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    marye
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    When our previous topic hit the 1,000-response mark, sleazy behavior by politicians was eliciting a certain amount of non-astonishment.

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  • Anonymous (not verified)
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    A presidency by committee
    Obama has really opened up a presidency by committee and the Clintons are a pretty integral part of that committee. Bill & Hillary are everywhere on Earth these days, doing the empire's bidding. Not that I'm complaining. If there was ever a time when our country needed smart, seasoned people it's right now. I give Chairman Obama high marks for his stewardship thus far. There are a lot of open question marks for the future like Afghanistan, the economy, the national debt and such but I would be very sorry to see this commission go out of business in four years. I never thought I'd say that about Democrats but looking at Bush's legacy I am truly horriified that we almost lost our country to a bunch of neo-cons. Barak is an acceptable alternative to that. (now waiting for appearance by scathing dewlover)
  • Anonymous (not verified)
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    I agree...
    ...about books being more friendly and familiar. I never even thought about jobs at printing companies being lost because of Kindles. I've heard that some authors have been hoodwinked into losing royalties on e-books (mostly books that were published before the advent of this technology). Good point about recycling, never thought of that. Now I'm wondering about eye strain with a Kindle.
  • TigerLilly
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    I for one am not sure
    whether electronic devices for reading books are really more environmental than books. First of all we can recycle paper, and electronic things we cannot. If we no longer buy real books-we put printers out of business, and take food off people's tables, and the printing industry is already heavily damaged by online media. There are really plusses and minuses for both, but is hard to conceive (for me anyhow) that a hand-held device would be as emotionally satisfying as turning the pages of a book. A book that we can pass along to a good friend, or if it sucks-do what my father does and tape photos into them in lieu of other forms of photo albums. Or recycle them. ********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain
  • pomo1
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    RIP GEORGE STEINBRENNER
    Love him or hate him, you had to respect him. "That path is for, your steps alone."
  • Anonymous (not verified)
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    To Kindle or not to Kindle...
    I was in the store today to buy Stephen King's new novel. It's 1074 pages long. I was really feeling guilty about buying this book. The planet can't afford to lose even one more tree. Should I use a kindle? I don't even know what the energy footprint of a kindle is. How long it lasts, what is made of etc.. Does anybody out there reading this use a kindle? Do you like it? Can you really bring one to the beach without ruining it (by getting sand in it or something)? Is it more environmentally responsible to use a kindle rather than a scarce resource like wood? I'd love to hear what other people think. I'm never the first to jump on new technologies but I really want to do the responsible thing... Maybe this was my last book purchase.
  • TigerLilly
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    Hallelulah!
    Let's cross our collective fingers that the vents will be closed and the leak stopped.********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain
  • Anonymous (not verified)
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    New cap in place in the Gulf
    It is possible that within 36 hours all the vents will be closed and the leak will be stopped. Although BP sucks for what it did in the name of profit and the whole industry is culpable for doing this kind of drilling without having adequate emergency response, they do deserve some credit for working as quickly as possible and maybe getting this thing capped in 90 days. If this were Nigeria they would have done next to nothing. An elite makes all the oil money over there and they don't rock that boat. Different story here though. Maybe some good will come out of this -- namely a greater awareness of of our codependent relationship with Big Oil and and the realization that the status-quo is not sustainable. Or maybe the understanding that it's really too late and you might as well buy a used Hummer, Denali or Yukon and go out in an orgy of fossil fuel gluttony. Make sure to top off the freon yourself and kill the ozone layer. As well, top off the tank to the last drop and let a gallon or two evaporate into the atmosphere... Ye Gods! We are so screwed on this planet!
  • Anonymous (not verified)
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    Heard about the bombing in Uganda
    Apparently they were targeting the Ugandan government's decision to send those peacekeepers. Somalia and Yemen and almost the entire land of Arabia is a hotbed of Wahhabi ideology. One American died in the bombing.
  • TigerLilly
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    Bombing in Uganda
    74 soccer fans dead in Uganda, after a rugby club was hit by bombs, where these poor people were watching the World Cup final. An organization, Al Shabaab that is opposed to the Uganda government and claiming ties to al Quaeda took responsibility for having carried out the attack, and threatens to continue with other such bombings in Uganda and Burundi; until US-friendly peacekeeping troops are withdrawn from Somalia.********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain
  • Anonymous (not verified)
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    BP lets it flow...
