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Has anyone purchased any of McNaughton's art work? If so, was it lithograph or giclee? Were you satisfied?

Consider if you will what Mitt Romney had to say about welfare and dependency at CPAC in February 2008:

To Mitt Romney, venture capitalist, the average worker is an expendable line on a spreadsheet, until that worker’s tax dollars were needed to bailout financiers who promoted the leveraged buyouts and packaged the exotic financial instruments that led to the financial meltdown of 2008. Who is more anti-capitalist? Is it Romney’s opponents, who question whether or not a form of capitalism that allows a handful or rich people to avoid moral hazard, manipulate the lives of thousands of other people and then walk off with the money by getting a bailout from the taxpayers? Or are the real anti-capitalists Mitt...

Bain Capital must seem like a Frankenstein monster to Mitt Romney's campaign. Like Mary Shelley's creature, it's stalking its creator just as he's about to claim the thing he loves most. But Bain Capital—and Bain capitalism—isn't Mitt's creation. It was sewed together from the corpses of dead ideals and shocked into life in Washington's political laboratories. Mitt's monster was created by a broken system that has let politicians in both parties create an artificial, destructive and exploitative form of pseudo-capitalism—and then get rich from it. Romney's campaign will survive, but the monster will go on destroying lives and dreams. Conservatives...

UPDATE: An Alabama Court has announced that it will hear arguments as to whether Barack Hussein Obama II is in fact eligible to appear on the State Presidential Primary Ballot. Several Alabama citizens have filed a lawsuit within the Alabama Circuit Court to "prevent certification of President Barack Obama for 2012 Alabama ballot access pending final hearing based on factual evidentiary hearings."

For decades, Michigan voters have been able to vote in primary elections without anyone knowing whether they were choosing the Democratic or Republican ballot. That changes under a new law that goes in action for February's presidential primary. Now the candidates for each party will be printed on separate ballots, and voters will have to fill out a form at the polls that states which ballot they are selecting.

My computer crashed today and I reformatted and reloaded it. I get to FR and I get the yellow bar telling me FR wants me to add-on Adobe Flash Player. Why does FR want me to do this? I don't recall having run into this before. Thank you so much in advance. Oh, and I am signed on using a PC with XP-PRO SP2 if that even matters.

These girls are awesome.

General Motors Corp. Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said the company doesn't plan on making a $1 billion debt payment due June 1 and is relying on either a successful debt-for-equity exchange or court protection to dramatically lower its outstanding debt. Mr. Young, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Chinese auto industry summit near Detroit, said ... You have to subscribe to read the rest.

snip... So, how does the US debt position compare to that of other countries? A useful measure of how a country's debt position is by comparing gross external debt to GDP, which offers a direct relation of a country's debt to the size of its economy. In this report, all countries are among the world's 50 largest economies, and are ranked by current external debt as a percentage of 2008 GDP. Who are the world's biggest debtor nations? The rankings may surprise you!

A great connect-the-dots on the Goldman Sachs Group.

Snip As veteran market observer Richard Russell noted following a tribute Saturday evening, “one question that was asked repeatedly was ‘What is the difference between investors' sentiment now and that which existed at the 1974 bottom?' My answer was that there is a lot of complacency today. In fact, many leading analysts are already saying that ‘this is a new bull market.' … At the 1974 bottom, the sentiment was the opposite -- people and funds were black-bearish. Nobody talked about ‘the danger of missing this advance.' In fact, when I turned bullish in late-1974 I received hate-letters and angry...

From The Hill: Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) blasted "tea party" protests yesterday, labeling the activities "despicable" and shameful." "The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs," Schakowsky said in a statement. I'll tell you what's despicable and shameful. Right here: CHICAGO (AP) — The husband of an Illinois congresswoman pleaded guilty Wednesday to tax violations and bank fraud for writing rubber checks and failing to collect...

U.S. citizens and residents have an annual obligation to report the existence of all “foreign bank, securities or ‘other’ financial accounts” if the aggregate value of those accounts exceeded US$10,000 at any time during the preceding year. Those failing to do so face a fine up to US$250,000, imprisonment up to five years, or both. Lucky you: if you can demonstrate you didn't "willfully" violate this requirement, the IRS will generally impose a civil fine of "only" US$10,000. Now, the U.S. Treasury has extended this obligation to any foreign person "in or doing business" in the United States. If you...

If a little-known but influential alliance of state politicians, large retailers, and tax collectors have their way, the days of tax-free Internet shopping may be nearly over. A bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Congress as early as Monday would rewrite the ground rules for mail order and Internet sales by eliminating what its supporters view as a "loophole" that, in many cases, allows Americans to shop over the Internet without paying sales taxes. Currently, Americans who shop over the Internet from out-of-state vendors aren't always required to pay sales taxes at the time of purchase. Californians buying...

WASHINGTON -- Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials. The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

Link only to a MUST read story

We have come to a major crossroads in the history of our nation, a time when you must understand all the relevant events in far greater depth, and see the likely future with far greater clarity. Indeed, I feel this need is so critical and urgent, I am providing you this morning with the most elaborate gala issue in the history of Money and Markets. Let’s begin by assuming that, despite all the government bailouts, many of America’s largest corporations still go bankrupt, U.S. unemployment continues to surge, and a new, larger wave of home foreclosures sweeps the nation. How...

But who gets that help? Is it someone like me who doesn't really need a mortgage break but will take two. . . Or how about the guy who bought a bunch of rent houses and has now decided that they aren't worth what he paid for them? Does he get a bailout too? There are plenty of hardworking folks out there who need help with problem mortgages and are faced with foreclosure of their homes. Their plight is real and palpable and sure, and something should be done to help them. But if the mortgage business didn't have the...

http://www.wesh.com/video/17851997/index.html