COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, July 30, 2011

A Prediction: Obama to the Rescue



The Fiddlers, our Lords and Masters, whose collective 30 years on recklessness, deception, fraud, manipulation and misrepresentation should put 75% of them in prison doing hard-time, continue to waste our time, resources and futures. Most, not all are motivated by their shallow political careers. A rational response by the American Public, their subjects, if they truly understood the consequences of where we are, would be very ugly.

I predict that the games will be played till a moment where Obama will sieze control of the process and increase the debt ceiling unilaterally. Some of the geldings in Congress and the party hacks will howl but the unhappy result will be that Obama will look to be a strong man of action who saved the nation from financial disaster. The Constitution will be just short of meaningless and the games will continue. We would have a better shot at winning at Three Card Monte.

144 comments:

  1. .

    We can only hope.

    Past performance suggests that he will sit around dithering like the rest of these jokers.

    Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  2. .

    Yesterday, I saw different interviews with three or four of the Tea Party freshmen.

    I am convinced they are all bat-fuck crazy. Some of them are stupid when it comes to what will happen if the ceiling isn't lifted. However, most of them understand the results, they just don't give a damn.

    They say that their stand is based on principle. The fact that millions of people could be negatively affected, that not passing the measure could adversely affect markets here and around the world, that is could push us further into depression, that the US public is more interested in jobs than the debt, that by asking for a balanced-budget amendment they are admitting they can't do their own job, that when you are handed a third of the legislative process that is not a mandate it's a step on the way to a mandate,...well, I could go on but to them it is n'importante. Mere collateral damage.

    What got me most was as they were being asked tough questions about their stance a couple of them were actually smiling, one actually chuckling, as if this were a big joke.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  3. There was a bunch of trick photography in that 3 card monty or I'm howlin' with the wolves.

    Yep, Harry Reid is the image of forthrightness, propriety and good manners compared to those damned Tea Party Folk.

    Harry is upfront with his feelings about 'the people'.

    They stink, he said.

    By the way, what ever happened to the idea for that fast train between Vegas and LA, The Desert Debtor?

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm going gambling with the wife today. At a place where we have as much chance as that 3 card monty. See ya.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  5. I used to play poker with that guy, and a couple of his friends.

    In their cases, past performance WAS a Guarantee of Future results. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Obama is the master of getting out in front of a parade and looking like he's been leading it all along, and Americans collectively are as dumb as a box of rocks.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1st qtr GDP Growth was revised down to 0.4%.

    Second qtr will, eventually, get revised down to approx. Zero.

    This brouhaha virtually guarantees an eventual Negative Number for the Current qtr (even if the first print is slightly positive.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. How can you say one group is bat shit crazier than the other group?

    They are all morons, ever single one of them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. We are in recession,

    We are releasing a Million Barrels/Day of Oil onto the Market out of our "Strategic" Reserves,

    And, the Price of Gasoline is Rising ($3.71/gal this morning.)

    We started sliding back into recession somewhere around $3.25/gal.

    The Debt is a long-term problem. Our problem, Right Now, is the increasing cost of transportation fuel.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Winding down Two Wars, and a year of solid GDP/Employment growth would make that debt picture a lot brighter.

    But, with gas prices at this level, an expanding economy is Not going to happen. And, There lieth the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  11. When the Unemployment Rate goes from 4.5% to 9.5% a lot of really bad things happen to the old Fiscal Balance.

    Especially, in a country where all policies are predicated on strong, expanding Growth.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The challenge is the balance of trade deficit, not the Federal budget deficit, in the short to medium term.

    The President will act unilaterally, if the Congress remains deadlocked, that's his job description, per the 14th Amendment and the Congress's passing of 2010 appropriations.

    It will not be a shredding of the constitution, but adherence to it.

    Still, minting a dozen coins would be just as Constitutionally legal and a real game changer.
    Makes minting the coinage a doubtful outcome.

    ReplyDelete
  13. When you, and the wife, go down to the filling station, Monday, and put $45.00, apiece, in your respective tanks, you have just mailed a $55.00 Check to OPEC, et al. $230.00/Mo out the window. Never to be seen, again.

    That Saudi Sheik, or Hugo, are not going to come in your store next tuesday, and spend some of it back. It. Is. Gone.

    And, that $100.00/Mo that you and the Missis are paying for Military Intervention in the Persian Gulf? That's gone, also.

    So, that's, at least, $330.00/Mo that you won't be spending in the local economy. Multiply that by 100 Million Families X 12 Months.

    $396 Billion? How does it taste?

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Important number, though, is your family's "take home" pay, Minus $3,960.

    For some, hardly a bother. For about 40% of us, though, a pretty big number.

    ReplyDelete
  15. .

    How can you say one group is bat shit crazier than the other group?

    I didn't.

    I said the Tea Party guys were bat shit crazy. That the others are as bad in their own way, no denying.

    The Tea Party is just crazy in their own unigue way, at least the ones that end up in the media. Where the others are corrupt, these guys are fanatics.

    It is easy to despise the corrupt ones, but the fanatics are scary.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  16. Gag Reflex said...

    How can you say one group is bat shit crazier than the other group?

    They are all morons, ever single one of them.








    And the government reflects the people it governs! fuckin' stoopid americans!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. People are smart. "Crowds" are stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  18. One jumping off point: Has anyone Ever seen, or imagined a Gov. program that couldn't be cut 10% with virtually no noticeable effects.?

