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White House admits bin Laden "was not armed" during the raid:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theenvoy/20110503/ts_yblog_theenvoy/in-aftermath-of-bin-laden-raid-new-intelligence-shifting-accounts

Pointing out Dan Rather is all too easy when the left gets upset at the Internets for failing to fall in line. A more recent (yesterday) example; we've been hearing for weeks about the 'challenge' to conservatives in Canada. The BBC says the race has tightened and Canadian voters will throw the conservative bums out!

Reality: Canada's Conservatives score massive election win. The media had gotten so carried away that "the scale of victory came as a surprise."

Wisconsin voters hate the new Governor and his anti-union crimes. The media has the polls to prove it! That's why incumbent judge Prosser will get voted out. Except he didn't.

Lets not forget NPR execs schlepping around with purported Muslim Brotherhood types, spouting off stereotypical nonsense right out of the moonbat echo chamber. These are the numpties running the media. Mustn't question their credibility...you stupid knuckle dragger.

The MSM is spin. Mostly statist left wing spin, with some equally heinous counter spin from the right (Fox et al.) That the non-existent credibility of our media doesn't somehow instantly dispel all "birther" conspiracy is a surprise to fools alone.

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=SNE+Interactive#chart3:symbol=sne;range=3m;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined This one makes it a little more obvious. I think tomorrow will be a good day for me to buy some Sony stock after the new news gets out everywhere ;)

Listen. I'm not uh-merican, I don't live there, so I don't really give a rat's ass anyway. Anything is better than Dubya. I'm content.

That being said, here's what I saw:

In 2008 the Obama campaign released a "certification of live birth". This certification is printed on a laser printer (it says so right there in the bottom left corner) and so has no relationship whatsoever to the original document from 1961, other than that it is claimed to contain the same info. The serial number is blacked out for some reason.

FactCheck.org then released more photos of the same certification of live birth. It is dated Jun 7 2007. The serial number is now shown: 151 1961 - 010641.

The scandal grows more, almost spilling over from the right-wingnuts channels to the regular media.

The white house releases a digital impression of a certified copy of the long-form certificate. Certified means, in context, that there's this Alvin T. Onaka again and his signature stamp is shown at the bottom of the picture: "I certify this is a true copy or abstract of the record on file in the Hawaii state department of health".

Typewriters do not create pixellated white margins on letters. Look at the letters NHA where it says DUNHAM in the pdf.

Look at the date stamp. The 6 in 1961 is of a different color than the 1 and the 9 and the other 1 (they're black, it's greenish).
Look at the serial number in the top left corner: 151 61 10641. That 1 at the end is greenish, the other figures are black.

So this is not a straight copy. To me, it looks like a scan of a microfiche that was superimposed on that greenish background, none too expertly.

I did not follow this story too closely. Has Obama ever publicly declared "I was born in the USA"?

for these articles that nothing more than paid publicity.

Well, it seems to be working. The stock price has increased from 0.25 to 7.50 in the last 5 hours. So already the company is worth 30 times more than it was earlier today. At that rate, they will be billionaires in no time.

Speaking of publicity, how is www.xipher.net working out for ya?

Agreed, except the DNA test STILL isn't back. They have ID'd him with facial recognition software, but are still awaiting the results of the DNA test.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110502/ts_nm/us_binladen_dna_1

They're not losing money.

Are you sure? Was it one of the hotels owned by Host Hotels? (Hyatt, Hilton, Four Seasons, Marriot, etc. etc.) If so, then yes, they ARE losing money.

You kind of sound like a jerk, but based on your sig, I guess that is the vibe you are going for.

It can get you in to trouble

That said, I leave my wifi router open as well, but if you're going to do it you have to do it knowing the risks. Being accused of kiddie porn, for instance, is going to stick with you forever, regardless of guilt or innocence.

There is no such thing as a calm interaction with the police today. Around 50 police officers are shot every year just at traffic stops, and most of those are where they did not take immediate control of the situation - basically, they ignored their training. How would you expect them to deal with a public that wants to kill them?

Ah, that old schtick. The truth is that in the US, police work doesn't even make the top 10 most dangerous professions.

It may not be an easy job, but it is also not a particularly hazardous one.

Football and hockey?

Have you looked here and here ? There is hope to cut the DTV...

