JUGGERNAUT

Why am I not surprised by your complete misunderstanding? If you are gay your sexual behavior is not common. Your love interests are not common. They are rare. Yet Hollywood features gay characters in just about every movie & show to masquerade the idea it is common. That's what makes it an agenda. Equal protection under the law? Please. How many films featuring gay characters even discuss that issue? That's the fisade they use to justify their agenda.

I just wanted to add I checked into IEP since I created the thread. It's not an option. Her scores on the ISAT, entrance exam, interviews with teachers & now finals show she doesn't qualify. They aren't great but they are better than average. We had a heart to heart late last night when she came home & well it wound up to be something like a pep-a-rally for her with a halftime speech. Mentioned Edison, Einstein, & other prolific great minds who struggled to find success. This morning she attacked her homework with new vigor & got the jump on me in doing it. All I had to do was review it for her. SOXTALK is a harsh place for conservatives so I'm not surprised by the thread. But I think some of you should get a grip on reality once in a while & realize that you delight in bashing someone who is putting forth both time & effort to help their kid through school. That's a rare thing in the real world. For those who do pray please remember Juggs' daughter in your prayers so that she get pass this major hurdle in her young life.

On general principle discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation where it applies to jobs, housing, & other monetary factors is an undesireable thing. But when it comes to protecting against such discrimination specifics need to be taken into consideration. Being close-minded means only looking at an issue from one side. That's what most of you Dem voters do. Rarely do you ever discuss any pro from the other side. I don't think most of you are capable of such open-minded analysis. The specifics of discrimination have little to do with one man or woman & everything to do with demographics. If a white employer chooses a white applicant over a black applicant in an area where the population is 90% white it's ridiculous to suggest he's discriminating against blacks. But if the population were say 30% black & he employs only 3% blacks then a case can be made. That's why quotas are good when they are applied with respect to LOCAL demographics. Employers aren't just employing robots. They look for people who share thier same vision, principles, & values as they do. It makes for a more productive workforce. Gays nationally represent between 2-7% of the population. Of course that varies from town to town but it doesn't come close to making an argument for quotas and such. In all fairness to the employers & residents of a community such laws should ban the practice of making sexual orientation the SOLE reason for denial. An employer should not be given the right to say his application has been denied because the person is gay. But the employer has every right to state that the coming views sodomy as a significant health risk & sufficient reason for denying health benefits to such applicants. All they need is a medical expert to confirm their view & their are plenty available to do that. There is nothing wrong with a company denying an applicant employment on the basis of BEHAVIOR they feel warrants a significant health or attendance risk. If they feel certain BEHAVIORs will affect productivity then they have every right to deny an applicant work on that basis. All that should be required legally is for the employer to present a medical expert in good standing with the state as evidence in support of their claim.

Complete & utter bulls***. How many movies & TV shows portray gays with the subject matter being "equal protection under the law?" Few. Their agenda is to push the idea that gays are as common as anything else in America. It's an agenda because 2-7% doesn't even come close to their delusions of commonality.

Here's what Kenny needs to tell Thomas face-to-face (if Thomas will give him the opportunity): Frank would could not tell you we were going into another direction because we didn't know how the scenario would play out. If Kong hadn't signed we could not afford to lose you. The Thome trade wasn't about replacing you. It was about replacing Kong if he choose the Angels instead. You read the papers. It looked like we were going to lose Kong. After his visit with the Angels we already had a Frank + Thome middle pegged. But Kong surprised us & came back. We still tried to find a solution that included you. But we didn't feel like you were going to want to share at-bats with Thome. So we had to say goodbye. I should have told you that in December. You're an icon Frank. How do you tell this stuff to an icon? Honestly, Frank you're an intimidating presence. This ranks as one of the toughest things I've ever had to do. Good Luck with Oakland. I know I & the rest of the White Sox fans will be rooting for you. You might not believe it but we want you to reach 500 HR's too. We just hope you take the day off when we play you. That goes double at the Cell. You're a HR hitting monster there. Play your best against the ALC. Beat the rest of the teams into submission. Do it for the A's fans. Do it for the White Sox fans. Do it for yourself. No organization is more proud of a player than we are of you Frank. That goes many times over for the White Sox fans. Don't be surprised if they give you a standing O at the Cell. That's a rare thing for a player who now represents the team most likely to unseat us for the AL pennant.

