Catwhoshatinthehat

I don't think that's something most anyone would argue against. What do you think has been going on for the last 7+ years as far as government spending and the fed policy? Hell deficit spending has been a way of life for 3+ decades now. We've seen the national debt rise substantially while the monetary base has been increased many times what it once was since the beginning of the great recession. Not all of that money has ended up in the economy as some of it has been sat on and the trick is going to be winding down and what that does to the economy.

Reading this reminds me of one of the things the keynote speaker at the conference I attended spoke about. He was mentioning corporate tax reform and was asked whether or not a certain senate member was the person for the job. Anyways he said that most in Washington agreed corporate tax reform was something that's definitely needed as we've got a Draconian tax code that has led to businesses and jobs moving overseas. It's interesting how much stuff he said a lot of people seemed to agree on but the issue was how to get there because there's always give take when it comes to getting something passed.

As Arch pointed out and I mentioned in another thread they view Kubiak as their long term answer at coach while Manning might be done after this season. They wanted Kubiak to take over for Shannahan but the opportunity in Houston came up for Kubiak before Denver was ready to move on from Shannahan. The Broncos had one of the best RB statistically the last half of 2014 while averaging 112 yards on the ground per a game vs. 57 yards per game on the ground through the first 3 games this year. I think CJ and Hillman are a good combination of power back/smaller quicker back but a lot of the issues are still on the O-line. During last nights game the announcers mentioned something that I agree with which is that even though they have some talent on the line and it can be productive this is the first time they've played together and it will take time to mesh. I think they should also be using the RB's more for check down passes as this year they're doing it less frequently and much less effectively than they did last year. The pistol or shotgun formations are definitely better for Peyton but at some point they have to be able to run the ball with some effectiveness. Against tougher opponents and/or in the playoffs you need to be able to control the clock to give your defense a break and keep the opposing offense off the field. The defense alone won't be able to keep them in a game against a team like NE because at a point they will tire and will need the offense to pick up the slack. The defense has been huge so far this year but they still have a knack for taking dumb penalties, generally in the form of an unsportsmanlike conduct. Against KC they had 2 on one drive that helped KC move 30 yards and saw them score and they had one last night night where Williams went in late and high on Stafford who was sliding. Statistically maybe they're average in this regard and this is me watching more of their games but it still makes them seem undisciplined. They're 3-0 which is great and they could have a 2 game lead on SD/KC after tonight but there's definitely still room for improvement.

Somewhat me going off on a tangent but stuff like this just makes me wonder how much money from the likes of the electric company, car companies and so on has delayed or flat out put an end to the creation and widespread use of other products that would be much more efficient, cheaper and better off for the world. It also makes me wonder what kind of technology or advances haven't happened or aren't as mainstream as they should be because of how much money and pull some of these companies have. Kind of like when you'd hear about Microsoft stamping out some small company with a great product because they could afford to and it was a threat to them.

In 2010 in the NFL the NFC west winner was Seattle with a 7-9 record. I remember fans complaining about how easy the division that played the NFC west had it and how a 7-9 team shouldn't be hosting a first round playoff game. From 2012 to 2014 the NFC West always had 2 playoff teams and fans were complaining about how unfair it was for the division that had to play them. As mentioned when Houston came to the AL West we had fans on here who were ecstatic because the Angels would play them 19 times a year. Three years later the Angels are a whopping 30-27 vs. Houston who they're chasing in the standings as of today. In the matter of a season or two things can change quickly in all of the major sports. Any change you make now in the scheduling will still have fans complaining in a season when some team turns it around.

Disagreed. The majority came together during 9/11 and that's what generally happens during a tragedy. You'd think after the 2000 election that dems would have been chomping at the bit to go after Bush but the majority didn't at the time use 9/11 as the platform to do it. There's always fringe elements on the far left/right that will say what they want but the majority don't want to hear it at a time like that and doing so would be political suicide. After things calm down you'll hear more and more but that's politics as usual as people get fed up with other issues especially as elections draw near. Regardless hopefully we never test your belief.

I mean they were ready for him to step down due to division in their own party as he basically made too many enemies. The keynote speaker gave a lot of good examples of division within each party and I really wish I had recorded it or had a transcript of everything he said. To be fair to anyone in politics as much as I imagine it's a nightmare trying to work with people in your own party and the other party this guy made it sound like even more of a ridiculous balancing act. He talked about the Planned Parenthood issue saying that some republicans would back off cutting funding to PP if some of the higher ups at PP were let go while some of the dems absolutely refused. He talked about ACA and how some R's didn't want to fully repeal after it was passed but wanted to fix what they perceived to be as things wrong with it but Pelosi said absolutely not because making any changes tells the American public the Dems don't believe in what they passed. Someone asked him a question if one of the R's was the man for the job to get some major reform (can't remember exactly which) through and he pointed out that the individual wasn't because that person wants to move up. To appease some of his own party and even the Dems knowing he'd have to work with them should he climb the ladder he couldn't take a hard stance on the issue. Doing so would basically burn bridges and make enemies in his own party and with Dems all of whom he'd either need their support to move up and/or would need to be able to work with them in the future. As you imagine in each party there's certain things each representative won't compromise on because that's the big issue to their voters and their biggest concern is getting re-elected. He said once the house members get elected they have like 6 months to really do work then they go into campaign mode again. The main thing this guy said is that right now the biggest issue in Washington is there's few if any leaders and there's only managers. Someone asked him who the R's in Washington thought currently had the best chance at getting the presidential nomination and he said it's a long way off but most aren't afraid that Trump is the person. He made a joke inferring that they were afraid because he'd be a nightmare to work with but said that once the candidates get whittled down they don't anticipate most supporters of other candidates going to Trump. Trump has his hardcore fan base but since he's such a divisive candidate he doesn't generally appeal to some of the other R voters. That said as the guy pointed out anything can change between now and the election. He said Scott Walker was a guy R's had high hopes for but that he was having issues appealing to the masses being a middle America governor. He compared him to another candidate during the last election who had the same issues and a few days after the conference Walker dropped out. The speaker had an agenda just like everyone else but he confirmed what most people believe to be true that politics are ridiculous and it's generally all about getting re-elected. He said there were three things that could fix the current state of politics the first of which is something bad happening (like 9/11) which brings the parties together and another of which was a legitimate leader being elected and working with both sides. I don't recall the third thing but he obviously said no one is hoping for a tragedy that brings the country together and his hope was for a legitimate leader getting elected. For all I know this guy opted not to run again for some scandalous reason but that said it sounded like he didn't miss it because of all the BS involved trying to work with both your own party and the other side.

