NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 2, 2010 -> 08:05 AM) Not often you hear a Republican explicitly argue "We need fewer policemen and firemen." I'm impressed. What he's criticizing is that it was an unsustainable, partially funded mandate. And he's right. Also, the right answer to fighting crime is not always more cops.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 09:49 PM) and ISU. And Illinois State as well. This 96 thing is a pretty stupid idea. Yuck.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 11:12 PM) Fisk was a lot older than Mauer when Hawk did that. Plus, Fisk was really good but Mauer is um, a lot better. Mauer is at least as athletic as Fisk was at a similar age, and has had fewer lower body injury issues. And yet, Fisk was a catcher until his late 30's. Moving Mauer makes no sense, until you are forced to.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 2, 2010 -> 07:47 AM) Solar, wind, geo and hydro aren't feasible short or mid-term alternatives to coal or NG plants. By all means, let's fund them and research them. But let's not pretend it's a realistic option to replace coal plants in the next decade or two. There's currently less than 1GW of solar thermal power installed in the entire world. Geo power is only feasible in some places. Same goes for wind (Illinois does have a massive wind farm under way, I'll note). Hydro presents its own ecological issues. it is because each and every source you mention, nuclear included, has flaws, that the best tactic is to spread things out. But long term, nuclear isn't a great option. At the rate of increase in efficiency, solar and wind will both become much more practical in the next 10 years, and are already both workable as part of the picture right now. Geo, hydro and tidal are nice regional alternatives. Spreading it out is just good business in this case.

Choosing between Quinn and Hynes is almost as bad as the last general for governor - Blago vs Topinka. Is death an option?

McKenna for gov. The Illinois GOP is a sad lot - all but 4 votes contained either zero or one candidate to "choose" from. Lame. But I went GOP in primary voting because I can't stand Quinn or Hynes, so I'd rather vote in a primary where I actually see some difference in candidates. Funny story about my voting this morning... First, as I am walking in the door of the building, a guy is trying to hand me a card for his candidate - that's not allowed in Illinois, you have to be something like 50 feet away from the door. I told him this, and he did an "oh yeah, I forgot". Then I get in the room - same room in same building I've voted in for about 5 years - and tell them my name to vote. I'm the 2nd voter there for the day (a firefighter in line in front of me was voter #1). They can't find my name in their book, or their lists. Very odd. Eventually, they give me a provisional ballot form, which I fill out. After I filled it out, just before they handed me the actual ballot to vote with, I notice that there is a second table of judges, on the other side of the room - I've never seen that before. When I asked, they said, oh yeah, that's the other precinct, we have two in here now. Well... did you think to check their list? There were no signs telling anyone about this split. Anyway, sure enough, I'm on the other table's list. I told them they might want to redirect people to the other table if they aren't on your list. Just an idea.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 08:44 PM) Let's go nuclear Sovacool, B.K. (2008) Valuing the greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear power: A critical survey. Energy Policy, 36, 2950-2963. Current-gen nuclear is orders of magnitude better for the environment than any realistic alternative. By all means, we need to invest in alternatives, but they're just not feasible on massive, 1GW+ scales all over the country. Nuclear is and its a hell of a lot better than coal or LNG. Ecologically it's probably less damaging than a hydrodam. It's marginally worse for carbon output than solar power. It requires substantial investment up front but it recovers it over time and produces cheap, reliable power. If leftists want to live in reality and stop being neo-luddites, they need to drop their opposition to the only real alternative out there. Nukes: 66 g CO2e/kWh Fossils: 443 to 1050 g CO2e/kWh Solar: 29 to 35 g CO2e/kWh And that's current-gen nuclear power. All indications are that fourth gen will be significantly more efficient. On the bolded you are vastly overreaching. I disagree with the far left, in that I think nuclear should be part of the picture. But the idea that its the only way to go, ignoring the side effects of using nuclear fuel and ignoring the maturity process, is silly. Do 'em all - nuclear, solar, wind, geo, hydro, etc.

QUOTE (olp_nch @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 03:41 PM) http://wcco.com/sports/twins/joe.mauer.min....2.1462891.html Sources: Mauer, Twins Agree To 10-Year ContractMINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) Sources tell WCCO-TV's Mark Rosen that American League MVP Joe Mauer has come to a preliminary agreement with the Minnesota Twins for a 10-year contract extension. Mauer, 26, and the Twins had been pretty quiet about contract negotiations, while fans were eager to find out if their hometown hero would be staying put at last weekend's annual fan festival. This is Mauer's final year of his current contract and manager Ron Gardenhire said Friday he was confident that both sides would come together and strike a deal. Mauer's current salary this season is $12.5 million. Contract details about his new salary were not immediately released. Mauer became only the second catcher in 33 years to win the coveted AL MVP award, finishing first in an almost unanimous vote in November. Mauer set a major league record for highest batting average by a catcher and won his third batting title, becoming the first repeat batting champion since Nomar Garciaparra in 1999-00. He's been voted to the All-Star team three times and won his second straight AL Gold Glove award. Mauer was born in St. Paul and would've been a free agent after the 2010 season. Rosen will have all the latest details on WCCO 4 News at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. How many catchers, ever, have won 3 batting titles and an MVP?

