Balta1701

San Diego is a bunch of F***ing idiots. They have one of the top 5 QB's in teh game right now, with a very talented almost #1 pick sitting on the bench as a backup, they play the starting guy in a meaningless game, then he winds up seriously hurt, and they find themselves scrambling to figure out what to do. Miami, Cleveland, Detroit, J-E-T-S, Hell even New Orleans should try to be all over this guy (N.O. could then trade down a little in the draft and build elsewhere). Hell if Buffalo could get him, I sure wouldn't be mad. San Diego is insane for letting Brees touch the FA market after the way he's played the last 2 seasons. They should be trying to trade Rivers to whatever team wants a QB but misses out on Cutler or wants to draft someone else in the top 10.

The American Prospect with a massive look at Rick "I live paycheck to paycheck" Santorum's financial straits.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 04:39 PM) You would have the same hatred for Konerko if he had bolted for the Angels. And the only thing that stopped that from happening was the Sox going 5 years. And that's bulls*** to hold it against Maggs that the Sox never won a title while he was here. Not necessarily. Ordonez never even gave the Sox a fair shake. Refused to allow any examinations of his knee until after the arbitration deadline...basically came out and prove he lied when he said he wanted to come back and play for the team earlier that season. He basically made it impossible for the Sox to offer him arbitration and even compete to offer him a contract. And his war of words with Ozzie after he left certainly didn't help. Had Konerko bolted for the Angels, I would probably have been furious with management for letting him go unless the contract the Angels offered him was outrageously large. I mean like Ordonez-large, or bigger than that. If the Sox weren't willing to pony up the contract he got...the front office would be the target of my wrath.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 03:59 PM) What is gained????? How about justice for the victims family. The f***ing scumbag sits in prison eating three squares a day. f*** him and everyone who supports him.- Just out of curiosity...at what point did the victim's family designate you as their spokesperson?

Haven't we started drilling for oil there yet?

QUOTE(minors @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 03:03 PM) While I don't have an opinion on ID, I do believe that alternatives to evolution should be mentioned in science classes. As soon as there is one, feel free to let us know.

You know what part of that blurb should scare Cub fans the most? How bad do things have to be for you to actually write that the news is better for Kerry Wood?

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 01:45 PM) Even if he's totally healthy and plays close to 162 games (he's only played over 150 once in the past 8 years), I don't think he gets it this year. The 3 years after hitting 73 he put up 46, 45, and 45 homers. That's about tops for what he will get this year. People just aren't going to pitch to him, assuming he's his old self. If he's a little off or has some nagging injury the puts him on the DL for a while (which seems fairly likely), he's down to the 35-40 range, which seems fairly realistic. Who's hitting behind him?

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 01:49 PM) Honestly, I don't even know if I agree or disagree with you. But I'm not gonna take away his Pittsburgh days. I feel he was 100% legit at that time. Bonds always had a great eye. It's just from 00 on he had the incredible power to go with it. Of course, I doubt it was natural power. I understand what you're saying, but I just can't convince myself that because we saw a transformation at a time when we know he was cheating, we know for a fact that beforehand he wasn't cheating. The same thing could have happened in 2000 from him switching steroids, and I just refuse to give an admitted cheater the benefit of the doubt when he says "Oh I wasn't cheating beforehand." If Pete Rose came out and said that he wasn't gambling on baseball before 1988 or something like that, would you believe him?

QUOTE(rventura23 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 12:50 PM) does any team have a fifth starter anywhere near as good as vazquez? Yes. The Chicago White Sox have one. Brandon. Hehe.

You'll note that CNN still refers to Intelligent Design and Creationism implicitly as "Theories" in the first line of that article. In other words...it ain't nearly dead yet.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 12:16 PM) That must really stick in Maggs craw that his replacement won the MVP of the world series. LOL, i never thought about it really. His money will make his craw feel better. What's a craw?

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 11:45 AM) Well, the way Im looking at it, the Judge would be getting beaten up for something the Judge did, that these people were reacting to (ie. jailed one of their buddies, jailed one of them, etc.). And the criminals beating up the judge would have to be doing it to get something done, as the people in the article are trying to shut down Huntington Lab by going after their insurers, workers, sponsors, etc. So I guess I would say yes, if there were a political protest in which a politicians personal property was destroyed and/or his family was threatened because of a stance the politician takes, then it would be terrorism to me. So now let's say that my motive was actually just to rob the judge. But at the same time, the judge just happened to have finished hearing arguments in a controversial case. What then? How would you judge whether my motive was just robbery or if it was political?

