Texsox

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 01:50 AM) Toby Keith was a whole lot of fun. He put on a very good live show. Singing along with all the songs is quite a great experience. About the only thing I dislike about Toby Keith is he is on the wrong side of the Red River Rivalry. Instead of singing I should have been a cowboy, he should be singing I should have been a Texan I imagine "I love this bar" must have been huge.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 10:18 AM) I was about to email Kap with our weather forecast. Sunny and 77 degrees, just for revenge about ya'lls winters. still a little cool for my taste. Something in the mid 80s would make me envious.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 10:15 AM) Government run programs by their very nature inspire waste and ineffeincy. There is ZERO incentive to keep costs down, and service up, like there is in the private sector. As an economist, I would argue that the downfall of US medicine is already having too much government influence and a lack of competetion created out of excess lawsuits. Plus when you factor in the subsidies paid in the form of insurance and government aid, you have all of the artificial price increases, plus a monopolistic pricing structure. All of these things would only get worse with the government being the only choice. I disagree that waste and inefficiencies are unique or even more so in government programs. Listen to posters here rant about their employers. Look at the front page of executives going to jail and paying record fines. Look at the lawsuits against HMOs, private insurance companies, etc. Be one of the millions of Americans that cannot get health insurance, and see how great the current how much profit can we make based system is. The incentive to keep costs down is their budget is voted on every year. Unless we build a system that requires citizen A to only go to Doctor A, I don't see how the government would be the only choice. It would be the only choice in guaranteed payments to the Doctors. I would also envision people being able to spend their own money and visiting private Doctors as well. Insurance companies have profit as one of their primary responsibilities, tell me how that helps patients get the best care? If we cannot trust the government to cure a cold, should we trust them to execute citizens or what types of health care should be available and to whom?

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 09:16 AM) I think hell just got a little bit colder. I agree with that statement comlpetely. LOL

Anyone want to believe that Bill's career was the reason they wound up in New York?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 09:26 AM) Sure, let me know - but it would have to be Monday night as I have class Tuesday night. You got class every night

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 09:14 AM) Sure, we could probably run it 'better', but it would still probably suck. Maybe the same way the liberals can keep saying they support the troops then turn around anc call the Commander in Chief a Nazi or a liar. Can you think of a well run government program? I'm sure there are, but they are probably pretty small. Social Security is a f***ing joke, with the mismanagement, waste and fraud that goes on there. Medicade is screwed up, with doctors taking advantage of poor management and double billing, ghost billing, etc. Every year, a report comes out from the GAO that there is money out there that the government just can't account for. Can the government do somethign right? I sure hope so. But I don't want to find out with health care. If KipWellsFan or another foreign based poster made the above statement, we would run his ass off the board. Fraud in government programs are almost always the result of recipients, not the employees that work there. Compare it to Tyco, Enron, and others, our government seems a whole lot more honest than the private sector. There isn't an organization, public or private, on this planet anywhere near the size of the federal government that can account for 100% of their expenditures. And it probably isn't worth the time to try. Is it worth an hour of your time to find a missing $2.00 receipt for your business? Worth hiring an employee at $10 per hour to spend 40 hours tracking a $200 per week expense? That would be waste. The fact that we have caught dishonest Doctors shows that the system is working. Those same Doctors also try and deceive the private insurance companies as well. People rob banks, are the banks mismanaged? Showing they are victims of crimes does not make them poorly managed. Social Security is in trouble because we have bought into a belief that we can somehow have things without paying for them. If we cut taxes enough, we will then collect more money to pay for this stuff. Waste is such a small drop compared to offering more in benefits than what has been paid in. Eradicating Polio was a government program. The TVA was a government program. Our environment is much cleaner because of government programs. We are slowly becoming more fuel efficient, again government programs. Our military is pretty damn good. Our USPS is amazing. $0.37 for a letter from Los Fresnos Texas to Moosejaw, Maine and you know it will get there in under a week. But hey, I love my country and think Americans can do anything. I guess that's the problem with being a liberal. I'm too enthusiastic about Americans.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/s...ll/11881816.htm More at link.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 09:01 AM) Ours is about the same, Tex. I'm going to be up starting next Sunday for a few days. Any chance of catching a Ranger's game? They are playing the Angels. I have to check my schedule and see if I can get away either Monday or Tuesday night. I fly back on Wednesday evening.

QUOTE(rangercal @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 10:20 PM) I would make the argument that the 50's had less talent. Someone like Randy brown would have been a starter back then. The celtics probably had 3 or 4 of the top 15 players in the league. Russel and cousy were probably 2 of the top 10. How does that effect the rankings of coaches? For the sake of debate, let's say that the top 120 players are better today, you still have more parity in ability during Red's time from top to bottom.

SunTimes link. More at link. I guess he'll have a new career soon.

MTV-style prank nets charges for ‘Jackass’ imitators http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=...id=482260&rfi=6 I don't think we have to worry about these guys reproducing anytime soon.

Linked Here More at link. What would we be saying if it was an Islamic leader in Iraq who killed a follower?

I'd become a Cub fan, I can't handle success

That damn cat is always looking at me, and you

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 11:07 PM) I am saying that whenever a program is taken over by the government, it grows exponentially because there are crooks on all sides that want to get their 'piece of the pie', paperwork will increase and productivity will go down. So if I understand your statements, we could not run the program any better than Canada? Paperwork may go up, but with only one payer (us), versus hundreds of payers (insurance companies) it may be easier to follow and ultimately go down. I don't think we'd hire all new Doctors, Nurses, hospital administrators, etc. The whole "our government is incompetent" thinking is one of the bad cards the GOP picked up. How they can continue to make statements that basically say we suck at running things, and get elected, just boggles my mind. Yet if Kip made that statement, we would be jumping down his throat faster than one of those lumberjacks in that thing they, and ESPN, call a sport. One area I would like to see some improvement in our health care system is to help small business compete for the better employees. Business owners like Evil are not going to outsource to Malasia. They are going to hire locally and keep the jobs locally. However, they are also at a huge disadvantage in health insurance rates. Small groups are almost impossible to insure and the premiums are usually high. One way to help small business' grow, is in health care. It is also tough in some industries like mine that employ people at the lower end of the pay scale. I was looking at one plan for my emplyees and it was costing almost $600/month per employee for single coverage. That is $3.75 per hour added to a $7.25 per hour employee.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 12:22 AM) Just remember this...if you were to pick an issue and then imagine the single worst group of people possible to serve as advocates of that issue, it would probably look something like PETA and animal rights. You are so right. There are many issues like that. I believe most Americans have a very difficult time identifying with either side in the abortion debate. Killing Doctors and 8 1/2 month term babies are difficult concepts to embrace.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 11:32 PM) I can't fault her work ethic. I can fault her carpetbagging though. IIRC they were being evicted from their home, through no fault of their own. Where should they have moved to? I really couldn't see them back in Arkansas. For all that President Clinton has been doing, a base in New York seems ideal.

What would you say to 9 teams concentrates the talent and makes every team tougher? 30 team = 150 starters. 10 teams = 120 total roster spots. Imagine contraction right now with 66% of the NBA players out of work. Starters are now 12th men. I think coaching would play a greater roll with fewer teams. No way to "sneak up on a team".

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 09:30 PM) Is that a smile on Frank's face

Good thing we gave up on home runs to score runs

A little musical interlude from Beck What an amazing season so far.

This is one magical f***ing season

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS