Balta1701

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 01:56 PM) That's the part where I am unclear. They must have some allowance for waivers, because some kids do have real maladies that make SOME vaccinations dangerous. But I don't know what the waiver policy is. I'm tempted to email the school and ask. One of the things I've read today is that it's always been fairly common for there to be a religious objection to vaccination tolerated just because if you have a >90% immunization rate the herd immunity would still protect those kids and even though the schools would probably win it wasn't worth the money fighting the lawsuit to get those last few kids immunized because the group was so small. Some court cases have still held that schools don't have to include the religious objection but that hasn't been tested in every state.

Rand Paul also went full loony today with the statement that lots of people have told him vaccines cause profound mental problems.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 05:29 PM) Doesn't the flu vaccine have a 50/50 chance of not being effective? And what's the risk of getting the flu to begin with? I'm sure NJ has a fair amount of health care workers. And is that just public health care workers, or all of them? Why should NJ subsidize that cost when private health care employers should be footing that bill? Not sure i'd be so quick to judge that decision without more information. The risk of getting the flu is not extreme, but its a lot higher in unvaccinated health care workers because they're regularly exposed to symptomatic people, and that would make it likely for them to both catch and transmit the flu. They're also exposed to more at-risk people, including infants and the elderly, and thus if they are contagious they have the ability to be lethal. The average death toll from the flu per year is 36,000 nationwide. There is a reason why we didn't take people's focus on scary ebola last fall seriously when they similarly aren't concerned about the much more impactful flu. The NIH estimates that a single dollar spent on providing the flu vaccine saves $2.60 in total costs. That dollar amount is larger in the case of health care workers - this study found that the benefits of a single vaccinated hospital worker returned $40 in savings (note the change in units there, I don't know how to convert between the standards used for reporting by the two studies).

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 05:14 PM) Makes you wonder what color the sky is in his world where he can propose a budget with a 15% increase in spending with a straight face. The Republicans really should just propose a budget about 15% LESS than the last one we had. Deal with it. We all have to on a personal level. Although I do have an idea of something Obama can tax to raise some money. Foundations/endowments. Harvard Trust Fund is sitting on over $32 billion in cash, and growing. Yale's Endowment is only a mere $20 billion. But then there is the Ford Foundation with assets of $10 billion and an annual income of $6 billion. Tax it! I think this may be one tax that The Democrats wouldn't like. Actually, those assets universities are sitting on are to me emblematic of the screwed up nature of our non-profit system and it's something that should be fixed but won't be. YalePrinceton is basically an investment fund with a school hooked to it. Edit: crossed up the schools. Princeton's the one with the monster one.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 03:30 PM) It seems like Christie is hedging in order to clarify that he's not talking about Measles, he's talking about the terrible HPV vaccine, which is fighting back God's decision to punish women for being women. /sarcasm Unfortunately it also made people look at his record, which includes vetoing a bill that would have provided the flu vaccine to health care workers in New Jersey (not forced them to take it, just provided it to them so that they would transmit it to fewer patients, saving the state money in the long term) and a 2009 letter to an anti-vaxxer person or group saying that because of New Jersey's high rates of autism he stands with people who want to choose whether to vaccinate their children. That plus him locking up that health care worker assisting with ebola is not exactly a positive record.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 02:23 AM) I am a Bears fan and Seattle is my favorite non-Bears team right now, and Sherman is my favorite non-Bears player. The celebration after winning the NFC Championship last season and the fake press conference with Baldwin were awesome and hilarious. They also have one of the best unis in the NFL. Love the metallic blue. I hate the Patriots. Brady and Belichick are a couple of smug, entitled, cheating asses. I will take Seattle's cocky confidence 6 days a week and twice on Sundays over the smug asses in Boston. For all of the s*** that Lynch gets for not talking to the media, Belichick invented it. Why wasn't he ever fined? You have to believe you are the best before you can be the best. The history book said that NE won, but Seattle was the better team today, IMO. Their OC made the worst play call in the history of Pro Football today, given the circumstances. Also, the Patriots should have never even reached SB XXXVI, because even with the Tuck Rule, which was changed because it is BS, that was still a fumble. If you ever watch a replay again, Brady had the ball in a carrying position for about 1.5 seconds after he pump faked. That rule was created to protect a pump fake that slipped out of a QB's hand. If they lose do they even start Brady the next season, or do they stick with Bledsoe? The world will never know. I think smug and entitled is a decent description of how Seattle came off at the end of that game. "we got beat fair and square on the football field by someone making a play? We should start picking fights. How dare they actually beat us."

