Balta1701

The first caller to the White Sox post game show is a Cub fan.

After a complaint by Congress, the White House has submitted the letter they were supposed to send 30 days before a firing. That's not the strongest denial I've ever heard from Walpin.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 12:52 PM) That really doesn't bother me. Did anyone really think he'd be any different in that area? In fact, I'd rather know less about what goes on behind closed doors, not more. Just yesterday they refused to release a list of White House guests, which they'd pledged to do during the campaign. I'd at least like to know who's going through the doors.

Well, see if Danks can get Miles to start the 8th, let them send up a PH for the pitcher's spot, and then bring in someone to deal with the PH. Maybe make them tap their bench a bit.

Come on Alexei, move the line

Yay! Sloppy play benefiting us!

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 12:57 PM) Piniella is scared of Danks. Pinella's scared of Dempster walking Danks.

I really hope Ozzie doesn't get it in his head to PH for Danks here.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 10:04 AM) out of those 3, I would think the only one out of the question is Thome. JD at 9 million isnt bad, Dotel i guess is a bit steep. Don't forget though...there's very little reason to think an arbitrator would actually be willing to cut the salary of those guys by 20% unless they'd spent most of the year on the DL or just flat-out stank. So it's those minimums or potentially a lot more depending on what the other side asks for.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 10:04 AM) Twins still should have taken Prior.... Do you really think their coaches wouldn't have found a way to avoid having him head down the injury bug road?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 09:02 AM) Why not? Wouldnt their cost go down due to the market? We should def offer Dotel arb. If you offer arbitration to a player, by rule the lowest dollar amount the team can submit as a bid on the player is 80% of the salary he earned the previous season, and in that case, it's entirely plausible the arbitrator would rule against the team. For Thome, offering him arbitration is the same as guaranteeing him at least $10.4 million. For JD, offering him arbitration is the same as guaranteeing him at least $9.2 million. For Dotel, offering him arbitration is the same as guaranteeing him $4.8 million.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 05:37 AM) Who is this Beckman fellow He developed the pH meter.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 09:06 AM) Mysteriously fired and replaced by someone else who joined the Inspector General's office under the Bush administration. You'd think they'd have brought someone else up who didn't work under the Bush administration if they really wanted to pull some hijinks. Either way, this seems like a case where some Congressional oversight might be warranted. Unfortunately, Congress hasn't cared much about that lately.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 09:06 AM) As you said, it's a commonly accepted fact. But part of the process of grasping at straws to find things to manufacture outrage about is the suspension of belief or the willful omission of things you already know. On the other hand, I could also note that I have no problem with the reporter/news org running the story and trying to whip up outrage...it's one of those things that's out there, that people who pay attention know about, but that we really need to keep vigilant about. Especially with the way those movements are whipping things up right now on their own. There's usually a cycle of stories like that which come through on your evening news if you watch that...every year or two they basically recycle the same story on some topic because it's something you actually do need to keep an eye on and it makes good time filler.

