Holy Hannah:
Sounds like you New Yorkers will soon have meters attached to your toilets to tax the water you use when you flush.
I agree with the second to last paragraph, where do they get off singling out one drink as causing obesity? That's paranoid!
Anne
ENOUGH!!!
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jdb1
Well gang, the real cynicism of the proposal is in the idea that such taxes are being proposed for our own good, to make us healthy, and not a passive-aggressive attempt to wring more tax revenue out of us.
Have you heard Mayor Bloomberg's latest idea: increasing the hotel tax (already outrageously high). My observation is that there are about half the tourists milling about NYC this holiday season than last. If Mike wants to bump that figure up to 2/3 less tourists, increasing the hotel tax is one good way to do it.
[And from now on, please refer to me as Melisande from North Dakota. That way the NYS Tax Department can't catch me with its heinous SSO-posting tax.
]
Have you heard Mayor Bloomberg's latest idea: increasing the hotel tax (already outrageously high). My observation is that there are about half the tourists milling about NYC this holiday season than last. If Mike wants to bump that figure up to 2/3 less tourists, increasing the hotel tax is one good way to do it.
[And from now on, please refer to me as Melisande from North Dakota. That way the NYS Tax Department can't catch me with its heinous SSO-posting tax.
]
I had thought much the same thing concerning these other taxes. If they accomplish nothing else, they'll thin out the population considerably.jdb1 wrote: Have you heard Mayor Bloomberg's latest idea: increasing the hotel tax (already outrageously high). My observation is that there are about half the tourists milling about NYC this holiday season than last. If Mike wants to bump that figure up to 2/3 less tourists, increasing the hotel tax is one good way to do it.
For those political junkies who might want to read the "then" and "now" in the Chicago alternative press, The Chicago Reader has some articles on Barack Obama (and others of note) at http://www.chicagoreader.com/. And the race for Rahm's seat here in the 5th is shaping up in fine fashion.
Welcome to Chicago, America.
It'll be fine...as long as my garbage is picked up.
Welcome to Chicago, America.
It'll be fine...as long as my garbage is picked up.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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movieman1957
- Administrator
- Posts: 5522
- Joined: April 15th, 2007, 3:50 pm
- Location: MD
With everything going on Tuesday it sounds like traffic and people will be backed to my house. And I live 45 minutes away.
Obama stops by Baltimore tomorrow but they have had some streets closed off since yesterday. I'll be home avoiding the crowds.
Obama stops by Baltimore tomorrow but they have had some streets closed off since yesterday. I'll be home avoiding the crowds.
Chris
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
WOW:
It's done!!!!!
After all those months of speeches, debates, arguments with your brother in law, grinding your teeth when Dubya came on TV, and finally making arrangements to get off early enough to go and vote.
* Barrack OBama, President of the United States 1/20/09 *
After all the dining and dancing tonight, let's get started.
* * * * * * CHANGE * * * * * * *
Anne
It's done!!!!!
After all those months of speeches, debates, arguments with your brother in law, grinding your teeth when Dubya came on TV, and finally making arrangements to get off early enough to go and vote.
* Barrack OBama, President of the United States 1/20/09 *
After all the dining and dancing tonight, let's get started.
* * * * * * CHANGE * * * * * * *
Anne
Anne
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Lzcutter
- Administrator
- Posts: 3149
- Joined: April 12th, 2007, 6:50 pm
- Location: Lake Balboa and the City of Angels!
- Contact:
Anne,
I hope it was a happy day for everyone.
It was a day steeped in history and imagery. 80 plus years ago the KKK marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, today Barack and Michelle Obama did the same.
We are living in an amazing transitional period of history and I hope that we will share this experience with our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for it is a moment that will live on long after all of us have shuffled off this mortal coil.
I hope that I am not alone in hoping that we can find the strength and compassion within each one of us to help heal this nation's wounds and come together as a country to help us all stand tall and stand together to overcome the adversities that we face.
I wrote more about it here:
http://classiclasvegas.squarespace.com/
Though I wish I could figure out how to post a picture here of the two famous walks.
I hope it was a happy day for everyone.
It was a day steeped in history and imagery. 80 plus years ago the KKK marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, today Barack and Michelle Obama did the same.
We are living in an amazing transitional period of history and I hope that we will share this experience with our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for it is a moment that will live on long after all of us have shuffled off this mortal coil.
I hope that I am not alone in hoping that we can find the strength and compassion within each one of us to help heal this nation's wounds and come together as a country to help us all stand tall and stand together to overcome the adversities that we face.
I wrote more about it here:
http://classiclasvegas.squarespace.com/
Though I wish I could figure out how to post a picture here of the two famous walks.
Lynn in Lake Balboa
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
Avatar-Warner Bros Water Tower
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
Avatar-Warner Bros Water Tower
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moira finnie
- Administrator
- Posts: 8024
- Joined: April 9th, 2007, 6:34 pm
- Location: Earth
- Contact:
Hi Lynn,
Here are two photos as you requested. I haven't been able to find a panoramic photo just yet of Michelle & Barack Obama on PA Avenue, but will post one when I find it with the Capitol in the background.
The Ku Klux Klan marching proudly down Pennsylvania Avenue in Sept., 1926.
The first couple on Inauguration Day on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Here are two photos as you requested. I haven't been able to find a panoramic photo just yet of Michelle & Barack Obama on PA Avenue, but will post one when I find it with the Capitol in the background.
The Ku Klux Klan marching proudly down Pennsylvania Avenue in Sept., 1926.
The first couple on Inauguration Day on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Has anyone noticed how Michelle is always laughing at something Barrack has said? Her appreciation of his sense of humor must be a big part of their marriage. As serious as he is, I'm sure his humor is very dry. That's the kind that puts me in aching sides from laughing, especially when you have to think about the meaning for a second.
