kamui

In the end, that's what's counts. All the noise in right and left media don't mean much. It's the undecided and unenthusiastic voters...

We are very sensitive, aren't we. I just put together the information from Channel4's fact check and Mekong's info about oil running out. It's very simple and should be even understood by a Scott.

Tell me more!

According to this fact check http://blogs.channel...s-it-alone/6524 Scotland becoming an independent nation isn't a problem financially - as long as revenue from oil goes to Scotland and is as high as today... Taking Mekong's information into account Scotland would run out of money within two dedaces or less.

The king seems to have been absolutely brillant playing to all sides and winning for decades. But then he made two major mistakes, first supporting the Khmer rouge and after their end by weakening the position of his son Prince Ranariddh as the co-leader of the country, which gave the other co-leader Hun Sen the opportunity to take over the government completely. I guess he will go into history as a brillant king who brought independence and prosperity to the country, but finally failed his country completely by initially supporting one of the most terrible regimes in the history of mankind. PS: I guess the palace in the center of PP survived because Sihanouk was put under house arrest there. It seems the the Khmer Rouge didn't dare to touch him.

This sounds like a 2. world country - Whisky aside it could be LOS.

I am completely ignorant about Scotland. Expect that around 25 years ago I was invited to join a free tour during an art festival to all major venues (while staying at 5 star hotels) I don't know nothing about it. Scot politics and economy aren't in the news outside GB that often (if at all).

It really depends on the country. We have a lot of small countries in Europe and the northern ones do extremely well. But these are countries with century old structures and economies - combined with excellent education systems and no corruption. Some of the countries becoming independent more recently are not doing that well (Slowakia, Serbia - both are highly corrupt and underdeveloped). In Spain autonomous regions like Basque Country are fighting for to become independent states, but they are virtually bankrupt and couldn't survive on its own. Is think Mekong's assessement is very important. Small countries will only survive, if they are a) have raw material to sell, b.)or have a highly skilled workforce and show a lot of entrepreneurship for to develop own industries. And it is very important that the country has a highly functional infrastructure, bureaucracy and political system (like in Scandinavia). How about the Scots - Highland Games, oil and Whisky aside?

Spoiler Alert! G.O.P. Fighting Libertarian’s Spot on the Ballot By JIM RUTENBERG When he was running for the Republican presidential nomination last year, Gary Johnson, the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico, drew ridicule from mainstream party members as he advocated legalized marijuana and a 43 percent cut in military spending. Now campaigning as the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, Mr. Johnson is still only a blip in the polls. But he is on the ballot in every state except Michigan and Oklahoma, enjoys the support of a few small “super PACs†and is trying to tap into the same grass-roots enthusiasm that helped build Representative Ron Paul a big following. And with polls showing the race between President Obama and Mitt Romney to be tight, Mr. Johnson’s once-fellow Republicans are no longer laughing. Around the country, Republican operatives have been making moves to keep Mr. Johnson from becoming their version of Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate whose relatively modest support cut into Al Gore’s 2000 vote arguably enough to help hand the decisive states of Ohio and Florida to George W. Bush. The fear of Mr. Johnson’s tipping the outcome in an important state may explain why an aide to Mr. Romney ran what was effectively a surveillance operation into Mr. Johnson’s efforts over the summer to qualify for the ballot at the Iowa State Fair, providing witnesses to testify in a lawsuit to block him that ultimately fizzled. Libertarians suspect it is why Republican state officials in Michigan blocked Mr. Johnson from the ballot after he filed proper paperwork three minutes after his filing deadline. And it is why Republicans in Pennsylvania hired a private detective to investigate his ballot drive in Philadelphia, appearing at the homes of paid canvassers and, in some cases, flashing an F.B.I. badge — he was a retired agent — while asking to review the petitions they gathered at $1 a signature, according to testimony in the case and interviews. more at NYT

What is the essence of upward mobility (hard work aside and a relatively stable environment aside? Excellent education for the lower and middle class! But as I understand US public schools are terrible, especially in poor areas - black or not. US kids are falling way behind to the leading industrial nations. The GOP has promised to make it worse locally and nationally (free market for education).

Actually I got the impression that Obama avoided to do anything special for the black people for to avoid any critic that he is giving favors to them. Also it is well documentated, that the great advantage of the USA, it's upward social mobility as decreased so much that it is lower than in Europe today.

I think that's complete bullshit. I don't see any reports that there had been trouble in the past weeks. During the midterm election in 2010 it was far worse with a lot of demonstrations, agression and shouting matches during town hall meetings e.g.. First there was the Tea Party and then Occupy Wallstreet. Both movements have lost their momentum. It even seems that voter participation on both sides is lower than in 2008. Why should uninterested, frustrated voters go violent after the election? IMHO the anger is mostly media generated, especially by radikal blogs and talk radio and Fox. PS: And it's strange that the article doesn't mention the background of the biggest voter registration scandal this season which spread over several states, executed by a GOP funded company. Yes, the Dems were furious, but otherwise nothing happened.

There are many more. Until 10 days ago US media (except Fox and co.) in an avalanche of articles declared Romney an incompetent loser, who was running a terrible campaign and has incompetent staff. Obama instead did everything almost perfectly. Now Obama is suddenly the incompetent loser, while Romney suddenly found his mojo... Seeing this I guess both versions are exaggerated. The election is simply too close and no one has an idea of the outcome (except the spinmasters on both sides of course). But the audience would get really bored if the media would repeat this every day. Therefore they have to create drama.

