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I have always been a great fan of retro fashion...Marylin Monroe...Rita Hayword, Janet Blair...and so on...the dresses, the hair....I wish we could bring this back... here is a vintage fashion site I love to visit.

For all you bachelors or bacheloretts....Looking for your own blond bombshell? Or is the strong, silent type more your style? Find a Swedish sweetheart here.

Swedish mums are a kinky lot and want far more sex than they are actually getting.Thought I bring this in here...

Nowadays, close male friends in Sweden routinely greet each other with bear hugs, not handshakes. Young moms in Sweden think nothing about kissing their kids on the lips. And some young women greet each other with a light brushing of lips, seemingly with no greater significance.I found this really interesting article.

Winter has made a comeback Sweden with snowfalls of up to 15 centimetres registered in northern parts of the country. Read more here...

As the presidential campaign enters its final stages, there will be increased debate over budget priorities and how they will be paid for. Many commentators and political leaders, including Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, believe that tax increases are needed to restore near-term budget balance and finance longer-term entitlement growth. These claims fail budget arithmetic and economics. Worse, they raise serious questions about the nation’s broad fiscal policies and its commitment to economic growth. By historical standards, federal revenues relative to GDP, at 18.8% last year, are high. In the past 25 years, this level was only exceeded during the five years from 1996 to 2000. Still, we stand on the verge of a very large tax increase, one that will occur unless the next Congress and president agree to rescind it. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire will drive the personal income tax burden up by 25% – to its highest point relative to GDP in history.

“Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism, that you put down your division, that you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones, that you push yourselves to be better, and that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual - uninvolved, uninformed.”Spoken like an arrogant, academic consciousness-raising “activist” from the ’60s.

Ana Puente was an infant with a liver disorder when her aunt brought her illegally to the U.S. to seek medical care. She underwent two liver transplants at UCLA Medical Center as a child in 1989 and a third in 1998, each paid for by the state. But when Puente turned 21 last June, she aged out of her state-funded health insurance and was unable to continue treatment at UCLA. This year, her liver began failing again and she was hospitalized at County-USC Medical Center. In her Medi-Cal application, a USC doctor wrote, “Her current clinical course is irreversible, progressive and will lead to death without another liver transplant.” The application was denied. The county gave her medication but does not have the resources to perform transplants.So, it’s back to Mexico, right? Oh, no, señor. Late last month Puente learned of another, little-known option for patients with certain healthcare needs. If she notified U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that she was in the country illegally, state health officials might grant her full Medi-Cal coverage. Puente did so, her benefits were restored and she is now awaiting a fourth transplant at UCLA.

Obama fails to understand that raising capital gains tax rates reduces capital gains revenue. Ditto Hillary.MR. GIBSON: Would you propose an increase in the capital gains tax?SENATOR CLINTON: You know, Charlie, I’m going to have to look and see what the revenue situation is. You know, we now have the largest budget deficit we’ve ever had, $311 billion. We went from a $5.6 trillion projected surplus to what we have today, which is a $9 trillion debt.What revenue situation? Raising it means less money. So is she imagining a time when the treasury’s coffers are flush that we can afford to forgo revenue just to spite Americans who earn capital gains?

Michelle Obama typifies the “progressive” who cannot see progress. So what I ask people to do is just do a little dreaming, because it took us all a little dreaming to be here. We’re not supposed to be here, not Barack or I. All we have are dreaming and hoping, and I ask you to envision the day that a man like Barack Obama is standing in front of the Capitol with his hand on the Bible, taking the oath of office. And just imagine what that image will send, what that will mean for all these kids around the country who are looking for a sign that they can be better, that they can see a different possibility for their lives, and that they have a nation ready to change for them.The nation did change, hon. How about this?TheCEO of Merrill Lynch? A black man named E. Stanley O’Neal.*The CEO of American Express? A black man named Kenneth Chenault.The CEO of Symantec? A black man named John Thompson.The Chairman of the Board (and formerly CEO) of Time Warner? A black man named Richard Parsons.The CEO of Crompton Corp? A black man named Robert Wood.The CEO of Alliant Energy? A black man named Errol Davis.The CEO of Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden)? A black man named Clarence Otis.The CEO of Universal Records? A black woman named Sylvia Rhone.The CEO of Aetna, Inc? A black man named Ronald Williams.These individuals did not rise to this level of achievement by “dreaming and hoping” or crying to the government. Any one of them is more qualified to be president that Barack Obama.Affirmative action was never meant for the White House.* He’s since left the job.

