NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 02:52 PM) That is what's happened numerous times. You've got a guy or a group that's radical and would *like* to do something, but have no real plan, no organization, no support, no real ability to follow through on anything. The FBI provides support start-to-finish. At no point is anyone or anything actually in danger. Maybe I'm not saying it very clearly because I don't see these situations as clear entrapment, but the reality is that these FBI busts are never foiling actual, organized, supplied plots with any real chance of occurring, let alone succeeding. All the cases of inside busts like this that I have seen so far, are not what you describe. I really don't see how you can think these guys don't have "any real chance" at it. You make it seem like some guy goes on a blog and says "boy, I sure would like it if Americans went up in flames", then the FBI swoops in, recruits, plans, pays, equips, sets up, then arrests. That just isn't true. What happened in this case, and others similarly, is someone actively went looking for help or info on how to hatch a plot... a federal informant pokes at them a bit to see how serious they are... if they really are, THEN the FBI acts as a "helper" might, with the suspect still doing the pushing of the issue, until a point where they have the suspect dead to rights. Do you really not see the very large different between those scenarios? And by the way, bear in mind, this guy wasn't even found by the FBI, it was the DEA who happened across the situation. You really think the DEA was out looking to create false terrorism plots? Come on.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 01:52 PM) Many of these foiled "plots" have been FBI concoctions from the start where they create a plan to recruit suspected radicals to supposedly carry out these complicated attacks, but drive the operation the entire time. The people they get are entirely reliant on FBI support and don't have any real capacity to carry out an attack. I'm not saying its entrapment or anything quite like that, but I stopped trusting these FBI "busts" years ago. If they ran the program from start to finish, then they didn't actually prevent an attack. It'd be different if the infiltrated an actual plot and stopped it, but they don't. 1. What you described in bold, IS entrapment. 2. What you described in bold is not remotely what has been happening in the cases I have seen, including this one. Now, you can debate if you want how likely this schmo was to succeed, but the reality is he wanted to, and tried to get help, and may have gotten that help had he not been intercepted. How much this was "driven" from Iran also seems fuzzy, but the case was apparently strong enough for the Saudis to happily take it and run with it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 01:14 PM) lol. The stimulus created temporary jobs, that have since dried up. That is not success. The next stimulus is a more pointed temporary union jobs program that still does not address the problems that are dragging the economy down. The irony is the utter dependence on government spending is one of the biggest problems. Remove the "lol", and yet again, you are simply agreeing with what I said.

Eh? The Sox status as underdogs for fan appeal vs the Cubs has not reversed. Even after the WS win, the Sox made gains, but the Cubs still are on top in following, TV, attendance, national recognition, etc. So they haven't gone back to being underdogs in that sense, at all. Furthermore, while they may become underdogs against what actually matters - the teams in their division and league - that is what KW and Ventura will be focused on. They are not cubsessed.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 12:52 PM) so Perry's administration has been heavily editing environmental reports to not just remove any and all references to climate change but also any mention of measured sea level rises. You also have flagrantly wrong papers on the anti-AGW side getting retracted pretty regularly. But somehow, none of that weakens the anti-AGW ideology. They still know they're right. And a handful of isolated emails from a few institutes that *maybe* implicate some ethical concerns but are all later cleared? Obvious proof of the worldwide conspiracy hoax for grant money! As with many issues, there are real and good reasons to question just how much the climate is changing, and just how much of that is anthropogenic. There are also very good reasons to stand up and say that maybe spending a zillion dollars in reaction to it isn't a great idea, so let's be reasonable. Then there are the people so driven by fear, group-think and religion-gone-awry, that they just flat out refuse to acknowledge data and facts at all, instead relying on gut feelings to form scientific opinions. It is chosen ignorance, and it makes me ill. Honestly, it is probably the single biggest (but not only) reason I no longer lean towards the GOP. It wasn't always this way.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 12:54 PM) Sure, there is the half that we are doing more harm than good in the long run, without any real results in the present. For example, now we have the fed setting up a situation where we could re-create the SNL crisis of the 80s with the idiocy that is Operation Twist. Forget it. If you can't accept reports from all over the spectrum that said, clearly and demonstrably, that the stimulus did create jobs and prevent job losses, then you might as well go on believing in the tooth fairy because you are unwilling to deal in facts. For frickin once, I'd like it if the righties on this board were willing to acknowledge data and facts AND the lefties were willing to acknowledge the same on this issue. Instead, we have you only willing to talk about the failure to meet projections, and we have Balta and SS only willing say that even more of something that failed in it's core mission is a good idea. No wonder Congress can't get things done, they are like this board.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) It failed to meet the projections for the economy even if they had not been spending a trillion dollars. Again, exactly what I said, but only half what I said (the other half you will of course decide not to discuss).

