The latest news on Ricky Williams
You should know that Jesse Chatman is hurt. He has a right ankle sprain that limited him today in practice. He tried to take some snaps in individual drills but was hobbling noticeably. On one pass attempt, he actually pulled up lame and sat out the rest of the drills for a while.
So, barring a quick recovery, Chatman will likely be limited through the week of practice.
That means today Patrick Cobbs took much of the work as the starting running back and Ricky Williams primarily took second-team snaps. Lorenzo Booker is taking the third-team snaps and Samkon Gado is running scout team.
Anyway, if Chatman cannot play or if the chances of him aggravating the ankle injury are high, Williams will be activated off the exemption list and will be the backup against Pittsburgh. If Chatman recovers by Monday -- and remember he has six days -- then Williams likely won't be activated.
If there were no injury at all, it would be unlikely coach Cam Cameron would activate Ricky because he doesn't want to risk having the RB pull a hamstring or strain a groin after having so little football activity the past 18 months.
But Chatman's injury has thrown a wrench in those plans. That is the reason Cameron was eyeing the running backs with particular, almost unusual, attention today. He stood right there as they caught passes and took handoffs early in practice.
One quick anecdote: Ricky caught a couple of passes cleanly and looked to have his usual burst. But then he dropped a pass right in front of Cameron. Well, instead of dropping his head and moping back to the line for his next scheduled repetition later, he rushed back and got in line ahead of the next guy to take the next repetition.
And he caught the next pass cleanly. That, no matter what you think of Williams off the field, is the type of guy a team loves on the field.
I have been told by sources who watched the entire practice that Williams looked GREAT. I am told he was easily the best RB on the field.
"I haven't played football in a year and then to get on the field and feel it all come back so quickly was a little surprising," Williams said afterward.
Cameron, meanwhile, admitted that Williams had zero problem picking up the Dolphins offensive system because he played in a similar system for Norv Turner. Glad Camaron is realizing Williams is very bright.
Get the feeling he'll soon realize he's very good, too.
So, barring a quick recovery, Chatman will likely be limited through the week of practice.
That means today Patrick Cobbs took much of the work as the starting running back and Ricky Williams primarily took second-team snaps. Lorenzo Booker is taking the third-team snaps and Samkon Gado is running scout team.
Anyway, if Chatman cannot play or if the chances of him aggravating the ankle injury are high, Williams will be activated off the exemption list and will be the backup against Pittsburgh. If Chatman recovers by Monday -- and remember he has six days -- then Williams likely won't be activated.
If there were no injury at all, it would be unlikely coach Cam Cameron would activate Ricky because he doesn't want to risk having the RB pull a hamstring or strain a groin after having so little football activity the past 18 months.
But Chatman's injury has thrown a wrench in those plans. That is the reason Cameron was eyeing the running backs with particular, almost unusual, attention today. He stood right there as they caught passes and took handoffs early in practice.
One quick anecdote: Ricky caught a couple of passes cleanly and looked to have his usual burst. But then he dropped a pass right in front of Cameron. Well, instead of dropping his head and moping back to the line for his next scheduled repetition later, he rushed back and got in line ahead of the next guy to take the next repetition.
And he caught the next pass cleanly. That, no matter what you think of Williams off the field, is the type of guy a team loves on the field.
I have been told by sources who watched the entire practice that Williams looked GREAT. I am told he was easily the best RB on the field.
"I haven't played football in a year and then to get on the field and feel it all come back so quickly was a little surprising," Williams said afterward.
Cameron, meanwhile, admitted that Williams had zero problem picking up the Dolphins offensive system because he played in a similar system for Norv Turner. Glad Camaron is realizing Williams is very bright.
Get the feeling he'll soon realize he's very good, too.
posted by Armando Salguero at 1:34 PM
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117 Comments:
My heart is a flutter with actual facts!! How did Cobbs look? That would be a nice piece of info since if Chatman does not play he will probably start. Armando, you were solid last week. Bring it this week!! And what about Joe Toledo?
Brett
Wow, Armando, wholly crap. You just made a legitamate, logical argument about the dolphins situation without proving over the top emotion and/or opinion.
It was unsensantional and I love it. Appreciate the logic. Lets just hope "fan"atics will understand what you wrote and not apply the normal stupidity.
Great post, Armando. I didn't like the Saban post, but this is chock full of facts, logic, and hot news. Nice recovery. Ricky could have crawled into an Indian cave to meditate and fast for 10 months and would still be leaps and bounds better than Cobbs. Cobbs plays with a lot of heart, but just can't cut and explode with the quickness of Ricky. Cobbs should be our first down back, while Ricky and Booker take second down for sweeps, screens, and play-actions. Then split Cobbs and Ricky as third-down backs throughout the game depending on freshness.
And if we get in a crazy fourth and one situation, we should put Cobbs and Ricky in the backfield in a T formation, since both can block (assuming Ricky is as bulky as they say he is).
Obviously above, we have an NFL insider and a coach. What do you know about profootball bro. We need to know how Cobbs looked. That is important info. He will start. And what about Joe Toledo?
Brett
Too bad about Chatman. It doesn't seem like this team is going to catch any breaks this season where injuries are concerned. I'm sure that everyone will be excited if Ricky sees action too. If he plays, I hope he can contribute in positive ways, without fumbling!
Much better blog Armando. Is Lo Booker showing anything yet? That's what I want to know.
DrumFinFan
Obviously, above, bro, we have a moron.
Cobbs has been playing the past couple weeks. We've seen how he looks. We also saw him in the preseason.
I agree that Cobbs, L-Book, and Ricky should play, though I don't know about having Cobbs block...
Since Armando said "okay, enough fiction" does that mean we can expect to actually see REPORTING from now on, or just today? If for the rest of the season, that would truly be something to be THANKFUL for.
I cannot promise only facts the entire rest of the season. There will be facts, there will be opinion, there will be jokes and flights of fancy.
In short, I promise to write whatever the heck I want on this blog. And you guys are free to sift through the stuff and THINK.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Love you all. Even the haters.
Welcome back the "Rumblin' Fumbler"...I came up with that earlier, I'm proud of myself, it's catchy ;)
If/when he plays this year who wants to guess how many rushes he has before he fumbles?
Sources say Ricky "took a lot of hits in practice"... NFL officials are going to test his urine to confirm the reports...
Posted by another blogger on the practice article, thought it was funny enough to re-post
Armando, please tell me that someone DID NOT ask Cameron if he would be interested in the Michigan job.
*groan*
Between your last post and this one, I think you may be smoking Ricky's left over stash. I'll respond to both posts now.
First, I'm glad Saban left because Mueller had a decent draft. Maybe not the best offseason pickups, but the draft class may be one of our best in YEARS. So while Cameron is going through growing pains, I think the rebuilding is full steam ahead, and if Saban stayed, we would be in the boat we are in now only a year later. While not everyone in this draft will turn out to be great, we are getting some depth. Think about it, we are loosing but playing hard. Once we upgrade the talent, we can still keep a lot of the guys for special teams and backup roles. We had 5 rookie starters last week. Maybe 3 will be starters next year, and a the others will be solid backup material. This is how you build winners in the NFL. Mueller gets a B grade so far, and that's pretty damn good considering what we've had.
As far as the running back situation, I was one of the ones stating that Ricky should never come back to the Dolphins during the 2004 season. Fast forward 3 years, I think its crazy not to use him. When he's on the field, he's one of the best. Smoking pot was stupid in the fact that he broke the rules to get suspended, but it definitely hasn't effected his talent and skill. With that said, welcome back Ricky. I'm glad to see you, but I don't think anyone will put all their eggs in your basket like Wannstedt did. I think that will be a good thing for both the Dolphins and Ricky.
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Honestly, Armando when you try to be funny sometimes you are and sometimes you're not. When you give an opinion, sometimes I agree and sometimes I don't.
But when you report ... You are truly the best.
Where's the picture of ao?
There are at least two grammatically incorrect sentences in Armando's blog, which is about average for him.
I teach English at Sunset High in Miami and I can tell you there are no grammatical problems with this blog.
And, for the unfamiliar with popular culture, kids today don't care about grammar in blogs. It is about the facts, the entertainment, but mostly, the opinion. And from what I've seen of this one, it has all those things.
OSU GRAD
To the idiot OSU grad, here is one grammatically incorrect sentence, can you find the other?
"Get the feeling he'll soon realize he's very good, too."
