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."

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Romney’s 15% Mishap



Romney has admitted that his effective personal tax rates have been around 15%. Romney is worth about $250 million.  He described one of his sources of income, speaking fees, as insignificant. (It turns out to be around $350,000.) I do not think people care that Romney is rich. I do think they care that an incredibly wealthy man pays taxes at a rate that is half of what they pay. I also believe that the mantra that taxes on the rich are "too high", while we have $ trillion deficits, is going to be a hard sell for the Republicans.

This is not an argument about logic or what is the right amount of taxation and spending. Politics is about emotions and appearance. Obama will have a field day with this one. If the Republicans think it will be easy to defeat Obama with Romney as their guidon bearer, they may be in for a disappointment.

203 comments:

  1. Do Americans want Gordon Gekko for President?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jenny For President!!


    Romney is probably paying long-term capital gains, which is I think 15%. Which is too much. According to Ron Paul--he should be paying zero.

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  3. Which is one reason, boobie, that Ron Paul is unelectable, even if he is "right".

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  4. Quirky and crazy, is how Ron Paul has been described.

    A vote for Ron Paul is a vote against the status que, not for Ron Paul.

    Much like a vote for Herman Cain, in South Carolina, is a vote FOR Stephen Colbert.

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  5. Ms T forgets to add the FICA tax of 10.4% to her Turbo tax rate of 9.51%, which puts her "real" income tax rate at 19.91%, while the top 1%ers pay 15%, or less.

    That she continues to fall for the Federal marketing spin on what is "income tax", amazing to me.

    But never having been "self-employed" may explain her ignorance, induced by self-imposed "blinders".

    Any bet that Mr Romney, nor Ms T do not buy their health insurance with after tax dollars, either?

    As do self-employed "small" businessmen that the Republicans claim they represent..

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  6. And a vote FOR Stephen Colbert is a vote against Citizens United vs FEC.

    Against the idea that Corporations are People, too.

    Against the Supreme Court and for election accountability and transparency.

    Cain = Colbert

    Who'd have guessed?

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  7. Mitt Romney is as unelectable as Ron Paul.

    CNN -

    According to the poll, Obama leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 52%-45% in a possible 2012 showdown. Romney, who's making his second bid for the GOP nomination, held a 51%-47% margin over the president in last month's survey. Obama also holds the same 52%-45% advantage over Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

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  8. "President Barack Obama's approval rating appears to be fueled by dramatic gains among middle-income Americans," adds Holland.
    "The data suggest that the debate over the payroll tax is helping Obama's efforts to portray himself as the defender of the middle class."

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  9. Voice of America


    Syrian ally Russia says it will not allow the deployment of foreign troops in Syria, as the U.N. Security Council debates how to stop the bloodshed of the 10-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that if someone wants to use force, such a move will not be done with any authorization from the U.N. Security Council.

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  10. If someone makes $700 per week and takes home $490, drives 45 minutes twice a day to work, has a credit score of 630 and is penalized for that score in one unrelated way after another, has little realistic prospect of that getting better and constantly fears losing his job, an explanation about capital gains will not be very persuasive.

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  11. True. The number of people who would love to be in the position of getting screwed by the capital gains tax is legion and they don't have much sympathy for those that are.

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  12. Romney will do just fine with the Chamber of Commerce.

    All Obama has to do is stay out of the Iranian briar patch, run against the Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street, the Republican brand, Romney and his friends, and it will be Dole, McCain, Romney & Assoc., LLC.

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  13. Jenny is right about G. Gekko. Christ, even Romney’s name is so Main Line CC. Mitt! With a name like Mitt, you better be a a catcher or a bomb thrower.

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  14. The people still think the country is in the tank --

    Direction of Country
    RCP Average
    Right Direction
    28.3
    Wrong Track
    65.3
    Spread -37.0


    If Obama can get re-elected with numbers like that, the gods must like him.

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  15. More so than they did Tim Tebow, boobie, last Saturday.

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  16. Ignorance has always voted. Why do you suppose the voting franchise was given so parsimoniously the last 9 centuries?

    Only the most naive can come to the conclusion that an open and free democracy will lead to anything other than the basest common denominator. The democrats hoist the notion that regardless of degree of stupidity, all must vote. No ID, no address, no knowledge, no problem. All as equal to your propertied, learned, educated and fretting sorry ass.

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  17. That's the thing; I've always paid the full-on Social Security, plus whatever income taxes that are owed.

    I've been retired many years, and I still pay Well over 15%. As I've said before, I always figured Unca was going to get a third, and I was never too far off.

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  18. Just learn to live with chaos and get real good at being an artful dodger.

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  19. Rent and develop a love for numismatics.

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  20. My only regret is I never got around to buying that couple of hundred acres of "marginal" land.

    I still think it would be a good, possibly great, investment; but I'm getting a little old to mess with it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I think there are several approaches that will work, but one has to realize that things are going to continue going downhill for quite a long time.

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  22. My kids, of course, acting on a total lack of historical/economic knowledge, think I'm nuts (they don't say so, but they do.) :)

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  23. When you get down to the "Micro" level it boils down to this: If "small-town Joe" isn't driving around, he isn't making (and, spending) Money.

    It takes a while for this to percolate up to the "Macro" numbers, but it Will get there.

    Joe is driving less, and less; and it's costing him "more, and more."

    The Heartland has been kept afloat by high corn, soybean, and wheat prices. Eventually, we'll have decent weather, and the price of corn will go back to $3.50, and the Midwest will come to a complete stop. This could very well be the year.

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  24. America is not ready for an unrepentant capitalist as a leader, maybe in another generation or so, but not now.

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  25. Hess closes Virgin Islands Refinery.

    If you'll notice, All of the "new" refineries, planned, are in Asia, and the Mideast; All of the "refinery closings" are in the U.S., and Europe market areas.

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  26. Re: Feast of Trumpets

    …a messyanic Christian-Jewish holiday where the body and blood of Dizzy Gillespie are consumed while intoning the sacred name, “Jerry Garcia”... M&Ms and Mad Dog serve the functions of the host and his blood…whether transubstantially or consubstantially remains the cause of much strife…

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  27. .

    Ignorance Votes


    You didn't give us the American Thinker alert Bob.

    I went there unknowingly and shame on me even when I saw where I was I started to read the article.

    Reading the first couple paragraphs, I thought the guy might be onto something in referring to an ill-informed electorate. Then he got to his point: like Gaul the electorate is divided into three parts, a third of partisans of the right, a third of partisans of the left, and a third of independants. Then he implies it is the independents that are destroying our elections.

    It appeared it was a long article; after the first few paragraphs IMO Zeigler had proven himself at best ill-informed (at least on this subject) so I stopped reading.

    It would take a while to go into an argument over this so I won't bore you unless anyone wants to challenge me on it.

    Go back to giving us those alerts Bob.


    .

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  28. Ms T forgets to add the FICA tax of 10.4% to her Turbo tax rate of 9.51%, which puts her "real" income tax rate at 19.91%, while the top 1%ers pay 15%, or less.

    FICA isn't a tax, it's a sacrosanct lock-box savings account.

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  29. Any bet that Mr Romney, nor Ms T do not buy their health insurance with after tax dollars, either?

    I'm in a co-op. Group Death of Puget Sound. Doctors and nurses and technicians and patients are all in it together, just like a credit union.

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  30. Deutschland ĂĽber Allen: Re: Feast of Trumpets…a messyanic Christian-Jewish holiday where the body and blood of Dizzy Gillespie are consumed while intoning the sacred name, “Jerry Garcia”... M&Ms and Mad Dog serve the functions of the host and his blood…whether transubstantially or consubstantially remains the cause of much strife…

    Leviticus 19:11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

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  31. If you'll notice, All of the "new" refineries, planned, are in Asia, and the Mideast; All of the "refinery closings" are in the U.S., and Europe market areas.

    All the buggy whip factory closings were in areas where the horseless carriage made market penetration.

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  32. That didn't make much sense, T.

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  33. That didn't make much sense, T.

    It means a 21st Century services-based economy like they have from Stockholm to Palo Alto has less demand for fossil fuels than a 20th Century economy like China or South Korea.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Okay, looked at that way, I'd say your point is valid.

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  35. Speaking of "Horseless Carriages:" That business is starting to "look up," also.

    Auto Factories Adding Shifts

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  36. And, we're getting some better home sales/construction numbers.

    Housing Index

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  37. .

    Syrian ally Russia says it will not allow the deployment of foreign troops in Syria, as the U.N. Security Council debates how to stop the bloodshed of the 10-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.


    The Arab League is supposed to come out with its report on the Syrian situation within a week or two.

    Assad continues his beligerent stance because in his mind (and perhaps in reality) he is dealing from a position of strength.

    Assad judges that a divided Arab League will be unable to bring to bear any meaningful sanctions or send in troops in a Syrian intervention. And with the Big Bear at his back, he believes any proposal for UN sanctions will be vetoed.

    I believe T suggested Assad would be gone sometime this year. If he is, it's starting to look like he will have to be taken down by people in his own country. Right now, that appears a little problematic.

    .

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  38. Any religion that builds holy sites like this has a hangup with women, especially mothers.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Orly Taitz Wins One

    Georgia Judge rules Obama must prove he is eligible to run.


    "I Can Now Depose Obama And Everyone Else Involved Without Any Impediment."

    Taitz's statement bears repeating because, up until now, judges have played hot potato with the eligibility issue. Although Team Obama has falsely stated that judges have ruled in Obama's favor on the eligibility issue, the TRUTH is that in every single instance, Team Obama filed motions to dismiss these cases on purely procedural grounds and judges have gone along with them and simply used these motions as an excuse to avoid even hearing these cases in the first place.

    They ALL simply refused to hear the cases, but Judge Malihi drew a line in the sand. He obvious understands that no man is above the law and ruled: "The Court has jurisdiction to hear this contested case pursuant to Chapter 13 of Title 50, the 'Georgia Administrative Procedure Act.'"

    But that's not all. Judge Malihi also ruled: "The Georgia Election Code (the 'Code') mandates that '[e]very candidate for federal and state office who is certified by the state executive committee of a political party or who files a notice of candidacy shall meet the constitutional and statutory qualifications for holding the office being sought.' ... Both the Secretary of State and the electors of Georgia are granted the authority under the Code to challenge the qualifications of a candidate."

    In plain English, Malihi DROPPED A HUGE BOMB. He VALIDATED that the Georgia Secretary of State (and the Secretaries of State of the remaining 49 states for that matter) can't hide behind pathetic excuses. They simply can't "rubber stamp" candidate certifications, as they did in 2008.

    They have a SOLEMN DUTY to ensure that candidates that appear on the ballot PROVE they are constitutionally eligible to seek office and they have a SOLEMN DUTY to CHALLENGE THE ELIGIBILITY OF ANY CANDIDATE seeking office.

    And that's why we MUST put the Secretaries of State of ALL 50 states on notice. The man behind the curtain is now exposed. They have no more excuses.

    No matter what happens in Georgia, Malihi's ruling is a HUGE VICTORY. The Secretaries of State of all 50 states can no longer DENY that they have a SOLEMN DUTY to ensure that Barack Hussein Obama is eligible to seek the office of President of the United States!

    And it is vitally important that they know that you know it as well... and that you will be watching them!


    I got to hand it to Taitz, she doesn't give up easily.

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  40. .

    I got to hand it to Taitz, she doesn't give up easily.


    Yes, she continues to dream the impossible dream.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  41. Romney's "problem" is that he is taxed the Capital Gains rate, on what would be "Earned Income" for most folk.

    The "Loophole" that Mitt uses, "Carried Interest", which is.

    Capital gains are income from your own investments. Carried interest is income from other people's investments.

    "If you manage money for a mutual fund or a public company, you pay regular income taxes,"
    James Surowiecki explained in the New Yorker.
    "Do it for a private fund, and you pay capital gains."

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  42. .

    Changing the rules on carried interest was just one of the things ruled taboo by the GOP when the new Financial Regulatory Reform legislation was passed.

    .

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  43. Exactly, Q.

    Stand by their man.

    But the electorate is ignorant of much of the Tax Code. The loopholes and benefits that have arisen, over time.

    When this is over, they will not be.

    Those folks with pitchforks, tricorn hats and their Uncle Sam suits will be pissed.

    Even boobie may come to understand that not all "Capital Gains" are based upon either capital or time.
    Just a loophole in the Law, that benefits those that contribute to both sides of the party divide.

    While Mr Obama hires an alumni of Bain Capital to run the OMB.

    Jeffrey Zients will serve as President Obama's new acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

    Republicans and Democrats
    Two sides of the same coin

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  44. "Carried Interest" is a Disgrace to Both Parties.

    If Small-Town Joe ever did understand just how big a sucker he's been made into, he Really Would grab for the "pitchfork."

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  45. About the birther thing.

    I never paid attention until the final, final, real actual deal was put on the WH website.

    I downloaded it and opened in Adobe Illustrator.

    It is a heavily manipulated document, not a scan as claimed.

    Looking at 11 nested layers of type, dates, signatures and background, my first thought was "WTF?" This is not a scan, not even close. It has been converted to vector art. Why would anyone convert a scanned document to vector art, then post it as a scan of a document?

    Why would they be so stupid as to export the PDF directly from Illustrator, with layers?

    HOWEVER, it is now common knowledge that anyone who suggests this document is not legitimate is bat-shit crazy, so I'm not telling anyone that it has been heavily manipulated, because that simple fact would make me look bat-shit crazy.

    Forget you ever saw this, I have a reputation to protect.

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  46. Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential candidate who has criticized rival Mitt Romney for his role in the buyout industry, was paid $40,000 at a meeting two years ago to deliver a speech that praised the private equity industry, according to the meeting’s organizer.

    “We paid him $40,000 and this gentleman praised private equity more fulsomely than I could ever do it,” Paul Levy, managing director at JLL Partners Inc., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television's InsideTrack today. “He was great. He gave a great evening. Everybody had fun. He fielded a lot of questions. He gave us a lot of time. Nobody praised private equity, risk-taking, capital more fulsomely than Newt Gingrich.”



    From: Bloomberg

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  47. Deuce already told us all that, long ago, same day it happened, in fact, IIRC.

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  48. We'll protect you out this way, Toshtu, if need be.

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  49. Thanks a real lot for the storm, Teresita, jeez.....

    It's a white out.

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  50. The "Natural Born" qualification that is being discussed would disqualify both Mr Obama and Mr Romney, tosh.2.

    If boobie's past reference are an accurate reading of the law and the meaning of "Natural Born".

    Mitt's father, he holding dual citizenship in Mexico along with the loyalties that implies, disqualifies Mitt from being "Natural Born".

    Even if Mr Obama was born in Hawaii, his father's lack of US citizenship disqualifies him from being a "Natural Born" US citizen..

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  51. I don't have a clue as to what Toshtu and Deuce might be talking about but they've convinced me.

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  52. .

    We'll protect you out this way, Toshtu, if need be.


    Besides Toshtu, you haven't been here long enough to have a reputation.

    Give it a couple months and you'll be pidgeonholed like the rest of us.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  53. Gettin' easier every day to pigeon hole Toshtu :

    Muslim hater, Birther, articulate and witty.

    ReplyDelete
  54. They are referencing the digital manipulation of an image, boobie.

    Take the original document and add "Layers" of editing.

    Usually when the editing is finished, the graphic artist saves the finished product as a "flattened" image. It becomes a single image on one layer, rather than an assortment of images on layered pieces.

    tosh.2 relates how the document on the website appeared to have been edited, multiple layers added, then posted to the website without being flattened.

    The mark of an amateur.
    Or a deliberate part of a masterfully manipulated multiply layered misinformation project.

    ReplyDelete
  55. or an attempt to make the original scan legible.

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  56. or the result of OCR on the scanner...

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  57. bob said...

    Thanks a real lot for the storm, Teresita, jeez.....

    It's a white out.


    Five inches here. Blame the Joos.

    ReplyDelete
  58. If a professional Photoshop user did it, ash, they'd have flattened the image, before putting it on the website.

    So, if your motivation for the Photoshop work is accurate, and stands alone, it was done by an amateur, not a pro.

    Or done on purpose, by the professional. Designed to be declared valid by the Murdock Media and still stimulate those wearing the "Tin Foil Tricorn".

    ReplyDelete
  59. .

    Or done on purpose, by the professional. Designed to be declared valid by the Murdock Media and still stimulate those wearing the "Tin Foil Tricorn".


    Yet, at the time, there were a number of "professionals" and "experts" trotted out that said the copies were perfectly valid. In addition, I would assume that if there were deficiencies in fact, someone in Hawaii would have come forward to point them out.

    I suspect you know as much about this stuff as I do rat. People take what they read and believe what they want.

    .

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  60. I still find it funny and amazing that those who question Obama's legitimacy accept at face value that Osama was killed.

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  61. Didn't the Attorney General of Hawaii confirm the scan as a legit copy of the birth certificate as well? He's in on it fer sure.

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  62. Obammie's mother was CIA, and a friend of Zbigniew Brzinski; anything's possible.

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  63. Gettin' easier every day to pigeon hole Toshtu :

    Muslim hater, Birther, articulate and witty.



    ( :

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  64. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  65. DR: The document is flattened.

    But the single remaining layer has 11 grouped layers nested. To see the nested/grouped layers, one has to toggle the single layer open. An amateur may not realize this.

    It's either a scam or incompetence, but the remaining elements, being signatures, dates, and some letters under "occupation" are grouped, it's just plain weird. Scam or incompetence, hard to tell.


    I'll whip up a photobucket account or something and post what I have.

    Ash: I do not hate Muslims, I just find their religion problematic to a degree that I see no happy outcome in my children's lifetimes, and many, many wars.

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  66. Whomever was the "Proper" Hawaiian official did so testify, a number of times, ash.

    That ALL of the various copie contain accurate information.

    Years ago, at the BC, I had found a lengthy piece describing an award presented the State of Hawaii when it digitized its' birth records in the late '70's.

    It then destroyed all the originals, excepting those that the Governor wanted saved.

    The Hawaiian officials have stated that Mr Obama's original State records were treated the "same" as everyone else's.
    Destroyed when digitized.

    Every copy is a newly printed copy, based upon the bytes scanned in the 1970's.

    How that State data set interfaced with the website administrator and was then subsequently posted, unknown to me.

    Who, if anyone, physically printed the copy posted to the website?

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  67. I was just telling my wife that her guy Mittens might be not eligible to be President cause his old man was a Mex, and my daughter says, "Does that make Mittens an anchor baby?"


    I turn to the crapper for an answer.

    ReplyDelete
  68. We are now nearing a foot, Miss T.

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  69. Ok, here's what I got.

    I have not included all layers, as some are empty bounding boxes:

    http://s1075.photobucket.com/albums/w439/Toshstu/

    ReplyDelete
  70. T said...

    Leviticus 19:11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

    Wed Jan 18, 09:43:00 AM EST



    Are you struggling with admitting what others here and at the BC have observed - you are a moron and not a liar?




    You have managed to avoid something that every Christian should be able to explain: transubstantiality v. consubstantiality. Don't hold back now. After all, you've never allowed your lack of knowledge of all things Hebrew to slow down your ramblings on all things Hebrew. Man up, Mate.

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  71. No, boobie, my understanding is the Daddy had dual citizenship, divided loyalties, when Mitt was born.

    Daddy applied and was granted US citizenship, as a war refugee, but never renounced his Mexican nationality. Even if he had, it would not matter.

    Daddy being Mexican born of parents that had voluntarily left the jurisdiction of the US, rather than to take a loyalty oath to the United States.

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  72. Ash, I was never a "birther".

    Now I am just a guy stating that the supposed scan is not just a scan, it is a manipulated document exported from a vector program.

    I find it very odd, why not just post the original scan?

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  73. The whole issue is disturbing as hell to me, and puts me in a bind.

    How can I vote for Mittens now?

    What to do?

    Obama is a fraud, and Mittens too?

    It really may be Natural Law Party time.

    ReplyDelete
  74. The Romney's twice fled the jurisdiction of the United States.

    First when they went to Deseret with Brigham. Then again when they fled to Mexico, after the Insurrection of 1859.

    ReplyDelete
  75. I still find it funny and amazing that those who question Obama's legitimacy accept at face value that Osama was killed.

    If Osama's own homies say he's dead, then he's dead.

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  76. First when they went to Deseret with Brigham. Then again when they fled to Mexico, after the Insurrection of 1859.

    My great-great...-great-great grandfather Lapo Lapo killed Magellan. I hope that doesn't disqualify me for public office.

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  77. Sarah Palin says she'd vote recycled white wall tire if she were in South Carolina. Husband Todd has already given his coveted endorsement to Newt.

    Man I can't believe it out there now. I can no longer see the license plate on my daughter's car.

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  78. What did Lapo have against Magellan?

    ReplyDelete
  79. Ramblin' Man says: You have managed to avoid something that every Christian should be able to explain: transubstantiality v. consubstantiality. Don't hold back now. After all, you've never allowed your lack of knowledge of all things Hebrew to slow down your ramblings on all things Hebrew. Man up, Mate.

    Well, I'm ramblin', ramblin' 'round,

    I'm a ramblin' guy, I'm ramblin', oh, yes, oh, yes!

    I'm a ramblin' guy - R-A-M-B-L-I-N apostrophe, oh yes, I'm ramblin' -- Ramblin' to New York City, N-Y-C! Rent a car, get a hotel, for only two hundred dollars a day. Oh, yes.

    Okay, everybody! I'm a ram--" Come on! Sing with me! Come on, have some fun, come on! "Ramblin' ..." Are you people uptight or somethin'? You can't sing along--? Oh, I forgot... New York.

    Okay! All right, ladies only! "Oh, look! A ramblin' guy!"

    Come on! Okay, this half of the room! Beautiful! Now this half! Good, good! All right, two fifths! Now, three-fifths! Good. Seven-ninths! Two-ninths. All right, in Chinese now!

    "Well, I'm ramblin', ramblin', ramblin', ramblin', ramblin', ramblin', ramblin', ramblin'! Ram! Mah! BLINNNN!"

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  80. Everybody knows "Magellan was a dick."


    Of course, Lapo Lapo was, too.

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  81. Only the Presidency, Ms T.

    It has more to do with your father and mother, than to your other ancestors.

    Mitt's dad was an immigrant, from Mexico. Not an native born US citizen, by any means.

    The legal status of his grandparents when Mitt's father was born would have to be established. That they left the US, rather than take the loyalty oath, after the Insurrection, could be the critical point.

    A de facto renunciation of citizenship.
    Becoming Mexicans, by choice.
    Voting with their feet, twice.

    If the Romney forebears were in the first wave of migrants, they had already left the US once before, when they moved to Deseret, which was then a part of Mexico.

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  82. .

    Ash: I do not hate Muslims, I just find their religion problematic...


    Much too nuanced for some at the bar, Toshtu. If you criticize Muslims for whatever reason you are construed as anti-Muslim by some. If you do not condemn them long and loud enough you are accused of being anti-Semitic or at a bare minimum an enabler by others.

    .

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  83. If the birthers homies say...

    "“You should not be so suspicious about this,” Tremblay told FoxNews.com, dismissing the allegations.

    He said the layers cited by doubters are evidence of the use of common, off-the-shelf scanning software — not evidence of a forgery. “I have seen a lot of illustrator documents that come from photos and contain those kind of clippings—and it looks exactly like this,” he said.

    Tremblay explained that the scanner optical character recognition (OCR) software attempts to translate characters or words in a photograph into text. He said the layers cited by the doubters shows that software at work – and nothing more.

    “When you open it in Illustrator it looks like layers, but it doesn’t look like someone built it from scratch. If someone made a fake it wouldn’t look like this,” he said.“Some scanning software is trying to separate the background and the text and splitting element into layers and parts of layers.”

    Tremblay also said that during the scanning process, instances where the software was unable to separate text fully from background led to the creation of a separate layer within the document. This could be places where a signature runs over the line of background, or typed characters touch the internal border of the document.

    “I know that you can scan a document from a scanner most of the time it will appear as one piece, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no software that’s doing this kind of stuff,” he said, adding that it’s really quite common.

