MaxedOutMama

Iran awarded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez its highest state medal on Sunday for supporting Tehran in its nuclear standoff with the international community, while Chavez urged the world to rise up and defeat the U.S., state-run media in both countries reported.
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented Chavez with the Islamic Republic Medal in a ceremony at Tehran University. The award was to show Iran's gratitude for his "support for Iran's stance on the international scene, especially its opposition to a resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency," Iranian state-run television said.

48. Quote
Spanish quote - "Si el imperio estadounidense tiene éxito en consolidar su dominio, entonces no habrá futuro para la Humanidad. Por lo tanto, debemos salvar a la Humanidad y poner fin al Imperio Americano", dijo Chávez a una multitud concentrada en la Universidad de Teherán."

That would be - "If the American empire succeeds in consolidating its power, then there is no future for humanity. Therefore, we must save humanity and put a stop to the American Empire." said Chavez to a crowd at the Univ. of Tehran."

21. How long until Chavez calls us the Great Satan? :shrug:

At 17 he enlisted in the Marine Corps, spurred by the memory of 9/11.

Now, 21-year-old Galen Wilson has 20 confirmed kills in four months in Iraq - and another 40 shots that probably killed insurgents. One afternoon the lance corporal downed a man hauling a grenade launcher five-and-a-half football fields away.

Wilson is the designated marksman in a company of Marines based in downtown Ramadi, watching over what Marines call the most dangerous neighborhood in the most dangerous city in the world.

8. And God help the citizens of Bradenton Florida, when the demons from his Iraq service haunts him, yet the local VA was shut down, he couldn't get his treatment, and all of the sudden, any Cuban, Puerto Rican, African American or other dark skiinned citizen becomes the "Haji"
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20. He's actually to be pitied.
Locked up so he can't harm another living soul first, but pitied nonetheless.

This guy's been steeped in the culture of killing since he was five, apparently. IMHO, that kind of upbringing is child-abuse, and maybe even criminal negligence - culpability in creating a killing machine.

I feel sorry for what this kid might have been, and wonder how many more of him will be created before humanity realizes this isn't the way to live in peace.
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14. What is the saying on DU
"we don't support the war but we support the troops". At least in this thread there are no hippocrates. If you don't support the war you can't support the troops. This marine is doing his job. At least it sounds like he isn't killing any unarmed civilians.
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30. I don't support thugs like this or the system that glorifies them
This guy will continue to kill one he is removed from Iraq-Nam
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39. Sadly, I think that's a definite possibility
And, even more sadly, by the time it's over, there will be scores of thousands of souless killbots just like him trying to "find their niche" in a society that has very limited uses for souless killbots.
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44. They will use truncheons to beat the black man to death On the streets of amerika

5. dehumanize much?
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12. Right...
They are supposed to just sit there while they are held with no charges for decades, right?
Those evil terrorists! They don't even deserve a fair trial or due process, after all they are not regular human beings like all of us, huh?
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8. Well, that is certainly well reasoned.
I'm impressed to be so quickly elevated in my understanding. I had NO IDEA that all "enemy combatants were such filthy and uncultured THEMS.

And I'm impressed you would not only be satisfied to be left a Bible and a rosary in the place of habeus corpus, the right to a speedy trial, and subject to violations of international law BUT also that you'd be able dropped into the elements and still have the strength to attack.

Wow. Just WOW! I sure as hell hope you aren't a pet owner.

Houk decided to pursue priesthood after listening to a speech by Fresen. Houk said she realizes she will face rejection for her choice, but she said she's prepared for that.

"I do not intend to start a church of my own," said Houk, a 66-year-old, married mother of six and grandmother of five. "I will not lead people away from the Catholic church but rather I hope to lead people to the church."

Assalamoalaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu (Only For the Muslims - specifically those who agree with me; curses upon the rest; along with curses for the non-Muslims; except those non-Muslims who do things that I would indirectly agree with or that indirectly assist me)
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I told you once that whenever my apostate cousin Eteraz could be disposed of, I would come upon this heathen blog, hosted by a heathen server, byproduct of the technology of the kafir, and speak about Eteraz with all the disrepute and anger that he deserves.
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Today my apostate cousin Eteraz is further expressing his idiocy by arguing that attacking Jews is a bad thing. This, after he argued that Jews aren’t apes and swine! He clearly does not want to be part of Hizbollah.

The man suspected in a fatal shooting rampage hid behind a potted plant in a Jewish charity's foyer and forced his way through a security door by holding a gun to a 13-year-old girl's head, the police chief said Saturday.

Once inside, police say, Naveed Afzal Haq opened fire with two semiautomatic pistols. One woman, Pam Waechter, 58, of Seattle was killed at the scene. Five more women were wounded.
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According to a statement of probable cause, Haq told a 911 dispatcher: "These are Jews and I'm tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East."

Muhammad Ullah, a close family friend and a senior member of a mosque founded in part by Haq's father, described Haq as a quiet loner with few friends.

In a statement, the Islamic Center of the Tri-Cities offered condolences to the shooting victims and said "we disassociate this act from our Islamic teachings and beliefs."

[Nasrallah] Under all circumstances, what I heard is that the foreign minister of the enemy asked the German mediator to intervene with us to return the two prisoners without swapping along with some sweet. This cannot take place. At any rate, regarding the negotiations issue, even regarding the two prisoners, I want to relieve myself and Hezbollah from this issue. Anyone who wants to talk about this then let him talk with the state, and the state then talks with us....

[Bin-Jiddu] Do you still insist on the principle of swapping?

[Nasrallah] Certainly, this is an issue that we cannot tolerate. In fact, if the civilians who were martyred, the displaced who are suffering now the effects of displacement, and the steadfast people know that it is possible for me to extradite or return these two soldiers without closing this file they will accuse me of treason. I will also accuse myself of treason. This is completely out of question. In the first day, I said that if the entire universe comes, it will not be able to take back the two Israeli soldiers except through indirect negotiation and exchange of prisoners. ...

