Kennedy Bows Out

Another truly selfless act of courage displayed in public by the Kennedy Family. Caroline has added another great credit to her family name. She has tested the political waters and after Ted rests, she has a career if she is willing to do what is necessary to prepare for it. All I can say is "I know love when I see it." I love this act of kindness and service. Wonderful job Caroline.

I think Ms. Kennedy made a wise choice. There is little doubt in my mind that she is a talented, inteligent young woman who has alot to offer our Nation. However, I believe that it would be best if she were elected into her firstposition rather than appointed.

Best wishes to you Ms Kennedy and to your family which has given much to out Nation!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

I was hoping she would continue with her quest to take the position as a senator

according to television, she just bowed back in again.

The word from her camp is that she never withdrew and the announcement she had was a rumor. We'll see.

>There is little doubt in my mind that she is a talented,
>inteligent young woman who has alot to offer our Nation.

"Young"? She's over 50. Aka, older than the President, and
close to my age. (Or the Governor's for that matter.)

"Young"? She's over 50. Aka, older than the President, and
close to my age. (Or the Governor's for that matter.)

xxxx

My wife just turned 50 last friday. Either she's young or I'm a dead man.

Actually I am sixteen years older. Some say I robbed the cradle, but I say she robbed the grave.

Clif (Tortuga) Kuplen

Tortuga, I noticed you ran and hid from the Carter Administration failures I listed in an earlier discussion. Would you like to review a few more Carter fiascos? Yes? Well, thank you!

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (beginning of home loans to unqualified people)

Foreign Oil Import Reductions - 1977 (Forced 50% import oil reductions)

Amnesty for Vietnam draft dodgers. (First day in office - January 20, 1977)

Botched beginning of deregulation of airlines, trucking, rail, communications and financial institutions.

Huge FICA payroll tax increases. (From 4.60% of first $15,300 to 6.65% of first $29,700)

Department of Energy - 1977 (Oil and Natural Gas price controls)

Windfall Profits Tax - 1979 (beginning of Corporate Offshore relocations)

Again, none of the above occurred under Bush 43. Carter was, by far, the worst President of the Twentieth Century. There are many more Carter disasters on the list, Tortuga. Please, tell me when this becomes just too painful for you.

Tortuga, I noticed you ran and hid from the Carter Administration failures I listed in an earlier discussion.


xx

No, I answered you and noticed you didn't apologize for lying even when you were caught red handed.

You're a liar and you were a liar before and now you bring it to another thread to be called a liar again.

Liar.

And for what? Obama's president and lying 24/7 for the next eight years won't change a lick of that.

Lie no. 1 - double digit inflation. It was double digit from Nixon in '72 until Carter in '76, not in Carter's administration as you finally admitted, liar.

Lie no. 2. gas shortages. Nixon admin only, liar.

Lie no. 3. High mortgage rates. I bought during the Carter admin at 7.8%. If you got gaffed it was because you were young or a risk in some other way. I was in my thirties and had a strong work history and a local reputation albeit in an unconventional occupation. You?

All I can tell you is you should have tried under Ford or Nixon. I scored there too, but it was much harder.

After that, who cares? Obviously you were a wingnut under Carter too.

Maybe the loan officer sensed that. They don't much care for weirdos, even short haired ones.

I was in most of the contiguous states during that time, and I had no problem making a comfortable living, driving a new car and van, owning a couple of sailboats, homes and tens of thousands in tools of the trade financed and paid during that time.

And there were NO gas shortages under Carter. None. Nowhere, liar.

If you failed then, maybe you ought to look in the mirror. If some long haired piece of left wing shit like me could make out that well, why did you, a perfect dittohead fail? You got Tourette's?

Got a mirror? Do you bathe regularly?

If you fucked up during those easy times, there's got to be some reason you won't let on.

Most people then weren't losers like you. You can pull that off with youngsters, but I was there too, wherever you were, just name the state.

I traveled extensively for a living during that time, and it was easy times even for me and for my colleagues.

You must have been some kind of major fuckup to have missed out on that.

Did you miss out on the sexual revolution too? Kinda sounds like maybe...bitter much?

Windfall Profits Tax - 1979 (beginning of Corporate Offshore relocations)


xx

a good thing. No, a GREAT thing!!

It worked beautifully and wasn't abandoned until 1988 when oil prices stabilized at $28, under the $30 mandate. We were paying $.88.9 at the lowest point in the late eighties. Great policy!

Unlike the Carter energy policies Reagan blew off. If we'd stayed on that path, there'd be NO energy crisis now

Think about a thirty year funded jump on the problem and hang your head, mullet.

Your party is the party of failure and blame.

Trying to bring up Carter, a huge success compared to ANY republican fiasco is symptomatic.

Barak Hussein Obama is now president of our united states. It's for real, so you'll have to adapt.

