If we treat the constitution as a stagnant piece of paper then as a whole the nation would still be living in the 1800's. No instead the constitution grew with the times, I can't cite every case action the Court undertook. The constitution ended segregation under Brown V Board of education. That clause was not written by the founding fathers nor was Roe V Wade or countless other decisions that the court handed down. The Court rarely if ever overturns a previous rulling. Have the Court made mistakes of course they have but once a fredom is "Found" within the confines of the text the court has never taken it away to the best of my knowledge. If the court did that there would be Anarchy in the streets, and this nation would cease to exist. Thankfully that is not the case if we left the Constitution alone and took it as an as is document this nation would have never grown to be what it is today. That does not belie the fact that Justices should have mandatory retirement age I think it should coincide with SSI's retirement age of 72 once you reach that age your mind is pretty well fixed into one position (I know I'll get letters for that one) at that age the mind becomes ridgid and ceases to understand how fast things are actually changing. So let them retire and bring some fresh attitudes and ideas with new younger Justices.

When the court granted citizenship to businesses, the court may have done this nation a favor. All citizens are required to pay taxes, with that in mind business entities should now be forced to get a Social Security Number and pay into that fund along with income taxes. Remember All citizens must pay taxes can you imagine the amount of money that can be generated in tax revenue if all businesses were taxed that way. There would be no loop holes these mega massive companies would be forced to pay they're fair share. Anyways it would take some slick Senator to make sure that happend and you can bet that it wont be a conservative republican pushing that agenda

Just a thought, something for you to chew on.:)

so maybe a full nullo in the future? Do you regret anything, or is it enjoyable not beeing able to fuck even with the hard on feeling?

Have you made any further decisions on the matter of how you will proceed?

BTW, is Cleveland worth a tactical nuke?

Interminably Tedious? Possibly a reference to the dialog in a Stephen King novel?

I posted a topic and a day later it was gone. What is the criteria for deleting posts? A non political simple post ??

How do you not see her sadism as an issue? I don't exactly have a goal. And as for the tying up, well, I can't exactly just back away when she's literally got those needles balls deep and rapidly wiggling them around unless I want them to break off and be stuck inside my balls. Maybe i've gotten as far as I can discussing this, IDK.

Alas, yes. You can thank the Texas Skool Board and its buying power for foisting "sintins di-grams" off on unsuspecting children even though no reputable linguist believes that the antiquated Reed-Kellog diagrams are of any value and actually are mistaken in that the same diagram is used for two different sentence types, that is it blurs the fundamental distinction between a declarative and interrogative sentence (in other words Is George Bush a complete idiot? and George Bush is a complete idiot. would be diagrammed the same way.

Worse yet, terrorists who spent four years killing American soldiers and whose avowed purpose was to destroy the federal system of government are proclaimed as honorable men with high ideals and the Civil War that they promulgated has been euphemized as "The War betwix the States" as if the central government whose Constitution these criminals attacked never existed.

Sure like to hear if anyone is getting Hurricane Earled and what is it like.

Here on the central O.C. coast there is one hell of an unusual heavy fog. The kind one does not want to be driving through. Rare and even more so the first week of September.
If there was ever a year without a Summer; this was it!
Moi
What global warming? My figs can't ripen it is just too cold. No global warming here.

I think most people will totally forget that Beck was in Washington and gave a rally, however, most people know what King said and it was 40 years ago. Forty years from now they will still remember M.L.King and his speech but Beck wont be remembered for his speech, hell most people cant tell you what he said now. Maybe if Beck put his white sheet back on again he would have more creditability, at least he would finally be honest.

River

I completely agree. There is a really good transition sticky in this forum that is worth checking out too. Also would like to throw in that although orals are easy to come by and much cheaper they are a bit riskier from a health perspective. I have been on 2x 100 mcg transdermal patches(twice weekly) and 175mg of spiro for just shy of a year(took a few breaks) and have had pretty good results IMO for reference.