[Bin-Jiddu] Regarding the exchange [of prisoners], who will you exchange the two Israeli soldiers with? Are you going to exchange them with Lebanese prisoners or Palestinian prisoners?

[Nasrallah] This is an open process, and I will leave it to negotiations.

[Bin-Jiddu] You still believe that Samir al-Qintar will be in Lebanon?

[Nasrallah] God willing. In this exchange, Samir al-Qintar will be the first one. What is the use of this exchange if Samir al-Qintar is not included in the exchange and if all the Lebanese prisoners are not included in this exchange - of course, I am talking about an open process?

[Bin-Jiddu] Your Eminence, let's put the other parties aside. You have a memorandum of understanding with General Awn. Has what is currently taking place shaken the pillars of the memorandum of understanding and your cooperation with the Free Patriotic Movement?

[Nasrallah] No, not at all. First, the memorandum of understanding talked clearly about first releasing the prisoners and liberating the rest of the [occupied] Lebanese territories, and afterward discussing a strategy for national defence. This is what we began to discuss. Hezbollah has neither taken advantage of Lebanon to liberate Palestine, nor worked towards restoring the seven villages, which are Lebanese territories. It carried out an operation to capture [Israeli soldiers], because the government's policy statement stipulates the release of prisoners and the liberation of Lebanese territories. So, what we did is a national Lebanese action, even in the regional sense of the word. This [operation] was carried out within, not outside, the context of the memorandum of understanding signed between us and the Free Patriotic Movement.

Praise and thanks to God first and foremost for granting us this victory, jihad, and might, and for the results. First of all, I have to address the heroic mujahidin, who fulfilled the promise today. This is why their qualitative operation is called "Operation true promise." I thank them and kiss their foreheads and hands. With the blessing of these lofty foreheads and hands, the foreheads of us all will remain high and no shackle will remain in the hands of people in the occupation prisons. Today is the day of loyalty to Samir al-Qintar, Yahya Skaf, Nasim Nisr, and all brothers, detainees, and prisoners in the occupation jails.
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The second point is that I do not want to get into an argument about what happened today and say if this is our legal right and option or not. In plain terms, this is our natural right. This is the only and logical way that is available. Neither the international community, international organizations, regional organizations, governments, regimes – with due respect to them – nor political negotiations with empty hands will release the detainees.
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The resistance said its priority in 2006 would be capturing Israeli soldiers in order to close the file of prisoners for good. This is the priority. We have observed calm throughout that time in spite of all circumstances. I told some political leaders of the country in closed sessions that taking prisoners would be the only exception.

Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away. Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building. They had already killed a police officer. As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me. As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.

Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat. They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought.

As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Kuntar.
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The next day, Abu Abbas announced from Beirut that the terrorist attack in Nahariya had been carried out "to protest the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty" at Camp David the previous year.

The situation in Ain Ebel is unbearable. Thousands of civilians have fled to the village from nearby villages and more than 1000 rockets have hit the village, there is no more food neither clean water and diseases r spreading.

Now here comes the most sickening part:
Hezbollah has been firing rockets from the village since Day 1 hiding behind innocent people’s places and even CHURCHES. No one is allowed to argue with the Hezbollah gunmen who wont hesitate to shoot you and i ve heard about more than one shooting incident including young men from the village and Hezbollah.
Urgent appeals have been done through phone calls from terrified people who wouldnt give out their name fearing Hezbollah might harm or even eliminate them.

This is the true image of our brave Islamic Resistance, putting the civilians and their homes as body shields to the Israeli bombardements.

Let the message spread and let those criminals move out of the village once and for all.

Six people were shot - one fatally - this afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle by a man who told a witness he was upset about "what was going on in Israel."
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One witness, who declined to give her name, said a man walked into the Jewish Federation building with a gun, said he was upset about what was going on in Israel, then opened fire. After the shootings, the man said to call 911, the witness said. The witness said the man identified himself as an American Muslim.
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Metz said police officers throughout the city were being asked to step up patrols of Jewish synagogues and Jewish organizations.

For some reason, Hillary - who is an attractive woman - here looks like the love child of Jimmy Carter and Eleanor Roosevelt, but wearing the breastplate usually associated with Brunnhilda in Die Walkure!

To be honest, I spent much of the early years of my children's lives in a workaholic frenzy because the thought of spending time with them was more stressful than any journalistic assignment I could imagine.

Kids are supposed to be fulfilling, life-changing, life-enhancing fun: why was my attitude towards them so different?

*Must use Beazer Mortgage (Broker number 01223451). Available only on inventory homes that close on or before August 31, 2006 or at completion of home, whichever comes first. Must be owner occupied. Offer does not apply to all communities. Check with sales representative for further details. Offer subject to change or cancellation without notice. Example: Purchase price $288,601.00 First Mortgage Loan Amount $230,880.00 payment for year one $824.00 subsidized by seller $ 76.00, year two $886.66, year three $953.16, year four $1,024.65, year five $1,101.50 at 7.593 % adjustable interest rate APR 8.10%. Second mortgage $ 57,721.00 payment for first twelve months of $529.11 at 11.00 % Interest Only paid by Seller, remaining term fourteen years, interest only at prime plus 4.5 margin current APR 11.143%, maximum rate 11.143%, payments of $529.11. Estimated closing costs $ 8,658.03. Above total payments are loan payments only and do not include taxes ($ 288.60), insurance ($45.00) monthly assessment ($110.00). Example amounts based on home at Riverdale North Discovery Collection Lot # 3016. Minimum middle FICO scores 650, stated income underwriting, three months reserve required in bank at time of close of $7,805.34 in example above. Income limits apply. Negative Amortization of loan required to achieve advertised payment, required loan payments and other fees may vary by home sales price and community.

