waterfield wrote:

As an aside I just was released from USC following a simple prostatectomy. Six hours surgery standing on my head while a robot assaults you. Six days in the hospital post surgery and now home for a few months of recovery.

I have never had robot surgery–although I expect I probably will sometime in the future.
That makes me cringe a bit.

There is a Miss United States contest? Or does that mean she’s representing the United States in the Miss Universe contest? And why can’t these pageants expand to Mars and Pluto anyway? I mean–is Earth’s winner REALLY Miss Universe? Do we know for sure there are no other signs of intelligent pageants out there?

Let me echo the others and wish her the best of luck.

I work with a few guys who have had that done. They get around much better after the procedure. At least we have modern medicine that such a thing is even possible.

Lots of rumors about the Eagles trading up for Goff or even Wentz.

They seem to be collecting QBs. Maybe it’s a smokescreen.

I wonder where all the money went. Did it go to the Catholic Church? I mean–she clearly wasn’t doing the Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker thing of rubbing it right under their donor’s noses but where did it go?

There isn’t much of a better moneymaking operation than religion.

When you’re selling salvation and God–people want to buy.

The question for me is:

Is there a QB in this draft worth moving up to the #1 or #6 position of the draft?

I haven’t read anything that makes me think there is.

We can’t find good QBs now.

What on earth will we do when we expand even further?

I think the NFL is maxed out talentwise to be an elite league.

Now you can argue that you’d be expanding the pool of talent by bringing in foreign players but that will take years. And can you imagine the NFL teams playing the game they play with U.S. cities now with other countries? Well–if Oakland won’t build a stadium Beijing will.

Teams may move every other season.

Nah.

No thanks.

Looks like the Titans will be making that first pick.

One historical comparison that should raise eyebrows among Rams’ faithful? Fuller is compared to Torry Holt.

I could live with another Torry Holt.

I just want to say, this is a fantastic thread. Lots of great thoughts and debate.

I’ve enjoyed reading it.

I just wanted to touch on the whole DIVIDED issue in the country today. It’s an extreme division IMO. I can’t remember in my lifetime the right and left being THIS far apart on so many issues. Would Nixon be a Democrat today? Could Reagan get elected by the Republicans today?

I don’t know the answers to that of course.

But I believe that the rise of right wing radio and later Fox News has really been one of, if not THE single biggest driving force in widening the divide. The left has no such equal to that. So the anger from the left to me is a response to the right.

I’m not saying that people did not have prejudices or have hard religious beliefs BEFORE any of that–but the rightwing media machine was able to tie all of it together and to focus the anger. It gave targets names. It explained things for them in ways that helped them define their feelings into a common cause–a common anger and hate.

It pointed out villains and showed where to point the blame for whatever was wrong in their lives.

After awhile some of them didn’t even have to think anymore. They tuned in to hear what Rush had to say–he explained it for them. Did you ever hear Rush frustratingly explain slowly to a listener what the TRUTH was, when it didn’t match HIS truth?

Was it brainwashing? Not quite, perhaps. There had to be some feelings there to start with, of course. If I listened to Rush 24/7 it would do nothing for me. But it was like a therapist or better yet–a hypnotist drawing out what was there and defining it and directing it.

And don’t dare be against that–or think differently lest you risk ridicule. If you think differently you must be confused or a “victim” of the left wing media(a brilliant ghost they created to enable blocking out other information that did not match the narrative exactly). And the radio could be on all day–at home–at work–in the car. It is everywhere.

Rush is ANGRY.

Glen Beck is ANGRY.

Michael Savage is ANGRY.

Sean Hannity is ANGRY.

Why aren’t YOU angry too?

Years and years of this has grown the seeds of anger and hatred. And that needs a target.

Is it the gays?

The Muslims?

The President?

The Communist left?

Something has to be responsible for this.

Only now–with Trump…the snake is eating its own tail. The creators and enablers of this(the politicians who legitimized it all for their benefit)have realized the beast is out of the cage. They loved it when they controlled all of this. Now they aren’t so sure.

The left is angry too–angry at the embrace of corporate power and the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. It’s angry at the betrayal of its leaders who have moved the goalposts of what “left” is or what “progressive” even means.

Somewhere the anger even criss-crosses with the right–on trade for example. But on others it couldn’t be further apart.

So there is a big gap with anger on both ends and a lot of stress in the middle.

The “middle” says no one gets everything they want.

The ends want some things that are the same–others that are very different.

But the problem is that the “middle” hasn’t paid much attention to the basic underlying problem of wealth inequality. People feel that and fear it on both ends. They may say they are addressing this in calculated slow, one-step-at-a-time moves but are they really?

I think it was great they did SOMETHING about healthcare–but people are still falling behind. Many plans went up–way up. Some people were helped and I’m all for that–I’m willing to pay for that. I think it’s a good thing. But it could have been so much better with less pain for everyone. Obama didn’t even try, really–because the corporate writers told him what he could do and not do. He stared negotiating from a position of weakness.

No public option. Period.

The big thing on the left is WHO do you work for?

The feeling is it isn’t the people.

