Lucky

Senator Frank Church also said it well, on August 17th, 1975. His quote now leads Brad Thor's latest novel, Black List, focusing on the extreme surveillance of US citizens. (Yes, I read Brad Thor novels!) But, Politico covered the quote last year: By Sept. 11, 2011, the words of George Orwell in his novel “1984” will have become prophetic. “Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it,” he wrote in 1949, long before the Internet. “You have to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard.” On Sept. 10, 2001, however, Winston would have found a radically different society. The NSA, the surveillance equivalent of a nuclear bomb, was allowed to point its massive antennas and satellites only away from the country. Before an American could be targeted, a judge from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court would first have to find a link to terrorism or espionage in order to issue a warrant. And installing permanent taps on all of the country’s major communications links would have been impossible. More than 35 years earlier, one person warned of such a possibility. On Aug. 17, 1975, as America was enjoying a lazy summer watching “Jaws” and “The Exorcist” at the movies, Idaho Sen. Frank Church took his seat on “Meet the Press.” For months, as the first chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Church had been conducting the first in-depth investigation of America’s growing intelligence community. When he looked into the NSA, he came away shocked by its potential for abuse. Without mentioning the agency’s name — almost forbidden at the time — he nonetheless offered an unsolicited but grave warning: “That capability at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left, such [is] the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter,” Church said. “There would be no place to hide. If this government ever became a tyrant, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology. “I don’t want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.” Church’s warning then has even more resonance today. In 1975, most people communicated only by telephone and the mail. While the NSA had the technical capability back then to intercept the limited telephone calls sent by satellite, it lacked the capability to monitor the millions of calls transmitted around the country over wires, the predominant method used, or anything sent through the mail. Read more (and there is more!): http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62999.html

That's certainly one theory. But my experience was that the dollar was not keeping up. To be fair, it has risen since I was there in March.

I didn't realize that the cute British swimmer above, Tom Daley, had been the victim of a harasser: http://www.news.com.au/sport/london-olympics/british-diver-taunted-by-sick-twitter-troll/story-fndpu6dv-1226439220675

But lookin, you could have called a friend over!

600 million people are now without electricity in India as a power failure is in its second day. What is shocking about this number is that half of those people would not have power even if there was no electric failure. 300 million people in India go without electricity every single day! I find that shocking!

From today's NY Post gossip column: Katie Couric has fallen for a handsome financier seven months after her split with her boy-toy Brooks Perlin, Page Six can exclusively reveal. Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/couric_falls_for_financier_L2UzcojJdxv75B9Y1Yv63I#ixzz22DKkSpRz

The WSJ reports today that inflation in Brazil is once again becoming a scary thing. The government seems concerned about slow growth, but not inflation, which is rising. Food prices, normally stable in this time of year, are rising. The annual inflation rate, through mid-July, is 5.4%, and even higher for food, although no specific figure was given. Economists predict inflation at 5.5% for the next two years. Yet the rate for July alone was 6.67%. This, in an economy only growing 2% per year. Prices will undoubtedly rise for tourists, since we can afford it, right? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444405804577559463415529678.html

Hint:

It always helps to check the profile before wondering: JKane Member Since 01 Mar 2008 Offline Last Active YESTERDAY, 10:58 PM (EMPHASIS ADDED! ) (on the other hand, perhaps there is a James Klein posting too.I didn't find such a name, but I did find JamPowerButt Member Since 24 Jan 2007 Offline Last Active Nov 29 1999 11:00 PM Now I wonder how he could have last been active before the site even began, and before he signed up. But, with a power jammed butt, anything is possible!)

I took this as an effort by Scalia to be humorous. He went to the extremes with cannons and rocket launchers. Surely even the NRA would not support those. Surely.

And he gets a nice write-up in the Wall Street Journal. Uchimura Mixes Strength and Beauty: http://nline.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444226904577556823156361092.html

Once in a world far, far away, and in a time that seems so remote as to have never been, I went to law school. It was hard work, but I graduated without getting a dime in aid. How did I do it? I worked full-time while I went to school. Lucky for me I had a job that allowed me time to study. Nowadays I see that law schools are begging for students. A few years ago, a former law school dean told me that law schools were seeing a rush of students because when people graduated from college, they couldn't find jobs, so they went to law school. But now law school graduates cannot find jobs and the law schools are fighting for students. Fighting so hard that they are paying students to attend their schools. And I am not talking about the small schools. Big universities are offering to be competitive with other schools that might have accepted an applicant. Every student at the University of Illinois College of Law's class of 2014 received a scholarship.This cost the school $3.6 million. That's paying kids to attend. The American Bar Association reports that scholarship dollars awarded to students has tripled in the last ten years. To be fair, tuition costs are also up, averaging $22,000 a year. I paid a hell of a lot less than that. But students are now in a position to bargain with schools. One student claimed to have been wait-listed at another school, so the original school accepting him doubled his scholarship offer. While some schools are even extending deadlines to apply, others are trying to hold fast to the older traditions. They are either not offering scholarships, or are refusing to negotiate the offers. But, if I didn't already have a law degree, I might be tempted to get paid to go to law school. Or I could be a teacher, teaching students who didn't pay for their education and probably feel less invested in it. An article in today's Wall Street Journal provided much of the information here: http://online.wsj.co...J_WSJ_US_News_6