Please, stop with the Everett talk. He was not a reasonable option at that price. The fact is his slide more than anything else is what pushed Thomas back into the lineup when his ankle was only 70% healed. If Frank hadn't come back the White Sox likely lose the division to the Tribe & miss out on the wild card as well. Ozzie needs to face that reality & acknowledge it. His 40 ab comment was poorly thought out. Both Kenny & JR dropped the ball in their handling of Frank at the very end. I don't blame Kenny for stringing Thomas along til the day they signed Kong because the fact is Thomas remained an option until Kong signed. But both of them should have sought Thomas out (they had the opportunity at the winter meetings) & dealt with Thomas personally. Explain to him how it played out & express their regret they weren't able to find a solution that included him. Thomas is not just any other player. His stature in the league is such that he deserved special consideration. If Kenny or JR want to attempt to mend the fences they should both seek Thomas out now & convince him to show up at the White House gathering. They need to lower the chip on their shoulders for a minute & remind themselves & Thomas that the White Sox might not have been World Champions if not for Thomas re-igniting the offense when they needed it most.

Am I the only one who got a little spooked by the articles written today? Not so much what Frank said because I agree with him. All things considered if you have a choice between choosing a healthy Frank or a healthy Thome you're picking Frank. But some of these other articles had me going .. "say it ain't so!" Is it really true that GM's around the league were expecting Thome's body to break down? Is this really why the Cubs passed on the discount he was offering them? Are we looking at the potential of a Gonzo when it comes to Thome's back problems? From a risk assessment standpoint is Thome at $22M/3yr a safer investment than say a combination of Thomas & White/Piazza/<enter slugger here> for roughly that same $? In that scenario Thomas remains with the White Sox in much the same role as 2005. What happens if Thome goes on the DL? Who is going to fill that role? Borchy? Sosa?

The A's had our number w/out Thomas so I really don't see a downside if they beat us even worse with him. When you add up the numbers he's likely to do more damage to our ALC foes than us. The post-season is a different story entirely. If Thomas remains healthy into Oct we're in trouble. A healthy Thomas will likely create a scenario where the A's run away from the ALW early on & never look back. We are probably looking at the best team in the major's record-wise in that scenario. So if it comes down to A's vs White Sox for the ALDS or ALCS that's going to be a tough pill to swallow. The bats better be hot because Thomas is sure rule at the Cell.

You do realize that if Frank had NOT rushed back in 2005 it is likely the Indians would have won the division & the White Sox might not have even won the WC. The team had gone into an offensive slump (Everett & Kong) & Thomas' return reinvigorated the offense. Likewise when Thomas went down in late July the team went back into an offensive slump & the pitching got a little rocky. As for an Oct return I think Kenny did the right thing. Thomas could have risked any chance of playing in 2006 or worse a career-ending injury if he had tried to pull a Gibson. I realize Frank will never see it that way because he feels he could have contributed in the post season but Kenny likely saved his 2006 season with the A's by saying no to Oct.

I didn't explain the details of my role & since so much of the "cheat" word is popping up I feel further explanation is required. In the Fall & early Winter I played the role of the tutor for my child. It became evident to me she was taking too long to solve problems & complete assignments. It was then that I brought up the possibility she needs slower classes with a less demanding workload. That was shot down by the teachers so I got no support from the school or at home on this idea. In early Dec I said no to continuing the tutor role. It was taking too much of my time & quite frankly it was depressing. I told my wife hire somebody. She was reluctant to do so & we compromised to where I just had to produce answer keys. She would fill the tutor role. I agreed to that but with one condition: If she couldn't see any improvement we would push for slower classes or special ed. She agreed. I think most paid tutors both budget their time & leave when homework assignments are complete. That means they apply extra help when it's needed to get it finished in a reasonable amount of time. That's the same scenario for my kid. Her Mom controls the answer keys. Schools don't consider making use of tutors cheating. They encourage it.

Social issues - GOP/Lib Educational issues - GOP/Lib Privacy issues - Libertarians Economic issues - Maybe the Green Party (Nader fan) Environmental issues - Definitely the Green Party Don't see much use for the Democrats any more. They are bloated & busting at the seams (see Kennedy) & they've all but abandoned their primary reason for existence: protect the American worker. If I could wake up in an America where the Dems were beaten into submission & replaced by the best of the indies all rolled into one Worker's Party of America I think it would be a much better place to live. If you assume that all politicans are crooks & all parties are more or less crooked & cast your vote for the people you feel will do you the least harm then I think you can consider yourself an indie voter.

