Balta1701

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 03:36 PM) So in other words, political stupidity was happening before, but BushCo just took it to higher and even more scuzzy levels. That sounds about right. No, in other words...administrations usually hired people to fill those roles when they came into office, and fired them with cause, to be replaced by competent folks who are approved by the Senate. But with the Patriot Act, the Bush Admin. was given permission to fill those jobs with temporary employees without having to get Senate approval. And thus, they decided that a good motivation to fire those people was either that they were prosecuting too many Republicans compared to Democrats or that some of the Bush Admin's friends wanted a couple years in a plum spot on their resumes. The politically-motivated mid-term removals of these folks is what Depodesta et al. are claiming is unprecedented. The White House as a whole probably didn't do anything illegal, but that's only because the law is so weak as to not cover what they actually did. Except of course for Alberto Gonzalez a couple weeks ago testifying under oath before Congress that there was no political motivation at all behind the firings, which there are witnesses to contradict, so someone is lying there. Anyway, if nothing else, it's a pretty clear ethics violation to have members of the House and Senate contacting and pressuring US Attorneys regarding cases that they were investigating, so there's at least 3 or so people who need to spend some time before their respective ethics committees, which is why Domenici is already lawyered up.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 03:33 PM) That's true, but I'll take the one that drives in four and puts you 2 up instead of 2 down. (actually, I was referring to the one against Riske)

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 03:24 PM) If Konerko doesn't hit his, depending on how the rest of the game would have played out, Pods may have never had his chance to be a hero. If Joe Crede doesn't hit his...then Pods, Konerko, Blum, and Iguchi might all have never gotten the chance either.

CAP has a couple of notable Clinton Admin. names on the record talking about the difference between the usual change-over of Federal Prosecutors at the start of an administration and what the Bush Administration has done here. That's former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta and here's Mary Jo White, who served as a U.S. Attorney from 1993-2002.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 02:17 PM) Look, Scooter did perjure himself. I totally agree with that. However, the desparate connection or the attempts to connect the White House gets really, really old. I saw a good metaphor for things like this today. If Bill Clinton had decided to start selling off pardons in exchange for campaign contributions, is there anything in the law that would actually stop him? As far as I know, no there is not anything specific that would ban such an action, or at least there are ways to get around enough laws to make that sort of action legal. However, just because no specific crime was committed by specific people doesn't mean that nothing untowared happened, and it doesn't mean that the Congress doesn't have a right to ask what exactly these people did in this case and write down the story they are told. The law in terms of the leaking of a CIA agent is very, very, very specific in what it requires for people to be charged. But just because the first person who leaked the name seems to have done it by accident and thus could not be charged under a law that required malicious intent, that doesn't mean that it's 100% perfectly ok for everyone and their grandmother inside the White House to go and start sending around that name to every single person in the press who will listen for the next 2 weeks. It's also worth having someone in the Congress ask exactly what sort of damage, if any, was done to national intelligence gathering efforts by having a CIA front corporation and everyone "employed" under that umbrella organization exposed as working for the CIA, especially given the rumors that Mrs. Wilson happened to be working specifically on WMD programs in the Middle East before she was outed. Not every set of Congressional hearings has to end in charges, and just because something isn't Illegal doesn't mean it can't be looked into.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 01:04 PM) That is false Why did this investigation start? Why did this investigation continue after Fitz found out who the leaker was? He knew 3 mos. prior to talking to Libby that Libby was not the leaker, so why continue to question people? The indictment against Scooter Libby says that the investigation was started, at the request of the CIA, on September 26th, 2003. The first time Mr. Libby spoke with Investigators was October 14th, 2003, and again on November 26th, 2003. Both of these times, Mr. Libby lied to investigators. Patrick Fitzgerald was not appointed to the case until December 30th, 2003. Fitzgerald was not even on the case when Mr. Libby began committing his crime. He had plenty of motivation to go after Mr. Libby from the second he was appointed, because Mr. Libby had already obstructed justice at that point.

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 01:27 PM) That's funny, because that is very likely the most important regular season homer in Sox history. Without having lived through more than about 25 seasons of white sox history, and with the fact that I don't remember the first chunk...I'd say that's the biggest White Sox swing I've ever seen by anyone. But hey, to each their own.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 01:24 PM) Crede's double in that game was beyond awesome. That whole inning in fact - AJ going to 1st on the K, Ozuna stealing 2nd, and Crede's double - best inning ever. Even with all of the world series stuff...I still don't know if there was a moment I am more a fan of than Joe Crede vs. David Riske. I don't think any of the other moments even happen without that swing.

Hey, they're strippers too.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) no, but either are the scoreboards on the 3 sites "8 more people just logged into gameday! Oh f***, shut it down, shut it down now, before you kill us all!!!!" -people running Gameday.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 12:39 PM) Johan had a good outing today: 3 IP 1 hit 3k's 1.80 ERA for the spring He always gets off to a rough start and gets really hot after the AS break.

The question is...does Mr. Gore purchase enough carbon offsets to also cover his own flatulence?

CQ.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 08:55 AM) Another piece of trivia. Jim Thome owns the best piece of hunting land on the White Sox. Please tell me he's never met the Vice President...

Most improved: if he get the playing time: Anderson. I'm just not sure he'll get the chance. If not him, then I go with Jark Guahrle. Biggest step backwards: JD. I'm still not sure he'll stay fully healthy on us, and i mean, come on, how damn good was he last year? X factor: Scott Podsednik. With the guys we have 2-5, we need someone to get on base, and some steals would be nice too. If he can get back to healthy form, then we're in good shape. Personally though I can't stand the thought of Erstad leading off.