    “I’d be more afraid it’d be fake if it was one in piece. It would be harder to check if it’s a good one if it’s a fake,” Tremblay said."


    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/29/expert-says-obamas-birth-certificate-legit/

    ReplyDelete
  84. heck, even Trump threw in the towelon this one and he's...

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  85. "Tremblay explained that the scanner optical character recognition (OCR) software attempts to translate characters or words..."

    There is no Earthly reason to use OCR when scanning a document. Just scan the damn thing, save as a Jpeg, and post it.


    No reason to convert to vector, none.

    They admitted adding the background, that could have been done in 10 seconds, copy/paste/flatten, done.


    It's almost as though they wanted to put something up that would create more questions than it answered.

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  86. It's all just bytes.

    As I said, deemed authentic by the Murdock Media, but enough to stimulate those that wear the tinfoil tricorn.

    Ending the debate, as to being "Natural Born" without ever having to address it.

    The issue being relegated to a techno head debate about scanner software. When the "real" issue, that position articulated by boobie's source, that neither Obama or Romney are "Natural Born" citizens, based upon their family histories and genetic lineage.


    Usurpers, both?

    ReplyDelete
  87. .

    It's almost as though they wanted to put something up that would create more questions than it answered.

    To the conspiracy minded, which I suspect most of us here are, this would make sense. At the time he released the document, the whole birther phenomenum was working to his benefit. The longer he dragged it out, the better for him.

    Also, as I recall, there was something else going on at he time he released the document and this tended to deflect attention from that (can't remember what it was at the moment).

    .

    ReplyDelete
  88. "Much too nuanced for some at the bar, Toshtu. If you criticize Muslims for whatever reason you are construed as anti-Muslim by some. If you do not condemn them long and loud enough you are accused of being anti-Semitic or at a bare minimum an enabler by others."

    I'm not overly concerned which camp I'm put in.

    I am a strong supporter of Israel, while recognizing their faults. I feel if we lessen our alliance with them to appease Islamists, we're giving in to primitivism, moving backwards.

    I have no beef with practicing Muslims, but I recognize the problems that grow from Muslim emigration to the West, hard to miss.

    I'd really just like to leave them alone, to kill one another until the cows come home. No skin off me.

    I'm tired of war. My son was with USMC 3/1/1 India, Sergeant, for the invasion. He and all the others did their part to supposedly back Liberal Islam.

    If they yearn for freedom as GW claimed, it's time for them to stand the fuck up and EARN it.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Enter Players, with recorders.

    O! the recorders: let me see one. To withdraw with you: why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive me into a toil?
    Guil O! my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.
    Ham. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe? 256
    Guil. My lord, I cannot.
    Ham. I pray you.
    Guil. Believe me, I cannot.
    Ham. I do beseech you. 260
    Guil. I know no touch of it, my lord.
    Ham. ’Tis as easy as lying; govern these ventages with your finger and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops.
    Guil. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill.
    Ham. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me. You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. ’Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.


    Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
    III/II

    ReplyDelete
  90. I believe the crapper is onto something --


    Ending the debate, as to being "Natural Born" without ever having to address it.

    The issue being relegated to a techno head debate about scanner software. When the "real" issue, that position articulated by boobie's source, that neither Obama or Romney are "Natural Born" citizens, based upon their family histories and genetic lineage.


    Usurpers, both?

    Wed Jan 18, 01:40:00 PM EST


    When he is right, he is right.

    ReplyDelete
  91. This is me in Snowmageddon 2012 (a few moments ago)

    ReplyDelete
  92. No more American blood on Muslim soil, that's my bottom line.

    And having that runt Karzai diss our guys for their treatment of dead, when there videos of HIS army slashing and dismembering corpses in anger without a peep of complaint, well, he can just STFU.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Radio here says we are looking at over an inch an hour through tomorrow noon. Snow and No Drive warnings posted.

    You look fit, Miss T.

    ReplyDelete
  94. I am totally confused with the NB citizen thing.

    Both my older brothers were born in Indonesia, and the old man told us that only I, US born, could become President.

    I don't think he was right, with both parents being citizens, but I've never really bothered to figger it out

    ReplyDelete
  95. .

    No more American blood on Muslim soil, that's my bottom line.


    Pretty much the consensus here at the moment I believe.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  96. .

    I am totally confused with the NB citizen thing.


    I understand the reasons for NB, but frankly given recent history and the current bunch that are running, I'm more concerned with the quality of the candidates we are being offered than if they were born on American soil.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  97. Idaho Bob and Teresita, y'all should take up skiing, at least skinny skis. Makes winter fun.

    45 degrees here, sunny with a ten percent chance of secession.

    ReplyDelete
  98. tosh.2 the Constitution sets various conditions and requirement for eligibility to serve.

    Being a "natural born" citizen is one unique to the Presidency.
    When Mr Romney's father entered the primaries, back in the day ...

    In 1968, when Michigan Governor George Romney was running for the presidency, it was not absolutely clear if he qualified. He was born to American parents, in 1907, but they were living in Mexico at the time. His grandparents had left the United States in the late Nineteenth Century. In 1912, when Romney was five years old, his parents returned to the USA. As Romney's candidacy faded, so did the issue.

    boobie's source on the "natural born" issue went further than the candidate's birthplace, but the Nationality of the parents.

    That to be "Natural Born", the candidates parents must have been US citizens, without foreign political loyalties.

    If George was, as I seen reported, a dual national, then not only was he not qualified as "natural born", but neither can be his son.

    "Natural Born" requires the President to be at least 2nd generation, Born in the USA.

    ReplyDelete
  99. "I'm more concerned with the quality of the candidates we are being offered ..."

    I wouldn't hire any of them to run a swamp cooler.

    Count me as a Clinton Conservative (yeah, I voted for him) who is just plain tired of the bullshit from Washington.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Damn, DR, you mean my brothers could have been President?

    I better not let them know this, they would be angry at the missed opportunity.

    I do recall that they could have chosen Indonesian citizenship up to age 21, which meant something back in the Vietnam draft days.

    ReplyDelete
  101. It just gets funnier:

    "Jeffrey Zients will serve as President Obama’s new acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), but the president’s decision might undercut attacks on Republican Mitt Romney’s career as a venture capitalist, because Zients and Romney are both alumni of Bain & Company."

    Oops.

    ReplyDelete
  102. .

    Count me as a Clinton Conservative (yeah, I voted for him) who is just plain tired of the bullshit from Washington.


    Don't let Doug hear you say that.

    One more name on his shit list.

    :)

    .

    ReplyDelete
  103. Natural Born not to be conflated with Native Born.

    As is the public perception of the Constitution requirement

    No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President



    While this fella gives his opinion of what it means to be Natural Born. George failed to make the grade.

    What is a Natural Born Citizen of the U.S.?

    by John Greschak


    Mr Obama does not qualify, either, but Mitt would, using Mr Greschak standard. boobie's preferred source differed, adding more credence to the importance of singularity of loyalty, to the US. Beyond that established by Mr Greschak. George's dual citizenship would disqualify his offspring from being "Natural Born" US citizens.

    ReplyDelete
  104. "Don't let Doug hear you say that.

    One more name on his shit list."

    That's ok, my conservative friends never let me forget. I'm used to it.

    For them, it cancels out my Reagan vote.

    ReplyDelete
  105. I do recall that they could have chosen Indonesian citizenship up to age 21, which meant something back in the Vietnam draft days.


    :)

    ReplyDelete
  106. Quirk: If you do not condemn them long and loud enough you are accused of being anti-Semitic or at a bare minimum an enabler by others.

    Since Deutschland ĂĽber Allen and Pork Rinds for יהוה‎ are going to call us anti-Semitic now matter what we say, we might as well say it: Who cares what the EB Jews think?

    ReplyDelete
  107. Who cares what the EB gentiles think?

    ReplyDelete
  108. Lewis Carroll - "No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise."

    ReplyDelete
  109. Well, it has been a year, and the military still runs Egypt.

    Egypt is facing grave dangers it has not seen before," said Tantawi. Calling on Egyptians to foil the "schemes and conspiracies" against the country, he said:
    "The armed forces is the backbone that protects Egypt. These schemes are aimed at targeting that backbone. We will not allow it and will carry out our task perfectly to hand over the nation to an elected civilian administration."

