Balta1701

QUOTE(TheBigHurt @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 01:55 PM) God bless, Frank. We'll miss you. But has anyone thought about how Big Frank being on the A's of all teams is really gonna hurt us? O_O Oakland only plays us 6 times next year. We do have a series against them in September, but within about 10 days there they also have a 3 game set with the Twinkies and a 4 game set with the Tribe. They play the Tribe 9 times and the Twinkies 10 times total if I'm counting correctly.

I heard that while the fiancee was listening to the radio in the morning last week I think. I think I just left the room. "Yeah, we couldn't make the ad say no Portugese...but uhhhh...no Portugese"

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 01:53 PM) Actually let's look at this GOP Gov. Perry: Kap? No Tex? Yes GOP DeLay: Kap No Tex? Yes Damn, I have to leave, Kap gets to stay. It's ok Tex...soon Delay will be serving 20 years...and then everything will be ok...your Delay addiction (procrastination?) will be over...

Yes, how dare that elitist Kerry dare to comment on a U.S. political event from all the way in Switzerland!

I'm not Judging Frank by any of this right now. I'm going to wait and see how he reacts to the gigantic, 39,000 person, 5 minute standing O he's going to get the first time he steps up to the plate in the Cell.

Every year, the White House hosts a "Correspondents" dinner...basically a chance for the press corps to make fun of themselves. This year's host? Steven Colbert It's time to jump down, turn around and pick a bale of Truth!!!

QUOTE(mreye @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 10:49 AM) You're a couple days early, right? Yes, the launch took place on Jan 28th. There were scheduled launches the previous days, but both were called off, one due to a mechanical difficulty, another due to wind I believe. The cold snap happened the night of the 27th-28th.

Some interesting economic data today...the U.S. economy grew at a paltry 1.1% in the 4th quarter of 05, according to the first numbers (these have a habit of being adjusted by a half a percent or so a few months later). That is the weakest number in 3 years. Lots of varying signs here...there was a big slowdown in consumer spending, which conveniently enough only grew at 1.1% as well, but there's a lot of things playing into that - i.e. the big auto maker discounts which ended in September, the high fuel prices, Katrina, a slowdown in government spending, etc. The question right now is how many of those will be actual blips. On the other hand, home sales still hit a record in 2005, despite suggestions of slowdowns in some markets like CA which have been on fire in recent years. Markets were rising on the news in the hopes that it might signal an earlier end to the Federal Reserve's period of tightening. So fire away...temporary blip, or worrying sign?

Man, I'm amazed that I looked at that number and thought "That's too small to be on the megathrust over there." Those 2 last year were damn amazing. Looks like there's very little threat of anything really bad, along the lines of last year, happenign with this one. If the early location data are accurate, and they probably are...it's way too deep to cause any major displacement on the surface. You know, that is still pretty impressive that you get one of that magnitude that deep, if I recall correctly.

One of the main guys at the DOJ working on the prosecution in the Abramoff matter is getting a very conveniently timed promotion. This after a few years ago Mr. Bush conveniently removed a prosecutor looking into Mr. Abramoff's dealings on Guam. A couple Democrats are requesting a special prosecutor to look into the Abramoff matter. Given how deeply Congress and the Executive branch wound up involved with that guy, it certainly seems like an ideal case for one.

Here's Juan Cole's piece on the Palestinian elections. Lot of Bush Bashing, so if you're not into that, probably won't appeal to you. More than I expected from him on this topic too.

QUOTE(Soxy @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 09:58 AM) How sad that this is considered "democrat" news. Well, unlike some of the other ones...he wasn't actually being paid by the Bush Administration, so that is something I guess.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 09:33 AM) Senator Mark Prior??? REALLY???? I didn't know they had simulated votes.

One of the science writers @ Fox News seems to have been being secretly paid as a "consultant" by Altria, the company formerly known as Philip Morris. He's used his column to heap scorn on the reports of health effects due to secondhand smoke while under contract with Fox.