I'm a social & economic conservative that believes majority opinion trumps most everything else. On the issues: The homosexual agenda - I think it's blown way out of proportion. Depending on which survey & research you look at this contingent of the population amounts to either 2%, 4%, or 7% of the population. Hardly worth featuring such a character in most of the Hollywood fanfare. As to it's legitmacy that's a complete crock of bulls*** with a capital BS. Kinsey's data was taken primarily from sex offenders serving prison sentences & college students who WERE interested in his homosexual & bisexual agenda to begin with. Furthermore much of the data related to male sexuality came from pedofiles who had sexually abused & tortured young males. In his own words he came to realize that his life's work was a waste & he should have stuck to wasps. Furthermore the agenda for the Kinsey institute reads like something out of a Japan porn film. In the 70's-80's the institute was pushing an idea that incest is a normal thing. Putting all that aside despite the Hollywood homosexual agenda science will prevail. If there is a genetic function to that population it will be found & when it is prevention will be marketed. The same applies to abnormal pregnancies. At that point all that will remain is a behavioral function & that will reduce this population to nothing more than what it is: a sexual fetish. The separation of Church & State - This is a superstitious antiquated precept that was born out of the corruption & collusion between the European aristocracy & religion. That political force does not control government any more & religion does not wield that kind of power or influence either. If you believe as I do that organized religion represents nothing more than a non-profit institution pushing a political & philosophical agenda then it deserves no greater scrutiny or discrimination than any non-religious non-profit institution serving it's own agenda. Popularity is not justification for invoking discrimination. The free exercise clause is sufficient to insuring that all Americans can practice whatever ideological beliefs they hold dear within the confines of civil law. The establishment clause is antiquated & should be phased out. The government can no more sell Christianity over say Judiasm than it can sell McD's over BK. There are laws in place that provide ample opportunity for lawsuits if it tried. Likewise the tax-free status for religious institutions should be abolished. It's an antiquated legacy from a time when the Church was viewed as more special than any other charitiable institution. There's no reason to distinquish it as such any more. Odds are it would come out ahead if it were because like other charitable institutions it would be eligible to receive money from the government for special projects & such. Global economy - It's like war. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. It's essentially a system by which buying power is transferred from workers in the richest markets to workers in developing & poor markets. It's travesty is that the buying power of say Americans is eroding much faster than the growth of buying power of say Malaysians. Americans are having their buying power sacrficed to the gods of corporate greed. America has gone from being the worlds best producers to being mostly consumers. It can not sustain itself like this for long. This is the most important issue facing our nation today because it impacts every facet of our lives & yet both major parties tout the same line so instead all we hear about is bulls*** won't mean squat 100 yrs from now social issues that probably directly impact less than 10% of the population. We need to be discussing this debate everywhere because it impacts the future of America more than anything else. Are we going to continue to allow America to digress to just a nation of consumers in exchange for a weak control on inflation? With our population spiraling out of control from both births & illegals do we really need to be a part of the WTO to sustain our way of life? Some think we are past the point of no return. That our only hope lies in organized crime teaming up with workers overseas to help them unionize & bring collective bargaining to that arena. I don't agree with them. I think there are small things we can do to change the tide: - origin of production awareness: regulate the retail industry so that the nation responsible for the majority of production in a product is as evident to the consumer as the price of the product. This should be fairly simple to implement since creation of pricing labels is mostly computer driven today. A 6 character id for each continent of origin plus the G8. - reservation for American producers: Retailers such as Wall-Mart would have to provide both product awareness (on-line) & shelf-space for American producers. If there are say American producers of paper clips Wall-Mart would be obligated to offer at least one of them at their stores. These changes would hurt retailers profits but I think Wall-Mart can afford it. More importantly it would cause Americans to stop & think about the consequences of their sales. They might choose to pay a few more bucks to buy American to help slow the eradication of our nation's buying power. No tariffs or subsidies required. Nothing a nation can file a grievance with the WTO over either. The worst that can happen on that front is that other nations develop a similar form of regulation. That's a good thing. That forces their economies to look inward for consumers. Theat ties their profits to developing their own markets instead of feeding off ours.

