JUGGERNAUT

This week in the CST they are reporting on the sex-slave trade as it impacts Chicago. One of the Congressional reactions to this has been the creation of the T-Visa. Essentially if you qualify as a victim of the sex-slave trade you can earn a T-Visa which provides you the right to work equal to an H1B & the strong possibility of permanent residency. On the surface it looks like a great idea. America cares. But in a society driven by capitalism it's just created an even bigger whole for companies to exploit. What constitutes being a victim of a sex-slave trade? Witness testimony? It seems to me it's going to be hard to build a case why a person shouldn't be granted a T-Visa when they apply for one. But that's the nature of American politics today. Knee-jerk reactions determine policy. It seems to me a more intelligent policy would be to link the war against the the sex-slave trade with the war against terrorism. We've already confirmed that the terrorists use the sin trades to acquire wealth to fund their activities. So this would be no different. Eventually the ACLU will have to give way to profiling. The terrorist activities aren't going to stop & the rest of the world doesn't care for the ACLU agenda as some American's do. When that happens it's going to be regular practice to thoroughly investigate any known establishment that deals with the "sin" trades. When it comes to America I'm a homer. I believe in treating foreigners as the least trustworthy people in America. If we are to link the sin trades with the war on terror than let it be the foreigner who suffers the most. Let the government's time, effort, & money be directed to the Mulovisch's of the world before the Mahoney's. Having read lady Z's story I thought about her captors. I thought about how 10 yrs from now they wouldn't have been able to show up at an airport in America w/out being investigated by the government. That's a much better approach to the problem than a T-Visa gift pak.

The God-given right to free-speech & free-assembly. Got to love it. I just wish groups would stop speaking for God. Both the left & the right. If they can't make a pragmatic argument on their own account they should just shut up. Pragmatically speaking, the Bible teaches us that we are ALL children of God. Sinners & saints alike. It's simply illogical to believe God would ever hate anything he created. Science tells us that it's more likely "f**s" are the result of weak chemistry than anything else. You can look at leading research on the issue from two perspectives: justification for their existence OR revelation of their existence. Either way the science is going to eventually lead to methods of control. It always does. In a marketplace such as ours you can imagine the impact such methods will have. Political correctness will eventually give way to the one-true-God of this world: $$$. If you've not seen the movie GATTACA you should. It's our future. Our near-future. Just look at people born with genes that lead to crooked teeth. Another result of weak chemistry. Only this one affects MORE THAN HALF the population. Yet does society tolerate it? Please. Growing up with crooked teeth in America immediately paints you as lower class. If you don't believe that just visit some schools where such kids exist & see how they are treated by fellow classmates. There is more tolerance in our schools today for gays than there are for kids with crooked teeth. Why? Because the medical community hasn't offered us a corrective measure for the gay question. That day will eventually arrive & when it does there will be no greater tolerance for a person being gay than there is for that person living with crooked teeth. Society is naturally cruel. GATTACA is our inevitable future. Do I like it? No. I think a person should be no less tolerated for having crooked teeth than he is for being gay. But America is the nation of unadulterated vanity & there's no reason to believe that will change.

Keep in mind if a guy is not on your 40 man roster by 12AM Sept 1st he can't play for you in the post season. Sept callups won't help.

Very bad move on the Reds part but something tells me they'll be dealing him before this season is thru. The White Sox were only asking the Reds to pay $15M/3yr. They were picking up the deferred payments due betw 2009-2015 & the remainder of the contract. That's about $30M. The total bill for the White Sox thru 2008 was close to $60M. The Reds will still have a chance to close this deal. NYY$ & BOS need pitching. They will be looking at AJB & BW before the Sep 1st deadline. Beane won't risk that kind of $ on an often injured player & ANA is tapped out financially. All things considered the Reds should be able to obtain permission from the other teams to complete that trade. If Griffey Jr could be trusted to stay healthy he would make for an attractive target for any NL team. But he can't. He makes the most sense for the White Sox because they have a hole at DH & an opening at 1B next year. If there is any CFer that can make the transition to 1B it's Griffey.

