Hoodlum
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
Brand is an extremely intelligent and eloquent individual. However he's just as susceptible to the mire of progressive thinking as most of the rest of the population.
"Don't destroy the planet, reduce the gap between rich and poor"? Give it a break Russ, this is the same tired leftist shit we've been hearing for decades, the shit that's slowly destroying our society. If anything, we need a right wing revolution.
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| 10-25-2013 05:12 AM |
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It_is_my_time
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 05:12 AM)Hoodlum Wrote: Brand is an extremely intelligent and eloquent individual. However he's just as susceptible to the mire of progressive thinking as most of the rest of the population.
"Don't destroy the planet, reduce the gap between rich and poor"? Give it a break Russ, this is the same tired leftist shit we've been hearing for decades, the shit that's slowly destroying our society. If anything, we need a right wing revolution.
Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
You would think that these results would tell any average thinking person that maybe these policies simply do not work.
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| 10-25-2013 05:18 AM |
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Flint
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
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| 10-25-2013 05:37 AM |
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It_is_my_time
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 05:37 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
The income gap in the USA continues to grow, as the govt. moves to the left. As the US govt. supports more socialism and feminism, the middle class shrinks, small businesses are crushed with regulations, and the large corporations run by the wealthy elite soak up the money at the top.
As far as the Scandinavia countries, you have a few very wealthy elites and everyone else has no chance but to be a worker bee cog in the system.
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| 10-25-2013 06:02 AM |
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iknowexactly
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 05:37 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
McCarthy-ite intellects don't need evidence.Nor are they capable of integrating it when presented.
To me the amazing thing is how our unseen owners dictate the terms of the debate-- I've never seen a wealth distribution chart on a major media TV show.
The lucky thing is most very wealthy people are very intelligent (and can count lol) and don't want to move further towards third-world wealth disparity levels-- see Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
Warren Buffett "There's a class war all right, and it's our class-the rich--that's winning."
I believe it's the nouveau riche -- the car dealer that's made 2 mill, the poster on this board who's making 200k--that have the false impression that they are really special and deserve to keep all of that money despite it being extracted from a society where most people work paycheck to paycheck to preserve the structure where it's possible for the coffee achievers to make big money.
No one ever made 10 million alone on a desert island, all wealthy people became wealthy in concert with many people working for almost nothing.
The very wealthy (except Koch brothers) mostly realize they're part of a system, not gods sent to be above everyone forever.
"The goal of {amoral} capitalism is to reduce all human interaction to the cash nexus." L. D.
(This post was last modified: 10-25-2013 06:39 AM by iknowexactly.)
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| 10-25-2013 06:33 AM |
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It_is_my_time
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 06:33 AM)iknowexactly Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:37 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
McCarthy-ite intellects don't need evidence.Nor are they capable of integrating it when presented.
To me the amazing thing is how our unseen owners dictate the terms of the debate-- I've never seen a wealth distribution chart on a major media TV show.
The lucky thing is most very wealthy people are very intelligent (and can count lol) and don't want to move further towards third-world wealth disparity levels-- see Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
Warren Buffett "There's a class war all right, and it's our class-the rich--that's winning."
I am not a far right thinker in the least. But socialist economies simply do not work. They cannot work. They fight against human nature.
Warren Buffett was out there parroting Obama's failed economic ideas. Why? Because it makes him more money.
If Warren Buffett truly wanted to fix the wealth gap, he would push for less govt. regulations that destroy small and medium sized businesses and give large corporations and the elite wealthy an unfair advantage.
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| 10-25-2013 06:38 AM |
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Flint
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 06:38 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: (10-25-2013 06:33 AM)iknowexactly Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:37 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
McCarthy-ite intellects don't need evidence.Nor are they capable of integrating it when presented.
To me the amazing thing is how our unseen owners dictate the terms of the debate-- I've never seen a wealth distribution chart on a major media TV show.
The lucky thing is most very wealthy people are very intelligent (and can count lol) and don't want to move further towards third-world wealth disparity levels-- see Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
Warren Buffett "There's a class war all right, and it's our class-the rich--that's winning."
