Balta1701

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 11:36 AM) Yawn. If foreigners like a candidate for the president of the U.S., also often referred to as "the leader of the free world," and they can parlay that into a political advantage, good for them. You want him to go there and start kissing America's ass or something and talk about how great and powerful we are? What practical sense does that make, why would they want to hear that? What kind of leader would do something like that? I just don't understand. If you took the bolded part at face value though, I don't know what to tell you. When's the last time we saw crowds of Germans waving American flags?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 09:42 AM) Do some reading on this. Seriously, its interesting stuff. I wouldn't say Powell didn't screw up, 'cause he did. But if you see how it all played out, its obvious that Powell was the one trying to inject some common sense into the discussion. He was misled and manipulated, not to mention outcast and isolated. And I will forever judge him negatively because he did not have the character to stand up and do something stronger. It's not like we're talking about something trivial. He had the ability to essentially make the war happen or make the war not happen, and he decided to let his bosses have the war they wanted.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 09:46 AM) The question there is pretty clear. If he doesn't have a criminal record for drug use, he answers no. It didn't ask "have you ever used drugs?" Well, I guess it's always possible he might have a history that hasn't yet been disclosed. Bush had a DUI that didn't come out until the week before the election in 2000 IIRC.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 05:24 AM) If only people had listened to Powell, taken him seriously, and realized that he (and maybe Rice) were the only ones in that administration that weren't bats*** crazy. Bush probably would've had a successful presidency. No. If only Powell had the balls to realize that the Administration was using his credibility as their main method of selling their war and said "no more", then that might have improved this presidency. People can respect him for being loyal, for the work he did in the past, whatever they want...no one forced him to go before the U.N. and present intel that he didn't believe in.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 07:46 AM) And of course, its not pegged for inflation, so they have to revisit this again later. Pet peeve of mine: enacting laws with specific amounts like this, and not putting in an automatic increase based on a market basket. If the minimum wage had been pegged to inflation when it was first created it'd be over $10 an hour now.

He hasn't gotten the most press, but I don't see how you can pick against him under any reasonable definition of "most valuable".

QUOTE (jackie hayes @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 03:49 PM) Realistically, can the Bears even offer something like that right now? I thought they were close to the cap as-is. According to Peter King's article earlier this week, prior to the Urlacher signing the Bears still had something like $12.3 million in cap space available this year, which is in the upper 1/3 of the NFL in available cap room.

Richar's workin on a 10 game hitting streak.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 02:18 PM) yea, 4 errors in the game, we're damn lucky they won. They need to knock that s*** off. Coming in to tonight's action we're now tied with Washington for the 3rd most errors in the big leagues.

QUOTE (Hanky Panky @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 01:50 PM) You guys think Richard will get another chance? I really thought he looked pretty solid. Probably depends on Contreras's shoulder and MB's availability.

Seriously guys, 4 errors today? That'll move us in to a tie coming in to tonight's action with Washington for the 3rd most errors in baseball.

FWIW, Gameday has Millwood's fastball at 90-91 the first few times he's thrown it.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 11:08 AM) How generous is the gun gameday is using? It had all of Richard's pitches at 91-95, consistently at 93 vs. Kinsler. Unless there's something odd in this park, the gun gameday uses is usually quite accurate, I'd say it's about as fair and consistent as any one out there. If it gives more than 1-2 mph it'd be odd.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 09:56 AM) ITs not a within-industry organization. Its a federal agency, just like the SEC. But because derivatives were generally a much smaller market, people tended to know very little about the CFTC, and its big brother (SEC) got all the focus. But, as the derivatives markets are actually similar in size now to equities, it gets more focus. Not from the government though - CFTC still gets treated like the ugly stepchild. Which is stupid, because the equity markets are much less complex and in need of less regulation than derivatives. Interesting. Gracias.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 09:52 AM) It doesn't really change my perception of either candidate much, as a voter. If Obama had majorly flubbed something overseas, like, I dunno, giving an impromptu neck massage to King Abdullah, then it might well have done so.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 06:31 AM) Just so things are clear this is the COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION who came to this conclusion. Needless to say they have a little bit more knowledge of the ground situation than the Congress does. Just out of curiosity/advocating for the devil/whatever...I know nothing about this organization...but it sounds like a within-industry organization. So, my question...why should I trust that they're impartial? I mean, for about 10 years there the National Association of Realtors kept saying there wasn't a housing bubble and the price expansion was perfectly normal, and yes, one could certainly argue that they knew their industry better than the Congress, but they had a clear financial interest in making sure people kept buying homes as much as they could and every time someone interviewed a member of that organization they made sure to hem to the party line on the housing market, that it would go up forever.

