Balta1701

Balta no likey this.

Ouch. Horrid way to start the year.

(Thunder) (x10) It was cold In the middle of a railroad track (Thunder) [...of a lightning attack] I looked round And I knew there was no turning back (Thunder) My mind raced And I thought what could I do (Thunder) And I knew There was no help, no help from you (Thunder) Sound in the drums Beatin' in my heart The thunder of guns (it) Tore me apart You've been - thunderstruck [Rode | Went] down the highway Broke the limit, we hit the town Went through to Texas, yeah Texas And we had some fun We met some girls Some dancers who gave a good time Broke all the rules, played all the fools Yeah, yeah, they, they, they blew our minds I was shakin' at the knees Could I come again please? Yeah the ladies were too kind You've been - thunderstruck, thunderstruck Yeah yeah yeah, thunderstruck Yeah Oh, thunderstruck, yeah Now we're shaking at the knees Could I come again please? Thunderstruck, thunderstruck Yeah yeah yeah, thunderstruck Thunderstruck, yeah, yeah, yeah Said yeah, it's alright We're doing fine Yeah, it's alright We're doing fine (So fine) Thunderstruck, yeah, yeah, yeah, Tunderstruck, thunderstruck, thunderstruck Whoa baby, baby, thunderstruck You've been thunderstruck, thunderstruck Thunderstruck, thunderstruck, thunderstruck You've been thunderstruck

MORE PIE!!

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 10:01 AM) 80 pct chance of audio problems today? It's opening day, of course. Obvious signs that opening day is here: 1. Prior, Wood not on the Cubs. 2. MLB audio problems 3. MLB Gameday frozen

I think that the biggest problem in this whole matter is the fact that executive compensation seems to my eyes to have become completely divorced from either the economic situation or the performance of the company. It seems that almost every week, if not more often, there's another article out there about some company taking draconian steps to cut benefits or pay at the level where the middle-class used to sit. Last week's great example was Circuit City firing 3500 employees because they were too highly paid and allowing those same employees to re-apply for their former jobs at lower salaries. But meanwhile, the people at the top never, ever, ever seem to have to share in these hardships. At company after company, we see executives under who's management the situation of the company has become worse, not better. Employees at lower levels get hammered, stock values dip, the company outsources half its workforce, the company runs losses for a year or two, the economy dips into recession, etc., but what happens at the executive level? These same companies cut multi-million salaries, and tens-of-millions of value in options and severance packages regardless of performance. It is my belief that one of the key reasons why this has happened is that large corporations have these days moved into situations where they are just run by cronyism, rather than by people who earn the position. A CEO of one company or a well-connected individual gets put on the board of several companies, and he votes for all his friends to receive higher compensation packages so that a few years down the road, those same people will hire him as a CEO or vote him a higher salary package. Therefore, at the top levels in the corporate world, some significant amount of accountability seems to have been lost. My fixes? Well, naturally I don't have a perfect one, and half the people here are going to hate one of them...but first, I create a new tax bracket for people making something like $1-2 million a year, and raise the tax rate in that bracket. And beyond that, step back some of the other tax cuts that have been made that strongly favor the highest earning shareholder/option holding class. Make all stock options taxable and force them to be taxed at the time they are issued, instead of allowing execs to cash them in at the lowest prices to reduce the tax bill (as a ton of them did right after 911 when the market was hammered). Re-enstate the taxes on dividends. And come up with specific tax penalties for specific actions, such as reincorporating overseas to avoid U.S. tax laws. Beyond that, there is reform within the corporate system that might help. You'd hear screaming from executive boards, but I think the more democracy we force into these corporations, the better. Give shareholders more control over executive names and executive compensation packages. Allow shareholders to vote as to whether or not execs have earned their salary and compensation packages. Don't just have the voting forms be "Do you approve or disapprove of this whole group of people" as it currently often is now. Don't misunderstand me here...not all executives are a problem, and not all exec compensation is a bad thing. If a guy takes over as CEO of a company, triples the stock price, is a good corporate citizen, and does a fine job overall, there is nothing wrong with making him a rich man (to a point). But that is not the issue here, to my eyes. The issue is everyone else other than that guy, who are mucking up the system for the few actual good guys up there.

History textbooks in this country even have been centers of political debate for years. It all winds up being a matter of emphasis in the long run, because there's just not room for 20 volumes of history in a 1 year class. So you have trade-offs. How much time do you spend on the westward expansion, versus how much time do you spend on the slaughter of the Native Americans that accompanied it. How much time do you spend on WWII, and how much time do you spend talking about the segregated army and Japanese internment. And so on. Great example of this from a few years ago was the debate that exploded over the Smithsonian's attempt to create a display around the Enola Gay, the plane that bombed Hiroshima. The original display they created showed images of what the bomb did on the ground and the suffering the bomb caused and discussed some of the questions raised by historians about the necessity of using the bomb, etc. Then, a bunch of groups started chiming in saying this was outrageous, that the plane ended the war, that the bomb was used in response to Pearl, etc. They wanted a much more positive portrayal of what the plane did. In the end, any associated display along with the plane was scrapped and the plane was basically just put on display on its own. Because neither side wanted to give up its portrayal of the history involved.

