Posts Made By: Eric Margolies

Does this actually surprise anyone? Was this ever anything more than a circus sideshow, ego trip, TV ratings grab, all of the above?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110516/ts_yblog_theticket/trump-announces-he-will-not-run-for-president

Rick (edited to add news link)

Man, a guy goes out for a few hours of exercise and comes back to this? Yeesh! Already took a shower after tennis and I feel like I need another. Who is this guy? Been a member since 20003, but I don't really remember him... certainly nothing like this. The "my ticket is punched" talk is just the same ol' same ol' that Doug and Robin used to harp on and thankfully seem to have lightened up a bit (at least in volume of posts), but the outright bigotry? Well, there's still plenty of bigotry on the forums, but this makes me think I'm in Taliban country.... or Uganda.. or as Eric pointed out, Laramie.

Not much else to say. It's sad and disappointing.

Rick

I take my 8" dob so rarely these days that my street cred is pretty low, but I've always used a 10x straight finder. Was never a reflex guy, I use the both-eyes-open method to get it close, then close the non-eyepiece eye when I'm in the neighborhood. The field and power of the finder is also similar to my 10x binos which I use to plan out or supplement my star hopping.

Rick

http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/video/?pid=yhu3b05fDMd3YTnCOX1yJxOCVaskzIW4&vs=Default&play=true

May be an ad first. Then skip to the 2:36 mark.

Rick

Rod Kaufman said:

Obama says his idea of embracing pre-1967 borders reflects "long-standing US policy". What!? Where does he get that stuff?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110522/ap_on_re_us/us_obama

I'm not sure why this concept is so surprising and comes as a shock to so many people:

2000: Camp David-- Barak offers Arafat 95% of Gaza and the West Bank, as well as Palestinian sovereignty over east Jerusalem. Arafat eventually rejects the offer, and inexplicably, never proposes a counter offer.

2001: Taba Summit-- Both sides agreed the "basis" for borders would be the 1967 lines outlined in UN Sec. Council Res. 242. The Israeli proposal would have given 97% of the land area in the West Bank to the Palestinians. The summit was eventually derailed by the upcoming Israeli elections.

2002-2010: Road Map for Peace-- A framework where the final status is a two state solution.

2007: Annapolis Conference-- Two state solution was agreed upon as the ultimate goal of the conference. Olmert was willing to give up parts of east Jerusalem.

Any two-state solution will include borders that are closer to 1947 and pre-1967 than they are to post-1967. Hence the term "basis" of borders, and the inclusion of terms like land swap. The peace process is unbelievably complicated, yet I fail to understand why this point is so difficult to understand.

Rick

Rod Kaufman said:

What are some of you thinking? :S

Here's what I think:

~ AstroMart LLC~ said:

Okay look

I have been away from this group for 48 +/- hours.

Tom - my God - read some of the stuff you have posted - I would be embarrassed - I am embarrassed for you.

Love
Herb

Rick