The option on Blalock is only $6.2 million? I can't see the Rangers not picking that up.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 08:03 AM) So, I haven't really seen it discussed here, but what does everyone think about Obama's tour in general? I don't recall a candidate ever taking his campaign abroad. For the older folks, has this happened before? A friend and I have been exchanging lengthy dissertation-type emails about whether it's appropriate for Obama to be meeting with heads of state and giving "political" speeches to Europeans (leaving aside his visit to the troops - that's a separate argument). Obviously this is all being done as a photo op so that people back home can see that Obama can deal with other countries. But does anyone besides me think it's slightly inappropriate? I just feel that a candidate could easily manipulate the situation, undercut any current administration efforts, and essentially, in a self-serving fashion, use such a tour for political gain. Now, I don't believe Obama is that type, but that's not to say that if this becomes a trend, a candidate could cut deals with foreign leaders, "fix" a diplomatic issue with them, and then campaign on that success, all while still being just a candidate. Well, here's an interesting comparison. Got this from a history class, don't have great sources, check yourself if you don't buy it. In 1968, LBJ was readying pretty much the ultimate October surprise. Was ready to announce that a deal had been struck with North Vietnam to end the war. At which point, Henry Kissinger took a flight and spoke to the head of South Vietnam and got him to kill the deal...before the election hit, thus denying Humphrey and Johnson that "We've ended the war" hit that they wanted. (We know this because Johnson bugged Nixon's phone and planes in 1968, Nixon's people tried to use the fact that he'd done so as a way to justify his campaign against the Democrats in 72, and Johnson turned around and said that if you come out and talk about how we bugged your phones, we'll come out and say what we heard on them, that you extended the Vietnam war for 5 years. So you see, domestic warrantless wiretapping rules!)

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 06:42 PM) McCain Makes False Claims On Iraq Timeline What's also missing from your post is that it seems CBS actually expunged the wrong answer for McCain. They showed Couric asking the question that he gave that false answer to, but instead of showing the actual response to that question, they edited out his error and showed part of the answer to a different question instead, thus cutting out the error from their actual broadcast.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 05:21 PM) I believe a certain amount of analysis is important. The world is not as easy to understand as it was 50 years ago. The problem becomes when those lines are blurred and people believe they understand the news by mimicking Rush, Colbert, etc. Anyone who believes they understand the news by mimicking Stephen should be fed to the Bears. Because they're not getting the joke. At some level, you have to understand the news before that show before you can get the joke.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 06:32 PM) Should be interesting to see what he does against a big league offense. He pitches against the Phillies at some point?

LOL, after the last few days, I just got back in, turned my computer on Whitesox.com, saw a line with a couple 1's and a couple 4's in it and just assumed Mark had gotten lit up. DIdn't even bother to notice we were the home team.

Today's must read piece on the banking system as a Ponzi scheme setup.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 03:18 PM) Paulie should be fine and the Sox are probably best off letting Paulie play the 2nd half because he will produce. Given that production the Sox will than be able to trade Paulie in the off-season (if they want to) and not only be able to get rid of his contract but also be able to get at least 2 good prospects in return (what I would call B to B+ prospects). And if he wants to go.

Since we're still on the subject...here's the bullet point comparison version of the 2 articles (link to left leaning blog alert since this is the RNC thread).