StrangeSox

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 10:58 PM) He no showed the 4th quarter of game 4 but he didn't tonight. His passing was exceptional in the 4th quarter as all of his assists lead directly to layups or dunks and the Heat were running everything through Wade not LeBron tonight so he wasn't going to score a ton. You're supposed to be the best player on the court if not the world. You need to score more than 2 garbage-minute points in the 4th.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 10:55 PM) So a bad decision ceases to be a bad decision if the game is eventually won? You're sounding like greg now, Balta. Yeah, you can win in spite of bad management.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 01:05 PM) He's done a phenomenal job of not over-reacting like a bunch of nut jobs here and staying calm and as a result the players responded. Ozzie has a tremendous ability to try and put his players in the best chance to succeed. That might not be in-game managing but it is an art that he has managed exceptionally, well, imo. And I know someone will now make a bunch of posts about how Kotsay being DH was a position he couldn't excel at, but by and large, Ozzie has done that and you'll hear a lot of his current and former players allude to that. Ozzie understands how up and down the game of baseball is and he isn't going to overreact to things too often. I have problems with some of his ridiculous comments and some of the things he does, but by and large, he's a good manager. The question to me is at some point, players tune guys out or maybe just need to hear another voice, and when that type comes, it comes. It will happen to pretty much every mgr and coach. awesome satire!

Wow, Lebron had a triple-double? ESPN nailed it by calling it the "quietest triple-double in a big game you've ever seen"

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 06:57 PM) Now it's used in a number of technological applications. Yeah but that's not what its value is based on.

btw the "gold standard" always seemed kind of silly to me. Why does a shiny metal have so much intrinsic value?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 12:58 PM) 6 of the Republican Candidates are scheduled to address a "Gold Standard Bus Tour" in Iowa next week. Pawlenty, Santorum, Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Johnson. That "gold standard" stuff is really taking off. Works on both the populist and libertarian parts of the tea party.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 01:02 PM) Yeah i posted that a few weeks ago, pretty disgusting. How about the leaders of the school? How does common sense not come into play there? Texas+stand-out athlete+sexism=fail.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 12:08 PM) And where exactly does this policy leave us here in this great state of Illinois? Essentially "big" companies have the state by the balls - they can merely threaten to leave and they'll be thrown tax breaks left and right. They've managed the storm of the recession, and now get an even bigger break just for being a big employer. Hey why are you making such great arguments against Republican plans for a "race to the bottom"?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 08:40 AM) As it is for any of the other religions mentioned in that story. Jews do not have a hell. But my point wasn't to attack Christianity, but to point out that this statement doesn't represent some sort of fanatical cult ideology but it a widely held belief in this country. I have philosophical problems with that belief, so I can understand how that could come across. Here's the wiki that describes all sorts of "hells" for various religion. I believe the balance do not envision hell as a place of suffering and punishment for sins, at least eternally. I think Christianity and Islam are pretty unique in that view.

Cheerleader must compensate school after refusing to cheer for player who raped her http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/am...st-2278522.html WTF is wrong with this country/Texas/the superintendent/5th circuit?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 07:28 PM) If he did that the press would call him on it. Plans that either push to -1% unemployment or involve $8 trillion in tax cuts are serious. Because they're cutting taxes on the media members. I don't think it's so much about media owners controlling the message as the MSM being so f***ing paranoid of being called "liberal" or "biased" that they bend over backward to handle Republicans with kid-gloves and give them a pass for their terribleness. Oh, and also that journalism is dead, reporting is now just repeating quotes or statements verbatim without an analysis of the validity of what was said.

Timothy Geithner is taking a beating in liberal blogs this week. Many are pointing to him as the main charge from within the White House to focus on the deficit instead of unemployment. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/eco...CSLH_print.html

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 07:19 PM) Was that also the post where Ezra pointed out that 5% growth for a decade would also likely wind up pushing unemployment to -1%? LOL, maybe. But this is the start of Serious Discussions by Very Serious People, just like the Ryan plan! These economic policies are objectively absurd, contradictory, delusional and fantastical and yet they're playing a role in framing our national narrative on government.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 07:16 PM) How many times have I said that in this thread? I know, and I said it as well a few weeks ago but backed off. I took the "LeBron doesn't work hard" route, which by all accounts really isn't true. But his lack of an inside game, given his physical size and athleticism, still seems inexplicable.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 06:57 PM) LOL a decade of 5% GDP growth. Read that really terrible WSJ editorial. "Oh, sure, he was wrong, it's never been done. In fact, the closest was a couple of years of near-5% under Reagan and Clinton. But it's an admirable goal!" Yeah, so is ending poverty world-wide and lasting global peace. That doesn't mean it's an actual policy, and it certainly doesn't mean your ridiculous ideas of gutting the government in favor of the incredibly wealthy will actually get you there. edit: that'd be a 62% GDP increase in 10 years. I don't think Pawlenty understands compound interest. Ezra Klein

Slideshow of all the Palin "GOTCHA!" questions the lamestream media has sprung on her. http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/06/sarah...l#photo=1x00006 Such tough, hard-hitting questions. They just don't treat her fair.

Pawlenty's plan is even more fantastical and absurd than Ryan's (really Heritage's) "2.8% Unemployment!!!" crap that Very Serious People take Very Seriously as a Serious starting point for a Serious discussion. He proposes tax cuts that would be triple the Bush cuts. A complete elimination of capital gains and estate taxes (the investor-class can now live tax-free!) And a decade of sustained 5% GDP growth. Republican economics are now a religion. And not a long, storied one like Judaism or Hinduism, but the crazy cult upstart that is bats*** crazy by any rational observation, like Scientology. Of course, it's being received warmly in the WSJ editorial pages instead of being derided for the nonsense that it is. "Tim Pawlenty claims to be an economic sorcerer, capable of performing literal magic, this is a Serious Candidate. Obama, take note!"

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 6, 2011 -> 11:47 AM) If you like documentaries like that, there was another one I thought was just as good as the Planet Earth series from BBC (but different - less science, more history)... its the Ken Burns documentary "National Parks: The nation's best idea". Also ran on PBS, a while back. Fantastic stuff. Ken Burns' stuff is always hard for me to get into. Not because it isn't fantastic work, but because I know it's a 10-20 hour time commitment to get through it.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 06:17 PM) You're missing the point entirely. Read the rest of the thread. Never.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 11:49 AM) So that thing I said about the US government being pretty lax on student loans....not so much I guess: http://www.news10.net/news/article/141072/...ckton-mans-door FWIW this is a criminal investigation, not for defaulting on loans. But this still seems like another example of the militarization of police forces across the country.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 08:33 AM) Except that the whole point of Baltas thread was that all of these economic issues could have been fixed if these two people had been appointed. No one ever said that but you.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 05:44 PM) Oh right, so there aren't any cultural differences? Sure, but then the issue is "cultural differences," not access to technology and video games or having a high standard of living where there's food on the table every day (also, not true for millions of Americans).

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 05:28 PM) I wasn't arguing a direct correlation between global SOL and education. But you can't explain America's slipping educational performance by standard of living or technology-induced laziness, because the countries that out-perform us have the same stuff and are generally ranked higher overall.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 09:45 AM) The answer to that isn't "Stop shooting entirely"...it's "Get your tail into the lane and either force layups or create contact". Bill Simmons: