Hey–thanks guys–and Zooey–I love the Marx cake but couldn’t he be wearing a Rams helmet? Oh–I don’t mean the fancy bourgeoisie blue and gold horns—not at all. I mean the old blue and whites. Marx definitely woulda favored the blue and white unis.

nittany ram wrote:

As Zooey said, Sanders is far from an ideal candidate. I was disappointed with his performances in the debates too. But Hillary also is not an ideal candidate with her baggage from Bill’s affairs and the email nonsense. Why not support the candidate who has the best ideas?

There are a few things about Bernie that bug me…

He supports Israel.

He did vote against the Iraq war but he voted in favor of funding it. He also supported NATO’s bombing of Kosovo.

Although he’s saying all the right things now his record on gun legislation is pretty weak.

He’s for labeling GMO foods in VT.

There are others but despite all that he’s still the best Democratic party candidate of my lifetime. I’m 52 and it’s taken this long for a candidate who I see eye to eye with on the majority of issues to actually be relevant nationally. He’s not going to be president but the support he gets from the youth of America gives me hope that the left may finally be emerging as a legitimate player in American politics.

As for the LA Times hit piece–it’s pretty terrible “journalism”. It doesn’t offer much in the way of specifics. It’s merely some statements by whoever they could find on the left who didn’t feel Bernie was “left” enough.

In terms of funding the war. Bernie clearly opposed the war–voted against it. But once troops are there you can’t simply not fund them. If your country is at war and you vote NOT to fund the troops(and that is EXACTLY how that would be presented)you could not run for dogcatcher.

There are always devils in the details of votes and sometimes it’s complicated. Sometimes there are side deals. I remember him voting for the “for profit” ACA after first negotiating health care clinics for the poor. It’s never completely black and white.

As for Israel—Bernie has not done enough to appease the pro-Palestinian groups legislatively–but Israel is far from happy with him either. He has spoken out on it many times–seeks the 2 state solution and of course did not attend AIPAC–and everyone does that.

There will never be a perfect and pure candidate. There are too many varied interest. The left may find that person but that person stands little chance of ever winning. So which flaws are acceptable? To me–I’ll take Bernie 7 days out of 7 days. As you said, Nittany–he is the best candidate of my lifetime–and I’m 54(Today by the way–where’s my cake?).

I think the reason you see so much opposition from other countries regarding trade agreements is because they see the corprotacracy for what it is–a virus that infects everything it touches.

Americans are a strange bunch. There is a certain laziness to Americans when it comes to the political process–a certain weariness too. The powers that be have done a fantastic job infecting academic institutions, the media, the congress, the local governments and everything in between. You really have to be a political junkie, willing to sift through a lot of stuff to find anything that really matters. And even if you do–there are bought and paid for foundations willing to put out any sort of information to counteract that no matter how flimsy–and because these foundations are so embedded now in the process the media will pick up on their propaganda and disperse it to the masses.

Simplicity also sells. The salesmen keep it simple and highlight what they want to highlight.

This is perfect for Americans with no attention span.

The sad fact is that unless the large majority of Americans reach true poverty level they may not be angry enough to get involved, seek real change and toss out the bs.

On a positive note–this campaign has shown that there is some sentiment against the establishment. They can’t just waltz in, present themselves and accept their trophy. Not all people–but some more people are paying attention.

It’s an exciting but dangerous time. How do the powers react to that? Will the internet of the future be vastly different? More controlled? Also–some folks will be open to demagoguery and may follow blindly a charismatic leader.

There is no one answer to that question.

But I think the next few years will be very important to watch. The powers will not take being challenged in any way lightly. They never rest. They never concede.

LOL!

Okay, Zooey–I honestly tried to respond with an applause GIF and when I tried to post it I got the image–or lack of an image–you see in the above post. Somehow that’s more fitting. A happy accident.

Z, for some reason, your images are not posting.

I blame the “bean” thread. The “bean” thread is responsible.

I also think a lot of Sanders followers are really no different than the Trump supporters in terms of their lack of any analytical inclination to really explore the issues. They are the same as Trump’s simplistic lets make American great again. Instead it’s lets blame the corporations for stuff that’s wrong.

Ahhh, Waterfield, you are precisely the sort of person Thomas Frank discusses in “Listen, Liberal”. You certainly know what’s best for us “less educated” folk. There is so much you simply do not get. And it would be impossible for me to explain it to you. You have a worldview and it is shared by the current leaders of the Democratic party. I understand.

But I could never make you understand.

As for this article and it’s conclusion that this ruling confirms that corporations are entitled to free speech, and that money is free speech–I’d say that is a very divided view along political lines. The vote itself was 5-4 along political lines. I think it’s utter bullshit and yes–I’m no lawyer. But others who are agree with that.

