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    marye
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    Nuclear power! Carcinogenic cell phones! The Stanley Cup! and the usual parade of kids dancing and shaking their bones, politicians throwing stones, etc. Discuss.

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  • Anna rRxia
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    here it comes
    the winter doldrumz. snow, cold -- post holiday blues. time to plan the winter va-ca.. Please, not fla. again! Perhaps the islands this year...
  • Anna rRxia
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    Merry Christmas! The kids woke me up at three am.
    Some things never change. We exchanged gifts from under the tree on this rare (for our part of the country) non-white Christmas. I gave the kids the usual latest smart phones, i-pads, non-violent video games. It was their gifts to me that I found most touching. The three children ranging in age from 13 to 22 gave me hand-made cards with expressive wishes. The first was for the banning of the NRA and all like-minded gun-nut groups. The second was the heartfelt prayer that all the children at Newtown, CT, and all the victims in general of gun violence in the last hundred years be welcomed into heaven by God if they had no violent, mortal sins over-riding on their souls. The third, from the youngest, is for all the guns in the US to be turned in to authorities to be destroyed. These hand-made cards with heartfelt sentiments meant more to me than any material thing and seemed more salient to me this year than any other with the timing. The NRA came out with a statement two days ago that was deemed "semi-insane". Not my description. I would have said "Fully, certifiably insane." What were those words? "We need to have a privately armed guard in every school on every school day." They did not address the question of what to do when there are groups of two or more armed assailants hell-bent on killing our children. Obviously they haven't thought it all out. If the "bad guys" have three, then the NRA "good guys" need 5. If the bad guys have five, then we need 10. If the bad guys have 25 and tanks and artillery then the NRA needs multiple ground units and air cavalry. If they have fuel charged air-launched bombs then the NRA needs nukes. Does anybody seriously doubt the deeply-rooted insanity of the NRA and the gun nuts? They would start speaking of acceptable levels of "collateral damage"... My kids gave me wonderful presents this year. They are our hope and future. The fear-laced visages of the NRA gun-nuts are quickly falling into the minority, fallback after fallback... Merry Christmas everybody. While it may not seem like the best Christmas ever, there are reasons for hope in the immediate future.
  • Anna rRxia
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    Perhaps the "end-of-the-world"
    Was our collective loss of innocence in the wake of Adam Lanza's evil intention. He caused the number of guns owned by private individuals within the US alone to squeeze upwards of another 1,000,000 pieces.. Perhaps the end of the world as we know it was the recognition that over 200,000,000 guns exist in the hands of private citizens and that gun violence in the form of mass shootings will continue for at least the next one hundred years, no matter what we do. The horror is the recognition that the genie is out of the bottle for good. Sleep tight America, the only industrialized nation with no effective gun control...
  • Anna rRxia
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    I'm carrying the torch
    With a quart of cinnamon eggnog spiked with a quarter pint of blackberry brandy and a sprig if mistletoe. Mwahhhh!
  • Anna rRxia
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    SO, The Mayan Prophecy was Correct!
    And "He" has caused the end-of-the-world. But wait, all the guns were legally bought and owned by Adam Lanza's (the Anti-Christ's) mother, who took both her sons out target shooting and then conveniently forgot to lock the the things up in such a way her mentally disturbed child could get a hold of them. So perhaps she is the Anti-Christess. Perhaps the Mayan thing was cumulative, starting out with the Norwegian nut who conditioned himself to violence through video games so he could model himself a Knights Templar in defense of the Christians who are being invaded by the Muslims to the tune of possibly (just possibly) becoming 11% of Europe's population some time in the next ten years. So he went to an island youth camp and slaughtered 79 teens. And since we all know Muslims are responsible for mass attacks on white people it has to in the end be guns and Muslims behind the end of the world as we know it. One thing for sure is that we will continue to endure the silent scream of Edvard Maunch as his screamer confronts the future which from 12/14/12 has perceptibly changed our landscape forever without our political will to do something about it. And when you come right down to it, that is what separates us from Scotland and England and Ireland and France and Norway and Germany and Canada. We'll never admit it, just gladly continue to fight each other as the denizens and guardians of hell. And the screamer continues to scream into a blood-red sky in stark alienation. Welcome to the end of the Mayan calender. Have a great first day of the rest of your life....
  • bryonfake
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    some cary the sword for
    some cary the sword for others in silence.Love.
