Balta1701

No different than what they did with Nader, and no different than things the left would do if say, Roy Moore or someone like that were to have run against Bush in 04.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 10:31 AM) The ethnic hatred and the lack of respect for human life has to stop NOW, not 100 years down the road when Sunnis and Shia grow up and realize that it's not only OK for them to peacefully coexist, but that the Jews have a righ to live as well. Ah, but here's the key...this is not going to happen when the military might of the west keeps turning various countries in the Middle East into failed states. Lebanon was actually starting to look like your real hopeful place, in that someday, it might be able to grow out of the terrorist mess. It actually had a democratically elected government, it was actually on the road to recovery from a long civil war, it was actually undertaking steps at modernization. Yes, Hezbollah was still there and armed to the teeth. However, within Lebanon, there were growing movements before this to either bring Hezbollah into the fold as a solely political organization, a-la the IRA, or to forcefully disarm it by using the Lebanese armed forces. Which btw, may be one of the reasons Hezbollah launched this attack in the first place...now no one in Lebanon wants them disarmed. Now, Lebanon has been once again reduced to a failed state, which will generate decades of additional fighters, and Hezbollah has seemed like the only force capable of acting to defend that country. You cannot simply make millenia-old hatreds vanish by sitting at your computer and telling them that it should happen. You cannot bomb away millenial aged hatreds either. The only way you're going to do that is to actually sit back, try to contain things, and focus on encouraging economic development within the countries that are there. It will take time, and patience, and you will have to deal with managing smaller crises, and occasionally a big one (Peak Oil or the Iranian bomb), but the only way you're going to allow this hatred to die off is to give the people paths to better lives.

I think JD is a very good defensive player when he gets to play alongside a very good defensive player. Yes, he does have key weaknesses, like some of his runs to the side after balls. Those weaknesses get magnified if he doesn't have someone alongside him who can fill in those gaps. If you put JD up alongside a center fielder with great range, JD will do an excellent job in RF, because it cuts down on the area he has to cover moving laterally; he can take a few more steps towards the line, and focus more on covering forwards and backwards rather than covering the Right Center gap. In other words, stop (#&*($&389&&*(%* putting Mack in CF, and people will stop complaining about Dye's defense. His arm is good, but the accuracy hasn't thrilled me. His arm is good enough to scare some people into not advancing, which is helpful, but he doesn't have the outfield assists to show for it.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 10:08 AM) So ... what exactly should Isreal do? I believe the only option in this case is an immediate Cease-fire along the currently proposed lines, with a large U.N. force in the area with the goal of disarming Hezbollah. Of course, this has its own problems, specifically the fact that Hezbollah won't want to be disarmed, and the fact that given the manpower demands in Iraq, very few countries actually have soldiers that could be contributed to such a peacekeeping force, and even fewer would be willing to do so, but it's certainly going to be vastly less messy than what Israel is currently doing.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 09:30 AM) But in THIS CURRENT conflict, I believe that the Israeli response has been justified. I may have done a few things differently, but overall I support their effort to defend themselves from a terrorist-controlled Southern Lebanon. And that, right there, is exactly the line of thinking which has made the "War on Terror" go so poorly thus far. When your enemy is willing to attack civilians with no regards to any of the laws of war, a nation can use that reasoning to justify any action in response. The only problem is, of course, that it totally neglects any thought about how the rest of humanity will respond, which is exactly what we're seeing in Israel right now; a dramatic strengthening of support for Hezbollah, and for almost every terror organization, due to the Israeli response, and Israel will spend its next few decades fighting against the terrorists born out of this campaign, just as they've spent the last few decades fighting terrorists born out of previous campaigns.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 09:23 AM) If history is any guide, another despot will take his place in Cuba. It's their tradition. But if we can get a US backed Despot, everything will be great!

