Balta1701

Election day first. Then that one. How about we just move the Super Bowl to President's Day Weekend? Just knock the start of the season back about 2 weeks. It'd compete with Baseball less, people would be home anyway, and you'd get far more games where the elements are actually a problem than with the current scheme (something I personally think is one of the more entertaining parts of football games)

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 02:43 PM) I think that captures communications intercepts. But the questions in reply are...does that law give the President the right to override any existing law based on his judgement that someone "aided" the terrorists, and how does one define "aiding" the terrorists? Let's take this to the extreme in the hopes of proving something...if a terrorist were living next door to you, and you helped him unpack his car when he moved in, you may well have aided him. You helped him move in, maybe even carried bomb-making material, and then you didn't report him to the government (cause man, the stuff was in a box and you can't see through cardboard.) Can the President bypass the laws and just have you killed? If you're willing to apply such a wide standard that you say that the law in question allows the President to override existing laws to go after anyone he says aided the terrorists, what is stopping that circumstance beyond the hope that the President's office wouldn't do that? Clearly, I think that at some point, someone has to be willing to draw a line somewhere defining what the President's powers are based on that resolution when there is other settled law on the matter, and similarly, there must be some sort of definition of "Aided" applied, because otherwise there is nothing to stop the obscene example I gave above.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 02:27 PM) I agree. It makes sense for a big salary team like the Red Sox to trade Marte if they want to. IF Youkilis pans out, they could move him back to 3B and sign a top free agent 1B like Derrek Lee or Mark Teixeira in a year or two once Lowell is gone. In fact, they may very well be BETTER off doing it that way...for the simple reason that the odds that any player will turn out to be better than Tex are minimal...and if they stick a guy like Tex in their lineup...it matters even less that they have a guy who isn't great with the bat at 3rd as long as he gloves the ball every now and then. Ortiz and Teixeira in the heart of that order in 3 years? Eek. The only way that really becomes a bad move for the BoSox is if Marte turns into a 30-40 home run, MVP-caliber type guy every year...and even if he turns into a great player, the odds of him being better than the FA they could stick in his spot are even smaller.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 02:18 PM) I think that Coco Crisp would fill a huge hole for the Red Sox if he can play good defense as an everyday center fielder. But if the Red Sox end up keeping Andy Marte, I'm sure he will turn into an All-Star third baseman in the future. See, now this I can step in and argue a little bit. If I'm building a team...I probably hold onto Marte. Why? Because I personally don't have the budget of the Yankees or the Red Sox. However, if I'm building a team with their budgets and the expectation that I need to win 90-95 games and get to the playoffs every year...I think I have to make that deal, for 1 simple reason; the fans expect it. When I'm spending that kind of money, I just can't go into the season with a AA ball level player in Center Field. No matter who else I have in that lineup, it's just going to make me a laughingstock. Didn't the Yankees try that with someone like 2 years ago and wind up losing a couple of games because the guy was booting everything? That might even have been last year. If the Red Sox can get something which will help them compete this year...that's good enough for them. Why? Because even though they won't have Marte @ 3rd base in 07-14, their cash resources will let them find someone who can do a decent job there. All they need to do is bring in youth every now and then at 1-2 positions, such as the bullpen, to make the rest of their team a little more affordable (like the Y ankees with Cano) and they'll be in good shape if they don't make any other boneheaded personnel decisions, like trading for a Kevin Brown or something like that.

I have a problem with a few of these picks...specifically ones like the Blue Jays...since I just can't figure out how the Blue Jays can be a sleeper when a lot of people have been out there saying they could be better than the BoSox this year. To be a sleeper, don't you have to be a team no one is talking about? Baltimore would strike me as a sleeper in the AL East...and honestly I wouldn't put it past them to do some damage there if Tejada stays hot, Lopez and others stay healthy, Leo Mazzone is as good as advertised, and Palmeiro is gone.

Is there some means by which I can start taking bets on how long it will be before a thread is closed?

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 02:04 PM) Artest Not Not Traded. Can we make that the name of this thread...but keep the "d-bag" part?

