ieldanth

Right now, part of what we are possibly seeing is the effect of a recovering market and those who wisely bought while it was in the deepest part of the recession. When the prices recover, investors naturally make a killing from buying stock at a bargain and selling it at it's real worth. I invested quite a bit in the company I work for while the stock was in a deep slump and the stock was priced at about $14. Now, I had to dump a bunch of it to pay for my trip but I sold it at $40. That is sneaking up on a 3x gain. If you had a series of investments like this, and there were plenty of bargains around to make a decent portfolio, imagine someone who walked into the market with a modest(for people who do this for a living) $10 million. There have been about 4 or 5 bounces on the way back up to where we are now, so do some dollar cost averaging and you end up with potentially close to $100 million.

The poor and middle class aren't getting screwed by this unless they happen to be the ones selling stock low. Where they get screwed is by companies that pay dividends to the shareholders, and not all do. In fact, dividends have not lately been a great way to build wealth, but more like a great way to get steady income. Want to know who the shareholders are? Do you have a 401k?

Let them eat cake?

No, that's not what I meant. Unless you're rich, you probably are a victim of the class war because the rich are screwing the rest of us over.

For ####### sake I didn't mean you. I meant the government.

YAY! Cake!

does it come with fillin?

Daniel

:energetic:

yeap..fudge

that's not fudge...

Omelette with Cheddar, Colby and Monterey Jack cheese, shredded turkey breast, ham, and black bean/white corn salsa.

Yeah, I have breakfast for lunch sometimes.

It has been getting cooler here, but not quite enough to turn on the heat for that wonderful burnt dust smell yet. May go ahead and crank it up with the windows open.

What an awful day for the Amish communities.

Makes me wonder if the police officers haste (calling his cell phone after he told them to back off) made the situation worse, or saved hours of hell for the survivors.

So f@@cked up

It is reported that he had hundreds of rounds of ammunition with him. The police rushing in probably saved the lives of those who survived. With that much ammunition, he probably intended to kill all of them, then himself.

20 years is a long time to hold a grudge. Some people just never learn to move on, I guess. It is also reported that he was quiet and kept to himself, and it always seems to surprise people when these guys go off on a shooting rampage when that quietness and reclusion is a sign of anti-social tendencies.

Step 1 of consolidating power prior to forming a tyrannical dictatorship. Convince the people of some outside boogeyman and their need for protection which can only come from the tyrant. After that, he needs to paint his domestic opponents as allies of the outside threat in order to silence them. Next, offer protection if the people will agree to keep him as leader indefinitely. After that, it is just a matter of maintaining the outside threat. This works with real or imagined threats.

The difference between that and our current situation is, Chavez has created a complete fiction that he needs not do. He could become a permanent leader simply by continuing what he is doing in his own country as far as creating prosperity. That he needs to resort to fearmongering reveals him as a weak leader.

To answer the topic question: because they realized they would be restricting their own access to those ports?

Another warning for parents with children: Be sure they behave, I hear Santa isn't fooling around this year.

Heh, that was kinda like the end of a game of Civilization when they show the map and who owned what.

Cold turkey. It was August 12 of last year. Never looked back.

I applaud your will-power. Had to use the patch myself. Arm felt like it was host to a colony of chiggers.

I think the article was referring mainly to social and health related behaviors and how they are effectively changed. Fear obviously plays a role in manipulating all kinds of behaviors but that does not necessarily mean that fear is the prime motivator in changing behaviors, especially when it comes to health factors.

I'm curious to know why it's not effective when it comes to health. I'm not discounting it, my inkling is that fear in general causes people to react. Perhaps the attempt at invoking the fear is ineffective? In other words, people just aren't getting scared?

Oh, people are getting scared alright. I know I was for most of the time when I was smoking. My grandpa died of lung cancer and that's a memory that has always been in the back of my mind when I lit up. I lit up nonetheless for almost 20 years. Fact is, no matter how scared I was, I was also fcuking addicted to that stuff.

What did it for me? The prospect of becoming a father. I grew up amongst smokers and I always thought that I wouldn't want my baby to have that same experience. Hence, when Nani and I decided that it's time to get serious about our baby, I put out that last cigarette. Never even thought of lighting up again.

So, in my case, fear did nothing to stop me smoking. My baby did.

Just curious, but did you quit cold-turkey or did you use something like the patch?

When the Farmers' Almanac was mentioned, it was about observations and compiling the data gained thereby, which is all the scientific community is doing as well, in a nutshell. The moon landing tangent would have made more sense if these scientists were actually researching how to control weather rather than just observing it and making predictions.

To that end, I think I would rather take my chances with Mother Nature than have someone controlling the weather. Too many possibilities for mischief.

www.hotmaririagableoverseaswomenthatwilldoanything.com

came with her own bubble wrap too didnt think I could go wrong for $5

The bubble wrap alone would be worth that.

