LowerCaseRepublican

I know a lot of you don't like Michael Moore -- but you should really see the episode where he gets together a group of gay people, got into a giant pink winnebago and they went to protest Phelps' protests in different states. It was so hilarious.

::Surprised the Parents TV Council and other groups aren't saying that women in their underwear is dirty and obscene:: Won't somebody please think of the children? I have a few girl friends who are self-described "feminists". We went out drinking a few days ago and I was getting railed at for guys being shallow etc. etc. Working into the conversation, I said "Alright then, what do you look for in a guy?" These girls then rattled off "Well, I want a guy who is really hot, works out, has a great job, plays guitar..." and just this laundry list of stuff about what he looks like and material items he has. They didn't like it when I said "Wait...who's shallow?" So much of the "male patriarchy" is kept in place because women keep buying that set of goods. They affirm it when they want the guy who makes six figures, has the sports car etc. etc. This is a bad thing, as you might imagine, and it is in keeping with a pure feminist doctrine to assert that women should be attracted to more androgynous men. Or, at the very least, not play into stereotypes. The problem that most feminists don't see is that women reaffirm the system every bit as much as men do. For every man who says "damn wom'n! get you ass in hea' an bring me a sammich," there's a woman who says "ooooooh.... look at those big, powerful muscles, and nice big juicy cock/car/wallet." In effect, men are forced into the hypermasculine stereotype by women who subsequently complain that men are too dominant in our society. The vast majority of women (though not all) shy away from men that they see themselves as being more powerful than. Hence, they are fully part of the system that degrades them. Therefore, the question arises: would an average woman fall in love with a man who is shorter and poorer than she is, yet more than adequate intellectually and emotionally? The answer is generally no. Thus, our stereotypical/average woman is as much the problem as any man in society. You see, men don't want to hold women back or to be more powerful than they are -- we simply feel as though we have to. As Dave Chapelle once quipped: "If a guy could get laid living in a cardboard box, he would."

I love the LA Times article that has Scalia quoted saying that the Roberts victory in the pro bono case has no basis in Constitutional law and doesn't pretend to. Rehnquist, Thomas and Quackers wrote a scathing response after that case saying that Colorado inhabitants had a right to be intolerant of homosexual activity.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 4, 2005 -> 02:42 AM) Williams is being charged with murder, as he should be. He took it too far when they ramped up interrogations. Way too far. This is not 'a policy issue' in my opinion. If their punishments are like the ones given to the soldiers who forced two Iraqis to jump off a bridge (just random people they found) The troops even admitted to a coverup. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5560805/ -- well, if the punishments are like the ones those soldiers received, then Williams should just be waiting for a slap on the wrist and a "Don't do it again." And it is really funny to see the people in the thread (not you, YAS) that say "Well, I don't care that the US Army beat a man to death." and then "Damn people killing our detainees!" You don't get to have indignation about detainee murder of our own soldiers when you wholeheartedly support it when we are the perps.

Religion: Breeding fundamentalism, mass murder and horrific atrocities for thousands of years. Hooray!

QUOTE(CubKilla @ Aug 3, 2005 -> 11:40 PM) Maybe the big, BAD UN will hold us responsible. Oh no!!!!!! :finger I'll remember this the next time you feign outrage at the way that US soldiers are treated when they get kidnapped.

"Bruan" Urlacher? Nice work though. Unfortunately nothing can beat the March 24, 2005 cover of Rolling Stone as my current wallpaper.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 3, 2005 -> 07:02 PM) Atlanta is a complete armpit of a city. End of story. Funny, I thought it was another piece of anatomy...more like an anus. I have bad memories of Atlanta. While going through Georgia, I got sick in the car (12+ hrs on the road will do that) and so I wanted to go into a gas station bathroom to clean up. The f***ing clerk made me buy $5 of stuff before he'd give me the key to the bathroom...f***ing prick.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Aug 3, 2005 -> 02:31 PM) My take on the big guys, those being Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, and Palmeiro I think Bonds should get in, although not on the first ballot anymore. He was a great all-around player that won a couple of MVP awards long before he ever became the feared super-slugger. He didn't become the behemoth that he is now until somewhere around 2000. Sammy is a guy I wouldn't put in. He clearly benefitted between 1998 and 2002. He was an absolute monster during those years. He had some good years outside of that stretch but in my book not enough to warrant him being in with the knowledge that he probably did steroids. He was more of a .270 hitter with pop before that monster run where he pushed it around .300. I definitely wouldn't put McGwire in. He's a guy who's credentials were entirely built around his power. He wasn't that great a hitter outside of the homers. Palmeiro is another I wouldn't put in after recent events. I wasn't a big fan of his candidacy before this because outside of his career hits and homerun numbers he doesn't seem to be hall-worthy. He didn't hit over 30 homers until he was 28, and then did it 9 of the next 11 years, hitting over 40 four times. That seems pretty fishy to me. Steroids won't turn a mediocre or poor player into a star, but they seem to be able to turn a pretty good player into a star. Anyone that makes the majors is already a better player than 99.9 percent of the population, so a much smaller improvement is needed to vault over many of those players. If you can already hit a 95 MPH fastball, adding another 10-20 feet can have a huge benefit. 20 flyballs in the course of the year that turn into homers or doubles makes a drastic difference. It seems that steroids has been able to put guys like Bonds, Sosa, Giambi, Palmeiro, and Boone over the top. It isn't just that it will turn flyouts into HRs and smaller hits into gappers. It affects the muscle fibers and speeds up their reaction time so it improves their power numbers, average and slugging percentage. Steroids greatly improve hand-eye coordination which allows for a greater ability to simply hit the ball for hits...not just power numbers. McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, Palmeiro...they're all cheating sonsofb****es.

