Steve

Even I laughed out loud when I read this one. Its pretty good actualy. Its a racist statement but its still damn funny and I have to admire the creativity. The kids had a joke for the black and Puerto Rican students at the HS in the 'burbs outside Philly we got sent to. I stil laugh when I think about however at the time had I heard it someone would have gotten a chin check "when we graduate we're going to spend 4 years at Penn State and they are going to spend 4 years at the State Pen"

So McCain's full birth certificate is accepted without question and Obama's isn't? The whole Obama affair makes no logical sense. His mother wanted him to be an American citizen so she goes to Kenya to have a baby but a few days later sends the Honolulu papers an announcement that he's born in Hawaii. Obama himself is made privy to this family secret as well and keeps it going. Knowing the truth and the risks, he still runs for President. Also, in this conspiracy are Hawaiian officials that are guarding a fake birth certificate from plublic viewing under some law about releasing such documents. What I would find a hoot (damn, I sound like my father) is if he was born in Kenya. I actually wouldn't mind if he were so I could have a big laugh about it all.

The IMF has proclaimed that the Age of America is ending. It was a pretty good run we had. I've likened America's run to that of the mob in Vegas. Had a good thing going and f*cked it up themselves. http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/112616/imf-bombshell-age-america-end-marketwatch

We KNOW McCain was not born in America (but is a citizen). There stands a greater chance of his birth being fabricated to make him a U.S. citizen since his dad was an Admiral and would not want any his child not be an American citizen. hehehe

Read up on the history of the birther thingy on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama_birth_certificate even more convinced its BS even though I thought so originally. Trump? I won't take him serious as a candidate. Isn't he the one that has had companies he controlled file for BK? More than once if I recall. This is the man I want to run the country. A man who bankrupted his own company? Ron Paul or nothing of the Republican candidates for me.

Okay, is this another case of CS histrionics and I need to calm the eff down or is this a valid concern. If you were a retired state employee. Pretty much any state and you are to receive say 90% of your salary for the rest of your life, how confident are you that the state would pay out? My guess at some point (lets assume you live another 25 to 30 years) they will find some way to dick you out of some of the money. Tax it a different way, or just flat out reducing citing some crisis. I have no faith in the government anymore, state or federal.

Interestingly, some of the founders weren't religious or believed in God or were Deists. http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html Americans still like to have a Christian in the white house even if they themselves aren't practicing the religion. They know what a Christian will suppoesedly do morally and ethically. I also think that a Jew could successfully run as well as we've went from calling ourselves a Christian nation to a Judeo-Christian one. Morally using religion as a guide, Christians believe Jews would do the same since we both share the 10 commandments. An atheist wouldn't get votes. A christian or jew has a 'code' (10 commandments, Jesus' sayings, etc.). An atheist to most people doesn't have a code. If there were no 911, a non practicing moslem could be elected IF he was a Republican, I think. I think an Atheist could get in if he were a Republican. The reason I say that is that the Republicans are the most religion conscious of the two parties and so if they accepted that person not being a Christian then everyone else would with regard to religion. As for Obama. I'm surprised at how centrist he is. He's not the liberal a lot of folks thought he would be. He kept some key Bush appointees and had some people who were part of the establishment in key areas. Fed Chief for example who was NY Fed chief. He hasn't shaken up enough things for those that voted for him. He hasn't governed as an outsider coming to Washington to clean it out. If Republicans are honest he's no where as liberal as they feared I think. Doesn't matter, he'll be domonized by Republicans anyway because he won so decisively. To be fair, the same animosity would have been hurled at a Republican if the roles were reversed. As far as the national debt and such, I think it would have been increased significantly had McCain won. He talked of bailing out everyone as well. I don't think it would have been nearly as high as Obama though. So, I think if Republicans are honest they would concede that. I honestly think their problem with Obama is he's not their man. Its about power. Its about the power of the office and not having your party there. Its not about debt, jobs, etc. If their man had the same debt and numbers they'd have ready excuses as well. Again, the same would happen if the roles were reversed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110424/ap_on_hi_te/us_wi_fi_warning On Feb. 11, an investigator with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees cybersecurity enforcement, signed in to a peer-to-peer file sharing program from his office. After connecting with someone by the name of "Doldrum," the agent browsed through his shared files for videos and images and found images and videos depicting children engaged in sexual acts. The agent identified the IP address, or unique identification number, of the router, then got the service provider to identify the subscriber. Investigators could have taken an extra step before going inside the house and used a laptop or other device outside the home to see whether there was an unsecured signal. That alone wouldn't have exonerated the homeowner, but it would have raised the possibility that someone else was responsible for the downloads. After a search of his devices proved the homeowner's innocence, investigators went back to the peer-to-peer software and looked at logs that showed what other IP addresses Doldrum had connected from. Two were associated with the State University of New York at Buffalo and accessed using a secure token that UB said was assigned to a student living in an apartment adjacent to the homeowner. Agents arrested John Luchetti March 17. He has pleaded not guilty to distribution of child pornography.

