- Bruce Leroy
- Jun 10, 2010
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Background:
Notorious piece of homophobic poo poo Scott Lively is now being sued ("for promoting the persecution of sexual minorities," the Alien Tort Statute allows foreigners not residing in the US to sue in American courts for violations of international law) on behalf of an Ugandan LGBTQ group for his role contributing to the persecution of Ugandan gays and lesbians, including his connections with the political and religious leaders who proposed the infamous bill that would criminalize homosexuality under penalty of life imprisonment or even death.
But somehow, Lively is the real victim here according to, I poo poo you not, Charlie Butts:
Evangelist target of 'absurd' lawsuit posted:A Massachusetts Christian says he's the "prime example" that believers will be persecuted for holding a biblical perspective, as he is being sued for speaking the truth about homosexuality in Uganda.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is suing Dr. Scott Lively of Abiding Truth Ministries and Defend the Family International on behalf of a group called Sexual Minorities Uganda. Lively tells OneNewsNow he has been involved in the Ugandan pro-family movement for about a decade.
"That included a 2009 seminar that I gave when the government at that time was preparing to come out with a bill dealing with homosexuality in the country," he reports. "I had nothing to do with the bill. I didn't participate in the framing of it…"
The measure included the death penalty for homosexuality -- an aspect that Lively loudly opposed from the beginning. Even so, the lawsuit contends he is partly responsible for it and for how Ugandan homosexuals are treated. He believes the intent of the lawsuit is to kill the messenger to silence all dissent.
"Anyone who dares to stand up and speak the truth about homosexuality from a biblical perspective will suffer persecution, and I'm a prime example of that -- ever since they started attacking me on this back in 2009," he submits.
The lawsuit, which Lively describes as "absurd" and "completely frivolous," is filed in a Massachusetts federal court under a law that allows non-citizens to file actions in the U.S. for violations of international law.
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Mar 16, 2012 11:41
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Apr 16, 2024 15:40
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- Bruce Leroy
- Jun 10, 2010
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Here's some good stuff via Right Wing Watch:
real[/b] hate group"]Recently, Sheriff John Cooke from Weld County, Colo., said the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), who labels anyone its officials disagree with politically as “hate groups,” holds no credibility.
For example, SPLC currently lists 26 “hate groups,” mainly Christian/conservative organizations, solely because of their stance on traditional marriage as our God and our founders intended.
SPLC has also targeted family-oriented and pro-American organizations and individuals such as:
American Family Association
Coral Ridge Ministries
You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International
Glenn Beck
Ron Paul
Michele Bachmann
Judge Andrew Napolitano
Chuck Baldwin
Joseph Farah
Gun Owners of America
The tea party
Oath Keepers
Concerned Women for America
Groups that wish to protect our borders from illegal immigrants
You have here the criminal calling out the lawful as the enemy, and those who hate the U.S. Constitution calling those who are patriotic the haters. This is like the tyrant King George who, instead of honoring our forefathers, called them “dangerous and designing men” – yet who was “dangerous and designing”?
A little homework into the Southern Poverty Law Center clarified its true mission: Make money while working hand in glove with the mainstream media to attack America’s foundation using a Communist/Marxist agenda.
Let me explain: SPLC’s founder is lawyer Morris Dees who in 1961 earned money by doing legal work for the Ku Klux Klan. That information alone brings enough red flags to expose SPLC as an illegitimate and anti-American organization.
Dees founded SPLC in 1971, after the civil rights battle had been won and there was no more money left in representing groups like the KKK. He now jumped to the other side of the fence, masquerading as a “civil rights organization dedicating to fighting hate and bigotry, and seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.” Interesting, because in 1986 SPLC’s entire staff quit in protest of Dees’ refusal to “address issues such as homelessness, voter registration and affirmative action – that they considered far more pertinent to poor minorities …” (Harper’s Magazine).