Yossarian, I was just saying that comparatively -- Bolton is a choir boy compared to our previous UN ambassador who had a lot of blood on his hands. And thanks for the kind words. So far I've only gotten one semi-nasty hate mail but I debated the woman hard and I got the "Well then I guess you just want the US blown up!" comment (which pretty much means that she had no way to debunk the points I had made, haha)

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Aug 3, 2005 -> 01:28 PM) You guys are all going to U of I next year? Thats pretty cool, congratulations. Well, I've been there for 4 years (got my last year due to my minor and the insane amount of courses they expect me to take -- I'm gonna graduate with a little over 160 hours thereabouts).

QUOTE(GBlum27 @ Aug 3, 2005 -> 12:12 PM) If Buehrle gets suspended that's some serious bulls***. It is indeed a bunch of bulls*** if Buehrle gets suspended at all for doing what he did. They were getting drilled all series and boo-f***ing-hoo that Surhoff got sent a message to have the pitchers f***ing stop it. The Sox are above the league average for a team getting HBP and in the top 5 for all of MLB as a team in HBP. God forbid our pitchers try to send a little message back.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Aug 3, 2005 -> 09:47 AM) The highest percentage of the popular vote any elected President ever got was LBJ with 61.05% of the vote in 1964. Did he get a "D"? Seriously though, quit crying about a recess appointment. They are quite common, even the great Bill Clinton used them a "time or two." The poisonous partisan atmosphere in politics today is to blame for a lack of an up or down vote on Bolton. Bush may be wrong about a number of things. Bolton may be a bully in the workplace. The UN is still a corrupt virtually worthless organization and recess appointments of all types are a regular part of American Presidential history. I think the comment about the popular vote is pretty sad and I would consider it a failure that American society has come to such a position. I mean we have 1/2 the voting age population that doesn't even vote anymore. And then the winning candidate gets one half of that remaining 50%. What a mandate! It is detrimental to the democratic Republic that so many people here don't vote especially in a time where people are being run over by tanks etc. simply to get the right to go and cast a meaningful ballot. And all the posturing about Bolton...I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief that John Negroponte is no longer our representative. From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte Negroponte supervised the construction of the El Aguacate air base where Nicaraguan Contras were trained by the U.S., and which some critics say was used as a secret detention and torture center during the 1980s. In August 2001, excavations at the base discovered 185 corpses, including two Americans, who are thought to have been killed and buried at the site. Records also show that a special intelligence unit (commonly referred to as a "death squad") of the Honduran armed forces, Battalion 3-16, trained by the CIA and the Argentine military, kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of people, including U.S. missionaries. Critics charge that Negroponte knew about these human rights violations and yet continued to collaborate with the Honduran military while lying to Congress. In May 1982, a nun, Sister Laetitia Bordes, who had worked for ten years in El Salvador, went on a fact-finding delegation to Honduras to investigate the whereabouts of thirty Salvadoran nuns and women of faith who fled to Honduras in 1981 after Archbishop Óscar Romero's assassination. Negroponte claimed the embassy knew nothing. However, in a 1996 interview with The Baltimore Sun, Negroponte's predecessor, Jack Binns, said that a group of Salvadorans, among whom were the women Bordes had been looking for, were captured on April 22, 1981, and savagely tortured by the DNI, the Honduran Secret Police, and then later thrown out of helicopters alive. In early 1984, two American mercenaries, Thomas Posey and Dana Parker, contacted Negroponte, stating they wanted to supply arms to the Contras after the U.S. Congress had banned further military aid. Documents show that Negroponte brought the two together with a contact in the Honduran armed forces. The operation was exposed nine months later, at which point the Reagan administration denied any U.S. involvement, despite Negroponte's introductions of some of the individuals. Other documents detailed a plan of Negroponte and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush to funnel Contra aid money through the Honduran government.