Arigato Iguchi! Arigato Kenny! Arigato Ozzie! Arigato 2005 White Sox. HAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! ikki ouendan

I just hope the A's don't shore up their weaknesses before that deadline. They are hard enough to beat now. That's the last thing we need.

That is the deadline for adding playoff eligible players to the 40 man roster. Any player not added to the 40 man roster by then is not eligible for post season play. DL players are part of the 40 man roster. Since the waiver free deadline was a bust because too many teams think they are contenders we can expect this deadline to be the big one. Many more teams will be sellers and the buyers will be more desperate. No rest for the weary this season. KW's ulcers, headaches, & nightmares have only just begun. OAK won again tonight. MIN ain't worth shee-it!

Think of it in terms of ambiguities. What does a "death to America" flag burning event mean? Unless the burner clearly defines that in his demonstration it's reasonable for the prosecution to define it in the most general & expansive terms imaginable. Let's follow thru with your example. Guy A burns the flag which inspires guy B to assault a cop. Is it reasonable to suggest that Guy A's demonstration was a message to guy B to assault the cop? Yes. Because the American flag is a universal symbol for America burning it equates to "death to America". A cop is a representation of America in human terms.

It seemed kind of goofy for the Tribune to post the magic number box after the All-Star break. After all a MN of 67 is kind of crazy. But now it seems noteworthy. The Sox shaved off 22 on the MN since the AS-break. At that rate they'll clinch before Sept 1st call-ups arrive. With an O's sweep in the works today the team has now jumped from the 97 win mark to 100 wins. That's not a dream any more. It's an expectation. Wow! Kudos to all in the White Sox organization, but especially Frank Thomas. Maybe it's coincidence or maybe it was inspiration but whatever it was it arrived with Thomas in June. The team was a woeful 250ish like hit club before Thomas arrived. It's been pushing north of .270 ever since. Maybe it was just the way he played with pain that inspired the rest of the lineup. Hopefully the luck charm is here to stay. I think Blum is a good answer to combat what looks to be a very hot A's team. Versatility with a glove is what you need the most to battle Beane's magic. This is shaping up to be an incredible year where Kenny's wits go up against Beane's as one of the traditional goliaths sit home. The 4 best teams in MLB right now are: White Sox, A's, Cards, Astros. Any one who says otherwise is just a homer. Rounding out the post-season: Angels, Red Sox, Braves, D Backs The best battles to come White Sox vs A's in the ALCS. Cards vs Astros in the NLCS. The drama of the game doesn't get any better

Content. I saw signs that Uribe was coming around in the last week or 2 & when looking at his Aug & Sep of last year I was beginnning to think it's better to stay with him than to acquire Vizquel. Especially Uribe's Sept #'s. If he repeats those numbers he'll be a hot player going into Oct. Likewise I did not want to trade Crede. I was not willing to sacrifice any defense for a bat or an arm & I'm glad that didn't happen. Look at tonight's ball game the long hits were held to doubles & several runners were stranded by BAL. Dye, Rowand are a big part of that. Pods biggest weakness is losing the ball in the sun/lights & those type of hits give Rowand time to bail him out. So I don't think it's a big weakness. It's just embarrasing to Pods. The best way to rest Hermy is for the offense to pound out runs. That's what we see now. I really like the addiition of Blum today. He's a very strong hitter against finesse/ground ball pitchers & right away I thought about the A's & Zito. He's got surprisingly good numbers vs Schilling & Clement. So he seems to be a guy that helps shore up some serious weaknesses on the offensive side of this WSox team. And the fact he's a UTL guy only adds to his value. The gamble right now is probably Shingo. If he can find himself again down in Charlotte he has a chance of coming up in Sept & being a major force in the pen. If he can do that then we are pretty solid in the pen for the post season. In the first round both El Duque & Contra are available in the pen. In the subsequent rounds Contra is. That's strength most other teams don't have.

Something I had not considered before when it comes to the waiver wire: 3-team trades. How does the league treat those? Is it possible a weaker team like Sea could help the White Sox obtain a player on waivers?

