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Floral behavior




Color scheme: Blue-Red, with a playful floral tunic dress, flats sandals and a big bag. A casual outfit for a Tuesday morning. I know it is a classical matchy-match but I always loved to mix strong colors, so this is another example. I hope you like it !



                                                                       Tunic dress: Zara/ another lovely one Here
                                                                       Sandals: Banana Republic / similar Here and Here
                                                                       Bag: Margot/ similar design Here
                                                                       Necklace: gift from Bogdan/ similar Here
                                                                       Sunglasses: Foster Grant/ similar Here and Here



Political Landscape 2012...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny


I was contemplating the present state of American politics and government this evening more than usual. Especially the influence the hard right and the even harder left has on our national gridlock. Since it feels like a political war zone, where anything seems to fly, I found myself humming this song.



I think I understand why.

Is the Obama Campaign Lying?...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny


First there was Harry with his unnamed source to cast unfounded allegations on Mitt Romney having not paid taxes for ten years during his tenure at Bain. Now we have Mr. Soptic, a displaced Bain employee making statements in a Priorities USA Action spot that are obviously intended to imply Mitt Romney's responsibility for his wife's death due to cancer.

It appears, at least to the discerning, the forces around the Obama campaign have no shame as they step up their personal and unfounded attacks on Mitt Romney.

Politico - When President Obama’s aides said they weren’t familiar with former Missouri steelworker Joe Soptic’s life story, all they had to do was check their own campaign archives.

Soptic, laid off from Bain Capital-owned GST Steel, stars in a Priorities USA Action spot this week in which he tells of how his wife died without health insurance after he lost his job. Soptic also appeared, wearing what appears to be an identical shirt, in a May television ad for the Obama campaign.

Asked about the Priorities spot on MSNBC Wednesday morning, Robert Gibbs said he doesn’t “know the specifics” while Stephanie Cutter said on CNN: “I don’t know the facts about when Mr. Soptic’s wife got sick or the facts about his health insurance.”

And Jen Psaki told reporters on Air Force One that “we don't' have any knowledge of the story of the family,” according to Yahoo! News.

But Cutter hosted an Obama campaign conference call in May in which Soptic told reporters the very story featured in the Priorities spot.

Both the campaign and the Priorities USA Action said there was no coordination about Soptic’s appearances. In the campaign’s ad, Soptic speaks only about the plant. In the Priorities spot, he tells the personal story he relayed during the Obama campaign conference call.

“We have no idea when Priorities shot their spot,” an Obama campaign official said. “We’re not allowed to coordinate with them – but we can tell you it wasn’t when we shot ours.”

The aide didn’t answer questions about when the Obama campaign shot its Soptic footage or explain Cutter’s televised statement.

Priorities USA Action senior strategist Bill Burton said the super PAC found shot its Soptic footage at a union hall in early February.

“We didn’t know that he was doing an [Obama campaign] ad,” Burton said.

Mr. Soptic has not been available for comment. Based on Mr. Burton's remarks it appears as if Mr. Soptic may very well be unavailable for sometime.

Soptic did not return phone calls left Wednesday at his home in Independence, Mo. Burton said he could not make Soptic available.

“We spoke today and he said he didn’t want to do anymore interviews,” Burton said. “He felt like his story was out there and it was being told.”

Something is beginning to become quite clear. The Obama campaign, its surrogates (as in good ole Harry), and the Obama Super Pac all have something in common.

Dishonesty in spade it seems.

The Ads:

Romney cost me my job...



Romney was responsible for my wife's death...




The jury is still out. But feel free to be the judge given what we know so far.

Via: Memeorandum

Economist Richard Duncan: Civilization May Not Survive 'Death Spiral'

Economist Richard Duncan: Civilization May Not Survive 'Death Spiral'

The folks at the Money Map Press are pitching one of those “kitchen sink” deals where you pay up front to get all of their newsletters for life — these are usually in the neighborhood of $3,000-5,000 with an “annual maintenance fee” that’s generally around a hundred bucks, and this one is right in line with that (and yes, as many publishers do they give it a twist by saying they’ll “send you a check” — for $2,500 in this case, which is pretty much like a car salesman giving you a “cash back” offer, saying “discount” just doesn’t hit your lust receptors in the same way).

