Controlled Chaos

I normally don't even look at threads like this, but I was intrigued and I'm glad I checked it out. Some very informative and well thought out posts. Kudos to those of you who took the time to put your thoughts into words and make some compelling arguments. Hope to see some of you post more often. It's what makes the site great.

Happy Birthday and thanks for all your valuable insight.

QUOTE (djcollie03 @ Jul 23, 2010 -> 02:41 PM) This is a great idea and hopefully will be successful. I was in DC for the Sox series and the post-game party seen was one of the most fun of any ballpark I've been too. That stadium is just like Sox Park - nothing immediately accessible except public transit. The beer garden, while crowded, was a great social scene and perfect for enjoying a White Sox winner while the crush of humanity hit the metro. Cheers! It's ok....but I don't know how successful it will be with the tailgating that's allowed. I'd rather go back to the car with my friends and hang for an hour where we can drink 5 beers for the price of one in the beer garden. I'd much rather have a real bar there...

For those who have facebook. I wish I had more money!! Pics from ay Cutler Foundation Charity Cruise. http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?a...mp;id=604459688 eenie meenie miney moe

I thoroughly enjoyed some Sweet Tea Vodka and lemonade last weekend. I never heard of it before, but it's definitely on my summer drink list now.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 23, 2010 -> 09:15 AM) i wouldn't have said it. That's why i'm capable of profound thoughts and you are capable of typing. You know why the deficit has exploded the past 24 months? It has something to do with another thing that starts with an r and ends with an n 'reincarnation' of the democratic doctrine? 'radicalization' of the government

QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Jul 22, 2010 -> 03:06 PM) kuklaskorner RT @OnFrozenPond: Panthers send C Jeff Taffe to the Blackhawks for former ATL C Marty Reasoner I see this as them not being that far off with Niemi.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 12:28 PM) first 137 ABs - .182/.277/.234/.511 last 150 ABs - .287/.301/.427/.728 Where can you get splits like this? Thanks.

Best to click the link to read the whole article. What Congress Bought Itself With Your $1 Billion Updated: 47 minutes ago AOL News (July 21) Food Tab: $604K on Bottled Water Interns and Pages: $4.4 Million News and Research: $1.2 Million Travel: $1.4 Million a Month The Grand Totals $1,013,162,955 The report's tally of congressional spending between June 2009 and March 2010 $674 million - What the House spent in the last six months of 2009 $339 million What the House spent in the first three months of 2010»

Reed Smith Partner Commits Suicide in Chicago I have a friend that worked closely with this guy. Well adjusted...very much a family man and seemed perfectly fine. I guess he has had some anxiety recently and they gave him some meds...Paxil??. I have no idea if that contributed, but it sure sounds like it. This dude never takes the train. Always drives to work. Drove that day. For whatever reason left around lunch time...didn't take his BB or his wallet. Walked over to the washington station bought a ticket..went downstairs and jumped in front of a train. If he left his bb and stuff in his office, I'm assuming he knew what he was going to do when he left. Crazy s***.

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 03:04 PM) oh no...a black conservative woman!! Wait....and the tea party supports her??? I thought they were all racist?? Here's a fox chicago video.... http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/polit...lhelmi-20100714 Flannery is horrible here. To compare her situation with getting Pederson knocked off the ballot is a joke. He filed for state representative, state senate, secretary of state, U.S. Senate, governor and lieutenant governor....all with zero signatures. Removing him is removing a sham...hardly the same the democrats trying to remove a legitimate challenger. Judge sets date in ballot removal appeal Bolingbrook Republican seeks to run in 43rd District race Couple other articles.... http://www.southtownstar.com/news/mcqueary...cqueary.article http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...0,3148172.story Judge: Bolingbrook Republican can reclaim ballot spot July 21, 2010 5:59 PM | No Comments | UPDATED STORY A Will County judge today ruled to put a Bolingbrook Republican and tea party darling back on the ballot for a state Senate race. Will County Associate Judge Bobbi Petrungaro overturned a 2-1 decision by the Will County Electoral Board to remove Cedra Crenshaw, 37, from the ballot over a technical issue with her nomination petitions. Crenshaw is vying to unseat Democratic state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi in the 43rd District, which has been a Democratic stronghold since 1975. The decision to remove Crenshaw from the ballot energized tea party members, who organized protests on the stay-at-home mom's behalf and showed up in patriotic T-shirts to her legal hearings. "Finally, we can vindicate the 2,100 people who signed my petition and all the people in the district who are looking for an alternative," she said after learning of the ruling, which was filed at 4:01 p.m. The decision comes about three months after Crenshaw's petitions were challenged. Earlier this month, the electoral board ruled her nomination petitions were invalid because her campaign had indicated on old forms that signatures were collected within 90 days of the filing deadline, even though a new state law requires that signatures be collected within 75. In fact, Crenshaw collected signatures less than 20 days before the deadline since Republicans picked her to be their candidate on March 30 because no one in the GOP had run in the February primary. After the electoral board ruling, her attorney, Burt Odelson, filed an appeal in Will County Circuit Court. On Tuesday, Petrungaro listened to both sides argue the minutia of state election law. In her five-page ruling, Petrungaro said that state election law is unclear and "has not yet been reconciled by the legislature." However, she said court precedent is clear and favors Crenshaw. "There was no evidence of fraud, nor was there any evidence of voter confusion ... No evidence was presented that the petitions were circulated in an untimely manner or that the Petitioner gained an unfair advantage over her opponents by circulating her petition in advance of the circulation period," the ruling said. Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots, the lone dissenting vote on the three-member electoral board, said she is glad the judge ruled quickly. Voots had also stated in the board's dissent that state election law is unclear. Crenshaw said now her campaign can move forward. "Now we're able to raise money," she said. "We weren't able to do that before because we couldn't answer this very important question of whether I would be on the ballot or not. Now, we are going to be able to get our message out." Wilhelmi, 42, who has served in that seat since 2005, said he supports the court's decision and that the Democratic leadership does not plan to appeal. He said he looks forward to talking about his record and the significant progress made in job creation and economic development in the Will County area. "I welcome Mrs. Crenshaw to the race and I look forward to discussing the issues that are important to Will County as well as the significant challenge we face in the state of Illinois," he said. "People want to hear what our solutions are for those challenges, and I look forward to discussing how we arrive at responsible solutions." The election is in November. -- Mary Owen, Triblocal

