Texsox

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Jan 31, 2009 -> 02:59 PM) I think it's unfair to judge a GM by the number of winning seasons he has,I agree it is unfair. I also agree it's job #1 and the best way to judge the impact he is having. There are a few jobs where it is easy to evaluate how good of a job the person is doing.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 31, 2009 -> 04:56 PM) Sarah Palin was the best Republican VP candidate in the last 10 years. Exactly my point. But I guess we should be use to the usual flow chart Republican screws up It gets reported Screams of media bias Nitpicking the messenger instead of the message.

A couple items are already over the appraisal. There are some cool items there. I love the signed books by the Nobel Prize recipients. Or the baseball.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 31, 2009 -> 04:14 PM) I thought the media went after Palin because she was unqualified to be Vice President, and as we found out later, didn't know simple things like the fact Africa is a continent. I think the media's rush to deify Obama was pretty laughable, but I don't think they necesarily ripped on McCain/Palin unfairly. Of course they did. That is the only way some people can explain any problems with the GOP.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jan 31, 2009 -> 12:28 PM) Cubano, if you want to see some of the media's bais against Palin, look at a bunch of the stories about her since the election, and see how many times they mention 'failed vice-presidential candidate' in reference to her. It is dwindling down now, but was pretty bad for a while. I don't recall ever seeing an article about the Goracle mentioning him as the 'failed presidential candidate'. While she may not have much of a chance in the coming years, there is something about her that scraes a large portion of the media and the rabid left, as they just can't let go of her. Now the obvious response to follow this post will be somethign to the effect of her starting a PAC and stuff, but regardless, there are those on the fringe that just can't let go. As you noted, they are dwindling for Palin, just like they did for Gore. Immediately after the election, Gore was tagged with the same line. It's a shame the GOP just can't break into the media business. Perhaps if they were more successful in business they could have the wealth to report the news.

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Jan 30, 2009 -> 03:10 AM) You might just have to be 'guy on the couch' somewhere for those few months. That's the best solution if he can find it. Step one, post a message on a board . . . hmmmm

"The fix was in" "Will you still cover me if I have something to say, or is this the last hurrah?" Thanks Gov. In Texas, when we have a s***ty Governor, we get him a new job in Washington . . .

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 29, 2009 -> 09:35 PM) If the HOF were to create a rule that stated: If you do X, Y or Z you will be considered ineligible for the HOF, then I think it would be fine to disallow people based on that criteria. Here is what I could find of the rules: http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/rules.jsp When Bonds has retired for 5 years which of those criteria will he not meet? Btw, I believe Rose does not meet 5 as he is banned from baseball. Looks like my assumption was correct: Ok, he's eligible. Why would you want to enshrine a cheater? Is this an example of baseball's best? Should we show the kids that you can be honored if you cheat? Do you believe it is OK he cheated? He took a drug that his Doctors would not tell him what it was. You believe that is plausible He could not go to Walgreen's and have it filled, he never asked. You believe that is plausible He continued to take it for years, never asked what it was doing to him. You believe that is plausible He never insisted on knowing if it was legal or illegal. You believe that is plausible He grew much larger than he ever was, never asked if it was connected to the drugs. You believe that is plausible He just blindly kept taking the drugs and hitting homeruns. Denying until he was caught, that he took anything.

I'm not going to condone any steroid use, but I have an easier time understanding some kid in AA or AAA trying to make a living and hanging on to his dream one more year than a superstar, who was already having a HoF career, cheating to break records.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 29, 2009 -> 09:24 PM) The records mean more than the HOF, until baseball removes them as the record holders the HOF is a joke without the all time hit leader and all time home run king. It would be like saying and in this corner I have all the greatest boxers in the world, except Ali, because Ali broke the law and went to jail so hes not allowed to be considered a good fighter. So I personally find it a joke that the people who MLB considers the legitimate record holders are not represented at a place that is supposed to be about the history of the sport. Are you saying that the HoF becomes a joke if they stop letting cheaters in? In this display we have Barry Bonds, he cheated his way to the highest hit count and home run count in baseball history. That sounds like a great Hall of Fame. Moral of the story, if you cheat and amass the greatest records, it is OK!

Are you seriously saying the HoF becomes a joke if they STOP letting cheaters in and clean up their act?

It does not seem plausible for a professional athlete to take a drug without knowing what it is. Especially if his Doctors were unwilling to tell him. Here take this, but don't ask me what it is. And it is crazy to think that if one cheater gets in to the HoF, that every cheater for the rest of history should be allowed in. It is not required anywhere to continue to make the same mistake forever. It is interesting, using the "he didn't know" theory, that he wasn't worried that the drug would hurt his performance. He just seemed unconcerned what it would do or how. He wasn't concerned about how it would affect his baseball career. He just took it because someone told him to take it. No second opinion. He just didn't care one way or the other. Yeah, that's plausible. And look it up. A one in a million chance is not plausible. Possible? yes. But not plausible.

So he never asked if the drug was legal or not? He just took it. He had no idea what he was using for years?? Which, at the minimum, proves he didn't care if he was cheating or not. I'm outta hear. You can't wake someone pretending to be asleep.