  • Anna rRxia
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    No end to "Current Events" BUT This one current event
    Is always looked forward to: Merry Christmas to all -- May friends and family bless your day with good cheer. The Grateful Dead love you!
  • slo lettuce
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    unfortunately, for millions of people here.....
    "happiness IS a warm gun". as a child, i lived in a house and a neighborhood that was saturated with shotguns, rifles, revolvers and semi-automatics. all owned by loving, caring people who wouldn't even entertain the thought of pointing a weapon at someone else unless in a life or death emergency. some owned guns for collection, some owned guns for hunting, but everyone owned handguns for "protection". between the time i was 7 and 13 years old, three young adults in this same neighborhood - children of those same loving,caring parents - took their parent's handguns - the ones that were owned for "protection" - and commited suicide. i can clearly remember all three incidents to this day. those families were destroyed and the parents never recovered. my father, a vietnam veteran, still owns guns to this day and i can proudly say that this is one father-son tradition that dies with me! i refuse to contribute to the gun lunacy which surrounds us. oddly enough, with almost $1 billion in profits this year alone, the gun industry doesn't even really need to advertise, it only needs our sense of fear and paranoia for sales. pretty slick sales gimmick if you ask me. cue "ship of fools" please
  • Mike Edwards
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    More Second Amendment Wrongs
    The NRA held a press conference today; here's the short version of what they had to say: "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Here's a link to the full text: http://home.nra.org/classic.aspx/blog/345
  • Mike Edwards
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    Second Amendment Wrongs
    The US Constitution holds that "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Gun violence is a first world problem. Here's an excerpt from a recent interview with David Hemenway, who is a professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health and the author of the 2006 book Private Guns, Public Health: "I think the most shocking thing is to compare ourselves to the other developed countries. People think we have a violence problem in the United States, but we really don’t. We’re an average country in terms of all the violence measures you can think of, in terms of crime. But where we’re very different is guns. We have lots more guns than anybody else, particularly handguns. A lot of countries have hunting rifles, but we have these handguns, and then we have these assault weapons. Secondly, we have by far the most permissive gun control laws, the weakest gun policies of any country. It’s not even close. Not surprisingly, we have more gun crime and more gun homicide. "We compared the United States to the other First World countries. We looked at both genders and all ages, but here are the statistics for 5- to 14-year-olds. A child in the United States compared to a child in Finland or France or New Zealand is not 20 percent more likely to be killed in a gun homicide, or 50 percent more likely, or twice as likely, or five times as likely. It’s 13 times higher. "Our gun suicide rate for these children is eight times higher. Our non-gun suicide rate is average. For unintentional gun deaths, we have 10 times the likelihood of death [compared with other developed countries]. These children are at risk. When you do surveys across states or cities or regions, you find that where there are more guns and more permissive gun laws, people are dying. "We can do so much better. Other countries have done so much better." From http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/12/looking-for-lessons-in-ne…
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Nuclear power! Carcinogenic cell phones! The Stanley Cup! and the usual parade of kids dancing and shaking their bones, politicians throwing stones, etc. Discuss.

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16 years 10 months
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I could do BOTH jobs....post spam and DELETE it, TOO!!...Who wants to hire me??
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I REFUSE to trade SPAM for COOKIES!!
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I am big boy in the casino. When Google give me offer to post spam I go all in! Right CoCo? Now you got to deal with me every day I not in the casino. You can call me Chen or Zue or asshole. I don't not care. Just keep hitting my links you dumb American twits!
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for piece rate spam remover. The poor guy needs a job and nobody hates it more than him. C'mon Rhino/Dead.net! Hire Johnman for .10 cents per strike and free up MaryE for other, more important issues on this site. If he goes power-mad with the spike you can always chop him off at the knees, though i don't see that as a problem.
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...while the Brits and French try to get a little government moving in Tripoli. It seems like they'd rather sit back and drink until Khadaffy is rounded up in the Southern part of Libya. I don't think the new rebel government is at all AQ. Libya has really moderate Muslims. But they sure are taking their sweet time to get to Tripoli while they might still have to dodge a few sniper rounds. What is more unbelievable about the whole Libyan fiasco? Obama and company started the rebels on the path to victory and then threw the whole flap into the hands of NATO and they proved they were stumbling all over themselves trying to fly close air support, You can say whatever you want about America's empire, but the fact is we are first rank world-class ass-kickers and everybody thinks really hard if they want to go up against us.