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Jul 21, 2010 -> 02:35 PM) They aren't smart enough ...when you try too many times with the wrong password, it lockes your account up and alerts you in your email ..they didn't have his email addy, but I do, so I am the one who got the "password change attempts" emails ..they even tried to get facebook to give them his password!! LOL she's a complete retard huh? I love her, she's way funny to be around ..probably like the most eccentric girl I know, but very book smart. Well I don't know if I'd call you the next Nancy Drew or Veronica Mars, but I'm pretty sure you got this one solved!!

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Jul 21, 2010 -> 01:49 PM) Alright ...here's the low down!! haha She used to be a friend of both of ours on facebook, but we've had some issues with her mother messaging Chase and telling him that she wishes he and ..we'll call her, female!! haha ..any way, telling him that she wishes he would be with female and that she would love him to be her son in law (she already knew we were engaged when she did this) ..then after that, "female" was messaging me and telling me big fat lies. She works at a local tanning salon (the one I go to) ..my mother in law to be, also goes there ..I guess she doesn't know that I see Chase's mother EVERY DAY, she probably assumed I don't since Chase isn't here ...she was talking about me to Rori and of course, Rori told me everything because she loves me to pieces!! LOL ..I confronted the girl, and she lied her face off!! She thinks I'm psycho and controlling ..she can't fathom the thought that Chase excluded her from his life on his own ..she thinks I made him do it ..pfff WHATEVER!! ..I don't blame her for not admitting it to me though ..she's a little 4' 10 and I am a thicky thick girl standing at 5'8" ... ... Her best friend is also the best friend of one of my little sisters and has been since they were like, 10. Recently I noticed that she deleted me from FB but still had Chase, she and Chase do not speak and only ever have because of the other female. When I told Chase that this girl deleted me, he had me delete her from his as well. She had to be snooping around for him to notice that she had been deleted because 2 days later she requested him back and asked him why he deleted her. Then she and I got into it, she thought I was the one who told him to delete her and told me to grow up ..then I went OFF!! I'm considerably more intelligent than this girl and basically made her feel like a complete moron ..I have had zero trouble from her since ..BUT all of this (someone being on his FB and the drama), happened around the same time. Like I said before (i think!!) these 2 girls are the only people besides Chase and myself that have ever had his password. They helped him make his FB a couple years back and he has had the same password since then. That is why I suspect them!! ...I don't think it's beyond them to do something like this AT ALL! I wouldn't put it past female's mother either!! Sounds like simply changing the password would be enough in this situation. The girls don't seem intelligent enough to hack into his account. Oh and you posting that video of you sister is about to take this thread in a whole different direction.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 21, 2010 -> 01:14 PM) hmmmm... I never expected this thread to go this direction.... Sorry...I just know money was wasted..and it made me think of this. I figured most would agree that the failed campaign was a misuse of funds, but per the usual...NOT. Someone can split all this off.

