Good AM, folks! Facebooking alert!
Empty nest day at Susan's house. Sarah goes to UNC today, so a bittersweet day for Susan. I will miss Sarah, but transplanting the frenetic teen lifestyle to Chapel Hill also appeals. Sarah's dad will actually move her, and Susan and I will go down to see her tomorrow, though I suspect Sarah will want us to keep the visit short.
I saw in the news this AM that a 13-year-old was tossed out of the National Scrabble Championships for cheating. What is this world coming to? Apparently the little git had been palming blank tiles, had been under suspicion for a while. Nothing is sacred anymore.
Word Watch: NPR correspondent used "ramped up" this AM. What is wrong with "increased," "raised," "heightened." Grammar guru and excellent writer Bill Bryson cautions against using "up" in such fashion. I agree. The word is far overused, not as much as "like," though. Totally.
"Equivalency"
ReplyDeleteThe analogy in the August 8 letter "Boycotting boycotts" is a bit askew. Burning a book you don't like is not the equivalent of boycotting a business you don't like. The equivalent would simply be not buying (or boycotting) the book. The equivalent of burning a book you don't like would be to burn down the business you don't like, and as far as I am aware no one is advocating that.
RANDY JONES
King
"Duped by con men"
For months liberals have been griping about the Republicans' plan for a voter ID system. Voter fraud is a myth, according to these prescient liberals, who see all and know all. Won't happen, Republicans are just mean-spirited white guys who want to suppress the black vote, according to Democrat orthodoxy.
But now I read in the Journal that the Obama IRS has sent billions of dollars of refunds to nonexistent taxpayers, identity thieves and other cheats who presumably don't work at Chick-fil-A ("IRS misses theft of billions," August 3). So our government won't let voter fraud happen, but it will let itself be duped by con men to the tune of billions of dollars.
Hope and spare change, as President Obama would say.
HARRY R. COOKE
Winston-Salem
"Sum It Up"
DeleteThe Sum It Up question from Sunday was: Are you satisfied with Mitt Romney's pick of Paul Ryan as his running mate?
* * * * *
It is a good pick for the tea partiers who would feel reassured that Romney is one of them and for the Democrats who would know where their opponents stand.
BOON T. LEE
* * * * *
Yes.
WES PATTERSON
* * * * *
Yes indeed. It may be just the ticket Romney needs for victory. I'll vote for Romney/Ryan now!
WILLIAM SAMS
* * * * *
Absolutely yes! Since Romney stands for nothing except whatever it takes to get elected, the American people now have a clear choice of what a Romney administration would do to our country. Paul Ryan doesn't give a rat's behind about the poor, the sick and the elderly and his budget proposal proves that beyond any doubt. This is totally contrary to New Testament teachings.
To add to the dilemma for conservative Christians, Romney is a Mormon and most of them believe that Mormons are not Christians and many of them even believe that Mormonism is a cult.
Adding to the problems for conservative Christians is their hate, yes hate, for President Obama and gays.
This election will prove whether their true loyalty is political or biblical.
By the way, I am a Christian, not conservative, and I will vote for President Obama because Obama cares.
CYNTHIA GOUGH NANCE
* * * * *
I am satisfied with Romney's pick of Paul Ryan as a running mate on the Republican ticket, although I find it somewhat puzzling in that it seems like in his choice he is reaching out to his conservative base, which you think he would already have secured.
SUZANNE CARROLL
* * * * *
I am ecstatic with Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan for VP. In November we'll now have a chance to save our country from a quickly looming financial disaster with real hope and change.
DEE MACKAY
* * * * *
Romney has picked a phony fiscal conservative whose philosophical mentor was a third-rate novelist, Ayn Rand, who, like Ryan himself, extols the value of greed and selfishness. A match made in millionaires' heaven, maybe, but a potential nightmare for seniors, the middle class, the poor and the disadvantaged.
JOHN McHAFFIE
* * * * *
Sure, I'm satisfied. Paul Ryan, Mickey Mouse. What's the difference? I'm not voting for Romney/whoever anyway.
Ryan's a lightweight. Economics degree from second-rate Miami University of Ohio. Mediocre student. Lawyer. Big whoop. No other accomplishments or skills.
Big fan of Ayn Rand (how cliche), like a lot of confused tea partiers.
Is this the best the Republicans can trot out?
Ironically, he went to college and his family survived on Social Security benefits after his father's death. The Ryan Plan would cut or greatly reduce those same benefits for others.
Typically Republican.
KAM BENFIELD
I am satisfied with Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's VP pick because he has a plan to get this country financially back on track and well-respected again before we look like Greece under the current administration.