    ReplyDelete
  19. As an ex: Do you think there's a Chinaman's chance in hell that anyone would notice if 10% of the Pentagon didn't show up tomorrow?

    ReplyDelete
  20. But, here's the real bottom line:

    The government would probably break even by hiring an unemployed head of household, and paying him/her $450.00 or $500.00/wk just to dig holes, and fill'em back up again (after considering unemployment benefits, food assistance, Medicaid, etc, etc.)

    Compared to That, a Loan Guarantee (not a loan; just a loan guarantee) for the construction of some Cellulosic ethanol plants would have to be the Greatest Money-Saving Program in the History of the Solar System.

    The Benefits, both Federally, and Locally have to be Enormous. Why is this no-brainer being overlooked (or, ignored?)

    ReplyDelete

  21. The government would probably break even by hiring an unemployed head of household, and paying him/her $450.00 or $500.00/wk just to dig holes, and fill'em back up again



    Right!

    These questions are as old as the hills really. That is the very solution offered by my old high school teacher of long ago. Don't just give 'em money, make them dig holes and fill them back up again, if nothing else.

    Teaches a little work ethic if nothing else.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  22. I've been invited to East City Park on Wednesday next to help celebrate Oshithead's 50th birthday party.

    I have to find out if any free food is involved, then I may go, see what the opposition is talking about these days.


    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'll suggest to 'em the way outta this crisis. All we got to do is create three trillion dollar Mesopotamian Clay USA tablets.

    And if it ain't legal yet I'll have Raul Labrador make it so.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  24. The basic mistake you guys make is in actually expecting something from politics.

    I expect nothing, and am never disappointed.

    I'm starting to think that the Texas governor is the best bet to oust Obummer.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  25. Not only is the "Arab Spring" awakening the Muslims, it has caught the breeze in Israel, too.

    Over 100,000 residents, there, have taken to the streets, to criticize the policies that Bibi has embraced.

    According to reports in the JPost:

    Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took part in protests held in cities across the country on Saturday night, the largest collaborative protest yet in a popular movement over social issues that has swept the country in the past two weeks.
    ...
    Early in the rally at the Tel Aviv Museum on Saturday, organizers said that more than 100,000 people had gathered in the city. The throng of people wound from the museum past Rehov Ibn Gvirol, participants chanting, “The people want social justice,” a hallmark of the movement.


    12,000 protestors in Jerusalem, on top of the 100,000 reported in Tel Aviv.

    Yes, amigos, there is a fresh breeze blowing, all across in the Islamic Arc.

    Freedom is on the march.

    ReplyDelete
  26. More people protesting the social conditions in Israel than in Egypt.

    Raw numbers, not even taking into account the larger population in Egypt.

    Wonder just where the military stands, in Israel.
    Would they fire on their own?

    Will Israeli military leadership follow the Egyptian model or the Syrian?

    Or will the follow the Turkish example?

    ReplyDelete
  27. I Back. Big problems. Blogger no like HuDat photo, so I using stealth technolgy to report into my regular friends as Elephant Bar. Stealthy technology very important today. My best friend Barack he invite me for some stealth golf but no want me to tell. He very sensitive man today and number one golfer. He gets lot of practice so he need relax and I not tell. Words for only Elephant eyes.

    I say Barack very sensitive. He talk and talk and wok the wok with his best friend from congress, Representative Boner. Barack tell Boner that his bill no good. Boner very upset. He cry. Barack he help Boner relax with golf. Truth to tell Boner better golfer than Barack. Boner makes number one with putter. Do beautiful putt it make Boner cry. Boner very sensitive and worried about the market and wants Barack to like his bill but that for another time I tell all. I go now, still regular.

    Hu Dat

    ReplyDelete



  28. For the first time in the history of modern Turkey, the military leadership quit over a disagreement with the government, rather than the government being the one to go. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan grabbed the historic opportunity that fell into his lap with both hands. Now he can definitively impose civil rule over the military...
    ...
    The wholesale resignation of the top military commanders will have minimal impact on military performance, but the political implications are vast. It would not be an exaggeration to describe it as a revolution in Turkey's power structure.


    Haaretz.com

    Freedom and a taste of civilian supremacy is on the march!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Even Maverick knows that the path set by the Partiers is a loser.

    So the debt limit debate has come to this: John McCain, who you may recall was the GOP’s 2008 standard bearer, is now openly accusing conservatives of actively misleading America with their completely unrealistic demands, which he labeled “deceiving” and “bizarro.”

    What if had been elected, as so many here hoped?

    ReplyDelete
  30. The mass protests in Israel, one wonders, are they "Real" Israelis?

    Are they "Real" Jews?

    It took tens of thousands of people filling Tel Aviv's streets Saturday night, people from all over Israel, from all walks of life, from across the political spectrum, for the government to see their anarchists for what they really are -- the middle class -- and to realize just how revolutionary all of this is. It took all of them for the government to realize that they had a revolution where they least expected it, when and where they were least prepared for it, led by middle-class young adults that seemed the least likely to ever raise a cry.
    ...
    These are people -- not people as Jews or as Arabs, not people as fundamentalists or secular, gay or straight, right or left -- just people. These are people who as individuals need to live somewhere, have a chance to work, have a chance to get to work, and send children to decent schools.

    These are people like students and social workers and doctors who are being worked to death. These are people whom others may call children of privilege, but whose future is, in fact, dimming -- turning them into the kind of people who make revolutions.

