Giants bring back Boof Bonser!! - MLBTradeRumors.com

Not a bad pick up for the G-men. Trying to get a little more ROI from the 2002 bonus budget. The Giants are on the prowl for the 2012 version of Ryan Voglesong. Bonser was solid MLB pitcher when healthy.

Giants Sign Boof Bonser: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com:

"The Giants signed right-hander Boof Bonser to a minor league deal, his agency, Reynolds Sports, announced on Twitter. Bonser has a 5.18 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 416 2/3 career innings and hasn't pitched at the Major League level since 2010. Bonser underwent Tommy John surgery early in the 2011 season and likely won't be ready to pitch for San Francisco until midway through the 2012 campaign. The Giants selected Bonser, now 30, with the 21st overall pick of the 2000 draft."

Raheem Morris of Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- 'I will never fire myself' - ESPN

The problem is, it may be done for you. I agree with Raheem's sentiment. You don't go from being one of the hottest young coaches in the league to pure garbage in one year. Only in a talk-show, 24-7 media-driven environment (which we live in today) would this even remotely be under consideration.

Unfortunately, it's easier to replace a head coach (and staff and coaching systems and philosophies) than it is to replace 53 players. Or is it? Seems like that type of upheaval would be more stressful to an organization. And the new boss generally ends up turning over the roster -- in effect replacing the 53 guys -- within a couple of years anyway.

This is the news-cycle driven, analysis by the water-cooler type of environment that players, coaches and management have to deal with. Heck, Tebow went from 5th string to Pro-Bowl alternate in the space of one season, so somebody had their analysis wrong. Same here.

The Bucs would be wise to tune out the media jibber-jabber and go with what they see on the field, in the locker room and in meetings everyday.

Keep Raheem.

Raheem Morris of Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- 'I will never fire myself' - ESPN:

"Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris made it clear Monday that he feels he shouldn't be made the scapegoat for his underperforming team, currently in the midst of a nine-game losing streak.

"I will never fire myself," Morris told reporters. "You don't go from being a coach of the year candidate to being the worst coach in the league to getting fired within a year.""

The Role of Schools in the Production of Achievement

This is what the schools should be doing. Teaching the core subjects -- the good old three R's -- that kids need to be functional citizens. Maybe motivate them to be life-long learners. Nothing more.

The schools should retrench and go back to mastering the basics before drifting to drifting to other areas that are not germane to their core mission.

I'm not sure why it takes a Fed study to 'prove' what most regular folks already 'know' intuitively (DUH!!). Goes to show that we generally know more than we can prove.

Thanks Fed. Still like to see you dead. END THE FED.

From the St. Louis Fed:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/more/2010-042

The Role of Schools in the Production of Achievement

Working Paper 2010-042B by Maria E. Canon

What explains differences in pre-market factors? Three types of inputs are believed to determine the skills agents take to the labor market: ability, family inputs and school inputs. Therefore to answer the previous question it is crucial to understand first the importance of each of those inputs. The literature on the production of achievement has not been able to provide an estimation that can take the three factors into account simultaneously at the student level. This paper intends to fill this gap by providing an estimation of the production function of achievement where both types of investments (families and schools) are considered in a framework where the inputs are allowed to be correlated with the unobserved term, ability to learn. I do that by applying Olley and Pakes’ (1996) algorithm which accommodates for endogeneity problems in the choice of inputs for the production of achievement and by using parents’ saving for their child’s postsecondary education to control for the unobserved component (i.e. ability to learn) in the production of skills. The estimates for the role of family inputs are in line to previous findings. Additionally, the estimates of school inputs show that they are also important for the formation of students’ skills even after controlling for ability to learn.

The full text:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2010/2010-042.pdf

Jets' Darrelle Revis is a turnstile with a big mouth

This is what he said before the Denver game. A pretty big game for the Jets now disappearing playoff hopes.

Jets' Darrelle Revis says Tim Tebow's option offense can't work long-term in NFL | NJ.com:

Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said today that while he thinks an option-style offense could possibly be successful in the NFL long-term — he doesn't think it can be with Tebow.

"Yeah, if you have Michael Vick and, I don't know, Chris Johnson at running back," Revis said in advance of the Jets' game at Denver on Thursday. "Yeah, it can work. Those are probably the two fastest guys that can probably get out on the edge on you. Yeah, those two."

What about Tebow?

Revis paused in thought and finally said, "No."

Not for a whole season?

"No, not for a whole season," Revis said. "Because we know what they're doing, and we feel comfortable in our game plan."

Revis called Denver's style of offense "Wildcat with a good passer." He said Tebow, the second-year player out of Florida, must be motivated by all the skeptics."

And her's what Revis actually delivered when the game was on the line.

I guess the Broncos offense CAN work if Tebow plays against tacklers like Revis and his solid technique all season. Maybe he fell asleep during this pivotal drive. What with the game on the line and the fans screaming and junk, he may have fallen asleep.



To add to his stellar resume this week, against the cross-town rival Giants, Revis can actually be seen pulling away from Ahamd Bradshaw -- again during a pivotal drive -- with the Jets season on the line.

Revis is #24 offering no help to teammate Rodney Poole as Bradshaw runs him over. In fact, at about the :40 second mark, it almost appears as if Revis is pulling "away" from offering any help to Poole.



Revis is just like his coach. All talk, no action. He should learn how to tackle better, especially playing for a coach who built his reputation as a defensive genius. Rex Ryan must be so proud. I think I know how Buddy Ryan would feel.

ECB Study: Big Government Is Bad for the Economy....(DUH!!)

File this under we know more than has been proven. Finally, the socialists are grudgingly realizing that while socialism, Keynesian economic theory and big government may work in theory, in practice, not so much.

ECB Study: Big Government Is Bad for the Economy | Cris Sheridan | FINANCIAL SENSE:

"The European Central Bank may have just disproved the entire European big-government model in their recent release of an exhaustive study analyzing the relationship between government size and economic growth. After reviewing a massive 108 countries over a 38 year time period, they came to a shocking and definitive conclusion:

Big government is bad for economic growth!

“Our results show a significant negative effect of the size of government on growth.”

“Interestingly, government consumption is consistently detrimental to output growth irrespective of the country sample considered (OECD, emerging and developing countries).”"

Now, for most people who operate based on common sense and formulating their opinions from the natural world they experience every day, this is not a shocking result; but, unfortunately, many economists and others need 44 page research studies and sophisticated differential equation models (see pages 31-33) to conclude what most people have known and said for quite some time.

As a wise man once said, "The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus." (see video below)

CLASSIC!!! MILTON FRIEDMAN SCHOOLING PHIL DONAHUE:
http://www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp1399.pdf

"All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force." -- George Orwell

Giants Hot Stove League

CAREFUL!! The moves that are made during the Hot Stove League season could burn a team come regular season play.

I would have preferred Keppinger over Fontenot, but I can see with his flexibility both on the field and contractually ($$) why Fontenot was the choice.

Whiteside keeps the backup catcher seat warm for Hector Sanchez.

Rowand is gone, but not forgotten. The piece of his salary the Giants pay will still be an economic albatross around their neck. Ditto Zito.

