Balta1701

QUOTE (Texsox @ Feb 17, 2009 -> 12:29 PM) Those are $250 million reasons to understand it. I think the fact that he's gotten the money, what, 2x now, suggests that I'm right and you're wrong.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 17, 2009 -> 12:30 PM) There is no such thing as an over-the-counter drug that is injected. I'm not so sure about that. Isn't it actually possible to get things like vitamins (Tejada's infamous B-12 shots) that are legally taken in injection form without a prescription?

QUOTE (Texsox @ Feb 17, 2009 -> 12:19 PM) Same as my Bonds et. al. rants. They are getting paid millions for what they can do with their bodies and will just take anything, blindly? GMAFB It's hard to get a man to understand something when there's $250 million reasons for him to not understand it.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 17, 2009 -> 10:56 AM) Chandler probably going to the Thunder deal is close to done. There goes Chandlers career. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3913301 OKC was projected to be like $25 million under the cap next season. Taking on Chandler's contract in exchange for 2 expiring deals halves that. They could be a reasonable destination for Gordon, but the fact that they're taking on Chandler's contract gives me some hope that they won't be. There's a lot of other guys on the market as well who could be looking for a limited amount of money.

The SEC today filed charges against Texas Banker R. Allen Stanford for committing what they're calling "Massive fraud." Basically, it appears that he may have been running a $10 billion or so ponzi scheme. He's also very, very politically connected. Hanging out with people like Pelosi and Bill Clinton at the DNC last year, giving big time to both parties, etc.

Amount of U.S. taxpayer money that vanished in Iraq may be greater than the $50 billion lost in the Madoff ponzi scheme...

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Feb 17, 2009 -> 09:44 AM) I think that's the thing, they want a bigger expiring deal then what the Bulls were willing to offer. That's why I think Portland has the best chance of anybody of getting him if they want, but they'll probably end up trading LaFrentz's deal for John Salmons I would say. Come on Pax, LaFrentz for Hinrich. Or Sczerbiak for Hinrich. If you can't move on Amare then clear some cap space.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Feb 17, 2009 -> 09:36 AM) If he could get expiring contracts and Tyrus Thomas for Amare, I think he would consider it. I'll bet you that, whether I like it or not, if we could have done Gooden + Thomas + filler for Amare, the Bulls would have made the deal. Every report we're hearing this morning says it was the Suns who weren't happy with the offers they got. Either they wanted bigger talent than they were offered or they wanted more cap space. That means that for the Bulls it might have been Thomas + Noah + Thabo + Gooden, clearing out the whole frontcourt, or perhaps that might not have been enough to tempt the Suns either, if they wanted a bigger expiring deal than we had. I think it's likely that the big packages (Aldridge + Cap space, or Conley+Gay+Warrick from the Grizz) were out there because that's the kind of pay the Suns wanted for him. They wanted the other team to meet a price that would be silly for the other team to meet.

Pirates extend Nate McClouth:

Punk A** B**ch.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 08:24 PM) Barry Bonds has been proven of PED use, right? Depends on your definition of "Proven". Failed repeated drug tests? Yes. Convicted of perjury regarding those drug tests? Not yet, but perhaps soon. Jailed? Ditto. Publicly admitting/apologizing? No.

Eating in hand? Gala.

California's fiscal conservatives still refuse to give the vote they need to pass the budget out here. Tomorrow, Caltrans will be forced to stop working on some 276 projects around the state to avoid having the state default on its debt. Sounds easy right? Well, not exactly. You can't exactly shut down equipment some times without damaging them or without hurting people. It will cost about $200 million, completely wasted money, to shut down those projects, and another $190 million at some point in the future to restart them. $400 million, completely wasted, by fiscal conservatives.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 06:20 PM) what about an inflantionary spiral with high unemployment, a weakened US dollar, and run away deficts? There's a way out of that using the Federal Reserve. There is no way out of a deflationary spiral through monetary policy once you get to the point we're currently at. It's not pleasant, but it's better than 1930. If you're lost in the woods and you find a trail, you don't necessarily care how rough the trail is if it gets you out of being lost. On another note, a weakened U.S. dollar is almost a necessity at this point. It's been propped up through the system that was at the heart of all this...money flowing back in to the U.S. so that the U.S. could buy stuff on credit. The trade deficit, not the national deficit. A drop in the dollar will strengthen U.S. manufacturing relative to the rest of the world. That's simply something that needs to happen. The dollar has to weaken.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 04:02 PM) I wouldn't mind something like that, or even a 3-5 year ban for the 2nd offense, which could end their career anyways. What I don't want to see if Selig trying to punish A-Rod or anyone that did steriods before the required testing started. Selig has no one but himself to blame for not getting involved in steriod testing. He should've gotten involved at least a decade ago. That doesn't mean he can't take steps to clean up the record book.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 03:38 PM) kind of like "The stimulus will save or create 4 million jobs". Even if there is a million jobs lost Obama can, of course, claim there would have been 5 million lost without his plan. Therefore he saved 4 million. Impossible to guage it, but he'll claim a win no matter what. Basically a win on the stimulus plan IMO means we avoid a deflationary spiral.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 04:00 PM) The GOP nationalized the banks for f***s sake, I don't know why they think people will buy this new 'transformation' they claim to be having. That hasn't completely happened yet, but all signs say its coming.

