Steve

Ooohh, this looks like its gonna be good! 'Prometheus' The scene that teases the backstory for Ridley Scott's "Alien" prequel features Guy Pearce. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/prometheus-video-released-ted-ridley-scott-295742 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ridley-scott-michael-fassbender-prometheus-charlize-theron-noomi-rapace-alien-292047

Guy rules dictate that you can only admit seeing that movie if your girlfriend dragged you to see it. Going on your own makes you officially 'suspect' ;-) Seriously, you know what. The 'Bella' character annoys the hell out of me. I see NOTHING that would make me wanna risk life and limb for her were I a vampire or a werewolf. She's boring and not even hot. Oh, I'd bang her if she offered it but I wouldn't be making her my life's love though.

By and large it ended it in Europe. Balkans and a few internal skirmishe here and there. Europe had a major war between two or more countries every generation before World War II going back a couple hundred years at least if not more.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/07/law-professor-u-s-in-state-of-perpetual-war/#.T2QxVNWzni4.facebook “The idea of wartime is doing a lot of work in American politics,†she said. “The way we think about history is history passes through two different kinds of time, from wartime to peacetime to wartime et cetera.†“That’s the way we learn about it in school, that’s the way that we imagine it. When we use to concept of wartime, we assume that wartime is by definition temporary.†But Dudziak noted that over the past 100 years, there had been few times when the United States was not engaged in a some sort of military conflict. I've always hated the concept of war on any thing that you can't define and has no end. Going back to LBJ's 'war on poverty', Nixon's 'war on drugs' and the present 'war on terror', even the war on al qaeda is a misnomer. We will never totally eradicate poverty, drugs, al qaeda or terror. What we end up is, is a reason for the government to spend money and certain agencies and companies having a permament revenue stream. I wish Ron Paul or someone else with balls question all these wars and to stop calling it a war if there is no definition of the ending. Everyone wants to stop drugs, poverty, terrorism. The IRS is a war on unpaid taxes. Its all BS. As the author says we have been in almost constant state of military war for decades as well.

Wow. Speak of the 'devil', just saw it on Yahoo news. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/racist-don-t-nig-anti-obama-bumper-sticker-162917634.html

Even though this has racist slur overtones, undertones, any tone...lol...I had to laugh at the ingenuity of it. I didn't get angry so much as chuckle. But a friend of mine saw a bumper sticker in Pennsylvania that said "Don't ReNig in 2012"...its okay to laugh...as long as you don't like it.. The tough thing about criticizing Obama on the right is the obvious. He's black and has a islamic name. It hangs there. Its the same as if he was gay, handicapped or female. Any criticism has to avoid stating that about the guy. Its just how it is.

This is a bit more ominous. Not that a Democratic party controlled legislature hasn't done some whacky things as well but man, even the looney far lefties in Santa Monica or West Hollywood, California don't seem half as scary as Republicans in control. http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/03/15/wisconsin-gop-votes-to-ban-private-abortion-insurance-coverage/ Last week, Republicans introduced a bill claiming that single moms are the cause of child abuse. And earlier this week, Wisconsin Republicans stated the battered women should divorce their abusive husbands. The GOP raised the bar again today by banning private abortion insurance and repealing a law requiring the teaching of contraception in school. The Wisconsin House was supposed to talk jobs and the economy but they ended up arguing about social issues. The first bill to pass was an anti-abortion bill that bans private insurance companies from covering abortion as part of the health insurance exchange as set up by the Affordable Care Act. Abortion coverage had been allowed as long as it complied with the Hyde Amendment but Wisconsin Republicans decided to ban coverage of abortions in cases of rape and saving the life of the mother. Essentially, Wisconsin is banning women from having private abortion coverage. Democrats were helpless as the bill was slammed through the assembly by a vote of 61-34.

