Texsox

QUOTE(TLAK @ Apr 1, 2005 -> 06:40 AM) I hope the cub lose 120 games and that pitcher (is it Wood or Pryer?) loses 20, assuming he makes 20 starts. Put that picture on cubprattle not SoxTalk. :fthecubs I guess the moderators are going to have good time keeping the flames in check. :banghead

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 1, 2005 -> 06:25 AM) I can see that on this issue you are adamant with your point of view. So be it. However, you seem to think I am arguing with you an this. I'm not. You're level of reaction to this issue is almost to the point that you'd round up vigilantes to go after the vigilantes. YAS, if you could see most of these groups, you would understand my sentiments. These groups aren't new. They have been around for decades. Now they have 9/11 and anti-immigration sentiment on their side. You hear statements like Mexicans are ruining America for Americans and stuff like that. Some are better with the rhetoric. Actually the border patrol is doing a fine job keeping the vigilantes in check. Another problem that the vigilantes are causing for the Border Patrol is it forces the illegals to try more dangerous routes. This causes the Border Patrol to be in more dangerous situations. I am all for patrolling our borders, these guys are making it tough on law enforcement, Americans who live on the border, and the few illegals. There are millions of Mexican Americans living on the border and a few thousand illegals. Why harass the millions to try and slow down a few thousand?

I just read the announcement and saw the banner I've been asking for a long time why we cannot have Cub fans here. Now that Boston won a world series, I want one for Chicago. If it means the Cubs, I'll cheer just as loud. Go Chicago!!

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 1, 2005 -> 06:03 AM) There are two ways to look at things, Texsox. You, my friend, are only seeing it from one side. There has to be a balance struck here. That's all I was trying to say. The best trained law enforcement group on the US is the Border Patrol. I am not against qualified law enforcement agressivly patrolling the border. They save countless lives every year. They speak fluent spanish, they know the laws, have the authority to detain people. They don't want these vigilantes out there. The balance is, we cannot target the largest ethinic group in our country for harassment because some people that look like them have committed a crime. Imagine if some groups decided that since so many blacks are caught with drugs, they will drive around in pickups, displaying the confederate stars and bars, prominently display handguns, and report any suspicious activity? Do you think Clarence Thomas would appreciate the gesture of being watched on his way home? Would you report guys guys driving slowly though your neighborhood peering into backyards as suspicious? They should be reporting themselves. 80% of the border is inhabited by Mexican-Americans. 80%! and the vigilantes are going to watch and report just the illegals? There is no way to tell Mexican-AMERICANS, non-resident aliens (legal), undocumented illegals, and Mexicans on 72-hour laser visas. These groups are featured all the time on the news. If y'all could see the hoopin and hollerin, the speech they use, you will understand why VIGILANTES are not a good idea. Properly trained law enforcement is.

Being a free speech sort of guy and believing all Americans should speak out and voice their opinions, I have to admit she went too far. There is a dividing line between constructive criticism, just whining, and improper activities. I think she stepped over the line. BTW, I wonder what Southeast Asia and the world would look like today if we didn't send so many Americans to their deaths and allowed Vietnam to form a communist government?

If this board is any indication the media coverage was way overblown. Most of our threads get 2 or 3 thousand replies and 10 thousands views, this one only had 550 replies. No one really interested in this subject. Wacko doesn't deserve much coverage. The few wacko threads we have have died a quick death. Basically what could come out that would shock us? Oops, Jacko, that was a rhetorical question, don't . . .

