Al Gore, America's only hope ...

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Arrian
Funny, of all the screwups I pin on Bush, N.O. is the least of them.

I figure the local & state officials share the blame at least equally with the Feds. At least.

-Arrian

And the blame should be spread not only among the various governmental levels, but also spread out in time. It took decades to create that mess.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Cyclotron
Apparently, some do. I've always heard it as the "Iran-Iraq War." It seemed to involve the Persian Gulf itself a lot less than the American Gulf Wars. *shrug*

Au contraire, there was a lot of action in the Gulf proper during the "Iran-Iraq" war due to the stalemate on the ground.

[Cyclotron]

Then I stand corrected.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
And Kennedy belonged to a very political family.

Papa Joe Kennedy was prohibition-era rum runner, robber baron, first head of the SEC, and later Ambassador to the Court of St. James. That was about it when Kennedy began running.


BTW: When the GOP accused Kennedy of using his dad's money to "buy" the election in Illinois, the Kennedy camp released a "telegram from Joe Kennedy" which said: "Don't buy one more vote than necessary. I'll be damned if I'll pay for a landslide."

[Ned]

Z, define "Robber Barron" for us please.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Papa Joe Kennedy was prohibition-era rum runner, robber baron, first head of the SEC, and later Ambassador to the Court of St. James. That was about it when Kennedy began running.

You forgot nazi sympathizer.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Ned
Z, define "Robber Barron" for us please.

An unscrupulous capitalist...e.g. someone who engages in "stock kiting." --a consortium of conspirators begins buying and selling the shares of a corporation between themselves, driving the price up. Others see the price surge, rush to get in on the deal, and the consortium quietly sells off their remaining shares, packs up their profits and steals away leaving the stock to plunge back to its original price.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


An unscrupulous capitalist...e.g. someone who engages in "stock kiting." --a consortium of conspirators begins buying and selling the shares of a corporation between themselves, driving the price up. Others see the price surge, rush to get in on the deal, and the consortium quietly sells off their remaining shares, packs up their profits and steals away leaving the stock to plunge back to its original price.

This is illegal right? it doesnt sound precisely the same as insider trading but it seems too big a "loophole" in laws against insider trading to have been left legal.

[Agathon]

I wish Gore would run again. At least he knows what he is doing.

His mistake last time was to listen to his minders instead of being himself. Gore comes across as a somewhat serious person, but one who is passionate about certain issues. In the past he has been made to tone down his passion, and that has made him look wooden.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Agathon
I wish Gore would run again. At least he knows what he is doing.

His mistake last time was to listen to his minders instead of being himself. Gore comes across as a somewhat serious person, but one who is passionate about certain issues. In the past he has been made to tone down his passion, and that has made him look wooden.

IIRC you generally want whoever will do the most damage to the US to get elected president right? Do you think Gore would do the most damage to the US?

[mrmitchell]

This is illegal right? it doesnt sound precisely the same as insider trading but it seems too big a "loophole" in laws against insider trading to have been left legal.

I don't think what Zkribbler describes is legal (at least anymore) either, but insider trading is pretty different - where an investor is also a corporate officer or who has such a source (married to the CEO, or whatever) that knows inside information about events that will affect stock prices before they happen. Stock kiting is still wrong, but it honestly sounds a bit riskier than insider trading (if you don't get caught.)

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by Sikander
Well there was the first attempt on the World Trade Center, by AQ and the embassy bombings in Africa.

True, but I guess I consider proximity to the continental United States and body counts as primary factors in whether I consider a terrorist attack to be "major."

The first WTC attack certainly had the proximity part filled, but not the body count. The embassy attacks in Africa — to be blunt — killed a lot more Africans than Americans, and were, obviously, on another continent.

So Oklahoma City and Sept. 11 are the two stateside attacks I consider to be major, in that they both filled the proximity *and* body counts "prerequistes" (as horrible a calculation as that is).

Gatekeeper

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Geronimo

IIRC you generally want whoever will do the most damage to the US to get elected president right? Do you think Gore would do the most damage to the US?

I make an exception for people who might actually have a prospect of reforming the place.

From where I stand, Al Gore is it.

[PLATO]

Agathon...Please try to meet Gore sometime. It may just change your viewpoint.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


An unscrupulous capitalist...e.g. someone who engages in "stock kiting." --a consortium of conspirators begins buying and selling the shares of a corporation between themselves, driving the price up. Others see the price surge, rush to get in on the deal, and the consortium quietly sells off their remaining shares, packs up their profits and steals away leaving the stock to plunge back to its original price.

Certainly, this is a form of fraud even b/f we created the securities laws.

But if Joe Kennedy did it, shouldn't we ask his son to donate his wealth to charity to make amends?