The Next President of the USA will be?

[wanna be drummer]

Because Rick and Joel blow? Do not know. Sorry dude

[TypeO]

Does anyone know why Trouble-Free Transmission was banned?

Most likely because everyone blatantly blew his cover and kept referring to him as Hermit, his previous/also banned screen name.

Just a wild guess.

[The Rover]

Barack Obama's 'lost' brother found in Kenya

Senator Barack Obama's long lost brother has been tracked down for the first time living in a shanty town in Kenya, reports claimed.

By Nick Pisa in Rome

Last Updated: 7:28PM BST 20 Aug 2008

George Hussein Onyango Obama, Senator Barack Obama's long lost brother was tracked down living in a hut on the outskirts of Nairobi Photo: Guy Calaf, Vanity Fair, Italy The Italian edition of Vanity Fair said that it had found George Hussein Onyango Obama living in a hut in a ramshackle town of Huruma on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Mr Obama, 26, the youngest of the presidential candidate's half-brothers, spoke for the first time about his life, which could not be more different than that of the Democratic contender.

"No-one knows who I am," he told the magazine, before claiming: "I live here on less than a dollar a month."

According to Italy's Vanity Fair his two metre by three metre shack is decorated with football posters of the Italian football giants AC Milan and Inter, as well as a calendar showing exotic beaches of the world.

Vanity Fair also noted that he had a front page newspaper picture of his famous brother - born of the same father as him, Barack Hussein Obama, but to a different mother, named only as Jael.

He told the magazine: "I live like a recluse, no-one knows I exist."

Embarrassed by his penury, he said that he does not does not mention his famous half-brother in conversation.

"If anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed," he said.

For ten years George Obama lived rough. However he now hopes to try to sort his life out by starting a course at a local technical college.

He has only met his famous older brother twice - once when he was just five and the last time in 2006 when Senator Obama was on a tour of East Africa and visited Nairobi.

The Illinois senator mentions his brother in his autobiography, describing him in just one passing paragraph as a "beautiful boy with a rounded head".

Of their second meeting, George Obama said: "It was very brief, we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger."

George added he was no longer in contact with his mother and said:"I have had to learn to live and take what I need.

"Huruma is a tough place, last January during the elections there was rioting and six people were hacked to death. The police don't even arrest you they just shoot you.

"I have seen two of my friends killed. I have scars from defending myself with my fists. I am good with my fists."

The New "America" . . . . ? ?

Jimmy Carter Had Billy..... and his Beer......

Wonder what Onyango will "distribute" ? ? ?

Edited August 20, 2008 by The Rover

[Uncle Bill]

Does anyone know why Trouble-Free Transmission was banned?

I think one of Hermit's enemy's may have turned him in. It's also possible the mods are watching this thread for previously banned members. He didn't make any attempt to disguise his very recognizable posting style.

[wanna be drummer]

He shouldn't have to. Its bull shit that he got banned period.

[Uncle Bill]

He shouldn't have to. Its bull shit that he got banned period.

I agree.

[TypeO]

He shouldn't have to. Its bull shit that he got banned period.

I agree.

me 3.

[Pb Derigable]

Hermit got banned again.

That is too goo to be true.

Of course i think he should be banned. He broke the rules and if i break the rules, I expect the same.

Edited August 20, 2008 by Pb Derigable

[wanna be drummer]

Hermit got banned again.

That is too goo to be true.

Of course i think he should be banned. He broke the rules and if i break the rules, I expect the same.

Technically, he did nothing wrong. He did not break any rules that you will find in the rulebook.

Look it up, he did nothing. I know why he got banned. It was a misundertsanding and he got banned.

Its sad that you don't respect your rivals PB, at least give the man credit. He's a really nice guy who refused to back down from the mods. And now he's banned.

Either you don't know the whole story, or you just plain didn't like him

[Pb Derigable]

Technically, he did nothing wrong. He did not break any rules that you will find in the rulebook.

Look it up, he did nothing. I know why he got banned. It was a misundertsanding and he got banned.

Its sad that you don't respect your rivals PB, at least give the man credit. He's a really nice guy who refused to back down from the mods. And now he's banned.

Either you don't know the whole story, or you just plain didn't like him

Rival.

