Balta1701

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 19, 2007 -> 09:15 AM) His quote said citizen. In any case, now with context, it reads to me like the AG is (as usual) more interested in arguing on behalf of political policy than actually interpereting and enforcing the law. The AG should not be a shill for the President. The AG shouldn't be one, but just running through my head, I'm having difficulty remembering any AG in recent years who hasn't gone out of their way to try to protect the President. Am I wrong in that?

House passes bill cutting subsidies to oil companies and fixing a $10 billion error in the original writing of the leases for several Gulf of Mexico drilling regions. That makes 6/6 in the House if I'm counting correctly. And in about 42 hours of time-on-the-floor.

QUOTE(dmbjeff @ Jan 19, 2007 -> 08:59 AM) Actually they are all still in MLB, maybe not Grilli though. Just because they didn't flourish here, doesn't mean they didn't become productiv somewhere else. That was sarcasm. Grilli is in the bullpen and having a ton of success with the Tigers. Someone used Scott Ruffcorn to argue that liek 90% of our prospects don't pan out and we should just consider giving up on them, so I fired back that list of guys who started struggling and who the White Sox shipped out, only to have them become successful in other locals.

Ah, Here we go, with video.

QUOTE(bmags @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 08:58 PM) Now, i should clarify at this point, that he is not saying enron didn't do anything wrong, what Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote the article, is saying is that business deals are getting so complicated that we need to change the way we look at companies to prevent such a failure. As he pointed out, if we were to look at their tax returns we saw that they weren't paying any income tax, because they weren't making any money. it was really fascinating, i encourage you all to try and find it. Just because I think it's important to point out...Enron did a hell of a lot of things wrong in California back in 2001. They took advantage of lax regulations and lax enforcement of the laws to cause an energy crisis in California by shuttering power plants, then ran rates through the ceiling, bilking the state out of billions.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 19, 2007 -> 07:55 AM) What is this in reference too? What is the context of the quote? From an unofficial transcript, so the text could be slightly off:

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 09:40 PM) Only one guy out of like 6 is picking us over at CNNSI.com. Everywhere I look people are taking the Saints. It's quite sad. This is how it ALWAYS happens when you put a dominant defense up against a dominant offense. The sportwriter people jump at the offense; it's just damn sexy. Then, just as with every other playoff game, it will wind up being won by whichever defense plays better. My favorite example of this was the Tampa Bay/Oakland Super Bowl a few years ago. Every freaking sportwriter, along with most of the gambling world, was in love with Oakland's # 1 offense. How could Brad freaking Johnson win a Super Bowl right? Well, then Tampa bay's #1 defense came out and destroyed them. At the end of that game they told us that a top 5 offense had met a top 5 defense in the Super Bowl something like 7 times, and the top defense had won 6 of those. Offense seduces sportwriters. Defense wins championships. The only question is whether or not the Bears will remember that they have some Balls on defense.

This signing is probably the least important of any of the signings Cleveland has made this offseason, but once again, it doesn't exactly hurt them. The Tribe just keeps looking better and better on paper. Now they have a backup in case Choo struggles for part of the year. God this team scares me.

QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Jan 19, 2007 -> 06:44 AM) For every one "Joe Crede" there are ten "Scott Ruffcorns" Yeah. Jon Rauch Jason Grilli Gary Majewski Kip Wells Keith Foulke Bobby Howry Scott Eyre All of them washed up former White Sox prospects, and, while I'm too lazy to look, I'm just going to assume that none of them are in the big leagues any more.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 10:55 AM) In other news the Prosecutor in the Balco case has been asked to step down. It doesnt mean that it is over, but it does mean that the Prosecutor did something to tick some one really important off. For those who haven't been watching, this is actually not an isolated case. It seems that in the USA Patriot Act, power was given to the White House to appoint prosecutors to fill vacancies that appear without Senate approval, and within the last couple weeks, by some counts 7-10 different Prosecutors have resigned their posts or been casually pushed aside, including quite a few who had spent time prosecuting government corruption cases. So, it wasn't necessarily related to this case, and there appears to be some heavy backroom maneuvering going on involving this whole matter that we don't yet understand.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 10:12 AM) You know what, though? I think the Democrats WANT this to be tabled. But that's just me. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a bunch on both sides who wanted it to just disappear, but it's certainly worth noting which group decided to make it happen.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 09:33 AM) I'm torn on this one. I want to see reform, and I also want to see the line item veto. But it sounds like it can't be both because these knuckle heads want to throw their "power" around. I doubt this is people throwing their "Power" around. Something tells me that even if the Democrats fully gave in on the line-item veto, McConnel would find some other reason to filibuster this thing. He knows that any reform package that passes has the strong potential to help the Dems and hurt his side, which is why they couldn't even pass a rudimentary one last year, so he's trying to pick a popular issue that is only remotely related to the actual reform package, paper-clip those 2 issues together, and use that as an excuse to filibuster the bill he doesn't want to get through.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 09:36 AM) In our office, we have a governmental affairs department (read: lobbyists, more or less), and they have a subscription to a political newspaper that comes out of Washington. I forget the name of it right now, I should go over there and look, but in it, it was saying that Dan Quayle should run in this environment, because he'd actually be a good candidate in the current climate. I laughed at the notion, and yet, it's almost true. "Dan Quayle: He can spell better than George W. Bush". You know, it really might work.

