Texsox

QUOTE(YASNY @ May 17, 2006 -> 08:37 AM) Sit down, Texsox. Because this is filibuster and I'm agreeing with you. The "Let's Roll!" guys gave Bush the out he needed if, in fact, that plane was shot down. I would not have disagreed with that decision, and I would have a great deal of sympathy for Bush for being placed in that position. I couldn't imagine a worse position. Although, once it was determined that terrorists were flying the plane, it would be easy to make the conclusion they were already going to die, so minimize the casualties. But I would never have a good night's sleep again. And it's ok to agree. I agreed with SS on illegals sending money outside the country.

QUOTE(YASNY @ May 17, 2006 -> 08:53 AM) I think I'm going to say the hell with both parties and go Libertarian. I think there is a window of opportunity, and guys like McCain and Lieberman could lead the way. As the parties polarize themselves, they are leaving a lot of Americans in the middle.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 17, 2006 -> 08:43 AM) You're right, what was I thinking. We should just annex Mexico and get it over with, right? I mean they obviously need our tax money more than we do, not to mention we need busboys and fruitpickers as you have pointed out, and no American should have to do that when we have Mexicans who will... Plus think of all the the crimes that won't have to be committed and all of the border patrol people we can just send over to Iraq because we won't need them here anymore! Plus we can just break them up into a bunch of states, throwin DC and Puerto Rico while we are at it, and get up to 60-70 states or so. Damn think how many jobs we could create for the flag makers alone! ANNEX MEXICO!!! In case you didn't read my post, I agreed with you. I am all for making being illegal difficult and sending money back would be a great way to stop that. It's your proposal, did you have a better way to prove citizenship before buying money orders? Ilegals aren't going into banks and wiring money, they are going to the local conviencence store and buying an international money order or traveler's checks. It's cheaper, easier for the receipient who probably doesn't have a bank account, and flies under the radar. But you are the money guy and I know you already knew that. I also think a national ID card would be a good thing, and perhaps showing it to buy money orders or even food would be another great way to control this problem. There is a price to pay, and that will be requiring everyone who purchases these items to prove who they are. This may also help the wars on terror and drugs. I have never been for allowing anyone and everyone in. I've been for allowing anyone in who has a job waiting. Which is why I am against this current bill that allows for X number, regardless of US employment needs. So if you want to slow the increase of immigrants slow the growth of those jobs or have more of the existing base perform those jobs. But it has to be linked to jobs. Anything else is a mistake, including birthright to children of non-citizens. And Mexico is already divided into states. If we annex them, I believe we should continue to keep those divisions. There are a couple goofy shaped ones near the border that could be reworked.

QUOTE(YASNY @ May 17, 2006 -> 08:42 AM) Rex does has a valid point. You have to take into consideration, though, that the conservative base was already unhappy with various aspects of Bush's presidency, for example the excessive spending/big gov't that has occured. That is usually the mantra of the Democrats. I would be more upset that Bush and the rest of the party has squanderd*, so far, the total control that the American voters gave them. It will be interesting to see if that opportunity lasts past November. So far, conservatives have tried to link every major crisis in our country, either the cause or the cure, to 12 million unskilled laborors. Terrorism, the economy, crime, drugs, etc. Sounds like a made in heaven opportunity for a politician. With one bill everything is solved. We have reduced politics to cheering for our team. Cheer everything our guys do and jeer everything the other team does. *Did I just Gage a word

He did really well. I love that look on his face. Priceless.

There would have been countless debates, lawsuits, and an impeachment trial to determine if the President can use the military to kill citizens. And the pilots would ultimately be revealed. Nope, I see it remaining classified and top secret for a long time, IF it even happened.

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QUOTE(YASNY @ May 16, 2006 -> 12:40 PM) 70's - Dick Allen, Bill Melton 80's - Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines 90's - Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas 00's - Mark Buehrle, Paul Konerko I would take out Bill Melton and add Wilbur Wood. Other than that, perfect list. I'm guessing, by the end of this decade, I would give strong consideration to how AJ would fit in.

Latest on the legislative front. Good luck Mr. President.