Giants Notes & Quotes: Giants Choose Fontenot:

INF Mike Fontenot was tendered a contract, and INF Jeff Keppinger was not. The Giants were going to tender just one, and they kept Fontenot because of his ability to play shortstop -- a need considering young SS Brandon Crawford is in line to be the starter.


Both Fontenot and Keppinger are 31 with career on-base percentages of .332, but the Giants see Fontenot able to play second, third and short and Keppinger as someone who could play first, second and third. That Fontenot would be cheaper (he signed for $1.05 million) was a factor.
--C Eli Whiteside was non-tendered and became a free agent, but he then reached agreement with the Giants on a one-year contract that will pay him $600,000 if he's on the major league roster and $175,000 if he's in the minors. C Chris Stewart appears to have the edge to be C Buster Posey's backup. The Giants' best catching prospect, Hector Sanchez, seems ticketed for Triple-A Fresno.

--OFs Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan, acquired in trades with the Royals and Mets, respectively, are arbitration-eligible and were tendered contracts. Each is expected to make more than $4 million in 2012. In fact, all three of the Giants' projected starting outfielders were tendered contracts, including RF Nate Schierholtz.

--OF Aaron Rowand signed with the Marlins, meaning the Giants might get a break. They're still paying Rowand, who's in the final year of his five-year, $60 million contract. But if Rowand makes the Marlins' big-league roster and stays all season, he'd be paid the major-league minimum of $480,000 -- which would be deducted from what the Giants owe him next year. Still, the Giants owe Rowand, with whom they severed ties on Aug. 31, an awful lot of money.

--1B Brandon Belt is going to have to earn his playing time in 2012. He was the Opening Day first baseman last season, but ineffectiveness and injuries made it a forgettable year. He's healthy and a little more seasoned, and he's coming off a decent winter-ball stint. He hit .300 with 30 hits in 100 at-bats in 28 games for Leones del Escogido. He played both first and the outfield.

The BBWAA hates steroid users, but alleged child molesters? Maybe not so much...

Philly's Bill Conlin was out there on his soap box pounding the pulpit as much as anyone amongst these so-called paragons of virtue. Look like some skeletons just fell out of his closet.

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."

Deadspin seems to have the lead on the coverage, providing a forum for the accused to tell his side of the story.

The numbers of accusers against this guy does seem to be mounting.

From Yahoo Sports:
Reports: 2 more accuse Philly columnist of abuse - MLB - Yahoo! Sports:

"PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Two more people have come forward claiming they were abused by a Philadelphia sports columnist who abruptly retired just before the publishing of a report alleging he abused young children decades ago.

The two women bring to six the total number of adults who say former Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin molested them when they were younger.

Fifty-year-old Linda Stella tells the Daily News that Conlin molested her on two occasions at his New Jersey home. A second unidentified woman tells The Philadelphia Inquirer she was also abused at Conlin’s home.

Conlin retired Tuesday, shortly before The Inquirer published a story online detailing allegations of abuse from three women and a man in the 1970s. Prosecutors say Conlin cannot be charged because the statute of limitations has expired.

Conlin has denied the allegations. A phone message left for Conlin’s attorney was not immediately returned early Thursday."

---------
From USA Today:
Baseball writers' response to Conlin accusations draws scorn:

"The BBWAA, which votes for postseason awards and the Hall of Fame, issued a statement from president Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, saying, "We were shocked and saddened to learn of the allegations involving Bill Conlin and we extend our sympathies to everyone involved.''

However, the organization's initial public reaction to the news, expressed in a Tuesday statement from secretary/treasurer Jack O'Connell, was seen as defending Conlin instead of showing concern for the victims.

"The allegations have no bearing on his winning the 2011 J.G. Taylor Spink Award, which was in recognition of his notable career as a baseball writer,'' said the statement, which also mentioned Conlin has been a member in good standing since 1966."

Criticism, even internally, has been swift, with several members of the BBWAA speaking out.

"It's like the BBWAA was trying to say, 'Hey, Bill Conlin is a child molester, but he's OUR child molester.' Shameful,'' tweeted Yahoo! Sports columnist Jeff Passan.

Andy Martino of the New York Daily News called the statement "tone deaf, and insensitive to the alleged victims.

"Because it was issued by an organization of which I have been a member since 2009, I feel compelled to publicly distance myself from it, and make clear that it does not represent me.''

Conlin, the Philadelphia Phillies' beat writer from 1966-1987, was recognized as the Spink Award winner in Cooperstown, N.Y., as part of the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in July.

Hall spokesman Brad Horn pointed out the award is chosen by the BBWAA and its winners are not actually Hall of Famers.

----
Some other past articles from Deadspin on the issue:

http://deadspin.com/5870128/the-bbwaa-tries-again-with-a-bill-conlin-statement-this-time-acknowledging-that-child-molestation-claims-are-bad

When the allegations about Bill Conlin came out yesterday, America quickly turned its eyes to the Baseball Writers Association of America. Because we're dumb, you see, and wanted to hear from the secret club of baseball writers who annually send up smoke signals from Cooperstown. The BBWAA also gives a self-congratulatory award to one of its own each year, and last year's J.G. Taylor Spink Award went to Conlin.

So the BBWAA felt compelled to issue a statement. This is what they came up with, signed by secretary/treasurer Jack O'Connell:

"Bill Conlin has been a member in good standing of the BBWAA since 1966. The allegations have no bearing on his winning the 2011 J.G. Taylor Spink Award, which was in recognition of his notable career as a baseball writer."

Which means....what? He's always paid his membership dues? He never molested anyone in the press box? This is absolutely true, even for a voting body that's appointed itself the moral arbiters of steroids, yet stands as gatekeepers to a building that honors folks like Ty Cobb, who killed a man just to watch him die (probably). And yet—wouldn't it have been nice to see some sort of acknowledgement that baseball writing is somewhat insignificant in the face of this stuff?

http://deadspin.com/5869867/a-guide-to-the-molestation-allegations-against-bill-conlin


http://deadspin.com/5870204/a-conversation-with-bill-conlin-the-day-before-the-inquirer-dropped-its-molestation-story

Left's 'Ministry of Truth' Specializes in Doublespeak

In fairness, both sides of the aisle in in government play very fast and loose with the truth. Government statistics are so manipulated, mangled and distorted it's not even funny. And they have been for many years.

The recent National Association of Realtors re-benchmarking of prior reported sales figures going back for years was a joke.

All for our own benefit, I suppose.

From Newsmax:
Left's 'Ministry of Truth' Specializes in Doublespeak:

"As I heard Barack Obama and his propaganda minister, Jay Carney, endorsing tax cuts as a vehicle for economic growth, I was reminded, again, of George Orwell's "1984" and the striking similarities between his Oceania and the American left's vision for America.

Oceania's Big Brother regime had "four Ministries between which the entire apparatus of government was divided," the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love and the Ministry of Plenty.

Each department was dedicated to the opposite principle suggested by its title. "Truth" disseminated lies. "Peace" promoted war. "Love" enforced uniformity of thought. And "Plenty" manipulated the economy to impoverish the people while enriching the ruling class. God was expelled and absolute truth abolished, while "doublespeak" was promoted. "

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. -- Johann Wolfgang Goethe [1749-1832]

My favorite QB (sorry Eli) does it again!!!