The only thing that's going to get Ozzie fired before the end of the 08 season is Ozzie's mouth. If we keep getting worse, the locker room falls apart, and the young guys KW trades for don't work with Ozzie, then I could see Ozzie departing then. Certainly not before that.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 08:11 AM) I've actually liked Owens' at bats, and I watched him play some OF (a couple games on TV, and one in person in ST last year). He looked a lot better out there than, say, Ozuna does. Not in the same league as Anderson, though. I'm on the believer side with Owens, I think he can turn into an MLB starting OF. But I'm in the minority. As for this year, if he has a good spring (and thus far, he hasn't), I think he deserves a shot as much as Anderson does. But Owens is still raw, and a year of playing at AAA will help him immensely. He'd be more ready in 2008. With a speed guy, it's surprisingly easy to wind up as a ML quality outfielder, IMO. All you have to do is not strike out. Put the ball in play and you're going to hit for a good average, because you'll beat out enough ground balls to improve your average. And defensively, even if you have no arm and make poor decisions in the OF, your speed can help you make up for the mistakes.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 7, 2007 -> 08:52 PM) Oh heavens no... I don't want him to be the starter, just maybe the 4th OF'er. If Podsednik is not ready to start the season, and Ozzie decides Anderson does not earn the starting job, nor do Owens or Sweeney...then who else is left?

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Mar 7, 2007 -> 08:43 PM) maybe mr_genius and EM will share their bills as well and we'll see how we all stack up against big ol' hypocritical Al. You may take the prize. I'm replacing bulbs with compact fluorescents a room at a time or as the incandescents blow. I'll probably have to get them all in and then compare the same months in consecutive years to see the savings. I also need to replace the cr@ppy old windows with energy efficient ones but they are crazy expensive to redo an entire house. I'll take the prize probably, but I think I have a ton of stuff going for me. No kids, almost no reason to heat the place, the fact that it's an apartment and not a house so I don't use my own electric for things like washing clothes. That said...When I first switched from normal bulbs to the compact fluorescents, I literally cut my electric bill in 1/2 (at the time, it was about a $30 a month cut. Saved more later by switching air filters to an ionic breeze and buying an oscillating fan to use in the summer, but those bulbs paid for themselves in like 3 months as far as I was concerned)

If Podsednik was truly going to be out until May, I could see him having a good shot at making the big league team. But everything, and I mean everything I've read anywhere except from the folks here suggests that Podsednik will be playing baseball in April, maybe even early April. Personally though, I'd still prefer Anderson as the starting CF, even if Terrero has a better preseason. All things considered though, its entirely possible that Terrero could be a better option as a 4th OF than Erstad. Totally serious. Terrero is much less of an injury risk, because of the age/injuries to Erstad Terrero will probably play a better CF, and Terrero had a pretty darn good year at AAA last year despite the fact that he didn't see a lot of big league playing time.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 7, 2007 -> 08:35 PM) But Mike Caruso had a monster rookie season Back to Jerry Owens, he had very impressive AA numbers two years ago but he really struggled in AAA last year. He is pretty bad defensively but, IMO, he is better then Pods in the OF. He is also a LF, not a CF. I think Owens is best suited for 4th OF in the MLB. He has speed, he is a good contact hitter, and he could play all 3 spots if needed. But then again, he can be a decent leadoff hitter if he can work on his stealing and fine toon his hitting. Right now, IMO, if Owens could hit .300 against big league pitching, he's a better option than Podsednik due to age, injury, and cost. I just have seen nothing yet that convinces me that he can hit that well in the real show.

About $15-$20 a month for 900 square feet here, if we're comparing. Those fluorescent bulbs work like freaking gangbusters, I swear. (And about $7 on average for gas, but I have very little heating needs)

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 7, 2007 -> 08:06 PM) I mean, hey, it worked for both Clintons for years! But seriously, why did Scooter go through all the trouble of trying to remember what really happened and then why did he choose to air it all out? As I get older, I mix up stuff all the time, and no, not on purpose. I remember details a lot less clearly then I did 10 years ago. So, "I don't remember" is plausible, and there's no trial. So what the hell REALLY happened here? What really happened is that he concocted an untrue story which he told investigators repeatedly in multiple separate interviews to cover up the inconvenient facts that the VP's office had attempted to use his wife's job at the CIA as a means of smearing her husband. That is why he was convicted. Saying "I don't know" would have been a lot better than the fabricated story he did tell them.

QUOTE(ptatc @ Mar 7, 2007 -> 07:39 PM) Nooooo. Not a guy with speed. Speed is useless. Ozzie will mismanage him. He'll only play because Ozzie loves speed!!!!! If he could hit in the big leagues like he hit in AA 2 years ago, he'd be darn useful playing, but if he hit like he hit in AAA last year.... Leadoff men with excellent speed who steal bases, hit .330, and push .400 with their OBP's can be damn useful. Leadoff men who hit .262 with excellent speed with OBP's pushing .330 tend to wind up being replaced.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 7, 2007 -> 06:51 PM) So would a 5 year deal, which is what teams will be lining up to give him if he has a normal "Buehrle" type year. Well, there are 2 sides to this way of thinking, if your goal is to make as much money as possible. The first option is to get the longest contract for the most money that you can right now. That's the Zito method. The other option is to count on the continuing growth of contracts. It's more of a gamble if you can't stay healthy, but if you can, then it seems to be worth it for players to take the shorter overall contract with more $ per year if it also gets them onto the Free Agent market again. It's actually pretty hard for me to come up with an example of a Free Agent pitcher who's succeeded, but this is the thinking behind Rafael Furcal's deal with the Dodgers. The Cubs offered him more years but less money per year, the Dodgers offered fewer years but more money per year, he took the Dodgers offer, figuring that if he stayed healthy he could get another contract for even more after a few years.