The deal, which they call the “Passport Club,” includes more newsletters and trading services than you’d have time to read, from all the heavily teased editors they promote to our mailboxes every day (Dr. Kent Moors, Shah Gilani, Peter Krauth, etc.), but the big teaser pitch behind the promotion is from another guy, Michael Robinson, who used to work for sister publisher Wealth Daily/Taipan, but whose American Wealth Underground appears to have disappeared. Source

Economist Richard Duncan: Civilization May Not Survive 'Death Spiral'

 "It's a pattern that's hard to see unless you understand the way a catastrophe like this gains traction," Dr. Moors says. "At first, it's almost impossible to perceive. Everything looks fine, just like in every pyramid scheme. Yet the insidious growth of the virus keeps doubling in size, over and over again - in shorter and shorter periods of time - until it hits unsustainable levels. And it collapses the system."

Martenson points to the U.S. total credit market debt as an example of this unnerving pattern.

By Terry Weiss, Money Morning 


Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank and chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt., says America's $16 trillion federal debt has escalated into a "death spiral, "as he told CNBC. 

And it could result in a depression so severe that he doesn't "think our civilization could survive it."

And Duncan is not alone in warning that the U.S. economy may go into a "death spiral." 

Since the recession, noted economists including Laurence Kotlikoff, a former member of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, have come to similar conclusions. 

Kotlikoff estimates the true fiscal gap is $211 trillion when unfunded entitlements like Social Security and Medicare are included. 

However, while the debt crisis numbers are well known to most Americans, the economy hasn't suffered a major correction for almost 4 years.

So the questions remain: Is the threat of collapse for real? And if so, when? 

A team of scientists, economists, and geopolitical analysts believes they have proof that the threat is indeed real - and the danger imminent. 

One member of this team, Chris Martenson, a pathologist and former VP of a Fortune 300 company, explains their findings:

"We found an identical pattern in our debt, total credit market, and money supply that guaranteesthey're going to fail. This pattern is nearly the same as in any pyramid scheme, one that escalates exponentially fast before it collapses. Governments around the globe are chiefly responsible. 

Click here to see how banks are escalating the collapse...
"And what's really disturbing about these findings is that the pattern isn't limited to our economy. We found the same catastrophic pattern in our energy, food, and water systems as well."


According to Martenson: "These systems could all implode at the same time. Food, water, energy, money. Everything." 

Another member of this team, Keith Fitz-Gerald, the president of The Fitz-Gerald Group, went on to explain their discoveries. 

"What this pattern represents is a dangerous countdown clock that's quickly approaching zero. And when it does, the resulting chaos is going to crush Americans," Fitz-Gerald says.

Dr. Kent Moors, an adviser to 16 world governments on energy issues as well as a member of two U.S. State Department task forces on energy also voiced concerns over what he and his colleagues uncovered.

"Most frightening of all is how this exact same pattern keeps appearing in virtually every system criticalto our society and way of life," Dr. Moors stated.

Mars Landing Best In History

Mars Landing Best In History

  • NASA releases new Curiosity rover images from Mars


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    CBC.ca
  • Mars landing makes star of rocket scientist


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    NASA has landed a rover on Mars, and we have a man with a ... The Curiosity rover touched down on Mars during the weekend after an ...
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    Macleans.ca
  • Clearer Mars images from Curiosity coming soon, NASA says


    CBC.ca - 21 hours ago
    Mars enthusiasts underwhelmed by some of the first dusty images of the planet to be beamed back to Earth by the Curiosity rover that landed ...
  • NASA's Mars Curiosity rover sends first colour image back to Earth


    National Post - 16 hours ago
    NASA's Curiosity rover beamed back its first colour photo of Mars from the ancient crater where it landed Tuesday morning. The tilted image ...

    National Post
  • Mars Rover vs. the water car


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    While American engineers had to rely on the evidence of images sent back from Mars to confirm and validate their accomplishment, the ...
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    Canadian scientist eager to begin 'detective work' with Mars rover ... The point of this NASA mission is to discover whether Mars can support life ...

