southsider2k5

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 09:23 AM) This isn't Daley's bluff - its the CTA's. And in any case, no one at the state or federal level is going to take on Hizzoner in a pissing contest. There would be no contest. I do agree with you, though, that the CTA is (and has been) a clearly, badly managed agency. So let me add this to my earlier proposal - the CTA only gets their share of the money if all upper management is changed over, and then any periodic funding in the future must be earned via efficiency and production measures. Have a consulting firm dig into their practices, and make sure the new management team is actually doing something positive. But even with better management, CTA and the other transit agencies need more money. SS2K5 is right, we need a real push for viable, safe and reliable mass transit if we want to get people out of their cars. Well Rich Daley does have a significant say in what the CTA does. The RTA board which runs the CTA, as well as Metra and Pace, has 4 people being appointed directly by the Mayor, and 4 more by Cook County, of the 13 total members. Pretty much that is eight out of the 13 people being in Rich Daley's pocket. With the way this city works, that means that Rich Daley is the one who is pulling the strings here, and no one else.

I am not quite sure how they got NKs name out of this so quickly. I would also wonder if materials and plans from Iraq had found their way to Syria, if this is indeed true. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3448829,00.html

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 07:02 PM) two problems with your solution IMO 1) Chicago area already has the highest gas prices in the country, we are already severely over taxed. 2) Counties other than Cook should not have to pay for Chicago's wasteful ways. Example, I don't think higher sales tax in Lake County should be implemented to pay guys to sit around in trucks making $90,000 a year in Chicago. My solution: No extra money. I would force them to become more efficient. Let mayor Daley and the city council shut down the trains, call his bluff. He won't do it, he'll be forced to cut some waste. So you would get into a pissing contest with Rich Daley? LMAO.

OK here is the golden opportunity. If you really want to get people off of fossil fuels there is some combination of two things you need to have happen. First of all you need to price people off of gasoline and oil. Second you need to make mass transit so attractive, that people prefer it to their cars. Quit cutting service and raising prices. There needs to be increases in service and cuts in prices. For all of the BS about beating the oil companies the Dems are missing the easiest way to cut into their profits, and that is by killing demand through a world class mass transit system. Forget windfall taxes and eliminating subsidies, you need to give alternatives, instead of just making gasoline more expensive.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 01:45 PM) Big difference in pitching in the minors and majors. Also you've penciled Gavin Floyd for 175 innings next season. Please don't back off of it. Boy Rosie is in the mood to rumble today...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2...mail/components

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2...mail/components

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 12:37 PM) KW obviously. NOBODY that has the number 1 pick does what you just said. The only reason you said it was because you wanted to say something negative about the management of this team. IIRC the Bush pick by SD, and the pick of Mauer over Prior were met with the accusations of players being drafted for signability instead of top talents.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 10:29 AM) Well then, why isn't there thread after thread about how Fields is going backwards offensively lately or the same with Richar? Should we ignore what they did earlier and just go by the past week or so? Why isn't there anybody backing off the Contreras is 94 years old and a bum when his last 5 starts he's 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA. Lower than Vazquez in 2006 when the going rate for that we were told on this board was 11 million to 12 million a year. Contreras could be a bargain at 10 mill. The bottom line is Floyd pitched a couple of decent games, but having that trump the awful outings or the rest of his career isn't wise IMO. Sorry you disagree. If you think Danks, Floyd and a rookie filling the last 3 spots in the White Sox rotation in 2008 is a good way to win in 2008, more power to you. I think it means battling with KC again. Baseball is a game that is supposed to be enjoyed. Sorry if their isn't equal time given to every negative thing that happens, or could be happening to the White Sox, but I am guessing the reason is simply that for something that is supposed to be entertainment, most people who rather focus on the postive versus obsessing about the negative. If you want to strain to see the negative in everything, have at it. Most people watch baseball because it brings them happiness. Because of that you are going to see a focus on the good things. For most people if they didn't enjoy it, they wouldn't waste their time on it. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 10:43 AM) I love the idea. Maybe not the government becoming an employment agency, but I see another spin off I will come back to. One flaw. Length of employment. Currently the Mexican worker goes back to Mexico after the 3 months of work are completed. How would you handle the person fleeing Darfur? Spin off I really like. INS looks at the database and sees there are 13 unemployed workers in Texas who match qualifications and would be available three days a week during that time. That would give them two days to continue searching for permanent, full time, positions. I'm voting SS for President until he runs up those trillion dollar debts That becomes a part of the matching process. Obviously a person coming from Africa needs a more permanent solution than someone from Mexico who could just go home. If there are that many jobs out there that need filling, there are plenty of solutions.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 10:36 AM) Given the amount of bueracracy that would involve, that Texan farmer would see his workers show up about 3 years after the crops were ready for harvest. Personally I am sick of the half assed solutions. We tried that in 1986 when there were only 3 million illegals here. Today there are at least 12 million illegals here by most accounts. Do you trust the government to actually fix the problem with the plans that were presented? I don't because the main reason for people to come here illegally has not been removed. As long as the incentives to be here illegally, and the belief that eventually Americans will cave in is out there, illegal immigration will continue to happen. If someone actually put together a real plan that could actually solve the problem, instead of just putting a bandaid on it, it needs to be done.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 10:12 AM) I understand why you and many people put the economy as a top priority but when it all comes down to being able to actually "live" comfortably in the future I can't stress how much more important the environment is to me. I'm always thinking worst case scenario so my vision of the future is quite bleak. I'm picturing an arid wasteland with scarce crops...another dust bowl, if you will. Water and air quality much worse than today's. Couple that with overpopulation and what kind of a world could that be? The economy at that point would be irrelevant. Just my 2 cents. Lots of people have problems with the govenment telling people that certian marriages can't take place, or that certian lifestyles won't be tolerated, etc. I have a problem with the government telling me how to live my life as well. The enviornment is on my list, but I am not fully convinced that all of the propaganda we are force fed daily is all true.

