Guard Dog

The idea wasn't to imply they are making a choice, that example was to set up the point that they are not actually a minority as defined by the law. But, I don't actually think that way, I was just demonstrating the opposing argument.

Rand Paul actually suggested eliminating the Married filing category for Federal Tax returns. It makes sense in a number of ways because it gets Uncle Sam out of the marriage business and it eliminates the "Marriage Penalty". For those who don't know that is the disparity in personal deductions when filing jointly as a couple rather than two single people filing separately. The single folks get a bigger deduction. Don't know why that is but it's always been that way. I'd say the proposal is a win/win

Absolutely!!! Because as everyone knows, every PC player if given the chance will illegally download and steal a game rather than pay for it. I thought they still had a couple of more major pieces of DLC to go. Perhaps they are going to do an Ultimate Edition further on down the road. I thought there were no more DLCs? I know they are going all in of their Elder Scrolls online game. The trailer looks great but I just don't do MMOs. Hopefully the article is right. I've held off buying Skyrim but I'm getting tired of waiting. Especially now that I have a computer that will run it well.

Our company has won a bid to build Wi-Fi in the public schools in Dyer County. Woo-Hoo! This will make them the first county in the state to have it in every school. I'm meeting with the county engineers tomorrow to begin planning, then I'm off to Des Moines and Sioux City on Thursday. Busy busy busy

Ok, I'm going to play devils advocate here because generally speaking we all agree on this one. It is not accurate to describe gay folks as a minority. When you get down to brass tacks being gay is only about who-sticks-what-where in the bedroom. If I put you in a room with 100 guys all dressed the same and told you 10 were gay you would not be able to tell me which ones they were. If I put you in that same room and told you 10 were black you could pick them out in a few seconds. If being gay makes someone a minority then so does scuba diving because scuba divers are scuba divers only because they scuba dive. So if they are not actually a minority they are not entitled to any special protection under the 14th or any other law. After all no one is stopping them from getting married, they are just being stopped from marrying someone of the same gender. Since there IS no Constitutional right to marry there IS no discrimination. Since there is no federal right to marry the 10th amendment specifically assigns that power to the "people and the states". Right or wrong the people have spoken. Now if they had passed a law stating that black people could not own land, or that women could not vote that WOULD be a violation of federal (as well as every other level of law). Ok, devils advocate mode = off. But generally that is the argument of the pro-prop 8 side and it is not without some merit I'm afraid to say. Actually Calax you are close but a little off target on what my problem with this is. The SCOTUS absolutely can and should override state courts and state legislatures where violations of the constitution or other federal law is concerned. AGX was correct to point that out (AGX I believe the term you were looking for was The Supremacy Clause). However, if this is not an Equal Protection case and that argument has failed every time it has been tried in favor of gay marriage, and it is not a 14th Amendment case and it is not a Full Faith and Credit case (that has also failed) and it applies ONLY to California then the 9th should have declined to hear the case at all since the 10th Amendment specifically makes this a state issue. Now the SCOUTUS is going to be compelled to rule on something that never should have come before it and not matter what the outcome of their decision is there are going to be some bad side effects. I am very troubled when the very things that safeguard our liberty are bypassed (or must be bypassed) to ensure liberty. If it brings us a good outcome today that's great but don't ever forget that once the precedent is set it can be used to so something terrible to us tomorrow. @Hurlshot: Great quote, right on point. I like one attributed to Benjamin Franklin "Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch".

