cg2112

You guys need to start riding cruisers. Two bikes, two riders, I pay $198 a year.

Mormons, and Joseph Smith, believe that Jesus was born in the middle east. Maybe I don't get why the joke is funny?

No, I didn't do any of that. I think it's facebook, because just now I got logged out, and tried too many times to log in - it said my account was disabled, but then the windows cleared and said "Logging you in with Facebook." Mystery solved.

I don't understand why you guys are giving any legitimacy to what is so obviously a forgery on the part of the White House. I can tell by some of the pixels and from seeing some 'shops in my day.

I just logged in with my new Macbook Pro. It logged in automatically, I didn't have to put my username or password in. That would make sense, if I'd ever been to with this computer before, but my previous login was 4/15. I got this computer on 4/17. Is there some kind of logging in through Facebook or something going on?

Thankfully, no one wants to take away your tax cut, so you're safe.

My condolences on the move. Nice bike, though. I've been keeping my eye out for one, same year.

I've been riding pretty much every day since Tuesday. Looks like rain most of next week, unfortunately, though the temps look like they're going to hold for a while.

If we're going to get rid of collective bargaining and statutory salary increases, can we legislate a halt on inflation and the cost of living? Merit increases are great. I think that employees who work harder should get bigger raises. But statutory increases are adjustments for the cost of living, which increases yearly. Really, this is just a tactic to pit workers against each other. Pit private sector workers against state workers who belong to unions. Make workers forget that wealth belongs to a very small portion of the population, and instead make them believe that we're wasting money paying with collective bargaining agreements (and thus benefits) for state workers, and further convince them that taxes are out of control (even though they have gotten a tax cut over the last couple of years). And, ultimately, convince them to vote Republican. Neat. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-republican-strategy_b_825206.html

Kicking what to the feds? Unconstitutional law is unconstitutional.

Anyone unix admins trying to find work? I'm leaving my current position (just got an offer 30% higher than my current salary, mostly because I'm awesome). I know that they're going to need to fill the position. Despite the fact that I'm leaving, they like me there, and I could put in a recommendation. That would help me, because I feel bad about leaving, and would help them, because there's lots of work, and could help someone looking for a job. Post in here, or send me a message if you're looking.

You bet! It was actually a really good day for a ride. Not cold at all to me, even on the highway.

Oh, I get what you're saying. What I mean is, that's not the reason that people pay huge premiums. It's not to cover doctors appts. It's just in case they need to have surgery, or break a leg.

There certainly may be individuals who have a different experience than almost anyone else. The negotiated price that insurance companies pay, though, is almost always much cheaper than regular rates. If a doctor wouldn't give a discounted rate, there would be no reason for an insurance company to do business with that doctor. In almost every case, the price charged to the insurance companies is cheaper.It's certainly possible that your mother-in-law works at the only place in the country that is able to negotiate a price increase, rather than a discount, into their pricing structure, but that doesn't change the way almost everyone else operates. Billing discounts for insurance companies is pretty much standard across the board. If they weren't, insurance companies would have no need to insure patients with doctors who do not offer such a discount.

Rush Limbaugh really isn't all that bad. He's a typical Republican. Nothing he says is particularly extreme, and I've always found him to be fairly level headed (relative to other right wing talk show hosts, that is). I disagree with him on pretty much every issue, but of all of those pundits, he seems the most honest to me. Honesty, of course, being relative. The worst of the bunch, to me, are Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage. Hannity is the least honest, Glenn Beck is the most brainless, and Michael Savage is just an awful human being.

You know, I feel bad that Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and others feel like they are being unjustly criticized for the actions of a crazy extremist. Perhaps they should ask some Muslims how to cope with that.

The image is here: http://www.ndol.org/upload_graphics/BP_0405_heartland1.gif Gotta love FoxNews. It wasn't "nearly identical," and it wasn't a place where candidates were vulnerable (though, that right there is enough to see a difference). It was states where Bush lost by a small margin. The idea was to focus on those states. Note that: states. It's a far cry from candidates with red scope targets on their names, isn't it? But ultimately, you're right. Crazy is crazy. I think that the right wing rhetoric played a part, but not for his insanity. That guy was going to kill people no matter what. But when you've got people like Glenn Beck convincing his followers that we're half a day away from losing our nation to China, you've got to wonder what sort of impact that has.

I don't believe that Palin is tied to any of this in any way. But it's foolish not to examine the culture, and wonder if the overall rhetoric and climate that has been building has had an impact.

Hey, I don't think anyone would call me a liberal, and I'm quite pro-2nd amendment. That said, reading through this thread, and the obvious is screaming at me. This is the rhetoric that us commie liberals have been complaining about for the last two years. Hell, Palin's slogan was "Don't retreat! Instead, reload." Back in May when Palin put her "target" up on Twitter, us socialists were saying "wtf." Even Republicans were criticizing her for her rhetoric. That's not to say that she is in any way responsible, but don't be surprised when eyebrows are raised.

Why that video was hidden is a no brainer. While the war is still engaged, and release of that video (taken by the military, not by a journalist) could cause uprising and unrest that could result in attacks and killing of our soldiers. I don't like it, but there is certainly compelling reason to keep those videos secret, at least while we were still engaging the enemy. I agree. However, in this case, it was an agent of the government, not the media, that released this video.

I'm not sure that Bradley Manning is being held illegally. He's in Quantico, which is the right place for a soldier awaiting military justice, and he's being held away from others, which is the right place for a person accused of doling out government secrets (which is not remotely equivalent to whistle blowing). As far as Assange goes, the people calling him a traitor or a terrorist the loudest? The likes of Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, G Gordon Liddy, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee etc. I can't really blame him, as Assange has threatened to leak secrets about every US post around the world in retaliation to future action that might be taken against him. All that said, Wikileaks is leaking government secrets. Counter-intelligence information, intelligence reports, operational manuals, etc. We're not talking about government whistle blowing here. President Obama hasn't said much of anything about Assange. I'm not sure that there's any irony to be found here.

I don't know that he's giving up anything. He's already stated that he's going to become a pundit, helping to support the White House's agenda.