**Must use Beazer Mortgage (Broker number 01223451). Available only on inventory homes that close on or before August 31, 2006 or at completion of home, whichever comes first. Must be owner occupied. Offer does not apply to all communities. Check with sales representative for further details. Offer subject to change or cancellation without notice. Example: Purchase price $506,349.00, First Mortgage Loan Amount $405,079.00 payment for year one $1,447.12 subsidized by seller $447.12, year two $1,555.65, year three $1,672.33, year four $1,797.75, year five $1,932.58 at 7.593 % adjustable interest rate APR 8.10%. Second mortgage $101,270.00 payment for first twelve months of $928.31 at 11.00 % Interest Only paid by Seller, remaining term fourteen years, interest only at prime plus 4.5 margin current APR 11.143%, maximum rate 11.143%, payments of $928.31. Estimated closing costs $15,190.47. Above total payments are loan payments only and do not include taxes ($506.35), insurance ($70.00) monthly assessment ($73.00). Example amounts based on home at Fieldstone Meadows Lot # 30. Minimum middle FICO scores 650, stated income underwriting, three months reserve required in bank at time of close of $13,307.61 in example above. Income limits apply. Negative Amortization of loan required to achieve advertised payment, required loan payments and other fees may vary by home sales price and community.

"Dean himself moved from Episcopalian to Congregationalist "because I had a big fight with a local Episcopal church about 25 years ago over the bike path." He does not hesitate to reveal this information or to declare that he seldom goes to church." -- Robert Novak
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"I think a library trustee is pretty important," Dean said, during "an administration that likes book burning more than reading books." -- Howard Dean as quoted by USA Today
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"The truth is the President of the United States used the same device that Slobodan Milosevic used in Serbia. When you appeal to homophobia, when you appeal to sexism, when you appeal to racism, that is extraordinarily damaging to the country."

"I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found. I will have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials."
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"I don’t know. There are many theories about (9/11). The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far—which is nothing more than a theory, it can’t be proved—is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kind of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not, and eventually, they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the key information that needs to go to the Kean Commission."
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Tom DeLay ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence.

I've waffled before. I'll waffle again.
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I will use whatever position I have in order to root out hypocrisy. Democrats have strong moral values. Frankly, my moral values are offended by some of the things I hear on programs like "Rush Limbaugh," and we don't have to put up with that.
Unless, of course, they're Democrats:
"I believe that the flag of the Confederate States of America is a painful symbol and reminder of racial injustice and slavery which (Abraham) Lincoln denounced from here over 150 years ago"
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I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. We can't beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats.

"You know, the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They're a pretty monolithic party. Pretty much, they all behave the same, and they all look the same. ... It's pretty much a white Christian party.''

Plaintiffs also rely on Goodridge, where the Massachusetts court rejected the argument that procreation justified limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples. The court said that “[t]he ‘marriage is procreation’ argument singles out the one unbridgeable difference between same-sex and opposite-sex couples, and transforms that difference into the essence of legal marriage.” Goodridge, 440 Mass. at 333. The court held that “it is the exclusive and permanent commitment of the marriage partners to one another, not the begetting of children, that is the sine qua non of civil marriage.” Goodridge, 440 Mass. at 332.

But as Skinner, Loving, and Zablocki indicate, marriage is traditionally linked to procreation and survival of the human race. Heterosexual couples are the only couples who can produce biological offspring of the couple. And the link between opposite-sex marriage and procreation is not defeated by the fact that the law allows opposite-sex marriage regardless of a couple’s willingness or ability to procreate.

Simply put, credit cycles are fluctuations in loan quality and quantity. They are often correlated with, but not always identical to, business cycles, which are based on fluctuations in the overall output of goods and services.
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So, is the credit cycle merely a reflection of the general business cycle, or is it a phenomenon unto itself? Clearly, looking at quantity and ex-post quality measures, such as charge-offs, the credit cycle in recent decades has tracked the economic cycle fairly closely. However, many observers of the credit cycle throughout history believed that credit extension and contraction drive business activity, rather than the other way around.

The economics profession has recently begun to reconsider the role of psychology and expectations in investment decisions. Recent research has found that underwriting standards, as measured by the Federal Reserve Board Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, are a better determinant of future business lending than either GDP or the federal funds rate.23 Similarly, analysis of a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation survey of underwriting standards finds that underwriting standards are an important determinant of future loan losses.24 A modern theoretical response to this finding might be that credit markets are efficient and that loan officers, having just as good access to GDP and interest rate numbers as anyone else, should make decisions that incorporate all available information in a rational, profit-maximizing way. Another interpretation from a 19th-century perspective might describe the easing and tightening of standards as the reflection of alternate swings between “greed and fear.”25

Was reading a link from someone elses post about some secondary markets to profit from in the housing bust. It got me thinking about some of my own experience with different suppliers to the housing market and the numbers do strongly support the end of the housing ATM.

I work with an Advertising Agency as a search engine marketer for several major national home improvement franchises (among several other companies). They span from driveway paving, to window coverings, to kitchen remodling, to floor coverings. Basically everything people have been sucking cash out of their homes to buy over the past 5 years with reckless abandon.

I've had the ability to track exactly how much demand there is for these types of products and how often this traffic converts into actual business for the client. Without much exageration, I can report that the level of both interest and sales are crashing quickly. While the level of interest is a slower decline, sales conversions have declined quite quickly in the last 5-6 months.

From speaking directly with some of the clients, they have admitted that other online efforts have been declining just as quickly. It would seem that the pain of the slow reduction in "easy" credit along with flattening/dropping equity levels is already hitting these secondary home improvement companies.