    Globe and Mail
  • Mars rover Curiosity sends back new photos


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    Aug. 8, 2012 - NASA's Curiosity rover is sending back video and pictures of its landing on Mars. (/CBS News) Correction: Clarification: E-mail Save/Share ...
  • Mars rover captures nearby rocket 'footprint'


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    (CNN) -- The Mars rover Curiosity successfully raised the mast that holds many of its instruments Wednesday, giving controllers a view of the ...
  • Mars rover Curiosity is big hit -- Mars movies are big flops


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    The successful landing of the rover Curiosity on Mars on Sunday night captured America's imagination in a way that few positive news events ...


  • Mars and taxes


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    “The rover ushers in a new era of exploration that could turn up evidence that the Red Planet once had the necessary ingredients for life — or ...
  • Patterns mix




    Probably, some of you saw a photo on my Instagram with half of this outfit, a few days ago. Today is time to show you the entire look. Stripes, a DIY necklace( old) and a new lovely skirt gifted by Lulu's.com. A mix of patterns captured in a girly way is always welcomed... so, here I am wearing them :)
    P.S. dont't forget to enter to the PLNDR 50$ gift card giveaway HERE





                                                                            Blouse: vintage
                                                                            Skirt : Collective Concepts thanks to Lulu's.com Here
                                                                            Sandals: Zara/ another cute ones Here
                                                                            Bag: thanks to PLNDR
                                                                            Necklace: DIY, made by me/ another great one Here
                                                                            Ring: MOMA store
                                                                            Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren


            

    Pants Afire for Harry Reid...

    Pants Afire for Harry Reid...
    by: Les Carpenter
    Rational Nation USA
    Liberty -vs- Tyranny


    Wella, Wella, Wella folks. PolitiFact has given the ever questionable Senator Harry Reid four Pinocchio's for his story Romney paid no taxes for ten years. He has earned himself a much deserved "Pants on Fire" from PolitiFact. I guess that means Rep. Nancy Pelosi has her skirt on fire as well then.

    ... Salon.com -- which is generally considered a liberal media outlet, thus no friend to Romney -- asked two tax experts whether they thought it was likely that Romney paid no taxes for 10 years. They concluded, "probably not."

    The article quoted David Miller, a tax attorney with the firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York, saying it’s "highly unlikely" that he paid nothing.

    "It would be easier for someone like Steve Jobs to pay zero, as most of his wealth was in company stock, which isn’t taxed until sold and may never be sold," Miller told Salon. The Salon article continued, "But Romney’s arrangement with Bain is different. He would have earned management fees, and when Bain sold the underlying companies that it invested in, Romney would have been subject to tax on his share. 'It’s possible he paid very little in taxes, but I find it hard to believe that he paid none,' Miller said."

    Salon also quoted Joshua Kamerman, a lawyer and CPA in New York, who said while it’s theoretically possible, it’s also "preposterous."

    "Charitable donations can shield up to only 50 percent of tax liability, while other means can lower the rate," the article said. "But to pay nothing, Romney would have to sustain business operating losses, Kamerman said. The IRS lets people carry over losses for up to 20 years until they make a profit from which to deduct them. But Kamerman said this is almost certainly not the case for Romney."

    We asked Lawrence J. White, an economist at the Stern School of Business at New York University, for his view, and he concurred with Miller and Kamerman. "I agree that it's extremely unlikely that Mr. Romney paid no income taxes for 10 years," White said.

    Our ruling

    Reid has said Romney paid no taxes for 10 years. It was no slip of the tongue. He repeated the claim on at least two more occasions, at one point saying that "the word is out" when in fact it was only Reid who put that "word" out.

    Reid has produced no evidence to back up his claim other than attribution to a shadowy anonymous source. Romney has denied the claim, and tax experts back him up, saying that the nature of Romney's investments in Bain make it highly unlikely he would have been able to avoid paying taxes altogether -- especially for 10 years.

    Reid has made an extreme claim with nothing solid to back it up. Pants on Fire! {Read It All!!}

    If we are lucky this will put the tax (non)issue to rest. The country has Much More Important issues to concern itself with and the candidates should be pressed on issues that really matter. Namely how the government will insure our freedoms and individual liberties as well as how it will create an environment in which the private sector business community will feel confident government will support their initiatives and efforts to create jobs for Americans here at home.