I am not a far right thinker in the least. But socialist economies simply do not work. They cannot work. They fight against human nature.
Warren Buffett was out there parroting Obama's failed economic ideas. Why? Because it makes him more money.
If Warren Buffett truly wanted to fix the wealth gap, he would push for less govt. regulations that destroy small and medium sized businesses and give large corporations and the elite wealthy an unfair advantage.
The problem with many Americans is that you regard every alternative type of market economy that does not adhere to the free market ideology as the dawn of Soviet-style socialism. In fact, there are many different ideas of how you can balance an essentially capitalist economy with sound social policies (social market economy). Denmark, for example, has a very extensive welfare state yet it ranks higher in the Heritage Economic Freedom Index than the US: http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
Believing that fixing the wealth gap by simply lifting regulations and cutting taxes is downright naive and historically ignorant. If you can give an example of how radical free market policies actually created more social equality, let me know.
The definition of human nature is debatable.
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| 10-25-2013 07:52 AM |
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It_is_my_time
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 07:52 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 06:38 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: (10-25-2013 06:33 AM)iknowexactly Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:37 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
McCarthy-ite intellects don't need evidence.Nor are they capable of integrating it when presented.
To me the amazing thing is how our unseen owners dictate the terms of the debate-- I've never seen a wealth distribution chart on a major media TV show.
The lucky thing is most very wealthy people are very intelligent (and can count lol) and don't want to move further towards third-world wealth disparity levels-- see Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
Warren Buffett "There's a class war all right, and it's our class-the rich--that's winning."
I am not a far right thinker in the least. But socialist economies simply do not work. They cannot work. They fight against human nature.
Warren Buffett was out there parroting Obama's failed economic ideas. Why? Because it makes him more money.
If Warren Buffett truly wanted to fix the wealth gap, he would push for less govt. regulations that destroy small and medium sized businesses and give large corporations and the elite wealthy an unfair advantage.
The problem with many Americans is that you regard every alternative type of market economy that does not adhere to the free market ideology as the dawn of Soviet-style socialism. In fact, there are many different ideas of how you can balance an essentially capitalist economy with sound social policies (social market economy). Denmark, for example, has a very extensive welfare state yet it ranks higher in the Heritage Economic Freedom Index than the US: http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
Believing that fixing the wealth gap by simply lifting regulations and cutting taxes is downright naive and historically ignorant. If you can give an example of how radical free market policies actually created more social equality, let me know.
The definition of human nature is debatable.
Being more economically free than the USA today isn't something to brag about.
We just watched the govt. let their banker friends grow their businesses too large. And then watched the govt. do nothing about their shady trading of bad debt. And then when the whole thing came crashing down we watched the govt. take from the middle class and give to these elites.
With that said, Denmark sounds absolutely dreadful, just in what I have read about it. I would hate to see the USA go that socialist in social engineering, but it appears we are headed that way.
I would simply point out how great Americans live, or at least lived, compared to the rest of the world. And the thing that have failed in recent history economically have been due to govt. inefficient policies. Such as the failed war on drugs, failed war on poverty, soon to be failed Obamacare, failure to simply pass a budget for 4 years in a row, failure by the SEC, failure of places with very liberal local govt's like the cities in California going bankrupt, Detroit, and soon others to follow.
Liberalism = feminism, and I am frankly sick of watching feminism destroy things that took decades and many brave men's lives to create.
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| 10-25-2013 08:03 AM |
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MunichSux
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
Quote from an expat from the USA living in my native Germany : "...and the social systems keep everyone out of dire poverty."
If there's a collective real desire, real effort to guarantee a minimum living standard (here, real universal healthcare AND a right to live within your own four walls, the size of which is dependent on how many familiy members are on welfare. That is, no one has to be homeless here!), one realizes that you can have both ... good quality of living for all (don't be mistaken by my nickname, I actually love Munich and would not want to live elsewhere) BUT also incentives, financially, to progress. Top executives here can pull in 8 figure yearly incomes, too - and some actually do - and some wealthy families have enjoyed 9 figure dividend payouts in the past years thanks to record earnings by Germany's industry (strong in engineering in general) and corresponding record dividends. It's just the taxes are a little higher, and luckily no such thing as brain-dead rightwingers like the tea party screaming "foul" whenever the government tries to introduce quality services for all !