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 1, 2005 -> 04:35 AM) To begin with, this group is unfairly being misrepresented by calling them vigilantes. These people have not done anything to earn that label. Now, since everyone seems to be so concerned about rights ... let's see what rights have not been considered here. The right of free speech.... The right to bear arms ..... The right of assembly. The Minutemen want to call attention to what they perceive as a problem, the say way someone may protest a nativity scene on a town square. The Minutemen have the right to legally carry firearms. They are exercising that right and that has the liberals all in a tizzy. They also are exercizing their right to assemble. The liberals don't like that either, but you don't see the damn ACLU standing up for the Minutemen. Ironic, but the men who were the original minutemen exercized all these rights against a power who would deny them. Those men are considered heroes of the American Revolution while these are labeled vigilantes. YASNY, walk down any town USA and tell me which people are Mexican-Americans, which are resident aliens, and which are here illegally. Who are you going to report? All of them? You didn't like the wisecrack about incest in the south, how would you feel being "watched" by guys in pickups and handguns because you are from Kentucky and must be an illegal? Actually down here it is the few conservatives who are trying to hardest to make the Mexican-Americans feel welcome. Their toursist dollars, their business investments, all are important, actually critical components to our local economies. When the American Nazi Party wanted to march in Skokie, reasonable people understood why they were doing it. Free Speech does not give you the right to harass people. The right to assembly is not absolute, anytime anyplace for any reason. No LOITERING. Most of these guys are not the local PTA, neighborhood watch group.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 1, 2005 -> 02:22 AM) We have question marks on staff, no doubt about it. I like our odds of having the majority of those questions answered positively as compared with previous years. I also like the odds as compared to other teams in the league. The bullpen's depth should make the starting rotation that much stronger, and having BMac waiting in wings could prove to be HUGE before this year is out. I am most concerned about the 3&4 holes. I will be shocked if Garland doesn't have the second or third highest win total on the team. Leaving spring training I am believing most of the predictions for this team. Th are competive with anyone in the central, but not clearly better than Minny or Cleveland. Depending on how JR's 2005 House of Cards stack, the division can be won. But this staff isn't as great as I believed a month ago. The pen is actually better than I thought. Welcome to another in a long series of holding the breath and praying seasons. I am planning on spending more time this season paying attention to the Cubbies pitching. After years of bucking it, there are so many games on my cable that I avoided, now I guess I'll be watching. It will be fun to compare. Better to watch the Cubs than a Diamondbacks - Dodgers game

QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 06:23 PM) As much as I hate to say it this is a perfect example of why when someone puts a gun to you that you need to just do whatever the hell they want. I know if someone held up a gun to me i'd give them my wallet, cars, keys, whatever just in order to get out of there alive. Nothing is more important then your life and it's sad this girl learned that the hard way. Yep, I'd be grateful that kiss is all he wanted. Too bad she wasn't armed. She could have pulled a weapon on him and all this wouldn't have happened. When will y'all learn from the GOP and start packing?

If anyone cares officially the "last rites" are made up of two parts, and I'm certain our resident expert FlaSoxJim will correct me if I'm wrong here. The Catholic Church tries to avoid the term last rites, because it can be confusing. The first part is the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick followed by the Sacrament of Penance. Both Sacraments can be given at any time, but special significance has been given to that these as the person is dying. Probably way more than anyone wanted to know.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 04:42 PM) I heard he's been given his last rites, true? Before undergoing almost any surgery, or medical treatment, or severe illness, it is reasonably common. I've received it a couple times. The first time I thought it was kind of cool, the second time I was a little more scared. Still, I think they are bracing the world . . .

He is a remarkable man and is leading an incredibly full and rich life. He developed so many of his talents in language, music, literature, and even a little painting. He would have risen to the top of any profession he chose. Thankfully he listened to God's calling.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 03:48 PM) I hate girls that won't put out. /don't flame me. we are going to have one great Soxtalk reunion when we all punch our ticket to hell

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 03:02 PM) Interesting thing you mention that last line. Why would the US allow such an exception to one race/country and no others? Just like I have been saying all along, because it is a different situation that mandates a different set of rules. Should be do away with that rule because no one else has that rule? Isn't that racist against the rest of the world? What about the poor Canadians who just want to go to Detroit or Buffalo, but can't as easily as a Mexican can go to Brownsville or San Diego? Is that fair to them, should we be choosing one race over another? Canadians are allowed that same privilege. I should have been clearer, it was in a middle paragraph. Most countries around the world have different tourist and immigration laws for their neighbors. Makes commerce different. I think we should treat both our neighbors the same. You don't. No big deal unless you are an American trying to make a living in the south. US Industry is busy shifting wage dollars to Mexico and damn it, we don't want those dollars back in the US. It is far easier for Canadians than Mexicans. Both because of American laws and laws from their respective countries. You were saying?? Here is a major problem that we see from the border. Most of the country has a view of Mexico based on pop culture, Charo, and Perot's giant sucking sound. In the end too many people, and I am in no way implying anyone here is adopting this view, that in the end, they pretty much say, who cares it's just Mexico.

