JKane

The 14 Most Important Sex Ads Of The Republican National Convention "Is Tampa America's sketchiest city?" --Yes.

Damn it, forgot where I'd first seen this. Sorry!

And the abject decline in discourse/news... The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal Quite simply, there's a fundamental misconception at the heart of the Fast and Furious scandal. Nobody disputes that suspected straw purchasers under surveillance by the ATF repeatedly bought guns that eventually fell into criminal hands. Issa and others charge that the ATF intentionally allowed guns to walk as an operational tactic. But five law-enforcement agents directly involved in Fast and Furious tell Fortune that the ATF had no such tactic. They insist they never purposefully allowed guns to be illegally trafficked. Just the opposite: They say they seized weapons whenever they could but were hamstrung by prosecutors and weak laws, which stymied them at every turn. Indeed, a six-month Fortune investigation reveals that the public case alleging that Voth and his colleagues walked guns is replete with distortions, errors, partial truths, and even some outright lies. Fortune reviewed more than 2,000 pages of confidential ATF documents and interviewed 39 people, including seven law-enforcement agents with direct knowledge of the case. Several, including Voth, are speaking out for the first time. How Fast and Furious reached the headlines is a strange and unsettling saga, one that reveals a lot about politics and media today.

I've decided I can't let reference to "Fast and Furious" go unanswered, but I too think this deserves more notice... Since it's as much a story about news coverage as anything else, as requested, I've created a new thread in the main forum.

HEY EVERYBODY, let's take a couple minutes and read up on what "Fast and Furious" was *actually* about... DarnTop is right that it's really unsettling--turns out that's *all* he's right about: Quite simply, there's a fundamental misconception at the heart of the Fast and Furious scandal. Nobody disputes that suspected straw purchasers under surveillance by the ATF repeatedly bought guns that eventually fell into criminal hands. Issa and others charge that the ATF intentionally allowed guns to walk as an operational tactic. But five law-enforcement agents directly involved in Fast and Furious tell Fortune that the ATF had no such tactic. They insist they never purposefully allowed guns to be illegally trafficked. Just the opposite: They say they seized weapons whenever they could but were hamstrung by prosecutors and weak laws, which stymied them at every turn. Indeed, a six-month Fortune investigation reveals that the public case alleging that Voth and his colleagues walked guns is replete with distortions, errors, partial truths, and even some outright lies. Fortune reviewed more than 2,000 pages of confidential ATF documents and interviewed 39 people, including seven law-enforcement agents with direct knowledge of the case. Several, including Voth, are speaking out for the first time. How Fast and Furious reached the headlines is a strange and unsettling saga, one that reveals a lot about politics and media today.

Some of us might have want to start taking the bus!

Along the same lines... and

Life is sacred at conception, to the point many are against funding or even teaching birth control, but when born, not so much. Gut welfare, medicaid, etc... Aggressive, militaristic stance is inherently anti-CHRISTian. But give them an opportunity to "nation build" where a country wants us there and needs help and they run the other way... Nothing matters to them more than protecting our personal liberties... except in our bedrooms! I ask again, how do their heads not explode from the constant hypocrisy?

I still haven't started it either, but the seasons are probably not that long, best to start from the beginning! Sounds like it's worth it...

Also: Movies that Tony Scott left behind The filmmaker was developing projects, including a 'Top Gun' sequel. Their futures are unknown.

Tony Scott didn't have brain cancer, family tells coroner The Los Angeles County coroner's office said it has not determined whether director Tony Scott had any health problems before he jumped off a San Pedro bridge Sunday and said family members have denied media reports that he was suffering from inoperable brain cancer.

There are apparently alternatives... Anybody have any success on them?

I believe the family has denied the early brain cancer rumors... we may never know why somebody with so much decided life wasn't worth living...

You're right, somehow I missed the last sentence I quoted! Sorry.

Also, I should add, having a board of directors that can guide you, advise against or even veto certain purchases or gifts could be very, *very* helpful. I once worked for one of the richer, more powerful men in Hollywood and it was very interesting to me, when he said he wanted something that wasn't the end of it. (His accountant--who'd been with him forever--was the final word!) And that's why he's worth about 700 million. People around him that said no, money *is* an object, how can we get somebody else to pay all the expenses for him to pursue his latest hobby or interest? And by god his employees usually managed it! Turns out when you don't *need* something for free it's a lot easier to get it free!

I'm not sure about that, and it probably varies state to state. But you give up direct control of your money in a blind trust--the primary purpose of one--and that's the beginning of ending up with nothing in 5 years like so many other lotto winners... It is one *of many* things to research in depth before claiming the prize. People are also going to find out. People that know you--and they're the ones that are the most dangerous. If you can't handle ignoring requests from people you don't know (who find you through the public record) you're fucked when it comes to family, friends, co-workers!

DUNE. I own about 5 different versions of it, and am not even a fan of David Lynch in general or choices he made on that movie in particular. But each time I watch it I feel I discover something new. Then again it's also one of the only books I've read multiple times... I've caught myself watching episodes of Band Of Brothers on TV for the 4th or 5th time even though I have a better DVD copy sitting next to the TV... I do want to watch through the Lord of the Rings trilogy again soon (have watched lengthy sections on TV more than once...), and have watched extended sections of Tom Clancy based movies when they've been on--though the Ben Affleck one was really bad. Others I've liked in theaters but liked a lot less on re-watching, the most recent Star Trek being an example. But I do love Undiscovered Country!

I fully disagree with this. Sure there may be some instances where no harm is done but on the whole there are reasons for societal pressures against doctor/patient and teacher/student relationships. People in a position of power over others need to look elsewhere for dates and those who think it's fine to date/fuck people in their care are in the wrong profession, IMHO. Criminal charges/prison time do seem excessive though. But certainly deserved to lose her credentials and become notorious. Now speaking of double standards, imagine for a moment if it'd been a male teacher and male students!

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this too. My understanding is that you can setup a trust (not a blind trust--I don't see why anybody other than a politician would need one of those) to claim the winnings and keep your name private. Clearly my first calls would be to lawyers/financial analysts--long before family and friends! How to find one(s!) you trust is a bigger question, but I'd say being involved is one of the keys. You don't hand your money over to somebody and sit back! Maybe you have a couple trusted smart people that you have *join you* in a "board of directors" overseeing the funds, but again you DO NOT just leave it to others! And you make it clear what those board members and other service providers get: a set payment / salary, maybe some travel, maybe some performance bonuses--but no direct access to your money and a real legal liability if they try to do anything they'd gain personally from! Nobody gets to advise you who gets a commission or percentage per action! Everybody--even/especially friends--getting paid for services or even a one time gift should have some kind of contract defining exactly what they get AND that they expect nothing more than what's stated. You also need to understand tax implications for yourself *and them* of payments/gifts. ("Enjoy this new car I got you!", a year later: "Help! I owe $36k I don't have because of the car!", a year later: "Help! I owe $12k in taxes because you helped me pay last year's taxes, also the car's out of warranty and needs X...") You divide up the money immediately and make sure *you* are set for life. First things I would do is put around 5m into dividend stocks or annuities (most likely a mix--after much research) guaranteeing a six-figure yearly income for life and I'd put some money someplace very safe (bonds/etc). All of these activities are to be split among several institutions with at least a third of them being international investments held in a non-US institution. Then I'd buy and pay off some real estate for myself and loved ones. I would work to do every one of these things in a way that isolates them legally from me and certainly from any family I help out. I.E. a lawsuit against me or them can not affect these monies/properties. I would also look into some diversity by area/country: a nice property, (entry papers/citizenship,) and a decent bank account waiting for me someplace like Brazil, at the least for fun vacations but at the worst a place to "bug out" if the US really goes to shit. I figure these items would be most of a "small" win and about a third of a modest to large win. Another third I *might*--after much research--use to start a business (otherwise: investments), and the last third would be for having FUN--knowing that no matter what I was already all set. This third would include gifts/charities--because the real point is you enjoying doing it! But even with the FUN money I'd be careful about incurring ongoing costs. The amount of money it takes to maintain a supercar (or idiotic collection of same!), plane or god-forbid yacht can really add up! Because: You have to always keep in mind that "winning 75 million" doesn't mean what you think it means. It means you've won ~36 million that with a very conservative rate of return will pay you 75m *before taxes* over 20-30 years. My understanding is you can always do better with a lump sum, or just taking the annuity contract into any bank and they'll buy it out for more... Some financial analysis are adamant that with the deficit and other factors taxes are lower now than in the future, so that can be another consideration for the lump sum. Something for in-depth consulting and research before claiming. *This* is why smart people can take months to claim! But that means you "only" get $36-38m and then the gov't takes about a third... leaving you with ~24m. But you, your friends, your family, your employees, your neighbors... ALL have it in mind that you won 75m! SEE how so very many lotto winners end up bankrupt with nothing??? But those (actually an annuity over X years) jackpots are everywhere. Even daydreaming while playing Megabucks in Vegas I do the math to cancel out the bullshit numbers and make a rough estimate of what I'd actually win! If you're the powerball winner I'd be happy to join your board of directors, btw!

I do realize many escorts post ads via their cell phones but an ad like that does make me much less likely to hire.

That is awesome!

Maybe one of the photos was a jpeg but didn't end in .jpg? This site also rejects some images of different filetypes that show up fine in browsers, I've noticed.

And covering the fraud! I've had a credit card number skimmed a couple times, it's a bit of a pain in the ass but the banks generally make everything right pretty quick. For credit cards anyway, hear it can be a real pain in the ass with debit cards, especially with banks known for shitty customers service anyway (BofA...). One time was a gas station too. Not sure my number's ever been stolen online...

I use Hotmail as my primary (naughty) email addr. and hadn't even heard anything about this yet. IF our hotmail addresses continue to work and they just give us some new interface to use I don't see how this is any different from when they switched to "Live" a couple years ago...