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Laura Carlsen, Op-Ed: “In the 1930s, a church group commissioned a film ‘to strike fear in the hearts of young people tempted to smoke marijuana.’ But it was not until the 1970s that Reefer Madness—billed as ‘the original classic that was not afraid to make up the truth’ due to its grotesque portrayal of the supposed dangers of marijuana—obtained cult status. After the scare tactics of the 1930s, U.S. marijuana policy varied depending on the political climate, even as scientific research consistently debunked extreme claims that the plant caused uncontrollable violent behavior, physical addiction, and insanity.” READ the rest at nationofchange.org.
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A little bit FURTHUR than you've gone before! I'll check in from time to time. ~ The sails are fillin', the wind is willin' & I'm good as gone again ~
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...or a threat !? LOL Gimme a buzz if yer passin' thru the heartland (I-70)
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No matter where you stand on the subject of the death penalty in the US, the following list should not exactly make you stand up and cheer for the good ol' US of A (note, I see different rankings from different sources, but the general idea doesn't vary much), given our inclusion on this list of apparently like-minded nations.... Most executions in 2010 by country: 1) China (blows away the rest of the world, no pun intended) 2) Iran 3) North Korea 4) Yemen 5) USA
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makes you think, doesn't it Dean?********************************** I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
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Yeah, but where does Texas rank? Where does the US rank without Texas? Food for thought....
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It's been in the news a lot lately. Obama said recently: "It's math, not class war." when he was referring to his jobs proposal. I tend to throw the term around a lot. I'm an old lefty. Class war was first talked about in this country around the end of the 19th century with the advent of Karl Marx. The rise of union organizers used the term a lot. It grew out of favor with the rise of McCarthyism in the 50s. Nobody wanted to be associated with it. Also, most people in the USA believe there is mobility between the classes and therefore the concept is really not appropriate. It has also been a non-starter for those organizing social justice movements. However, NPR also had another story about how many millionaires are members of Congress. About 250 out of 535. It makes you think if any of this class of people will ever vote to dismantle the Bush tax cuts.... In my opinion there is a "class war" going on out there. The rich are struggling as hard as they can to hold on and pass down their wealth as America's piece of the pie shrinks. Some people have an understanding that these people must be made to share with their less fortunate. Thus we have Boehner and Cantor (Repub. leadership) screaming Obama is waging class war. That is not the way to create jobs! We need to get the lazy off welfare and on the tax rolls. I definitely say we need welfare reform, change the incentives to get people to work. But we also need the other side -- corporations used as shields for rich people to hide behind, pay little or no taxes and influence Congress in a way the middle class can not. THIS method of organizing our society needs to be changed first You can not believe class war is real and/or choose not to use the term. You can ignore the analysis between capital and labor but the reality is these are life and death issues in a democracy. Just yelling "Vote or don't complain!" or "Vote the bums out!" IS NOT the extent of our civic duty. OK, rant over (for now)
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thanks for the invite Ted. I'm due Northeast of you a couple hundred miles tonight. I'll take a raincheck. Or if I see you on this tour the beer is on me! Gonz
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I'll be at the 3rd Red rock show....staying in Lakewood, west Denver, 10/2
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17 years 4 months
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I gave some thought to breaking out Texas as a separate "country," but was too lazy to pull up the stats. But yeah, good point. Hope your trip is going well!
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Do anything at all? I thought it would attach a message to the original. Guess not...
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CO2 levels have rose from 280 parts per million to 369 ppm in just the time since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Global temperatures rose 1.1 degrees in the years 1900-1999. The Arctic summer ice cap has shrunk to half it's usual size and is expected to vanish by the year 2035, give or take, I like to watch Globe Trekker on Public Television and you rest assured that the Antarctic is melting also, though the rate of acceleration is less than in the Arctic, it doesn't seem to matter much. The import of the article was that Americans that consider themselves conservative-minded are falling into a dangerous morass of DENIAL on this issue. While liberal-leaning people remain 70% convinced global warming is real. To talk about this debate is surrealistic in that the handwriting was on the wall in about 1980. That was the deciding point. If the world had stood together and said "We're shit**** in our own nest. It's time we all stopped and agree to a human rate of self-destruction. But, nations didn't do it even at Kyoto climate talks in 1997. Nor are they doing it now. India, China, Brazil and many other countries where many reserve the right to catch up to the most advanced nation. You can read the rest of the article by Charles Hanley of the Associated Press. I read this in the Sunday Eugene Register-Guard newspaper
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With co2 emissions rising unabated and the two global poles melting at an alarming rater it seems that we have started the experiment to see how we will adapt. As there will be no arctic summer ice in 2035 we will see if the Polar bears and other species who rely on summer ice flows will change their habits. The chances aren't good. Anybody have any happy news on the environment. I could use some.