QUOTE(heirdog @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 09:26 AM) I would say that was BMac He only started like 4 games in the 2nd half. Yeah, he shredded everyone he faced in the 2nd half...but it's hard to be our 2nd best pitcher when you only start 4 games.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 09:25 AM) Yeah, cuz he "put a hurt" on the baseball. And was moderately big.

So if this Crisp deal dies, which it looks like it will...what do you do about CF if you're Boston? Personally, if I'm Seattle, I start getting on the phone with Boston and seeing if they'll part with Marte for Reed. Then I turn around and try to ship Beltre to someone who wants to add some potential pop at 3rd, like the Angels. Maybe see if they can't pry Brandon Wood, who's blocked by Cabrera anyway, away from the Angels for Beltre. That would give the Mariners a hell of a left side for the next decade.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 08:07 AM) Kap, the face of the new Democratic Party BTW, I think they should confirm him, but I really want to see and hear a good old filibuster that's entertainment. Sadly...we don't seem to get the real talk-a-bill-to-death filibusters any more...hey just fail to get 60 votes for cloture and move on to something else. The only time we do get anything like that is when it fits perfectly into Brit Hume's TV schedule.

Thank God...Jesus will no longer have it out for that team in Tampa. After this it'll be smooth sailing to the best record in the AL Every year for them. Yup, they've fixed that problem.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jan 26, 2006 -> 10:40 PM) They're working on making body armor more modular so that soldiers can put it on and take it off depending on the situation. Like anything else, however, it takes time to get it from the drawing board to the battlefield. The interceptor body armor platform has saved a ton of lives and it's just a question now of tweaking it so that it fits more diverse situations. On those points I think we're in pretty good agreement. The political question in these matters, however, is a slightly different one from "which armor should they use under certain circumstances", it is instead "has the civilian leadership at the DOD made it possible for the soldiers to have the armor necessary for each circumstance"? At least early in the war, and possibly now that the newer side-plating has been developed, I think the evidence we have seen suggests that the DOD civilians, the guys writing the budget and running the procurement programs...have in fact caused a lot of delays and probably cost a lot of lives in the process. That is why there were so many stories during the early months of the war about families and communities chipping in to buy the interceptor vests on the public market...because the DOD wasn't doing it's job on that front in adapting to the changing situation.

You know, I have a feeling that whatever negativity there is on Frank's part now will vanish fairly quickly when the phrase "Designated Hitter, Frank Thomas" pipes through the speakers at the Cell this May...and the cheers are heard in Iowa. If I was in his spot...I may very well be bitter too. 15 years in one spot came to an end just like that...and according to Frank they never game him the dignity of a sit-down meeting to discuss their plans...which if he's telling the truth, would have been a nice gesture on the part of the organization. Either way, I doubt he'd have been a part of the ring ceremony anyway...Oakland has a game that day. If he's still too hurt to play, the plane flight won't do him any good and his time would be better spent on the rehab path, and if he can play...you want him in that lineup.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jan 26, 2006 -> 10:32 PM) The answer to that is yes and no. Often times soldiers patrol on foot through towns and cities and they do, in fact, need the added mobility. I run like a racehorse yet after dashing 100 yards with 50lbs of armor and other gear strapped on my body I was pooped! They also, as you said, take most casualties in convoys. Its a tough call to make but in most circumstances soldiers would probably leave armor behind if they thought it was too much weight. I'm sure it could also be practical to have different varieties of armor available for different purposes...where if a group actually had to do a foot patrol, those units could go for the lighter armor, and the rest of the forces, the ones being hammered during transit, are able to equip with the heavier stuff. I mean, we've had to buy like 3 different sets of armor now just in this war because the armor just hasn't caught up with the IED capabilities, I'm sure they still have some of the stuff they bought a year ago that's usable.

2 points other than the Grossman/Orton/Young junk, which I'm gonna avoid for now: 1. Does anyone think that with Grossman's injury history, trying to save a roster spot by having a wideout who can be your 3rd QB is just not a good idea? Yeah, you save the roster spot, but in the event you need him...you hurt your WR corps and your QB at the same time, and all it takes is an injury to Orton to actually need the guy. 2. Is it that smart for the Bears to telegraph "We're going after this guy"? And then they wind up losing him because someone outmaneuvers the bears?