Tuesday, September 4, 2012

LTE Forum TU 09/04/12

Good AM, folks!

49 comments:

  1. With all the backing up the Republicans have to do (Akin's legitimate rape, Ryan's Marathon and Janesville GM plant, Romney on everything, the Republican Bandwagon comes with 12 reverses. Eppur si muove, Mitt.

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  2. Romney leads Obama by 4 points in N.C. according to an Elon University poll.

    Good. That means that votes from NWs like Rush will be worthless.

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    1. No one's vote is worthless. Everyone's vote counts.

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    2. The Electoral College tally is the only thing that matters. I wouldn't bother to vote if I lived in California. It would be a waste of gas.

      Those liberal knuckleheads are determined to destroy themselves and the state too.

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    3. If that's the case, then why do you bother to breath?

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    4. I like breathing. It enables me to post in this forum and get the truth out.

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    5. Bob, don't you have a 'donkey' to feed? Heeeeee Haaaaaw?

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    6. Dunkey grazes in the pasture with horse, but I did feed the pigs, goats (they are so adorable), and chickens early this am. Yes, Breathing is good for ya, #1 in my book of needs and priorities.

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    7. After nearly passing out from heat exhaustion after mowing this past Saturday, I'm almost tempted to invest in some goats myself to take care of the lawn. Not sure the neighbors would be thrilled.

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    8. My residence-to-be includes homeowner's association membership. As it is now, I pay someone else to mow, out of time considerations, more than anything else.

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    9. Goats are great. Their manure looks like black grapes, has very little odor, and doesn't attract insects like other manure. It composts very well and makes excellent fertilizer for gardens, flowerbeds, etc., and doesn't burn things like other manures.

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  3. I hope former N.C. Senator John Edwards (D) and Rep Anthony Weiner (D) speak at the Democratic Convention. The rest of the convention is going to be a joke, so it would be in keeping with that theme.

    Gov. Bev. Perdue (D), A/K/A the worst governor in America, is set to lead off things. She should set the appropriate tone since N.C. has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

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    1. well you can hope in one hand and crap in the other and see which one fills up first. Speaking of jokes, the viewership for the Republican Convention was down 23%, does not bode well. And the 11% bump in the polls some called for, ha!. Romney received the lowest post convention bump of anyone since they started counting those things, even lower than Bob Dole.

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    2. Yes, Gallup reported that Romney's speech was one of the two worst since they began polling on that in 1996. Only 38% of respondents (most of them Republicans) said Excellent/Good...62% negative. Except for McCain last time, almost all others have done over 50% positive.

      And then there was the Eastwood disaster.

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    3. There's a great shot of Betty White interviewing Mitt in an empty guilded throne on FB this am.

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    4. There is another of her in a porch swing alone with Mitt.

      There is a clamor to bring her to the Dem convention. Mittbot better hope they don't.

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    5. Truly, she is one of the best and most beloved of all hollywood.

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    6. "They lie and they don't care if people think they lie ... Joseph Goebbels -- the big lie, you keep repeating it," Burton said. "That was Goebbels, the big lie."

      California Democratic chief John Burton made the remarks Monday in an interview with San Francisco station KCBS while in Charlotte, N.C., for the Democratic National Convention.
      ___________

      Since when do Democrats care about lies? Billy Clinton's presidency was filled with eight years of lies, throw in the BS that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi espouse, and you've got a recipe to build a modern day pinnocchio.

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    7. I hope Billy Clinton wears a 'clean' blue dress when he speaks. That would be nice.

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    8. Carolina Blue would be nice.

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    9. Hmm, maybe I could lend him my Carolina Big Girl Cheerleader outfit and some pom poms.

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    10. Does that outfit include some black and white saddle oxfords like the wore in the 1940s and 50s?

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    11. Favorability:

      Romney 49%
      Obama 44%

      Over 46 million Americans received food stamps in the month of June. Thanks Obama.