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=AAPL#symbol=aapl;range=5y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=;

Android announced Nov 2007, AAPL = 165.37
AAPL Today 350.7

Uhhh...because we have seen time and time again how just trying to "fix" the mess by passing ever more rules just piles on the clusterfuck? As for CFLs I can give you a little link to a thing called Yahoo Search which brings up 36,000 pages on CFLs and cancer. Feel free to choose whichever site you would consider a credible source, with 36,000 I'm sure you'll find a few.

Basically the gist of it is the plastics that make up the ring holding the CFL when heated release carcinogens which you then breathe. Surprise surprise, those unintended consequences bite you right in the rear again. Oh I'm sure they'll come out with yet more regulations, that will promptly be ignored by the third world countries we have making the things since they closed the light bulb factories here to make the new ones in China (there is those pesky unintended consequences again) and people will justify the increased risk of cancer on "being green". Of course if you get cancer and die your carbon footprint drops off the chart, so you are REALLY being green then!

Except there is a little problem...WE ARE BROKE...The taxes on the top 1% have never been lower in our nation's history and they will NOT be going up anytime soon, or IMHO ever, thanks to the legalized bribery SCOTUS gave us by equating money with speech and making corps people (they're just like you...only better).

Meanwhile the high tech jobs promised by our new tech economy are are finally here...they are all in India and the new tech corps like Google pay a pittance thanks to the double dutch and other loopholes, oh and in case you haven't heard China is getting ready to dump its dollars so you can ALL say hello to the great depression part II that many of us have been saying for years would come thanks to selling off of this country by offshoring, illegal immigration (currently 85% of illegals with anchor babies are on welfare) and H1-Bs making college pointless for many in the tech sector.

So you want to go back into space? the top tax rate MUST go back to 90% which despite all the rich hoarding and squawking NEVER in our history has more jobs been tied to lower taxes, in fact EVERY boom has had high taxes on the rich (because instead of hoarding they have incentive to invest) along with HIGH tariffs on those shipping our jobs to third world countries that allow pollution so thick you can detect it on the west coast AND a closing of ALL bases and walking away from the two pointless Jihad fests we have going on and instead using those troops to CLOSE THE LEAKING BORDER and repealing the law allowing anchor babies.

Instead what we are gonna have is a full on collapse, we will be NO different than the PIIGS in Europe, mark my words. After a few years in the collapse and Egyptian style riots we will have a new party rise, most likely militant nationalist, the only question now in my mind is whether we shall become xenophobic (preferred) or whether we will take Poland (aka South America) like the last heavily armed nationalist bunch. Shit is about to hit the fans folks, and these bozos are talking moon bases. No wonder our credit rating is becoming as bad as our citizens, which BTW student loan debt has surpassed CC debt and thanks to the rules against bankruptcy not clearing it student defaults have NEVER been higher. Kinda hard to pay for that degree for that job that got sent to Bangalore on a McJob you know?

You claim to own Apple stock, and have no intention of selling it any time soon. Why not?

Because Apple is still profitable, and the stock http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AAPL&t=5y&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=>price is still rising. See that hole back there in 07? That's where I bought. It can bobble up and down daily and still not hurt me.

Lots of analysts think this is the Time to Buy Apple.

You seem to be of the opinion that just because Apple will not be in first place in handset sales that the company isn't a good investment. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Apple has made a career out of being in second or third or fourth place. They thrive on it.

They will sell every tablet and every iphone they make. They won't be the sales leader. They don't have to be. They are profitable.

Nowhere in the article did it say that police had been observed doing this or that there was any evidence that any such thing had actually happened.

You're right, it's not certain that Michigan police have been using that particular device. They may not be hiding anything at all with their half-million dollar FOIA fee request.

We do know, however, that police are using that data, through some means, to investigate and convict.

Large data centers that use enormous amounts of energy such as the ones Google and Facebook operate in Oregon (and Apple's huge center in the Midwest) certainly do have choices about power sources

Exactly. I was going to point out that both Google and Facebook have already managed to find sources of clean power. More importantly though, they get to choose the sites of their data centres. A major factor in this decision is the power supply available in that area. There is no reason why they can't choose a site with a diverse selection of power plants that include clean energy.