QUOTE(Big Hurtin @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 09:05 AM) Who else do you think would be in the market for Iguchi? Could change with injuries, poor performing rookies, or guys stepping up this season: Toronto Oakland Atlanta (depending on Kelly Johnson's performance this season) St. Louis (how much do they like Adam Kennedy?) Colorado LA Dodgers, depending on what Jeff Kent does SF Giants (durham = getting old). San Diego (Marcus Giles is on a 1 year deal with an 08 option)

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 05:43 AM) Erstad is a lifetime .333 batter vs Sabathia, so it actually makes sense. Woot, my first post in the first gamethread of the year, and I get to fire away some stats. Yahtzee! No, Erstad is not a .333 batter vs. captain cheeseburger. According to ESPN, he's a .292 batter vs. CC. And...wait for it...wait for it...you know it's coming... He teams that non-terrible .292 batting average with a dominant....695 OPS!!! Schwing! Anyway, Go Sox, Jose, keep the ball out of the air, and let's do this thing.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 08:48 AM) This way if he does end up signing any of them it will be for more than they would have gotten with an in season contract extension, that's what tends to happen when you're bidding against other teams for the services of your former players. There's a reason why you get the exclusive negotiating window, I just wish KW would take advantage of it. So in other words, you're saying that there is no financial benefit for the team to not negotiating during the season.

Applause.

So, what exactly is the benefit for the team of tabling these negotiations until the end of the season? Esp. with Iguchi? I really have a ton of difficulty buying that "They're distracted by the negotiations" is actually a decent excuse for anything.

QUOTE(WinningUgly85 @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 07:10 AM) what are the chances this new owner of the cubs decides to ship the cubs out of town? LOL The biggest asset any buyer gets is that ballpark. Figuring out a way to act like Fenway and add more seats, pack in a few more thousand drunken people per game, etc. Even a 60,000 beauty with luxury boxes in some other city probably wouldn't have a shot at competing with a guaranteed 40,000 tickets sold per game no matter the price.

Interesting little bit on Income Inequality from the Wall Street Journal.

Out of every single person in this organization...I think I'll trust Roger Bossard more than anyone else to make the right decisions.

I'm pretty sure this is like his 3rd or 4th attempt at an announcement, but Tommy Thompson is running. On a different note, here's a great quote from Mike I Heart Huckabee.

A $50 million hometown discount.

Well, if Pablos Blue Ribbon is in LF, I hope we get our best defensive guy in CF to go with him. Then again, I'm going to say that with anyone except Erstad in LF.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Mar 31, 2007 -> 11:56 PM) If we dont advance out of the first round he has to be on the hot seat for next year. I dunno, depends on how you define hot seat and what it would take for him to be removed at the end of 08. I mean, it's entirely possible that Skiles could have the Bulls win 50 this year, draw the Heat with D-Wade and Shaq in round 1 and lose in 7 games, and just generally be screwed out by the seeding.

Stone? SWEET!

So, for those who missed it in the news today...the U.S. government just reached a plea bargain with the Australian guy held at Gitmo, which will basically have him out of jail in a few months. As far as I can tell...the main thing that the U.S. government wanted to get out of him? Not a guilty plea...the government wants him to shut his mouth about what was done to him to get him to confess. Whatever the government did to this guy, they seemingly think it was bad enough to give him a couple-month long sentance for terrorist activity in exchange for him keeping quiet.

Given where salaries are for everyone else, as an extension, that's perfect. Now that is a deal that needs to be done.

As soon as Every Republican who benefited finacially from the War in Iraq resigns, we'll talk. Including the President. I don't like the fact that there are more politicians on the take any more than you do...but until people start joining me in the solution nothing will matter. Make the salary for Congressmen, Senators, Cabinet Secs, and the Pres in the millions per year so that they are competitive with some CEO salaries, and institute a public campaign financing system so that no one in Congress has to beg industry or any other interest group for campaign donations, and then let new people move in with time. As long as money determines who is in power, the people in power will always be making money.

Drunk and web surfing? Got that covered. Stephen Colbert Rules!!!

If the White Sox pitching can give me 4 things, we will win this division. 1. A solid bullpen. 2. A Solid #1 (presumably Jose.) for the whole season. 18-20 games won, ERA under 3.50. 3. A solid # 2 (Mark or Jon) for the whole season. 15 games+ won, ERA well under 4.00. 4. 3 guys who are average. ERA's between 3.75 and 4.5. W-L records close to .500. If the pitching staff can show up, this team can still win it all. I've been very encouraged by solid outings from MG and JG over the last 2 days. Jopefully Javy keeps it up tomorrow.