In the mid-1990′s, the SPLC ventured beyond beating the twice-dead horse of chasing KKK members, obviously because Americans no longer viewed them as a threat. They no longer raised enough support to rake in on the racial issue, so they now found a new focus: organizations that stand for America’s moral values. Today, as this administration attempts to trample the Constitution underfoot, the SPLC has decided to create new “victims” to cash in on.
The SPLC even goes so far as to repeatedly align with a variety of hate-driven, anti-American political groups, including communists and communist-friendly individuals and organizations.
Now who stands as the hate group here?
In case you thought JesusFish decals and magnets were subtle...
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Mar 19, 2012 13:15
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- Saint Sputnik
- Apr 1, 2007
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Tyrannosaurs in P-51 Volkswagens!
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Cal Thomas: Poor people should just be thankful we don't literally feed them roadkill and dog poo poo.
quote:Are there no limits on government’s power, no place where it cannot go?
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a former (thankfully) Republican, but in name only, has decided to limit food donations to city charities, including homeless shelters, because the government is unable to measure the nutritional value of the food.
Who in city government believes that a homeless person with no access to money other than what he or she might panhandle cares about the nutritional content of food? If they are able to scrounge up a few bucks on the streets, does anyone seriously think they’re headed to a grocery store to buy carrots and arugula? Any food, including “unhealthy” fast food would be their preferred choice.
As reported in the New York Post by Jeff Stier, a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, Seth Diamond, the commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services, claims Mayor Bloomberg is simply being “consistent” with his goal of improving nutrition for all New Yorkers. “A new interagency document,” writes Stier, “controls what can be served at facilities – dictating serving sizes as well as salt, fat and calorie contents, plus fiber minimums and condiment recommendations.”
Will the government permit ketchup on fries? Maybe it will allow ketchup, which liberals mocked Ronald Reagan for correctly calling a vegetable, but not fries, unless they are unsalted, and then just a few. No super sizing it.
Who will police this? If a homeless man wants salt on his food, will a city official wrestle the shaker from his hands? Will he be arrested by the salt police if he rebels? Will a woman who has not eaten in days be told she can’t have a second helping because the government won’t allow it under its new portion-control regulation? Will she be fined if she eats more? How will the government collect the fine if she has no money?
What effect will this new requirement have on restaurants, some of which have donated surplus food to local food banks and charities for years? Will they have to first comply with government dietary regulations before they donate anything? Mire the process in red tape and bureaucracy and the restaurants won’t think it’s worth the trouble to donate at all.
It takes the notion of “food police” to a new level.
Stier tells the story of Glenn Richter and his wife, Lenore, who for 10 years have led a team of volunteers from their Upper West Side Orthodox synagogue. “They brought freshly cooked, nutrient-rich surplus foods from synagogue events to homeless facilities in the neighborhood.” Many recipients, Richter says, are seniors recovering from alcohol and drug abuse.
Last month, writes Stier, employees at a local shelter “turned away food he brought from a bar mitzvah.” It didn’t conform to the new regulations.
I know the rationale. If the homeless eat nutritional food, it could reduce the number of health problems and presumably lower the cost of health care.
But more than the issue of salt and portion size is the greater issue of liberty, which is being slowly but steadily eroded by big government that wants to save us from ourselves. The freedom to choose what to eat, drink, smoke and a lot of other things – and to accept the benefits and consequences that go with these choices – are the wedge issues that government uses to snake its way into new areas of our lives.
Our Founding Fathers issued many warnings about the dangers of growing and intrusive government, which they sought to control with the Constitution. Among the best was from Thomas Jefferson: “Most bad government has grown out of too much government.”
No better example of that can be found than in what Mayor Bloomberg has forced on the hungry of New York City.
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Mar 22, 2012 17:06
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- Amarkov
- Jun 21, 2010
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It actually is terrible to force poor people to only eat what we think they ought to (and limit food donations because of it  ). Stopped clock right twice a day or something.
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Mar 22, 2012 22:06
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- Bruce Leroy
- Jun 10, 2010
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Amarkov posted:
It actually is terrible to force poor people to only eat what we think they ought to (and limit food donations because of it ). Stopped clock right twice a day or something.