almost not even worth posting this article. Who gives a sh*t about some small town mayor in Clovis, NM. A governor or a mayor of a major city, okay, but this guy is not even worth mentioning just thought it was more funny than anything else. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/new-mexico-mayor-anti-obama-remarks_n_1353265.html?ref=fb&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec3_lnk3&pLid=144298&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=321726,b=facebook New Mexico Mayor David Lansford's Obama Remarks Lead City Official To Resign, Consider Recall Effort Brent "Bud" DaBell, a local realtor who worked for Clovis' Planning and Zoning Commission, said he was considering pursuing a recall of Mayor David Lansford, who called Obama "the carnal manifestation of evil." The mayor also wrote several articles for ATLAH's website during his hiatus from Clovis' government. The articles outline some of Lansford's conspiracy theories about the president, including speculation that the CIA recruited Obama while he was a student at Occidental College. "His background, language skills and physical characteristics made him ideal for the objectives of the CIA and it's [sic] role during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan," wrote Lansford. "The CIA trained and equipped Obama to use whatever means necessary to achieve the desired outcome. Obama was tasked with providing arms, logistics and money to the Taliban."

I had an uncle who was in the Korean War. I may have told the story in another thread somewhere. Basically, he lied his age at 16 to escape Tulsa, Oklahoma. He's an irascible, racist guy. Hates, whites, Asians and believe it or not a lifelong Republican who hates dem Maxine Waters. Anyway, I heard he had anger issues when he was a kid and his mother was sure he'd get lynched. He had a short temper and still does. You have to be wary around him, anything can set him off. Anyway, in those days many folks were born at home so no hospital birth certificates. He was born at home as well. The army didn't care too much to verify things as they needed people for the Korean War. He told me he confided to some buddies in his unit that he was 16 and they helped him get his first confirmed kill before he turned 17. He left Korea scarred. Told me stories such as "...all this talk about the sh*t we did to civilians in Vietnam, man, we were doing that same sh*t in Korea. Not much press around in those days." He told me about a guy who was a complete nut. Coming from my uncle he had to be. This uncle had guns all over the house. Before they banned the stuff, automatic weapons of all kinds. Anyway, he told me of a guy who would routinely kill villagers in the small villages where no one would hear about it. To be fair the North Koreans and the Chinese were doing as much if not worse. However, this guy according to my uncle was a complete nut. Great soldier. He seemed to have a 6th sense about things, fearless when he needed to be, backed off and even retreated when he needed to be. Had a nack for it. Everyone was scared sh*tless of him though, even officers, because you just didn't know what he might do. When he got his papers to go home he was in Seoul and according to my uncle just disappeared. To this day my uncle said, he's sure the military killed him because they couldn't trust a guy like that back in society. They knew he'd go off and end up on a killing spree or a serial killer and with his skills he'd know how to hide if need be.

Just goes to show how goverment rules can go off on inane, borderline imbecilic tangents. Its like those zero tolerance laws. As if everything is black and white. 1st grade boys suspended for kissing a classmate as it violates zero tolerance on sexual harrassment rule. A swiss army knife as a gift from a grandfather being used as evidence to suspend a middle schooler for violating weapons on campus. I know many churches who advocate not having their kids participate in Halloween because it has non Christian, pagan origins. Thank God I had sensible parents. Religious parents. Very much so. Dad was a deacon, asst. pastor and ordained legally to marry couples if he so chose. Mom was even more religious but they knew kids were kids and none of us were gonna worship Satan by going around getting candy from neighbors. They knew the only thing we were gonna worship was the candy we ate and the toilet when we barfed it all up. Ironically enough wasn't it arch conservative Richard Nixon who signed into law the disabilities act? The act was needed but like a lot of things goes too far in some instances and doesn't show sensible application.

I hope Romney is forced to pick Santorum as a running mate. In other news I like that Obama is lowering the top rate but getting rid of the loopholes. I have absolutely no problem with lowering the top rates IF we remove the loop holes and pass on some of that to the middle and lower classes as well. How is that wealth redistribution? haha

Now he's gone WAY too far!!! http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/rick-santorum-wants-ban-hardcore-pornography-222833811.html Rick Santorum wants to ban hard-core pornography

Lets face it. I have some very very dear British friends but generally speaking the British look down on us and hate to see their leader seemingly kissing ass to a country they see as the big, nutty cousin (not that the analogy is far off..lol).

