QFT.  This is at the heart of it.  Not only is SSM a lost cause, it's completely missing the forest for the trees, and it exposes the right to well-deserved criticisms of hypocrisy when people loudly protest gay marriage--or seek legal battles that alienate millions of young persons that might otherwise be receptive to conservatism--yet say nothing about Hollywood 6-minute marriages.

Ending no-fault divorce and unilateral dissolution of the marriage contract has to be at the heart of any realistic plan.

We have it in our Constitition that the Federal Government should provide "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States."  The reasons for this are best illustrated by the problems posed under the Articles of Confederation that resulted in Shay's Rebellion.  American debt was trading at an enormous markdown because no one had any faith in the abilities to pay being brought forward.  This also struck  the citizens in higher borrowing costs, and all of this was exacerbated by fears that a given state might allow default.  Any state passing such laws would undermine the whole, as anyone could go there and dissolve debts.  This was a national issue not left to the states.

It's no different in divorce.  A party is breaking a contract it voluntarily entered.  This mismatch between the requirements in honoring fiduciary contracts vs. honoring sacred vows is why there's such a breakdown on one side of this structure.

And now I can't even put spaces after periods without it being edited out. Awesome.

I think 300 is still constrained enough to make people edit but enough of an advantage to be worthwhile and useful.

As a general rule, I think in a world of soundbites and snippets, having enough room to argue a topic fully requires a bit more than 200 word responses.

They have them both here in Seattle and in San Diego, I know.  What I'm wondering is was this procession guided by police?  The one I saw recently here was, as was the one I was in when my grandmother passed 12 years ago.

I think as far as emergency vehicles are concerned, since the emergency vehicle can't stop to write tickets, they should instead be occasionally tailed by motorcycle cops with crow bars empowered to smash the windows of offending vehicles.  That way no time is lost, and even people with enough money to ignore a ticket are still greatly put back by the consequences of their selfishness.

Let's take a look at the four issues where we've seen movement: abortion, gun rights, gay marriage, and marijuana.  What do these four ideas have in common?  Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

I don't see two conservative values and two liberal values.  I see four stands seeking to conserve a liberal order.

We need to reclaim the word "liberal" and start talking about the unique character and genius of the American experiment.  Conservatism and liberalism are not opposites, especially not in the United States.  It's statism that stands at odds with both.

I'm glad to see they're finally pursuing this line.  The idea that you can take a bill from the House, change 100% of its content, and declare it originated in the House is such a flagrant violation of the rule of law I'm surprised it's lasted this long.

180°, not 360°!  Gaaaah!

Ironically, from Romney's perspective, Omni is a book in the Book of Mormon which Mormons pronounce "Ohm-nye"—thus his name might rhyme with the lower-case "omni," but not the upper-case proper noun Omni.

I've had many times when I used to enter a breakroom and the room would be empty while the TV was blaring.  I'd turn off the TV so I could read.  The result would be the next person to enter the breakroom would see the TV off and ask, "Is the TV broken?"

The idea of shutting it off and shutting it out is incomprehensible to far too many people.

I think the real problem was Romney's wealth.  I tried pointing out that Kerry--when taken in consideration that Mitt's wealth includes that of both him and Ann combined--is more wealthy than the Romneys, owing to his billionaire wife.  Using a consistent standard of either splitting the wealth between two people or looking at the aggregate for the couple, the Kerrys are far wealthier than the Romneys, with the greatest distinction being that Romney earned his wealth while Kerry's is largely from familial bequests of one sort or another.

In a class warfare environment, the "Mitt's rich" theme was really his Achilles' Heel.  Most of the contempt against him under another name is largely redirected from this core problem.  Check out the College Humor video for "Mitt Romney Style" for the ridiculous and wasteful assumptions made about a man who is actually far more frugal than I am.

I'm reading Chernow's biography of Hamilton, and this contempt for the wealthy is nothing new in American politics.  I hate that we call it "class warfare" when there are no classes.  There are only inocme levels and degrees of assumed responsibility.

Heard something like that, too.  Posted generally on FB (i.e. not directed at anyone particular), it was "Look me in the eye and explain why your tax cuts are more important than my right to marriage equality."

Lots and lots of the "too extreme," usually painting the Tea Party as a religious right-wing fundamentalist Christian equivalent of the Taliban that hijacked the party to launch a war on women because the Christian right fears feminine sexuality.

I wish I was making that up.

I fear I'm inclined to go further: our technology makes us individually less intelligent on average.  In reading Hamilton's biolgraphy, I found that he had asked Princeton to allow hom to study at his own rapid pace--and this was at the age of 17.  Princeton rejected the request largely because another student--one James Madison--had worked himself so hard to complete his studies in two year that his health was adversely affected.

In these times when learing is so easy, books are so plentiful, and the written word  is so pervasive in modern life, we end up taking it all for granted.  None of us applies the same degree of effort that was expected of the Founders.  No one expects that there's a single literary canon that requires mastery to enter intellectual discourse, either.

I have no intention of giving up on the party of Lincoln.  I just think people need to recognize this fact.

The Republican Party has always been on the side of freedom and liberating minorities.  The Democrats have always been about keeping minorities on the plantation because they don't think they're intelligent enough to take care of themselves.

We need a full court press against the liars who have set themselves up to be the foxes in charge of the henhouse.  And we need to get it to the point where a moderate is as likely to discount out-of-hand a source from a “fact checker” as they currently are to ignore any issue that is solely covered by Fox News.