Maybe, but there are serious health issues related to what people like the homeless have to eat.
There are basic nutrients needed of sufficient quantities on a daily basis to avoid serious consequences and simply getting homeless people sheer calories isn't really a solution.
This is especially important for those homeless people who are also alcoholics, drug addicts, and/or mentally ill, as they are even less likely to meet their basic daily nutrient requirements.
E.g. without sufficient quantities of thiamine in their diets, people (especially those with alcoholism) are vulnerable to Korsakoff's syndrome, and those without sufficient vitamin D and calcium are more vulnerable to osteoporosis and osteomalacia.
But it's not this false choice fallacy presented by Krauthammer where either there is some draconian "Big Government" telling everyone what to eat (also a slippery slope fallacy) OR we leave everyone to their own devices and just cross our fingers that the homeless will get their needs met by private charity. There are other options like say proper funding/subsidies of public and private charities for the homeless with the requirement that they meet certain dietary minimums in the food they provide to the homeless, kind of like the dietary requirements we have for public schools.
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Mar 23, 2012 06:46
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- Leon Einstein
- Feb 6, 2012
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I must win every thread in GBS. I don't care how much banal semantic quibbling and shitty posts it takes.
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Cal Thomas posted:which liberals mocked Ronald Reagan for correctly calling a vegetable
How can Cal claim Reagan was right about that? My fiancee and I got in an argument about whether junk food should be served in school lunch rooms. I think they should take out the soda machines and stop allowing fast food companies to serve in school lunchrooms, and she thinks that's taking away freedom.
What the gently caress.
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Mar 23, 2012 17:09
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- Fatkraken
- Jun 23, 2005
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Fun-time is over.
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I though Ketchup was mostly sugar, vinegar and water. Also salt. The amount of tomato paste you get from an average serving is gonna have negligible amounts of vitamins compared to the sugar and salt content.
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Mar 23, 2012 17:32
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- Dr. Tough
- Oct 22, 2007
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quote:
President Obama’s actions are cause for impeachment
On June 28, 2009, Honduran President Zelaya was ousted after defying a Supreme Court order to drop plans for a referendum to ask Hondurans if they wanted to change the Constitution. The coup had the support of the Honduran Supreme Court, Congress, and a majority of its citizens.
President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected Honduras’s Supreme Court and Congress, and a Honduran citizen majority of ousting President Zelaya by demanding the return of Zelaya as Honduran President. Honduras is a free government today.
It appears President Obama and other members of his administration may be replicating Honduran President Zelaya’s miscalculations of violating or considering the violation(s) of our Constitution and US Code.
“Free and open elections” are one of the most “precious freedoms” for each and every citizen who is a legally qualified voter under our US Constitution. The importance is for each individual legally, qualified voter to have that person’s votes to be fully weighed. “Voter fraud” is a violation of our Constitutional freedoms. “Voter fraud” is an “obstruction to justice” as each counterfeit vote actually diminishes every legally, qualified voter’s values and rights.
On March 12, 2012, AG Eric Holder “blocked” Texas “Voter ID”. On March 2, 2012, AG Eric Holder prosecuted Florida’s “Voter ID”. On December 2011, AG Eric Holder “blocked” South Carolina’s “Voter ID”; a law mirrored after Indiana’s “Voter ID”. President Obama and his Attorney General seem to continue in efforts to authorize “Voter fraud” for their own personal and political advantages.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on a 6 to 3 vote that “Voter ID” is permitted. President Obama and AG Eric Holder “must” abide by SCOTUS or be “Impeached.” Do President Obama and AG Eric Holder believe they are above US Supreme Court rulings?
On March 9, 2012, Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta and his military advisors say U.S. Military is under the control of UN & NATO - NOT Congress .
The US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, says, “The Congress shall have Power… To declare War..”. At no place does (y)our US Constitution give the UN and/or NATO any power to “supersede” Congress. Do President Obama and AG Eric Holder believe they are above the US Constitution?
