Balta1701

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 02:44 PM) I love the hypocrisy of the US thinking we should be able to decide who gets to play with uranium or plutonium, or whatever it is that they make nuclear weapons from, and who does not... Technically, by the Nonproliferation treaty, the U.S. (and the few other nuclear powers) do in fact have some rights to decide who gets to play with materials that could be used for nuclear weaponry. We don't have a right to say to Iran that they can't build a nuclear power plant, but we do have the right to demand inspections and monitoring such that they're not attempting to weaponize the products. We also have a right to know where all of their facilities are which have been working on enriching uranium (this has been Iran's key violation in the past; building processing sites but concealing them from the IAEA). Other countries gave the nuclear powers those rights in the NPT specifically to avoid nuclear arms races of the sort that happened between the superpowers, and there is therefore a substantial benefit to those smaller countries from that deal.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 02:12 PM) Over the next three games - I just wanna see us score like 27 runs and only give up 2. I'm not of the hero mindset - I'm more of a "kick some f***ing ass" type of guy. In that case...I'd call D1, G, and M-56 heroes.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) I'd swap him for Freddy in a heart beat. But that's not saying much since I'd take just about any starter over him the rest of the way. Thank you for the first half but this guy is going to kill us the rest of the way. Freddy Garcia 2010 = Orlando Hernandez 2005?

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) PERFECT!! I have a dream last night about the world ending and this morning I stumble across this ...ON A SITE THAT IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME HAPPY ..wtf?!?! Hate to have to do this for this sort of post...but if you're going to post in this forum, there is a thread pinned at the top containing the forum guidelines which you must read and acknowledge prior to posting in here.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 02:09 PM) Because any military option is out the window at that point (radiation), and you'd have to rely on economic sanctions (which don't work) or that Russia would step in and tell them to stop (not likely). Let's specify here...military action to knock out the genuinely legal under international law and treaty nuclear reactor might be out the window, but military action to stop a nuclear weapons processing or enrichment program is not.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 02:05 PM) nothing will stop them once the reactor starts Why?

Couldn't help but think about an opponent on the Twins roster while reading this.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 01:43 PM) After watching The Club, I would say there's no chance KW invests money in Loux. That was the guy he shot down as an injury risk right?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 01:02 PM) Pimco chief sez more stimulus pleez, for the housez. Wants to auto-refi all FNMA/FMAC mortgages, to provide $50B-$60B more money into the economy and prop up home values. Significant numbers of refinancing: good. Propping up home values with taxpayer dollars; fails every time. (worth noting...the Administration could have pulled something effective as stimulus in terms of a refinancing program a year and a half ago, but the HAMP program has been perhaps the most abject failure of anything they've done).

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 11:53 AM) Absolutely brutal. 4th round picks are pretty high picks and we let ours get away. The Sox continued cheapness in the draft and player development is just downright deplorable. We have a 100M payroll and put nothing into our farm system. I'd rather cheap out a bit on the big league team and put an extra 4M into our farm system because that 4M can pay off exponentially. Do you get a compensatory 4th rounder if you don't sign a guy?

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 12:59 PM) The Sox kicked the NL's ass in part because they played 4 series with three of the very worst teams in baseball. The Rays took 2/3 from Houston, 1/3 from the Marlins, 1/3 from the Braves, 1/3 from the Padres, and 1/3 from the Diamondbacks.

Where have all the good men gone And where are all the gods? Where's the street-wise Hercules To fight the rising odds? Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night He's gotta be strong And he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light He's gotta be sure And it's gotta be soon And he's gotta be larger than life Somewhere after midnight In my wildest fantasy Somewhere just beyond my reach There's someone reaching back for me Racing on the thunder end rising with the heat It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night He's gotta be strong And he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light He's gotta be sure And it's gotta be soon And he's gotta be larger than life Up where the mountains meet the heavens above Out where the lightning splits the sea I would swear that there's someone somewhere Watching me Through the wind end the chill and the rain And the storm and the flood I can feel his approach Like the fire in my blood I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night He's gotta be strong And he's gotta be fast And he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light He's gotta be sure And it's gotta be soon And he's gotta be larger than life