.
Microsoft makes it difficult to continue using software they have retired. For example, there appears to be a time-bomb in Visual Studio 2010 that prevents programs created with it from being used on earlier versions of Windows.

It appears that Microsoft was not happy with just ceasing support for those versions, now it looks like Microsoft is sabotaging efforts to develop software for those older versions.

See for yourself:
Apple
Oranges

Which would you choose?

Maybe you have a more accurate chart than this one?

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=USDEUR=X+Interactive#symbol=;range=my;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=;

Assuming the chart is right, in 2000, one USD could get you 0.97 EUR.

Today in 2011 one USD can only get you 0.70 EUR.

If the above is correct it doesn't matter what you say about M1 or M2. It means the USD has weakened against the EUR from 2000 to 2010/2011.

Don't need any fancy math to figure it out.

If there really have been more euros created and yet the USD dollar has grown weaker against the Euro, go figure what that means...

You're not serious right? Space-X already has all the necessary permits and certifications so that their rockets don't go crashing into your house. The Obama administration is already working to privatize nasa launches to .... wait for it.... SpaceX

Ya know, I really think we outta give credit where credit is due, and I don't see how these young 'uns will ever be able to top the level of worthless in Cuecat. I mean get VCs to pay for scanners to be passed out so folks can go to the trouble of hooking it up, installing a buggy driver that spied on you AND all for the "privilege" of scanning AN AD so you could be hit with ads on your PC? that is sheer genius levels of worthless right there pal, I don't see FB or any of these kids being able to top THAT nuclear powered failure!

I think the bigger question than "what happens when this bubble bursts" is the much more fundamental question of "What do you do when you don't have a use for people anymore?" Because as it is we are ALL playing IQ musical chairs with less seats for a bigger population every. single. day. and the next to go WILL be the entire service industry. what then?

You think MickeyD's bitches about having to pay minimum wage now, which frankly in America one can't live on and actually keep from going under, what do you think they will do when they can replace the ENTIRE workforce with machines? hell there really isn't anything that can't be done in your average fast food joint that assembly line automation couldn't do better, more accurately, and 24/7 without breaks, the only thing keeping them with humans is cost, but what happens when the robot is cheaper? you can't expect to hire everyone part time at $6 an hour when gas is $6 a gallon and a bag of groceries costs them $60, so what then?

I'd say you have a good 60% of the population that are working C and D level jobs that WILL be either shipped overseas where there is no working regs and you can run sweatshops and pollute the entire area, what are we gonna do with them? Execute them? lock them up? make up bullshit jobs (BTW currently government employs MORE than manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined source here) so now what?

So I'd say that is the bigger question we are facing. If the top 25% have everything while the bottom 75% starve society will collapse, crime will be rampant as they try to survive, yet at the same time we simply don't need the labor of more and more people on this planet. What do we do with these jobless masses? Blowing more bubbles doesn't change it, neither does pushing the "education!" meme that politicians keep harping about while ignoring that more and more that graduate from all these colleges and trade schools have nothing to show but debt they can't pay, because in the end machines will do it better.

And before anyone pops in with the capitalist meme of "wages will go down and they'll balance!" I'd like to point to what the race to the bottom gets us, aka the the Halliburton clause where more and more of our precious water is being contaminated and being rendered unfit for use by those that want to make money NOW and screw later. Meanwhile the super rich just got a giant tax break thanks to outright bribery, so trying to beat the third world at who can be the most polluted and corrupt probably ain't the right way to go, that is unless you like the idea of paying $10 for a bottle of drinkable water and having your kids wear masks just to go outside.

No they're not. BRL bonds have to offer about 12% interest to sell in today's market. Those 2-year BRL bonds compete with 2-year US Treasuries that have to offer only under 1% interest, yet still sell more than BRL bonds do.

Yes, replacing the USD in infra-BRICS transactions does leave more USD in circulation with less demand, thereby lowering the price of USD. But USD is still far more valued as an investment than BRL. Especially in the role for which the Fed controls USD value: global inflation control. The USD is far more stable than the BRL, even if that 3-6-12% BRL swing within the last decade is an opportunity for some (informed/skilled/lucky) investors to make profits against the low end if that's when they buy.