Maybe you skipped too many classes, but really this is a matter of 5th grade English.
Is THIS the REAL Armando or the hacker? :)
I doubt that you could find ANY back that plays with more heart than Cobbs but sadly I just dont think he has the skill or instincts to go along with it but if he did he would be one of if not the best because he leaves it ALL on the field and I mean every drop!
Won't get into a debate with you on the sentence you just cited as an example, but the fact of the matter is it is not incorrect in writing.
Is it a fragment? Yes. Is it incorrect in journalism? Nope, not at all. Please learn the language and how it can be used before you pose as an authority on the language and how it can be used.
Mr. Salguero is actually very good and his clips are often used at the University of Miami as examples for how to do it well.
Ricky needs to get a chance to increase his trade value. I hope the Dolphins give him that chance.
Great stuff, Mando!
Armando,
Regarding your "war games" yesterday, you forgot that the U.S. army is overextended. In order for the U.S. army to be able to participate in such a large war, they would have to reinstate the draft. Now, if the draft were to be reinstates for a pointless war, dissent among the American population would be higher than it has ever been in the last 100 years. Amaru would have a field day in the streets with all the chaos.
lit major, you are 'lit' indeed... a fragment is not a grammatically correct sentence. Today's youth seem to think anything in print or in the media must be correct. How sad. I grew up reading books written by writers who could write in English. Now the world is tainted with charlatans. The standards of journalism have indeed sunk to unacceptable depths.
Something for the people writing about the United States' governments is #1 in the blog lately to think about over Thanksgiving:
No Turkey Day for Many Americans
Over 1.3 million people, one in six New Yorkers, cannot afford enough food, with queues at soup kitchens getting longer, anti-poverty groups say.
The New York City Coalition Against Hunger says the number of people who use food pantries and soup kitchens in the city increased by 20% in 2007.
Some of the food distribution points are struggling to meet demand.
The coalition blames the situation mainly on increased poverty as well as government cutbacks in food aid.
No Thanksgiving turkey
"This annual survey of food pantries and soup kitchens shows that more working families, children, and seniors are being forced to seek emergency food," Joel Berg, the coalition's executive director, said in a statement.
"Given that hunger continued to increase in the city, even when the economy was still strong last year, it is no wonder that now, when the economy is weakening, lines at pantries and kitchens are getting even worse."
Some food outlets said they would not be able to distribute turkey rations for Thanksgiving on Thursday, because their federal supplies of food had been cut by as much as three-quarters.
Food Bank, a non-profit organization which distributes food to about 1,000 pantries, said its shelves were half full compared with usual levels.
According to a survey, 59% of New York's food programs, up from 48% last year, said they did not have enough resources to meet demand.
The US Department of Agriculture says 12.6 million households nationwide, or more than 30 million people - 10% of the population - did not have enough food at some point in 2006.
When it gets to the point where theyre discouraging people from saying "Ho Ho Ho!" during Christmas time because in todays "culture" that means "whore", you know the youth's laziness and flat out SORRINESS is not only being allowed but condoned !
Certain members of society cant speak English as well as immigrants who have been here less than a year.
Dem,doz,dey,sho nuff,shree..c im sayn!
Its BEYOND pathetic and will only get worse .
One thing that is overlooked here when discussing the possibility of a pulled muscle, is Williams' practice of yoga.
It is MUCH less likely for muscles that are daily stretched and contrcted to their extremes via yoga to end up being pulled. In this case, I think it is a non-issue.
Dear Harold: You've convinced me. I'm moving to Ethopia immediately. Or maybe back to Cuba with a side trip to Siberia.
The United States is not perfect. The nerve of us.
Brian,
As a person with a degree in linguistics, I feel that I must tell you that language changes. The language that we use today is very different than the language that Shakespeare used, and the language that Shakespeare used was very different than the language that Chaucer used. Language changes, whether you like it or not, it will continue to change. Grammar prescriptivists will always be angry because they can't get language to stay the same.
Prescriptivists often have a political motive behind their desire to keep language the same, and you appear to be no different. You deride immigrants for not being able to speak what ou cyonsider proper English, while also slighting the manner that young African Americans speak. Your reason for a prescriptive approach is racism. If you would like to control the English language, you should gather a group of pretentious people who share your opinion, and you can try to start up an English Academy to oversee the language, as the languages of French and Spanish have.
ricky better play vs pittsburgh and cam take the michigan job please!
John, Amaru wouldn't last 20 minutes on the streets of Overtown or Little Havana.
bryan in ohio i second that!
cam please go to MICHIGAN bryan in ohio! HEY WAYNE GET BILL PARCELLS DOWN HERE ASAP!
Brilliant Armando,
There is no country named Ethopia. Neither is Siberia, rather a region in Russia.
Apparently, you don't care that 10% of the population of the United States can't get enough food to eat. As long as there is food on your plate, damn the rest. Now I understand the point all the people who claim the United States is #1 are trying to make. "The United States allows me to get enough to eat." Wow, what a great nation.
What makes you think I'm not a "Towner," Armando? You don't think people from Overtown can get to a universtiy?
Troy, give me a break with your double talk. You do not speak for me nor do you know what I think or makes me tick.
You seem to be a typical America-loathing secular humanist who complains bitterly about anything American but does nothing to alleviate the pain he sees everywhere. Tell me, brother, are you spending your Thanksgiving feeding those less fortunate than you? Or are you just blah blah blah blahhing on this blog and doing zero to help the situation? Be honest.
I went to grade school, high school and college with people from overtown, Amaru.
But you talked yesterday about starting an insurgency in the streets. How about starting an economic revolution to stimulate growth and hope in Overtown if you indeed are a 'towner?'
I love Salguero!!! Go get them Tiger.
Armando,
I don't only help those in need on Thanksgiving, I try to do it all year. I've donated $10,000 to those in need for three straight years, and I will continue that practice for as long as I can. My humanitarian faith commands me to do so.
Harold and Troy,
Where are the starving in this country? Point to one person who starved to death that is not a Hollywood celebrity.
Here is some information about one of your beloved communist nations, er, slavve states, er, Peoples' Republics --
{The United Nations World Food Program has appealed for more help from donors to rescue millions of North Koreans from the brink of starvation.
"MILLIONS of children, women and elderly people are barely subsisting because they lack both the quantity and quality of nourishment they deserve," said Richard Ragan, the WFP's Pyongyang-based country director, in a news release.
The WFP says it needs 500,000 tonnes of food, worth $202 million US, to help feed 6.5 million North Koreans.
Ragan, says existing stocks and commitments will allow the organization to give full cereal rations until June. "But without additional pledges soon, the kind of distribution cuts that have plagued our operation over the past three years, depriving millions of vital assistance for long periods, will be inevitable," he said.
North Korea has relied on foreign aid to feed its people for a decade and earlier this week it cut daily food rations to its people to almost starvation levels, from 300 grams to 250 grams per person, which is half the minimum daily energy requirement.
Ragan said at the time the cut appears to be temporary and is not unprecedented in a country where fluctuations in public food distribution have been a regular occurrence, but the cut is likely to remain in effect until the middle of the year....}
You can be sure that this great country would not allow ONE of its citizens to perish from starvation. What are the excuses of the great Peoples' Republics and Communist nations?
God bless you and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
That's "Towner" with a capital "T," Armando.
It is difficult to start an economic revolution when we live within an economic system that is set up to keep us in poverty. We need an insurgency to take over the economic system. People like Troy can keep giving as much as they want to the poor, but it isn't going to help until a movement stops the upper class from just taking it all back from us.
redwhite'nblue,
Apparently you have not been reading the chats lately. North Korea has a fascist government. When a government is fascist, it will try to hide behind many masks, including socialist or democratic. However, when a government is fascist, it cannot by the definition be communism, socialism, democratic, or anything else but fascism. The philosophies of communism and democracies are not adaptable to fascism. Therefore, realize that North Korea is not a socialist state. It is only a brutal fascist society.
Also, people do die of malnutrition in the United States, which is starving to death. Many people, especially young people, are hospitalized each year because of malnutrition. Just because people aren't starving in your suburb, or you're not seeing them starve, it doesn't mean that they're not starving.
Why don't you just address him as what he is, "redwhite'ndumb."
Denying poverty in the United States is like the North Korean government denying poverty in theirs. While North Korea is a more more brutal fascist government, with a higher percentage in poverty, denying poverty within the United States is just plain dumb.
