Texsox

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 01:22 PM) To give Texas back to Mexico. That would be a nice start. Now stick out your tongue Well yeah, and we'll like give Illinoise back to the Indians

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 01:30 PM) I'd say its both. Just remember, the cop doesn't get that money from the ticket. Heck, even the police department itself gets little or no money out of it. The money goes to courts, or to state funds to be redistributed according to their whims. More money funneling in is more money to spend. To deny that all municipality workers, including the cops, do not benefit, seems a tough argument to win.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 01:28 PM) Well, you don't need organized religion to have values and a moral basis... No you don't. What is it about some people's values and moral basis that makes you sick? You are trying to push your values and morals on us, and want to be listened to, shouldn't you have the same respect to listen to others? Are yours more valid because you aren't Christian?

We have developed a system of punishments in this country that is based on a scale. The faster you speed, the more you pay. The more dangerous the location, the more you pay. Same with theft, assault, and every other crime. I don't have a problem with increasing fines in various "zones".

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 01:18 PM) all of them. I think organized religion should be ilegal. Christians make me sick. So you do not have a value system? No core beliefs? No personal basis for what is right or wrong? I'll exit quickly here. You would feel too threatened to discuss this.

It all started with the flip flop strategy that worked.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 01:17 PM) Oh I didnt know you were from Texas. That explains it. I was in Texas once and I'd rather eat glass than go there again. LOL I hope you are holding your breath until you turn blue also.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 12:27 PM) There usually getting told what they can't do, because their always trying to put their religion on everyone else. Tell them to get out of my buisness and I'll get out of their's. Who do you mean by "they". The full time Church employees and their organization or their followers?

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 01:12 PM) The murders in Juarez are particularly brutal, FWIW. Their have been a few around the US that come close, Green River, BTK, etc. But this is brutal.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 12:55 PM) 268 deaths are alarming in Iraq, cause that wouldnt be 14 years it would be a week or so. Less than six months in Chicago.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) DING DING DING DING!!!! THAT'S why we have a MEXICAN immigration problem... In part. The wage and working conditions issue is very complex. When American companies first came across, they could offer better wages than the existing Mexico companies and therefor "stole" all the better workers. This was not acceptable and three decades later a balance is still being sought. We still have to accept that we had more jobs here than available, willing workers and solve that need.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 11:58 AM) Not paying taxes is stealing from the government. At the very least, they are committing theft, probably grand theft. That's not even to mention the security issues, health issues, etc. It may not effect you directly, but it surely costs you money, and it costs some people a lot more. Our tax system allows for workers in the lower income levels to not pay income taxes. In fact, with various credits, they will take more than they will ever pay. It doesn't matter if they are legal or illegals with false documents. We will provide college educations, child care, health care, etc. for the working poor. We have two groups here. Those who are working with false SS numbers and filing returns and those that are off the books. It will cost us more when these jobs go back on the books. Illegals also pay, like everyone else, sales taxes, tolls, etc. Bottom line, poor people cost us all. But I wouldn't want to live in a country that the least amongst us could afford to build. Fixing this problem is going to cost us a hell of a lot more, but it's the right thing to do.