The use of steroids such as stanozolol in professional baseball is linked to the desire to improve the performance of fast twitch muscle fibers. The fast twitch muscle fibers are those responsible for short-term strength and performance, traits useful for hitters trying to improve power hitting and overall batting performance. This in general would actually involve hand-eye coordination. So, it would be easier for the person to see/recognize pitches and take action to appropriately hit them...not just for power. So the argument that steroids just assist in power is pretty bunk. Raffy is quite the idiot and a lying, cheating sonofab****...but I have to admit that I laughed, especially in the case of Palmeiro that one of the side effects of this specific steroid was "frequent and persistent erections".

RPS steered me here as well after I got suspended from WSI a few times.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Aug 3, 2005 -> 09:52 AM) When are ya'll moving in? I'm going to guess either the 19th or 20th. I'm thinking maybe we can have a little "get together" for the Sox/Yankees game on Sunday. If any of you are interested, post away. I'm moving into my new apartment on the 12th. Of course, I'm already down in Urbana working for the summer (Viva la News Gazette! hahaha) so it is kind of a moot point. But a get together could be fun. I'd be down.

Hell no, I wouldn't put him in the HOF. Allow me to provide a link to an explanation of fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers here: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/exercis...a/aa080901a.htm What this article points out is that fast twitch muscle fibers, which occur at similar rates throughout muslce systems as slow twitch muscle fibers, are more useful for short-term, explosive exertion, as opposed to the long-term endurance provided by slow-twitch fibers. How does this have to do with baseball? Well, IF a player could find a way to improve the condition or quantity of his fast twitch muscle fibers, then he could potentially speed up his reaction time both in recognizing and judging a pitch and acting on this observation. That is, a player with an abnormally high percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers or well-trained fast twitch muscle fibers is better able to see and hit pitches. This can be reflected both in his "eye" - BB/K ratio - and his numbers, from power to average to slugging percentage. That's interesting. But how do steroids play into this? Well, I Googled "fast twitch steroids" and came up with this site (http://www.anabolicstore.com/ipp_maxteron.aspx) as my first result. Quoth the homepage: "Fast twitch fibers are the muscle fibers that make you “super-human”. They’re the muscle fibers that set world records in power lifting and track and field… they’re the fibers that have the capacity to grow beyond your wildest imagination… they’re the fibers every athlete (especially bodybuilders) wish they had lots of...But… what you can do is “anabolize” the hell out of existing fast twitch fibers you do have… so you appear to be all fast twitch. In other words, with the right systems in place, you can preferentially direct protein anabolism toward the muscles that have the greatest capacity for growth!" So some anabolic, er, supplements claim to help train these fast twitch muscle fibers to improve performance and appearance. Well, let's then take a look at the leaked info about Palmeiro's suspension. He tested positive for stanozolol, sold under the name Winstrol, and memorable for its use by Ben Johnson. Needless to say, a sprinter benefits from fast twitch muscle fibers. So does a hitter with 500 homers and 3,000 hits. Now, this drug is NOT available in over-the-counter supplements. "Stanozolol is used in horses to improve appetite, weight gain, energy levels and muscle mass primarily in horses recovering from illness, surgery, overwork, or other major stress. Anabolic steroids are also used in racehorses and performance horses to improve strength, increase muscle mass and try to improve athletic performance. There is no research evidence that supports their use as a "performance enhancing" drug (http://www.wedgewoodpharmacy.com/stanozolol.asp)." About human use, see here: http://www.cyberiron.com/drugs/stanozolol.html. Funny thing, only applicable to Palmeiro, is that stanozolol can cause "frequent or persistent erections," according to http://www.drugs.com/MTM/stanozolol.html. In summary, the use of steroids such as stanozolol in professional baseball is linked to the desire to improve the performance of fast twitch muscle fibers. The fast twitch muscle fibers are those responsible for short-term strength and performance, traits useful for hitters trying to improve power hitting and overall batting performance. This in general would actually involve hand-eye coordination. Palmeiro was dumb enough to get caught using a powerful, well-known, infamous and urine-present steroid. Bully for baseball.