1) I would argue differently. I am educated, my GPA is good, and I am among somewhere around 4 percent of the US population who actually have MS degrees in STEM. Im not saying I am something special, I just think I should be more employable than I apparently am. I should at least be able to beat out most candidates for a job that requires a BS. You would be surprised how many grad students have lower GPAs and actually have work teaching, tutoring, etc. I have skills in image processing, signal processing and programming which are valuable to industry, my main problem is its an applied math background so I get beat by engineers simply because they have the paper saying so, even though they are no more capable than I am OR I am at least at a point where I would be valuable on a team of engineers since I have experience in other things they don't.

Rich assholes have ruined America from within making jobs unavailable to people that are willing to work hard. I am willing to work hard, Ive never been on social security or Medicare. I don't plan on doing so. I don't think I am owed a living, I am OWED A FUCKING JOB somewhere because I spent a lot of time educating myself while going into debt even with scholarships. I feel like I did what I was supposed to do as sold to me by the education system and politicians to get a job. If anything, thats what makes me a gullible idiot.

Create a job for myself? Sure, with what capital? Should I go beg some rich guy to finance me? The same rich people that have 95 percent of the money and fail to create jobs time and time again whenever they are given tax breaks? I actually have a good idea for something, but I don't have the expertise yet. I would starve before I could execute it. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich

2) Graduating #1 out of your class literally doesn't mean shit except to pretentious asshats, or it means you are a genius which is something you are born with. It is absolutely no indication of what you learned or your capabilities. You could argue it shows you work hard, fine. I could easily graduate #1 in my class if I chose to do an MBA. I didn't because I firmly believe MBA's are worthless pile-of-shit degrees anyone can do. Its part of my principals.

3) I never say this to potential employers. I am not an idiot. The GPA is my MS-work GPA. As an undergrad I had a 3.8.

Im desperate because I am going to a new city for a PhD program and have no job to pay my bills. One of my recommendations was sent in late by a professor of mine in spite of me asking him repeatedly to send it in on time, and because of this I missed the priority deadline for a TA position and was beat out simply by timing. Meanwhile I have been applying to literally every single internship and research assistant position I can find. I follow up, but still cant get a damn job. At this rate I probably will have to get a job mowing lawns as you said. I used to work at horse ranches shoveling shit and building fences, and also at a machine shop where I would get my hands all sliced up, so its not that I am adverse to manual labor. Its just that I wanted to contribute to some kind of research because its my passion, and it seems like a waste of my entire education to become a manual laborer. Id be better off and more useful to society teaching high school.

Wrong. The wealthy managers, board members, and CEO's made the decision to transfer all the jobs overseas. If you don't have a job, you can't afford expensive things so you buy things cheaper. The person that just took your job in China is now selling the cheap shit to you, bleeding the money out of the states while keeping an ungodly massive portion for the super-rich. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich

If one company offshores, it's a smart business move. When everyone offshores, it's economic suicide. The well-to-do consumer class is disappearing, and that person in China isn't making *nearly* enough money to buy goods at the prices traditionally charged in the USA.

The rich are getting richer at the price of cannibalizing the economy. When it's gone, they'll be screwed too. But short-term interests prevail.

Tax the rich. It would work if you taxed their money even more the minute they tried to move it overseas. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich

Wrong. The wealthy managers, board members, and CEO's made the decision to transfer all the jobs overseas. If you don't have a job, you can't afford expensive things so you buy things cheaper. The person that just took your job in China is now selling the cheap shit to you, bleeding the money out of the states while keeping an ungodly massive portion for the super-rich. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich

I disagree. If the rich weren't so greedy we would each have enough for us, and the rest of the world would still be progressing at their current pace. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich

Outsourcing does this dude : http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich . Furthermore, goods and products next door mean nothing if Japan and Europe have the best ones because they actually invest in technology projects, science education and infrastructure.

Outsourcing does this : http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich

If you believe that you will really enjoy this : http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich

Interesting thing about that that refutes your point : http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110408/ts_yblog_thelookout/off-the-charts-income-gains-for-super-rich

Umm..... yes, someone obviously could do it, but you'd probably have some difficulty linking up the clippings you found to specific individuals. (I mean, would you propose the hair stylists themselves start indexing their customers' hair clippings? They'd be the ones who know their clients' names, addresses and phone numbers since everyone's in their computer system already. If they started acting as the data collectors for this type of operation, it would cause a big loss of business when people started finding out -- so most salons would probably ban the practice, regardless of its legality.)

