NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 04:24 PM) Bulls***. I made a post about booing Paulie would be the worst moment in Sox history. I since amended it to "one of the worst moments" in Sox history. I have since been responding to people who think it's OK to boo Paulie. For the record, I wouldn't boo any Sox player as I don't boo, but that's not the point. I am not making excuses for Konerko. He has stunk this season. Yes he has stunk. The issue has been booing. He does not deserve to be booed. Any Sox fan that would boo him is a jackass. Case closed. You've made your point many times now. Its clear how you feel about it, and others disagree with the extent to which you take this. I wouldn't boo Paulie either, and I would probably chuckle at any fan who did. But its their prerogative. Just let it go, lest you get yourself in trouble.

Just as a reminder, make sure you cite your sources when you quote articles. Thanks.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 03:43 PM) You know you're bad when your own party hates you. I'm still looking forward to the day that we Illinoisans (sp?) can proudly say that we have two ex-governors in jail, AT THE SAME TIME. Ah, good times. Pathetic, isn't it? We went from having a couple pretty good ones - Thompson and Edgar - to two losers. Ugh. Maybe I'll run in the next cycle. I couldn't possibly do worse.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 02:34 PM) It's too bad we don't have video of Daley's reaction to this. Essentially Blago is just slapping him in the face and telling him he can't control his own city. In the bigger picture though, what are MORE cops going to do? People shooting each other isn't going to stop simply because a police car drives past once more every hour than it did two weeks ago. I'm pretty sure if you were looking to gun down someone, knowing that police presence has increased, you just wouldn't do it in broad daylight in the middle of a public street. You'd do it like all of these killings seem to be - in back alleys, in back yards, in poor underdeveloped areas where no one lives... Blago has to be the dumbest person ever to have held such a high position in government. 1. Part of the reason crime is going back up a bit is the economy. This is a manifest reality that show itself time and time again. Worse times, more crime. And the police can only address a small part of the problems. 2. More cops isn't the answer - it almost never is. But for the portion of this that can be addressed by the police, they do need different tactics. And Weis has outlined a whole series of those types of things that he is implementing. The problem he's running into though, is that the guys with the stripes (sargeants, lieutenants) are the ones that need to implement his plans. And a lot of them are older officers who don't like change. Dealing with that fact will be the biggest challenge for Weis. Even if he is successful, which would be impressive, its going to take time.

Got this from my ticket rep:

Regulators raided Wachovia Securities in St. Louis today (this line of business used to be AG Edwards), looking for evidence of illegal sales and trading practices on auction rate securities.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 12:53 PM) I'd be more than happy, as would a lot of Dems btw, to drop opposition to drilling in a lot of areas (although the offshore stuff is still troublesome for other reasons, especially in tourism-rich areas...oil spills aren't that great for Miami beach) in exchange for a legit program to do exactly that along with a legit carbon price. Considering that all the drilling this country could possibly do can't disguise the fact that Saudi Arabia has 10x more oil than we do and their production is peaking and domestic U.S. production peaked 30 years ago...I'd be willing to sacrifice a bit of the environment to finally get a real program started. If we got a real, serious program going - real investment in solar and winds (both research and actual facilities), better tax incentives for consumers, etc. - then I too would be willing to drop opposition to offshore and ANWR. Unfortunately, we no longer have a Congress that is good at compromise. Those days have been gone since the late 90's. What we'll actually get is offshore drilling, but no ANWR, and a lame excuse for alternative energy funding.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 11:46 AM) So in other words we had better start drilling now before the price gets to $10 a gallon and we don't have an economy left anyway. We really should have started drilling a decade ago. Those million barrels per day would be nice right now. Or, we better start putting up solar and wind arrays, and start putting better tax incentives on purchases of solar cells and hybrid or electric vehicles. Or all the above.

QUOTE (Socal Cid @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 12:30 PM) On this same topic, I was at the ESPY's last night and they did a hilarious skit which invloved Justin Timberlake pretending to interview Ozzie during one of his tirades. Its pretty funny. Welcome to SoxTalk! I'll have to see if I can find a vid of that.

