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Mplssoxfan

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Posts posted by Mplssoxfan

    Congressman quits over sexual harrassment

    in The Filibuster

    Posted

    QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Sep 30, 2006 -> 08:37 AM)
    That is misleading from you. Hasters said they were doing something about it, you just don't know what it was, or if it worked. It also said that they didn't know the extent of it (the emails), so saying they knew of this implies that they knew it all. Granted, they should have assumed the worst from the start, but you are making assumptions yourself in your accusation that they knew and did nothing. That being said, if the guy is guilty, they need to make an example out of him.

     

    If the Republican house leadership knew about the allegations, and if they did nothing (two big ifs), then I think we can count on the Democratic leadership to hammer the Republicans. Boehner's already retracting his story about informing Hastert, BTW.

    clinton faces music

    in The Filibuster

    Posted

    QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 26, 2006 -> 01:56 PM)
    It's an exception to the right of privacy, in that, everyone has a right to privacy UNLESS you can obtain a warrant (or the extreme circumstances you mention). If you're a cop and you obtain a warrant and bust into someones home, they haven't given up their right to privacy. The exception that the Court has granted (the warrant) simply overrides that right. So yeah, it's an exception to the general rule that everyone has a right to privacy at all times.

    I'm OK with it in the narrow situation we're talking about: people that pose a national security risk.

     

    They could search you or your home but they don't convict you on the spot and throw you in jail. They have to go through the judicial process of charging someone, introducing evidence (which in these cases they would be thrown out) and then getting a conviction. You're still innocent with respect to the law and the legal system.

    I could be reading your posts incorrectly, but it seems to me that you're confusing a right to privacy with basic Fourth Amendment rights.

     

    Amendment IV

     

    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

     

    Our Fourth Amendment rights are not the same thing as a right to privacy. You mentioned that privacy was formed as a "penumbra", and you're correct. The argument ofer warrentless wiretaps is distinct from any argument over any right to privacy.

    Who will you Cheer For?

    in The Diamond Club

    Posted

    QUOTE(Sox It To Em @ Sep 26, 2006 -> 08:38 PM)
    How the heck can you guys root for our heated divisional rivals before other teams? That just doesn't make sense to me. I like the fact that we're the only AL Central team with a recent World Championship and would like things to remain that way.

     

    Purely mercernary reasons, old chum.

    I have a confession to make

    in SLaM

    Posted

    Ketchup on a hot dog -- I can accept that. Heck, if for some stupid reason there's no mustard to be found (or I'm not eating a chili dog, which is a whole different argument), I might actually use some ketchup.

     

    But ketchup on a bratwurst? That's just wrong.

    5 years ago today...

    in SLaM

    Posted

    I work nights, and I had gotten to sleep about 4AM. I don't own a TV and didn't turn on the radio when I awoke, so I may have one of the last people to find out what was going on -- when I went online at about 1PM.

     

    Even then, the full impact didn't sink in until about 2:30 or so. I worked that night and of course all the TVs in the place were on, even though nobody knew exactly what happened. A customer asked me what there was to do in town -- I asked him why, and he said he was flying from Chicago to Vancouver when they were forced to land.

     

    A friend who lived outside of Omaha at the time (a prof at Creighton) was horrified since her husband is a pilot. She got in touch with him, and she assured her that she shouldn't worry and that he would drive home soon, since all the planes were grounded.

     

    She exclaimed "But there's a big plane right in front of me!"

     

    It was, of course, Air Force One, landing at Offutt AFB.

    Tiger Woods

    in A and J's Olde Tyme Sports Pub

    Posted

    I went to the last two days of the PGA at Medinah. On Sunday I staked out a spot by the third green for the last ten groups and sauntered over to thirteen for the last ten groups.

     

    Tiger's group was a circus.

     

    Up until the last five groups, you saw the players, their caddies, the standard bearer and the volunteer scorekeeper. With 5 groups to go, you saw a couple of Sheriff's deputies. With three groups to go, you saw all those guys and someone from CBS and a photographer.

     

    Tiger's group? All that plus five more CBS folks, two more deputies, a plainclothes security man -- and 30-plus photographers. An absolute zoo.

     

    I can't speak to what Steff said. I imagine security around Tiger is different at the Western than at the PGA. But I didn't see any evidence of Tiger acting like a bad guy.