Whine all you want and as loudly as you want, or try to work within the system and get some of your stuff passed too.

Entirely your call.

You don't dominate, so you either learn to compromise and you get stuff done too or be buttheaded and nobody will give a shit about your issues.

Clif (Tortuga) Kuplen

“Lie no. 1 - double digit inflation. It was double digit from Nixon in '72 until Carter in '76, not in Carter's administration as you finally admitted, liar.”


Tortuga, “as I finally admitted?” What are you smokin? You may be able to blow that stuff by the Clifettes who hang on your wit and sarcasm, but other people read your posts, too. At least three other people have called you out on your false account of the Carter years. One called you delusional and another just said bullsh**! Any person who was there knows better, and those who were not, can look it up. Put down the herbs and read my words carefully, the two final Carter years, 1979 and 1980 experienced double digit inflation and double digit home mortgage rates. Google “Carter + Inflation”, end of story.

US Inflation (1)

1979 11.3%
1980 13.5%
1981 10.3%
1982 6.2%
1983 3.2%

(1) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U (1982-84=100), not seasonally adjusted, table CUUR0000SA0.


“Lie no. 2. gas shortages. Nixon admin only, liar.”

Google “Carter + Gas Shortages”, ends of story.

The 1979 (or second) oil crisis in the United States occurred in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Amid massive protests, the Shaw of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahavi,fled his country in early 1979, allowing Ayatollah Khomeine to gain control. The protests shattered the Iranian oil sector. While the new regime resumed oil exports, it was inconsistent and at a lower volume, forcing prices to go up.


“Lie no. 3. High mortgage rates.”

Google “Carter + Home Mortgage Rates”, end of story.

Time Magazine March 24, 1980

“Inflation and interest rates, both topping 18%, are so far beyond anything that Americans have experienced in peacetime——and so far beyond anything that U.S. financial markets are set up to handle——as to inspire a contagion of fear. Usually confident businessmen and bankers have begun talking of Latin American-style hyperinflation, financial collapse, major bankruptcies, a drastic drop in the American standard of living.

Tortuga, keep telling the Clifettes and yourself things were fine. Those of us who were there (I’m 66 years old, too) know better.

I.V. of gin, stat!

When I heard the interview of appointed Senator Ted Kaufman of Delaware say that he would not seek election to his appointed seat, because incumbents have to much power to win. I knew one of two
things Ms Kennedy would either be appointed and not run in the election, or she would not be appointed and run for the seat in the election. She will be back.

t least three other people have called you out on your false account of the Carter years. One called you delusional and another just said bullsh**!



xxx

And none of you apparently lived through them.

but let's say you're 100% right and I'm 100% wrong.

There are a list of reasons beginning with encroaching fascism, suspension of habeas corpus and the bill of rights, war on a non aggressor on pretext, the worst failure of the stock market in your lifetime, and hundreds of other reasons that the Bush regime was the most shameful in history.

You are still bitter about Carter? I made out fine, drove two new cars, bought two condos, one on the east coast and one in the midwest, was 100% self-employed, was able to float unsecured loans for professional equipment in two different states for less interest than you claim you were quoted on an FHA conventional with 5% down.

During Nixon thru Carter I went from California to Carolina, New York to Florida, through the rockies and the Dakotas, through the rust belt and the tropical coast from Texas back to Florida, and Arkansas through South Carolina and Georgia in pretty long swipes that lasted months over the entire period.

Business was good, I never met a gold star mom or a war widow or a returning maimed vet, houses were about 2.5 times a solid middle class income, cars were maybe six months of the same, and that wasn't scraping the bottom of the barrel.

During that time, my first sailboat, a 19' Celebrity cost me about three weeks' pay, the second a year later, about eight weeks' pay. My first condo was only about 1.5 times my annual salary, and the second four years later when I relocated about the same. My new car cost three months' pay for the first one, financed at around 7% with 15% down, and the second was about the same but with only about 7% down. The boat loans were about the same for two years, and keeping up with them was extremely easy.

For all the inflation you remember selectively, the essentials, shelter and transportation were very cheap. Food went up during Nixon, but not that much afterward.

Under Nixon gas went from about $.33 per gallon to over a dollar in two years during the gas lines, and that drove up food prices, but by the time Carter left office, gas was only up to around $1.20 on a national average.

You are also trying to get away with claiming there were gas lines under Carter. Liar. They were over during Nixon's admin or I would never have considered traveling for a living, so you're full of shit.