Sec. Panetta’s conclusions came after President Obama used military force sending our US Military to Libya without any Congressional authorization. Based on US Constitutional law, any violations by President Obama, Sec. Panetta, or any other(s) without Congressional approval must be “Impeached.”
On a somewhat daily basis, we see and/or hear on our TV, radio, and/or in the newspapers of additional allegations of unauthorized and/or illegal activity within this President Obama administration.
As Honduran President Zelaya was ousted after defying their Constitution, our Constitutional freedoms must be preserved.
Oscar Y. Harward
Monroe, North Carolina
Protecting the right to vote: a crime worthy of impeachment.
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Mar 23, 2012 18:43
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- A Fancy 400 lbs
- Jul 24, 2008
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Every time I read a Cal Thomas article in this thread I feel ashamed to share my first name with him. Holy gently caress is he consistently a terrible person.
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Mar 24, 2012 02:59
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- Pope Guilty
- Nov 6, 2006
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The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.
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A Fancy 400 lbs posted:
Every time I read a Cal Thomas article in this thread I feel ashamed to share my first name with him. Holy gently caress is he consistently a terrible person.
He also has the smuggest, most punchable face I have ever seen.
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Mar 24, 2012 08:40
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- Bryter
- Nov 6, 2011
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but since we are small we may-
uh, we may be the losers
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Google "ignorant rear end in a top hat".
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Mar 24, 2012 08:59
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- Pope Guilty
- Nov 6, 2006
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The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.
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Bryter posted:
Google "ignorant rear end in a top hat".
Glorious.
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Mar 24, 2012 09:40
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- Orange Devil
- Oct 1, 2010
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Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!
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Wow, he links the murder by a radical Muslim of Theo van Gogh to hospitals performing euthanisia on babies born with horrible defects.
Ignorant rear end in a top hat doesn't entirely cover the load. It also needs some disingenuous gently caress.
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Mar 24, 2012 15:53
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- A Fancy 400 lbs
- Jul 24, 2008
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Pope Guilty posted:
He also has the smuggest, most punchable face I have ever seen.
I dunno, it looks like my hand would just sink into his face and be absorbed into it. Did it get sucked into a taffy stretcher or something?
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Mar 24, 2012 20:21
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- redmercer
- Sep 15, 2011
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by Fistgrrl
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the gently caress does Billy Dee Williams have to do with Ronald Reagan?
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Mar 27, 2012 05:26
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- sub supau
- Aug 28, 2007
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Oh hey, a cartoon by Mike Lester, well-known in the cartoon thread for being a piece of human filth who got arrested for beating his wife, recently drew a cartoon about how Obama is literally pimping out Sandra Fluke, and also made this:
Clearly any magazine supporting this kind of intellectual rigor is great for the kids.
Also the magazine has a great article in it about how it's not racist to draw Obama with big, fat, purple lips, followed by one entitled "Understanding Liberals" that is one full page of "more money = better than".
e: Oh poo poo, "Ronald Reagan: Our First Black President?" by Michael Reagan.
sub supau fucked around with this message at 08:45 on Mar 27, 2012
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Mar 27, 2012 06:02
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- Saint Sputnik
- Apr 1, 2007
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Tyrannosaurs in P-51 Volkswagens!
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Yeah Michael Reagan is a special sort of shithead.
Here, I just had to transcribe this abortion comparing Obama to King George, Hitler, Satan and every slaveholder in the south in just three pages, so you get to read it:
letter to the editor posted:WWJD? What would Jonas do? Remember Jonas Clark, pastor to many of our founding fathers in Lexington, Mass.? The "shot heard round the world" marking the start of our revolution against England and its tyranical king happened just outside Pastor Clark's church. Many killed that historic day were church members.
Unlike the silence from present day pulpits, colonial pastors of Jonas Clark's time spoke out against the injustices of their day. In fairness, however, to the silence of present day church leaders and pastors regarding the many government imposed injustices of our times, it must be remembered that colonial pastors did not have to fear the loss of funds and membership for violating 501(c)3 regulations. The only concern of colonial pastors who spoke out was, if captured by English military forces, the hangman's noose.