DeleteBETH McMULLAN
* * * * *
The Romney/Ryan ticket, both men shakers and makers, cannot overcome the voting, legal and not, of the takers. I dread the Obama/USA many know today will be placed onto the junk heap of history this November.
LLOYD V. EVANS II
* * * * *
The choice of Paul Ryan is brilliant! Ryan is a budgeting genius, well-respected by both parties. He had (and has) the courage to stand up to Washington with his long-term plan to save Medicare and cut spending. Bravo!
ASTRID TODD
* * * * *
With the pick of Paul Ryan as Romney's VP candidate, we have the potential to have a useful debate between Ryan and President Obama on the most important issue in this campaign: Is greed moral, or is it better to have reasonable regulation of the economy?
NEAL GROSE
* * * * *
Absolutely not. Now we have two who are anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-women's rights and far, far right. I will vote another party this year.
DON WITTE
* * * * *
As an independent and former Republican, I am satisfied that Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan to fire up the party base, especially the tea-party folks.
At the same time, I sense that the choice may well work against Romney, because it will surely fire up the Democratic Party base and is likely to push more independents, and perhaps even some moderate Republicans, toward Obama.
DAVID M. McMAHON
Racial Bias:
ReplyDeleteIs AG Eric Holder's Justice Department a hot bed of racial inequities?
The Justice Department got in the middle of a racial bias claim which resulted in the bankrupcy and forfeiture of a swim club in Pennsylvania. 73 African Americans went for a swim one day, and later came home with $1.1 million.
Was there any doubt as to the outcome of the case with AG Holder in the middle of it? We all know, particular after the Maya Angelous incident, that there are a lot of African Americans walking around with racial hatred inside. I believe AG Holder is just like Angelou. He just hasn't been caught yet.
'Undocubus'
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigrants thumb their noses at U.S. immigration laws.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/17/13333450-no-papers-no-fear-illegal-immigrants-declare-themselves-on-bus-tour?lite
Everyone thumbs their noses at U.S. immigration laws. lol, even both sides of the isle in Congress. These young enthusiastic people may not be able to vote, but there are no laws keeping their enthusiasm from getting out the vote.
ReplyDeleteOf the more than 10,000 rape cases last year, 22 percent involved young boys, some even as young as two, according to government figures.
ReplyDeleteRead more: The Secret Lives Of Homosexuals In Conservative Ethiopia - Page 2 | Medindia http://www.medindia.net/news/The-Secret-Lives-Of-Homosexuals-In-Conservative-Ethiopia-51528-2.htm#ixzz23odrJZc6
Male homosexuals only make up a small percentage of countries' populations, but yet, they are extremely sexually active, including committing some of the most despicable and heinous sex crimes worldwide.
DeleteI think I'm going back over to Chick-fil-A today. I think one of their sandwiches will make me feel better.
DeleteEmpty nest at Susan's. I can imagine the difficulty with it being the youngest this time. Hope Susan manages ok....though Sarah will have a few pangs herself. When I was taken to (dumped out) at college for freshman disorientation, I was good to go and my family went on to Nashville, TN. Everybody was good as I was born to leave.
ReplyDeleteI had to "ramp up" again today as my router died yesterday afternoon. We will miss it and we had a brief service for it and a prompt burial. The new one is working with unmatched enthusiasm.
I have resolved that during my mission to age "disgracefully", I will one day use the term "cool" as an adjective in the new parlance....though not yet.
Susan was teary this AM, but will be fine. She has a very busy autumn and early winter ahead of her.
DeleteGood afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: Mr. Jones's analogy is much closer to the mark. There are some out there who unfortunately do choose vandalism or violence to demonstrate their displeasure with a taken stance on a controversial issue.
LTE 2: More strawman arguments using the same tired "liberal"/"conservative" labels. I wish people would grow up and realize the world ain't divided into 2 neatly defined ideological camps. I am not sure how an article about identity thieves who were able to extract potentially $5B in fraudulent tax returns can be deemed proof of a necessity for a picture id when voting considreing that a person with stolen identity who is able to register in multiple places using stolen identities will have a picture id for each identity to vote in each precinct. Besides, like the majority of Americans, there's no guarantee they have any interest in voting in the first place.
Sum it up: I personally don't care who Romney chose. Like Ms. Carroll, I do find it a bit curious to pick someone associated with the Tea Party when that group won't be voting for Obama anyway. Why not pick someone who could sway independent voters? I think Mr. McMahon may very well be correct in his assessment of the effect on those who are not aligned with the Tea Party.
After Biden thought he was in N.C. recently during a speech, while he was actually in Virginia, I'm just glad Romney selected someone that's in touch with reality.
