And it's gone. Chopped, chipped and trucked away.
Just think of all the guitar necks that could have been made from that maple tree! But now it's a giant pile of wood chips.
And what a joy it was to have a contractor return my phone call, take the job, get to work on it, and have the job finished - all in just three days! Seems like every other person we call to do something take weeks and weeks.
The less people know about where Ukraine is located on a map, the more they want the U.S. to intervene militarily.
Universal is preparing to start work on a Battlestar Galactica movie. Variety says the studio is planning to completely reimagine the sci-fi story — in which space-bound humans fend off the attacks of nefarious cybernetic Cylons as they try to find a new home — just five years after the four-season Syfy TV show drew to a close. The planned film would mark the second time Battlestar Galactica has been rebooted after the original show aired in 1978.
My skepticism is fighting my anticipation!
Remember the plotline in the Sopranos when Tony gets his hooks into his friend's sporting goods store, liquidates the inventory, runs out the credit then leaves the husk bankrupt ?
That's what came to mind while reading what Bain Capitol is doing to the Guitar Center chain.
Make 6-9% with the chance that the company could finally go tits-up? Why not! If it pays out, then great, and if it doesn’t – tax write off!
You know who else thought like that? The people who set the mortgage market on fire just a few years ago. They made a fortune by structuring finance in such a way that investments produced income irrespective of their true value. They could not have cared less about whether the end result was old people thrown out of their homes or eight million unemployed – that was someone else’s risk. Their risk got hedged by the taxpayer who would bail out the industry so long as the collapse was big enough, so building a decent, functional economy was besides the point.
This is the logic at play with Guitar Center. Financial parasites have taken over the host company and could not care less about the industry itself. They install some CEO who used to be selling DVD players. They swap private equity firms in and out. It doesn’t matter – it’s just another place for loose capital to suck out a few extra dollars or a tax break. After all, the entire value of the company is less than what JPMorgan paid in fines last year without breaking a sweat.
If money is speech, what did I say when I wrote that (big-ass) check to the IRS ? Since I have no choice but to pay my taxes, did the US government compel that speech? I don't think they have the power to compel speech, so that seems like a bit of a dilemma...
Anyway, here's Wye Oak
Let's listen to me...
You're welcome.
Eyelash extensions and a wig, and Ralphie's almost a hottie.
First, some legalese:
USA PATRIOT, Section 802(c)
(a) DOMESTIC TERRORISM DEFINED- Section 2331 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
`(5) the term `domestic terrorism' means activities that--
`(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
`(B) appear to be intended--
`(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
`(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
`(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
`(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.'.
Good stuff.
With that in mind, we can call this guy a 'terrorist'.
FBI agents in Texas have arrested a man who allegedly was plotting to use C-4 explosives and weapons to kill police officers, rob banks and armored cars, and blow up government buildings and mosques, authorities announced today.
Robert James Talbot Jr., 38, of Katy, Texas, was arrested Thursday on federal charges of attempted interference with commerce by robbery, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and possession of an explosive material, the FBI said.Robert-James-Talbot
After setting up a Facebook page called American Insurgent Movement (AIM), Talbot allegedly sought to recruit five or six like-minded people who wanted “to restore America Pre-Constitutionally and look forward to stopping the Regime with action by bloodshed.” He wrote this year on the AIM page that he was seeking people interested in “walking away from your life … to stop the regime.”
...
Talbot posted on Facebook that he had gone to four Bank of America branches to “play observation.” Talbot allegedly urged “anyone who robs these banks to kill everyone working for the ‘banking Cartels’ during the heist.”
Talbot’s Facebook post continued: “That is exactly what I will have my men do during the heist. Same goes with the Muslims. Mosques are to be a blast! With three of my guys with FA [full automatic] AK’s [AK-47 semi-automatic rifles], we will send that white house worthless piece of dirt and his Muslim brotherhood a message they will never forget.”
...
After using Facebook to recruit three followers, who really were undercover agents and an informant, Talbot encouraged them to “start watching violent war movies to mentally prepare for killing people.”
Well, everyone who doesn't work for Fox News can call him a terrorist, that is.
I hate April Fools day.