happythoughts

62 yo Tampa teacher shoots attacker The media doesn't give that much attention to innocent people who save their own life.

1- A person says that they are going to do some major changes. They've been in politics for 10 years. So... why haven't they done it before? Why do we think that they will be more successful now? It's like a high school pep rally. Get everyone fired up and running down the hall waving a banner. 2- The party. No person/party will start any process that goes against the process that elected them. If an outsourcing group donates $3million to Hillary, is the Dem party going to be happy with Obamas promise to stop outsourcing? More meaningless glib phrases to mollify the gullible? 3- It is said that no man is an island. In politics, those are the "outsiders", the "independents". Unfortunately, you need people to vote with you to make/change legislation. The "loners" get nothing done.

Quick! Let's come up with some trucker CB handles before she reads this thread again.

Welcome to the club 300 jobs outsourced. another 150 lost. Yep. There's a $10,000,000 stab in the back. Oh yeah, Manila. There's a hotbed of international banking knowledge. Imagine your savings account and credit card numbers... in the hands of someone who makes $1.85 an hour. One director told me just before she left for Hong Kong, "An international banker has no country."

Some of this stuff has gotten really weird. I've never really seen people act like this. It's politics, but a little much. I tend to blame it on fear. The worse the economy gets, the more people want a safe haven, some kind of answer. When good people do the right thing and still lose control of their life, it makes them act crazy. McCain has good information that O is not an arab. Obama a traitor? To their beliefs, sure. He has spent his career as a Chicago machine politician, and running social programs. If Hillary was Obamas running mate, what would her supporters say about him? (He'd be wearing a Kevlar shower cap to bed)

Have you met him? What? You're saying I'm an old fart because I hang out with old radicals? Next you'll say I'm fat.

Right. I covered that. If you hang out and drink beer, you are drinking beer. If you hang out and skydive, you are skydiving. However, if you show up at a political meeting and support their views in repeated situations, then you support their views. Context, intent, and repeat of actions. Re-read the first post.

If someone attends a church for 10 years and hears the same general theme, that is probably what they believe, or they would go somewhere else. If someone works with political action committees for 10 years that have similar political goals, that is their political agenda. Good yardsticks to gauge future ethical or political decisions.

I tend to pick my associates. For fun, I hang out with skydiving. The purpose of my association is a shared interest in recreational sport. I don't have to share their view on anything but "skydiving is fun". That can be attributed to me. If I was to hang out with the KKK, NOW, or NAACP for political reasons, I wouldn't need to be buddies with anyone in charge. People could easily recognize my support of the general principles of the group. So, I tend to believe that politicians can be judged for who they associate with for political or moral reasons. Who do they willingly align themselves with? There doesn't have to be any kissy-face, they just have to attend a lot of the same meetings.

The Dean of Women at an exclusive girls' school was lecturing her students on sexual morality. "We live today in very difficult times for young people. In moments of temptation," she said, "ask yourself just one question: Is an hour of pleasure worth a lifetime of shame?" A young woman rose in the back of the room and said, "Excuse me, but how do you make it last an hour?"

Harpo was told that his acting/speaking skills were lesser than his more gregarious brothers. So, he took to his best talent - pantomime. He added a comedic coat full of assorted products, including a bulbous horn that he kept under his arm. At the proper moment, he squeezed his elbow on the horn and grinned like a mentally-challenged Cheshire Cat. In politics, there seems to be two flavors. The ones who legitimately say embarrassing things and the candidate is perplexed. Or, the ones who say things that the candidate wants said, but needs plausible deniability. At some point, I expect the well-meaning Biden will be sent to an uncanvassed aspect of Alaska to “take it to the opposition”, only to discover a lack of voting audience. Here’s your horn. Bill Clinton during Hillary’s campaign. Playing the unofficial race card. “You live in NC/Miss, and he’s black.” “OMG, you dinnit just say that.” “Shut up Bill (good job). Don’t ever do that again (until Wednesday).” Ted Kennedy. The most perfect of all attacks. He is total Teflon. Believes what he says and you can’t retaliate. Hillary. We went through the weekly gaffes for a while. Her campaign managers, “If you open your mouth one more time, you get a horn.” Palin. Says whatever she wants. This is the best ride in town. Bush? Who knows? His command of Revised English makes it difficult to evaluate. It is an amazing thing when bunches of politicians (theoretically our future/current leaders) are being told to be shut up and honk.

Coincidence.

I think that stuff must just cost more for those people. During the Edwards campaign, he spent $400 apiece for haircuts less than a month apart. Realistically, how much can your hair grow in 3 weeks? Hillary spent $3000 total on a couple of haircut sessions. The winner was Slick Willie parking Air Force One at LAX so that a famous Hollywood hairstylist type could cut his hair. A president has his own staff for cooking and everything else. It seems like haircuts could be taken care of in an easier fashion. I have no idea what makes a $1500 haircut worth it, but there are some dummies out there paying it.

