I was never mistaken for anything other than an American in my many travels overseas.  The local people knew it by the way I walked:  shoulders back, chest out, chin leading the march.  Do you know why that is?  It's because Americans have the confidence derived from being a free people, so unlike the beaten down masses of subject peoples.  It doesn't matter what passport I carry because freedom is an attitude.  It's in my marrow.  I will remain an American to my last breath. 

Every one of you talking about bailing out on this great nation should be ashamed.  Just go away if you're not willing to fight.  I would rather stand shoulder to shoulder with a few stalwart men than a regiment of fair weather patriots.  Be gone if that is your wish.  The country will be better off without you.  Now is not the time to question the value of citizenship, but rather to assert the principles that guarantee liberty as espoused and ordained by our Founding Fathers.  Those who take a solemn pledge to defend liberty will in time be honored.  Those who do not will live in infamy.  

My point as well. 

Anybody who has ever had the press write a story about them, or about an incident they were involved in, knows how far off the mark such stories usually are.  I don't know the truth of this situation, but I'll bet the AP story is more factually wrong than correct.  Count me with those who think the AP just wanted a chance to work the word "Nazi" into the headlines. 

It should also be noted that by mid-war Hitler issued an order forbidding the SS from recruiting native Germans.  SS commanders were forced to recruit exclusively from the conquered peoples.  They used pro-Nazi Croats against communist Serbs, Muslim Caucasians against the Russians, and pro-fascist forces from many countries to keep local populations in check.  I could make the case that the resulting atrocities had more to do with ethnic rivalries than pro-Nazi sympathies.  So a young Ukrainian gets caught up in the general madness and is accused 50 years later of being a Nazi?  There is more to this story than will ever be revealed by the press, or even a court of law.        

I understand that Michelle Obama was paid $300,000 plus for a similar position at a Chicago hospital.  How does the IRS expect to get good people for such paltry wages? 

sarc/off 

Well, of course.  A one party state in time becomes totalitarian with an emphasis on the syllable "total" from whence the word derives its meaning.   

People in the D.C. area simply don't understand that their affluence is completely artificial.  I suppose they must believe their bloated salaries are entirely justified given the tremendous service they render to the nation.  But when do first class passengers ever give a thought to those who travel in steerage?  Why not dance the night away?  Life is good. 

You fill out IRS form 1099-misc identifying the president as the beneficiary, and you list the "gift" as embezzlement income.

Putin couldn't resist.  He thought it was the One Ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them.   

Easter Egg Roll?  You mean the administration is literally asking us to believe in the Easter Bunny?   Bwahahahahha! 

I don't disagree with anything you say.  Nevertheless, the table is set to make the case that government abuse is best addressed by limited power and smaller government.  It might only take one very strong voice to make that case.  Maybe Paul Ryan, or maybe someone else.  "Comes the time, comes the man," so it's said.  Let's hope so. 

The administration is hoist by its own petard.  The party that relies so heavily on emotional appeals is suddenly revealed as cold and uncaring.  If you put the logic aside for a moment and just consider the optics, it's a no win situation for Obamacare.  It looks bad, and that's what matters to the general public.  I hate to suggest that Republicans capitalize on the emotion, but it's time for some payback.  Obamacare must be stopped before it goes fully into effect if at all possible.   

A fish rots from the head down.  In the history of civilization the cities fall first, but as long as the provinces remain strong there remains a chance for recovery.  We are exactly in that situation today.  I'm betting on the countryside where church-going people still tend to the needs of family and community.  Our cities have become cesspools of vice and corruption and they will fall of their citizens' own iniquities. 

Do I seem like an unserious person to you?  Of course it looks bad, but the republic has seen worse.  And yes, the two party system looks more like an oligarchy everyday.  But if I were a betting man, I'd have my money on the Founders over the Pretender in the White House.  It was for times like these that the Constitution was constructed.  

Yeah, it wasn't anything I planned.  I got stuck in small South American port when the police confiscated my motorcycle.  The three hotels in town employed working girls during the winter months to keep the rooms filled, usually by catering to merchant seamen.  I started making myself useful to the madame, and before long I was "employed" to "arrange" things. 

Precisely.

I'm probably the only Ricochet member to have lived and worked in a brothel, so let me offer you some perspective.  Money for sex, whether you view it as a crime or not, is only the tip of the iceberg.  There's a whole raft of associated crime that attends to prostitution.  The women are thieves and many of them are drug addicted.  The Johns are usually drunk and frequently abusive.  The cops are easily corrupted by bribes and free sex.  A brothel is a public nuisance and the problems associated with streetwalking are even worse, sometimes even deadly.  Prostitution is not a victimless crime, and legalizing it won't make it any less dehumanizing.