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 01:51 PM) Most businesses that hire illegals would hire legal workers if they were available and willing to work. What we need, is what Bush proposed, a guest worker program. There are not enough Americans willing to do the manual labor jobs in the US. As Bush supporters have pointed out, our unemployment rate hovers at 5% and under. So it doesn't appear as if these workers are displacing anyone. Check http://themonitor.com a border newspaper and see all the job offers for migrant labor and meat processing plants. First of all...you know very well I don't believe those "Hovering at 5% unemployment rates" since they exclude the long-term unemployed and a wide variety of others who are classified as "out of the workforce" despite the fact that they may well be actively looking for a job. But related to that...I still am unconvinced that there really is a lack of people willing to do manual labor jobs here in the U.S. If I had no position right now, I'd do it quite willingly. The problem is...I wouldn't be willing to do it for $2 an hour when I could earn $6 an hour at McDonalds somewhere by being documented. Through the fact that they're undocumented, they have no workplace protections, and employers can pay them whatever they want and bury the corpses when something goes horridly wrong, and no one can say a thing. I don't view this as a way to fill in gaps created by the lack of Americans to do the work...I view it as far more an effort by employers to avoid having to spend the extra effort and money required to follow U.S. laws.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 01:57 PM) Funny you should mention Nissan America when the Japanese automakers are creating jobs here in the US while the "US" automakers are taking jobs to Canada and Mexico. Funny you should mention that, since one of the main reasons Japanese automakers have opened plants in the U.S. was a Reagan-era requirement that a certain percentage of those companies' vehicles had to be built in the U.S. for them to continue doing business here. Once the Japanese automakers met those requirements, they started opening their new plants up in Canada, because the population is much better educated and because their state-run health care system provides dramatically lower costs to the company than down here in the States, despite the fact that the tax rates are higher to pay for the health care system.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 01:25 PM) Frank is basically homerun or bust right now. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think he can last a whole season. The White Sox did what they had to do, and obviously Frank doesn't think he's done. It would be a shame if he injured his ankle/foot again and it caused him problems the rest of his life. Its good for him that he goes to a solid team, the real shame would have been if he tried to hang on with a team like TB. Frank was home run or bust last season...because there was so much pain in his foot he could basically do nothing except swing for the fences. There's always some possibility that another offseason has been enough to help him heal to the point that he can run without pain, and that he can put stress on the thing. It's not a terrible gamble on the A's part. On the other hand...even if I had him on my team, I don't think I'd want to risk giving him more than 200 AB's unless I was in dire need of a DH down the stretch, just because I'd be too worried about losing him again.

And you thought it was impossible for us to beat Oakland last year... So long Frank...I promise I'll be watching when #500 sails 450 feet somewhere.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 12:44 PM) Why don't we tax these bastards on this money? If the banks don't comply, revoke their charters. Dude...if you think the banks are the big problem...you're aiming your gun in the wrong spot. A few months ago Wal-Mart came to a settlement with the U.S. government for $11 million for using illegal immigrants as employees in like a couple dozen states. First of all...that number is almost certainly a pittance compared to how much the company made by using those immigrants as workers...but more importantly...the settlement, agreed to by the department of justice, required that the Feds give Walmart a 15 day official advance notice before any further inspections of their working conditions would take place. Yes, read that again..it's true. If I want to check to see if a Wal-mart is filling 1/2 of its workforce with illegal immigrants...I have to give official notice to the store and to Bentonville that I'm going to do the inspection, then wait 15 days, then go in. Now, can anyone out there figure out why exactly a company might want that 15 days? As far as I'm concerned, the DOJ agreed to a settlement which made it impossible for Walmart to ever be fined for using an illegal immigrant, child laborer, or laborer without overtime/lunchbreaks again.

I'm going to pass on the Cubs as a "Bust" team since I think it's implied. One real possible sleeper team could be Seattle...if Jeremy Reed and Adrian Beltre both have good years and their young pitching holds together. I don't think it'll happen, but it's at least possible. My top Bust team right now is the Angels, if you define a "Bust" as missing the playoffs when you should make it.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 09:46 AM) I don't know, still trying to figure out yours. Ok...I think we all needa 15 minute time out before all of our minds collapse...everyone...GO DANCE!!!!!