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 12:31 PM) Government austerity is now leading to the decriminalization of domestic violence in Kansas. For serious. http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/10/12/...udget_cuts.html Well that's just idiotic. Understatement. One of the last things you cut is basic public safety and law enforcement. And even if you cut back, you don't just decide to not prosecute an entire class of violent crime. Seriously, anyone suggesting that is a good idea needs to be removed from the gene pool. Put them on an island or something.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 12:20 PM) According to the White House's numbers and sales pitch, it failed beyond what was supposed to have happened without any stimulus at all. Just as I said... the stimulus failed to meet their original projections. You are just illustrating part of my point.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 12, 2011 -> 09:35 AM) But we knew this was getting blocked before they submitted it...so they purposefully wasted everyone's time/money. From what I know, even some Democrats don't like it. All this was was another mini-stimulus, to call it anything else is disingenuous at best. Let's see, 800+ billion in such money amounted to nothing, so this will surely fix the issue! The $800B stimulus bill did not do nothing, let's not go down this road of silliness again. It created and saved jobs, millions of them, and kept the UE rates significantly lower than they would have otherwise been. This has been proven out time and again by not only bipartisan analysis, but even Republican-generated studies. Of course, it is ALSO true that the stimulus bill failed to do as much as it was supposed to... failed to spur a significant recovery... and was poorly designed and executed. The right-leaning views of this (like yours) that it did nothing, and the left-leaning view that it was a success, are both inaccurate. Let's deal in reality.

Anyone watch last night's debate? Caught parts of it. Man is Perry terrible, that guy is just going to continue plummeting. While I think Herman Cain is completely out of his league, I wonder if his 9-9-9 stuff might keep him in the race for a while. Romney has really solidifed himself as the guy to beat, again. I don't see anyone in this field having much of a chance to beat him, unless a bunch of people drop out and the far-right can prop up one, ultra-conservative candidate against him.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 11, 2011 -> 03:55 PM) Holy s***. That looks amazing. I'm not usually one for this mini-boom disaster/horror flick wave, most of the movies are trash... but that does look decent, and I've always had a soft spot for Michael Biehn. Good to see him re-emerge.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 11, 2011 -> 12:27 PM) So it turns out it was probably incited by a conservative reporter for the American Spectator. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/report...-180750896.html OK, that article does NOT say, or even intimate, that this guy caused or incited the riot. By his own admission he wasn't the one who shoved the guard. Nevertheless, sort of sad to read about more and more "reporters" trying to become the story. Morons.

Interesting moment at the outset... he approached the table, someone went to give him a #23 Sox jersey, and he said "no thanks, I don't need it". That coule be taken different ways, but I thought it was interesting.

