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In a paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, two authors ascribe the majority of northeast pacific coastal warming to natural atmospheric circulation and not to anthropogenic forcing.

People questioning Global Warming — and the humans' responsibility for it — are traitors and war-criminals, contemptible human beings, who ought to be punished.

Science is settled! People demand show trials NOW!!

You are not buying stuff at the same price as 6 years ago, maybe you should actually pay attention to the receipts.

beef, pork, avocado, fruits, veggies, almonds, pinenuts, walnuts, mozarella, cheddar, other cheeses, seafood, grains, soy, soy, palm oil, milk, gasoline, beer and more beer, limes, canadian bacon, barley, restaurants, restaurants, restaurants,electrical energy, car rentals, hotel rooms, cab fairs,

air travel and air travel gets more expensive in many other ways, various extra fees, less room, more seats on planes

aluminium,

... women and minorities. Many of them don't have the familial and social supports in place to succeed in college.

Seriously? Women don't have supports in place to succeed in college? I guess that explains why women are 33% more likely than men to earn college degrees .

I agree that's probably true for many minorities—but I've always felt that's more of a social problem. I think it would be a lot more helpful if these programs focused on poor neighborhoods than on specific races. For example, just because there are lots of chinese in tech, that doesn't mean that a chinese kid that grew up in a poor household in Oakland's chinatown isn't just as disadvantaged as a black or latino kid in another poor neighborhood. And it certainly doesn't mean he's less disadvantaged than a black or latino kid from an upper-middle-class neighborhood!

"Many poor and even lower-middle class families simply don't have these things."
Are you talking about some third-world country? Cause if you're talking about the US, you're dead wrong: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/ar...

So adjustments on the scale of what the IPCC is warning us about aren't anything to worry about? Hokay....

For the last 18 years, it was well established by the pro-AGW crowd that 17 years was needed for a signal. We have 18 years - and no signal. Not to mention the pro-AGW side likes to ignore the Medieval warm period, or the little ice age (the former being as warm - or warmer - than now).

As far as Professor Easterbrook, that "Skeptical Science" site has about as much reliability as the old Enzyte site pushing penis pills. A lot of handwaving and ignoring of facts... His predictions from the late 1990s were spot-on. He correctly predicted the current pause, and calls for us to enter a period of cooling. Well, we've got the pause - now to see if we get the cooling.

Where on earth did you get the idea that the 1% actually pays for government operations?

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/ar...

With per-pupil costs of public schools quadrupling since 1962 (inflation-adjusted), and results remaining as mediocre as described in TFA — and getting worse — the only conclusion is, we must spend more money.

Not just Math — only 30% of 8th-graders nation-wide can be considered "proficient" in reading. And some particularly well-managed locales spend much more pupil, while producing and even higher share of illiterates.

Despite quadrupling per-pupil costs of public schools since 1962 (inflation-adjusted), the education remains the same or is getting worse. In some particularly well-managed cities, the costs are even higher and the results — even worse, than national average. This article is about Math, but ability to read remains rather sub-par as well — with only 30% of 8th-graders, for example, considered "proficient" readers.

Clearly, we need to spend more money...

Your budget is being diverted to expand social welfare programs like food stamps. Clearly that is where this government wants you to be. So move over citizen, and let that differently-origined person (illegal alien) who is lingustically challenged (won't learn English) take over for you! After all, we need more Spanish speakers in the government to support them!

Koran thumping thug!

Exactly this!

Strange to me how the middle class has become almost non-existent today, and the term rich has been changed to include the survivors of the destruction of the middle class. Sure, I'm rich to someone making 15,000/yr but I'm not 'rich' by any stretch of the imagination.

I see this piece as an attempt to keep average people pitted against each other while ignoring the real problem. This link is from 2007, and disparity has been increasing for the last 40 years. In the 70s the US ranked 26th for fairness in wealth distribution. Today it's ranked the the worst of all the developed countries in the world, including Russia who we like to talk shit about. Another source just in case you are not sure what keywords to search for to find data.

We are often falsely told that the top 1% pay most of the taxes in the US, and that is another piece of trash propaganda which is just another fabrication to keep people from looking at the real problem.

