Balta1701

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 04:51 PM) Look, people. THIS IS NOT ABOUT GEORGE BUSH, HARRY REID, NANCY PELOSI or ANY of these f***tard politicians! We HAVE to win this war. I don't care what the reasons for starting it was, I don't care anything else... but now that we are there, Somolia was a walk in the park compared to what will happen. Furthermore, we will HAVE to go back in to the region 5-10 years from now on what will be the bloodiest war this world has ever seen if we don't keep what balance we have now, even as fragmented as it is. These political hacks from BOTH sides need to shut the f*** up and figure out how to get this done. PERIOD. Bush put forward a plan, now either try it, come up with something better, OR SHUT THE f*** UP. The problem is, there simply may be no way to come up with anything that would resemble victory. It's entirely possible, and I believe it is true, that the U.S. has unleashed a mess in Iraq that there is no way out of. The U.S. is in a position where further escalation of the conflict in Iraq seems to do no good. When we pushed additional forces into Baghdad last summer in Operation Together Forward, Together Forward 2, and Together Forward: Electric Boogaloo, the violence just kept getting worse and worse. And it wasn't just that the violence turned against the Americans when there were more of them there; there was more violence against the U.S. and at the same time more Iraqi-Iraqi violence. The U.S. increased its presence and it was simply unable to even slow the tide of war; it went the wrong way. On the other hand, there's an obvious mess if the U.S. pulls out. Everyone recognizes this; it hands Iran near total control of the Iraqi government, removes the only thing keeping the Kurds as part of the national government, and essentially destroys any hope for an effective police force. My point of view on this whole mess right now is that there seems to be really nothing left that the U.S. can do which will help. The U.S. forces are totally inadequate to provide security in Iraq. There simply aren't enough of them to turn the tide. An increase in force by less than 15% simply isn't going to provide enough strength to do the job, and there just aren't more troops available. We're pulling troops out of Afghanistan to send them to Iraq as part of the augmentation for crying out loud. If winning is so bloody important, the most important thing in U.S. history, then it is absolutely irresponsible and stupid for this nation to keep this up without finding itself 500,000 more ground troops. Or pick your number, whatever it takes, as long as it's huge. But if it's not important enough to do that, it's not important enough for the President to sacrifice his Presidency on it and restart the draft, then the only questions I see remaining are: how much more will America give before it pulls out, and what can America do to mitigate some of the consequences of backing out? Because if we're not going to go all-in, if we're just going to go piecemeal and think that a 15% increase will do the job (it won't), then that is all that is left to do.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 01:56 PM) Lets get this straight. This a surge because of all the words that could have been used to describe Bush's plan it's the one that's viewed most positively by focus groups. Got a new one today I kinda like:

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 03:30 PM) Are they illegal outside of MLB? Honest question. They aren't as 'harmful' as steroids, are they? I've always thought of amphetamines as (more or less) energy type things that, prior to last season, most players took. Ampetamines are considered by the United States to be Schedule 2 drugs, meaning they have some legitimate medicinal uses but are tightly controlled (you can't get more than a 30 day prescription, etc.). They are under the same category as Cocaine, PCP, Morphine, etc. If I'm reading the law correctly, possession of those products carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, with a minimum of 6. Anabolic steroids are class 3 drugs, meaning that the penalties for possession of steroids are actually quite a bit lower than the penalties for possession of amphetamines. 5 year max sentence, first offense.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 03:25 PM) CEO wages? Are you suggesting that since it is a monopoly that anyone could run it? Just hire a couple of college grads and say here's the keys? You have infrastructure to maintain and a myriad of other issues. Honestly, with a lot of these companies paying out tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses, there are probably a lot of college kids who could do almost as good of a job, to the point where the money they would cost the company would be significantly less than the difference in salaries between some random student and the $500 million CEO.