    500,000 gallons a day between the time the old containment cap came off Saturday and the time the new one is put on some time this week. Frightening, isn't it? Y'know, it strikes me that it was rather hard to buy an American car that got more than 30 mpg combined until last year. How could the car industry have been that screwed up for that long? The simple answer is that they wern't screwed up. They were the alternative to every other manufacturer in foreign countries where gas costs more money. Finally Detroit got it that people want well made cars with great gas mileage that could go 300,000 miles if you took care of them. I hope they new containment cap captures 95% of the oil until the relief wells are dug. I hope they are making contingency plans for when a hurricane whips the spill into a hell froth.
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When our previous topic hit the 1,000-response mark, sleazy behavior by politicians was eliciting a certain amount of non-astonishment.
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UK 'Guardian reader' is short hand for middle class liberal type! Ill never quote it again!
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...Is this company saying that nobody can sell music on the internet? I'm confused, and sad.What does this corporation have to gain by bringing people in to "bricks & mortar" stores? Unless they owned the copyrights, state taxes is the only thing to be gotten. Will E72 go forward on the assumption that no decision will be rendered by then ( and an injunction will be issued/) This is insanity!
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this is a classic case of patent trollery, and probably a pretty obscure and meritless one too. But I don't know any more than what's in the article, as I just read about it on Facebook!
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All those people who lost out because people trade music on the internet. Is this their revenge? Those people are pissed and will use anything. You're right, they'll probably lose, but watch out for the next attempt to herd us all into record departments again.
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this may all turn on some far more obscure point of patent law. I just dunno. I know a lot of engineers and let's just say patent trolling is a huge industry and the bane of their existence, and this may have absolutely nothing to do with the usual suspects. Perhaps all will be revealed, perhaps this will vanish and never be heard from again...
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If they shut down the internet for trading music start trading tapes by mail again...
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Here a little more background about U.S. Patent Number 6,247,130, titled “Distribution of musical products by a website vendor over the Internet” Seems some cunning folks had a lot of foresight, so much so that everyone is chosing to pay up instead of fighting it. http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/01/apple-itunes-sharing-sound-settlement/
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Bernie Sanders laid it on the line. Extending Bush's tax cuts for the rich by Congress while cutting programs for the poor by the Republicans now in power.Now these inane assholes like Boehner and Cantor (R) majority leaders in the house and Senate, want to do away with: Social Security Medicare Medicaid Minimum Wage Collective Bargaining And much, much more that effects your children now. If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention (or are one of the rich people making more than a 100 million a year that we should lynch in the public square.) Hey folks! 3 years past on this Wall St scam pulled off by Goldman and not one person has gone to trial, never mind to jail. Bernie Madhoff wasn't guilty of mortgage-backed securities being hedged (all dogs have their day) I am proud that the only independent socialist senator comes from the state where I live. The great State of Vermont where Democracy is real. I know reading these pages not many people care, but I do. See the extended version at www.theDaily show.com
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Yo 'Gonz: how does Vermont's other senator stand on the reverse Robin hood budget philosophy? Here in Kansas we are at the mercy of Republican senators, congressmen as well as a formersenator who is now the governor! Time is slipping backward it seems. Most school districts and Planned Parenthood are about to lose funding. Hey, speed limits are being raised to 75 on select divided highways, so fuel efficiency and $3.76 per gallon gas must not be a concern. Meanwhile, I'm reading and watching about the devastation in many southeastern states, notably in Alabama, with the aftermath of several twisters including a massive 1 mile wide EF5 tornado ripping through Tuscaloosa. TVA did shut down 3 reactors near Huntsville...
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Has started me wondering about my own status as a "natural born" citizen of the USA: I was born relatively close to the Canadian border -- or so I've been told. I have no actual recollection of the event, so I just have the word of those who "know" and my regular birth certificate to authenticate the event -- the attending doctor is long passed away. Obviously, the information that I do have is not to be trusted. As my mother grew up speaking French, in combination with the proximity to the Canadian border, it's entirely possible (likely, even), that I was born in Canada and the rest of this stuff is just a fraud so that I could be eligible to run for POTUS someday -- thankfully, my parents were thinking of my future prospects from the very start. But that's just nutty paranoia. My real concern is that I was a C-section baby (or so I've been told, again no actual recollection of the event). I'm assuming that introduction scalpels to the procedure nullifies the "natural" part of "natural born" without a question. As I'm a white middle-age American male, I'm assuming this stuff wouldn't come up when I'm elected President. In the interests of transparency, I'm raising the issue myself. The best defense, after all, is a good offense. Now, on the question of whether or not I inhaled...