Dear Tupac, I don't buy this stuff about The Man keeping everyone down and the system being tilted against minorities.
I came to this country with my mom. We had $17 when we got here and didn't speak the language. The US gov't gave my mom a coat when we arrived and that was it. She worked two jobs and saved up to bring my dad from Cuba. He came three years later.
He was a porter. Know what that means? He picked up other people's garbage.
I had nothing on Christmas, I went to public school, I was a latchkey kid which means I was on the streets a lot after school.
I came from less than nothing. But I went to college on a scholarship. I've held a job since I was 14. And I have two jobs today.
Know what, I'm writing this as I drink wine with my wife in front of a huge plasma TV. We have a house on the water. God has blessed us. But I worked and continue to work my butt off to be where I am.
So if I can come to a new country as a minority, from a family with no money, and somehow make it, ANYBODY can make it. The economic system here doesn't keep people in poverty. I am proof.
Troy,
I was actually saying that Immigrants do better at speaking an understandable form of English than certain members of our own society who were born here and should be applauded whereas the ones born here have NO excuse because laziness ISNT one.
I'm NOT racist because I dont like ANYONE who is content with being poor and SO lazy they wont even take time to talk plainly whether they be yellow or green and that "da main be holn us back n thangs!" excuse that someone else used is tired AS HELL!
You are living the American Dream Armando and I thank God that there is a Country where people can rise above circumstances REGARDLESS of where they come from and you and your family are a shining example and I cant even imagine how hard it was on you and your precious Mother.
I was raised by a single Mother and although she had to work 2 and sometimes 3 jobs to provide for us she did it and blamed no one,not "the man" or God or anyone else..she,like yours,simply did what she had to do and I thank God EVERYDAY for my precious Mother as I know you do for yours!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours Armando and I know your family is very proud of you as they should be!
Thank you Brian. Watching Ratatouille. these cartoons are great actors.
So, you only hat poor black people. I getch ya Brian. You justify the fact that the U.S. keeps them in poverty, as they once kept them as slaves, by saying they are in that situation because they're lazy. You also think they talk differently than you because they're lazy. You're basically saying the majority of black people, because the majority of black people do live in poverty in the U.S., is lazy. If that isn't racism, I don't know what is.
Let me guess your rebuttal, "I'm not racist, I have friends that are black."
Brian, do you think it is fair that your mother was born into a situation that she had to work 2 or 3 jobs to survive, while others are born into situations where they don't ever have to work?
Hey Troy, I googled Ethiopia and apparently it exists regardless of what you may think.
Ratatouille was cute, especially the way that it fed propaganda to children. It teaches children to believe in the American dream because that is what keeps the masses inline. It tells the children not to steal, while the rich are greedy thieves.
It teaches us the American message:
"So raise your fists and march around
Just don't take what you need."
The story goes on:
"I'll jail and bury those committed
And smother the rest in greed
Crawl with me into tomorrow
Or I'll drag you to your grave
I'm deep inside your children
They'll betray you in my name"
You said, "Ethopia," not Ethiopia, Armando.
Armando,
It is good that you pointed out that the government did nothing for your mother, but gave her a coat. No doubt, she had help from the members of her community and other Non-Government Organizations. Later, you received scholarships. The government doesn't hand these out, the government gives grants. Therefore, you made it where you are despite the U.S. government.
Hopefully, you are intelligent to give a little of that back to the NGO's, so that they can continue to help those that the government does not.
Tupac, you got issues, man. I'm sure Disney was used by the Bush administration to brainwash America's youth. Particular the part that made Paris seem beautiful.
And Troy, come on dude, you should be better than that. To make a point on a typo and force me to go googling stuff ... you are fined for being anal.
Troy, I tithe 10 percent of my salary to my church and other spiritual organizations that perform charitable work here and abroad. My family also supports the Salvation Army and Goodwill and the Boy Scouts.
The movie ran through me
The glamor subdue me
The tabloid untie me
I'm empty please fill me
Mister anchor assure me
That Baghdad is burning
Your voice it is so soothing
That cunning mantra of killing
I need you my witness
To dress this up so bloodless
To numb me and purge me now
Of thoughts of blaming you
Yes the car is our wheelchair
My witness your coughing
Oily silence mocks the legless
Ones who travel now in coffins
On the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside our door
Now testify!
With precision you feed me
My witness I'm hungry
Your temple it calms me
So I can carry on
My slaving sweating the skin right off my bones
On a bed of fire I'm choking on the smoke that fills my home
The wrecking ball rushing
Witness your blushing
The pipeline is gushing
While here we lie in tombs
While on the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside your door
Now testify
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
You did present Siberia as a country.
The Boy Scouts? All they do is teach kids to be flagaphiles.
No, I simply said I'd take a side trip to Siberia. But maybe Green Bay would be as effective.
Bob:
The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated to provide a program for community organizations that offers effective character, citizenship, and personal fitness training for youth.
Specifically, the Boy Scouts endeavors to develop American citizens who are physically, mentally, and emotionally fit; have a high degree of self-reliance as evidenced in such qualities as initiative, courage, and resourcefulness; have personal values based on religious concepts; have the desire and skills to help others; understand the principles of the American social, economic, and governmental systems; are knowledgeable about and take pride in their American heritage and understand our nation's role in the world; have a keen respect for the basic rights of all people; and are prepared to participate in and give leadership to American society.
What part of that sound bad to you America-loathers?
And by the way, why is it the guy not born in this country seems to appreciate it so much more than native born folks?
Tupac, you delight in depicting other people as dumb. Your own declarations here show you to be ignorant in the extreme. You choose to make up your own definitions of things AS YOU MISREAD OTHERS. You will not find anything in my post which denies poverty in the United States. I say that people are not starving to death. The average so-called poor person in this country has a car, a roof over his head, air conditioning, and at least one television.
If you live in this country and cannot see its obvious benefits and be aware of its superiority, YOU, my friend are the really stupid, delusional one.
Just as Armando's family came here as immigrants, so did mine. We came as a family of five carrying what we owned in one metal trunk and some paper bags. The opportunity in this great nation you so delight in denigrating is truly unlimited. I'm an old man now, and live under what our government calls the poverty level. Seriously! I own my car and my house and have owned my own businesses in the past, but I am one of this country's 'poor.'
For whatever reason you wish to hate this country, you are mistaken. It is an exception on this earth. It is a relative bastion of freedom compared to any other land. It is THE country that people are trying to break IN to instead of OUT of. It offers absolutely unparalleled opportunity for personal freedom and advancement. PERIOD. Any assertion to the contrary is made by one who is blind, deaf or willfully obdurate.
As long as you can re-arrange reality and claim that we live in some sort of cruel state that fosters poverty, I will continue to call what was the USSR a Communist state. I will call Cuba a Communist state. I will call China a Communist state. I will call Vietnam a Communist state. I will call Cambodia a Communist state. Have they changed? Yes. Some became slave states, personality cults and the like, but the overriding idea THAT HATCHED THEM WAS COLLECTIVISM, COMMUNISM. Have they all perpetrated murder in the name of Communism? Yes.
It doesn't really matter what label you place on a government that makes all the decisions for its 'citizens.' It is evil.
This country promises equal opportunity and mostly delivers. Other countries promise to make everyone equal, and when they do succeed, it is in making everyone equally miserable.
Long live the United States of America. May God protect her from the likes of Tupac and his malevolent fellow travelers.
The boy scouts teach young people to worship the United States and its flag, without teaching them anything about it, including its history, or anything about anybody outside of the United States. That is the basis of the teachings of flagaphilism.
Also, Armando, how much of what you donate to your church is g helping anyone. You should choose to donate to an organization that lets you know exactly how your money will be used.
OK guys, gotta go. Jesse Duplantis is on. And he makes more sense to me than any of you.
Give God thanks and praise for everything He gives you and is about to give you Thursday and every day.
Bob, I will "choose to donate" to whomever I choose. Period.
I tithe knowing that it is seed in the Kingdom and knowing it will bring a mighty harvest -- of souls, of blessings and other things.
I know most on here think I'm stupid or crazy but that's fine. To each his own. Good night gentlemen.
redwhite'ndumb,
The claim that most poor people in this country have an air conditioner is another blatantly ignorant comment. It's nice that you think the majority of people can afford such a luxury, but it is a false assumption.