QUOTE(smalls2598 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 02:05 PM) Giambi as a shortstop.......yikes What's so scary about that? He sure seems to have the small, thin, lanky body of a Shortstop. 6'2", 190 lbs.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 01:52 PM) Something tells me that Victor Conte doesn't have a license to prescribe steroids. I'm assuming that HGH is also illegal to sell without a license, but I could be wrong about that. No, Victor Conte did not have a license to prescribe their use. HGH is also illegal without a prescription. And furthermore, the steroids and HGH that are given to people with a prescription are done in doses far, far FAR lower than the doses taken by professional athletes for performance enhancement. Furthermore, it is also illegal to possess or distribute many of these substances in any form at all. The original law was written in 1990 and covered a range of steroids, and the law was expanded significantly in 2004 (including THG after it was discovered). The law also has a vague definition of what constitutes an anabolic steroid (anything related to testosterone or any of the other banned substances on the list).

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 01:53 PM) I guess this is sort of a spoiler but my sister said that Wayne Palmer is the president now. I can't quite remember the situation from a previous season but didn't he almost murder someone? The show's a great waste of time but it's ridiculously far-fetched. He was in the same room when Sherri Palmer was killed by Allan Milliken's wife, before Mrs. Milliken shot herself. He was also along with Jack when they went to a bank in season 5 to retreive the recording of Pres. Bush Logan, which led to a firefight that killed the manager at the bank. But personally, he hasn't actually harmed anyone.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 01:00 PM) Garnett would look good with the Bulls, I'm just not sure how the salaries would work out, the Bulls would have to send like 4-5 players to the Wolves, and the Wolves would be way over on their roster count. I'm not sure how exactly the other key contract is structured, but I think that if the Bulls send along Kirk Hinrich and PJ Brown, I think that with Kirk's extension, that covers most of the salary issues. The rest would just be filling in enough players for Minny to be willing to do it, and for the Bulls to actually want to make the deal. Other than Kirk and PJ, the only other one with a contract big enough to avoid having it turn into a 5-6 for 1 swap is Wallace.

House again passes bill repealing Mr. Bush's stem cell research limitations, but fails to achieve a veto-proof majority. Vote was 253 to 174.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 01:16 PM) For some reason I really liked Albert Belle. I mean the press hated him. He was surly to the point of beligerence. He got caught with a corked bat . Yet he really seemed to play hard and he put up monster numbers the few years he was with the Sox. I think I just liked him because everyone else disliked him. He played with an attitude. He reminds me of AJ in that way only to a higher degree, where he crossed the line from being a mere pest to having his sanity questioned. His career was shortened by injuries and I haven't checked his lifetime stats but I think he deserved more votes then he got. It wouldn't be the first time the press held a grudge. 381 home runs, 1726 career hits, 1239 RBI. .295 career BA, 933 OPS. If he put up those numbers in the late 70's, he might have a reasonable shot. But by comparison with the juiced ball/steroid era of the 90's, he just doesn't measure up.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 12:46 PM) Lieberman wasn't the only one saying that we would be drawing down by this time. And any and all of them were clearly wrong, and were obviously so at the time. There are folks on the left who are almost making a game out of recording what date people in the media or government say "give us another 6 months" or "Give us until the end of the year" and calling them on that when that deadline passes and withdrawal hasn't even come close to starting. Joe Lieberman was an "End of the year" guy during the election campaign, and immediately afterwards became an "increase troops" guy.

QUOTE(Palehose13 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) You have got to be kidding me. Murph runs his show like he is catering to 10 year olds in the 1950's. He has idiotic sound effects and I'd rather listen to fingernails on a blackboard than his voice. He thinks there is always some conspiracy or something and the "Andy McPhail...FAIL" got old about 3 years ago. He needs to stuff a combo from Browns in his mouth and shut up.

