Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 14, 2011 -> 01:50 PM) Because there happens to be a private company involved in the case as well...Rapiscan, who builds the things. If they sold the government scanners that emit a factor of 10x the radiation that the scanners are supposed to emit and that the original test scanners emitted, that's a product liability issue for the company. But that doesn't even register... But it's still on the government to know that when it says these things don't emit radiation, they actually know that it's true.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 14, 2011 -> 01:33 PM) You don't see why I'm asking this at all do you? lol, i guess not. Why did you?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 14, 2011 -> 01:10 PM) How on Earth is that your reaction? Because the government always knows best and never lies to the public.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 13, 2011 -> 09:57 AM) LOL, Reagan: "[...]where unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost."

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 04:40 PM) Unions have agreed plenty of times to defer compensation to help cover budget shortfalls. They've certainly done that in Wisconsin, but Walker wanted absolutely nothing to do with negotiating. He, like the new governor down in Florida, seems to think being governor means being King of the State and allows you to run the state like you'd run a business. The problems are governors and legislators never actually making long-term plans to pay for anything and, of course, the massive recession caused by Wall Street, not public employees' unions. Is that really a bad thing?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 04:16 PM) http://www.themonkeycage.org/2011/02/the_r...ween_union.html What's the projection into the future? That's the problem. And yes, I completely agree that government was stupid to "sign" those deals. It's the f***ing government, of course they'll screw the whole to get themselves reelected. Again, you're talking about teachers and police and fireman - people that it's a PR nightmare to come out against. It's only happening now because of the state of the economy and state budgets, which is exactly why Walker is making his move now. It's a power play for Wisconsin government going forward.

Government saves!

I leave my computer and they're up 51-39. Next thing I know it's a loss. Inexcusable.

Does Illinois look good or just good enough? I'm relying on the gamecast which doesn't show much other than the score.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 02:40 PM) Just because something bad hasnt happened yet, does not mean that it wont happen in the future. Im sure that when Unions were arguing against child labor, etc, owners were saying that other factories have children and that they havent gotten hurt. So what, its not a question of what is the impact, its a question of what do you believe. I believe that its not the govts place to say that people cant collectively bargain. If you believe that the govt should have the right to take away collective bargaining rights of individuals, so be it. Regardless of whether unions have any impact, or whether collective bargaining does anything, I dont agree that the govt has the right to take it away. id rather not let the govt be a runaway freight train that can take away the rights of individuals as they see fit. I know that I am in the minority here, but I stand up for peoples rights regardless of what side of the fence they are on. Its not a Democrat or Republican thing, its a people thing. And if its a question of the govt or the people, Im going to side with the people. So you're ignoring 35-40 years of history and relying on the "well you never know what could happen" argument? I'm all about individual rights. But in this case the unions have done more harm than good. They've forced the governments hands for decades. They've created the massive budget deficits a lot of the states are facing. Clearly they're not the only problem, and clearly government should be mindful of the sacrifices a lot of public employees make. But it's time for the pendulum to swing back the other way and I think that's exactly what Walker is trying to achieve, regardless of the merits of his tactics.

QUOTE (hitlesswonder @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 02:01 PM) Sheesh. I'm done talking about the tournament-worthiness of Illinois. How about this for an opinion: Illinois should run actual plays to get Richmond the ball in the post against teams like Michigan that lack a big presence inside. Now that I can agree with.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 01:49 PM) Who cares what was done in the past, Obama had no part of it. If you dont believe people have the right to unionize or to collectively bargain, that is fine. But to argue that because other states/govts have stripped away those rights, is a bad argument. At one point certain states allowed slavery. That didnt mean that it was right to have slaves, it just meant that some states were screwed up. I always hope that people will look at the facts, instead of making "two wrongs" arguments. Who cares if the other side was wrong on a different situation, it doesnt mean that they cant be right on this situation. You arent bound by bad decisions, we thankfully have chances to make the right decisions. I guess Im of the opinion that people should feel that they can change their mind and make the best decision, not worrying that some how it may go against something else that happened a year, 10 years or 100 years ago. It's important because it shows that despite not having those bargaining rights federal employees are doing just fine. They still get paid well. They still have great benefits. It's not the dire circumstances the democrats (and the union bosses who are clearly going to lose out on tons of money and power) are predicting will happen in WI.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 01:24 PM) Actually, the polls showed they did, until the GOP started all the fear mongering of death panels and "grandma's gonna die" And Obama didnt get everything he wanted. I remember it starting with a pretty large majority against it, especially once the insurance mandate came into play. But if you're going to go that route then I'm sure the increase in support against Walker in Wisconsin can be correlated to the increase in the "OMG! They're making us slaves with no rights!" fear mongoring from the left. I'm just saying that that's a bulls*** argument to claim that in one instance a politician ignoring his constituents is bad, but in another instance it's good. It has nothing to do with debating the merits of the policy itself. And i still want to hear Obama speak about this. Oh wait he can't. Because DEMOCRATS passed legislation to the same bargaining rights people are b****ing about. And that's been the case for 40 years. And man, those federal employees are so SCREWED. They have NOTHING compared to private sector employees.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 09:29 AM) I find it amazing that the Governors of WI and FL has had such tin ears, and have been completely running on ideology, rather than the will of the people. In WI, people are turning against the governor because he is being seen as a union buster. He isnt willing to negotiate. The reason everyone has been so made at Obama is because he is actually WILLING to work with the other side and not be locked into some hardcore ideology. In FL, the governor rejected the high-speed rail system using false information and distorted facts, despite everyone else (the local county and city governments) wanting the project. When you read between the lines, he basically said he didnt want "big government" money. Of course he didnt say that directly, but he talked around the point. Funny, I don't remember you claiming this when Obama passed the healthcare law despite the will of the people not supporting it.