Contreras in 2000: Contreras in 2008:

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 12:00 PM) I think you can effectively argue that in 04's election America still felt Iraq could be turned around. It had been a little over a year and I don't think anyone besides Bush thought there'd be a stable democracy by then. And as per Hillary, of the reasons why she lost to Obama, I'd put her Iraq War vote pretty low on the list. IMO, if Kerry stuck to an actual coherent formula on Iraq, he'd at least have had a much better shot, rather than setting up the obvious flip-flopper meme. And IMO, and in a lot of people's opinion, if Hillary voted against the Iraq war resolution, the Obama campaign never happens.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 12:08 PM) South Carolina drug dealers can all breath a sigh of relief Or they can take a breath of something else...

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 11:22 AM) If it fails, the minority party will benefit no matter. But take a look at the Iraq war for reference. I can name 3 major Democratic Presidential contenders from 2004 and 2008 who voted for it, and 1 who spoke out against it. The 3 who voted for it are: John Kerry, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton. The one who spoke out against it was this kid in Illinois named Obama. They may benefit no matter what...but they take the biggest gains if they stand up against it from the start and don't have to do the John Kerry dance like in 2004 on the Iraq war.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 11:29 AM) A lot of talk that Jason Richardson might be coming to Chicago with Larry Hughes being included in the deal. This is because of Richardson's recent problems in Phoenix and most believe a change in scenery is necessary. All I know is Rose, Richar, Deng, Amare, Noah is a pretty damn good starting 5. No word as to how legitimate this portion of the rumor is but it would definately solve some serious problems in Chicago. And of course Gordon still fits into the mix as well. In fact, Chicago could at times go with an incredibly agressive front 5 with Rose/Gordon/Richard/Deng/Amare all on the court at once. I still can't see Gordon being able to be brought back in that fashion, even if the salaries are sort of a wash with him and Hughes. Especially since taking on Richardson would add another year - through 2011, that we're holding another contract. But...that would seriously end my complaints about the Bulls not having a shooting guard.

The British are considering an executive bonus cap: £2,000. That equates to around $2800. Our politicians are talking about $500,000.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 10:44 AM) and that's where I get a bit frustrated by the "partisan" comments about this bill. There are plenty of Republican lawmakers who agree with this plan or at least a good portion of the plan. They just don't happen to reside in DC and are local Govenors/Mayors, etc. I've gotten the impression that there's a decent number of Republicans in DC (Cao, for example) who agreed with either this bill or with the concept of a stimulus package of this magnitude, but the Republicans whipped very, very hard against this bill. They basically figured out what the Dems failed to realize on Iraq; if it goes well, they're screwed whether or not they support the package, if it goes poorly they're in much better shape if they said no.

Despite poking fun at the people who insist that every time we lose out on a deal it's guaranteed Pax's fault, I should probably note that standing pat from Pax would still be a disastrous move. If we can't get Amare, fine. Then either we need to find something useful that Gooden's contract can turn in to, we need to find a taker for Hughes, or we need to shed the contract of Hinrich or Nocioni to increase our cap space. We're stuck in the worst possible netherworld regarding the luxury tax, Gordon, and expiring contracts right now; maybe not enough to sign Gordon, not enough to offer a max deal in 2010 if Gordon does walk, an expiring contract each of the next 2 seasons, and a bunch of guys on the bench or the injury report who are being paid a lot of money and being forced to play out of position.