southsider2k5

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 07:29 PM) What exactly can they do if we stop shipping them large pools of currency which they use to buy U.S. made bombs? The only thing that really stops Israel from really fighting with their neighbors is relations with the US. If they felt that the US had abandoned them, I have 100% belief that they will pull out all of the stops next time they are attacked. There would be no reason for them to take all of the extra measures to stop civilian casualties.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 07:44 PM) Do you actually realize what kind of limb you're going out on here? The CBO report on the actual package essentially undercuts every single element you're trying to go after. Also, after some slight checking...that 64% number is not the end of 2010, it's September 30th of 2010. By the end of 2010, it's actually up to 79% of the package, $477 billion. The remainder consists of a few tax credits, which btw I'd be more than happy to get rid of in favor of additional infrastructure spending, and more long-term projects, like upgrades to highways and the electrical grid which simply take longer to complete than 2 years. And also, the CBO assumes that the package is passed in the middle of this year, which at this point seems too cautious, given that it's likely to be done in Feb. But even with that, I'm going to fire back at you the...well, the CBO analysis. On the contraceptive plan...that is actually a good plan, and it's the sort of plan that saves money in the medium term by you know, having people have fewer unplanned pregnancies. But that's being pulled after the usual pattern of Republicans complaining and having the bill made worse because of it so that they can say that government doesn't work. Here is a crazy idea then... don't call it a stimulus package when the majority of it has nothing to do with stimulating the economy on the short term. Its a bait and switch. We have Obama on TV telling us that this has to be passed NOW because the economy depends on it, yet the majority of it won't hit the economy for over a year, when the economy will be correcting itself already according to most estimates. Realize that the velocity of money dictates that even if you put a trillion dollars into the pockets of American's tomorrow, that the real effects aren't felt statistically by the economy for AT LEAST 6 months, and probably more like year depending mostly on the savings rates of those who receive these funds. The whole idea of a stimulus package it to get money into the economy as soon as possible, which isn't economically possible in a vast majority spending bill. If the money isn't even scheduled to be spent until 2010, 11, 12, and even 13 in some cases that isn't going to help us at all before 2011. We are essentially punting on the economy for two entire years now. Don't lie to the American people and tell them that this is a stimulus plan, it is a spending plan, plain and simple. Basic macroeconomics bears this out factually. Barack Obama is contradicting himself every time he goes on TV and talks about this as being important to stimulate the economy as soon as possible.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 03:53 PM) How expensive is Grant park parking now a days? http://www.millenniumgarages.com/Source/Rates.aspx

I will say this much. I hate dealing with the general public. I love my job because I don't deal with them, and instead answer their questions through our company's support staff. The thing is that our job is to directly take care of customer problems. For a professional athlete they don't have any legitimate reason to be doing this event, other than as a give back to the general public and the fans. I can't imagine having half of the expectations in a job, as are expected out of professional athletes. Not only are they expected to go 4-4 with 4 grand slams, or pitch a no hitter every time they go out there, but they are expected to sign for all 40,000 people at the game, and take pictures for all of them. I know people are paying to go the fest, and it would be nice to get every single pic and autograph you could want, but these guys are humans too! They would like to be able to spend time doing what they enjoy, instead of having each person in attendance feel like they are due a personal favor from each member of the organization. In the big picture, each of these guys, who already spends a solid eight months a year away from home, is giving up another long weekend out of their ever shorter off season for this event. When they get harassed even outside of the parameters of the event, it makes them want even less to come back. I remember the year after the World Series seeing people follow Brandon McCarthy into the bathroom and asking him for autographs while taking a s***. Seriously. I wouldn't want to put up with that either if I was one of those guys. Put yourself into their shoes for a bit and think about what it would be like to get harassed every single second you weren't locked into your hotel room for an entire three day weekend. I doubt many here would be as gracious as the member's of the White Sox organization have been to their fans over the years that I have seen at Soxfest.

Another solid job of the federal government completely screwing the pooch on something they should have never really been involved in...

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 10:26 AM) I'm cautiously optimistic about what George Mitchell could accomplish. BUt boy, I hope we don't get the worst out of the Israeli elections. There is a real tight rope here, and Obama could very well push the Israelis into a real nasty corner judging by his early actions. He has already taken a much harder stance against Israel over their latest battles with Gaza. Also with him going first onto Arab TV, it could very easily turn into a message in the pro-war sections of Israel that the US is abandoning them, and they will have to take matters into their own hands.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 11:50 AM) The actual report is out. Out of the $606 billion in spending included in the bill that they analyzed, $374 billion will be out the door by the end of 2010. So much for this needing to be done immediately. You pretty much just proved that point. Not to mention how much of that money isn't going for actual stimulus, but just pork barrel spending and rewards for loyal constituents, such as contriceptives and money for the NEA.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 26, 2009 -> 03:10 PM) Esurance commercials Word. Throw into that just about any insurance commericals outside of maybe Gieco. Progressive and Safe Auto have really gotten particularly annoying lately with their commericals.

