MsGuy

LOL, I was wondering about that myself, EXPAT. ---- The longer Romney holds out, the more I wonder what is in those returns that make it worth taking the shit for not disclosing them. It's got to to more than the 14% rate business because he's already taken the hit for that. Hmmm...It's a puzzlement.

Oz, that was exactly my own reaction so there might be something to it. Somehow, the gent ain't quite right.

Wonder how they know not to check out the props too closely?

Jeez, old Elmo had more staying power than the killer in a teen slasher movie. Is this really what Catholic kids study in religion class?

Congratulations, gcursor! Way to show those cute young things us old farts still have what it takes!

A true blue bull goose All American crazy. Any bets on whether he's also got a couple of grassy knoll theories posted on his website?

Is that Phobos or Deimos?

LOL, one would think so, Lucky, but then one still has to deal with the FEC precedent that diddling pages while rafting down the Grand Canyon does not constitute departing from 'official business' for the purpose of dipping into campaign funds to pay subsequent legal fees. Recall Senate rules specifically sanction reinbursement for any expenses associated with the use of a bathroom while traveling on official business. As Craig's attorney cleverly points out, it is a near impossibility to draw a principled distinction between stupping one's page on a sandbar in Colorado and tapping one's foot in a toilet stall in Minneapolis. LOL, on further reflection, I have to confess I not only admire learned counsel's creativity in Sen. Craig's defense but stand in awe the he had the enormous juevos to actually put this argument to print and submit it to a federal judge. Courage above and beyond on his client's behalf, don't you think?

I bow to one of the great legal minds of our time.

I guess I shold be a good sport about it all, so here's my congratulations too, FourAces. Far be it from me to even whisper a breath of a hint that THE FIX WAS IN!!!! But I am left wondering whether FourAces also had a bet down on Bradley in the Pacquiao fight Hmmm...

Did I win yet?

I thought "boy toy" was slang for gigolo. When did slang for paid young male companions for wealthy dowagers come to have connotations of pedophilia? I understand the term has migrated into gay vocabulary for similar arrangements on our side but, I've never heard it used in connection with underaged kids. Maybe folks here should just relax a bit.

With a bow to lookin. I'm clueless how to solve this, but With this I can begin: One thing's for sure, I have no life So here I am again.

I should have suspected something when I saw the gold lame posing strap.

I don't see how you can advance that proposition with any degree of certainty, citylaw. More colorful, perhaps? I might be wiling to concede more colorful.

Dinner smimmer; just send me the check and get it over with.

Random observations: 1- Next to farming Federal research/grant money, the NCAA sports business is likely the largest single source of free cash to the universities. The Penn State scandal is damaging the value of the brand for all, so much so that the NCAA bypassed its own proceedural rules so it could be be seen to be acting decisively to resolve the problem. The last thing the NCAA needs is for this hoorah to drag on into the Fall football season. 2- Notice that a lot of the initial response from students and alums was to close ranks to protect the football program. A legitimate argument can be made that something like the punishment provided (which includes Penn's submission to independant outside monitors appointed by the NCAA for the next five years) was necessary to break the hold of the football program on the University's administration. 3- As for the $60 million, that's about one year's football revenue for Penn State. As it's to be paid out @ 12 million a year, that should be doable for the program. Also, I did hear a couple of commentators speculate yesterday that any fines would be passed through to charities offerring services to abused children but, as you say, time will tell on that. 4- As to vacating the wins back to '98, big whoop. I read this as the NCAA making sure that this scandal doesn't get revisited by the media every time in the next 30 years that some coach gets within hailing distance of Paterno's record. ---- But I do think it's something of a reach to call you out as despicable, Lucky, LOL.

According to ABC News, this Bains attack ad is giving the Romney folks fits in Mid-western battleground states.

OK, the University of Iowa is running its presidential election stock market again this year. Registration is five bucks and you can invest anywhere from $5 to $500 buying the stock of your favorite candidate. Swap and trade, buy and sell: lol, spend endless hours pretending you are Sheldon Adelson or a Koch brother. Maybe even make a few real US$ in the process. Market Quotes: Pres12_VS 2012 Presidential Election Vote Share Market. Quotes current as of 02:00:01 CST, Friday, July 20, 2012. Symbol Bid Ask Last UDEM12_VS 0.512 0.531 0.512 --- --- --- UREP12_VS 0.475 0.489 0.477 --- --- --- | Prospectus | Price History | Graph | Market Quotes: Pres12_WTA 2012 Presidential Election Winner-Take-All Market. Quotes current as of 02:00:01 CST, Friday, July 20, 2012. Symbol Bid Ask Last DEM12_WTA 0.568 0.594 0.595 --- --- --- REP12_WTA 0.415 0.430 0.434 --- --- --- | Prospectus | Price History | Graph | If I am interpeting these Iowa Electronic Market quotes correctly the market is currently predicting with a moderate level of confidence a popular vote victory (however narrow) by Obama and also predicting with a low level of confidence an Obama win in the Electoral College. The IEM is a crowd-sourcing mechanism that claims a better history than pundits at predicting presidential elections and even claims to beat polls until much later in the election cycle (sometime in October the big national polls get too accurate to challenge).

Just yanking our chain, right?

According to the LA Times, porn theaters agree to open their premises for checks by the PD as part of the permitting process. Again per the Times, the vice boys were conducting a random walk-through when they happened upon Mr. Willard dick in hand.

The thing is nobody believes Romney when he huffs and puffs for the Republican base, LOL, not even the base. For instance, does anyone really think on his first day in the White House, he plans to start a trade war with China right in the middle of their leadership changeover? Certainly not any of those Wall Street types that are funneling tens of millions into his campaign. Kill Obamacare? No doubt he would sign the bill if the Dems lose so badly they lack even a blocking position in the Senate. Maybe he would tidy up some of the looser strings, maybe allow red states to dodge formation of insurance pools, but invest a lot of political capital in pushing for a repeal? I doubt it. All that chest thumping about Israel and Iran? Not much hope for the Pals that a Republican is going to restrain Israel on settlements but I doubt Romney wants a shooting war in the Persian Gulf any more than Obama does. Gay rights? As soon as he had the nomination cinched, the guy appointed an openly gay man as his press spokesman (until the base howled). I read him as not particularly caring about gays one way or the other. Probably finds it slightly unseemly when he has to toss us under the bus to satisfy the great unwashed. Come to think about it, the only people who seem very sure they know what Romney has in mind are those above mentioned folks from Wall Street and they seem very satisfied.

Given that Romney has the best political advisors his money can buy, one is forced to suspect that the decision to stand his ground on his taxes is based on a considered decision that the heat he will take from stonewalling will do less damage than whatever it it that opening his tax returns would reveal. Time will tell but somehow I doubt that the boys from Chicago are going to let go of this one.

Found this interesting speculation on why Romney is so reluctant to disclose his tax returns before 2010. The article also asks the baffling question, "How do you manage to lawfully stuff 100 million dollars into an IRA account?" and offers some dodgy possible answers. " Romney's $100 million IRA is remarkable in its size. Even under the most generous assumptions, Romney would have been restricted to annual contributions of $30,000 while he worked at Bain. How does this grow to $100 million?" Like Lucy, Mittens may have some 'splaining to do...