lookin

I'm not sure what part of the budget 'sacred cows' represents, and what part is represented by wars we could limit by engaging in more skillful diplomacy. In my opinion, it's at least worth bringing in to the national debate. Ideologies can shift when that happens. I also believe we should have some public discussion of our role as financier of 43% of the world's military spending. By my calculation, even dropping down to 40% would save us close to fifty billion dollars. Imagine how many good teachers that would pay for.

I was getting a tad discouraged too when my posts languished without comment, like a fart in a wetsuit. 'Was my material boring?', I asked myself. 'Could I be more interesting?' 'More relevant?' 'Funnier?' 'Smarter?' 'Less self-absorbed?' 'Nah!', I finally decided. The members here are just more worldly, active, and involved than those on other sites. They have things to do, people to meet, and places to be. They read my posts and are moved, enlightened, titillated, and amused by them. But they just don't have time in their busy schedules to let me know how much they enjoyed my latest effort. It will have to be up to me to punch the 'Add Reply' button, and then close my eyes and listen carefully for the respectful and enthusiastic applause sure to follow from the far reaches of the MER empire. At least that's how I've got it worked out, and I'll thank you all not to burst my bubble.

I wonder why? If ever a budget needed a closer look, it's this one: source: Wikipedia Even a 2% reduction could fund the National Park Service in its entirety. A 10% reduction could more than pay for recently enacted health care reform. To not even consider a reduction in U. S. military spending seems foolhardy in the extreme. And the fact that we can afford to cover 40+ percent of the world's military spending without being able to afford universal health care for our own people shows a disregard for our citizenry that beggars belief. If you ask me, we threw out the wrong bums.

I definitely agree with your first statement, but don't share your (perhaps temporary?) lack of hope. For me, the only logical thing to do is shift some of my modest efforts from away from federal solutions and toward state and local solutions, where possible. As a first step, I plan to get more involved in the campaign for single-payer health care in California. The state legislature has twice sent a single-payer bill to a Republican governor who, predictably, vetoed it. Our newly-elected Democratic governor has been non-committal on the issue throughout his campaign, saying he wants to see how it would be paid for. Fair enough. That's a place to start. The election of a progressive Lieutenant Governor who delivered increased health coverage in San Francisco should make the job easier, as will the shift to majority (rather than two-thirds) budget approval in the legislature. I'm not at all averse to letting the states lead the feds whenever possible, nor to letting the county lead the state, nor to letting the community lead the county. To 'think globally and act locally' seems especially relevant now. The odds are better.

Maybe they thought you were the Bedbug Inspector.

Just got around to watching Obama's Deal, Frontline's report on how the healthcare legislation got done. Worth watching, if only to confirm how worthy objectives were sacrificed, one by one, to force the legislation through. (sidenote: Rahm Emanuel can't exit Washington soon enough for me.) It will be more than interesting to watch the Republicans try to make good on their threat to dismantle the small bits of healthcare reform that actually got through. Turns out it was the insurance lobby who demanded that everyone needed to buy coverage, so what will Boehner have to give the insurance companies when he takes those new customers away? Higher premiums and copays? More exclusions of higher risk patients? Cheaper care? How will that play out on the nightly news? And when he's done with his clawbacks, does he think that corporations will now rethink their decisions to pass more healthcare costs on to their employees? This will not be pretty to watch, in my opinion, especially against the backdrop of all the other industrialized nations that have found a way to provide healthcare to their citizens. The Republican House will have its work cut out for it.

I think somebody's been teasing you with partial info. The $869,000 is for the six-month period from April through September. Since he started in 2009, the trustee has collected about $1.5 billion. And, not that they'll all be successful, there are lawsuits filed seeking to recover another $15.5 billion. Most of this comes from 'clawbacks' from investors who did make some money, and will be given to other investors who lost money. I don't think they're finding much that Madoff himself had squirreled away. I agree that $27 million every six months in legal fees is a bit steep, but I think they have to pull out all the stops in order to discourage the next Ponzi scheme. Getting peoples' attention is expensive. Just ask Meg Whitman.

Personally, I'd have a moderate preference for being able to see images without being logged in, as I often don't log in when I visit. I know I miss some images that migrate downward between logins, but I definitely see the other side of the equation and respect the position that TY and OZ have taken. But I think this thread is about more than images. I intially took Matrix's suggestion at face value, and was surprised by the seemingly outsized reaction to it. I felt bad for Matrix, and thought about posting here for awhile just to keep him company. Now it appears that there's a disturbance in the force here that this poor Wookie just doesn't understand yet. Seeking enlightenment, I have pinged Doobie-Wan Kenobi, Obi-wan's older brother, and a personal friend. Perhaps he knows something.

