NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 01:17 PM) Senate passes reconciliation 56-41. Goes back to house. Apparently the language changes were very small, house says it will be passed later tonight. Then it's allllllll ovah Does Obama have to sign again? Maybe he'll veto it. That would be some s***. Will Biden use a different expletive at the next signing?

QUOTE (Ultimate Warrior @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 12:46 PM) I too question whether we were ever going to actually bring him in. I never really believed the hype. Nix can play every infield position, just like Vizquel. Teahen could play 1st base and somebody like De Aza could play outfield positions. We had no need for Kotsay and Vizquel. Neither of them are good players. BA means nothing. Thome was our most productive hitter last year. Cust would rake in the cell, sadly he has been playing in the coliseum. How can you honestly say either of those players would make us no better? Either of those three would easily put up a top 3 OPS on the team this year. Instead, we are stick with a rotating DH with washed up players who will be lucky to put up a .750 OPS. Perhaps in the same sense that Mark Teahen could also play every infield position. Vizquel is a truly elite defensive player at SS, and above average at 2B and 3B. Nix is supposed to be above average at 2B (but didn't look it last year), and is bad at SS and 3B. Nix and Vizquel are not in the same universe defensively.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 12:06 PM) http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/25...shot-overnight/ Gun shots have been fire at Republican Rep. Eric Cantor's office. Not only that, anti-semitic death threats are have been received at Cantors office from rabid Dem supporters. The Dems seem to be encouraging this behavior. Which is why, again, both parties have a responsibility to stand together (for friggin once) on this. This does make me wonder... how often do these sorts of things happen normally?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 11:57 AM) Boehner emailed statement. Link I have no additional comment, just posting what's being said on both sides here. Looks like Boehner rethought his decision, which is good. The only idiot I see there is that Sere guy, who apparently doesn't get it.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 11:51 AM) any lineup that starts vizquel or kotsay for any reason other than resting someone is really stupid neither one of these guys can hit I think that's an overstatement w/r/t Kotsay. He's absoutely not a 3-hole hitter, or even a starter - but he's not incapable with the bat at a Vizquel level.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 10:59 AM) There are fringe elements that follow a very machiavellian thought process when it comes to violence and threats of violence in the advance of their agenda. This however is not tied to one party or another, its just segments of society that are attracted to either party for whatever reason. These types of threats have little place in our society and these people should be arrested if they make threats against officials and their families. These nooses and coffins and other death based material are no different that the same tactics that were used when Bush was the president. Same type of fringe element, different political ideology. That's why it disturbs me when one party refuses to stand up against it, while the other does.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 11:26 AM) Since the late 50's when I became a fan of the Sox, I count 15 managers. I don't count Les Moss, Bill Adair, or Doug Rader who were there for a short time as fill ins before a replacement was chosen. I can honestly and in good conscience only rate Ozzie as high as 5th on that list of 15. Worse yet, to me at least he seems to be regressing. Sox fans waited a long time for a championship so Ozzie is going to get the benefit of the doubt with most fans. It also appears to me that short of committing a felony neither KW or Ozzie will ever get canned by their boss. I just hope that by the time the year 2093 rolls around Sox fans won't be wishing and praying for another elusive championship. I think its pretty clear that KW is among the best GM's in the game. So I'm not sure why you'd lump him in there.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 10:44 AM) I agree on both counts. The economic panic is nowhere near what took place in Germany and these threats and actions are far less organized and widespread, but there are some parallels between the nazis and teabaggers that I find disturbing. While it was a stretch to compare this to Kristallnacht, it is not a stretch to compare it to the actions of Hitler and his gangs in the early part of the 1930s when they were randomly targeting citizens and no one thought to do much about it. I do not have numbers, but in addition to deep seated ignorance and hatred, the one thing I suspect both movements really have in common is unemployment. Adults, like children, need to be kept busy or they find ways to get in trouble. Losing your money tends to make people act crazy and it is manifesting in an ugly way right now. What's worse is the GOP is either okay with it, or too afraid to get on the wrong side of the teabaggers and remain silent. That's the part that actually bothers me here (bolded). The rest, I think we're just not nearly at that kind of level, and won't get there either.