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I had been wondering why all of a sudden everyone was going on about Bertha 'Test me, test me why don't you arrest me..' mutters Pres. Obama under his breath to noone in particular '...at least I've got my own friggin' hair'
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Just wondering how you knew that the correct pronunciation of "birther," at least where I think that I was born, is "berthah" ;-)
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The Donald, master of apprentices, is after POTUS' grades now.... I imagine many of our European and UK friends are getting prepped for the big wedding tomorrow morning (3 am TV coverage in the central USA). Any Furthur folks on the guest list? Sir Elton, Sir Mick and Sir Paul perhaps?
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Maybe you could be POTUS, but could your wife be FLOTUS? Ask GTed if you could be elected dog-catcher in Kansas wearing a tie-dye. Speaking of Kansas, I have night-mares about that place. It was a terribly muggy summer night and I was driving 10 Tibetan Buddhist monks through a thick cloud of grasshoppers at 65 mph. It was sort of like Men In Black. The monks, who won't step on an ant, were freaking out. Have to say the people in Kansas were nice, specially in Topeka and Lawrence. but that state is so Red it's a permanent sunrise/sunset. A for the other Vt. Senator, let there be said that Pat Leahy (other Sen (D VT) is a noble public servant , especially on Constitutional rights, a war he regularly loses, but puts up a valid defense. Dick Cheney told him to go fuck himself around '03 and he just took it. Curled my toes man. No Vermonter would have bent over for that but, you know, it's their game of power and prestige (goddamn recording devices) Back to Maine, my biggest fear would be for a snowmobile to zip across the border in Febrary with a suitcase of Ebola virus carried by some drunkard for $100. Thom Clany did something close to that. Well, I think this proves I have ADHD and I'll be picking up my script of 30mg Adderall after seeing the Dr. in the morning.
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Is it time to talk about politics? Do we really need to discuss this? Well, I was just adding my two cents. Do what you want with it.I don't know how Rod Blagojevich is either. Dwoop.
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this current events forum is as good a place as any to discuss politics....even if the subject IS evil....there are other forums here for the discussion of other topics......just sayin'....(~};=
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I'm not sure that there IS a "north" of Caribou...but look on the map for Eagle Lake. It's where my mom's family is from, and everyone there is related to everyone else there (apologies to my northern Maine cousins).
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Just in case you missed it. Pakistan agrees to withdraw 18 billion from Swiss banks that it took as aid (mostly economic). Wonder what they could have done to help their own people during the flood in that country last year Do you feel any safer? I don't.. Neither does our government. ~ Dear doctor please help me I'm damaged There's a pain where there once was a heart. ~
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I feel as vulnerable as ever! Like the calm before the storm... "It's got no signs or dividing line and very few rules to guide"
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...Len Blavatnik to see what his plans are for the vault, assuming, that is, that he knows that he owns one. And what it is....
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17 years 3 months
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is being planed by a British Group, National, aaccoarding to the Guardian for May 12.Apparently proceeds go to a charity.
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17 years 4 months
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Used to play for silver, now we play for lives.... I see Spain has been suffering from quakes lately.... ...dug by heel a shallow grave, laid his body down...
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Goes from the penthouse suite at the Sofitel in Manhattan to the first-class section of an Air France jet at JFK and then BANG! He is being b*** f***** buy a gang of bikers at Rikers this evening. You have to ask why the richest man in the world didn't order up a 1k hooker instead of going after the maid. Boner pills and coke? What is that rotting smell coming from Sarcozy's office in Paris? I guell we'll never know the real story. The bigger they come, the harder they fall, eh Dominique? Been chipping up rocks from dawn till doom While my rider hides my bottle in the other room
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The jury is still out on that one, whether he is really guilty, or it was a set-up from Sarkozy, or someone else, in order to get him out of action with his pro-Euro stance, or as a serious contender to replace Sarkozy. Der Spiegel (reputable news sourse) said yesterday that he had a pretty strong alibi for the time that the alleged rape took place. We have to wait and watch this one still.********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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it's a little too perfect, and on the other, the guy is clearly no prize either. I doubt there are any good guys in this sleazy saga, but one suspects a)there is quite a bit else going on and b)the Law & Order screenplay is virtually complete already.
