Balta1701

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 04:55 PM) as the meat industry is in the government's back pocket. I think you have those 2 backwards

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 04:56 PM) So, instead of going out and stopping the criminals, we instead create rules that punish everyone? I dont support that type of Govt. Who exactly is getting punished when a G8 summit gets moved?

Taking on that $1.5 million this year puts the Bulls in tax territory this year. That costs the Bulls their luxury tax payment of several million dollars, but then really hammers the Bulls in the next couple years when the repeat offender tax kicks in. Please don't accuse me of caring about JR's pocketbook...this is just what the Bulls' GM will be looking at.

No idea if this is something they're only doing today. This was posted on the White Sox facebook page 30 minutes ago.

Gonza

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 01:42 PM) Nanny Staters. Interesting point. Would the U.S. be better or worse off if societal norms pushed people towards a healthier diet and exercise or had more of a we don't care what you do attitude? Let's suppose that a healthier workforce helps the U.S. to better compete in economic and social wars. Is it the role of the government then to promote what is in the country's best interest? It's worth noting Tex that the government has many options here. It isn't limited to making it illegal to eat meat...it could, instead, end the massive subsidies that it gives to encourage overproduction of meat products, and perhaps even regulate/tax the enormous amounts of pollution and greenhouse gases given off by those facilities...thus effectively allowing people to make a fair determination as to what fraction of their caloric intake should be meat based on market prices.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 11:14 AM) They are projecting that 50% of this country is going to be obese in 20 years. Isn't there data showing that the obesity rate has actually finally leveled off over the past few years? Edit: Yes. Could be a functionof the recession or could be a legitimate pattern, given the moves towards improving food quality and diet (espeically in schools).

Link

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 10:22 PM) In my opinion its a more difficult situation and less likely for clear quick results. Libya presented an opportunity for action where it was possible that a small involvement could potentially result in large gains. That being said, do I want the US to stop the killing of civilians, of course. But at what cost, Syria (imo) will be messy and do you think that Obama will get bipartisan support for this? Do you think Democrats will want to risk losing elections over the people of Syria? The answer is no, so barring Syria doing something blatantly stupid that the whole world condemns (and even then im not sure Obama could get Republican support, only if it was an attack on the US), it just really is unlikely that any politician is going to take such a risk. Maybe someone else will pick up the slack (or maybe try and force our hand with a NATO resolution), but unfortunately the people of Syria will suffer because we are to busy feuding with ourselves. One big difference in this case is that the Syrians have a long standing history of being a Russian customer and Russian means of exerting influence in that region, and thus Russia has already proven to be much more willing to step up and prevent coordinated international action against this regime.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 08:49 AM) So, I love going to visit my wife's family because it gives me a glimpse of what the "hard right" really thinks. Apparently, Obama and "they" (the left?) wil eventually FORCE all women onto birth control and they want us to "be just like china" and we'll only be allowed to have 2 children... a boy and a girl. So what happens in the 50% of cases where parents conceive a 2nd child and it matches the gender of the first?

I'm thinking that after tonight the nomination will be declared "All but wrapped up officially" much as McCain's win was well before he actually had enough delegates compiled. And thus, we can at least stop paying attention to this show for a while. That said, I'll probably be casting my vote for little Ricky later today.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 09:06 AM) That might also be why some considered this offseason so bad, and why we didn't offload everyone on the books. If a rebuild means trading for young pitching, obviously you're not gonna extract that much from a market that overvalues pitching prospects. Similarly, it may just not be worth it to offload every player for such an overinflated return. If we had the luxury of waiting till the "prospect bubble" burst, that would have been smart, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. I just don't know what type of return people were expecting this offseason given the price of pitching. It's plausible that the "Prospect bubble" will never burst.

Perhaps a more reasonable/interesting Bears target

QUOTE (daa84 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 08:55 AM) i cant see that htey will have the cap room to do this, but they had interest in cliff avril, who, if not tagged, would have gotten a big deal too. so why not williams? I think the biggest problem for the Bears is that there are teams sitting there with so much cap room they need to sign people to make sure they're not near the minimum salary limits. For the Bears, Williams would be great but a luxury since they already have money tied up in that position. They just can't compete with a team holding $50 million in cap space if they're sitting around $30.