I prefer to think of myself as emotionally aware and refreshingly candid. Still, I can appreciate your position. Bitch!!

I'm confused. I had originally thought that Matrix had chosen to post in this new oddly-titled forum, although I couldn't figure out exactly why. Now it sounds like the forum was created so his post could be moved there, although, again, I can't figure out exactly why. Anyone care to smarten up a chump?

No worries here! I was only half-joking in my earlier post. I could see having fun splashing some vinegar around as Epigonos suggested, or even a spritz or two of sulfuric acid should the need arise. While I don't feel that good-natured posts necessarily have to be boring, I do understand that others may enjoy a little bloodletting from time to time, and would increase their participation were it more prevalent. I never joined the all-mean all-hateful all-the-time websites and would avoid them like the plague, but it might be fun to toss around a few good insults and engage in the odd bit of character assassination every once in a while. Given the range of personalities here, combined with the limited subtlety of text-based posting, it probably wouldn't be easy to get the right balance between entertainment that would bring some folks in and downright snarkiness that would drive others away. But it might be fun to try. That's why I suggested a one-week trial period providing a chance to see if we could get it right, and giving it an over-the-top name that would remind people that it was all in fun. My hunch is that a few feathers, I say a few feathers!, might get ruffled. But there's also a chance that another rooster or two might be drawn into the henhouse. Maybe it would be possible to devote a separate forum to the nasty posts, and folks could choose to go there or not. With props to both Epigonos and Edward Gorey, I'll suggest calling it The Vinegar Works, then standing by to see who drops in.

Interesting thought, and may be worth testing. We could declare the first week in November Nasty Poster Week and take off the gloves. We'd have to truss up the moderators of course or, better yet, convert them to the cause. At the end of the week, we could do a tally and see if the numbers are up and we've got the site we want. Let me know, though, as I'll need to lay in some supplies.

There's just not room for everything in these skimpy outfits they give us!

Well, they say opinions are like assholes, so here's mine! Both the original post and the response were a smidge too loud for my ears. But so what? Don't friends and families get on our nerves once in a while? It's about the longer term for me. OneFinger, TampaYankee, and TotallyOz are all important posters and all have kept me entertained and informed over the years. If any one of the three backed off from the site, I'd feel a loss.

If it's traffic you want, why not pin 'A really big cock by lurkerspeaks'? That should bring 'em into the tent.

Noticed your reviews on Steve Stacks and DamienDivinus the other day. Looks like you guys all had a good time! Thanks for writing them too! Good info, well written, and enough detail to arouse my 'interest', if you'll pardon the expression.

These are not your father's markets, dominated as they are by algorithmic trading and opaque financial 'instruments' that would make a robber baron blush. I'm coming to the conclusion that these markets are beyond the small investor's understanding and the government's ability to regulate. I wouldn't outlaw them, if that were even possible, but I would try to find a way to completely wall them off from the legitimate raising of capital for the creation of tangible products and jobs. And I'd do it quickly. A major chunk of our economy is buzzing around inside these giant high-speed computerized networks which I believe are fully understood by no one, and certainly not by the government or its citizens. I believe it is only a matter of time before a cyberterrorist gets inside and swings an electronic pickaxe around, just to see where the pieces fall. In the meantime, I'm keeping what little I have left as far away from Wall Street as I can get it.

Worth noting that this guy joined Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan in running Brooksley Born out of Washington twelve years ago when, as head of the CFTC, she proposed regulating the derivatives market. Had her advice been followed, the 2008 meltdown could likely have been avoided. At the time, Levitt insisted that the capital markets could be trusted to regulate themselves, and succeeded in gutting her agency. Now he wants to see what's left of it get merged into the SEC. Probably easier for Goldman Sachs to keep an eye on it.