This isn't the fucking olympics.

It's a forum.

I don't have any rivals at the bar and thats where I truly have debates.

Yes, he refused to back down to the mods, what did he achieved from that. Nothing. This isn't the senate floor.

Really a nice guy? who got banned 3 times? Sure when i said there are some good people who are racist, i was completly laughed at. But a guy who goes around degrading everyone who doesn't agree with him is a hero, someone i should respect?

The only misunderstanding is his misunderstanding of the rule book.

and i still say The Mods are Gods. What they say shall be the law of the forum. It's their job and we don't pay for bandwidth.

Yeah, I agree, it's fucking gay to ban people, but it's also fucking gay to cause teh mods to look closer.

[wanna be drummer]

Rival.

This isn't the fucking olympics.

It's a forum.

I don't have any rivals at the bar and thats where I truly have debates.

Yes, he refused to back down to the mods, what did he achieved from that. Nothing. This isn't the senate floor.

You know what I meant. Don't be so dramatic

Really a nice guy? who got banned 3 times? Sure when i said there are some good people who are racist, i was completly laughed at. But a guy who goes around degrading everyone who doesn't agree with him is a hero, someone i should respect?

If you actually read his posts, you'd see how tongue-in-cheek he was. Yes, he occsionally laughed at people and used a very smartass-like wit, but it was all in good fun. He would never sell anyone here out, he would never even bitch about anyone. he did you no wrong, you just didn't like how he was right so often, and eventually you got pissed off. I know, I used to be the same way. I've grown to enjoy his posts, whether i agreed with them or not. I see when he's joking and i see when he's not. You do not. Simple as that.

The only misunderstanding is his misunderstanding of the rule book.

Number one, do you even know why he was banned?

Second, if you do, find in the rule book where he broke a rule

and i still say The Mods are Gods. What they say shall be the law of the forum. It's their job and we don't pay for bandwidth.

Yeah, I agree, it's fucking gay to ban people, but it's also fucking gay to cause teh mods to look closer.

the Mods are Gods? I respect them for everything they do...seriously I do. But they are not gods. Sam is the god here, not his henchman...the ones who officially banned him.

Edited August 21, 2008 by wanna be drummer

[Pb Derigable]

You know what I meant. Don't be so dramatic

Exactly, I don’t care who gets ban or who post. I have no friends, I have no rivals. Hermit is Del’s rival more than anything.

If you actually read his posts, you'd see how tongue-in-cheek he was. Yes, he occasionally laughed at people and used a very smartass-like wit, but it was all in good fun. He would never sell anyone here out, he would never even bitch about anyone. He did you no wrong, you just didn't like how he was right so often, and eventually you got pissed off. I know, I used to be the same way. I've grown to enjoy his posts, whether I agreed with them or not. I see when he's joking and I see when he's not. You do not. Simple as that.

right about what?. It's all about opinions. Who’s right on abortion? Pro choice or Pro Life? If he can search the ends of the internet to find some bias article to prove a point does not make him the winner. Lawyers don't have to be right, they have to be good and he is a good lawyer.

Number one, do you even know why he was banned?

Second, if you do, find in the rule book where he broke a rule

NO, you can PM me but will you give me the truth or the truth the way you see It.

The Mods are Gods? I respect them for everything they do...seriously I do. But they are not gods. Sam is the god here, not his henchman...the ones who officially banned him.

An assault on the king’s men is an assault on the king himself.

Do i want him back. I don't care.

[wanna be drummer]

See PM

[pickenpieces]

Everyone knows that I am not an Obama supporter. Even I thought that he would look out for his own family. He seems to care more for Rev. Wright then his own half brother living in shambles. This is sad.

Its called toughshit love. A christian value, if not muslim.

[Electrophile]

Oh, this is really great. Best fake forum persona EVAR.

[marolyn]

Everyone knows that I am not an Obama supporter. Even I thought that he would look out for his own family. He seems to care more for Rev. Wright then his own half brother living in shambles. This is sad.

i know...almost as sad as cindy mccain's half sister... who cindy doesn't even acknowledge exists...really, really sad...