It's most interesting to see how US media switched from daily Romney bashing to daily Obama bashing within a day. As I said before, the 24 h news cycle forces the US media to blow up any tiny piece of information. Before the debate Obama was the genius campaigner who was beating Romney since months and know they say that Obama is just a loser... Sept. 27: Daily Beast GOP Self-Delusion Syndrome With Obama’s lead in several swing states becoming insurmountable, the right has begun to panic Oct. 8. Daily Beast Did Obama Just Throw The Entire Election Away? The Pew poll is devastating, just devastating.

The Bourne Legacy Saw it on large screen. Not worth the money. Much weaker than the original Bourne trilogy. Actors not as good, story predictable, action scenes less thrilling, boring end without a real showdown. Moonrise Kingdom One of the few movies which are an absolute pleasure to watch. Wonderful cast in all leading parts - among others Bruce Willis and Tilda Swinton together in a movie! - and perfect supporting actors. Nice story, great visuals, perfect scenery and costumes, perfect film music. I should have seen this movie on a large screen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N8wkVA4_8s

As I understand a major part of the therapy of the A.A. (Anonymous Alcoholics) is based on Christian beliefs... I guess Christianity has two sides, the 'Bavarian' where monasteries still produce their own very strong beer and the Northern European Christian side which despised anything which has to do with lust and fun...

Yep, it's got more close since the debate. Now we have a debate plus for Romney which might be a little bit lessened by the positive job report which came just in time. The next two debates seem to be really important, but now Obama has to deliver instead of Romney.

The difference between conservative and liberal media is, that the liberal media immediately agreed that Obama's performance was poor. While the conservative media flatly denies facts which don't fit into their perception of reality: Conservatives: Jobs data are phoney By: Kevin Robillard October 5, 2012 09:51 AM EDT The release Friday of unexpectedly positive jobs numbers immediately touched off a conspiracy theory among conservatives, who suggested the data was being manipulated to benefit President Barack Obama’s reelection. “Chicago style politics is at work here,†Florida GOP Rep. Allen West wrote on his Facebook page. “Somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the Presidential election. This is Orwellian to say the least and representative of Saul Alinsky tactics from the book ‘Rules for Radicals’- a must read for all who want to know how the left strategize.†http://www.politico....2070.html?hp=l3

Germany media, like the US media, say that Obama f@cked up seriously. I guess it came as a surprise to most of the audience. Or maybe the high expectations on the DEM side are sign of a DEM bubble, which always painted Romney as being incompetent in speaking in front of people (but course Romney supported this view with his convention speech). I guess Obama needs to take some additional training sessions.

Nah, it's just a phobia of men in black suits on bicycles. Since he saw "Men in Black" it got worse.

During civil service (instead of going to the army) I had to take care of old men (chronically ill or dying) at their homes and one highlight of the day for them was a glass of schnaps (hard liquor). My boss always said that it's good for blood flow. As always with this stuff: in low doses healthy, in high doses toxic... PS: I wasn't really suited for the job and when I returned to the nursery station I always needed Sherry or something like this.

The parallel universe where Mitt leads all polls By: Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns October 1, 2012 04:27 AM EDT To talk with any working Republican political operative these days is to hear the same tale of woe: a grim accounting of the past few weeks, a dash of gallows humor and a measure of hope that President Obama is still beatable. Never in question is that Mitt Romney is trailing — the private surveys these strategists see for their down-ballot clients make that clear. The only question is by how much. But hanging up the phone or clicking out of e-mail is to find a parallel universe on the right. On TV, talk radio and especially the Internet is a place where the swing-state polls that show Romney losing are not just inaccurate but part of an intentional plot by the heretofore unknown media-pollster axis to depress Republican voters. In this other world, Romney not only isn’t losing — he’s on the verge of a convincing victory. “I believe if the election were held today, Romney would win by 4 or 5 points,†trumpeted Dick Morris on Fox News last week, predicting a win for the GOP ticket in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada and Pennsylvania. In public polls right now, Romney is losing in each of those states. But, Morris said, that’s because the data are all wrong. .... Politico

I just had a look at Fox News' website. I understand why research found out the Fexnews audience is much less informed than the average. If you look at the politics section all major headlines quote the GOP camp and of course are all anti the current government. Which of course means the Foxnews audience must think that the GOP has the upper hand all matters politics, while Obama and the White House are just screwing up everything. And that explains why the right had to develop the idea that all polls are screwed: the polls show a very different reality: Obama still has strong support among the majority of the electorate. Otherwise even the Fox audience (at least two or three of them) might get the idea, that they are misinformed about US politics and the election. On the other side, Huffington Post has a much easier job producing a positive image of Obama and the election campaign and attacking Romney and co, since the polls go in their direction. But of course HuffPost is a much lesser force in the US media since it only exist online and neither doesn't influence the Dem politics like Foxnews tv/radio personalities do.

Hitler might have done it on the USSR. As Flash said, he went totally crazy in the end. And Hitler saw the Russians as 'subhuman beings', while he saw the Brits in a way close to the Germans... And I think the Japanese would have dropped the bomb on the Chinese, just have a look at the Nanjing Massacre (which Japan still denies).