SHILLING: The economy is slowing, and I suspect that by the end of the year it could very well be in recession. The basic reason is that housing activity is weakening, and that has been the mainstay of consumer spending, which in turn has been propelling the economy. During the past 17 quarters of expansion, spending growth has exceeded income growth by 2.5 percentage points on average, on an annualized basis. And housing is what has been supporting that, with people pulling money out of housing by home equity loans or refinancing.
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Once consumers see that housing price appreciation is no longer the order of the day, then they are going to curb their spending, as they basically have no alternative. Construction and mortgage brokerage and all of what is related to it has accounted for about a third of the job creation so far in this expansion.
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One is that business investment [in software and hardware] has already been quite strong. If you look at the last couple of years, it has been growing at about a 10.5-percent annual rate. That's not markedly different than the 12.5-percent growth rate back in the late 1990s, during what was clearly an overblown capital-spending boom. So the first point is that in investment spending, the growth hasn't been all that weak.

The second point is, what do you do for an encore? You still have a lot of excess capacity left over from the late 1990s boom. My favorite example is fiber optic capacity. At the bottom, 3 percent of the existing capacity that was put in place in the late 1990s was being used, and now the figure is only about 5 percent of capacity. This is admittedly an extreme case, but there's a lot of capacity left over. So how much can you expect investment to grow from here to really spur the economy? Moreover, to make up for the consumer spending component I cited earlier, investment would have to grow at a 30-percent annual rate, and that is just not in the cards. So this idea of capital spending rescuing the consumer is not realistic.
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When you look at capital spending, you have got to see the motivation for it. Profit growth is one motivator, no question about it.

Existing-home sales were down modestly in June, and home prices were up slightly from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
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David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said the housing market is flattening-out. “Over the last three months home sales have held in a narrow range, easing to a level that is near our annual projection, which tells us the market is stabilizing,” he said. “At the same time, sellers have recognized that they need to be more competitive in their pricing given the rise in housing inventories. Home prices are only a little higher than a year ago.”
(But, as always at NAR):
NAR President Thomas M. Stevens from Vienna, Va., said opportunities have opened for home buyers. “People who were discouraged by the bidding wars that were so common over the last few years are finding more choices now,” said Stevens, senior vice president of NRT Inc. “Relative to the five-year housing boom, this year is a buyer’s market in much of the country with plentiful supply, along with interest rates which remain historically favorable, so it’s a good time to buy a home.”

If I sound bitter, its because I was on the receiving end of some of this...Some year ago I was named as the father of a child. I was the wrong race, I had gotten a vasectomy 10 years before and had the medical records to prove it. None of that mattered and a child support order was entered against me. I spoke the to social worker and showed her I could not have been the father. She said it was not her problem, even though she was setting up wage garnishment and had helped the mother file the court papers for child support. I got a lawyer and went to court. I was told I had to pay until it was decided. I refused and the garnishment was blocked (I was in the military at the time). I was refused access to "my child" even supervised visitation (we considered challenging the mother for custody). I was told if I did not pay I would be going to jail, so I paid. Finally got to court and the judge seemed unwilling to believe the evidence, including a fertility test from a local independent lab. He kept asking me if I had reconciled with the mother, a teenager I have never seen before, and was willing to do my social duty. My lawyer got a bit heated and all the state kept saying was they had the mother's word (who never showed up) that I was the father. 30 days later the order was vacated. I was out lawyer fees, was unable to recover the child support I paid, my name is still on the birth certificate, I am/was listed as a deadbeat dad, and it was on my credit report. Yes, I am bitter but with damn good cause.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

"Although Titan gets far less sunlight and is much smaller and colder than Earth, Xanadu is no longer just a mere bright spot, but a land where rivers flow down to a sunless sea," Lunine said.
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On Xanadu, liquid methane might fall as rain or trickle from springs. Rivers of methane might carve the channels and carry off grains of material to accumulate as sand dunes elsewhere on Titan.

"This land is heavily tortured, convoluted and filled with hills and mountains," said Steve Wall, the Cassini radar team's deputy leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "There appear to be faults, deeply cut channels and valleys. Also, it appears to be the only vast area not covered by organic dirt. Xanadu has been washed clean. What is left underneath looks like very porous water ice, maybe filled with caverns."

In the 'smart class' (you will find no PC here; it cheapens us all) you will find a group of kids who all have a background of poems, songs, nursery rhymes, and 'experiences.' In the slow class, you will find a group of kids who all have no background in anything at all, for the most part.

I used to give assessment tests at the start of each year. It would blow your mind to bits if you all realized how little some families do for their children, before sending them to school, beyond setting them in front of the tv and walking away.
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Educated people are as much superior to uneducated people, as the living are to the dead. ---Aristotle.

I know I say that all the time, but it's absolutely true.

Instead of learning science, pupils will "learn about the way science and scientists work within society". They will "develop their ability to relate their understanding of science to their own and others' decisions about lifestyles", the QCA said. They will be taught to consider how and why decisions about science and technology are made, including those that raise ethical issues, and about the "social, economic and environmental effects of such decisions".

They will learn to "question scientific information or ideas" and be taught that "uncertainties in scientific knowledge and ideas change over time", and "there are some questions that science cannot answer, and some that science cannot address". Science content of the curriculum will be kept "lite". Under "energy and electricity", pupils will be taught that "energy transfers can be measured and their efficiency calculated, which is important in considering the economic costs and environmental effects of energy use".

Failure to learn anything at all about science while in high school will significantly foreclose one's career options. Evidently, the educational authorities in Britain must think that future biochemists and electrical engineers will come from China or India...but even if one is not pursuing a scientific or engineering career path per se, one needs some scientific context. How likely is it that a person will become, say, a biotech CEO if they have no idea about how science actually works...if their total exposure to science consists of "social science" platitudes like those stated in the excerpt above?