    Tantawi's latest comments, like others he made previously, hark back to the Mubarak era, when officials often sought to shift attention away from domestic problems with warnings of conspiracies against the country by local agents of foreign powers. Tantawi was Mubarak's defense minister for 20 years, during which he was widely considered to be unquestioningly loyal to his patron.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Teresita said...
    Quirk: If you do not condemn them long and loud enough you are accused of being anti-Semitic or at a bare minimum an enabler by others.

    Since Deutschland ĂĽber Allen and Pork Rinds for יהוה‎ are going to call us anti-Semitic now matter what we say, we might as well say it: Who cares what the EB Jews think?





    You should not care.

    Be yourself.

    Be honest.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Not to belablour the point, but I just noticed this in the OCR thing:

    "Tremblay explained that the scanner optical character recognition (OCR) software attempts to translate characters or words in a photograph into text. He said the layers cited by the doubters shows that software at work – and nothing more."

    OCR software does not create vector art, it creates live type. The guy is full of shit.

    They used "Auto-Trace" to create the vector art.

    ReplyDelete
  112. .

    Over the past ten years, under Bush and Obama, constitutional rights have been ignored or removed. Even habeus corpus rights are headed for the shitter. Many people ignore or applaud the trend; yet, many of the same people get their panties in a twist over the NB issues.

    As Deuce might say "It's not your father's USA."

    .

    ReplyDelete
  113. just don’t start your shit with the pagans.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Damn, Obama killed the pipeline, the mother of all shovel readies. He must be trying to make it a fair race.

    ReplyDelete
  115. .

    Do I detect a new post stream coming on?

    .

    ReplyDelete
  116. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he doesn't believe the Keystone XL is a dead project. He said the Obama administration did not have enough time to review the project, given the Republican-imposed timeline.

    ...

    Bill McKibben, an environmental activist who led opposition to the pipeline, praised Obama's decision to stand up to what he called a "naked political threat from Big Oil." Jack Gerard, the oil industry's top lobbyist, had said last week that Obama faced "huge political consequences" if he rejected the pipeline.

    "It's not only the right thing, it's a very brave thing to do," McKibben said. "That's the Barack Obama I think people thought they were electing back in 2008."

    ReplyDelete



  117. ... the company said it will refile a revised route to avoid an environmentally sensitive area in Nebraska.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Looking at the map, all that needs to be done is go east along the South Dakota border, then hook onto the existing pipeline that comes from the north going south. Might be a tad bit further but some existing piping can be used?

    It would sound a lot better if they had accepted it subject to revisions rather than rejected it subject to revisions.

    ReplyDelete
  119. The President had legal authority to deny, not allow with modifications.

    He is not omnipotent, but has to rely on the requests, as made. Not how he'd like them to be made.

    So, now, the applicant will reapply.

    That's how the system works.

    Like it, or not.
    The President is not a King, he does not rule by fiat.

    Though I think he wishes he could.
    Most all modern Presidents have.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Mitt Romney has millions of dollars tied up in investments that are set up in the Cayman Islands, one of the world's biggest tax havens, according to an ABC News report.

    The Romney campaign says the ABC News report is "flat wrong."

    "The Romneys' investments in funds established in the Cayman Islands are taxed in the very same way they would be if those funds were established in the United States. These are not tax havens and it is false to say so," Andrea Saul, Romney's spokeswoman, said in a statement.

    Romney is under fire from his rivals as well as some allies, to release his tax returns immediately. The GOP front-runner has said he will probably do so in April, and drew attention to the issue yesterday when he said his tax rate is close to 15% because of his investments.

    ABC News reports Romney "has as much as $8 million invested in at least 12 funds listed on a Cayman Islands registry." The story says another investment, which Romney has disclosed as being worth between $5 million and $25 million, "shows up on securities records as having been domiciled in the Caymans."

    The story calls the Caymans "a notorious Caribbean tax haven."

    ReplyDelete
  121. If I'm not mistaken, all of that Tar Sands Bitumen is going to the Gulf Coast, already. I don't think there are any refineries between Alberta, and Houston/Port Arthur that can refine the stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Mitt Romney has millions of dollars tied up in investments that are set up in the Cayman Islands

    Why vote for an Obama with magic underwear and RomneyCare if we already have an Obama with Obamacare and no magic underwear?

    ReplyDelete
  123. Well, let the applicant reapply then.

    This project has should get built and will get built written all over it.


    My engineer was telling me our piping is so good there is no threat to the Sand Hills anyway.

    Though in this day and age I suppose you can't rule out bombs.

    I imagine they have periodic shut off valves if the pressure drops.

    Some guy put a hole in the Alaska pipe line with 30.06 and not much was spilled.

    They could bury the pipe underground.

    Making it harder to reach, and fix too, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  124. I want a President without underwear.

    Perry.....just, just.....just, possibly....

    In Texas you'd sweat like hell down there with boxers or briefs.

    ReplyDelete
  125. "He is not omnipotent, but has to rely on the requests, as made. Not how he'd like them to be made."

    He's satisfied the eco-base, and after the election and some tech changes for show, it'll be approved, satisfying the union base.

    The unions know this, the greenies don't.

    I suspect we'll see very little bellyaching from union HQ.

    ReplyDelete
  126. NO, they CANNOT bury the pipeline "underground" through the "Sandhills." That would put the fucking thing IN the Ogalalla Aquifer, Dumbshit. We've covered this Before.

    And, your fucking "injineer" buddy is dumber'n a fucking box of rocks (or, he's lying to you.)

    We have about fifty some-odd pipeline leaks (many, very serious) in this country Every Year.

    Hell, they just spilled a couple of hundred thousand gallons of oil in the Yellowstone River, just a couple of months ago.

    ReplyDelete
  127. You moron, drinker of Obama koolaide, dumbest holder of degrees in engineering, envionmental science, ethanol production....and divinity in the nation....blah,blah

    Settle down, Rufus, I just report, and suggest....you decide.

    ReplyDelete
  128. There was no reason, other than very minute savings (relative to the profits the pipeline will generate) to project that pipeline through the Sandhills.

    It was the height of arrogance to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  129. Things are going to get interesting, one of Newt's ex wives is going to give a talk and tell, and ruin his campaign. Much more interesting than a pipe line and listening to Rufus curse our ignorance on all things of interest in the universe.

    ReplyDelete
  130. The simmering tension between Romney and Gingrich previews what could prove another volatile debate on Thursday, this time in Charleston.

    But some South Carolina pundits say Romney need not worry about Gingrich as long as the most conservative voters remain splintered among Gingrich, former Sen. Rick Santorum Pennsylvania and, to a lesser degree, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

    "He may be worried, but I don't see that he has a reason to be," said Danielle Vinson, a political scientist at Furman University in Greenville. "Unless something crazy happens in the next few days, I just don't see it."

    ReplyDelete
  131. She's gonna make Cain look like a Virtue in comparison to Newt.

    Woman's revenge!

    ReplyDelete
  132. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley on Wednesday will recommend shifting half of the state's $900 million tab for teacher pensions onto counties and killing some tax breaks for top income earners to help close a $1.1 billion budget shortfall in fiscal 2013, according to lawmakers briefed on the governor's budget proposal.

    ...

    But Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are largely pleased with O'Malley's decision to make counties shoulder some teacher pension costs.

    "I proposed that two years ago," exclaimed Sen. David Brinkley, R-Carroll and Frederick counties.

    ReplyDelete
  133. RUFUS!!

    I wasn't suggesting going through the blessed Sand Hills in the first place --

    bob said...

    Looking at the map, all that needs to be done is go east along the South Dakota border, then hook onto the existing pipeline that comes from the north going south. Might be a tad bit further but some existing piping can be used?

    ReplyDelete
  134. Poor Newt doesn't know who he really is anymore.

    And, remember, Sarah said she'd vote for him in South Carolina, to keep the process alive. The divinity did not endorse the devil, though her husband did.

    Gingrich would look nice with horns.

    ABCNEWS suits determined it would be "unethical" to run the Marianne Gingrich interview so close to the South Carolina Primary, a curious decision, one insider argued, since the network has aggressively been reporting on other candidates.

