Texsox

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 01:10 PM) If I had to pick two guys I wouldn't mind talking politics with it would be those to guys, and maybe Bill Kristol (sp?) wow didn't see that coming

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 12:19 PM) Good point, but a comedian should have an arsenal of replies to hecklers. Commenting on their clothing or who knows what else. He should have come out the next day and said he was making a joke and it flopped. It is interesting how this happened on a Friday night, but there was nothing done until the video became public on Monday. Without the video, he probably would not have said anything yet. However, the two guys at the club should not be entitled to a dime from a lawsuit. He is a poor comedian, and everything else, that has been said. I just can't take the final step and call him a racist based on one situation. That is about as bad as what he did.

The poor also face the challenge of attending schools with the lowest expenditures per student. By the time they get to college, and the financial aid windfall, they are behind their wealthier classmates.

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 11:01 AM) Will it help or hurt my election bid to say that James Carville is a douche bag's douche bag? He and Karl Rove are cut from the same political consultant cloth.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 10:55 AM) Fair enough. Since the question of whether to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and the consequences of the EPA's non-regulation is being argued before the Supreme Court as we speak, I figured it would have been a topical point for an opening salvo in the debate. Great, more presidential hopefuls who don't read the news. Tex, you're right, CO2 emissions should fall under Clean Air because it is known in excess to harm environmental and human health. Simply knowing that however will not change the status quo unless the point is explicitly and legally made. IMHO It was explicitly and legally made but a creative interpretation of the Clean Air Act has brought it to this point. I have read the arguments that CO2 is naturally occurring and should not be regulated, but in the levels that we are currently generating, it is clearly a pollutant and clearly must be legally regulated and reduced. It is the pressure from a huge industry, the power generating industry, that is causing us to bow to economic interests instead of our own health interests. I can't answer this any more directly and firmly. Yes I favor regulating CO2 as a pollutant. I favor the Supreme Court in clearly defining that.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 10:10 AM) True. But other things, like stating whether or not you will push for legislation that recognizes CO2 as a pollutant regulatable within the framework of the Clean Air Act, push for US ratification of the Convention on Biodiversity, etc., are stark position-defining statements that my vision of a bold Environmental President would run on. You are probably remembering Bush's unfulfilled campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide as part of a comprehensive reduction in emissions from power plants. First off, as I have understood the Clean Air Act, CO2 has always been included and it is only this President's sleight of hand that is bringing this up. I support legislation that will firmly establish CO2 as a pollutant and call for reductions in CO2 emissions from our fossil fuel power plants. Of all the dangers that face our society, a safe water and food supply is the most important. I am more concerned about corporate farms and moving our food supplies off shore than I am about our oil supplies. The Convention on Biodiversity recognizes that biodiversity is about more than plants and animals, that it involves our food, clothing, shelter, and raiment. Not only should we ratify but we should be leaders in this initiative.

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 09:20 AM) It is something perhaps very deep inside a dark place inside of him, but those statements just don't come out of nowhere. Do you know that calling a person a n****r would be very hurtful, about the worse you could say? Would you know about the worse things to call a gay man? Where are those statements coming from? He may well be a racist, but I don't think it's fair to judge him on this one instance. How would you insult someone without being labeled?

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 09:44 AM) I think you missed my clarification. In circumstances like this, with religion playing such a deep role, history shows that people don't change. I believe history has equally showed that people do change. I for one, as a Catholic, haven't felt the need to strike out on a Crusade. The debate between nature versus nurture really doesn't have a clear answer, I am strongly on the side of nurture.

