Balta1701

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 09:51 AM) "Increasing transparency" isn't ending the nuclear program. A nuclear Iran is a danger to the world. Period. Is it even worth pointing out in reply that under the nonproliferation treaty (to which both the U.S. and Iran are Signatories) Iran does have the right to develop nuclear technology for energy purposes, and inspections in the past have done a very good job of containing countries when they're actually allowed to proceed?

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 12:46 PM) Hey, Tex, where on the Comedy Central videos page did you find the link/script to embed one of their videos into a post? Got one I'd like to put up, but can't figure out where to get the linkage.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 08:55 AM) How many included them dismantling their program? Link.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 06:29 AM) Hillary is going to refuse public funding for her Presidential run, as well she should if she wants to win... Personally I would like to see one canditate who said they are wanting to reform campaign financing actually make the statement by sticking with public funding, and trying to find alternative ways to get their message out. I'd have much more respect for that than sticking with the flawed system. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206....Q&refer=us Hard to blame them IMO. The system has just been blown so out of whack by the sheer amount of money available within the system - the amount available via large donations is growing at a rate much faster than the costs of running a campaign or the amount available via public funds. I find it hard to believe that any of the serious candidates will accept public money during the primaries. Even if one of them did decide to stick with public funds because of principles...they'd wind up totally outgunned by the fact that the people not accepting public money will have 2x as much $ to spend.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 07:18 AM) I wonder if we could be seeing the door creek open to a compromise on Iran's nuclear program? Iran has been making overtures to talk to the U.S. about a permanent settlement since 2003 according to one of Colin Powell's former deputies. Those overtures have been rebuked each time they hit the Vice President's office.

There is a baseball related Wiki named after Wiki Gonzalez.

28.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 05:35 PM) Erstad? Ehh, he's more or less useless at this point. Haven't injuries sapped the only plus part of his game, his defense? His last 600 ABs, he's putting up a line of about .265/.320/.365. I think he's pretty much done, and it doesn't solve the problem in LF, where we could use someone who can play everyday vs lefties. I'd rather not have to rely on Ozuna again... It looks like we just might have a choice...either we have a Lefty backup outfielder who can sub for Anderson or a righty backup outfielder who can sub for Podsednik. The only other option is to remove another player somewhere to clear room for both solutions; otherwise, one group or another will be unhappy.

Update on a "Long-ago" story that I'm not sure where to put but want to put it somewhere. Last year, CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) received copies of the Mark Foley emails. CREW immediately forwarded these emails to the FBI upon receiving them. CREW then later became on of the groups alleged to have set up the Republicans wiht an "October Surprise" by having had possession of the naughty emails before they came out right before the election. CREW responded by filing a complaint with the Inspector General's office. Today, the IG announced that in fact, CREW had done everything they were supposed to do, and the FBI was negligent in not having done anything when they were given those emails. Press release link.

This is exactly the sort of thing that could make some Congressman start thinking there are votes available...

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 11:37 AM) It was SUPPOSED to be in green, but after seeing it, I guess not. However, were it to be 75 degrees out next week in Chicago, you can bet you would hear screams of 'global warming!!!!!!!!' Maybe I can just counter that with 'Uh, no. El Nino.' Actually, this year, yes you should. Just like you should say that any time someone comments on the lack of hurricanes this year, or large storm systems hitting CA and the SW, etc. This weather pattern really screws up the trends people are used to about every 7 years. Of course, the interesting thing is, if you compare each El Nino year to the one beforehand, each El Nino seems to get more severe as the planet around warms up, thus leading to higher temperatures from 1 period to the next, but that's the long-term, harder-to-detect trend for most people.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 02:06 PM) Agreed. The main thing I can't really see the Boys changing back to a 4-3 defense, after most of the talent guys they have on D, fit better on the 3-4 D, e.g Ware Honestly I would love to get Fisher or Cowher, but I think Phillips is most likely going to be the guy. Wouldn't hurt interviewing the likes of Rivera though (but I am annoyed Mike Tomlin is gone). Just wait until Phillips realizes that Rob Johnson doesn't have a starting job anywhere and should be available. He'll be replacing Romo within a few seconds.

