gpatt0n

Personally, I think the man is full of sheeze. First, he is an Arab and a Muslim and as many here have pointed out so uneloquently, he has no compunction or moral issue with lying out of his ass ... which is what he is doing. Second, as a person who certainly has no problem misleading 'infidels' remember also that he is involved with a cartel (aka: monopoly). Third, the real issues are alternatives and as mentioned in the 'interview' alternate sources of oil are one including shale oil. What separates those playing in the cartel from those outside is that cartels/monopolies pr

But fewer than half choose to use a firearm to do so. Many who choose not to do so because they have children in the household and feel the danger of having a firearm is too great considering that children's curiosity often gets the best of them. Others choose not to do so because they've taken the research on the increased danger that a gun will either be stolen (burglary) and used in a crime or simply because they know that homes that don't have firearms are much more likely to become victims of gun violence. I don't doubt that you have the right to own a gun. I have the right

Nope, I'm on strike. Come tell me about it. pubby PS: My strike would be meaningless if I crossed my own picket line

For the record here is tomorrows agenda: From a general reading of the agenda it doesn't sound like it will be particularly interesting or earth-shattering. pubby

I've been to two meetings and went through the line. No one has suggested there was an alternative although I've asked for an exemption for all members of the press. My contacts with others there to do their jobs doesn't lend me the assurance that accommodations have been made. And I've not been invited in the back door either. And I know that you think I'm in Davids back pocket but that too is bogus. I typically get a briefing from Richard Grant who attends most meetings. I've asked him to video the meeting as well but sound is one of my problems with any video shot from the ga

Well, I didn't include those who are hunters as I think it fair that most hunters aren't afraid of bambi and hence fear is not what motivates their ownership when they say they are hunters. Those who say their motivation of gun ownership is protection, begs the question "What do you need protection against?" While the actual response may vary from an apocalypse to home invasion to 'the government' the logical understanding is they are fearful of some outside source of disruption that threatens them. I didn't think he was suicidal and I don't know the cause of the accident although t

I refuse to submit to the line-up and pat-down the county gives folks attending the commission meetings. pubby

Trevor Strong would be so proud pubby

I've watched the first few minutes of this and see that it is an interesting view. There is some off-color language, as you might imagine with a movie exploring the topic of stupid, and the story is one that has a good number of both positive and negative votes on youtube (about 5,500 thumbs up and 1,300 thumbs down from 1.3 million views.) All I can say is enjoy ... or not PS: While the resolution is relatively low 240p, it will go full screen by clicking on the expand screen icon on the bottom right. Click for RECENT TOPICS click for RECENT TOPICS click for REC

The water department is not in the courthouse; it is on Bill Carruth Pkwy. It had moved there from its former HQ on Macland Rd. As far as plans for a new facility ... my only knowledge are the comments here. pubby

According the Pew Center, two-percent of gun owners own them as an expression of their second amendment rights. That has declined by two percent since a similar question was asked in 1999. What is most notable from the Pew study between 99 and 2013 was the increase in people who say they own guns "for protection." Here's the chart. What is really wild, though, is the belief by the majority of Republicans that state laws on guns should trump Federal law - i.e. that state law should be able to override all federal gun laws. Even gun owners as a group rejected the idea that state

Media, particularly independent media (non-corporate) has not had much of free pass here. from the wiki: Over 200 journalists are currently being held in prisons ... many without charges ... including four in Israel. One (James Rison of the NYTimes could join that group in 2015. Judith Miller was also imprisoned by the government in the Valerie Plame case. Reactionary interests have killed journalists in the US as recently as 1984 (Alan Berg - a liberal talk show host was gunned down by a white supremacist group). In 1949 in Alice Texas: W.H. "Bill" Mason was shot and ki