QUOTE (hitlesswonder @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 11:12 PM) Maybe, but I think we all know Illinois is not actually a tournament quality team. And I am not sure they will make it in. Using ESPN's bubble watch as a guide, there's like 10 spots for 14 bubble teams (unless I miscounted). I can easily come up with 10 bubble teams I'd take over Illinois: Utah St, UAB, Georgia, BC, Saint Mary's, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Colorado, Nebraska, Alabama And there's probably more (Michigan...maybe USC....probably some mid-majors with lousy RPIs but who have actually won a bunch of games which Illinois did not). The expansion of the field helps Illinois a lot, but I think until you know if there are any upsets for the automatic bids, it's really hard to say. I don't think Illinois is in now and I don't think beating Michigan moves them to safely in. In fact, unless they beat tOSU they should be sweating. LOL. Man, a half day late on this, but wow. The legitimacy of your opinions in this thread is now at a zero. Did someone at Illinois steal a girlfriend of yours? Maybe kill your dog ? What's with the crazy hate?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 12:19 PM) I haven't watched much big ten basketball this year outside of the big 4...Other than Shurna, is Northwestern actually any good? They are better than their records indicates. Lots of injuries this year really screwed them. The loss of Coble in the off season didn't help.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 10:05 AM) That whirlpool video was amazing and terrifying. That was straight out of Pirates of the caribbean link? edit: nm i think i found it on cnn's site.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 12:14 PM) Honestly, there are a lot of people on this board who should be involved in something like that. It gives you a whole new perspective on the political system. Even if it is just working on a campaign, it is worth it. Not to mention all the "illegal" perks.

Oh, well that's nice.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 10:44 AM) Alright B10 tourney starts today. Place yer bets, place yer bets. I'm going unconventional and saying that Illinois wakes up and takes it. Boy that'd be nice. I'm going with Purdue over OSU. Illinois will look great against Michigan, and play well against OSU for 35 minutes before losing it, much like the prior two games.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 09:32 AM) The science of climate change is in such an infancy stage, it's going to take many more years of data and analysis to convince me of this beyond a reasonable doubt. Once this movement became an entire political platform and huge money making scheme, it became corrupt IMO, and my cynical side (which is quite a large side of me), kicked in...and that's where we are now. Agreed.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 08:31 AM) Fun charts for illustration of where we are at with jobs... 4 week moving average of initial claims over 40 year period seems to show this recession not a lot different than 82-83, or another from the 70's. Then there's the churn data, turnover in jobs, that show the number of layoffs and lost jobs is similar over time, but the total hires and openings, while increasing lately (which is good), is still on an overall slight downward trend in the past decade (that's bad). But then there is the really scary one - percent job losses over time, showing the depth and, more importantly, length of the recession (this is the one that scares the bejeezus out of me). My personal viewpoint is, the recessions are longer and have shallower recoveries because we don't accelerate out of them into sustainable growth areas - we grow into service too much. Need to invest in getting us in front of cutting edge technologies, getting us innovating, building and exporting... THEN let the other countries with lower cost of manufacture take those industries secondarily. We're just skipping part of that entirely. I'm still not sure what Obama/Congress are waiting for. Is there any pending legislation for something like this?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 9, 2011 -> 04:56 PM) Speaking of ridiculousness, on the cover of SI this week: "Why John Calipari cant catch a break." Yep, a story about how Coach Cal is a victim and just a nice guy. What a joke of a story. Though this year that slime bag has really been under the radar. Might have something to do with me not having ESPN anymore, but still. Not much about him on espn.com or any other website (until now obviously).

Video of that rutgers/st johns game. I was SHOCKED to see a certain official high tailing it to the locker room. WTF? How do you not review that? http://deadspin.com/#!5780310/watch-ru...wed-by-the-refs

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 9, 2011 -> 02:34 PM) There's one problem built in to the argument you guys are making on climate change, and there's a reason why we'd classify that as anti-scientific talk. You're accepting some portion of the science...the fact that climate has changed in the past. Then you're using that as a motivation to ask "is it part of a general trend". The thing you're missing is...this is a question that has been asked thousands of times in study after study over the past few decades. That's the science part...when you see a trend, you attempt to explain that trend. You're not asking a question that hasn't been addressed. In order to be able to continue asking that question....you have to ignore all the work that has been done which says "holy **** no". But the question isn't "is the earth warming." It's "is the earth going to continue to rise to the point where we kill ourselves because of what we've caused." That's not accepting science for one purpose and discounting it for another.