Balta1701

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 04:22 PM) Dan Johnson still sticking around? Going to accept minor league contract and not ask to be released? I thought that he would bolt to another team if he didn't make our team. Well, I take that as good news. Not a bad player to have at AAA as an insurance player. He did sign a "Minor league contract" so I don't expect that he can be released just by not making the team.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 02:41 PM) How do I donate? Link.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 01:54 PM) If the Bulls are going to have a shot at really winning this whole thing, it is important that they get everyone in the lineup by the end of the week. Rose might only need a few days, but the reality is Hamilton will need some time and the team will also need some time to re-gel with the players (both on offense and in terms of defensive rotations). They are good enough that they might be able to get through a 1st round opponent but in the latter rounds, giving these guys 15-17 games in which they've all played together will be huge. I'd be damn careful to limit Rose & Hamilton's minutes early though. Hamilton does have a shot at being back tonight, supposedly, he's now practicing with contact. I can see them surviving if Rose misses more time, because I don't think they really need to "Gel" with him...but Hamilton has to get the time in this system.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 03:25 PM) dur. I assume you've watched bonus stuff on the blu-ray or DVD of the latest Star Trek movie? If not, do so. The actor who plays Chekov talks about that. And it was a great little scene when they forced him to do it in the movie.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 02:27 PM) I wonder how long it would take to sit and figure all 176 million different combinations by hand? They can print up to 10 combinations on one ticket. That's 17.6 million tickets. Maybe not so easy... States are attempting to make online sales of lottery numbers possible. That happens...you could buy this out...but then you run the risk of more than 1 person doing so. Might be a great way to launder money though.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 02:37 PM) Interestingly, analysis of the arguments from this morning seem to indicate the justices are not leaning towards scrapping the whole thing, but more focusing on just the mandate. Seems like they don't feel it is their place to decide what legislative pieces work well and don't, which would indicate an inclination to only carve out the mandate and let Congress deal with fixing the bill. Of course, Congress also quite specifically indicated their wishes and said that "if this section of the bill is found unconstitutional, the whole bill must be invalidated". Thus, the Supreme Court would be creating a new standard that the Court can effectively yield a line-item veto in all cases and can override Congress's decision making on that. Some might term that an incredibly "activist" move.

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 03:24 PM) It was late last night and my tired eyes saw "Health Bill Catch All" as "Heath Bell Catch All." It was an obscure joke on my own sleepiness last night. This post is funnier than the original joke could possibly have been.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 04:05 PM) the sins of the father echo in the present. If anyone thinks that this case resonates strongly with African Americans today because of things that happened in the 60's and not things that they feel they've experienced in their own lives...that person is sadly mistaken.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 12:42 PM) 72-90...with the lack of depth in the minors, if KW starts selling during the year on guys like Floyd/AJ/Thornton, it's going to get really ugly Well, there's one of the bottom 2, will the other step forward?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 12:42 PM) Only he's pretty much right. Great. Taylor Swift and whoever the other one was can fight that out.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 12:36 PM) Good points, and I hope so as well. I just get tired of the double standards for racism in this country. About a week ago, a guy I know on Facebook mentioned a story about Rihanna posting a racist picture on her Twitter account. It was mocking Chris Brown's new girlfriend, who is Filipino or something, using rice cakes. There was almost no backlash. He said that if someone like Taylor Swift had done something similar, she'd be forced to make a public apology, dropped from her label, etc. And I couldn't help but agree. You've done it. You've posted a political issue in the filibuster that I simply cannot possibly care about. Congratulations. I'm going to the gym.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 12:18 PM) There's much more to it than the Spike Lee part. How in the hell does the Black Panther Party get away with openly putting a bounty on someone's head? Farrakhan sounds like a f***ing mob boss with the not-so-subtle threat of violence if things don't go the way he wants them to. Hopefully they will wind up facing charges for that...but let's be clear what the New Black Panther party is...they're a hate group with a tiny membership. The only reason you've heard of them is that people have plenty to gain politically by making sure you hear of the outrageous things this tiny hate group does. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists over a thousand hate groups in this country, virtually none of whom get the kind of press the NBPP does. I don't think I'll be wrong in saying that there are many others larger and more influential than the NBPP, but I can't get the damn website to load today thank you very much University of Tennessee system (sigh). You've heard about this "Bounty" because there is a group in the media who is very happy to make you hear about that bounty for political reasons. Have you heard much about the Michigan Hate Group that was broken up for trying to place bounties on elected officials? I only know of 1 website out of the many I read that covered that. They had some significant events in their courtroom proceedings earlier this week. Hopefully there's some law that allows "NBPP" party members to be put into FBI custody over public incitements to violence. If not, there should be. That ought to fit under the umbrella of federal hate crime laws.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 12:03 PM) I don't know specifically what the Aryan Brotherhood is. I was just going for the polar opposite of the Black Panthers. My point is that if a famous white person or group openly put a bounty out on a black man, or tweeted his address to the masses to incite violence against the person, it'd be kind of a f***ing enormous story. Honestly, Left and right wing media figures do that with people's home information all the time. It's awful. The left did it last year with that cop who sprayed down the protestors at UC Irvine, I know Michelle Malkin did something similar to a group of protestors a few years ago on the right and although my memory is fuzzy I could have swore it happened to a family or kid who let the fact that they were uninsured be used as a debate point in the Health Care debate. It's awful and I wish it was a crime. But it doesn't become the biggest story in the world, and it's not some liberal media conspiracy to make sure that Spike Lee is covered for. It doesn't wind up being a huge story because it's not a crime. It gets covered some, but that's it.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 11:52 AM) Can anybody imagine if you replaced a few of those names with, oh let's say, white counterparts? Instead of the Black Panthers, insert the Aryan Brotherhood. Instead of Louis Farrakhan, insert Pat Robertson. And instead of Spike Lee, perhaps Oliver Stone or some other crazy/asshole director. It'd be an affront to American freedom itself, the top news stories on every channel, racism running amok. I don't know about the Farrahkan/Robertson one, but I've heard a lot more about the "New Black Panthers" than various Nazi groups. Who are the "Aryan Brotherhood"? I wouldn't be surprised if they had a bigger membership than the "New Black Panthers" but I haven't a clue. The only one that would get attention is, of course, the Westboro Baptist Church.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 11:36 AM) There are 176 million possible combinations. The cash payout will pay $341 million. A ticket costs $1. That could be the easiest $165 million you will ever make. Keep telling yourself that. But please don't say that to my father. Could have bought a new car or two with all the lottery tickets that never won while I was growing up.

