Texsox

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 28, 2016 -> 11:58 AM) Average property tax bill for someone in the state of Illinois with a $200k house is $5340. That is the highest in the USA. In Indiana that same house would be $1550 in property taxes annually. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-...0427-story.html http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/tot...axes/total.html In fairness because we have found so many different ways to tax people a comprehensive approach to your tax burden is really necessary to compare. For example Texas does not have a state income tax, but some of our other taxes are higher. I would really love to see how a simple income tax only plan would look. No deductions, no shielding, no pre-tax moving, etc. Pay 0% up to the poverty level. X% from poverty to $X. X%+ over $X+, etc. Then no property taxes, no sales taxes, no hotel room taxes (I just spent an extra $23.00 in Austin for my room), no "sin" taxes, etc. What I would really love to see is a reliable study of the cost effectiveness of various state governments. Which state's residents are getting the best value for their taxes. The amount of data that would be necessary and the level of analysis would be impossible to evaluate, but wow, how great of a tool would that be.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 29, 2016 -> 11:34 AM) Bruce Levine ‏@MLBBruceLevine 4m4 minutes ago AJ Pierzynski on getting traded . Trust me neither Chicago team wants me . Someone probably asked him about his chance of getting traded back to ________________. As far as Robertson, seriously, his dad is dead. Nothing we can do about it. What about the family he has on the team? Doesn't he want to be with them when they need him? Let baseball be your comfort. Stay with the team and play dammit. What about the fans you are letting down? RIP, that's a tough thing to deal with. I hope he finds comfort and strength.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Apr 29, 2016 -> 07:26 PM) Tonight is what happens when you allow posters to drink heavily and stick around. The culture of this post changed last night, and by not getting rid of Danks immediately I may never get back what I had. Every spot on the 25 man matters... Fixed. We know the start was smoke and mirrors and they were overreaching and overachieving. But when they come back to earth it won't be one player, just like the incredible start hasn't been one guy. Brace yourself, they will lose other games. In fact they will lose three or four in a row at some point. A couple times they are going to get shelled and lose by 10+ runs. There will be a game where they commit four errors. The bull pen is going to blow a three run lead for Sale.

It's the AL version of pitchers batting. You know nothing good will come of his start. It's like a wasted out, only far worst. It's a wasted chance at a win. This team isn't good enough over the season to give away starts.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 22, 2016 -> 07:10 AM) Fairweather Chicago fans watching the Cubs. People who decide when and where to spend their entertainment dollars. What do you want to do this weekend? Hey, how about going to a baseball game? I don't know, what about going to the Dells? The Dells are too far, let's go to a baseball game, who is in town? I hear the Cubs are doing good. We could have lunch at . . . OK, if the weather is good. If not, let's head downtown for dinner maybe catch a play . . . That is the dollars that both teams are fighting for. They aren't fair weather fans, they aren't fans in any sense of the word. They are spending their entertainment dollars and a baseball game sounds good at the moment.

Defense is always more consistent than offense. The Cubs are the top team in the market. It drives ratings. Every team left spring training with hope.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2016 -> 09:33 AM) Knowing Mark, I just get the feeling he is done. I can't see him wanting to put in all of the work to get back into shape to pitch for a few months. If he had wanted to pitch this year, he would have done so. Under the usual expectations that the team had going into this season I agree. Maybe that record makes MB start humming glory days* . . . * leave me my dream.

Is the sub floor sound? I'd take a good look at the area and make certain nothing else was put in sub standard.

Happy Battle of the Flowers day. I'm not really certain what it is, but I know I am off today. #IloveSA

Very nice.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 09:50 AM) Before expansion? What does this mean? Did you forget that there's a reason he got the contract he did in the first place? You have a point. I'm not being 100% accurate. I was thinking more general. When there were 24 teams with 4 starters there were less than 100 starting pitchers. But, yes, you are correct he probably would still be around.

Here is my bathroom dilemma right now. There is a major storm blowing through campus and we are being kept in our portables. This is my conference period which means I should be in the bathroom getting rid of the second cup of coffee. Feeling like Forest Gump. I need to go pee . . .

Thinking about Danks numbers. Before expansion, he would have been teaching a PE class somewhere and impressing the kids with his stuff.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 08:15 AM) How many losses the Sox had when they got their 11th win, and records after 20 games: 2005 11-4, 16-4 2010 11-15, 8-12 2011 11-19, 8-12 Under Ventura 2012 11-11, 10-10 2013 11-15, 8-12 2014 11-11, 10-10 2015 11-16, 8-12 So this is the best start during the "Ventura Era". Contract Extension!

