Balta1701

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 01:22 PM) Likewise. My list would have looked completely different had I included other formats. Any way around these sorts of issues in the future? When we did the athletes I tried to get the rules narrowed down as to who qualified, what teams they had to play for, for how long, etc, but for one like this it'd have been even harder to do.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 01:14 PM) WHaaaaa? Can't tell if you catch the reference or not, but if you don't, for shame.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 01:14 PM) I didn't mean "surprised", as in, how come they can't function on cents on the dollar. I mean surprised that we aren't emphasizing it more, and also, that private businesses haven't been able to break in. And the latter part, I know some of the reasons there - the few large rail companies own 95% of the rails and won't let others in. Plus those same rail companies don't want passenger traffic screwing up their freight lines. And, perhaps most importantly...who has more money to pay for lobbyists/congressmen? Combinations of the auto industry and the oil industry, or passenger rail lines?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 12:13 PM) MONORAIL! I hear those things are awfully loud.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 01:06 PM) Regardless of the particular technology chosen, it still amazes (and irritates) me that regional and national passenger rail in this country is so bad. 9/11 and now gas prices are a HUGE opportunity. Amtrak can't get it done, partially because they are such a wreck as a business, and partially because fo the archaic rules they are bound by. You can't have the federal government spend 40x as much money on roads as it does on rails and be surprised that people use the heavily subsidized roads while the nearly unsubsidized rails fail to attract passengers.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 12:08 PM) Both players contracts are expiring after this season. Brand gives you 20 and 10 on average assuming he's healthy again, Marion has put up 18 and 10 as a 2nd or 3rd option his entire career. Moving from #7 to #5 will move the Clippers past the Knicks who are looking at many of the same players, specifically guards. Except last season, where Marion put up 15.4 and 10, and saw his scoring numbers drop more when he moved out of Phoenix. The Clippers ought to get significantly more than that out of Brand.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 11:04 AM) Also if the plan is that close to solvent, why does Obama want to increase taxes in the first place? Because it shuts up all the people who say Social Security is headed for bankruptcy and so we ought to destroy the program now Honestly, it's totally the wrong move. But there's this strain out there that keeps saying "oh our entitlement programs are $15 trillion in the hole, we must do something about Social Security" that is either motivated by ignorance of which program is responsible for the gigantic hole in entitlement spending (it's almost entirely medicare) or by a desire to fund a private account program regardless of the merits that keeps pushing this issue back to the front. I have no urge to see Social Security touched at all, a minor tweak in where the cap is or in the growth rate relative to inflation "Fixes" everything. Deal with health care spending. It has to be done or it bankrupts the country in the next 15 years at current growth rates. There's no reason to worry about Social Security right now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 12:02 PM) If the plan is solvent, they have no reason for privatization in the first place. Yes they do...because it makes a hell of a lot of money for some specific, important people, and because it is the first, obvious step towards dismantling the program.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 11:00 AM) Glenn Beck was saying something similar to this a few weeks ago. Everybody keeps passing the buck from administration to administration and if we don't do something about it, it's going to eventually slap us all in the face. Honestly, no it won't. The Social Security program is so close to solvency anyway that the country can wait until 2025 or 2030 and make a small tweak if necessary to the rate of growth of payouts and that's all it will take. The real crisis is in the general fund, specifically associated with Health Care's expenditures. By the time Social Security becomes a concern, medicare will be the entire U.S. economy.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 10:49 AM) there is no need to raise SS taxes. It was proven during the primaries that simply changing the indexing of increases from wage inflation to general inflation would make the system completely solvent for at least the next 75 years. Why give the government more money, when they simply don't need it? The system is solvent for 75 years anyway if you use slightly more reasonable estimates of growth and productivity than the Social Security trustees administration uses (basically, you assume that somehow we either figure out the energy issue or it destroys our nation to the point that Social Security is the last thing on people's mind anyway). Raising the SS Tax right now does 2 things. First, it prevents the Republicans from being able to destroy the program with a privatization plan, and second, it helps balance out the general fund in 2020 or so if no steps have been taken to control the vastly greater than inflation growth in health care spending.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 11:51 AM) Then trade Marion and the #5 pick to the Clippers for Brand and the #7 pick. Unless the Clippers have recently hired either Tim Hardaway or Alonzo Mourning as their GM, I can't figure out why the Clips would do this deal. They lose the better player to move up 2 spots in the draft here. Maybe if someone like Mayo or Beasley somehow plummeted, or if this was a draft where you saw a big difference between the talent level at pick 5 and 7, but I don't think either is the case.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 08:27 AM) Well, I can already guarantee the Sox are losing tomorrow (not only is it against a rookie, not only is he a lefty, but he's f***ing Kershaw, so forget about it), so hopefully they can win tonight. Damn, I'm going to get a matchup of 2 of the 5 or 6 best young left handed pitchers in baseball tomorrow.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 09:43 AM) Then you will never have a legitimate public campaign system. The two things aren't compatible. The key thing to me is that I want a situation where no politician ever has to hold a fundraiser or deal with a lobbyist again (although they still will because they're too lazy to write their own bills). That's the thing I'm hoping for, and I think that can still be done. You don't exactly see Senator Obama or McCain holding fundraisers for Moveon.org or the NRA do you? They may speak to audiences from those communities but they are barred from coordination with them.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 08:31 AM) Or at least one that is constitutional... As far as I can tell, there's nothing unconstitutional about having the government pay for the entire campaign of anyone who wants them to. The thing that is unconstitutional is preventing other people from spending money through outside groups if they choose to (Although it can be regulated). In other words, you can't stop a candidate from opting out or from self financing, and if your system breaks, as it is now, that becomes a reasonable maneuver, but the fact that you can't stop outside groups from spending their money doesn't mean that we can't take steps to prevent those groups from using their money to get direct access to the politicians themselves.

