lostfan

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Nov 7, 2010 -> 03:50 PM) Wow, let them convert a 3rd and 11. Jeez. I don't have any confidence in the Bears defense on 3rd and long. 3rd and 3, yeah, but 3rd and 8, 9, 10, 11 I pretty much just assume it's a new set of downs.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Nov 7, 2010 -> 03:42 PM) Young does not equal talented. What have Webb, Williams, Wooten, Roach, Bowman, etc shown you that suggests they are good football players? Webb looks halfway competent IMO, but very raw. Bowman is at least an NFL player.

Now we need for the D to not give it up like a slutty prom date again.

Need 7... no dicking around with 3.

Defense is so disappointing today.

Ok I was sitting here and it was 3rd and long in the red zone, and I come back to the computer and it's still 7-0 and there were apparently no turnovers and they didn't kick a FG. What the f*** happened?

Happy birthday dudes

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 7, 2010 -> 09:56 AM) Nate Silver finds Rasmussen consistently biased towards Republicans, generally poor showing in latest election. http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2...ormed-strongly/ I thought that was common knowledge. Rasmussen usually favors Republicans or some conservative idea by about 4-6 points ahead of everyone else. They still do show the same trends as the other polls, though.

Who posted the Maddow video a few posts ago? Watch it

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 06:23 PM) The commodities are going crazy because of the hit in the dollar with the latest in Fed policy. Its going to be ugly when people are paying $3.50 at the pump again. $3.50 at the pump would also mean the economy is growing again, though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 06:22 PM) QE2. That's been known it was going to happen for a while now (you said earlier in the thread) but I don't know what to specifically attribute this to, it just started happening.

I like looking at my portfolio and seeing I made a bunch of money that day doing absolutely nothing. The markets have been loving the past two weeks for some reason. I had 50 shares in a gold ETF that I didn't want anymore so I sold it and bought a small-cap dividend stock instead (WPC). I don't really know what the point of holding gold is right now if I bought it at a high price... might as well take the profit I've made off it and put it into something that pays and won't collapse as soon as the economy finally recovers.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 05:56 PM) http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2...emoirs_say.html Bush thought McCain was "less of a man" choosing Palin as his VP candidate. Not for choosing a woman, but for choosing a complete incompetent. Can't say I disagree with him there, although his VP happened to be a sociopath

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 05:57 PM) Meh, Fox has similar policies for their newscasters/anchors. Olbermann should have notified his boss, problem solved. Yeah I'm not really crying for Olbermann, it was something in his contract and I bet he knew. I doubt this has any effect on his career.

@ebertchicago: Olberman gave a few bucks, Fox gave a million and its soul.

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 10:53 AM) It's boggling you don't see how arrogant this is. Just who the hell do you think you are to decide what is essential to someone. That isn't really the point I was making and bmags already called me out on it. It had nothing to do with arrogance or even taxes. If you don't pay your rent/mortgage you go live in the street. If you don't pay your utilities there's not much point in having a house, either. If you can't afford groceries, you die. If you don't pay your car note you can't get to work unless you live somewhere with well-developed public transportation (which taxes are paid for) After that everything really just depends. The stuff I listed first absolutely has to be paid, all the time. The other things are what people voluntarily add to their budget and are not essential. If someone doesn't know this (exception being savings), they will always be broke and/or living paycheck to paycheck no matter how much money they make unless they're filthy rich and it doesn't matter. They can blame taxes but that's just blaming the sniffles for their cold.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 4, 2010 -> 11:58 PM) No, Democrats give away other people's money. And then the ones in power do everythign they can to avoid paying their fair share, while trying to make everyone else feel guilty for not thanking the government for taking what they do. And why is it that with every thing that someone brings up on here to cut or fix to save money, the argument is always "Well, it's only XXX% of the problem, so that wont matter" It ALL matters. Drops add up. There is no magic bullet that will fix everything in one swoop. Take the changes where you can. Just doon't stop with only a few 'drops'. 1% here, 3% there, .5% in several other places, you start making dents that matter. The "Oh, it's only..." argument really is weak. Okay, you do have a point there. However, I don't think going after tiny, piecemeal pieces of the budget is going to get anywhere close to solving the deficit. Also it's not realistic - let's say we eliminate all public aid at the federal level entirely so we can save X% on the deficit. Then what? We still have a gaping hole. Except we also f***ed a lot of people over.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 4, 2010 -> 11:12 PM) I think you are getting muddled down in an unwinnable argument. This was a little too micro. i was trying to make a point and got carried away.

