Balta1701

(Checking Calendar)... Hmmm...2006. 2006 is an election year. Well I'll be darned. You know the interesting thing? This morning, I was just thinking that hmm, it's 2006, we're due for a couple terror alerts aren't we.

Right now, if KW thinks it'll make this team better, and it doesn't create a gigantic hole the next year, I could care less who KW trades if he gets someone he likes.

You don't get bigger games in June than this. You hear me Freddy? Eh? You know who's help we need today? Detective Scrotes. PLAY WITH SOME BALLS, WHITE SOX!

QUOTE(UC76 @ Jun 6, 2006 -> 10:18 AM) I don't recall Zambrano having problems with teammates. It's usually aimed at himself or the umps. Plus, he's young. He can mature. Everyone is crazy at 21 or 22. He's just a little moreso. He's 25.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 08:26 PM) This country has bigger fish to fry than an amendment that has no chance in the Senate. This is really f***ing stupid if you ask me. It's the perfect metaphor for the current leadership in the executive and legislative branches. Stupid, pointless photo ops to distract the voters, instead of anything with substance.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 07:59 PM) Zambrano would insist on hitting in the AL, he believes himself to be a great hitter and is in fact a switch hitter. This will leave the AL team with an option of who to use the DH on. The DH option can only be used on the pitcher. It's in the rule book. Unless Z wants to eat it.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 08:24 PM) That's right, of course, but losing by three million votes and then boasting that with a mild shift in Ohio you'd have been President really annoys me, and that, specifically, was what I was commenting on. I do agree with yours too, though. So...in other words, you'd be in favor of abolishing the Electoral college too. QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 06:13 PM) i think my main problem is that democrats will set up a system in their area and when it doesn't work they want to blame Republicans (aka, butterfly ballots in 2000). How many Democrats actually blamed "Republicans" for the butterfly ballot mess? The commissioner who designed the ballot was a Democrat, the people who didn't pay attention weren't being fooled by some Republican scheme. I can understand blaming Republicans for the riots that shut down the recounts, or for the 5-4 Republican/Democrat Supreme Court decision, but the butterfly ballot? I can't place blame for that on anyone other than the person who designed the ballot and the people who didn't bother to pay attention to it.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 06:08 PM) It doesn't matter what system is in place you're always going to have a degree of fraud and irregularities in every election. BTW. Regarding election fraud, I am willing to bet that Democrats in the Cleveland area and Cuhyogha ( sp ) county were responsible for every bit as much fraud as their Republican counterparts elsewhere in the state. See, I don't think that's really the case. Lots of countries around the world are able to get by with far fewer questions about voting machines, missed votes, people unjustly turned away, and outright fraud than we've become adapted to, but we've sort of either just become accustomed to it or thrown money at whatever company gives the best campaign contributions, and so we've really failed to build a system here with a low margin of error.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 06:02 PM) oh yea, they totally stole it dudes The one problem I have with that statement, and in fact Kennedy's entire piece, is that there were genuine electoral problems in Ohio, including the disenfranchisement of thousands, probably tens of thousands. If the election in that state had come down to a thousand votes, like Florida in 00, then it really wouldn't be possible to say who actually won. But IMO, the margin of defeat in that state was just too high for it to really be another disputed election. The big problem though is that the genuine problems that Ohio had in its election wind up glossed over in messes like this. You have 1 side saying "Oh it was stolen!", the other side posting tin foil hat pictures, and then the end result is that the state, and in fact the nation, is simply never able to come together and actually create procedures that would allow for accurate and fair elections every time, despite the fact that I would say most people would think that's a pretty important goal.

If a course/test is going to be curved based on the highest score, then it's possible to miss a few questions and still wind up with the highest score possible

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 05:50 PM) I can see that though. Can you imagine the cost of feeding Michael Moore during the shooting? They were lucky to make as much as they did. Griffin v. Moore.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 05:39 PM) In this case they are fighting to make it alright for a bunch of sick individials to prey on children. That is wrong as could possibly be yet they persist. Are they really doing that here, or are they just arguing that people who have served their time should have at least some ability to live lives? Here's a thought. If these people can't be allowed to go within 1000 feet of a school, why exactly are they being let out of prison? Seriously, Prison is designed to incarcerate people who can't be trusted in the general public. At least that's one of its uses. Why are these people being released if they cannot be trusted to drive down a public highway?