I'll bet there is quite an adrenalin rush happening there. The human body is an amazing thing. Just look at the SI Swimsuit Issue

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 02:26 PM) Adjust your fruit analogy from state residents to kids, and you have a whole different, much more apt view. Shopkeepers often will only let one or two kids into a store at a time (espcially in areas around schools), and they won't allow them to bring their backpacks into the stores at all. Do adults have the same restrictions? No. There are innocent kids who spend money there, who are either kept out of the stores, or so insulted by their policies that they go somewhere else. Why do shopkeepers do this? Because they know by and large it is kids who are stealing from them, and most likely by denying them entrance as a whole, they are doing better for themselves with that system. I never said that it was rich Mexicans who were seeking visas or to illegally immigrate using them. You did. Not me. You put those words in my mouth using your assumptions. According to you only the poor immigrate, and the rich just use the US as they see fit. I don't see why you think that if anyone had the chance to get into the US proper legally, and wanted to illegally immigrate, why wouldn't they. Are you saying the poor Mexicans aren't smart enough to figure out how to overstay a visa? If people can pool money to pay a coyote to smuggle them over the border, why can't they afford to apply for a visa? Or are you saying that Mexico/US only grants visas to the obscenely rich? And if only the rich in general can afford US visas, why would we limit anyones time here at all? Why do we limit any countries time to visit here? If we are so racist in our policies, why do we limit times that Anglo countries citizens can stay here? Again, using your analogy. The shopkeeper would tell the adults that since purple kids from the neighborhood steal, then purple adults can't buy as much fruit. The guilty are hurting the innocent. You are painting all Mexicans the same. I am dividing the groups, like you. I am separating the Mexicans that can afford the few hundred dollars for the permits, which do not allow you to work, from the poor ones that cannot afford the several hundred dollars. One last comment on the shopkeeper. If kids from Main Street without ID stole $5 per week, and other kids from Main Street with IDs spent $5000 per week. Is the shopkeeper smart to not take the honest kids money? I am not saying that poor Mexicans can not figure out how to overstay a visa, I am saying that poor Mexicans are too poor to buy the Visa. Coyotes are cheaper, and often times can hook them up with jobs, false identification, and transportation further inland. Think about this in reverse. If they could just buy a Visa and overstay their welcome, why risk death by traveling across a desert, or locked in a truck trailer? Why alert the US government that you even entered the country? It's like a burglar announcing he's entered your home. Why should policies be different for Canada and Mexico? We share a border for one. We share historical ties. Many areas of the US were part of Mexico, families are split. For example about 100 years ago, people in Laredo were given a choice in which country to live. Move to the north side of the city and be Americans, or move to the South side and be Mexicans. Imagine the practicality of needing special permits to cross the Chicago river. To have a thirty day restriction to visit Hyde Park, but people from Pill Hill have 90 days? Border cities, especially the older ones, are like that. They were built up before the Rio Grande became a stricter border. During rationing it was routine for Americans to travel to Mexico for shoes, sugar, and other rationed items. Travel was free and easy and lifestyles developed around that. That is why we allow travel within more or less 25 miles of the border, differently than into the interior. We don't allow other nations that same privilege.

I have the greatest respect for hospice workers. When my grandmother was battling pancreatic cancer, my mom, aunts and uncles, made the poor visiting hospice workers feel very unwelcome. To my relatives they were a real reminder that my grandmother would be passing away. When I last visited, I happened to meet the lady that cared for my grandmother and appologized for some of the comments that had been tossed her way. She replied that that was a common thing and that eventually, the families come around. Dealing with death on a daily basis takes a special person. Thank God there are some very special people on this planet.

And SS, economics is more your area, and I'll get clobbered by you in a debate, so I hesitate to comment, but isn't one of the best ways to balance our trade with Mexico tourist dollars? We do not manufacture much, how else can we encourage Pesos into the US? I would think that tourism dollars are a good thing.

