MsGuy

Well, I can only speak for myself, but the main reason I have had to cut back on my posting is the lack of an onsite thumbs up emoticon. I mean think about it. I read some cool thread and want to say at-a-boy and what all but then I gotta minimize the screen and reopen IE (Google is my home page). Then I gotta sit around and think of what search term I used to find that cute smilie last time and then type it in and then, damn!, nope that ain't right so it's back to Google and then, o.k., now I found a bunch of thumbs up but which one, which one? Ooooh, I like that one, it's animated, so I copy the damn thing, and minimize the site (yeah,I know I could just maximize MER but I never remember that in time) and then click on insert image and paste in the URL and click Add Reply. And what do I find when I check out the post (I always check to see if it really posted; who in his right mind trusts the internet?)--- A fucking red X, that's what! So I hit edit and it's back through that whole routine and what now? A freaking thumb that's 24 inches wide and 48 inches deep and I'm lucky even see the tip of the thumb without scrolling for five minutes. Anyhow, that's why I'm not posting replies as much (you listening, TY?).

So here we are 9 months later and what has changed except the camera crews have moved on and a cholera epidemic has been added to the mix? The vast majority of the homeless are still living under makeshift plastic sheets. The UN buracracy has managed to build all of 150 [no, not a typo] permanant structures and erect 18,000 tents since the disaster. The majority of the people are not even being fed. In a country with at least 2 million able bodied adults unemployed there's no public works program even to clean the rubble from the streets or dig sanitary toilets. And why not? And where is all that aid money going? The off shore bank accounts of the Haitian governing elite and the UN bureaucrats might be a good place to start looking. "Why so little progress? Off the record, international aid workers blame Haiti's red tape ... and corruption. It takes an act of God, or a sizeable bribe to get aid and supplies out of the port." You want to know how you die from cholera? You shit yourself to death. You shit out so much watery gruel that you die from dehydration and profound imbalance of your blood electrolytes. Untreated the death rate is up to 40% in a matter of days. You want to know how to treat cholera? Take a bucket of clean water, stir in a couple of cups of sugar, a couple of tablespoons of sodium cloride (table salt) and a teaspoon or so of potassium cloride (the salt substitute available at your neighborhood grocery). Let the cholera patient drink as much as he can hold. Not exactly high tech medicine and it works like a charm. That's it. That's all you need to do: replace the water, replace the electrolyes and throw in some sugar to keep the guy's strength up; he will be just fine in a few days. But maybe those wonderful folks running Haiti are too tied up standing in line waiting their turn to transfer funds to their chosen safe haven. Must be some long lines these days at the wire transfer window.

REPEAT AFTER ME (100 TIMES): I WILL NOT DELETE POSTS. I WILL NOT DELETE POSTS. I WILL NOT DELETE POSTS... ---- By the way, how's that thumbs up smilie project coming along?

Californians will not face up to their deficit/governance problems until folks refuse to buy any more of their bonds and then only if the rest of the country refuses to bail them out. Just one guy's opinion.

"Of course there's another explanation: that this is all part of an even wider conspiracy...a viral-video false-flag maneuver designed to give conspiracy theorists themselves a bad name." Clearly the whole rogue op is modeled after the hughly successful government cover-up of it's nefarious UFO project at Roswell, New Mexico. Lucky, my failure to comment was intentional. I am disappointed that you saw fit to assist these scumbags in their efforts to discredit a valiant patriotic attempt to slip a hint of the truth into Fox's programming.

Of course, one must always take into account that a straight guy's notion of a stylish dressing pretty boy may differ somewhat from your own.

I don't know enough to have an opinion on whether this draft proposal to reduce the deficit makes any sense but I do like the way it illustrates the gravity of the problem. Or, as the writer puts it, who all would get their hair on fire at any serious effort to reduce the deficit? Draft report of Commission to Reduce Deficit I'll leave it to Lucky to point out the impact on high tax states like Cali of the elimination of the Federal tax deduction for state and local taxes. I can smell the hair burning all the way down here in Mississippi.

Near as I can tell, with the exception of cotton, this is more a story of the deliberate depreciation of the dollar than a story of demand driven rising prices. We've been bitching for a decade about China's irresponsibility in sitting on the value of the Yuan but then, when Europe and Japan complain about a concerted effort by Treasury and the Fed to unilateraly drive down the value of the world's reserve currency (therby making their own domestic problems that much more intractable), we shoot them the diplomatic equivalent of the bird. Notice that (excepting cotton) in Yen terms commodity prices are actually down a bit. Even in Euro terms, prices are up only moderately. ---- In related news, notice that Ireland's public finances are about to implode a la Greece despite a massive cut in expenditures equivalent to the elimination of the entire budget of the Department of Defense in the US. And Spain and Portugal and Italy are still on everybody's death watch list. Germany is the primary beneficiary of the Euro but it's anyone's guess how long German industrialists and politicians will be able to pursuade a recalcitrant German public to subsidize the mistakes of the peripheral states. And without those subsidies, the Euro is dead. And then what? We are in a slow roll finantial crisis that ain't over yet by a long shot. ---- Edit: Not to worry folks. We have a crippled Senate Majority Leader, a currupt windbag stepping up as Speaker of the House and the always decisive Obama in the White House. With the Dems gnawing at their own vitals and the Repubs distracted by a civil war for control of the party, who can doubt that we are well positioned to respond nimbly to every challenge.

