southsider2k5

QUOTE (SnB @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 07:22 AM) agreed, that character was terrible. She was probably the guest star worst bit character they have had on there. I couldn't stand her character.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 08:47 AM) Great post. I think I might break these education-related posts to a seperate thread, this is a good discussion. One thing you hint at here, in regards to no allowance for teachers to teach their way, is that there are so many standardized tests that many teachers only teach to them. In some cases, there is little time left except for teaching to those exams, which means there is no time for critical thinking and discussion. Further, some of the grants out there (i.e. Gates Foundation) are a great idea poorly executed - they have requirements that are far too constricting in order to get the grant money. Not sure of what the answer there is, since clearly you need some sort of semi-standard tests to establish base levels of education. It has gotten so bad, we literally had one of the schools in our system teaching kids how to take the ISTEP (IN standardized tests). We also had that same school steal some of the answers and try to specifically teach them to some of the worst students to bring up test scores. There is no doubt in my mind the pendulum has swung too much towards standardized testing.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 10:59 PM) Chuck Garfein brought up a good point on SN today to Brooks Boyer- why not have a 44 game package, for Obama being the 44th president and him being a Sox fan? That's a great idea... What was Brooks answer?

QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 07:49 AM) Yeah but it used to be so much better-at least after standing in line 3 hours, the players would lean over and take a picture with you-it was at least a little fan friendly Just not worth it now. I was under the impression that it had gotten better after moving to a smaller venue with less people being involved. Is it worse now than at the Hyatt?

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 08:17 AM) Less than 12 hours. God I can't wait!!!

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 07:24 PM) It's a gray area to me. I laregly think it's up to the state and local goverments. I have a hard time with the "voucher" program, although I understand the intent. I do think that there should be a standardization by our national government but I don't think that national education funding should go back to the states based on a test score program... I have a serious problem with that because there's too many issues with that. I think that part of the budget should just get allocated back to the states based on the populations of said children. In that way, the NATIONAL money is equalized ($X/student). Fair? That depends on your view point. On a national level, I think it's fair. The state then distributes how it can. The biggest issue (and therefore problem) is population shifts, inner cities whose dynamics simply don't change or get worse. How do you take care of that? In that way, somehow, there has to be a revitalization of the areas - and that goes beyond education programs. The problems largely start at home and where these kids live. If you're in a disadvantaged area, you stay in a disadvantaged area. I don't really know how you take care of that... other then through some of the initiatives beyond education to get off of urban blight, if you will. Parents are the other hugely important role. If you have parents that screw just to pump out kids for the welfare money, that's obviously a huge problem too. And it happens in the more economically depressed areas in the country. Again, that transcends "education". What do we do about that? Education is more then children. It's about the whole population. Re-education is something that is sorely needed in this country. I guess I don't have a good answer. Its actually very interesting, but we are seeing exactly what you are talking about in Indiana right now. They have taken away regular old property tax funding, the municipalities are instead sending money to the state, and they are re-allocating it back to the local areas based on a one student = $X formula. The most interesting part of it is that we in Michigan City have already seen the first big down fall of that, which is not all students require the same amount of funding to educate. MC has a very big special education population. These type of students cost more to educate because their needs are more intensive than your average C student who is going to cruise through HS without taking a difficult class. I really have a large problem with the nationalization of education in some respects, but totally understand it in others. My biggest problem, which I have seen first hand is it takes away the creativity of teachers in the classroom to be able to teach to the best of their abilities. On the other hand, with as much money as is being put into education, why shouldn't the federal government have some say in the final results, like they would any other governmental program? You are seeing the seeds of nationalization of education coming out of No Child Left Behind. I like most of the ideas (having some standards), but really hate the way it was implemented and executed. Study after study have said that after the home issues (socio-economic backround, parental education level and involvement etc) the next best thing that could be done for a kids education is to get student teacher levels around something like 15:1. With all of the unfunded mandates that exist for education now, many of the classrooms in our district are at double that ratio. We have hired so many administrators (part of that being horrible local management, another part, the need to meet federal and state laws) that we are literally taking teachers out of the classroom to become administrators. In my experience in running for school board and being involved in our local system pretty heavily wasn't any of the old stereotypes, it was that so many kids had no expectations of being able to do better than their parents did. They go into our school system, and they don't work, and they don't try, because in their minds, their destiny is fixed. I don't have experience in another school system, but I would be that City isn't the only place this happens. Convincing each child that their education really could change their life is the biggest downfall of our system right now. My original hope for NCLB was that it would force our educational system to work harder to reach those kids and wake them up to what the rest of their lives could be. Instead it has become trying to get these kids to be able to pass a test, and moving them along to the next grading levels, so that a teacher/school/school systems numbers don't look bad. What's the answer? That's the hard part. Having been very involved in seeing what Washington DC and Indianapolis policy does a specifc individual kid at Issac C Elston Middle School in Michigan City Indiana, makes you realize that it is nearly impossible for government to come up with a big policy that works for everyone. I think by and large the governmentalization of education has been a huge failure. I don't think it can be fixed on the federal level, and maybe not even on the state level from a policy standpoint. Funding is a different story. Their needs to be some recognition that the richest school districts don't deserve multiple amounts more money than our poorest districts. The simple formula of each kid equaling the same cost of educating is just dumb. Any formula needs to take into account poverty rates, community education levels, special education levels, and a few more things I am sure I am forgetting. I could keep going on, but I think I will stop rambling now.