YOU GO, TIMMY BOY!! 7-1 AS A STARTER. NOT BAD FOR A FIFTH STRING QB WITH CRAPPY MECHANICS.

In fairness, he is converting many of the skeptics, even if they have to compliment him begrudgingly or in a back-handed manner. Even Merill Hoge is giving him a chance to be better than Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn now. The Broncos water-boy may still be better. But we're making progress.

Given the events of the last few weeks in sports -- notably the growing child-abuse scandals at Penn State, Syracuse and the newest AAU coach -- it is strange that it is Tebow who is referred to as the most "polarizing" figure in sports today.

Not the self-centered narcissists we usually hear way too much about and glorify way too much.

Even while many others have mocked and disparaged him, Tebow has remained confident, secure and humble. The kids a leader and a winner.

So Stephen Tulloch's mocking (who the hell is Stephen Tulloch anyway?)

 turns into the newest craze "Tebowing"

What is Tebowing?
(vb) to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.

Talk radio chimed in with comments from that notable chuckle-head, Charles Barkley to the effect that he wished the Bears would stop the Tebow train this weekend, that he was tired of hearing about him. (Sorry Chuck) You would think that Tebow was all that was wrong with sports today.

After watching the scandalous behavior that manifested itself at the end of the Cincinnati - Xavier mens basketball game, perhaps the problem is not with the evangelical, Christian right but the uber-permissive, anything goes mantra that emanates from the loons on the liberal left.

Perhaps the comments from Jake Plummer and like comments from gifted author John Feinstein recently that maybe things would be better if Tebow would just stay silent about his faith and his views are representative of where the vitriol is coming from and why.

I'm going to go all JFK on those comments and say I see it it more as a problem -- in sports in particular and society at large -- that folks like Tim Tebow and their outlook and views have been silenced and marginalized for far too long. And maybe that needs to change.

Our society would be far better off in many, many ways. For far too long those who look, act and sound like Tebow have been silent and our society has not advanced, it has retarded.

TIME FOR CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN.

I wonder why those who supposedly present themselves as bastions of tolerance -- while practicing the most pernicious form of intolerance -- do not follow the example of Joakim Noah posted below. Way to go Joakim.

Some of these folks need to start looking elsewhere if they want to identify and fix some of the things that are wrong in sports. Many could start by taking a good, long, hard look in the mirror.


----
The Jake Plummer comments
From USA Today:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2011/11/tim-tebow-responds-to-jake-plummers-comments-on-his-faith/1

Asked about Plummer's remarks in an interview on ESPN's First Take, Tebow said:

"If you're married, and you have a wife, and you really love your wife, is it good enough to only say to your wife 'I love her' the day you get married? Or should you tell her every single day when you wake up and every opportunity?

"And that's how I feel about my relationship with Jesus Christ is that it is the most important thing in my life. So any time I get an opportunity to tell him that I love him or given an opportunity to shout him out on national TV, I'm gonna take that opportunity. And so I look at it as a relationship that I have with him that I want to give him the honor and glory anytime I have the opportunity. And then right after I give him the honor and glory, I always try to give my teammates the honor and glory.

"And that's how it works because Christ comes first in my life, and then my family, and then my teammates. I respect Jake's opinion, and I really appreciate his compliment of calling me a winner. But I feel like anytime I get the opportunity to give the Lord some praise, he is due for it."

Plummer had this to say Monday on XTRA Sports 910 in Phoenix:

"Tebow, regardless of whether I wish he'd just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates, I think he's a winner and I respect that about him. I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ, then I think I'll like him a little better. I don't hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every single time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff.

"Like you know, I understand dude where you're coming from ... but he is a baller."

---
Jaokim Noah chimes in via ESPN:
Noah supports fellow Gator Tim Tebow - Chicago Bulls Blog - ESPN Chicago:

"Noah admits that the two don't see eye-to-eye on certain issues, but the Bulls center appreciates that Tebow stays true to his values.

"Me personally, I have completely different beliefs than him," Noah said. "But at the same time I respect the fact that he speaks his truth. He speaks his truth and he's a warrior. He's a winner. At the end of the day, his teammates respect that.”

----


From Culture Watch:

Why Tim Tebow Keeps Smiling

by Jennifer Marshall

When Pam Tebow was counseled to abort her baby to save her own life, the doctor referred to him as a "mass of fetal tissue."

"(M)aybe she just called me that to toughen us up for the names I would be called the first time I played at LSU," Tim Tebow, who became the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback for the University of Florida, writes in his 2011 book Through My Eyes.

Now that Tebow is a Denver Bronco and under intense scrutiny in the role of starting quarterback, his congenital instinct to push through adversity and ignore the naysayers is again at work.

"Polarizing" is the sports commentariat's typical term to describe national reaction to Tebow since he went pro. The negativity flows in part from his initially rocky performance. But much more seems to be reaction to Tebow's Christian faith. Critics want him to keep it to himself, a pattern that is increasingly common in American public life.

Of course, there's already plenty of God-talk in professional football. (Type "Green Bay Packers" into Twitter and see how many players give God a shout out in their profiles.)

Talking is one thing. Walking the talk is another. That's where Tim Tebow stands out. Born in the Philippines to missionary parents, he not only is outspoken about his faith, referencing it frequently in word and symbol - such as biblical citations in his eye black. He's also as intense about living out his faith as he is about playing football—and winning.

And he's done a good bit of winning. For a 24-year-old who's been, in his words, "the center of so much spilled ink" since his high school days (before graduating he was the subject of a documentary), it's amazing he's full of anything other than himself. Instead, he brims over about his faith, family, football and teammates.

While the attention hasn't gone to his head, it does seem to have gone to his heart.
Tebow takes seriously the burden of his "platform" - a word he uses frequently in his book to refer to his opportunity to influence others for good. Such disciplined, purposeful stewardship of a leadership role is rare in anyone, but particularly someone so young in a field rampant with narcissism and bad behavior.

Even for observers who consider the eye-black evangelism corny or juvenile, it's simply no comparison to the "youthful indiscretions" that haunt so many public figures for years.

And even through jaded eyes, the trademark Tebow kneel to give gratitude to God after a great play hardly can be as obnoxious as others' on-field (not to mention off-field) antics and outbursts.

Belated Congrats to Ron Santo - Shame on the Hall of Fame

Once again, an indictment of the process of election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. How much better a candidate did Santo become in the last year? Why did these braying jackasses wait until it was to late to honor Santo? Shame on the veterans committee. Shame on the Hall of Fame.

San Francisco Giants - Team Report - MLB - Yahoo! Sports:

"Congratulations, Ron Santo. We'll toast him tonight. … I'm very disappointed it didn't happen in his lifetime so he could enjoy it." -— Giants broadcaster and ex-Cub Mike Krukow on Ron Santo, who was elected to the Hall of Fame one year after his death.

GM Is Watching You by Eric Peters (maybe listening in on you as well)

Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me

A blast from the past, or back to the future. It's 1984 all over again.

You know, it seems like when we were school kids reading these two books, they seemed like utter nonsense. Now it feels like we're living in a 1984 and Animal Farm type world described by George Orwell and we don't even realize how we got here. Provocative stuff.