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    12. Water is #2 need and priority and Food is #3, so yes, thank you VERY much Obama and Congress for providing food to the nation. If that sounds crazy, consider a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service that found that every dollar spent in food stamps generates $1.84 in economic activity. Similarly, a study on Moody's Economy.com found that each food stamp dollar spent generates $1.73 in economic activity.

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    13. I've read that hogwash. It may be true, but if people are working, it's better for them, AND the country.

      Has anybody besides me noticed that there's a no trespassing sign at the off ramp at Hanes Mall Blvd at I-40? I guess people are getting tired of the beggers.

      We need to get Romney in charge, so we can get people back to work. Four more years of this nonsense is just insane.

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    14. Just because someone receives Food Stamps does not mean they are not working.

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    15. Did I say that? I would imagine they are at least 'underemployed' if not unemployed.

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    16. Obama is going to offer his jobs program on Thursday night.

      Mr. President, why didn't you do that four years ago?

      Pathetic.

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    17. He's offered several JOBS programs which the Republicans in the House have summarily dismissed.

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  4. A vigorous call

    Outrageous! Hispanics for Marco Rubio? Catholics for Paul Ryan? Mormons for Mitt Romney? White people for a white president? I have not heard of or seen any such campaign, and I didn't expect to.

    What I did see and hear — on nationwide television — was a plea before a large convention of black supporters for "African-Americans for Obama." This vigorous call from our coronated, all-knowing but unchallenged potentate, President Barack Obama.

    Some would say that was just good politics. Rubbish. I will tell you it is bold and outrageous race-baiting to the extreme. Again, unchallenged.


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    BOB G. TANNEHILL

    Winston-Salem

    Caliber of candidates

    To all the Todd Akins of this world who want to ban all abortions even in cases of rape or incest, I would like to pose the following question: If you had a wife, a daughter or a granddaughter who was the victim of a rape that resulted in pregnancy, would you want her to carry the pregnancy to term and then support the child regardless of her mental, physical or financial ability to do so? And, if it happened to be your wife who became pregnant by this means, would you keep the child as your own, raise it and pay the costs of maintaining it to adulthood?

    The only statement senatorial candidate Rep. Akin made that I agree with is that the perpetrator should be punished. Therefore, I propose that any man convicted of rape, regardless of whether a pregnancy results, should be subject to immediate castration; and, if there is a child involved, it must be financially supported by the perpetrator until it reaches the age of majority.

    The total ignorance, deliberate lies and lack of compassion for the women who are victims of this heinous crime are appalling. If this is the caliber of some of the people (and their supporters) who are running for public office in this country, then I truly fear for its future.


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    LUCILLE FINE

    Winston-Salem

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    1. Impractical

      The proposed 4,500-seat stadium for Reynolds High School will require a minimum of one parking space for every four seats, or a total of 1,125 spaces. It is reasonable to assume that the number of vehicles will actually be 2,000 or more.

      The land required for the stadium and parking will be not less than 7¾ acres, and more likely it will be nearer to 16 acres. The traffic impact on neighborhood streets, the probable loss of park land, the noise and the night lighting will be devastating.

      Why would anyone want to spend $5 million to create such a mess? Let's move on to a more practical solution.


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      MICHAEL NEWMAN

      Winston-Salem

      Catch phrases

      Regarding the letter "Biden in Tampa" (Aug. 26), the author called Joe Biden "the class dunce," the Republican's epithet for our vice president, and dubbed Paul Ryan "head of the class." Consider the following catch phrases for previous Republican vice presidential nominees: Richard "not a crook" Nixon; Spiro "envelopes full of cash bribes" Agnew; Dick "Darth Vader" Cheney; Dan "what a terrible thing to have lost one's mind" Quayle; and Sarah "in what respect, Charlie?" Palin.

      Columnist Maureen Dowd calls Paul Ryan "the cutest package cruelty ever came in." Cute? I think not. Cruel? Absolutely. Ryan's budget clearly reflects no heart. Faith leaders, prominent and diverse, share my opinion. They condemn his proposed budget for cutting the safety net of our country's most vulnerable while shielding our country's richest from any shared sacrifice.