"Foley was the author of the key sexual predator provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which Bush signed in July."

Well, since he had so much experience in that area...

The only problem is, it only works for so long before people begin to disregard the message. People do not like living in fear, and inundating them with it will eventually get the messenger ignored or ridiculed. Especially if the danger does not manifest itself in any meaningful or personal way.

I wonder if that will manifest itself in the next presidential campaign...

The effects are already being felt. More and more people are skeptical of anything having to do with terrorism, and this is mostly because the message is at a certain level of intensity while the events are far off and impersonal and only happen to 'someone else', for most people. The fear has to be justified on a personal level or eventually it goes away. We may see the effect of eroding fear manifest in about another month.

As far as the Presidential election is concerned, Bush will not be running again, and neither will Cheney from what we are told(pure speculation), so the Republican candidate will be a wild card as will be the Democratic candidate. War weariness may or may not play a role.

Edit: clarification of 'effects'

Fact is, warming and cooling cycles have happened since before humanity even existed and those same scientists have to understand that factors beyond our control are contributing, such as an increase in solar radiation. Hotter sun, hotter Earth. Should we search for alternative methods of generating energy? Absolutely, if only for the purpose of becoming independent of oil. The Earth is warming, of that there is no reasonable doubt and whatever we do to reduce carbon emissions can only help us in the long term anyway. I would only say that standards of emissions should be applied evenly across the globe, not just in select countries. In other words, don't politicize it(ha ha). Making tougher standards for one country over another is a good way of saying you aren't really serious about pollution and are only using it as a political football.

The only problem is, it only works for so long before people begin to disregard the message. People do not like living in fear, and inundating them with it will eventually get the messenger ignored or ridiculed. Especially if the danger does not manifest itself in any meaningful or personal way. For example: "The surgeon general has determined that cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health." was printed on the sides of cigarette packs for years. People continued smoking and did not see the life-threatening effects until decades later when they were at retirement age. Coughing and choking could be relieved with asthma pills. Effect was that the dire warning became ignored since the danger did not manifest itself suddenly.

You have to see things from their viewpoint as well. They earnestly believe that if you do not accept Jesus then you will spend eternity in Hell. Now, with that in mind, if I earnestly believe there is a concealed pit of quicksand in the path you are on, would I care more about you if I did, or didn't, tell you?

The respectful person would tell you and be on their way, presuming you know how to deal with the problem, or that you would not be going so far as where the pit is.

The uncaring person wouldn't tell you.

The domineering person would attempt to block you and drive you toward an alternate path.

The hateful person would bind you and throw you in the pit of quicksand.

I hear he may be trying for the presidency again in 08.

Dems, you know what you have to do.

Now they are forecasting Xangsane to hit central Vietnam at Cat 4 strength.

http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefres...200618W_18W.htm

If this is true, all people in the projected path need to begin plans for evacuation, especially on the coast and low-lying areas. The surge from the storm can cut escape routes hours before the storm hits.

High school:

Kay West

Anita Brake

Navy:

Davy Jones (I kid you not)

Why is it automatically assumed it's a hate crime??? Just because the OP is in an interracial relatinship and this is on an interracial site does NOT prove anything.

If it ended up on ihateinterracialrelationships.com*...you may be onto something. Otherwise, there's not enough to go on to safely assume as such.

*made up name for the sake of argument.

Not assuming, just bringing up the possibility and the most obvious connection. I said 'if' they can prove it was hate oriented, not 'when'. In any case, a crime has been committed if only that of identity fraud and harassment. That she should contact the police and a criminal lawyer still stands. The motive in this case determines jurisdiction and penalty.

I am seeing why this is happening and yes it is a crime: harassment. You are in an interracial marriage and someone doesn't take too well to that and so put your personal info up on an interracial dating site to cause you unneeded grief. It almost has to be someone you are in contact with at least as an acquaintance. That the site itself is uncooperative could lead to charges filed against them if you can prove that the profile was created as a hate crime against you. I would contact the police over this and contact a criminal lawyer to discuss your options.

Mistakes are like that though. Some people make mistakes that haunt them for all 3 seconds of the rest of their lives. Some people learn to adapt to the consequences of their mistakes, but the consequences are still there. Some people never get over the fact that there are consequences to mistakes and are therefore condemned to repeat those mistakes. Those that are going through a separation are paying for the mistakes made in a way the law sees fit. The law was violated, the law will be satisfied. Learn from that mistake and move on.

In the instances I have read, it was jobs that lured them across the border. You have two choices here: eliminate the jobs or make work visas easier to obtain. If work visas are made almost as trivial as tourist visas, then it stands to reason that the penalty for illegally crossing the border should be more severe. This is to discourage those who would only come here and be exploited or those who would come here with criminal intent.

Front wheel drive is about as good as a four wheel drive in snow. The trick is to keep moving if possible. If you stop, you're stuck. AWD would be the best though.