DeleteAlso, Biden told a heavily African American audience that Romney was going put them back in chains. Sarah Palin is looking smarter and smarter everyday.
To think he's just one step away from the presidency is just scaaaaaaaaary!
Good luck to Sarah! I remember my first week in Chapel Hill quite well. Lots of uncertainty and anxiety about how classes will go and the roommate situation and where everything is. By fall break, I was completely in love with the place. When it came time to graduate (which seemed like the very next morning after arriving as a freshman), I got depressed because i didn't want to leave. But, life moves on.
ReplyDeleteSarah was very excited when she left today. Susan was in tears appx 1 minute after she left.
DeleteOne other note: I was skimming through the Journal's LTE comments and was rather dumbfounded by Wes stating he didn't want to answer Bob's question about where he went to church because he was afraid of an attack like the one that took place in WI at the Sikh temple?? Is he really that narcissitic to believe that someone would give enough flip about what he says to unleash an attack on his church or is he just seriously paranoid..or both? If he's that worried, why is he even stating his opinions on a public forum? No wonder I find myself more comfortable dealing with computers than people.
ReplyDeletedotnet...Bob mentioned the other day that he had a 50 cal mounted on his jeep. Wes may have seen that and it scared the ---- out of him?? Who knows.
DeleteWho knows with these left-wing gay activists. They damaged some Chick-fil-A Restaurants, and they were sending hate and threating mail and phone calls to Mormons in Utah that supported Prop 8 in California.
DeletePlus, they called up the shooting range in Rural Hall and started making threats against that business over a silly billboard it put up.
I hope the Southern Poverty Center, as well as, law enforcement agencies are keeping a close eye on these left-wing gay radicals.
The way they act sometimes toward people of religion, you'd think they invented the word 'bigot'.
DeleteI wonder if he actually mouths off to people like that in-person, or if he's just another internet comment insult jockey.
DeleteHe's almost certainly the latter...they're a pretty cowardly lot when you get right down to it.
Rush said the same thing, and then when I offered to tell him the same things to his face if he would give me his address. He turned into the coward.
DeleteR-i-i-i-i-g-h-t.
DeleteI'm still waiting for yours . . .
I'll bring you a sack full of Chick-fil-A grilled chicken sandwiches to restock your freezer. Just let me know where to deliver them.
DeleteOh dear, I woke up the peanut gallery. What are you girls up to?
DeleteTrying to start trouble? Women never do those types of things do they?
Hee hee.....you gotta love it.
When enough's enough, this type of action should take place..perhaps even here: $4.5M lawsuit award
ReplyDeleteI am a licensed attorney who's willing to work on contingency. Just saying.
DeleteIf you are an attorney, you know that facts and opinions are protected.
DeleteYou don't get to call people haters and bigots, like you have done, without people giving their own opposing opinions too, Arthur.
Libel and slander aren't protected speech you sleaze.
DeleteIf you want to sue me for calling you a sleaze then knock yourself out. But you won't, because you'd have to reveal your identity...and you're too much of a wuss to do that.
Oh no! I did it again! Ain't I a stinker?
Libel and slander charges are like trying to prove there is no God, Arthur. All I can say is good luck.
DeleteBy the way, didn't N.C. citizens just pass an admendment to the N.C. Constitution that only recognizes a marriage between a man and a woman? That's what I thought.
Glad to see you getting more involved in the forum Arthur, but you don't have to be so nasty right from the git-go.
DeleteAh Kam . . .
ReplyDeletePresident Obama has excellent academic credentials, except that he doesn't want us to see what grades he made or what courses he took at his prestigious schools. After that, he was a community organizer and part-time legislator, pretty thin background, also. Now, that doesn't mean I'm pleased with the Ryan choice, but one shouldn't sneer at lack of pedigree on one side, while lauding the same on the other.
Bill Clinton refused to release his medical records. I suspect even as shameless as he is, he might have been embarrassed over serial treatments for VD.
The part time legislator stuff has long since been proven to be a myth. Have you taken up listening to Limbaugh, or has Bucky hijacked your account?
DeleteThe "tradition" of release of medical records by presidential candidates has its origin in 1976, inspired by Jimmy Carter. Before then, no candidate had ever willingly released medical info. Since then, some have and some have not, including, in 2008, all three major candidates, McCain, Clinton and Obama, none of whom did.
At any rate it is irrelevant.
And no president has ever released his academic records...so what is the beef?
Getting a little PP Party/birther in here.