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 09:15 AM) You're right. I should've given the examples of the IDF sending suicide bombers into malls and restaurants in Ramallah during a time of peace. Or I could've used the exmaples of the IDF going across the border and kidnapping members of the Lebanese army. Oh, maybe the example of the IDF firing missiles from the backyards of Israeli homes and going screaming to Al Jazeera that the Lebanese are targeting Israeli citizens in their homes. Thank you for finally proving my point. Because of the transgressions of their opponents, EVERYTHING Israel does is justified in your eyes. Any time someone points out a war crime Israel has committed, that is exactly your response, you say "yeah, Israel has done some bad things, but they're all ok, because look how bad their opponents are." It is that line of thinking from the west which has helped feed the terrorist threats we see today for decades, and which will continue feeding it for decades to come.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 08:56 AM) I have a friend from Ramallah and have heard several stories about the heavy-handidness of the Israeli police/military. Trust me, I know that Israel is far from innocent. But you're correct that there is no moral equivalency between building a highway through a Palestinian man's farm and blowing up a bus full of Israelis. People who believe otherwise need to get away from their socialist college professors for a while and experience the real world. So you choose the most benign example you could possibly give, building a highway through a farm? Do you really think that's even remotely representative of the worst things being done by that side in this conflict?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 06:20 AM) The amount of innings our starters have thrown over the past few seasons, were probably bound to catch up to them at some point; MB 01- 221.1 IP 02 - 239 IP 03 - 230.1 IP 04 - 245.1 IP 05 - 236.2 IP 06 - 138.1 IP (so far) That's over 1300 innings in 5 and a half seasons for Mark. Freddy 01 - 238.2 IP 02 - 223.2 IP 03 - 201.1 IP 04 - 210 IP 05 - 228 IP 06 - 133.2 IP (so far) Total of over 1200 innings for Freddy there in those 5 and a half seasons. But don't those numbers and the fact that we haven't seen a dropoff before on either of those pitchers argue that they've been able to handle a lot of innings in the past without problems so there's no gigantic reason to expect that the innings will all of a sudden kill them?

"Tonight, we make soap."

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Aug 1, 2006 -> 06:29 AM) Not sure of the exact wording in the tax bill, but as it is reported, it says estates valued over $1 million, not the portion of estates valued over $1 million. It could be the way you described, but with the IRS, you never know. However, even if it is just the part over $1 million, it is still mine. No, you are incorrect, it is just the part over the limit which is taxed. Non-partisan Factcheck.org.

By the way, I'd just like to take a moment to say that Jim Bowden, IMO, cost himself his job today. It might happen at the end of the year when Soriano leaves, it might happen 2-3 years down the road after the Nats way overpay Soriano in order to avoid losing him, but it cost him his job.

Come back Mark! We miss you! Oh, and Mack better not F***ing start in CF tomorrow.

Whoever's pitching steps up the biggest will win this division. Plain and simple.

QUOTE(zygoat @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 09:05 PM) actually having him out could be a blessing. He has been the main hitter in this lineup as of late and him being out could get the other guys to start hitting. Also, keep him healthy so when we play the tigers later in the year, he can pound the spiff out of them There is no sense in which having Jim Thome out with a nagging injury will be a good thing.

Boston put Trot Nixon on the DL today, and Jason Varitek pulled up lame at 2nd base early in teh game.

QUOTE(zygoat @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 02:57 PM) this trade does not scare me at the moment, but come october they are the toughest lineup (scroll up to Sam's post for the lineup) that lineup is guarenteed to score runs in any game By the way, those things about "This is the toughest lineup" or "This is guaranteed to score runs every game" or "this is the best team", those things were all said about the Yankees the moment they got Damon last fall too.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 07:53 PM) It is difficul to use the term "war crime" here when the instigator is a terrorist organization that doesn't play by the rules of war. Does blowing up a bus full of Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv fall under the "war crimes" definition as well? At least the Israelis told the Lebanese to get out of the region before they attacked. And if you're going to accuse Israel of "ethnic cleansing"... wow... I can't imagine what you'd accuse Iran, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda of. I agree with some of what you say and Israel sure as hell hasn't handled this situation perfectly. But what are they supposed to do? Nearly the entire Arab world wants them all dead... because they're Jews. Just like Hitler and Stalin murdered tens of millions of them in the not-too-distant past... because they're Jews. What the hell would you do if you were in their shoes? Would you try to appease the terrorists who want you dead or would you go after them aggressively to ensure your survival? Of course blowing up a bus of civilians falls under the war crimes definition. Did I not point out that targeting civilians, with say, rockets that are indiscriminate, is a war crime? And the stuff Al Qaeda does, that is the textbook definition of a war crime; attacks on civilians for no reason. Here's the real key for you...having someone else do something to you, having someone else be the "instigator", does not mean that everything you do is ok. It doesn't matter if who you're fighting is a non-traditional army, it doesn't matter if they start the war or they start targeting civilians first. Having someone commit a war crime against your people does not give you a blank check to go out and commit war crimes. A bomb going off on a bus or a missile hitting a train station does not give you the right to level an entire country and expel everyone who lives there. And yes, a lot of Arabs want them dead because they're Jews. But a lot more Arabs want them dead because of those 34 children they killed 2 days ago.

