Balta1701

Good enough.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 10:45 PM) You realize that proves they had a nuclear program in 1994 to shutdown, right? When did I ever say they didn't? They obviously did, plutonium doesn't appear magically. That was why there was an agreement in the first place and why there needed to be UN monitoring of their plutonium stash.

Got the job done.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 10:01 PM) First night game of yr and he is old And it's cold.

Well that was surprising, suddenly a competitive game.

The homeowners association in the neighborhood where Martin was shot has settled a wrongful-death lawsuit with Martin's family, reportedly for an amount in the neighborhood of $1 million. There was no admission of guilt or liability by anyone. The shooter, Zimmerman, is not a party to this settlement.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 05:52 PM) Right, so why does anyone take that bozo seriously anyway? Why doesn't the head of the military take over? One of the tricks leaders use in those types of countries is keeping any military leader from getting too much power so that no single person can take over. The brainwashing helps make sure many stay in line/loyal as well.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 05:48 PM) That would quickly result in a military coup. His power exists because the military supports him.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 04:02 PM) Which budget, you mean the new FY2014 one? i was referring to every other one up to now Yes. Technically his FY 2014 budget was due in February and will be delivered next week, so it has been true for the last 2 months that they have not presented the required budget. I'll buy the "Congress has f***ed everything up and we couldn't put one out until they gave us a CR covering 2013" excuse, but it remains factually true nonetheless.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 04:22 PM) Oh, speaking of negotiations. That seems to be what NK's beef is. http://www.salon.com/2013/04/05/north_kore...ally_happening/ Here's the cliff's notes if you don't want to read the whole thing: the Clinton Administration had high-level talks with them back in '94 and those talks were making progress, then before that finished the Bush administration came in with a totally different approach to diplomacy (i.e. no negotiations, "axis of evil," etc.) and scrapped the '94 agreement. NK responded by saying, in effect, "f*** this" and left the NPT went ahead with its nuclear testing. A few years later they realize they were f***ing up and went ahead with the 6-party talks per Condi and extended the '94 agreement. The Obama administration comes in and more or less waits for Kim Jong-Il to die because they thought his regime was going to collapse - it didn't - and NK tried to negotiate and offer steps to shut down its nuclear program in exchange for a declaration that the US has no hostile intent to NK. They ignored it (dumb). So that leads us to now. He's not here right now for family reasons, but since I already went on this rant a few pages ago and got the "Take off the D/R blinders", someone has to give you your lecture as well. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 07:31 PM) Their nuclear program goes back to the 50's and 60's, due to the Soviets. Their nuclear programs recent "strides" were thanks to buying it from AQ Khan and Pakistan. It is the same set of "strides" that Iran made. Cash. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 10:27 PM) Every source out there has Khan seeding the NK program. Of course that was in the 90's so it couldn't have actually happened because there wasn't a Republican to blame then. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 30, 2013 -> 12:34 AM) That is just sad. Look past the D's and R's, just once.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 03:51 PM) [/b] How? They are background scenery more than anything. I think the Tribune owners were stupid to give them a 20 year contract so they could continue to profit off a product they have no rights to when it handcuffs the current owners from upgrading their park in whatever way they see fit. In like 1990 I could have believed that they were an integral part. People up on the roof grilling across the street, maybe a dozen people who actually lived in the building, just a bit of local flair. Now they're 20 row deep bleachers that the park doesn't control, where the building owners make out with some fraction of the team's ticket sales.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 03:06 PM) Bringing me to another point - "Obama doesn't have a budget" Um... this is really dumb for so many reasons, but let's just start with googling "white house budget" to disprove that. But when people say that they mean "Obama doesn't have a budget that I like, the one he has is politically toxic to Republicans for not being exactly like theirs so it doesn't count" Technically his budget for the year hasn't been released though, correct? This set of OASDI cuts is in the budget slated to be released next week. That budget is about 2 months behind schedule. Of course, with the sequestration debacle happening it actually is reasonable to wait to see what Congress does about this year's spending before releasing next year's, but it is actually technically accurate that the White House has yet to release a 2014 budget.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 03:42 PM) Even with this information, was there anything anyone could have done that would've actually prevented the shooting? That specific warning and note from the psychiatrist specifically stating that he had made threats against her happened right in the middle of building up his arsenal. From the description, it sounds like that notification to UC happened close to June 1 (over a month before the shooting). Holmes purchased his AR-15 rifle, which did most of the damage, right around that same week, around June 1. He continued buying weapons and body armor, as well as the explosives he rigged his apartment with, for the next month. Obviously if this is getting recognized by one trained person, there should have been other things that could have happened if people were willing to more actively intervene with the mentally ill (which of course, costs money). But the simple answer is "Dont f***ing sell an arsenal to a guy who is making threats against a psychiatrist".

