TampaYankee

Ditto!

It's clear that Jimmy donned a tie and white collar and moved to Wall St.

Prompted by the previous article on places to retire, I have given this some thought lately. I concluded that it would be difficult to immerse myself into a foregin culture on a long term basis. Having plenty of English speakers would ease that some, and expats even more. Nevertheless, it would be a big adjustment. Travel up to several weeks to exotic locales would be much less of an issue.

Lookin, I'm very taken with your friend. Please let him know that he has a standing invitation for dinner at my place.

Avoid the summer which I suspect lasts about six months.

I've never dismissed anyone for having a dick too big, but then I am not a bottom. I do appreciate hefty meat for sure but not nearly as important has a nice phsyique and face. I do not require Michael Angelo's David either although I knew one in the past. I have a range of body types I like but outside that range is a bit too far. For me, faces very nice, but again I have a range from rough to beautiful that works for me. That said, more important than all of that is attitude and personality. Oz, your guy sounds perfectly, delightfully hot to me. I'm sure he would pique my lust.

AP IMPACT: Mexico says its troops killed US man By ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press – Sat Dec 25, 12:58 pm ET MEXICO CITY – Joseph Proctor told his girlfriend he was popping out to the convenience store in the quiet Mexican beach town where the couple had just moved, intending to start a new life. The next morning, the 32-year-old New York native was dead inside his crashed van on a road outside Acapulco. He had multiple bullet wounds. An AR-15 rifle lay in his hands. His distraught girlfriend, Liliana Gil Vargas, was summoned to police headquarters, where she was told Proctor had died in a gunbattle with an army patrol. They claimed Proctor — whose green van had a for-sale sign and his cell phone number spray-painted on the windows — had attacked the troops. They showed her the gun. His mother, Donna Proctor, devastated and incredulous, has been fighting through Mexico's secretive military justice system ever since to learn what really happened on the night of Aug. 22. It took weeks of pressuring U.S. diplomats and congressmen for help, but she finally got an answer, which she shared with The Associated Press. Three soldiers have been charged with killing her son. Two have been charged with planting the assault rifle in his hands and claiming falsely that he fired first, according to a Mexican Defense Department document sent to her through the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. It is at least the third case this year in which soldiers, locked in a brutal battle with drug cartels, have been accused of killing innocent civilians and faking evidence in cover-ups. Such scandals are driving calls for civilian investigators to take over cases that are almost exclusively handled by military prosecutors and judges who rarely convict one of their own. "I hate the fact that he died alone and in pain an in such an unjust way," Donna Proctor, a Queens court bailiff, said in a telephone interview with the AP. "I want him to be remembered as a hardworking person. He would never pick up a gun and shoot someone." President Felipe Calderon has proposed a bill that would require civilian investigations in all torture, disappearance and rape cases against the military. But other abuses, including homicides committed by on-duty soldiers, would mostly remain under military jurisdiction. That would include the Proctor case and two others this year in which soldiers were accused of even more elaborate cover-ups. The first involved two university students killed in March during a gunbattle between soldiers and cartel suspects that spilled into their campus in the northern city of Monterrey. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said soldiers destroyed surveillance cameras, planted guns on the two young men and took away their backpacks in an attempt to claim they were gang members. The military admitted the two were students after university officials spoke out. In that case, military and civilian federal prosecutors are conducting a joint investigation into the killings. The military, however, is in charge of the investigation into the allegation of crime-scene tampering. In the second case, two brothers aged 5 and 9 were killed in April in their family's car in the northern state of Tamaulipas. The rights commission said in a report that there was no gunbattle and that soldiers fired additional rounds into the family car and planted two vehicles at the scene to make it look like a crossfire incident. The Defense Department stands by its explanation and denies there was a cover-up. The rights commission, an autonomous government institution, has received more than 4,000 abuse complaints, including torture, rape, killings and forced disappearances, since Calderon deployed tens of thousands of soldiers in December 2006 to destroy drug cartels in their strongholds. The commission has recommended action in 69 of those cases, and the Defense Department says it is investigating 67. So far military courts have passed down only