I know I don't like to cheer people getting hurt, but is anyone else really glad that Mike Sweeney is not with K.C. right now?

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 05:46 PM) Myth, my ass. They have plenty of (video) evidence to back it up, not to mention precedent on Hezbollah's part. Israel has absolutely nothing to gain by killing Lebanese civilians. In fact, doing so harms them significantly. On the other hand, Hezbollah has everything to gain from a PR standpoint by sending innocent Lebanese to slaughter. Given that the entire Middle East has been trying to wipe them off of the face of the Earth for the past 60+ years, it's no wonder that Israel needs a "war machine" to survive. Yes. Unfortunately, it's "inevitable" that terrorist organizations will launch rockets indiscriminately into residential areas in Israel and that the rest of the Arab world won't give a crap because they want all of the Jews dead. Your comparison of the Israeli army to al Qaeda and Hezbollah is ridiculous and downright insulting to Jews. While the Israelis have not always "played nice" with their Arab neighbors (though usually in response to an attack), they at least have some regard for human life and have no desire to wipe Muslims off the face of the Earth. In fact, quite a few Muslims live in Israel and, IIRC, some even hold office. So, in the end, we've deteriorated all the way back in our definitions of civilized war to "Well they did it first!". The Israelis bomb the city of Qana over 80 times, basically trying to level the entire city, and keep bombing as the bodies of the children are removed, and continue bombing despite a 48 hour agreement not to bomb, and the response is of course "Yeah well they did it first, and they're evil!" Then Hezbollah responds by firing up missiles which they cannot target and which are certian to kill civilians indiscriminately, and the response from the other side is "well look at what damage Israel has done!" So in the eyes of people here, once a side is chosen, that side does no wrong because the terror done by the other side is justification enough for ANY response. Here's the reality. Israel is literally trying to destroy parts of southern lebanon they feel threaten them. In the former Yugoslavia, we called this Ethnic Cleansing. They are dropping pamphlets saying get out, and considering everyone else to be potential targets. Then they bomb the roads on which refugees are trying to escape. They attack civilian centers and blame the other side for using them as human shields, which is still an attack on a civilian center whether or not their claims are correct. They attack purely civilian institutions, or institutions of the Lebanese army, while claiming they are targeting only Hezbollah. These are war crimes. Hezbollah is a group based in a civilian population center, with huge support amongst those civilians. No matter what happens, they are going to be using Civilians as human shields. Civilians are going to die, because they are launching their attacks from civilian areas. This is a war crime. They are launching missiles which are totally indiscriminate. They are killing civilians, hititng hospitals. This is a war crime. In a truly just world, a United force would intervene, would break up both Hezbollah and the Israeli army, would capture the leadership of both, and would try them all for war crimes.

Also, Ned Lamont will be on the Colbert Report tonight.

Evan Bayh, by my count, a little over 8 weeks ago. Link Link

Link Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani, basically the man who single handedly has enough power to end the U.S. time in Iraq...openly threatening to do so if the Israeli/Lebanon situation does not end.

Linky

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jul 31, 2006 -> 06:02 PM) I'm not certain I agree, perhaps there will be a decrease in DUI/alcohol. I would like to know if pot is abused more than alcohol and if there are many people who would get high, but not get drunk, and if they would be likely to drive. It is cause for concern. And also, it'd be nice to know whether or not it was all the fault of the Jews.