While statistics have shown that as many as 70% of the people in this country have them, obviously the 30% would be in the poorer group.
Out of the 70% that are believed to have them, stats show that only half use them frequently because the rest cannot afford to run them.
The stats are a bit skewed because apartments often have them, but the tenant cannot afford to turn it on.
I lived in a trailer park with near 40 trailers in the 1990's, and two of the trailers had it conditioning. Poor people don't generally have that.
As far as your claim that you live below the poverty line. You are basing that on the fact that what you earn, being retired, should put you in that bracket. However, you are a property owner. The majority of Americans are not property owners. In fact, the average American is $40,000 in debt.
Further, is there really an equal opportunity between those born in a trailer park and those born in a mansion? Obviously not.
Finally, if you persist in calling fascist nations communist, no one who has any back ground in political theory can take you seriously.
Bob,
Don't forget to mention that this "great nation," as redwhite'ndumb, calls it, keeps many people outside of the United States in poverty.
One reason people flea Cuba is because of the trade embargo the United States has placed on it, one that The Pope, this should appeal to you Armando, declared wrong.
The United States is responsible for keeping people in Latin America in poverty through such programs as NAFTA.
Regarding NAFTA, and other imperialist programs in the United States, I have this to say:
Throughout history, Adam Smith observed, we find the workings of "the vile maxim of the masters of mankind": "All for ourselves, and nothing for other People." He had few illusions about the consequences. The invisible hand, he wrote, will destroy the possibility of a decent human existence "unless government takes pains to prevent" this outcome, as must be assured in "every improved and civilized society." It will destroy community, the environment and human values generally -- and even the masters themselves, which is why the business classes have regularly called for state intervention to protect them from market forces.
The masters of mankind in Smith's day were the "merchants and manufacturers," who were the "principal architects" of state policy, using their power to bring "dreadful misfortunes" to the vast realms they subjugated and to harm the people of England as well, though their own interests were "most peculiarly attended to." In our day the masters are, increasingly, the supranational corporations and financial institutions that dominate the world economy, including international trade -- a dubious term for a system in which some 40 percent of U.S. trade takes place within companies, centrally managed by the same highly visible hands that control planning, production and investment.
The World Bank reports that protectionist measures of the industrialized countries reduce national income in the South by about twice the amount of official aid to the region -- aid that is itself largely export promotion, most of it directed to richer sectors (less needy, but better consumers). In the past decade, most of the rich countries have increased protectionism, with the Reaganites often leading the way in the crusade against economic liberalism. These practices, along with the programs dictated by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, have helped double the gap between rich and poor countries since 1960. Resource transfers from the poor to the rich amounted to more than $400 billion from 1982 to 1990, "the equivalent in today's dollars of some six Marshall Plans provided by the South to the North," observes Susan George of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam; she notes also that commercial banks were protected by transfer of their bad debts to the public sector. As in the case of the S&Ls, and advanced industry generally, "free-market capitalism" is to be risk free for the masters, as fully as can be achieved.
The international class war is reflected in the United States, where real wages have fallen to the level of the mid-1960s. Wage stagnation, extending to the college-educated, changed to sharp decline in the mid-1980s, in part a consequence of the decline in "defense spending," our euphemism for the state industrial policy that allows "private enterprise" to feed at the public trough. More than 17 million workers were unemployed or underemployed by mid-1992, Economic Policy Institute economists Lawrence Mishel and Jared Bernstein report -- a rise of 8 million during the Bush years. Some 75 percent of that is permanent loss of jobs. Of the limited gain in total wealth in the eighties, "70% accrued to the top 1% of income earners, while the bottom lost absolutely," according to M.I.T. economist Rudiger Dornbusch.
Structures of governance have tended to coalesce around economic power. The process continues. In the London Financial Times, James Morgan describes the "de facto world government" that is taking shape in the "new imperial age": the I.M.F., World Bank, Group of 7 industrialized nations, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and other institutions designed to serve the interests of transnational corporations, banks and investment firms.
One valuable feature of these institutions is their immunity from popular influence. Elite hostility to democracy is deep-rooted, understandably, but there has been a spectrum of opinion. At the "progressive" end, Walter Lippmann argued that "the public must be put in its place," so that the "responsible men" may rule without interference from "ignorant and meddlesome outsiders" whose "function" is to be only "interested spectators of action," periodically selecting members of the leadership class in elections, then returning to their private concerns. The statist reactionaries called "conservatives" typically take a harsher line, rejecting even the spectator role. Hence the appeal to the Reaganites of clandestine operations, censorship and other measures to insure that a powerful and interventionist state will not be troubled by the rabble. The "new imperial age" marks a shift toward the reactionary end of the antidemocratic spectrum.
It is within this framework that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and GATT should be understood. Note first that such agreements have only a limited relation to free trade. One primary U.S. objective is increased protection for "intellectual property," including software, patents for seeds and drugs, and so on. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that American companies stand to gain $61 billion a year from the Third World if U.S. protectionist demands are satisfied at GATT (as they are in NAFTA), at a cost to the South that will dwarf the current huge flow of debt-service capital from South to North. Such measures are designed to insure that U.S.-based corporations control the technology of the future, including biotechnology, which, it is hoped, will allow protected private enterprise to control health, agriculture and the means of life generally, locking the poor majority into dependence and hopelessness. The same methods are being employed to undermine Canada's annoyingly efficient health services by imposing barriers to the use of generic drugs, thus sharply raising costs -- and profits to state-subsidized U.S. corporations. NAFTA also includes intricate "rules of origin" requirements designed to keep foreign competitors out. Two hundred pages are devoted to rules to insure a high percentage of value added in North America (protectionist measures that should be increased, some U.S. opponents of NAFTA argue). Furthermore, the agreements go far beyond trade (itself not really trade but in large part intracompany transfers, as noted). A prime U.S. objective is liberalization of services, which would allow supranational banks to displace domestic competitors and thus eliminate any threat of national economic planning and independent development. The agreements impose a mixture of liberalization and protection, designed to keep wealth and power firmly in the hands of the masters of the "new imperial age."
NAFTA is an executive agreement, reached on August 12, 1992, just in time to become a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. It was mentioned, but barely. To give just one example of how debate was precluded, take the case of the Labor Advisory Committee (L.A.C.), established by the Trade Act of 1974 to advise the executive branch on any trade agreement. The L.A.C., which is based in the unions, was informed that its report on NAFTA was due on September 9. The text of this intricate treaty was provided to it _one day before_. In its report, the L.A.C. notes, "the Administration refused to permit any outside advice on the development of this document and refused to make a draft available for comment." The situation in Canada and Mexico was similar. The facts are not even reported. In such ways, we approach the long-sought ideal: formal democratic procedures that are devoid of meaning, as citizens not only do not intrude into the public arena but scarcely have an idea of the policies that will shape their lives.
One can readily understand the need to keep the public "in its place." Though the scanty press coverage is overwhelmingly favorable to NAFTA in its present form, the public opposes it by nearly 2 to 1 (of the 60 percent who have an opinion). Apart from some meager rhetoric and a few interventions by Ross Perot, that fact was irrelevant to the presidential campaign, as were health reform and a host of other issues on which public opinion remains largely off the spectrum of options considered by the "responsible men."
The Labor Advisory Committee concluded that the executive treaty would be a bonanza for investors but would harm U.S. workers and probably Mexicans as well. One likely consequence is an acceleration of migration from rural to urban areas as Mexican corn producers are wiped out by U.S. agribusiness, depressing still further wages that have already dropped sharply in recent years and are likely to remain low, thanks to the harsh repression that is a crucial element of the highly touted Mexican "economic miracle." Labor's share of personal income in Mexico declined from 36 percent in the mid-1970s to 23 percent by 1992, reports economist David Barkin, while fewer than 8,000 accounts (including 1,500 owned by foreigners) control more than 94 percent of stock shares in public hands.
Property rights are well protected by NAFTA, the L.A.C. analysts and others note, while workers' rights are ignored. The treaty is also likely to have harmful environmental effects, encouraging a shift of production to regions where enforcement is lax. NAFTA "will have the effect of prohibiting democratically elected bodies at [all] levels of government from enacting measures deemed inconsistent with the provisions of the agreement," the L.A.C. report continues, including those on the environment, workers' rights, and health and safety, all open to challenge as "unfair restraint of trade."
