Orton's Arm

Here's the Fifth Amendment

Especially when said democratic republic won't lift a finger to protect itself from an invasion almost no other nation would tolerate. How do you think Iran would respond, if we shipped all our illegals there? Or Japan, or China, or any of a host of other nations?

Back in 2000, a survey of journalists found that a quarter of them had avoided newsworthy stories because they feared professional consequences. Andrew Kohut, "Self-Censorship: Counting the Ways," Columbia Journalism Review (May/June 2000): 42-43.

"Government money?" Ha! Get that concept out of your head. There's no such thing as "government money." There's taxpayer money, which taxpaying parents should be allowed to use to send their children to a private or parochial school of their choice. Currently, if you want to send your children to a private or parochial school, you pay twice: once for your own children's tuition, and a second time for everyone else's kids in the form of school taxes. That's not fair. America's public school system isn't working, because the people with power do not have incentives to provide quality education. Nothing you've suggested would create incentives for politicians, teachers' unions, or education bureaucrats to provide quality education. So they won't. If the Soviet collapse taught us anything, it's that you can't use bureaucratic mandates to make up for a lack of proper incentives. Nothing less than a voucher system can hope to address the incentive problem. Parents, and parents alone, care enough about their children to see that they get properly educated. Give power to the people who care about producing real results. To place the fate of America's children in the hands of indifferent bureaucrats is to consign these children to a second or third rate education.

Bungee Jumper: Owns three sheep, and three cattle. Claims that over the course of several generations, the sheep and cattle will regress toward a common average size. Insists he knows more about breeding sheep and cattle than shepherds or ranchers.

I noticed the matching girl/doll outfits myself. The girl's headband appears to be made from the same material. I'm guessing the mother sewed all this, maybe with a little help from the girl. I can see how a girl would wear handmade clothing from her mother as a source of comfort during a difficult time.

If you're sure Losman is the next Terry Bradshaw, you are indeed getting too old to understand football.

I suggest we round up all the illegal aliens in this country, and send them to populate Iraq. I'm sure the Islamic world wouldn't see this as an invasion at all.

It sounds like your team is on the right track. Given the misery your fans have endured over the years, you guys deserve some wins.

A 4-5 record seems about right for this team next year. The first round CB will need time to adjust to the NFL before he can truly replace Clements.

An excellent post. Unless the Bills have already decided JP isn't the answer, they need to use the rest of the season to do more evaluating than 13 pass attempts per game would allow.

To summarize, some of that line (Wolford/Ritcher) came from early round picks. But mostly it was based on 11th round draft picks and street free agents and the like. I wonder why the Bills were so much more successful with late round OL picks and street free agents back then, than they've been recently? One possible explanation is that back then, they emphasized mental traits such as work ethic, toughness, intelligence, that sort of thing. But maybe a guy like TD placed more emphasis on athletic ability, and less on that other stuff. I don't know.

I have no earthly idea how this game's going to go. I thought the Texans were a joke team, and then you guys go and beat Jacksonville. I thought the Texans didn't have fans, but here you are. It seems I've been underestimating your team. The Bills have a middle of the road defense that seems better at stopping the pass than stopping the run. The Bills' punting unit is the finest in the league--perhaps because it sees the field so often. The Bills' special teams unit as a whole is strong. Onto, um, uh, what we like to call the "offense." It's important that people see the "offense" label, because otherwise they'd have no way of knowing that this particular unit is supposedly responsible for moving the ball down the field. The left side of the Bills' offensive line is decent to good at run blocking, but that's about the only positive thing you can say about our excuse for an offensive line. The Bills' quarterback--Losman--has been kept on so short a leash the past few weeks, and has been asked to do so little, that some are starting to wonder what we have or don't have in him. He only had 13 pass attempts against the Colts, and there's considerable debate as to how much of that's a lack of confidence in him, how much a lack of confidence in the pass protection of the offensive line, and how much is out of respect for Indy's pass defense. The Bills' starting running back is injured, so he's been replaced with a big, physical back in the form of Anthony Thomas. The Bills' receiving corps is hard to figure out. There's a lot of speed, but for the most part that speed hasn't translated into production. Whether that's the fault of the receivers, the pass protection, or the quarterback, is a subject open for debate. The one positive I can say about our offense is that it's generally been good about not turning the ball over. Granted it's the 31st ranked offense in the league, but at least turnovers have been rather low. How strong would you say the Texans team is this year? How good is your pass rush, your running game, your offensive line, etc.?

The Bill of Rights states that the government may make no law restricting freedom of speech. TBD isn't the government, so they're allowed to restrict freedom of speech in whatever manner they see fit. Should TBD moderators voluntarily choose to be guided by the spirit of the First Amendment? Yes, within limits. Taking pleasure in the tears of a little girl exceeds those limits.