What the f*ck is wrong with Arizona? Why Are You On Birth Control? Employers Asking The Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee has recently voted in favor of legislation that will make it legal for an employer to ask women what they need contraception for and fire the employee if they don't agree with the answer. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss this insane legislation and try to figure out why any woman would vote for a Republican.

The Lincoln bedroom and other benefits of supporting the sitting President has been going on for some time. I don't like it but it happens on both sides. Obama is using his office and its wrong. Dubya, his dad and Reagan did the same. Clinton as well. The rantings of Chris Rock, Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin and others are to be expected from celebs. Why some think an actor or singer is more informed than anyone on this forum I don't know. Both sides have them. There are some very powerful industrialists on the right as well. Many keep a low profile. Also, this attack on academia by the right doesn't wash. Not saying a large number of academia aren't left, even far left but they don't change minds. If that were so, there wouldn't be many conservatives out there. There were plenty of liberal profs at my school but it was a conservative state and the students reflected mainly what their parents ideology happen to be. Every conservative went to these same schools but remained conservative. Santorums ravings about academia are out of whack with reality. As far as oil, I don't know why someone doesn't tell the real truth of it. The oil companies want the supply to America to be limited to keep prices high. Its all bs.

HH, I distinctly remember the Republican PR machine in full force criticizing all kinds of things in the bill, about death panels and such (lies basically) and the medical industry fearing they won't be able to gouge us as much as they can helping by funding any attacks on it. The Dems had the majority but the bill was changed. I can't say how much it was changed but it was and if my memory serves me right, fairly significantly. The health bill was not the same bill that was proposed. It changed a lot before being voted in. I'm sure of that.

Nike upsets the Irish. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/nike-black-tans-sneaker-accidentally-incites-outrage-among-160904943.html

Obama's health plan is flawed. How much flawed, I can't say but I can say that part of the reason its flawed is that the Republicans hacked at it enough where its not recognizable. My question is if Obama had gotten everything he wanted on healthcare would it have been better than what we ended up with? I don't know. I have a suspicion on what the answer would be though. Also, again, the Republicans have no better solution if at all. All well and good saying the health plan we have isn't good but not addressing it is even a bigger crime. Its a crisis and they won't even acknowledge that.

They aren't..lol. Who writes the tax codes? Very few people who are millionaires pays the tax rate for that tax bracket. If they do, they should fire their tax advisor. The tax codes favor the rich and corporations. Every time we hear of the actual tax rate a very rich person pays or a corporation thats making tons of money like Exxon, its either very little as a percentage and sometimes no taxes at all. Paying 50% of all taxes doesn't necessarily mean paying your fair share. If you control 90% of all the wealth, of course by default you will pay the lions share of the taxes but its not an absolute that you're paying the effective tax rate for your bracket.

Plenty of legit criticisms of Democratic solutions for heath care. However, first, the Republicans had to come kicking and screaming even to address affordable health care which is a crisis. When 2 of 3 personal bankruptcies are health costs related its a crisis. Second, what are their solutions? Health Savings Accounts? Does nothing but create a new tax dodge for people. It doesn't address the core issues. The core problem is that the health industry has too much power with Congress and until that is addresssed health care costs will continue to be a crisis. Medical tourism is one result of that. Americans are spending their money overseas for medical care instead of in the U.S.

Gas prices are kept high by the oil companies and the oil producing countries. With respect to America specifically, the oil companies send a lot of that oil out of the country. The big lie about this pipeline is that it will NOT lower prices in America. In all liklihood not much of that oil will be kept here. China, South Korea and Japan are probably more excited about that proposed pipeline the Republicans are pushing than anyone else. I was speaking to a friend who worked in the oil industry (Mobil) in the old days and he said that we've gotten scarily close to breaking even technology for fusion, etc. but those companies and such get bought out by the oil companies and you never hear from them again. I know sound like a conspircay nut but with the amount of money they can lose, I completely believe they are hindering alternative energy technology and keeping it to the wind, solar variety because they know that won't catch up. As for Obama, the ironic thing is he's come under brutal criticims from black pundits on the left. There is a guy with a talk show who is very popular amongst blacks named Tavis Smiley, he and a lot of the liberal black intelligentsia/academia have been very very critical of Obama and the masses aren't happy with them about it. You have to be conservative AND black to be called an uncle tom nowadays if you criticize anyone black. Herman Cain would be an example. Henry Louis Gates Jr for example, is not because he is a Dem but has been very critical of Obaama. He has taught at an Ivy league school, Harvard I think, anyway, part of the liberal elite that HH doesn't like. Again, the standard is that its okay for a liberal to criticize Obama and not be thought of as a racist but if you're white and conservative you run that risk. I don't like it, its not fair, but to some extent, conservatives have to bear some of that fault for sometimes using minorities to get votes.