This reminds me of that story about a Chinese newspaper, who had a habit of ripping of its "news" from other sources. It ran (copied and pasted, adding their own byline) an Onion article about Congress wanting a new, retractable dome hall, as if it were fact. Awesome.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 09:55 AM) Two opinions on this: 1. Wouldn't the announcement itself (i.e. congress, states, companies all say tomorrow, "ok, we're starting in 30 days") have an effect on the price of oil immediately? Doesn't the price already go up and down by $10 bucks just when someone farts near a major drilling area in the middle east? Wouldn't the possibility of a million barrels a day that they're projecting also mess with the futures speculation, which many believe is the real culprit in the price doubling the last few years? 2. I fail to see why drilling for more oil now has anything to do with fixing the energy problem this country faces and figuring out the best way to deal with it. Even if today Congress gives out 50 trillion dollars to find viable alternatives, it would take decades to implement. No matter what we do (even after we waste the next decade or more talking about what we're going to do) it's going to take a long time for anything to actually change. It's unfortunate, but that's the reality. I'd much rather we continue to find ways to fix our current oil problem, which is sucking this country's economy dry, and work on the long term solution at the same time. And I don't see how saying "well it's going to take 5-7 years to make a difference" does anything. We all said that a decade ago, and i'm pretty sure we'd be in a better spot now had we done it then. In a decade are we going to look back and say the same thing? 1. See the numerous posts that I, SS2K5 and CKnolls have made in here over the years about commodity prices. An announcement like this will have a small reaction effect, which won't last. The time frame for arrival of the new oil from offshore drilling, if all the IF's are even answered in the affirmative, is too far out to have material effect on top month oil contracts. 2. It takes less time, and possibly less money (depending on scale), to build solar and wind arrays, then it does an oil platform. So I am not sure why everyone has this idea that offshore drilling will have an immediate effect, but alternatives won't be seen for decades. The alternatives are there and available NOW. And for all the pro-business GOP'ers out there, think of it this way. Which way would you rather see those markets develop? Spending billions on government research, or actually putting money into the real thing and allowing the purveyors of said equipment to grow and improve in the markets? I'll take the latter (though some of the former is fine as well).

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 16, 2008 -> 12:41 PM) Your disgusting Row...your disgusting. Thin Crust >>> Deep Dish. Where in Chicago has awesome thin crust (someone once told me on here that Chicago has some awesome Thin Crust pizza). See the Pizza thread. Depends on what part of town you are in. There are a lot of good recommendations in that thread.

I agree with SS, you should stay downtown somewhere. Tons of hotels to choose from - check Expedia/Orbitz for prices, also try some of the pre-pay only sites like Priceline or Hotels.com. You'll find a deal somewhere. There won't be anything that is truly "in between" the UC and the Cell. At least, not anywhere you'd want to stay. But from downtown, you can get to both easily, via train or car or bus.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 09:07 AM) The planets favorite Gov is offering the National Guard to Richie.... That can't look good for the Olympic Committee. http://www.nbc5.com/news/16901117/detail.html What an ass. First, crime is bad in Chicago, but its still well below what it was 10 years ago, 15 or 20 (WELL below 20 years ago). The new police supt. just started and hasn't even gotten to implement his changes yet. This is purely Rod trying to make himself look good in any way possible - everyone loves a tough guy.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 10:20 AM) The fountain brings in a lot of tourists, but regardless, I agree with your point. I just don't trust the CTA to do anything right. They need to work on the crappy service they already provide instead of worrying about adding the option for riders to buy a candy bar at a 100 million dollar grocery store they build. Let's work on new trains, new tracks, better bus service - these are the issues they should be talking about, especially since ridership is just going to go up and up over the next few years. I think the idea is that this will generate revenue to pay for those things. They don't want to wait for funding from the government. While I have significant worries about implementation, if CTA manages it, I do actually agree with the idea in principal.