    This revolution is not about the existential threat to Israelis posed by Iran or Hamas.

    It is about the existential threat to Israelis posed by Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Six million people cannot be expected to fund attack submarines, attack aircraft and missiles armed with nuclear weapons.

    Not for an extended period of time, anyway.

    Not enough people.
    Not enough GDP.

    Not enough depth to be "Rael".

    ReplyDelete
  32. These protests by real people across the Middle East, in Egypt, Israel and Syria just another proof of the Equivalency Standard that permeates that region of the whirled.

    The real people of those countries all seem to have had enough of the political games their leaders play.

    ReplyDelete
  33. No one it taking the Rat Bait.
    שסױ

    ReplyDelete
  34. The idea that the politicos are morons, only some one without cognitive function would say such a thing.

    They have been able to feather their nests. Smart fellas that they are.

    Mrs Bachmann leading the charge, playing the people of the United States for over $500,000 in the past decade or so.

    ReplyDelete
  35. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Are the reports in the JPost lies?

    I think not.

    ReplyDelete
  37. We know that average Israeli families are murdering Jewish souls, through abortion, because they cannot afford to raise the children.

    That's not bait, that's the reality as reported by the Chief Rabbis of Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Indicative of a much deeper social crisis.

    It is seen across the Region of perpetual conflict. If one cares to read the signs.

    ReplyDelete
  39. I'm not the one protesting Bibi's government.

    I'm just not playing to the attempted "blackout" of the news.

    Major coverage of the protests in Cairo, while there's not a mention of the Israeli protests by the Murdock media.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Try using a Royal Coachman, RatBait, people might rise to that, like fish.

    There's not going to be any "big thing" in Israel. Maybe the government will fall, well, then, they will elect a new one, with the arab population voting as well.

    Try some other tactic, RatBait, your current one doesn't seem to be working, today.


    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  41. The Royal Coachman Streamer, Not Shown, Is What My Uncle Always Used For The Big Ones On The Grande Ronde

    You could catch Jesus with a fly like that. There is a line of poetry "I caught Jesus with a greased worm" from some good writer but I can't remember whom. But that's just bait fishing. Try a Coachman for real spirituality.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  42. In Royal Coachman—The Lore and Legends of Fly-Fishing (1999) Paul Schullery describes the Royal Coachman

    Now there's a book worth the reading.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  43. desert rat said...
    We know that average Israeli families are murdering Jewish souls, through abortion, because they cannot afford to raise the children.



    And we all know what a lying distorting, jew hating piece of filth the rat is...

    Now how many actual people have you murdered in Central America?


    To anyone that read this blog...

    The Rat is a self confessed murderer of innocents in Central America. Who actually know if he also has raped and looted....

    Not trying to make the argument about "have you stopped beating your wife" but look at the distortions and lies he states about Israel...

    "average Israeli families are murdering Jewish souls, through abortion, because they cannot afford to raise the children."

    Rat you are a winner of a turd, a moronic piece of garbage....

    If there is a hell? I hope you burn forever you piece of filth....

    ReplyDelete
  44. Well said, WiO.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  45. 15/47 = 32%
    11/47 = 23%
    12/47 = 26%
    ____________
    81%

    ... just wonder how many of those Jewish brats are carrying suicide vests ... "For Sale", of course, did you think they would use them?

    ReplyDelete
  46. Dale weighs in --

    Sometime

    Sometime in the future that time might be quite near
    When all hell will break loose we won't know why
    All of our world is scrambled nothing is quite clear

    The tempiture hot and soaring in that clear blue sky
    Politics is crazy the blame game well under way
    That idiots points are dropping he's wondering why

    blessings dale



    heh, a heart in the right place

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  47. Swedish News ---


    In Sweden, church is for 'unbelievers'

    Three-quarters of Swedes belong to the country's official church, but only 15 percent believe in Jesus.


    Sweden's icicle hotline keeps pedestrians on the hunt for the diciest ice
    Sweden: IKEA touts folksy roots. (Yes, IKEA)
    Sweden: Ancient Viking celebration of Midsummer lives on

    Nearly three-quarters of Sweden’s population of 9.4 million continue to belong to what was long the official state church of this Nordic nation, according to a recent survey. Yet only 15 percent of the members say they believe in Jesus, and an equal percentage do not even believe that God exists.

    The survey – conducted over the past year by the Church of Sweden – found, moreover, that only about 400,000 of the roughly 6.6 million church members attend church services at least once a month.

    Local clergymen such as Sven Björkborg, who serves several rural parishes southwest of Stockholm, says he is not surprised by the findings of the survey, citing the gradual secularization of Swedish society over the years. Members of the church, he adds, are not required to be believers.

    Pastor Björkborg argues that Swedes today support the church because it does good work and upholds important national values and traditions, providing assistance to the poor, the elderly, and others.

    It is undeniable, however, that membership in the church, which ceased to be the country’s official state church in 2000, continues to decline. It has fallen from 95.2 percent of the population 40 years ago, for example, to 70.2 percent today.



    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  48. More of Rat's friends and cousins today in the news:

    Tension Rises as Islamists Dominate Tahrir Square
    By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
    As my colleague Anthony Shadid reports, tens of thousands of Egyptians poured into Tahrir Square on Friday for a day that had been billed as one of unified protest against the interim military government. But the turnout was lopsided, dominated by members of religious movements, ranging from the most conservative, the Salafists, to the relatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood.