What happened to privacy rights? We used that as an excuse to build up a whole new industry called abortion spear-headed by Planned Parenthood. And yet here, well maybe your privacy rights aren't really so important. Yes, it's all very clear to me now comrades.

GM Is Watching You… by Eric Peters:

"I have never liked GM’s OnStar system – in part because I don’t like the idea of my car that I paid for having someone else’s “black box” recording (and transmitting) data about how I drive, where I drive and even when I drive. I also don’t like that GM force-feeds OnStar to every buyer of every GM car – whether the buyer wants it or not.

I believe that GM’s long-term goal is to see to it that not only every GM vehicle is equipped with a “black box” (technically, an Event Data Recorder, or EDR) but that all vehicles are so equipped – and every single driver in the United States – possibly the world – monitored whenever he or she is operating a motor vehicle."

There is big money in it: Automated tickets, jacked-up insurance fees for “speeders” and seat belt scofflaws – as well as “marketing opportunities” for GM’s “partners,” whom GM will provide all sorts of juicy tidbits about your life to – including where and when you shop, so that they can “target” their advertising your way.

And there is the prospect of delicious (to power lusters) micromanaging control, too.

Drive faster than The Law says you ought to – and they’ll know about it, immediately, every single time you do it and exactly how much you do it. Fail to Buckle Up For Safety – even if it’s just to drive down the driveway – and they’ll know about it the moment you put the car in gear. It is entirely within the realm of technical possibility that they’ll even know exactly what you’ve been talking about while in your car, too – because OnStar is very much like a Telescreen from Orwell’s 1984. If you have an OnStar-equipped car, you have GM’s microphones in your car. And GM can turn them on anytime it likes – and record anything you say.

No, I am not exaggerating.

1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial



Oops, wrong 1984. Maybe not.


1984 by George Orwell / Nineteen Eighty-Four / Film Movie




Animal Farm-George Orwell-Full Length Animated Movie(1954)



I'll have to watch these again and take a trip down memory lane. Maybe I'll wake up and it will all be a bad dream.

Why is this cretin not in jail?

This guy should be sharing a bunk bed with Bernie Madoff. Just as Pete Rose was supposed to know that the Cardinal Sin of baseball was betting on baseball, this CEO should have known that the first rule, the first fiduciary (which means trust) duty is not to commingle (and gamble) customer money with the firms money.

This guy basically broke into his neighbors house, stole his rent money, lost it at the casino and now wants to say that he didn't know that was against the law AND he doesn't know where he lost the money?

And we are supposed to believe this bubble-headed cretin?

And our so-called leaders and regulators can't figure out what he did wrong?

What part of Thou shalt not steal do the ass-hats not understand?

From Agora Financial Report:

“I simply do not know where the money is,” declared MF Global chief Jon Corzine today, “or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date.”

Corzine read a prepared statement in testimony to Congress today. Whether he’ll answer questions or invoke his Fifth Amendment rights remains to be seen, at least as of this writing.

Aside from the question of how Corzine could have lost track of $1.2 billion, there’s the matter of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Under the law, Corzine had to certify his firm’s financial statements.

So how could he not know... and still be within the bounds of the law?

Pleading ignorance... before possibly pleading the Fifth
When “Sarbox,” as it’s known, was passed after the Enron scandal, one of the objections critics raised was that it imposed onerous paperwork requirements on smaller public companies.

Today, we learn it’s worse: The paperwork requirements evidently don’t apply to large ones.

The fact that this creep is the consummate DC insider (read: pimp, hustler) -- which allows him to feel emboldened enough to commit these acts -- demonstrates where many of the problems in this country currently reside.

And it's not on Wall Street so much as it is on Pennsylvania Avenue and K-Street. Let's start Occupying those streets, then we can talk.

The fact that this scum-bag could not get in front of MSNBC cameras fast enough and often enough to defend the current administrations policies with regard to implementation of TARP, stimulus and bailouts should also not be lost on anybody.

http://images.cafepress.com/product/298877660v1_150x150_Front.JPG

During the campaign we heard Obama lecture us all about how a vote for McCain would be -- in effect -- a vote for "More of the Same". How quaint that little slogan sounds now after three years.

Now it appears that any vote for Obama was -- in effect -- also a vote for more of the same, with a -D at the end rather than -R (or -Rhino). Whatever, right? I mean, where' the change, dude? Don't worry about the hope thing. I can take care of that part myself.

---

In fairness, here is the scum-bag, bubble-headed cretin's statement. AMAZING STUFF.

http://agriculture.house.gov/pdf/hearings/Corzine111208.pdf

Key Quote at conclusion of the statement:

"The Unreconciled Accounts

Obviously on the forefront of everyone’s mind – including mine – are the varying reports
that customer accounts have not been reconciled. I was stunned when I was told on Sunday,
October 30, 2011, that MF Global could not account for many hundreds of millions of dollars of
client money. I remain deeply concerned about the impact that the unreconciled and frozen
funds have had on MF Global’s customers and others.

"As the chief executive officer of MF Global, I ultimately had overall responsibility for
the firm. I did not, however, generally involve myself in the mechanics of the clearing and
settlement of trades, or in the movement of cash and collateral. Nor was I an expert on the
complicated rules and regulations governing the various different operating businesses that
comprised MF Global. I had little expertise or experience in those operational aspects of the
business.

"Again, I want to emphasize that, since my resignation from MF Global on November 3,
2011, I have not had access to the information that I would need to understand what happened. It
is extremely difficult for me to reconstruct the events that occurred during the chaotic days and
the last hours leading up to the bankruptcy filing.

"I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled
to date. I do not know which accounts are unreconciled or whether the unreconciled accounts
were or were not subject to the segregation rules. Moreover, there were an extraordinary number
of transactions during MF Global’s last few days, and I do not know, for example, whether there
were operational errors at MF Global or elsewhere, or whether banks and counterparties have
held onto funds that should rightfully have been returned to MF Global. I am sure that the
trustee in bankruptcy, the SIPC receiver, and the regulators are working to answer these
questions and to understand precisely what happened during the firm’s last days and hours.

"As the chief executive officer of MF Global, I tried to exercise my best judgment on
behalf of MF Global’s customers, employees and shareholders. Once again, let me go back to
where I started: I sincerely apologize, both personally and on behalf of the company, to our
customers, our employees and our investors, who are bearing the brunt of the impact of the
firm’s bankruptcy." - Jon Corzine

The End of The Cody Ross Experience: Ross Reacts: 'It's Sad'

If the Giants are to repeat, it will be with a team that is markedly different in terms of character and characters than the 2010 squad. No Pat Burrell. No Cody Ross. No Uribe. No Renteria. We'll miss Cody Ross as a gamer, a fighter and a battler somewhere down the line.

And then there were 10:

9 — Players from the Giants' 2010 World Series roster who are no longer with the team. Among the players on the list are Andres Torres, Juan Uribe, Edgar Renteria, Travis Ishikawa, Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell.

They are breaking up that old gang of ours.

It is sad. Perhaps not Pujols leaving St. Louis sad, but still sad to Giants fans and fans who root for the little guy to succeed and get his just reward.