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Sunday's unprecedented wave of protests by thousands of Palestinian demonstrators at Israel's borders and checkpoints along the Palestinian territories showed that the so-called Arab Spring has arrived at Israel's doorstep. Be-Be is getting backed up against a wall. Odds are on a Palestinian State that takes a chunk of Israel while Iran continues to keep the "Zionist non-entity" in it's gun-sights.
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"The devil made me do it," but the "60s made me do it." These must be the same guys who believe that one can be "cured" of homosexuality.
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The F4 or F5 twister that tore through there yesterday and more violent weather there today was a monster. If there is still anybody alive in the wreckage may they be found and treated as soon as possible!
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Jeezum', Obama departed from the holy writ, talked about going back to the 1967 lines outlining a Palestinian state (actually referring to them as a jumping off point for negotiations) and the heavy guns circled the wagon in Washington DC. You can only take "Never Again" so far, then it becomes a cliche. If Bashar Al-Assad gets his just desserts in Syria then surely a reckoning is in store in Israel. I find Obama's comments freshening though I'm sure his handlers underestimated the Right Wing in Israeli politics. These people have way too much influence in our country -- and the best that money can buy.
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Vibes to the MO tornado victims, that destruction is so very sad. And I agree with you about Obama's stance being refreshing. The unleashed backlash though has my mouth hanging open at the venom. ********************************** I am not enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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I am pretty tickled at Obama making such a sensible statement. Moreover the founder of the Parents Circle (bereaved families on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians) thought it was great also. (They're a Rex Foundation grantee, which is how it happens to be on my radar.)
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So it's another Memorial Day Weekend and Marye will encourage the usual platitudes and while there is no doubt they are due I watched the uncut version of Apocalypse Now this weekend and was set to thinking -- Though it sounds lame and cliche, What if they threw a war and nobody came? Or they decided to all go home after they shot the baddest Ayatollah's eyes out and threw him in the ocean? But nobody is going home... we got Khadhaffys and Al-Awalakis and Al--Zawahiris left to kill, not to mention the total extermination of the Big Al. On and on, obscenities within obscenities. They are protecting our way of life except our way of life has become very lopsided lately. And the usual people profit. So this Bud goes out to a retired Major from the Green Beret from a couple towns over. He's totally fucked up as he sits there fondling that string of over 50 human ears (whats left of them). It ain't far to the VA Hospital where he gets his Klonopin and the rest of the psychmeds that don't make him forget. He's got an arsenal and is just looking for a way to use it. It seems a natural death would seem like cowardice to him and his apples that haven't fallen far from the tree. I guess Colonel Kurtz knew.
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Angela Merkel is pulling the plug on 17 nuclear reactors after the amazing meltdown experiences in Japan following the devastating earthquakes and a tsunami. Best wishes to Germany in leading the way for development of alternative energy sources. Growth of wind and solar energy will be expensive. Wind power start-up costs in the US have been enormous. Russia will certainly be a supplier of natural gas, but how reliable is this ??
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that was all over the various global news channels last night--along with the irony that it was going to mean a big boost in at least short-term biz for all the nuclear plants in Germany's neighboring countries. Along with such interesting tidbits, to US audiences, as the fact that France gets something like 75% of its current power from nukes, so this is a non-trivial issue.
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it is not trivial at all! The CDU is threatening us with higher energy costs overall, while this transition is made, BUT I am glad to live here, where the people have said "no more nuclear energy" and have been heard!********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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Cell phones (and television and radio broadcasts as well, I think) declared by IARC to be class 2B, possibly carcinogenic to humans. I have to admit that when I saw this headline out of the corner of my eye, I thought it said "possibly hallucinogenic to humans." More study is indicated for both of these claims, I think.
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Finally, the Stanley Cup has begun! The Canucks will kick ass!!!
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They won with 1:18 left and left a lot of bad blood (literally) on the ice when a one of 'em bit a Bruin. I predict a fired-up Bruins win in 6!!!
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Wasn't that a great game ! I hope it goes 7, more games to watch, but I'm not putting money on it.
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as in literally, gonzo??********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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heeheeeheeeee!!!!