Balta1701

Well, here's something I didn't think I'd be saying...Thank God (Or Allah) for those Saudi Security guards.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 09:52 AM) You mean, as a loyal Democrat that I shouldn't play the devil's advocate in questioning the methods and stratagies of the party faithful? Fire away. You already successfully outgunned me once this morning. If I can't defend something, I deserve to be called on it.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 09:46 AM) If its not within their borders, and seeing as they refused to let the US use their land to carry out the invasion from the north, I don't see where they really have much of a say. I think the fact that they have an army in that area which they may be willing to deploy could give them a say. Especially if Iran decided it didn't want an independent Kurdish state there either, and got involved also. If things did fall to the level of full scale war, I have a lot of difficulty seeing how it could remain solely within Iraq, and the moment other countries start getting involved, even with supplies to 1 side or another, then I think it would only escalate from there.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 09:38 AM) That speaks volumes about you and your objectiveness. Well, I apologize for finding that to be a bit of a shocking way to frame it. If you'd like I'll delete the post.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 09:36 AM) Did you watch? Or are you talking out your ass? Or did you just see an opporutnity to post one picture out of context to make Fox News look bad? Yeah, basically. Which is why it's in this thread.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 09:34 AM) That's the best we can hope for? What about the possibility of the Iraqi leaders getting a handle on the situation and calm everybody down before it does erupt into civil war? Is that impossible in your opinion? No I don't think that's impossible. Which is why I said there's a chance that it's the best we could hope for, not that it's absolutely the best we could hope for.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 09:34 AM) I agree. There are better ways of getting there, most definitely. But if it needs to go there, and that is not being allowed... we may end up down that road. Well, as far as I'm concerned, a long and bloody civil war is the single worst possible outcome of our invasion there. So even if we're just delaying the onset...I'd say that efforts to prevent that outcome are justified, even if they only have a 1 in 10 trillion shot of working. You can't get much worse than a partitioning of that country and a civil war between the Sunnis and Shia, which would be almost certain to draw Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Syria directly into the conflict.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 09:27 AM) So ... what was said? Presumably something akin to what we're discussing here. But that just seems like a really, really bad way to phrase the question. There is, IMO, no sense in which an actual civil war could be a good thing, because a ton of people would end up dead.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 09:29 AM) In this case, I don't think it is necessarily a bad question. I mean, my answer is 'no', but there are valid arguments for 'yes' as well. I've heard some pretty convincing reasons why it might have been better to split Iraq into 2 or even 3 countries (Kurdistan, and then splitting the mostly Shi'ite south from the Sunni central and west). I understand those arguments and think that there's a chance that given our current circumstances that's probably the best we could hope for...but on the other hand, It'd be very nice if somehow we could get to that point without a bloody full-scale civil war.

OH. MY. GOD.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 05:14 AM) No the US did it. We elected the war machine. After the war was launched, yes.

QUOTE(minors @ Feb 23, 2006 -> 09:46 PM) Any abortion case where there is no incest or rape and with both mother and baby being healthy is murder PLAIN AND SIMPLE. In your opinion.

-Back on topic...that's basically the best idea I've heard. There's no huge reason to block this deal at all...IF the Administration just follows the procedures to prove that the port deal won't hurt security at all. That's all they really need to do.

While there's no scale bar...based on the details that we do have, I'm going to call that a very poorly sorted, grain size from medium sand to cobble, angular to subangular unlithified litho-feldspathic subquartzose sand.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 08:55 AM) tyson chandler: Making the Bulls look stupid since they traded Brand for him. It's a sad thing. Dude, it's not the Bulls...It's Jerry Krause. You just can't blame the whole organization for stuff Krause did. I'm still going to hope that in 3-4 years when this whole team is assembled and developed...the next set of rings will make us all forget the growing pains.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 07:42 AM) You know, everyone here seems to think that Frank is hurt, but honestly, I didn't get that impression from the article. I got the impression he is still in the processing healing, and PT, and getting back into the game. He may or may not be ready for opening day, but I wouldn't write him off just yet. I see nothing that leads me to believe he isn't progressing as one would expect someone to, coming back from the injury and procedures he had. You could have said exactly the same thing last year. Word for word.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 07:26 AM) That's why I think Redding will make it over Bajenaru. Redding can pitch multiple innings. I'm pretty sure Bajenaru usually only pitches one or two innings. I think Ozzie and KW want to use McCarthy in bigger situations than just long reliever/mop-up duties. But let the best man win. I don't favor either guy. Whomever has the better ST should win the job. Well, the question is how many "Innings-eaters" we actually want in that bullpen. They've said before that they want McCarthy to get 100+ innings next year. That's 30 more innings than Viz got last year, on a staff that ran with 11 men for a good chunk of the season, with El Duque in the starting rotation. This year, Vazquez is likely to eat more innings than El Duque did, McCarthy is supposed to get additional innings and will almost certainly suck that long relief role completely dry, and we're likely to carry 12 pitchers. All of that together suggests that we might have a need for a 2nd long relief guy maybe 1 times during the entire season...times when we need a long man to come in when BMac worked the day before and the entire bullpen is tired for some reason and can't contain the other team. Given our starting pitching, that seems pretty unlikely, unless someone gets hurt for a while.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Feb 23, 2006 -> 09:31 PM) Give Buehrle the same strike zone that Maddux gets, and Buehrle = Santana. My attempt at fixing that.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Feb 24, 2006 -> 03:53 AM) He first needs to break into the starting rotation! Some things aren't his fault. Sure he could have pitched 30 or so consecutive scoreless innings down the stretch, but 15 isn't a bad resume.

Out of touch?

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Feb 23, 2006 -> 05:52 PM) He's actually better than White Sox doctors thought when he re-injured himself last season. They didn't think he would be able to play again. It appears he may, but it won't be for long, and probably won't be very pretty. Are you sure about that? I still think that the injury seems just as severe as it did last year...but it was going to heal at some point, and Frank is going to play on it whether he should or not. The best description I got of the 2nd break was that it was very similar to the first break, but it was so close to the point where the first break and surgery happened that they couldn't operate on the 2nd spot. Even if the 2nd break wasn't as severe...the fact that he had 2 in the same spot, and the fact that they couldn't even operate on the 2nd, makes him a big risk. The A's seriously should wait until Frank says he can run, then forbid him from running for another month, then let him try to get back into things.

QUOTE(dasox24 @ Feb 23, 2006 -> 05:50 PM) I think there are other positions we should address before WR, like CB, S, LB, and OL. What we don't get in FA, we'll make up for in the draft. With all that being said, I fully expect Randel El to sign with the Bears. I'll be happy if he does, but not ecstatic. How much $$ do the Bears have to spend in FA this year?

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Feb 23, 2006 -> 05:41 PM) There's no betting about it, he IS done. He just won't admit it. Much like several Frank apologists around here. Don't get me wrong, I love Frank as a player. One of the all-time greats (notice I didn't just say Sox greats). But realize that you can go out after winning a ring and as a member of the Sox rather than embarassing yourself by trying to prove you are healthy again. The chances of Frank getting to 500 are slim and none. And with every article I see that he is still not healthy, slim is about to walk out of the door. I don't think he's completely done in the sense that he absolutely can't play again. I think he's done in the sense that he won't be able to play and be confident in his health ever again. If you're Oakland, it's probably worth the money to take a shot and see if you can get 200+ at bats out of him, but it's risky to count on getting that many. He still has a very outside shot at 500, but I don't think his body will hold up, and if he tries to push himself back into the game too early again....then it'll just make it harder for him once his foot fractures again.