QUOTE (T R U @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 06:56 AM) and I just read the CBSSportsline article on this and he got some strange plea deal for cooperating with investigators and because the family of that man just wanted it to be over with.. weird Wanted it to be over with = wanted the settlement.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 06:31 AM) Hey Balta, here's an alley-oop. Dunk this. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/...army/index.html I twisted my knee last night and can't play right now. Plus, in a few months I'm hoping to officially be Dr. J., and I figure that has to dramatically improve my game right? Anyway, there's really nothing shocking about that article to me, it's not been a secret that the militia movement has for years wanted to get its people in to the military so that they can get free training that they can bring back to their movements. I'm sure the DHS report mentioned it, but that's been out there for years. Decades even. I'd argue that right now it's probably actually better than it was a few years ago, because we're no longer having to slash recruiting standards as much as we were in 2006 when things in Iraq were going so badly.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 06:33 AM) Don't forget, military doctors are only for military personal -- so seeing them would obviously be faster than if they had to treat every American that walked in the door. If you want to see free healthcare in action, go to just about any emergency room, Mercy hospital is a great example of this. The ER waiting room will be 100% full of people with a sniffle or headache, and I'm not kidding. Why do they care?! They aren't paying for it anyway...so what we get is hospital waiting rooms full of people with minor ailments that chicken soup and rest would cure. Last year I took my father to the ER (Mercy), because he was bleeding from his nose -- his BP was 290/180 (that's not a typo) -- he was simply lucky that his nose gave out before his brain due to the immense pressure. We get there, and he's bleeding nonstop, with rags of blood on his nose in an ER full people with colds or minor flu like symptoms. Again, NOT kidding -- they had f***ing colds and they're sitting in an ER for some free theraflu and checkups. The ER is for emergencies, like say, bleeding profusely for hours on end due to extreme blood pressure, NOT colds. People tend to abuse things that are free, therefore the system they will undoubtedly have to put in place in any universal system is -- we get to decide who needs treatment and who doesn't...the question is, who is that we who will be deciding, and do the people actually WANT them deciding such things? I sure as hell do not. This is complete B.S. actually. The ER is full of people with sniffles or headaches because when you're uninsured, most doctors won't treat you...the only place that is legally required to treat you is an E.R. It's a stupid system since having sick people go to the E.R. is ridiculously expensive and it's a key part of the fact that something like 60% of bankruptcies in this country happen because of medical bills, but that's the system we've built up as the only way of dealing with the 45-50 million continuously uninsured/80 million+ who go uninsured for at least part of a year. Hell, there are more than a few Republicans who have argued this is a good thing because it's how we get "Universal" health care - its universal because anyone can go to an E.R.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 08:50 AM) Not Ahmadinejad's legitimacy - Khameini's legitimacy. The rift in Iran is just that deep right now. They really are both tied together quite strongly at this point. The people in the streets aren't arguing to turn against Islam, they're basically saying that the revolution has been betrayed by Ahmadinejad, if I'm understanding the things I've been reading correctly. It's not the religious nature of the state they're arguing against...just the specific people.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 07:44 AM) We are in line for a ton of picks due to all the Type A free agents we have, Dotel, Thome, Dye, I'd rather keep those picks or trade those guys for actual prospects. We need to keep building through the draft. We're not going to offer those guys arbitration. MAYBE Dotel, but he's making $6.5 mil or so this season. Dye and Thome there's no chance we offer arbitration.

If you really want to go back in time you're going to get a ton. FDR, for example. Another recent one is Gingrich. And then there's the fun boys...Mark Foley and Larry Craig.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 16, 2009 -> 07:39 PM) Stephen Chu can help you with that You know, that reminds me, he gave the commencement address here last week and I was meaning to see if the video was online.

Link

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 16, 2009 -> 07:36 PM) What does Rachel Maddow have to say about it? Beats me, I'm too busy figuring out the activity of iron metal in wustite at variable fO2 and temperature.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 16, 2009 -> 07:28 PM) I actually cited a "conservative" (Dick Lugar, who is probably the smartest foreign affairs guy in the entire government IMO) agreeing with me that taking sides would be a bad idea. You're capable of rational thought, obviously. I'm just spoon-fed. I'm unable to interpret on my own whether or not the U.S. government saying it actively supports Iran would be a good thing or a bad thing.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 16, 2009 -> 07:24 PM) The problem with your scenario is that if the universal health care comes to fruition, this person will not get treatment. The answer will be, we don't pay for that so treatment will be denied. The person will have to live (or die) wioth the condition. The excuse will be "no improvement in the quality life is guaranteed" so no treatment will be recommended. Healthcare costs will drop because the sickest and the weakest will not get treatment thus the costliest treaments will not be prescribed. My question in reply is...how is that any different from the path we're currently on? We're getting to a point where no one can afford health care except for the people with the best jobs or highest incomes, and that is going to get dramatically worse over the next 5 years. The sickest and weakest aren't treated already because they're uninsured and dumped on to Medicaid which can't keep up with the demand. We already have insurance companies that refuse to pay for lots of varieties of treatment, especially if you don't have good insurance.