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/26/17460260-supreme-court-hints-that-it-wont-issue-sweeping-ruling-on-same-sex-marriage?lite The short of the story is it does not appear to SCOTUS is going to come right out and declare that it is unconstitutional to ban gay marriage. That said it looks unlikely they will overturn the 9th Circuits ruling on Prop 8 so it (Prop 8 ) will likely be permanently overturned either way. I have to tell you guys I'm torn on this one. You all know where I stand on the subject of gay marriage, and indeed any subject regarding personal liberty. But I have a problem with this whole mess. The voters of California by a margin of some 52-53% decided they did not want gay marriage recognized in their state. However wrong headed I think that decision might be it was their decision to make. That decision was upheld by State courts then overturned the Federal 9th Circuit Court. This looks like a clear 10th Amendment violation to me. The Federal Court never should have taken this case as it did not concern anything but the state of California and could not really be called a violation of any ones rights since there is no Constitutional right to marry. The prediction here is that the SCOTUS will refuse to rule on the case on the basis that the plaintiffs do not have standing to bring it. Kennedy all but stated that was his intention. If that happens then the 9th Circuits ruling will stand and gay marriage becomes legal in California. That is good in a way because it is a good outcome but it is not good because 9 unelected judges usurped the will of over 7 million people. That is bad... it's very very bad. I think the right thing to do would be to vacate the 9th's ruling and refer it back to the state court because it IS a state issue. But that would mean Prop 8 stands and the liberty of gay people to live their lives the way the wish is infringed. Quite a nasty paradox. Achieve the right outcome by a bad method to grant some people liberty now only to hazard losing even more liberty by the same process later, or have a wrong outcome but the will of the voters is protected and we are less likely to lose more liberty later. Like I said, I'm torn on this one. Very seldom do proponents of Liberty and the 10th amendment find themselves at odds.

You have a house full of cats yet still need a hand warmer?

It looks like we may be getting close to an all in one Game of the Year edition for Skyrim. http://dualpixels.com/2013/03/15/elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-game-of-the-year-edition/ I for one have been waiting for this for too long now.

Has anyone tried the Heart of the Swarm StarCraft expansion yet? Any thoughts? I just ordered both it, Wings of Liberty, and the original game with all the expansions. I've never tried them but I love the Total War games as well as SoaSE, Master of Orion I & II, and Space Empires 5. I've heard these are right up the same alley. Heck this will be the first new game I've bought since New Vegas came out!

To put it all on the table Calax, when Holder was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Comittee he was a lot more glib about using drones against Americans engaged in "terrorist activity" (his exact words) on US soil. Couple that with the DHS memo of 2009 http://www.infowars.com/homeland-security-report-lists-liberty-lovers-as-terrorists/ and you've got a very disturbing combination of facts. Now want complete and total candor from you on this one. Suppose all the facts are reversed here, suppose it was George W Bush in office with a friendly Senate and his AG makes that comment and his DHS lists college campus activists, liberals and 99% protestors as likely terrorists. Would you have a problem with that?

Yeah that's nice Calax I saw that too. Of course we can all just forget that a week earlier he asserted the exact opposite of that and only issued that memo after a public outcry, their own lapdog media turning against them (some of them at least), and a very public filibuster by a very couragous man who overyone then insulted because he took a moral stand.

Now that would suprise me. Not because of any misplaced faith in Reagans Presidency but becuase that kind of thing would be so much harder to keep quiet in 1980 than in 1968. Now it would be impossible.

See, we DO agree on something! Now, as to how much regulation there should be....

I'm glad I'm not the only one who found the irony in this!

Source? Can you provide the actual legislation which enacts this? And I'm quite certain anyone can come up with a list of extravagant, expensive indulgences taken by any president. Since ad hominems and strawmen are the rule here, if (I won't accept the word of an angry... I'm guessing conservative, sans evidence,) Obama did cut financial aid for veterans, he'd still be a world better than what GOP God-King Ronald Reagan did to veterans. And the mentally ill. Besides, it's thanks to Bush's P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act that the president has the ostensible power to drone as he pleases. US Constitution Articles I, II, & IV, The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, CBIC Act of 1974. The President submits a budget. Congress approves (or not) and raises the revenue, the President spends the money as approved. As the Commander in Chief of the armed forces he has complete control over what they get, what their operational tempo (rate of deployment) will be and if they get their funding cut it's only because he asked for it/allowed it to happen. If you cut their budget but do not reduce their operational tempo he is forcing them to make cuts themselves. And the softest things like benefits and tuition assitance are the first to go. Believe me, he knows this and is fine with it so long as he can blame the pain on his political opposition. And no argument here on Bush or the Patriot Act. In fact Obama has taken it one step further, two weeks ago his own justice department stated it would be perfectly legal for him to kill American citizens on American soil by drone strike if he deemed them to be terrorists.

