Balta1701

QUOTE (Tex @ Aug 24, 2009 -> 08:13 AM) I really hope all sides keep fighting. As long as the compromise isn't let's all get what we want, it will be better. Totally disagree. The longer each side keeps fighting, the stronger the insurance companies get, because they keep buying off more and more congresspeople. And the one side who is most vehemently opposed to doing anything that will make the situation better is the insurance company side.

Not a chance I do that. I'd think about it if I were the Red Sox or Mets or Yankees and thus had nearly infinite salary, but no way Soriano makes sense for a team with a $100 million salary.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 23, 2009 -> 05:45 PM) The census is SO BIASED. Right. It's tiresome. About the only two sources that aren't really biased is the census (until ACORN gets ahold of it) and the CBO (until Obama meets with them to tell them to use his numbers). I'm pretty sure you folks are the ones who are arguing that the census count isn't the accurate representation of the uninsured.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 23, 2009 -> 05:42 PM) Holy s***. EVERYBODY's biased, unless it fits your point of view... geesh. What the hell do we even have this god-damned forum for if no one believes ANYTHING the "other side" says? So we get called out for using any data at all from any group on the left, and when we return the favor, it's always different?

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 23, 2009 -> 04:34 PM) not exactly If they are working at Walmart part time, and want full time employment, then yes they are in the count. If they can only get 10 hours of work a week, they are basically considered unemployed. If they are working full time at Walmart they are not in the count. Having a full time job one dislikes is not defined as unemployed. Based on the Wikipedia entry on the definition, I believe that both are included in underemployment. It's any variety of under-utilization of a worker. Both yours count and mine gets counted too.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 23, 2009 -> 04:10 PM) I see some good signs in the economy, but home foreclosures are soaring and experts are saying the jobs we lost during this recession are gone (not coming back). A whole lot of people are going to be in serious financial trouble. 16% unemployment that is supposed to last until at least 2014? Total disaster. Now I'm going to correct you the other way. It's not 16% unemployment, it's something like 10-11% unemployment, with 2% of that made up of discouraged/long-term unemployed-disability, and 5% or so being the "underemployed" category, where you have specific job skills but you're stuck working at Wal-mart.

Wasn't D2: the mighty danks on the DL?

5-5. They've been a .500 team all year, so why not?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 04:50 PM) let me know when GS and GM are worker-run co-ops in a true communist sense and then you can start talking about Marx. It's not even close to "Das Kapital". Didn't the Unions get a good chunk of GM/Chrysler's ownership?

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 23, 2009 -> 11:35 AM) Anyone picking the Bills to make the AFC title game? They've got an outside shot, but to do it they're counting on a combination of: a lot of key guys staying healthy (Edwards, Schoebel, Owens, etc.) while at the same time counting on a number of young guys to step in and help out (Maybin, their entire O-Line). Usually you'll get some of both of those, but the only way you get both to happen is to be either really lucky or to have a really good coach.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 04:27 PM) the bloated long term contracts they have on the books and lack of basically any near MLB ready talent is going to make that harder. I would imagine they could move Harden for something, he's a FA anyway and he'd get picked up and work out a trade or he would clear Basically, they're at about the point where you need to commit to developing through the draft and trying to move any expensive piece that someone will take, unless they continue to think they have infinite funds. THey gave it their shot at got 2 playoff runs out of it. Didn't win a title, and they're showing their age/cracks this year. If they keep trying to plug holes, they'll just keep getting more expensive and falling farther back. Which is of course, exactly what they're going to do. They're about where we were in late 2006. We'd made our run, but we were starting to run out of gas, and we needed an infusion of fresh talent. We wound up being terrible for 1 year, and rebuilding off of that. They're about at that point where literally everything can start going wrong.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 04:07 PM) The Cubs fans must be really writing the season off. A real Cubs fan friend of mine, not a Wrigley Cubs fan, actually called me during the bottom of the 9th and i could tell he wasn't watching the game After today they're going to be farther back than any other 2nd place team in baseball. It's time to admit they don't have it this year and start planning for a full rebuild. That won't happen of course, so they'll just keep getting older and more expensive, but that's what they ought to do.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 01:32 PM) Ok, someone please correct me if I am wrong. but CARS has only been in place actually running for around two months, correct? So, at best a deal hasnt been payed in under 60 days? OH THE HORROR! Seriously. 60 days isnt that long. Quite whining, you got business you probably wouldn't have gotten because of this. I'd be willing to bet a lot of these places dont pay their bills within 60 days as well. A lot of businesses dont. Actually it's been running since late July, so well under 60 days. And although the government hasn't provided exact figures, supposedly a number of the applications for rebates were sent back to dealers because of documentation/paperwork issues on their side. If only this program had been run by Aetna. Now there's a model of efficiency. They're more than happy to give payouts for things that they cover in only a few days, no one ever has to wait weeks for reimbursement, they never make anyone worry about paperwork issues, and they're always there to help you. If only the government had run this program more like a health insurance company.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 01:18 PM) I believe Mully and Hanley were discussing how Harrison really isnt much of a practice or film room type of guy, and that really scares off a lot of teams at this point in Harrison's career. In the last few years it has been obvious that he has lost a step as Reggie Wayne has become Manning's primary target. Even if he had just "Lost a step", with his career performance you'd think that a bunch of teams would be after him as a going over the middle/slot option if there weren't some sort of gigantic red flag on him.