Someone go to boystown for a night...interview 1000 people and ask them how is AIDS transmitted? I think you'll find 1000/1000 get it right. This was a WASTE of money that could have be better spent elsewhere.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 21, 2010 -> 09:22 AM) Yes, and Yes. AIDS has been hammering the poor and particularly the African American community in this country for about a decade. Most of the rest of the country stopped paying attention after 1996 when the modern cocktail of drugs came out, but that segment of society is still being ravaged. There was a beautiful example of this effect that I still remember in the 2004 Vice Presidential debate; Gwen Ifill (an African American) asked John Edwards and then Dick Cheney explicitly about what steps they'd take to help with the rate of AIDS infections in the African American community in this country, and both of them gave answers about Africa because they knew nothing about what was happening in the U.S. The number of new AIDS cases in this country actually bottomed out in the early 2000's, and in a number of places the infection rate has actually been increasing for the past decade. Including in Chicago. Worth noting in addition...like many public health campaigns...if an anti-AIDS infection campaign is even remotely successful, it's not going to cost you a thing, it's going to save a ton of money, because having people get AIDS, especially poor people, is tremendously expensive, both for the government and Society. If you're spending a couple million on an ad campaign and change the circumstances enough that a couple dozen people don't get infected, you've likely just paid for the entire campaign. Show me the graph where these people are unware of how AIDS is transmitted. You can't put the f***in condom on for them.

WASTE WASTE WASTE...hate to change the topic, I just don't think I should start a new thread on this. This s*** below is waste. I would love to see a $ figure here. Department of Public Health gives money to a health communications foundation, who gives money to an advertising company, who produces an ad that lasts 3 weeks. First off why is there even a middle company here. If the department of health wants to fund an ad...do they not have the resources to deal with an ad firm directly? 2) Do we really need Aids awareness ads still?? Is there anyone in this country not aware of AIDS and how it's transmitted? Billboards along expressways and streets, posters in the bathrooms of gay bars, public service announcements on television and radio, and a new Web site all to announce you can get aids from unprotected sex. really?? This is the s*** that drives me nuts...This would be an unacceptable use of funds if we had a surplus, but the fact the state is pinchin Lincoln so hard makes it absolutely insane. HIV prevention campaign ends after outcry Chicago Tribune - May 13, 2010 Dawn Turner Trice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In March, Jeff Ramone was invited to participate in a splashy, state-funded ad campaign to encourage people to get tested for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. The Andersonville resident was told that the new campaign was paid for by the Illinois Department of Public Health and would launch in April to great fanfare: billboards along Chicago-area expressways and streets, posters in the bathrooms of gay bars, public service announcements on television and radio, and interactive material on a vibrant new Web site. Now, just a few weeks after the ad's launch, the department has demanded that the Web site (hesthe1.com) be shut down and is scurrying to have the ads removed after receiving a flood of phone calls from people who said they found the campaign highly offensive. The problem stems from one of the campaign's prominent pictures: It's the likeness of a man whose face has been pieced together using parts of four men's faces. Ramone's face makes up the top left quadrant of the image. Above the face, in large type, are the words: "he's the one." Below the face, in smaller lettering, resides the kicker: "that could infect you." Ramone, who is gay, said he was a bit surprised at the final product -- and the controversy, which has been playing out in the gay blogosphere and even in a YouTube parody. "I thought (the ad) was going to say, 'Is he the one?'" Ramone, 36, said Thursday. "But then it turned out 'he's the one,' which is a more declarative statement, which is what has rattled a lot of cages." Though the ad did have its supporters, many of its detractors continue to sound off. Some feared that the ad might stigmatize those who are HIV-positive, making them less likely to divulge their HIV status. Others viewed the ad as reminiscent of the scare tactics used by HIV-prevention activists in the 1980s and 1990s. They said the ad demonized HIV-positive gay men by portraying them as frightening Frankenstein monster types. "To put it in this context is to create fear and distrust that suggests, 'Is this the guy who's going to do this to me?'" said Ramone, who wrote about his involvement in the campaign in his blog, TheUngayGuy.com. "One gets the sense that maybe there weren't a lot of public health people who intervened on this one." A Department of Public Health spokeswoman said the agency did not know the specifics of the campaign, though it was responsible for funding it. Hence the line, "Paid for by the Illinois Department of Public Health," which appeared at the bottom of the ad. "Our HIV section has been getting calls and they've been listening to constituents who say they did not agree with the ad," said Melanie Arnold, the spokeswoman. "When we saw (the ad) we were not pleased with it either. We want to make sure people know the IDPH didn't approve this ad and we've been trying to get it out of circulation and make it go away." Arnold said that while the department wants to educate people and make them aware of HIV prevention measures, the ads missed the mark. So why is the department's name figured so prominently on the bottom? Arnold told me that the agency had given funding to a health communications foundation, which contracted with an advertising company that actually created the ads. Messages left at phone numbers listed for the two entities were not returned. Arnold said the department is still scrambling to find out more about the ads. On Thursday, she couldn't tell me how much the campaign cost or how widely the ads had been distributed. Ramone believes the "he's the one" campaign may have worked better if it had been framed in a way that inspired people to think about how to keep from getting infected. But not everybody has been unhappy with the ad. Andrew Fisher is a gay man who feels strongly about spreading the word about HIV prevention. He cites statistics from a 2008 Chicago Department of Public Health study that found 1 in 5 gay men in Chicago is HIV-positive, and that infection rates among minorities are much higher than among whites. Fisher, who told me he saw the ad on a billboard in Boystown, said the effort to put condoms in fishbowls in gay bars hasn't been effective enough. "If the ad scared people, shaking them awake, I'm all for it," he said. "I'm not necessarily (for) that ad, but I thought it made people think. I was eager to see that rather than passivity. I admired its no-holds-barred, person-to-person approach. I don't think we need to cower on such an important topic."

