kamui

More details about the affair are coming out. This Paula Bodwell seems to be a tough cookie. But seeing photographs of Petraeus' wife I can understand that he now and then wanted to dine outside the house.

Andrew Sullivan (the Dish Blog at Daily Beast) to St. Colbert at the Colber Report: “There’s a black man in power who has nothing to lose.†:surprised: http://www.thedailyb...ight-video.html It must be the white man's Tea Party biggest fear.

I like Munchie's Scotland thread. No one - except 1-2 two people - knows the place and no one outside GB seems to have an opinion about it.

By the way: the best source for audiobooks: The Audiobook Bay More audiobooks than at any general torrent site. Very clean!

I think Afghanistan will end within the next years, regardless who will win. But military spending won't go down. The military industrial complex is way too strong.

Only sites closed or for registered users are relatively clean. The now defunct Demonoid belonged to those. It's really missed. Mac software I always take from codez4mac. The downloads are usually pw protected and clean, but more difficult to get, since torrent isn's used.

Piratebay was always full of fake or low quality stuff, especially in regard to movies. In some cases I found 90% of Windows software contained a virus or other nasty stuff. I always read the comments, which usually helps and of course run an anti virus scanner. Many other 'legit' torrent sites use password protected files.

Just received this email in my mailbox from a French magazine (of which I have never heard of): BRAIN TEA PARTY SOIREE ELECTIONS US Venez fêter avec Brain la réélection de l'islamiste Barack Obama @ la Terrasse du Batofar - Entrée libre -

By now anybody should now that the GOP's move to the radikal right did damage Romney and the local candidates extremely. During the nomination process Romney had to play to the hard right and all moderate local GOP candidates were erased. If he would have been able to paint himself as a moderate from the beginning he wouldn't have been forced to an endless stream of flip flops which is haunting him until today. IMHO if Romney hadn't muddled his position so much I would lead in all polls today.

Why do you write such a BS? Anyway: President Obama is now better than a 4-in-5 favorite to win the Electoral College, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast. His chances of winning it increased to 83.7 percent on Friday, his highest figure since the Denver debate and improved from 80.8 percent on Thursday. http://fivethirtyeig...sed/#more-37099

That's a minor problem actually. Scientist did sound alarm for years that a catastrophe like Sandy would hit NY due to climate changes and rising sea levels. Making NY (and other costal cities) flood proof would cost billions and the city hasn't even begun to think about proper flood protection. Why? Because the majority of the USA Americans doesn't believe in climate change and Big Oil and other groups are aggressively lobbying against any changes in US politics in regard to climate change. We all know that the US infrastructure (highways, bridges, waterworks, e.g.) is crumbling. The climate change will make it even worse.

NPR today apologized to four-year-old Abigael Evans, of Fort Collins, Colo., after learning that one of their reports on the 2012 election was the cause for her tears. "On behalf of NPR and all other news outlets, we apologize to Abigael and all the many others who probably feel like her," NPR's Mark Memmott writes. "We must confess, the campaign's gone on long enough for us, too. Let's just keep telling ourselves: 'Only a few more days, only a few more days, only a few more days.'" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjrthOPLAKM

Did you start the day without coffee?

Could you repeat this in English?

Hehehe, just shoot the messenger, if you don't like the message. Anyway it's well known that in Scandinavia for example the education systems are ecxellent - much better than in Germany for example. They have nearly no drop outs. Kids with problems get personal support from year one. Math/language skills, e. g. are leading world wide. Now look at USA where you have millions without a degree and who can't even read a newspaper. How will the USA be able to compete with countries like China where the society is obsessed with education? IMHO that's a ticking (unemployment) time bomb.

USA falls behind the most "socialist" countries in Western Europe. U.S. Prosperity Slides in Index That Ranks Norway No. 1 By Simon Kennedy - Oct 29, 2012 The U.S. slid from the top ten most prosperous nations for the first time in a league table which ranked three Scandinavian nations the best for wealth and wellbeing. The U.S. fell to 12th position from 10th in the Legatum Institute’s annual prosperity index amid increased doubts about the health of its economy and ability of politicians. Norway, Denmark and Sweden were declared the most prosperous in the index, published in London today. With the presidential election just a week away, the research group said the standing of the U.S. economy has deteriorated to beneath that of 19 rivals. The report also showed that respect for the government has fallen, fewer Americans perceive working hard gets you ahead, while companies face higher startup costs and the export of high-technology products is dropping. ... http://www.bloomberg...orway-no-1.html

Obama was never a progressive. I remember German commentators saying this before the election when Obama visited Berlin and 200.000 enthusiastic people showed up to listen to him. The commentarors basically said that from a European point of view that he is a conservative. And basically he is with some liberal elements in regard to health care, gay- and women rights.

