FlaSoxxJim

We SHOULD still be able to take Central IF (!!!) guys start playing to their potential. Not even a bunch of career years, just up to their potential. This slide has me bummed out and I voted for us losing to the Twinks for the division - Sox had better prove me wrong.

Relax, Mike Jackson will stop the bleeding here....

That's 3 problems...

Crap - every pitcher is going to throw BP tonight.

Some offense from our OFFENSE would be nice...

Wow!

I know this is just a rough stretch in a long season, but it has become like the anti-2003 all of a sudden. Remember the nice mini-tear we finally went on going into the break? This is like the Bizzaro world version of that. No sir, I don't like it at all.

You're not the only one. Typical Sox schedule of events: pitcher mouths off in the press that they're getting a raw deal some way, then gets his ass hammered next time on the mound.

That's my new favorite smiley... (even if it looks like Jake is doing a Russian Dance... )

What he said!

Arghh! I missed one. I can never remember who's in charge after the Prez and VP, I put stupid Sec. of State...

I had just read this. It continues to be catastrophic on a global scale. But, while not in ANY WAY making light of the human issue of the century, SS24K, your headline "5 million infected with AIDS in 03 From the Trib" is downright Leno-worthy if taken literally. I mean, Hey Tribune, sleep around much??

Just follow the grail-shaped beacon...

Yeah, I realize you were lobbing joke grenades, it's all good. And I know I came down hard about getting off topic on the chuch 501(3)© thing when I'm usually as free-wheeling as anyone here. It's just that there was a very specific initial allegation there that quickly devolved into a generic rant on all campainging/fundraising evils under the sun that became :banghead and with little serious reflection on the initial topic. Dumb me for looking to our collective braintrust for insight again, huh? In regard to what the 500 tons of uranium was produced for, what grade it is, etc., I don't know the answer. It may well have been part of an original illegal weapons program, or part of a sanctioned nuclear energy program. If it was for weapons and the program was shut down, I can understand why it is still sitting around. Just look at the headaches we're having and Russia is having trying to clean up Cold War atomic facilities. In regards to the hardened missiles and bullets and 'weapons versus used up' - yes, "depleted" uranium is used to make uranium-hardened munitions, and it is the waste product from enriching weapons-grade material. But it can and is used to make weapons (ammunition); it's nearly 2x as hard as lead so it can pierce tank armor, and it is pyrophoric - meaning it combusts fiercely once it has penetrated a target (that's what turns the enemy tank operators into "crispy critters" as the marines have dubbed them). So they are good for use in war for those reasons... But, they are still significantly radioactive - not enough to make conventional nukes with, but there are some authorities (I can probably dig up the references again) that suggest the discarded hardened munitions represent ample available material for dirty bomb construction (I don't know if they would be used as-is or re-enriched somehow prior to use, but their pyrophoric nature makes them dangerous incendiary materials at any rate). A US tank operator who handles the uranium-hardened munitions for one hour reportedly receives as much radiation as he/she would in a year of exposure to normal background radioactivity levels. Cancer, leukemnia, renal failure, chromosome damage, and I don't know what else has been linked to exposure to depleted uranium. There is also growing evidence that Gulf war Syndrome (as well as Kosovo/Bosnia war Syndrome, Afghan war Sundrome) is directly tied to exposure to this material. There is a huge pulse of Iraqi kids with leukemia that were born right after the first Gulf War, so it's not just a lab rat body of evidence. Given the much larger US troop deployment, the much longer tours of duty, and the fact that we're using the same suspect munitions, it is a near-certain assumption there will be a HUGE wave of Iraq War vets that down the line come down with an 'Enduring Freedom Syndrome' or whatever it gets named. This has been accepted as a reality by the "whaterver it takes" administration. Without getting too off-topic or agendizing, the real kicker for me is that the use of depleted uranium in this manner is FORBIDDEN in the same section of the Geneva Convention as WMDs. So our government that continues to harp on about the crime against humanity represented by rogue nations possibly stockpiling WMDs but at the same time are openly violating the world treaties we are supposed to be abiding by.

I was construing that the topic could be logically (key word) extended to the net gain/loss of uranium to Iraq based on the initial suggestion that two tons removed from a former research facility was newsworthy. Am I in err?

These guys just can't stay retired... http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040707_287.html

Here's a stumper question: Do you think that the nearly 2 tons of uranium removed even puts a dent in the total amount of radioactive material we have introduced into Iraq, vis a vis uranium-hardened armor piercing bullets? From an environmental standpoint, the ??? tons (Apu?) of low-level radioactive material we have contaminated the country with is the modern equivalent of the Biblical sewing the enemy's land with salt - albeit really, really persistent, biologically damaging salt. And I'll co-opt SS24K's interrogative here: How come no one is talking about this? Isn't this a pretty big deal?

How about 2002 for starters? He had a torrid first half and then fell off the map the second half, much of it at the time attributed to the foot injury. But second half 2002 slump carried right over into the first half of last year and questions about his hips etc., before he got it together again. Split those year totals up into first half and second half stats and you'll see the story. Pauly has been DA MAN so far, and absolutely I want it to carry through. Historically, though, it hasn't.

I doubt anybody "loves" the idea of life without Ordonez. But it's past time to either sign him or not and be done with it for many people.

Archive this quote, DABearSoX. If PK puts up similar numbers in the second half, you'll have something to rub in the faces of the naysayers. We're all hoping he puts two strong halves together, but the next time he does it will be the FIRST time he does it.

More for us then... ! Seriously, all in good time. And in the mean time... More for us then... !

I think you're reading too much into that. "They" is the front office - that's who signed Garcia, not the players.

Beautiful. I'm trying my best to swing Denver for GABF this year. I'll probably camp out at the Stone booth. Alas, I'll have to make due with a 2002 Sierra Bigfoot that I have chilled in the fridge - not a bad consolation prize. keep drinking the good stuff.

Yeah, that was too topical and witty to be me...

Game - poop.