one conviction for an abuse committed since Calderon intensified the drug war four years ago: an officer who forced a new subordinate in his unit to drink so much alcohol in a hazing ritual that he died. He was sentenced to four months in prison. Another officer was convicted, then cleared on appeal, in the Aug. 3, 2007 death of Fausto Murillo Flores. Soldiers arrested Murillo and two other men in the northern state of Sonora, accusing them of arms possession. However, they only presented the two other men to the media and did not immediately acknowledge ever having had Murillo in custody. Murillo's body was later found by the side of a road and the military acknowledged having detained him. The Defense Department has not explained why the officer was acquitted. The military justice system operates in near total secrecy, choosing what to publicly reveal and when. While privately informing Proctor's family about his case, Defense Department officials have publicly refused to discuss it at all. The day after his death, Guerrero state prosecutors announced to reporters that Proctor was killed after attacking a military convoy. His mother, angry that she kept reading news reports with that version of the events, has asked Defense Department officials to reveal publicly that soldiers were charged with planting the gun on her son. The department replied, in writing, that it would only do so after the soldiers had been sentenced. Defense Department spokesman Col. Ricardo Trevilla told the AP to file a freedom of information petition. IT DID but was rebuffed with the explanation that information on the ongoing investigation was "classified as reserved for a period of 12 years." Proctor's family, meanwhile, still doesn't understand why he was killed. Donna Proctor said her son hated guns so much that he rejected her suggestion that he follow in her footsteps and become a court bailiff, a job that requires carrying a sidearm. Instead, he become a construction worker and eventually started his own business in Atlanta, Georgia. Last year, he moved to Mexico's central state of Puebla with his Mexican-born wife and their young son, Giuseppe. The marriage foundered and his wife returned to Georgia. Proctor stayed behind with his son and eventually met and fell in love with Liliana Gil Vargas, a waitress and mother of four. After a vacation in Barra de Coyuca, the beach town outside of Acapulco, the couple decided to move there. Proctor was saving up top to open a restaurant. According to the document sent to his mother, the soldiers tried to stop Proctor and inspect his vehicle. They claim he fled, prompting one of the soldiers to shoot at him, hitting his car. The soldiers chased down the car and fired again, "wounding the driver who nonetheless continued to drive away, fleeing, crashing the car three kilometers down that road," the document said. A superior officer in the patrol told the battalion commander what happened. The battalion commander sent another officer to the scene with the AR-15 rifle "in order to be placed in the vehicle, using the hands of the deceased to try to simulate an attack against military personnel," the document says. For the family, there are many unanswered questions. Did Proctor really flee? Why would he have refused to stop? Donna Proctor said he complained about being shaken down by Mexican police and soldiers but also spoke of being friendly with soldiers on the base near the home he was building in Barra de Coyuca. "He was 32. He loved life. He loved his son and he wanted to work hard to give him something," she said. Donna Proctor said Mexican Defense Department officials visited her recently in Long Island and compensated her for the cost of flying her son back to the U.S. and the funeral. She said she told them she wanted justice — and for the world to know what really happened. "I told them I had no intention of this being the end of it," she said. See original article at:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101225/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_uncovering_cover_ups

STJ, Thanks for bringing some Christmas cheer and spirit to the forums. Nice to have some color lights and music for the season. TY

Seems like a worth cause on the face of it. Also lots of fun for the spectators. Thanks for sharing KYTOP

lurkerspeaks, Thanks for the very nice provocative card and the cute one too. As a rule, I dont much like mixing holidays with porn. This is an exception. Much of the gay graphical art appeals to me. I much prefer this type of Christmas fare to the standard porn models in a Santa cap, although some of those can rise to he occasion. Not the twinks though. They have their place but not as Santa... well, maybe his helpers My best holiday wishes for you and everyone else at MER.

I've always liked beer. Sausage too. Some of the imported Belgian kind is very nice.

He wasn't bad as a Beaujolais too. Young, lively, a hint of bubbly sweet fuitiness. Some time ago I saw a video short circulating on the web of him as a teenager (17 - 18) with a couple of guys a few years older. He did an amateur strip tease down to his pants, just having fun it seemed. He was a sexy twink. If I could lay my hands on it and knew how I'd post it. Alas...

