goodell allows Vick back into the NFL he'll be accused of allowing money to dictate the ethical and moral decisions he's been charged to make on behalf of the NFL.