Why don't you two get a room or something.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 03:14 PM) Matt, its better than cheese man. You could put that stuff on Sqwerts cinnabun and it would be the s***. LOL BiqSqwert's Cheesy Buns? Sounds like a winner business idea to me.

1. I'm pretty sure that stuff isn't actually cheese. 2. Why would you WANT to make your taco salad like something you had in a high school cafeteria?

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 02:07 PM) The Indians... um... it said an AL team OTHER THAN the Twins, in ADDITION TO the Indians and Rockies. So the mystery team is someone else. I'd be all for the Sox going there.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 02:08 PM) Anyone have any luck finding comprehensive endorsements for the Illinois primaries tomorrow? I found this list of progressive endorsements from Citizen Action. I looked at the Trib's endorsements across the board, and have read articles on specific candidates here and there. By the way, I don't think he can win, but I like McKenna for the GOP governor's nomination. Certainly better than I like Hynes or Quinn.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 01:30 PM) I agree with that, but... Neither are most of the quotes from Republicans posted around here that are almost always out of context, either. No argument from me, but it works both ways. To use a variant on Kaperbole - they both do it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 02:26 PM) I am sure people who can't afford it will love to see their gas prices and utilities go up in price. It makes zero sense to continue to subsidize oil and gas at much higher rates than alt energy. I prefer we don't continue barrelling towards economic disaster, and keeping reliance on fossil fuels will only hasten that.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 12:40 PM) The point remains though, if they didn't sign Thome at $2m, I think something would really have to change for them to sign anyone else at this point. I don't think they balked because of $2M, I think they balked because of this odd idea that flexibility is somehow better than production.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 01:10 PM) LMAO at you talking about context. Oh the irony. But in this case, he's right - the full quote is not anything like the out-of-context version.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 12:30 PM) So the A's traded Aaron Miles to the Reds for Adam Rosales and Willy Tavares I have to believe that Damon is now completely out of the A's picture given that they already have a crowded OF and are still negotiating with Gabe Gross So who is even still in the chase for Damon? Detroit?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 12:10 PM) Sadly, even the X-Box would think that unfair. I don't know how, legally, you could make it work... but to me, the ideal model is to have a set amount per person maximum that could be contributed - and that's it. No money from any business, union, or other organization.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 11:36 AM) What a complete douche bag. Glad we got rid of him. Merging with the already-existing thread.

Run-down of the White House budget proposal they sent to Congress today. Glad to see they are removing oil and gas subsidies.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 10:54 AM) I'd happily trade zero contributions from labor unions for zero corporate contributions. agreed here.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 08:54 AM) While saying criminal is going too far, we let them get away with this decade after decade. When they get to toss out numbers like 5%, it seems low...hell, even 10% doesn't seem all that bad. After all, if it's 10%, that must mean the other 90% of the country is at work! I blame previous presidents/administrations as much as I blame the current one for continuing to focus on this fake number, however, previous governments didn't go out of their way to claim transparency, this one did. So I'm holding him accountable for being, once again, as transparent as the Hoover dam. If you want this addressed, honestly, the best way is for journalists to actually be journalists. The UE number currently reported is what most people understand and expect. No President is going to make that shift - the only way to make the shift is for business writers to have a brain about it. I am surprised how often the writers, even in respected papers like WSJ or Crain's, don't do this.

Spending and income numbers this morning, for December, give a mixed bag... Income up 0.4%, expectations were 0.3%, but that was caused in part by a large SSI payment - wages and salaries increased by 0.1% (sixth increase in a row). Consumer spending was up 0.2%, expectations were 0.3%. But November's number was revised up from 0.5% to 0.7%. Basically, slow growth, just like we've seen for months - positive movement, but not enough to substantially lower unemployment.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 07:42 AM) I'm sure the 20% of the people not working are convinced. I'm also sick of them claiming unemployment is 10%, when it's 20%. The methods used to count the unemployed in this country are criminal and ignorant. This part is true (not sure I'd go so far as Criminal), but its the number that every administration has used for quite some time. And more importantly, its the one the media chooses to focus on.