     

    The circus that followed him? I can understand why people melt when they are paired with him on Sunday in a major. Having all those people inside the ropes has to be unnerving, to say the least

    Tiger calls for steroid testing

    in A and J's Olde Tyme Sports Pub

    Posted

    The thing is, what do you test for? There have been, for 20 years at least, pervasive rumors of massive use of Beta Blockers in golf. Beta Blockers woundn't be considered a performance-enhancing drug in any other sport (chess and poker, maybe), but in golf, they'd probably help a lot of guys around the greens.

     

    Can you ban them? What about guys who are legimately on Beta Blackers for high BP? Having been on Beta Blockers myself for a short period of time, I wouldn't touch them for any reason. But that's another issue entirely.

    Why can't real fans be negative

    in Pale Hose Talk

    Posted

    If Sox fans couldn't be negative, the Sox would have no fans.

     

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: Sox fans are glass-half-empty people by nature. We've all had drilled into our heads (unfairly, of course) that our team is inferior, our ballpark is inferior, our fanbase is inferior, blah-blah-blah-bla-die-blah-blah. We have a huge chip on our collective shoulder and the WS title didn't change the size of the chip that much.

     

    Can a leopard change its spots? Can Sox fans become sunny and optimistic?

     

    Having said all this, if anyone thinks I'm ever going to give up on this club, you're about three deuces short of a full deck. This race is going down to the wire, and it begins with a solid effort against the Venezuelan today.

    The Ozzie Guillen Battleground Thread

    in Pale Hose Talk

    Posted

    QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 22, 2006 -> 08:01 PM)
    Ok, well for a while I thought I was the only person around here that was anti-Ozzie, but with the way the boards have turned lately, I thought this thread was indeed necessary to get thoughts out on Ozzie, good and bad (just like the offseason thread is necessary).

     

    As a person who personally thinks Ozzie Guillen is an atrocious manager, here are just some general thoughts I have to get started.

     

    1). Ozzie is almost Dusty Baker esque in his preference of veteran players to younger ones. Brian Anderson (a GREAT defender) is hitting .290 in the last 9 weeks, yet Mack has to play CF against all non pathetic righties (even though Brian hits righties BETTER than lefties). We all know the pathetic use and treatment of McCarthy, right down to "he's not bleeping Cy Young". Why is Pablo Ozuna on this team, other than he's a 30 something Latin that supposedly can run?? Why did we trade for Sandy Alomar when Chris Stewart is probably a better option at this point (Kenny wanted Sandy IS NOT an answer). Hell we could bring up Sweeney or even freaking Owens if we had to instead of Ozuna being here, at least we'd have adequate CF defense if Brian is out.

     

    2). I DO NOT blame Ozzie for the starting pitching. Does he handle it like crap? Of course, BUT at the same time he has to try and get innings out of them, and it's obviously not his fault this staff has underachieved at this pace. This is the one area I'll defend him I suppose.

     

    3). Handeling of the bullpen. I could go on ALL DAY about this, fro m the use of McCarthy, to bringing in pathetic Neal Cotts and subsequently ending all hopes on Friday, and then doing it AGAIN on Sunday, to bringing in Bobby Jenks in the 8th/middle of innings when he can't get people out in those spots, to the Sean Tracey incident, to not using a consistent set up role, even lately when he's had good set up guys like Eminem and Thornton. And that's just the stuff off the top of my head.

     

    4). Inconsistent lineups. Yeah it was real cute last year since we won it all, but the fact that Ozzie can't ever consistently play a consistent lineup doesn't help the offense at all, it doesn't help the pitching since Lord Knows who is going to be behind them in the field, and it doesn't allow the players to get into any kind of rhythm. Imagine this offense (which leads the league in runs) if the lineup were actually consistent every day?? I know guys need rest sometimes, but the lineup alterations are ridiculous.

     

    5). Rob Mackowiak in CF. Is he the only defensive option behind Anderson out there? Yeah probably, but he should not be out there ever unless it's once every 2 weeks plus to give Anderson a break. The overuse of Mack in CF other than days off for Anderson on rare occasion (especially since Anderson is now hitting, against all kinds of pitchers) has cost us at least 4 or 5 games this year, and at the end of the year may be the difference between making the playoffs and not making them.

