MsGuy

What could make a better gift to the forum than this X-mas feel good story. Seems like Josh Lin likes to play cheesy pranks on strangers and post their reaction to YouTube. This time the tables are turned by a homeless guy.

Lurker, so good to see you back. (kiss) And just in time to pick up your X-mas present. Clinically tested to cool and soothe.

Kappa Sigs with a few brewskis in them. I'd recognize their sense of humor anywhere.

Most of Latin America has a smallish upper class of European looking families that sees lesser (& usually more indio looking) folks as best employed working hard to enrich their betters. It goes all the way back to the conquest. Take a gander at Enrique Pena Nieto, el presidente de Mexico. Ain't a whole lot of Azteca or Mayan in that face, is there? 500 years later and the conquistadors are still running the show. And consider: Mexican society is much more fluid than most of Latin America. Why would we expect Cuba to be all that different? Not to say that there isn't a bit of the same attitude floating around here in the good old US of A, just that here, unlike there, it's generally considered gauche to speak of it too openly.

Golly, he hasn't even started on the eggnog yet.

I found the perfect card for Suckrates:

On the other hand, for some folks the shopping just does itself: Will you be having hot buttered buns with your coffee, Mr. lookin? They're included in your gift certificate.

As I read it, states holding a Republican primary prior to March 15 must award delegates proportionally to the vote. That makes rolling up a decisive lead in the delegate count difficult, doesn't it? Plus effectively organizing 5 separate states at the same time puts a lot of stress on manpower and finances, factors that favor an establishment candidate.

I swear Oz is so difficult to shop for. After much head scratching (I should shampoo more often), I finally came up with matching made in India Vespas for re-gifting to the boys. Too much?

Yep, she's commando all right.

And for those of our posters who are constantly getting their panties in a knot, what would be more appreciated? (No names, you know who you are.)

For Hito, what could be more perfect than shittens disposable mitten-shaped moist wipes. Or if your wallet is a little too depleted to spring for a 20 buck gift, maybe some Weener Cleaner Soap, on sale for only $8.24.

Yep, I too have a bad habit of putting off holiday shopping until the last minute, so I thought I'd post some ideas for those in a similar fix. Feel free to add suggestions of your own; I'm still searching for a few gifts that just scream "Look how much time and thought I put into this choice." How about this one for AdamSmith? One oz. test tubes of booze in decorator tampons. Freshen your drink or, hell, just swig directly from the wrapper. Be the life of the party!

Is that Lord OZ with those two exquisite Thai boys? Upon my soul, I believe it is. Shall we introduce ourselves?

OPHELIA "You are as good as a chorus, my lord." What a perfectly apropos quotation, Scorpio. A bit sharp mayhap but what would a scorpion be without a sting? ==== And not to worry, Steve, neither am I. Google makes scholars of us all.

Steve, are you sure you can't check back in for a while? I mean just until you can get those 'real men' photos posted?

Good lord, all this sturm und drang over a couple of fairly innocuous e-mails? I guess it true what they say about drama queens and mole hills. Aw, who am I kidding...

God dammit, Sucky, I was looking forward to Steve's real man thread and now I find you've gone and run him off. Jeez, would have been too much to ask for you to wait a week or two before you sank your fangs into his ass?

Florida Democrats think that opening to Cuba will give them a pathway into the Cuban American voting bloc. ==== Personally I think the Moss Back leadership in Miami (who were the among the first to bail out of Cuba) are not only willing to inflict pain on ordinary Cubans to further their obsession with the Castro brothers, they want to injure regular Cubans. 1) They figure the worse the better; the more miserable they can make the Cuban populace, the sooner the Castros will go. 2) This never gets said aloud but there's a class difference between the exile leaders and the vast majority of those still living in Cuba. I suspect that even before the Revolution the professional, industrial, commercial and landowning class that fled Castro despised the working and peasant farmer class Cubans that stayed behind. And now they hate them; they blame ordinary Cubans for putting Castro in power in the first place. So it's not a question of collateral damage to ordinary Cubans from the embargo, they were the bulls-eye on the target from the git-go. It will be interesting to see if recognizing the Cuban government and moving toward open trade will flush the geezers out into the open on the rationale for the embargo. I mean get real folks, does anyone really think Raul or Fidel or any other big wig in the military or party in Cuba is counting his pennies or worried about feeding his kids? Or is it the case that the Moss-backs won't budge unless & until they get back their haciendas and factories and rightful place at the top in Cuba?

Speak of the Devil...

Mormon liberals are like Mormon gays...they're there alright, they just tend to be in the closet.

Not me. I want my hotel next to a hustler bar. But the air conditioned part is a must. Slow rotation ceiling fans are a deal breaker. "Bowled over" does seem overly aggressive, I agree. Can we all agree to substitute the phrase "sweetly seduced"? And maybe drop that resist part?

Since you brought it up, RA1, it occurs to me that any of us in possession of a '40s or '50s era classic car better sell now before trade with Cuba floods the market

Putin's headline poll numbers are out of sight but if you drill down a bit you find a few dangers for him lurking under the surface. For instance, only 6% would support any further action in the Ukraine if it would cost them a hit on their personal income. Also only 30% support the use of Russian troops to protect the breakaway regions around Donets. Both numbers are down sharply in just the last 4 months. I found those poll numbers yesterday but I can't for the life of me find the link now...Sorry. Further, I would think most Russians have a clear memory of how bad things got after the government defaulted on its bonds back in 1998. Putin road that crises to power. Now they've still got Putin and they've got no alternative available. I guess they just about have to give him a chance and hope for the best. And, hey, who doesn't want a nice flat screen TV?

Thanks for the Guardian link, AS. If you're a business owner in Russia, how can you sanely respond to this but by squireling as much capital as possible out of the reach of the Kremlin? When even a whale like Yevtushenkov can't protect himself from this kind of shit, the lesser fish have to be terrified.