Picture @ the left = me watching the first of this show, whenever it becomes available. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/25/t...reut/index.html

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 09:40 AM) Not to mention the fact that the US taxpayer is paying to educate the children of illegals as well as paying for their health care. Those 2 alone are enough to offset the positive econoic impact of their presence several times over. But of course, you're missing the key point...it's a very positive impact to the Walmart and the rich celebrity who can employ them...it's negative to everyone else...but since the government still refuses to provide actual strong penalties to the folks who do employ them (except denying them high-level cabinet posts), there's no reason for a business owner not to take advantage of the situation.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 09:22 AM) Is 72 hours long enough to establish probable cause with respect to a FISA warrant? And if not what then??? Then take those 80% approval ratings in 2001-2002, the ones that got the Patriot Act passed 99-1, and use them to extend it from 72 hours to 2 weeks or whatever number would work better.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 06:50 AM) I would like to know why Mexico has the money to fund these kind of programs, when they could be using these same pesos to improve the life of people IN Mexico so that they won't feel the desparate need to risk their lives coming to the US in the first place? Instead of developing their own peoples well-being, the programs under Vincente Fox seem to be more interested in turning Mexico into some sort of a minor league feeder system for the US. The answer to that I think is quite obvious...a significant amount of money comes into Mexico through the fact that people do cross the U.S. border, either find jobs or occasionally sell drugs or commit a crime...and then send a significant fraction of the profits back across the border through banks which allow easy money transfers to Mexico. These sort of border crossings pump a lot of cash into Mexico's economy, cash which then recirculates as those families spend it on food, etc.

QUOTE(Wong & Owens @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 07:36 AM) And in other news, the sun rose in the east, Antarctica was cold, and a recent study found that most people thought puppies were "cute." That's all for now, stay tuned for The Maury Povich Show. So based on that second one...in roughly 50-100 years...no one will ever tell a lie again?

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 07:54 PM) Supposedly, the deal could still be on after they talk with him tommorow. The Kings should be as hesitant as humanly possible in those discussions. He better beg to go there.

QUOTE(wilmot825 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 04:46 PM) I love Frank but (Images not to scale)

The All-Not-Playing-In-The-WBC-For-The-U.S.-of-A. Team. Here's that lineup card: David Eckstein SS Scott Rolen 3B Paul Konerko 1B Barry Bonds DH Gary Sheffield RF Jim Edmonds CF Brian Giles LF Jeff Kent 2B Jason Kendall C Your pitching staff: Randy Johnson, Roy Oswalt, John Smoltz, Chris Carpenter, Mark Buehrle, Trevor Hoffman, B.J. Ryan, Jason Isringhausen, Kyle Farnsworth, Derrick Turnbow, Scott Eyre. And we didn't even mention our bench -- Todd Helton, Travis Hafner, Torii Hunter, Troy Glaus, Khalil Greene, Brian Schneider and Chone Figgins.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 04:34 PM) I'm saying his comments did influence Sac, but it was Sac's decision. It's not like he went the Ron Seiklay route and said, "I won't report." He said he doesn't prefer to play there. Of course he had influence, I never said he didn't. He was the reason why they 2nd guessed the trade. Yeah, but put yourself in Sac's shoes...if you're about to take on the biggest potential nightmare in the NBA, Terrel Owens plus violent charges into the crowd, that's one gigantic risk. If the guy so much as suggests he has any problems at all with the deal...you pull the plug instantly.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 04:30 PM) I agree on that count. But it's been sucking considering players like Steve Francis was able to get "drafted" by the team he wanted to and forcing Vancouver's hand. NBA has been a joke for some time. Heck, that's nothing...look at the Vince Carter and Alonzo Mourning messes from last year...where the guys basically just said "We won't play" and forced trades for vastly lower value than they were worth.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 04:28 PM) BTW, Ron Artest was on the radio not too long ago saying that he would play for Toronto if he had to. Man, they really need somebody to guard Kobe.