The Giants showed no loyalty on this one and THAT could bite them in the ass down the road. And maybe it should.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2011/12/07/gm-brian-sabean-says-giants-are-tapped-out-and-done-dealing-cody-ross-says-its-sad-the-club-never-offer-a-contract-beltran-talks-never-got-deep-decision-on-fontenotkeppinger-whiteside-had-s/

“Being brutally honest, we pretty much got to the top of the budget,” said Sabean, after a relatively inactive Wednesday at the winter meetings. “It’s down to Keppinger or Fontenot as the extra man.”

There is no room under the $130 million payroll to bring back Beltran or Ross, neither of whom were offered a contract. It was a bitterly disappointing outcome for Ross, the 2010 NLCS Most Valuable Player, who might get the two-year contract he seeks from the Reds, Red Sox, Rockies or Braves.

“The Giants were definitely my No.1 choice,” said Ross, who had a long phone conversation with Manager Bruce Bochy earlier Wednesday. “I was looking at any possible scenario, any way, anyhow. Give them a hometown discount, whatever to help their payroll. But they would not commit to more than a year.

“It’s sad because I really wanted to come back. They never made me an offer.”

Sabean said the Giants and Ross “could never get on the same page. And Beltran, we knew it was going to be a stretch.”

Income Inequality Rose Most Under President Clinton - Investors.com

I'm not sure if this one article knocks down the bulk of the OWS'ers basic thesis and arguments one by one. So the Gini coefficient, the best measure of income inequality did worse under Republicans Reagan-Bush-Bush than it has under The Dems Clinton-Obama. If the Repubs are the party of the rich -- and that's the mantra we hear screeched the most -- then they may need to ask for a refund.

Great read. Of course, you won't see it reported by any of the MSM pundits. There, the truth hurts, even though most of us know that the truth shall set you free. They have never been know to let the facts get in the way of a good story either.

H/T to the Conservative Manifesto blog who sent me a heads up to the story. More food for thought on the Gini coefficient and income inequality from another favorite blogger 'Whiskey and Gunpowder'.

Income Inequality Rose Most Under President Clinton - Investors.com: "Income Inequality Rose Most Under President Clinton

By JOHN MERLINE, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 11/03/2011 08:05 AM ET

In his weekend radio address, President Obama decried that "over the past three decades, the middle class has lost ground while the wealthiest few have become even wealthier." Although he was trying to leverage the Occupy Wall Street movement, the income gap has been a longstanding concern of his."

During the 2008 campaign, Obama said, "The project of the next president is figuring out how do you create bottom-up economic growth, as opposed to the trickle-down economic growth that George Bush has been so enamored with."

But it turns out that the rich actually got poorer under President Bush, and the income gap has been climbing under Obama.

What's more, the biggest increase in income inequality over the past three decades took place when Democrat Bill Clinton was in the White House.

The wealthiest 5% of U.S. households saw incomes fall 7% after inflation in Bush's eight years in office, according to an IBD analysis of Census Bureau data. A widely used household income inequality measure, the Gini index, was essentially flat over that span. Another inequality gauge, the Theil index, showed a decline.

In contrast, the Gini index rose — slightly — in Obama's first two years. Another Census measure of inequality shows it's climbed 5.7% since he took office.

Meanwhile, during Clinton's eight years, the wealthiest 5% of American households saw their incomes jump 45% vs. 26% under Reagan. The Gini index shot up 6.7% under Clinton, more than any other president since 1980.

To the extent that income inequality is a problem, it's not clear what can be done to resolve it. Among the contributing factors:

Economic growth. Strong economic growth, rising stock prices and household income inequality tend to go hand in hand.

Technology. Tech advances have put a premium on skilled labor, according to a Congressional Budget Office report . Because the pool of skilled workers hasn't grown as much as demand, their wages have climbed faster.

Free trade and immigration. Cheap labor abroad and an influx in low-skilled immigrants can depress wages at the bottom, according to the CBO.

Women in the workforce. As the CBO put it, "an increase in the earnings of women could boost inequality by raising the income of couples relative to that of households headed by single people."

Tax policy changes don't explain the widening income gap. The CBO found that, by one measure, "the federal tax system as a whole is about as progressive in 2007 as it was in 1979."

-----
From the Conservative Manifesto blog:

---

Actually... the rich got poorer under Bush (and richer under both Clinton and Obama) Posted: 07 Nov 2011 08:07 AM PST In a time of rampant (not to mention criminal) Occupy mobs, this should be a bubble burster. The wealthiest 5% of U.S. households saw incomes fall 7% after inflation in Bush's eight years in office, according to an IBD analysis of Census Bureau data. A widely used household income inequality measure, the Gini index, was essentially flat over that span. Another inequality gauge, the Theil index, showed a decline. In contrast, the Gini index rose — slightly — in Obama's first two years. Another Census measure of inequality shows it's climbed 5.7% since he took office. Meanwhile, during Clinton's eight years, the wealthiest 5% of American households saw their incomes jump 45% vs. 26% under Reagan. The Gini index shot up 6.7% under Clinton, more than any other president since 1980. Of all the places the Occupy children have infested, it's a wonder 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. isn't one of them.

----------
From Whiskey and Gunpowder:

The Income Gap Obsession

Nov 8th, 2011 | By Jeffrey Tucker
http://whiskeyandgunpowder.com/the-income-gap-obsession/

The word “equality” is being rammed down our throats every day, with special focus on the so-called “income gap.” The presumption is that we should all denounce the gap, work to eliminate it and embrace perfect equality as an ideal.

It’s true that inequality is growing, but the focus on that alone is sheer folly. Equality applies to math equations. You could also use it to describe how the law should be impartial with respect to persons — the traditional use of the term “equality” in the classical liberal literature. But that’s it. Otherwise, an obsession with this topic is very dangerous for a free society.

That’s because the people who invoke equality have no intention of creating the conditions to make it easier for the poor and for middle-income earners to grow rich. Leveling upward is never the goal. Egalitarians want to flatten incomes at the top so that the rich no longer exist. This can’t help anyone but the envious, those who get a kick out of destroying, rather than creating.

As Shikha Dalmia writes, “Income inequality tells us zilch about the only thing that really matters: Are the lives of Americans, rich, poor and in between, getting better or worse?”

Try an experiment in your mind with a society of 10 people. Five people earn $50,000 and five earn $100,000. Let’s say we flatten out the top half so that everyone earns the same. Equality! But who benefits? Absolutely no one. Society as a whole is poorer, and that is to the detriment of everyone: less capital, less wealth available for wealth-forming projects, demoralization among the smartest and most inspired and a ceiling on those who might have previously desired to move from the lower half to the upper half.

In any case, the supposed egalitarian ideal can always be achieved by driving everyone into the dirt and universalizing poverty. There is a serious problem, with an ideal that can be achieved by wrecking the lives of absolutely everyone.

In a free society, we just have to get used to the idea that some people are going to be vastly richer than other people. And those rich people do act as benefactors to the rest of us. They give more to charity. They start the new businesses that employ us. They take the risks that make capitalism dynamic and progressive. They act as society’s economic leadership team. And the individual members of that sector of society are constantly changing, and this is a good thing.