    Notice how they call the MB "moderate"? They are islamic nazis......

    Now for our 2nd Rat relation of the day...

    KILLEEN, Texas (Reuters) - An Army soldier arrested with suspected bomb-making materials near Fort Hood, Texas, was hatching a "terror plot" to attack military personnel, police said on Thursday.
    Naser Jason Abdo, 21, was arrested on Wednesday after materials that authorities said could have made a bomb were discovered in his motel room in Killeen, a small city just outside the base.


    Rat's kinfolk are busy today...

    http://www.youtube.com/verify_controversy?next_url=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D2UwdeVB4TR0

    that's a utube from syria//

    all rats all the time

    ReplyDelete




  49. On Thursday, New York police charged a 35-year-old man with the killing of Leiby Kletzky, an Orthodox Jewish boy, after officers found human remains in the man's refrigerator and a trash bin.

    The alleged killer also appears to be an Orthodox Jew who lived relatively nearby to Kletzky, according to community members.


    Maybe Levi Aron thought there was a market for those body parts he harvested.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Doctor Hess, he made out all right, harvesting.

    ReplyDelete
  51. But then, again, Doc Hess was working for the Israeli government, while he was doing the harvesting.

    Not a free lancer, like Levi Aron.

    ReplyDelete
  52. That's a new low even for RatPoison.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete



  53. ...Allegedly, one paid $10,000 to an impoverished Israeli for his or her kidney and tried to sell it for upward of $150,000 in the United States. The criminal complaint quotes the rabbi as saying he was in the organ business for a decade. (And in a you-can't-make-this-stuff-up twist, it wasn't even the day's only story on
    Israelis trafficking human body parts.)

    ReplyDelete
  54. ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports:

    ABC News has learned that Republicans and the White House have struck a tenative deal to raise the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2 deadline. It's not done yet, but here is the framework of the tentative deal they have worked out, according to a source familiar with the negotiations:

    Debt ceiling increase of up to $2.8 trillion
    Spending cuts of roughly $1 trillion
    Special committee to recommend cuts of $1.8 trillion (or whatever it takes to add up to the total of the debt ceiling increase)
    Committee must make recommendations before Thanksgiving recess
    If Congress does not approve those cuts by late December, automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect, including cuts to Defense and Medicare.


    I'm goin' to bed.

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete




  55. WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Romania indicted nearly two dozen Bucharest-based Israeli fertility doctors in a human egg trafficking scandal.

    The 22 doctors were caught in a raid on a Bucharest fertility clinic that was alleged to have been operating without required permits, Ha'aretz reported Thursday.

    The head of the Romanian Medical Association on Tuesday likened the illicit clinic activities to Nazi practices.

    Professor Vasili Esterestua told Romanian TV that the clinic "carried out medical experiments similar to those the Nazis did in Auschwitz," and the doctors exhibited "severe ethical deficiency."


    The case for equivalency is easily made.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Wrong, again boobie.

    It was Aron, Levy who did the deed, not me.

    I just reported upon the actions of others. Others that are excluded from the Story "o" tells.

    ReplyDelete
  57. The body part trade may have seemed like it was lucrative, to Levy Aron, Orthodox Jew.

    The Rabbis in New Jersey did okay at it, until they were busted.

    ReplyDelete




  58. Tisha b’Av has come early


    ...like all communities of human beings, many problems plague the Orthodox Jewish communities. Unfortunately, too often the rabbinic leadership’s response is dangerous denial that sees the Orthodox as above it. When will people wake up and begin facing the music?


    Intermountain Jewish News

    ReplyDelete



  59. ...too often the rabbinic leadership’s response is dangerous denial that sees the Orthodox as above it.


    When the Orthodox Jewish community is human, equivalent to all other humans in the whirled.

    Not superior in any sense.
    Not in the US, nor in Arabia.

    Levy Aron is proof enough.

    ReplyDelete
  60. THIS is the supposed deal:

    •2.8 trillion in deficit reduction with $1 trillion locked in through discretionary spending caps over 10 years and the remainder determined by a so-called super committee.
    •The Super Committee must report precise deficit-reduction proposals by Thanksgiving.
    •The Super Committee would have to propose $1.8 trillion spending cuts to achieve that amount of deficit reduction over 10 years.
    •If the Super Committee fails, Congress must send a balanced-budget amendment to the states for ratification. If that doesn’t happen, across-the-board spending cuts would go into effect and could touch Medicare and defense spending.
    •No net new tax revenue would be part of the special committee’s deliberations.

    $2.8 Trillion

    ReplyDelete
  61. BWAAAHAHAHAHHIKCICICICHHICCCIWABEABWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    The Rat Plan For Solving Our Money Problems Gets The Drubbing It Deserves


    bewahahahhaha

    Coin o' the realm, indeed.

    Rat is a "world class" dumbshit, but his wife is a Bright.

    She supports Sarah Palin, if you didn't know. She must have given up listening to Hubby long, long ago.

    Bless her.

    FYIOH

    ReplyDelete
  62. Another possible approach that would tickle the fantasy of any Rat would be to "Goldfinger" all the other gold bullion deposits in the world via dirty bombs which would cause the value of our holdings in Fort Knox, if we have any, to rise dramatically, to, say, $2,000 dollars an ounce, then all we'd have to do is sell a few hundred pounds of the stuff, and voila, we'd be a "creditor" nation again.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    FTIOH

    ReplyDelete
  63. The Federal debt is not just unpaid, but it will continue to grow, year over year under this Tea Party inspired "solution" to Federal deficit spending.

    boob is petulantly happy with that outcome.