Micah Schnurstein has been released. Best of luck to Micah.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 16, 2008 -> 07:31 PM) But transportation costs alone should be less, no? But the cost of production - labor, specifically - will be higher by a lot.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 08:59 AM) Sorta like the 25 MILLION dollar Buckingham Fountain renovation/remodel, I find this to be a gigantic waste of money. All the stops downtown already have a grocery store/convenience shop within a block, often times within 100 feet. There isn't much room on the brown or red line to add a grocery store, and we'd have to go through yet another construction project. I read in the paper that they were thinking the north/clybourn stop would be a good place. That's about the only one I could agree with because they already own the corner lot and it would just be a matter of building it on top of the subway, not creating a mess with tracks. I'd call it the opposite of a fountain renovation. A fountain doesn't generate revenue, nor does it help cut down driving and pollution, as this would. Its really nothing like it. You have to look at this as more of a business proposition. As such, the big worry is management - will the CTA be smart enough to have the stores run by private business?

PCL All-Stars beat the IL All-Stars, 6-5. Childers was the only Sox "prospect" to make an appearance - went 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K. Montgommery beat B-Ham, 7-5. Nanita 2-4 w/ a 3-run HR, Colina with a solo shot, McCulloch went 5 IP, gave up 5 ER, walked 4, struck out 3. BOBBY JENKS STRUCK OUT THE SIDE in his one inning pitched. W-S was off. Charleston beat Kanny, 2-0. Gallagher 2-4, 2B (had 2 of the team's 3 hits). Maxwell pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and took the tough loss. Bristol beat Danville, 3-2. Gilbert 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI. Martinez continues to shine, recovering from his first bad outing last time out - goes 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, and gets the W. Great Falls beat Orem, 7-6, in 10 innings. They went to the 10th tied at 2, Orem scored 4 in the top of the 10th, then GF scored 5 in the bottom to win (must have been a fun game!). Kuhn, Shelton, Grace and Fischer all had multi-hit games. GF's lineup has 5 hitters with averages of .333 or better. Carter started and went 5 solid innings, giving up 2 ER, 3 BB and 8 K's. O'Neill gave up 4 H, 3 BB and 4 ER in 1 inning, and got the win, LOL.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jul 16, 2008 -> 08:51 PM) Casey's. I'm sorry, but I just can't bring myself to eat a pizza from the Iowa version of 7-11.

There are a whole series of IF's here, in terms of this having any effect at all on oil prices. To whit... --IF Congress lifts its ban --IF the states, which have some say, allow it (some probably will, others probably will not, some have laws already on the books for it) --IF the reserves are present in those states to do any good --IF the oil companies find the production equation worth pursuing --IF/WHEN new oil rigs and production systems are built and implemented If all those IF's work out nicely, ideally, then there would be some change in oil prices. Small change, but a change.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 16, 2008 -> 11:18 AM) not to mention a joke from 20 years ago... Ah, yes, these are the winds of "change". Please, again, don't confuse the man with the fringe overzealous followers. With either candidate.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 16, 2008 -> 12:06 PM) A random, blog inspired thought...the FDIC $100,000 limit was set back in the 1980's, and thanks to inflation, that's something like 2-3 times that amount in today's dollars. Isn't it about time to increase the amount the FDIC insures in any account? Its still amazes me how often laws are passed with specific dollar amounts like that, without an inflationary increase being automatic. That would be so much easier in every way.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jul 16, 2008 -> 10:01 AM) Oil is now down 15 dollars from its high. Did we see the top, or is this just momentary correction? From the articles I've read the last few days (WSJ, behind the wall), it seems that the drop is primarily driven by "fears" of decreased demand due to a weakening economy. Then there are a litany of other, smaller factors that they are saying may also be contributing - dollar bottoming, perceived behavioral changes in US consumers further decreasing demand, and perceived stabilization of some oil-producing countries. But the economy seems to be the biggest reason.

Nearest station in this part of Chicago, $4.59 for regular unleaded. Things we have done to cut down gas use: --Bought a hybird in January, which gets about twice the mileage our previous car did --Both telecommute one day a week --I take the train and walk, or bike, to work downtown --Wife has to drive due to her office location, but she runs errands on the way home to save trips (groceries, etc.) --Walk/bus/train to anywhere we can outside of work (Sox games, movies, etc.)