Texsox

What set of issues could a person find important and then find candidates on both ends of the political spectrum to support? I've never actually pulled the lever for a Republican Presidential candidate, although there were a couple I would not have minded winning (McCain, Bush), and one primary candidate I wish had done better (Perry). I probably have voted for about 85-90% Democrats in my life time, so I'm not independent by any means. I'm intrigued by people who can claim something close to 50-50. What are the issues you find important?

Civility is the main thing we are looking for. What Greg writes may at times be frustrating, challenging, baiting, maybe what some people would call trolling, I can't think of a post where we attacked someone personally. I don't know Greg the person, I only know what he writes which creates a screen character. Is it his true thoughts and beliefs? I don't know and don't worry about that. Same with every other poster here. I personally believe the 'Buster is a little better because of Greg and other posters like him stirring the pot. Let me offer an example. Years ago a poster here who I greatly respect and like accused me of not liking him based on the battles we had here on the pages of the 'buster. I was shocked that he thought that, but after thinking about the arguments we had and how we responded to each other, it made sense. That should not have happened and are the types of posts we would like to tone down. I recognize that the hope he has for America is the same as mine, we only differ on the route to that dream. Mine works and his won't. A final thought. I believe the topics we discuss here are important to the future of our country. If we each tried to move people to our point of view that is truly doing something for what we each believe is right. We aren't going to do that by insulting each other. I really want y'all to resist a border wall, especially through a National Park. I'm not going to do that by calling you a racist idiot. I want y'all to support a guest worker program and a path to limited citizenship for the undocumented workers contributing each day to our success. I can't achieve that through insults. I'd like y'all to push for less government borrowing. And I will leave you with this. A now banned poster accused me of always humming this tune as I was sitting around this campfire . . . Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbayah Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's praying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's…

Ugh, I can't seem to get my home security system, thermostat, weather station, and lights to connect to the internet. Everything else works fine. Computers, tablets, phones, etc. I spent a couple hours with Spectrum, ADT is visiting tomorrow.

LOL

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jun 7, 2017 -> 11:26 AM) call me a bleeding heart, but the "unfair situation" of taking a little from someone who has a lot, to give a little to someone who has nothing, is something I'm ok with. I understand that others aren't. But there we have the fundamental disagreement between Democrats and Republicans. If this is a disagreement between Dems and Reps you are about the most liberal Republican I've ever met Fair in the sense of splitting the bill, not fair in how the care is different. I'm thinking fairness on the scale of you stopped by for just a cup of coffee, I had a bottle of wine, a nice steak, dessert and because you make $15,000 more than me we will split the bill evenly. Actually you should pay 60% of the bill. You would find this fair because people have to eat and you make more than I do. I still believe the fairest situation is everyone pays for their own care. The UNfairness comes in when we consider the inequality of opportunity and economic conditions in America. Our economy needs poor people. There are jobs that cannot pay a wage that would allow people to actually pay for the basic food, shelter, raiment, and healthcare that is necessary to survive. Our system requires people to compete for jobs, often based on being willing to work for less wages than someone else. As long as there are people willing to work for poverty wages businesses can pay poverty wages. As long as people are afraid of a $12 Big Mac voters will accept people living in poverty. We hide behind this idea that anyone can improve themselves and get out of poverty, which is true, but that does not take into account that someone else has to take that poverty waged job or we would have horrible inflation. These poverty wage jobs are necessary and are growing. The goal of every business is to be the next WalMart or Amazon. Drive costs (wages are the biggest) down and sell, sell, sell. That is the root of the unfairness. If there was true fairness in job opportunities and wages, every working person could actually pay for their own food, clothing, raiment, and healthcare. While it certainly is moral and ethical that I should pay for Larry's broken arm because he can't and I can, it isn't fair. While it is morally and ethically correct for me to pay for Bob's can of beans because he can't and I can, that doesn't mean it is fair. Again, I understand that system of everyone paying for the care they receive is unworkable and I am not a fan. I prefer a single payer system where everyone has equal access to healthcare.

People gotta die somehow. I wonder how many of these are assisted suicides?

