Balta1701

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 01:05 PM) No idea. Can this be an example of entrapment or am I confusing the term? I don't think entrapment is the right word there, that's sorta convincing someone to commit a crime. Many states do have laws that forbid a party from recording conversations, especially phone conversations, without the consent of the person on the other end of the phone. Especially public figures. What if he'd started talking about his constituent, person x, and gave away personal information about them? "I was speaking to this person yesterday, ___ ____, she told me how the union forced her to have an abortion..."

Very easy to figure out.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 12:51 PM) This has fail written all over it. I'm really uncomfortable with the fact that this was done. Does WI have laws against recording phone conversations without the other party's permission?

South Dakota Senator Thune has decided against running for the 2012 Republican Nomination.

The U.S. Government will stop defending legal challenges against the Defense of Marriage Act. They will still enforce the text of the law unless it is overturned, but they will not argue to keep the law in court cases.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) If owners got a hard cap or a franchise tag type deal I'm sure they'll eat 1/2 a season again I wouldn't be surprised if this one took the whole season.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 11:55 AM) The way things are going with "player collusion" and consolidation of talent are HUGE issues for the long term health of the league. What teams should be be looking out for as the next "destination" city? I assume we'll see a lot of talent try to go to the Lakers, and to replace the aging Celtics. Top talents has NO interest in playing for Minnesota, the Clippers, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit, or Charlotte. You can add to that list a lot, with non-destination teams. The Pacers, the Kings, the Raptors, Philadelphia to some extent, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, Denver, Utah, Golden State, Phoenix after Nash leaves, New Orleans, Memphis, maybe Houston. The real thing to realize is that there are enough small-market, nearly-money-losing NBA teams that have no shot at competing for a Lebron or an Anthony in FA that they can constitute a voting majority at this point.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 11:59 AM) I don't think either a potential NBA or NFL lockout would be overly extended simply because no matter how much they've been warned, I don't think a majority of players saved enough money and once checks start being missed those guys are going to put pressure to end it quickly. I know these guys make a ton of money, but if you're not an established vet that has had a few years of a big money deal, you didn't save and you continued a lifestyle either at or even above your means, you will be hurting for money real fast. This is exactly what happened in the 1999 NBA Lockout...eventually the Union broke because the players hadn't saved enough money. But...that cost more than 1/2 the season.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 11:30 AM) I believe Pujols has stated that he will not accept a trade. I wonder if that would change now...between this really hurting their chances at contending and other teams potentially being willing to extend him.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 11:51 AM) If they know for sure they are not going to resign Pujols, they should trade everybody they can except him. Holliday, Carpenter, Molina, get a head start on the rebuild. After this injury, dumping everyone and calling it quits on this season is the right move. Pujols and Carpenter are FA's this offseason, I think Franklin is as well.

That it does.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 10:50 AM) Texas dems did that too about 8 years ago. That one was fun.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 11:12 AM) Holy hell. The East is getting stronger by the minute. Jeez. Really, does that actually make the Netropolitans that much stronger?

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 10:36 AM) Their attendance has been declining the past couple years and this year isn't looking that great either. I don't even think they sold-out Cubs Convention. Their attendance started slowly declining because they weren't winning the Central and selling out standing room only tickets. They'll still be one of the top draws in the league. That's both their blessing and their curse; they nearly sell out if they're not winning, so there's a constant revenue stream, but there's no big revenue boost other than playoff tickets if they put a winner out there.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 11:02 AM) Wow. What a week for Cardinals fans. Time to change my NL Cy Young award pick. The Cardinals always seem to figure something out, but that's gonna make it much harder to compete. Hello, Los Angeles? Trout and Morales for the best player in baseball. Hello, New York? Nova and one of your catchers gets you Chris Carpenter.

Numbers I just thought were interesting.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 08:45 AM) LOL, so Blackwater having people to aid in Katrina means they hired foreign mercenaries? Come on. I dislike Xe as much as anyone else, but let's not get ridiculous here. Well, yeah, that's exactly what that means. Private mercenaries were deployed on U.S. soil. Either that's legal or its not. At no point did I say that they were killing U.S. citizens or anything like that. Edit: now that I think about it, the original point I was trying to make was that the presence of foreign mercenaries on its own doesn't mean that international forces have the right to come in. I think your skepticism there supports my original point.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 08:38 AM) I'd like to hear some details on the bolded. Blackwater was heavily involved in the Katrina response, for example. They also appear to have contracts to assist in the "war on drugs", although that's definitely more murky. They also provide private security details for lord knows how many people

It could also take more pressure off of that foot. Let's face it, his legs are like chicken legs underneath that body of his.

Really hope he can catch a few balls also.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 22, 2011 -> 11:12 PM) If there is evidence of the govt hiring foreign mercenaries, I think that crosses the line where outside govts have to do something to protect the people. The U.S. government currently hires foreign mercenaries for all sorts of projects, including domestically.

Wooooooo!

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 22, 2011 -> 05:47 PM) FWIW I really, really doubt the IN Dems would still be doing this if it weren't for the WI fiasco. I read earlier that the IN dems did something similar about 15-20 years ago.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 22, 2011 -> 07:02 PM) the yacht part kind of ruined it for me. How do you define "Yacht" though? The "Yacht" that a Goldman Sachs exec owns may be somewhat different from this one.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 22, 2011 -> 05:20 PM) I agree with this. After the past two years, not going young and spending more money could be a huge histake for that organization. You have a good young talent at SS to build around. They really haven't spent *That* much more money though, at least when you consider that 2 of their bigger contracts end after this season.