      Sure, Biden has made some verbal gaffes. Who among us hasn't? However, Biden demonstrates compassion, an important attribute for anyone holding a political office.

      Per journalist Steve Clemons, "Ryan's plan, which now defines the Romney-Ryan GOP ticket, outlines a path to a much dumber America. It forfeits the future to nations like China, India, Brazil and Turkey, which are making massive investments in educating their youth, training their middle-aged work forces, building new major infrastructure projects, and supporting science and technology advancements."

      I'll be voting, again, for President Obama and Biden. Romney and Paul "throw grandma from the train, and our grandkids' future with her" Ryan? No thanks.


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      PATTY GOODRICH

      Winston-Salem

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    2. Spending too much

      Funny, Republicans didn't care at all about government spending too much when President Bush was writing the checks. Let's remember that this recession began under Bush.


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      MARK AYERS

      Winston-Salem

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    3. Mr. Ayers is indeed correct, just as Dems did not care about political contributions when Barack Obama raked in a lot more than John McCain in 2008. Once things changed, then they started howling about the guys' special interests having the same leeway as the earlier favored groups.

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    4. A matter of degree, but a pot/kettle situation just the same.

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    5. Rules are for other people, not for Democrats, in case you didn't know Stab.

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    6. As posted before, Romney's top five contributors:

      Goldman Sachs - $676,080
      JPMorgan Chase & Co - $520,299
      Morgan Stanley - $513,647
      Bank of America - $510,728
      Credit Suisse Group - $427,560

      Predators all, hoping to do it to us again. The next 3 are also money scam outfits.

      Obama's top five:

      University of California - $491,868
      Microsoft Corp - $443,748
      Google Inc - $357,382
      DLA Piper - $331,715
      Harvard University - $317,516

      If you cannot see where this is headed, you need a seeing eye dog.

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    7. I'm allergic to crooks. We can do without both as far as I'm concerned. Rather have a goat any day.

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    8. Carter is going to speak. How symbolic!

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    9. Real Clear Politics average Romney and Obama in a virtual tie.

      It's going to get interesting folks. Could come down to the debates.

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    10. OT, I'll go with cats, even though they're skillful freeloaders. Remember, I have a soft spot for median news vendors and winos.

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    11. Yes, a cat makes an ideal, if devious and conniving, pet, whereas a goat will literally eat you out of house and home by eating your home.

      There is a very famous animal intelligence test in which various critters were divided from a choice morsel of food by a chicken wire fence which was sealed off at the top and bottom but had one open end.

      The chicken nearly strangled itself by trying to force its head and body through the too small holes. The dog ran frantically back and forth along the fence until, near exhaustion, it accidentally found the open end. The cat tried climbing the fence, but then made a meticulous horizontal examination until it too found the open end. The monkey also tried climbing the fence, but when that failed, it immediately began casting about for a stick which it used to pull the food within reach.

      If they had used a goat, it would have simply eaten the entire fence, saving the morsel for dessert. And of course, if they had used a human, he would have invented the atomic bomb and blown everything, the fence, the food and himself to kingdom come.

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  5. Good afternoon folks! 9 more weeks of political silly season crap to go.
    LTE 1: There have been articles printed about the pride Mormons have in one of their own being a nominee. I've also seen plenty of "Catholics for" and "Latinos for" as well as "Catholics against" and "Latinos against" along with every other ethnic/religious group being for or against to last a life time. The fact that Mr. Tannehill specifically considers this coming from blacks to be "Outrageous!" and "bold and outrageous race-baiting to the extreme" tells me more about Mr. Tannehill having issues with black people than anything else. "...coronated, all-knowing but unchallenged potentate, President Barack Obama" - my goodness, Mr. Tannehill has an extremely high opinion of President Obama! I find it quite interesting that some who refer to themselves as "conservative" often refer to Obama in terms such as Mr. Tannehill's or as "Messiah" when most everyone else I know only thinks of him as POTUS.