I don't visit any of them unless dragged on my screen via an article on another venue so I have no judgment to offer on them individually. As far as ad rates go, I assume that is totally driven by site hit numbers first and demographics second.

Another interesting article at the Daily Beast: John McCain's Lasting Anger by Shushannah Walshe http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-12-22/john-mccains-dont-ask-dont-tell-dream-votes-and-his-lasting-anger/

This is not the end but rather the end of the beginning of crusaders onslaught on the web. I have written on this in the politics forum.

Target Continues To Make The Political Donations They Had Previously Apologized For Making Jason Linkins jason@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting First Posted: 12-21-10 06:39 PM | Updated: 12-21-10 06:39 PM This past fall, mega-retailer Target caught a heap of bad publicity when it was revealed that they had made campaign donations in support of then-Minnesota gubernatorial hopeful Tom Emmer, whose hostility to the LGBT community began "with opposition to same-sex marriage and runs through to wholesale denial of equal rights and alliances with organizations whose takes on the gay community neatly align with those Ugandan madmen." Target CEO Greg Steinhafel was forced to make an apology, and promised to begin a "review process for future political donations." Over at The Awl, Abram Sauer, who covered this story thoroughly during the election season, has made a review of this review process. You'll never guess what he found out! According to documents filed with the FEC in October 2010, Target continued donating to a bevy of anti-gay politicians even after Steinhafel apologized and committed to reforming the review process for future political donations. These donations even included some of the same anti-gay politicians the company had already been criticized for supporting. Here's a taste of the specifics: After Steinhafel's August 5 letter, Target's Political Action Committee, helmed by the former right hand of Senator Thune, Matt Zabel, recorded $41,200 in federal election activity. Of that total, $31,200 went to anti-gay rights politicians or PACs supporting those candidates. Supporters of gay equality did get some money. In September, Target PAC gave $1,000 to Chuck Schumer. It also sent a whole $500 to Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Congressman that anti-gay leader Bradley Dean accuses of supporting LGBT rights as a way to bring Sharia law to America. But donations such as $1,000 to Kelly Ayotte (reported on September 22), who resigned her state post in protest of the legalization of gay marriage and same sex adoption, are far more the norm. That same day, there is a record of a donation by Target PAC to Spencer Bachus, who voted to ban same-sex adoption. Michigan's David Camp, who, in addition to supporting a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, voted against protecting gays from job discrimination based on sexual orientation, also reported money. Through October, Target PAC thousands of dollars in donations were recorded to Michael Crapo and Dave Reichert, both supporters of anti-gay Constitutional amendments, and Rob Portman, a supporter of banning gays from adopting. Portman's position on other gay rights won't surprise. On October 4, a donation was reported: $2,000 to David Dreier, whose position on gay rights is quite a bit of theatre. Sauer also digs up this magical puff piece by Bill George at the Star Tribune, attesting to Steinhafel's general wonderfulness as a CEO. Amid the assertion that Steinhafel is "always classy" and the insistence that it "isn't easy being CEO of a public company," (I mean, you try living off this pittance in America) there's glancing mention of that minor dust-up over these anti-gay political donations: Suggestions that Target was somehow "anti-gay" cut deeply. The worst one could say about this incident is that Steinhafel may have been naive. But he admitted his mistake and reaffirmed the company's long-standing support for gay rights. As he told me, "Target has the most gay-friendly policies in this state." I don't think the worst you could say about Steinhafel is that he is naive! More like, "is a liar." But, as Sauer points out, this Strib handjob was written by a former member of Target's board and the author of a book titled 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis that "just happens to count Gregg Steinhafel as one of its profiled 'leaders.'" So, you know: hard-hitting. GO READ THE WHOLE THING at The Awl: http://www.theawl.com/2010/12/the-anti-gay-donations-that-target-apologized-for-they-never-stopped"] See the original article at:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/21/target-continues-political-donations_n_799950.html

This is just one of many attacks on the internet these days. The plain truth is that there is too much money for big business and the big com companies to ignore and too much freedom of communication for governments and special interests to ignore. Witness China/Google, attacks on Wikileaks, State AGs vs Craigslist, the newest version of net neurtality which is anything but, and this UK idea is just one of many vocalizations of banning adult sites to open access. I'm not sure just how these attacks will fall out eventually but there will be some successes. (Look at the net neutrality vote today.) You can count on it. There is just too much money and too much indivudual freedom for it to be left alone by the power structures. They do not want to kill it but they do want to control it and milk it.

