NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jul 25, 2008 -> 09:41 AM) I'm just not liking Obama's short list. I do like a couple names on McCain's list. The more and more I see, the more I like McCain's chances. He seems to be running a tighter, more professional campaign and making better decisions. Forget the shortlists you see in the news. Those are just educated guesses by the press. More often than not, the nominee's choice ends up NOT being the one people expected. I still think Richardson is the most likely choice for Obama, even though you don't see him discussed much. And I think McCain may pick Huckabee, but I'm less sure on that one.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 25, 2008 -> 02:46 AM) This Det. pitcher has been roughed up lately which usually means problems for us. Let's hope Paulie connects as well as Dye. According to you, EVERYTHING means problems for us.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 01:18 PM) And I will forever judge him negatively because he did not have the character to stand up and do something stronger. It's not like we're talking about something trivial. He had the ability to essentially make the war happen or make the war not happen, and he decided to let his bosses have the war they wanted. This is entirely inaccurate. Powell was not allowed to decide policy in that administration. He was used as an expert of sorts, but he had no real say. He wasn't part of the inner circle. Now, as I said, I agree that he missed some clues, and that he could have tried to be more forceful. But, as he's smart enough to know he didn't have Cheney-like pull with Bush, he tried to steer things away from the direction they were going. He was consistently met with a brick wall. Then they let him go. Please read the three Woodward books, Curveball, Blackwater, Cobra 22, and Fiasco. Blackwater and Fiasco contain some liberal bias, but have a lot of great information. THe Woodward books (he was actually seen as a pro-right guy and was welcomed into the White House) are the best source. You seem to have this really inaccurate picture of what Powell's role was in that administration.

QUOTE (jackie hayes @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 03:06 PM) CFTC charges Dutch firm with price manipulation activities: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/business/25cftc.html Note the time period - 11 days. This is a good example of what SS2K5, myself and others have been trying to point out. Markets can spazz out in the short run, and a trader or traders could (and on occasion do) sort of game the system for short term profits. But the markets adjust for that naturally. Good that the CFTC is getting people like this, though.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 25, 2008 -> 12:14 AM) People need to be more on the fence with Hamilton, and not so much on one side or the other. He made a terrible choice, and he should not be commended for that. He has been sober for probably 3 or 4 years now, and for that he should be commended, which brings him right back to civilized humanity and not anywhere near a god-like status that some (no one in particular but people around the country) have deemed him to be. Thus, he should be judged equally compared to everyone else in the league. He shouldn't win the MVP because of his history, and I think if he won the MVP this season, that's exactly what would be happening, because he does not have better overall numbers, outside of like RBI and average, than CQ, and he's not on a first place team, unlike CQ. He should win it because he is clearly, cut and dry, far and away the best player in the AL, similar to ARod's MVP with the Rangers; that's not the case, and he shouldn't win the MVP this season (4 months into the season). Great story, great player, but not the best in the AL and he doesn't deserve the MVP. Is that on the fence enough to where everyone can be happy? Excellent post.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 10:56 AM) No. If only Powell had the balls to realize that the Administration was using his credibility as their main method of selling their war and said "no more", then that might have improved this presidency. People can respect him for being loyal, for the work he did in the past, whatever they want...no one forced him to go before the U.N. and present intel that he didn't believe in. Do some reading on this. Seriously, its interesting stuff. I wouldn't say Powell didn't screw up, 'cause he did. But if you see how it all played out, its obvious that Powell was the one trying to inject some common sense into the discussion. He was misled and manipulated, not to mention outcast and isolated.

And of course, its not pegged for inflation, so they have to revisit this again later. Pet peeve of mine: enacting laws with specific amounts like this, and not putting in an automatic increase based on a market basket.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 11:00 PM) Colin L. Powell, Advising Obama? I respect Powell more than most Washington insiders. If he jumps onto the Obama bus, that would actually win some points for Obama, in my view. And it would probably also be a little help on the campaign trail.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 02:56 PM) Russell following Wassermann's busted confidence trend. Hopefully he gets it together quickly, he definitely can have a Major League career. More like MacDougal's trend. Wassermann was nails as soon as he was sent down, his ERA was below 1 up until a bad outing recently. That said, I agree, I think Russell has a good shot at a solid major league career. I think the same applies to Wassermann as well, though Wass is still more of a setup guy or a ROOGY. Russell has potential to do more.