    Half measures are his specialty.

    $2.8 trillion, over ten years.
    If the Federals did not increase spending, at all, year to year, for ten years, less than a 10% cut.

    Since Federal expenditures will not be held to 2010 levels, but are projected to increase at least 3%, each year, compounded, $2.8 trillion in projected spending reductions from the baseline is going to be even less stupendous than 10%.

    $2.8 trillion in cuts in the 10 year baseline spending projections, not even worthy of breaking wind.

    The Congress has kicked the can, further down the road, and boobie is exhilarated by that solution.

    ReplyDelete
  64. A real solution, one that would eliminate the debt, or at least further borrowing to pay the interest upon it, well, that's more than the Powers That Be could allow.

    Instead the Congress delivers more smoke and mirrors for the DC fun house.

    As I said, the coinage solution would not be adopted, as it'd have eliminated the need for the money lenders.

    We can't be having that, not in a Christian Nation.

    ReplyDelete
  65. As to what could possibly go wrong, with the Tea Party cuts?

    Well same as went wrong with the Bush ""Surplus"

    In 2001, large surpluses were forecast for the coming decade by the CBO.
    The Pew Center reported in April 2011 the cause of a $12.7 trillion shift in the debt situation, from a 2001 CBO forecast of $2.3 trillion cumulative surplus by 2011 versus the estimated $10.4 trillion public debt in 2011.

    Where is that $2.3 trillion dollar surplus?

    The Tea Partiers have delivered more of the same.



    Where's the Change?
    Where is the Revolution?

    You've been had.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Well, it looks like a pretty reasonable outcome from where I sit. No one is particularly "tickled" about it; which is usually a pretty good sign.

    I'll give the Tea Partiers credit for focusing the argument on "spending," and I'll give Boehner credit for threading the needle about as well as could be expected.

    It was a pretty good negotiation, that, while it didn't change anything to a great extent, it, at least, didn't make the situation worse.

    Maybe, one of these days, they will start thinking about our real problems - Jobs, the cost of energy, and Trade Balance.

    Maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  67. They're still "stalling the ball," waiting for the "recovery" to set in.

    How long they can remain delusional about that is the important question of the day.

    ReplyDelete
  68. I halfway expect the House to vote this down, and send them into a Real panic.

    It would almost be worth the worry just to see'em Really sweat.

    ReplyDelete
  69. We need for the corn farmers in the corn belt, and China to catch a break on the weather the rest of the Summer. It was a Catastrophic corn harvest in China, and a poor harvest in the U.S. that kept the price of ethanol elevated all year.

    We need for that spread between gasoline, and E85 to get back in the $1.25 to $1.50 range.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Even before the inevitable downward revision our GDP in the second quarter was still below the 4th qtr of 2007.

    3 1/2 year later, we still haven't caught up to even. That's pretty bad. And, we could easily be in the same boat this same time in 2013.

    Maybe by that time they'll start to figure out what's causing it.

    And, maybe not.

    ReplyDelete
  71. .

    Well, it looks like a pretty reasonable outcome from where I sit...

    If one can view the end of a Kubuki as reasonable.

    The only good thing that can be said about the agreement (if there is one) is that it moves the debt ceiling along, something it never should have impacted in the first place. Hopefully, it wil not be too late to minimize any damage on that front.

    As far as the rest of it? Pure kabuki. Obama will fold as predicted.

    The Dems are also preparing to fold on the issue of balance. Before, balance meant cuts and revenues. Lately, I have heard Schumer talking about balance as cuts in social programs and adding revenue "OR" cuts in social programs and cuts in military.

    One thing you can count on in this farce, the fat cats won't suffer in the least.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  72. They're going to suffer, Q. They just don't know it yet.

    Anyways, the Bush Tax Cuts expire at the end of 2012, and they won't be extended this time.

    And, the wars are winding down, albeit slowly.

    The next thing they'll surely work on is our idiotic Corporate Tax Law that's keeping Two Trillion of our Investment Dollars locked up overseas.

    That's such an automatic, no-brainer that not even a bunch of politicians could ignore it much longer.

    ReplyDelete
  73. I'd like to see'em drop the Corporate Tax Rate to, say, 25, or even 20%, and have it payable, Immediately, on overseas income.

    Letting them sit on it over there, tax-free. just Forces the money to stay there. It's inane.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Letting them sit on it over there, tax-free. just Forces the money to stay there. It's inane.

    For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. They will close their headquarters in Delaware and move to Antigua. Then there's no "foreign income" by an American national because they will be foreign nationals.

    ReplyDelete
  75. :)

    Let'em try.

    That, T, is why I think it's imperative that we make the tax levels reasnoable, overall.

    At twenty, or twenty-five percent it seems unlikely that it would be worthwhile, or even the slightest bit advantageous to move Microsoft to Antigua.

    At 35%? That's pretty danged high.

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  76. Rufus is correct. There is not one agency or government office that could not withstand a 10% cut. Renstate the draft, close 90% of foreign basis and force carreer officers and NCO's to a thirty year retirement or 55, whichever comes first and you can cut defense 25%.

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  77. No to reinstating the draft, no to closing all those bases, most of which are small and serve the purpose of keeping us in touch worldwide. No to withdrawing to fortress America.

