I'd take the arrogant prick (whose views I like) over the incompetent nice guy every day of the week.


edited for steagles and his nitpickiness

pacino wrote:I'd take the arrogant prick over the incompetent nice guy every day of the week.

chaney2012?

pacino wrote:I'd take the arrogant prick (whose views I like) over the incompetent nice guy every day of the week.


edited for steagles and his nitpickiness

That's the other thing. I'm not sure I like Bloomberg's "views." And I'm certain I don't like his style, which is pretty much the turned-up-to-11 version of "I'm the boss, and I say DO THIS." Again, not good in democracy. And it does matter, because it ties into how he implements things.

What I like is his willingness to engage with questions of huge importance fraught with political danger, or at least devoid of political benefit: sustainability, the public schools, entrenched poverty. That's the freedom that incomprehensible wealth buys. Whether I agree with the answers he supports is, again, another issue. But I do like that he asks the questions.

dajafi wrote:

pacino wrote:I'd take the arrogant prick (whose views I like) over the incompetent nice guy every day of the week.


edited for steagles and his nitpickiness

That's the other thing. I'm not sure I like Bloomberg's "views." And I'm certain I don't like his style, which is pretty much the turned-up-to-11 version of "I'm the boss, and I say DO THIS." Again, not good in democracy. And it does matter, because it ties into how he implements things.

What I like is his willingness to engage with questions of huge importance fraught with political danger, or at least devoid of political benefit: sustainability, the public schools, entrenched poverty. That's the freedom that incomprehensible wealth buys. Whether I agree with the answers he supports is, again, another issue. But I do like that he asks the questions.

But at some point, it's effectiveness that really matters. Taking on entrenched interests is all well and good, but throwing taxpayer money to build a stadium for the most valuable franchise in sports smacks of same old same old to me. This is on top of the attempt to spend billions to build the Jets a stadium on the West Side.

He believes in that kind of development. I sure don't.

I haven't followed the Yankee Stadium cluster fuck too closely, but it seems like a mess from start to finish: imposed on the community rather than with them, bad estimates--which of course is why the Yankees have their hands out again now--and a net loss of usable park space in the community. That they're going to give a few lucky kids tickets from time to time doesn't make up for much of that.

As the article you linked points out, his opponents are going to try to beat him senseless with that, and land use/development more generally, this year. I wouldn't be shocked if it works, even after Mike spends his $80-100 million.

I really do wish all governments everywhere would stop subsidizing stadiums.

TenuredVulture wrote:I really do wish all governments everywhere would stop subsidizing stadiums.

I don't know, it's nice to know that at least some small percentage of things that government subsidizes actually provide reliable enjoyment to people.

So I was watching Blackhawk Down last night - it was one of my favorite movies. I know, it's not nearly as good as most people's favorite movies but what can I say. I've read the book by Mark Bowden and I'm comfortable that it's mostly accurate. While I know many people in the know would call this a military debacle/disaster, I always viewed it as a shining example of everything I was proud of as an American - resilience, bravery, etc. The scene/subplot where the two soldiers volunteer to essentially go off to their deathes just to help some injured men is extremely powerful. My one slight criticism of the film at the time was that it seemed to depict the whole Somali population as ignorant savages. On the other hand, the way they heinously treated the bodies of our fallen soldiers was nauseating to me.

Anyway, all this is my slow way of saying F you George Bush, you took away my feelings of moral superiority and confidence in the way that Americans conducted themselves. Maybe you just acted the way American leaders/soldiers have always acted, you just were much less successful in covering it up. I don't know, but it really pisses me off that I can't enjoy this movie nearly as much as I used to.

That said, Eric Bana rules.

VoxOrion wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:I really do wish all governments everywhere would stop subsidizing stadiums.

I don't know, it's nice to know that at least some small percentage of things that government subsidizes actually provide reliable enjoyment to people.

This is one of the main uses of government spending (outside of road building) that I actually use, subsidizing sports. But, I agree with TV that it's pretty silly.

Werthless wrote:

VoxOrion wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:I really do wish all governments everywhere would stop subsidizing stadiums.

I don't know, it's nice to know that at least some small percentage of things that government subsidizes actually provide reliable enjoyment to people.

This is one of the main uses of government spending (outside of road building) that I actually use, subsidizing sports. But, I agree with TV that it's pretty silly.

Yup. Stadia and roads.

I'm into garbage collection.

Houshphandzadeh wrote:I'm into garbage collection.

Whew yeah. On our street there's also second wave of guys in green coats who sweep and power wash. In October they wore Phillies hats

Like Ford, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush, Obama is a lefty.

We literally rule!

TenuredVulture wrote:Like Ford, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush, Obama is a lefty.

We literally rule!

Isn't Dubya right handed?

Well, he's pretty sinister!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5xGZujzkrA[/youtube]

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Houshphandzadeh wrote:I'm into garbage collection.

I use it, but only because they make me pay for it anyway. A lot of states have private garbage companies.

jerseyhoya wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Like Ford, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush, Obama is a lefty.

We literally rule!

Isn't Dubya right handed?

I stand corrected. But Gore was left handed, and we all know he really won the Presidency.

In any event, in most of the lifetimes of the people on this board, the right handed Presidents have been pretty sucky--Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and GWB.

Just like Cole Hamels.

I forgot how good of a throw that was.

Dick Cheney in the house.