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Is it me or does the new Spanish prime minister's name translate to "shoemaker" or "cobbler"?

Yes. You're correct.

The outgoing president, Flores, was/is also great. I remember seeing him a couple of years ago in a meeting of Latin American leaders, where Castro is usually revered as a living god, publicly denouncing Castro to everyone's astonishment. Let's hope the new guy continues the same and helps turn the tide in that part of the world.
In that meeting, Castro also went after Spain's Aznar. This, in my opinion, showed at such an early date, that Aznar was someone on our side. In other words, if Castro doesn't like someone, he will probably be ok in my book.

"Do you think this is what Kerry had in mind when he said:
"Bring it onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn."?"


I nearly fell off my chair when I read this. Bush and/or Cheney should start any new speeches, statements, etc. directed against Kerry by showing a clip of Kerry saying that. Only then to really start dishing it out like Cheney is doing now.

"Matamoros" is a not uncommon name in old Spain - the Islamicists will regret this one...

I got a feeling that they will start living up to their name again.

I tried to get decent election coverage, but FOX was not delivering. I tried REALLY hard to watch Greta's show, but I could not bear it. So I turned on CNN, and it had pretty good coverage of the results. I felt sick to my stomach, and my wife watched me in amazement, but I continued to turn in to CNN to see the results coming in. I'm afraid that if FOX doesn't do anything different, I probably will be watching further primary results (at least while they are competitive or meaningful) at CNN or possibly MSNBC (no major networks for me though).

Too late. I believe that they have already sank the "boat" and sent them back.

Yup. That's 2. The first was a Chevy. This is one is a Buick. Don't know where to start, their ingenuity, thirst for freedom or perseverance. The Cubans, that is (not the autos).

This same-sex kissing has gotten out of hand. On Saturday, I flipped to SNL, and I immediately see two guys kissing. I then quickly changed the channels to "Mad TV" and, believe it or not, two other guys again were kissing. I guess I have no one to blame but myself for turning on the tv in the first place.

Well, at least yesterday Bravo was not airing those shows. Instead, they had a "Gay Weddings" marathon. I kid you not. So, it could have been worse for the kids. Then again, it could have been much, much better -for all- in both networks.

Ownes is the lady hopefully destined for the 5th Cir, and I believe she is from Texas. The lady from California is Janice Brown, and I believe she was nominated for the 9th. I think that both of these ladies will make great judges. Let's hope that will now come in, through recess appointments or finally and up and down vote in the senate. It's a shame about Estrada, though.

At the beginning of the show, Donald was standing near his helicopter, and you could tell he was being buffeted by wind from the helicopter, but his hair hardly moved. It was hilarious.

Thanks, I also think that there are two types of depressed people, which is what I was really trying to say. One, like me, who know what's going on, hate it, but can more or less deal with it. There are others, that are so far gone, that they cannot reason like other people. Until you experience being around someone like that, it is really difficult to imagine their (mental) condition.

I have been a long-time lurker, and at one time or another I thought to post, but for one thing or another I never did. However, after reading some of the posts on this thread, I believe that I should write this. May be it would help someone.

I believe in personal responsibility and self-reliance. So whenever I would hear about depression or a depressed person, my first thought was that they weren't trying, trying the wrong, thing, etc.

My sister-in-law was (still is) depressed. She is a very smart and ambituous person, with an extremely sweet personality. It is hard to imagine a better person. She tried different therapists. She was also diagnosed various medications, dosages, and combinations of medications. She even changed her job. However, she kept getting worse.

The whole time, I thought it was her fault.

Sometime after we (my wife and I) moved in with her and her parents (my in-laws), she took a quick turn for the worse. Shortly thereafter she attempted suicide. Thankfully, my wife and her parents were home, and after a lengthy medical hospital stay, followed by a psychiatric hospital stay, she was allowed to return home.

For all of the people who claim that suicide is a selfish act, I believe that you must never have been around a person like my sister-in-law. She was not thinking at all. She could not reason. And you could not have a conversation with her at all.

My in-laws were retired and my wife stopped working, so they tried to talk to her and help around the clock. When I would come home from work, I would relieve the others, and I would try with all of my might to get her to read something, get a hobby, think differently, reason with her, etc. Nothing worked, she wanted to commit suicide again, so we had to watch her around the clock. She even said that it would be better for us if she died. In my mind, there is no way she could have made any sort of selfish decision, for the simple reason that she could not reason. There was no logic or coherence in her thoughts. We tried mightily, and when we thought we had made some progress, we notice that she would go back to her old ways. This was the hardest part. As soon as we thought she was coming out, we realized she never left.

For all of you who have suffered or suffer through this, I feel for you, and I wish you the best. We had no idea what to do, where to get information, what was the best treatment, etc.

I too have suffered from depression, but not as bad as her. It was getting worse, so a short time ago, I took the plunge and started receiving treatment. At my worst, I learned a little bit how your mind loses it. From everything I read, I "knew" what I needed to do, but I could not do it or follow through. I could only imagine, how much worse it must have been for her. I have thought about suicide, but thankfully, I think of my wife, parents and sisters, and I quickly change my mind. If i did it, it would truly be selfish because I can still reason. However, as I mentioned earlier, my sister-in-law could not reason at all. It has now been close to one year, and little by little she has been making great progress. She is almost like when I originally met her.

For the wife of Chris, I offer my condolences, and I wish you the best. From all of the nice things I been hearing about Chris the last couple of days, I sure looks like he was a wonderful person, and he will be missed. Sorry for the long rant.