    I get to drive my daughter's red rocketship to Wal-Mart---whoopie!!--cause she is plumb tuckered from all the riding.

    FTIOH

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  78. Yeah, the draft might force some of those Ideeho, landed gentry to actually fight in some of those wars they vote for.

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  79. Although, it's unlikely; it didn't work that way "last time."

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  80. I'll bet we wouldn't have 150,000 Troops trudging around Afiraqistan, right now, if we had a Draft.

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  81. We had 15 Killed in Iraq last month. No mention of that in the media, huh?

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  82. Anyway, if we weren't their pathetic, petroleum whores/junkies we wouldn't even consider being there.

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  83. At 35%? That's pretty danged high.

    Gosh, if Exxon Mobil paid 20% that's be better than the 17.2% they paid in 2010.

    But me, I'm more about consumption taxes than income taxes, because income taxes punish ambition.

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  84. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  85. No conscription means the poorest do the bidding of the US plutocracy. It is a an exploitation of the natural patriotism of many working class Americans. Entire strata of US society is under-represented in the US military. It is un-American. Worse yet, tens of billions is wasted over-paying civilian contractors doing all the work formerly done by 2-4 year conscripts The entire TSA could be done at 25% of the present cost by using conscientious objector inductees.

    There have always been shirkers, cowards and those willing to have others do their dirty work and make the sacrifice. Our Rulers and Masters made it easy to protect their own by institutionalizing the military establishment as a choice rather than a duty. Fuck them.

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  86. And, that, T, is after they've passed most of their U.S. profit off to offshore subsidiaries, located in tax havens.

    Don't get me started on the oil companies; I think I'm on the Saudi "hit-list," already.

    Only partly kidding.

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  87. No to reinstating the draft, no to closing all those bases, most of which are small and serve the purpose of keeping us in touch worldwide. No to withdrawing to fortress America.

    and your date of service is?

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  88. Our total NATO presence in Europe is a tad over 100,000 I believe (50,000 in Germany, alone.)

    I believe I could stand just a little less "stayin' in touch," and a little more "money in my pocket."

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  89. The US economy is scorched, It is drowning in debt, like many other western nations, or even more so (the funny thing is of course that many think that even more debt is the only way out).
    I doubt whether the U.S. economic fortunes are going to turn around any time soon. Personal debt in the U.S. is the real problem, in order for economic growth to continue in the U.S. under the fiat system you need to put even more debt on their shoulders. Sooner or later the U.S. needs to raise the taxes that Bush W & Obama slashed.

    Make a simple comparicon with Spain:

    Spain/ USA
    unemployment Spain offcial 20.7%, real Half; USA official 10%, real following 1980 accountancy, 22.7%

    Budget defficit, Spain, 6%, USA 56%
    Any questions?

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  90. Dem Bill (Reid's) defeated in the Senate.

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  91. 25,000 troops to protect the South Koreans from the "North" Koreans?

    Are you shitting me?


    And, a Naval Base at Sasebo, Japan. Just who in the hell are we protecting "Sasebo" from?

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  92. A half a million troops stationed around the world, and we can't protect our own borders.

    You couldn't make this shit up.

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  93. Ah, hell Rufus, that ain't fair. I never ran from the draft, did get a very high lottery number. By that time I'd taken to Quirk's point of view, we hadn't read our Vietnamese history and hadn't a clue as to what the hell we were doing.

    I did vote for whoever was the anti-war candidate back then. McCarthy? Memory fades.

    I didn't vote for any of these wars. Only thing I've ever advocated was bombing Iran with the help of the Israelis but I imagine it's too late now.

    FTIOH

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  94. We could easily protect our borders, the democrats and George Bush too simply didn't and don't want to do so.


    Good news is with 4.9% unemployment in Mexico compared with 9.4% here many are returning home for the jobs.

    I predict we will be allied with the Vietnamese one of these days, against the Chinese.


    FTIOH

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  95. You speak of "bombing Iran" as off-handedly as "goin' down to Starbucks for a cup o' Joe."

    The Persians have been the Big Player in that area for three or four thousand years. You might want to research, "why?"

    Voted anti-war, but casually mention being aligned with Vietnam against, possibly, the most formidable land power on earth.

    Jeez.

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  96. I voted for Frank Church too, not because he was big anti-war, but because I wanted that Frank Church Wilderness Area.

    And a volunteer military does offer a way up and out for many that wouldn't have many other good prospects.

    Just my opinion.

    FTIOH

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  97. You watch, we may be best buds with the Vietnamese one of these days.

    We and the Israelis could have put the squeeze on the Iranian nuclear program but it's too late now.

    FTIOH

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  98. Since when would having a "Draft" preclude volunteering?

    In VN they had different dogtags. RA for "Regular Army," and U.S. for "Draftee."

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  99. Vietnam and these other wars are a lot like abortion, a difficult and sensitive topic always ending up in a heated argument so I'm leaving the topic.

    FTIOH

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  100. I guess it wouldn't at least in peacetime. Not many were volunteering for Vietnam. Only man I knew who wanted to go to Vietnam was my brother who was stationed in Germany. Said, everybody is healthy here, I'm just sitting losing my medical skills.
    Having nothing to do, he got a pilot's license.

    I'm off the topic.

    FTIOH

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  101. Iran knows that Israel has Nukes, and knows that it's an instant death for the guy that pushes the red button. They tend toward craziness, but they're not That crazy.