David Stern endorses relaxing the goaltending rule to allow the ball to be touched while above the rim but not touching it.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 11:38 AM) It's probably viewed as unprofessional and disrespectful of the position...and in that environment, I'd have to say it is. That was nothing more than Rush trying to get people to look his way. Meh is right. I don't have a problem with people drawing attention to themselves on the House floor as long as its not against House rules. If they made up a new rule in order to kick him out, that troubles me.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 11:40 AM) I'm basically in the same position...but the convenience of being able to access my money trumps my dislike of the "big bank" industry. I'm totally getting away from these guys when I can and slowly moving funds, but the moment I can move funds into a down payment on a house, that account vanishes. Well, not the moment, because they drag the "Closing your account" process out forever, but we'll go through that Hell once.

Is that against House rules? If it isn't, then i'll be annoyed, if it is, then Meh.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 11:34 AM) They're my "bank", too...but that account only exists for paying bills, and because it's the closest bank to my house. We don't actually "keep" money there for anything other than a convenient place so it can be spent. My actual savings and other accounts are all etrade. I have a large sum in a credit union account also, but that credit union is going to be a pain to access and close the accounts if I can take the next step and find a permanent job, so I keep a good sum at BofA which is going to be much more accessible to make a down payment to a house, since no matter where I go I can go into BofA and find a branch within 100 miles or so. But, that also means I have to deal with BofA.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 11:32 AM) You work for BoA? Nope, just have an account there that I keep because of the temporary status of my current job. Definition of inertia, I don't want to move funds completely out of there because it'll be much harder to move funds repeatedly than it will be to "Rip the band-aid" off once, if I can ever find a permanent job. This is how they treat customers. And customers with substantial savings, btw.

Nothing to do with financial news. I just love the fact that Bank of America now operates a system where your local branch no longer ever has to pick up its own phone to answer questions from its customers. If they don't pick up their phone, you're immediately routed to a call center that cannot provide you with information on your local branch because that call center is in fact not your local branch. Oh, and they've removed virtually every possible means to submit a complaint through their website. Even if they do nothing about it, that's usually a decent way to make a customer feel better. Had to go through their online website technical support chat to be able to do so because that's the only thing that allows you to actually type what you want. I can't wait until I can find a permanent position and be done with these guys.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 11:13 AM) You're joking, right? He was atrocious trying to sound like a Russian. I actually took Russian in college (don't ask), and we discussed at one point some films with Russian players in it... Red October was pointed out as having a lot of well-done work in terms of casting Russian actors, and training other actors to sound Russian... except Connery, who just sounded like... Connery. He was awful. Read exactly what I wrote down to the letter.

For NSS...the New York Times, a month or so behind those hippy blogs I like to link to, has finally caught on to the idea that the settlement in the mortgage mess gives banks credit for stuff they do anyway.

Its' not yet at the international crisis level, but there's a drilling rig leak brewing in the North Sea that is getting worse with time. Already being called the worst rig issue in that area in a decade.