Even if Uribe's legal troubles went away, he looked in the last photo we saw of him like he'd added on even more weight. He looks out of shape, distracted, and probably is still as stubborn as ever on his swing. Especially if he's in South America, the odds are he hasn't spent much time working with Walker on his swing. I'd like to think he'll get better, but I think he's just going to fade away.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 12:00 PM) Having said that, a lot of Democrats and Republicans were saying as late as August that we would be drawing down troops, because even according to Congressional visits this time last year, "it was getting better". If you're counting Lieberman, sure. And the rest were probably trying to save their Congressional seats from the voters who are fed up with this mess. But aside from that, anyone who has paid any attention at all has seen beyond a shadow of a doubt that things have been going straight into the toilet for the past year. Hell, in August, the trends were obvious and bad. And they've just kept up. Graph from GAO Report Detailing Enemy Attacks against U.S. and Its Allies in Iraq, Jan. 2007 01-11-2007 Updated: 01-11-2007

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 11:55 AM) If I had a futures account, I'd be going long LSC in the later months of 2007. Big time. I wouldn't wait that long. Oil typically spikes over the summer and declines in the latter months. I would probably get in sooner rather than later. Especially with Bush rattling the sabre over Iran even more. QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 12:01 PM) It only takes one bomb or hurricane. This may well be another weak year for hurricanes because it's shaping up to be a big El Nino year, and the warm water in the East Pacific seems to create strong winds over the Atlantic that shear and break apart storm systems before they get going. But we'll see, God only knows what happens when the world get hotter.

Thank God the White Sox did not sign Giambi.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 11:00 AM) So Balta, let me get this accurate. Let's "talk" to Iran and Syria, both of whom want to destroy everything we stand for. Let's "talk" to Iran, who openly says they want nuclear weapons. Let's "talk" to all these people who don't give a rat's ass about how we live in a free society when they oppress and kill their own people who dare have disagreements with their philosophical points of view. Let's "talk" to people who say the holocaust never existed. YEA! Let's BE NICE! :) Please. Let's also ask the question another way. Semantics aside, how come we never see a poll from CBS asking "do you want to win the war in Iraq"? I bet that answer is a resounding yes. But we can't show THAT in the arena of public opinion, now can we? It IS a surge, because as the president said, none of this is a blank check for an unlimited period of time. Somehow, you don't want to ever listen to that, do you? So, do YOU want to win the war in Iraq? (waiting for the quibble of "what's winning"?) - and yes, I have an answer, and so did the president last night, if you wanted to listen to it. Most of you do not want to listen to it, because you don't agree with what "winning" is. Yes.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 11:02 AM) I see your point, but disagree. So now, people making $10 will get a 20% raise, only because the floor was lifted? I doubt it. If that's the case, me at $100 an hour, should now get paid $120 an hour. Well, that depends...as you go to higher and higher income levels, the impact of a minimum wage increase should go towards zero, because those jobs become less and less competitive with yours. The way to think about it to my eyes is this...imagine yourself stuck in the worst job in the world. Shoveling elephant dung or something like that, take your own pick. But you're getting paid $8 an hour right now, and you don't have the experience to find anything better. You could apply at the McDonalds, but you'd go back to making $5.15, and you can't afford that, so those jobs are not competitive with yours. But then the minimum wage raises to $7.25. Suddenly that McDonalds job looks a lot more promising, so the person employing you has a choice...lose you as a worker and try to find someone else who will do the job at $8 an hour (often an expensive proposition just with training), or give you a raise to $8.50 or $9 to keep you. But as you go up in income, the impact should be less. If you were making $10 an hour, a job below you that jumps from $8 to $9 might or might not seem appealing to you. If you were making $12 an hour, probably even less.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 10:54 AM) Actually an index is a better way to say it then COLA. Rex, I agree with your point - to tell you the truth, that's where a lot of people get stuck is in that bucket 20% above the minimum, and that's where the stagnation occurs. It's darn hard to live off of $400 a week, especially with health care costs going like they are. But in no way does it effect the minimums - which was more my point - whatever my point was, hell I don't know anymore what I was trying to say. I would counter that raising the minimum wage certainly does effect the bucket 20% above the minimum wage, because if you increase the minimum wage by 20%, either those workers are now sitting at the minimum wage (and therefore have every reason to consider finding another job at 20% above the new minimum wage) or their employer will consider giving them a raise so that the position stays competitive with the people on minimum wage.

QUOTE(Butter Parque @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 09:25 AM) I'd use Sisco, it would be him or Boone Logan and we all know how that would turn out. Yup. Boone would come in and dominate. Seriously people, am I the only one here who's ever seen a player, especially a pitcher, and especially a relief pitcher with tricky stuff, come up, be a bit scared to throw strikes at first and get in trouble, but then learn the ropes better and suddenly become a much tougher opponent?

