in other words this could be seen as an office pool (with no actual buy-in): guess when controversial government official X is assassinated!

so you think that paying money (under real or false pretenses) to have someone killed is something to be avoided? your wisdom is inspiring.

yes, by gum, we are NOT to be out-consumerized by the Chinese!

i think it is a cork stuffed in the end of barrel that pops out and is leashed to the gun by a string. i'm not sure anyone would know the difference regardless of their "expertise"

no, no, no. Obama only gets the blame for high gas prices. You absolutely cannot credit his administration for energy independence or low gas prices or anything positive that happens in the U.S. That's heresy.

Not quite true. Govt. spending under Obama is way down and falling; especially as a percentage of GDP (the measure that matters). The concern at the moment is we are reducing spending too quickly given the current state of the economy and the fact that we've been in a liquidity trap since 2008. What i find especially galling is that a GOP congress rubber stamped billions (trillions? i'm not sure) for wars and tax cuts under Bush and now sees the need to gut food stamps and shut down the government. They run up the tab and then scream about how entitlements for poor people are killing us. It is time for Boehner to go.

That seems a very liberal translation & interpretation of the word of God. In the ancient Greek version of the bible the word for moon, , was also commonly used to describe a situation where a person riding in a cart would suddenly stand up, drop his breaches and bend over giving bystanders a clear view of his buttocks thereby insulting them. So while the King James edition might claim God created the moon in Genesis I submit that in fact Adam was sharing his opinion with some of the other folks who somehow magically appeared, but were not directly related to him.

"Contrary to popular belief, the most dangerous animal is not the lion or tiger or even the elephant. The most dangerous animal is a shark riding on an elephant, just trampling and eating everything they see." -- Jack Handy clearly, he never saw an ORCA riding on an elephant.

Actually, there is very little cheese available in China.

I don't think China's holdings have that kind of power. If they sell prices would fall, rates would rise. I suspect these events might entice additional demand from other investors causing prices to rise and rates to drop. Also, the U.S. economy is currently growing, not collapsing so there is currently nothing to exacerbate. I would hold off on the bomb shelter for now.

I believe sex with the 18 year old girl was offered as a bribe payment for lucrative contracts. The official caught with his pants down apparently had so much money that monetary payments no longer interested him...

i have to believe that it isn't really the toy that induces creative brain-building play in children. in their toddler years my kids were usually more interested in creating forts out of Christmas boxes and wrapping paper than in playing with the actual toys that came in them. i doubt we are creating idiocy by tagging absurd toys as unsafe at any speed.