Cindy McCain's Half Sister 'Angry' She's Hidden

by Ted Robbins

Ted Robbins/NPR

Kathleen Hensley Portalski displays newspaper clippings of her father in World War II, as well as snapshots of herself as a child with her father.

Courtesy Nicholas Portalski

Portalski is shown with her late father, Jim Hensley, who also was Cindy McCain's father.

Nicholas Portalski, whose mother is McCain's half sister, says it's "very, very hurtful" that he and his mother haven't been recognized.

All Things Considered, August 18, 2008 · Last Tuesday, NPR broadcast a story about Cindy McCain's business and charity work. In it, Ted Robbins described McCain as the only child of Jim Hensley, a wealthy Arizona businessman. The next morning, NPR received an e-mail from Nicholas Portalski of Phoenix, who heard the story with his mother.

"We were listening to the piece about Cindy McCain on NPR, All Things Considered, and it just struck us very hard," Portalski said.

His mother, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, is also Hensley's daughter.

The Portalski family is accustomed to hearing Cindy McCain described as Hensley's only child.

She's been described that way by news organizations from The New Yorker and The New York Times to Newsweek and ABC.

McCain herself routinely uses the phrase "only child," as she did on CNN last month. "I grew up with my dad," she said then. "I'm an only child. My father was a cowboy, and he really loved me very much, but I think he wanted a son occasionally."

McCain's father was also a businessman — and twice a father.

"I'm upset," Kathleen Portalski says. "I'm angry. It makes me feel like a nonperson, kind of."

Who Is Kathleen Hensley Portalski?

Documents show Kathleen Anne Hensley was born to Jim and Mary Jeanne Hensley on Feb. 23, 1943. They had been married for six years when Kathleen was born.

Jim Hensley was a bombardier on a B-17, flying over Europe during World War II.

He was injured and sent to a facility in West Virginia to recuperate. During that time, while still married to Mary Jeanne, Hensley met another woman — Marguerite Smith. Jim divorced Mary Jeanne and married Marguerite in 1945.

Cindy Lou Hensley was born nine years later, in 1954.

She may have grown up as an only child, but so did her half sister, Kathleen, who was raised by a single parent.

Portalski says she did see her father and her half sister from time to time.

"I saw him a few times a year," she says. "I saw him at Christmas and birthdays, and he provided money for school clothes, and he called occasionally."

Jim Hensley also provided credit cards and college tuition for his grandchildren, as well as $10,000 gifts to Kathleen and her husband, Stanley Portalski. That lasted a decade, they say. By then, Jim Hensley had built Hensley and Co. into one of the largest beer distributorships in the country. He was worth tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.

Sole Inheritor To Hensley's Estate

When Hensley died in 2000, his will named not only Portalski but also a daughter of his wife Marguerite from her earlier marriage. So, Cindy McCain may be the only product of Jim and Marguerite's marriage, but she is not the only child of either.

She was, however, the sole inheritor of his considerable estate.

Kathleen Portalski was left $10,000, and her children were left nothing. It's a fact Nicholas Portalski says his sister discovered the hard way.

"What she found in town — on the day of or the day before or the day after his funeral — was that the credit card didn't work anymore," Nick says.

The Portalskis live in a modest home in central Phoenix. Kathleen is retired, as is her husband. Nicholas Portalski is a firefighter and emergency medical technician looking for work.

They say it would have been nice if they were left some of the Hensley fortune.

They also say they are Democrats, but Nicholas Portalski says he had another reason for coming forward.

"The fact that we don't exist," he says. "The fact that we've never been recognized, and then Cindy has to put such a fine point on it by saying something that's not true. Recently, again and again. It's just very, very hurtful."

Kathleen Portalski says she'd like an acknowledgment and an apology.

NPR asked the McCain campaign — specifically, Cindy McCain — to comment or respond. Neither replied.

[Uncle Bill]

You say that Hermit broke the rules. What specific rules did he break? Do you know? Other people seem to think he didn't deserve to be banned. I'd like to know the truth. If he broke a rule, that rule should violation should be able to clearly pointed out. if for no other reason than to serve as a clear example to others. In other forums I've been a member of, when someone gets banned the reason is either totally obvious to everyone or the reason is explained to anyone who wants to know. It seems to me there's no reason for bannings to be a matter of mystery and secrecy.