    LTE 2: Abortion. I've heard castration mentioned before as a punishment for rape which seems to fail the Constitution's prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment", imo, but Ms. Fine's suggestion of the convicted paying for the costs of any resulting child is quite intriguing. Only drawback is that the perpetrator is hopefully locked up in prison for many years and thus unable to meet the financial obligations unless his possessions are sold (which I have no trouble with). "The total ignorance, deliberate lies and lack of compassion for the women who are victims of this heinous crime are appalling." - Agree.

    LTE 3: Parking at Deaton-Thompson and at Glenn sucked when I watched games at those venues. I'm not familar enough with Hanes Park to venture whether or not there is adequate space to support parking for a HS football game, but Mr. Newman seems to be familiar enough to make a very reasonable argument.

    LTE 4: It's political silly season, so we're going to be seeing all sorts of inane catch phrases for the next 9 weeks (barf!):p. Endorsement LTE.

    LTE 5: Yeah, there were no "Reagan proved deficits don't matter" type speeches at the R convention this go around. Interesting that the D's are inviting the previous D POTUS to speak while the R's last POTUS and veep were notably absent. The R's did have that administration's arguably most moderate member, SoS Rice as a speaker.

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    1. Generally, I would oppose mutilation as punishment, but castration would appear to be appropriate for rape and molestation.

      Parking does indeed stink at Deaton-Thompson, but a basketball game at RJR's gym taxes parking on Northwest Blvd and surroundings, so I suggest that a football game would overly congest the area.

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    2. There is a hot debate on about castration. It works for some, but not for all. And many rapes have nothing to do with sex...all about anger and control. It's a tough call.

      Parking for Reynolds gym has always been a mess, even in the 1950s and 60s. It seats about half as many people as the stadium would, so figure from there.

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    3. I believe some states have tried chemical castration, not sure how effective it is/was. As for the motives for rape, yes, I have read that sex is not always (or even often) the prime motive, the prime motive being anger and a demented desire to debase.

      However, there are a variety of reasons for murder, but the punishment is essentially the same, so I see no problem with castration regardless of the scumbag's motive. But, the fact is that dotnet is correct in that it may well skirt close to what is considered cruel and unusual. I suggest that a loooonnnnngggg stretch as a guest of the state is not cruel and unusual, however. Any sentence under 25y is a travesty in my opinion.

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    4. Would that rape were so simple.

      "Motive" is not an element of a crime. It is used by the prosecution to show why a person may have been led to commit a crime. It is a "background" matter and cannot be used to prove that a person actually committed a crime.

      "Intent" is actually a legal element, which is quite different from motive. It has to do with the immediate events that led to the crime, and has a huge impact on the level of crime believed to have been committed.

      This is why we have a number of possible verdicts for the same act, the taking of a human life. If it can be proven that you decided in advance to kill your wife "in cold blood" for money or to free you of her company or any of a number of other reasons, in capital punishment states, you are eligible for the death penalty.

      But if, as the defendant in such a case, you can cast reasonable doubt upon that assumption, you cannot be convicted of a capital offense, and so can only receive a long prison sentence, ranging from 20 years or so to life depending upon the state that the crime was committed in.

      If you can further show that the crime was committed from an excess of rage or anger coming from a contemporary provocation, you might reduce the level of conviction to manslaughter and receive a far less drastic sentence.

      Rape does not work in the same way. Rape is almost never a premeditated crime in the same sense that murder is. It is typically a crime of the moment. And since in the majority of rapes, one or both participants are known to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, far more alcohol than drugs, the matter becomes even more complicated.

      The kind of rape that makes the headlines, such as the rape/murder of Deborah Sykes, is extremely rare, accounting for only about 4% of reported rapes, and probably only about 1% of all rapes.

      All of the rest cover a wide range of situations that cannot easily be interpreted without a case by case examination.

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