It’s time to stop judging Obama by the color of his skin and start judging him by the thinness of his skin.Whew, the petulance of that man when challenged about his judgment! Any suggestion that he’s wrong is labeled a divisive attack. And a lie. And old style politics….blah blah blah.Well, well.To buttress his position of meeting with our enemies, Obama cited JFK meeting with Khrushchev when the U.S. were on the brink of nuclear war.Wrong. The Cuban missile crisis came 15 months after the two leaders had first met.In their meeting, Khrushchev sized up JFK as a weak pretty boy who could be pushed around. Thus he installed missiles in Cuba, gambling that JFK would do nothing. That’s what the perception of weakness gets you: trouble. On this Obama is both ignorant and naive.Khrushchev was evil, but rational. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not rational.Give me a black president. Give me a white president. Just don’t give me a green president.

Those who say all politicians are the same have a point when it comes to things like the current farm bill. It’s a bi-partisan pig out. Too much spending: The bill increases spending by almost $20 billion over the next ten years, at a time when net farm income is at an all-time high. Much of this additional spending is disguised by budget gimmicks that take advantage of formal scoring rules to hide real spending increases. New sugar program: The bill would make the government buy sugar for 2X the world price, store it, then resell it at about an 80% loss to the taxpayer. Sugar sells for about 11¢/lb on the world market. The US government would have to buy sugar for about 22¢/lb, store it, and then auction off the excess to ethanol plants. We estimate that such an auction would net the government about 4¢/lb. In addition, this new provision would require the government to guarantee that domestic sugar producers get 85 percent of the domestic sugar market. Subsidies for rich farmers: Farmers would be eligible for government subsidy payments if their incomes were as high as $1.5 million if married, and up to $750,000 if single. We had a big fight with Congress last year over whether families with income of 3 times the poverty level should receive taxpayer-subsidized health insurance. This bill would subsidize amarried farming couple with income more than 107 times the poverty level (which is $14,000 for a couple). Put another way, such a couple would be in the top 0.2% of the income distribution. You would be subsidizing their business with your income taxes.At least John McCain, who identifies politicians as Republicans, Democrats and “appropriators” plans to vote against the bill.

