NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 02:57 PM) Which are? For one thing ObamaCo is tired of the GOP controlling the narrative on deficit and debt issues. For another thing, after all the bluster during the elections of cutting spending, his administration wants to call them to the table. You want to cut spending? OK, here's what's involved. And then they show that to the public. See how that works?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) Actually, what they're trying to do is apply political pressure to the other commissioners to vote for something close to their plan. They weren't required to release a public report yet, they're putting this out and having press events to try to gin up political support for their plan amongst the other commissioners. Sort of. There are two more important political undercurrents here.

So in addition to PM'ing you a list, can we post our lists somewhere too, for discussion?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 02:12 PM) Do you genuinely think that a plan calling for the elimination of the mortgage interest tax deduction and of the tax deduction for health care costs is anything other than political suicide for anyone who votes for it? Not if it means all income taxes are lowered. In any case, again, this is a proposal, for discussion. And if you look more closely at what is going on here, you will see what they are actually trying to do.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 01:16 PM) Here's a (Slowly loading) link to the full report. There's about $100 billion in annual defense cuts. If you're smart, you'll notice the silliness here. The 2nd largest line item is reducing procurement by 15%. Of course...that is easy to say...when you don't have to actually say WHICH THINGS YOU'RE GOING TO CUT! its step one. Let's not go all medieval on this thing before it gets off the ground.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 12:01 PM) You just changed the game though...you said "useful infrastructure" rather than "the actual piece of infrastructure the money was intended for". All of these governors want to spend the money on roads. I meant useful infrastructure as part of the intended project, I thought that was clear.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 11:35 AM) In general though, the "Inverted V" issue typically is expected to translate more to issues with the elbow, rather than issues with the shoulder. We hear about the inverted V issues for pitchers a lot, and usually it's in association with Tommy John surgery. A fair number of people, especially hard throwers coming up, have that same issue, and this injury for Peavy still remains quite unique. That's why I asked Pt exactly which part of his mechanics he was referring to. If it's the inverted V problem...why did his shoulder go out like this, rather than something more expected like elbow trouble? Beyond the arm angle, the other thing that always looked bad to me in his mechanics was the last minute twist of the torso to get more torque and power (but it also means he throws more across his body, and with less fluidity). Clayton Richard does the same thing. Seems like maybe that might have played a factor here.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 11:42 AM) We now have strategic defaults occurring in the mortgage mkt by individuals, correct. What happens when the muni bond mkt starts to price in the strategic defaults ALREADY occurring by towns all over the country. Risk is high comparable to the return on some of this debt. Ratings changes have been reflecting that left and right. Chicago's debt was recently lowered to the bottom band of the quality range, next step down starts into junk.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 11:32 AM) I believe he's actually received about $750 million in outlays. Whatever the number is, if the feds poured in money, anything that has not already created some piece of useful infrastructure, that money needs to be returned.

QUOTE (IamPabloOzuna @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 10:09 AM) Gonzo's quotes are from a conference call. The video is from Chicago Tribune Live on CSN. That is an exact quote from the video at around 7 minutes in. Gotcha. Interesting.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 10:07 AM) Peavy has had one pitching-related injury with the White Sox, but several more with the Padres. 2004: Missed 43 days due to elbow strain 2005: Missed 11 days due to shoulder soreness 2006: Missed 8 days due to shoulder tendinitis 2008: Missed 28 days due to elbow strain Wow, I actually didn't know that. And that does lend credence to the idea that his mechanics were problematic in the first place, in the chicken and egg discussion.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 09:41 AM) Even before this bill there were some protections for people with pre-existing conditions. If you had insurance for 5 years or more, and needed to switch carriers due to a job or loss thereof, the new company couldn't deny you because of a pre-existing condition. What they could do is say if you were uninsured for 6 years, then developed diabeties and tried to get insurance to cover it, you were screwed. Like trying to buy a bullet proof vest after you have already been shot. 5 years or more is way too long. What if you start a job and get laid off before 5 years? The protections should be much stronger than they are, and you can do that without the mandate.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 09:43 AM) NJ WILL be on the hook for the money, one way or another. The Dems will make sure to stick it to Christie any and every opportunity they get. What he shold do is just say that he is suspending the project, indefinately, and that it will continue when they have the funds. Then tell the feds to stick it. Well, I don't know if he should do that or not, but I can at least understand why he's doing it. But I agree with the Feds that if he's stopping the project, he needs to pay back the $271M in outlays they already received for the project.

UE claims fall to 435k, well below the 450k expectation, and the 4 week average dropped by 10k. The graph keeps looking better. Let's hope it keeps up the trend.

According to Baseball America, the Sox have 17 players who were in the system in 2010 who are now minor league free agents: RHP: Greg Aquino (AAA), Ryan Braun (AAA), Charlis Burdie (Hi A), Mariano Chevalier (DSL), Clevelan Santeliz (AAA), Matt Zaleski (AAA) LHP: Randy Williams (AAA) C: Cole Armstrong (AA), Adam Ricks (AAA) 1B: Ian Gac (Lo A) 2B: Fernando Cortez (AAA) SS: Luis Rodriguez (AAA) OF: Buck Coats (AAA), Josh Kroeger (AAA), Miguel Negron (AA), Jeremy Reed (AAA), Salvador Sanchez (AA) Anyone want to take guesses on which ones the Sox will try to sign? Also, what are the rules here? Do they have to be on the 40-man? Assuming they don't have to be on the 40 man roster, I bolded the names I think are likely to come back.