WWJD? Any Jonas Clarks out there? There were once again in 1857 those courageous pastors who spoke out against slavery and government wrongful decision declaring slaves as mere property of slave owner masters. The Civil War that followed claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands but did succeed in restoring our Union, saving the Constitution, and most importantly freeing the slaves.
Likewise in the 1930s and '40s, there were courageous pastors like Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer of Germany who spoke out against Hitler's Nazi-Socialist rulings regarding Jews to be like slaves - merely property - therefore disposable at the government master's pleasure. Pastor Bonhoeffer's stand cost him his life. Millions of others likewise were punished in a World War where obvious ominous warning signs were ignored.
Obvious and ominous signs once again separate us by a little over 200 days from the most importand presidential-congressional election of our lives here on God's earth in this the most blessed country ever. We blessed citizens and survivors are privileged once again to cast our ballots - to vote. In the process, however, remembering to honor the memory of those heroes of our history who sacrificed so much - even their lives, we ought to do all in our power to protect - to preserve the many rights our heroes - our veterans gave their lives for.
Foremost among all rights must be the protection of life itself from conception to natural death. Tragically, President Obama's Democrat party have long ago decided the unborn child (even born and still living ones of botched abortions) to be merely property - undeserving of life or rights. Like the Jews of Nazi-Socialist Germany and the slaves of our earlier history, our unborn children are defined as something other than human. Common sense as well as science tells us this is a horrible lie and its horrible effect is murder.
WWJD? Jesus declared the author of such deception and death to be Satan, "a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth... he (Satan) is a liar." Jesus is the truth and as such is never silent on the subject of life, nor would he want his followers, especially the shepherds, the pastors and priests to be silent.
Still wanted: Men and women, pastors and priests of courage and conviction to stand up for, speak out clearly and frequently especially about this worst of all Obama abominations as well as the many other atrocities of this deadly and deceptive administration. WWYD? What will you do?
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Mar 27, 2012 18:08
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- ts12
- Jul 24, 2007
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Reminder that these things happened to Michael Reagan:
quote:In 1964 he graduated from the Judson School, a boarding school outside of Scottsdale, Arizona. At his high school graduation, Ronald Reagan introduced himself to his son by saying, "My name is Ronald Reagan. What's yours?" He replied, "I'm your son Mike." "Oh," said Ronald Reagan. "I didn't recognize you." quote:One childhood story he has told that introduced him to politics was how at the age of 8, he asked his father for a raise in his allowance. At the time, around 1953, his allowance was $1 a week. Ronald Reagan said that since he was paying 90 percent of his earnings to the federal government as income tax, he was not able to increase Michael's allowance. Mr. Reagan further said that when the president would give him a tax cut, then he could give his son an increase in his allowance. This, according to Michael, was how he was introduced to the subject of tax cuts and how that affected people.
Ronald Reagan, great president, better dad.
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Mar 27, 2012 18:51
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- Elim Garak
- Aug 5, 2010
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FreudianSlippers posted:
Well I'm told that the Lando Calrissian books in the EU usually have him playing the role of a libeterian conman traveling the galaxy and loving people over for personal gain and liberty.
To be fair that's sort of his role in Empire Strikes Back at least. He conned someone out of Cloud City and turned his best friend over to the Empire in order to keep them out of his business.
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Mar 27, 2012 23:25
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- Bubbacub
- Apr 17, 2001
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Saint Sputnik posted:
Yeah Michael Reagan is a special sort of shithead.
Want to read a rebuttal written by Ronald Reagan's biological children.
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Mar 28, 2012 02:58
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- redmercer
- Sep 15, 2011
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by Fistgrrl
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FreudianSlippers posted:
Well I'm told that the Lando Calrissian books in the EU usually have him playing the role of a libeterian conman traveling the galaxy and loving people over for personal gain and liberty.
