Guard Dog

OK, I did it.

The only thing to do is get up, dust yourself off, say out loud "one" then do it again and say "two"

The voters. Right now we get to decide what the scope is on local and state levels, but we have very little say in the Federal level. Incorrect Hurlshot. Actually the United States Constitution did that. It laid out in clear detail the responsibilities and LIMITS of the federal government and specifically assigned everything NOT included in it's text to the STATE and the PEOPLE. Any questions Calax? If so please read Amendments 9 and 10 of the aforementioned document. Oh, by the way Calax, the words healthcare and education do not appear in any of the seven articles or twenty seven amendments.

/tounge-out-of -cheek now

WoD is advocating for more surveillance basically trusting the government today, or a future government not to use it against him. It's an odd position to take if you don't trust the government. Hurlshot & KP tent to support the democrats who have been working for years to usurp all political power in the US to the federal level and then do what with it? If you ask me it starts with gun control and ends in labor (death) camps for anyone who is not down with their political leanings. But total surveillance is a crucial step because how do you know who your enemies are unless you are watching everyone. After all Barack Hussein Obama already declared me to be an enemy of the United States in 2009 because I'm a veteran of libertarian political leanings that believes in dangerous words like "sovereign citizen". Oh, an I have a guns, lot of guns, and a Gadsen Flag. I have no doubt they will come for those guns and some point in the future. and on that day I will die. I am perfectly comfortable with that. But I won't be the only one to go that day.

Ron & Rand Paul are both Republicans. They may have libertarian leanings but neither are straight up libertarians. And I'd love to see the government get out of health care. We have a great health care system in the US. It's called veterinary care. My dog's vet has access to diagnostic equipment my doctor could never dream of owning. I believe I have already related the story of how my dog Tommy tore his ACL. My vet diagnosed it on Saturday, gave me the names of three veterinary orthopedic surgeons in the area. I called all three clinics and they quoted prices based on the extent of the repair I wanted to attempt as well has schedules and financing options. I picked on and the surgery was done on Tuesday. If that was ME that needed that surgery you know how that would have gone. For the love of God if we can do it for our dogs why can't we do it for ourselves? Get the f-----g government OUT of it. They have regulated it into a disaster. Let insurance companies sell any policy to anyone in any stare. Why they hell are we limiting who can sell what to whom? Obamacare essentially points a gun at my head and says "you WILL buy this and you WILL buy it from the vendors I have CHOSEN for you". Libertarian politics are probably not for you Calax, You'd rather the government took care of you like a ward of the state. The problem is once everything is "free" you will no longer be.

Congrats to both of you!

Calax, I'm sure we've batted this ball around before. Libertarians are not anarchists. Libertarians are not opposed to taxes. We are opposed to writing a blank check to a federal government that is doing things it has no business or legal authority to do. The gist of the libertarian political philosophy (the modern version of it, not the 1950's objectivist utopia crap) is that all level of government have specific functions that should be well defined and narrowly construed and that it be sufficiently funded only enough to fulfill those functions. The Federal government has it's responsibilities including securing the borders, maintaining the currency, etc., the state, county, city, governments have theirs. You know what they are, you of all people do not need a civics lesson from me. The real trouble begins when those governments get into things they shouldn't be doing or assuming power they should not have.

Fine, but you'll never be able to match my online beauty... Probably not but I won't find one I like better either. Besides, it's got my screen name in it.

I find it ironic that in the example of just this thread WoD who is the "arch conservative" is the one in favor of an all-seeing, all-powerful government while the ones arguing against that (Hurlshot, KP, et al) are the ones who tend to support candidates that are building the all-powerful all-seeing government. Sounds like we are screwed either way. And Bruce, would you really like me to feed you another link sandwich? I have a complete bookmark list in my browser dedicated to refuting you now.

I haven't changed mine in 8 years. I don't even remember what my last one was. And no Namutree I'm not changing it.

He stopped telling the truth since he started running for office, which is to be expected as you've observed. He's never changed his own label or said he changed his philosophy in any way so far as I know. I tend to take him at his word, being a radical from young age, having studied Marx and idolized Eugene V Debs he would know what socialism actually is, so if he says he's a socialist, he is a socialist. As far as Social Democrat, from what I read there are two types, ones who believe in regulated and redistributive capitalism and ones who see that stage as a way point to true socialism. I can believe Sanders is the second type, but not the first.So here's a question for you. Assuming that Sanders makes it into office, do you actually think he can turn the entire economy of the United States to a socialist one in the 4/8 years he gets?Considering he will be facing a solid Republican House and maybe Senate I'd say nope. As long as the government is divided freedom and liberty are relatively safe. It's when one party control everything that we need to sweat. That's rather idealistic, considering that bipartisan laws that tend to pass are stuff like the Patriot/Freedom Act, CISA, and TPP. Good point

We had our first frost last night. I made a fire in the fireplace and I was reading my kindle in the recliner in front of it. I guess I fell asleep. I woke up at 4 am the fire was low and both dogs were sleeping on top of me in the chair. And neither is small!