I'm now two weeks post op from my breast augmentation procedure and I'm doing GREAT! The bandages, tape and sutures have been removed. I still have some bruising on the lower side of my breasts toward the arm pit area, more so on the right side than the left, but hopefully this will fade in the near future. I've been wearing this wonderfully fashionable surgical bra :rolleyes: for almost two weeks now and I can't wait for two more weeks to pass so I can trade this "granny" bra in for something sexy from Victoria Secrets. :laugh: The only problem I'm currently experiencing is that my nipples are sore from being erect all the time and rubbing on my bra. The PS said this is very common and they will return to normal in about a month.

I did go through my dresser drawer last week and gathered up all of my old bras and gave them to a clothing charity. I was surprised to see that I actually had eight different bras of various sizes. My collection and progression on hormone therapy. :laugh:

My boobs seem to have grown a bit in the last week or so. From the research I've done this seems to be normal for the under the muscle placement of the implants. It appears that as the pectoral muscle stretches to accommodate the implants the muscle relaxes and does not compress the implants as much as at first. The term used for this is called "fluffing". Kind of cute...like a pillow! :) Since my follow up visit with my PS from last Friday, I have now started the daily massage routine. I have to do this for 5 minutes every day for the next 2 months or so. This is supposed to help the implants drop into the pocket that the surgeon provided for them as well as to soften them up, which is part of the "fluffing" process.

I did measure myself the other day for the first time since surgery and I'm currently a 40DD, which means a two cup size increase for me.

I'm thinking about doing some shopping for a new bra as well as a few new blouses this weekend as some of my tops no longer fit me.

Us Canadians have our problems and our own horrible people, but reading this kinda stuff just makes me shiver.

Still, one has to admit, this is not bad writing for a "Smiling Chimp".

Maybe the poem, "Darwin's Mistake" is significant at this point...

>>Episode 4,523 on why Glen Beck is Dangerous!
>>Glen Beck on Education (he calls it communist indoctrination)
>>

http://www.mediaite.com/online/glenn...zbollah-hamas/
Dangerous With Indoctrination” As Hezbollah, Hamas
by Eric Cunningham | 8:56 am, September 2nd, 2010

Last night, Glenn Beck had a textbook Glenn Beck-style address in which he hyperbolically dug into both progressive universities and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius within the same 30 seconds.

Target 1: Universities.
There was a time not too long ago in this country that we used to walk through walls of fire to make sure we weren’t funding Hamas or Hezbollah. I have news for you: there are a lot of universities that are just as dangerous with indoctrination of our children as these terror groups are in Iran or North Korea.

That is news. But what offense is Beck referring to that is on par greater than these paramilitary forces? Giving GPS cell phones to dehydrated illegal immigrants crossing through America’s southern deserts. So aiding a crime? Definitely. Does that make a professor from UC-San Diego worse than 2/3 of the Axis of Evil? Debatable.

Target 2: Kathleen Sebelius
Our Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius just said, and I quote, “We need a re-education process on healthcare.” Oh. Well, how very Kim Jong-Il of you. Or dare I say it? Mao is the “in” one now, isn’t he?

Beck is using a pull quote from an interview where Sebelius explains the Obama administration failed to explain what was in the new health care law and is making it sound like they are setting up brainwashing camps. No, it isn’t Kim Jong-Il of anyone to say that the healthcare bill is confusing. That’s the one thing both sides of the issue actually agree on.

After that, Beck turns on his serious mode and again somberly warns against the re-education camps we call universities before throwing to commercial. Perhaps a promo for Beck University?