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Denial works. As "intellectual" as human beings are, we're still slaves to our senses. CO2 is colorless, odorless, tasteless, so is it real? And greenhouse impacts occur so slowly that without some kind of inborne equivalent of stop-action photography, it's tough for people to get a visceral sense of the changes that are happening. Thus easy to disbelieve, especially as humans are also notorious for not accepting things that they just plain would rather not be true. Add those facts to the raft of knucklehead "leaders" whose vision extends only about as far as the end of their outstretched hand ("alms for the deniers! We'll make the enviro boogeymen go away!")...not good at all. Time for a slew of big-ass volcanic eruptions to cool things down for a while...
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...is currently trending. How can we most easily adapt to the REAL global changes that are upon us?
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12.8% of the terrestrial part of the planet (outside Antarctica) now falls within some official type of proteted area (nature reserve, national park etc) compared with 8.8% in 1990. That's more than 100,000 sites in almost every country in the world. And although there is still much to do to achieve really good protection of many of these sittes. their overall management effectiveness is increasing too. The picture is not so good with marine protected zones, but 7.2% of territorial waters are now protected. Still much more to do on the open ocean and on planning the future network to adapt to climate change.
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Oh yeah baby, the American drone death of Anwar al-Awlaki eliminates a leading figure in Yemen's branch of al Qaeda...Obumma has taken out yet another "brown-skinned" Islamofascist !!! I guess the "Deadheads For Obama" t-shirt wearing cats I was so disgusted with at some shows back in '08 may have been onto something afterall...If he keeps up the "W"-like pressure on those warriors of peace i just may join them and vote for this empty suit next time around...
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nice banner, south korea at the football game: "Let's celebrate Japan's big earthquake".apparently it was by "an indiscreet spectator, not by our supporters". you mean like the monkey faces and gestures by a large section of the crowd and by that idiotic player in your national team, looking straight into the camera? your planting of a slogan on a japanese tv drama, in code which everyone knows means "fuck Japan"? "whaaaaaaaaaa, we suffered such harsh colonial rule from 1910-1945, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..........." get over yourselves and get out of the Japanese government.
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Happy German Holiday Today "Tag der Deutsche Einheit" or Reunification Day. The jury seems to be still out whether this day is for celebrating or mourning.
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Which will be in Panama City. These preparations set the stage for the Durban talks later this year where, supposedly, treaties can be signed by delegation leaders from 196 countries. These are the nation signatories (as well as those who didn't sign) to the Kyoto Protocols which are set to expire in 2012. Of course, we know which large and developing nations did not sign on to that treaty -- The US, China, India, Brazil. I again reiterate the surreal nature of these talks. It is like going through the looking glass and coming into Alice's wonderland, which I have been doing a lot lately. Meanwhile certain Pacific island nations are desperately fighting off fresh water well contamination from rising ocean levels.
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Without Dewlover's gleeful mirth, I also am somewhat heartened by the passing of this American born person from New Mexico. To the extent that he had the power through the web to recruit and mobilize, he was a traitor and enemy who wished to kill thousands of Americans in terror attacks. Will that stop AQ on the net. No, but one major component is gone. DL? Glad you're voting for Obama 2012!
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it's all in your mind, guys. the real terror begins at home. major component.... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha........ oh COME ON!!!! get a grip. some people will swallow more than Debbie, a resident of Dallas.
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Christy doesn't want to runMichael Jackson's Doctor hid his his illegal use of propythal Ahhhhh!!!!! I know there are other things going on in the world. WTF? Has CNN been outclassed by the BBC and Al-Jazeera? Why don't the American people get news? You want NEWS? I want the NEWS! You can't handle THE NEWS!!!!
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touching, really. thank God (the white, long-haired male kind, naturally.....) i was born in England. pulse? check. critical faculties? check. discernible gagging reflex? check. almost adorable in it's sweetness; wide-eyed innocence wrapped in cotton wool swaddling; a Linus blanket to ward off reality's nasty cough mixture. naivety, almost a blessing. i'll take your news and double it. or add some hard-fought, limp-wristed protective sugar and gulp it all down. go back to sleep, little baby. all is well. seriously. honestly. you believe me, right?
