Balta1701

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 02:16 PM) JOB LOSSES I'm a fan of the employment to population ratio (the first year on this graph is 1985).

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 01:04 PM) Her political capital is kaput. 50+% of the country wont vote for her at this point, rendering her unelectable outside of Alaska. Let's stop paying attention to her. She doesn't need 50%. First of all, the current President had the 2nd largest total share of the total population vote for him in history, and he only got something like 23% of the population included. The real fun though...is that for the nomination, she probably will need what, 1-2% of the total population to vote for her unless the Republican race in 2012 drags out past early Feb.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 02:04 PM) Give them Tyrus. Are people really wanting to keep Tyrus after a couple of hot games? THIS IS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF RUN WE NEEDED TO BE ABLE TO MOVE HIS SH*TTY ASS!!! Hold onto Deng: he, Amare, and Rose is a very nice threesome to build around. I'm fine with giving them any player except Rose. I just don't want to box us in to luxury tax Hell at the same time, because then we'll be the team looking to trade Amare in a few years. The motivation for keeping TT is; if you give up TT and Noah, next year you have Amare at C and Deng at PF and you have zero space under the luxury tax to either add a C or to even keep Gordon, and the year you wind up getting space under that tax is the year you have to extend Amare.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 12:41 PM) I'm not particularly worried about Gordon, or anyone else for that matter, if they get Rose and Amare. It'd be nice to keep him as a sniper, but I won't lose sleep if he's gone, especially considering they haven't come that close to an agreement over the past two years. Rose and Amare would be getting the bulk of the touches anyways, Gordon would no longer be able to fire jumpers with impunity, making it a lot harder for him to keep his average up around 20 a game. I'm sure they can find a decent spot-up shooter that won't need the ball as much with the MLE if it comes to that, or possibly move Hinrich and/or Nocioni in another deal. IMO, given the salary cap constraints...even if we're picking up an Amare, if we are in a position where we are holding contracts for Hinrich, Nocioni, Amare, and Deng through 2011 and after, then we're stuck in such a salary cap hell that it almost becomes a lateral move. Not entirely obviously because of giving Rose an extra guy in the front court, but if we can't move one of the 3 contracts we currently have that are big (Hinrich, Noc, Deng) and last forever, then we're asking for trouble with these moves. If you could move any of those guys in the Amare deal or you could move them for expiring contract filler to someone else (Cleveland, come on, Hinrich is just a perfect darn fit for you) then you're not trying to maneuver a starting SG and a starting C in under the luxury tax with like $2 million to play with. Edit; the other point here is that Amare's going to be one of the biggest contracts in the league starting in 2011. At the same time, we'll still be holding Deng, Hinrich, Noc, and we're going to need to Extend Rose right around then. You can't fit in $20 million for Amare, $8 million for Hinrich and Nocioni, $12 million for Deng, and $12 million for Rose under the luxury tax and have really anything left over (That assumes that Tyrus and Noah are both gone). That's $60 million, and giving the economy, I doubt the luxury tax is going up substantially from the $67 million it's currently sitting at before then. You're left with just a handful of cash to fill 2 starting spots, to keep guys like Thabo or anyone you don't trade, to fill up the whole bench, etc.

The response to the stuff 2k5 is posting in the other thread about how the CBO says the increased deficits will hurt growth in the long run is pretty easy. Just grabbing one of the several people who did the slightly more in-depth investigation. Source.

The POTUS seems like he's starting to realize the media is outworking him against this bill. A lot of these remarks were off the cuff, straying from the teleprompter.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 12:29 PM) That's my whole problem with this issue. It's completely undemocratic. The people voted someone in to office and the legislature can arbitrarily remove that person from office for any reason they want? What is this the U.S.S.R.? In that case, the solution is to amend the illinois state constitution.

The President will be making a stop in Elkhart, IN, and a stop in Fort Meyers, FL, on a stimulus plan selling tour next week.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 11:50 AM) The interesting thing would be if somehow Blago beat the charges, then what would happen? At worst he would have the mother of all lawsuits. In reality, it would be interesting to see him challenge to get his job back. Who would he have the option to sue? The only candidate I can see is the federal government. From my reading of the Illinois state constitution, it appeared to me that there was no specific requirements laid out on the Illinois Legislature as to what was required before a person was impeached and removed from office. Without a "High crimes and misdemeanors" clause or at least something resembling that, the legislature appears to have the right to impeach any governor for any reason they want and then exclude him from service based on that.

Link. I like that last excerpted bit.

Is this a case where two wrongs truly do make a right?

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 11:03 AM) Do whatever it takes. It's not like the Bulls will have any cap space this off-season anyways, and they'd still have to move Hinrich or Nocioni for an expiring deal to make room for a max deal in 2010. They might as well just do it now, Amare is arguably the best offensive big man in the league, he's still only 26 and would likely be one of our main targets that year anyways. The Bulls won't have cap space this offseason either way, but making that move is the difference between having the luxury tax space to make a matching/competitive offer for Gordon or not.