Flash, in my defense, in the forum I got that link from I posted that the list is vastly overstated. I think he has had mixed results on a few things. I think he's been better at foreign policy than he has been on the domestic front but I don't think he's failed domestically. I think he could have been more successful but the bleeding stopped and we seem stabalized and looking on the up. I think had he done a few things differently we'd have been ahead economically a year or two earlier.

I like to get HH's blood boiling once in a while. Helps the circulation http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php?page=1 Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments

National polls are complete BS and their only purpose is to sway the bandwagoners. Ask any of the candidates would they rather be ahead in a national poll but behind in the 6 biggest swing states or behind nationally and ahead in the 6 biggest swing states and its a no brainer. As is well known, 40 of the 50 states are spoken for. Its done. California will go Democrat, Texas will go Republican no matter what national polls say. The 10 swing states are all that matters and the most important ones are Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia probably in that order. Romney can lead by 20 points but if loses Florida and Ohio its game, set, match. As for the birther thingy. Again, I think it plays perfectly into Obama's hands. First of all, despite more controversy in '08 over this issue, Obama won handily. He's already President and its going to seem more like sour grapes and desperation than anything else. For me, I can't get past that the state of Hawaii accepts him as born there so they would have to be in on the lie. It ends it there for me if someone is suggesting that the state itself is lying or just as ludicrous is 'fooled'. I don't know the law well enough but I am pretty certain that if a state says someone is born there the rest of the states have to honor it unless the Surpreme court gets involved. I would assume by default the federal government has accepted Obama as a natural born citizen since he is President, legally he has met the requirement. I would assume a state can't arbitrarily say different. If a state supreme court upholds it, I would assume the federal district court or supreme court wouldn't even hear the matter but dismiss it outright. I can't imagine they'd even hear evidence or reasons why it should have standing. Without the support of someone important, a Congressman or even a Governor, I can't see this thing being anything but seen as vindictive, mean spirited and prejudicial by a lot of folks and turn off the center. As for as the nomination process, its over. Its Romney, the press will make a meal out of any Santorum or Gingrich win but the only question is what Romney has to do make peace. He will be the nominee. Any suggestion otherwise is not worth entertaining. The press should say so but won't because it needs people to stay interested for money reasons.

Flash, there is certainly a double standard. The Dems get a pass on some things that a Republican wouldn't. However...(and you know there will be), the Republicans have to blame themselves. All too often they run issues based on the very same fears. They demonize groups such as latinos, blacks, gays and even some women with the issues they use to get people fired up. Dems are preaching the opposite so its no wonder to me when you get a conservative who has a racist friend and a liberal who has a racist friend that conservative will get more hot water. HH, as for Obama..lol...wow you really get worked up over him. He's not nearly as bad as you make him out to be. Liberals have far, far more reason to dislike him than conservatives do. Obama is mainstream, connected now. He and his people are part of the establishment. He's been a decent President actually. My criteria are 1. judging him against the presidents of the last 20 years or so and 2. the enormity of the mess he inherited. I know its an old horse that we should stop beating but we really were on the brink of a meltdown and although things are far from perfect these days, there are firm signs, visible signs to most Americans that the bleeding has stopped and we have seen the bottom of things. None of his predecessors of the last 20 years or so had to work with the difficulties he inherited. Don't get me wrong, he made mistakes. Big ones. For me, pushing healthcare when he should have worked on the economy via infrastructure. A few other things as well. His cozying up to the big money guys and such. That makes him typical not terrible if that makes any sense.