    A decision was tentatively made to air the interview next Monday, after all votes have been counted.

    Gingrich canceled a press conference on Wednesday to deal with the matter.

    "He believes that what he says in public and how he lives don't have to be connected," Marianne Gingrich, Newt's wife of 18 years, explained to ESQUIRE last year. "When you try and change your history too much, and try and recolor it because you don't like the way it was or you want it to be different to prove something new ... you lose touch with who you really are."

    ReplyDelete
  135. Bought and paid for by the Romney campaign.

    ReplyDelete
  136. "I want a President without underwear.

    Perry.....just, just.....just, possibly....

    In Texas you'd sweat like hell down there with boxers or briefs."

    Actually, many if not most Texans freeze their collective ass of in the summer. It's only hot between the car and the bar, or market, house, office.

    The real Texas Summer fashion statement is Bermuda shorts and cowboy boots, on the beach. A classic, with extra points for a big ol' hat.

    In most films, Ugly Americans abroad are depicted as Texans.

    When I travel to the frozen North, whenever I have to show ID, I get a comment, every time.

    When I traveled with Vermont plates and ID west of the Mississippi, no-one knew what the hell Vermont was, except in the ski areas, where we were feted kings of the icy steep, enjoying many a free beer.

    California plates and ID used to be a badge east of the M, especially gettin' laid.

    In the US, it's probably Ohio ID that gets the least attention. State motto: "Were Not Iowa".

    Iowa had no state motto until the feds threatened to with-hold highway funds, and now the license plates feature a bar code that when swiped, comes up as "Iowa".

    ReplyDelete
  137. The "buck" stops with the president and those around him...

    After three (3) years of Obama…
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1. Poverty Rate: 14.3% from 8.3%
    2. Unemployment (actual) Rate: 15.6%, up 347%
    3. Average Weeks Unemployed: 40.3 up 102.5%
    4. Median Income: $44,445 down 10%,
    5. Health Insurance Premiums: $15,073 up 18.9%,
    6. Number (private sector) employed: 139,627,000 down 13%
    7. Inflation Rate: 3.77% up 188%, but it is really much more…
    8. Food Stamp Usage: 45.2 Million up 41.7%
    9. Average Price of a Gallon of Gas: $3.66 up 101.1%
    10. Average Home Value: $171,900, down 47%
    11. National Debt: $16 trillion up 350%
    12. Government jobs increase under Obama: Up 14.8%

    ReplyDelete
  138. Iowa had no state motto until the feds threatened to with-hold highway funds, and now the license plates feature a bar code that when swiped, comes up as "Iowa"


    :)

    ReplyDelete
  139. Toshtu said...

    I am a strong supporter of Israel, while recognizing their faults.


    You've got it. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  140. Chinese consumers are loading up on gold ahead of the Lunar New Year. Is that demand strong enough to influence the metal’s price?

    ReplyDelete
  141. The Trash Lady has no pat cut and paste retort. HeHeHe (ash)

    ReplyDelete
  142. A December 1973 news story by Howell Raines, then of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, noted Mr. Gingrich was making "four or more speeches a week," while "carefully retaining the unofficial status of his candidacy." It was against the rules of the university system for serving professors to campaign for office.

    Mr. Gingrich later went on unpaid leave to pursue his campaign, billing himself as a reformer, as he had at West Georgia College. He lost, but tried twice more, each time taking unpaid leave.

    After leaving the college for good, he won his House seat in 1978.

    ReplyDelete
  143. We've heard these sorts of plans floated before, and they typically have little more substance than Morning MarketBeat's daydreams about winning the lottery. This one sounds similarly dubious - the plan apparently is to request that the BRICs, Japan and oil-exporting nations pony up the extra trillion, which they will gladly do for what reason exactly?

    Anyway, there will be more substantive news coming down the pike soon, including earnings from Goldman Sachs and a host of other banks, along with industrial production data.

    The market has grown increasingly wobbly in the past couple of trading days, so the tone at 6:00 a.m. could be quite different from the tone at 4:00 p.m.

    ReplyDelete
  144. On this day in 1778, Captain James Cook became the first European to discover the Hawaiian Islands. He stumbled across the islands, which he called the Sandwich Islands, on his way to trying to find a Northwest Passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

    ReplyDelete
  145. It's going to be so funny watching Newt endorse Romney as the next Bob Dole.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Gingrich, who represented neighboring Georgia in Congress, was on friendly turf in South Carolina. Lexington County GOP Chairman Rich Bolen, who formally endorsed Gingrich Tuesday, said he thinks Gingrich can still pull off an upset against Romney even though Gingrich's personal baggage - he's twice divorced - could put off voters in the heart of the evangelical south.

    ...

    But some critics dismissed Gingrich's pugilistic style as bordering on cocky, even belligerent.

    "It's an enormous amount of hubris for someone who lost their first two races," said Santorum, who rejected Gingrich's call to drop out. "I wouldn't be so arrogant as to suggest that anybody gets out of this race."

    ReplyDelete
  147. Federal prosecutors alleged that a "criminal club" in the hedge-fund world made tens of millions of dollars trafficking inside information, following up on a string of early morning arrests that involved employees of SAC Capital Advisors LP and other prominent financial firms.

    ...

    Court documents described enormous profits on allegedly illegal trades...

    ReplyDelete
  148. Parvinder and Habib are beggars They beg in different areas of London ..
    Parvinder begs just as long as Habib but only collects £2 to £3 every day.
    Habib brings home a suitcase FULL of £10 notes, drives a Mercedes, lives
    in a mortgage-free house and has a lot of money to spend.


    Parvinder says to Habib 'I work just as long and hard as you do but how do
    you bring home a suitcase full of £10 notes every day?'


    Habib says, 'Look at your sign, what does it say'?


    Parvinder's sign reads 'I have no work, a wife and 6 kids to support'...


    Habib says 'No wonder you only get £2- £3


    Parvinder says... 'So what does your sign say'?


    Habib shows Parvinder his sign.......


    It reads:.......
    'I only need another £10 to move back to Pakistan '.

    ReplyDelete
  149. No need to thank me, Allen.

    I thank the Jews for what they have contributed to the Western world, and they are the only outpost of western civilization in the vast mid-east. That's a tough job.

    I never knew what a Jew was until I moved from a Caribbean island to... Roslyn, NY (Lawng Eyeland) at age 11-12.

    We noticed that we were the only people around with a Christmas tree, so I asked why. My folks said "they're Jewish" and it still didn't mean anything.

    When I later learned, and recognized, the history of the Jews, I found them to represent an admirable ethic. And my respect for Jews, as a people of history, has just grown through the years. They are an admirably plucky bunch.

    And now, in the battle of the Semites, where we are forced into comparisons, the study of Muslim culture shows a losing society, in comparison to just about anyone.

    So when it comes to allies and interest and friends, I consider israel all three, because they are of "my tribe", even if the religious practices and mores are not mine.

    ReplyDelete
  150. Here’s the most sensational bit, after she found out about Gingrich’s new mistress:

    She kind of guessed it, of course. Women usually do. But did she know the woman was in her apartment, eating off her plates, sleeping in her bed?

    She called a minister they both trusted. He came over to the house the next day and worked with them the whole weekend, but Gingrich just kept saying she was a Jaguar and all he wanted was a Chevrolet. “‘I can’t handle a Jaguar right now.’ He said that many times. ‘All I want is a Chevrolet.’”

    He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused.

    He’d just returned from Erie, Pennsylvania, where he’d given a speech full of high sentiments about compassion and family values.

    The next night, they sat talking out on their back patio in Georgia. She said, “How do you give that speech and do what you’re doing?”

    “It doesn’t matter what I do,” he answered. “People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live.”


    from some article or oher

    ReplyDelete
  151. Generally speaking, isn't the wife usually thought the Chevrolet, and the bimbo the Jaguar?

    I don't know.

    ReplyDelete
  152. "The "buck" stops..."

    According the left, it stopped with Reagan. Maybe that's why he's viewed as one of America's most-admired Presidents.

