Balta1701

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 17, 2009 -> 09:17 AM) That's laughable, seeing as that's exactly what's being done. Based on the data that's out there, they've been doing a terrible, terrible job of it over the last 30 years. 1% of Americans are earning a higher share of income than they have at any point since the depression. By every metric out there, inequality has skyrocketed over the past 30 years as the conservative movement has been ascendant.

By the way, I'd just like to take a moment and express my astonishment at how amazing Goldman Sachs is at gaming the system. They literally have ripped off the American taxpayer wholesale and did so with Goldman executives on one side and former Goldman executives and stockholders on the other side. It really is a marvel how well they've maneuvered through the maze of legalized corruption in the banking industry. A virus typically makes its host sick or kills its host. Goldman, instead, has convinced the host that it needs the virus to survive, and thus the host should hand over to Goldman anything it wants. You really do have to be impressed.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Jul 17, 2009 -> 08:40 AM) In the book "Rocket Men" by Craig Nelson, Buzz Aldrin says the astronauts joked about bringing gold dust up with them and sprinkling it on the collected moon rocks. If that had happened, the moon would probably be colonized by now. Amazingly, we'd have been able to tell long ago that they did that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 08:28 PM) Have you seen NASA's budget? They do more on less than any other governmental agency in existance. Depends on if you count JPL as independent or not.

Taxes should be used to reduce income inequality.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 10:49 PM) The Lakers can't win another championship without Odom IMO. If they're willing to continue to add salary mid-season to try to make title runs, yes they can. Hypothetically, imagine this scenario. Someone wants to shed a SF or PF with a high salary midseason. I.e. the Bulls with Deng, although the Bulls shouldn't be doing that, esp. with the Lakers. The Lakers turn around and say "We have Derek Fisher on a 1 year deal and Adam Morrison has a qualifying offer next year that you can decline, thus turning his entire contract in to 2010 cap space. All we ask is that you buy out Fisher so that he can come back to us if he wants to" If a team is hurting financially, wouldn't they do that?

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 09:29 PM) Sounds like a great idea! But first we need to make lots of money quickly for FutureSox. Which direction do you think we should take? Should we start an illegal gaming ring, begin committing armed robbery, open a chop shop, deal drugs, start up a porn company, or come up with some new, fresh online scams? Whatever it is Goldman Sachs is doing, do that.

Bring it D1.

Cracking up.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 07:13 PM) Are there really, truly people out there that sincerely believe this was faked? Is belief that 9/11 was an "inside job" a prequisite to that opinion? Yes, and no but it helps.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 06:52 PM) Is Glenn Beck always that crazy? That's the sane version of Glenn Beck.

-Senator Jeff Sessions.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 04:36 PM) Yeah, its time to retire chubby deliveryman. And at the same time the "Real Men of Genius" commercials have to go too(sorry Steve9347, your song was cool and all but that s*** is OLD) The radio versions are the worst.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 04:05 PM) I meant SCOTUS nominees being so politically polarizing and turning into a partisan fundraising circus. You can see this if you look back to about the 80s, and see people getting confirmed 96-2 by the Senate or what have you. A filibuster against a nominee was unheard of. The modern filibuster, where you don't have to keep your entire caucus on the floor and continue talking the entire time, is a very recent invention too.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 01:06 PM) http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm...ws-000003168293 This throws a wrench into the jam job by th Dems, no? Oh, so now you guys LOVE the Congressional Budget Office? 2 nights ago they were a horrible horrible partisan group that has been seduced by the beauty of Obama's backside. But then its head says something that can be taken out of context appropriately to make it sound anti-health-care reform, and suddenly we're all good again right? That is true. Of course, it's also true because the efforts to save money, specifically on Medicare/Medicaid, aren't in the portion of the bill that he is being asked about. He was testifying to the Senate, where unlike the House, the Bill currently sits in multiple parts because multiple committees are producing it, and because most of the significant cost-savings wind up happening more than 10 years out, which is when the projected health care cost explosion hits as well. But it sounds good, so hey, the CBO's wonderful again!

The American Medical Association has issued an official statement in support of the House bill.

If you got to come out of the bullpen to close a big league baseball game, what song would you want playing?

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 10:07 AM) I just don't believe there is any way to really determine if a player has been lucky or not unless you've seen them play a lot. While I agree, even then though, some numbers, like a BABIP of .400+, are just unsustainable once you get faced with big league pitching and defenses. That's just been proven. Hall of famers don't push BABIP's of .400. Rod Carew's career mark was .360. He had a BABIP of 400+ 1 year, and hit .388 that year.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 09:28 AM) Plus we would be looking at taking on an outrageous salary of a declining player rather than sign our own top performers? Financial felxibility gained by the loss of three key members of our team and we take on one Blue Jay who has been slipping every year doesn't quite seem right to me. I don't know if I'd complain about the salary at all, if I didn't have to give up much to get him. But with the guy putting up a 91 OPS+ this season, an OPS around .730, he's not even as effective as podsednik right now. If we're talking about gambling on picking a guy with a bad contract for absolutely nothing because he can fill a hole that is appearing in our OF next season on the off chance he'll return to form, I can live with that. 1 horrible contract won't kill us long-term, and there's always some chance he could return to form and we can renew the Rios for Lincecum talks the Jays were having a few years back (Seriously, LOL). But I'm not giving up anything of value for him with that contract. They can have Dubee, that's it (do we still have him?). And I'm not trading for him mid-season if there's any chance I can get Quentin back before Sept. 1.

Great interview!

QUOTE (Jimmywins1 @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 09:25 AM) If the Jays ate contract, I'd go for him. Give Q the time to heal and lock down CF with an at least average player. Right now he's below average. Walk will fix him?

The only reason he'd make sense this season is if Q simply can't go at all. Frankly though, his numbers have been marching downwards for 4 seasons.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 08:56 AM) And here you are defending it after it attacking it when business did it... Just applying your standards.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 08:56 AM) Plus good hitters will have a higher BABIP. Why because they hit the ball harder more often. Dar. Just like really good pitchers will put up a lower batting average on balls in play (most often). Why because they have plus stuff (well this is in the case of the typical front of the rotation starters) and by having that plus stuff, less guys probably square em up. keeping a high BABIP is certainly possible if you're a particularly smart/effective hitter, otherwise no one would ever hit well over .300 unless they were hitting 40+ home runs a year. But let's also keep in mind the kind of guys who really have consistently high BABIP: Jeter comes to mind, his career number is .358. Mauer is at about .341, .350 since his 2nd full season. Basically, you need a really high quality, intelligent hitter who is a difficult out and who can spray the ball all over the field to legitimately keep his BABIP that high for his career. Even then, .400 is pretty much unsustainable in the big leagues long term, but if you can do .350ish, you're going to have a hell of a long career.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 05:32 AM) But you'd want to be selective in turning them on and off. You don't want to constantly screw with the themoclines in the ocean on a large scale, as I'm pretty sure there would be unintended consequences. By reading it, it looks like the driving force would be large waves spilling over the edge. You'd need to be able to do it such that they don't turn on for normal storms but that their edges are overtopped whenever there is a swell of a certain height.