You don't fire a guy for being in the pennant race.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 12:42 PM) Teams in the American League that lack a Designated Hitter tend to have issues with other American League ballclubs. We stomped the NL because we were on a level playing field with superior pitching and position players. There is currently 1 other AL team legitimately in the race for a pennant this season with crap as their DH. The Rangers, Yankees, Twins, and Red Sox all have OPS's out of their DH spot at around .800 or above (the lowest, the Yankees, is .796, and part of that is probably Teixeira's godawful start). That team is the Rays. The Sox have a .703 OPS out of their DH spot, the Rays have a .701 OPS out of their DH spot. The Rays went 7-11 in interleague play.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:33 AM) You can't just make injury excuses for bad 2nd halves. Every team has injuries including the Twins with their all star Morneau. Gimme a break on that one. The 2004 Sox losing Thomas and Ordonez is like the 2010 Twins losing Mauer and Morneau. The Sox might have had a shot to survive one of those 2...they had other guys, Lee and Konerko in the lineup who could pick up some of the slack, but there's zero teams in baseball where losing their 2 best players wouldn't murder them. Yankees losing ARod and Tex? Rays losing Longoria and Price? Hamilton and Guerrero for the Rangers? Pujols and Holliday? Votto and (I guess) Phillips?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:25 AM) These include 4 years under Manuel, and the team generally played better in the second half under Manuel. There are also only two players on the current roster that played on those teams - Konerko and Buehrle - and a few of the players weren't even playing professionally yet. It seems a bit outdated to use that data when looking at recent trends. You surely aren't going to invest with Bernie Madoff now a days because of his reputation in 2002. Here are the second half records under Ozzie Guillen 2004 - 37-41 2005 - 42-34 2006 - 33-41 2007 - 33-43 2008 - 35-33 2009 - 34-40 2010 - 16-15 That is a record of 230-247, for a winning percentage of .482, and, not including 2010 because it has yet to be completed, that's 2 winning second half records in 6 seasons. When you look at the years though...in 2004, the Sox were without their 2 biggest bats for the full 2nd half of the year. 2005, check. 2007...they were a bad team the full year, and Hell, they might have been better in September than they were at any other point that yera. 2008, above .500. Basically, it comes down, so far, to 2006 and 2009 being the years where they were unusually bad in the 2nd half.

Mets consider voiding K-Rod's contract ($23 million remaining) after he injured himself in that fight.

I'm sure no one can guess which media conglomerate has made the largest corporate contribution to the Republican Governors Association.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 09:20 AM) And this goes to your second graf. The "lost decade" is exactly the reason why it benefits both the company/agency AND the recipient/employee to have their money in the markets in a 401k. For the company, it means they can survive a down market, and still employ people. For the employee, it means a buying opportunity over the long haul. And for the 29 year old looking for a long term position...it means trouble, because the 70 year old is still working because his retirement savings evaporated. See, I can be selfish sometimes too.

QUOTE (ChiTown @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 09:19 AM) Well they only stay stop on one side He did still stop though.

I'd bet that Viciedo's seeing lots of high and inside pitches right now.

Is there any chance that MLB strengthens their slotting system in the next CBA?

I'm sure you didn't mean to...but I think the whole first paragraph of your argument is exactly what I put in my parenthesis. It's a much more stable cash outflow for the company correct...but it's a much less stable inflow for the retiree. In other words...the company benefits because they've transferred the risk of a downfall from their liabilities on to their workers. I think you also need to add a major exception to your argument that broader markets and mutual funds pay out better over the long run...because for the last 10 years that's been essentially untrue...broader markets and mutual funds have paid out worse than holding nothing but cash/bonds over the last 10 years.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 07:54 PM) If they had the bullets they sure as hell should try. Rose+Boozer+Melo is a very compelling lineup vs the other star studded teams they have to compete with. The salaries work currently for Deng, Asik, Gibson, and Johnson in exchange for him. That's basically the Bulls' best offer, plus a few draft picks, that they could possibly make. The real problem winds up being Noah actually... If you could swap out the back 3 and start with Deng and Noah...that might be a deal that could at least get the Nuggets interested if they liked Noah...but Noah is very likely to sign an extension this year, and if he doesn't, he's a free agent at the end of the 2011-2012 lockout. If he signs this year...then his new contract won't count towards the cap value on the trade, so you can't trade him as a $12 million piece, you have to trade him as a $5 million piece...which means that using him as a trade chip is near impossible unless Denver is willing to take on an extra $8 million or so a season to do the deal (and all of that money would be in luxury tax territory).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 08:57 AM) I am all for phasing out pensions. Serious question...why? Is there some inherent benefit to a defined contribution plan compared with a defined benefit plan that is actually going to convince me that they're better? (And by convince me, I'm trying to deliberately exclude variations on the company assuming less risk, because I'm going to counter that having individuals assume more risk is bad).