The Downtown Chicago edition... -Cab drivers -Bus drivers -People who feel the need to walk two or more people straight across with other people coming -People who keep their umbrellas up while walking under awnings or other forms of cover. -Drivers who push into crosswalks with people in them. -Is there anything more worthless than a traffic cop standing on the corner watching? -Building construction which dictates that narrow passages have to be constructed on the sidewalk, making navigating the crowds impossible. -Groups of people who stop to chat in the middle of the sidewalk instead of moving to the sides. -The people handing out flyers for random businesses -The people working for random organziations who harass you about taking surveys under guises such as "saving the enviornment" or "caring about your world". -The guy in McDonalds who stares at the menu board like he has never been in a McD's before.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 26, 2009 -> 12:08 PM) lol. I haven't even looked at the constitution but that sounds pretty flagrantly in violation. Someone pulled the thing out, set it on fire, and s*** on the ashes apparently. Since when can the federal government tell a state who their governor is? They pretty much tried to do the same thing when they were picking their Senator too.

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/pos...TMzNzUxYjU1ZjQ=

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 26, 2009 -> 07:58 AM) I prefer the direct vote. And as for replacements, each state should have its method of choice, though for my state I'd prefer a special election over all this nomination nonsense. I agree with this 100%. It should be up to each state. Deciding anything at the federal level is a direct abuse of the constitution, because they are interfering in a states right to decide waht they want to do in their own affairs. I also would like to see a direct special election to avoid any special interests or foul play coming in.

My new favorite T-Shirt idea... Picture of Blago's face behind bars, with the caption "Spare the Rod"...

QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Jan 25, 2009 -> 09:06 AM) They have plenty of $- Over 90% Season ticket renewal, Ticket prices raised, Baseball TV $ hasnt gone away, on & on. Dont listen to that stuff we hear every year about their poor finances. I really wish they'd shut up, especially since they have a high payroll every year anyway. That doesn't address the fact that about half of the Sox attendance is of the single game variety, and there is no doubt that there will be a significant drop in that number this year. It is much smarter for the Sox to take a smaller hit now than to take a huge hit in a year when they find out what the entire world has know for a while now... The economy sucks and people are going to spend less on impulse/luxury items. I much more like to see them cutting $10 to $15 million now than $40-$50 million in a huge sell off because they lost tons of money.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 24, 2009 -> 11:21 PM) Thank you. Really. Just made my night. ^ totally awesome.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 24, 2009 -> 10:22 AM) I remember being so giddy about all the 'impact' prospects we seemed to have at the time. I was a HUGE fan of Danny Wright, Lorenzo Barcelo and Corwin Malone. Wright and Barcelo were both victims of major shoulder surgeries that really killed what could have been good careers.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 11:42 PM) Congressman Genius Waxman is trying to push Utility decoupling as part of the stimulus package. If you don't know what this is...it's the thing that California passed a couple decades back that wound up having California's per capita energy consumption stay constant while the rest of the country's per capita electricity consumption doubled. A big assist to Enron on that one.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 11:18 PM) Controversial CBO Report On Stimulus Turns Out Not To Exist So in other words its not a "report" because it wasn't published for public consumption. Notice they don't dispute any of the facts IN the report though, right?

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 02:58 PM) I mean, it has to move somewhere. Whidmore already found the island once. If he found it in 1999 lets say, and then went back to find it in 2003, even if the island jumped time, it would still have the same cordinates, correct? I guess it would depend on what SciFi version of time travel you wanted to believe. Theoretically if something left 1999 and moved to 2003, it shouldn't be there between 1999 and 2003. But this is LOST, so they can pretty much do whatever they want.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 02:18 PM) The way I'm looking at it right now(it's incredibly early with only two episodes into the season) but the stars on the monitor are all the different places the Island has been jumping, and the swining penjilum is mapping where its eventaul location will be. I thought the island was jumping time, not location?

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 02:05 PM) I eat candy. I mean like lots and lots and lots of candy. I also watch cartoons from when I was a kid. Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, etc. Dude the Yakko Warner is my inspiration for life!

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 02:02 PM) Apparently a lot of people hate Carlos Mencia, so I'll toss him into this thread cuz I like him I like Mencia too. I also love Ketchup on a hotdog, with nothing else!

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/2...ked-by-discord/

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 12:38 PM) Every time i hear about Poreda he sounds like a potential reliever. Additionally, is the fear with Flowers that his bat wont be good enough to warrant putting up with weak D behind the plate? Is he projected as AJP type hitting? less? I know little about him. He is talked about with 30 homer power, much better than AJ.

Jason Gage. I know everyone else hates him, but I just can't resist