Such developments are already under way in the framework of the U.S.-Canada "free trade" agreement. Included are efforts to require Canada to abandon measures to protect the Pacific salmon, to bring pesticide and emissions regulations in line with laxer U.S. standards, to end subsidies for replanting after logging and to bar a single-payer auto insurance plan in Ontario that would cost U.S. insurance companies hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Meanwhile Canada has charged the United States with violating "fair trade" by imposing E.P.A. standards on asbestos use and requiring recycled fiber in newsprint. Under both NAFTA and GATT, there are endless options for undermining popular efforts to protect conditions of life.
In general, the L.A.C. report concludes, "U.S. corporations, and the owners and managers of these corporations, stand to reap enormous profits. The United States as a whole, however, stands to lose and particular groups stand to lose an enormous amount." The report calls for renegotiation, offering a series of constructive proposals. That remains a possibility if the coalition of labor, environmental and other popular groups that has been calling for such changes gains sufficient popular support [see Amy Lowrey and David Corn, "Mexican Trade Bill: Fast Track to Unemployment," The Nation, June 3, 1991].
An October 1992 report from the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment reached similar conclusions. A "bare" NAFTA of the form now on the table would ratify "the mismanagement of economic integration" and could "lock the United States into a low-wage, low-productivity future." Radically altered to incorporate "domestic and continental social policy measures and parallel understandings with Mexico on environmental and labor issues," NAFTA could have beneficial consequences for the country. But the country is only of secondary concern to the masters, who are playing a different game. Its rules are revealed by what The New York Times called "Paradox of `92: Weak Economy, Strong Profits." As a geographical entity, "the country" may decline. But the interests of the "principal architects" of policy will be "most peculiarly attended to."
One consequence of the globalization of the economy is the rise of new governing institutions to serve the interests of private transnational economic power. Another is the spread of the Third World social model, with islands of enormous privilege in a sea of misery and despair. A walk through any American city gives human form to the statistics on quality of life, distribution of wealth, poverty and employment, and other elements of the "Paradox of `92." Increasingly, production can be shifted to high-repression, low-wage areas and directed to privileged sectors in the global economy. Large parts of the population thus become superfluous for production and perhaps even as a market, unlike the days when Henry Ford realized that he could not sell cars unless his workers were paid enough to buy cars themselves.
Particular cases fill out the picture. G.M. is planning to close almost two dozen plants in the United States and Canada, but it has become the largest private employer in Mexico. It has also opened a $690 million assembly plant in eastern Germany, where employees are willing to "work longer hours than their pampered colleagues in western Germany," at 40 percent of the wage and with few benefits, as the Financial Times cheerily explains. Capital can readily move; people cannot, or are not permitted to by those who selectively applaud Adam Smith's doctrines, which crucially include "free circulation of labor." The return of much of Eastern Europe to its traditional service role offers new opportunities for corporations to reduce costs, thanks to "rising unemployment and pauperisation of large sections of the industrial working class" in the East as capitalist reforms proceed, according to the Financial Times.
The same factors provide the masters with new weapons against the rabble at home. Europe must "hammer away at high wages and corporate taxes, short working hours, labor immobility, and luxurious social programs," Business Week warns. It must learn the lesson of Britain, which finally "is doing something well," the Economist observes approvingly, with "trade unions shackled by law and subdued," "unemployment high" and the Maastricht social chapter rejected so that employers are protected "from over-regulation and under-flexibility of labour." American workers must absorb the same lessons.
The basic goals were lucidly described by the C.E.O. of United Technologies, Harry Gray, quoted in a valuable study of NAFTA by William McGaughey of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition: "a worldwide business environment that's unfettered by government interference" (for example, "package and labelling requirements" and "inspection procedures" to protect consumers). This is the predominant human value, to which all else must be subordinated. Gray does not, of course, object to "government interference" of the kind that allows his corporation, an offshoot of the Pentagon system, to exist. Neoliberal rhetoric is to be selectively employed as a weapon against the poor; the wealthy and powerful will continue to rely on state power.
These processes will continue independently of NAFTA. But, as explained by Eastman Kodak chairman Kay Whitmore, the treaty may "lock in the opening of Mexico's economy so that it can't return to its protectionist ways." It should enable Mexico "to solidify its remarkable economic reforms," comments Michael Aho, director of Economic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, referring to the "economic miracle" for the rich that has devastated the poor majority. It may fend off the danger noted by a Latin America Strategy Development Workshop at the Pentagon in September 1990, which found current relations with the Mexican dictatorship to be "extraordinarily positive," untroubled by stolen elections, death squads, endemic torture, scandalous treatment of workers and peasants, and so on, but which saw one cloud on the horizon: "a `democracy opening' in Mexico could test the special relationship by bringing into office a government more interested in challenging the U.S. on economic and nationalistic grounds." As always, the basic threat is functioning democracy.
The trade agreements override the rights of workers, consumers, and the future generations who cannot "vote" in the market on environmental issues. They help keep the public "in its place." These are not necessary features of such agreements, but they are natural consequences of the great successes of the past years in reducing democracy to empty forms, so that the vile maxim of the masters can be pursued without undue interference.
Mando you rock! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!!
One question...what games.....especially NCAA games are you and your looking forward to watching over the next 36 hours or so?
To Troy,
You,like ALL apologists,twist and spin others statements to further your own agenda and that is to keep the poor,ALL poor,poor by making them think there isnt a damn thing they can do about it therefore why try.
I dont "hate" anyone but I have to laugh at people like you because the "facts" you spew are utter NONsense and only an imbecile would take your arguments literally because basic research proves they are mere propaganda!
How 99.7% of slaves were treated is DEPLORABLE and makes me want to vomit when I think of just how evil man can be and no doubt the hottest place in hell is/was reserved for their owners... but what about the Tribal Kings who sold their very own people into slavery?That in no
way excuses the owners but WTF!
The "majority" of ANYONE who lives in poverty is because theyve drank the koolaid that you and others like you serve with pride and THAT is sickening.
"Theres no use in expecting excellence out of yourselves because "they" wont let you better yourself!" is SO pathetic that its laughable and ONLY a hate filled racist would spew such lies!
Keep on spewing your BS to those who will believe you but youve come too late for me..I know better because I came from nothing and worked my butt off while in School,during School and when I got out of School because I didnt want to be poor but that was my choice..some choose to get bitter and some choose to get better and its quite clear what you chose to do!
-----------------------------------
To Tupac,
Whos to say what is fair?
A lot of people who never have to work or dont know what its like to juggle finances just to keep the lights on or food on the table are some of the most miserable people in the world and I wouldnt trade places with them if I could!
Those are the types of people that will likely never see others as their equal but merely more blessed than most whereas someone who earns EVERYTHING they get can never escape the realization that they are fortunate and therefore keep a humble outlook.
Does it break my heart when I remember what my Mother went through with little to no support?
Lord yeah,but had I been born rich I would probably be just another thankless POS that looks down on others less fortunate.
DO I hate poor people?..NO
DO I hate the mentality that keeps them poor?..YOURE DAMN RIGHT I DO because Ive seen what determination can and will do!
Tupac, you are smitten with facts that are, actually, not true. The plight of the Cuban people is caused by the United States? Are you ignorant? The plight of Cuban people is caused by a communist dictator who happens to be a son of a bitch because while he keeps the country in the third world, he is among the richest men in the western hemisphere.
Yet you, Mr. college campus radical, believe the lie of Fidel Castro hook line and sinker. You are a hypocrite because you question everything about the United States yet believe everything Castro or Mao or Kim Jung Il or Putin might say. That is stupidity and hypocracy at its height.
By the way, I am Cuban. I lived what I'm writing about. You obviously are writing stuff you read about in some propoganda sheet. Walk a mile in my shoes and you'll understand truth.
As to the Pope ... Yeah, he knows what he's talking about. He prays to rosary beads instead of God in heaven. Easy for him to talk from the Vatican while Cubans are losing their lives in the Florida straits.
Armandito: You make us proud!!!
