Harry

I take issue with this, the Belt is becoming a very solid league from top to bottom. This is a much more difficult conference to win as compared to when Dickey was coaching us to 4 consecutive conference championships.

My favorite part is at :32 when some Will Farrell clone in the audience yells out "OHHHH YEAHHHHH"....that gets me everytime!!! If anyone wants to take credit for that I will give you an honorary GoMeanGreen.com award!!!!

One of the funniest moments in Fouts EVER!

Keith here is my summary of the current situation, and I apologize for the length but I could only get it covered in 5 points: Healthcare Reform is Necessary. Most agree that our health care system needs to be reformed. Who has not experienced or knows someone in their lives that has been impacted financially due to a lack of medical coverage? Big Corporations like GM can't compete globally because of the rising costs of their health benefits. Small businesses are being crippled and are shifting costs to families. Over 60% of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills. The costs associated with health care continue to skyrocket and there appears to be no relief in sight. Large, small companies and of course individuals and families are all impacted. We have a Medicare system that pays doctors more for the number of procedures they perform instead of the quality. There are very few Americans that don't have some level of concern over rising premiums and out of pocket costs. It seems that the coverage they need costs more every year, and the amount of coverage they purchase lessens in terms of actual benefit which ultimately leads to higher out of pocket costs. Even the parties who defeated health care reform back in the Clinton era (Big Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, AMA, and Hospitals etc) are in agreement that there needs to be a fundamental change in how health care is structured. So the question is not whether or not there will be reform, but rather the amount and level of changes the reform will address. Universal Coverage Mandate. Part of what is costing so much is the movement towards offering universal coverage, mandating that the insurance companies can't deny Americans who apply for health insurance coverage and allowing a basic level of coverage for all. Right now 46 million Americans don't have health insurance. Is it right that insurance is only for the healthy and wealthy? Many Americans are denied insurance coverage because of the fact they are considered higher risk or have a pre-existing condition. Women are required to pay more than men. In group coverage, employees that are overweight, smoke and drink often are being subsidized by people who take care of themselves. There is no focus or incentive for wellness and prevention. The health insurance industry is driven by revenues and profits and they would much rather receive a premium versus pay that money out to doctors and hospitals. On the flip side, insurers and other special interests look to gain significantly by a Universal coverage mandate because the amount of members they would cover would more than double. This increase in revenue for insurance and providers makes this mandate the least volatile at this stage of the debate. Public Plan. The public plan is a mostly Democratic supported idea which has the blessing of President Obama. The idea is to create a public, not-for-profit government sponsored health plan like Medicare to compete against the private for-profit insurance carriers for participation. This would give consumers another option if a private insurance company denied coverage or significantly raised premiums from a not-for-profit entity. Republicans see this program as a Trojan horse that would ultimately run the private insurance companies out of business and lead to a single payor system, i.e. like Canada, France etc. Obama and the Democrats maintain that if you like your current coverage you can keep it and they will not do anything that will change it. They see this public option as a good way to keep the insurance companies competitive and provide consumer options. Debate on the public plan has become quite intense and some of the Republicans have labeled it a "Deal Breaker". There have been some discussions around replacing the "public plan" concept with health care "Co-ops" that are owned and controlled by the workers and the people who use its services, and are not run by the government. the Public Plan is by far the most bitterly contested issue in the entire reform debate and threatens to slow down or even damage the entire reform process. Costs. Health care costs have been spiraling upward. Expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2 trillion in 2006, almost three times the $714 billion spent in 1990, and over eight times the $253 billion spent in 1980 (Kaiser Foundation). So the system clearly needs to change from its current path or it will have a disastrous impact on our economy. Estimates indicate that it will cost $150 billion to provide coverage of the current 46 million uninsured. To even come close to making this a budget neutral proposition you will have to raise taxes and the question becomes where do you raise them? There has been a lot of debate over removing the current employer tax exemption for health benefits. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that taxing employer benefits above the value of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan, adjusted for inflation, would generate nearly $420 billion over the next 10 years. There have also been discussions around implementing "sin" taxes for items like tobacco and alcohol but they would not generate near the levels needed. With the economy in the shape it is right now, getting around the "how will we pay for this" issue has proven difficult for Obama and the Dems. Right now as I type this, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is crunching the numbers and their final determination or projection of what these policy changes will cost should have a huge impact on the entire debate and ultimately what bill passes. Politics. Obama wants a bipartisan bill but stands firm on certain aspects like the Public plan. He was initially satisified with letting congress duke out the more thornier aspects of the bill but is starting to get more engaged. His grassroots, social media campaign is organizing and starting to get some traction. The Republicans led by senator Charles Grassley have been the most vocal and vigorous in this debate, in particular against a Public option. The Democrats have been more cautious. Their leader on healthcare, Senator Edward Kennedy is battling brain cancer and has not been able to be in the public limelight, instead working behind the scenes as he continues his treatments. The more liberal Democrats continue to draft bills that include the public option. The "Blue Dog" or fiscally conservative Democrats in the House are not as excited about the public plan and have grave concerns over the 1.8 trillion dollar budget gap that would be extended another 1.5 to 2 trillion in 10 years if expanded coverage is provided through health reform. If Obama's dream of bipartisan healthcare reform legislation falls victim to a Republican and Democrat stalemate, he may have an ace in the hole in the budget reconciliation bill. This would require only 51 Senate votes for passage of a health care reform bill instead of the typical 60 needed to authorize new programs. Still, passing legislation and implementing it is two completely different things. History says you really need a bipartisan effort to get something this big off the ground, so the reconciliation process would likely be a last resort.

http://www.truveo.com/High-School-Hero-Alz...s/id/3411788205

courtesy Park Cities People.

