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There was a huge AP story that got quite a bit of press that set the record straight on Jena 6 myths, but while he (i believe the author was a he) came to the conclusion there was exaggerations in the reporting, he didn't come to the conclusion of Pat Buchanon, that it was all a hoax. They came to the conclusion that no, this was not the storybook white v. black case it had been touted and painted up to be, but this was one more example of harsher consequences for blacks than whites. He walked up to the steps of an old lady who had lived there a long time and just chatted with her about the realities and she had great insights to the problem. I hope I can find it.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Feb 18, 2008 -> 02:28 AM) Yeah, that was what I was referring to. I guess it was hard to determine since our actual win total matched their projection last year. That is why I think a 5 win increase on their projection seems a little bit on the low side when they project a +104 run differential. Also, not having to face Johan should be 2 wins right there, and like Balta said, just replacing Gonzalez, Erstad, and Pods with league average players brings us a couple of wins. I think the loss of Garland will be the worse decline, but that should be offset by the bullpen. see that's what I'm struggling with/excited with in my expectations for the sox. In addition of just swisher I think would be an addition of 5 games. But it's who he was replacing. Last year some of our lineups were terrible even if dye and konerko weren't having poor seasons and thome being injured. Andy Gonzalez, Luis Terrero, Molina, Uribe, Pablo at 3rd. Cabrera and Swisher basically ensure that will never happen again. And I'm wondering how much improvement they really provide. I don't think we are a playoff team, but hell, this is baseball, I'm not gonna complain if we play over our heads this year and have a great season. Good things happen, bad things happen. I think we'll be at least fun to watch

just during a throwing session?

I could care less about these projections.

The world series will be renamed The U.S. Cellular Series in part of a huge block from google against microsoft. Thome will hit a ball into the lights, causing sparks and mass mayhem the sox have not seen since disco demolition night.

btw st. louis style pizza is so stupid.

Maybe this is untrue for you, but I think we are constantly discussing pretty heated things in here that would draw those reactions. I think it's easier to discuss these topics on computer because you can argue but also just walk away by clicking. You don't have to deal with the awkwardness of a political debate with a friend face to face.

yeah I was writing it and missed your last post. If I may have one final discourse, the constitution is very vague about the supreme courts role. Early on in the countries history, it was actually the presidents who would decide on a bills constitutionality. That's how they used their vetoes pretty much until Jackson. Now they rely on the courts for that. Pretty interesting.

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Feb 15, 2008 -> 02:48 AM) I think whoever wins the NL West is going to come out on top for the National League. I'm picking them because I don't trust the Mets and most people are picking the Mets. The NL West is crazy with having 4 different teams going to the playoffs in the past 2 years. I like the Dodgers winning the NL West and eventually going to the World Series unless the NL West gets the Wild Card again, then I'll go with the Diamondbacks, Rockies, or Padres, whoever gets it because a Wild Card team always gets into the World Series. I agree. I really like the rockies and the padres and dbacks pitching might be the best in the NL. And then the dodgers will have a competitive team. The mets have an easy road but I think when they'll face the NL west team they'll lose it.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 16, 2008 -> 05:28 PM) I'll start off by saying that I scanned only the first page of the article you linked. But, my question was what was the constitutional basis for the decision, or even hearing the case. I was under the impression that SCOTUS is there for the sole purpose of determining the constitutionality of an issue. The supreme court is also the "head" court of appeals. If they have jurisdicition in an issue they can rule on it. And considering this deals with due process (i.e. does it apply fairly to all) they can rule on it. And considering this was a 7-2 decision, I doubt this is a very activist decision. And even so, this is clearly wrong to have crack singled out as somehow worse and cocaine not as bad, considering the racial divide.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 16, 2008 -> 05:24 PM) I propose that we take the direct financial adminitrative support the UN receives from us, and use that money for foreign aid. I'm sure the UN wouldn't have a problem with that. seconded.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNew...119916620071210 it was a 7-2 decision. Federal guidelines specified higher sentencing for crack than cocaine. They basically got rid of that and said judges can decide.