What’s more, in a free society, the rich are completely dependent on the poor and the middle class, who, in a market setting, make it possible for the capitalists of society to accumulate wealth in the first place. It is the voluntary choices of the masses that direct the use of society’s resources. The “distribution” of wealth is a result of the choices we all make in our capacity as consumers.

Yes, I’ve watched lectures by people who claim that societies with more equality are happier places. What they end up pointing to are places like Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Norway. This is just a mistake: These countries are demographically homogeneous and cannot be compared in any way to places like the U.K. or the U.S.

Consider this… Where would you rather live? Ethiopia or the Netherlands? Ethiopia has more income equality, according to the statisticians who calculate the so-called Gini coeffiicient. Another example: Tajikistan or Switzerland? The former has more equality than the latter. Another: Bangladesh or New Zealand? According to the egalitarians, we should rather live in one of the poorest places on the planet than one of the richest.

Again, the degree of equality is not in any sense related to the quality of life.

So why the hysteria right now? The real problem is more fundamental in the United States. The poor are growing and entrenching. The unemployed are staying this way. The middle class is slipping, and more substantially after the the recession statistically ended than when the statistical recession was on (and polls show that hardly anyone believes we are out of recession).

Now, this is catastrophic, not because this increases the income gap, but because it is killing the American dream. What the political left is doing is attempting to change the subject away from what matters (we are all getting poor) to what doesn’t matter (the income gap between the top and bottom). And this rhetorical shift is scary: It prepares the way for higher taxes, more redistribution, more attacks on the financially successful and more of all the policies that are causing our worst problems right now.

So why the focus on the equality? As Mises says in his great work Socialism (1922): “The principle of equality is most acclaimed by those who expect to gain more than they lose from an equal distribution of goods. Here is a fertile field for the demagogue. Whoever stirs up the resentment of the poor against the rich can count on securing a big audience.”

Americans should know better. Even when our economy was the freest in the world, we had one of the most unequal distributions of that wealth on the planet. It was during these years that the lifespans of everyone increased, when the chances of moving from poor to rich were huge, when the per capita income was growing as never before in human history. Growing inequality is likely to coincide with growing wealth (see How the West Grew Rich, the masterpiece by Nathan Rosenber).

We need to learn to admire the justly rich and strive to emulate them and their outlook on life. This is what the advice manuals of the late 19th century said. The most popular magazines of the time chronicled their lives, and they were held up as national heroes. This is a sign of a healthy society. It is because of this ethos that the poor of today live vastly better than the richest of the rich 100 years ago.

Today, on the other hand, we are told to resent the rich, attack them, hate them, expropriate them. This is the sure path to disaster. Freedom is what enables the poor to become rich. The state is the means by which everyone in society is driven into poverty. We need less state and more freedom.

----

From Mish Shedlock's Economic Trend Analysis Blog:

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis:

Note that Obama projected the unemployment rate to be under 6% now according to projections of the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The only reason the unemployment rate is not 11% (or higher) is because 4.5 million people dropped out of the labor force vs. expected demographic gains."

With all these financial issues swimming about and morphing into election / campaign issues, I'm reminded of the following two quotes from the past.

“How did you go bankrupt?"
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” -― Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

This is how I'm afraid we'll go down if we do not get our fiscal house in order. Gradually and then suddenly. And the steps we are taking to FIX the crisis -- the "hair of the dog that bit you" strategy of more debt to cure a debt crisis, money printing and creation ad-nauseam, will also create an inflationary crisis (hyper-inflationary / currency crisis) that could lead to a GREAT-GREAT DEPRESSION.

And to all the OWS'ers and their supporters:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. -- H. L. Mencken

It's not a democracy folks, it's a republic.

Pure Democracy is evil.
http://www.albatrus.org/english/goverment/democracy/pure%20democracy%20is%20evil.htm

"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few." --
George Bernard Shaw

"The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can ever help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population --- the intelligent ones or the fools? I think we can agree it's the fools, no matter where you go in this world, it's the fools that form the overwhelming majority." -- Henrik Ibsen

Do the Right Thing!! - Would You? - The Penn State Saga

A couple of good articles on the 'bystander effect' and how it may have played an impact on the situation at Penn State.

I was somewhat reluctant to comment or post on this issue and SOME OF THE CONTENT THAT FOLLOWS IS FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY. However, as is usually the case, we see a bogey-man created and thrown under the bus for public consumption and the real issues of how we got to this point as a society / culture are not examined in any depth whatsoever.

Hang Paterno, Fire Boeheim. That will make everything all right. What will be worse is the solutions these PC, CYA loving douche-nozzles that run the entire system propose.

Sacrifice some underling and the public is mollified, but the behavior and the mind-set at the institutional level -- where the culture is set -- continues unabated and unexamined.

The video embedded in The Situationist blog is a real eye-opener.

The Situation of Penn State Bystanders « The Situationist:

"Many blame-laden fingers have been pointed at those who didn’t act immediately and decisively to stop the sexual atrocities that took place at Penn State.  We all know what the right thing to do was, and we are all confident that we would have done it.

But should we be?"

To state the obvious, what transpired within the Penn State football system was wrong on many levels. We know that rape is wrong, that rape should never happen, that if a rape does occur, it should be stopped from happening again. We know that pedophilia is wrong, that using power to exploit the vulnerable is wrong, that turning a blind eye to misdeeds is wrong. Still, wrong happens.

Perhaps going forward many of us may be more likely to “do the right thing” after this media frenzy than we would have been had we never been confronted with this story. But I’m interested in a slightly different question: would we ourselves, in the precise situation of those we are judging, really have acted so differently? Would we have immediately, vocally, and publicly intervened, protested, and contacted the police?

The following 37-minute video was assembled hastily to introduce a small group of my students to the events unfolding at Penn State. It contains video clips that depict, among other things, the integral role that football has long played at Penn State, the legendary and iconic status of Joe Paterno at that university, the different perspectives taken of those events and of Joe Paterno, and the various ways in which public and private law and the media have shaped the coverage and the reaction to the unfolding events. The video also includes several clips from ABC’s “What Would You Do?” series hosted by John Quiñones. Those clips might help remind viewers of some of the ways in which we tend to overestimate our own propensity to speak up, to resist, to get involved, or to fight back and underestimate our readiness to sit on our hands, to turn away, to opt for rose-tinted spectacles, or to go with the flow.

The video, be warned, has many problems (e.g., quality, editing, organization, redundancies); it did, however, provide useful fodder for what I thought was an illuminating discussion. Because of that, I decided to include it here in case others might find it useful. Though credits are not included, the vast majority of the videos can be found on Youtube.

------


Penn State, responsible citizenship and the bystander effect
BY CHRIS DOLAN

http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/article/20111117/POLITICS/111119840/Penn-State-responsible-citizenship-and-the-bystander-effect&template=politics

People have and will continue to say they would have “done something” or “gone straight to the police.” Such statements are easy to say in front of the like-minded. But, in reality, it is much too hard to do. This is why whistleblowers are, for the most part, condemned and shunned by society. It sometimes doesn't even pay to be morally responsible.

