Jenksismyhero

Where the hell is Moore. Thibs, wtf? Did he bang your gf or what?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 05:01 PM) Scientists and advocates and political leaders get together in summits/conferences etc for the same reason that businesses still spend a lot of money to fly people to meetings/conferences etc.--face-to-face interaction is still something different than video conferencing. Al Gore having a big house or flying in a jet has zero impact on the validity of AGW science and its impact on mankind. I don't know why anyone thinks that's any sort of argument at all. Because asking people to change their daily habits when you don't and you are in fact 100 times worse than an average individual isn't very consistent?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 04:49 PM) I actually like that there is a mixed government. Honestly the only part of that I'd change is the absurd 60-vote rule in the Senate, which I'd love to see go away. That's the problem. We really don't have one these days. We have group A and group B and for the most part the members of each group act and think the same way.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 04:43 PM) I hope we get this exact same reaction when we decide to shut the entire senate down for months at a time for no good reason, because the minority in the senate has the ability to do that. If the majority's going to get blamed for the minority using their ability to clog up the senate, then we should use that ability to the full extent. It'll be McConnell's fault that passing a single bill requires months of debate. Or as Reddy and others have pointed out, when the people have spoken via their vote, the other side has to just lay down and do whatever the new party says. I've been told that's how it should work repeatedly the last 6 years.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 04:40 PM) The continued mythologization (is that a word?) of Ronald Reagan is one of the most bizarre parts of politics today in my eyes. He's been turned into something he simply wasn't. I mean, the guy's administration was responsible for the revolution in use of block grants to the states (which GOP'ers rail against today), he was FOR amnesty for illegal immigrants (same), he dramatically increased (or signed off on increased) government spending even beyond inflation (same), and he oversaw a huge wave of land protections for environmental purposes (same). Yes he pushed drops in tax rates on the higher brackets, yes he deserves credit for pushing the USSR over the brink they were already pretty much headed towards and did it smartly. If he were to run for the GOP Presidential nomination today, he would be laughed off the stage for being far too liberal. Probably, but keep in mind the country he was handed in 1980 and the country he left in 1988. Markedly different. And for the better.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 04:35 PM) No it doesn't. If one side says no to anything that's not their 100% ideal, that creates an impasse even if they're given 99% of what they want. Obama has never offered 99% of anything. He's rarely offered anything. Both have blamed the other side for doing nothing when both sides have done nothing.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 02:59 PM) Clinton makes my list as well. Mainly because he was the last president who was kind of able to reach across the aisle and get some bipartisanship to work. Ever since him its gone seriously downhill. I don't like everything he did and I don't think he did anything that I'd call "overly historic" but he did have pretty impressive approval ratings, etc, oversaw an extremely promising era, etc. The problem with him is that he didn't go through any major obstacles or change the course of the country. He didn't lead us through anything. He was provided a growing economy and certainly helped push that forward with some of his trade deals, but otherwise what did he do? Some of his mideast work was great at the time but it didn't last. Lincoln obviously took us through the worst time in our history Teddy, among many other things, made us a global player Washington did maybe the single most important act of voluntarily giving up power Jefferson doubled the size of the country and at least attempted to prop up states' rights FDR led the country through the depression and ww2 and Reagan fixed the Carter Mistake, finished off the cold war and revitalized the country A lot of the greatness stuff comes with lucky (or unlucky) timing more than anything else. But these guys mostly nailed it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 04:26 PM) Which is exactly the point. Next time there's a Republican President and a Democratic congress, the Democrats just have to refuse to do anything at all, barely keep the lights on, and people will blame the President for not reaching out to them or being nice enough. They literally spelled out that exact strategy and documented it in 2009. It works perfectly. It requires two parties to reach an impasse. Obama is as much to blame as the Repubs. If you want to pass something, give up something. It's call compromise. It's been rare that's he's been willing to do it, just like the Repubs.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 12:14 PM) Who would people consider to be "great" presidents? I'd go Lincoln, Teddy, Washington, Jefferson, FDR, and Reagan as my top 6, in order. Everyone else was meh.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 12:02 PM) Reddy...I think you are delusional at this point. Too hard to see what the legacy would be down the road but I don't think there are a lot of people who today would call him one of the "great" presidents. If you go off of historical approval ratings, there is nothing to indicate he is great. Hard to predict what the view of him will be 20+ years from now but to be able to make a claim that he is in fact going to be regarded that way is pretty crazy. Well, duh, they're all racist.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 11:39 AM) can you be more specific? thanks. What do you mean more specific? What drugs are you on? If you think Obama will be considered on of the greatest Presidents in our history, you must be on something. He's failed miserably at the vast majority of campaign promises he's given in the two campaigns (ending 99% of the Bush war on terror policies, closing Gitmo, going after the wealthy/Wall Street, blah blah). His one crowning achievement - Obamacare - was an embarrassment for 6 months and still hasn't delivered the 30 million uninsured's it was supposed to. A whopping 5% drop in the number of uninsured's. I'm sure the cost the government is spending/has spent will be TOTALLY worth that. Yes, the economy is improving, though i'm always dubious of any claim that a single person pushing policy can hurt or help the economy. What specifically are you pointing to that he pushed for and got that led to the recovery? I don't think he did anything, I think the US just happened to be the most secure out of any country in the world and we're looking better because of it (falling oil prices also helped quite a bit). I don't think he gets credit for OBL. I think any president would have ok'd that mission. You're giving him credit for promises like free community college (I highly doubt he was the first to say this is a good idea) or any of his other "middle class economics" promises that will most likely not happen. I mean, the fact that you point to approval of SOTU speeches as evidence that people are behind him and not the GOP is just laughable. He's promising people the moon. Of course they'll be happy. Let's see how happy they'll be when none of it happens. Also, IBR plans have been around for a long time, at least since i've been paying back my loans (2004). I think his promise at one point to forgive all loans after 25 years never passed. So i'm not sure what you're referring to here.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 11:01 AM) Is Togetherness on HBO worth trying? Sepinwall liked it. I've got it on the DVR.