“We will only accept an unconditional ceasefire followed by indirect negotiations for a prisoner swap,” Hezbollah deputy Nawar Sahali told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone, echoing remarks Thursday by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

In a speech before the UN Security Council on Thursday, Annan denounced both sides for the violence and proposed a settlement under which Hezbollah would release the two soldiers and a stabilization force will be deployed.

Sahali accused Annan “of defending Israel ... and taking its side.”

Clearly, any negotiations with a terror organization are a waste of time. They are not bound by the same rules and regulations that govern civilized society. Hezbollah bases in urban areas, arms depots in urban areas, missle launch sites that are residential ‘backyards’ and the transformation of blocks in South Beirut into Hezbollah headquarters facilities are issues that undermine every Hizbollah claim to legitimacy.

Despite their political influence, Hizbollah refuses to identify itself as a political entity, in the same way as other legitimate political organizations. Instead, Hizbollah continues to define itself, by actions and words, as a terrorist organization. By definition, terrorist organization are not bound by civilized convention and the established rule of law. By definition, terrorist organizations operate outside those conventions and outside the rule of law.

D.R. Horton, which has nine communities actively selling in the county, said that in the past 60 days it had cut the number of lots it has under contract in San Diego County.
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But companywide, the home builder wrote off $57.2 million in the quarter for deposits on land that it now isn't going to buy.

“San Diego is our weakest market in California,” Tomnitz told analysts. “California continues to be a challenging market for us. There continues to be a small percentage of affordability out there.”
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For example, June sales were down 24 percent from a year earlier, the 24th consecutive month of year-to-year sales declines. The inventory of homes on the market is hovering around 20,000 – nearly double the number at this time last year.

The median price for a San Diego County home was $488,000 in June, down from a peak of $518,000 in November.

Forecasters predict growth will slow to about 3 percent or less over the next six months, and the worry is what happens next.
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Some think big business could come to the rescue. Among them: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who testified before Congress this week that capital expenditures should remain strong, given that "firms remain in excellent financial condition, and credit conditions for businesses are favorable."

Business leaders appear to be showing some concern. The National Federation of Independent Business found that only 27 percent of the 416 small-business owners it surveyed planned on boosting their capital outlays in the next three to six months - the lowest level since March 2003, when the United States headed to war in Iraq.

Goldman Sachs just released its survey of information technology executives, which found a "decreased urgency to spend." In its report, the investment firm noted that there was "creeping conservatism" among those making technology decisions.

How does anybody know that tax cuts caused an economic boom? What information do any of us have that proves it? Sure it helps investors but where does it say that increased investment creates jobs? I'd say that increased employment creates increased investment. Increased investment boosts share prices, but as far as creating jobs how can anything other than new investment in new companies or products boost employment?

Pregate anche per i terroristi perchè non sanno che fanno del male non solo al prossimo, ma prima di tutto a loro stessi.
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La vita contemplativa e ricca di carità apre il cielo all'umanità che ne ha bisogno perchè oggi nel mondo sembra quasi che non ci sia Dio. E dove non c'è Dio c'è la violenza e il terrorismo.

A New Zealand policewoman has been censured for some unauthorized "undercover" work -- a stint moonlighting as a prostitute -- but is being allowed to keep her day job after giving up the night duties.
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She has been counseled over the matter, which "under police procedures .... amounts to a censure," said Deputy Police Commissioner Lyn Provost.

Two young brothers were killed by a Hezbollah rocket in the Israeli holy city of Nazareth, authorities said.

In addition to the deaths of the two brothers, aged 3 and 9, there were 18 people wounded in the rocket attacks in Nazareth, a mainly Arab city that's the biblical hometown of Jesus
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Hezbollah claimed to have "repelled" Israeli forces near the coastal border town of Naqoura, and the Israeli army said two of its soldiers had been killed and nine were wounded in the fierce firefight. Hezbollah said one guerrilla was killed.

Earlier Wednesday, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana called on "those who may have influence" over Hezbollah to help end the conflict, indirectly referring to Syria and Iran.

"We're in a hurry. It has to happen fast," said Terje Roed-Larsen, advisor on Lebanon-Syria issues to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "There is serious work to be done in order to reach conclusions, which will be presented to the parties. The parties then have to agree with the presence of the force, what kind of force before it can go in."

After all that has taken place so far in Lebanon, nothing has succeeded in altering the basic equation: Any diplomatic solution will have to pass through the Lebanese political grinder and gain Hezbollah's agreement. "Everything is up in the air" according to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, including direct and indirect talks with Hezbollah, and therefore nothing has changed since before the outbreak of fighting

The question is not only what will stop Israel's onslaught but also what will the conditions be that will allow Hassan Nasrallah to nod approvingly. Mediators heard about what may work in a meeting with Nabih Berri, a "contact person" to Hezbollah, the speaker of Lebanon's parliament and head of Amal, another Shi'ite group. According to Berri, even if the United Nations decides to deploy a "significant" force to south Lebanon, it will need Nasrallah's approval, otherwise such a force will be involved in incessant fighting and Israel will continue to suffer missile attacks.

Israel, with U.S. support, intends to resist calls for a cease-fire and continue a longer-term strategy of punishing Hezbollah, which is likely to include several weeks of precision bombing in Lebanon, according to senior Israeli and U.S. officials.

For Israel, the goal is to eliminate Hezbollah as a security threat -- or altogether, the sources said. A senior Israeli official confirmed that Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah is a target, on the calculation that the Shiite movement would be far less dynamic without him.

For the United States, the broader goal is to strangle the axis of Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran, which the Bush administration believes is pooling resources to change the strategic playing field in the Middle East, U.S. officials say.

Olmert warned that Israel would not halt its offensive until Hizbullah was disarmed. He made the comment during a telephone conversation with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Israeli government officials said.

Olmert set two other conditions for a cease-fire: the release of the two captured soldiers and a halt to rocket fire.

"If these conditions are met, we are ready to cooperate with a delegation from the UN," an Israeli spokeswoman said.