Naturally with a doctor's appointment, and visiting my sister (the hospice nurse finally let us go over - what a bear she is!), then going to get the prescription filled, I ended up with nearly 8 hours of inauguration footage, which I watched and fast forwarded until about 3:00 this a.m.
One thing I have to say, V.P. Biden is one darn good looking man for his age but he must take happy pills every day to be in such a good mood all the time.
Anne
Naturally with a doctor's appointment, and visiting my sister (the hospice nurse finally let us go over - what a bear she is!), then going to get the prescription filled, I ended up with nearly 8 hours of inauguration footage, which I watched and fast forwarded until about 3:00 this a.m.
One thing I have to say, V.P. Biden is one darn good looking man for his age but he must take happy pills every day to be in such a good mood all the time.
Anne
Anne
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charliechaplinfan
- Posts: 9040
- Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am
I fully expect to get called out as a 'racist' for this, but we had all better be thankful we live in a country in which the KKK actually can march down Pennsylvania Avenue - after securing the proper permits from the proper authorities - (and display their ignorance for all to see) without getting attacked, persecuted or prosecuted.
Free speech and the right to demonstration work both ways. Curtailing even the extremists' right to them sets in motion something that can never be stopped, something that is so powerful that it overwhelms any real sense of moral outrage, that we end up doing more harm to the legitimate and worthy than to the evil and the unjust.
I am 'proud' that my country finally saw fit to put a black man in the White House. I will be even more proud when every black man - not just those who speak well, are photogenic, look good on TV and make for a good Hollywood story - is treated with respect and equality. How our country responds to Barack Obama's failures - not his successes - will determine how proud we are to be of our fellow countrymen. Our joy at his ability to win office isn't anything worthwhile - America loves a winner - how we treat him when he's down and out is the real test of our resolve. The fact that the media is attempting to say that Obama's win is MLK's dream embodied is sickening - his dream included the fate of the entire nation, not the fate of one privileged man.
As is, I am more proud of our past than of our present. We have seen the quickened erosion of our rights in the last fifty years, mostly under the guise of protecting us from one group or another. It took strong men standing up to organizations like the KKK to bring them down. It took men facing violence and death - against them and their families - to bring change. It took more than empty rhetoric and feel-good promises. Maybe what we need now, more than ever, is a reminder of the bigotry that is still all-pervasive in this country, so we can get men who are unwilling to compromise, unwilling to stand down, unwilling to break in the face of extreme pressure, to stand up and take their rightful place as the leaders of a generation.
What we don't need is a politician that is practically at home in a Hollywood feel-good hit of the summer that brings about conformity under the guise of bipartisanship, hope and change.
I hope the KKK marches down Pennsylvania Avenue once more. As well, I hope the Black Panthers and every other radical organization in America does. I hope it wakes this country up from the shock of Bush's presidency and the euphoria of Obama's victory. What we need right now is a damned reality check from the diversions of war, terrorism and the economy. One man won't fix hundreds of years of bigotry, one man isn't even a step in the right direction - if anything, he's a step in the wrong direction. His victory is so soothing to white guilt, and I'm sure it makes white America feel so good about its supposed progress in regards to 'African Americans.' The white man would be doing more for black America if they were to acknowledge the projects system to be the failure that it is (some have, some have not) and then actually do something about it.
But what do I know, I'm just some young kid, jaded before my time. Shucks.
Keep hope alive.
Free speech and the right to demonstration work both ways. Curtailing even the extremists' right to them sets in motion something that can never be stopped, something that is so powerful that it overwhelms any real sense of moral outrage, that we end up doing more harm to the legitimate and worthy than to the evil and the unjust.
I am 'proud' that my country finally saw fit to put a black man in the White House. I will be even more proud when every black man - not just those who speak well, are photogenic, look good on TV and make for a good Hollywood story - is treated with respect and equality. How our country responds to Barack Obama's failures - not his successes - will determine how proud we are to be of our fellow countrymen. Our joy at his ability to win office isn't anything worthwhile - America loves a winner - how we treat him when he's down and out is the real test of our resolve. The fact that the media is attempting to say that Obama's win is MLK's dream embodied is sickening - his dream included the fate of the entire nation, not the fate of one privileged man.
As is, I am more proud of our past than of our present. We have seen the quickened erosion of our rights in the last fifty years, mostly under the guise of protecting us from one group or another. It took strong men standing up to organizations like the KKK to bring them down. It took men facing violence and death - against them and their families - to bring change. It took more than empty rhetoric and feel-good promises. Maybe what we need now, more than ever, is a reminder of the bigotry that is still all-pervasive in this country, so we can get men who are unwilling to compromise, unwilling to stand down, unwilling to break in the face of extreme pressure, to stand up and take their rightful place as the leaders of a generation.
What we don't need is a politician that is practically at home in a Hollywood feel-good hit of the summer that brings about conformity under the guise of bipartisanship, hope and change.
I hope the KKK marches down Pennsylvania Avenue once more. As well, I hope the Black Panthers and every other radical organization in America does. I hope it wakes this country up from the shock of Bush's presidency and the euphoria of Obama's victory. What we need right now is a damned reality check from the diversions of war, terrorism and the economy. One man won't fix hundreds of years of bigotry, one man isn't even a step in the right direction - if anything, he's a step in the wrong direction. His victory is so soothing to white guilt, and I'm sure it makes white America feel so good about its supposed progress in regards to 'African Americans.' The white man would be doing more for black America if they were to acknowledge the projects system to be the failure that it is (some have, some have not) and then actually do something about it.
But what do I know, I'm just some young kid, jaded before my time. Shucks.
Keep hope alive.
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klondike
