Letters to the Editor
A Billion Angry Bees
Published Letters: 476 Editor's Choice: 13
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Let's clarify
[Read the article: It's 3 a.m. Who do you want answering the phone?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A Navy Captain is equivalent to an Army Colonel, one grade below Read Admiral lower half. He was shot down on his 23rd mission, not his 7th. He was given command of a large Corsair training squadron. He began to get more involved in politics as early as 1977 as a Senate liaison for the Navy. His war injuries prevented him from getting adequate physical reports that would have allowed him to be promoted.
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Let me count
[Read the article: Shocking new revelation: Unchecked government powers get abused]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's see since William McKinley was President the US has been involved in 8 noteworthy wars and a few lesser brush conflicts. Seems axiomatic that since the Executive Branch was rather weak before that and rather strong since, there's a correlation between wars and power. Now unless you believe that St. Hillary or Jesubama will turn us into a pacifist neutral nation overnight it's unlikely that they will relinquish that power either. After all, we've had ample warning, since 1898 or so.
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Paul Daniel Ash
[Read the article: Shocking new revelation: Unchecked government powers get abused]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wasn't trying to do anything. The point I made is that this an inevitable expansion of governance. It's not about this leader or that one or even the cynical "They're all criminals blah blah". And woe to they who believe in partisan magic.
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No the point is you've all become slaves to your emotions, dullness and vanity
[Read the article: "Women are stupid!" The discussion continues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Look at Salon, generally. It's all vitriolic noise; people pretending to be personally harmed and offended that someone else dare not worship their god or gods be they Obama, natural food or whatnot. Me? If you were all called back by the mothership tomorrow never to be heard from again, I couldn't care less.
So are the ladies stupid? No, not as far as I can see.
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So, show of hands...
[Read the article: Understanding Heath Ledger's death]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How many of you pseudo scientologist nanny staters smoke more than a half ounce of weed a month...?
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As someone who has just suffered through a 75% property tax increase
[Read the article: The great homeowner equity depression]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The first change in 6 years, in a market mind you, that's increased in price value MAYBE 5%/year, if you're really screwing those rose colored glasses on, I have to laugh a little bit at the torrent of revaluations that are going to cascade down on those bastards heads. For more than a decade we've had 8% compound population growth and the sprawl of new development in the $300-500K has been enormous. This had twofold effect. 1) it depresses the value of existing stock and 2) places most of the tax burden on new homeowners.
But the city got just a little bit greedy this time around and decided at the beginning of the year right when new housing permits plummeted and values started to fall, to double or triple dip by jacking up everyone's assessment 75%, to pay for who knows what, solid gold cop cars probably. The school board passed back to back billion dollar bonds last year so the growth in population should be sufficient to cover that debt service.
In any case it will be hysterically funny to watch the endless line of people going into revaluation negotiations with the city based on values that are dropping monthly and, based on defaults. Of course if you can't afford your mortgage you can't afford your tax escrow either so the city is going to pay through the nose to process all those liens.
So let's review:
Falling values: check
School construction continuing unabated and out of control: check
City services, e.g. police continues to be an actual profit center: check
Stage 3 water restrictions, 100+ year drought in force: check
City and county budget shortfalls on paper: check
If we're lucky it will end in a riot with the city council members heads on pikes in front of a screaming mob. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of crooks.
BTW if you're ever in Raleigh, NC, please note that our Mayor, Charles Meeker once defended predatory towing practices that fee split between illegal towing and the city, on TELEVISION, openly.
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He fed the 4000 with 4 loaves and fishes
[Read the article: Obama sets another fundraising record]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]After kicking over the moneylenders tables in temple. Jesubama's Obamanomics are Divine.
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Let's get a VPN tunneler
[Read the article: Why Apple's SDK finally justifies iPhone hype]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When they create a reliable VPN dialer/tunneler that uses IPSEC or SSL they will have the basic widget for an execu-weenie tool that can connect to corporate networks.
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Newsweek did that to OJ
[Read the article: Was Obama's skin darkened for Clinton ad?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Because you know, he's innocent and shit and they needed to smear the great man.
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Why do Democrats
[Read the article: Why do conservatives really find the Obama campaign "scary"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]who more or less stood around and watched THE MOST POLARIZING figure in American politics in a hundred years, get elected and re elected, claim that Hillary is un electable 'because she's too polarizing'? Compared to what?
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What are you hoping to find?
[Read the article: What Clinton once said about tax returns]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]These are basically formalities. What are you hoping to discover? A secret payoff in the crack for tears of the unborn black market?
Seriously why is this a big deal? Oh wait it's not, it's just stick to beat someone over the head with. Honestly you sound like right wing hate radio rejects. Yes you do.
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Someone's having a huge blowout
[Read the article: Ron Paul finally ready to drop out of presidential race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]At Burning Man this year.
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Which is kind of like saying
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the worst part of cancer is the diagnosis and the treatment
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I'm sure the letters here
[Read the article: "10,000 BC"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Will be from pretend anthropologists and architects pointing out the mistakes in the film.
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Are you sure the Holocaust was real?
[Read the article: Attention, all you memoir fabulists!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Some people are unconvinced.
And that underground railroad, yeah, not so much.
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So will there be a surge in psychotropic drug use now
[Read the article: Ron Paul finally ready to drop out of presidential race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]or a rapid decrease? My Loononmeter is slowly inching back into the orange zone.
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I half expect a You Tube contest to determine his running mate
[Read the article: Does "Obama Girl" help Obama?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]An appearance on American Idol for Obama at the least. He can 'hope' Paula Abdul doesn't pitch face first into the table.
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Vulcan right on cue
[Read the article: Attention, all you memoir fabulists!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks mate, remember the green wire is ground, otherwise you'll blow yourself up in a 'work accident'.
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You assume it's usable
[Read the article: The banality of the surveillance state]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Or even accurate. Typically not so much. The danger is not that the information exists, since it does anyway. The danger is that someone relies on it.
The other key point to remember is that this is a lot like a clinical diagnosis. There's no little green man on a microscope slide waving a flag, but a series of inferences agglomerated from a sparse set of disconnected data points. I tell you I order for many different people on my Amazon account so their inference engine throws up the craziest collections of things it thinks I might be interested.