Duck-Billed Catechist

I'm reading The Seven Storey Mountain (the young Thomas Merton's autobiography).

I'll be working till 10 or thereabouts.

Well, was the bailout supposed to produce expensive credit? I mean, at least they're lending back our money without charging interest

It does seem a bit backward. Ah, well.

GMAC got money from the TARP fund. The TARP fund was supposed to loosen up the credit market. GMAC is now lending money. That is to say, they are offering credit.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/fan_forum/first_fan.jsp Heh. Of course the last prez (elect) had an even bigger association with baseball.

Plenty of times? You do realize this was the first year in, like, 15 years or something that they didn't make the playoffs, right?

It says "a team may sign as many type A and B free agents as it has lost, regardless of the limits above." However, I'm not sure it would really count as "losing" free agents, as they didn't offer the Abreu and co. arbitration.

It says if 63 or more players file for free agency, then there are no such limits applied.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/us/polit...ml?ref=politics Remember when I asked why Democratic donors were being asked to pay off the Clinton campaigns debt, when she could just forgive the loan she had given (that is to say, why should anyone care if she loses those millions--she's still going to be rich and I'm not going to dig in my pocket to replenish the Clintons' personal wealth)? I was told that she couldn't write off the debt because of tax and/or FEC reasons. Well, here she is writing off the debt. The campaign does still owe some more, but most of it was owed to herself.

Delivers more promise like regular Dr. Pepper!

That's really weird. I was just talking about this with the wife and came across the snopes link earlier today. The trigger for me was hearing Bill Lee on the radio and being reminded of other chemically enhanced ballplayers.

http://www.abc6.com/sports/36277274.html Rocco Baldelli may have been misdiagnosed, Ken Bell excited beyond belief

I'm holding Santa hostage, taking his goodies, and demanding a homestead in Costa Rica.

He's close Team picture for best 1bs (including Tex) Pujols, Berkman, Fielder, Howard, Youklis, Cabrera, Votto, Morneau. Obviously Cabrera, Votto, and Fielder should have the arrow going up because of their age. Tex is in the prime of his career and should be plenty productive. I would take Tex over Morneau and probably Howard (because I worry that his drop in production may be permanent/a reflection of wearing down).

Lou, I'm not sure why the conspiracy theories. NPR is hurting for money right now. I would guess that their corporate donations have gone way down. News and Notes and Day to Day (two syndicated shows that I don't think we get here) were just cancelled.

The mortgages from years ago are not caused by the bailout. What evidence do you have that the bailouts have made things worse, other than an ideological assertion?

Well, they are queasy about giving a bailout or not giving a bailout. Can't say I blame them either way. That's why they are each trying to get some other branch to do it.

I thought you were against the auto bailout.

But will you be listening to it one year from now?

Is this your angle?

I gave it the first car listen this morning. Really like it. Seems more complex and less spontaneous than the last two. Also, it seems like songwriting/lyrics have less of an emphasis, but that might just be because I haven't caught on to the more catchy lyrics yet. Also, more vocal harmonies (I think).

Would the 16th be a possibility? No?

Some obvious reasons for that 1. Good run defense 2. Bad pass defense 3. Lots of early leads for the Bears. I wonder what the Bears' point differential has been in the 1st and 2nd halves.

Yes he did. There was so much money invested in it that I wondered if it was a preview for something bigger. Like, why would someone use that many sets/backgrounds for something that isn't actually revenue generating?