Couple interesting points he's made. 2008 will be the most interesting, important, "go get the thesaurus and they all apply" election, ever. The biggest selection of front line, celebrity candidates. Giuliani, McCain, Clinton, Gore, and Obama. His point was anyone of them walk in a room and the temperature changes. The second tier is also exciting. The list of issues will be long and formidable. 2008 will be the first time the GOP will not have a clear front runner. It will be a free for all. Something the GOP isn't use to but he Dems are. (Re: Dem primaries are usually uglier than Rep) He pointed to the strong closing by the GOP in the last three election cycles as an area that Dems need to really take a look at. Between Friday and election day, the Dems lost ground. Something that hadn't happened in a few prior elections. I love the business of politics.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 01:19 AM) Well, you're not supposed to f*** them. Southerners. First, it's cousins. Now, stickers.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 04:11 AM) ... and the perpetrator was white. Of course, we aways care more when it's a white person. It's the "Natalee Holloway phenomenon". Plus someone doing something wrong is always more newsworthy than when something goes right. Five million people getting to work safely in Chicago today isn't news, a ten car accident with casualties is. In a perfect reporting world a black person would say something racist at the same time and we could report both side by side and no one has to get upset because it's balanced.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Nov 30, 2006 -> 04:05 AM) You seem to be forgetting that Japan drew first blood. It's also a common belief that an invasion of Japan proper would have cost millions of Japanese caualties in addition to a million or so of our own. It was all out, no holds barred war. I am remembering that. We are coming up on the Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. That is why we hated them. You aren't seriously thinking we fought that war and loved the Japanese? We locked up every law abiding Japanese American citizens in Internment Camps, was that because we loved them? We thought every Japanese person was our enemy. There was a very strong anti-Japanese sentiment in this country. How can you possibly argue otherwise? Has no one here ever read a history book? My point is we hated them during that war, and were able, rather quickly, to forgive and move on. Just like it is possible for others to do. The original comment that started this was once Ahmadinejad denounced Israel and wanted their total destruction, he couldn't possibly change, that humans are hardwired towards violence and hatred.. I am merely pointing out that we changed, and I believe the Iranian people can as well. That humans are *not* hardwired towards hatred and violence. Y'all seem to disagree. QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 10:52 PM) If Jimbeeyatch said that the whole nation of Iran is hardwired to violence against Israel, I missed that, please point it out to me. I thought he was referring only to Ahmadinejad. This is tangential, anyway; whether or not it's possible to have this sort of epiphany, Ahmadinejad sure as hell didn't. Here is the exchange, I guess you passed over it. Not just the people of Iran, but all humans, including you and me. QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 03:44 PM) The only hope for peace is that each player in the conflict has the same sort of epiphany. I pray this happens. However, if we follow b****'s lead, that will be impossible because of prior acts. I have an eternal optimism for all humankind and believe it can happen, to accept otherwise is to accept the depths of human violence and cruelty as inevitable and unchanging. QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 03:58 PM) Are you serious? That's practically the definition of human nature. There's how many thousands of years of evidence to prove that's exactly what humans do. That's the problem with certain people in the world. They hold out for this unimaginable fallacy that people aren't hard-wired to be this way. They try and deal with irrational people in a rational way. They try to use logic with illogical people. You going to tell me socialism works too? And do you honestly believe this letter is a message to the American people to trust that Iran won't do anything bad in the future? That its sole aim is to uphold justice and be respectful of all other nations and peoples? Oh wait, we already know that's not true CUZ HE'S CALLING FOR THE ANNIHILATION OF AN ENTIRE ETHNIC GROUP. He's pandering to the rest of the world, promoting himself as a good guy against the evil Bush regime. God help us if people actually believe that crap.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 11:13 PM) Color me impressed by all of the first three candidate responses to the environmental stewardship debate. Some broad strokes lacking details but of course with the word count that is unavoidable. I'm looking forward to seeing Mr. Kicka**'s response and then a little interchange between you all on this topic. The Editorial Board of the prestigeous FlaSoxx Times has yet to officially endorse a candidate. So. . . who's gonna' be THE Environmental President of SoxTalk Nation? Duh, I've been looking around for some info and realized you might have it. I want to start an artificial reef project at my Sea Base. I've been reading some conflicting opinions about their usefulness. Texas has a program, but I understand there are some private ones as well. I want to set up a work station at the camp and offer campers an opportunity to contribute.