QUOTE (DBAH0 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 07:10 AM) A lefty, oh goody. This could be a low scoring affair tonight. I imagine Hall might get a start maybe? AJ is certainly due for a game off. Anderson of course will probably be in the lineup too, because he's hitting .270 against righties and .150 against lefties, so he has to start against lefties because he's right handed.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jun 24, 2008 -> 08:35 PM) I wouldn't be surprised if they go into a streak of playing relatively mediocre (around .500) ball at home for a few weeks now that the mystique of not losing there for 5 weeks is gone. It was nice to see them lose at that s***hole for once. No team can stay as hot, even at home, as they've been for an entire season.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 09:00 AM) :o Until we build a legitimate public campaign financing system (1 week in Iraq would finance every Federal election in the country for this year), then this is how it's going to be.

QUOTE (jackie hayes @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 07:55 AM) More Chad Ford, claiming that the race between Beasley and Mayo is real, and that the Heat are actively shopping the #2 pick. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/ne...tory?id=3459696 If OJ Mayo slips past the T-Wolves, then I really think the Sonics and the Heat might do a deal. The Heat get Mayo and Chris Wilcox, OKC gets Beasley and an expiring contract. The Heat solidify their front line and put themselves in a position to compete next year with a starting 5 of Wade, Mayo, Wilcox, Marion, and Haslem, OKC sets itself up with a front line consisting of Durant, Green, and Beasley.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 25, 2008 -> 06:15 AM) Because they have no backbone. They probably see that this can be turned around on them as "look they don't want to protect you from terrorists", and for some reason, they feel they can't win the argument over following the law and the constitution with the American people. And maybe they can't, but I don't know how they can stand themselves in 30 years and realize they were the one's that were responsible for warrantless wiretaps. I'm ALL FOR wiretapping terrorists and potential terrorists, but the courts were already passing these out easily anyways. Why completely circumvent an obstacle set in place to prevent gross abuse in the future? If FISA courts are taking too long, see to it that they can process the warrants faster, don't just make it legal for no warrants. And don't just give a free pass to companies to do whatever they want as long as the president said it was okay. This is not our country. There's one other reason you're missing. Numbers via Glenn Greenwald.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jun 24, 2008 -> 11:27 PM) Is there any reason the democrats are letting this happen? Is it just so they can try and make themselves look better on security issues or what? Because I am baffled at this turn of events, I never thought they'd let this happen. Because, quite simply, AT&T and its friends have a boatload of money and it's enough to buy off half the Democratic Caucus.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 24, 2008 -> 08:47 PM) You're going to be seating on the concrete right on the other side of the fence? based on where Gameday put the dot for the home run, yes.

That ball landed just about where I'll be sitting Thursday according to Gameday. Anyone see how many rows deep it went?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 24, 2008 -> 08:43 PM) I know I say this often, but I would love to see a hit-and-run here. With Lowe having his sinker and offspeed stuff going, maybe we could get a 1st and 3rd? With that big swing JD goes up there with?

81 pitches for MB through 7. Lowe with 90.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 24, 2008 -> 07:27 PM) Awesome Alexei. Make a good play and lead off the next inning with a...? Blast.