    Second to the urgent issues just above the candidates need to be pressed, and pressed hard on just what in the blazes they have as a plan to; A) trim the DOD budget, B) get entitlement spending under control, C) begin balancing the budget, and C) to work down our 16 trillion dollar national debt.

    The biggest issue may very well be neither the Republican candidate Romney, or the President, has a viable plan to to resolve the above issues that should concern all Americans... Just maybe that is precisely why people might want to start considering the candidacy of Gary Johnson for President of the United States.

    Via: Memorandum

    beach and a good book

    The countdown in our house has begun and the beach is just a few weeks away. I've decided this year instead of packing up a bunch of magazines for the trip, I'd rather get one great new design book. Apparently Emily Henderson has been listening to my inner most thoughts as she's thinking the same thing.


    Any recommendations of good books you've read recently? (And Luke, if you are reading this, this doesn't eliminate the 'core' magazines I need each month in order to live.)

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi to the Rescue...

    by: Les Carpenter
    Rational Nation USA
    Liberty -vs- Tyranny



    Harry Reid, given his announcement he had heard from a unnamed(s) source at Bain Capital that Mitt Romney hadn't paid taxes in 10 years apparently needed support from another disingenuous progressive, one worth millions I might add. Not that ALL progressives worth millions are disingenuous and lacking in integrity mind you.

    When I saw the picture above, one of a motherly Ms. Pelosicrat obviously consoling her male associate in government opaqueness I couldn't help but smile and think just how foolish and distracting from the REALLY important issues facing the nation all this "stuff" over tax returns really is.

    Ms. Pelosicrat has come to the defense of one Mr. Duh, who made his allegations based on information from an unidentified source whom allegedly really exists but whom Mr. Duh refuses to identify. Duh. Now everybody should get it and just go vote for the Emperor Who Has No Clothing.

    Were I a judge ruling on the evidence presented by Mr. Duh and Ms. Pelosicrat so far I certainly would throw the case out of court.

    Okay, snark off and put aside here's the HuffPo lowdown.

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) fired back at Republicans accusing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of lying about a Bain Capital investor telling him that Mitt Romney hadn't paid taxes in 10 years. They don’t know what they're talking about, Pelosi says.

    "Harry Reid made a statement that is true. Somebody told him. It is a fact," Pelosi told The Huffington Post in a Sunday interview. "Whether he did or not can easily be disposed of: Mitt Romney can release his tax returns and show whether he paid taxes."

    It should be obvious to everybody that Mr. Duh and Ms. Polosicrat are just playing tag team politics intended to create the greatest distraction of the dismal performance of the Obama economic "plan." Goal, to keep America fixated on Romney's success at the expense of the "average American Joe and Jane.

    "Well he doesn't know that," Pelosi said. "Harry Reid is a person who is, as we know, A, is a fighter, B, he wouldn't say this unless it was true that somebody told him that."

    The California Democrat said she doesn’t relish watching Romney squirm over his tax returns because she's more interested in focusing on the fact that his tax plan is "so harmful to the middle class." Still, she said, the two issues are connected.

    "The salience of what Harry Reid is saying is related" to the contents of Romney's tax plan, Pelosi said. "Here's a guy who wants you to pay more when I think, 'I' meaning Harry Reid, somebody told me he hasn't even paid his taxes. But he wants you to pay more to underwrite tax cuts for the wealthy... It's like a double doozy." {Read More}

    In the above utterances from the lips of Ms. Pelosicrat lies the truth. You are seeing the tactics of the left, which is class warfare, divide and conquer, and at the end of the day to keep the spoils of political warfare to themselves.

    History has given us many examples of the final results of that which is occurring in America in the 21st century. It also provides many examples of what happens when wealth is acutely concentrated at the very top layer of society.

    As the chute downward into the bottomless pit continues to be greased by both the left and the right.

    Via: Memeorandum

    The Tax Return Distraction...

    The Tax Return Distraction...
    by: Les Carpenter
    Rational Nation USA
    Liberty -vs -Tyranny


    With all the hoopla over Romney and his decision not to release more than his 2010 and 2011 tax tax returns, and Bill Clinton's less than accurate statement(s)that no doubt added to the a generally inaccurate perception held by many PolitiFact provides the real skinny.