I stand to be corrected, but I believe Obama voted Present a considerable number of times in his IL legislative career, and then spent a considerable amount of time campaigning in his single US Senate term. What notable legislation did he sponsor? I'm sure he was one of numerous cosponsors for various legislation, but simply signing on doesn't count for that much. And no, I do listen to Limbaugh or Beck, nor do I watch Fox or read Joe Farrah's website, Worldwhatever.
DeleteJesus!
DeleteWhen the President was in the Illinois legislature he had above average records for attendance and voting. In Illinois, unlike many other states, there is no "abstention" option in voting…just three choices…aye, nay, present. All legislators use the "present" vote as an "abstention" vote, which usually involves some kind of protest against a bill that is going to pass anyway. Obama used the "present" option an average number of times.
As to the Senate, all three main candidates for the 2008 presidential election were members of the US Senate, so were often absent. John McCain had the worst record in the entire body, voting just 35.9% of the time in the 110th Congress. Obama had the third worst attendance record in the 110th Congress, but he voted about 51% of the time, far better than McCain. Senator Clinton had a slightly better record than Obama.
McCain has always had one of the worst attendance records. During the 109th Congress, before he began his run for President, Obama missed only 11 of 645 votes, a 98.3% record that placed him near the top of the Senate.
Senator Obama sponsored 137 bills in his first four years (about .67 per week) in the US Senate, 2 of which passed…not bad for a freshman. He cosponsored 689 other bills.
In his first 14 years in the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan sponsored a total of 71 bills and amendments (about .097 per week). None of any importance passed (thank goodness) and only a handful even attracted one cosponsor. Not very good for a 14 year veteran.
Other than that, Obama is certainly a foreign born Muslim atheist spendthrift red commy socialist traitor, and the antichrist to boot. Don't believe me, just ask the extremely well informed Dunce.
An informed voter is a good citizen.
my name does have the same number of B's as Beelzebub.
ReplyDeleteYour name also is spelled the same forward and backward too. Devilish?
DeleteMy full name contains all of the letters of "antichrist". And I used to be owned by a black cat. Scary, huh?
DeleteDo you have a reflection in the mirror?
DeleteSometimes, but most of the time I don't want to look anyway.
DeleteOne of my best childhood friends was named Robert, but we all called him Bob, except for my grandmother. She had memorized the Bible and most of Shakespeare, so knew things that we did not know, among them that any word that is spelled the same forward and backward is the work of the devil.
DeleteSo she always called Bob Robert. And another of my friends Lil, Lilly. And her own sister Nan, Nancy.
Beware the mark of you-know-who...I won't say his name because if you call him he will come. Sorry Phargo, or Ograhp, as the case may be.
"Of the more than 10,000 rape cases last year..." Dunce
ReplyDeleteIn 2010, the most recent year for which accurate numbers exist, there were 84,767 rapes reported in the US. Only about 40% of rapes are actually reported, one reason being that 73% of all rapes are committed by friends and family members.
Contrary to popular belief, outdoor rape is rare. About 2/3 of all rapes occur in a dwelling. 30.9% occur in the perpetrators' homes, 26.6% in the victims' homes and 10.1% in homes shared by the victim and perpetrator. 7.2% occur at parties, 7.2% in vehicles, 3.6% outdoors and 2.2% in bars.
Alcohol is the single most important factor in rape. In 47% of rapes, both the victim and the perpetrator had been drinking. In 17%, only the perpetrator had been. 7% of the time, only the victim had been.
The number of rapes committed in the US has declined by 60% since 1993, but we still have one of the highest rates of rape in the so-called civilized world, at 27.3 per 100,000 population, as compared to say Canada 1.7, Japan 1.0, Turkey 1.5, Russia 3.4, Denmark 6.4, Italy 7.6, Germany 9.4 and France 16.2.
Our WASP homeland, Great Britain, has a higher rate than we do at 27.7, so maybe that is why we are so bad. But blame it on the bloody English, not we Scots, because the rate in Scotland is "only" 17.0.
As always...you know this part by heart by now...
Hey, Rush. The stats I quoted were from Ethiopia, not the U.S.
ReplyDeleteBefore you go off half 'cocked', try to read the entire content of the post.
Ethiopia is irrelevant, as are you.
DeleteThanks Rush, and I hope you had a good day too.
DeleteYou're welcome "Bucky". And I did have a good day, as I almost always do.
DeleteI didn't once hate anybody. I didn't once even try to make anyone's life miserable. I didn't once, except for my brief excursion into rape (inspired by your post that did not mention Ethiopia…your link does not count for two reasons: 1. Your links are almost always ridiculous. 2. Since you are too lazy to figure out how to make your links clickable, only an idiot would bother to copy and paste your links to read them.), think about any of the ridiculous things that you natter on about day in and day out.