A couple years ago, Detroit elevated their AAA to the majors and they sucked. Some of their historical stats are not as accurate a gauge. People where trying to explain away the 2005 Sox team in almost the same way. One way to judge a good team is how they take care of lesser teams. You have to take care of businesses when you are playing the Royals. It seems like all the top teams tread water against each other and crush the crappy teams. I suspect Detriot will hang around and fade the last couple weeks like Cleveland last year.

QUOTE(YASNY @ May 17, 2006 -> 02:29 AM) The numbers went south because the conservative base got tired of the illegal immigration issue being ignored. I applaud how conservatives will find one issue and pull their support from the President until it gets addressed. Sounds like Rex is right. Conservatives were upset about gay marriage, the President poll numbers suffer. He works on that, poll number rebounds. Now conservatives go after illegals. Illegals the new gays. Good call Rex.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ May 14, 2006 -> 04:26 PM) I suppose I'm obligated to respond... To put this as plainly as I can, I prefer to judge people on their actions and not their associations. People who are violent need to be punished - those that are not should not. And I refuse to apply the actions of one or even many to an entire religion, race or nation. The religion isn't the problem (for Islam or any other of the big ones). Its the actions that people falsely attribute to its tenets. That is why these are "extremists". Really, they are just looking for an excuse. An excuse for the poverty and corruption in their countries, which should be directed at their own governments. And to an extent, an excuse for hating the West for intruding so disastrously in their affairs - a valid thing to be upset about. I agree that Islam has an image problem. Many of the nations which have large Islamic populations are in dire straits on many fronts, which is in great part what is causing the rising hatred. So perhaps we need to be focusing on this governments, instead of religion. Of course, it might also help if we had the balls to stand up and admit what part we had in their misfortunes, because we are not free of culpubility here. But I'm afraid that is highly unlikely to happen. At this point, I'd settle for us getting our cannons focused on the right targets. Well said. I highlighted a couple things I thought were especially insightful.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ May 16, 2006 -> 01:36 AM) NBC accidentally gave a false cue. They were running the pool coverage tonight. liberals are perfect and never make mistakes, so this must be Bush bashing

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ May 16, 2006 -> 09:19 PM) Immigrants are the new gays. Who took over for commies, good call.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ May 16, 2006 -> 01:39 PM) Yeah. With the sheer number of s***bags in this country who are either addicted or want them for recreational use, there will always be a market for narcotics. That's an enforcement issue more than anything. Remember Nancy Reagan and just say no!

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 16, 2006 -> 01:20 PM) What would get their attention quicker is to have a requirement of citizenship to wire money to outside of the USA. That's a great idea, something I can agree with. There will be some resistance from people who routinly buy money orders, VISA gift cards, and travelers checks who will object to proving citizenship before purchasing them. And I'll bet some stores will object to having to train their clerks to check for citizenship papers before selling them. Perhaps we could require a passport before purchasing money orders? Makes sense to me and the government would make money selling passports. We also have to pressure Mexico to lower how much in purchases their citizens can bring back. Right now, illegals could buy a bunch of clothes and stuff up to $500 and take them back across the border. Perhaps limiting much in goods someone could take with them as they leave the country would also be necessary. An illegal could just buy stuff and sell it back there. That would also lessen the appeal of being here illegally. Whether they are buying stuff and sending it or just sending cash, it is benefiting the people they are sending it to and is their motivation to be here. I was thinking about that $3 per hour illegal, which is about $6000 per year. After buying food and shelter, maybe some used clothes, how much is he sending back? I'll bet you and I send more than that overseas each year. Everytime we buy a shirt from Honduras, a car from Japan, or a pair of Nike's, money goes overseas. Starting now, I'm going back to buying all American. I've never bought a foreign built car, and never will, that would be sending big bucks overseas. I'm proud to say my employer has everything made in the USA. All of our suppliers are USA and most are Union. Doesn't get anymore American than that.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ May 16, 2006 -> 06:27 PM) Wait... are there people who think that the PA flight was shot down, and that fact was covered up? I don't get that. Why would they do that? To me, given Bush's political style, I'd think that the shoot-down would actually be something he'd want to take credit for. Not because of the people that died, but because of the decision it means he made. Lives would have potentially been saved. There is a conspiracy for everything. This one centers around the crater and the plane. The reasoning for shooting it down follows the logic of, we can't gain control of the plane, the plane is going to fly into something and kill many more people, possibly tens of thousands (early death toll estimate for World Trade Towers), the passengers are doomed anyways, let's minimize the casualties. The military shooting down a civilian plane, full of innocent US citizens, wouldn't be something anybody would want to take credit for.