The Second Amendment is not unlimited, conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said yesterday. In reining in what is considered by the NRA to be an unlimited right, Scalia says no: “We’ll see,” he answered. “I mean, obviously the (Second) amendment does not apply to arms that cannot be hand-carried. It’s to keep and bear — so it doesn’t apply to cannons. “But I suppose there are handheld rocket launchers that can bring down airplanes that will have to be … decided.” Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-bear-arms-unlimited-noted-future-limitations-decided-future-cases-article-1.1124408#ixzz226vZhNdT

Finding the definition of "boytoy" is easy! Just Google it: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=webhp&source=hp&q=boy+toy+meaning&oq=boytoy&gs_l=hp.1.0.0i10j0j0i10j0l2j0i10l3j0j0i10.1873.4142.0.7634.6.6.0.0.0.0.98.531.6.6.0...0.0...1c.PamK9su3qp4

Saturday, August 11th, is the only day I will be in LA. I don't expect to win, but I would love to see the tears of joy when the real winner is announced. Expat has 7 or 8 tickets in the drawing compared to about 2 for me. Plus, I would so love to see townie again!

Oz, surely you don't see me a a person who is so rigid that he cannot change his mind over the years or when new facts are presented. No one said that changing the name would be easy, and no one said it would be cheap. Just because you like the boytoy name, and perhaps have paid good money for it, does not mean that it is the right choice for this site. I appreciated your input on what is going on behind the scenes. But please don't dig your heels in just because you bought a name that you like. A good name will pay for itself over time,right?

I voted!

I had heard that you bought a lot of names with Hooboy in them. So how about just Hooboy's, or Hooboy House. Boys to Men, Maletoy or Malemen, Men of Oz- probably already taken- maleescorts.com, menundressed,com or even Luckymen.com!

The story has been picked up all over the world. i didn't read them all, but the Times of India notes that he was adjusting his jeans as he departed the peep show. Poor guy.

"Of course we have considered other names as well but I jumped the gun and wanted a logo design for the site anyway." I think Oz prefers Boytoy, but is still open to other names.

I am truly surprised that this thread did not get more traction. It's some pretty surprising stuff...

"And that's why people like you are always in the cross-hairs of others. Yet, when you are there, by your very actions, you cry for the help of others to come to your whinning aid to then defend you. Good luck to you." My "whinning" ways endear me to many. I cannot help that you don't get a boner from them. But I -and people "like me"-appreciate the good wishes.

Maybe Louise wasn't getting any! Gawker discusses the gay rumors: http://gawker.com/5929102/gay-or-not-gay-sherman-hemsley

“I had no idea that the U.S. government had been captured by the banks,” So says the man appointed to watch over the US bailout- the Special Inspector general for TARP, Neil Barofsky. Barofsky has written a book about his experience, and he is not kind to Treasurer Timothy Geithner. (NYTimes) Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he is "deeply offended" by an assertion in a new book that he is too cozy with some of the country's biggest financial institutions and mishandled the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout fund. Barofsky argues in his book that TARP was supposed to be a program that was to help Main Street and bolster the economy but was ultimately hijacked by the interests of Wall Street. As President Obama aides designed the financial rescue plan early in the administration, Geithner opposed imposing tough conditions on financial institutions that received bailout funds. Barofsky charges that Geithner oversaw and shaped a policy that saw the nation's largest banks get bigger and even more powerful. (USA Today) “Helping banks, not home owners, did in fact seem to be Treasury’s biggest concern,” Barofsky writes in “Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street.” (Politico) "Prior to coming to Washington to head SIGTARP, Barofsky was a highly regarded prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he built big cases against FARC drug traffickers in Colombia and mortgage fraudsters at home. His diligence in pursuing the latter scofflaws put him on the radar of the Bush administration when it came time to establish SIGTARP, an appointment that came despite the fact that Barofsky was a lifelong Democrat and an Obama supporter." (Huffington Post) Huffington Post's Jason Linkins summarizes the highlights of the book: IN WASHINGTON, IT IS JUST ASSUMED THAT YOU ASPIRE TO BE A SELL-OUT IN WASHINGTON, EVERYONE IS OBSESSED WITH THEIR PERKS WHEN WASHINGTON BUREAUCRATS LEARN OF A WELL-FUNDED OFFICE, THEY START ANGLING FOR THAT CASH MOST REGULATORS VIEW SUCCESS AS "GETTING ALONG TO GO ALONG" ON THE OTHER HAND, REGULATORS WHO PURSUE OVERSIGHT WITH DOGGED DETERMINATION ARE DISDAINED WASHINGTON'S MAIN PASTIME IS USING THE MEDIA TO 'RUIN PEOPLE FOR SPORT' IN WASHINGTON, THE BIGGEST COCK-UPS NATURALLY BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE QUALIFIED TO FIX THE MESSES THEY CREATED IN WASHINGTON, REGULATORY CAPTURE IS SEEN AS A CARDINAL VIRTUE IN WASHINGTON, HIGH-RANKING OFFICIALS ARE TREATED AS DEMIGODS IN WASHINGTON, THE FIRST RESPONSE TO UNPOPULAR INITIATIVES IS TO 'REBRAND' THEM IN WASHINGTON, THE SORT OF GOSSIPY BULLSHIT YOU THOUGHT YOU LEFT BEHIND WHEN YOU GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL IS COMMONPLACE ... AND ON A LONG ENOUGH TIMELINE, EVERYONE IN WASHINGTON EVENTUALLY BECOMES A LITTLE BIT DESPICABLE Linkins elaborates on these points: http://www.huffingto..._n_1702751.html