Clip via Media Matters [Update - we've added a longer video for fuller context]:
http://videos.mediaite.com/embed/player/4KB0DS0NQ3B3W7YP" width="420" height="421" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true"

http://www.mediaite.com/online/glenn...zbollah-hamas/

>>A case of facts getting in the way of hateful rhetoric
>>Gardeners, butchers, fruit and vegetables pickers, etc... are not involved in drug deals and organized crime
>>Their only crime is being brown when the hate- and fear-mongers wantto win elections.
>>
>>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090106940.html

Number of illegal immigrants in U.S. drops, report says
By Tara Bahrampour
Wednesday, September 1, 2010; 10:15 PM

A deep recession and tougher border enforcement have led to a sharp decline in the number of immigrants entering the United States illegally in the past five years, contributing to the first significant reversal in the growth of their numbers in two decades, according to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The number of illegal immigrants entering the United States plunged by almost two-thirds between 2005 and 2009, a dramatic shift after years of growth in the population, according to the report.

In the first half of the decade, an average of 850,000 people a year entered the United States without authorization, according to the report, released Wednesday. As the economy plunged into recession between 2007 and 2009, that number fell to 300,000.

The drop has contributed to an 8 percent decrease in the estimated number of illegal immigrants living in the United States, from a peak of 12 million in 2007 to 11.1 million in 2009, the report said. Of the 11.1 million, 60 percent came from Mexico, 20 percent from other parts of Latin America, 11 percent from Asia, and 8 percent from Africa, Europe, Canada and elsewhere. The new figures come amid a heated national debate over efforts by Arizona and other jurisdictions to identify people who are here illegally and push to have them deported.

Virginia, Florida and Nevada were among the states with the steepest declines in their populations of illegal immigrants. Large declines in illegal immigrants in Florida and Nevada were probably because of the housing crisis and the loss of thousands of construction jobs, which immigrants often fill, experts said. Florida's illegal immigrant population fell by 375,000, to an estimated 675,000, between 2008 and 2009, and Nevada's decreased by 50,000 to an estimated 180,000 during that period.

The number in Virginia fell by 65,000, to 240,000, a decline that Jeffrey Passel, an author of the report, attributed to the economy as well as to stricter legislation passed in Prince William County in 2007 and 2008.

Although the report's authors did not have information about population decreases at the county level, a 2009 University of Virginia study of the legislation's effect on Prince William showed a decline in the number of children enrolled in ESOL classes and in the number of uninsured mothers giving birth, both suggestive of the presence of recent and poor immigrants, said Audrey Singer, who specializes in immigration at the Brookings Institution.

Corey A. Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and a champion of the legislation, said he was "proud" of the county's role in decreasing the illegal immigrant population. "Our resolution on illegal immigration resulted in thousands of illegal aliens leaving Prince William," said Stewart, who has called for Virginia to adopt a law similar to Arizona's.

But Stewart (R-At Large) predicted that the declining numbers of illegal immigrants in Virginia would be temporary without stricter enforcement statewide. "They're just going to come back once the economy recovers," he said.

Douglas Massey, a Princeton University sociologist who studies migration, said the recession and the lack of jobs are major factors in the decline of people entering the country illegally.

The unemployment rate for unauthorized immigrants is 10.4 percent, higher than that of either U.S.-born residents or legal immigrants said the Pew report, which used data from the Current Population Survey, a monthly report on 55,000 households conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.

Pew, a premier research organization on immigration matters, calculated the number of unauthorized immigrants by adjusting the statistics up by 10 to 15 percent to account for undercounts, said D'Vera Cohn√, an author of the report. The size of the undercount was determined by factors including Mexico's population size, U.S. mortality data and research conducted during the 2000 Census around the issue of undercounting, she said.

Massey also pointed to a rise in guest-worker visas, from 104,000 in 2000 to 302,000 in 2009, allowing more immigrants to come to the United States legally. The other likely reasons for the decline, he said, include an increase in law enforcement and deportations, and enactment of stricter legislation against illegal immigrants.

"Life's gotten pretty miserable for immigrants in the United States," he said, noting that even for legal immigrants, many of whom have relatives who are unauthorized, the increased scrutiny has been stressful.

Researchers noted that the return of illegal immigrants to their home countries also has leveled off in the past five years, as back-and-forth travel has become more dangerous and expensive.

But over the past decade, the flow of legal immigrants into the United States increased slightly, according to the report, which noted that the trends have reduced the percentage of immigrants who are here illegally, from 31 percent of all immigrants in 2007 to 29 percent in 2009.