Palestinian government spokesman Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas, denied any connections.

"If they have proof or evidence, they should show the world there is cooperation between Hamas and Hezbollah," he said, adding that in attempting to link Iran and Syria to events last week, the United States is "trying to convince the world that all these organizations should be put in one basket, and present this as the image of terror to the world."

The damage resulting from Israeli aggression according to local estimates is in the tens of billions US Dollars so far.
. Nasrallah tells the Lebanese not to worry about the destruction. He said that there is a country that is willing to pay for this without preconditions. Many assumed he meant Iran
. Nasrallah warns that Hezbollah is ready to surprise Israel on land as it surprised it in the sea
. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warns in a television address that his group's fight against Israel will have 'no limits'

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah urged Arabs and Muslims worldwide to support his guerrillas, saying Sunday that his group is fighting Israel on their behalf and that the battle has just begun.
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"You Arab and Muslim people must take a position toward your future, the future of your children," he said. "The peoples of the Arab and Islamic world have a historic opportunity to score a defeat against the Zionist enemy ... We are providing the example."

"Hezbollah is not fighting a battle for Hezbollah or even for Lebanon but for the Islamic nation," he said.

The United States and Israel will not end their bloody campaign in Lebanon unless the Lebanese government takes on Iran and Syria. That's, in essence, what can be concluded from statements by Rice today, and from Israel's refusal to enter into negotiations or observe a cease-fire.
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Lebanon has just emerged from decades of Syrian occupation, and is rebuilding its security services with US help. The US has been helping Lebanon in its struggle against Syrian interference. We lost a beloved prime minister and brilliant journalists and intellectuals in this fight. The Hariri investigation, supported by the US, had many Lebanese hoping justice can finally prevail in our country. Much has been riding on the outcome of this investigation, which became Lebanon's only weapon against a much more powerful Assad regime. Hizbullah's weapons were being discussed during a national dialogue that, though at times frustrating, was praised by the US and cited as an example of peaceful ways to resolve conflicts.

Israel and Bush must not be so stupid as to expect the Lebanese government to be able to challenge Syria and Iran and disarm Hizbullah just like that. Kahmenei today made it clear that Hizbullah will not lay down its arms. Hizbullah is controlled directly by the supreme leader in Tehran, so there is nothing Siniora can do.

In his latest speech, Nasrallah exulted over an Israeli warship that he said was hit by Hezbollah artillery. He claimed it was on fire and about to sink.
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...a series of dull thuds echoed across Beirut. It was not a new round of Israeli attacks, but volleys of fireworks lighting up the sky from Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. Red tracer bullets pierced the darkness as celebratory gunfire erupted.

In another neighborhood, small bands of people drove through the streets, shouting God is great, apparently celebrating the Hezbollah leader's reported escape from Israeli attempt on his life.

Outside of Hezbollah's Shiite strongholds, other residents of Lebanon seemed at times terrified, at times resolute as Israel's attacks intensified.

A yakuza gang has asked the local education board not to show schoolchildren an anti-gang video local police are producing for fear it will lead to discrimination of gangsters' children, it was learned Saturday.
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On June 29, the board received a letter titled, "Petition," signed by Takeo Hayashi, supreme adviser to the Kudo-kai crime syndicate, and its secretary-general, Mitsuhide Honda.

"If the video is shown at schools, children of crime syndicate members will be bullied. It would constitute discrimination," the letter partly reads.

"In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place," Bush said. "And that's because Hezbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel and because Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers."
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President Bush, on a trip to Russia, said it was up to Hezbollah "to lay down its arms and to stop attacking." Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo but fell into squabbling after moderate states, led by Saudi Arabia, denounced Hezbollah for starting the fight.

...Lebanon's representative said the Council was meeting “in the shadow of a widespread barbaric aggression waged by Israel at this very moment against my nation”. He warned that Israel's destruction of vital bridges, roads and buildings, and the killing and maiming of hundreds of Lebanese civilians “will not resolve the problem, but will further complicate it”.

He said the Israeli Government had held Lebanon responsible for Hizbollah's acts, even though the Lebanese Government had issued a statement on 12 July, declaring that it was not aware of the incident, that it did not take responsibility for it, and did not endorse what had happened. Israel's subsequent aggression undermined Lebanon's sovereignty and attempts to exercise its authority over its entire territory, he said, calling on the Council to take a clear decision to establish a ceasefire and to end the air and sea blockade imposed on Lebanon.

Israel's' representative said that Hizbollah terrorists continued to act with impunity in southern Lebanon. They had carried out their heinous acts and then retreated to the Hizbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon. Israel had to respond, as any sovereign Government would, to the assault that had been carried out against it on a scale that had not been seen in recent years. Israel's actions had been in direct response to Hizbollah's actions, he declared, stressing that Israel had targeted Hizbollah strongholds and infrastructure, not civilian targets.

Unfortunately, since Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, the Lebanese Government had chosen to succumb to terror, rather than vanquish it, and to relinquish control of its country, rather than exercise it sovereignty. It had become a country held hostage and tormented by decades of sectarian strife, political assassinations, full-fledged civil war and Syrian control. He said the Council had a duty to help the Lebanese people achieve the goal of a free, prosperous and democratic Lebanon. It was up to the Council and the international community to see that the opportunity was seized, for the sake of generations to come.

Israel cannot and should not come to terms with a blatant violation of its sovereignty, along either the Lebanese or the Gaza borders. The launching of Qassam and Katyusha rockets at Israeli citizens in Sderot and the Galilee is unacceptable; the sole question is, what is the best way of stopping them.