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| 10-25-2013 10:13 AM |
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It_is_my_time
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 10:13 AM)MunichSux Wrote: Quote from an expat from the USA living in my native Germany : "...and the social systems keep everyone out of dire poverty."
If there's a collective real desire, real effort to guarantee a minimum living standard (here, real universal healthcare AND a right to live within your own four walls, the size of which is dependent on how many familiy members are on welfare. That is, no one has to be homeless here!), one realizes that you can have both ... good quality of living for all (don't be mistaken by my nickname, I actually love Munich and would not want to live elsewhere) BUT also incentives, financially, to progress. Top executives here can pull in 8 figure yearly incomes, too - and some actually do - and some wealthy families have enjoyed 9 figure dividend payouts in the past years thanks to record earnings by Germany's industry (strong in engineering in general) and corresponding record dividends. It's just the taxes are a little higher, and luckily no such thing as brain-dead rightwingers like the tea party screaming "foul" whenever the government tries to introduce quality services for all !
True, but you also don't have much of a military to speak of and the threat in the middle east is coming to roost in Europe and no one is doing anything about it.
Also, I don't think you have a large swath of your population proud to not work and take as much from the govt. as possible. You have some, but the extent the USA has is getting to be an extreme over flow.
Also you don't have 30,000,000 illegal aliens allowed to stay and rome as they please.
I think there is a lot to learn from Germany, but we would need to start at the bottom and install the same work ethic and disciplines here before such a system could ever work.
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| 10-25-2013 10:19 AM |
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kosko
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 06:02 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:37 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
The income gap in the USA continues to grow, as the govt. moves to the left. As the US govt. supports more socialism and feminism, the middle class shrinks, small businesses are crushed with regulations, and the large corporations run by the wealthy elite soak up the money at the top.
As far as the Scandinavia countries, you have a few very wealthy elites and everyone else has no chance but to be a worker bee cog in the system.
The USA has been moving more to the right. Both look like the same in its extremes but Flint is right.
America was more "left" in the 80's then it is now. Welfare has been gutted and for what Americans pay into the system you recieve little.
Obamacsre isn't socialist healthcare it's a corporate wealth transfer.
America is a right wing faccist state not a "socialist" one.
In regards to Brand he is smart as hell but I'm guarded. Any mass mobilization that is automatically accepted by the masses is a dupe and not ideal. The masses don't know shit and simply want somebody else to package a commodity of "change" and "revolution" for them to consume. Hashtags will blaze up twitter and people will get into meaningful discussion over three lines of text and yet nothing wi change. Which is the point. The masses hold as stop checks for the status quo, any mass movement is a push to try and restore what we already have.
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| 10-25-2013 10:25 AM |
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It_is_my_time
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 10:25 AM)kosko Wrote: (10-25-2013 06:02 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:37 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
The income gap in the USA continues to grow, as the govt. moves to the left. As the US govt. supports more socialism and feminism, the middle class shrinks, small businesses are crushed with regulations, and the large corporations run by the wealthy elite soak up the money at the top.
As far as the Scandinavia countries, you have a few very wealthy elites and everyone else has no chance but to be a worker bee cog in the system.
The USA has been moving more to the right. Both look like the same in its extremes but Flint is right.
America was more "left" in the 80's then it is now. Welfare has been gutted and for what Americans pay into the system you recieve little.
Obamacsre isn't socialist healthcare it's a corporate wealth transfer.
America is a right wing faccist state not a "socialist" one.
In regards to Brand he is smart as hell but I'm guarded. Any mass mobilization that is automatically accepted by the masses is a dupe and not ideal. The masses don't know shit and simply want somebody else to package a commodity of "change" and "revolution" for them to consume. Hashtags will blaze up twitter and people will get into meaningful discussion over three lines of text and yet nothing wi change. Which is the point. The masses hold as stop checks for the status quo, any mass movement is a push to try and restore what we already have.