I don't think releasing the tape will stop anything. The conspiracy nuts will still have an answer. I have no doubt a plane hit the Pentagon while being flown by a terrorist. Now the last plane, that one I could be persuaded was brought down in a lightly populated area instead of allowing it to continue and cause even more damage. If that was the case, and I believe it is far fetched, my prayers are with President Bush for having to make that decision and the pilots that carried out the mission. That is about the toughest call any US President would have had to make.

QUOTE(minors @ May 16, 2006 -> 05:10 PM) It scares me the thought of how many terrorists have crossed over that border and will continue to cross over. Don't be scared, why would a terrorist risk the walk when they can get tourist and students visas? They have the monetary resources to get in legally, and once they are here, we can't track all of them. More Americans have been killed by US Military trained US citizens in terrorist attacks than anyone walking in from Mexico. Be scared of tourists, students, and ex-military. They are the ones killing Americans. QUOTE(WilliamTell @ May 16, 2006 -> 05:17 PM) Yeah, and it also scares me about how this country will look in 50 years if we don't change this now. Yeah, that 5% unemployement rate would really suck. Hopefully your children and your grandchildren will be able to work those manual labor jobs that immigrants are currently working. We need your children to step up and take jobs as bus boys, farm laborors, yard men. We need them to grab mops, brooms, and shovels and save America

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ May 16, 2006 -> 04:46 PM) Tex. That statement is every bit as silly as it is wrong. The government is in as much trouble as it is with debt because it spends money like a teenage girl at Abercrombie & Fitch. When politicians get it through their heads that we can't spend like we have been then things will improve. As Ive said a million times before........if the government can't cut back on their spending habit then they needn't bother asking me for more in taxes. You just said it was wrong and agreed with me at the same time.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ May 16, 2006 -> 02:47 PM) Do that and cut a couple of billion from the defense budget and you can hire all the BP agents you need as well as put up a fence that nobody could cross. We don't collect taxes to pay for anything, we collect, or don't collect taxes to stimulate the economy. Let's cut taxes 25%, borrow a couple hundred billion from China, and get after this problem. We cut taxes to fight the war in Iraq, let's cut taxes to fix the border.

Monday was the toughest day, I also thought of Manic Monday.

A spin off of the immigration thread. I am surprised that the agriculture industry isn't more in the news "up north" but based on a couple commments, I guess it isn't. I guess farming isn't all that interesting to city folks. A disturbing trend in agriculture, is we have begun importing more food then we export in some months. The US has been a huge exporter to the world and to have to become balanced, and then tilt to the other side, is a dangerous trend. Why has that happened? A few things. One reason is agriculture is an industry like many others. Every industry that involves large amount if unskilled labor has moved out of the US. The best example I can offer is textiles. Not too many shirts being sewn in the US anymore. How many of your local high schools offere Ag programs anymore? Our local school has gone from a staff of 6 to 2. These are not high demand careers. The land values make selling out attractive. Once they sell out, there isn't the desire to purchase more land and restart the farm. Food choices. We want melons in January. This can only be done by farming closer to the equator. Environmental laws are not as strict which allows for more pesticides than in the US. Another trend in the remaining US programs are more and more large scale corporate farming. That is an encouraging trend because of economies of scale. There are some practices that need to improve, like planting a variety of one crop in case of disease or insects which may be strain dependent. Is there a danger for future generations to have be dependent on other countries to feed them. I believe so. As we lose capability we are more dependent on foreign supplies which is not in our national security interest. Of course this isn't a problem that will happen next year, but we are heading down a path that will effect our grandchildren. I guess it depends on your vision and how important leaving behind a better America is to you.

QUOTE(minors @ May 16, 2006 -> 12:36 AM) First of all National Guard are trained soldiers so the only way this situation happens is if the good ole family man shoots first. Secondly if this guy was trying to make a good life for his family why doesn't he come over legally maybe its the fact that they don't want to pay taxes or wants to live off the government or has something to hide. You do realize these are people's backyards they are patrolling. Perhaps you would enjoy living in a military zone, many of us on the border would prefer a different approach.