After the government has authorized the Israel Defense Forces to use massive force and marked dozens of targets for attack in Lebanon - the Beirut airport being only the first, according to Interior Minister Roni Bar-On; after Lebanon has been placed under siege from land, sea and air, and after dozens of civilians have been killed, it would not be a sign of weakness for Israel to declare a time-out in its military assault in order to allow the Lebanese to reach their own conclusions.
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If it is possible to achieve our security goals through diplomacy, a temporary cease-fire should be declared - and hopefully, these aims can be achieved without inflaming the entire region.

Some of us who will be fasting completely until the troops come home; some will be on liquids only until the troops come home; some will fast for 2 weeks, 2 days; or like me, until at least September 21st.

"Tune in, turn on, drop out. Free love. Everything was free. No responsibility. We all still have that kind of feeling, that free spirit," Ms. Harvey told the Milwaukee newspaper. "We're talking about the Beatles and 'Love Child' and round, purple glasses. And we wear the badge proudly. I'm an old hippie."

Asked by the interviewer how a hippie ages, she replied, "Hey, we never do. We just progress."
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We have lost the consciousness of dying, which is the consciousness that we must have before the consciousness of living. What the boomers are left with is not really a consciousness at all, but a feeling. And as the baby boomers taught younger generations, if it feels good, do it.

We have a terrible choice before us. Terrible, because no matter what option we take American blood will be spilled. But if we meekly submit to the terrible vision of the depraved religious fanatics of Islam; if we do what Jimmy Carter did in the 70's; and what most Democrats and those on the left desire we should do now; then the cost--in lives and in liberty-- will be incalculable for generations of Americans to come.
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Iran is confident that even George Bush will not dare stand against their plans for Middle Eastern Armageddon.

I think that Ahmadinejad is wrong about this. The part of America that has lost the courage to stand for what is right; and who have been in psychological denial since 9/11, are not in power today--and I fervently hope they won't be for years to come.

It is clear that Iran is orchestrating what its minions in Syria and Hezbollah and Hamas have done to attack Israel. This may be just the beginning.
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This is all part of Ahmadinejad's quest for nuclear weapons. Does anyone have any doubt that they or their willing tools would use such weapons. And in Iran's point of view, it doesn't matter if they use it against Americans and Iraqis or against Israelis. Both would serve their malign purposes. Israel is fighting our war now.

It's hard to out-crazy people.

In my early training, I worked at a VA hospital in the psychiatry locked unit. Some of the posts here have that familiar earnest lunacy about them.

Best visual analogy occurs in the film "A Beautiful Mind", when the wife of mathematician John Nash enters his office to find a crazy quilt of unrelated newspaper and magazine article with red marker circling"evidence" and colored string tying various pieces together.

- Why did John Ashcroft stop flying commercial planes before 9/11? What did he know?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

We are not Hindus and Muslims or Gujaratis and Marathis or Punjabis and Bengaliies. Nor do we distinguish ourselves as owners or workers, govt. employees or private employees. We are Mumbaikers (Bombay-ites, if you like). We will not allow you to disrupt our life like this. On the last few occassions when you struck (including the 7 deadly blasts in a single day killing over 250 people and injuring 500+ in 1993), we went to work next day in full strength. This time we cleared everything within a few hours and were back to normal - the vendors placing their next order, businessmen finalizing the next deals and the office workers rushing to catch the next train. (Yes the same train you targetted)

Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospital, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn't require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were packed to the brim, the crowds were back. The city has simply dusted itself off and moved one - perhaps with greater vigour.

We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed.

Seven bombs hit Bombay's commuter rail network during rush hour Tuesday evening, killing 131 people and wounding more than 300 in what authorities called a well-coordinated terrorist attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility in the bombings, which came in quick succession -- a common tactic employed by Kashmiri militants.

India's major cities were put on high alert after the blasts. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called an emergency Cabinet meeting and said that "terrorists" were behind the attacks.

The locations(from south to north) are - Mahim, Matunga Road, Bandra, Khar, Santacruz, Jogeshwari, Borivali, Mira Road
The official fatality count is 139.

10. I hate to say this, but It' 7/11 and Mumbai is a city of 16 million and "the cosmopolitan main nerve of a booming Indian economy."
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12. I'm betting on Muslim extremists.
I'll take that bet, $20. You in? (Easiest 20 I'll ever make)

A question...
This is a huge terrorist attack, at least 100 people killed. Why such a deafening silence on the boards? A Psychedelic Mushroom article has 5 times as many posts. Do DU'ers feel that acknowledging the existence of terror somehow helps Bushco? It seems like we are ignoring a pretty significant event.
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13. Silence on this board stems from difficulty blaming this on George W. Bush
That's the fact.
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15. Darnit!

i just heard Indian authorities arrested members of a Islamic terror cell too. I guess I'll just have to earn that $20. BTW, I'm sure someone will find a way to blame this on Bushco, probably through Musharraf.
Replying to #13 above...
40. Now that's unfair.
I think we all want to see whomever did this found out and brought to justice.
At least I know I do.
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45. Right. Combined with a little leeriness of how Bushco will use this to justify more war and destruction of civil liberties.

We have something of a classic chicken-and-egg problem in figuring out whether greenhouse gas (GHG) levels drive the cooling and warming associated with ice ages or whether changing temperatures alter the levels of the gasses. A warmer planet will have more GHGs in its atmosphere than a cooler one due to basic chemistry even if the GHG have no significant contribution to the temperature level itself. For example, if all major temperature change was driven completely by insolation, the GHG levels would rise and fall in trailing sync with the temperatures. If you could not measure insolation but only GHG levels, you might easily conclude that the changes in GHG were driving the change in temperature.

There exist about a 600-800 year lag in the end of ice ages and the rises in levels of GHGs. An even longer lag in the decrease in greenhouse gasses occurs at the start of some ice ages. Clearly, GHGs do not drive major temperature trends but merely amplify trends begun by other factors. It is the degree of amplification that is under question.