    They, also, are aware that any attack would, likely, be for naught with Israel's missile defense capabilities.

    You gotta admit, MAD has worked; and, it appears likely to work for a long time to come.

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  102. Well, let's hope. But The Ayatolla from Paris said let this land burn if it conduces to the victory of islam in the world, we are muslims not Persians.

    FTIOH

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  103. "Empire" is all about Conquering other Countries, and "Taking their Stuff." Note: That "taking of stuff" part is what makes it feasible.

    Our strategy of paying the cost of conquest just to be able to "buy their stuff at Greatly Inflated prices" is a bankruptcy in the making.

    Only a politician, or a Harvard/Yale MBA could come up with an idea so utterly devoid of intelligence, and/or workability.

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  104. Re: rabbis quilty of organ harvesting

    How many arrests were made under the charge of organ harvesting?

    Howm many convictions have been obtained under the charge of organ harvesting?

    Take your time. Indeed, you will take a long time.

    Of course, since we run the world, gross miscarriages of justice are readily explained.

    O, it's still 13/0 in the real world.

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  105. Herr Rat should find a nice picture of Hitler and use it as his avatar instead of the dead actor in costume.

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  106. Rufus II said...
    Iran knows that Israel has Nukes, and knows that it's an instant death for the guy that pushes the red button. They tend toward craziness, but they're not That crazy.

    They, also, are aware that any attack would, likely, be for naught with Israel's missile defense capabilities.

    You gotta admit, MAD has worked; and, it appears likely to work for a long time to come.

    ------

    MAD will not work with the islamic nut jobs.

    "true believers" as these 13th imams are, are beyond most western mind sets....

    Rufus you confuse the Persian chess playing ASPECT of the Iranians, in the end, once they see there is no way out for the world, they will play the nuke card....

    There are so many ways they can play it and it's not limited to a direct, "johnny cochran" moment.

    Every day that passes, allows the 13th Imam nut nazis to progress in their goal. the complete and udder destruction of the Great Satan(and the Little Satan). DOnt take my words for it, just listen to what they have been saying CLEARLY since they took power in 1978.

    DEATH TO AMERICA

    DEATH TO the Zionist entity.

    Death to apostates.

    Remember those crazy, insane 13th imam nut jobs are not stupid, they did invent Chess....

    Stop thinking checkers.

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  107. ...with 4.9% unemployment in Mexico compared with 9.4% here many are returning home for the jobs...

    (pretty soon they will build a fence to keep US out!)

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  108. email from Dale --


    Subject:"Former FBI Chief Ted Gunderson Says Chemtrail Death Dumps Must Be Stopped"


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR6KVYJ73AU&feature=youtube_gdata_player


    As if we didn't have enough to worry about :)

    FTIOH

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  109. Sounds like a perfectly functional, intact 'family' Miss T.

    :(

    FTIOH

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  110. Aircrap.org Is Now On My Favorites List!

    Do something, somebody, 'fore it's too late.

    FTIOH

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  111. OOOooooo
    They sprayed
    They sprayed all night
    Till there was no light
    From moon or stars
    OOOooooo
    They sprayed
    They sprayed all night
    And with the coming
    Of the outrageous dawn
    The air crap was all over
    My new mowed lawn
    I wept
    And tore my hair
    Sat on my chair
    In the morn
    There was no light
    No light at all
    My mind began to bend
    The beginning of my end


    FTIOH

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  112. Speaking of the military let's start with the CINC.
    President Obama's decision-making capabilities and rationalit­y as Commander-in-Chief has come into question as he provided his own biggest campaign hurdle (and perhaps grounds for impeachment on diminished mental capacity) when in multiple rants he told his own military, who are putting their lives on the line in battlefiel­ds around the world (not by their own choice) that he would withhold their paychecks if a debt limit deal was not made. The U.S. military payroll is $2.9 Billion per month. The government takes in $200 Billion per month do the math. The Department of Education gets/spend­s $20 Billion per month alone... is there a rational person in this country that doesn't believe that perhaps we should pay the military before the DOE? Well perhaps Democrats, but I did say "rational", so they were already excluded.

    Wonder why independen­ts are running from Obama in droves? You don't have to like what the military is doing, but that isn't their choice... and withholdin­g THEIR paychecks is an insane act. Virtually the same argument can be made for veterans, many of whom have been wounded while putting their lives on the line. The veterans retirement­/disability benefits are also only $2.9 Billion per month. Less than $6 Billion total for the military..­. and its Commander-­in-Chief would rather withhold their paychecks.­.. probably so as not to disrupt welfare, food stamps, public housing and education monies for illegals (for which more is spent each month than military pay).

    Is this the type of decision-making we want or expect from an American president? A world leader?

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  113. I wasn't aware they had released any information which checks would be delayed.

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  114. How Iran would Retaliate

    Pay particular to the Straits of Hormuz, through which 40% of the World's Oil Shipments pass.

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  115. People forget that the US strategy under the Shah was that Iran was the natural hegemony in the area. It still is but the team in charge is not of of our choosing. If we were worried about Iraq, we never should have attacked Iraq. It was a colossal mistake and totally ignorant of the politics of the area.

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  116. So the Norway killer thinks Pam Geller is the bee's knees. I suppose WiO ranks up there somewhere.