The judges would also have accepted "Colt 45 Malt Liquor"
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Mar 28, 2012 03:11
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- Strudel Man
- May 19, 2003
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ROME DID NOT HAVE ROBOTS, FUCKWIT
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ts12 posted:
Reminder that these things happened to Michael Reagan:
Ronald Reagan, great president, better dad.
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Mar 28, 2012 03:54
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- sub supau
- Aug 28, 2007
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I like the second one. Reagan using the exact same bullshit on his own son as he would on the whole country, and his son, despite decades of experience to the contrary, still believes in the Trickle Down Fairy.
e: Also, he's completely unashamed to literally have the politics of an eight-year-old.
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Mar 28, 2012 05:17
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- RPZip
- Feb 6, 2009
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WORDS IN THE HEART
CANNOT BE TAKEN
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I really can't feel anything but pity for Michael Reagan. ts12 missed one.
quote:According to Nancy Reagan in her memoirs published in 1989, Reagan disclosed to his parents in 1987 a very painful incident in his boyhood that he had kept secret for many years. "At the age of 8, he had been sexually molested by a camp counselor, who had also taken nude pictures of him.... Poor Mike had spent his whole life racked with guilt and in constant fear that these pictures would someday surface in a way that might embarrass him and, especially, his adoptive father." Speaking at the opening of the Michael Reagan Center in Spring, Texas, October 7, 2005, Michael said, "At 8 years old, I thought I was going to hell."... Michael said he was horrified that the pictures would be made public and ruin the lives of his family.
Given that, and the apparently distant father aspects (graduation story) it's really not at all hard to see why he'd idolize and internalize protecting his father's image and reputation. Poor guy.
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Mar 28, 2012 05:21
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- Bruce Leroy
- Jun 10, 2010
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katlington posted:
I always thought Michael Reagan's whole deal was him trying to make up for not being the biological child of St Ronald by being more Reagan than Reagan. Witness his biological child, Ron Reagan, who is an atheist and progressive and doesn't give a poo poo.
e: I say progressive but of course I mean isn't into all wars, every war, and doesn't call homosexuality/muslims/rights the biggest threat to the US etc.
Yeah, I was thinking the same exact thing when I read that he was adopted.
He's just trying way too hard to be the stereotype of Ronald Reagan every revisionist conservative (read: ALL conservatives) has made him out to be. It's very "Am I good enough now, daddy?" and seems like the response of someone who has been abused through neglect.
Also, I bet he views Ron jr.'s politics and opinions as ungrateful and undeserving of being Reagan's biological son.
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Mar 28, 2012 11:44
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- Dr. Tough
- Oct 22, 2007
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This whole HENRY thing is getting pretty retarded pretty fast. These people need to have their taxes raised just as a punitive moran fee.
quote:
How to Make $100,000 and Still Feel Poor
Our family income recently topped $100,000, but we aren't spending as though we make six figures. We don't sip Mai Tai cocktails at resorts or buy pricey tech toys.
According to recent data, incomes are rising and consumers have more money to spend. They are also taking on more debt for the first time in three years. Financial experts say the increase in borrowing can be attributed to buying cars and paying for college . We bought a new car this past year so our son could earn money for college delivering pizzas. He may need to borrow money for grad school.
Is six figures the new minimum wage?
Although I admire people who live on fixed incomes or minimum wage, I have no idea how they do it. When I was younger, I got by on a salary of just $19,000 a year. At that time, I did not have a mortgage or two sons attending college. Back then, the high cost of childcare took a big chunk out of my pitiful paycheck . Still, I never thought we would have trouble living on $100,000.
What's up with my net worth?
I always figured my net worth would increase as I earned more income. In fact, I thought that clearing that six figure "hurdle" meant we would be financially set. However, our net wealth plummeted since the housing bubble popped. Our home is on the "liability" side of our net worth chart. Although the stocks have recovered, our retirement accounts do not reflect the balance I would have expected once we earned six figures.
Why don't I have money to burn?
My lifestyle isn't extravagant. We are spending less money on clothing, entertainment and anything that is not a necessity. We don't have money to burn because of the high cost of gasoline, car insurance, groceries and college tuition. We also have a high tax bill every year.