I couldn't help but notice that very little of the Bills' Super Bowl line came from the Polian draft picks you mentioned. Kent Hull, Jim Ritcher, Howard Ballard--those guys aren't on your list. It's easy for a skill-heavy draft to look like a smart choice if you're going to have a line like that anyway. The early Will Wolford pick nicely rounded out that group.

What on earth is Lindell doing on your list? He misses one field goal, and now he's gone? Dude, good luck in finding a perfect kicker. As for Fairchild, I've heard it pointed out that he called mostly running plays against a weak run defense/strong pass defense. Where's the harm in that? What offensive coordinator do you think could have done better given the lack of horses? Then there's Nall, who's had barely any exposure in the preseason, and none at all in the regular season. On what basis do you want to kick him out? Since you're evidently determined to be patient with JP, why not extend a portion of that same patience to Nall?

This is one banning with which I strongly agree. Taking pleasure in the heartbreak of an eight year old girl is just sick.

Oh, yes, you're totally right about this one. No Losman supporter would ever even dream of doing the following: - Call people names based on a different point of view - Use a straw man argument. For example, I've never seen a case where a "Losman should have played better" post was followed by a post which read, "If you think that replacing the QB will solve all this offense's problems, you're an idiot. Don't you know this team needs a better offensive line?" - Use negative labels to describe everyone who disagrees with you. I've never heard the anti-Losman group characterized as "the hot pockets crowd" for example. I'm not trying to paint with too broad a brush here. There are a lot of Losman supporters who are reasonable people and good posters. But there are others who would be less offended if you called their mother a prostitute than they'd be if you questioned whether Losman is the next Drew Brees.

I like the fact that this guy has the guts to question the Official Version of history that Bush has proposed. I'm not saying this guy's right, and I'm certainly not trying to defend his views. But if we silence the Hugo Chavez's of the world, the next September 11 attacks will be an inside job, because the government will know it can get away with it.

What we have now is a rich versus poor system. Rich people's chidren can attend private schools. Poor people's children can't. Vouchers would make the system more egalitarian in that everyone could now afford the tuition for a private or parochial school of his or her choice. Maybe some private schools would raise their tuitions to keep out the non-rich. But other schools, run by wiser people, would achieve exclusivity through aptitude tests. A poor kid might never get the chance to go to the "rich kids' school." But with a voucher system, an intelligent poor kid could attend the "smart kids' school," and get a better education than at the rich kids' school. And hey, maybe colleges would tend to favor applicants from the smart kids' school over the rich kids' school. You never know.

I disagree, AD. TD used no fewer than eight picks in the first two rounds on skill position players: 2001: Travis Henry (2nd round) 2002: Josh Reed (2nd round) 2003: Drew Bledsoe (1st round, traded) 2003: Willis McGahee (1st round) 2004: Lee Evans (1st round) 2004: JP Losman (2nd round) 2005: JP Losman (1st round) 2005: Roscoe Parrish (2nd round) TD used just one pick in the first two rounds on the offensive line: 2002: Mike Williams (1st round) This utter neglect of the offensive line happened despite the fact that the line was really bad when TD got here. Other than an aging Ruben Brown, there wasn't anybody on our line. TD found relatively old, bargain basement free agent offensive linemen. What did he expect from that? Marv found other bargain basement free agent offensive linemen with which to replace them. I wasn't impressed then, and I'm not now. Ever since Kent Hull retired, the offensive line has been a gaping wound in the side of the Bills. The Bills have tried to mend this wound with tiny little Band-Aids such as cheap free agents or low-round draft picks. These have done absolutely nothing to stop the bleeding. It's been ten years. It's time to stop messing around, and start drafting offensive linemen early in the draft. If that means there's one less Roscoe Parrish or Josh Reed on the roster, that's a price the Bills will have to pay. Will a good offensive line fix all the Bills' problems? No. But without a good offensive line, the other stuff they're trying to fix won't get them very far.

This is probably the best I've ever seen this point expressed.

There's some truth to what you're saying. I've heard that Polian was fired for being too egotistical, and for keeping Wilson out of the loop. Butler was fired because he apparently refused to negotiate an extension. A.J. Smith wasn't hired as his replacement because Wilson apparently preferred a guy with some experience (TD) to a young whippersnapper who'd never held a GM position before. Also Smith may have sided with Butler in his dispute with Wilson.

The difference between Losman and Brees is that Brees was a "polished" pocket passer coming out of college. He'd shown indications that he might someday become a polished NFL quarterback. Losman had good athletic gifts, and had some successes playing a wide-open, backyard ball style of football. He did not, however, prove much as a pocket passer in college. Losman isn't Drew Brees.

Great read. Thanks.