Soxbadger

How many of them had grand jury transcripts leaked to the public? Prior to the grand jury, Bonds legal team argued that this would not be a secret proceeding and therefore 5th amendment should not be waived. The transcripts were released, the govt didnt stop the publication of Game of Shadows, its completely distinguishable from a no name criminal. Not to mention Im adamantly against grand juries, because they use the same bulls*** tactics against regular joes, except for they dont have attorneys and cant defend themselves.

This isnt about a crime, this is about vindictiveness. Perjury happens pretty often, its almost impossible to prove, this is a fact. The only time the govt does this, is when you didnt give them what they wanted. In this case they wanted Bonds to name proverbial names. Bonds refused to do it, even when he was in front of the grand jury which is supposedly in secret and therefore you have no 5th amendment rights. That is the catch here, the govt pulled Bonds into a grand jury, where he, unlike most defendants, could not plead the 5th amendment. The reason that the 5th amendment does not apply, is that the information at a grand jury hearing is secret, it is never to be released to the public. Bonds attorneys argued that the govt could not deliver on the secrecy, and that Bonds should not have to testify against himself (like any other defendant in the world.) The problem is, the govt doesnt care. They just wanted to convict BALCO etc, so they adamantly stated that no transcripts from the Grand Jury would ever be released to the public. This was a lie. Book of Shadows includes Grand Jury testimony, Bonds lawyers were right, you could not guarantee secrecy. Because of this, the entire case is a sham and a disservice to our legal system. The grand jury is a mockery of justice, its a sham trial where the Defendant cant bring in witnesses, where the govt can use hearsay and unreliable evidence, where a Defendant has no rights. The only silver lining, is that unlike most people who have been put in Bonds position, where the govt just flat out screws them, Bonds has money. Bonds had attorneys who fought for him all the way, and hopefully his attorneys will keep him from jail. Even if Bonds is found guilty, I cant imagine the Judge ordering jail time, maybe a fine at best, but this is unjust. This isnt how our system is supposed to work, we dont create fake secret court rooms where Defendants have no rights so that we get them on tape saying they used drugs and ruin their life. That isnt ho American justice works, and this entire fiasco makes me ashamed to be part of the legal system.

No, it appears he believes that having an abortion is some knee jerk decision that you can have done immediately after finding out your pregnant. Im not even sure that most people know you cant have an abortion too early in the pregnancy, that you actually have to wait a certain amount of time to get one...

No it presupposes that the mother is making an informed decision. Im advocating that if the mother wants an abortion, she gets counseling about abortion vs adoption vs raising the child and then gets to make her decision. Its up to the mother/father to determine the psychological affect. I certainly know that if my girlfriend had an abortion when I was 21 it would have a lot less psychological impact than if she had a baby. Sure you think about what if some times, but a lot of those times you realize those what ifs were horrible results. Everyone should be able to make up their own mind about whether they want to bring another life into this world, Im not going to second guess someone if they want to have every child, or if they want to abort every child. Its your life, you have to look at yourself in the mirror.

Right because in general Planned Parenthood helps people who are planning to be parents. They also help discuss the pros and cons of parenting with those who arent sure. And in some cases where the people have no interest in children at all, they perform abortions. Thats why its called Planned Parenthood, because they help you develop a plan.

id bet that Nixon would say "Damn hippies" and shake his fist violently. I guess the problem people will always have with me in any PP debate, is that I dont think there is anything wrong with abortion. I think for most people they are a valuable life lesson, $1 for a condom or $500+ for an abortion procedure. And even if I assume that my tax dollars are paying for abortions, Id rather pay a one time fixed cost of $500, then potentially have to pay for the rest of my life.

Jackson's younger and not under contract next year, so if we ruin his arm... (j/k kind of) I just think that the Sox are worried about Mark and potentially fatigue over the season. It stings to lose that game, but at this point its the past and me move on.

I think the pen actually has a lot of talent, but you are always going to look bad when you cant count on the closer. This season could have started a lot worse with Peavy on the DL and Dunn having surgery.

The first album was the only Foo Fighters album that I owned. I kind of went in a different direction with my taste (it was the mid 90s) and nothing was bringing back Nirvana. Admittedly Ive only listened to the songs that are on the radio, its just one of those things.

haha every time I see that commercial I think Thornton should ask for a second opinion.