Marquis Sykes at linebacker or in a three-point stance as a pass rushing specialist. The guy has good size and speed (6-2, 245) and has the potential to be a great pass rusher. The coaches see him as a big time talent that just hasn't yet figured it all out. He's close. I just keep hoping that he will have his breakthrough this season. It would be a huge boost at a critical need area. Any others out there?

http://keithhennessey.com/2009/06/09/house-health-bill/

Could be people viewing certain articles. We don't tinker with numbers here, never have.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/us/polit...rss&emc=rss

Really good news and thank you for sharing this. We cannot wait to see Hilbert in two-a-days!

Good to see you back Tasty.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/cale...llcalendar.html

My sense from watching them in the Spring is that they are going to do a lot of dink and dunk, quick flat and curl routes where he only needs a 2-3 step drop. This eliminates the pass rush to a certain extent. From what I remember from him in high school is that he could roll out and either go deep or keep the ball and do some major damage. I would like to see both but I understand that keeping him healthy at least early on is of utmost importance. With the improved o-line, juco receivers and a healthy trio of Cam/Dunbar/Mosley - it should be fun to watch either way.

I am interested to hear everyone's opinion on this. I know that Gio was a good QB for us in many respects, however I sense that Riley will bring an extra step of speed to the equation which should force the defenses to be a little more honest. Could this benefit us, even though Todge will look to protect Riley from contact (and injuries) early on? I also think Riley's lateral speed to the sidelines will open up some major holes for big Cam. Is it football season yet?

Yes I don't remember them being very good when I was there but some of the girls (especially one from Houston) were good to look at!

Since when did being a judge be a prerequisite to serving on the highest court? I don't think the founding fathers intended it to be that way, they certainly didn't put those requirements in the job description. BTW, Harriet has been in plenty of courtrooms all over the country, even though you could argue many of the biggest cases never see a courtroom anymore. I won't go down her list of accolades that I and many others much more qualified than me believe made her very qualified for the position she was nominated for. Nor will I delve into the reasons she did not ask for or ultimately accept the nomination. I would only ask that you not pass judgement on someone you clearly know nothing about. What concerns me about this process is you basically have to be a high level judge (with no true business experience) and educated at Harvard or Yale to be on the Supreme Court. I don't believe the founding fathers intended it to be this way.

GREAT NEWS!!!!

http://savesb1.newsbank.com:8080/xmlrpc/SA...puttype=DOCXSLT

4-8

Wow...very impressive!

This season and the immediate future is all about Riley. It's a lot of pressure to put on a freshman's shoulders.

This is an impressive verbal duo for Dodge and I love the fact they are in our DISD backyard. Kudos to Dodge and Ford.

Health Insurance as we know it will be reformed and it probably needs to be. Rewind back to 1993, when President Clinton and Hillary tried to reform healthcare and faced major obstacles from groups representing hospitals, health-insurance companies, doctors, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and labor unions. Some of us older fans remember the "Harry and Louise" commercials that used scare tactics to sway the masses against the proposed changes. These were funded by the AMA and Health Insurance Association. At the time, I was employed by a large health carrier and was against reform and recall being quite pleased that it never came to fruition. Monday's press conference with President Obama and the major healthcare players standing side by side was a clear indication that they realize reform is inevitable and you are better off having a seat at the table versus being on the outside looking in. They are talking big dollars, like a savings of 2 trillion over 10 years. The specifics on how this will actually be achieved remain murky. Having been on that side of the world, I have my doubts. It's hard to have a doctor and an insurance guy in the same room without a fistfight or verbal exchange in my experience. At my agency, we are constantly battling on behalf of individual and small to midsized companies who often fall victim to rising premiums, double digit renewal increases and poor service. We also see unfair underwriting practices, like refusing to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions or charging women higher rates than men. I have a client who tried to get family coverage and could not get her husband covered on the plan because of a very minor issue even though the rest of the family was 100% healthy. I am talking about a complete denial, no rate loads or anything. This guy is really quite healthy, no surgeries no ongoing diseases or conditions. It's not right, insurance should not only be available to the very healthy and I sense that there are a lot of people, especially small companies and self employed individuals who need it but get lost in the complicated system required to purchase a policy. This is not meant as an indictment of every health care plan, there are some good ones that I work with on a daily basis, but many of them face tremendous pressures from their stockholders to produce outrageous profit margins and ROI's. Healthcare executives are actually inviting Congress to mandate Universal coverage, i.e. coverage for all Americans and are even willing to accept strong federal regulation of the entire industry which would have been unheard of 3-5 years ago. These landmark concessions are - in my opinion - based on their fear of the possible addition of a public insurance plan option, something Obama has been supportive of and the democrats covet. A public health plan option would be offered alongside the private insurance options and would be priced more competitively, pulling much of the membership and associated revenues with it. Insurers fear this public plan option could drive them out of business and eventually would lead to a single payor option which could essentially eliminate the entire industry. This is not an outcome that I support, as it would put us in a nationalized healthcare situation and I think it could affect the quality of care we have become renowned for in the world. I am becoming resigned to the fact that a public insurance plan option may become a reality and I hope that if that happens, they will create a structure in which private plans could survive and compete favorably against it. It won't be easy. I am following the developments quite closely both from a business perspective as it impacts my clients, and from a historical perspective as there have been attempts to reform this juggernaut dating back to the Nixon and Carter terms. The country is quickly becoming tired of the ever expanding Obama budget and bailouts at the taxpayer's expense. This proposed healthcare reform will be very costly, regardless of any savings are being promised by this about face from the industry. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.