Although an earlier Pew study pointed to signs of fewer illegal immigrants in recent years, the new report reveals the first statistically significant reversal in the growth of the population in the past 20 years, said Passel, a senior demographer at Pew.

"We know that it's harder to sneak across the border than it was four or five years ago, and especially than it was 10 or 15 years ago," he said. "Virtually everyone who sneaks across the border uses a 'coyote' now, and the cost has gone up. The increase of the Border Patrol around cities and ports of entry has pushed the flows across the border into more remote places."

The report's findings were hailed by Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tighter immigration controls.

The figures contradict "the idea that the only options before us are mass expulsions or mass amnesty," he said. "This finding points to the middle way, of a consistent decrease of the illegal population over time through enforcement."

Nationally, the trajectory of the population is also likely to depend on the strength of the economic recovery and the level of enforcement of immigration laws, Passel said.

"In the past, the flows have moved in line with the state of the U.S. economy," he said. "But we have stepped-up enforcement right now. Right now, both are working in the same direction. If the economy turns around and enforcement is increased, we don't know."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090106940.html

I have just started reading an excellent biography of Zheng He, the Chinese eunuch admiral who explored the Indian Ocean as far as the east coast of Africa. I’m reproducing the first bit of chapter two below. Chapter one sets the scene for the Ming Dynasty.

II
Zheng He’s Early Life and His Patron, Emperor Yongle

Zheng He was born in 1371 in Kunyang, in the central part of the southwestern province of Yunnan, across Lake Dian from the provincial capital at Kunming. His original name was Ma He, and he was one of many descendants of Saiyid Ajall Shams al-Din (1211–79) – “also named Umar” – a Central Asian Muslim descended from a distinguished family of Bukhara who had risen in the service of the Mongol emperors Mönke (born 1209, ruled 1251-59) and Khubilai. Khubilai appointed Saiyid Ajall Shams al-Din governor of Yunnan in 1274, and he served successfully as governor until his death, being followed by two of his sons, Nasir-al-Din and Mas’ud. Another son, Bayan, was the father of Hajji, whose son, also named Hajji, was Ma He’s father. The Chinese surname Ma often indicates, as it does in this case, a Muslim family, and the name Hajji is usually added to a Muslim name after the required pilgrimage to Mecca has been accomplished. Whatever their full names were, it is reasonable to conclude that Zheng He’s father and grandfather both made the pilgrimage. Zheng He came, in other words, from a devout Muslim family with a strong awareness of Islam’s religious heritage, which included a religious law that prohibited castrating or enslaving Muslims. His immediate family included an older brother and four sisters.

Very little is known about Zheng He’s emotions or inner life, but one thing that seems certain is the eclectic nature of his religious beliefs as an adult. His nickname Sanbao refers to the Buddhist “Three Treasures,” or Triratna, and his inscriptions of 1431 at Liujiagang and Changle show the intensity of his devotion to the Sea Goddess Tianfei. This eclecticism is all the more remarkable in that he lived the first decade of his life in a a probably pious Muslim environment, and he must have been aware of Islam’s strict prohibition of apostasy.

Yunnan was still under Yuan Dynasty rule when Zheng He was born, and it was left alone for a decade longer as the Ming empire consolidated. Yunnan’s ruler, Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang, was a Mongol prince descended from Khubilai, who had conquered Yunnan in the 1250s, before his own accession as emperor and his conquest of Song China. Yunnan’s population consisted largely of non-Chinese ethnic groups that preferred the continuation of Mongol rule to Chinese conquest. Nevertheless, the Ming army that invaded Yunnan in the autumn of 1381easily subdued Basalawarmi’s government. Kunming fell in January 1382, Basalawarmi and his immediate retinue commited suicide, and Dali in the northwest fell in April.