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‘The Taliban are running out of bullets. Operation ‘Get our troops to absorb them with their bodies’ is finally paying off. The Taliban are finding it impossible to get hold of essential supplies – at last we’re fighting on equal terms. But let’s not get complacent. Just because they’re running out of bullets we mustn’t assume our boys won’t get shot. Remember, the US troops have still got plenty.’ MC FB to the AD/BC.
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So much for the extra security measures ehhh??
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to what we were seeing last week, this is a vast improvement. It's slowed down by at least an order of magnitude. Whether it will ever be perfect is questionable, as the bad guys have a strong incentive to devise workarounds. That said, we'll stay on it. Also, it is not necessary to exclaim over spam all the time. For one thing, I will have it cleared out within hours of its appearance. For another, your remark will look strange forever after sitting there out of context.
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Not that I love spam, or even talking about it, but I noticed that Steve Earle's website shut down its forums because of spam attacks, directed everyone to Facebook. I'm hoping that doesn't happen here...
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that was my first ever comment regarding spam... people comment on it all the time .. i could care less if there is spam on here or not other than the fact that typing in the security words prior to posting is a pain especially if it doesn't work. again I apologize for saying anything..
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it's not that big a deal, but the best thing to do with the jerks is ignore them as their departure is most efficient that way and leaves no traces, so to speak. Are you getting the captcha every time you post?
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believe me, that is not the intention here. And it's not like the spammers haven't discovered Facebook, too... I have to chase them off of people's pages there also!
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17 years 4 months
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Captcha with every post. Even when you're editing an existing post. Apparently the mod has super-security clearance, gets to bypass the long line at the screening checkpoint?
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hm. I encountered it on a non-mod account, but I rarely use it. Interesting, thanks.
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how much longer do you search and destroy terrorists?tick tick tick....... mmm, probably time to go now. Wall Street is all very well, but is anyone occupying Obama's head?
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sure, we're all idiots here.every one of us. whatever you've got, we'll swallow it. idiots. every last one of you. so consumed with retardation that a decent humbug fails you. an Iranian plot? oh, now, really? an insult that we've brought upon ourselves. throat muscles super-taut and a stomach to infinity. the FBI, pathetic fucks who fabricate for the hungry masses. luring into existence the disenfranchised then claim a foil of terrorist proportions. wouldn't exist without the sting. Iran as much of a threat as my soiled trousers. still, keep swallowing. Congress owned by Israel. let's see Iran GONE! go for it, America. Start on Iran and watch the Islamic world own you. again. paranoia breeding paranoia. you haven't got time to lie about averting mass casualties in Washington; enough on your plate killing your own in Afghanistan. never mind. passes the time doesn't it? children banging toys on a picture of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. makes us all feel better doesn't it? having a villain; keeps minds off poverty and social disintegration. well, most of them are black anyway, so what the heck. right? and the rest of the world laughs.
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a simple reminder of what escapes us on a daily basis.UnkleSleazy from the future.
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that's irony for you.or should that be irany?
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or should that be farce, from the articles I've read. I'm more worried about the negative influence fatcats like the Koch brothers have on American media and politics. President Obama will have a tough time weathering the next year or so.
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Hmmm, more strange site weirdness...but anyway: With the flap over this "Mormonism as a cult" nonsense, it makes for an interesting reading to find these tidbits on Romney's election website: Mitt has developed a lot of his values as a person and leader from his Mormon faith, but he decided before ever running for political office that he would never impose those values on his constituents. Mitt is one of the greatest champions of religious freedom the United States has seen in modern history. Mitt and Ann Romney were awarded the Becket Fund’s highest honor, the Canterbury Medal, for their contribution in expanding religious expression in the public square in 2008. So, maybe the "greatest" statement is a bit of campaign hyperbole, just a bit, but it is interesting to see on the same FAQ page this statement: Governor Romney opposes the construction of the mosque at Ground Zero. The wishes of the families of the deceased and the potential for extremists to use the mosque for global recruiting and propaganda compel rejection of this site. So by "religious freedom" do we mean leave MY (cult or not) religion alone, but those Muslims are fair game because they are all, apparently, potential extremists? Extremists, as we all know, are evil and as such have seemed to have forfeited their right to freedom of religion. Both these quotes are on the same FAQ page from 2010 (the ground zero quote is easy to find at the bottom of the FAQs, the religious freedom statement is in the LDS section, last question concerning the affect of Mormonism on Romney's decisions as POTUS): http://mittromneycentral.com/?s=mosque+ground+zero
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Romney and Huntsman shouldn't have to be worried about their religious faith in a run for president of the US. What could be relevant is what the LDS Church is about in Disney/Technicolor terms, or perhaps 3D? If you can believe in that stuff you could be convinced of anything -- any little reason the sky is about to fall. Having said that, Romney & Huntsman are fine candidates, just nobody I'd vote for.
