Texsox

26 people, still on the floor of their school, slowly getting cold, waiting to be transported to the morgue. Nice thread y'all.

I stopped my class around 2:00 and we talked for a few minutes then watched President Obama. My mom sent her second text message ever asking me if we had good security at my school. I explained they had Fox 40 whistles, the best whistles made. The lesson I taught about this, as it was happening, was how chaotic the reporting will be. How "facts" will change as the night leads to morning, as the weekend becomes next week. I even said serious mistakes, like the identity of victims or even the shooter may be made. Before the internet, the newspaper would have hours and hours typically to verify, now they are under pressure to report what they are told, as they learn it. BTW, not certain if it changes any opinions, but the parents have to agree to allow their children to be interviewed. I would have allowed my own kids to be interviewed. I did not see a problem with the interviews that CNN ran. They were first hand witnesses and could tell the story better than anyone.

How many Birthday Wishes have I sent you here? Eight? Nine? Damn, you are getting old! Happy Birthday!

QUOTE (Pods70Rowand33 @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 07:37 PM) What is GA? This is my third year of being a TA and I'm ready for it to be over. I don't think being a TA takes up a bunch of my time, it's just the lack of effort which bothers me and chasing down students to turn in their reports. I'm just really looking forward to this break Yes, graduate assistant. Here you would be helping with research not teaching. I was offered a spot with one if my professors to help with a book project he's got going. We couldn't make the schedule work out or I would have jumped on it.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 12, 2012 -> 08:01 AM) Turning in a revised paper this afternoon, then I am finished! More importantly, I'm hoping to get this published (fingers crossed). Looks like I'll be finishing this semester with 2 A's/2 A-'s or 2 A's/1 or 2 B+'s. Damn you, grade deflation What are you studying in grad school? Are you still teaching? Literature. Still teaching, but i stopped coaching while I'm working on the degree. But, the principal asked me to mentor a new teacher, which I am. Then yesterday I was asked by another new teacher to mentor her. The extra money doesn't make up for coaching, but it helps. Texas Tech has a non resident PhD program I have my eyes on.

I'm disappointed this thread never took off. I could easily be a REP if they went back to truly trying to balance the budget. The trouble I see is the difference between the GOP in media (Rush and the rest) and conservatives I know. Socially most (but not all) reject the party platform concerning women's rights and gay rights, yet the party leadership clings to it. The Tea Party types also drive me away. If SS2K5 ran the party, I'd be more comfortable. But from the leadership whose base is extreme religion or the Tea Party, it seems really racists, bigoted, and hateful. At the same time the DEM leadership that rejects religion irritates me as well.

You are correct and qi is another useful word

We're back!

So why did you click?

I agreed with Republicans on more issues fifteen years ago, but the divide has gotten bigger and bigger. I believe our best defense against the government are the courts and the press. The GOP seems to think those are threats and the only real defense are guns. I also agreed with the GOP more when I felt they were trying to balance the budget. Now that neither side seems to take that idea seriously, I find myself supporting those candidates less and less.

I am sitting here wondering what the level of interest is from the Sox. We want him back at any price (Definately not IMHO) We want him back at a fair price (Doesn't seem likely at this point) We want him back at a bargain price (Seems likely) We don't want him back at any price (unlikely)

My hot button issues are immigration, a balanced budget, health access for everyone, engaging in wars as a last and final resort, I prefer money be in the hands of the middle class, if someone should be allowed to kill another human, I prefer a woman killing her fetus to the government killing an adult. (I pray neither happens). I think we can always do better by going forward not returning to the 1950s.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 01:20 PM) There have been a lot of good stories here. It's fun and lighthearted reading. Great thread idea.

I know we're talking the team as a whole, but with all the Frank talk I want to add this, In my lifetime, no one could quiet a crowd like Frank at bat. Even if you weren't into baseball, you knew who Frank was. If you were at a bar, it seemed like time would freeze as everyone watched his at bat. Frank had to be Frank, but if he had MB's smile and outward love of the game, his endorsements would equal Jordan's.

The South Side Hit Men solidified it for me. Growing up in the north burbs I guess being a Sox fan connected with my contrarian side. Then there was fun at the ballpark. Nancy Faust, Bill Veeck, exploding scoreboards, roof top shots, it was a secret world so different than what I saw around me in Des Plaines. I would attend at least a game a week, sometimes more if I could get a customer to go. I loved the dumb ass windy 40 degree games when no body would be there or the 30 games out end of the season, again when Comiskey would be empty. I could go to a Cubs game and have a good time. But it was too corporare, too antiseptic for me. Today, hell if it's good enough for the President of the United States of America, well paint me red, white, and blue, it's good enough for me!

