Balta1701

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 04:27 PM) If I had to wager, which I often do, I would place a large amount of money on any elected Iraqi government having the trial in Iraq and executing him. I would fully agree with you, but I think that is a simplistic view of the situation. Why? Because the "elected Iraqi government" is composed almost entirely of religious Shi'ite muslims. Given their relationship with the Sunni population of Iraq, of course the elected government wants to get their hands on him, for the same reason this nation wants to get its hands on Osama. (Or at least why we wanted to for those few months in 2001-2002 when he was still our priority). If you polled the Sunni population however, I bet you'd find overwhelming support for his trial happening in front of an international court. Ditto the sunnis in Saudi Arabia, etc. On the other hand, I'll bet the Shi'a in Iran would like the Shi'a in Iraq to take care of him. Etc.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 09:26 PM) He's no better than our 3rd best pitcher at this point. Right now, I definitely take Buehrle and Garcia over him. And Contreras too if he can keep up his pace from last year. And in a few years, I'll take McCarthy over him. What team pays a 3rd/4th starter over 10 mil a season? I mean besides a good first half of last year, what has the guy really done that makes people think he is worth that type of money, inflated market or no inflated market. Just face it, he's really not as great as you people giving him mouth to mouth make him out to be. Right now, I would take Buehrle, McCarthy, and the Contreras of 2nd half last season (if he still exists) over Jon. That's including all things, such as Salary. I would take Garland over Garcia in a heartbeat.

If Brandon McCarthy is not in the starting rotation in April...I still cannot be held responsible for my actions. Kenny, you hear me?! Ozzie! You shall rue that day!

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 09:19 PM) Maybe I'm missing something, but is this the same Jon Garland who was barely a .500 pitcher prior to this past year? The same one who had a nice first half, a so-so second half and then got rocked in the 3rd game of the World Series only to have us bail him out? Same guy? Just wondering? If he wants more than 8 million a season, later California kid. Didn't part of that "Rocking" happen on a bad call on a home run which wasn't actually a home run based on the moronic ground rules at Enron field? He's also 26. And a damn good sinkerball pitcher with a damn good 4 seam fastball.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 07:21 PM) By the way, didn't the Giants also re-sign Randy Winn? Is Steve Finley going to be a fourth outfielder for them? What a dumb trade. When 2 of your outfielders are named Moises Alou and Barry Bonds...and your third is Steve Finley...you probably should expect a significant number of your outfielders to spend time on the DL. What I have trouble figuring out is why the Angels want Alfonso. Backup for McPherson?

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 04:20 PM) I don't know if the US brought it up or not, I would think that there are legal scholars in Iraq that know this option exists. I am pretty sure that Iraq insisted on having the trial in Iraq (probably because they want to execute him). After a bit more reading...I think the Iraqi "leadership" did insist on having the trial in Iraq, but that was entirely the U.S. Appointed Iraqi Governing council, the first (and badly failed) attempt to make it look like the Iraqis were actually running the show there. By the time even "Sovereignty" was transferred, he was already in our hands and the tribunal which would try him had already been set up. So no "Sovereign" government ever was given the chance to make that choice, much less an elected one.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 04:13 PM) I think we (United States) did. Actually, upon doing a bit of reading/recalling...the ICC is only empowered with charging people for war crimes committed after it was created, so it really couldn't deal with Saddam since virtually everything he did happened before the ICC formed. The only other option would be a UN special Tribunal, a-la Milosevic. Did the U.S. present that option? I havent' a clue, although I doubt it.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 04:06 PM) I think Iraq has the right to try him in Iraq. If they want they can send it off to some 'international' court in Europe. Or maybe just give him a seat on the UN human rights council. lol Just out of curiosity, did we actually give the Iraqis the right to choose whether or not he should go to that court? Oh, and the UN human rights commission reform effort was seriously undermined a few weeks ago by Ambassador Bolton. Guess he wanted you to continue to be able to say bad things about it.

QUOTE(Frank the Tank 35 @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 03:58 PM) kool, u must be a 1337 mid-skool member... In all seriousness, if Vazquez' ship can be righted, he has the potential to be our ace. C'mon Coop... So does McCarthy. So does Contreras. So does Buehrle. Man, everyone pitches up to their potential in that lineup next year, and the only thing that beats us is a Royal Flush.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 04:00 PM) the Libertarian party doesn't want your property, possessions or offspring. But they also don't like to bankrupt the government in order to give you more property or possessions.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 03:55 PM) huh? Yea, put him on trial in Europe not Iraq. Good idea Yeah, because there's clearly no difference between being tried by a European court than by an "International" court.

I guess This is similar to the stuff 2k5 posted about:

QUOTE(ChiSox_Sonix @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 03:38 PM) wut about L Dukay? Isn't he going to jail for accepting bribes while in Congress?