Anyone who does not see the harm being done by money in politics is either willfully ignorant or on board with that agenda. Dark money is the worst of the worst. We don’t know where it comes from. These “non-profits:(what a joke that is)play the old shell game and the money can’t be traced to its true source. We don’t even have DISCLOSURE. That’s astonishing to me. During the grass roots(er..astroturf) movement of the tea party it was found that most of the traceable money all went back to two guys–the Koch brothers. For two guys and their little group of billionaires to have that much influence is to destroy true democracy.

There is a corruption to it all extending to Supreme Court justices who attend the Koch functions.

I put no legitimacy in that ruling.

It’s a disaster.

It must be overturned and other restrictions must be applied if we want to truly save this country for the many and not the few.

Okay–I’m like the guy who shows up at a fancy party in a ripped t-shirt and jeans and swigs a beer but I don’t know one bean from another. I do know I like this:

Every time London comes up I just shake my head. Are they serious? How on earth could that be workable? I’d hate to be the team that plays in London. Those guys won’t make a season. After 8 games of travel to the states they’ll be exhausted. Logistically, I just don’t see how it all works.

The only way I see this expansion into the world working is by having half the league in Europe and the other half in the states and the winner from each league plays the championship–like the old AFL/NFL.

But that’s never going to happen.

Having a team in France, Germany, England, Mexico, China—I don’t get it. I think they may try to move the brand there but I don’t see it mixing with the NFL here–I see it seperate–it’s own thing but the NFL owns it and makes money.

I just finished a fun trilogy about post apocalyptic Washington County, NY by James Howard Kunstler. The books of the trilogy are “World Made By Hand”, The Witch of Hebron” and “A History of the Future”. I have to admit part of what made these books so enjoyable is that I live in Bennington, VT which is not far from Washington County so I recognize many of the references/descriptions of the towns, terrain etc.

I may check those out. I read “The Long Emergency” years ago and enjoyed it but found it very depressing. Of course–I’m trying for lighter stuff right now so….I may wait. As for “The Invaders”–well, everyone knows it was aliens that destroyed the Neanderthals. At one time wasn’t the theory that we were in the same line as neanderthals? And now we are from different branches? They couldn’t compete with us and our unique skill of destroying things.

Hey Billy T!

Nice to hear from you! Hope all is well.

Hey–I am getting away from political books for awhile too. It’s just bringing me down. Currently reading, “Dark Money” by Jane Mayer and a Robert Reich book but took a bit of a break this week to enjoy “HEX” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt–a fun bit of an updated version of a witches tale of a curse set in modern times.

I need a break from it all. I think I’ll just climb into a hole and hide from the craziness of the world for awhile.

Hey–at least there are the Rams to get excited about. Maybe, kinda–I hope.

Take care.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by PA Ram.

I agree with those who wanted to keep the picks but I do understand the desperation this team felt at the position. I would have preferred Wentz and I haven’t changed my mind about that.

Still, Goff is the guy and I’m hopeful he can at the very least be THE guy for 8-10 years.

I want that position to be steady.

On my most optimistic side I hope he becomes Montana.

I don’t know–Clinton is up by 10 points in California right now. Bernie may pull it out but it will be tough.

Bernie has just never been able to win enough support from the AA community and that has hurt him in many states. I don’t know why that is–but it just is. I suppose she has a history with the community and knows many leaders.

But that will help her in the general election. Trump will overwhelmingly lose minority voters.

On the other hand a lot of Bernie supporters can’t stand her and will not vote for her–period. I think most will vote for Jill Stein or not at all but some may in fact vote Trump.

At the end of the day I believe she will be the next president–unless……her legal issues bring her down. That’s the only thing I see stopping her.

I’m just not sure which team really wants Foles. He seems to be the kid without a chair when the music stops.

The Jets? They already have a mess–thank you very much. Fitzpatrick, Hackenberg, Geno Smith, Bryce Petty. Now add Foles?

The Browns? RGIII, Josh McCown, Austin Davis, Conner Shaw.

The Cowboys(for back-up) Kellen Moore, just drafted Dak Prescott. Maybe–I guess…but would they want him so bad as to give something up for him?

After last year–who sees something in Foles that makes them think he’s better than anyone they have?

The Rams are stuck here. I hope I’m surprised. Maybe someone gets hurt and a team gets desperate but they can only hold him so long before deciding between him and Mannion. And something tells me Jeff Fisher just doesn’t want to go into the facilities and see Foles around all the time after the disaster he was.

I see a release in his future.