QUOTE(juddling @ Aug 2, 2005 -> 01:36 PM) Do you really think that the ambassador of Luxembourg or Belgium worries about HOW the US representative got there?? I can see it now...the Luxembourg ambassador talking to the guy from Belgium saying "Gee...did you see how Bolton got here??? First time he speaks..let's stand up and turn our backs on him. That will show 'em. " i must ask.....How do you think he will reflect the US? Are other guys going to say "He's a bully..we won't deal with the US." or what?? AS far as i can tell..they already have that opinion about us. It is simply putting the "America Uber Alles" portrayal of America further into the limelight. It is speaking to the vapid, vicious and knuckle dragging nationalistic part of the American character -- One might call that hypocritical, especially from a political candidate who rammed down everybodys' throats that he was a "uniter, not a divider". And as much as I don't like Bolton, I have to admit -- it is an upgrade from John "I ::Heart:: Central American Death Squads" Negroponte. I hate that prick a lot more.

How can I forget... Who is the mastermind behind protesting funerals of certain people because of how they are born biologically? (Rev. Fred Phelps...a white Christian) Who said that we should "nuke" the State Department? (Pat Robertson...a white Christian) What college had a ban on interracial dating until 2002, states Catholicism is a Satanic cult & bans gay alumni from its grounds? (Bob Jones University...run by white Christians) Who attempted to bomb and commit arson against medical clinics in 2003? (Steven Jordi, a white Christian) What group has been linked to numerous kidnappings, arsons, murders and bombings since the early 1980s? (The Army of God...a group of white Christians) See...this is so easy to do with any religion.

SS2K4, ask and ye shall receive...These are just a few that I remembered off the top of my head. Anybody else feel free to add to the list. Time for me to go eat some lunch! Who plotted to kill a judge that ruled against his World Church of the Creator? (Matthew Hale...a white Christian between 17-50) Who had a string of drive by shootings of people that left two dead and nine wounded in Illinois and Indiana in 1999? (Benjamin Smith...a white Christian between 17-50) Who tied a man to the back of his pickup truck & proceeded to drive at a high rate of speed killing the man and partially dismembering him along the road? (William King...a white Christian) What group robbed armored cars, murdered a radio show host and bombed theaters and synagogues during the 1970s and early 1980s? (The Order...a group of white Christians led by Robert Jay Matthews) Who killed 168 people by bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City? (Tim McVeigh...a white Christian) Who led a worldwide network supporting terrorism against people because of their race? (Richard Butler...a white Christian) What former minister was convicted of murdering an innocent doctor and the doctor's bodyguard while wounding the wife? (Paul Hill...a white Christian) Who committed over 60 bombings and terrorist activities including the bomb at the Atlanta Olympic games in 1996? (Eric Rudolph...a white Christian) What group has established militias in order to attack and murder people who they believe have violated God's law (Christian Identity...a group of white Christians) Who shot up a Jewish day care center (shooting 4 children and a teen) while later in the day killing a Filipino mailman simply because he was Filipino? (Buford Furrow Jr., a white Christian) Who was convicted of lynching, cutting the throat and beating a man to death simply because of his race in 1981? (Tiger Knowles...a white Christian)

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 09:44 PM) In your opinion. Apparently Georgie thinks it is. Well Georgie also thought Iraq had WMD. And we know how that turned out.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 07:41 PM) Well, I've been published at least 15 times this summer, so you can bite me, LCR. I got a column running every 4 weeks for this paper...so I'll be catching up!

Shingo, my good luck in the future comments are in the bat rack.

Eisenhower isn't all bad..."Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/ike.asp

The streak was a concern for us fans but obviously not for Mark since he was willing to plunk Surhoff. Call me Juggs cuz I'm cracking out the statistics! Coming into today and using the stats on Whitesox.com, the White Sox have been hit 48 times so far this season. I actually took the time to look at other teams and put this 48 HBP (plus today's HBP) into perspective. Coming into today, the Sox are tied for 5th (now tied for 3rd with the 2 HBP today) in the league with batters that have been hit. Amount of hit batters per team coming into today...I didn't have time to see correlation with pitchers that have hit a lot of batters (gotta get ready for work soon) Angels - 19 Astros - 50 (but 13 are Leaning Tower of Biggio) A's - 24 Blue Jays - 56 Braves - 25 Brewers - 47 Cardinals - 40 Cubs - 33 Devil Rays - 41 Diamondbacks - 31 Dodgers - 49 Giants - 29 Indians - 34 Mariners - 28 Marlins - 42 Mets - 29 Nationals - 61 Orioles - 38 Padres - 31 Phillies - 34 Pirates - 41 Rangers - 31 Red Sox - 39 Reds - 34 Rockies - 41 Royals - 37 Tigers - 37 Twins - 48 White Sox - 48 Yankees - 44 The mean amount of hit batters per team is 38.033333. The Sox are ten HBP batters over that amount. No wonder they are a little bit angry. The median amount is 37.5 and the Sox are 10.5 above that average. The modal amount is 31 and the Sox are 17 hit batters above the average. Looks like the Sox have a legitimate gripe with the amount of times they are getting hit. The amount over the average is just going to increase today with the additional HBP.