IMO Joe Klein is not the best, most insightful political reporter/ analyst, nor is he the worst. I used to be an enthusiastic supporter of John McCain, a true American Statesman, a fiscal conservative with an open mind on social issues, I thought. I voted for him in his primary contest against George Bush, my last vote for a Republican, thanks to Karl Rove in South Carolina and succeeding gaffes and incompetencies of G.W. and the radicalization and mendacity of new millineum GOP. That is what I thought of John McCain in 2000. However, Joe Klein is right on spot in his analysis of John McClain in the new millineum. McCain in his fall from grace proved that when the going got tough the first thing jettisoned was his principles. Not exactly the hallmark of a Statesman that I had mistakenly attributed to him. Neither of us is perfect it seems. McCain takes pride in fighting for his country as a young serviceman POW, deservedly so. What is suprising is how in his final years he has repeatedly put his own interests above those of that very same country and unabashedly so. No, Joe Klein is not the worst political reporter/analyst.

Dreams, One Dead Posted by Joe Klein Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 8:13 pm The Senate today passed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which is a good thing. It did not pass the "Dream Act," which is a cold, cold abomination. There is a relationship between the two. Repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will allow homosexuals--who have fought honorably in every one of America's wars--to serve openly. Blocking the "Dream Act" means that young immigrants, who were brought here illegally by their parents, will not be able to gain citizenship by completing college or by serving in the military. The repeal of "don't ask" will get most of the attention in the media--as it should, another step toward the perfection of our democracy. But let us focus for a moment on the "Dream Act," a vote of staggering cynicism and ugliness on the part of most Republicans and five morally-deficient Democrats. Two of the original sponsors, John McCain and Orrin Hatch, voted against the bill...and one wonders why, especially in McCain's case, given the fact that he recently won reelection and doesn't have to pretend to be a troglodyte anymore. McCain has professed himself all misty and honored in the past when he attended ceremonies in which green-card holders and other non-citizens achieved citizenship through military service. But, because of the anti-immigrant mania, this flagrantly cynical and cowardly politician, would deny similar status to young people who--through no fault of their own--were brought to this country as children, grew up as Americans and love the country enough to serve it. If the Dream Act were passed, we would have gained an estimated 65,000 valuable, patriotic and productive citizens--college graduates, military service-members--each year. We could use them. (More on Time.com: See a brief history of gays in the military) McCain distinguished himself doubly this weekend, opposing the Dream Act and leading the opposition to "Don't Ask," despite the very public positions of his wife and daughter on the other side of the issue. I used to know a different John McCain, the guy who proposed comprehensive immigration reform with Ted Kennedy, the guy--a conservative, to be sure, but an honorable one--who refused to indulge in the hateful strictures of his party's extremists. His public fall has been spectacular, a consequence of politics--he "needed" to be reelected--and personal pique. He's a bitter man now, who can barely tolerate the fact that he lost to Barack Obama. But he lost for an obvious reason: his campaign proved him to be puerile and feckless, a politician who panicked when the heat was on during the financial collapse, a trigger-happy gambler who chose an incompetent for his vice president. He has made quite a show ever since of demonstrating his petulance and lack of grace. What a guy. See the original article and read more at:http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/12/18/two-dreams-one-dead/?xid=rss-politics-huffpo

Ever since I experienced different parts of the continent I have felt there is no single ideal place for me to live. I love summers in the Northwest -- either Seattle or Vancouver would be nice with the nod going to Vancouver. Taxes are high in Canada and I wouldn't have access to their Health Care so those are a nod to income-tax-free Seattle. I also like Montreal summers -- a little hotter but it has much to recommend it, not the least of which is the Village and its inhabitants. If I was fluent in French then that might put a lock on it. I would winter in Florida. No income tax there. Great beaches and winter climate. I think FTL would make a nice winter home, maybe Cocoa Beach if not too quiet. If money were no object Miami would have lots of temptations.