Cubano till the end,
Very briefly, since the 1820s Cuba has been regarded by US elites as basically theirs, though they couldn't grasp the "ripe fruit" (as they put it then) until the British deterrent was removed. When it was, the US took the country over and turned it into a US plantation. No departure from obedience was tolerable. FDR's "good neighbor policy," for example, was shelved rapidly when it became necessary to reverse a deviation that threatened to allow some degree of independence and democracy. Within months of the success of the Castro revolution, Cuba was being bombed from US territory, and by March 1960 the US had secretly determined to overthrow the regime. This had nothing to do with Russia, Communism, dictatorship,... -- rather, with independence. There followed direct aggression, a huge terror campaign of unprecedented scale, economic warfare, and in fact, every possible means to get rid of this "rotten apple." Cuba was considered particularly dangerous because it sank so low as to direct resources to the benefit of the poor majority and, even worse, to support popular movements elsewhere that sought freedom from US-imposed or -backed monsters of one or another variety (what is called "subversion" or "aggression"). Another major crime was Cuba's contributions to health and welfare in poor and suffering countries, absolutely without precedent, and considered extremely dangerous, particularly in the light of the sordid record of those who have the wealth to confront and overcome those problems were they not to choose to exacerbate them -- us, in particular.
For decades, the pretext for the terror and economic warfare was that Cuba was an outpost of the evil empire, threatening our security. When the evil empire collapsed, that excuse was quickly shelved, as useless, and forgotten, and the noose was tightened by the United States government. These policies have long been in defiance of such trivialities as international law, world opinion (votes in the UN, including our allies), etc. In brief, a continuation of what has been going on for 180 years, and a particularly clear instance of far more general patterns, invisible only to those who make a real effort not to see.
As for the regime, it's a dictatorship, often brutal though a teddy bear in comparison with numerous US friends and clients, with plenty of human rights violations, etc. The US hopes to increase these as much as possible, for obvious reasons: (1) that will increase internal disorder, and (2) it is ideologically useful as a weapon against the hated enemy. But it is trivial to demonstrate that Cuba's crimes, however you evaluate them, are irrelevant to US policy; the US happily supports and conducts itself far worse crimes, including its crimes against Cuba. Since the Russian collapse, the idea has been to tighten the stranglehold so as to impose maximal suffering and oppression, hence increased resistance and more repression and suffering, in the hope that sooner or later people will be desperate enough to welcome the Marines. Even loyal apologists generally concede what is obvious enough from the reporting that comes through: people are trying to get out because they are suffering from the collapsing economy. Naturally, no small country in the US sphere can survive such an attack by the superpower hegemony without extensive outside support, and there are few willing to brave the anger of the world's leading Mafia don.
A crucial requirement is that articulate opinion in the US efface completely what is happening before our eyes, however obvious it is, even (at the most extreme levels of servility, regularly attained) to portray us as victims of Castro -- standard in mainstream commentary. That this requirement will be amply fulfilled is scarcely in doubt, so policy can continue on course.
How should honest people react? First, with utter revulsion. Second, by doing what they can to allow Cubans to deal with their problems themselves, without our domination and control -- which, as history amply shows, will cause them endless pain and torture. Personally, I'd like to see the regime overthrown by an internal libertarian revolution (and not that one alone). But I don't expect the US to implement such initiatives any more than it does in the vast areas of the world in which it has enormous influence, including at home -- and if the US were to change so radically that that were a possibility, or if there were some other entity in the global system so noble that such possibilities could be contemplated without ridicule, I wouldn't want them to intervene either, nor would they choose to, if they had actually achieved this (unimaginable) level of honor. The reasons are those that have been familiar for centuries, articulated by Kant and other Enlightenment figures for example: freedom can only be won, not granted by a benevolent power. Those who are fighting for freedom can sometimes be helped, but only by those committed to freedom, that is, those who oppose terror, oppression, injustice, and domination honestly, beginning with the societies of which they are part (where they will find plenty).
To Writer of to Tupac,
Never did I say all should be born rich. That would be silly and impossible. All should be born on a equal level, so that your mother wouldn't have had to struggle, and no one would be able to look down on others for how they were born. Equality is the goal.
You shouldn't hate on other for being poor. It cannot all be blamed on a lack of determination that you chalk it up to. Life is not a football game.
I'm a POOR GUY .... The POOR GUY who has to listen to all your twisted-history-drivel.
Have you ever heard of football, & how a beached dolphin escapes the O-fer beach ... with the Captain Beck & Gilligan Ricky in Pittsburgh.
Oh yeah, get the Minnow fired up for Monday!! P.S. Leave Huizenga & management on the island!!!
Happy T-Giving!! Cheers, JerryD
cannot wait for armando to change the blog topic so all of the doofs will go away or change topic.
for that i will be truly thankful.
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What is dissapointent to learn Mando is a typical blind faith bible thumper. I commend him for giving to charity sure, but giving to the church is not charity, it is supporting an organization committed to brain washing people and hiding the truth, as we've seen by so many priest molestor outings in the past several years that the 'church' itself has tried to cover up. I'm sure they have covered up some which is most disturbing, not to mention everything they teach is fabricated bs soley for the purpose of manipulating (and frightening) the public. For some reason I thought Mondoo was above that. I guess not.
Marc how can you call anyone a douche...you are as twisted as they come. Last time I read one of your comments you were using this football blog to announce you desires for 'back door' entry. Would you want your young children reading that? Or perhaps you've already taught them...
Tupac seems dead on with his history. I have a degree in history, and my Latin American history class taught me pretty much what he said, in regards to Cuba. What has happened in Latin American countries, as a result of the United States is truly sad. The banana wars, overthrowing democratically elected presidents, supporting Pinochet. It goes on and on. I love living in America, but that history is not pretty.
It isn't pretty, but it isn't merely the USA, any country with power has an ugly history, many worse than ours. Humans are the problem, we are not civilized as we like to think we are. We are greedy, lustful beasts that take showers and presume to be civilized.
Great comment, Waldo. Vonnegut, who is a favorite of mine, would probably agree. While he was optimistic, by the end of his life, he said, "Humans are dumb. Look at the holocaust. Does that look like something intelligent." He ended life thinking that people took themselves too seriously, when they should just realize they're dumb.
Ah, longing for the good old days when only white land-owning men could vote...
But Jeff,
Vonnegut would a socialist at heart, and always had some hope for it. Even at the end of his life. I believe he wrote something along these lines: Good schools. Free health care. Don't all things socialist make you want to puke.
Part of your longing is still true, anonymous. Rich people still have all the say in government. While it was once rich white men, it is now rich multi-international companies that run the world. A rich man from any country has just as much of a shot as influencing our government as a rich man from the United States. Isn't equality great.
anonyomous, that wouldn't have given you the right to vote. One had to own a lot of land, which you surely don't
Saturday will be the LAST time Coach Shula will attend the OB!! I invite all FIU, FAU and Fins fans to come out and support both developing programs and give a standing "O" to the best NFL coach of all time, Don Shula!!
GO FIU!!!
Sorry Armando, I know you didn't ask for help, but this seriously ticks me off.
I have to admit that these blogs are often waaay off topic (Dolphins In Depth is the name, right?), they certainly are amusing, and sometimes very thought provoking.
While I don't often agree with Armando's point of view on the Dolphins, I think it's flat out wrong for Marc and Chris to slam him for being a Christian, and for living a Christian lifestyle. I say good on you Armando. Keep up the great work, and keep the faith.
Hey Marc and Chris,
I didn't ever read anywhere that Mando was blasting you for being Godless sinners, or say to you that you will most likely spend eternity in Hell. I'm sure that lovely plasma Tee-Vee will really come in handy there, huh? And all that $$ that you hoarded with your selfish lifestyle without doing a single good thing with it.
I agree with another poster earlier. While I don't like his opinion often, I do think that when he actually reports, nobody writes better than Armando.
Oh, and if you're living in the US, and you're poor, it's most likely because you never learned how to not be poor. Unfortunately, that isn't taught in any of the public school systems.
Go Dolphins!!!
I'm wondering if these posts defending Armando are written by 12year olds or Armando himself, sometimes hard to tell the difference.
And I wonder if all anonymous posters are cowards? Or is it just you?
drumdiddlydo is no closer to your real name than anonymous is to mine, so whats the difference. By your own silly argument you are calling yourself a coward too. Try thinking before you write lest you continue to embarrass yourself.
That's my real name. I'm in the phone book -- don't bother calling I'm 50 and fat. But I think Armando is outstanding.
He causes you people to go on and on inside his blog. You write about football. You write about politics. You write about and against religion. He plays you guys like a drum.
Good work Armando! I know I'll keep coming back.
I'm 50 and fat too. Can I call you later? Or do you have a date with Mando tonight?
Any paper (Miami Herald) that speculates Cam Cameron is in line for the top job at Michigan is a paper that can't be believed. Get real, Miami Herald.