Packing up today, hitting the road for a little while. I have a job in Tulsa and two in OKC and one in Stillwater. Then when I get back next week I'm meeting with our new customer/client (not sure which word is correct) the Dyer County TN School Board. Busy, busy ,busy

If this is true, not judging one way or another, I'm not surprised.

But GD didn't you predict the crash of the USA economy during Obama's second term? I am sure it was you who suggested people should get out of equities and move there money into more consistent investments like Gold? ( You see I listen to what you say ) You probably are aware that the USA stock markets have seen unprecedented highs the last few weeks and this is despite the fact the employment rate hasn't really improved. But companies are recording profits so there is money been made, real money. Obama hasn't been the Grim Reaper of economic doom some predicted, it looks like things are really getting better in the USA Oh stocks are going to go up and down always. If you are playing for short term you can do well if you get lucky. Last week was a perfect mix of of increase dividend payments by sixty or so F500 companies coupled with a rash of stock buybacks from a suprisingly large number of companies driving up stock prices over all. Don't even try to read into what they are doing that, there is too many possibilities. You notice though there was a cool down this week as investors start selling off to capitaize their gains. But if you are looking long term the biggest question mark is the strength of the dollar. Buying real assets or real commodities (like gold) are less about making big returns, although that can happen I'm VERY happy to say, than it is protecting what you have from currency devaluation. My biggest concern with the current admin is not just spending and borrowing (although that is a problem that will come to a head in the future) but their "quantative easing", which is basicly using imaginary money to buy up treasuries and bonds, and pump more cash into the market ultimately. The problem is you then have twice the dollars chasing the same number of assets which causes the value of the dollar to drop. Do it too much too often and.... you get the idea. If the dollar devaluates it does not matter how well a stock is doing if the buying power of the company benefiting from the capital is crippled. And of course if that happens the buying power of investors is hurt as well since it costs more to just get buy in life so they start selling off for the cash and the dominos start falling from there. Or they don't. If they do the folks invested in real assets are happy because investors start buying in and driving up the price. If they don't then your real assets don't go up and you probably don't make any money. But you won't lose it all because they have value in and of themselves. You've heard the old saying, gold has never been worth nothing. But I posted elesewhere I would not buy into gold right now. It's seriously over priced. It's really worth about $800 per and this around $1500. If the ecomony tanks it will go up, if it doesn't it is going to correct sooner or later. I've already sold off more than half of what I had. I would not look at stock activity as any kind of barometer for overall economic health. There are too many reasons why things happen they way they do. I'd look at the buying power of the currency because when you get right down to it, this is a market economy. When people consume and spend money it does well, when they don't it dosen't. Right now I'm not encouraged, that's why I invest the way I do. But I might be wrong, I consider myself well educated and well read but I'm not an economist by any means. Wow, we really got OT, my fault. This is just one of my favorite subjects.

Capitalisim is the worst economic system there is...except for all the others.

Answer to the second question is..... nah. I may have had to whip out the old credit card once in awhile but I'm never long in paying them off. I hate paying interest! I like getting it but hate paying it.

I ordered a bluetooth Bose SoundLink bluetooth for my laptop too. I figured, what the hell, go big or go home. I want to catch the Rays & Marlins games when I'm on the road. The only thing the saucks is I'll still be paying for this thing after it's long gone!

Yeah it's a shame KOTOR2 could not rise above it's flaws (namely a rushed production) because the story concept. characters and writing were outstanding. Torment is, of course, the greatest game plot ever. I actually enjoyed NV more than F3. Fallout 3 had really excellent atmosphere but there were really only two ways to play it. NV you could play it over 5-6 times and not play the same game twice.I found it easier to make a "concept charachter" in NV than F3. Just my $.02

Congrats. Still waiting on mine to come. Web browsing on a kindle all the time kinda sucks.

I forget who said this but it is pretty right on "Communisim cannot work because we are people, not ants. Objectivisim cannot work because we are people, not bears."

This