Balta1701

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 05:50 PM) So explain to me to me how places that have huge amounts of government regulations are failing? And don't forget that large amounts of that risk behavior were government mandates. I believe you just made the point there. If the government regulations don't do anything, or aren't designed to keep insane things like the unregulated CDS gambling market from appearing, then bad regulation is just as effective as no regulation.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 04:30 PM) One thing those everday workers need to realize is that they are going to have to make concessions on their union contracts. The unions along with upper management pushed for the bad direction of product lines and unrealistic employee payment plans. I see no way that this economic situation is going to be fixed with endless bailouts. You know...at least a decent chunk of that though was fixed by their most recent contract, the ones that the companies signed under threat of strike about what, a year or two ago? Where they gave up the responsibility for managing the retirement and health care accounts? I've read in many places that the newest contract does acknowledge those issues and does deal with a lot of them, but that it really hasn't had a chance to make much of a difference yet, because the banks pushed everyone off a cliff too soon. One other way to fix a lot of that also would be to have a nationalized health care system...I'm game for my part of the GM bailout being taking on their health care costs.

I'm so gonna miss him.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 02:05 PM) Hmmm. So that’s the plan now? I mean, after giving them trials and lawyers that are usually afforded solely to American citizens. Do we call them reformed and just release them back on the streets? I hope Obama thinks of the consequences of his “morality” Some of them have already been found innocent of all charges, we just have no place to release them to because their home countries won't take them after they've been tortured for 6 years at Gitmo. The Uygher people we're holding are the prime example of that. The right way to do this is to establish some sort of legitimate court system to handle these guys. I don't care if it's secret or not, I don't need to know everything. But I do care that it is established in law by Congress (Who has the power to create courts inferior to the Supreme court) and that its decisions are subject to the judicial review of the Supreme Court, as happens with any other lower court that is created. The current administration has refused on both of those counts, because they couldn't guarantee the verdicts they wanted or use evidence obtained through torture if a court was subject to the will of the Supreme Court and the laws of the U.S.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 01:55 PM) I'm starting to believe more and more that bankruptcy is the best for GM's long-term viability but that would f*** the workers over in the short term. They (GM) need to be slapped around a bit, it's just that it's everyday people who'd have to pay the price. I started off believing like you did. But I think that the argument that GM can't go in to normal bankruptcy right now, because it would be unable to get the financing it would need to survive a period in chapter 11 due to the credit crisis, and thus the only thing it can do is shutter the doors of the entire company and sell off its assets in chapter 7 is the one that is currently persuading me, unless someone can establish for me how GM could get the financing no one else can get.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 01:59 PM) They're dead no matter what happens to them. If they are....and by that I mean all of them...then it doesn't matter whether you close the place or not. May as well just kill them there.

Not sure I liked the kid at the start. But YAY!

The issue is not one of closing Gitmo itself and never has been. The issue is what you do with the prisoners there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 01:10 PM) I watched the press confrence where this plan was announced and I had two thoughts. #1, my first mistake was not buying a big enough house and my second was paying my mortgage. That is my biggest problem with this crisis from top to bottom is that we are rewarding risky behavior. I hate the fact that we are basically put into a situation where we are forced to make the decision to either let these institutions die at the expense of our economy or bailout bad behavior. Its the same issue at the individual level. My wife and I planned to keep our payment under 25% of our net income. Both our realtor and banks were trying to get us to go higher, and we wouldn't. Now it turns out we could have gotten a free ride, and we have to pay for people who didn't plan like we did. This whole situation is a clusterf*** of epic proportions. Coming at this from the left...some of us out there would say that this is the biggest failure of the low-regulation environment we've created the last 30 years or so. Up and down the line, there's probably 15 different steps where simple government regulations and enforcements could have prevented the mess from getting to where it is now. I.e. additional disclosure requirements on basic loans, better regulation of the investment insurance/rating companies, cutting off the CDS market at its infancy before it ballooned, and so on. Because stupid little things like not taking out an $80,000 BMW loan when you couldn't afford it were no longer illegal, it actually makes some economic sense for people to take out those loans, because it gets them the item, they don't take the losses, and all it costs them is their credit score. We're rewarding risky behavior because we as a nation and as a government decided that our behaviour wasn't risky enough. So we're punishing the people who weren't that risky, like you and I.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 09:17 AM) I have a theory it's a preliminary meeting to see if McCain would want to serve in Obama's cabinet, but it's disguised as a meeting of rivals (especially since there will be other people in the meeting). What are Arizona's rules regarding replacing a Senator who leaves for another job/special election? That seat could well be the difference between 59 and 60.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 12:21 PM) he'll be in AAA....maybe if he figures things out he can end up on the roster at the end of the year ala carassco...the "40 at 33" was really confusing for a minute...then i got what you mean saying the 40 man roster is at 33 people right now I cleaned that up a tad.