Cam Cameron is the biggest joke in football right now.
Cam will be coach of the year in 2008. You doubters will see...
Nope, DrumFinFan isn't my real name, but I've registered that nickname, along with my "real" name with the Herald so that I could use it to post.
My name is Jack, and I'm not afraid of using my name, I just prefer to post as DrumFinFan. If you don't like it, or my posts, well, that's too bad. Armando could pull my post if he wanted, but you, anonymous, have no say in the matter.
Packers looked good today. Cowboys are having their way with the Jests. Not a bad day, other than having to deal with cowards.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Go Dolphins!!!
Someone is just playing around, why even respond to it.
Mando, any word on Ricky starting? Maybe you can get some info on that tomorrow...
Someone saying a person is going to hell for hoarding riches. Isn't that what the Catholic church has always done? Does that mean that all priests who have spoken in those churches that are filled with gold went to hell? Catholicism is all about the people that run the church hoarding riches, does that mean it is not a route to heaven? Someone should tell me, and I'm sure some bible thumper will.
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For you bible thumpers, think about it, the Vatican is as rich as a country...Ok? Investigate it, it's true. Christianity is BIG BUSINESS and all about greed, power, MONEY at the expense of frightening the sheep into submission. That is all it is, nothing more.
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While the United States maintains an embargo against Cuba for stealing property from U.S. owners, every other country that wants to may trade with the Communist nation. And yet, its people remain poverty stricken. This is SOLELY the result of internal policy.
Brave revolutionaries such as tupac will insist that all the world's ills stem from the domination of the United States. His point of view is absurd and completely indefensible.
This great nation has been blessed because its founders realized that the self-evident truths they discerned included a Creator of equal men. Men are equal in their desire to be alive, in their right to be free.
No government of any name or description which seeks to control or dictate the very nature of men can ever be successful. That is why EVERY attempt to MAKE everyone equal is doomed to failure. You cannot legislate or force human nature. It is what it is.
Wake Up! Cast off the shackles of evil governments you victims of Communism (or fascism, if you wish to distort the facts.) If you insist on telling us that Communist nations are not really Communist, but fascist, what is it that causes Communist nations to be so susceptible to becoming fascistic?
Next you'll be telling us that the worst fascist state in the world is the United States. What morons!
Once again, redwhite'ndumb claims that the United States was founded on the principle that all me are created equal. Apparently, he forgets that the founders of the country only saw white rich men as equal, and all others as inhuman. They did not see Native Americans, Blacks, Women, non-landowning Whites, and many others as people.
The founding fathers claimed that they believed that all were equal, which was a lie, and Stalin said he was creating a communist state, which was a lie.
Why is it so difficult for you to see the truth?
Oh yeah, because your riding a red, white, and blue flag.
Yep, it is still true today. The leaders of our government only respect rich men that they do business with, like the king of Saudi Arabia. That is why, when the Saudi Arabian government sentenced a female rape victim to 200 lashes, the United States government has refused to condemn the sentence and said it will not protest against an internal Saudi decision. If a nation that the United States does not support committed such a heinous crime, the government would have quickly condemned it, but not with the Saudi government. Everyone has seen the images of Bush and King Abdullah walking around hand in hand. Rich business men have all the rights, and everyone else is nothing. All of you that proclaim love for this nation are nothing to the rulers. They would allow you to be whipped just the same.
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Sally Hemings?
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Condy is probably the biggest woman liar in the history of our country, right up there with Cheney and Bush. Americans suck up the propaganda, buy into the one party system disguised as merely a two party system, and in the end are just voting for the enemy time and again. Its a vicious cycle. Those who fail to study history (like our illiterate society) are doomed to repeat it. Every hear of the fall of the Roman Empire?
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For the anonymous poster w/ a problem w/ "riding the red, white, and blue"...
I'm sure it doesn't matter a damn, but a lot of people have served, fought, and died to give you the right to share your misguided (IMHO) opinion. I served 27 years, and people like you honestly make me wonder why.
Maybe you should have signed up for a "pre-Thanksgiving" refresher course on how lucky you are to be living here. Do you have electricity in your house? Running water? A working refrigerator? Bathtub? Carpeting? Color TV?
Very few other places in the world have the material blessings that we are fortunate enough to think of as "common-place". If you think this country is so screwed up, why don't you either run for office and do something about it, or move the hell out?
I see it like this when norv turner was here we ran a 2 back system i say bring it back bcuz ronnie iz a good back but remember he was in a 2 back system at aurburn n g drafted in the top 5 do it now and..........pro bowl baby
Once everything is said and done, I think Ricky will be traded. So I hope he, Ricky, has an outstanding outing, but my main concern is that he is not traded to ANY team in the AFC. Trade him to Chicago, or St Louis, but not the AFC. Especially the Patriots, Bills, or JETS. I still think Randy McMichaels would have helped us this year. Not to mention Wes Welker. Man I hate stupidity. NCFINFAN
I've always thought Ricky was a good back, great at times - but that was 3 years ago. I also think he seems like a pretty good guy, and probably not a bad teammate. He's always been in good shape, mentally prepared, and from what I've read over the years was pretty much what you would hope for for a #1 tailback. His off-season (?) penchant for the sticky icky cost him millions, and more than likely 2 or 3 games where we'd have won - but that's a different topic that's been beaten to death.
I think, despite how damned frustrated I am at having the NFL season being effectively OVER 5 weeks into the season, that there's a few pretty good things happening. 1) Despite all the bashing Randy Meuller has taken here, he's made a big impact in a short time. When you look at the last 8-9 drafts and realize the complete lack of impact and realize that almost the entire draft from last year made the team, that's a BIG step in the right direction. IF those guys continue to grow and we have a 2nd good draft, we'll finally be in a position to have a TEAM, rather than position players that may or may not win games.
Offensively, this team has made some serious strides, most noticably the improvements in play calling and the cohesiveness in the offensive line. Not to say that Chatman hasn't been fantastic, but the fact that he's had those holes and downfield blocking has been a great step in the right direction. Hudson Houck has done a helluva job keeping the same people on the line and doing their jobs without TOO many penalties. Vernon Carey has honestly surprised me with the consistency of his play, and the new rookie center has done a great job as well...as recently as last year I can recall a LOT of sacks caused by the center blowing a blocking call and leaving that gap wide open.
Defensively, I'm thinking we're in a place where we NEED a good draft and to pick up a couple of stalwart players. Jason Taylor is still a great DE, but I've wondered if the inexperience/playing ability on the rest of the defensive line hasn't made him a lot more prone to double-teams...also, the DL isn't tying up ANYONE, leaving the linebackers open to get blocked rather than being able to run to the ball and make plays.
Finally, who knows what is going to happen w/ Beck? I saw a couple of his college games there, and he looked pretty poised, sort of in the same vein as Mark Brady. It will be interesting to see if getting all the 1st string snaps will give him the time to adjust to the faster game. He's new, but he's also got a coach who has been a proven offensive coordinator and a young and improving line. I'm still waiting to see Hagan have a breakout game - I saw him enough in the Pac-10 that I think with some consistency in the whole offensive scheme that he'll show that he's a good NFL receiver. Ted Ginn is just too good an athlete for him not to make it (he's had 2 [?] returns called back this year along with last week's, and in time is going to be a top-calibre reciever.
Again, this season has totally demoralized me, but for once I actually believe the "We're just a year or so out from being a legitimate contender".
Guiseppe from Oregon,
I have lived in over ten countries, and all of them had all the things that you mentioned. Stop trying to feed people all that B.S. about other countries are inferior to the U.S. I've lived in them. They have the same luxuries. And as far as you claiming people have to fight for supposed rights, you read to many comic books. I guess people have to justify the way their country tricked them into risking their life and killing people somehow.
I think Cam already knows how good Ricky is, or can be. Cam was on the Chargers when Ricky lit them up a couple of times. Cam's only concern is whether the guy is in shape yet to play, which makes sense. From all reports, it looks like he is. It'll be fun watching on Monday night, to see Beck and to see Ricky. With Chatman hurt I expect to see a lot of Ricky, maybe 20+ carries? What other choice is there, Cobbs? And the Fins absolutley NEED a good ground game to help Beck.