And I'm done with it. You lie to suit you and appeal to other liars for authority. I lived my life, not you, it would have been impossible to survive were you correct and if you were denied credit, it was probably something personal about you. I had a loan officer tell me he wouldn't lend me money for some pro gear because I had long hair, but I went across the street and had a check in my hand the next day.

xxxxxxxxxxxx
Any person who was there knows better, and those who were not, can look itt least three other people have called you out on your false account of the Carter years. One called you delusional and another just said bullsh**! Any person who was there knows better, and those who were not, can look it

xxxx

and it's all bullshit. You either weren't there or you were some kind of fuckup nobody would trust. One of those people you referenced was Splash who was mixed up on fuel shortages and was only a kid during the Carter admin. I was a wager earner and to a small extent an investor.

Life was much easier even during the tightest times, except for the Nixon gas shortages you tried to pin on Carter.

So you started out lying and that's where it ends. I could give a fuck. Obama's president now, and like when Clinton was, things will at worst get better than they've been.

Clif (Tortuga) Kuplen

Tortuga, you can call me a liar until it’s time for your nap, but you can’t rewrite history. You dig a deeper hole for yourself, every time you attempt to perpetuate your fantasy. Facts are facts and they are out in the open for everyone to see. Anyone with access to Google or any other search engine can prove you wrong in two minutes. It is one thing to be mistaken, and quite another to be dishonest. You crossed that line some time ago.

It amuses me to watch you wiggle. Like so many know-it-all elitists, you are often mistaken but never wrong. Does it bother you so much to expose your shortcomings to the Clifettes? I didn’t know it was that important for you to try to impress your friends. Too bad, and sad that a grown man cannot own up to a series of mistakes.

You talk a good game, Torguga, but it’s a lot of butt breathing.

Clif (Tortuga) Kuplen

“You are still bitter about Carter? I made out fine, drove two new cars, bought two condos, one on the east coast and one in the midwest, was 100% self-employed, was able to float unsecured loans for professional equipment in two different states for less interest than you claim you were quoted on an FHA conventional with 5% down.”

In an earlier post, didn’t you tell someone you were a former professional musician? I may be wrong on that one. But if you were, that would explain a “self employed travelin man with professional equipment.” So an unknown, “C” list Roadhouse musician is your idea of “made out fine”? Tortuga, what we have here is a failure to communicate. We have/had different standards.

Tortuga, I retired from my first career twenty-one years ago, at age forty five. I started two businesses (actually, I co-founded one of them), served on several Boards and retired again in 1999. That’s why I have the time and background to piss off you and a number of other phonies.

My first career took me in and out of the country. In one 20 month period, I traveled 400,000 miles and I received AA Advantage mile rewards for my effort. As I said before, we have different standards. If you challenge the veracity of my story, IM me with your email address and I will be happy to give you my web domain. Brntrewesl is my legitimate AOL screen name. I don’t hide behind a fake identity.

That’s why I have the time and background to piss off you and a number of other phonies.


xxx

you are the phony, and with all your alleged wealth and acumen, you are discontent enough to haunt the toilet blogs. I lived through the era and prospered. If you didn't, blame yourself.

Based on everything you said you did, if you weren't satisfied, you are much greedier than I or for that matter anyone I know. Maybe that's your game, and maybe Obama's ending the bush tax ripoffs will affect you. Jut remember that Obama's tax schedule still taxes the wealthy LESS than ronald reagan.

There were no gas shortages under Carter or Ford and you still have not admitted that.

Your appeal to authority evaporated. I had no problem obtaining credit or buying property or vehicles. Housing and vehicle prices remained relatively stable after the first Nixon inflationary binge.

I never met a gold star mom, a war orphan or widow or soldier maimed in combat from that era or a person whose job was outsourced or whose ARM kicked in and he was foreclosed on, and we had the benefit of habeas corpus and the bill of rights.

Therefore your allegation that Carter was worse than Bush is just plain loony.

If you're not lying you've lived as long as I have.

Maybe it just takes more for you to stop being needy than it does me. I don't have a very dominant greed gene. What I could do was always more important to me than how much I had.

Clif (Tortuga) Kuplen

“Maybe it just takes more for you to stop being needy than it does me.”

I stopped being needy at age 45, that’s why I retired. Everything else was for fun. The fact that my efforts were reasonably profitable was an added plus.

Before the meltdown started, almost three years ago, I laughed when people whined about how tough it was to make it. Many wanted to embrace a lifestyle far above their means, and rather than temper their spending, they took on massive personal debt. And I’m not talking about legitimate debt (student loans, dental care for children, caring for aged relatives, etc.) but stupid things like elaborate vacations, wine collections, steam showers and things I still don’t do, today. I went ten years with nothing beyond weekend vacations. So, pardon me if I feel no pity for those who traveled the world on a credit card.

At the same time immigrants were flooding the country, opening small businesses, living frugally, plowing profits back into their companies, and prospering. There is/was a real disconnect between those who built for the future and those who lived large, in the present.

Today is a totally different story. American banking and home building, among others, are in shambles. We may disagree about why the problem exists, but I think it is clear that the problem exists, and the massive bailouts are obscene. I think we can agree on that point.