I know huh? However, I guess if he caught bad guys and did a good job, he was a good cop then I suppose, right?

Vegas money for lobbyists and the government itself are pissed they aren't cashing in on online and offshore gambling. Their three main arguments are al quaida can hide money off shore or wash it through online gambling. (gambling is against islam for one and there are far more sophisticated ways to wash money), second, underage gambling. Some kid uses his parent's card or he has one from them and gambles online. (Really? give me a break) and third, not paying taxes on winnings (how many gamblers have a net profit after a year?). Its all about money. Obama is governing as a centrist and its not winning over anyone. He's not as far left as a lot of liberals who voted him for like and he could do everything the Republicans want and still be demonized as he's not their man. He's in nowhere land but unless the Republicans can field a credible candidate I think the American people will stick with the devil they know, like they did with Bush.

Neighborhood groups and businesses that it would run near or through would fight it tooth and nail. NIMBY would make it nigh on impossible.

$7 oil would suck obviously but the sting wouldn't be so bad if we had reliable, efficient and low cost mass transit to offset it. $7 gas would make it so tough on the working poor as well as working and middle class families in LA and most of California. You must have a car in LA unless you live and work near home or on the train lines which don't go everywhere. Not likey in a city of that size. $7 gas has less impact in NYC obviously where they have an extensive train and bus system but large parts of the rest of the country aren't so fortunate. I bet we see a rise in motorcyles.

Bigger qusstion. Where is all that oil going? Isn't America also one of the world's biggest [color:red]producers[/color] of crude oil? I found the data on the EIA website... The data was for 2010 and claims the USA, Russia, and Saudia Arabia produce about the same amount of oil. You are right - we are on the same footing as Saudia Arabia. Big question now is why that is kept such a secret?

Once oil prices went way up, I knew it was the end of relatively cheap oil when compared to other industrialized nations. The oil companies want us in line with the rest of the western world. The government has no desire to ween ourselves off oil. All we have done is slowly weened ourselves off middle eastern oil and bought more from other countries (Canada, Venuezula, Nigeria) outside the middle east. The amount of money the government makes off taxing gas is good so why take away that cash cow in these hard economic times? For a start the nation's busses could be run on natural gas. LA has the biggest fleet in America I think. The local, state and federal governments could intiate a program to convert all their vehicles to hybrids by a certain date. This would kick start the industry, the cars, trucks, vans and busses could be made right here in the USA and provide millions of jobs. Just to post office vehicles alone would be a boost. Non combatant miliary vehicles on domestic soil as well. Because of NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) and other factors we could have better mass transportaion systems as well both local and interstate. High speed trains the ones we have seen in Japan and Korea could provide tons of jobs and again, make us use less gas from more people taking them, cut on airline fuel costs, etc. Why California doesn't have a high speed line from San Diego to San Francisco doesn't stand to reason. What Obama should have done was put his political capital on infrastructure instead of heath care. Hard for political enemies to fight a program that creates jobs. Michigan would get a boost for sure for example from all this. We've phased out the tax credits for some aternative fuel cars (some hybrids for example http://www.hybridcars.com/federal-incentives.html ) When we did have them, they were about $7,500 in total. Not nearly enough in my opinion for a car that would cost close to 20k or more. I would have it where you can fully amortize the cost of the car over a 5-7 year period for an American made (and damn near 100% of it has to be made here) atlernative fuel car (electric or hybrid) for any car under a certain price (30k for for example or whatever to avoid manufactures coming up with some 60k car). I wouldn't force anyone to give up gas guzzlers. Just give them an eocnomic incentive to give it up. Carrot rather than stick.