He stopped telling the truth since he started running for office, which is to be expected as you've observed. He's never changed his own label or said he changed his philosophy in any way so far as I know. I tend to take him at his word, being a radical from young age, having studied Marx and idolized Eugene V Debs he would know what socialism actually is, so if he says he's a socialist, he is a socialist. As far as Social Democrat, from what I read there are two types, ones who believe in regulated and redistributive capitalism and ones who see that stage as a way point to true socialism. I can believe Sanders is the second type, but not the first. So here's a question for you. Assuming that Sanders makes it into office, do you actually think he can turn the entire economy of the United States to a socialist one in the 4/8 years he gets? Considering he will be facing a solid Republican House and maybe Senate I'd say nope. As long as the government is divided freedom and liberty are relatively safe. It's when one party control everything that we need to sweat.

Now the big question is what will happen first. Will the Sixers win or the Warriors lose? GSW's has 3 of the next 4 on the road at Phoenix, Utah & Charlotte with a home game against the Kings in the middle. The 76'ers have the next three on the road at Boston, Houston & Memphis before going home to face the Lakers. If they haven't won by then that home game agains the Lakers is their best shot. Although it is much harder to keep winning than it is to keep losing none of the next three teams should pose a significant challenge for the Warriors. As long as they don't beat themselves. Charlotte hoever is 6-1 at home and that figures to be a challenge for the Warriors. On the other side of the country and thhe end of a 4 games in 6 days. Sounds like GSW's first loss. Philly has a harder row to hoe. Boston is mediocre which usually beats terrible. Ditto for Houston. Memphis has finially righted the ship and has beaten every team at home that doesn't have Stephan Curry on it. That leave LA. GSW plays Charlotte on 12/2, Philly plays LA on 12/1. So my prediction is the 76'ers win BEFORE GSW loses. Place your bets Gentlemen!

LOL I read this, didn't get it, surfed over to ebay and 5 min later started laughing.

Holy crap. I never picked up on that symbolisim

I wasn't sure about this back at the beginning of the season but now I am. The Buccaneers did the right thing taking Winston over Mariota.

I'm on vacation this week so I'm catching up on house projects, laundry and trying to make some sense of the twists and turns of life lately. I'm also catching up on thread reading. After reading the last 3 pages of the Paris Attacks thread I think the best post of all of them was the last one.

I love how you guys are trying to apply logic and rational thought process to Star Wars. This is one of those things that the less you think about it the more you will enjoy it. You could fly a Star Destroyer through all of the plot holes and logical flaws in that story. For instance Han Solo said the Millennium Falcon can travel .5 past light speed. If Han were on earth and decided to go to the next closest star, Proxima Centauri which is 4.367 light years away it would take him 2.19 years to get there. But it never seemed to take them long to get anywhere. Unless all the planets are in the same solar system but "A Solar System Far, Far Away" just doesn't have the same ring to it. I don't know where the "Galaxy Far, Far Away" is but I hope it's smaller than the Milky Way. A LOT smaller. Yoda tells Luke they training to be a Jedi requires the deepest commitment but apparently they offer a "crash course" because he has that all wrapped up in the time it took Han & Leia to travel from Hoth to Cloud City. And speaking of that wasn't their FTL drive down? That means they were traveling below light speed the whole way? Let's figure that out real quick. The fastest man made probe we have right now is New Horizons which made the "Pluto Run" (not as far as the Kessel Run I guess) in 9.5 years and is chugging along at around 60,000 km/h, if that were to go to Proxima Centauri at a distance of 3.8x1016 meters away it would take it... say between 65,000 and 70,000 years giver or take? Even if the Falcon would quadruple the speed it might make it but Han & Leia wouldn't. But at least Luke would have had plenty of time to finish his training. Don't even get me started on the engineering flaws of the Walker troop carriers or the flawed thinking of investing all the effort to building a new Death Star after the first one was so easily destroyed. You know France didn't rebuild the Maginot Line after WW2 for a reason. Like I said, the more you think about it the less you will like it so don't think about it...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/11/21/whatever-the-heck-bernie-sanders-is-talking-about-its-not-socialism/ The senile old man is confused, or more likely lying. He says he's against capitalism, so he has to be a Socialist, what else is there? Mutalism, Primitivism, Feudalism, Technocracy. I mean besides sci-fi and ancient past. Feudalism, really? You ever read Al Gore's book? Tell me THAT isn't an argument for the return of feudalism. Which is a great system when one imagines themselves as part of the nobility, as Gore certainly does.

You better get her a REALLY good bracelet after that though!

The doctor gave me Triazolam. It will knock you out but the side effect are a b---h. I'm iffy on continuing it. There is no misery like dental pain though. No wonder you can't sleep.

Actually I find that story to be 100% credible. Hillary Clinton is sour and humorless. She is arrogant and conceited and looks down her nose at those she considers lesser than her image of herself. I can completely believe she would be mortally offended at being the butt of a joke. But that's not why I believe the story. I believe the story because it did not suggest she personally knew about it or directed any kind of action. Her "campaign" is the bad guy here. I can completely see a self righteous liberal campaign manager in California doing exactly what that article said they did and she never needed to know about it or be involved in it at all. This story, if true, is more an incitement of a mindset than Hillary Clinton personally.