We are now not only behind China, but also effectively behind 10 or more other countries in funding renewable energy technology. I just cannot emphasize enough what a lost opportunity this is becoming. There are just so many hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on economic stimuli of various kinds that are far less likely to get us ahead in the future, and have far less positive future impact in multiple ways... it just makes me ill.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 10:20 AM) This is getting underplayed here but Ozzie also wants to LEADOFF Vizquel against LHP's. IF this true our offense is going to be much worse then we thought, and hell, i already don't think very much of it. Yeah that's just all kinds of stupid.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 10:22 AM) I am sorry, but at risk of upsetting any posters on this forum, these actions are akin to Kristallnacht. I am not necessarily blaming the Republicans, but our lawmakers have a duty to the citizens of this country to promote civil peace. There should be a unanimous motion to denounce such acts of violence, random or not. Our economic situation is not as dire as the Weimar republic but the nationalist movement in Germany started small and no one did anything to stop it until it was far too late. I see many parallels between the situation in the U.S. today and Germany back in the 1930s. Remaining silent on such actions, or more importantly, refusing to join all lawmakers denouncing them, is effectively an endorsement of an angry mob and is as deplorable as the acts themselves. I wouldn't go as far as to compare this to 1930's Germany, but I agree that its disgusting and disturbing to see the GOP heads on Congress refuse to step up for this. There's partisan B.S., and then there's being dangerously uncivil.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 09:10 AM) I am tired of s***ty pitchers especially soft tossing lefties and righties shutting out the White Sox if Guillen thinks this is the answer, fine run with it. Herm is better at his job than any person associated with MLB, players included. Maybe Kotsay is the next Ellis Burks who knows. I am willing to give it a shot though. If it does not work KW will make a trade that he could/should have over the offseason. This team is based on pitching. The hitting of Kotsay and Jones will not impact wheather this team wins or losses. Carlos, Teahen, Ramirez and Rios will decide this from the hitting stand point. It is like trying to blame 2006 on Mackowiak/Anderson. I like Kotsay and Pierre though. Eh? If you are saying that its less important than some people think, then I might agree. But to say it has NO impact seems a bit silly.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 01:15 AM) One thing I dont understand is all the fuss about Pierre not playing or leading off against Lefties why. Pierre is a career .304/.353./.349 hitter against lefties, seems like the perfect leadoff man to me. Hes .299/.346/.380 against righties so Pierre is not one of those candidates whose numbers changes much depending on the type of pitcher. Yeah some players need to be take out becuase their numbers fall off against righties or lefties, think Josh Fields against Righties, but thats not who Pierre is. This gets at the one area where, to me, there is simply zero argument of any kind that can be made to support Ozzie. He does L/R match-ups because he assumes all players/pitchers fit that mold, when some do not. There is no good logical reason to play Pierre more against righties than lefties - none. Ozzie is just not a stats guy, so he assumes R/L is everything. He's just plain 100% wrong on these cases, and it drives me batty that someone hasn't pulled him aside and taught him about this. All these other issues about where in the order guys hit, power vs OBP vs speed, how often you try to steal, etc. - I have opinions, we all do, but there are at least some sort of logical points that can be made from either side of the discussion.

QUOTE (NIUSox @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 12:00 AM) So I got a 52% on my Electromagnetism test the other day...and it was a B. Gotta love curves. I still remember the first mid-term I took in Engineering Calculus 1. Got a 16%. And passed (D). Its like the class was designed to wash people out of Engineering.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 08:14 PM) In response that, there's no point, because I'll just get an obnoxious rhetorical question that warps it into "liberal logic". Seriously? You posted this? This describes 95% of your recent posts.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 01:45 PM) If I were a parent, and that was my child, etc...I'd be furious, I'd launch as many lawsuits against as many people as I could. And I'm very against the sue happy nature of this country...but that's just beyond acceptable to me. I'd f***ing kill someone. I tend to agree, but its a reason for the law to change (which it should) - not to get mad at the school, or be upset about abortions existing at all.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 01:20 PM) My concern is always pretty much the same. Peavy and Floyd got rocked on consecutive night pitching softball and batting practice and our offense pretty much suffered some suckage. I am really worried this year we will go through that drought roller coaster of last year. Can't go through that again. Dunno if you can peg that solely on Ozzie. We are now in the last 2 weeks of SY so we should be seeing more consistancy going into the regular season. That's because they WERE pitching BP, they were getting reps in working with certain pitches and focusing not on results, but mechanics. And the offense is still warming up. The season may or may not go badly, but you are putting far too much weight on ST results.

The Sox, as I remember reading, are the only team in baseball that has met or exceeded the statistically expected win total each year since they've been projecting it, as I recall. That means someone other than the players deserves some credit. Is it KW? Ozzie? Coop? Herm? Some of all of them?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 11:54 AM) Two things 1) What does that have to do with HCR? 2) What is supposedly wrong there? She's not required to get parental consent, so I wouldn't expect medical professionals to neglect their duties. As a parent, I'd be furious too. But, as far as the law goes, looks like the school didn't do anything wrong. The kid has some 'splainin' to do.

First fully post-vote legitimate poll (not an internet poll) by a major polling organization, Gallup, now shows 49% like the bill, and 40% do not. The rest are apparently undecided.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 10:51 AM) Greed breaks it. Wanting to succeed without going overboard is what makes it work. I mean really, who needs more than one boat. I completely disagree. Greed and ambition is a big part of what made the US the global monster economically. Yes, it ALSO created its many flaws. But greed is good for the economy.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 10:02 AM) Wow...what do you say to that? Although, I'm sure her parents said the same thing to her. That's what the generations do. And honestly, our generation has a good chance of being screwed out of Social Security benefits that we've paid into our whole working lives. Soc Sec is fine, and will be for quite some time. Those fears are overblown. QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 10:13 AM) Free markets work without greed. Unfortunately, greed usually wins. Actually, greed is what makes it work. You just need to make sure there are laws to keep certain things in check. But greed is part of what makes capitalism and free markets work well.

Happy Birthday. Let me know when your age starts indicating a likely decline in performance, so I can sign you for cheap.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 08:14 AM) The problem is that even when the economy does get better, employers are always SLOW to start offering added benefits and perks to attract new employees when the market is flooded with people looking for jobs. For the next 10 years or so, employers will have most of the negotiating power, and yes, it will take that long. We aren't out of this mess yet...the EU is collapsing before our eyes and a lot of people don't realize it yet. This may get worse before it starts to get better in a real way. We've seen nothing but a rise in the stock market, but employment rates have hardly moved, despite huge government hiring sprees. Nothing I've read is pointing to anything that dramatic. Problems indeed, but nothing like a whole new collapse over there. Where are you getting that from?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 08:05 AM) Link Interesting. 26% either scaled back or dropped it. I wonder what portion of each is in there? Article doesn't seem to say. And honestly, I'm shocked its only 26% that did one or the other - I thought the % would be higher.