Logic... some one say logic. The law in the US prior to stand your ground stated it was a duty of a person to avoid a confrontation - i.e. the duty was to retreat. Had that standard been involved, the idea that Zimmerman was following the guy and continued following him to a confrontation would have, under the old rules, been an open and shut case. There is no emotion in this ... logic. The emotion comes from those who sit comfortably in their recliners and pet their pistols while listening to songs like this: pubby

actually, the judge read the stand your ground rules to the jury as he charged the jury. From a fact-checker article in the Washington Post that found an ad saying that stand your ground laws were the reason for Trayvon Martin's death (it wasn't) Still, it was as stated, incorporated into the charge the judge gives juries in these cases and most certainly contributed to the acquittal ... despite the fact that defense did not claim coverage. According to the fact check article: Oh well. pubby

What bothers me is that you think we had gained any advantage in the Middle East by the actions of GWB. Does it not bother you that some of those who were quarantined in Gitmo were utterly innocent and who were, for the most part, radicalized by their experiences? Does it not bother you that torture was routine of these people which is a violation of the decency and humanity that America, for 230 years, stood for in the world? Does it not bother you that the probably among the purposes of conducting torture, war and mayhem in a country thousands of miles from our borders that did

Good ... you're still pretty anonymous mrshoward but note I didn't take it down either pubby

I'm not fear mongering, I'm predicting the likely outcome of a Republican victory for president based on the established record of previous Republican presidents going back to Richard Nixon. I mean look at the records of Reagan, Bush I and Bush II - all of whom speak of 'evil empires' and sent troops overseas and spent trillions doing so. We all know that Washington is really out of touch largely because the view from the back pocket of the ubber wealthy isn't that picturesque ... and that the GOP has a more prominent position in the pockets of those industries defined by Eisenhower as th

Personally I think while any Democrat in the white house is far from perfection, if we put a Republican in there we will end up in a war with Iran largely because whomever we elect will be intent, not only on stealing their oil reserves, put fulfilling their promises to the military industrial complex for perpetual war. I mean the rhetoric since basically the fall of the soviet union has us heading for that kind of future for, I guess, fun and PROFIT. And frankly, I wouldn't care if the Republican nominee comes across as the man of peace ... hell Nixon was a frigging Quaker and promised p

There are none so blind as those who will not see - John Heywood

The image that was blurred on the networks ... Mei lan published here so thank you. (Saved me the trouble although as a quasi-anonymous member with a handle, I'm afraid that I would still be the one targeted.) The image in her post does 'expand' ... and I will also point out that the translation of the statement is "Should not make fun" ... And here I thought that the issue was (from the blurred versions) that the Jew had mounted Mohammad from the rear ... that being the visual translation of the blurred image in western eyes (and much worse than the reality.) pubby

Some did but do you expect courage from corporations whose sole purpose in the eyes of their managers is to, in this order: - Make investors money - Make consumers eager to buy - Elect Republicans so they can lower the taxes on the money the investors make. The very idea that large multinational media corporations are anything more than conniving entities of little courage and no conviction is the greatest fallacy associated with the invented concept that corporations are people. pubby

I think those who supported Zimmerman were not supporting the punk but rather supporting the presumption that the white guy with a gun is always right when it comes to a conflict with a black man - even an unarmed black man - as established and apparently practiced in those states that expanded gun owners rights to use their weapons - i.e. stand your ground. The previous standard of conduct, which asserted that if a gun owner could reasonably retreat from a confrontation, they were obligated to do so - the standard we had inherited from English Common Law some centuries ago - didn't fit t

Actually this is closer to the truth than most might imagine. Sign off if you want.

One of the things I like most about this is that there are no commercials pubby

Here is an English language voice directly from France via youtube. They are live 24/7 (kind of like cable news) and provides an alternative to CNN/Fox/MSNBC/AlJazeera. I put it on here because of personal interest in streaming and an understanding of the biases that permeate state-side media. It may be that Rupert Murdoch owns this media but I doubt it. I also doubt it is owned by any of the other four dominant US media corporations. (Comcast, ABC/Capcities, etc.) This is newsworthy at the moment because of the terrorist attack and killing of the terrorists earlier today.