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 05:20 PM) How many times guys? How many times are you people going to apply rights to a bunch of terrorists who don’t deserve them? The Geneva Convention DOES NOT APPLY to terrorists. Terrorists don’t win when we mistreat them. Terrorists win when people like you guys lose your will to deal with them.

Salon.com had a good reply to this RS piece that I linked to last time someone brought up that article.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 05:27 PM) Ive been in favor of keeping the electoral system but awarding the electoral vote to whoever wins a particular congressional distict and then the 2 for the states senators goes to whoever gets the majority of votes in that state. That puts the whole nation up for grabs so Republicans can get some votes in Cali and Dems can even knock off a few in places like Texas and Kansas. IMO, if you're going to decide to change things, why go from a bad system to an average system when a good system would be just as easy to create?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 02:02 PM) And that information when it is SPECIFIC TO A PERSON - is granted a warrant. Otherwise, it's a block of data that's simply sorted through. Only problem with maintaining the database of who's calling who? A phone number is in fact very specific to a person, and using information that is publically available, can be used to ID specific people quite easily.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 01:56 PM) Give it time....they will need pitching. Not that we can offer it, but we could offer them the prospects to help get a starter in a 3 team deal. Wilkerson can lead off for them. But yes I realize it would be hard acquisition now, but I am saying get him in a month or two if Anderson fails (or at least try to get a guy like him). On a sidenote, I am a proponent of playing Anderson every single day. I think Ozzie has done a piss poor job handling McCarthy and Anderson this year. The Rangers actually right now have more pitching than you think. Eaton is throwing again, Koronko and Rheinecker look good, Millwood, Padilla, that's not a terrible staff when you have that offense.

QUOTE(My Dixie Normus @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 01:21 PM) Then the data base becomes discriminant and would be illegal. You would have to give service providers a target list of numbers to track. Since it now records all calls, it is legal. Kapeesh? Only the records of foreign hostiles are opened in a specific search criteria and those who they have had contact with become collateral discovery. To give you another example. A municipality can monitor an intersection with a camera as long as the monitoring is done indiscrminatley. They must monitor all traffic and activity at that corner, not just when a certain individual is present. Here's the funny little thing though...service providers keep a record of who you're calling anyway. You know that list of long distance calls you made during the previous month that shows up on your phone bill? Service providers have access to that same information. The difference is that Service Providers are usually very strictly bound by laws as to when they're allowed to give that information up. If a government entity wants access to information about who's been called by a specific person, they have the ability to get that from the service provider for anyone using a phone. The one thing required is that they need to go before a U.S. court if it is needed for law enforcement purposes, or the FISA court it it is needed for national security reasons.

Defending Marriage..."Has Senator Burns ever had sex with a transvestite prostitute?"

Another good thing...we're not the only SOX struggling today.

Interesting stat

Roy Oswalt missed his start yesterday with back spasms. Geoff Jenkins and Prince Fielder collided going for a foul ball. Mysteriously, Jenkins seems to have come out worse. Concussion, day to day. Bob Uecker filed a restraining order against a woman he alleges is stalking him. No word on whether or not the order will require the woman to stay "Just a bit outside." Troy Glaus is day to day with a lower back injury. Scott Williamson, Cubs Reliever, hit the 15 day DL. The team recalled someone named Carlos Marmol. Adam Eaton has started throwing again.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 11:06 AM) Which means he'll be on the DL for more than 15 days, the Sox have a scary ability to miss the big name players whenever they play these sort of teams. For whatever reason the team's ace's are pushed back in the rotation so that they miss the Sox (Millwood, Halladay) or the big time sluggers or pitchers are injured at the time the Sox play them (Vlad, K-Rod last year). It's just part of the great luck the Sox find themselves having. We'll know more once his MRI results come in. Supposedly he was feeling better today.

The Center for Public Integrity takes a look at privately funded travel by folks in Congress, and finds that private individuals, companies, and groups have funded over $50 million in travel for Congress since 2000. The worst offenders, in both number of trips and money? (in alphabetical order)