Thanks for the post, Lucky. I was completely unaware of this man's story. Maybe they will show this documentary on ESPN or Public Television some day. I'd love to see it.

I know so little about tech stuff that I had to google "RSS feed" to be sure I knew what NeedSome was talking about, but I kinda like the idea of a page that links me to stories from a variety of gay sites/blogs that might be of interest. Some nights I enjoy just wandering around from link to link in gay cyber-space and this sort of thing sounds like a good entry point. And who knows, we might spot some fun stuff worth toteing back here to kick start some threads in the forums.

I couldn't agree more, Conway. And the takeover has the added bonus for us of folding our local bank into an entity with competent senior management. (cross fingers, knock on wood) My point was only that a lot of bank failures don't show up as such in the headline statistics.

Buck up, lookin. I for one still giggle every time I read this post. And why not, there's precedent you know. TY has been replying to his own posts too.

If it's been a while since you've been to Thailand (and assuming his latest motorcycle hasn't gone missing yet), maybe Oz's BF could ferry you around Bankok, at least until you get your feet on the ground. I understand his English is much improved and he would certainly know the current local scene.

Many bank failures don't get reported as such. One smallish regional bank here just pulled a surprise weekend merger with a larger regional bank. The "merger" valued it at something south of two bucks a share (Three years ago it was in the mid-twenties). Near as I can figure, early last summer the FDIC put a gun to their head and said "Bolster your capital or we're pulling the trigger." Given its substantial problems with ill advised commercial real estate loans in Memphis, senior management (as clueless a bunch as you would ever want to meet) was unable to raise new capital. Now this merger is not gonna show up in the stats as a bank failure but for all practical purposes it was. The only difference was that the FDIC stepped in while they could still find a bank willing to take over the problem without a guarantee from the Feds. So as TY says, "It ain't over yet."

So, Lucky, can we look forward to the kind of blow by blow accounts of your adventures in Thailand we are getting from Oz and Tom in Brazil? Yes? Please?

This article demonstrates an inherent danger in allowing unlimited independant political spending by corporations and wealthy individuals hiding behind innoculously named PACs. Does anyone here believe the hedge fund moguls financing American Crossroads intended to further public debate on the question of whether the loophole allowing their earnings to be taxed at 1/2 the rate everyone else pays should be closed? Or were they simply paying for attack ads on whatever unrelated issues might damage any politician who might have the gall to question the retention of their (not so) little tax boondoggle? You and I may not have been priviledged to know the motives behind American Crossroads ads but I assure you that every pol in D.C. sure sat up and took notice. Anyone care to bet on the prospect of taxing the earned income of hedge fund owners at normal rates after this little attack ad blitz? "Impeach Roberts"

Yeah, Episevilla, you are hereby anointed MER's official go to guy for Columbia. Like TY I've been wondering if all those handsome Columbian guys on Flirt4Free were the tip of an iceberg of rent boys. I too will look forward to anything you might wish to contribute to our collective knowledge. And a big hug back to you.

How about Palin/Huckabee in 2012? (thumbs up emoticon that TY refuses to provide. Hey, Matrix ain't the only one here who can be persistant in his suggestions.) Apparently most professional Republican apparatchics and a large chunk of their nomenklatura are starting to get creeped out by that particular vision of their future. And more than a little frightened of its increasing plausibility. Reap what you sow, fellows, reap what you sow. Anyone here still remember the ABM (Anybody But McGovern) coalition in the Democratic party?

Conway, after a considerable kerfuffel, I think we established a few months ago that this "Daddy" and that Daddy ain't the same Daddy.

Well, in all honesty, I did find it necessary to edit out the smilie at the end of your sentence to make my post work.

You know, Matrix, initially I thought that creating the shit can forum was one of TY's less inspired moments, but the further you carry on with this, the more you remind me of why he thought it necessary (or at least justified). ---- Now if it had been me that grated on TY's nerves enough to get myself shit-canned, I think I probably would have posted some self-deprecating comment making light of the situation and then gone on merrily posting away (always keeping an eye peeled for chances to tweek his nose to the point that I drove him mad with despair). Just a suggestion.

TY: "I wanted to see what others thought about the new forum. I chose not post about it because I did not wish to color member responses. Very few chose to respond. Those who did were not generally favorable to the new forum. I have to believe there is a quiet majority out there who are supportive." So now we are playing the silent majority card? Hmmm, where have I heard that before? Silence does not necessarily equal approbation.

Obama is willing to throw us under the bus as seems politically convenient. Rove is driving the bus. Obama will express dismay at the carnage; Rove will be pissed he has to wash the bus. Enough of a difference?

Peas in a pod. Don't worry, lookin, these two will get along just fine.

Depends. Is there a shopping cart and maybe a steam vent in a nice clean alley available?