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 09:09 AM) We took advantage of a soft schedule but have again had trouble closing out good teams. We should have a couple more wins and I am dissapointed we didn't get those wins because upper echelon teams do that and right now we are basically teetering between being a good team and an upper echelon team. We are in the East so obviously we have a chance, but I still don't consider us upper echelon until we consistently beat both good teams and light up on the bad ones. The real good news is...this team, for the next probably 4 or 5 years as currently constructed, should only get better, even as Ben Wallace gets older. The average age on the Bulls is still 25.6 years, and that's including the relatively ancient PJ Brown. There are still rookies developing, and more draft picks, and cap room/expiring contracts all available to the Bulls to get better. And even though the Bulls haven't yet taken that final step, it's damn encouraging to see the 2004 draft class suddenly this season stepping up and really looking good at what they do. The good news for the Bulls is...if they want to be the best, there's time to learn. It's probably better that they learn now that they need to do more to close out a close game or beat a really good team than it is to learn that in the playoffs. Now is when we start seeing what these players and Coach Skiles are made of.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 09:03 AM) Agreed that it's a shame, given that his God-given talent allowed him to become the greatest position player of our generation. He was a first-ballot HOFer before he started using that junk. I see your point about his arrogance. Then again, I don't see how it makes him any more of a cheater than Sammy or Mark in their attempt to break Maris' record in '98. It doesn't make him any more of a cheater than them. They are all in the same crowd in that respect. I don't like any of them, and I hope they all wind up out of the HOF. I'm moderately sickened thinking about how I bought into the lies back in '98, and I really took pleasure in watching those guys crash and burn before Congress. Bonds, unfortunately, is still playing the game though, and that makes him the current focus of my Ire. The one way that Bonds is making it worse is that currently, it is all about himself. At least Sosa and Mac had the cover of no one really knowing for sure. Now everyone knows for sure about Bonds, and he's not nice enough to just shut his mouth and slip away. The best thing McGwire is doing now, unless he wanted to sit down with George "Whitewash" Mitchell and tell everything, is just shutting up and going away.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 20, 2006 -> 12:25 PM) Dems are having a hard time deciding on a spot for the 2008 convention - Denver or New York. Given that Colorado and the mountain west generally are the new frontier for the Dems, and NY is either a given for the Dems or a given for Giuliani, I think Denver is the better choice for them. Plus after the GOP had it in the Big Apple in 2004, it seems like the Dems are just following them around. And it's Denver. The right choice.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:56 AM) "ESCALATION". Nice buzzword of the day. I will call it a surge when I have some indication as to exactly when it will end. Doesn't even need to be a date, just a benchmark would do fine. Some suggestion that it might actually not be a permanent troop increase other than saying it won't be. Congress may well be able to attach enough strings to the funding to turn this into a surge rather than an escalation, but from having read the speech last night, thus far, there is nothing that makes it temporary other than Mr. Bush saying that it is. And considering that last night he also openly threatened Iran and Syria, with no suggestion of any diplomacy at all any more, he's also threatening even further escalation.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:51 AM) Here's the other thing to consider... he might have failed an amphetamine test but who's to say it was even involved with the sport. He might just have a drug addiction. In that case, he's still getting a competitive advantage through chemistry. So who the Hell cares what the circumstances are? QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:48 AM) I'm not giving him a free pass for that. I'm just saying that he's no worse than Canseco, Palmiero, Sammy, McGwire, etc. when it comes to cheating. I don't consider those guys to be bad human beings. But the way that Barry has treated people throughout his career has convinced me that he's a very poor human being. In my book, that's a lot worse than being a cheater. I consider him to actually be quite a bit worse than any of those, simply because he's the one who's body worked well enough with the drugs to give him a shot to challenge for that record. And he also will not simply slip away from the game to preserve a little bit of its shattered dignity - he actually wants the record, and seems to think he deserves it, despite what he did to get there.