And just as a somewhat related side note? My g/f is Jewish and brought up the fact that some Jews already believe in not leaving any toenail or fingernail clippings behind. They collect them to destroy them by burning them, etc. Granted, it's based on very old scripture and so doesn't say anything about concerns about people obtaining one's DNA .... but it's interesting that maybe they were onto something anyway!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100114112104AAz2PtZ

Jackson never died, only ascended which is not death.

Actually, Jackson died quite a few times, he usually just got sarcophagused. Hell, he even died in the movie. It practically became a running joke.

it's serious but not out of control.

Seems like no matter whtat they did, it just got worse, so I'm having difficulty seeing the control you seem to think they have over the reactors in crisis at Fukushima. They're raising the severity level to maximum. Ah, there it is... they are controlling how severe it is? Then why don't they just make it less severe?

You might not need to book, there are also many presentation-videos (among many from Crockford) on this page:

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/theater/

If you prefer that over reading.

47% of household had a 0% income tax rate last year. The bottom 40% have a negative tax rate due to refundable credits.

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Ah_DPavy4Za9jFbCJYEqaLCbvZx4?p=then+vs+than&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-375

Actually you don't have to ingest it, BUT you have to be pretty much right next to it to receive the full dose. "Measurements showed the air above the radioactive water in the pit contained more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour of radioactivity. Even just two feet (60 centimeters) away, that figure dropped to 400 millisieverts." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110402/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake_587

Shareholders did, Nokia's stock took a noticeable dive after they announced the partnership. See here.

Well, I don't think anyone knows yet, but the 'medication schedule' reference probably refers to this comment hanging off this Yahoo News article that I personally found pretty convincing (sorry - I don't know how to link to the comment directly, but it's from 'John')
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110329/ts_yblog_thelookout/fbi-asks-public-for-help-breaking-encrypted-notes-tied-to-1999-murder#mwpphu-container

I checked out the reference (since removed, oddly) that people who are bipolar often keep long-term records of medication schedules and effects (page 2) and historic record of major 'episodes' (page 1) so that they can use them to try and build a personalized medication schedule over time on a bipolar support forum, and it checks out. It's also true that people with bipolar disorder are encouraged to keep them secret, and so would be like to keep coded versions of these notes in case they were found.

----
(from the comment - 'John')

It is a shorthand log of historic episodes in the mid seventies on (page 1, actually written second, but numbered one to keep events in chrono order) and medications taken with the effects listed. The key at the end is day week month year morning day latenight. It was started on page 2 and then page 1 was added as a log of the earlier childhood which is the basis for diagnosis and the "page 2" is indepth records of changes in meds. The 3 month periods are normal with bipolar episodes in the 4th QTR (September through December in the seventies. These seasons suggest seasonal disorder.

ALPNTE GLSE-SE ERTE

A: Latenight, Phenergan, taken in evening G: Latenight Serenace/Seroquel or Seroquel/Serenace Extended Release Taken Evening

VLSE MTSE-CTSE-WSE-FRTSE
V: Late Serenace Morning take Serenace

On page 1 are lists of manic episodes

(FLRSEPRSEONDE71NCBE)

From late september really severe episode on December 1971: No cause before episode
(CDNSEPRSEONSF/DE74NCBE)

Chronic Depression in September, really severe episode on the start of December in 1974, no cause before episode

26MLSE74SPRKSE29KENOSOLE173R7RSE

2x 6mg Serenace in 1974 or 2x 600mg Seroquel in 1974
99-84.B2UNEPLSENCRSEAOLTSENSKSENRSE

1999 through 1988
NSREOUSEPUTSEWLDUCBE(3XORL)

D-W-M-YH/MD/IL XDRLX
Day weekday month year: morning day or latenight

--- (further comment from 'John')
I'm bipolar and we are told to keep such logs in short-hand because, though we are protected by laws, we are told to stay in the closet, because so many violent crimes are caused by bipolars. If we just came out of the closet, people might realize that those of us who are medicated are fully functional and safe. And we are 2 to 10 % of the population, possibly from recent environmental and stress related aggrevators. But it does take very detailed traking to get our medication right and knowing the triggers is key: week days might relate to work triggers, months to seasonal disorder and times of day are critical to knowing when to take meds and how much. The nature of this note suggests that he is having an episode and is thinking faster than he can write.