LOL... believe me, it is much worse feeling old when you actually are old. Cause then you know it aint a figment of your imagination or a bad day on the golf course or long day in the garden. Being old sucks!. The only saving grace is the alternative is much worse. Sixty two seems to be a magic number.

It is not surprising that the excesses of warrantless wiretaps, Guantanimo, Abu Grahib, and extraordinary rendition have spilled over into our treatment of U.S. citizens. Once we embark down this road it is only natural that applications are broadened to citizens, justified by the same arugments used for justifications of the prior excesses. Liberty and justice is easy to lose, they are hard to sustain. So many are willing to compromise the principles thinking it could never happen to them. That is how creep overtakes the system and things end up where many never intended. It really is true that those who choose not remember history will repeat it. This breakdown in American values has even infected our Congress where now the interest of the parties is paramount to the interest of the country. Our political differences no longer stop at the waters edge with one party trying to undercut the foreign policy of the sitting administration. We have descended even to pitching a snit fit to block a seriously important international treaty support by all living past Presidents and Secretaries of State, just because some issues didn't go the way of the majority of the minority party. I'm thoroughly disgusted with the decline in living our values and principles. Frankly, the recent history of serious compromise of those fundamental principles that I learned about in public school and I grew up understanding as fundamental American values give me pause about where this country is going. I wonder if we are capable of sustaining those American ideals, the Ideals that I thought were the concrete foundation of American Exceptionalism. That or I totally misunderstood the lessons of those values I thought enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and misread the prior devotion of the country to those principles. FWIW

Internet Porn Block Coming? U.K. Conservatives Propose 'Opt-In' To Protect Children The Huffington Post | Catharine Smith First Posted: 12-20-10 10:08 AM | Updated: 12-20-10 10:08 AM Conservative British lawmakers want Internet service providers to automatically block customers' access to pornography websites. Designed to protect young children from accessing mature content, a block on porn would require customers to "opt in" (request access) to illicit websites, British communications minister Ed Vaizey told The Sunday Times, according to PC Pro. Broadband firms like BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk are reportedly willing to cooperate with such a proposal and are among several major Internet service providers that will meet with Vaizey "in the near future," The Guardian reports. "I'm hoping they [the providers] will get their acts together so that we don't have to legislate, but we are keeping an eye on the situation and we will have a new communications bill in the next couple of years," Vaizey said, according to The Guardian. Conservative MP Claire Perry, who favors more stringent Internet controls, has indicated a disparity between the percentage of children who have accessed pornography and the percentage of parents who know how to restrict their child's access to such sites, The Guardian says. Writes Mashable, It's a slippery slope the British government will be navigating here. Who will decide precisely what porn is? Will ISPs be required to install bare-skin-detecting software, and if so, who will pay for that? Will instructional videos such as breast-feeding demonstrations be considered porn? And how will British residents feel about adding their names to a list of people who specifically asked for access to pornography? Indeed, ISP Timico's chief technology officer, Trefor Davies, told the BBC that this measure would not be practical or cost-effective. Furthermore, Davies said, "If we take this step it will not take very long to end up with an internet that's a walled garden of sites the governments is happy for you to see." See original article at:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/20/internet-porn-block-uk-co_n_799034.html

I am pleasantly surprised to find that Texas and Wyoming have no income tax.

You have to ask: How can we rely on regulators and oversight if this stuff goes on under their nose. Having backed down from breaking up Too-Big_Too-Fail banks, Obama and the Dems have placed our futures in regulators 'again' to help us avoid the next financial meltdown. Just more of: doing the same thing and expecting different results. Just more proof that the GOP are enablers of corporate theft and corruption.