Yeah sports is different. I'm at the copy desk now. But do me a favor next budget meeting and mention that we should actually find out why instead of covering shallowly.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Feb 16, 2008 -> 01:04 AM) It's time to reevaluate who we sentence to prison, *cough* non-violent drug prisoners *cough* I rather see a scumbag on the street have a bag of crack rocks (which is not treated as the same as cocaine or weed) on them than be an unregistered gun owner. Supreme court ruled it was unlawful to have higher sentencing for crack. Sentences were reduced across the country.

They can choke on their newspaper pizza in new york for all I care.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Feb 15, 2008 -> 11:27 PM) Yeah, what Sox4life said. Soccer riots everywhere? ? Class riots in France? They are just as violent over there, and more prone to violent protest than kids here in the states. Molotov cocktails, anyone? I wasn't implying that europe was this magical land w/o violence. But they certainly have lower rates of violent crime, and they are a population that has turned more atheist or agnostic.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Feb 15, 2008 -> 11:02 PM) Violence??? Sex??? Have you seen Japanese movies? Anime? I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying some of the same s*** and maybe even worse happens in other countries and from the stats posted before...Japanese people aren't going around shooting people at the same rate. Education, education, education. Change the culture...that's the only way. good point.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Feb 15, 2008 -> 06:47 PM) That's sort of what i said way back on the first page. Bad parenting, violent tv, movies and games, no church, it all contributes. edit. Sorry, it was way back on the other thread before they separated. yeah not like the huge church-going population in Europe

you're in 4450 already? the hours don't drive me nuts. I got by with the editors loving me, I didn't have to be there that often. It's more that we produce an awful paper.

If you all ever need anything, my email will be in my name here.

NIU is in my prayers. My brothers' alma mater. Some of my friends go there. I can't imagine.

A party picking their candidate is quite different than the presidential election.

The editors and copy editors are all full-time editors and professors. The student journalists are split into beats (public health, education, public safety, Jeff. City beat, etc) where the stories are assigned based on those topics. So you have your Beat editor giving out stories and ideally the students are coming up with their own. The problem is it's all reactionary journalism b/c we are so green not only as journalists but in this town. They don't utilize the resources they have (huge # of journalists) to make a team and say, hey, find this out. The only time that happened was for when the tigers were #1 in the nation and a group did every single angle there was. I just think this is an example where we should take 10 journalists, tell them to go to first ward, talk to everyone, and figure out what pressures and movements are going on there. Not just asking the police chief what's wrong. Hell, ask the cops what they are seeing and check it out.

i think it'd be fun to have to use the convention to decide. Have 46 ballots to elect them, just like old 19th century fun.

I go to U. of Missouri (MU campus), which has the, perhaps self-acclaimed but I've heard it elsewhere as well, distinction as the #1 journalism school in the country. That's all trivial, though. But it's clear MU, Medill (NU), Columbia, and UNC are tops, tops of an education many in the profession consider useless. But here is my qualm. At MU, if a newspaper or magazine major, you will work at the Missourian. It is a daily that serves the town of Columbia. Not a student newspaper all about the University, but it's supposed to cover the town. So every semester for this J4450 class, you have a new batch of kids writing this newspaper, covering a town most are unfamiliar with, and ending up getting some weird struggle between useless stories about student life and life in the town profiling a small business owner. There are a very large # of reporters. Today, this story appeared: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/...4-percent-2007/ Violent crime increases 34% in 2007. The cause we get in this story, is the hilarious "criminal assault" charges rose. You can't get much more literal than that, criminal assault rose, so violent crime rose. But what bugs me is that with all these reporters, we won't go out and assign them to find out what is going on. Why did crime increase so much? Is it an outlier year, or is there something going on in places like first ward, the poorest ward in Columbia, that is never covered in the paper (why would students be there)? And why won't it be covered? Because that takes a long time. It's tough enough that you have reporters inexperienced with the town they are in, but they also have one semester, and their grades are mostly based off of # of clips, or articles, in the paper. No student would take on a story like that b/c it would take a lot of work and a lot of time and at the end of it, you'd be behind the student who covered 26 BBQ festivals (like me.) For the oldest J-school in the world, and #1 in the world, we're certainly teaching journalists to do the current garbage level of reporting, listen to officials, report it. Job well done, informed citizen. Sorry for the long post.