StrangeSox

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 13, 2010 -> 09:16 PM) Who do you work for? You think your vote is better then a company you work for? Just using that as an example. Go to work for the government, private sector be damned. Rice fields for everyone! (yes, Kaperbole ™ ) You people honestly think that government is less corrupt and is more responsible then the private sector? NO ONE has said that corruption doesn't exist on both sides of the fence. But, it kills me to see that you all think there's some pious intent of government. No, I don't. "Both sides are going to screw you over. At least with government, you get a vote." But plenty of conservatives do like to assert that the magical, er, "invisible" hand of the market is the cure for all economic problems, as if the market is some magical land where things just sort themselves out. I work for a company that does both private and a bunch of government work. It's staffed by a lot of ex-military.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 15, 2010 -> 06:19 AM) I actually have no idea what you're talking about so I can't even respond. Failing to do what empowers whom? And why? I don't even know what you're calling for. FWIW this is how it played in the Arab press - the last week or so of December it got ignored, or got a very vague passing mention in most outlets with the exception of maybe one Saudi newspaper that's heavily anti-AQ. The narrative of Islamic terrorists just doesn't really get that much play there anymore unless it's something big, and all the news was about Gaza (it always is). Then after some of the talking heads started hyperventilating they started covering it except the tone is "what the hell is wrong with the Americans?" The fact that Obama waited a few days to make a statement and didn't interrupt his vacation didn't do any strategic damage at all, whereas if he had, that's the reaction they want us to have. I can't imagine they actually thought a failed terrorist attack where the dude ends up setting his balls on fire would actually end up being a successful terrorist attack but the cadre of p*****s on TV alley-ooped that for them. You made my morning.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 15, 2010 -> 07:14 AM) They did exactly that in the first place, so I don't know what your point is. They had a hell of a lot more wisdom then we do now, with our "me, me, me, I, I, I" (including our president) attitude. We don't think 30 seconds beyond our actions today, unless it's to "redistribute our wealth" and how we're going to do it. The founding of this country was aboslutely against that. They wanted a place where the individual could choose what it is they wanted. Today, we have to pay for everyone else's stupidity. That makes their wisdom a whole lot better then ours. Unless they were black, female or didn't own land.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 15, 2010 -> 06:23 AM) I think over the years we tend to think the Founding Fathers are infallible and have infinite, timeless wisdom. What would you think of the leader of a new country, with a relatively weak military, if they stupidly instigated a war with a superpower with the world's most powerful military, ended up getting a bunch of people killed, and made no real tactical or strategic gains from it? James Madison awaits your answer. People also tend to think that the Founding Fathers had one clear mind and one clear interpretation of the Constitution.

Like you said, it can increase your focus if you actually have ADD/ ADHD. Without it, though, it's a pure stimulant and you'll definitely get an energy boost on it. Even people with ADD get an energy boost while the medication is in the blood stream; it just effects your brain function differently. It's just the modern "greenies", except now they have a medical clearance for it. I would tend to think that you would have a hard time getting to the MLB level with the focus, concentration and motivation problems ADHD can bring. I wouldn't expect MLB players to have significantly higher rates of ADHD.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 13, 2010 -> 08:22 PM) Sigh. That makes my brain hurt, but it isn't even close to the stupidest thing to come out of that man's mouth.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 13, 2010 -> 04:12 PM) Where did you learn how to read? He didn't say it doesn't happen, he said that it happens in government in excess a lot and they get re-elected for it, and when it happens in corporations in excess, people get fired. Of course, in your utopia world of "government is great, corporations are evil", you're going to take examples of corporate corruption and sceam the sky is falling and we need to end the marketplace as it exists. Switch around government and corporations and you've got yourself the core of modern conservative ideology. "Government ruins everything! Corporations will save us all! We need to end government as it exists!" Both sides are going to screw you over. At least with government, you get a vote.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 13, 2010 -> 11:59 AM) Private sector demands accountability because there's a shareholder who will kick your ass out if you don't give it to them. Government gets re-elected for being corrupt. Why's that so hard to understand? It is essentially the same mechanism in both. Voting by shareholders, which means you have zero power unless you are very, very wealthy, or financing (buying stock/ donating to campaigns) which again means you have zero power unless you are very, very wealthy. Why's it so hard to understand that there is plenty of corruption in the business world and particularly at the executive level? They get kept on boards or signed to multi-million dollar contracts even if they completely fail.

