Rag Hand

Do you know what the difference is between President Obama and Former President Bush? –Neither do I.

Bush was an Neocon asshole who took our rights away and Obama is a socialist asshole who refuses to give them back.

In the Washington Post I read an article about how with a few minor procedural changes the Obama administration is allowing DHS to search any laptop cellphone or other electronic device crossing our borders at will.

Searches conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers should now generally take no more than 5 days, and no more than 30 days for searches by Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents. Like this is going to make any difference.

If I were a bad guy I would encrypt my data and store it online. I could then access it from any smart phone, internet cafe or most libraries. The only people this policy will hurt are business travelers who risk being deprived of a necessary tool because some self-important putz in customs is having a bad day.

This administration supports the warrantless spying by AT&T and other Telcoms, Bush administration lawyers hiding behind “state secrets” to stay out of court, and seen to it that detainees -people held without trial or even evidence- have no more rights than they did under Bush.

Add to that socialized medicine, and direct support of the RIAA/MPAA draconian rules and absurd valuation of a single recording’s worth, expanding the powers of various police agencies, all the while creating more czars thereby consolidating power without having to go through congress and we’re screwed.

Read this and follow some of the links at the bottom of the page.

They’ve taken a constitution that was designed to protect us from our own power hungry government and made it a joke by telling us that they are taking our protections away to keep us safe.

In Latvia there is a man who will lend you as much as $500 for anywhere from 1 to 90 days at a rate of 1% per day with only a single piece of paper to sign. –The only catch: He makes you promise your soul as collateral.

Viktor Mirosiichenko said his company would not employ debt collectors to get its money back if people refused to repay, and promised no physical violence.

Signatories only have to give their first name and do not show any documents.

“If they don’t give it back, what can you do? They won’t have a soul, that’s all,” he told Reuters in a basement office, with one desk, a computer and three chairs.

He said about 200 people had taken out loans over the two months the business was in operation.

It seems that stockholders feel that they were deceived about the company’s financial health.
According to the Courthouse News

LAS VEGAS (CN) – Top executives at MGM Mirage lied about the resort’s finances in the past two years and dumped $91 million in stock in sales that were “unusual and suspicious in timing and amount,” a class action claims in Clark County Court.
Robert Lowinger sued on behalf of purchasers of MGM stock between Aug. 2, 2007 and March 5, 2009. Named as defendants are former Chairman and CEO Terrence Lanni, current Chairman and CEO James Murren, Senior Vice President Daniel D’Arrigo, and former CEO of Mirage Resorts Robert Baldwin.
Lowinger says the men made “false and misleading” statements about the company’s success and about CityCenter, the $8.8 billion mega-complex the company developing on the Las Vegas Strip with Dubai World, whose investment saved the nation’s most expensive private commercial development from bankruptcy.

In the mean time, in march Dubai world filed suit over the City Center project.

CNBC: Dubai World said its Infinity World unit asked Delaware Chancery Court for a declaratory judgment and other measures that would relieve it of obligations under the joint venture agreement.

Dubai said disclosures in an MGM filing on March 17 constitute a breach of the CityCenter joint venture agreement and put the 67-acre development at risk.

Kirk Kerkorian who has controlling interest hasn’t stepped up to comment.

The last time I looked MGM stock was down to $3.01. If you think they will survive without declaring bankruptcy, which would drive the price even lower, it might be a good time to invest.

Hillary Clinton has a well deserved reputation for lashing out at the slightest offense rather than reacting calmly and thinking before speaking -One of the many reasons she didn’t get to be president.

Now as Secretary of State she continues to maintain the same calm cool demeanor as always.

ABC – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost her cool Monday after a Congolese student, speaking through a translator, asked her what “Mr. Clinton” thought about a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?” Clinton replied, clearly irked by the thought of being her husband Bill’s spokeswoman. “My husband is not secretary of state, I am,” she replied. “If you want my opinion I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband.”

This temper tantrum was undoubtedly brought about by Sec. Clinton’s feeling of frustration in dealing with a situation where she’s not only a woman trying to lecture a male dominated society, but where her husband stole her spotlight by doing something tangible in bringing those journalists home.

Unfortunately Secretary Clinton’s childish outburst has harmed not only her cause, but the reputation of the United States. Because in a society like that of the Congo this outburst will be seen as just another weakness proving that women aren’t able to cope with the real world without a man to direct them.

Why should the government of the Congo listen to anything the US has to say when we let ourselves be represented by a mere woman who cannot even control her own emotions? —More importantly why should we let ourselves be represented by a bitch who only got the job because of powerful supporters in congress and quite obviously not because of her qualifications?