Rex Kickass

COngrats Shipps!

People are f***ing crazy these days. We need to stop getting so angry all the time when it comes to politics. It won't end well.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 06:45 PM) That one hand swipe? Honestly, I think he was just being W - a friendly gesture to Bill. I'm not being sarcastic here either, I'm serious. I think that's all it was. It looks awful and hilarious all at the same time.

George Bush was in Haiti with Bill Clinton. After shaking hands with Haitians, he felt the need to wipe his hand on Bill Clinton's shirt. I don't quite know what this means, and I'm not sure if I should shake my head or laugh out loud. I really don't.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 03:48 PM) We understand she wasn't vetted in 2008 but why would they invite her back now? Unreal. Because the people she appeals to are flocking to JD Hayworth.

QUOTE (Soxy @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) The Milwaukee priest was reassigned to the Diocese I now work in--so this has dominated local news for a while. It's notable because, essentially, Cardinal Ratzinger was aware of the coverup or abuse or something. Here's a link to the story: Latest update It's my understanding that by the time the Diocese notified Rome in this case, the priest was 2 years from death, and literally hundreds of children were molested by him. So although there's plenty of blame to go around, a big part of it should go to the Diocese in Wisconsin who apparently had known about this kid toucher for literally decades before deciding to do something about it. What's inexcusable, however, is that at some point in the 1990s the Archdiocese did want to kick the old man out of the priesthood (40+ years too late, but still) and then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's office decided not to provide a church trial and instead just reassigned him again. Not everyone in the college of cardinals deserves the guilt that the Vatican has over this matter, but unfortunately its current leader does. And its reflected in the way that Joey Ratz has decided to handle the situation at large. 0 Tolerance policies in Ireland and the US. Germany, nothing (probably because he has something to hide in how he handled these allegations in Germany.) The rest of the world, nothing. Child abuse is wrong, no matter the country, and I always thought that the catechism in the church was clear on that. I think I know how the church can take steps to address this problem, but they aren't particularly popular ones. Beyond holding child molesters to account to God and the law of the country in which the abuse takes place which is a given, I think the church needs to have an honest review of the way it views sexuality and stop demonizing a whole section of its flock who want to be partners in this community of faith but are taught to be ashamed of their sexuality and hide it for fear of reprisal from the church. If the Catholic Church spent as much time on actually making sure that its children weren't being abused by men and women of the cloth as it did trying to stop civil marriage for same sex couples and birth control options for the developing world, I think the Church might not be dealing with a new pedophile explosion every three months.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 09:34 AM) But...capacity really was key. If there was additional capacity, the price spike would have been less intense or not there at all, even with all the other bubble-driving forces. In the housing market for example...an unsupported price spike that lasted a period of 10 years produced a massive over-production of housing. An oil price spike should have produced a similar spike in production, if that was possible, even if people were just buying up oil contracts on speculation. The only thing that knocked oil prices back down was a drop in demand as the economies crashed, not an upwards kick in production. Was the housing bubble as big as oil futures? Pricing more than doubled within 12 months on crude oil futures, which at one point seemed to be pegged to the dollar. Everytime the dollar dropped in value, oil seemed to increase in value (at least to my uneducated eye.) Rather than being tied to fundamentals (because IIRC, when the bubble burst, there wasn't really a huge change in oil inventory levels), oil seemed to be used as an investment hedge against the dollar. At least that's what I remember.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 09:19 AM) There's an obvious test case that's happened in the past 2 years. There was a gigantic price spike in 2007 and 2008 that was large enough to do severe damage to the global economy. This price spike has been a terrible thing for oil markets; oil demand went down and it took the price down with it for many months. Increasing capacity to avoid that 2008 price spike would have been incredibly sound business. They actually tried to do so, but the oil that was released was of poor quality, after which point, everything was pumping as much as possible, and there wasn't any capacity left. The 2008 price shock was a direct result of OPEC and the rest of the world being at capacity. It's my understanding that the fundamentals didn't support oil at the price spikes that oil acheived in 2008. I always got the impression that there were a number of reasons why the price of oil skyrocketed, and the vast majority of it had little to do with capacity.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 08:09 PM) You better put all that money in from the last 8 years on your lower tax rate while you're at it. The truth is, if I have to pay slightly higher taxes in order to enjoy the benefits and services of a government that generally acts in a responsible manner and is committed to providing a basic safety net for its constituents in need, I am completely willing to do so. Lower taxes is not everything to me. A government that is responsive to its people is.

Late 80s... I'm gonna go with 88.

Bold Predicition: Wise comes back to the White Sox midseason as a power hitter after he makes himself a bat crafted out of a branch that fell from the tallest tree in the park, which he happened to be standing under during a powerful thunderstorm. He calls it Wonderbat. Signed after a 9 game losing streak threatens to end Sox playoff chances, the White Sox carried on the shoulders of the Wonderbat improbably win it all, despite being the biggest underdogs in summer camp!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 11:47 AM) The Republicans are gearing up for a stronger fight against another extension of unemployment benefits. This is a gift from God for the Democrats, I think. If I was Harry Reid, I'd propose all the cuts come from the home states of the Senators who object. Maybe cut a Boeing contract from the plant based in OK. Or just pull all the stimulus funding from the state of OK altogether. Since Coburn was opposed to that in the first place, he should be fine with giving back the 2 billion, right?

