mr_genius

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 9, 2008 -> 05:00 PM) Having 50 Alderman, versus say 30, is the least of the worries of the city and the way its run. Chicago's nature is as a fractured city of neighborhoods. not really. just another thing to cut down costs. alderman have staffs, take city money to pay bribes, ect. they cost a lot. have 15 alderman. done and done. save millions.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 9, 2008 -> 01:42 PM) Last night, the Dems scored a big Congress win, taking out Jim Oberweis in Illinois...in Dennis Hastert's old district...and on top of it, the nearly broke NRCC dumped a ton of money in to that race too. Oberweis is just a lousy candidate. he needs to stop running for office.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Mar 9, 2008 -> 03:16 PM) Does Chicago really need 50 alderman? Los Angeles only has 15. I think New York has 50, but really, with that many of them, they are just parasites on the tax base, and job pools for family members. 50 is way too many and a big waste of money.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 9, 2008 -> 04:52 PM) So the three polls out show Obama's lead as +14, +24 and +6. Kind of a wide range. thats because applied statistics is lame

QUOTE(lostfan @ Mar 7, 2008 -> 04:47 PM) Why do people talk about the government ("government" being a general term but usually applying only to the federal one) is the only organization capable of being corrupt and/or incompetent? no one said it's the only one, just that the gov is usually the worst. corruption, no competition, cost raising bureaucracy, don't care about customer service cause they are the only show in town, ect.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 7, 2008 -> 03:23 PM) McCain vs. an NYT reporter today. Good for him. I don't even know why he lets the Nation Enquirer, errr, New York Times travel with him.

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 01:02 PM) they should sue. haha, i'll tell him that.

I bet there is a redo in Florida and Michigan. Hillary wins both http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8...;show_article=1

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 11:56 AM) You know, if Peraica or Claypool had become the county board president instead of Stroger v2, we would not be in nearly as much of a mess. As a voting populace, we could just, you know... elect better officials. That might be a lot easier than breaking up the county. ^^^ Taxes in Chicago are way too high, and I think there is finally a groundswell of opposition growing. But I'm sure people will just vote for whatever candidate offers the most free stuff. So we're stuck paying outrageous tax rates.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 08:02 PM) Dude, I'm totally with you. I just took the Bar and started the job search on Monday. Uber-difficult and competitive market for new attorneys right now. I have friends who passed the Bar back in July 07 and still have nothing. My cousin is having the same problem, I guess the market is really rough for new lawyers right now.

haha, i like the change of the name of the thread. edit: aw, the changed it back to the original

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:49 PM) Thats messed up that Greg Walker got abducted by aliens again. Poor guy, talk about bad luck.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:45 PM) And now to spring the fun part on you...you've basically outlined the general structure of both Hillary and Obama's Health care plans! No, their plans will tax me to pay for their system (even if they aren't be honest about that little fact, that is the only way they can pay for it). If I chose private health care I will be paying double. Paying the high tax rates and paying for my private insurance.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:33 PM) Run. I believe thats an even worse offense in santo=dorf's religion. Out of the frying pan into the fire. Skipping pretty much results in an eternal stint in hell.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:37 PM) People don't have the right to decide where they go for care now. In virtually all cases it's limited/dictated by an insurance company. I can go to pretty much any doctor I want. If I get injured I can go a private hospital. The private insurance system has big flaws, if the government's plan is better I will go there. If it sucks I should not be forced into it.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:33 PM) The problem right now is that the insurance industry isn't any better and it doesn't have any motivation to get any better than being a massive money pit. I'm fine with the the federal government setting up a system to compete with the insurance companies, but I am against being forced to pay into that system. Kinda like how I pay into social security and will never see any of that money. It's gone. I'm basically paying double for my retirement.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:26 PM) --Hospitals and care providers, I'd suggest, can never be more than partially private. Hospitals and major facilities should be public facilities. The reason is simple - business is in the business of making money. Usually, consumers are the check against that by choosing on quality, right? Except in this case, because of the insurance company intermediary and the dictated cost levels, that check doesn't exist. So you simply cannot expect the highest quality healthcare from private providers and institutions, as long as insurance exists. And there is no getting rid of health insurance. --Insurance companies act to keep costs down. That is good, and they should stay private, as much as possible. Plus, if you change the rules around them a bit to allow people to CHOOSE a health care company, all the better. So insurance providers being private is good. --Drug companies are regulated in pretty heavily, plus they sell what works, so again, private works well there. You just have to make sure that you balance carefully between patent protections (to encourage innovation) and encouraging competition (to keep drug costs down). People that choose private insurance should not have to pay into the government system if they do not want to. I would like limiting insurance costs for doctors by limiting malpractice rewards. people should be able to decide where the go for care, not be dictated where they must go by the government. Again, if people want to buy into the government system they should be able to. People that do not, should not be forced into going into a system they do not like. If the government system is so great people will go there by choice.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:13 PM) If it cost just as much but also insured everyone, isn't that a step upwards? We'll see. I have a feeling it's going to cost a lot more than the Dems are letting on. I can see universal health coverage in the US being a massive money pit.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:07 PM) If private run systems were actually cheaper or weren't driving up the cost of Medicare by trying to make sure that Medicare has to cover the sickest and most expensive people, your argument would have some validity. Government controlling health care isn't going to lower costs. Health care is going to cost just as much, if not more, once big government corruption gets involved. The only difference is it will be a socialized pooling of money.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 04:14 PM) I would definitely recommend MLB 08' The Show to everyone with a PS3. only have Xbox 360

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:02 PM) I'd buy that argument...if the country wasn't already paying through the teeth for health care as it is. Medicare pays more per capita to cover the elderly than some countries spend to cover everyone. Medicare is a US government run health care program, go figure.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 05:43 PM) Great little graph stolen from a couple places showing the rate of increase of various programs under the Bush Administration...showing how virtually all the nasty growth of the government has been either in defense spending or in health care spending. All those earmarks, all those wasteful programs...barely increased at all. If you want to cut the size of government or balance the budget...either you need to reform the health care system or you need to cut defense spending. There is no way around it. The free health care plan the Dems want will increase costs dramatically, so there will have to be major tax increases. Especially if we have an open border and pay for half of Mexico's health care as well. Thats gonna be REAL expensive, so plan on jacking everyones income tax dramatically.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Mar 4, 2008 -> 01:05 PM) um. please elaborate. The players movements in the field are very jumpy, not a natural fluid look or feel. The new precision (or whatver it's called) pitching, fielding and hitting are really annoying. This might just be because I'm not use to it yet, but I still prefer the 'old-fashion' way. The camera angles a crappy, the play often outruns the camera angle as outs are at time recorded off the screen. I also don't like the lame 'jersey blowing in the wind' graphic. what, are they playing in a hurricane half the time? But I'm not giving up on it yet. We'll see, maybe after I play it for a while it will grow on me.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 01:50 PM) How would you know who's gay and who isn't? They could have a don't ask don't tell policy at the gym. if someone was obviously gay, they would be banned for those 6 hours. or if they admitted to being gay, then they get banned for those 6 hours. let's say a fundamentalist Christian group proposed that. I'm sure you would be fine with that. right?

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 01:07 PM) That's a shame.