In the back of my mind, until the season starts, he isn't back with the Sox, he just is under contract. He has that "toss in" a trade as an extra nudge feel to me.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 10:01 PM) Idon't hink 'hate' factored into dropping the bombs on Japan. Yes, we were at war with them, but one of the deciding factors was the belief that Japan would not surrender unless we either invaded the island or use the bomb. As invading would have cost us ALOT of deaths on our side, we chose option B, more to save American lives than to kill Japanese lives out of hatred. Can Iran, the country, change its ways? Sure,but not overnight and to as big an extent as the window dressing on this propaganda piece will lead a few fools to believe. I don't believe there is any denying that the mood in America was hatred for the "Japs". Just as later there was hatred for the "Krauts" and the "Gooks". I also don't believe we can deny that we have changed dramatically in less than a generation. I agree that this is a propaganda piece and not realistic, but to claim the violence and hatred could somehow be hardwired into human behavior is something I can not agree with.

I will be away from a computer beginning Friday morning until late Sunday. Anything I can get done ahead of time as to not mess up anyone's plans?

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 08:02 PM) I don't know why you're talking about entire countries ("America's or Iran's","we"). This is about Ahmadinejad and his personal history of assholeness, no more. I guessed you missed the posts about human behavior being hardwired towards hatred and violence. That it would be impossible for someone, once they make a statement as bold as the destruction of Israel, to ever change. We hated Japan enough to drop two atomic bombs. If we accept that Iran could not change their ways, then we must accept that we can not change our ways. Unless we are a different kind of human. I believe that humans can change, it is the only way to have optimism that there can be peace. If the people involved can change, like we did towards Japan, and Germany for that matter, then it is possible for those countries to change as well.

Anyone who has lived in the south will understand this comment I hate f***ing stickers. I just accidentaly stepped on a bunch of them with my barefeet.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 05:23 PM) You're completely insane if you think this is some radical self-rediscovery. It's bs posturing. America's or Iran's? If human violence is hardwired as b**** believes, you would also have to believe then that we too are hardwired towards this violence. Unless we are somehow a different species than other humans. We are the most successful war machine this planet has ever experienced. If we are hardwired, then we too will choose war over peace. I do not believe that is true.

Are you advocating the unlawful downloading of pirated music?

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 04:52 PM) Thousands of years full of evidence of human action. Two bombs. Yeah, that's the same thing... Two bombs? Yep, just a couple of bombs. Hell, we've dropped thousands on some countries in one day. We win wars.That's how we have become the leading superpower in the world. We've killed hundreds of thousands of people in our couple hundred year history. So which would prove your point about being hardwired? A nation that in a couple hundred years has killed more people or one that killed less and did it in thousands? So if you want to preach that this is hardwired and people can not change, then you have to accept that includes Americans. There is nothing in our history that would have you believe we favor peace over war. Yet, I believe in the principle of tabula rasa. I believe a leopard can change its spots. There have been negotiated peace accords. Those only happen when both sides agree to put down the weapons. An eye for an eye leaves both sides blind.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 05:03 PM) I can tie a cherry stem into a knot using only my tongue. So 1970s. so can I.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 04:55 PM) i'd rather donate financial resources to a worthy cause. the money would help them more than my working there a few hours. but thats just me. Most of these organizations survive as a sort of three legged stool. They need your time, talent, or money. So I agree that writing a check is necessary, but I disagree taht it will help them more. Every person's money is the same, but your unique attributes can not be bought or duplicated.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 04:42 PM) Not a good comparison. Are you serious? That’s practically the definition of human nature. There’s how many thousands of years of evidence to prove that’s exactly what humans do. That’s the problem with certain people in the world. They hold out for this unimaginable fallacy that people aren’t hard-wired to be this way. They try and deal with irrational people in a rational way. They try to use logic with illogical people.

I would like to be the first, besides every retail store on the planet to wish you and your families peace and happiness this Holy-day season. May the God of your choice bless you. For me and my family it will be the miracle of Jesus' birth and the promise that God made to each of us. But that's not to say we can't chuckle every now and then . . .