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 10:06 PM) I would fire me a OC tonight in Arizona....................NE will be fined 10K for ballgate and nothing else.............I dislike both teams. After the last 20 seconds I can't say I'm mad about the Pats taking that win.

Pretty sure they ejected the right guy.

Congrats Seattle, you have just done yourselves proud.

And that's one helluva stupid penalty

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 10:01 PM) You were saying. How about that.

Holy ****

Well the Patriots apparently either win super bowls on kicks by Viniatieri or lose them on insane catches.

This has really been impressive however it ends.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 09:41 PM) Think it was national Ew.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 08:55 PM) How does a guy like Kershaw stats compare vs AL and vs NL? Is there a noticeable difference in ERA, WHIP, etc? Yes. Kershaw's sub-2 ERAs would probably be just a touch over 2 if he were in the AL and in a pitchers park for his home stadium.

Did everyone just get a toenail fungus prescription commercial or please tell me that was just local?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 08:39 PM) Who said anything about Kershaw being average in the AL ? 9 hitters vs 8 hitters and a pitcher . Abreu at DH , Miggy at DH vs. NL pitchers hitting. C'mon. You specifically said "ranking NL teams as superior hardly makes much sense based on that alone". Based on that, I would conclude that a team with 5 Clayton Kershaws in their rotation should not be called the best staff in the league if it's in the NL. Yes, the NL is easier on pitchers, but that doesn't mean you can't rank them above any AL teams if they're a really good staff.

The more you know.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 07:55 PM) I'm having trouble not thinking about dead children. Thanks nationwide. EVERY SINGLE AD IS DEPRESSING.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 05:37 PM) NL pitchers get the advantage of facing a pitcher a few times a game. Ranking NL teams pitching as superior hardly makes much sense based on that alone. This is something we can understand the impact of pretty easily. Would you say that Clayton Kershaw would be an average pitcher in the AL? C'Mon.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 03:06 PM) Sale>Wainwright Wainright threw 240 innings in 2013 and 227 innings in 2014. Sale was better per inning in each season, but Wainright threw 80 more innings than him over those 2 seasons. He's out there more than 20% more innings. For Sale to be better than these guys he can't get hurt. It really is that simple. Right now, Wainright > Sale. Chris can change that by staying healthy.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 01:37 PM) Frank Gore has 2500 less rushing yards than Bettis in only 10 seasons compared to Bettis. Gore already has more receiving yards than him. Bettis has him by 19 in total TDs. Gore with a couple more 1000 yard seasons is a hall of famer in my book. One of my favorite RBs of all time. I'd agree. Gore is right on the edge of a HOF caliber career and all he needs is a bit more longevity. Guys around 10k are in the "hall of very good" range and if they've done something spectacular in the process that could put them in the HOF. A bit more longevity beyond that and that makes them HOF worthy. That would include Bettis.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 01:27 AM) Everyone knew hudson would have tjoee problems. It was discussed here at the time. Holmberg may still pitch but is nothing special. The whole trsde was worth when KW thought he was going to get Dunn from washington. And again, this isn't a defense, it's an indictment. "I way overpaid for a guy that we didn't really need because I was going to flip him somewhere else, but then that ohter team screwed me". Ok, so why did you complete the first trade if there was any chance you couldn't complete the 2nd? Doesn't that mean you completely made a mistake in the first trade? Isn't that basically a fireable offense?