I didn't once visit any crackpot website, nor did I watch a single minute of television or listen to a single minute of radio…oops, I did hear the radio for a few minutes while I was getting my coffee and a scone at Camino Bakery…NPR was talking about Syria, an important topic almost never mentioned here.
If I want to know more about Syria, I will go to a legitimate source online, such as Al Jazeera, Reuters, Debka, the BBC or the New York Times. If one of those doesn't know about it, it is not worth knowing about.
I did listen to Brahms' Fourth Symphony and a good bit of jazz and blues along the way. And I did watch a 7 minute video that my granddaughter made and sent me analyzing her recent visit to the Smithsonian and what she had deduced from the exhibit on America's First Ladies. Even though she is only a third grader, it is difficult to argue with her conclusion that the First Ladies would have usually done equally as well, if not better, than their husbands, certainly in the case of our most recent past President. (She correctly pointed out that Woodrow Wilson's wife ran the White House for the last 18 months of his administration, which began before women were even allowed to vote, and that Nancy Reagan's astrologer ran the White House for an unknown period of time, yet somehow the USA is still here.)
In addition, I might say that I did not visit CfA or any other third rate fast food establishment, so ate rather well, as I always do. I did have a long walk, during which I encountered several friends, including the mayor, and some other interesting people whose mere appearance would probably cause you to wet your pants. In not one case was I required to draw my P-69 99mm field cannon and shoot someone dead in self defense. And I observed a number of things that are going on downtown that I did not previously know about. That is about par for the course.
I did observe several Latin people who, I have learned from you, are certainly illegal aliens, voting, but since the polls are not open at the moment, I decided not to report it. Besides, I overheard what they were voting on…where to go for lunch…I think that they decided on Mozelle's, where you can get a real chicken sandwich.
Rush, why don't you just go over to Damascus and found out for yourself what's going on?
DeleteYou don't have to just use your passport to go from Forsyth to Stokes County, you know?
Hee hee...you gotta love being around these forum simpletons, they're so entertaining.
Oops, another oops…
DeleteLeft out another of my granddaughter's points…that the only Presidential administration in which the President never ran the show was the Harding administration (1921-23). The first of three consecutive Republican Presidents who led us inevitably into the Great Depression, Warren Harding was too busy enabling his cabinet in the rape and plunder of national treasures, while spending most of his time at a brothel two blocks from the White House screwing imported New York showgirls, to bother to fulfill the role of President.
So his First Lady, Flossie, pretty much ran things until Warren screwed himself to death on August 2, 1923. Blame the San Francisco showgirls for that.
Flossie, like the Reagans, was into astrology, so a fair amount of the well being of the nation was in the hands of the star charts during the 20th century. Flossie died of a kidney ailment in 1924.
Harding's vice-president, Calvin Coolidge, succeeded to the Presidency. It was not an improvement.
Coolidge was such a loser that upon hearing the news of his death, Dorothy Parker said "How could they tell?"
Dorothy should have been President all of her adult life. We would be living in a different and much better world today.
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ReplyDeleteHarbin
ReplyDeleteFigured it out! I've coded HTML before...I should know this shit.
DeleteCongratulations, Arthur. Not really all that hard, is it?
DeleteAn excellent piece, which speaks to so many matters that will affect the future of China and the rest of the world.
I must say that we have the same problem when it comes to sameness. It is becoming more and more difficult to tell what American city you are in because of "rote" architecture.
One of the leaders in our downtown redevelopment project is an unimaginative architect who would foist his own obsession, glass and aluminum, upon the rest of us. If he had his way, every downtown building would look like one of his creations, the Milton Rhodes Center. Yahweh help us.
I posted before the code to make a clickable link, but it is too hard to do, because if I post the actual code, it becomes a clickable link itself.
For those who want to provide their fellow forum members with an easier way to get to their links, just Google "html link" and you will be presented with the code. Then you need only copy and paste...even Dunce has mastered that.
Here's another piece that reveals the vast shortcomings of a totalitarian society.
DeleteThe Russian band "Pussy Riot" will go to prison for two years for showing "disrespect" for religion.
Of course, that's not the real crime, but Vladimir Putin's (George W. Bush's "best friend") "government" uses religion as an excuse to stifle criticism of the gov.
Chuck Berry Should Be In Jail Too
Dunce would fit right into this society.
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Deletestir-fried chicken and basil recipe
ReplyDeleteYou dopes think you know everything.
DeleteWhat you don't have is my keen intellect, and the ability to put fingers to keyboard in such a manner to drive you liberal simpletons absolutely crazy. For you Rush, that more crazy, because you've been in the crazy category for quite some time.