Yep, two new swing state polls show Obama being ahead. In the end its all 'poll-porn', I guess polls are better than sex for members of the political class...

From the outside of course. What I have heard is that voters in US spin states are being flooded with ads. The media market seems to be so saturated that some SuperPac's can't get airspace anymore. I wouldn't want to be forced to watch tv or listen to radio in Florida: see here: http://www.nationaljournal.com/hotline/ad-spending-in-presidential-battleground-states-20120620

The whole election system in the USA is completely fucked up: - shady outside money starts to dominate the elections - voter ID laws which will change the next election in 2016 - generally way too much money needed to become elected. There is no place for new parties with new ideas. Both candidates are spending around 1 billion USD and it gets worse every four years. - outdated electoral college system. 8 years ago the election was decided by several hundred votes in Florida (and decided by one GOP election official) - outdated or malfunctioning or hackable voting machines - the endless 24/7 election spin cycle. There are days in which actually nothing new can be reported. USA media seem to be absolutely hysteric about any coffee cup dropped by a campaign surrogate. - way too long election season. The whole crazy thing started about 6 months ago already. Compared to Germany: - Every party gets a limited budget for advertising e.g. Not outside money is permitted - Every party gets limited airtime for adverts. Even small and obscure parties get a certain amount of airtime (which makes some of the ads really funny, since they look so amateurish and the people slogans involved can be quite entertaining) - really negative attack ads and character assassination ads are not being liked (not permitted?) - not an endless 24/7 election spin cycle. - fixed duration of the election season for adverts, posters, e.g. and of course 1 man 1 vote

They don't pay income tax. I don't know about payroll tax (which is different in the US)

You know that's BS right? You want soldiers, elderly and students to pay income tax? Anyway, most US citizens pay taxes, it's just not income tax. these figures cover only the federal income tax and ignore the substantial amounts of other federal taxes — especially the payroll tax — that many of these households pay. As a result, these figures greatly overstate the share of households that do not pay federal taxes. Tax Policy Center data show that only about 17 percent of households did not pay any federal income tax or payroll tax in 2009, despite the high unemployment and temporary tax cuts that marked that year.[5] In 2007, a more typical year, the figure was 14 percent. This percentage would be even lower if it reflected other federal taxes that households pay, including excise taxes on gasoline and other items. Most of the people who pay neither federal income tax nor payroll taxes are low-income people who are elderly, unable to work due to a serious disability, or students, most of whom subsequently become taxpayers. (In years like the last few, this group also includes a significant number of people who have been unemployed the entire year and cannot find work.) http://www.cbpp.org/...fa=view&id=3505

The Dems seem now to be on par with the GOP in negative advertising and attack ads. That's going on since months. Of course we all know that's straight from the GOP playbook from previous elections - but of course the GOP and connected right wing fringe groups was and is much worse with it's Swift boating attacks. For example right wing media are currently promoting two videos: - one that Obama is the son of a communist leader who took nude photographs of Obama's mother - second a video of Obama's live birth in Kenya. The first video is being said to be mailed in thousands of copies to voters in swing states. There is nothing like this produced by radical Dem supporters.

It looks that they are in a tie now. Obama seems to have gained in 5 of 6 polls now. Considering the margin of error the pollsters have no idea who will win. Momentum wars By: Glenn Thrush and Jennifer Epstein October 25, 2012 07:25 PM EDT In the past 10 days, Mitt Romney’s campaign has gone from Big Mo to Slow Mo. Like a shark that must swim forward and fast, the Romney campaign needs to maintain its forward momentum — and its heady narrative of an irresistible finish-line surge — despite an increasing pile of polling data pointing to a race that has stabilized since Barack Obama’s disastrous performance at the Oct. 3rd debate in Denver. “Narrative†is an overrated and perishable commodity in politics. But maintaining the perception of momentum has become critical to a challenger banking on a wave of last-minute enthusiasm to defeat an incumbent with a distinct electoral map advantage and small leads in Ohio, Iowa, Nevada and Wisconsin. (See also: POLITICO's swing-state map) The problem: despite a dramatically improved Romney position following the third and final presidential debate on Monday, his momentum in recent polls has slowed discernibly, owing, in part, to Obama’s stronger performances in the face-offs on Long Island and in Boca Raton. ... http://www.politico....2902.html?hp=t1 .

Or to Cambodian Riel. A Chinese women was just fined 2 Mio Riel for destroying a photo of the demised king. That' s 500 US$...