I've already come to the realization she needs special ed. I arrived at that conclusion back in the fall. The problem is both her teacher's & her mom haven't arrived at that conclusion. Though I don't like the situation it is without quesiton a temporary one. I am basically removing the last crutch my wife has to lean on in denying the special ed factor. I'm hoping my daughter surprises me but I'm not expecting it. I pretty much just created the thread to vent & explain my absence. Nothing more than that. I wasn't a great student either. I did most of my homework in other classes. My time after school was spent at practice (swim, football) until I needed to earn money for college. That was around junior year when I got a job. I entered a highly competitive school as an asst manager of a distribution outlet. I nearly flunked out in my first semester while pledging a frat & taking on a heavy load. I couldn't juggle all 3 lives so I left the frat. Eventually I let go of the job as well & took out loans. I devoted my time to my studies & made the Dean's list 4 semesters in a row. Having gotten the CS degree I had taken enough courses in my EE minor to where a CE degree was well in reach. I found a nice employer willing to pay for my grad school so I spliced them together. Two yrs later I was empowered by an MSCS/CE. I really only busted my tail in my junior & senior yrs of college. My grad school amounted to TV sites where I would do the homework due that night in the class & video tape the lecturers. I liked CS so I both took my comprehensive & completed a special project thesis. If laziness is a genetic inheritance then I'm guilty of passing it on.

It's always the same pattern here. Those who lack the intelligence to engage in the debate pick on something as mundane as quote tags. If I am responding to the quote in a general sense (which is what I do most of the time) then reference to the quote tag itself suffices. It makes it easier for someone to open that quote in a new window if they care to. It's really quite a simple reference. You've got this all wrong. If I really believed that my daughter was capable of doing this work on her own & that her social life was getting in the way I would let her fail. I'm doing this because I've reached the point where I no longer think she is capable of doing it on her own. Those that know me know I am driven by logic & numbers. My mind quickly mapped this problem into a state diagram. What I arrived at was a simple conclusion: If she doesn't improve she'll wind up in special ed any ways. Outside of cheating there is no way she can improve her performance on tests without improving her capacity to do homework. If she fails regardless of the path I take the conclusion is inevitable. This is pretty much a no-brainer for an engineer.

Your lack of comprehending a fact is not a suitable basis for it's denial.

All you people do when you lie like this is show the true colors of who you are & the politics you represent. That's why topics like this are appropriate for S,L, & P because they discuss people's politics. What you've written is a complete & utter lie. I said the exact opposite & the sheer volume of the thread shows I did not run away. I expressed both my displeasure & dismay at finding out she was doing that. I questioned her about her. I told her she shouldn't be doing that & emphasized that she shouldn't even entertain the thought when it came to HEALTHY food. Again I don't live in a classroom ideal world. People are the most complex things any one has to deal with. What works for one might not work for another. In most cases it doesn't. You have to feel people out & find what works best for them. Now this was over a decade ago & I did that. I felt her out. Tried to find a common ground where I could be of help. I found that ground in comforting her & directing the focus of the discussion to healthy foods & matters of health. Many times over I suggested she she a nutritionist because these people are qualified to help her. That's all you can do in that situation: SUGGEST things that might work for them. The reality of that situation is that she developed that habit WAY BEFORE I ever even knew she existed. The idea that just ragging a person or threatening to abandon them is going to change their habits is stupid. You deal with the hand you are dealt as best you can. You look for something to work with. I have found that when it comes to people it's best to look for a path of least resistance in finding a solution. That's not unlike computer science. You look the path with the least cost in finding a solution. Of course you have to weigh short term costs vs long term costs but in the real world it's the short term costs you have to deal with immediately.

When you are as intelligent as I am company is rare. That's why I don't put much stock in what many say here & I rarely face a challenge I can't easily destroy or exhaust. I love how some put forth his suggestions so matter of factly. They obviously have no experience with the situation but as is so often the case with their ilk they think they experts on it. The child has stayed afterschool for more help, & tutors have been brought in. Those options proved a waste of time. That's the part you can't comprehend: time. The world does not stop for you to catch your breath & catch up to it. Nor does the school. The path of least resistance ALWAYS buys you the greatest amount of time. I'll be working on tonight's bio lab & algebra packet while my wife goes over last night's algebra homework with her. This is reality. Not some ideal classroom situation. I certainly didn't ask for the hand I've been dealt but I'm sure going to play my cards as best I can. Prior to high school my kid was one of the top kids her class. A quick reader, great penmanship, & solid in arithmetic. There were no pre-cursors suggesting special ed was needed beforehand. Prior to entering high school she performed well enough on the entrance test & the interviews that her teachers placed high expectations on her.

It's the Global Economy people. It's guaranteed to produce the lowest cost labor supply in the world today or your money back.

The problem with Wal-Mart is that they appear to be the central force behind the application of scientific method towards the business of buying & distributing goods worldwide. They are not the first nor will they be the last. When taking such an approach jobs that were supported by inefficiencies of the past fall to the way side. Wages are determined not by what the market will bear such skills but rather what is the minimal cost for said skills. The problem of course with applying scientific methods to areas of business is that they tend towards collusion & monopolies. We do have anti-trust laws to protect against abusive situations but they are antiquated in terms of the modern world. For example: Let's say the US retail market is a 200 billion a yr industry. Wall Mart would have to control more than 80 billion of that to be considered in violation of the anti-trust laws. As the laws are written they are just %'s & numbers. There is no meaning associated with that 80 billion or it's impact on the rest of the economy. If government is to play a vital role in fostering a competitive marketplace then anti-trust should not be defined by how much any one company controls but rather the viability of a new company being able to compete in that marketplace. If Wall-Mart's control prevents new investment & growth & in the retail market then that control should be broken up. A similar argument can be made against Microsoft Windows. Has the use of MW become so widespread that it should be viewed as a utility? Should the company then be regulated as if it were a utility? Is the OS market one in which the market would grow with greater competition? Does MSFT's control over the market stiffle new investment & growth in the market?

That's ridiculous. People vent on message boards. That's all this thread is. Why do people write about things in their personal life on boards? Two reasons: 1) They are looking for sympathy 2) They are looking for agreement So why vent here? I can vent without consequence in my real life. So please lavish me with sympathy & agreement I raise my glass to you. You helped me make lemonade there.

Ah you brought back memories. I soaked the wood before I built the bridge. My bridge withstood the greatest weight. The kids were pretty amazed. I supported twice the weight as the 2nd place finisher & at the time my bridge was shown to noticeably bend. It never broke. It bent so far as to slip through. The teacher never said we couldn't soak the bridge. He did ask me to write up a page explaining the advantages I gained in doing so. The explanation was a hit with the teacher & the bridge was a hit with the class. The whole project took me about an hour after the wood was soaked a few days. The only specifications that confined you were weight & materials. Why my kids can't think like that I'll never know. I sure wish Lamarck's theory turned out to be the right one.

I'll simplify this for you. You have two choices: 1) Allow your kid to fail or worse be put in special ed. 2) Do all that you can to gain your kid added time to do well in school. Which will you choose?

Having to watch the clock while typing really svcks but like everything else these days I have to budget my time. You are assuming that my daughter is capable of doing the work on her own. Bad assumption. I read recently that 50% of recent college graduates lack basic analytical skills to where they can't even file the 1040 short form on their own. I think America in general should stop assuming how great their kids are. This "experiment" as you call it began in December. It resulted in her grades going from F-D-C's to C-B's. I don't argue with success. Do I believe that with my efforts I can get her to B-A's? Yes. Will my wife, myself, & my daughter be more happier with that? Absolutely. Why do people get more mellow as they get older? Because they just want to see people happy.

As you've noted in my first post I'm not happy with this situation. You'll even suggest probably that I'm blaming my wife for it. But that's not entirely true. Personally it comes down to this: Am I willing to accept my child's failure? I'm not. I don't know many parents who are. I know several who have paid 1000's of $'s for tutors & summer school to help them get through it. I'm just providing answer keys. She still goes over the homework with her mom. She is still putting in the time. Compromising her ability to go out on the weekends wasn't helping. It just made her more angry with her Mom. That added time wasn't helping to improve the situation. My conclusion is what you would expect from an engineer: find the path of least resistance in solving a problem. If the added time I'm gaining her doesn't improve her ability to be a better student then a special ed cirriculum awaits her. I've told both of them that. I'm at the end of my rope in this & I am hoping my efforts will pay off.

Sorry, I just didn't have the time to look for it. Can you include a link to that thread in the main debate thread? Thanks.