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 12:36 AM) Sox Fest should be about player accessibility. Every player should be available for a full 3 days of hand shaking, picture taking and autograph signing. Players can clear one weekend during their off season for the fans. I'd go back if it was set up that way. The clinics, the former players and all the crap that's for sale is of no interest to me. Actually that means the Sox are hitting all of their fan bases, not just the 16-35 year old male. The clinics are for the kids, in an attempt to build the next generation of White Sox fans, and the former players are for the fan who remembers those guys. Its a great way of reaching out across all ages of Sox fans.

I heard on the radio he asked for $18 million in his arb hearing. Wow. I would imagine with the Tex contract, he can get it too.

QUOTE (The Critic @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 06:33 PM) Happy f***ing birthday, Ozzie, ya f***ing f***! Couldn't have said it any better myself. Here's to f***ing Ozzie Guillen.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 07:26 PM) Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf. Derek Lowe sure as hell didn't help matters when he signed that giant deal, I'm sure it got Garland's hopes up being a 29 year old, innings eating sinkerballer and all. He's basically a younger, much lesser version of Derek Lowe. So out of curiousity, what do you think Jon signs for in terms of dollars and/or years?

QUOTE (Steff @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 03:19 PM) Oh I'm reading it. BS agreed with Rock and they get their asses jumped on. Typical buster thread ruined. It's clear some here hate the POTUS and all he stands for and what he may or may not do. On the PH board folks would be told to stay out of threads they don't have a positive contribution for. The hypocrisy is stinker than a formula diaper. Actually I think this was the opposite. Two of Obama's biggest supporters were against the prayer being in his ceremony, while people who really didn't support him, supported his actions in this case.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) If someone drove a van filled with 800 pounds of pot drove into busse woods, tried to evade police, crashed said van, struggled with police, ended up getting shot in in rear - i would be more worried about additional smugglers in the area rather than the officer that shot said suspect. but thats just me. Especially if there was a magical place that they could run to, and probably not be touched for their crimes in the back of the woods somewhere...

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 02:50 PM) If you get elected President, you can do whatever you want to. You may get on down with your bad Hindu self. And its Hindu (the religion), not Hindi (the language). Or even to have none at all. I think it is pretty telling as to what people feel the interpretation is of that particular part of the constitution that every single President on any side of the spectrum has had a prayer as a part of their ceremony. You would figure even if they were Christian, if they really believed that it precluded them from having that as a part of their ceremony, they would have made it a point to have no prayer.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 02:45 PM) If they did a 15 minute Muslim or Hindi ritual I could only imagine the posts I'd be seeing here right now. Obama has the freedom to practice whatever religion he wants to. A prayer at an inauguaration is not an endorsement of a state religion, it is the endorsement of HIS religion. There is a difference, and it is well within his rights to have that done.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 02:31 PM) Heres the thing, why must we have a prayer before the oath is given? Arent we trying to show that many races, creeds and religions are what make up America, and then we do a VERY Christian prayer? f***ing strange. What happened to the seperation of church and state? What about separating church and state saids that Barack Obama, or any other President, can't have a prayer at their ceremony. Its not like he is forcing everyone to stand up and pray with him at gunpoint. Separation doesn't mean complete disconnect, it means it can't be forced upon the state. A person's personal preferences do not violate that.

