So, which gets confiscated first, the guns or the gold?

Many are visibly swayed by a candidate who hob-nobs with stars, and especially can sing or dance. I kid you not. The cool factor.

Almost all of them have an overwhelming need to feel themselves part of a group, a network, a club. You can NOT network in my town (Austin) with intelligent and dynamic women if you are conservative, god forbid an artsy type. I am also ashamed of my fellow women for this, and yet I would so love to be able to feel a part of their smug little groups. Alas.
 
And ALL of these women need to feel themselves part of a caste which they consider superior to everyone else. This is the biggest irony of our times, that the group which is most superficial in its motives, ignorant of cause and effect, occupies this slot. This is why otherwise intelligent women vote liberal.

As a woman I feel I am entitled to a good cry, no?

I am a woman, married with grown-ish kids, from an affluent and trendy city (although I spend most of my time in Europe). Here is what I can tell you about my female friends, who are, unfortunately, all liberals. These are the main reasons they vote Democrat:

Most (70 percent) like the idea of the government forcing folks to "behave", especially rich and successful folks. They like the idea of taking away some goodies. (This excludes Hollywood and music types, of course.) Their lady parts are important on an abstract level, because they want the government to impose their "correctness" on everyone else.

Many (80 percent) are liberal in backlash to family members who are conservative, more sensible, and likely more powerful or successful than they are. There is an element of sour grapes there.

All buy into the farce that one must "help the downtrodden" by throwing money, (other peoples'), at the problem. No historical facts interfere here.  (con't)

A product of the seventies  (feminist womens' college, hairy legs, free and frequent sex!), I agree with these observations.  I remember adamantly stating, to blank stares, that the first thing I think about most mornings upon awaking is not "I am female..." followed by sub-categories of possible activities.  There is no group of Women, I tell you!!  While individuals of both sexes have their  differences, there is sufficient overlap to cancel out all categories other than the obvious physical ones.  There is smart feminism.

I have been perplexed at the reactions, assuming they are sincere, implying that Eastwood was dithering and displaying his age-induced lack of mental capacity.  I saw none of this.  It is as if, along with the lack of appreciation of irony which DOES signal the onset of dementia, these critics have also lost their ability to identify subtleties in humor, what used to be called "timing."   How many of these critics would be capable of stating the truth, which is, "We don't want to hear the message, and we especially don't want it delivered by someone  iconic."  Ageism---the new Racism.

Isn't it just typical that the mechanism employed to "assure" that the kids eat their veggies (pass the decree)  stops at getting the darn things on the plate.  Whether or not they actually eat them (effects of the decree) is not part of the equation.  Part B?  Stool samples. 

While some people would find great satisfaction in dismantling the fortune of a disgustingly wealthy individual and doling it out in tiny parcels to everyone...nobody would stand for the opposite redistribution of wealth: Taking tiny bits from everyone to create one brand new fabulously rich individual.   And yet... 

Sad to say...nope!

Of course you are right, and I am well-aware of this.  However, the conundrum comes from deciding that if they only exist as personalities in a virtual world, then shouldn't their beliefs also remain in that virtual world and not bother us at all?  Or are their "personal beliefs" also only part of their virtual identity?  Who knows, after all, in a context of extreme pressure to conform, whether any of these personalities would dare to express unpopular beliefs?

My reaction had more to do with the overwhelming sense of powerlessness at seeing an audience, indicative of the public at large, react like trained seals.

A very sad day.  We need to do our best to support and encourage those people who might eventually occupy the void left by A.B... and help each other to carry on.  There are plenty of us, if we can just find the courage.  No one can replace him. 

I think women are affected by the stigmata monthly, no?

I have been hearing that Fix-It-Again-Tony thing for years.  Things have changed, however.  Ever hear of the Multi Air engine?  Some of the most advanced engine and power train technology is coming directly from research at Fiat.  It seems to be my week for defending the Italians, but many many of them are quite fearless, and lest we forget, where do you think the Ferraris and the Lamborghinis came from?  

Hooray for the shifty types. All my cars have been manuals, I only drive an automatic when I have no choice, mostly in the US.   Nothing worse than a car that drives itself. Just imagine the cars that monitor their surroundings with an IQ of 7, constantly alerting you to other cars that are "too near"....imagine here in Italy how you would EVER hear anything other than the alarm sounding?! Who is in charge anyway?   And using the clutch is good for your abs.

Yes.  As asinine as it seems, a little straight talk would have helped the beaurocrats' case here.  What they MEANT to say was, "You cannot distinguish your product, which is a salable version of an otherwise widely available (from taps, one assumes) resource for most citizens, as possessing qualities which imply it's preferability to the non-branded variety.  Gobbledy gobbledy gook, as usual, but does this make sense?  Yes.  It would be like trying to sell access to a "clean air" island in a city.  You shouldn't be able to imply that standing in the island provides anything different than what is outside of its confines.  Anyone standing inside or outside of the island would be able to breath equally well.

That said, the EU tried to forbid my Italian market from selling artichokes with long stems.  Anyone in Italy knows that the stem is the best part of the artichoke!  

Well he is right, isn't he?  (I am not talking about the Tea Party comment, but I will get to that next, after all, nobody is entirely consistent).  I think it is crystal-clear that anyone who has said, or thought, that we have a "black" president is demonstrating racism.  If he is black, he is equally white (if not more so for upbringing and nurturing) so the only distinguishing "blackness" he possesses is the color of his skin.  And why should that count at all?  

Anyone can be a nincompoop in this world.

E-books:   Less cost for individual textbook users, but tremendous long-term profit for e-sellers as they are guaranteed to sell the same book to many different devices over time.  And all powered by coal and susceptible to glitches and endless electronic diddling in the guise of updates.  Many is the time that I have come upon old textbooks, and had the serendipitous pleasure of discovering information where I wasn't even looking for it, as well as yellow highlighted text and jotted notes in margins.  Never would have downloaded the book but found it by pure chance on a shelf somewhere.  And when the power goes off...(Here I will foment some paranoia)  or is intentionally shut off.... the book is still there.  Any titles come to mind which might accidentally disappear?  Worth thinking about.