Just think about Joe Paterno. He failed to do what was right at the very moment society expected him to exercise his moral citizenship responsibilities. Paterno is a not a terrible human being. Even following his termination, he's still not a bad person. He was a great coach who dedicated his life to building the Penn State football program and supporting academic life on campus. However, he shouldn't have looked away.

Paterno and Penn State were engulfed and overwhelmed by the so-called “bystander effect,” which is when citizens consciously choose to do nothing because everyone else is doing nothing.
It's quite common. After Jayna Murray was murdered in a yoga studio in Bethesda, Md., Apple Store employees working immediately next door and hearing her screams decided to do nothing. The Apple manager even reported hearing a woman saying: “God help me. Please help me,” and “Talk to me. Don’t do this.” The now-famous video clip of Chinese toddler Xiao Yueyue being struck by two vehicles while people stood by, watched and then did nothing is a reflection of a desire to embrace bystander-ism.

It's harder to do the right thing when everyone else is doing nothing. The number of people at Penn State who reported the alleged abuse and then did nothing is far-reaching, but not surprising. Why? Building Penn State’s program took decades, and this abuse scandal has forced society to scrape the veneer to discover the ugly truth.

Penn State administrators and coaches did what they thought was right as citizens. They did nothing.

--

What is the culpability of those on the left side of the political aisle, who have promoted this type of mind-set, this type of behavior as "normal" for years and years under the guise of political correctness and tolerance?

Or have we forgotten the Obama administrations "Safe Schools Czar?"

This is the kind of SH*T they are teaching / promoting in the public schools.

And we wonder why Johnny can't read or write and add or subtract. You reap what you sow, I guess.


****** CONTENT WARNING ********
( BUT IT'S ABOUT THE OVERSEER OF SCHOOLS IN THIS COUNTRY) 

And then wonder why things like Penn State happen when jag-bags that think like this run the administration.

Good Riddance…Obama’s Radical Safe Schools Czar Hits the Skids
by Jim Hoft

http://biggovernment.com/jhoft/2011/06/21/good-riddance-obamas-radical-safe-schools-czar-hits-the-skids/

In March 2000 the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) organization of Massachusetts held its 10 Year Anniversary GLSEN/Boston conference at Tufts University. This conference was fully supported by the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Safe Schools Program, the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and some of the presenters even received federal money.

During the 2000 conference, workshop leaders led a “youth only, ages 14-21″ session that offered lessons in “fisting” a dangerous sexual practice. During the same workshop an activist asked 14 year-old students, “Spit or swallow?… Is it rude?” The unbelievable audio clip is posted here.

Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings is the founder of GLSEN. He was paid$273,573.96 as its executive director in 2007. Jennings was the keynote speaker at the 2000 GLSEN conference.

Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” was the keynote speaker at the GLSEN/Boston Conference at Tufts University in 2000. High school students at the conference learned about fisting and watersports from the GLSEN activists. Jennings is seen here holding the conference program.

(ViaMass Resistance)

Unfortunately for GLSEN, undercover journalists with Mass Resistance recorded these outrageous sessions at Tufts University. The audio was later leaked to a local radio station. This created such an uproar that GLSEN leaders were forced to apologize for their disgusting behavior.

Despite the controversy, Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings and his GLSEN organization did nothing to clean up their act. In fact in 2001 activists handed out “fisting kits” to the children and teachers who attended the GLSEN conference.

But that’s not all. The children who attended Kevin Jennnings’ GLSEN 2005 Conference also left with their own “Little Black Book – Queer in the 21st Century”.

This book exposes the young teens to–Rimming – Fisting – Water Sports (Pi$$ Play) – Toys
It’s what every teen needs to know…

The page titled “How safe is dat?” introduces young teens to fisting, rimming, and watersports (pi$$ing on your partner). Shouldn’t every teen know this?

After a two year stint, Obama’s Safe School’s czar Kevin Jennings has resigned from his position with the Obama Administration.

Sean Hannity reported on Jennings’ departure last night on his show.
Good riddance, Kevin Jennings.

----

But Paterno was the problem, right?

Or how about this little tid-bit.

If this story is true, what is ESPN's culpability in allowing these crimes to continue?

I'm sure they will hide behind some 1st Amendment issues, or even better, they didn't have "corroboration". DID JOE PATERNO? These type of crimes don't happen in front of crowds, now do they?

But shouldn't have the reporters turned over what they had to law enforcement?

Or is getting a "scoop" more important than child safety?

Read it and weep folks.

Outrageous: ESPN Sat on Molestation Tape Since 2002

http://conservativebyte.com/2011/11/outrageous-espn-sat-on-molestation-tape-since-2002/

BTW: Just asking so we know what the rules of the game are going forward.

Seems to be a lot of Monday morning QB'ing going on here.

These idiots need to worry less about a football coach, who in theory only oversees the football program and worry about the sex offenders running the administrations at these public schools.

Seems to me that there is a much bigger pool of deviants and perverts swimming around in THOSE waters. BWDIK?

Angel Pagan dealt to Giants for Torres, Ramirez: SFGate

Not exactly Miami Marlins flashy, but a solid deal. This moves Melky to LF and plugs that hole. If Pagan gets back to his 2010 numbers, this is an upgrade over Torres. The seat in CF is still being kept warm for Gary Brown, but he appears to be a year or two away.

Angel Pagan dealt to Giants for Torres, Ramirez: "The Giants will have a new option for center field in 2012.

The Giants and Mets agreed on a trade of players at the position Tuesday night, with Andres Torres (and reliever Ramon Ramirez) going to the Mets and Pagan moving to San Francisco."


Melky Cabrera, acquired last month in exchange for Jonathan Sanchez, is a more comfortable fit in left than center, and Nate Schierholtz remains the likely choice in right unless the Giants add another outfielder, though general manager Brian Sabean reiterated Tuesday that free-agent options are narrowing because of the lack of payroll flexibility.

Pagan, 30, hit .262 with a .322 on-base percentage, seven homers, 56 RBIs and 32 steals in 123 games. Though he projects as a top-of-the-order hitter along with Cabrera, Pagan batted fifth 56 times in 2011 for the Mets.

Giants Shopping Pair of Pitchers: Bleacher Report

As long as the pair does not include Lincecum or Cain I suppose this headline would be OK at first glance. However, the strength of the Giants recently has rested on it's depth. I would like to see the LHP's Affeldt and Lopez stay. Romo seems like the prototypical set-up guy, so he would be a keeper as well.

Giants Shopping Pair of Pitchers:

The Giants have a ton of money tied up in the bullpen right now, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, so they're trying to move Jeremy Affeldt or Ramon Ramirez. Many teams seek bullpen help, including the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Tigers, Twins, Angels, Mariners, Mets, Brewers, Cardinals, and Reds.

Affeldt, a 32-year-old lefty, had his $5MM club option exercised by the Giants in October. Ramirez, a 30-year-old righty, projects to earn $2.3MM in his last year before free agency.

Including Affeldt, Ramirez, Brian Wilson ($8.5MM), Javier Lopez ($4.25MM), Santiago Casilla ($1.9MM estimated), and Sergio Romo ($1.3MM estimated), the Giants project to have a $23.25MM bullpen in 2012. That doesn't seem too bad against a $130MM payroll, though it increases to over 23% of the team's spending once you remove the dead weight of Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand.

