saangels

mtangelfan and Adam, I understand where you guys are coming from. In a perfect world, where greed does not exist, and where there is no such thing as a surplus population to drive down the cost of labor, there would be no need for a government imposed minimum wage. But if you look at Belgium, the U.K., Chile, or any other unregulated capitalist economy, the results speak for themselves: the workers have no say in the matter. They either take the bare minimum, or they starve to death. Again, I respect where you guys are coming from, but the respect is the same respect that I feel for Plato, in the sense that your points of view make perfect sense within the framework of a rational, idealized society. The problem is that we do not live in a perfect, rational, idealized society. We live in a swarming contradiction of values. I attribute this to human nature and, moreover, in our specific case, to the degeneration of common sense brought on by the polarization of our two political parties. You can either be a democrat or a republican. Each party represents a set of values; but when inspected from up close these values are laced with contradictions. For example, since we are talking about politics and labor rights: republicans are anti-immigration and pro-business; democrats identify themselves as pro-labor and pro-immigration. How is that possible? If anything, the pro-business republicans should be welcoming the immigrants by the droves to drive down the price of labor, while the democrats should be the ones wanting to erect the walls along the border.

The guy is arguing in favor of worker wages--not welfare checks. Nobody can deny that inflation is out of control. I bought a used book online that was priced new at $12 in 2001; the same book is now $21 in stores. Magazines are going for $10 now-a-days; ten years ago they were $5.99. Minimum wage--and wages in general--have not kept up with inflation. In the richest country in the world, there is no excuse for so many working families to be mired in poverty. Again, I'm not making excuses for homeless people here. That's a completely separate issue. I just don't understand how so many Americans can be so fervently opposed to the idea of increasing the general welfare of the masses. Just because somebody is pro-labor rights doesn't necessarily mean that they adhere to a communist economic philosophy. I must admit that I am ignorant when it comes to Robert Reich. I had never heard of him until today. Maybe you guys know something that I don't. But based on the video, I can't find anything wrong with what he said.

Yeah, thanks Lawrence. I might buy a couple of tickets myself. Looks like it has the makings for a good flick. All the in-depth, behind the scenes information of a Michael Moore documentary, without the annoying persona of Michael Moore to muddle the underlying message.

Wow, I forgot all about Justin Speier; but yeah, that's a great comparison, AO.

I think wind instruments, e.g., flutes and clarinets, are pretty annoying. Somebody already mentioned the cow-bell. That's a pretty solid nomination, too.

What a remarkable comeback. That was fun to watch.

Let's go Bruins!!!

You're right. I should have read the article thoroughly before posting it on the board. I read the "anti-semite" bit on the ESPN bottom line, during the Red Sox/Yankees game, and just assumed that it was recent. Seems like old news to be posting on today's bottom line; but, in the end, I take full responsibility for my actions. I made a mistake, and I won't make it again. I'd like to apologize to my friends, family, and anybody else who was hurt by my shoddy journalism. But most importantly, I want to apologize to my fellow board members, the guys who aren't cutting corners, or pasting articles without reading them through to the end. This game is hard enough to play without posters feigning knowledge, or fabricating the truth to gain an edge. So I ask you, the AW message board crew, once more, for your forgiveness. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new day, a new me, a new you...and hopefully, by the end of our careers...a new era, that we will all be able to look back on...with pride. Thank you very much.

LMAO. I love how one day Braun is apologizing and "taking responsibility for his actions," and the next day he's calling the evidence collector an anti-semite. What a clown. Didn't he already admit to cheating? What does he expect to gain by contriving a conspiracy theory after the fact? http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9579944/ryan-braun-lobbied-veteran-players-support-appeal-sources-say