Anonymous,
Without knowing what countries you're referring to that you lived in, I'll refrain from making a blanket statement about conditions in THOSE countries. My point was that most people (myself included, at times) forget how good they have it HERE. MOST people in the world DON'T have 2 cars, running water/electricity, carpeting, etc. I've traveled enough to see a good portion of the Far and Middle East and Europe (31 countries I think), I guess they must have all just hidden away all their luxeries when I was there. I guess they just made it look like squallor just for me.
Regarding my being "tricked" into serving MY country, you're utterly wrong. I chose to enlist (and continue re-enlisting). Also, as a history major (that I earned while I was in the military) I'm pretty sure that your right to give your opinion has been protected for 200+ years by all those that were "tricked". Again, if you think it is so bad, move out or run for office (assuming you're qualified to vote).
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
John Stuart Mill
Guiseppe from Oregon,
The countries I have lived in, or spent considerable time in, include China, Japan, South Korea, Spain, France, England, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica. I never lived in standards below those that I lived in the United States in any of these countries.
Also, some of the luxuries you speak of seem superfluous, such as owning two cars. Though I have met very few individuals who own two cars, I cannot understand how it could make someone's life better to do so.
While you have visited many places, you must remember that it was with the army, and people in the army rarely actually learn about the places that they visit or the people there. Soldiers are not transported to other nations to learn about culture. Describing the places as squalor seems like xenophobia. Explain how many homes you actually visited in these countries.
Also, you claim that soldiers have protected so called freedoms in the United States. Like other posters on Armando's blog, I believe that the United States has only engaged one just war, WWII, and it didn't enter that war for the right reason. The government of the United States knew the holocaust was taking place, and did not care. All the military conflicts that the United States has entered have been for economic reasons.
Your advice on running for office is a bit silly when the Declaration of Independence claims that the people should have the right to overthrow their government, and this is what I would like to do.
Hopefully, someday I will be able to join an uprising to conquer the United States government.
Lastly, you use a quote, which you believe to be from John Stuart Mill, in order to try to say something, but whatever you are trying to say is very unclear. Apparently, you are trying to use it to explain why you are a part of the United States military.
I know that this quote is used by the United States military to gather patriotic fervor among its ignorant servants, but it is in fact a condensed version of a Mill quote. The actual quote is:
“But war, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice – a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice – is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”
You will notice that the condensed quote that you used took out the line:
"When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people."
This is important because this is how the United States uses its soldiers. It has only fought against "tyrannical injustice" once in history, and that was WWII, which the U.S. did not enter because of "tyrannical injustice."
In all other wars that the United States has entered, they have carried out a "tyrannical injustice."
By quoting a dumbed down version of Mills'. I assume you know a bit about him, for instance, his "greatest happiness principle." How has any war satisfied this principle? It seems that U.S. wars usually only satisfy the super rich within the United States. Do you think that Mill would find how the United States acts as just?
Furthermore, how does the U.S. government's policies coincide with Mill's "harm principle?" Would Mill find the United States' drug war just?
I'm sure you can answer all these questions, since you consider yourself to be such a well read individual. I look forward to your response.
Anonymous,
While you've made a valid point regarding Mill's quote, some of your points are generalizations that (IMHO) didn't address my original point - that our way of life FAR exceeds that of most of the world. Perhaps I've met more people (here in the US) than yourself, but there are a LOT of people in the US with 2 cars. I won't spend the time quoting demographics, but I'd be surprised if a large portion of our population can't claim that luxury - I do, and I know of at least 10 of my friends that do, that just being off the top of my head. Most of those also have cable TV, internet, cell phones, plasma TV's, etc. I can't say that the same fraction of the rest of the world has the same.
While I'll readily admit that in the course of history, our government has regularly abused the principle of all persons being equal, I personally believe in that principle, and took offense to your attack on someone "riding the red, white, and blue flag". As a military veteran, I found that offensive because (IMO) you lump good American people in with those that have broken the tenets that have made our country the strongest in the world. In addition, the suggestion you make that "people have to justify the way their country tricked them into risking their life and killing people somehow" is simply naive. Our all-volunteer military is the most intellegent, best trained, best equipped fighting force in the world, and to suggest that somehow those people were "duped" into serving...well, that dog just don't hunt. You make it seem as though the U.S. military is a bunch of automatons that run around willy-nilly, following orders to blindly commit atrocities. Well, NUTS to you. The VAST majority of U.S. Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, & Airmen are intellegent, committed, and loyal Americans. Don't make the assumption that because they're serving their country they're a bunch of morons. They're NOT. Not everyone can wear the uniform (even many of those that join the military and can't cut it). It takes discipline, perserverence, intellegence, loyalty, and courage. While I appreciate your opinion of the military, you obviously haven't spent time around those that serve, which is a shame. Since you're an intellegent person, I recommend you take a step outside your comfort zone and learn about WHY we serve - you'll likely learn that while many servicemen have the same concerns as the rest of our country's population regarding what is happening abroad, we are loyal Americans. Personally speaking, to be in the position to go into harm's way makes you much more inclined to learn about world politics - I'd think that you'd find that very commonplace if you talk with vets anywhere.
Regarding your point that "while you visited many places, you must remember it was with the Army, and people in the Army rarely learn about the places they visit or the people there", AGAIN you show prejudice against those serving - apparantly you think that we all just hunker down in our barracks and take no notice to the world around us? Xenophobia? One of the main reasons I, as well as most of the people I served with, joined was to travel and see the world. In every country I was allowed to freely travel in (non-combat zones) I got as far away from base as I possibly could, in order that I could see what the real world is like. While I agree that the point of my serving my country on foreign soil wasn't to advance my own knowledge, to make the assumption that I (we) didn't use the opportunity is, as I stated, naive. Apparantly you think that all servicemen do on their off-duty time is to spend their nights at the Enlisted (or officers) club swilling beer. Wrong! I visited several family's homes in my travels...and one of the reasons I brought up how spoiled America is is because of that. There's a lot more to life than all the luxuries - things like faith, family, health, service. As I said earlier, my point in my original post was due to my being thankful for the bounty that I have. When thousands in the world will die today from starvation and disease, the fact that I can sit in my heated home (with enough food that I will invariably eat much too much) and discuss my honest beliefs with you and not fear for my life is a BLESSING. I hope that you feel this same.
While I want to make some comments on just wars, etc, I need to take care of some chores. I'll jump back on later this evening.
Anonymous,
After rereading your post:
"I know that this quote is used by the United States military to gather patriotic fervor among its ignorant servants,..."
I won't waste my (or your) time. Your obvious hatred for this country and its servicemen and woman is readily apparant. I'll respectfully agree to disagree.
"Hopefully, someday I will be able to join an uprising to conquer the United States government."
Good luck on that. Again, if you have such a problem, you're free to vote (if you're eligible, which I doubt)...but since you've traveled extensively, I'm hoping you've seen a better place to live - feel free to go there. Frankly speaking, you're not worth my time.
Guiseppe from Oregon,
Your defense of the United States' services as, "the most intellegent, best trained, best equipped fighting force in the world," is your opinion, and nothing more.
Having attended a community college before transferring to a university, I have met many people who had or were serving in a form of United States defense services. I only found one of those two out of about twenty that I met to have any idea about cultures other than that of th United States. The rest just believed that the U.S. was best, and the rest of the world is crap. Out of the two that could actually think critically, he told me once that he was reading Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" when he was overseas, he said, "As you can imagine, it wasn't a popular book amongst fellow soldiers, but, of course, neither was the activity of reading." Therefore, you see that soldiers have helped me to build my opinions on them.
I think one thing that you don't consider is the fact that a large number of people join the military service as ways to avoid jail. A judge will give them an option to go to jail or the army, and those people choose the army. This type of recruiting distorts "free choice" a bit.
Also, the army recruits from sectors of society that are kept in poverty. If you were to enter some of these areas, you will notice that they look the same as run down areas of Eastern Europe. People in the ghettos of the United States are not given an equal opportunity at education because they are not even given an equal opportunity at life. It is unfortunate, but it is how the system works. This is another reason why the level of education is lower in the army. The army recruits from the areas of society that the U.S. government keeps impoverished.
Also, the United States army has never had high standards for joining it. Anyone who cannot pass their test must have trouble tying is or her shoes. However, within the last year, U.S. newspapers showed this headline: "Lower Standards Help Army Meet Recruiting Goal." The U.S. army does not make education a requirement, and you will have a tough time convincing anyone that they foster a good learning environment, and not a slave like atmosphere.
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