Something tells me BA just published a shopping list for the rest of the league... Anywho...I wonder how high these guys will wind up on the top 100. Beckham's an interesting case, he's maybe a year away from the bigs, but he doesn't have much in the way of minor league numbers. I wonder if he'll break the top 50 without a longer minor league resume.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 11:55 AM) the guys a beast...i can't believe this is only his second award....he deserved it no doubt...his freaking obp was .462...crazy A couple of the guys winning them before him may have had some....assistance.

I have to give the Senator credit. There are very few people who could make me suddenly think better of Secretary Paulson right now. He's rapidly done it. Go Paulson!

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 09:10 AM) Im not sure if your agreeing with me or not, but my logic is no team is going to throw games to miss playoffs.. therefore no team is going to blatantly lose games like it currently is in the NBA at the end of the season. No, but the bottom 5 teams or so, the ones who are already out of the playoffs...we already see them racing for the bottom by shutting people down at the end of the year. I really don't want to see that get worse.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Nov 16, 2008 -> 05:31 PM) 'Cause Tom Daschle was sooooooo partisan. I'm not interested in the partisanship aspect. I think the interesting aspect of his choices so far is that he's building a team that knows how to work with Congress and pass legislation, whether or not they were the most effective partisan warriors.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 09:06 AM) On the other hand, should a team really be rewarded for having the worse record? I actually like the NBA way the best, if I could id make it so every non-playoff team had equal chance to get the top pick. No one here can possibly argue that having 5 teams shutting down their best players for the last 20 games of the season every year is good for the NBA. We see enough of that as it is with the lottery. With it based on the raw records, we might well see people legitimately throwing games to go after Oden/Rose.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Nov 16, 2008 -> 02:08 PM) Interesting question RE your post. Would you trade Danks for Fielder straight up? Fielder has already shown he's got super stud status. Danks looks like he's quickly heading that way but is still an unknown having just one good season. Frankly, no. I'd rather have the younger, in better shape, farther from arbitration, left handed pitcher.

Here's a blog-comment looking at a lesser-noticed piece of the growing Obama administration.

This is actually amazingly good news. Dr. Warren in particular is a very strong anti-bank, pro-consumer advocate. I have difficulty thinking of a better choice than her.

QUOTE (G&T @ Nov 14, 2008 -> 05:56 PM) Rosenthal Who is he going to get from them that's better than the Atlanta deal? I don't know the minors very well, but this seems odd. If they could talk the Yankees out of Hughes or the Angels out of Wood +, they might well be better off than the Atlanta deal.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 14, 2008 -> 05:56 PM) HIllary CAN'T take a position in the Obama administration. If she wants to run in 2012, she needs Obama to fail, or fail at least enough to justify a change. If he does just that, she can't have the stench of a failed Obama admin on her and needs to be as far away from it as possible so she can say "See? I told you so!" If she breaks down and does take a job in the admin, then she has given up all hope of being President herself. Obama could be the 2nd worst administration in history and he'd still wind up with his party's nomination. Just look at our current Head of State.

QUOTE (Kid Gleason @ Nov 14, 2008 -> 05:59 PM) That commercial and the dang Subway $5 footlong jingle drives me friggin' crazy. The original Fixx song sucked also. But I love, love, LOVE "One Thing Leads To Another". So I'm not the only $5 person. God damn I love having a DVR.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Nov 14, 2008 -> 02:52 PM) What's wrong with soup and a sandwich? lol. Try out the Progresso soup. It's really good. I eat the veggie with noodle kind. And you can go to Subway for a bunch of low-fat, healthy sandwiches. I took Rex's advice and only roll with whole-grain bread. I throw about 5 slices of thinly cut oven roasted turkey on it. Delicious! Couple things. First, too many calories for me in particular. Second...too much sodium in virtually every soup out there. I get too much salt as it is...you get too much sodium, it forces your body to retain extra water to stay in osmotic equilibrium, and thus you gain weight. Plus all the heart issues. Anywho, the big thing for me is that if I eat until I'm moderately full even 2x per day on an average day, I eat more calories than I burn. It's been like that for me for years, my appetite is bigger than my metabolism. So I typically eat a pretty good dinner, but prior to that I try to control myself wherever I can. Sensible breakfast, small bit of fruit for lunch, when I get hungry in-between, have some tea or wait 30 minutes and then have a piece of fruit. It's pretty much the only system that has worked for me. For reference, about 2.5 years ago I was weighing in at around 210-215. Now I'm weighing in at 165-170.

Perhaps our President has had more of a positive impact on the world's thinking than I once believed.