I love how everyone is so quick to go to counseling to prove to the world that they are trying to change. Wide receiver for the Eagles who used the N-word is doing the same thing. Do you really need a PhD to tell you that using the N-word is insensitive, or, in this case, that you can't sexually assault women? Also, LOL at Ariel Castro for pulling the "I was a slave to sex" card. Everybody's a victim. By the way, I don't know what's more sad, the fact that people like this exist, or the fact that the media covers stories that, for all intents and purposes, couldn't be less newsworthy. For example, on my lunch break the other day, watching CNN, I got about a twenty second snippet about Bradley Manning--a very serious case that could have dramatic implications down the line for all of us--and then Wolf Blitzer goes on some tirade about Ariel Castro for twenty minutes. The idiot box still can't get enough of Trayvon Martin. I know it's a sad story, but that doesn't make it newsworthy--especially not front page newsworthy for a month at a time when the government should be being exposed for illegally spying on its citizens. Or maybe that's the point. Maybe the government dictates to the media, and the whole objective for airing these ridiculous court cases is to distract us. It sure would make sense judging from the conversations that I hear around the office.

I love how Kruk says he is planning an hour and a half long interview with Pedroia. Because ESPN clearly doesn't spend enough time researching the Red Sox. They can't even hide their bias on television. Every ESPN announcer knows the minutest of details regarding every Red Sox player. But they make uninformed comments like "Howie Kendrick is a subpar defensive player," and "another quality pitch by Jeff--errr, Jared Weaver." They call us the California Angels. It never ends. But you can be damned sure that they know what Dustin Pedroia ate for breakfast this morning, what David Ortiz's favorite vacation destination is, and what kind of music Jacoby Ellsbury likes to listen to.

What does the MLB rulebook say about the minimum number of buttons on a jersey that must be buttoned during a game? There's gotta be some kinda rule--and whatever that rule is, if anyone is going to test it, from all indications, that person is going to be Mike Napoli.

Ideally, to minimize the damage. But you're right, at a certain juncture, it does seem kinda pointless. Health insurance shouldn't be there to minimize the damage: it should be there to COVER IT.

Speak for yourself. I had to pay $400 out of pocket for an MRI on my knee. Never spoke to a doctor, or was given any advice on how to treat the condition. They gave me a CD, and told me I had a torn meniscus. That's it. Everything I learned, I learned from Youtube. My friend's mom just lost her house because she couldn't afford the co-payments for her cancer treatment. She HAD insurance--full coverage, no less--but still couldn't save the house she'd been living in and paying for the last two decades. Who cares if the quality of care is at least 1.5 times better than most countries if a growing number of Americans can't afford to reap the rewards?

LOL at all the "healthy young people who don't need insurance." The first thing they need is a brain scan. Only frauds get insurance with the intent to use it immediately. The point is to be financially secure in case something unexpected happens, e.g., car accidents, serious illness, etc. Just because young people FEEL indestructable, it doesn't mean that they are.

Does this mean that i have to wait another year to have surgery on my torn meniscus? What a joke. I understand the frustration on the side of big business, but for God's sake, what a ridiculous country I live in where I work 40 hours a week and can't afford to have a doctor even LOOK AT my knee.

haha. The same thought crossed my mind as I was watching the coverage on CNN during my lunch break.

Flush it down the john The greatest team on toilet paper God, it's hard to watch

LOL. The longer you people continue to point the finger and cease to realize that there is no difference between the parties, the slower that "change" is going to come.

Great catch, but it reminds me a little bit more of Erstad's game saving catch coming off the bat of Jorge Posada at Yankee Stadium a few years back.

How many players are there in major league baseball? 700? One out of seven have ADD? lol.

Two of my friends got a letter the other day from national security saying that their phones had been tapped for three months because they had been in contact with a known drug dealer. One of my friends, I admit, is kind of a trouble maker--but the other one is an upstanding citizen; the only reason his (the latter, upstanding friend's) phone was tapped, is because he happened to call the "trouble maker" one day and ask how he was doing. I never recieved a letter, but wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that the government had been listening to my conversations too. Hell, they're probably taking note of this message board post as I write it. F*** the Patriot Act.

RIP Deacon. Unfortunately, I only got to know the man through Cheap Seats.

You mean they've made it official?

If I have any fault in the matter, it was in my construction of the title. I can see how it was misleading. Nevertheless, for the thousandth time, I don't think Jerome Williams should be taken out of the rotation. It would be a huge mistake.