Housing: We live in the Tampa, Florida area, where we had our 1,800-square-foot home built at the top of the housing bubble. I’d feel a lot richer if I could take the $183,000 we spent seven years ago and buy a home twice the size today in a better neighborhood. Some of the homes in my subdivision have been vandalized. I never thought I’d see broken sliding glass doors and graffiti on the walls of homes that people had to get on a waiting list to buy. Houses were in such high demand we put a $3,000 deposit on our lot at the builder’s model home center before even seeing the subdivision. To try to stay above water on our mortgage, we pay an extra $250 a month to the mortgage company. That way, we will at least have the option to move if we need to in the future without ruining our credit.
Expenses: Our fixed expenses include $350 a month for utilities, $300 for car insurance, $175 for Internet, cable and phone. We owe $1,222.02 a month on our mortgage and $300 on a car loan. We have no other debt. We save 10 percent of our income for retirement. We spend at least $500 a month on gasoline and an astounding $1,000 a month on food. I’d feel rich if I was eating at upscale restaurants or buying gourmet foods, but our food budget just provides the basics for four people.
Education: We are spending about $15,000 a year for tuition and books to send our two sons to community college. When they transfer to the university in another year, those expenses will more than double. My older son pays $5,000 or about half of his tuition costs since he has a part-time job, but my younger son hasn’t been able to find employment. I’d feel wealthy if I was struggling to send my sons to an Ivy League College, but this is just community college.
We purchased stocks to help fund our sons' college education, but the stocks took a big dive. We are hoping the value of their stocks will recover to help pay for the last couple years of college. We don't want them to take out college loans, but they may have no choice.
But it's not all bad
Although we have a lot of expenses, we have managed to stay out of debt. I am sure if we did not make six figures, we would fall into the debt trap. Experts say people tend to take out more debt when they have more equity in their homes. Even if the value of our home begins to increase one day, I won't feel comfortable taking on more debt. Instead, we plan to be free of our mortgage debt within the next 10 years.
I may never have money to burn, but I hope to have a chance to enjoy something before the tax man takes his cut.
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Mar 28, 2012 16:49
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- Unlearning
- May 7, 2011
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In fairness they got hosed by the housing bubble and tuition fees are *really* expensive in the U.S.. I'm not saying I feel sorry for them but the truth is that a family of four on $100,000 isn't the enemy.
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Mar 28, 2012 17:55
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- SixPabst
- Oct 24, 2006
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quote:
We bought a new car this past year so our son could earn money for college delivering pizzas. He may need to borrow money for grad school.
What?
quote:
astounding $1,000 a month on food.
What?
quote:
We are spending about $15,000 a year for tuition and books to send our two sons to community college. When they transfer to the university in another year, those expenses will more than double. My older son pays $5,000 or about half of his tuition costs since he has a part-time job, but my younger son hasn’t been able to find employment. I’d feel wealthy if I was struggling to send my sons to an Ivy League College, but this is just community college.
Then make your kids get some loving student loans and don't buy them cars so they can go deliver pizzas.
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Mar 28, 2012 18:03
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- Saint Sputnik
- Apr 1, 2007
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Tyrannosaurs in P-51 Volkswagens!
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Jonah Goldberg provides the valuable white male perspective on true racism
quote:
“White Hispanic.” That’s how the New York Times, Reuters and other media outlets have opted to describe George Zimmerman, a man who would simply be Hispanic if he hadn’t shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The term, rarely if ever used before this tragedy, is necessary in telling the Martin story in a more comfortable way.
What’s the comfortable way? It’s the way the blame for Martin’s death belongs squarely at the feet of “the system.” And “the system” is a white thing, don’t you know.
For instance, in a remarkably uncritical interview with the Los Angeles Times, the Rev. Jesse Jackson explained that with the election of President Obama, “there was this feeling that we were kind of beyond racism.” He continued: “That’s not true. His victory has triggered tremendous backlash.” Indeed, “Blacks are under attack.”