Zheng He’s father, Hajji, was killed (at age 39) resisting the Ming conquest, and Zheng He was taken prisoner and castrated for service as a eunuch. Soon afterward he was sent to join the household of the future Emperor Yongle, then governing Beiping, the future Beijing, with the title Prince of Yan.

Castration was often the fate of boys captured in war, and in this period of Ming history not only the immediate imperial family but also the households of princes and generals had staffs of eunuchs. In later Ming history only the emperor maintained an organization of eunuchs, by then swollen to tens of thousands, and large gangs of men who had castrated themselves in the hope of joining the eunuch household had become crime and security problems in Beijing. While it is hard to think of castration as other than traumatic, thousands of men in Ming history saw the eunuch career as a tempting route to wealth and power, and a handful of eunuchs rose to positions of such influence that officials saw them as dictators who were manipulating weak and pliant emperors. Thus Zheng He’s castration made him a member of a recognized personnel category in Imperial China, rather than an outcast.

The theoretical justification of the eunuch organization was that it could wait on the empress and other palace women without the risk of its compromising the genealogical integrity of the ruling house. Most of these service functions could also be performed by the palace women themselves, who in the Ming as in other dynasties had an elaborately bureaucratized organization of their own. But eunuchs were useful because they could also serve as imperial agents outside the palace, in the empire at large. Emperors tended to trust the eunuchs who had been their childhood playmates, and sometimes their adult lovers, through in this and in every other matter that concerns eunuchs it needs to be remembered that civil officials wrote all the historical sources and were invariably hostile to eunuchs. Civil officials felt obliged to protest policies they did not approve; eunuchs were dependent on the emperor and obeyed him. Eunuchs often served as directors of important and expensive projects that civil officials opposed, and for Zhen He to command the seven great naval expeditions was a special case of this general practice.

Before the Ming conquest, Zhen He might have expected to lead the life of a member of the non-Chinese local elite of Yunnan during the Yuan Dynasty. Now, despite the injury inflicted on him, he had been transported to a position that turned out to be an intimate personal relationship with a man who would become a forceful Ming emperor. Yongle’s wishes and commands turned Zhen He into the “admiral” who led seven voyages into the Indian Ocean. Understanding Zhen He’s life thus requires understanding the new context in which the young eunuch grew to maturity and the nature of his patron, Emperor Yongle, in whose reign the adult eunuch sent the most productive years of his life.

Dreyer, Edward L. (2007). Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433. New York: Pearson Longman, pp. 11-13.

The book is available from Amazon for $17.55
http://www.amazon.com/Zheng-He-Dynas.../dp/0321084438




.

I stand corrected. You are of course correct in your explanation. The question then becomes how do we make the News Networks responsible for the miss information or total fallacies such as your Gal Pal Sarah. When she claimed there were death panels in the health care bill. Because she said it or whom ever was tickling her vocal cords at the time made her say it. As a Public figure she has a responsibility to present the truth, regardless of what version she adhears to. Her statement started mini riots in town hall meetings why was she not taken to task over what she said or for that matter O'Riely, Beck, Hannity and his idiot partner, or lush limbaugh. Because thay are public figures, and public figures live by different rules

Disclaimer......

The opinions and views of this poster are not neccessarily her own nor are they of her Dopple Ganger for detailed information regarding this post or explainations thereof please see your local Constitutional provide.r Offer not valid in Arkansas, Mississippil north or South Dekota or West VirginiaOffer excludes neck bones, backs, and chitlins.:thankyou: :D :laugh:

I read your entire post and ascertained how to reply in a manor not unlike my first read of the newly re-formated 'Fiction Archive', whose general layout is consistent with the entire site, as far as I can tell. The additional layer (page) and its warning content is no more cumbersome than a software agreement, which even a novice user has encountered.

The only format change I'd personally offer is that actual "agree - disagree" link(s) might be centered rather than left justified.


As for the warning itself, good job.

all the best,
markle

Hi sweety....It's great to see how you've faired so well in these past few months...I wonder if X knows what a prize he has in you...I suspect he does...
big smooches dragonfly (the sensible heels...what size?)