Balta1701

After 3051 posts...I'm editing the "Topic description" for this thread.

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum on CNN:

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 04:47 PM) Everyone seems to have this view of Kotsay. What I dont get is the following: Why cant this be a case of an oft-injured player(with Boston) that has finally gotten right again. And starting with his time in Chicago last year...he has turned his career back around. Isnt that possible? Everyone acts as if it's not. Because...even if his issue the last couple years was not being 100% healthy...he hasn't put up an .800 OPS since 2004, and has only done so 3 times in 13 career seasons. For a DH, that's just ugh. Now, you might fire back "But he's useful as a rolling DH as well and can play the OF, and an .800 OPS for a CF isn't that bad". Except, he's also been bad in CF since 2004 also. He might or might not be an average RF (he hasn't spent enough time there to judge), but his numbers argue he's basically a backup and should be treated as such. If he's getting only garbage time innings or playing every 3rd day to give someone a day off, ok, no one should have any reason to complain. Those are quality numbers for a backup 1b and backup corner OF. If he's getting 400-500 PA's, seeing time at DH, seeing time in the OF, like we keep being told he will, he never was a good enough player to justify that unless he was playing good defense, and he hasn't done that in 6+ years either.

Sometimes, it's nice when they say what they're really thinking. Newt Gingrich believes passing the health care bill is the biggest mistake for the Democratic Party since they passed civil rights legislation.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 07:55 PM) So my older brother posts a status about a church service on Facebook and apparently someone named "Javier Vazquez" likes it. The post he liked? "That was an incredible performance by the pastor today. Except for that one ten minute period..."

Remember all the times that people would interrupt a speech by Bush and then get escorted out of the chamber? Remember all the times the Democrats stood up and cheered for them? Yeah, I don't either. Frank comments to the press.

Speaker Pelosi brought in the same gavel used in 1965 to pass Medicare.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 11:34 AM) what time is the vote? Here was the schedule as of last night (Things could always change I guess) Edit: Possible revised timeline:

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 04:05 PM) Jones in CF again. Should we look into this? Is it just me or will we see Jones in CF, Rios in RF, and Pierre in LF with Q at DH a lot this summer? If Jones keeps his bat hot and is as good defensively in CF as we're being told he is...yes, we'll see that.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 12:32 AM) Kerry Wood out at least 6 weeks to start the season. In other news, the sky is blue. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2010/n...tory?id=5013052 I beat you to it, I just used the AL Central thread.

ESPN

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 03:31 PM) Ugh, Nix at 3B? Come on Teahen, get it together! Nix is either your first or second backup at 3b, and if he's the 2nd backup there, it's worth noting that the first backup is 44 years old.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 03:54 PM) I really don't know why this would be necessary either. That's been settled law for decades and I haven't seen any current legislation that's going to change it. Because this is a real chance to make having private insurance pay for abortion illegal as well.

Strasburg to AA.

It'll be at least 6-8 weeks before Kerry Wood becomes a trade option for the Twins closer spot. He's out with a back strain.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 07:09 PM) There are no public options, but there are "exchanges" correct? Correct, there is no public plan. The concept of an exchange is a key to the whole thing; its set up so that small businesses and individuals have the opportunity to buy reasonably priced plans despite the fact that they on their own wouldn't have enormous bargaining power.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 06:33 PM) There's not much new really except for a few style points. Just look at the version that passed the Senate in December and that's pretty much what it is (don't really know why Stupak is being so goddamn intransigent since the Senate bill had similar anti-abortion language in it, it's just he won't get direct credit for it I guess). Some of the state-level details (i.e. Nebraska) are out. The excise tax was reworked and actually strengthened to pass reconciliation rules. Covers an extra 1 million people than the Senate Bill and is better on deficit reduction than the Senate bill.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 06:23 PM) There were plenty of teams who wanted him, but he wasn't willing to play for lots of them. Do we really think that's true? At least when we read about Towers and KW's talk on trade-deadline day, Kenny was the only one asking about Jake, the others were asking for Gonzalez, Bell.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-M.D.) supposedly was spit on by a protester.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 06:15 PM) The Padres would pretty well backed into the corner by the trade demands of Peavy. They weren't able to get max value for sure. The Padres also had zero choice but to move that salary, and were probably ecstatic to find a taker for it at 100% in last year's market, especially after Jake got hurt and couldn't immediately help any team that picked him up. Edit: Oh, and there's a new GM and front office in San Diego now, so even if Towers was angry with us, the new folks didn't make that trade.

There seems to be some, let's say, "Fun" going on for a certain nameless group of name-calling protestors at the Capitol building today. So far Barney Frank has been called a "F****t" and John Lewis has been called a N****r by the crowd, which then responded with laughter. Rep Slaughter also had a brick thrown at her district office.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 04:51 PM) yeah, it tends to get a lot harder once you get past the glittering generalities. But then things wind up being more than 10 pages long. That's horrible.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 04:46 PM) I had a feeling this post was coming soon, well Kenny just said Mark changed his swing this offseason. Please go back to your old one asap. His old one hasn't worked that great for him either, since 2006. His talent level, he ought to be a heck of a lot better of a hitter than what he has been.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 04:28 PM) Andruw looks amazing, you have to pencil him in as the every day starter right now. As for Teahen, he looks terrible! Can Jones play 3b?

I actually really like having hard copies on CD of music. I just have no urge to pay $16 for it, and if I miss the opening week sale, it makes no sense for me to buy any.