patrick.net

RC:

IIRC, conservative a few decades back was most definitely against equal rights. To be extremely snippy; things change, so going purely be definition, each generation of conservatives will have to find a new position to be fighting a losing battle for.

The position of (R) vs. (D) during the Civil War has also flipped, in terms of the liberal vs. conservative nature, which makes it harder to compare. But, if we look back to that time, we find things like the Fugitive Slave Act that could be considered a violation of state's rights.

I don't mind progressivism, but I think both sides have taken things to the extreme. The right has found that catering to religion and the fearful gets more votes than fiscal discipline, and so they careen in a whole new direction. The left is still struggling to get in gear; a growing dependence on unions and a poor PR arm has left them unable to make necessary policy changes and unable to announce them if it could.

WRT to JFK: Why the larger military? A major argument for taxes is the creation of positive externalities. (e.g. the Eisenhower interstate system.) The military does not directly provide these, and making it more massive than it already is provides no added value. Infrastructure provides value; education provides at least as much value as the military, and on an ongoing basis. Yes, I know about the technology that comes from military research. I don't want that to go, but I seem to remember that it was a Republican president that coined the term "military-industrial complex". Currently, the amount spent on the poor is insignificant compared to the amount pouring into defense and its dependent industries. If you want to reduce waste, your time is best spent there instead of chasing after Reagan's welfare queen red-herring.

John Kerry's daughters are handsome, as in "slightly less mannish than Ann Coulter but of a similar build" handsome. They are allegedly very smart.

astrid Says:

She creeps me out. She’s like an older version of Rachel Ray (shudder).

Don't get me started on Rachel Ray - she is actually more annoying than Couric. I prefer Giada DeLaurentis. But who wouldn't? Although, some might say that's like preferring Ginger to Maryann.

Giada is probably doing fine with her family money alone. I always get the feeling she does the cooking show thing just for fun.

Giada is hot, though slightly scary looking from some angles. She's also about 99% less annoying than Rachel Ray. Her recipes are also better. And dispite Rachel Ray's alleged down to earthness, I find Giada to be much more grounded and real.

/me wonders what Rachel Ray turns into when the sugar wears off...

Trolls are big and stupid. They have 6d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +4, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +5. To kill them you have to hack them into tiny pieces which are destroyed with acid, fire, or disintegration magic.

Goblins are weaker, but they tend to work together and be quite a bit smarter than Trolls, although sometimes Goblins keep Trolls as war pets.

I think there’s general consensus that Anderson Cooper is gay

I've had the same suspicion myself.
Still, no matter what team he bats for, he's one of the few reporters out there actually trying to impart news and information, and he's definately eye-candy as far as I'm concerned.

Ah well, Ali Velshi it is then. I'm a big fan of slapheads.

Muggy,

I'm working under the assumption that the recent oil price drops are a GOP-Big Oil joint effort to keep Republicans in office.

muggy,
My layman guess about commodities prices is that a) so far, the hurricane season has turned into a dud, so whatever fears about pipeline damage on the gulf coast have been allayed, hence futures (including nat gas) dropping, and b) the Iran thing and the Middle East thing are quiet, for now. The Northeast's winter will probably be the next major factor - cold and futures go up, balmy, and prices down.

Randy H Says:

Goblins are weaker, but they tend to work together and be quite a bit smarter than Trolls, although sometimes Goblins keep Trolls as war pets.

AAHH! Surrounded by nerds! Must...counteract... Must...break....out....90210....DVD...collection..

"AAHH! Surrounded by nerds! Must…counteract… Must…break….out….90210….DVD…collection.."

Or you could see Season 1 and 2 of the new Battlestar Galactica, now with HOTT cylons.

Well, BSG had one hell of a Season 2 finale. I enjoyed season 2 a lot (though I only saw 6 or 7 episodes, the rest were recapped via TWOP), but then, I am a nerd.

skibum Says:

> Don’t get me started on Rachel Ray -
> she is actually more annoying than Couric.

But she looks good here:

http://tinyurl.com/ggb9j

Did anyone else read how they tried to hide the fact that Katie Couric is chunking up and got caught?

http://tinyurl.com/mngth

Glen,

I disagree - Sue Herera is 80's hot, I think she was on FNN (The financial news network) back then. Anyway, I saw her on the trading floor at CBOE in the 90's still pretty hot. Now, still looking good but a bit older.

Robert Cote Says:

> Outer beauty can be fleeting. Inner beauty radiates.

Outer beauty can be fleeting for some people while others look great as they get older (for example the couple below):

http://www.mydebtfreelifestyle.com/images/ketchumb22_rgb.jpg

Randy,

Maria told me she was a Journalism major at NYU and an Economics minor.

Paul

Also, Maria is really short but that seems to be a prerequisit to be on TV for some reason.

FAB,

That Rachel Ray picture was scary. I'm sorry to disagree with your opinion but to me, her wide full tooth grin make her look like she's going for the jugular. She's okay looking, but not the kind that would ever turn heads (except maybe away, so they can flee the reach of her fiercesome teeth).

Paul,

Yup, that's what wikipedia says. She's also married, in case you guys were curious.