TPM's important note:

QUOTE(Mercy! @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 03:18 PM) Honest to God. He's practically radioactive now. His days in the leadership are over. You can't find even a friendly Republican who wants to be photographed within ten feet of him. I'm sure the mug shot smile will fix all of that! Actually...just remember...the Feds may very well be on the verge of having Abramoff plea bargain out and testify for the state. That happens, and what they'll probably have on him will make the previous charges look like jaywalking charges.

QUOTE(Mercy! @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 03:18 PM) Honest to God. He's practically radioactive now. His days in the leadership are over. You can't find even a friendly Republican who wants to be photographed within ten feet of him. I'm sure the mug shot smile will fix all of that! Actually...just remember...the Feds may very well be on the verge of having Abramoff plea bargain out and testify for the state. That happens, and what they'll probably have on him will make the previous charges look like jaywalking charges.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 02:22 PM) I agree with R&W on the fact that in three years Damn will be an albatross for the Yankees. I also agree with chisoxfn that this was a good move for the Yankees ... but only in the short term. As for that comment R&W made about liking the direction the Red Sox are heading, well I didn't know you were all that infatuated with DOWN ... because that's where they are headed right now. They may salvage some things this offseason, but right at the moment, it ain't looking to damn good. You know, I'm not sure I agree with you on any part of that other than the "This contract will be an albatross" part. I'm first of all not sure how good of a move this is for the Yankees...because it still puts money where they don't need it. Did the Yankees lose games last year because they didn't score enough runs or because they gave up too many? I would say the latter. This hardly helps that...his defense will be a slight upgrade over Williams, but his speed is obviously dropping, he has no throwing arm, and who knows if he can stay healthy (supposedly his shoulder was one of the reasons for his performance in the playoffs last year). Furthermore, this sucks away dollars which could be spent next year to bring in a guy like Zito or Garland, or Derek Lee, each of whom would actually fill holes on that team. He's an upgrade over williams and Tony Womack, but that's really not saying anything. Next, I'm not so sure the Red Sox are actually headed "Down" as much as they are hovering right now. They have 3 or 4 guys on their pitching staff who can be great if Healthy (Schilling, Beckett, Foulke), and they're bound to get lucky enough to get a full season from one of them. Mark Loretta has a career OBP better than Damon's. They still "Have" Manny and Ortiz. If they can convince Manny to somehow stay, then they still have one of the best, if not the best, lineups in baseball. Their problem is that they're stacked at some positions and vacant at others (they have like 3 guys at 3rd and 2nd base, no one at SS, 1b, or CF right now). They need to shuffle people around to plug holes, but that's not as hard as trying to improve. Especially if they move some money in the process.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 03:16 PM) As long as I can get my gallon of milk for $1.98 at Walmart instead of shelling out 4 bucks at Jewel, they can keep that model going. Wow, I still beat that.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 01:42 PM) There's an Arkansas Tech? There's an ar-Kansas?

QUOTE(Texsox @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 05:57 AM) We know this whole tack it on is a bi-partisan ploy. But it is a gross misstatement that by tacking it on and needing 60 votes it somehow made it more difficult or even wasn't trying to subvert is a joke. By tacking it on to something that had to be passed, they made voting against it almost impossible. Personally, I think that an even more disgusting misstatement in there is saying that drilling up there has anything at all to do with "Energy independence".

That's what, 3 starting running backs who have wound up on IR for Green Bay this season? Yipes.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 02:18 PM) This is why you trade Garland. -- Nobody is going to debate that Garland is better than Buehrle. We have to keep MB beyond '07. The Sox should extend MB instead of picking up his '07 option. He'll easily be worth $9+M he's scheduled to make. They should extend him for 4/52 or something like that. 4/52 is much better spent on MB than say the 5/55 it would take to lock Garland up right now. Personally, if I were in KW's seat, sometime this winter I'd try calling up MB's agent & saying "We've got mark for 2 years right now at a bargain price, what do you think about turning that into 5 years?"

QUOTE(Steve Bartman's my idol @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 02:12 PM) Let me ask...IF garland is worth $9mill per, what's Buehrle worth? $15mill? $17mill? He may very well push that, depending on how FA prices on pitchers go this coming offseason (when you have big names like Garland and notably Zito potentially hitting the market). I think he'll probably wind up signing for roughly Konerko money, maybe with another year tacked on. And I'd pay it too.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 01:08 PM) God forbid we limit the rate of the increase in spending on entitlements.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 02:07 PM) Come up with a point that has some balls. That's garbage. Garland has no reason whatsoever to take a package of 8 per for 2. Hell he just turned down 8 per for 3. Here's the question...if the Sox tried offering him $9-10 mil a year for 2 years, do you think he'd bite? Delay FA for 1 year for more money this coming year?