Isn't America also one of the world's biggest [color:red]producers[/color] of crude oil? Exactly where we stand, I am not sure. The EIA's website has been revamped in such a way it looks like it is impossible to abstract that data. The White House webside has been redone in the same fashion. Figure it out? According to this we're 3rd!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110422/us_yblog_thelookout/homeless-woman-prosecuted-for-enrolling-son-in-conn-school She faces jail time adn 15k in fines if convicted. Homeless woman prosecuted for enrolling son in Conn. School The case is attracting some national attention in the education world, as it's similar to the headline-making story of Ohio mom Kelley Williams-Bolar, who spent days in jail after using her father's address to send her kids to a better-performing school. Her story ignited a debate about inequalities in the public school system.

Isn't America also one of the world's biggest [color:red]producers[/color] of crude oil?

It may be moot though. If the U.S. government said the person is a citizen, how can a state say otherwise? My question is can a state deem someone who is regarded a citizen, not a citizen? Unless I'm mistaken, only the federal government can determine U.S. citizenship. Immigrants must ask the INS not the state to become citizzens. Arizona may not like that Hawaii has determined Obama to be born there but its the federal government that has to accept it, not Arizona. My guess, leagally, is Arizona has no choice. Its also a states right issue. Each state has varying degrees of what they require I assume.

My guess is she's seen the political landscape and probably agrees but sees more harm than good in the bill either for her politically and/or the state. I also don't think if it was passed how any state can win if eventually if it said that Obama's birth is not clear. My reasoning is if Hawaii says he was born there and issued a document sayiing that then it has to be accepted I would think if its for the office of President. An Arizona office, they can probably get away with it it, but its the states that verfify birth and a lawyer can argue that point that if another state is basically saying another state's document is not legal when its accepted federally as legal because that document was used to get a US passport, etc. Also if the state says they don't have enough proof to verify he's American or born in America the persons lawyer can say that has already been established and the person is already recognized by the government as American. A state from what I understand can't say someone is not American that the federal government says is American. Isn't the federal government the only body that determines American citizenship? The state determines state residency but not American citizenship.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110419/pl_nm/us_arizona_birther Arizona Governor vetoes 'Birther' bill. Had passed anyone runnng for office in that state would have had to provide proof of their birth and it was up to the sect'y of state to determine what met the requirements. Lets call it what it was, an Obama bill..lol. This is a slippery slope. I wonder if it will be in other states and if they as expected detrmine Obama has not satisfied them with the appropriate proof? I would expect filings in the state supreme court and if they uphold it, the Surpreme Court. Wonder what they would do? Imagine the repurcussions? I think it would backfire eventually. Keeping the debate alive only works if it converts neutrals. Those that were opposed to Obama won't vote for him and it could embolden his supporters or those that once voted for him but were gonna stay home to come out. Interesting.

I'm sure this movie has been mentioned but I'm not going through 58 pages to find out. I just saw 'Gran Torino' on TV. I heard it was a great movie and it was. Clint Eastwood's character reminded me of an uncle I have. Just as racist and cantankerous. Ironically he was a Korean War vet as well and dropped racial slurs as if it was rose peddles. His last name was Bolton and my sister used to call him Archie Bolton ala Archie Bunker. My family is very open to everyone of all colors and ethnicities. I have no qualms whatsoever that any friend or girlfriend would be accepted. However, my uncle, who lives in LA, was the only one in the family we were wary of bringing any non black person around. We'd have to apologize ahead of time. He married my dad's sister who was the most caring person. She was a RN nurse and like my mom, loved all. How those two got together we don't know. We asked her many times and she said, she still couldn't figure it out. He grew on her after months she said. Like Walter, the Clint Eastwood character he had a lot of guns. A lot more than Eastwood did in the movie. He had a lot of fire power in that house and would show it. He loved my brother and I the most because when we were kids we would hear his war stories and ask questions when no one else cared. He told us how he left Oklahoma at 16 y.o., in 1950, lied his age and went to war. How his buddies after learning that he was really a kid, vowed to help him get him is first confirmed kill before he was 18 and it happened when he was 17 y.o. and change. He hated all asians and lumped them all together. Hated whites even more and he said his short temper would have gotten him lynched in 1950 Oklahoma. So, he left. My brohter and I were good kids and he thought a bit too naive about the world, etc. He showed us the ins and outs of the various guns he had. My mother and father would have a heart attack had they known. Shown us our firt porno movie so we'd know wha to do with some pussy when we got some according to him. Only movie with condoms and told us we'd better not ever bang a chick without one or he'd shoot us himself. He hated ghetto blacks as much as a white supremist as well. He was astonished why we didn't ever swear and would drop F bombs on our 9 y.o. ears and didn't care. He asked, what if you stubbed your toe, you don't say F*ck?! He laughed when we said we'd say 'Ouch'. haha...He told my mom and dad that they needed to get us street wise or Philly would eat us up alive. My older brothers wouldn't let that happen but he said they wouldn't be around forever. That movie made me think of my uncle. He was a bastard. But he loved me more than his son who he hardly spoke to back in Oklahoma. He didn't forgive his son for dating white women but forgave me for dating white and asian women. He'd roll his eyes and I couldn't bring them near him but he always loved me. Maybe because I loved him in spite of himself when others didn't. He told me stuff that happened in Korea that haunted me a bit but I was mesmerized. He said the $%^& didn't care about their own people so why should I? My aunt said he had nightmares once in a while. Oh, one more thing. Above all he absolutely detested gays. He'd say given a choice between someone in the family marrying some "white b***h and being a faggot, he'd hold his nose to the white but no 'punks' (slang for gay) and when he was drunk he'd say (and he'd swear it on my aunt's bible which she would scream at him about) that he'd personally put a bullet in anyone in the family who sucked dick'. He said he'd do jail for it. We halfway believed him.