Any candidate knows they may very well be gone at the end of the next season if the team doesn't turn around significantly next year. As for Tommy Harris, he did seem to start playing better towards the end of the year. He hasn't had a regular offseason of conditioning, recovery and training in a while with the injuries and the surgeries, so I'm hopeful that he will actually earn his pay next year. But only because there's no other option.

Conan's show from Monday was great. I have to watch Tuesday's now.

QUOTE (JuiceCruz16 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 11:35 AM) Thank You!!! I totally agree! They cheated in the exact same way, Their illegal performance enhanceing drug of choice just did not work as well during their time. They damn sure used and abused them all they could though. Take all the cheats out and you lose almost all your hall of famers from the 70's on. Not just the "roiders". Along this line of performance enhancers, MLB players have a curiously higher rate of ADHD/ADD diagnoses. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the prescribed medications are often powerful stimulants.

His interviews/ letters made me think he's even more of an idiot/ douche than I already did. edit: because he didn't actually apologize for anything, is apparently completely ignorant of the actual effects of steroid use and refused repeatedly to take personal responsibility and tried to blame it on the "era".

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 09:32 PM) The GOP gets so much mileage out of activist judges, liberal media, and oh poor me. They have no real power left in this country. The damn press has taken it all away along with motherhood and apple pie. It is an awesome strategy, I wish the dems had thought of it first. Every problem with the party, and any wrong doing by a REP is explained by media bias. It is a beautiful thing. The media has proped up the Dem party for years. I'm not certain why, that has never been explained. Kudos to the GOP. I'm not certain who came up with that strategy but it has been brilliantly used to the point where this generation will argue the point forever. Excellent post.

Anything along the BNSF line shouldn't be a bad Metra commute, but you do hit some pricey areas.

Yeah, I just noticed that on my fiance's first paycheck of the year clearing it through Quicken this morning. Her's was only $5 less.

Shocker.

The Road is great/ very depressing. McCarthy's style of writing is different but fit very well with the book. Time to dig into No Country For Old Men next.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 5, 2010 -> 10:10 PM) sure kap. Red is black, grey is black, white is black, orange is black. If the government is involved at all, then it is exactly equivalent to something like the NHS. What are these reds, grays and oranges you speak of? The entire world is either black or white.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 5, 2010 -> 09:00 PM) You call that crap "debate"? You all want to keep saying that, but as I keep saying, the whole damn bill(s) is "government run health care". Just don't call it something that it is, because it might offend the voters, er special interests, er I mean people outside of Washington. That you keep saying it doesn't mean it's true or that you've actually supported your position. It's just blind assertion after blind assertion.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 5, 2010 -> 09:21 AM) Ultimately they did. The whole thing was a game of charades to figure out how to ram it through without pissing off VOTERS, not each other. Oh yeah, the Universal Health Care...er, I mean Public Option....er, I mean quasi-co-ops....er, I mean "opt-in" plans is just being rammed through without debate!

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 5, 2010 -> 08:05 PM) You lost me there with Shea. No way, no how. Yeah, that would be awful. Shea is just not very good.

Exactly. The dems are completely unstoppable with 60 seats! Yet they've failed to pass anything of note. I lost my tally on reality v. conservative talking points.

libs tend not the believe in telling other people they need to convert to Christianity or they'll never recover from a bad event.

For whatever its worth, my parents flew from Midway to Detriot and back for New Years and didn't notice a single thing different.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 07:24 PM) Season Three was by far my least favorite. When I first watched seasons 1-4 online, season three took me like a month where the other 3 lasted about two weeks combined. The first 6 episodes were too much love triangle drama. Then there was a load of crap like the Nikki & Paulo episode, the flashback episode with Desmond where we saw the same stuff we've seen a million times over and over, the van episode, etc. The last few weeks and the finale were great, but the rest of the season was really mediocre imo.