pbleighton

1C(16+)-1NT-2D-3D-3S-4H-6D Peter

"Playing Texas, you have made a mild slaminvite. Is the hand worth more than that? I think not." I agree. You have a combined 28-30 hcp, no singletons or voids in either hand, and a bad suit. JB, your bidding was just fine - well, it was what I would have done, which may or may not be the same thing :) Peter

"Statists can go to hell. Democracy sucks." And anarchists sulk. Peter

As low as my opinion of Bush is, I don't think he will use nukes. I think it's anyone's guess whether he will use conventional weapons, or simply allow Iran to possess the technology to develop nuclear weapons, of which the U.S. has over 10,000. Peter

Vul 6D NV Pass Peter

"Needless to say this was not my approach either, but then my approach got us a terrible board" Well, Mike, even classically pure bidders such as ourselves can't expect a top on every board B) Peter

"For those opening 1H was is your rebid over 1nt?" 3C for me. I have 19 hcp and a 5-4. Wtp? Peter

Generally agree with a lot that has been written here. Mikeh's explanation of the disadvantages of opening light in a natural system was excellent, though I place a bit higher value on the advantages, being a club-level matchpoints player and all :D IMO, if you don't play a strong club system, the best options available to you if you want to open light are: 1) 14-16 NT, 2/1 responses forcing for only one round. The NT range limits your hand on your 1NT rebids. 2) 10-13, 10-12, or 11-14 NT, and make your 1 of a suit openings lightish but not too light. You need a good amount of *risk tolerance* B) to play the mini, especially when vulnerable, but you get lots of good results, and you don't have to use that damned green card so much. I currently play 10-13 NT, 2/1 responses forcing for only one round. I open all but the worst unbalanced 11 counts, and 10 counts which meet Rule of 20 and which have the points mostly in the suits, not too quacky, etc.. I would reluctantly pass the hand in question. I also play 1M-2x-2M as ACOL-style - nonforcing, a minimum hand which wouldn't accept an invitation to 3NT, and which is frequently 5 cards. This has its disadvantages, but allows us to stop in 2M fairly frequently. Peter

1H. 2NT isn't bad. Peter

"Occam's razor suggests that the simplest explanation that explains all the facts is probably right." Agree. Airplanes flies into buildings. Buildings fall down go boom. Simple! Peter

"More like 60,000 lives, unless you don't count Iraqi lives." Unfortunately, most Americans don't count Iraqi lives, which is why we are there. Peter

"A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks. The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document. The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by United States intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,’’ it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe. An opening section of the report, “Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement,” cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology. The report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,” said one American intelligence official." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/mi...artner=homepage This has to qualify as the least surprising development in U.S. foreign policy in the last century (at least). Peter

Pass (forcing). 4S is close, though. Peter

"South 3♣ is the worst since it's an elementary discipline break. North's first pass is just very bad judgement." I assumed )possibly incorrectly) that 3C showed 6 clubs, and is therefore OK. North's first pass is ridiculous. Peter

Not sure how many experts play Whereeagles' methods. They aren't legal in GCC events in the ACBL, for example (I can't speak for other jurusdictions). I bid 2S on anything. Because of this, my Jordan (2NT) responses can be a little light. Peter

It's matchpoints. I double. At teams I would have to bid 4S. Peter

"Torture in Iraq may be worse now than it was under Saddam Hussein, with militias, terrorist groups and government forces disregarding rules on the humane treatment of prisoners, the U.N. anti-torture chief said Thursday. Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, made the remarks as he was presenting a report on detainee conditions at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay as well as to brief the U.N. Human Rights Council, the global body's top rights watchdog, on torture worldwide. Reports from Iraq indicate that torture "is totally out of hand," he said. "The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein." Nowak added, "That means something, because the torture methods applied under Saddam Hussein were the worst you could imagine." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060921/ap_on_...mhuBHNlYwNtdHM-

Winston, why did the planes fly into the buildings? Peter

I read Gerecht's ridiculous, intellectually dishonest article. He completely ignores the "evil and inhuman" quote, which is the basis of Muslim anger, and which the Pope hasn't apologized for using. Peter

What I do depands on the partnership style. With an understanding/aggressive pd, I open 2H. Otherwise, I pass and bid 1H the second time. Peter

"3 full pages spewing hatred (and 4th started) within 48 hours in the name of religion.Thank God I am an atheist." :) Peter

"Case in point: I think you're a bigot." Oh dear, Richard. Don't you know that only conservatives are allowed to be so blunt? When they do it, the beacon of their intellectual honesty shines ever so much brighter, as if fueled by the fire of a thousand burning crosses... Peter

"A number of people are starting to suggest that the Pope did this deliberately to trigger to trigger just this type of ***** storm." Well, the alternatives are: 1. The Pope is stupid, or 2. The Pope is naive, or 3. The Pope is ignorant. It seems pretty clear that it was deliberate. Some of the letters to the editor of the local right wing tabloid (Murdoch's New York Post) agree, and think it was a WONDERFUL idea. Go team! Peter

"So carefull reading reveals that he agrees that the concept of converting peoples religious belief by force is wrong." Yes, this point is obvious, but you missed my point, which I didn't think required such careful reading. Quoting someone you describe as "brusque" but "erudite", then never saying that you disagree with the quote, certainly implies some degree of agreement with the quote. When this quote describes the founder of a religion as having brought only evil and inhuman things to the world, it is a fair assumption that the quoter is a bigot. This assumption is reinforced by the half-assed nature of the Pope's "apology", where he failed to apologize for saying what he said. Peter

3S, competitive. I downgrade, but even if I don't, game is against the odds, unless West is lying. Peter