The weak correlation I mention is not between temperature and GHG levels (which is strong but largely irrelevant) but between GHG level change followed by temperature change. There is a stronger correlation between temperature change followed by GHG change than the other way around.

Some researchers believe that the cores confirm their computer models but the models were designed to fit the data curves of earlier ice core samples. Simplistically, the models may have just copied the shape of the general curves themselves without accurately modeling the actual natural forces involved. This kind of problem shows up in computer modeling all the time. For any data set, there are a large number of possible models which will generate that data set. In order to really test the model, you must use it to predict a data set that wasn't used in the creation of the model in the first place. I don't think this was done in this case.

I don't think the ice cores tell us much about global warming one way or the other. The time frames we are worried about are on the order of 100 years or less. The ice cores can't even resolve a time span that small. Its quite possible that a C02 levels briefly reached the levels we have now but were not captured in the ice. More importantly, the temperature swings associated with ice ages are massive and clearly driven by some powerful non-atmospheric factor. They really don't tell how much extra-heating we could cause by pushing already high C02 levels (compared to what they were at the end of the ice age) a bit higher.

Six explosions rocked Bombay's commuter rail network during Tuesday's evening rush hour, ripping apart train compartments and reportedly injuring dozens, police and Indian media said.

Indian television news channels broadcast images of the wounded sprawled on train tracks and being carried through stations...

Monseñor Carlos Briseño Arch hizo un llamado a la prudencia y a la concordia, al tiempo que exhortó a los mexicanos a respetar el derecho ajeno así como a buscar ante todo la paz y la reconciliación como país.
(a call for prudence and harmony, an exhortation to respect everyone's rights, and for everyone to seek peace and reconciliation for the country. In other words, let's not be hotheads.)
Entrevistado luego de oficiar la misa en la Catedral Metropolitana y en representación del cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrera, quien se encuentra en España en el 5 Congreso Mundial de la Familia, destacó que Andrés Manuel López Obrador está en su derecho de presentar la impugnación de las elecciones del pasado 2 de julio.
(Obrador has the right to present his challenge.)
El obispo auxiliar de México destacó que no hay índices de violencia en el país, y que lo que sucede es que no estamos acostumbrados a una competencia tan reñida, además de que se puede impugnar unas elecciones y que la decisión final está en manos del Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación.
(There are no indications of violence, it is just that Mexico is not used to such a close election. The challenge can be made and the final decision remains in the hands of the IFE.)
“Es una realidad en la democracia acudir a las instancias del tribunal electoral. López Obrador no ha ido hasta el momento en contra de ninguna ley”, externó.
(Until now, Obrador has not violated any law.)
“El tiene todo el derecho a manifestarse, tiene todo el derecho a impugnar si está inconforme; claro, demostrando que existe algún tipo de irregularidades e inconsistencias en las elecciones”, puntualizó el monseñor.
(Everyone has the right to present claims and challenge inconsistencies, demonstrating that irregularities or inconsistencies in the election exist. This struck me as a veiled suggestion to put up or shut up. Below the bishop reiterates that Mexico everyone should seek reconciliation and the common welfare, and this creates an invitation to the citizens and the politicians to pursue an integrated country.)
En este sentido Briseño Arch destacó que lo que se debe de buscar ante todo es la paz y la conciliación, ya que al final de cuentas somos un mismo país y todos vamos “jalando la misma carreta”, por lo que hizo una invitación a la ciudadanía y a los políticos a luchar por la integración del país.

Señaló que la decisión final está en el TEPJF, por lo que se debe dejar que trabaje como ya lo ha hecho el IFE, que cumplió en la realización del proceso electoral del 2 de julio.

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) ended this school year by engaging in shameful viewpoint discrimination and denying its students freedom of the press. First, JHU turned a blind eye to the theft of a conservative student newspaper, The Carrollton Record (TCR), then stifled its right to distribute in dorms while allowing other papers to continue distributing there.
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TCR’s May issue contained an article objecting to a recent campus appearance by pornographic film director Chi Chi LaRue. The cover photo pictured LaRue along with members of JHU’s Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA) student group, which hosted the event. The pictured DSAGA members were apparently displeased to see their pictures on the newspaper’s front page, and some have filed harassment charges against TCR staffers.

Other supporters, including Penn, Sarandon, novelist Alice Walker and actor Danny Glover will join a 'rolling" fast, a relay in which 2,700 activists pledge to refuse food for at least 24 hours, and then hand over to a comrade.

Though the anti-war movement is trying hard to puncture public perceptions, some experts believe such protests have little impact on how Americans view foreign wars.

34. .51 with 99.72 counted
Looks like Calderon will end up with the same .6 margin he started with. Which proves fraud beyond a reasonable doubt. FULL RECOUNT!

48. "IT MEANS NOTHING HERE"? I recommend a course in logic for you.
Probably the main reason that Obrador's election was "Bushed" is that he threatened to nullify the NAFTA and CAFTA agreements. "And how" the curious mind could ask, "would that effect us here in King Georgeland"?

Obrador's intent to nullify NAFTA and instate fair pay and working conditions for the poor was a direct threat to all the corporations doing manufacturing in Mexico. It would have removed the main reason for american business to offshore labor to mexico: cheap labor.

With most of central and south america now moving to the left, that would mean that the oligarchy would have to start paying decent wages to labor and - heaven forbid - a real middle class might just get started in those nations.

It would also mean that with good wages and working conditions the Mexican poor would no longer have a reason to cross the Rio Grande and look for lousy paying and illegal work here. And that would certainly piss off the american corporations that depend on cheap labor to pocket the big profits, like agriculture and construction, which use a lot of 'day labor'.

So you see, Pavulon, with a little knowledge and a smidgen of logic we now can see that far from Obrador's stolen election meaning nothing here, it HAD to be stolen, else his policies would have had huge effects on the people of Mexico, but more importantly, they would have had bigger effects on the people of the United States.