If prospects and particularly young pitching prospects are hugely overvalued...then that implies to me that the best way to get return on them is to trade young pitching to return moderately expensive but cost-controlled for a while talent...which is, I think, sorta what we've been doing.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 06:46 AM) http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...ws&c_id=cws Cooper on the 5-7 spots in the bullpen. Mentioned Veal, Septimo and Quintana as three guys he wanted to see. Two of the guys should be long men, so that would seem to favor Santiago (as the 2nd lefty) and Axelrod or Castro. Nothing about Josh Stewart. Jhan Martinez and Castro both pitched well in the B game. Then there's Bruney and Deunte Heath to consider as well. Gregory Infante. Coming into ST, you assumed it would be Santiago, Axelrod/Castro/Stewart (yes, this will clearly upset Balta as much as Molina being in the pen) and then a huge open competition for the final spot on the team among about 10-12 pitchers. Jhan Martinez Brian Bruney Gregory Infante Deunte Heath Eric Stults Brian Omogrosso Anthony Carter Pedro Hernandez Nathan Jones Charlie Leesman Who is Josh Stewart? Putting Zach Stewart in the bullpen annoys me but not nearly as much as putting Molina there would. Putting Zach Stewart in the bullpen means you've permanently given up on him as a starter, but there's at worst a 50-50 chance of that happening anyway. I'd like to see him get a shot at starting in AAA because I think sinkerballers work best in the rotation, but if Molina is a success, then having Stewart in the bullpen isn't a terrible thing.

It really is time to stop including "Rip Hamilton" as reasons why the Bulls are better this year, and start saying "no Bogans, but less SG depth".

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 11:41 PM) Yep brings you back to a simpler time when the rich hid behind their castle walls as the peasants tilled the field. People are upset, people are mad, its from all parts of society. So during these times, the hope would be that the 8 most powerful countries would face the people and tell them that they hear their concerns. Not hide away behind the military might of the most powerful country in the world. What message does that send? We sit int he US and condemn the actions of other nations as they deal with protests. And yet we have a chance to show the world how to handle protests, how to allow peaceful assembly and we hide in fear. Its okay, bad things might happen. What sends the worst message...Seattle 98, armed guards in the streets and infiltrating protests to prevent Seattle 98, or having the meetings at military institutions?

If I answer "We're not doing anything more because they're not swimming on a sea of oil"....I can't tell if I'm kidding or not.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 10:10 PM) So has anyone gone back and looked at the standings on who would have made the playoffs under this year's system last year? Just curious... Clearly, Boston and Atlanta.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 08:07 PM) Of course, we have no idea if Robin wants 7 bullpen arms (with Sale, Humber and Peavy, that's highly likely) or another position player. Hector Santiago and Reed looked good as well. Actually they've said repeatedly they're likely to carry 7 relievers.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 07:36 PM) Obozo moves G-8 out of Chicago, and to Camp David. Wanted to spend some 'alone' time with his wallstreet bailout buddies http://www.suntimes.com/11082594-417/white...camp-david.html Really, this isn't the wrong move at all. Turning Chicago into a police fortress and having to deal with that kind of crowd is just silly when there are other options.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 07:10 PM) What's funny is a couple of guys behind the sox dugout (I was 2nd row) kept heckling Robin already about Molina. I mean...Jesus...already?!? Anyway...gotta say this...I know the Sox aren't considered a defensive team...but the up the middle combo of Gordo and Lexi is incredibly strong. Both of them made some incredible plays today...probably at least 5. The whole infield if strong IMO. Hoping Gordo turns it on at the plate tho....K'd twice. I'm really not sure how you can keep Dan Johnson off this roster...it'll be tough...but damn. Ozzie Martinez brain fart at second. Molina shelled...badly. Those are the only things that really stood out to me The Sox were really good on their infield defense last year...they were weak at catcher, and they were awful in LF and CF. They weren't "That" bad defensively except for those 3 spots.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 06:06 PM) We have one in our Union at U of I, but I think it's rated as the worst one in the nation. I've never had it since the first time I saw a friend eating it the Waffles had a very intense grey hue and he claimed it was some of the worst food he has ever had. My biggest problem with them is they really hate gay people.

It'd be nice if you could tell what show the poster was talking about when they put all black bars.