    ReplyDelete
  153. The ol' retreaded white wall tire has the do as I say, not as I do philosophy, got it down pat, and unashamedly, too.

    ReplyDelete
  154. I'm getting really tired of Republicans.

    I think conservatism by nature doesn't produce "great leaders", due to the individualist bent.

    When they do become activist, they are hunted like dogs, people start examining the uterus. They look for the ugly underbelly.

    Which is why I vote republican, it gets the lazy-ass Fourth estate off the couch.

    ReplyDelete
  155. I told you, told you, told you, told you all, we should all have crawled to Wasilla and begged Sarah to run.

    ReplyDelete
  156. The Trash Lady wrote...

    Deutschland ĂĽber Allen


    As the matter of curiosity, is this supposed to be the parodical title of some German song. I am almost certain that it has nothing to do with Christian cannibalism in the Philippines.

    So, what is it?

    ReplyDelete
  157. Toshvu said...

    So when it comes to allies and interest and friends, I consider israel all three, because they are of "my tribe", even if the religious practices and mores are not mine.

    Wed Jan 18, 08:22:00 PM EST



    You are about to learn that it will not take months for you to be attacked from behind by our pigeon-holers.

    ReplyDelete
  158. There are wonderful Jews.

    Then there are worthless assholes like allen who write this kind of shit -

    Christian cannibalism in the Philippines

    It's kind of like saying all Marines eat corpses.

    Go fuck off somewhere, allen.

    You are head and shoulders above us all her, and we have trouble hearing you, way up there.

    Only two days till the Sabbath.

    ReplyDelete
  159. Late last year Mansoor Ijaz, who was born in Florida, brought forward a memo he said was authored by Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. Husain Haqqani in which the civilian government of Pakistan asked for the U.S. military's help to avoid a coup by Pakistan's military and intelligence agency. Both U.S. and Pakistan officials have called the memo a fake.

    ...

    The video, which has caused a major commotion in Pakistan, showed Ijaz refereeing a match between women wrestlers "Double D" and "Nasty Nancy." They are seen grappling each other in a sexual manner.

    ...

    Ijaz is expected to appear before the Pakistani Supreme Court later this month regarding the controversial memo, which has blossomed into a scandal called "memogate." He told the AP that he has evidence that Haqqani did write the memo, despite the former ambassador's denials.

    ReplyDelete
  160. "we should all have crawled to Wasilla and begged Sarah to run."

    Sarah is a great person, she should be an inspiration to many, but just don't see her as the most powerful person in the world.

    But that's what I said about Obama.

    I think when we come down to choosing between a Palin and an Obama or a Perry or a Paul, we're kinda fucked.

    I don't want a great leader, I want a competent guy that does the job. I don't like soaring rhetoric, I don't like Great Speakers, they make me suspicious.

    I don't think political power attracts the best among us.

    They're mostly lawyers, And maybe not the best lawyers.

    The dumb ones go to DC, where they can write a zillion dumb-ass laws, each one a profit for their smarter private-sector former roomies who contributed to the campaign.

    My ex-wife was a lawyer. It's a culture, more powerful than even the Protestants. They own us. But they have the best lawyer jokes, but they realize their power, they'll be the last ones standing.

    Lawyers are the one percent, and they own the game.

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  161. Unless you have a specific talent - engineering or art or whatever - a legal education is probably the best, especially if combined with psych studies, even if you don't pursue these avenues professionally.

    It is an education in thinking, an education in logic, those skills are valuable even at the car wash.

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  162. Good sense of humor goes a long way, also.

    (regarding presidential material)

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  163. .


    Lawyers are the one percent, and they own the game.


    Not still a little bitter from that divorce Toshtu?


    :)


    .

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  164. That's why Christie kinda attracts.

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  165. Getting divorced from your wife who happens to also be a lawyer.

    That would suck.

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  166. Newt made me sleep on the wet spot
    /Marianne Gingrich

    Southernblogger on January 18, 2012 at 8:10 PM
    .........
    He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused.

    Uh, what?

    I’ve not been married, so any married men want to speculate as to whether they’d have the stones to try this line?

    KingGold on January 18, 2012 at 8:11 PM
    ........

    Newt cheated on me after he promised I was the last cheater he’d cheat with!

    John the Libertarian on January 18, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    ..........

    Never! Ever, get married.

    jake-the-goose on January 18, 2012 at 8:12 PM
    ............

    This is not rocket science. She is either a bitter old hag wanting payback or somebody is paying her to put the nail in Newt’s coffin.

    Southernblogger on January 18, 2012 at 8:12 PM
    ...........

    All she has to say is “He beat me” and it’s game over.

    Game over.
    .......
    haner on January 18, 2012 at 8:08 PM
    ........
    We can only hope that’s what she’ll say.

    sheesh on January 18, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    ........
    Santorum’s desperate to have social conservatives unite behind him, but this is an awfully messy attack to try with the, er, “Chevrolet” sitting in the audience in front of him.

    And, the Chevy’s wearing some pretty sweet Tiffany bling, something I think may have something to do about all of this. Hell hath no fury … as they say.

    TXUS on January 18, 2012 at 8:13 PM
    ..........
    I know this isn’t funny but it kind of is.

    Perry isn’t finished yet!

    gophergirl on January 18, 2012 at 8:14 PM

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  167. .

    Did US Labotomize Phobus-Grunt?


    The possibility remained that the probe’s fragments actually overshot the Pacific and hit Chile, Argentina, or Brazil—or even the South Atlantic...

    As if to distract attention from this embarrassment, the Russian news media once again took up the suggestion that the probe had failed due to U.S. interference. The claim had already appeared several times, first implicating Pentagon radars in Alaska, and then—when a simple look at a map showed the probe had never been in range of them—military installations on Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands. Even the head of the Russian Space Agency, Vladimir Popovkin, got in on the act, telling newspapers last week that he had suspicions but wasn’t going to accuse anyone explicitly.

    The accusation was left to an investigative journalist at the independent daily newspaper Kommersant, who wrote in today’s edition that members of the official investigation team suspect the United States of ‘accidentally’ lobotomizing the probe right after it was launched...



    Was Russia's Martian Probe EMP'd?

    .

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  168. "You are about to learn that it will not take months for you to be attacked from behind by our pigeon-holers."

    That's just fine. With the exception of voting and living well, blog commentary is the most patriotic thing we can do. The founders would have loved it.

    We get to discover the vast realm of human idea, human creation, the art of being Human across many divides.

    We get to talk to The Other nun-encountered in daily life, we find the commonality of man, the shared experience, the realization that we are all plagued by mankind's greatest disease, stupidity, and we get pissed at each other on the internet because everyone is by definition, fucking stupid in one way or another.

    It's the conversation we needed to have as globals, but the assumption that human nature will reverse because of greater communication is to misunderstand human nature, we are meant to passionately argue and engage in war. We always will.

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  169. Detectives investigating the murder of an Iranian molecular scientist gunned down in her car as she drove home believe she was followed or that someone was waiting for her.

    ...

    She appeared in an online video filmed by the Houston Chronicle in 2010 for her participation in a series of protests against the Ahmadinejad government. During the interview, she, like many other protesters, refrained from using her last name for fear of persecution.

    'At the moment, our investigators are trying to confirm whether she was followed,' HPD spokesperson Victor Senties told CultureMap, noting that it remained unclear whether her protest background played a role in the murder.

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  170. we are meant to passionately argue and engage in war

    Nay, but left for another day.

    ReplyDelete
  171. "... federal statutes are often so poorly written and so vague that they are in effect incomprehensible. ..."

    That's a feature.

    The people writing these law, lawmakers, are the most unaccountable people in the American system.

    The system protects itself. The system is comprised of lawyers.

    The people are passive consumers, it's a cherry deal.

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  172. Lavrov accused the West of turning a blind eye to attacks by opposition militants and supplies of weapons to the Syrian opposition from abroad.

    "They are dodging the main question: Why we should keep silent about the extremist opposition's actions against administrative buildings, hospitals, schools?" He urged the West to use its contacts with the opposition to pressure activists to refrain from violence.

    He said that arms supplies to the Syrian opposition are "unacceptable and absolutely counterproductive because it only fuels more violence."