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  117. :) Two from my friend Dale --

    AND IT SEEMS TO BE MUCH HOTTER STILL SO THE DEVIL TOOK HIS LEAVE

    IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT HE HAD WASHINGTON DC UP HIS SLEEVE

    HE SPOTTED CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS ALL OVER TOWN THAT WOULD NOT DO

    HE DESIGNED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TO DO HIS DIRTY WORK TOO

    THE DEMOCRATS DID SUCH GREAT JOB THEY BROUGHT IN A KENYA BOY

    A SILVER TONGUED ILLEGAL ALIEN HE GAVE THE SATANIC PARTY JOY

    REMOVING THOSE CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS WAS A GREAT JOY AND SO EASY

    WE HAD A NEW LEADER A MUSLIM HIS PAST LIFE WAS A BIT SLEAZY

    DRUGS, LIES AND EVEN A HOMOSEXUAL LIFE THE MEDIA FOUND NO FAULT

    HATING, DESTROYING AMERICA IS THE CREED OF THAT MUSLIM CULT


    BLESSINGS DALE





    Ode to Texas summer


    The devil wanted a place on earth
    Sort of a summer home
    A place to spend his vacation
    Whenever he wanted to roam.

    So he picked out Texas
    A place both wretched and rough
    Where the climate was to his liking
    And the cowboys hardened and tough.

    He dried up the streams in the canyons
    And ordered no rain to fall
    He dried up the lakes in the valleys
    Then baked and scorched it all.


    Then over his barren country
    He transplanted shrubs from hell.
    The cactus,thistle and prickly pear
    The climate suited them well.


    Now the home was much to his liking
    But animal life, he had none.
    So he created crawling creatures
    That all mankind would shun.


    First he made the rattlesnake
    With it's forked poisonous tongue.
    Taught it to strike and rattle
    And how to swallow it's young.


    Then he made scorpions and lizards
    And the ugly old horned toad.
    He placed spiders of every description
    Under rocks by the side of the road.


    Then he ordered the sun to shine hotter,
    Hotter and hotter still.
    Until even the cactus wilted
    And the old horned lizard took ill.


    Then he gazed on his earthly kingdom
    As any creator would
    He chuckled a little up his sleeve
    And admitted that it was good.


    'Twas summer now and Satan lay
    By a prickly pear to rest.
    The sweat rolled off his swarthy brow
    So he took off his coat and vest.


    "By Golly," he finally panted,
    "I did my job too well,
    I'm going back to where I came from,
    Texas is hotter than Hell."


    FTIOH

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  118. I think Pam Geller is the cat's pajamas, though, being allergic to bees, I'm not certain about the bee's knees.

    FTIOH

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  119. One more from Dale who is all fired up today --(and said some stuff I can't repeat)

    Mad As Hell And Not Going To Take It Anymore

    :)

    FTIOH

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  120. Somebody believes the story. Markets are jumping overseas.

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  121. Facing the imminent prospect of default, the White House and Senate Republicans worked through Sunday to close a debt ceiling deal that gives President Barack Obama greater certainty in managing the Treasury’s borrowing needs while making a joint commitment to major deficit reduction without any explicit concessions by the GOP on new tax revenues.

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  122. Obama wanting Defense cuts when he now has us in FOUR WARS.

    Military I'm sorry. Please be safe. We cherish you

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  123. Next week, a doctor with a flashlight shows us where Obama's projected job growth figures come from.

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  124. I can't make it next week, T. How's about you monitor the good doctor, and you can tell us all about it later.


    Much later. :)

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  125. I was going to have a little snack, but I guess I can forget obout that. Thanks, T. :)

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  126. Anybody Here Have A Dopamine Hole?

    Not me, too old, and too happily married.

    FTIOH

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  127. No Han Or Hon But Lots Of Hen

    Shit, Sweden is surely lost to the muzzies at this rate.


    FTIOH

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  128. the genderless word “hen,” which doesn’t formally exist in the Swedish language

    Hell, now they're into just makin' shit up to be uberPC.

    FTIOH

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  129. Spain went through almost the exact same thing 400 yrs ago. And, yes, it ended badly.

    Some say they're still paying.

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  130. Well, India has found a way to pay Iran for its oil. Seems the route goes through Turkey.

    You remember Turkey, right? The Country that just got rid of its top 200 Secular Generals.

    Interesting tidbit, I thought. Oh yeah, it's a rupee/Euro account. hmm

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  131. Anatolia, Persia, and India. Lots of history, there. Goes back a long, long way. Six, Seven Thousand Years?

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  132. Long, long time in the case of India. The Aryans from the north were recent arrivals. If I understand it aright, the Aryan philosophical/theological content that they brought with 'em got watered down a lot by the local indigenous content. Later the Buddhists migrated to the east when the muzzies came through, they being of a peaceful sort. I have two Hindus in my apartments this year, the girl in the psychology department at the U, student and teacher both. The guy drives a pickup and got a job with SoCal and goes and comes back and forth every couple weeks. Nice people, they have promised to cook us some Hindu food.

    When Alexander the Great was at the edges of India he ran into a bunch of buck naked meditators sitting on a hot rock. Of the them, know as 'Lucky', when Alexander left, saw them off by having a big funeral pyre built and burning himself to death for their bon voyage.

    Kinda a strange place, to our ears and eyes.

    Found this in Joe Campbell, of course. :)

    FTIOH

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  133. Mel is on a midnight train to philly

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  134. Naw, she's in the Hamptons she said, where ever that is.

    Sounds like in England somewheres.


    FTIOH

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  135. Hampton Bays is in New York.

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