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Been meaning to throw this out there. Why the hell is he targeting MMJ dispensaries?? There was less scrutiny with Bush in office. One less vote for you Obama, you haven't done anything anyway and now this??? Impose your federal tax, take your money and then back off and let the states handle it.
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I wouldn't worry about Obama, Gr8fulTed. remember, he isn't in charge anyway. two good things news-wise this morning; one was seeing footage of the occupy wall street congregation cleaning up after themselves after being told by the mayor they would have to leave the area temporarily for tidying purposes. just can't beat a toothbrush between cracks in the pavement. secondly, the story of Jon Fishman & his wife Briar planning to help their community in Lincolnville, Maine - http://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/12/news/midcoast/as-general-store-pr… one (just one? surely you jest, pancake...) piece of bad news; the U.S.'s plans for their naval base in south korea. you know, i'm real glad about this occupation thing and the nation wide marches; you know, you folks in america (and not just you, intelligent human beings everywhere - the UK could sure do with a heck of a lot less complacency and apathy) really do need to get out there and make a change, because, not for the first time, there is a creeping tide of anti-american sentiment coming up the beach. if you really want to make yourselves loathed worldwide, then you're going the right way about it. people must realise that they are in charge, not the monkeys in government or the corporate clowns. the people of america are getting tainted again, with the colour of brown. and it's beginning to get a lil' ripe in here. other countries are getting sick of occupancy by your military. sick of the bullying and sick of the sight of you. which we all know is a travesty. on many levels. others countries can do their bit, certainly, but we need you to do yours (which in many under-advertised ways, you are). let's hope these marches are the start of a continuation; don't let the momentum drop, because once you do, you, and by association, us, will be back up that creek with a turd for a paddle. a lot people just sigh and build that wall of resentment when they hear the words "america" or "the U.S.". which is doing a massive, monumental disservice to the millions of damn fine folk who live, breathe and create in there. don't mistake this for being patronising; this is coated with optimism and a tingling in the heart, a stirring in the Soul for more enlightened times. one way to make change is to peacefully demonstrate; one way to make change is bypass their "products" (material and moral); one way is to do what the Fishman's are doing and invest, inspire and nurture that community in your own towns and cities. spreading gradually for the future. anyone know the closest venue the Dead played to Lincolnville? i feel a theme for my listening habits today.
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not really current affairs, although i could (tenuously? no, i don't see why?!!) link it through the vibration that is community. i know i'm a little late in mentioning this documentary (oh, come on, only 8 years off...); but i saw it this morning and what with the blue sky shining again in London, it made me feel aglow with positivity. it is a programme about Trey Anastasio and Dave Matthews visiting Africa to play with Orchestra Baobab - how wonderful to see two people so humble, borderline terrified! poor ol' Dave looked like he was going to be sick, bless him! and all the more wonderful for it. how exciting to continue and encourage such connections on a regular basis. imagine other performers in the family scene; Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mike Gordon, Les Claypool, Warren Haynes, Railroad Earth, String Cheese, Galactic, (Chali 2na & Senegalese rappers? you betcha!! hey, it worked for Positive Black Soul and the mighty KRS-One) and many many more. some production company start a documentary strand and series here right now! the artists go to Africa, the African artists come to the U.S. each sitting in and improvising, visiting the local towns and exchanging culture that only the joys of music can provide. there has been cross-pollination before, of course there has; i remember some guy called...oh, what's his name?......Dickey Bart or something............ Bela Fleck too amongst many others; but this documentary is very heartening in it's rawness. no big budget, slick production values or cloying "world music" (whatever that is) blandness. just local performance and immersion in the creative language. the weekend is looking good for the human race!!