A-Gon had surgery on 10/20 and likely won't swing a bat until March 20.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 08:55 AM) And I continue to note that if you try to do this without all the other things in the bill, the system breaks. The Health insurers know it too. Not really. You can write the exemptions into the law to protect insurers and still keep people who act in good faith from being screwed. Many people here and elsewhere tried to paint it as absolute - either you mandate coverage or you screw people with pre-existing conditions. I still contend that this could have been done in a way that neither were true.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 08:51 AM) Of course it sets a bad precedent. Everything we did for about a 2 year period set a bad precedent. And we still haven't corrected that problem. My biggest disagreement with you is on the fact that the shareholders/bondholders were ripped off. If that car company had to close its doors completely, it wasn't going to reopen. That would have sent a shock to the whole system. At that point, the only thing the bondholders and shareholders would have had a claim to is GM's assets; mainly its land and equipment. But...if the entire company has collapsed, and auto manufacturing in the U.S. has taken a huge hit, and all of GM's technical work is getting locked in a closet somewhere, all of its people are laid off, and there's an ongoing financial crisis, the land and assets GM had wouldn't have been worth all that much to the stakeholders anyway. They were basically going to get wiped out in a non-federally-mediated bankruptcy as well. One other disagreement I have is that you say the phrase "mismanagement of a public company". I'd counter that the auto manufacturers weren't exactly public companies when the mismanagement happened. Those people lost everything because of mismanagement of a private company, to the point that the government stepped in. I think he meant publically traded.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 08:33 AM) There was, undoubtedly, some good in this law. * Children can stay on insurance until 26. Good. * Cannot be dropped. Good. * High risk pools for those that cannot get accepted will be created. Good after this is created. * No lifetime limits on coverage. Good, so long as hospitals/doctors do not exploit this. Those are the *major* talking points in that bill. Even in extended lawyer speak, that's about 20 pages of text/rules per talking point. That's 80 pages, but let's say 100 for good measure. There are still 2000 something pages of who knows what in that law, which is concerning to me. I know they stuffed things in that bill which have nothing to do with health care, I just don't know what yet, or how it applies. This, to me, is akin to the IRS and the current tax law. It's so big, cumbersome and complex, nobody really understands it, and it's completely exploitable...this monstrosity will be no different. Meanwhile, we didn't even touch the rest of the industry. There is simply too much unknown in this for me to be happy with it right now, and the worst part about it...all we can do is "wait and see." Thanks for all the info, Y2HH. I'll add one thing that I thought was demonstrably good in the bill - protecting those with pre-existing conditions.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 07:52 AM) The question is...which mechanics? If it was his normal (Pre-10) mechanics that caused the initial soreness and injury problems...then he might not be able to be effective coming back...as he'd have to choose between his crappy mechanics that allowed him to get outs or better mechanics where he couldn't get people out. I have no idea. Hopefully ptatc can clarify for you.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 07:39 AM) God if we get AJ back and not Konerko I might kill myself. At this point, for $3-$4M 1 year and option next, I'd be happy to take AJ back. He's likely to have a better offensive year IMO, but even if he doesn't, I really want to see Flowers put more time in at AAA to get his bat back. And if Konerko walks, I am pretty confident that KW is going to find a big bat for 1B. He's not ready to rely on Viciedo yet.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 07:28 AM) Pt, I'm trying to understand exactly where you think the injury happened here. My impression was that Peavy's mechanics were never that great, but he had survived with them for several years. This year, Cooper had him trying to improve his mechanics in the spring, and he came out and struggled. Then, he tried going back to what he was doing before, but started complaining about shoulder tightness during the couple weeks before things finally snapped. Are you saying that his injury came about due to his mechanics during the couple weeks before the injury when he was complaining about tightness, or are you saying this injury is related to his longer-term mechanics issues? Sounds to me like he's saying it was a feedback loop. Mechanics caused soreness and initial problems, his arm slot dropped, arm pain got worse, arm slot worsened, and so on.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 08:14 PM) A lot of what will happen with healthcare is unknown right now, which is why the prices are going up. Hospitals/doctors/pharma/insurance companies are not sure what the future holds, so all of them are kind of pricing in the unknown (how they do that, don't ask), much of it seems like greed due to uncertainty, but some of it seems necessary in some ways, as obviously they're on the hook for a lot more now. Anyway, I maintain that something needs to be done about the entire industry. Insurance companies aside, pharma and the industry in general still need reform, because despite a 2000+ page law, they were left untouched. Anyway...email/chat: [email protected] Or you can AIM me at y2hh So what you are saying, really, is that everyone is raising prices because they don't know what will happen. To me, that's not a reason to criticize the health care law, that's just being alarmist for no good reason. Just curious... what exactly in the new health care law is it that you think will result in higher costs, long run? I mean, costs were already going up far faster than inflation for some time, and I agree with you that insurance companies aren't the only ones to blame. I don't much like what I've seen of the health care law either, but, could you be more specific as to what problems you think it will cause that will result in insurance costs going up or quality going down?

SecTrans LaHood says to WI and OH governors: use the money for its intended purpose or we're taking it back. Further adds that since New Jersey is backing out of their project, they now have to pay $271M of federal funds given out for the tunnel project back to the Feds. I get it with New Jersey, its at least a meaningful reason to stop it - NJ could be on the hook for a lot of money. But for WI and OH, really, its just patently stupid.

I can't watch the video from here but it seems like that is not what MB said. Here is the direct quote from the Trib... Does he actually say the words "I don't think Konerko will be back" in the video?