P.J. O’Rourke writes the commencement speech no one will deliver. 1. Go out and make a bunch of money! Here we are living in the world’s most prosperous country, surrounded by all the comforts, conveniences and security that money can provide. Yet no American political, intellectual or cultural leader ever says to young people, “Go out and make a bunch of money.” Instead, they tell you that money can’t buy happiness. Maybe, but money can rent it. There’s nothing the matter with honest moneymaking. Wealth is not a pizza, where if I have too many slices you have to eat the Domino’s box. In a free society, with the rule of law and property rights, no one loses when someone else gets rich. 2. Don’t be an idealist! Don’t chain yourself to a redwood tree. Instead, be a corporate lawyer and make $500,000 a year. No matter how much you cheat the IRS, you’ll still end up paying $100,000 in property, sales and excise taxes. That’s $100,000 to schools, sewers, roads, firefighters and police. You’ll be doing good for society. Does chaining yourself to a redwood tree do society $100,000 worth of good? Idealists are also bullies. The idealist says, “I care more about the redwood trees than you do. I care so much I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. It broke up my marriage. And because I care more than you do, I’m a better person. And because I’m the better person, I have the right to boss you around.” Get a pair of bolt cutters and liberate that tree. Who does more for the redwoods and society anyway — the guy chained to a tree or the guy who founds the “Green Travel Redwood Tree-Hug Tour Company” and makes a million by turning redwoods into a tourist destination, a valuable resource that people will pay just to go look at? So make your contribution by getting rich. Don’t be an idealist. 3. Get politically uninvolved! All politics stink. Even democracy stinks. Imagine if our clothes were selected by the majority of shoppers, which would be teenage girls. I’d be standing here with my bellybutton exposed. Imagine deciding the dinner menu by family secret ballot. I’ve got three kids and three dogs in my family. We’d be eating Froot Loops and rotten meat. But let me make a distinction between politics and politicians. Some people are under the misapprehension that all politicians stink. Impeach George W. Bush, and everything will be fine. Nab Ted Kennedy on a DUI, and the nation’s problems will be solved. But the problem isn’t politicians — it’s politics. Politics won’t allow for the truth. And we can’t blame the politicians for that. Imagine what even a little truth would sound like on today’s campaign trail: “No, I can’t fix public education. The problem isn’t the teachers unions or a lack of funding for salaries, vouchers or more computer equipment The problem is your kids!” 4. Forget about fairness! We all get confused about the contradictory messages that life and politics send. Life sends the message, “I’d better not be poor. I’d better get rich. I’d better make more money than other people.” Meanwhile, politics sends us the message, “Some people make more money than others. Some are rich while others are poor. We’d better close that ‘income disparity gap.’ It’s not fair!” Well, I am here to advocate for unfairness. I’ve got a 10-year-old at home. She’s always saying, “That’s not fair.” When she says this, I say, “Honey, you’re cute. That’s not fair. Your family is pretty well off. That’s not fair. You were born in America. That’s not fair. Darling, you had better pray to God that things don’t start getting fair for you.” What we need is more income, even if it means a bigger income disparity gap. 5. Be a religious extremist! So, avoid politics if you can. But if you absolutely cannot resist, read the Bible for political advice — even if you’re a Buddhist, atheist or whatever. Don’t get me wrong, I am not one of those people who believes that God is involved in politics. On the contrary. Observe politics in this country. Observe politics around the world. Observe politics through history. Does it look like God’s involved? The Bible is very clear about one thing: Using politics to create fairness is a sin. Observe the Tenth Commandment. The first nine commandments concern theological principles and social law: Thou shalt not make graven images, steal, kill, et cetera. Fair enough. But then there’s the tenth: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.” Here are God’s basic rules about how we should live, a brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts. And, right at the end of it we read, “Don’t envy your buddy because he has an ox or a donkey.” Why did that make the top 10? Why would God, with just 10 things to tell Moses, include jealousy about livestock? Well, think about how important this commandment is to a community, to a nation, to a democracy. If you want a mule, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don’t whine about what the people across the street have. Get rich and get your own. Now, one last thing: 6. Don’t listen to your elders! After all, if the old person standing up here actually knew anything worth telling, he’d be charging you for it.

In California, the answer is taxpayers work for the government, not the other way around. This is the fruit of one-party rule, said party being the Democrats.Today’s LA Daily News reports that LA has more than 6,000 city employees earning more than $100,000 a year. Los Angeles grapples with its largest budget deficit in history, lucrative compensation packages for thousands of city workers are driving much of the gap, and there’s little end in sight. In the past year alone, gross annual payroll costs have soared $120 million for nearly 48,000 city employees - $90 million of that going to 35,000 civilian and sworn workers - and bumped the total payroll up to $3.2 billion, or nearly half Los Angeles’ $7 billion budget. While city leaders seek to close a looming $406 million budget shortfall with everything from fee hikes to service cuts, a Daily News review of salary data shows more than 21,000 city workers take home $70,000 or more a year and more than 6,000 take home more than $100,000. City workers’ average salaries will reach about $68,850 for civilians and $93,800 for sworn police and fire by July - placing them in the upper ranks of comparable cities and far higher than private-sector workers.Meanwhile, citizens of LA are being asked to swallow fee increases and service cutbacks because of budget shortfalls. You’d think stories such as this would shame the city pols. But no… Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s nominee to oversee Los Angeles’ finances is facing growing opposition from the City Council over his lobbyist connections and his request for a $290,000 salary - far higher than the pay of the current city administrative officer. The mayor nominated his former chief deputy, Marcus Allen, in March and since then Allen has been meeting with council members to lay out his plans for the post and discuss his salary request, which is $70,000 more than the salary of outgoing CAO Karen Sisson.