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 NAACP Posts Full Video of Sherrod Speech [stephen Spruiell] The NAACP has posted the full video of the Shirley Sherrod speech. After watching it, it is impossible not to conclude that the Obama administration made the wrong decision in forcing her resignation. I'd encourage you to watch the video for yourself, but the summary version is as follows: After experiencing some hard-core white racism in the segregated South (her father was murdered by white men who were never convicted), Sherrod made a commitment to help black southerners in bad situations. "When I made that commitment," she said, "I was making that commitment to black people and to black people only. But you know, God will show you things... you realize that the struggle is really about poor people." She then proceeded to tell the story featured in the clip that Breitbart published (he says he received the clip in its edited form). A white farmer came to her for help, and because she perceived him to be like the others, she fobbed him off on a white lawyer — "his own kind." But the lawyer didn't help the farmer, and that is what led Sherrod to revise her previous biases against whites and to resolve to assist all economically distressed farmers, white or black, who came to her for help. As for the ongoing dispute between the NAACP and the tea party and the various accusations of racism that have been flying of late: Sherrod's story was about overcoming racist views, including those held by blacks, illustrated by way of her personal story. The moral of her story would be obsolete if she didn't feel that some in the NAACP still harbored prejudiced views of whites; there would be no need for her to tell that story to that particular audience. Large and vibrant political organizations attract all kinds of people, and some of those people are bound to be racists. It would be stupid to pretend there are no racists in the tea party, just as it would be dumb to argue that there are no racists in the NAACP; furthermore, it would be beside the point. The "who's more racist" argument is tangential to the philosophical dispute between the two groups that lies at the heart of all this. Perhaps because that dispute — which concerns the size and scope of the federal government's redistributive power — is so heated and unbridgeable, we have descended into pointless and destructive race-baiting (although it's pretty clear who always plays the race card first). A few more things that are clear: It's clear that Sherrod is on the other side of that philosophical debate from me. It's also clear that she used to view whites with a prejudiced eye. But, finally, it is clear that she doesn't anymore, and that the administration forced Sherrod to resign before all the facts were in hand. Secretary Vilsack should correct this mistake. Considering the new facts that have come to light, that shouldn't be too difficult. 07/20 09:23 PMShare

You should definitely be able to purchase this 2nd hand. Search online for it.

Oh and stop making his password "iluvbren" It's too easy to crack.

QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Jul 16, 2010 -> 07:28 AM) I know that there are a lot of pretty cool designs that people have come up with to decorate their "bags" or "cornhole" games, but anyone have any pictures of ones that they have designed or painted that they would like to share? Or even some really unique ones from the web? Not really a special design or anything, but I made these a few years ago.

I don't venture into this thread that often, so this may have already been discussed, but as someone that doesn't care for rap that much...Em just kills it on Recovery. I was wondering who sang the hook on Almost Famous and found out it's this chick, Liz Rodrigues. Another reason to like it.

As others have noted...it's pretty simple to do it yourself. With that said...When I bought my last battery at Walmart, I saw a sign that they have free installation. It would save you a trip too, cause you have to turn your battery in to get the extra money off.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 16, 2010 -> 10:27 AM) Considering that probably 3/4 of the construction projects I've driven through haven't had one...I want to see how much impact the ARRA is having in spurring new construction. My answer so far has been...not nearly as much as I'd have wanted. Who cares about the 3/4 of construction projects you drive through?? It's probably not even 1/2 of 1% of the construction going on. There's this thing called the internet. http://www.recovery.org/ Why don't you use that to quell your curiosity instead of promoting the wasteful spending on signs. Just when I thought I found something everyone would agree on....you Baltardize it!!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 16, 2010 -> 10:04 AM) Isn't that just a normal summer construction season though? I mean, if you're going to complain about the ARRA funding "Road construction", really, the only solution is "Stop driving". Why do you need to see the ARRA sign?