Norman’s conquest - Elburn Herald

I was truly gratified to receive the following updates regarding the progress of one of my former players -- Beloit College LHP Alex Norman -- from an understandably proud father.

After a week where the news of the day made things tough on anyone who puts the title of Coach in front of their name, it did my heart good to see the visions and aspirations that we had for this young man develop and play out over the last seven years.

Here's my Three Lefties Kaneland High School Freshman Baseball, 2005.

Alex is on the far left.

A great trio of pitchers who formed the nucleus of a pitching staff and team that I believed was a special group capable of accomplishing special things.

We wanted to build a strong foundation for a Kaneland program and tasked this group to turn around the fortunes of a program that did not have great success before 2005. We expected that they would achieve great things at the varsity level and that the program would arrive as a force to be reckoned with and respected in the conference and the surrounding area.

I believe that this group of kids did, in fact, lay the groundwork for a program that would later bring a state title back home to Kaneland.

http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2011/06/kaneland-shuts-down-opponents-stars.html

Alex has always been the epitome of a stylish left-handed pitcher and a great student of the game. You always felt comfortable with him on the mound that you would get a solid effort, he could control a running game as well as one his models -- Andy Pettitte --, and he would find ways to get guys out and get out of innings without damage.

Hitters would go home wearing different size collars and maybe wondering how. But in the end, they took the collar home. Next game, same story. It was fun to watch him develop and grow as a pitcher.

As coaches and fans, we sometimes wonder where the guys -- like a Jamie Moyer or an Alex Norman-- who pitch effectively with guts, guile and finesse are. Why do they seem to be so hard to find and identify?

All the while they are right there. Right in front of our noses. Pitching their asses off while we peer into the radar guns, reading off numbers and shaking our heads. If only pitching, or pitching evaluation could be that easy.

In baseball, sometimes we focus too much on the laundry list of things we can easily identify and quantify. We focus too much on things that kids cannot do and fail to identify and cultivate the things that kids can do. It's a little bit of CYA on our part as coaches. We play the evaluation game a little bit too safe. Intangibles are difficult to evaluate and harder for folks to see. So we tend to miss a lot on guys like Alex Norman. We go home as coaches shaking our heads, thinking "how did we miss?" in much the same way hitters walk away from an AB against Alex.

This is a can-do type of kid who finds a way to succeed and win. I never get tired of seeing success stories of this kind and Alex deserves all the success and notoriety he receives. A real classy kid.

During difficult, turbulent times, his story gives me a tangible answer to the question "Why do you keep doing this crazy thing called coaching?"

WAY TO GO ALEX!!!

We are all very proud of you. Keep up the good work.

====
THE ALEX NORMAN FILE:

Norman’s conquest - Elburn Herald:

"Junior pitcher Alex Norman, graduate of Kaneland High School in 2008, earned First Team honors on the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Central Region Team for Beloit College.

One of three Buccaneers honorees, Norman established himself as the ace of the staff this season. He closed the regular season with a 7-2 record, tying him for the most wins in a single-season, and a 2.55 ERA, the fifth-best mark in Beloit history. He also has a better than 4 to 1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, having fanned 42 while walking just 11 in 67 innings.

He led the MWC in wins, ERA and innings pitched.

He earned MWC First Team honors this season."

http://triblocal.com/des-plaines/community/stories/2011/06/patriots-norman-pitches-perfect-game/

Des Plaines Patriots’ ace, Alex Norman, pitched a perfect game Sunday, June 5th beating the Park Ridge Indians 13-0 at Maine East High School. Due to the incredible run support by the Patriots, the game was called after five innings under what is known as the “mercy” rule.

It took Norman only 44 pitches to get through five perfect innings, retiring 15 batters consecutively. “I didn’t think it was going to happen,” said Norman, “ I’ve always thought about pitching the perfect game-every pitcher does.”

Will Tim Lincecum sign a multiyear contract? | Extra Baggs

I think you have to sign Timmy and Matt Cain just as a reward for services rendered. Both should be able to pitch effectively well into their low to mid thirties. Neither one show signs of being high risks for injury or ineffectiveness. Linceum has already made the transition from thrower to pitcher and Cain is showing signs of doing the same.


From Extra Baggs blog:

Will Tim Lincecum sign a multiyear contract? Is the book of Eli coming to an end? Plus other Giants notes | Extra Baggs:

"As we all know, the Giants front office is in favor of a rule change that would protect catchers from being targeted in home-plate collisions. GM Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy both came out strongly in favor of changing the rules after Buster Posey’s season-ending injury at the plate May 25. But neither Sabean nor Bochy has been able to build any consensus within the industry. Joe Torre, MLB’s on-field operations chief, told Bochy a few months ago that he would not support any rule changes to protect catchers. Amid that climate, my understanding is that the Giants will not even bother to raise the issue."

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Will Tim Lincecum sign a multiyear contract? Is the book of Eli coming to an end? Plus other Giants notes | Extra Baggs:

"The Giants face one immediate action date on Friday. They must set reserve lists, which means protecting those players who otherwise would be eligible to be taken in the Rule 5 draft. You protect eligible players by placing them on your 40-man roster.

Charlie Culberson, Roger Kieschnick and Nick Noonan are the most recognizable names of minor leaguers who are eligible to be snatched up by another club unless they’re protected. You might not know about right-hander Hector Correa, but I consider him the easiest slam dunk to be added to the 40-man. He’s a potential impact relief arm and will be graded appropriately on Baseball America’s top prospects list. (Huge extra credit points if you remember that the Giants got Correa two springs ago when they traded Jack Taschner to the Pirates for Ronny Paulino, then flipped Paulino to Florida.)"

Right now, the Giants have 36 players on the 40-man. I suspect they will add Correa and Culberson, at least. Kieschnick is a tougher call but probably ranks third on the list. Noonan, sadly, has dropped off the map.

The Giants also might look to protect lefty David Quinowski and right-hander Justin Fitzgerald. Right-hander Daniel Otero has been a closer in the system and isn’t a pure stuff guy, but has solid numbers and might merit a roster spot. Catchers Johnny Monell and Jackson Williams would be in play, too. Monell is not a premium defender, but has left-handed power and that is a rarity.

One thing is for sure: The Giants won’t max out their 40-man. They need to keep space open in case they sign a free agent or add a player in a trade, etc.

But there is a way the club can create more space to protect some of these prospects: By cutting ties now with others on the roster who are not in the plans for 2012. The Giants have a slew of arbitration-eligible players and they don’t plan to offer contracts to all of them. Officially, they don’t have to tender those contracts until midnight on Dec. 12. But if they already know they aren’t going to bring back players like Eli Whiteside, Jeff Keppinger, Mike Fontenot, etc., they might as well do them a favor and let them loose by Friday. That way, they can have more time to catch on with another team.

Whiteside, in particular, is a candidate to be taken off the roster. He’s beloved by his teammates, he caught the only no-hitter by a Giant in almost four decades and he owns a World Series ring. I think Giants fans will always think fondly of Eli. But Chris Stewart clearly brought more defensive skills to the table last year.