You said he was smart enough not to ask. Why wouldn't he ask if it was a legal drug?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 29, 2009 -> 08:08 PM) I think Bonds was smart enough that when the Drs said: "Dont ask" he didnt ask. So upon hearing this, did Bonds think he was taking a legal or illegal drug? Why would a Doctor not tell him about a legal drug?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 29, 2009 -> 08:08 PM) I think Bonds was smart enough that when the Drs said: "Dont ask" he didnt ask. Plausible Deniability. Remember Anderson and Bonds were really good friends, to the extent that Anderson has said he would never testify against Bonds. Bonds was their meal ticket, they had an incentive to protect him at all costs and that includes being smart enough to know that as Drs if they cover for Barry, hed always have an excuse. The question for perjury is did he actually know, not did he have an idea, not did he think maybe, its did he actually know. If he did not know for sure, he can not be convicted. This is just breaking the law 101, whoever is the most important part of the group, you protect at the cost of the rest of the group. Whaaaat??? That was crack I was smoking!!?? Not my fault officer. I didn't know what I was smoking, they didn't tell me!!! Sorry, ignorance is not an excuse.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 29, 2009 -> 07:58 PM) Why are they in the HOF if cheating disqualifies you? Because people learn from their mistakes. At some point society says enough is enough and stops rewarding the behavior. Why was I able to drink at 18 and now kids have to wait until 21? Why could my dad have an open can of beer in the car while driving and I couldn't? It is a very simple concept that most people grasp.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 29, 2009 -> 01:02 PM) This is completely ridiculous and completely irrelevant to the Prosecutions case. The Prosecution must prove that Bonds "KNOWINGLY TOOK STEROIDS". How does a sample of urine with Steroids prove that Bonds knew he was taking steroids? Its the same answer as before: I took the cream and clear, I didnt know what they were. I took Pill B that my Dr gave to me, I didnt know what it was, he said it would help the pain, I believed him. Also they have no "chain of evidence". Who has had these substances for 6 years, how do we know that they were not tampered with, etc etc. I wonder how much govt money has been wasted trying to discredit Barry Bonds because he isnt lovable enough. Bonds is a professional athlete whose livelihood depended on his physical conditioning. There is no way he would take anything without knowing what it is. There is no way he didn't notice the muscle mass developing. Then after steroids became more well known, he continued to use them. Beyond the point that any reasonable person would think he was an unknowing victim. But if you prefer to think of Bonds as the stupidest f***ing moron to ever walk the planet, that just blindly ingested and/or injected whatever someone gave him and didn't ask what it was and what it did, go for it. Hey look, I'm chewing bubble gum and my biceps are getting huge!

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ Jan 28, 2009 -> 09:13 PM) So why should society care? /just thinking like Joe the Plumber When we place that low of a value on human life, we then devalue a whole lot more. It strikes to the heart of what American values are. If our values allow for our elderly to freeze to death with such callous disregard, are we really much better than some of the countries we send the troops to? When the two news stories of the day are this man freezing to death, and a $50,000,000 private jet paid for with "bail out" money, and we are more outraged about the jet, that worries me.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jan 28, 2009 -> 05:42 PM) You talk as if any elderly person who does this didn't attempt to save money. I don't think it's that cut and dry. true. I was going for the comedic line and sometimes comedy is not pretty. Of course there are some people who just want to be a greeter at WalMart

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 28, 2009 -> 05:53 PM) It will be interesting to see if any protocol was violated. If they followed all of the accepted procedures then they cannot be found at fault. It may be wrong on a human level because of the outcome, but from a procedural POV, they may have done all they were required to do. You may be confusing company protocol with laws. Just because someone has a company policy, if that protocol is found to be illegal, they can still be found at fault. For example, a company may have a protocol where they will not open doors after 5 pm and phones are for company business only. If someone is standing there bleeding from a wound at 5:05 pm and they are ignored, those people could still be prosecuted. And there is no record that they contacted him, no record they explained how the device worked. He was an old man without family who probably outlived his friends.

Death penalty cases Killing a child Killing a cop $1000 in unpaid electric bills Perhaps some here could throw the switch that killed that man, but I could not.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 28, 2009 -> 02:15 PM) Do you understand that a line has to be drawn somewhere? I draw the line before the person dies. You draw the line somewhere past the point where 93 year old people die. I guess we both can sleep with where we draw the line.

A couple possible solutions to cutting off the electric. If there is zero usage for 2 hours in freezing temps, call the customer, then call their emergency contact. If no answer, notify the police. This would indicate the breaker was tripped and the person did not reset. In this case it was conceivable that the customer never left his home to learn about the device on his meter.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 28, 2009 -> 02:02 PM) There are literally thousands of people in the Chicagoland area that face the same issue. Should the utility companies just give everyone a pass on paying for a service because its cold outside? Its a service you pay for, if you cant pay, you dont get the service. Its fairly straightforward. Are you suggesting that those thousands should be left to die? I can just hear Rock explain that to the guy as he lays dying. Too bad it's cold outside. I guess you will die. It's a pretty straight forward system. You should have paid your bill.