Link. That's a response to a pajamas media stimulus bashing session involving Joe The Plumber, Michelle Malkin, and Glenn Reynolds.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 08:27 AM) I think this is kind of racist, thinking a black guy has to play kenny williams. I mean, it's 2009 guys, we have a BLACK president. You guys are living in the past. So what you're saying is Barack Obama will guest star as KW?

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 09:00 AM) Tyrus has cock teased us before... if you can get Amare (which we wont) you trade anyone on our roster except Rose and maybe Deng -- who has really picked up his game the last month. Let's assume we make the Noah + Tyrus + cap room for Amare deal. That leaves the Bulls with Aaron Gray as their starting Center. I wouldn't object to this of course, but that leaves the question...what starting C's are available this offseason as FA?

Link

Good climate change example story from Reuters. This is the kind of thing we mean when we start talking about how urgent this problem is. Another few decades and a few hundred million people lose their livelihoods and their food source, and it's irreversible once it happens.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Feb 5, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) I'd love to see the Big Hurt as batting coach but I doubt that'll happen Hasn't hurt shown an interest in broadcasting before?

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Feb 5, 2009 -> 01:28 PM) California? Yeah. It's sort of like Washington, except you need a 2/3 majority to pass any budget/spending bill. So the smallest minority, in particular here the far right, anti-any-tax folks are on the verge of completely shutting the state down, and the governor is too busy doing photo ops to actually care about coming up with a workable budget.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 5, 2009 -> 01:16 PM) I like the things listed there. The GOP should vote for that. But I need a reliable source on this, TPM is basically a joke. Senator DeMint's website I love this. You guys spend a week going crazy about the CBO report that says that only 79% of the stimulus will be out the door by 2011. Such ineffective stimulus...it won't be nearly fast enough! Senator Demint proposes huge tax breaks that won't hit until 2011 and after. You guys cheer.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Feb 5, 2009 -> 12:38 PM) Do the Bears have a QB under comtract for next season? IF by next season you mean "2010", the answer is down to Caleb Hanie. Orton has 1 year left on his contract. Therefore, the Bears need to make some sort of QB move this offseason just to assure that they have a warm body to play that position in 2010.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Feb 5, 2009 -> 01:02 PM) Hmmm, will be interesting to see if they try to deal him in the off-season. Depending on the cost (would the Sixers do Larry Hughes (expiring contract) plus something for Brand maybe) the Bulls should at least make an inquiry. Also the Magic traded Keith Bogans for Tyronn Lue, so there's our PG backup. Also, apparently Steve Kerr has put Amare Stoudemire on the trade market. Toronto and New Jersey are both interested apparently, and Kerr wants to trade him to an Eastern Conference team. He's missed what, 75% of the last 2 seasons and he has 4 more years on his contract? I'm not sure I'd even want to move him for Hughes. If they wanted Hinrich/Nocioni, both of whom have longer lasting contracts, then you might talk me in to something.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 5, 2009 -> 12:59 PM) And the government isn't going to be able to force them to lend anymore. There is lies the problem. The government can throw a trillion dollars into a hole like it is planning, but the economy isn't going to recover in a real way until the banks recover. We can put blips on the radar, but that isn't going to work long term. Go back and look at the Great Depression. There wasn't a real, meaningful recovery until the banking system got healthy. The banks aren't going to recover until the housing market and the credit markets finally bottom out and some semblance of order returns where people actually have some idea of what they own and how much it is worth. The government bailouts have to be viewed in that light; they're bridge loans, to get through the point either a year from now if the market reacts normally and a stimulus plan is passed or 3 years from now if no plan is passed or if the Senate's "Reinflate the bubble" provision stays in the stimulus plan. If a company is in good enough financial shape that they can weather the storm on their own, then it is a waste of bailout funds to force them to accept additional money. That money would be far better spent as loans that actually keep the banks that aren't in good enough shape to weather the storm out of bankruptcy.

I think that it's probably impossible to better illustrate how far off beyond Pesky's pole the Republicans are on this matter than a vote last night did. Senator DeMint introduced a bill that would remove every bit of spending from the Obama plan and replace it with a series of permanent (not temporary) tax cuts, including several things that wouldn't hit for years (i.e. until the Bush tax plans start expiring - 2011 and beyond) This got the support of 36/40 Senate Republicans. Essentially, 90% of the Republican caucus in the Senate is opposed to the concept of a stimulus package.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 5, 2009 -> 11:25 AM) OK. I don't disagree with the general point, but, please show me how this is a "stimulus" item, and how it will generate positive returns. Link to full article from the Atlantic.