I was brainstorming with one of the administrators and she asked if I could align it with something we were doing in class. I laughed and laughed. We are reading Brave New World.

FWIW of no real practical value. 2016 April 20 2015 May 6 2014 April 21 2013 April 26 2012 April 23 2011 April 26 2010 May 1 2005 April 19

It certainly is nice to see so many threads with this title . . .

You seem to be bringing up the point that we have to protect all or nothing. Marking perfect the enemy of better. Change always happens in incremental measures. Hopefully the goal is a no one person's identity isn't used as a slur. If the next area for protection is the LGBT community, well we have to continue somewhere. I believe we started with n*****, which would also get a serious ban.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Apr 20, 2016 -> 07:08 PM) I have 93GB of music stored on my netbook and 59GB of music on a micro sdx card in my cell phone. Best part is that all the music I listen to is 100% commercial/ad free. Soon I'm going to upgrade my cell phone with a 200GB micro sdx card so I can have all my music with me. Also going to get an external hard drive for storage. I love music. Doesn't that make your phone really heavy? What program(s) do you use to play and organize?

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Apr 20, 2016 -> 04:07 PM) Because only two political parties' nominees matter when it comes to deciding the most important office in the country. Restricting access to voting in either of the two primaries because I don't identify as D or R is undemocratic and specifically leads to the fringes of parties nominating candidates. Again, I don't have to pay dues to the Democrats or Republicans to participate. I don't have to pledge fealty to that party, so even if I identify myself as an R in NY 6 months in advance of the election, I can still vote D in the general. There is no logic in saying "independent voter, you don't have a say in either the nominee from the Republican party or the Democratic party because you didn't check a box. I'm not advocating a system where people get to vote in both primaries. But restricting access to either party is a bad system. Give me a system where I show up on primary day and pick D or R for my ballot. Don't give me a system where I'm disenfranchised from the pick. How the individual party decides to select their candidate should be their choice. You are making the choice to disenfranchise yourself by not following the rules the party voluntarily put in place. There are no constitutional requirements for primaries. You can continue to deny seeing the logic, but that doesn't mean it isn't there.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Apr 20, 2016 -> 02:53 PM) But there's nothing stopping that now. Granted each state does primaries differently, but if I'm registered as an R, I can vote for Kasich in my primary because I feel like he's the best choice for President. Then Trump gets the nomination, and I decide that Clinton suits my interests better. I can still cross parties and vote for Clinton. So other than the fact that the Rs and Ds are private entities (which in a Presidential context is silly because they are the only two real choices for President), what is the logical basis for restricting access to the primaries? The logic is that each party is created to further that party and should be allowed to do that as they see fit. Twelve political parties will select a nominee at a convention without primaries because that is the best way they can do it. The Dems and Reps hold caucasus and primaries so their party can select a nominee. They should be allowed to set rules that help assure that the people who are helping in the decision are the best people to make the selection. People who openly and willingly identify with a party are much more likely to donate their time, talent, and treasure to that party and to help elect that candidate. They are the more valuable voice in the decision making. They are also the ones that will vote no matter what. Again, this is a political party decision. What logic is there in allowing non-members to decide who that party nominates? Where is the logic in a party creating rules that encourages non members over regular members? They would be creating rules that could hurt them.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Apr 20, 2016 -> 03:16 PM) Wait a second, teachers usually do things for graduating students? I have in the past. Just trying to make their final days in high school a little cooler.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Apr 20, 2016 -> 02:09 PM) I don't follow that logic. When I check the box as "Democrat" when I register to vote, I am not estopped from voting for Republicans in elections. I can still be an Independent and be a part of the primary. Basically, you are disenfranchising people who don't check a box... My comment was in response to the idea that independents should be allowed to decide who the D or R nominee is. My logic is the party gets to decide who their nominee is. If you want to be that involved in the process of selecting the D or R nominee you must be involved in that political party. If you care so much about who the D nominee is you should be a D. If you don't want to be a member of one party, why should you get to be a part of that party's decision making? Where is the logic in having someone help decide the R nominee just to go vote for the D later?

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Apr 20, 2016 -> 08:58 AM) Yes, bowling is an official HS sport and part of the IHSA. The girls have been official for as long as I can remember. The boys became part of it around 2002. When I was in HS we had a bowling program and competed against all the other schools but weren't recognized by the IHSA for some reason. So I kinda got screwed out of all the scholarship money that they give out to the kids these days. Every single league and tournament that my daughter bowls in now she is earning scholarship money. I'm glad to hear that.