Went to a conference a week ago where the keynote speaker was former house member who opted by choice not to go for re-election after his last term. He was a republican and you could tell that's the side he favored but he made it clear that both sides in Washington are far from perfect and that Boehner (someone he personally knows and worked with) was more or less done as speaker because his own party members were ready to move on. Some of the other stuff he said wouldn't surprise anyone as far as it being true but it was surprising hearing it from someone who served.

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Quite a bit has changed from year to year though in Seattle. Chancellor is holding out with apparently neither side budging and they said on Sunday the sides hadn't talked since September 8th. They've handed out big contracts to some of their studs who wanted to get paid and now they don't really have much cap room this year. So far their O-line has looked suspect after trading Unger in the Graham grade and Graham has looked pretty un-Graham like as his targets have decreased and he's needed to be more of a blocker given the type of offense Seattle runs. I expect them to turn it around but this is what happens to teams who have success with low payrolls because eventually you have to pay your top players and can't just swap them out for the next man up.

On the bright side instead of getting your hopes up later in the season then inevitably shitting the bed Dallas just saved you a lot of pain and got it out of the way now. In all seriousness though the injury bug has hit some contenders hard and I never want to see players go down because I want to see each team at their best when they step on the field. It's obviously real early in the season but right now between injuries and holdouts no one team looks like the team to beat. Come the playoffs I'm sure that will change especially when teams have to go to NE/GB in the winter but a lot will happen between now and then.

The defense gives up the lead then proves me wrong and comes up huge to win it. What a game.

I don't disagree with any of the Manning comments but the biggest issue is the O-line. You can't run Manning or Kubiak's offense if the O-line is letting the 39 year old play caller spend most of the game getting hit. Forget making it through the season he won't make it through week 6 unless they pick it up big time. John Fox is a good coach but some of his play calling screwed the Broncos and considering the roster he had I don't blame Elway for going in another direction. As far as Kubiak goes that's a guy a lot of people (myself included) wanted to see end up the head coach after Shannahan but his opportunity came with Houston before Denver was ready to part ways with Mike. I agree he is far from the perfect fit with Manning but I think they have a long term view with him knowing Manning's window is just about closed. Brandon I don't count on Denver's defense keeping it up all game and expect Charles to rack up some yards in the second half. Momentum swung before half time but it's a tie game while KC starts with the ball.

The Denver offense is ****ing terrible. How do you waste a TO there to go for it on fourth down instead of kicking the FG. Ridiculous.

At first I thought this was the 'end Matt Joyce petition' since CA passed a right to die act. I think we all know how quickly that would have been signed.

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I get that he lied for the attention but I don't understand why people lie about situations like 9/11. I mean how effed in the head or hard up for attention do you have to be to think that's a good idea? Saying he worked for a major company in one of the towers can easily be refuted if people dig into it so making up a lie like that is just asking for trouble.

So either some drunk chick decided to go for a swim and got swept out to sea or she opted for the swim of shame instead of the walk of shame.

I'm not going to say he's done yet since the O-line either looked incredibly bad or Baltimore's D-line looked incredibly good. That said I don't expect them to win Thursday in KC and if the O-line and/or Peyton don't improve then it's going to be a long season. Edit - for the record this is probably mostly homerism on my part. Manning looked pretty bad but I'm hoping the two times he overthrew a wide open Sanders for TD's it was due to the offense still getting acclimated to Kubiak's scheme. I definitely avoided Peyton in fantasy drafts given where he was going and one of my friends who took him in two leagues is already in panic mode and I understand why.

Pretty sure it's all a ruse and he plays for the other team. Congrats!

I think my mistake with DAI is that towards the end of my playing time I was more focused on killing dragons than advancing the story and eventually killing them got repetitive. On the other hand I finished DAO (only game I've completed in probably 10 years) while only killing the dragons I had to kill. I'm sure there's some middle ground and hopefully I'll find it when I restart DAI. At the crux of it all like I said earlier in this thread is that my biggest issue is I have video game ADD nowadays. I used to love playing the FF games all the way through (stopped after 7) but once I got into online games like TFC/CS/BF1942 I stopped playing the actual games they were based off of and just played online. I think the human element of playing against someone that is thinking and reacting keeps me more interested than games themselves no matter how open the world within the game is.

Again the options you're giving are two extremes - switching managers every other year or the longest tenured manager in baseball who has been on the job 6 more years than the the 2nd longest tenured manager. I'll vote for somewhere in the middle or at the very least not giving a manager or hell even players 10 year guaranteed contracts.

I enjoyed DAO and DAI but DA2 not so much as it really seemed like a rushed attempt to capitalize off DAO and wasn't the best stand alone game when compared to the others. I played DAI quite a bit initially but after killing 4 or 5 of the 10 dragons I put it down for a while and haven't touched it in months to the point I'd probably have to restart which I don't have the interest in doing right now.

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