Watching the presser... well, for good or bad, Robin is the anti-Ozzie in front of the cameras.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Oct 11, 2011 -> 10:22 AM) IIRC, there were regular groups of Norse coming to Canada for logging well before Columbus. Vikings were definitely around, not just a little, but a lot as far south as Newfoundland, and possibly adventured as far south as Massachussets. There is evidence that the Chinese, the Russians, and even the Irish visited and possibly set up camps before Columbus. Another Spaniard, Corte-Real, even made landfall in North America about a decade before Columbus. Columbus was important, but not as important as he is made out to be.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 11, 2011 -> 09:42 AM) It has been said, many, many times on this board. The co-opting of the Tea Party movement took months, not days. Having an organized and prepared union presence at this stage means that this is something that has been planned for a while. You don't get people set into leadership positions, complete with T-shirts and pre-printed signs without having there have been a planning stage at the union leadership levels. For this to be true, it means a group had to have essentially heard about the rallies on the very first couple of days and decided right then they were going to commit time, people, and money to it, without seeing if it succeeded or not. Just counting back the days of how long this has been going on makes it more realistic than pessimistic that this was all a planned movement. These things didn't happen in the Tea Party movement until way later in the game. Should I pull out the Kap line here? It's Always Different! The whole movement in this case is happening faster. It is a younger, more tech-savvy crowd, and they are relying much more heavily on social media. So by nature, it happens a lot faster. the story arc is still pretty much identical though. There is no logical reason to believe that the union involvement couldn't happen very fast, like hours-fast. That is the nature of social media now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 11, 2011 -> 09:32 AM) Won't happen. Junk mail is literally what is keeping the post office in business. I know it won't, but it really is a nonsensical waste of money, and society would be better off without it. Sorry, "it" being unsolicited junk mail, not the USPS. Post Office is still needed, and should have a simple model - move official mail to destination, and charge postage according to what that task costs.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 11, 2011 -> 09:32 AM) The disorganization is going to be gone. Now that groups like the SEIU have taken over, it will become the Democratic platform instead of the individual messages. In a matter of a week and a half or two weeks, this group has been co-opted. It has to be record time. It really makes me wonder if this was the origin of the group in the first place for all of these other organizations to have things like signs ready and people in place to lead these rallies. Wow. You, who have stated support for the Tea Party movement, would react in a tizzy if someone used the above post to describe that movement, and it would be pretty much exactly as accurate. If someone said the Tea Party was orchestrated by monied conservatives in the first place, what would your reacction be? This is incredibly hypocritical. As far as I am concerned, in BOTH cases, you have a grass roots movement that is being co-opted by a big money political machine. This one will likely be co-opted faster, due to one simple truth - it is more driven by social media and therefore much easier to "take over". But in both cases, the story is basically the same, just perhaps at slightly different paces and with slightly different modes of protest.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 11, 2011 -> 09:27 AM) He was the most important, most well known and probably most influential for bringing back news of the new world. Agree with the second part, though I dunno that you can blame one group (or man) for what tens of thousands did over the course of a few hundred years. I just think that there isn't a lot to celebrate about the conquering of the Americas, except one thing: the creation of the United States. Celebrate that, I'm all for it. Celebrating a brutal man whose parties wiped out most of a civilization themselves, and then opened the door for a genocide, to me, is tasteless. Columbus was one individual of history in a line of people who made things happen, so even from a historical perspective (leaving the moral arguments out of it), I think his importance is overblown.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 10, 2011 -> 10:39 PM) It amazes me we still celebrate this "holiday". Columbus wasn't first, or even the first European. And it is symbolic of one of the two most truly awful things the US orchestrated during its history. Plus Columbus' own parties under his command were brutal and murderous. Makes me ill every year that it is still used as a holiday.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Oct 9, 2011 -> 09:49 PM) I just used this page to opt out of receiving three different phone books: http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/ I don't think that it covers all of the publishers, but we've received four books (two pairs) since moving in less than two months ago. Oy. Thanks for that, I will do so as well. Still a big fan of the DO NOT MAIL list concept, which I hope is adopted at some point.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 11, 2011 -> 08:21 AM) Let's call it like it is. They're annoyed by the protestors for a few reasons, but mainly, it's because they don't share their opinion(s) and/or ideologies. And that's that. It's also why you're annoyed with conservatives to the point you put the word in air quotes. I consider myself all over the map, and depending on the specific subject at hand, I can either be off the charts liberal, or off the charts ultra conservative. I firmly believe that this is how everyone should be, and if everyone were, this country would be a much better place, with a much wider variety of representatives (not just D or R). This protest annoys me, but not because I'm a "conservative", but because I see them as a waste of time, with no clear message and further, no realistic changes to come of them. Then again, I feel this way about most protests. Everyone they interview gives a different answer as to why they're doing it, so the message gets eroded, and in the mean time, like you said, I have to listen to a bunch of spoiled American youth with their expensive computers, iPods, etc...talking about how hard life is, when 99% of them haven't lived anything near a hard hour, let alone a hard day. Maybe they need to stop at Starbucks for another 5$ drink before they hit the streets again, and start spreading a more unified message...which I still don't understand... Do they want to kill everyone that works on Wall Street? Do they want to force those that do to make 7$ an hour and have to pay the rest in taxes? I don't really know. Either way, neither is going to happen...no matter how ridiculous of a statement I make. Then, since I have a DeLorean complete with a Flux Capacitor, I traveled into the future to see what's become of these "protestors", and just like the hippies in the 60's before them, these same protestors are the very people working on wall street and dining on diamond encrusted plates telling the poor people to shut their faces. It's ironic, I know. In all seriousness, those that helped cause the collapse, in any area, should be paying for it...a message needed to be sent loud and clear, but it wasn't...and why? Because it was Washington that enabled it...and it was Washington that oversaw it, and allowed it to happen, and assured the people everything was fine all the while the house of cards was coming down, so unless congress wants to throw themselves in jail along with the evil bankers and corporations, you'll never see it happen. I mostly agree with this. Wanted to point out one thing that I found interesting... the lack of message and actions is the biggest problem these protestors have. But nice to see, the Chicago "branch" of this movement plans to vote on a set of 10 initiatives today, which would make them the first group to put down a real set of goals. So that's a start.

So, interesting thing to watch for tomorrow - SEC, CFTC and Fed will do a joint release tomorrow of a draft version of the new implementation of the Volcker Rule (aka Glass Steagle II). Early indications are that it softened somewhat from the original suggestions... for example, IB's can still do prop trading, but only on a principal basis of a maximum of 3% of total bank invested assets. Also, the rule will be phased in over a longer period than the original 2 years, and will be done over 6. I'm OK with both of those, but I want to see more details, such as how portfolio risk is going to be analyzed across each firm, what exactly will be bounded within "prop trading", and how systemic risks will be addressed. But getting this out there is an important step.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 8, 2011 -> 08:12 PM) I missed being at the air & space museum when the protestors got maced by 10 minutes. Really? I was down there that day too. We were going to take my daughter to the Air and Space museum, but at the last minute she said she wanted to see dinosaurs, so we went to Natural History instead. Got on the Metro to go home, around the time the incidient at Air and Space started.