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 11:18 AM) Baseline budgeting is the problem. Fix that and we can start to have honest budgets in this country. Calling a cut in the rate of change in spending as an actual cut in spending is ludicrous. But these guys in Washington are clowns, so I expect nothing less from them. While I understand slowing growth could be considered a win, you are right. The other thing I dislike are announcing $100 bazillion dollars in cuts spread over 20 years

QUOTE (Pods70Rowand33 @ Dec 9, 2012 -> 03:57 PM) Yep, definitely ready for a vacation. I'm a grad student as well, and this semester has been crazy. I have a few labs to grade, and then get through this week (9 days until my two week vacation). It sounds like you are also doing a TA/GA thing. If I add anything my second year it may be a return to coaching, but just two Lit classes about killed me. Next semester it is The History of English Renaissance Women Poets and a class on Literary Theories. Both are reduced seat time, but my last two reduced seat time met all but two weeks.

I love tapatalk

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 9, 2012 -> 09:02 AM) That's a bad sign for the Big 12 when a coach leaves for the Big East. Have you ever been to west Texas?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 9, 2012 -> 10:57 AM) Tex, everyone needs to make sacrifices to fix the deficit! And by everyone, I mean the most vulnerable members of society who depend on Medicaid and Medicare to survive. Every Republican has told me that raising taxes is bad and revenue doesn't even matter, we need to CUT! CUT! CUT! I truly hope we find a compromise. The past 30 years have been spend and don't tax. The worse of both parties. I have an area we can cut, prisons. Overhaul our nation's drug laws and immigration laws to keep people out of prison and use those savings.

So if we pay zero taxes life is great? We have to pay for the government. That involves paying taxes. We keep talking about taxes separate from expenses. If you are going to spend more, then you have to tax more. It is a simple concept. But we continue to have both parties wanting to spend on what they believe is important and neither side really wants to tax anyone. You can't tax the poor, they have no money as it is. You can't tax the middle class, too many voters, and the rich donate to too many campaigns. But this idea we are raising taxes is misleading. We have to ask, raising from where? We've been CUTTING taxes for decades. The GOP said the Bush era cuts would be temporary. Then we ran a 6.1 trillion dollar deficit during Bush's terms. When are we going to pay for those deficits? There has to be revenue increases and spending cuts. I keep hearing the Bush deficits were to pay for two wars. Yet, we don't want to cut military spending to closer to the pre-war levels?

No matter what, baseball games, casinos, movies, etc. you invest two things, time and money. The investment of time and money has to be less than the benefit of doing something or you will stop doing it. "Bang for the buck" and "time well spent". Traffic become an issue when for a suburban fan they are investing upwards of seven hours attending a game. I'm basing this on two hour travel time each way and a three hour game. I disagree with the poster that suggested the team can't do anything about the traffic. They can, and have. They have entertainment before the games for early arriving fans. They have fireworks shows and such for people after the game. They have also worked with the city to improve traffic flow and public transportation. The after game stuff staggers when people are hitting the exits and helps with a smoother traffic flow. They have to continue making efforts in this area because it is a big factor for a lot of people. Survey after survey have pointed that out. The Cubs benefit from their surroundings and people not minding chillin' after the game in the neighborhood, the Bears too although that is weather dependent. The neighborhoods around the Cell and the Stadium just doesn't have that same charm. Side note, after attending games for 30 years my girlfriend insisted we take public trans to a game a couple summer's ago. I loved it. We just needed a better place to park the car than the nearly emptied parking garage in Skokie.

And Alpha, while you are in search of Democrat hypocrisy, let us look at political backers and their views on taxes and how they relate to what they do. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2...pay-more-taxes/ The nice thing about this is all of the conservative billionaires who avoid paying taxes by keeping profits out of the US are also doing what they believe is best. Helping the world's economy while keeping dollars out of the US treasury. Romney followed his beliefs by not paying any US taxes for years. His top backer is making a killing building casinos in China. God Bless America! To be fair and balance I was trying to find a Chinese flag for Alpha, but since everything seems to be outsourced to China by US companies, the above US flag was probably made there.