WOW, I can't believe I live on the same border y'all are describing and worked in Reynosa, Matamoros, and Nuevo Laredo. I don't know where to begin. Yes, there is crime in Mexico border cities, just like every major US city. Gangs, drugs, etc. all come into play. There are places in Chicago most of us would not want to visit, the same with Mexico cities. NAFTA caused a huge influx of rest of world companies moving to North America, and especially Mexico. Reynosa is home to the largest concentration of Japanese manufacturers outside of Japan. They avoid tariffs on their country of origin b y manufacturing in North America. At least in my corner of the border, the infrastructure has improved greatly in the past 12 years. Two International bridges have been built, with one more beginning. Highways have been built, local roads improved. The industrial parks have better roads and easier access. Public areas are being painted. Part of Mexico's problem was allowing countries to plunder and not contribute. For example, Mexico charges a tax on profits. Using the classic Maquilladora model, goods are staged in the US, sent over to Mexico for assembly, them returned to the US for sale. The company "sells" the finished goods to their American division at cost, resulting in zero profit and zero taxes paid. That loophole has been closed to some extent. Most of the abuses you read about are Mexican companies exploiting their own workers. On the border, most Maquilla managers are US citizens and have the same ethics as you and I. They try to make a difference. With China coming on strong, they are also in a competitive bind and trying to squeeze every penny.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 11:39 AM) I've said before, and it bears repeating, Kucinich is one of the few who actually hasn't changed his mind 15 times. Not specific to Kucinich, but to never making a new decision . . . For those that voted in favor of the war, what does it say about someone who doesn't change their mind after not finding any WMD, after not experiencing anything the administration outlined? I do not see any virtue in not making a new decision once you discover you were wrong, for whatever reason. Blindly sticking by a decision you made years before, when so much new information is out there is wrong. I thought back then our country was in a very tough situation. Are there WMD there and could we find them? It seemed amazing to me, with all the countries around the world, that Iraq could be the only one, and the most dangerous. But, if asked to vote, I would have voted to invade. Now, after seeing everything that has happened, I realize that was a mistake, and with the benefit of hindsight would have voted against. Why would continuing to support the war make me a better leader? We need leaders who can change and adapt to a new world. The world changes itself constantly and new decisions need to be made all the time.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 11:14 AM) This pretty much sums it up for me. A quote from Tim Russert yesterday on Meet the Press: Tim Russert not a lot there to disagree about. Sad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/opinion/...f4e&ei=5070

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 10:38 AM) Do you really think that article was written because the journalist went looking for this story? No chance. These departments are probably BEGGING papers to have articles like this. One of the cops quoted in there even said it, pretty much - they want people to think there is a cop on every corner. Only way to do that is for people to be aware of these tactics. Therefore, as word spreads, it works quite nicely as a deterrent. Agreed. But the conditioning will fade over time as you pass more and more lawn mowers who are not undercover cops. Meanwhile, people see fewer and fewer cops patrolling the beat . . .

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 10:14 AM) Take a bite out of crime.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 27, 2007 -> 12:07 PM) http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...17/COLUMNISTS41 Deon Sanders pipes in. I think a great line from Billy Madison is a perfect response for this: "Mr. Sanders, what you've just written is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this world is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul." What an idiot. Two high profile careers will be biting the dust. BTW, 100% of the cows, chickens, hogs, etc. that enter a meat processing plant do not survive. Our industrial methods of execution for these animals isn't all that pleasant either. I am beginning to think Soxy's diet is for me.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 10:17 AM) Read the article, it talks about targeting the enforcement to areas of accidents or school zones. As for the undercover part being cost ineffective... I don't see how. A cop costs the same in jeans and a t-shirt as he/she does in a uniform. A big ol cruiser sitting there deters a lot more drivers than a guy washing his car. Highly visible would seem to deter more than undercover making highly visible more cost effective. Now if we perhaps start talking the income side of writing more tickets, perhaps the equation changes.

Tossing this log on the campfire. My guess is the average citizen is more likely to be involved in a traffic accident than being robbed, assaulted, etc. So those people actively involved in public safety should spend time in the areas that would decrease the most likely threat to body and property. So aggressive enforcement of traffic laws make sense. The undercover part seems silly and cost ineffective. Perhaps there is more to the story like a specific problem at a specific location?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 6, 2007 -> 09:00 AM) I so dislike the DJIA as a measure of the markets. I really wish they'd focus more on the 500, as well as the Russell. They all seem rather antiquated. Why average 30 when you can average them all? Besides minor historical interest, the Dow is just not interesting to me. It is fun to look through history and see who was on and who is off. Who is still operating and who bit the dust.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 09:43 AM) I plan on returning to college this fall. To learn Spanish. Congrats, is this business or pleasure?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 09:27 AM) Holy s***, you're kidding me? I'm getting so freaking old because I remember you leaving for school. He didn't say he was graduating

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 5, 2007 -> 04:34 PM) But he also seems like he has so much fun playing the game too. If his body holds up, might he just keep doing it because he likes it? Think about Maddux, what else does he have to prove or to earn? He could have retired 3 years a go a guaranteed HOF with loaded bank accounts, but it sure seems like he enjoys getting his butt out on the mound. About what I was thinking. He still looks like he genuinely loves the game. About the time he's thinking retirement will be when his daughter is about a teenager and probably won't want him around anyways