I think some may underestimate the challenge a lurker faces when deciding whether to post or not. Sure, we have a Community Home Page, but that's only the basic stuff dealing with privacy and stalking and such. It doesn't really describe the unspoken rules that guide our interactions and make us such a lovingly inbred and dysfunctional family. Before I ever considered starting a post, or even replying to someone else's, I spent months just trying to figure out the lay of the land, so to speak. So perhaps it would help to share my own baker's dozen of hard-won insights on what makes our little community of posters tick. I'm sure others will join in and generously offer their own. ● If you don't have anything nice to say, immediately click the 'Register' button in the upper right hand corner. When finished registering, hit the 'Login' button to its left, and start typing at once, before any kinder gentler thoughts have a chance to intrude. ● References to the 'other site' will always attract viewers and responses. Even a single use of the word 'Daddy' will keep your post at the top of the forum for weeks at a time. ● If you are a client replying to an inquiry about an escort you are fond of, add 50% to his published rate and cut his dick size in half. If you really like him, suggest that his ongoing drug problems make him a risky bet for an outcall and that his own quarters have recently become infested with bedbugs. ● If you are an escort here to make some new contacts, try your best to laugh at all client banter. While concurrently rolling on the floor is not absolutely de rigeur, it can be a nice added touch. If a potential client has already begun stalking you, it may be best to keep up this facade until a restraining order has been served and tracking device fitted. ● Should you sense that another poster would appreciate some encouragement or feedback on something he has written, quickly close the thread without replying. It will help him avoid becoming too needy, and he will thank you one day by returning the favor. ● Never start a new thread when you can highjack an existing one. ● Use smiley faces liberally. Nothing gets a snarky comment past the moderators like a well-chosen emoticon. ● If you come across a post containing the letters 'BN', consider it an engraved invitation to dive right in and post the most outrageous stuff you can think of, on either side of the issue, or even both sides at once. It doesn't matter if you even know who this 'BN' fellow is. Post away! Half your readers will consider you a hero, and the other half will assume you know something they don't. ● When making a political post, do not - repeat, do not - include any verifiable facts or relevant information. Always allow the rhetoric to stand on its own. And do try to use the word 'agenda' at least once. ● If you see a post about a city or country you have never visited, be sure and let others know why you would never be caught dead there. ● When sharing pictures, try to find those that have blocked or expired links. If that's not possible, misspell the URL. A picture post festooned with red x's or blue ?'s will immediately endear you to all the other posters whose graphic treasures likewise remain tantalizingly just out of reach. ● All too often, you may find yourself deeply offended by something another poster has written or even by the poster himself. Whatever you do, do not suffer in silence. It will only encourage him. Let him know just how disgraceful his conduct has been, and ask him to seriously consider turning in his avatar and joining the Foreign Legion. ● Always post what's on your mind. If you don't have anything on your mind, don't let that stop you. Remember, there are plenty of us who have even less on our minds than you do, and we are all desperate for something new to read. And now, if I may grow lyric for a moment, I'd like to conclude with a polite and patient plea to people presently perched on the precipice of prolific posting: It doesn't matter who you are, A troll, a , a movie star, Bronzed and young, or old and gray, Bi or straight or proudly gay, If you've got nothing much to say, Come login once and post all day. And if it's not all up to par, You'll fit right in at MER! Hope this helps, and happy posting!

An Armenian lass named Giselle Has an ass that is hairy as hell. In addition it reeks And, although it's been weeks, I just cannot get rid of the smell.

Congrats to you both! I know this sounds like a broken record, but I hope you won't push yourself too hard or too fast. (Unlike when you're reaching orgasm, of course, when the opposite advice would be given. ) It's just my experience, but depriving myself of everything I liked all at once, made me long for the day when I could stop dieting. And, when that day came, I ended up celebrating with what I missed most: food, primarily the fattening kind. And then the weight came back on a lot faster than it came off. Sounds like you're both taking it in manageable steps, and won't make the mistake I did. Anyway, thanks for including us in your journey and, if you find any tricks that work well for you, I hope you'll share.

Very well put, MsGuy. Conway, it's worth noting that Anne Frank also didn't have any ill intentions toward others. I'm struck by the fact that, every few months, we learn something about our government that suggests it knows more about us than we thought, and we know less about it than we thought. While I'd like to think that our government is trustworthy, as for much of my life it has been, things right now don't seem to be moving in a direction that builds on that trust. If we ever do get a government that decides it doesn't like some particular group, as we have in the not-so-distant past, and as some might like to see in the not-so-distant future, it will know where to find them. And one day them might even turn out to be us. As for me, I plan to stay away from any butt plug with a wire hanging out of it.

Well maybe where you come from but, just between us, I don't recall the last time I needed to shave my entrée, let alone truss it up and slide it on a spit. And what's that about poking it all over with a sharp paring knife? Still, as you say, maybe after a few cool ones.

Great question, great answers, and great thread. Thanks, guys! TY, your primer makes so much sense and takes some of the fear out of cooking. Really helpful. I'm not a cook, as much as a recipe-follower, but you've given me hope. NeedSome, do you know of any easy 'big pot' recipes? With winter coming (for some of us anyway), I'd love to find something simple, hearty, and nutritious. Much obliged!

Saw your stuff right after I posted the above and not before, I swear! (It took me an hour to write that one, believe it or not. Hell, it's taking me fifteen minutes™ to get this one live. I keep losing my place. ) So it wasn't in response to your delightful riffs, just a very happy coincidence. Schrodinger's escort! Purrfect! I'm honored to share a forum, and a Lucky one at that.