Astrid,

I think you are spot on with your oil price observation in the context of helping the republicans in the election in a joint effort with Big oil. Consider the following: BP announces it is shutting prudoe bay. Oil spikes to the previous high (double top on the charts). My guess is they short the hell out of crude oil at that time. A few days later an announcement is made that a huge find has been made in the gulf and oil plumits. In addition, BP says they will reopen part of Alaska. Oil drops throught the major uptrend line on the charts and the hedge funds go from long to short adding to the selling. Now I hear they will have Alaska back to normal in a month. My guess is BP is taking in their shorts at or near current prices.

Paul

Muggy,

For your benefit:

http://zapatopi.net/afdb/

Enjoy!

Paul,

Wow! I didn't even think about the shorting angle. I'm clearly not paranoid enough.

Or maybe the government mind controlling beams have weakened my resolve...time to get out my foil lined bonnet.

FAB,
On a roll with those links. Is that old couple shot from some fund prospectus, or what?

Speaking of unholy spawns, anyone seen the Carville-Matalin family lately?

ajh,

I've read about the shooting, though I didn't think about the global oil implications. Obviously, I'm not paranoid enough.

Now if you’re really paranoid about the political machinations of big oil

the russian banks are more about assisting the kleptocracy and russian mafia... isn't putin trying to re-nationalise the oil fields and other public assets? (by dispossessing oligarchs and chucking them in jail - way to go!)

jay leno and... and...

CNBC reporters are best found in the wild, like truffles - they can't be synthesised...

apocryphally:
"WE could produce remarkable children," a beautiful actress once cooed to the cerebral Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. "Ah yes," he replied, "but what if they had my looks and your brains?"

DS,

Maybe...but on the other hand, check Kiefer Sutherland, Elettra Wiedemann and Chiara Mastroianni. No ugly genes there.

Celebrity eugenics would be an interesting topic. Unlike royalty breeding or dog breeding, modern celebrities do enter and exit the breeding elite with more frequency, and thus seemingly avoid the downsides. Would this class leads to an eventual gene pool of supercelebrity genes that will be harder and harder for the non-celebrity born to break through to? (ref Mrs. Astor's 400, etc.)

newsfreak,

Yes, now that you mentioned it, she has large and relatively expressive (dog like) eyes. I also like how the prominent folds in her eyes (probably eyebags, without plastic surgery and a carefully watched diet, the woman will start to look like Madeline Albright pretty soon) make her look slightly tired and somehow more real and more approachable.

If Maria B was a dog, what kind of dog would she be?

The only thing that really bothers me about the reporters that cover the markets is that most (if not all to my knowledge) have never actually ran a trade! No, trading your own "ETrade account" doesn't count! Doesn't that concern anyone else?

SOFTESTLANDING Says:

“Wat do you know from Funny!”

Your post would work if it were actually funny.

Ha Ha,
Ford's cuts (45K) total are impressing everyone. To put it in perspective, between HP (15K) and Intel (10K+), that's more than half of Ford's total. And certainly the latter 2 will afffect BA jobs a lot more than Ford's cuts. Interestingly, I've yet to see any reports of the breakdown of how many of these jobs are in the BA vs. HP and Intel's other locales.

RayW Says:

Or maybe she’s just an ugly man who got his plumbing changed.

Or maybe she's just like that woman from Seinfeld with the manhands.

Anyone remember when Dr. J (Julius Irving of Phila. 76r's fame) tried to deny this now adult woman was "his"? For crissakes the poor girl looked like Dr. J in drag! She was athletic as hell, broad shouldered and that nose.... the nose just gave it away. Pay up Dr. J!

skibum,

Oregon is sweating bullets over the HP/Intel cuts. I'm by no means a tech analyst but common sense would dictate that a number of their vendors and suppliers would feel the pain here locally as well.

Consolidated Freightways closed over the Labor Day weekend (2002?) as a result of reduced LTL (less than truckload) shipments from INTC. We're just not in a position to take any cuts. What I've found with tech employees in our area is once they've had a taste of decent wages and benefits they'll go on food stamps before they take a job "beneath their dignity". It would be ugly here.

DinOR Says:

Anyone remember when Dr. J (Julius Irving of Phila. 76r’s fame) tried to deny this now adult woman was “his”? For crissakes the poor girl looked like Dr. J in drag! She was athletic as hell, broad shouldered and that nose…. the nose just gave it away. Pay up Dr. J!

I'll bet she's got a sweet finger roll!

DinOr,

Speaking of ugly, That realtor I mentioned earlier called me yesterday. That new house (well over 3,000 sft, 2 acre lot in a waterfront subdivision of large lots) that was originally $650,000, the builder now will sell for $489,000 or less.

I still get the idea that this may be a "falling knife"....

DinOR Says:

> The only thing that really bothers me about the
> reporters that cover the markets is that most
> (if not all to my knowledge) have never actually
> ran a trade!

"Those that can, do; those that can't, teach,"

"Those that can't do or teach but look good report"

DinOR Says:

> The only thing that really bothers me about the
> reporters that cover the markets is that most
> (if not all to my knowledge) have never actually
> ran a trade!

"Those that can, do; those that can't, teach,"

"Those that can't do or teach; (but look good) report"