I just more wanted to profess my love for drink specials. I thought they were getting a bad name, so I felt that if i defended their honor maybe they would go home with me.

If we lose by a half game I will be a lot more mad about a defense that made 2 errors in the bottom of the 9th when we had a 3 run lead, than 1 game where a 1 run lead was blown by a closer. Some days pitchers wont have it, but you have to catch the ball if it hits your glove.

Maybe you should read my actual posts instead of jumping to ridiculous conclusions. Maybe go back to the KC thread where I start to question Thornton's stuff. Maybe read tonights thread when I comment about what I saw tonight. But dont act like I dont understand what it means. A lot of people on this board dont understand what it means if we give up on Thornton, cant find anyone else and waste a season because we overreacted in the first week when we are still above 500. Its a 162 game season, we are less than 10 games in. 1/16 is the equivalent of 1 football game. Its way to early to go insane, but like I said 1-2 more outings you have no choice. Right now you can still write it off as bad luck to start, but eventually its not just luck. I guess instead of looking for immediate knee jerk reactions, Im looking at the entire season. Im tired of reading about when we are 3 back in September. Screw that, you make adjustments you get better, if Im going to make a mistake, Id rather it be early in the year. It is what it is, you wake up tomorrow and go back to work. All you can do is give yourself a shot to win every time out, the Sox have done that every game, they are going to win more than they lose if they keep it up.

Hawkins wasnt as bad as people make him out to be, he just had a sub 2 era before becoming a closer. There are arguments both sides here, its not an exact science. I did a bunch of research on it because I got in some arguments after Thornton's KC adventure, and the results are inconclusive at best. I have concerns about Thornton, but no one else is a sure thing either. At this point if we make a change, there is no going back (imo), so Im willing to be a little more patient, but as I said, 1-2 more blow saves without actually closing a game, its over.

Hes got at most 1-2 real chances left. Even the biggest supporter would have to question at that point. 0-3 I can see is bad luck, but 0-5 thats more than some guys blow in a season.

Im not saying im against Santos (in fact I clearly was one of the few questioning Thornton after the Royals game but for different reasons), but if you go to Santos, you cant go back to Thornton for a while or else youre going to mess with all of their heads.

When you have a guy 0-2 and they are sitting fastball, a fastball that is high and out of the zone is likely a strike out pitch. Its not like Im reinventing the wheel here, most pitchers go to their "out" pitch with 2 strikes. Thornton's would be a fastball. You only have to show offspeed, its just to make the batter think for an extra split second.

You may want to edit that post J4L, because Im not sure the Twins are the best team of the ones you mentioned...

Ball being hit hard at a player is an out. Statistically even the best hitters only hit 1/3 times. Bad luck is when something that would normally happen (fly ball that hits a players glove being caught) doesnt happen. Balls get hit hard at players all the time.

If you actually watch the first hitter of the inning, Thornton completely had him off balance. The problem was he threw a horrific pitch on 0-2. If he goes high fastball or slider in the dirt, that is a k. He really needed that one.

People need to admit that Thornton has also had pretty bad luck in his first 2 outings.

Chw2, Thornton had the first guy 0-2. At that point you can throw exclusively fastballs, for some reason they went offspeed and over the heart of the plate. I assure you, that is not part of mixing up pitches. Had Thornton got the first batter, its an entirely different inning. Its just the little things. I actually am willing to give Thornton more of a chance because he atleast tried to do something different. This game was entirely execution, it wasnt predictability. Execution can be fixed (you hope).

Whats best for the team is that Dunn gets 100% healthy and doesnt some how aggravate the surgery and cost us more time without him. For as many frustrating losses as the Sox have, they are still over 500 and in good shape. At the end of the day you are going to win more of these games than you are going to lose, flukes wont happen every day, and even an unretired Bobby Thigpen could finish a game without giving up 5 runs in a loss. This team could be special, as long as we get the right mix by the middle of May none of this matters.

You can call it a "slider" but that definitely didnt have slider action. So he must have thrown it improperly as it clearly looked like a "curveball". I wasnt being specific, because it was an offspeed pitch down the middle so not really sure that it counts as a slider or curveball.

Thornton threw an 0-2 hanging curveball down the middle. That isnt the Matt Thornton of last year.