This is why spending is the absolute wrong plan if the economy is in such immediate danger as we keep getting told. Don't miss the line that states that only $26 billion of the $355 in appropraitions would actually be spent in 2009. Things like tax cuts and extended benefits hit peoples pocketbooks immediately. The rest of the appropriations are just pork barrel stuff, and have no business being passed off as a stimulus plan. That goes for both the green energy and the construction plans. The merits of it being needed can be debated, but there is no question this will do nothing for the near term economy in the US. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 10:18 PM) Honestly not trying to make an issue of it, but it's f***ing insulting to say I should watch a Hollywood movie to learn something. Call me arrogant or one of those pesky "know it all college kids" but there are certain things I really dont like. I mean really, dont correct somebody with wrong information after a quick glimpse of the Wikipedia page on the UN. Its not any more insulting than you telling people to "read a f***ing book". If you talk down to people, you are probably going to find someone talking down to you pretty damned quickly. In this case, you totally brought this on yourself.

QUOTE (mreye @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 06:49 PM) Thanks. Me and the boys went to Hooters to watch the games. I was feeling pretty good by the time I got home! Boy that's a way to dispel all of those hoosier stereotypes...

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 12:12 PM) You know where I stand on this Mike, but that number isn't really fair. The Hawks can hold I beleive 2500+ more people than the Bulls can. However, like I posted earlier, the Bulls are sitting at 96% filled this season. The Hawks are at 115% this year(the over is standing room). I thought it was the opposite actually. Heck in the first few years that the Bulls were in the UC (Jordan Era obviously) they were averaging over 22,500, going as high as just barely under 24,000 on average. Unless their "sell-out" attendence number is completely bogus, which is possible. http://www.basketballreference.com/teams/t...tm=Chi&lg=n

QUOTE (tonyho7476 @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 12:40 PM) So, when you stayed there, where did you park? And what did it cost? I might cab it then. I haven't stayed down there for 5-6 years, and everybody's rates are WAY up since then. It seems like the hotel guest rate was something like $15, but I am honestly not sure anymore. I would budget $25 or $30 if you park at the hotel lot. Depending on where you are coming from, public transit to the area is awesome. You can get to that area on just about any bus or train, with a minimal walk afterwards.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 12:43 PM) So far this is all I see http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090119/ap_on_...wh/bush_pardons Nothing controversial there yet. Yeah, nothing big so far, but there are some big names floating around, such as Gonzalez, Ryan, Stevens, and some others.

QUOTE (tonyho7476 @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 12:27 PM) Cool...Palmer House has free parking for guests, right? Not unless they did something special with the hotel package, which I doubt.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNew...E50G1PQ20090117

Any guesses at who will be the Bush controversial pardons, if any?

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jan 17, 2009 -> 11:27 AM) Its all about pitching... Starters If Danks and Floyd continue to improve we will be in great shape. Buerhle is Buerhle. A lot will depend if Colon stays healthy. And then when Contreras comes back if he can stay healthy or not. Will Marquez be a decent enough 5th starter? I would like it if Marquez and Poreda start off the year in triple-a.... but i garuntee you we will see them in our rotation at some point during the year. A signing of Freddy would be smart. It seems as if all he is looking for is a minor league deal with a chance to make a big league rotation at some point during the year.... Why wouldn't we look into that? The bullpen I think we still have the making of a strong bullpen. Jenks has really developed into a true closer in this league of the past 2 seasons. Dotel and Linebrink if healthy can be very solid setup men. Thorton is a stud. I think Clayton Richard will be an excellent long reliever/ 6th-7th inning guy for us in 2009. IMO he will be a HUGE reason for our sucess in 2009. I can see Wasserman being effective as well. It will also be interesting to see how the MacDougal situation turns out... the guy has flat out nasty stuff. He just needs to control his pitches... As far as everything else goes... Im pretty sure KW isn't quite done putting the starting lineup together. I know he said over a month ago that he would focus on the outfield situation next. Well since then, he has made zero moves addressing the OF. Im guessing he will make one more stab at getting a CF... I think the infield is set with Getz, Ramirez and Fields. If all Garcia was looking for was a minor league deal, he would have been signed already by someone.