There is a place for pragmatism. There is a place for the “middle” ground. But why is that only for the poor and middle class? Why do the powerful not have to wait in line? Why do their needs come first? Why is it only the poor or middle class told to sit down, shut up and wait your turn?

Is this how it HAS to be?

If they truly wanted to do something “radical” couldn’t they do it?

Do we have to invade every country or set off regime change around the world and deal with the mess that is left in its wake? Is that our only choice? Do we have to throw trillions into the military machine for eternity?

Do we have to allow big banks or wealthy elites to do whatever they want–to gamble however they please and bail them out on the losses? Do we have to give them a tax holiday to bring billions back home?

Do we have to sign terrible trade agreements and wonder when the first one will REALLY start helping average workers at home? I get that trade is part of a geopolitical game on some levels–but at what cost?

These are choices we make.

They aren’t laws of nature.

The anger stems from what people perceive to be bad choices. The revolution is about new choices.

People are tired of being told to sit down and shut up.

We want those in political office to work for US again.

The problem is that “divide”. And that “divide” is what the political class and money powers use to control things. It works FOR them in so many ways. It’s hard to have a revolution in a civil war.

Pragmatism won’t solve that.

Results will solve it. People need to see their lives improve–to feel it.

But I’m not sure the powers that be will ever really encourage unity anymore–it works against them. But it’s also destroying them. They need this in a controlled way–and it’s not something they can control.

Hopefully something positive can emerge, and soon.

John Goodman is long overdue for an Oscar.

In the meantime Mark Rylance and his bland performance in “Bridge of Spies” gets one.

As for this film? Isn’t this a sequel? The first “Cloverfield” was one of those handheld type things and I wasn’t crazy about it. Is this one really better?

I do love Mary Elizabeth Winstead though. I think she SHOULD get more “serious” type roles. She’s kind of become a bit of a scream queen and she can do more than that.

Maybe I’ll check it out.

I’m not excited about any of these guys and less excited about overpaying for one of them at the possible expense of other–better quality players at other positions. I’d actually rather just keep Keenum and see if Mannion comes along. I’d rather see them do that than reach and overpay for one of these guys.

Sometimes you just aren’t in a position to get THE guy at QB.

This looks like that kind of year.

wv wrote:

Do you think its the same with Bernie and his supporters
or do you think its the opposite? Ie, Bernie supporters
are all about the Policies and not the drama/emotion ?

For me personally, its always the policies. Period.

w
v

I would hope that people mostly vote on policy although I don’t think that’s true. I always consider policy first but I have to put character with that–as in sincerity of what a candidate is selling.

A candidate can be whatever the candidate needs to be to get elected. So character is important. Does the candidate believe what he/she says? Or are they just presenting to be something they think will sell at the moment? If they’re phony than their policy doesn’t make much difference. How will they truly govern?

So to really decide takes some digging. Just watching the superficial news media won’t help.

It takes effort–work, real involvement.

Millions of Americans won’t even take the time to vote.

Others, who do take that time, will put little if any effort into the work of deciding on a candidate.

I believe that most Americans vote on emotion–period. Do they like the guy? Do they like the brand?

I just read a Matt Taibbi article in Rolling Stone where he interviewed a Trump supporter and the person was going on about how Trump was blasting the trade deals and this and that and how she liked that. When Taibbi asked her if she had supported Dick Gephardt when he had brought up the same issues she said that she did not. She didn’t “like” Gephardt. She “liked” Trump. Years ago I can remember someone being interviewed about why they were voting for Dukakis and they said they liked his ties.

This is real America. This is who decides elections.

And look, I’m not saying that no one has dug into Trump and at the end of the day like him anyway–I’m sure those people are out there. Or they have just decided a big FU to the establishment is worth their vote.

People have all sorts of reasons for voting who they vote for–some reasons seem sane and others do not.

I am a Bernie supporter. And I hear that while some people like Bernie, they don’t see his political revolution happening overnight and that he won’t be able to get half the things done he’s saying he will do once elected. And it’s a great argument. I get how people can feel that way and vote for Hillary.

My problem is that I don’t see her changing very much. I don’t like the idea that these changes will happen but it’s a long slow process. Little victories will get us there. That’s why we have medicare and social security and now a national health care program.

That may be true–or not. The pendulum can easily swing the other way.

There’s the character issue. Why should I believe that someone who takes money from Wall Street will regulate them?

What about foreign policy? Will she think things through before burying us in another nightmare? I have no doubt Bernie would be very cautious about such things. I don’t know that about her. She may even try to PROVE how serious she is after the whole Benghazi mess.

I don’t know.

I trust Bernie.

But…having said all of that…I would still vote for her in the general election over the Republicans. That makes me sick in some ways. I won’t make calls for her, won’t donate to her, won’t try to sell her to anyone, won’t bring any enthusiasm to her campaign.

I will push a button and hope for the best.

But that’s not what the primary is for, in my opinion. That’s about getting who you REALLY want to the nomination. If he loses, at least he has given a voice to someone like me, who feels the way he does about money in politics and political corruption.

I appreciate that.