Only a couple of days ago, I discovered some alarming news. The state of California is going to spray pesticides on urban populations including San Francisco & Bay Area in less than 50 days. They already did it at Santa Cruz and Monterey with reported adverse health effects to 600 and 200 people respectively. You can read about it on the SF Chronicle though the best summary of the issue is found on the Wikipedia entry for it.

Read here an article about how dangerous processed foods are for us...

I put the art in smart., originally uploaded by Megan Troyer. Now this is a sly smart gorgeous smile Bookmark To:

“No language is perfect, and English is no exception. There are always words or expressions that cannot be rendered from one language to another. English supposedly has the largest vocabulary of any languages in the world (7x more words than French !), and well-educated people typically know less than 10% of them. There would be

Sodarace is the online Olympics pitting human creativity against machine learning in a competition to design robots that race over 2D terrains using the Soda constructor virtual construction kit.Sodarace Live has been touring the UK translating the core experience of Sodarace.net into a bite-sized exhibition format. Visitors using the kiosk interface are challenged to improve racers using their choice of two techniques, either by hand using a graphical user interface or automatically using simulated evolution. Will Artificial Intelligence beat or complement human ingenuity? Launch the Sodarace Kiosk and decide for yourself.Its quite nice.Try it.First you might need to install Java which is freely available from java.com.Keep Blogging

Jigga Juice is the hottest dance craze straight out of Louisiana. It is by newcomers Lil Josh & Ernest and it features Hurricane Chris. This track is CRAZY so don’t miss it! This is a HOT track filled with energy from the first second to the very end. I’m bout to get retarded! Also check out the ‘behind

Ho Ho Ho! It’s far from Christmas, but guess what?…I’m in a giving mood so I’ve decided to have my semi-annual contest next month. I will be giving away tons of great gifts! Hedge Against Speculation will be hosting a new contest in June, but as promised the prizes will be much MUCH bigger this

These bars are chewy, and sweet, and disappear before your eyes. Covered in powdered sugar, stuffed full of Pecans and laced with Cinnamon there isn’t anything not to love about these easy to make bars. Ingredients: 1/2 C. Butter soft 1 C. Sugar 1 egg 1/2 C. Flour 1/4 tsp. Salt 1 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon 1 C. Finley Chopped Directions: Preheat Oven to 350

Russian Tea Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cakes, and even Snowball cookies? What do these three names have in common? The three different names are all for just one type of cookie. If I had time to digg more I might be able to find even more names for this delicious cookie. No matter which of the three names

Finally we are getting back on track here at Baked blog. After several days without the Internet, and other things getting in the way of my baking, and my blogging. I am glad to say we are getting back on Track. Ultimate Cherry Cookies are a wonderful burst of sweet cherry, and chocolate dancing on your

Charter Communications has been our service provider for years now, and up until a couple years ago they were a great company, and I valued not only their Internet, phone, and digital cable service, but their customer service as well. They grew as most good companies do, and grew, and grew. Now they are a huge

Almost a week ago I told you all about Renuzit Tri Scents Transform your home $20,000 contest, and invited you all to sign up and get your home transformed. Today I am telling you about the 10 Semi Finalists that they have chosen. Now it is up to you and me, and well everyone to vote

Thursday night for dinner I wanted some ribs, but I wanted to try them in a way I had never made ribs before. So I set out to do my very first Braised ribs. When trying something new I always do a little research first. After reading for a while I figured I had this

What would you do if your car broke down? How about if you needed to go on vacation, but your car just wasn’t up for making the trip? Where would you go to rent a car? If you don’t know the answers to these questions then I suggest you check out Advantage car rental today. With a

The Missouri Botanical Garden also know as Shaw’s Garden designed by Henry Shawn, was opened to the public in 1859. Since then there have been many changes. For adults and kids alike the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis is a great place to visit. We decided to take our son for his first visit