Imagine if women had 4 pairs like cats. It would easy to plan my day.

All this talk about Socialists and Marxists got me thinking. We seem to have put rich Wall Street types on a Welfare program. Giving them taxpayers money to supplement their income. Wouldn't want them to suffer. Anyway, Marxism is boring and fundamentally flawed, but the Marx Brothers are enjoyable. I always thought Obama as a well-dressed, polite Zeppo-esque character. McCain is actually nice to him when compared to what the Clintons put him through in the primaries. Someone once said that when dealing with angry people, it is better to have them inside the tent and pissing out, than outside and pissing in. I think the Clintons walked inside and hosed the place down pretty well before getting on board with the new program of hugs and kisses. That takes a lot of patience. In the attachment, there is an actual picture of Obama and I together. (Cell phones don't capture great images.)

I like to say a little prayer for world peace.

They toured the country as a vaudeville act as established characters. Zeppo – usually was a quiet well-dressed man who managed a hotel that the rest of the Marxists were terrorizing. He spent his time reacting to the chaos that the others created around him. Groucho – wandered around parties with a cigar, making off-color remarks to women. Harpo – once told that his speaking detracted from a stage performance. From that point, he never spoke on screen. His persona was the quiet, oddly-gesturing person with a horn next to his ribs that he would toot in response. Chico – a subtly sinister character. Usually involved in a sub-plot for self-gain. Avoided eye contact or conversation with law enforcement officials. Chico, on trial for treason, asks, "What has a trunk but no key, weighs 2000 pounds, and lives in a circus?" The prosecutor replies, "That's irrelevant!" Chico responds, "Irrelevant! Hey, that's the correct answer!"

Flash from the past. I actually saw that movie in 9th grade health class. The spider tried all the latest stuff. LSD, THC... Can you imagine the new drug trials on spiders...? Viagra - "How U doin' ?" Paxil - "I feel your pain."

A man charges into a bank wearing a ski mask and wielding a handgun. "This is a bank robbery - everyone get on the floor!", and proceeds to empty the cash drawers. As he runs towards the door with the loot, a brave customer yanks off his mask. The robber immediately shoots the customer in the head and shouts "Did anybody else here see my face?". The robber notices another customer peering from behind a counter and goes over and shoots him in the head also. "Did anybody else see my face?" He shouts again, waving his gun around. There is a silence for a few seconds before a male voice is heard from a distant corner. "I think my wife caught a glimpse..."

It wasn't just those 5. There were two houses of Congressmen who voted on stuff for a while beforehand. Greed comes in both persuasions of party affiliation. Even at the state level, our former local state Senator bought out his partners in a county bank. Then, he loaned his real estate/ construction/ development corp money based on inflated values. It went belly-up. He took the loan cash and let the company get taken over by the failing bank. He used the cash to start a big temporary services company. He was 4 different shades of swindler. Many stories. The last thing that I heard about him was, "Nope, that wasn't it. You have to have a heart to die of a heart attack."

Ummm - Carter's watch ended in 1980. The problem didn't magically start in Feb of 1981.

The last one. The same one, but a while ago. Apparently, a bunch of banks were giving loans to real estate developers based on the inflated value of their real estate. Hmmm... The skinny story is that rich people got richer. Then, the govt (which doesn't have money of their own, only our money) bailed them out. All the taxpayers get to pay off $325B so that rich people don't suffer. The estimates were about $15K per adult taxpayer. The beauty of it? It wasn't just one party. Because it happened during Carters watch, there is an opportunity to assign another dunderhead move to his over-lengthy list, but everybody's congressman helped by voting for it. A build-up of bi-partisan crap for years. It took years to fix too. An interesting read. Wall Street bundling unsound real estate and selling it to banks. My favorite part? People went to jail over it. That was because S&Ls were local. Just small town bank presidents. The presidents of multi-nationals will make millions and never get a harsh word. Welcome to the past. SNL

A few years ago at Quincy, we tried to organize a 10-way competition out of a DC-3. Not enough takers. The demographic is changing. Everyone keeps mentioning fuel capacity. Maintaining one engine, instead of two, should be mentioned. I tried the PAC and didn't enjoy doing 8-12 ways and trying to move around under the low roof. Moving that way also strings out the exit. (I like to stand up and I'm spoiled.) The plane is uncomfortable in most aspects. That said, fuel economy and maintenance savings will be the decision drivers for most small-medium dzs. I expect to see more of them. Oh... and Skyvans are noisy SOBs. I encourage everyone to buy a large bottle of earplugs and share them.

I was just making a subtle comment about thread drift. At some point, it had gotten to Russian money laundering. Anyway, I have always enjoyed reading his comments. He seems to walk the same walk that he talks. He once said that he wouldn't run for President because he wouldn't want to put his family through that. I suspect that all the politics of being a general are probably just as rough.

It's called hair. As long as you have it, you'll never be bald. If the hair comes back, you are cured. Easy. All that takes is two more dead Beatles.