I wouldn't stop anyone from using their language if they ran into someone who also spoke it. I just don't want to pay for the expectations that someone SHOULD speak it. If an employee and a customer at the DMV both speak Spanish, good for them. If it helps them get their transaction finished, its fine with me. I just don't think everyone should have to pay for it.

That's the point of a program like this. You would be able to take people out of their situtions and match them with employment in the US before they ever get here. Think about it, an cotton grower in Texas needs 50 people to tend to his crop. He calls INS, or whoever runs the program, and tells them exactly what he needs. INS looks into the computers and sees that they have refugees in Darfur who used to be sustence farmers before the genocides started happening. INS handles processing the 50 new people, to whatever extend they need to be prepared (IDs, work visas, citizenship, however far you need to go), and then brings them into the country. The farmer in Texas knows he is getting people who want to be here, and people who will be here legally. The workers get to leave a refugee camp, or worse, and get a new life in the US. The US government gets to be hero's to the world. Its a win-win situation.

Economy X3 Almost every issue comes down to the Economy, from Health Care, to the Enviornment, to immigration, to Social Security. I want to see how a candidate can take the smaller issues and form them into a big overall economic plan. Talking points are cheap, the big picture is what matters.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 09:26 AM) I said GOVERNMENT BUSINESS should be conducted in English. I agree, a debate is not government business, so my quip was a little out of place. As for the business of government, how many f***ing languages will we have to be able to understand, or print ballots in for it to be too much? Do we need ballots in Cantoneese? Polish? Hebrew? Piglatin? i understand the value of mulit-language speakers in tourist cities, but c'mon, should Des Moines really need a ballot printed in 6 different languages? it should be english. And if you want to discuss this further, we can start a different thread, I am thru with this tangent, at least in here. I do agree that the government should have an official language to conduct business in. I really think that the extra costs associated with all of the people necesary to add just a single language's worth of materials shouldn't have to be borne by the rest of the country. You don't have to speak English, but in order to conduct business with the government you should be able to. You are free to not learn English, but as in anything there are consequences for your actions.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 09:45 PM) Why should they be speaking in spanish for a debate at all? Our elections are not held in mexico. If a person is able to LEGALLY vote here in this country, shouldn't they have enough grasp of the English language toat least follow a soundbyte debate? And if they can't understand english, why the hell are they voting and how did they become eligible to do so? That is the blessing of freedom. They are free to debate in any language that they want to debate in. I have zero problem with that. I have a bigger problem with them being told that they can't debate in Spanish versus the fact that they went on Spanish TV for a debate. Here in the US you can speak whatever you like.

Some details on Hsu's arrest... http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/09/10/traveling-man/

So as the Hsu scandal grows by the day, instead of giving back just the $23,000 given directly by Hsu, Hillary thinks it is a good idea to give back the near $1 million that was bundled by this guy. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070911/D8RIVR8G0.html

Too bad we as a country haven't looked harder at replacing the illegals with people who really NEED to be here. There are so many people in the world who are victims of genocide, war, famine, etc, and could really use the break of coming to the United States and starting over. I know the detractors will throw money and practicality around as issues, but in reality, any solution is going to cost a ton of money, whether people want to admit it or not. If it doesn't matter who is doing the work, I would much rather see someone escape from rape and murder in Darfur, versus someone who is stealing SS numbers and filing false tax returns. Either way we are going to see a massive increase in costs of products and taxes as the government expands to take in all of these new citizens and labor begins to pay people what they are supposed to be paying, include benefits and unemployment. Think of all the good will around the world we would make by rescuing people from unimaginable situtions? Think of all of the lives we would save. I'd rather see my taxes explode for that versus the system we have now.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 08:52 AM) The "I Still Wonder" quote? OK, I figured there had been something more than that. Yes, he still isn't sure, nor should he be. That is different than saying he doesn't believe it. That is just Ozzie being smart - not trusting its permanent, and keeping Gavin on his toes. Because we all know Ozzie has a problem saying what he means... Good lord that it some creative reading. If Ozzie doesn't like a guy, he won't hestitate to throw him under the bus, get into the bus, start the bus up, and procede to drive over the player about 50 times.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 08:35 AM) So, in other words, we should all not ignore his previous debacles, but you are going to ignore his recent success? Got it. Ignore what makes me look bad, and tout what makes me look good. Gavin Floyd is the new Jon Garland. Hopefully the final result is the samething, and not Kip Wells.

Floyd has the best arm on the team, assuming Contreras doesn't find a fountian of youth somewhere. The kid is showing signs of improvement, as he has shutdown a couple of real good offenses in Cleveland and Detroit. He needs to work on his testicular fortitude and practice out of the stretch. Overall I like the progress we are getting, and I can now see him in the rotation next year.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 02:03 PM) Yeah, I do remember being surprised the Sox landed Cintron for Baj. Uh oh. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Cintrons days here are numbered anyway.

The interesting thing to me is in bold. You would think with the China fundraising scandal that included Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry at various points, that the Clinton campaign would be really interested in making sure this isn't happening again. They seemingly ignored people calling to tell that this person might not be legit, who raised over a million dollars for the Dems. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-na-hs...=la-home-center