    Clinton said most candidates release about 10 years of tax returns. That's more than the two years of returns Romney has released.

    Clinton is exaggerating a bit when he puts the "typical" number at 10. Over the decades, we found candidates released anywhere from 30 years of tax returns to one year. A majority of the recent candidates we surveyed did not in fact release a full 10 years of tax returns.

    On the other hand, a majority of recent candidates did release far more than two years of tax returns. So Romney lags behind most of the pack.

    Clinton’s statement is partially accurate, but it leaves out important details. We rate his statement Half True. {Read Full Report}

    Romney, aside from being under no law or obligation to release any specific number of returns is on the low end for presidential candidates. Ronald Reagan released only one return in 1980.

    It is likely very prudent for Romney to match the seven returns released by then candidate Obama in 2008 during the primaries. A number matched by Hillary Clinton.

    Roswell UFO Crash: There Were 2 Crashes, Not 1, Says Ex-Air Force Official


    Roswell UFO Crash: There Were 2 Crashes, Not 1, Says Ex-Air Force Official








    The 1947 UFO controversy of Roswell, N.M. is like a bad penny: It keeps turning up.
    The legend, rehashed by conspiracy theorists in countless documentaries, revolves around allegations that an unusual object fell from the sky -- an object so bizarre that the U.S. Air Force issued a press release that a flying saucer had crashed.
    That story was quickly recanted, creating what would become one of the greatest urban legends in American history.
    Until now, most debunkers doubted that there was even one crash. Now, in an exclusive interview, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard French told The Huffington Post that there were actually two crashes.
    This revelation is especially remarkable considering that French was known in the past to debunk UFO stories.
    roswellheadline
    "There were actually two crashes at Roswell, which most people don't know," French told HuffPost. "The first one was shot down by an experimental U.S. airplane that was flying out of White Sands, N.M., and it shot what was effectively an electronic pulse-type weapon that disabled and took away all the controls of the UFO, and that's why it crashed."
    French -- an Air Force pilot who was in Alamagordo, N.M., in 1947, being tested in an altitude chamber, an annual requirement for rated officers -- was very specific in how the military allegedly brought down what he believes was a spacecraft from another world.
    "When they hit it with that electromagnetic pulse -- bingo! -- there goes all their electronics and, consequently, the UFO was uncontrollable," said French, who flew hundreds of combat missions in Korea and Southeast Asia, and who held several positions working for Military Intelligence.
    Another retired officer doubts French's story.
    "No chance! Zero chance!" said Army Col. John Alexander, whose own top-secret clearance gave him access in the 1980s to official documents and UFO accounts. He created a top-level group of government officials and scientists who determined that, while UFOs are real, they couldn't find evidence of an official cover-up.
    "In the 1980s, I was the guy developing all of the pulse-power weapons systems. We couldn't have done it then. In the 60s, they had a laser system, but your range was extremely limited, and we didn't have operational laser weapons in that time frame," said Alexander, who is working to get amnesty for military personnel who wish to talk about their UFO experiences.
    Except for the initial newspaper headline declaring the military had captured a flying saucer outside of Roswell, the Air Force closed the books on Roswell, claiming that the true identity of the object was a high-altitude surveillance balloon, code-named "Mogul."
    But after eyewitnesses -- including numerous military personnel -- began to tell stories of their participation in an alleged cover-up of the Roswell incident, some researchers insisted that it was, in fact, an alien ship that crashed at Roswell.
    Watch this video of Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. Richard French

    Two dresses in one




    "Improvisation" is the word of the day !
    When it comes to sheer or lace materials, you don't want to show too much, but you still want to play with see trough illusion. So here it came the improvisation moment. Layering two dresses in different colors, length or materials, is one of many solutions (of paring up the materials), at least this is the best that I came up with. I kept it simple in a white-nude palette and I added a drop of color with the accessories. I received this wonderful handmade pair of sequin earrings from Elena, a Etsy shop owner. Check out her adorable and unique creations in beautiful vivid colors ( HERE)

                                                                            Earrings: thanks to Unique Sequin Jewelry Here
                                                                            Crochet dress: thanks to Sugarlips Here 
                                                              White dress: no brand 
                                                                            Sandals: Zara /similar Here 
                                                                            Clutch: Diesel / another great version Here