Writing my self-assessment at work is a HUGE pain in the ass.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 4, 2010 -> 10:33 PM) He said work hard and succeed. That sounded nothing like an entitlement program. major issues, unfortunate circumstances, disadvantages etc. People act like all Democrats actually like it when people on welfare... that's just not true. Example: this woman from California, I forget her name, is one of the "tea party darlings" who was a single mother who had 4 abortions and was on welfare who eventually went to school and worked her way up and then became born again. There was an article on Slate about how she "lived the lie of the left for 10 years" and preached personal responsibility which all the Slate commenters thought was odd because she sounded like a walking advertisement for liberal policies working. She was on welfare to support her kids and eventually used that as a stopgap to go to school and eventually become successful... but she blames the fact that she was a moocher on the government which, along with the fact that she'd had 4 abortions to mitigate her promiscuity, really undermines her argument about personal responsibility, however valid it was.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 4, 2010 -> 10:14 PM) Are you serious? I was in SF last weekend as well....crap I've always heard SF and NYC's ATT networks are notoriously awful.

BTW I've gradually worked into the tax brackets where I really start to feel the pinch and here's my opinion on that... the truth is, if your taxes are killing your finances or otherwise putting a painful dent in your budget, you really suck at managing finances. Some people who make $120k or so need a reality check on what's essential to their life and what's really going to hurt if they didn't have it. They aren't as rich as they like to think they are but they probably live in a neighborhood in the suburbs next to someone who makes $1M or whatever, and their kids go to the same school, etc. Stuff that is essential to virtually everyone and most people struggle to pay month to month (in this order): Mortgage Car Payment Groceries Utilities Insurance (health, auto, homeowners etc) Phone/Internet/Cable Home security system (if it can be afforded) Stuff that some yuppies in my tax bracket think falls into the above category but the vast majority of people see as a luxury: Sending kids to private school Putting a significant amount into savings every month (like 20%. This is NOT an expense) 529 for kids' college Landscaper and/or maid Annual vacation Home improvement You get the idea but it's always like "if my taxes go up (like... a couple of percent) I won't be able to go to Europe next year while I do all these other things! Seriously now. None are as entitled as those who were born into privilege. Tell that to my parents 15 years ago when they were working just as hard but making 1/4 that, they'd have LOVED to have a problem like that.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Nov 4, 2010 -> 04:01 PM) I have no problem with the different taxation policies. But I want the following for those who are pulling services and are not contributing from a taxation standpoint. 1.) If you are receiving benefits from the government ( eg welfare, unemployment, healthcare, etc ). You must submit to scheduled drug tests. I don't care if you are for or against drugs. But if you can afford drugs, you don't need welfare. 2.) If you are able bodied and are cleared by a doctor to work and are receiving the above benefits then you must perform some sort of community work. This will help associate work with benefits as well as to coop some of the costs. Now of course the Unions will fight this, but in reality it makes sense. This can be anything from litter patrol, to cutting grass, to whatever is needed from labor standpoint. You don't want to do this, then you don't get the benefits. 3.) Skills for work program. For those who participate in the above work program, you will get credits for some training to learn skills that will help you get employed. This can also include office based skills and have some college credit involved. Again its about training people and letting them provide for themselves. 4.) People need to actively show that they are looking for a job. My wife's friend's husband was all proud of the fact that he made good money on unemployment. So now he could have "me" time. He could work out at the health club, and watch movies and enjoy life until his enemployment was going away. Then magically he was motivated and found a job. I don't care if you tax me, well I care, but sure whatever. But then in the next breathe don't ask me to be thrilled when I see someone pull up at the local Jewel in their 45k SUV, have a shopping cart filled with all sorts of stuff. Then split the order up into small orders using some on link, some on wic, and then buy your liquor after pulling out a wad of 100's. I see this more than a few times in Darien and its stupid. Sure not everyone is doing it. But I have seen enough abusing the system to say that we need to start to make sure that those who are getting help need it. And if they are getting the help, then they can provide some sort of service back to the community. I don't have a problem with #2 in principle, but a single mother using public assistance who is, say, going to school isn't going to be able to afford daycare so she can also work. Or to do anything with her kids while she works, really. Also like has been brought up before, drug testing costs more than it's probably worth in this case.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Nov 4, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) By and large in this country I believe if people make the right choices in life and work hard they can succeed. However, I do fully agree that luck to an extent plays some impact on things as well. I believe sometimes people just have too many unfortunate circumstances put in front of them that prevent that from happening. As a whole though, I truly believe you make with what you have and you work your way up. There are clearly certain major issues, specifically within the inner city where people have so many negative influences tugging and pulling at them. You sound kind of like a Democrat here... lol

Lil Wayne > Election Day. I just "went in" on my Facebook status on a few people...