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jun 1, 2017 -> 09:11 AM) Here's the fundamental impasse. I completely disagree that your assessment of the most fair scenario is, in fact, fair at all. That doesn't take into account people being born into poor socio-economic situations through no fault of their own. Is it then fair if they can't afford to pay for medical treatments that someone like me was able to afford, simply out of sheer luck? Perhaps fair is the wrong word. But it's the best I have. And how is it an impasse? I moved right pass it and said that we would have to divide up the bill not based on each person paying their exact bill. Did you just stop reading at that point? Is it fair that people are born into different situations? No. But why create another unfair situation by taking from one person and giving it to another? Now we've created a second unfair situation. Which, as I noted, is what we must deal with.

Anyone else using one? Currently I am controlling my lights via Philips Hue, but the rest is really mostly as an alarm clock and quick weather reports, etc. It seems like I'm wasting a lot of capability.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ May 30, 2017 -> 11:45 AM) Illinois advances to the Final Four of golf for the 4th time in 5 years. Amazing for a school that can't play golf for 6 months out of the year. They have one of the finest indoor facilities in the world. Also, they travel to sunny climates for extended tournament trips. We get a lot of college programs coming through TPC and LaCanterra in San Antonio (plus some of our lesser facilities) each winter. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 1, 2017 -> 12:31 PM) It also seems like he may not have been coming from a club or something. He may have just hopped in his car at home and went for a ride. A close relative of mine had an Ambien experience that was scary. She basically woke up behind a firetruck with firemen pounding on her window. Zero alcohol was involved. She remembers taking the Ambien then getting into bed. Somehow she got dressed and went for a drive. She was heading towards work, but it may have been a coincidence. The fire fighters saw her drive up and stop. They called me when she said she had been talking to me, we hadn't been talking. They were kind enough to drive her car back home, about a mile of so.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 2, 2017 -> 12:14 PM) I have had the song Cinnamon Girl stuck in my head for three days and I have no idea why. Damn you. It has now replaced Schools Out in my head.

Let's look at the view from space. Add up all the care that all the patients have received from all the medical facilities in the US. That's the total cost (plus profit). Now the challenge is to equitably and ethically pay for all that care. Fairest? Each person pays directly for what they used. I mean 100% paid for. Not through insurance because that spreads the cost around people that did not receive the service. Need surgery, fork over the $25,000. Break an arm $3,000 will take care of that. Of course that will not work because most people can not afford a major medical bill under that system, many can't afford the broken arm. So that is immediately rejected as unworkable and unsustainable. So now we have to deal with an unfair system where the costs are shared among a large group of people. Call it insurance, call it whatever you like. But we are all going to pitch in and everyone covers those costs. What is the best way to share a large cost across a large number of people? Up until the 21st century we formed smaller groups of people who happened by chance to be grouped together, typically based on the company they worked for. Those people banned together and joined a larger group pulled together by a company that specialized in that service, called an insurance company. They carefully eliminated undesirable people from the group, they carefully eliminated expenses that hurt profits. The problem becomes even though they eliminated those undesirable (unprofitable) people from their group, those people were making things more expensive for everyone. The groups received all the pain and only small gain by eliminating those people who are all part of the same system whether they are in our group or not. Not only will we have to recoup the expense but we need to reduce the cost. Each reduction in cost hurts someone. Less care? Hurts patients. Less profits? Hurts providers. Are there ways to cut costs? Of course. Now we are moving towards a system that does just group everyone together. We are beginning to deal with the totality of the cost of medical care in the US. Who needs it and who pays for it. That is truly the point we are reaching. It will be fundamental shift that will impact society in ways both obvious and perhaps less so. I see an advantage for small companies that will not have to compete on the basis of benefits. Where workers are free to switch employment without the worry of health care changes and preexisting conditions. Small and medium businesses are less likely to move across the country or across the globe.

Thank you to everyone in this thread. I have been too busy to read and post much the past month. This was a great way to catch up in the 'buster.

Tiger has displayed zero forgiveness for people who he feels have slighted him through the years. Tiger has displayed the somewhat common arrogance that all top athletes tend to have. Tiger has crafted an image for advertising endorsements. What he has created and done is now coming down around him - again. I do believe many of the attacks will ease up now that the results of the tests came back that he wasn't drinking. No need to when you go right to the opioids.

Heading east this year. Monticello for the July 4th Naturalization service then up to Maine, across Canada (probably) and down to Chicago.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Apr 17, 2017 -> 02:02 PM) Going to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons this summer (staying in Driggs, Idaho). Anyone have any recommendations for specific tour companies to either park? And just general recommendations to do around the Jackson, Wyoming area? We've been there three times. Get out and walk. Once you hike a 1/4 mile from the road you lose 90% of the crowd. We really enjoyed the Mammoth Hot Spring area.