SS, LOL. Nice use of the green, and it's not even St. Patrick Day. I live on the border, I am active in the local Chambers of Commerce, have been involved in several economic develpment and job training programs that directly impact the border region.I could learn so much more by moving to Indiana about Mexican - US economic and visitor polices How many Mexicans own businesses by you? It's 80% by me. Perhaps that gives each of us a different perspective? Why else would you be talking about Mexican millionaires looking for safe houses, looking for places to hide, places to work? Our tourist policies impact honest Mexicans not the illegals. Stopping a lawyer and his family from being here more than 90 days is not going to stop the homeless, migrant worker desperate for a job. Why should the homeless migrant impact the honest person? To explain how this negatively impact Ameican business, allow me this analogy. Imagine a law that states Illinois shop keepers can only sell people from Indiana 2 pieces of fruit, because homeless people from Indiana are stealing fruit. This hurts the honest person from Indiana and the shop keeper. You are confusing homeless Mexicans who are sneaking into this country with the honest Mexican who is spending $$$ on a Visa and getting all the necessary permits. We are creating a problem for the honest person who wants to visit. Poor Mexicans can not afford the necessary Visas to travel to the US interior. Does it make sense that a man who owns a house and business in the US cannot visit here even as long as a visitor from Canada?

Here's the difference, all you see and hear about in the news are illegals packed into safe houses. Millionaires aren't travelling to Indiana for a weekend. I see wealthy professionals that belong to the country club, own real estate, walk into our local mall and spend $$. McAllen has a population of 110,000 people, yet every store in LaPlaze Mall is in their companies top 10 revenue per square foot. It's all on the back of Mexican Nationals. I hear of guys in Mercedes being stopped by vigilantes and questioned. :headshake

You just try and take 25,000 posts from Southsider and heads will roll . . .

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 12:36 PM) Actually our immigration policy has always been on a country by country basis. People perpetually abuse our visa program, and the government has to identify the groups that have the biggest chance of violating their stay. It isn't a big leap of faith to think that the group that has the most illegal aliens in the US, would also abuse the visa policy the quickest. Its just like having two kids. One is in trouble all of the time, and one is your typical nerd who hasn't been in trouble a day in his life. Are you going to not let the good kid go out, because the bad kid did something wrong? Most likely you would give the bad kid less opportunities to break the rules, and would give the good kid leeway. Actually with Mexico, it isn't the case. Economic policies, bad luck, corruption, and a miriad other issues have created a Mexico with a upper class and a lower class, and little in the middle. Wealthy Mexicans travel to the US on a regular basis. They own homes here, and spend a lot of money in the US. Gotta stop these guys from coming to America Which is why I shake my head in wonder when you write I love the image of guys in Jags and Hummers looking for a safe house, a place to work. The border is much different that what you see in Indiana. The class system in Mexico is distinct. Our shortsighted Visa program is costing American Business hundreds of millions in tourist dollars.

QUOTE(mreye @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 10:58 AM) They didn't escort her? Or drive her themselves? She must have a really s***ty HMO

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 12:19 PM) Damn right I did. And if Canada had a problem with illegal immigrants using every means possible to cross the border, I'd want the same restrictions on them. Why would we give a problem border more chances and a longer opportunity to slip away into the country? It gives them longer to find safehouses, longer to find work, longer to find places to hide. If we didn't have millions of illegals here already, and many thousands more trying every single day, there wouldn't be the need for the different programs. Its just like privlege (and yes visiting a forgien country is one) if people abuse it, it gets taken away, or lessened. We obviously don't have the funds to check up on every visa we issue, so the restrictions instead have to be greater. These are Doctors, and Lawyers, and businesspeople who love to travel to San Antonio and South Padre Island for long weekends. They own property over here. Despite your view, they don't want to live here, they have lives in Mexico. You are confusing two groups. Shouldn't you check to see what countries have more visa violations? You are confusing illegals with no paperwork and visitors that have gone through the long and involved paperwork with the US and Mexico. Do we follow the same laws then for Italians, English, Aussies, Poles, Chinese? Add up the lawbreakers and punish the innocent?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2005 -> 12:11 PM) Who supported the vigilantees? Nuke for one. You supported shorter visa restrictions on Mexicans