Jackson apparently includes in this racist Obama “backlash” record home foreclosures for African Americans and black unemployment. It would have been nice if the L.A. Times had asked Jackson to work a little harder to connect those dots.
Jackson also laments that “targeting, arresting, convicting blacks and ultimately killing us is big business” in America.
On the saner end of the liberal spectrum, Reniqua Allen of the New America Foundation writes in the Washington Post that it’s harder to talk about race now that we have a black president (note: not a “white African American president,” a la the new Zimmerman standard, although both men have a white parent).
Allen is surely right that having a black president makes it hard to talk about race, particularly if you want to have the hackneyed monologue that hustlers such as Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton want to have. Weak-tea Marxist rants about a system that parasitically feeds off black men sound absurdly antiquated when that system is run, at the top, by black men (Eric Holder, let’s not forget, runs the Justice Department).
But the aging race industry that continues to see the world through a half-century-old prism of Jim Crow, and still wants you to see it that way, too, is determined to bum-rush Zimmerman into his assigned role, heedless of facts or the lack of them.
Meanwhile, Obama, who promised a new conversation on race, seems happier in an election year to lend heft to the old one. He called for soul-searching -- but absent a full set of facts, why does this homicide of all U.S. homicides require it? Obama’s comments mostly seem aimed at adding credence to liberal conventional wisdom.
Zimmerman may well deserve to go to jail. Or this may just be a confluence of horrible mistakes with no criminal intent whatsoever. That’s what a Justice Department probe and a Florida grand jury will determine. But for the forces demanding action, that isn’t good enough. Jackson, as is his wont, threatens there will be “no peace” until Zimmerman is arrested.
Others are not so patient. The New Black Panther Party has put a $10,000 bounty on Zimmerman’s head. “He should be fearful for his life,” leader Mikhail Muhammad said. “You can’t keep killing black children.” Spike Lee joined the digital lynch mob and tweeted Zimmerman’s home address.
Yes, absolutely, there are pockets of racism in America. But among the myriad problems with a “blame the system” narrative is that it obscures and often silences far greater problems than white-on-black racist violence.
Martin’s tragic death is a statistical outlier. More whites are killed by blacks than blacks killed by whites (or “white Hispanics”). And far, far more blacks are killed by other blacks. Indeed, if we’re going to use the prism of race to analyze murder rates, then the real epidemic is that of black murderers. Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute notes that recent data show black males age 14 to 24 commit homicides at a rate nearly 10 times higher than that of young white and Latino males combined. Surely that’s worthy of some soul-searching, too.
And yet, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow says “the burden of black boys in America” is fear of racist assaults. MSNBC has handed over vast swaths of airtime to its in-house huckster, Sharpton.
No doubt, white -- and “white Hispanic” -- prejudice is a problem for young black men, but the notion that it is the singular or chief “burden of black boys in America” is nonsense. Alas, the very people begging for an honest conversation on race will likely accuse you of racism for saying so.
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Mar 28, 2012 18:07
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- Xombie
- May 22, 2004
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Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery
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The fact that so many white people are trying to disassociate the Zimmerman from their own race and paint him as "half-hispanic" seems even more racist to me than defending him. They're claiming colorblindness while in the same breath being painstakingly specific about defining the man's race.
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Mar 28, 2012 18:13
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- Nintendo Kid
- Aug 4, 2011
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by Smythe
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mintskoal posted:
What?
What?
Then make your kids get some loving student loans and don't buy them cars so they can go deliver pizzas.
There's nothing wrong with buying him a car. A brand new car however, instead of an older used one that would cost much less...
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Mar 28, 2012 18:15
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- Dr. Tough
- Oct 22, 2007
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Saint Sputnik posted:
Jonah Goldberg provides the valuable white male perspective on true racism
Isn't he the guy that wrote the whole "liberals are the real Nazis because vegetarianism"
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Mar 28, 2012 18:29
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Apr 16, 2024 15:40
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Mar 16, 2012 11:41
The gays are really the bigots. 