This is actually a good reason to lower the drinking age to 18 (19?). Get the drinking more out in the open where you can drive a kid to the hospital without the threat of punishment for underaged drinking. These things also happen away from fraternities, but if this was a local bar, image the response.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 21, 2017 -> 02:58 PM) Any Notre Dame grads? I wondered what you thought of 100 students getting up and leaving the graduation ceremony to both boos and cheers when Pence was introduced as speaker. Do you think it's proper to cause a disruption on such a big day for many? My guess is the over-riding memory of graduation for those folks who graduated today (I applaud you all, Golden Domers! ND is a difficult school; Happy Graduation to You!) will be the protest rather than the happy occasion. Yes it is our right that we embrace to be allowed to protest. But is it proper? Those who protested could have simply not attended their own graduation and let the others have their day. I don't have too much of a stance except to say I think protesting outside of the stadium would have been better. Or protesting right after the Pence invitation to speak was announced to try to get it stopped. I'm not crazy about the protestors stealing the show and ruining the day for others proudly wearing the cap and gown. Basically the best time to exercise your rights to assemble and speech is when you have the biggest crowd. Which will have the greatest impact. Of course a quiet protest in the privacy of your own home would be nice for those that disagree with the protest.

What I like about cutting the link between employer and insurance is it allows small business to compete in the job marketplace more effectively. Small businesses are much less likely to outsource jobs to other nations. I believe long term it will really benefit our economy thus making America great again™* *Used without permission

I think it will be interesting the shift when the GOP's Trumpcare is the law of the land. We'll see how magically it will work better for Republicans and worse for Democrats, just like the Affordable Care Act only caused problems for Republican voters.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 4, 2017 -> 08:13 AM) Greg, saying "why haven't the Boy Scouts been mocked as much as the Catholic Church for pedophile behavior" is a piss poor argument. Seriously one of the worst you have ever had As a long time Boy Scout leader getting mocked was preferable to the usual looks.

The selling of sports in America.

Billy Botch would like his 15 seconds of fame as the player to have his worse years with the Sox.

QUOTE (Donaldo @ May 2, 2017 -> 06:41 PM) Starting pitchers only play once every five days. No matter how good Chris Sale was/is, he has ZERO impact on 80% of his team's games. Making that trade was the right thing to do. Hmm. Addressing your conclusion about starting pitchers and their importance. I think you are missing something. You could say that about every starting pitcher on the roster only being involved in 20% of the games. Which leads to a logical conclusion that starting pitching has minimal impact, which we all know is false. Starting pitching is important. And while each starting pitcher is only involved in 20% of the games, having guaranteed bad starts every 5 days is bad. Having great starts every five days is better. Now line up five quality pitchers and you have quality starts every day. Line up five horrible pitchers and you have horrible starts every day. Now, having said that, ask me when this team is 5 games under .500 in July about the trade. I agree that making the trade was the right thing to do.

The two biggest protections we have from a tyrannical government are our courts and a free press. The government writes a law that is against our constitution, it is up to the judicial branch to stop them. (Some use the pejorative term activist judge to describe that protection) Democracy is also protected by a free press that can expose the wrongdoings of the government. Some call reporting those wrongdoings "Fake News". But some people would rather toss those out believing their personal guns are all they need.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 21, 2017 -> 02:35 PM) Going to go finalize the purchase of our car tonight. 2017 Kia Optima Plug-In Hybrid, with the Tech Package. It will be very interesting to see how we do with the electric and mileage. In theory, this car gets 29 miles of electric-only, then goes to hybrid mode. My wife's round trip commute is about 28 miles, but they also have chargers at her parking lot. It should function like an electric car almost all the time for us, with her commute and some errands/kid stuff here and there. Might go months without getting gas. I'll report back here in a few months to let y'all know how it goes. These cars, by the way, are hard to obtain. When we went to purchase, there were only three Optima PHEV's in the entire Chicago area in stock, and only one was at our trim level (but not a color we wanted). They had to ship one from Ohio. Dealers say they get them in, but they can't keep them as they immediately fly off the lot. The plug-ins are about 4k more than the regular, but the tax rebate is almost 5k, so for the life of me I don't know why anyone would buy the regular hybrids. Congrats.