I've long lost faith in BOTH parties. For me, when the pols from both sides start saying what the other side has done, its akin to Hitler and Stalin pointing out each others faults.

I wouldn't argue against those facts Cav. Wouldn't want to. In fact there are a whole bunch of other sh*t the Dems have f*cked up...and royally. However...(and you know there would be.hehehe), the Republicans have their f*ck ups as well and as big. Its just a different f*ck up. Unfortunately, all of it, from both sides affects us all.

Well, we be can sure he wasn't born in Indonesia. His step father at the time was Indonesian so that probably explains that. Had he been listed as Kenyan then I'd go hmmmm....if he gave up American citizenship or rather his parents did for him (is that possible?) then he would conceivably have to re-apply for it and there would be a public record of that. So, it stands to reason they lied about his citizenship in order for him to attend school there. He's a Christian now, not that it matters and in America I know in Philly plenty of non Cathlolics including Asians who are buddhist, Muslims, or those whose parent(s) profess to be, as well as Jews who attend catholic schools because the education was better (despite the nuns whacking the hell out of you). With regards to the Conn. ssn, this happened at the age he was in HS. So we know he did not orchestrate it if it was some sort of subterfuge. These things, if it did happen, seemingly happened without his knowledge. There would have to be an ongoing family coverup that they made privy to him when he was of age and he continued the charade and knowing this ran for President (and prior to that the Senate) knowing full well there would be an intense scrutiny of his background. Yes, candidates have always tried to cover up facts about themselves, this one, at least a constitutional matter such as birth seems a bit too much. If it was drugs, affairs, etc., I could see it, birth and the circumstances surrounding the allegations seems a bit too much. However, you never know.

With regards to the birther thingy. What's a Hawaii birth certificate supposed to look like anyway and wouldn't he have to show one in grade school? Every state has its own birth certificate its not standardized in all 50 states. I assume he had has had a U.S. passport since childhood since he spent part of his schooling overseas. He'd need that or a naturalized citizen certificate to get one wouldn't he? Its never been an issue before in his public life. It would have be a family secret that was guarded from birth so the question begs why do it in the first place? What would have been the big deal back then if he was born in Kenya and brought to the U.S.? He could easily become a citizen if he wasn't already by the citizenship rules at the time? If its a replacement, those things get lost all the time. Hell, I'm not sure I still have mine. My parents should have it but I am not too sure. Also, how do you get a replacement without the state being certain you were born there in the first place? It all smacks of the conspiracy theories about Clinton ordered killings of people in the '90s. With regards to the budget, BOTH parties spend too much money. I know the Dems will spend but at least I know what they'll spend it on. The Republicans spend when they are in and lately its been wars, defense and the difference is I don't know exactly what they'll spend it on. They always seem to be thrifty when the Dems are in power but they spend as much or more when they're in power. Its why I lost faith in them. They don't do what their party platform says and add in the fact the social conservatism stuff from having too many religious zealots in the party. I am no fan of the Dems normally and like my Dems centrist but as it stands I'll go with them. If the Republicans get smart and show some love to Ron Paul, I'm back in. Till then its all noise to me. I may not agree on Ron Paul on everything but he's got integrity. He appears to be a person that won't be a tool of the powers that be. His more conroversial ideas will never see the light of day.