QUOTE(shipps @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 11:01 AM) Ditker says he thinks Parcells will come back in the right situation on ESPNNEWS.He says he is a lifetime kinda coach.I tend to believe that. I would not be terrifically surprised if he wound up taking over the Giants after another Coughlin-disaster next year. But, given his age, I also wouldn't be surprised if he did call it quits. I really doubt he'll be able to stay healhty much longer if he keeps putting himself under NFL-Season stress levels.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 09:34 AM) Global warming, catch it! Just so everyone understands....El Nino ≠ global warming, and odd effects in any specific year, especially during years controlled by other climatic processes, do not prove or disprove anthropogenic climate change.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 09:07 AM) Give it about 2 more min.... http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2738949 Winner. I could see Rivera going down to Dallas. Thought we might be able to keep him around.... Yeah, Dallas would probably be moderately intelligent to jump at Rivera. Unless Jerry Jones wants to make a real splash and makes a run at Carrol or something like that, which he may very well try to do.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 09:09 AM) Here's one thing I don't get, I hear a couple people saying Gasol wouldn't help the Bulls. The guy is a bonafide 4 (you could technically call him a 5 because he's tall enough) with a nice jumper so that you could do some pick and rolls with him, but he also has very good moves in the block. This is the exact type of player we could build our franchise around (as long as we keep one of Deng/Gordon). However, if we were able to center a package around Nocioni, Tyrus, PJ Brown, & Chris Duhon (future draft picks as well, obviously bulls would probably take someone back that the Grizz just want to get rid of) maybe you could get something to happen and thats the type of move that could set our franchise up as a legit 1 seed (not like a default 1 seed which if we did get a 1 seed it would be because our conference blows rather than us being a legitimate 1 seed). That sort of deal would be tolerable, but after seeing the last few weeks, I really don't want to part with TT. I've become convinced that Paxson was right and this kid is going to grow into an athletic monster within a couple years. If you could pull it off for Noc, PJ, Duhon, and draft picks, then you jump at it. But I tend to be a fan of prospects, and I like watching people grow into their roles.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 09:06 AM) Wow. I don't necessarily think this is a case of TO winning. Rather I just think Parcells couldn't get along with Jerry Jones since both have pretty big ego's. For pete sakes, Jimmy Johnson & Jerry Jones were very very good friends and we saw where that relationship eventually went (and Parcells has twice the ego Johnson had and that says something). Even with the Jerry Jones stuff, something tells me the continuing TO saga, combined with the Tony Romo saga, really played into this. If you just watched the way Parcells behaved on the sidelines during the year, you could probably have predicted it. Completely demoralized by the Romo-replaces-Bledsoe game, on top of the world by thanksgiving, and back to completely demoralized by the end of the year. I just don't think he had it in his heart to lose any more and struggle with a team going in 8 different directions.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 08:58 AM) Parcells out in Dallas. Man, if that's true, you beat both ESPN.com and SI.com to the story. Guess it's not terribly surprising. Either Parcells or TO were going to be gone from that team after this year, maybe both.

I think another remarkable thing is how many hitters will just take a first-pitch and not even consider swinging at it to get an advantage. Best example that I ever saw of this was in the 2004 playoffs...maybe it's just my memory being fuzzy, but I swear to God that it seemed like no one EVER threw David Ortiz a first pitch strike, and David Ortiz never swung at the first pitch, so he started almost every single at bat with the advantage.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 08:53 AM) Yet again though, the cost of solar panels must fall first. Perhaps this is just me being overly hopeful, but I would not be terrifically surprised if there was a major breakthrough in solar panel design/technology within the next 5 years. (Especially now that the Democrats are in power and we can get some actual federal research dollars out there.) It just seems like one of those fields where there have been repeated reports of "Breakthroughs" with nothing yet put into practical production, so it seems primed to take the next step.

Bears...Polish Sausage...Ditka...Bears... Thanks guys. Now if only I could get over this damn Championship-game-day cold I came up with...

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 06:29 AM) If we do a deal with Gasol, id want our draft pick to be a big part of it. I dont even really want to give up Gordon but not a chance in hell you even consider losing both Gordon and Deng. Out of Gordon, Deng, TT, Hinrich, Noc, and Big Ben...the only player in the NBA I'd be willing to part with more than 1 of those pieces for is Kevin Garnett. There is just too much talent going the other way if 2 of those guys go.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 07:19 AM) Further on this subject, check out his index ratings from various interest groups. Obama is, for better or worse, pretty darn blue. In pretty much every category, he votes heavily or entirely with the typical Democratic party positions. What Obama chooses to emphasize in terms of issues, we'll have to wait and see. But based on his admitedly short voting record, he seems to be pretty much right in line with the bulk of the Democratic party. When evaluating any voting record for a guy who's been in the Senate for 2 years, there's a lot of other little factors that you should take into account. For example...what exactly has the Senate been doing those 2 years? (hint: very, very little). The last few years have been an extraordinarily partisan Congress, I think we all know that. The people running the show were more than happy to go to 50+1 votes in the Senate on any issue they wanted; reaching out to the other side was not particularly important. So in other words, there were very few opportunities to even consider reaching across the aisle; because the people writing the bills didn't want that. They wanted bills as hard to their side of the ideological spectrum as humanly possible, and that's how they wrote them. And on top of that, it's not like the Senate actually did anything of huge importance over the past 2 years. There were no huge reforms, almost no huge tax cuts, no gigantic reform of medicare, no Patriot Act (although there was a renewal compromise struck), etc. The Senate just sort of sat around paralyzed. So it's not like you're evaluating Barack on how he worked on any gigantic compromise bills or anything; you're evaluating him based on his votes for a mere 2 years under a do-nothing Senate.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jan 21, 2007 -> 05:16 PM) Colts so needed to get a TD in that situation. At least they finally started moving the football though, but they have to stop the Pats run. In an 18 point hole, I may very well have gone for it on that 4th down.

One other nice thing...if you can absorb some of the solar energy that is falling on these urban areas and turn it into electricity, you have the added benefit of helping to fight against all of these urban "heat islands" that show up from all these paved roads, blacktops, roofs, and so on, that keep turning urban centers into ovens during the summer. It's all a question of cost though. Right now, most of the decent solar sells are still based on Silicon, and that can be a very expensive way to build things, with a resource which is hard to produce.