Government funds and runs extremely popular stimulus program. Everyone runs with the program, even with a few delays, because everyone knows the government will actually pay what they say they're going to pay. Therefore, we should avoid government run health care, because too many people might like it.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 12:31 PM) 45 million uninsured. Most wrongly used number in years and years. Edit: they may be uninsured but they either shouldn't qualify for insurance or they do indeed choose it... except between 10-15 million. That's the real number. 2.5% of the US population, let's turn it all upside down instead of actually fixing the issues for those folks. So now you're the one telling us about how people shouldn't qualify for insurance? I'm so tempted to go all death-panel callout on this.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 12:40 PM) I was suprised to read that Marvin Harrison is still unemployed. Anyone think the Bears should employ him? He's past his prime, but still productive, and it seems like the Bears could benefit from having a vetern receiver mentor Hester and Bennett. There simply has to be a lot more going on there than the average fan suspects. Either no team is convinced he has anything left or he's really hurt, or there's some serious attitude issues that the Colts managed to keep under wraps that everyone else in the league knew about.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 22, 2009 -> 07:08 AM) Heard an interesting stat on the radio this morning... In the last 10 years, the team with the largest division lead at the end of the regular season is only 5-5 in their opening round playoff series's. Going to the next step, they have only even made it to the World Series once during those 10 years, and they have not won a single WS title. Right now the Yankees are 7.5 up and the Cardinals are 7 up. Probably soon to be more for both teams.

bring it D1. Get your heads out of your behinds, everyone else.

QUOTE (Dizzy Sox @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 10:25 PM) You have to think the Sox will release Fields in the offseason, or at least make a token trade for a similar AAAA type guy or a non-prospect in the lower levels. The thing that bothers me about Fields isn't so much his inability to hit, but his attitude. Talking about how you almost quit after your first year in the majors and then moaning several times about being benched despite a microscopic average are not signs of a mature team player. I am glad he is hitting better in Charlotte and I do wish him the best...just not with the Sox. I hear what you're saying, but there's another way to consider it too; part of developing young talent is finding ways to deal with the personality of the people you get. Not everyone comes up and is able to learn immediately or is the perfect student; it's sort of like the real world. As another way of looking at it, take a guy who had some serious psychological issues...Zach Greinke. He almost quit too and had to work through a ton of struggles, the Royals were patient with him, and look what he's blossomed into for them. Josh Fields has issues, but not nearly that severe. The only reason why he shouldn't see the big league Sox again is because the guy we have at 3rd right now looks bloody spectacular, not because he's got a difficult personality. If he has a difficult personality but has a lot of talent, then it's the coaching staff's job to get through to him.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 07:27 PM) I think in June/July of 2009 this year, it would have been possible to get another team to take his contract for 1 1/2 seasons, sure. We wouldn't have gotten much back at all, but salary relief would have been the main issue...you don't spend $12-13 million per season for an 825 ops when you could get that much more cheaply from any number of other sources. Don't believe anyone would have taken him at all unless we paid at least 1/2 of it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 07:23 PM) Konerko has returned to "pseudo-goat" status this season after having a very nice and consistent first three months in 2009. He's way way overpaid for the production we're getting out of him now. I'm now wishing we kept Allen and ditched Konerko and just really started over instead of holding onto the past...same thing we did with Carlos Lee, Valentin, Ordonez and Thomas for a bit too long, until we made the right decisions with them for the future of the organization. What exactly do you think we could have done with Konerko? Who was going to take on his salary?

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 07:12 PM) I don't know. It might have been nice to have the guy who's hitting the s*** out of the ball in the game tonight. What's the fella's name? Oh, yeah, Quentin. Giving Quentin an extra day off is not something anyone can reasonably complain about given his situation this year, I'm sorry.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 07:00 PM) Well, we're losing 3-1 now. No way in the world do you let Roberts bat lefty in that situation. Another brilliant managerial decision. I have little problem with leaving the starter in at that point.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 07:00 PM) Well, we're losing 3-1 now. No way in the world do you let Roberts bat lefty in that situation. Another brilliant managerial decision. I have little problem with leaving the starter in at that point.