I'd like to know the answer to this as well.

[marolyn]

Everyone knows that I am not an Obama supporter. Even I thought that he would look out for his own family. He seems to care more for Rev. Wright then his own half brother living in shambles. This is sad.

but wait...there's more!... really sad news...

Cindy McCain Has Another Forgotten Half Sister

Washington Post August 20, 2008 8:39am

When Cindy McCain talks about growing up, she usually refers to herself as an "only child" -- a phrase that ignores the existence of her half sisters.

"It's terribly painful," Kathleen Hensley Portalski said yesterday. "It is as if she is the 'real' daughter. I am also a real daughter."

Portalski and McCain are both children of the late Jim Hensley, the Arizona businessman who founded one of the largest beer distributorships in the nation. Kathleen, 65, is the product of Hensley's first marriage in the 1930s to Mary Jeanne Parks. Hensley divorced Parks for Marguerite "Smitty" Johnson, whom he met at a West Virginia hospital in World War II and married in 1945. Cindy was born nine years later.

...

But there's more: Cindy McCain has another half sister. Before her marriage to Hensley, Johnson had a daughter, Dixie Burd, by a previous relationship. Burd, who is much older than Cindy, could not be reached for comment

[Uncle Bill]

i know...almost as sad as cindy mccain's half sister... who cindy doesn't even acknowledge exists...really, really sad...

Why is this sad? Where does it say she even knows either half sister. I think the family is angry because of the money. Same thing w/ nobamas brother, who cares?

[marolyn]

Why is this sad? Where does it say she even knows either half sister. I think the family is angry because of the money. Same thing w/ nobamas brother, who cares?

[Del Zeppnile]

I think one of Hermit's enemy's may have turned him in. It's also possible the mods are watching this thread for previously banned members. He didn't make any attempt to disguise his very recognizable posting style.

There are some people here who were banned for reasons to protect children from predators... a very good reason -- I'm sure everyone would agree. And yet there are others who have been banned, sometimes by their own stubborness with the mods, but for a completly less sinister reasons than contacting children. I believe we all need to recognize the difference and acknowledge that there can be no comparison. If I got a speeding ticket for driving my wife to the hospital, and another guy got one for drag racing through a 'school zone'.... obviously one is a mitigating and the other a aggravating circumstance.

Hermit has plenty of good things to contribute whether or not people agree with him, or like him. I don't agree with him on most things. But without some people to present different views, how is this forum better? I believe "my message" is given balance when there are people like Hermit to offer opposition to my point of view. Without an advisarial debate, how are we ever certain that points of truth or logic are not being glossed over? A healthy debate is an advisarial debate, and we need Hermit's input on these issues, especially since he takes the time reasearch his points of view.

...My two cents less whatever was taken out for taxes by liberals to pay for whatever feel good scheme is on their agenda this month.

[Uncle Bill]

I'd like to comment on this hermit banning thing, but I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.

Good post Del.

[Del Zeppnile]

I'd like to comment on this hermit banning thing, but I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.

Good post Del.

GOOD ONE!

[Medhb]

Most likely because everyone blatantly blew his cover and kept referring to him as Hermit, his previous/also banned screen name.

Just a wild guess.

Yup! I asked the mods why and they said because he was banned before. I told them I never understood why he was banned in the first place but they didn't see a need to explain that to me

[Medhb]

Rival.

This isn't the fucking olympics.

It's a forum.

I don't have any rivals at the bar and thats where I truly have debates.

Yes, he refused to back down to the mods, what did he achieved from that. Nothing. This isn't the senate floor.

Really a nice guy? who got banned 3 times? Sure when i said there are some good people who are racist, i was completly laughed at. But a guy who goes around degrading everyone who doesn't agree with him is a hero, someone i should respect?

The only misunderstanding is his misunderstanding of the rule book.

and i still say The Mods are Gods. What they say shall be the law of the forum. It's their job and we don't pay for bandwidth.

Yeah, I agree, it's fucking gay to ban people, but it's also fucking gay to cause teh mods to look closer.

How many times have you been banned? I still like you even though I disagree with you most of the time. I, personally, never saw any posts from Hermit that were inflammitory