The film did pretty good for a 4 theatre opening. Pulling in 260K this weekend. I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but it has some pretty major comic talent in it's cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, & Robin Williams.

Thanks. I like the Blum pick up. The team needed a pickup vs RHers & Blum's got some interesting numbers. 3 yr avg vs RHers: .261/.713, 05 vs RHers: .248/.723. So he seem's like a consistent 700OPS guy vs RHers. Nothing special but an improvement over say Harris or Ozuna on our bench. Seems boring, but then look at his other splits: 3 yr avg: vs Finesse pitchers .380/.978 vs Groundball pitchers .285/.818 He's gotten hot since the break as well: .261/.915 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/battin...Type=2&type=reg Take a look at who he can replace off the bench when we face a finesse/groundball pitcher. This was a smart move by Kenny.

Has it been confirmed that both Blum & Mackiowak are members of the White Sox now?

The M's have the $ & the core talent to be a contender for years to come. They got rid of an albatros of contracts & I think they are learning fast that at Safeco they need to manufacture runs much more so than slug them out. I suspect they will look more to the guys who hit for average over the boppers in 2006. I don't think you can blame Moyer for wanting to stay & I don't think the M's do either.

I remember the BOSS referring to Olivo as a "future all-star" :rolly

Trade winds is good for times like now but I think Rumor Mill has a more general appeal for FA talk that dominates the boards in the off-season. Whatever the name I'm just happy it's a separate forum. Thanks!

That's major league cruel. A dog's bark is a core part of their character. It's on par with how they look as defining who they are. Maybe we should de-bark the whiners & let them taste what that world is like first hand.

Yes, but AMC & movie chains don't make their money off of home entertainment sales. They make it off of the food when you put your butt in their house. FYI: Ladykillers did not do well in HE either.

Exhibit A: Ladykillers with Tom Hanks This was a remake of an older film that did not feature obscenity & cuss words. The older film was a more enjoyable film & comparing the BO between the two clearly indicates it had greater mass appeal. I don't blame AMC or any other chain for deciding not to show this movie. If you "get your rocks off" with dirty words then whatever floats your boat. But the BO has proven time & again it doesn't sell. AMC is in business to sell an entertainment venue to the widest audience possible. The Aristocrats probably doesn't fill that bill. When viewing Ladykillers we both thought that the movie would have been much better if one character had been written better. All he offered was a cess pool of dirty words & it did not add to the film.

Manny offers nothing in terms of being a marquee player. He despises & loathes the media. He's one of the best bats in the league today but that's all you get. A consistent league leading RBI leader that can get it done in the playoffs. You can't milk a $ off his name outside of the game itself.

http://members.aol.com/cyberlyric/mindy.html Someone needs to give Wille a major league compupence. :fyou Wille

Frist is the MD turned politician? Though the odds against it happening are quite large most viruses can be passed on from one species to another through the transfer of fluids via the epidermis. The immune system of the one being "soaked" plays a major role. The dilemma is how do we make embryonic stem cells available to science w/out generating profits for abortionists & others that view them as $? I see a similar dilemma over medicinal use of marijuana. IMHO the key for both uses is to insure there is no opportunity for profitability from it. Is it constitutional for the government to pass a law restricting a commodity to a non-for-profit, non-tax-deductible status? If so then such a law should be passed & amended as other such dilemma's arise in the future. If it is not constitutional then an amendment would be needed first. I can think of examples that would suggest it is constitutional but until a politician starts singing this tune it's pointless to debate it.

He's one of my favorite players. Has been since he first came up with the NYY$. Freak of nature pitchers like him have always fascinated me. Was he ever dealing from the mound yesterday. I was out but I was listening to Farmer & Rooney. The Sosa at bats where something SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET to listen to. It's no wonder the NYY$ keep calling KW to get him back :lol We're WS bound if El Duque stays healthy baby! Just you watch!

This has bearing on the trade market. CLE may be less likely to sell Wickman & Milwood knowing that the Twins are down & out. Their pitching was suspect w Hunter so it's going to be even worse w/out him. It's likely now an ANA, NYY, CLE race for the WC once OAK overtakes the ALW.