RuntheDamnBall

The only propaganda the media proffers is in the service of those who support it: i.e. the advertisers. As soon as citizens en masse stop watching and start making their own decisions, and make it clear to business that they can't be bought with sensationalism and pandering, it will stop. In the meantime, most people complain about the liberal media or Fox News but they'll leave one or the other on -- claiming that "at least it's better than Brand X" -- instead of researching the issues on their own, reading a book, taking a course, etc. We are educated by the media because most are too lazy to look deeper or too conditioned to believe that the major channels of information are the best / most reliable. I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it till I'm blue in the face. Look who controls the media. Mega-mega-mega corporations like GE, Disney, Viacom. These are not all liberal companies with liberal causes. At the ground level operations there may be more left-leaning reporters, writers, etc. There may not. But in any case, if any of them fail to serve the interests of their employers, which are primarily economic, they won't make it. Right now it's believed a Lowest Common Denominator approach works and that for the distracted media consumer, simply getting that consumer's attention in the service of advertising is paramount. Less to do with politics and mostly to do with business and self-preservation. Not that any of this has anything to do with the unchecked consolidation of media across all platforms and the virtual elimination of localized media. There is hope that the web can open up these issues... we'll see.

Just found this on ESPN Rumor Central. Seems to fly in the face of the 30% Rule. Can anyone explain how this could be possible?

Man, where is TSW genius Kurt Goebbels (sic) to lead the "Warner is God" discussion? You'd think this would have touched his radar by now.

Has that even been floated as a possibility? And are they on good terms? McCain is still pretty socially conservative and his platform on abortion is pretty far off from Hillary's. While it's certainly not the world's most important issue, to the media it is, and to the people each Senator would be looking to for support it would be difficult to swallow.

Wrong. The media's focus is "what will make us money today?" If it's Dick Cheney hugging babies and petting fuzzy dogs, you can bet your ass they'll air it. If it's Clinton parsing words about a BJ, you can bet they'll air it. If I engage the police in a unicycle chase, CNN airs it and people stop for a few extra seconds and see a Chevy ad, they're going to look for more unicycle chases to air. It's pretty simple. $en$ationali$m + viewership = more sensationalism. And the wheel goes round. Then again, if we stop watching TV and buying things we don't need, the terrorists win.

Clumpy, just to clarify, that means amt a salary can be reduced on a current contract, right? Not that the Bills couldn't extend him for, say, two more years with the following years at lower salary?

Couldn't have done it. Too much drama for this early on. Still over 12 shows to go.

I'm not rooting for one over the other. I'm saying the government, people we elect, are our only check against corporations running roughshod on anyone/thing in the way. Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of the solutions that our world is going to require -- particularly the drive toward sustainability -- are going to be driven by corporations. And we need to encourage not just profit-driven solutions, but solutions that imply the same responsibility we (should) expect of our citizens. But corporations, as you well know, are not built for human interest or environmental interest -- they are built to make money. If one coincides with the other, great. Unfortunately, conservatives have been duped into thinking that an unintrusive government is synonymous with no government, and that NO government is preferable to efficient government that defends its people when necessary. Also funny that the government is responsible for defending us when it comes to any military / national security matters. When it comes to defending patients, or defending the environment that is going to be the context for human well-being when we are all long gone, it's "intrusive."

In this instance, it's better than shouting hooray for granting corporations all of the rights and none of the responsibilities of individuals...

Hence the dearth of BoTD posts lately.

You'd have to ask the ladies what his Wonderlic score means.

I don't know of the names, but Supermarket News says there are ten in Texas.

No OL till 6th round? Donahoe is back!

True enough, but if you ask any NFL GM if you could draft a gamebreaking RB and pay him #1 overall money, or draft the same guy at #3 overall money, plus get two picks and a speedy KR, there's not even going to be a debate. They'll do what the Chargers did. They bet that the player they wanted would still be there at #3 and won out. Doesn't matter if the picks didn't end up being great. By the percentages, they gave themselves better odds to hit with a few picks.

I agree. Let the work of developing linemen go to someone else's coaching staff. Add Backus and Bentley, draft a blue-chipper at G with a second rounder, (along with a solid No.2 receiver) and the ballgame looks pretty good for them. They are at least 2 years away from the playoffs. They'd be wise not to blow their load and draft the next Mike Williams just because they need linemen. Better to get that impact player in Bush, a player who takes attention away from the rest of the offense and makes Andre Johnson and co. look a lot better. In two years with Bush and some solid FA line pickups, they could do some damage.

Yes it was. It was F'in bizarre. The guy comes out halfway through the tune with a blonde mohawk, silver cape and muscle shirt, bandaged hand, plays a keyboard that's way down in the mix, sings into two mics (one of which is pretty much inaudible). He sings a few chorus lines, let's streetwalker-looking Ciara, grandpa Steven Tyler with colonially attired Joe Perry, some forgettable American Idols, and "I'm white but wish I wasn't" Joss Stone cover the whole song to middling effect. He waves with an "I'm outta here" look, leaves, and the band continues to vamp for about 2 minutes as it appears they are hoping he will return for another round of applause. He doesn't. Never clear if they were going to give him an award or what, exactly. It was pretty clear Sly had either just busted out of the asylum or just assaulted his case worker. At least we have his music to remember. This was by far one of the stranger Grammy moments, ranking right up there with "Stevie, can you see us?"

I could name some patently awful ones. The one that surprised me was Christina Aguilera and Herbie Hancock, classing it up. Especially because Hancock wasn't really playing with her, just running circles and soloing around her vocals. She held her own pretty well, too.

It's one thing, and an easy thing, to say one should have to live with the judgements of others and put up with bull sh-- from people who don't know the first thing about him/her. It's another to live that way. I always thought one should try to understand why people might have made their choices before criticizing them. Then again, those from the holier-than-thou moral crowd have, I'm certain, led exemplary lives in every way and have no house-cleaning of their own to do.

I know you didn't view the protests as violent and you seem to have taken it pretty well considering you had nothing at all to do with abortion. I can only imagine what it must feel like for a woman who's been a victim of sexual abuse trying to enter or leave the facility, having a bunch of strangers touching her, shouting at her, and calling her a murderer.

A more reasonable example would be protestors (union, Plan B, whatever) outside of Wal Mart. They can't block access for or act abusive toward anyone who wants to enter the store.

Perhaps that's why they played so 'well' last year, to keep themselves off MNF.

Precisely why the Bills lose. Pittsburgh's team veterans came together and rallied around Roethlisberger. His coach ran, ran, ran the ball and gave Ben less chances, but they were higher-success chances. What do the Bills do in this situation? Whiny vets quit on JP at the first sign of stress, rather than supporting him. Half the team stays with him, half roots for a guy who's proven himself to be nothing more than a backup over a 10-year career. The coach plays musical chairs and calls plays like a 5-year-old. Marv's right, this team needs character in spades.

Some of these dopes were calling for a new QB after 3 or 4 games. One of them was coaching the team at the time, as I recall.

MAX!

Especially since women have been taking what is basically the homemade version of the 'morning after' pill for years -- many 'regular' prescription birth control pills. It's the same thing, just higher dosage. Thing is the morning after pill is more regulated than an inordinate number of the regulars.