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 02:31 PM) That it's easier being a pacifist when your running a campaign against a guy/party that started the Iraq war. It's much more difficult to be that way when you actually have to confront countries like NK in the "real" world. Here you witness an incredible example of the Republican caricature of the world and how detached from reality it is...in that a candidate who spent 2007-2008 declaring his intentions openly to send large numbers of additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan and stating that he would send U.S. forces into Pakistan if actionable intelligence on Bin Laden's location was available...is described as having campaigned on a pacifist platform.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 02:07 PM) Boehner is in the most awkward position of anyone in government. Half the things he says, he doesn't really mean or believe, but he says them because he needs to. I for one can't wait until he leads them to 10 extra house seats in 2014 under the banner of stopping Obama's cuts to Social Security. And there is zero sarcasm in this post.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:16 AM) Ugh, I have little doubt that Obama whole-heartily embraces the idea of cutting entitlements, harming those with the least among us, as part of a 'Grand Bargain,' not that he's doing so reluctantly. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/us/socia...witter&_r=0 Boehner. .

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 01:12 PM) I hate games against the Mariners for some reason. If I say the name "Edgar Martinez" do you immediately panic?

40 hilariously mean Roger Ebert reviews.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 10:24 AM) There will be a time within the next two or three decades where the program pays out more than it's taking in through taxes. But of all things to fix this has got to be the easiest. It'd take a couple of senators 20 minutes to write a bill. That already happened for a couple years around the peak of the collapse. I'm not sure if it's recovered on the positive side or not, but it's supposed to start drawing on the trust fund later this decade. That, of course, is exactly what the trust fund was created to do; have the baby boom pay extra early so that there was a trust fund in existence when their retirement came along.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 10:21 AM) :wub: :wub: Yeah, most people my age have fully bought into the rhetoric that they'll be getting nothing back from social security. At worst, in about three decades, it'll only pay out ~85% of required benefits. As you said, it could be fixed very easily (either raise the rate a tick or, much more appropriately, raise or eliminate the regressive FICA cap). Also worth noting is that 85% of required benefits at the time (~2040) being paid out would still be a larger amount paid out per beneficiary than there is today.

Sigh. Direct warning given by his psychiatrist a month beforehand.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:54 AM) BTW, Social Security makes a lot more sense if you think of it as an insurance program rather than something like a pension. Actually now that I think about it, its official name is Social Security and Disability Insurance. Close, it's "old age, survivor and disability insurance". OASDI. (I learned that in ~2006 because everyone got uncomfortable writing posts about how we needed to save SS).

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 09:30 PM) The bulls seemed to have done well with replacing Johnny red Kerr. WHAT ARE YOU DOING DRAGIC?!?!

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 04:38 PM) R.I.P. Roger Ebert Shared an elevator ride with him while interning in the ABC building in 05. Chickened out by not saying anything. Thumbs down to the story, thumbs up to the man.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 02:08 PM) It should be a requirement that if you want the US to go to another war, you are obligated to permit, say, 5% more in income taxes to pay for it. This one's fairly cheap. The price is a few missiles that we've already bought. There wouldn't be anything left on that peninsula to occupy.