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Mar 17, 2010 -> 09:28 PM) For those of you who do biking - is this for recreational, ways to bike to work, or what? And, is the clarity really good? Hell, I guess I should click the link, but I wanted people's take and experiences who've ridden bikes or whatever and the practical uses of this. Okay, I looked, and this is cool. I've even got some to add to the database... wow, look at me. In New Jersey, its actually pretty poor. Theres a difference between mtn bike paths and acceptable paths for road bikes, and that makes its usefulness for me pretty limited.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 10:59 AM) There are fringe elements that follow a very machiavellian thought process when it comes to violence and threats of violence in the advance of their agenda. This however is not tied to one party or another, its just segments of society that are attracted to either party for whatever reason. These types of threats have little place in our society and these people should be arrested if they make threats against officials and their families. These nooses and coffins and other death based material are no different that the same tactics that were used when Bush was the president. Same type of fringe element, different political ideology. Signs at a protest and cutting a gas line are two different things. The coffin, especially given the context, is actually IMO an appropriate type of protest, although indicated a woefully ignorant view of what the bill contains.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 07:21 PM) Complaints from the party who refused to work a full week are pretty funny Country Nap First!

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 01:28 PM) Yea, because THAT'S the same. Why isn't it the same? If a 15 year old is old enough to go to adult jail for posession of drugs or theft or assault, why aren't they old enough to make their own choices in regards to an unwanted pregnancy?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 01:24 PM) Country Nap First! Fixed.

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/loc...tigation/54038/

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 08:36 AM) A solution to Greece's budget woes remains elusive for the EU. Now, Fitch's downgrade of Portugal reminds investors, again, that Athens is not alone in the dark. Give it time. More dominoes will be falling. There was a lot of debate, in the first place, about whether countries like Portugal, Greece and Italy made sense to be in the Eurozone to begin with IIRC. It's not necessarily endemic of any systemic risk in the EU.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) They can run on Dems suxor at the economies. Doesn't matter how they get in, just what happens if they do. The Senate is not going to flip. There is no way the GOP is going to get 10 pickups and the Democrats 0. I could see a 5-1 roll. The house is more in flux. But I still think a 20 seat loss is more likely than a 40 seat one, and I think Speaker Pelosi will keep her chair.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 04:47 PM) No doubt about that. Some state organizations will survive, but the ACORN organization is pretty much dead. Has been for a couple months actually.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 04:04 PM) The right wing cannot do any such thing. The democrats have the majority in congress and have the leadership in the committees. The reason ACORN is going away is because the democrats allowed it to. Correct. But as we all know, Democrats, generally are pretty wishy-washy. Especially in places like the Senate. So it's pretty easy to put something in a right wing echo chamber and make so much noise about something that's faked and present it as fact that some Democrats will side with Republicans to vote against their own interests and the interests of their citizens by defunding an organization that primarily focused on such horribly liberal things as fighting predatory lending against moderate and low income families, and fighting for inner city school teachers to be certified. And then of course, they focused on providing support and remodeling of damaged abandoned Katrina homes in New Orleans. There were issues with some of the chronically unemployed people given temporary work to register voters not doing their job properly. There was an issue with the brother of the founder of ACORN embezzling about a million dollars from the company. And then there were the videos, heavily edited, extremely misleading, and after internal investigations as well as investigations by district attorneys have resulted in no arrests, indictments or convictions. There is blood on the hands of the Democratic leadership in ACORN's demise, but it isn't theirs alone. To say that the Brietbart/Fox News ACORN-a-thon of 2009 didn't play a part in this mess is disingenuous at best. It's just a shame that an organization that for the bulk of its existence dedicated itself to providing basic needs to the poorest among us, and was all about providing affordable housing in urban cores had to go in the way it did.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Mar 22, 2010 -> 08:08 AM) I think I've only fallen over once since switching from platform to clipless. I was testing the new pedals out and riding around my apartment's parking lot late at night. Yes, that's right--using the new pedals was at the forefront of my mind and I still managed to forget how to properly dismount. It happens, I'm still developing the sense memory, although I've gotten a lot better at popping out of the pedals, I have a hard time clipping in.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 01:05 PM) It's not unfortunate at all...they were a corrupt organization and I'm glad they're gone. There are plenty of other liberal organizations that aren't corrupted like Acorn was. There were some corruption issues at ACORN, but there are many of the same issues at a lot of non-profits across the political spectrum, I'm sad to say. ACORN did a lot of good for the communities they worked with over the years, and for those people it's a sad day to see the organization that they helped build and benefitted from was essentially destroyed by some homeless guys not doing their temporary jobs properly and a 25 year old pseudo-activist playing dress up who possessed a video camera and some knowledge of editing.

http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/Hea...pIAGYDut-A.cspx