Ís there anyone out there or has this become another ghost site?

There are some of us left.

Yes but some of the regulars to this page seem to have taken a holiday, haven't seen Ex in weeks

@paraclete. You won't be seeing excon. He said his goodbyes to us a while ago.

Excon left because the owners of the site wouldn't bend to his demands. He was acting like a spoiled child and didn't get what he wanted, so he decided to leave us.

Maybe they actually left their homes/apartments and having actual experiences in the real world. :-) You should be happy for them.

Some of us just read until there is something worth posting. For the most part Ive tired of the circular arguments that have been going on. There hasn't been anything worth talking about lately.

Every site I've belonged to or ran goes through cycles...

Yes I'm observing a cycle now, I think it's a unicycle

LOL, good one Clete.

Figures if the emperor and Congress can take time off ,so can I. In fact ,with Congress and the emperor on vacation.... somehow the country still manages well. I'd in fact argue we are better off when Congress is on vacation ,and the emperor is duffing .

Of course ,even when the emperor is allegedly on the job ,there is still no one running the show. Take for example EPA supervisors signed off on payroll sheets for employees they knew were no shows.
EPA official’s fraud fell through the cracks, documents show - The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epa-officials-fraud-fell-through-the-cracks-documents-show/2014/02/04/f9954412-8dac-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html)

When Congress called EPA boss Gina McCarthy to the Hill ,she blamed Congress for not passing laws making it easier to fire employees. Then the public service unions called her out ,and she quickly backed down.

Then there is the IRS paying employees to campaign.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/9/dallas-irs-office-plastered-pro-obama-stickers-scr/
even better .... 286 full-time staffers at the IRS worked exclusively for the National Treasury Employees Union while they were on the government payroll in 2012.
Federal Agencies Spending Millions to Support Unions | Washington Free Beacon (http://freebeacon.com/issues/federal-agencies-spending-millions-to-support-unions/)

So I took some time off to hike the Grand Tetons. ........I'm BAAAAAAACKKKK !!!

Maybe start a new thread for your political stuff tom?

I was hiking a mountain too with my son, then the family all went sea kayaking. And as always some hill climbing cycling.

at least we share similar recreational pursuits .did sea kayaking around Mt Desert Island Maine ;and the caves at Torrey Pines San Diego .

Well I guess you get summer holidays over there, the world can go to hell in a hand basket, and you can take a holiday.

I like to sneek up behind groups of people standing around a leave a silent fart and casually walk way. Always good for a laugh or two when you see their faces and reactions.

the world can go to hell in a hand basket, and you can take a holidayworks for me.

the world can go to hell in a hand basket, and you can take a holiday
good enough for the emperor.the only thing that will detract from his vacation is a fund raiser .

Yes well you see he seems to have left the heavy lifting to Tony and Julia as we keep up our end of the relationship, but then what are friends for.

I think we are seeing some interesting developments in the Ukraine with Putin's 200 white painted trucks. I expect there is room for troops to climb aboard just as they cross the border, 20 a truck would make a sizable difference

if it were me ,those trucks don't cross the border before inspection.

Agreed, but I'm suspicious about motive, is it just political or is it an infiltration or escalation ruse. All it would take is Ukrainian refusal to allow them to cross