Republicans filibuster senate ethics reform package.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 07:59 AM) McCain has a small chance of emerging as different, but unless he does something drastic, he isn't my first choice by a long shot. That Edwards blog posting literally scared the s*** out of me regarding him. I haven't seen that scary by a serious canditate since Ross Perot was running with his horribly destructive economic plan the first time around. I don't think that McCain's problem is being seen as old news or the public being tired of him or anything like that. There are plenty in the media who still fawn over him, stick him with the "Straight shooter" label no matter what he does, etc. An 8 year run of the recent Obama treatment, if you will. But McCain still has one gigantic albatross; the Iraq debacle. I keep pointing to this, but it seriously is already killing him all over the place. He's tried to reach out to the strong conservatives by supporting the Iraq war and wanting to augment the forces there, but they are already disinclined to like him, and by joining with that 5% of Americans who think that Bush is doing a dynamite job over there, for everyone else paying attention, he seems to be going down with Bush's ship.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 10:01 PM) We are witnessing a new era of nuclear proliferation. As a nation, we are leading the pack. We're more at risk of a nuclear crisis now than we were at the end of the cold war and setting the Doomsday Clock forward is recognition of that fact. Sorry, but ridiculous how? If nothing else, the situations with Iran and North Korea and the way they've developed since the last move absoslutely justify a move of the clock.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 05:20 PM) John Kass on an Obama candidacy... Pretty much when you dig betweeen the sarcasm and wit, there are some real valid and interesting points made in here. The bit about him being savaged by Team Clinton is going to be an interesting occurance when it happens. It certainly will be an interesting primary to watch, especially when the Clinton money machine is finally turned on him. You'll have an awful lot of interplaying storylines, from the fact that there's already a lot of people who have made up their mind about Clinton and will respond in different ways to her going negative to the fact that Obama doesn't have a long record for them to go after, and combine all that with a brand new early primary/caucus setup for the Dems. And then you've got Edwards and Richardson already sitting there running who might be able to stay above the fray a bit (like Kerry did by letting Gephardt, Lieberman, and the 527's go after Dean in 04). It will certainly be an interesting political show to watch.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 05:30 PM) Agreed. He's a man ahead of his time and resume. Of course, there's also something to be said for keeping one's resume in the Senate moderately short. In Congress, unlike say being a Governor, you vote on all sorts of compromise bills, you make all sorts of votes on different versions of bills, and they can be spun this way and that by an aggressive campaigner. It worked damn well as a method for Mr. Bush to go after Mr. Kerry as a flip-flopper, especially with the "voted for it before I voted against it" remark (there were 2 bills that came up for a vote, of course he's voting for 1 of them!)

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 05:26 PM) S***, good call. Jones is so bad. I would imagine Zumaya has to be wondering when the hell Jones is getting out of there. If I recall correctly Jones signed a 2 year deal before last season.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 05:06 PM) Well it sure did take you a long time to get to your point and I agree with you. I thought he would be a great candidate in 2012. This feels too soon. But don't underestimate the intangibles, the American public can feel its way into and out of a recession very easily. You do realize, by your criteria, you eliminated Senators from serious consideration. For the most part they have little executive experience. But of course, the key is, in 2012, he'd either be challenging a Dem. incumbent in the primary or challenging an incumbent Repub in the general, and that's guaranteed to be a lot more difficult than saying why you're the guy to clean up Bush's mess. And no one wants to wait for 2016, and Hell, I've already penciled in Elliot Spitzer for that year anyway.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 02:44 PM) Since Indiana gets another cancer off their team in Jackson, it's probably slightly in their favor. Find it weird they traded Harrington after they really wanted him back though. This was on SI.com this morning before the trade happened. Talk about good timing for a writer.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 04:29 PM) Yes, proper conditioning plays a role...but wouldn't you agree that luck does also? There's always fluke injuries, like stepping on a base the wrong way, which can injure a player. Thome is never going to play 162 games, and he hustles so much that he's just asking to tweak his powerful body once in a while. I'm not expecting Dye and Thome to play less than 140 games, etc. For both Thome and Dye though, there is a preventative solution to that potential problem...stop f***ing playing Rob Mackowiak in CF and use him to give Thome and Dye an extra day off every week to 10 days just so that they don't wear down as much.

House votes to cut student loan interest rates, again under threat of a Bush veto (gotta help them banks!). I believe this is check number 5 on the list now.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 04:27 PM) You mean Soriano, but yes it does. Probably the only team that has two people setting up who would both be better closers than the current closer. Is Todd Jones still going to be closing in Detroit? With any luck, the White Sox might be able to say the same thing too, and that won't be because of Bobby's performance, but because of how good the other guys in the Pen can be.

QUOTE(longshot7 @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 04:03 PM) Does Obama have a chance? what do you guys think? Personally, I think the only thing that could stop Obama is himself. Either he decides he doesn't want to run or he starts making monumental mistakes of the sort we have not seen him make in the last 2 years.