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  173. Today's TIC data confirmed what Zero Hedge readers have now known for quite some time: namely that foreigners are selling US paper. And while we have used contemporaneous Custody Account data from the Fed to present that in the past 7 weeks foreigners have sold a record amount of bonds, we now get confirmation via TIC that in November the selling continued, especially at the biggest non-Fed holder of US paper, China, which saw its holdings down to $1,132.6 billion, the lowest in the past year.

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  174. Ask yourself: there's a controversial cover-essay in Newsweek. The writer is prepared to come on and debate it.

    Why would Fox not even consider it? I've been on Hardball and tonight I'll be on Anderson Cooper's show.

    But Fox brings on two hired guns to talk about my piece, and actually blur out my name on the screen for some reason (either to make sure I remain air-brushed out of reality, or to deceive people that Newsweek is somehow institutionally making the point of my essay).


    - Andrew Sullivan

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  175. "Nay, but left for another day."

    Perhaps Thursday, when the Dallas Morning News hits my door at 5:30 AM, all 12 pages, and I read of who met what end. 32 people killed in Snarkistan, road shanty forces bus off cliff, another ferry sinks, yaks collide, toxic satellites fall to Earth, this is journalism's finest hour.

    We have more journalists than ever, the barkeeps of this blog as example.

    Small as it may be, it is part of the greater power, the power of argument, without spears and bombs that a lot of people have to fear, for expressing themselves.

    Any war existing, any grievance, will be be magnified by the net, it's just another spear, and that's why governments want control. They want to register our spears.

    But fuck them. It is American to put foot to fire. When we accept bullshit, we'll lose, just like the ninety-nine percent of humans before us.

    Nations that survive are built by survivors who fight, that requires common purpose, agreement, commitment, will that exist in America in twenty years?

    I'm gonna guess no.

    ReplyDelete
  176. .

    She appeared in an online video filmed by the Houston Chronicle in 2010 for her participation in a series of protests against the Ahmadinejad government. During the interview, she, like many other protesters, refrained from using her last name for fear of persecution...


    There was speculation that one of the four nuclear scientist killed in Iran was actually a case of the current regime getting rid of what they considered a troublemaker and linking it to the other killings.

    Some have argued that killing these scientists is counterproductive. One, it is unlikely to set back Iran's nuclear program in any substantial way; and two, when you use terrorism against Iran, it mutes the argument we have been using against them since day one, that they are a sponsor of terrorism.

    I tend to agree.

    .

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  177. .

    Pipeline Map


    Our gas here in MI comes through that Chicago link and there are always problems there. That's why our gas prices are usually higher than most states.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  178. Sheikh Yassir al-Burhami, a top-ranked figure in Egypt's Salafi movement which won some 25% of the votes in recent elections. He makes clear a point that, in a different era, would be thoroughly eye-opening: that all notions of peace with non-Muslims are based on circumstance.

    ...

    Discussing "the analogy between Egypt's Christians and the Jews of Medina," Burhami pointed out that Muslims may make temporary peace with infidels, when circumstance calls for it:

    The Jews of Medina represent a paradigm—laid by the prophet [Muhammad]—that shows how Muslims should deal with infidels. The prophet's methods of dealing with infidels are available for Muslims to replicate depending on their situation and their capabilities.

    ...

    After quoting Koran 4:77, "Refrain from action, uphold prayers, and pay your zakat," Burhami continues:

    In many infidel countries, such as occupied Palestine, we instruct Muslims to do just that [follow Koran 4:77]. Today in Gaza, we do not tell Muslims to launch rockets everyday and so destroy the country, but we tell them "Refrain from action and respect the truce."

    ReplyDelete
  179. "Not still a little bitter from that divorce Toshtu?"

    NOT AT ALL!!! WHY WOULD YOU SUGGEST THAT??

    I had a weird divorce. I kept the house and the four dogs and the RX and the Dodge and the youngest, she moved to an apartment, with legal custody of the lawn mower.

    It was a 6 horsepower Honda, the best I ever had. Never bogged down in the wet spring overgrowth, worked the tight areas, really powerful and agile. Supple even.

    Some neighbors envied me. I had the latest, until the bitch took it away, all six horses, and it was, like, "low blow, dude".

    Some of the neighbors mowed the lawn while I mourned for the next two years, God bless them, but when they rudely quit I looked to see that they had mangled the lawn.

    So Yeah, I'm JUST a bit angry, wouldn't you be?

    ReplyDelete
  180. The ex-wife has said Gingrich proposed to her before the divorce from his first wife was final in 1981. Her marriage to Gingrich ended in divorce in 2000.

    Gingrich admitted he'd already taken up with Callista Bisek, his third wife.

    Gingrich has said he has no relationship with his second wife.

    ReplyDelete
  181. Ya always wanna have some kinda fallback position, Sam.

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  182. "I think this is a case where it’s important and accurate to take at face value what Bill said, Bill Daley said in his letter of resignation to the President, and what the President said yesterday in announcing this transition," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in the press briefing yesterday. Carney said that that Daley is leaving because he wants to return home to Chicago after a stint in such a demanding job as the chief of staff.

    Obama announced Daley's resignation, then went the next day to the EPA office to thank the regulators for their work. "I want to first acknowledge your outstanding Administrator, Lisa Jackson," President Obama told the EPA staff.

    Speaking to the whole office, he added: "I want you to know that you’ve got a President who is grateful for your work and will stand with you every inch of the way as you carry out your mission to make sure that we’ve got a cleaner world."

    ReplyDelete
  183. Turkey has been denying overflight rights, halting the shipments to Syria from Iran, according to these officials. As an alternative, Syria has also tried to fly arms in from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in Eastern Europe, but those flights have been blocked by neighboring Lithuania.

    "The air is no longer an option for the Syrians to get weapons," said Hugh Griffiths of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an international arms watchdog. "So it makes sense to go after the sea shipping and the insurance companies."

    It is easy to use the insurance companies as a pressure point, Mr. Griffiths said, because most of the insurance companies are based in the EU or the Caribbean.

    ReplyDelete
  184. "Obama announced Daley's resignation"

    Obama has been fired by a lot of his people.

    Perhaps they simply do not recognize the genius the rest of us see.

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  185. She musta really wanted to get the hell out of there, fast.

    I'll betcha her lover had a big house and large lawn, too, in addition to that fuck pad of an apartment they shared behind your back.

    You know you never paid the neighbors, not even so much as a thank you note, for all that mowing, finally they got ticked at the rude dude, and said, fuck it, he's on his own.

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  186. Although it is not apparent on his financial disclosure form, Mitt Romney has millions of dollars of his personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven.

    ...

    Bain's presence in the Cayman Islands is not something the firm advertises. The Los Angeles Times first disclosed Romney's offshore accounts in 2007, during his initial run for the presidency.

    ...

    Romney, who left Bain in 1999, has confirmed that his earnings largely come from investments, and the tax rate he pays is consistent with that "because my last 10 years, my income comes overwhelmingly from some investments made in the past, whether ordinary income or earned annually. I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away.

    ReplyDelete
  187. .

    Well geez, Toshtu, I didn't know about the lawnmower. And those damn neighbors.

    Hell of a thing.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  188. The deputy commander of the Armed Forces has said that Iranian stealth submarines are able to lie in wait in the Persian Gulf to target hostile aircraft carriers that are moving near them.

    “If an ordinary submarine submerges in the Persian Gulf, it could be the worst threat to the enemy. It is one of the Americans’ fears because our submarines are covered with coatings that do not allow sound to travel through them and do not reflect sound waves sent by (enemy vessels’) sonar systems,” Rear Admiral Farhad Amiri said in an interview with the Fars News Agency published on Wednesday.

    ...

    Amiri also announced that the domestically manufactured 500-ton Fateh (Conqueror) submarine will be launched during the next Iranian calendar year, which starts on March 20.

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  189. Mittens is basically almost a kind of a crook, just barely inside the law, enshrouded in a thick fog of Mormon piety.

    Newt's a philandering thug, a retreaded white wall tire.

    Perry may be at the beginning stages of Alzheimer's, if so, pray for him.

    Santorum is a simple nitwit.

    Then there is Doctor Demento.

    Our candidates are truly a human lot.

    ReplyDelete