     

    6). The inablity of this team to play "small ball", bunt, hit the ball the other way, or show any sort of fundementals. The pulling the ball constantly thing could probably be blamed moreso on hitting coach Greg Walker, however at the same time, this team can't bunt, they are horrible fundementally, the small ball aspect of the game is non existent, and if we don't hit homers, we suck. I know the pitching covered it up last year, but other than Pods and Gooch in 2005, this team has been home run or nothing in 2004, 2005, and 2006. And I thought we'd never be like that with Ozzie, that's what I was told at the presser in which he was hired.

     

    7.) Ozzie's preferential treatment of speed, and love of stolen bases. Obviously stolen bases and speed are part of the game, but Ozzie, this isn't 1977. Guys have to get on base in order to score runs, and it doesn't matter if they are fast or not. Plus, Ozzie.....Iguchi, Pods, and Ozuna ARE NOT FAST THIS YEAR, so stop stealing with them (and Dye and everybody else for that matter), because it's not worth the risk at the rate they get caught and with the ability this offense has. Stolen bases are overrated as is speed, you can either defend or you can't, you can either hit or you can't. Ozzie keeps playing Pods and Ozuna even though they can do nothing but run (and this year, neither of them are really even that fast, it's just the idea they can run that Ozzie loves. And neither can defend). Check the numbers, other than Pods last year even, the team didn't steal a whole lot of bases, and last year (unlike this) we NEEDED to manufacture runs since the offense sucked. This is a different team and different personnel.

     

    8). They look dead. This is a more recent trened to be honest, and part of it is the starting pitching I'll admit. But look at this team recently, they don't even appear to give a damn out there. Ozzie, if nothing else, if firey and supposedly fires up the troops with his attitude, but it sure hasn't looked that way the last month plus. If Ozzie's team is playing like dogs, then what good is he? He's not a pitching staff specialist, a strategist, or anything else like that.

     

    Ok, that's just the stuff I could of off the top of my head, but more will be coming as the days go along I'm sure. Ozzie defenders, the floor is yours and I only have 2 rules please: No use of the term "he won us a championship last year"!! or "Ozzieball". My dog could have managed us to a World Series title with that pitching staff, and we STILL almost choked it away (it being a 15 game lead) in September.

     

    OK.

     

    1) I agree, for the most part, especially about BA and Sandy. I will say however, that you're better off with a guy like Ozuna who knows he's a role player (and knows his role), than a guy out of the minors riding the bench. Let the youngsters play in Charlotte until they're win a starting job or until it's obvious they're no better than a bench guy.

     

    2) Agreed. It's tough to blame a manager for inconsistent starting pitching.

     

    3) It definitely might be better to use Cotts in lower-pressure situations until he regains confidence. I really don't know why Thornton isn't the LH set-up guy right now.

     

    4) Strongly disagree. Think it was blind luck that everyone but Timo contributed positively in the postseason last year? I don't. Ozzie used the bench very well last year, letting guys learn their roles and giving starters sufficient rest. When crunch time came, everyone could punch the pedal to the floor and go. I don't think you can ask guys to play 3 weeks in a row all season long and expect them to be fresh in September.

     

    5) It's a fine line between too many days off and too few, I think. Of the three guys in the OF, BA should be able to play the most, but who can say? A day off every 9-10 days is ideal, probably, but sometimes you can't schedule days off that neatly.

     

    6) Bunting is a lost art everywhere, not just with the Sox. To expect players raised on Roid Ball to be able to lay a bunt down consistently is farfetched -- to blame the manager for the lack of bunting prowess is farfetched as well. If guys haven't been taught to bunt in their youth, they're sure not going to learn in the Show. Blaming the hitting coach for slumps is the easy way out. Players probably don't listen to the hitting coach as much as we believe they do anyway; they probably use his counsel to make small adjustments, not big ones.

     

    7) I, too think that SB's are overrated, and I think this is the best criticism of Ozzie. Unfortunately, he believes too much in the running game and it backfires all too often.

     

    8) This is valid, but I also think that guys should be able to motivate themselves. They're getting a lot of US currency to play this game, they're adults -- they shouldn't need someone to kick them in the butt every day. Having said that, sometimes gang slumps happen and you just have to work your way out of them.

     

    Thanks, 101, for getting this going. I still think that this race is going to go into the last week despite our recent troubles, and despite Ozzie.

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