If Ordonez was still in Chicago...we wouldn't have won it.

QUOTE(ChWRoCk2 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 11:42 AM) i wouldnt they lost alot of players all they really have is blalock tex and young, i wouldnt consider wilkerson an offensive type of player Aside from Soriano, who exactly did they lose? Last year, they had 7 guys with 20+ home runs, and 2 other guys with 16 and 17. Texas scored 865 runs last year for #3 in the AL, a full 75 runs better than Cleveland. Even given that Wilkerson isn't an offensive player...moving from the Nats to the ballpark @ arlington will help slightly, and they still have room for improvement with the guys who are there.

QUOTE(ChWRoCk2 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 11:38 AM) Toronto, and Seattle I put Texas ahead of both of them.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 11:32 AM) I would have to say that this is terrorism because the crime of personal property destruction is directly linked to the protest of the Huntington Life Science Laboratory. So based on that definition, any crime which destroys property related to a poltical protest would be considered terrorism? Then the question I fire back is the one I hear when hate crime debates come up...how do you judge when something is related to politics? (Note to DHS guys reading this post: this is a hypothetical, and I'm not going to do it). If a Judge somewhere were to be robbed and beaten up, should the people who beat him up be charged with terrorism? If it merits a harsher penalty, of course they'd deny that their motives involved politics, so how would you judge?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 11:33 AM) Indeed. The deal originiated from a buyout that UAE did over the British company. We already had given the sovereignty away... On some level though, isn't there a difference in the amount of concern we have about the British working with a hostile power compared with the UAE doing so? If, for example, a hypothetical British company, let's call them British Petrol, were to have tried to buy a major U.S. energy producer, let's call them Hamoco, the way CNOOC tried to buy one, do you think we'd have had nearly as many problems as we did with the CNOOC deal?

Let's also not forget that JC is playing for a contract next year too.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 10:29 AM) I always thought having junk mail sent to someone's house was more of a prank then terrorism. Granted a mean prank - but I don't think that it is "terrorism." Broken windows, threats of murdering your kids? Yeah, that's not legal. I don't know that I would call it terrorism either though. This reminds me of those debates over Hate Crime legislation...how exactly does one define what is and what is not terrorism, and can a person be punished more stringently because some action is defined as terrorism instead of just vandalism?

QUOTE(samclemens @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 09:59 AM) ideally you are right. thats kinda niave (sp?) though. in reality, the point of our country sending an ambassador is to promote OUR interests. so, if you want a bumper sticker saying for it, "f*** everybody else". other countries have the same mentality. china, england, russia, blah blah blah. The counter argument is that there are different ways to "Promote our interests", some of which may be more successful than others. This is the ol' carrot versus the stick debate. Yes, sending a crazy man to advocate for our interests might work, in the sense that he'll be crazy in advocating for our interests. But, it could just as easily backfire, in the sense that if he advocates a more radical policy than that which our allies would support, it could very easily split us from the countries which should be allied with us. On the other hand, giving ground to get more countries on our side could do more good than staunchly refusing to negotiate. This is the game of international relations...there's no definitive answer to what method will work in certain circumstances.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 09:38 AM) BTW, it will still have US Customs agents all over the place. We have border patrol agents all over the Mexican border too. And I bet that in 2001, there were a few security personnel at Logan airport.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 09:27 AM) I think that they cant check for it due to the fact that HGH is not covered under the current urine drop tests. They are working on a test for HGH in urine, but for right now the only way they can spot it is via a blood stick. Which the players association doesnt have to allow under the current agreement. I know that was the case under the old agreement in place before last November...are you sure they didn't change it when they agreed to the new tests, the 50 game suspension, and the tests for amphetimines?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 09:02 AM) I think he will retire when one of the following events happens: They either come up with a Human Growth Hormone test via Urine or the MLB Players Association allows for blood draws. I dont think he is on Horsey Testy Juice anymore, but Human Growth Hormone. Sure. You know, I never got an answer to any of my questions back in November about whether or not the MLB's new drug testing agreement provided for any means of testing for HGH. Did anyone else find that bit of info anywhere?

Former DHS Director Tom Ridge thinks the White House needs to better explain its justification for this deal. Meanwhile...current DHS Director Chertoff's explanation about why Congress and the American people shouldn't be worried about this? "That's classified". Congress is supposedly planning to hold hearings.