Oh yeah the NTSB reports shows that more accidents happen during landing , almost twice as many. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100618134438AAqiUQl ,.

GP also seems to be ignoring IBM, which is doing just fine.

"Okay so.. This Samsung Laptop is brand new.. It has Kaspersky for Anti-Virus and it detects four Keyloggers.. three Keyloggers are detected in Samsungs programs.. Samsung Support Center and two others"

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101225135730AA0V8c6

According to their recent balance sheets, Apple has *significantly* more actual cash than Microsoft. A little more than twice as much, actually.

Microsoft Balance Sheet

Apple Balance Sheet

According to their recent balance sheets, Apple has *significantly* more actual cash than Microsoft. A little more than twice as much, actually.

Microsoft Balance Sheet

Apple Balance Sheet

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/webhosting/perl/perl-03.html

Q: Where is my cgi-bin directory?

A: Yahoo! does not support or require a cgi-bin directory to run Perl scripts. You may place Perl scripts anywhere in your site directory structure. Be sure each script includes the file extension .pl or, if you are calling a Perl module, .pm. If your Perl script uses the extension .cgi, please rename it with the extension .pl..

You are mistaken about where the fallacy exists. (your argument summarized):
we need nuclear power because we need electricity

What makes this fallacious is that there are other sources of electricity. I can't make this any clearer.

The assertion was yours that "in the end" there weill have only been a modest radiation release. I disagree with you. They just found plutonium in the soil at Fukushima. We are far a past "modest" radiation release, IMO. But you are entitled to your opinion.

They still haven't answered my somewhat trollish question about why they hate it either. Sorry, the whole "simple oversight" bit doesn't fly, it's been way too many years running the new mail system.

Plus, while you're making GE rich they can't even be bothered to pay for the roads you used to drive to your job with them.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110325/ts_yblog_thelookout/g-e-paid-no-taxes-on-5-1-billion-in-profits

(I'm guessing it's something to do with the American consumer demanding high torque at low revs and the engineers not daring to try and educate those consumers about how gasoline engines work. The result is jaw-droppingly inefficient gas guzzlers for no reason other than ignorance).

If you compare the torque output of an American engine to a non-US engine of the same displacement, you'll frequently find that they're equal, or the US engine is higher in some cases.
This results in lower horsepower figures, sure. But engines don't create horsepower. They create torque. Horsepower figures are merely the result of a mathematical calculation based on torque and RPM.

Now lets compare your "jaw-droppingly inefficient" US sedan to a - presumably efficient - non-US sedan:

2011 Chevrolet Impala 3.5 V6 - 29MPG highway:
http://www.distrocar.com/2011-chevrolet-impala-3-5-l-v6-flexfuel-e85-bioethanol-capable

2011 Toyota Camry 3.5 V6 - 29MPG highway:
http://autos.yahoo.com/2011_toyota_camry/

How about that? Same engine displacement, same fuel economy. And the Impala is the heavier car, which would account for the 1MPG difference between the two of them for city economy.
I guess "jaw-droppingly inefficient" isn't really a good description then, is it?

When you're looking at performance, the area under the torque curve is much more important than the peak horsepower rating. All other things being equal, the higher the peak horsepower, the lower the area under the torque curve (usually).

This is also exacerbated by the fact that most Americans tend to want automatic transmissions. These, quite frankly, suck with high RPM engines. Trust me. I've tried them. I'd much rather have a manual myself, but even still, I'd want something that I can stab the accelerator, and not have to worry about my speed, gear, engine RPM, or whatever, if I need some quick acceleration. Any car with a peaky engine that I've driven - manual or automatic - has always had a moment (sometimes as long as 1.5 seconds) of "let's get everything synchronized" before you get decent power after you mash it.
The lower revving engines are more like "I hope you were hanging on, because we're already going."

And if you're now going to go back on the cubic inches argument, which I haven't debated, don't. For every large American V8 engine, there's an equivalent from Toyota, BMW, or some other non-US manufacturer.