The phrase Winning Ugly comes to mind.

QUOTE (SleepyWhiteSox @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 12:59 PM) The Dark Knight was more believable than no country for old men. You can't be serious. That bold was supposed to be green, I assume.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 11:05 AM) Which is a part of the problem in the big picture. All of these groups are competing for budgets and attention within the government structure. There is no reason to have all of these different agencies independant of each other. This should be one organization working to complete our financial sector as one whole piece, instead of a million fragmented pieces. All of these industries and products are related in some way, shape, or form, yet there is no governmental recognition of that fact. These markets should all work together to give American's a complete overview and as simple as possible chance of managing their finances. A nice comparision is what we as a country faced after 9-11 with all of the different governmental agencies that oversaw parts of securty for the American people. There was no cooperation and none of them knew what the other was doing. It hasn't been completely fixed, but they have made strides towards beginning to fix these problems. But, similar to the attempts to bring those law enforcement agencies together (see: Homeland Security), there are dangers in doing that too. The SEC is much bigger and more well-funded than the CFTC. Any merger of them would really be the SEC taking over the CFTC. And that would almost assuredly result in even more of a lean towards the equity world, which is the opposite direction of the markets. If instead you put together a super agency over all financial regulation agencies, then you run the risk of doing what DHS has done - provide little more than more red tape. Ideally, any new oversight agency that is over SEC, CFTC, various banking-related agencies, etc., would focus on interagency cooperation, and also work towards taking in a budget and intelligently dsitributing it based on what areas really need it most. Given what happened with DHS, I think that won't go well either.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 11:57 AM) Interesting. Gracias. cftc.gov says hello.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 11:53 AM) Just out of curiosity/advocating for the devil/whatever...I know nothing about this organization...but it sounds like a within-industry organization. So, my question...why should I trust that they're impartial? I mean, for about 10 years there the National Association of Realtors kept saying there wasn't a housing bubble and the price expansion was perfectly normal, and yes, one could certainly argue that they knew their industry better than the Congress, but they had a clear financial interest in making sure people kept buying homes as much as they could and every time someone interviewed a member of that organization they made sure to hem to the party line on the housing market, that it would go up forever. ITs not a within-industry organization. Its a federal agency, just like the SEC. But because derivatives were generally a much smaller market, people tended to know very little about the CFTC, and its big brother (SEC) got all the focus. But, as the derivatives markets are actually similar in size now to equities, it gets more focus. Not from the government though - CFTC still gets treated like the ugly stepchild. Which is stupid, because the equity markets are much less complex and in need of less regulation than derivatives.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 11:49 AM) Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal Pulls Out of VP Race Looks like it's down to Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney. He's been saying that for a long time now.

Doesn't bother me. And given how badly we've f***ed up our relationships with our allies in the past 7 or 8 years, I think its good that both McCain and Obama are doing that. I really don't see either one becoming a pet for any other nation. It doesn't really change my perception of either candidate much, as a voter.

Vanity Fair decides to jump into the New Yorker/Obama fray, with a cartoon response on McCain.

Good luck to Clayton. Always exciting to see a pitcher's major league debut. Offense, give this kid some cushion! GO YOU WHITE SOX!!!

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 08:24 AM) FWIW, the CFTC issued a report says that it finds no evidence of price manipulation. Of course, clueless Congressmen disagree. http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessIndu...036879720080711 LOL, called it.

56-43 +1.5 games over MIN (thank you, NYY) +5.5 over surging DET +12 over CLE, KC

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 06:13 PM) Doubt it, heard it on the radio on the way home. Said Buehrle shouldn't worry about his grandpa, because he's dead. He said all you can do is pray, and everyone has issues every day. Yikes. That was assholish.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 06:13 PM) Not nearly as classy as Ozzie's comments about it. I haven't seen those. Was it posted here?

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 05:27 PM) That's been the trend for the last 5-10 years. Personality-driven journalism. Fox does it better than anybody. It's the equivalent of reality TV - people watch it, but that doesn't make it any good. Definitely, and there are plenty of people who can't think for themselves, and prefer to have someone do it for them. But there is also still a large segment of society who prefers clean reporting, and the ability to make judgements for themselves.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 06:06 PM) There's the excuse if he gets knocked around tonight... Classy.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 05:17 PM) Wrong I am overwhelmed by the profundity of your artfully crafted retort.