lookin

So how come I always have to wear the collar?

The Marque of the 1%

The good news is that this happened five years ago and, from the guy's recent posts on Reddit, he's doing fine. More, I'm sure, than can be said for his father.

Perhaps it was OZ working on his new new website.

According to this article, many Republican governors are refusing to set up the on-line insurance exchanges that will allow folks to start shopping for competitively priced health insurance, and to see if they qualify for financial aid. The exchanges are part of the Affordable Healthcare Act and are scheduled to be up and running by next October. Fortunately, the Obama administration is not sitting idly by and is hard at work creating a federal exchange for those who won't have access to a state exchange. It will be ready right on schedule. Of course, the Republicans are crying foul and complaining that such a federal exchange can't offer any subsidies in their states, preferring that their less wealthy folks just go without insurance entirely. Wrong again, say the feds. The federal exchange, and the subsidies, will be ready and available to all, right on schedule. Unless, of course, ex-Governor Romney manages to get himself elected President and makes good on his promise to repeal the national healthcare program which is largely based on the one he implemented in Massachusetts. Could the Republicans get any nuttier?

From the ALEC article: In 2012, Walter Mondale, former Democratic Vice President of the United States, and Arne Carlson, former Republican governor of Minnesota, referred in an op-ed piece to the political activities of the Koch family and ALEC, saying: "[ALEC] is the creation of the Koch brothers who amassed their fortunes in oil and who live in Florida. The goal of ALEC is to influence legislators across the nation." Journalist John Nichols opined in The Nation that the Koch brothers have provided funding to ALEC for "decades" in a "savage assault on democracy".

Thought this would be another run-of-the-mill whackjob until I got to the end of the article and the reference to his membersip in ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, allegedly spawned by the Koch Brothers. An eyepopping read.

Namaste. No sir, the Benjamin Nicholas thread is no longer in the cloud. In fact it is high above. Mr. OZ has most urgently requested that it be placed somewhere near Uranus. Yes, please do have a nice day.

Naturally modest growth is my preference. If I'm feeling unusually hirsutophilic, I can always shlep along a merkin.

Just picked up Smart Aleck today. Thanks. I'll read the Vicountess' book too if I stumble across it. My latest book was an old one on computer history. I like reading about the early computers, the ones that used vacuum tubes and were strung together with baling wire. I can understand those. They lost me when they started putting everything inside a little black chip with legs.

Not sure if this one's official.

Whoa, dude! You try comin' in seventh in the Olympics when you're baked. They shoulda given me a Platinum!

Rimming Practice starts just as soon as somebody helps me out of these pants.

So you're sayin' that if we let the rich old Mormons have lots of wives, we'd end up with a bunch of horny young guys who are temporarily short of funds? Hmm.

I hope he doesn't pick up any bad habits.

Heartiest congratulations to FourAces! And, on behalf of the little people who won absolutely bupkis, thank you all most humbly for reminding us that posting is its own reward.

I'll bet you not only won but also took everyone over to Mickey's for cocktails and 'afters'. No doubt OZ will be sending you a bill for the balance due.

You probably never ducked into a library stall for a quick BJ either. But it sounds like what you're aiming for is the true Boyfriend Experience. I can just imagine his warm breath on your neck as he slips down those slinky straps and slings that hot white number straight up into the ceiling fan. All best wishes and I'm sure it will be a very lovely evening!

Thanks, Lucky, for the link. I'm not much of a fiction reader but, if you tell me that he gets into data mining too, I'll track this one down. There are already fifty reviews on Amazon, most quite favorable, and that seems like a lot for a book that's been out such a short time. I'm glad to see it as my hunch is that most folks would like to turn away from this subject and think about it as little as possible. A popular, well-written thriller may be the sugar that helps the medicine go down.

Ah, yes, but there are bargains to be had if you know how to climb a pole. Some say as much as half of India's electricity is pirated, making it harder to fund new infrastructure. Turns out I'm no stranger to power outages myself. Every winter, falling branches from winter winds and rain knock out electricity where I live. Until state regulators started charging the local utility twenty-five dollars a day per customer, we were often dark for days at a time. Usually found something to do.

Have you lost your marbles?

Cabaret Fantasia

Sarah and Todd Palin showed their support, dropping by a Woodlands, Texas, store on Friday. CNN is taking heat for playing Pink's Stupid Girls track when reporting the story today.

I am relaxed damn it!

Thanks for your link, AdamSmith! Senator Ervin sure said it better than I did. Senator Sam Ervin, the author of groundbreaking legislation in this area, warned eloquently in June 1974 of the dangers that arise when the “natural tendency of government to acquire and keep and share information about citizens is enhanced by computer technology” without legal and judicial restraint. “Each time we give up a bit of information about ourselves to the government, we give up some of our freedom,” he said. “For the more the government or any institution knows about us, the more power it has over us. When the government knows all of our secrets, we stand naked before official power. Stripped of our privacy, we lose our rights and privileges. The Bill of Rights then becomes just so many words.”