The country has moved strongly to the left.
The spread of feminism. The huge increases of those dependent on the govt. financially. The massive about of debt and govt. spending. Those are dreams of the leftists.
The amount of welfare you receive for what is paid in is going to be low. It is a govt. program, which means tons of waste, fraud, and inefficient work.
Obamacare, as far as I can tell, was designed to fail so it could usher us into a socialist healthcare system.
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| 10-25-2013 10:31 AM |
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Blackhawk
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 06:02 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: The income gap in the USA continues to grow
So what? Why would this matter?
There's this thing called inflation. It means it takes more and more money to buy the same things that less money did before. When you go from US $250 being able to buy a home in 1820 to US $250,000 needed to buy the same home in 2010, does that really mean there's an income gap, or are you really just measuring long term inflation trends?
Until you stop all currency inflation, "income gap" will always continue to grow. If you really want to stop the "income gap" from increasing, stop currency inflation. (And good luck with that one.)
Until then, stop calling it "income gap" and call it what it really is: Inflation.
"Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a Beta."
--Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
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| 10-25-2013 10:32 AM |
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kosko
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RE: Russell Brand looks to start a revolution
(10-25-2013 10:31 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: (10-25-2013 10:25 AM)kosko Wrote: (10-25-2013 06:02 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:37 AM)Flint Wrote: (10-25-2013 05:18 AM)It_is_my_time Wrote: Amazing in all the leftist countries and as the western world goes more leftist, the gap between the rich and poor only grows.
I look forward to see the evidence that corroborates your claim.
In the past decades, the UK and the US have introduced the most neoliberal economic policies in the West. Welfare state benefits, too, have been reduced (and no, Obamacare is not gonna change the overall trend) and these two countries have much wider income gaps than "socialist" Scandinavia.
The income gap in the USA continues to grow, as the govt. moves to the left. As the US govt. supports more socialism and feminism, the middle class shrinks, small businesses are crushed with regulations, and the large corporations run by the wealthy elite soak up the money at the top.
As far as the Scandinavia countries, you have a few very wealthy elites and everyone else has no chance but to be a worker bee cog in the system.
The USA has been moving more to the right. Both look like the same in its extremes but Flint is right.
America was more "left" in the 80's then it is now. Welfare has been gutted and for what Americans pay into the system you recieve little.
Obamacsre isn't socialist healthcare it's a corporate wealth transfer.
America is a right wing faccist state not a "socialist" one.
In regards to Brand he is smart as hell but I'm guarded. Any mass mobilization that is automatically accepted by the masses is a dupe and not ideal. The masses don't know shit and simply want somebody else to package a commodity of "change" and "revolution" for them to consume. Hashtags will blaze up twitter and people will get into meaningful discussion over three lines of text and yet nothing wi change. Which is the point. The masses hold as stop checks for the status quo, any mass movement is a push to try and restore what we already have.
The country has moved strongly to the left.
The spread of feminism. The huge increases of those dependent on the govt. financially. The massive about of debt and govt. spending. Those are dreams of the leftists.
The amount of welfare you receive for what is paid in is going to be low. It is a govt. program, which means tons of waste, fraud, and inefficient work.
Obamacare, as far as I can tell, was designed to fail so it could usher us into a socialist healthcare system.
Strongly in what ways? Obama moved the needle to right. I live in Canada which is a socialist wasteland compared to you guys and we are just left of center after veering more right. America has a long ways to go. You confusing socialism with programs that were meant to create a dependent and unwealthy class of Americans for the corporate class to control and exploit.
The govt has little cohesive power and is dependent on the debt it receives from the corporate class. Your govt and economy is structured to enrich oligarchs and cronies. This isn't socialism its a corporate fascist model.
The corporate fascists created Femenism as a means to extract wealth, if there is little to no re-distribution then it isn't a socialist model.
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| 10-25-2013 02:11 PM |
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