Back to being irrationally hopeful: @Minn - Win PSU - Win Rutgers - Win @MSU - Loss Mich- Win @Wis - don't even make the trip MSU - Win @Iowa - Loss NW - Win Neb - Win @ Purdue - Loss 10-8. Solidly in the tourney with a 7-9 seed. More realistic: they lose @ Minn and one of their home games. 8-10. Out of the tourney. That Michigan choke job was so huge. The tough Indiana loss was equally huge.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 08:51 AM) The F-35 is a good example of how that can happen. The plane appears to be a total dog, designed to do everything but good at nothing and still very expensive. But it's components come from 45 different states, so almost everyone in Congress has some skin in the program. You can't build a coalition to kill a big project that would negatively impact almost every state. There are huge problems and we waste a ton of money on defense, but really when Eisenhower made that speech the US was at it's height in military spending as a % of GDP. We're no where close to that figure these days.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 21, 2015 -> 10:56 PM) It is. No one has possession in that situation so Purdue has never established possession in the frontcourt for there to be a backcourt violation. I think if you tap the ball directly as he did, that should be considered possession. It was the same as a rebound and pass, just in one motion.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 21, 2015 -> 11:43 PM) Honest question: How much does it irk a lot of you that Obama's going to be remembered as one of the great presidents? Disclaimer: Still not a fan of many of his positions, especially wiretapping/drones/snowden/etc, but he's gotten all gangsta this year and it's going to look good on him a couple decades down the road when he was the first to start offering free college tuition, the first to try for universal health care, expanding workers' rights, equal pay, etc, etc. Saving and growing the economy after the crash. Getting OBL. Income-based repayment on student loans (big one for me personally). ALL in spite of a congress that stonewalled him every inch of the way. Meanwhile the GOP keeps imploding with their complete inability to respond to the SOTU properly. Dalek-Joni this year, Cruz had to restart his a minute into it, Rubio's drink-gate. Good times. Geez, can I have what you're having? Must be some good stuff to be as delusional as your are about him. He's far from the worst, but he's also far from "one of the greats."

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 08:26 AM) It is easy to understand why around the world other countries form a very negative opinion of the US. We are a warrior nation. War has been very good business for us. To fulfill manifest destiny we force a war with Mexico and took land that was later discovered to be covered in gold with lots of oil underneath. If Mexico had somehow held onto that land we might not have had such a poor neighbor to the south and west of our border. So we're the same as virtually all other modern nations. Except that our warring is relatively new and recent in comparison.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 21, 2015 -> 10:21 PM) No it wasn't. You can tap the ball backwards off a miss shot and if it goes into the backcourt it isn't over and back. I don't think thats the rule. If an illinois player touches it first, sure, but not a straight pass/tip

Oh well good win. Hopefully the first of at least 4 before Rice comes back.

I mean...these officials. That was an obvious over and back

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 21, 2015 -> 06:47 PM) Just so you're aware, 81% of voters approved of the speech, and 72% approved of his policy proposals for the next two years. So it's... actually... the GOP... that's out of touch. Wah wah. Link Right...

Well, again, you guys are overselling him. He's an upgrade over Snell, no doubt, but this team isn't going to magically give up 20 pts less and score 10 pts more with him in the game. But agree to disagree I guess.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 21, 2015 -> 04:17 PM) He's shooting 42% from three and 45% from the field. He's a very productive player. Fine, but he's averaging 9 pts and 4 rebounds. Not exactly lighting the world on fire there. Mirotic is at 8 and 5 playing 10 less minutes a game.

And everyone probably liked that Pau was giving them such an offensive boost. Going from scoring 90 to 105 a game is pretty nice. Probably makes you relax and not want to kill yourself to limit teams to 85 pts like they were doing last year.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jan 21, 2015 -> 04:03 PM) Will Dunleavy and McDermott make a huge difference right now? No. Dunleavy is good for about 1 game out of 10 when he hits some good shots. McDermott has been a non-factor in every game he's played. What better happen out of this is more minutes for Moore. If he doesn't start playing more minutes than Hinrich, Thibs should get blasted by the reporters. That's just a no brainer at this point.