The Federal Government has managed to extract a record amount of taxes from American workers on April 15th

That's one way to skew it. But this is flatly oversimplified, I'm surprised intelligent people take this for reality, that people x or y are simply good or evil, as if this is an epic fantasy story. The truth lies in the middle, as usual. Republicans may tend to be less than empathetic about people down on their luck, but not entirely. Unemployment benefits have been extended how many times now? How many people in this country are using food stamps now? It's a disturbing trend. You're not doing people any favors with endless handouts.

One could argue that it's exactly the same way that Democrats/liberals frame and abuse the term "compassion" to get people to vote for more spending and taxing, presumably on social programs, portraying ever more and larger groups as victimized and utterly helpless, when a good deal of that targeted tax income goes into government bloat. Taking into account the fact that the country is already $16 trillion in debt; yet 29% of the budget was spent on welfare and health in 2013. (Military was 13%) this hardly smacks of incompassion, except maybe to future generations who have to incur this debt. The irony is, the more taxes go up, and Democrats know this, it's the middle class that suffers, which in turn makes more of them fall into that lower class needing help; the cycle continues and results in more money and power to the government, and more dependence by the people. The middle class is stuck in the middle.
If Republicans pander to the rich, then Democrats pander to people who believe they will "get something" from the government, whether compassionately justifiable or not, in order to secure more votes. How ironic is it then that more Democrats in congress are millionaires than Republicans?

To reiterate my first paragraph, I don't believe all democratic politicians are like this. But many are.Same with republicans, they're not all old evil white men. But some are. Absolutely some people need assistance. Shit happens.
But if you think the system isn't rife with abuse and waste, and couldn't use some trimming, you're kidding yourself. Every government program is, including the military. It's a game to both parties.

Tax revenues are at inflation-adjusted record highs. http://cnsnews.com/news/articl...
and have been climbing overall for a while:
http://comeletusreasontogether...

What we have is a serious spending problem. Most of the "cutting taxes" over time is an illusion and doesn't amount to much.

Let's see: Jesse Ventura, a Navy SEAL, was waterboarded, and says it's definitely torture. Apparently the SEALs used to use waterboarding in their counter-interrogation training, but stopped as the inability of anyone to tolerate it was damaging morale. The linked article says the mean-time-to-failure was 14 seconds.

Hitchens was waterboarded, and said it's definitely torture.

Rather uniquely, Oliver North claims to have been waterboarded and says it's not torture. Personally I'd like him to spend a few seconds at the hands of the guys Hitchens went to. I suspect he'd change his mind rather quickly.

Sean Hannity volunteered to be waterboarded, but backed-out. He maintains it's not torture, and points to North.

The US sent military jets up when Payne Stewart's plane stopped responding. The US is constantly on the look-out for smugglers flying into the country, dropping off packages, and then flying away. Apparently ultra-lights are a common vehicle for that. Apparently, drug smugglers also like to use big jets. Of course, drug smugglers wouldn't use planes if they were not getting away with it.

How mandatory is the payment of SSI? According to at least one Congressman, and the Supreme Court has also ruled that Social Security carries no legal obligation or promise. It is a benefits program that can be legally changed or even ended at any point, with no repercussion relating to the taxes collected from you. You have no legal right to your Social Security payments.

I'd say that is a LONG WAY from being mandatory. Sounds more like it's at-will by the Government, since there is no legal obligation to pay anyone any Social Security.

American Exceptionalism strikes again.

Anti-Amercanism strikes again.

Bootlicking cold fjord strikes again.

How many invasions and regime changes has Russia performed over the last 10 years compared to your government?

It is 2014. In the last 10 years Russia has invaded two sovereign countries - Georgia and Ukraine. It has also threatened nuclear strikes against NATO countries. I seem to recall that there have been other threats as well. The US hasn't invaded any countries in the last 10 years.

They are still trying to fix up the mess of all the countries they are currently in first.

Is Putin asserting he has the right to have anyone murdered...

He doesn't "assert it," he just does it.

Just like Obama

How many military bases does Russia have around the world...

A growing number, and they are seeking more.

Russia Seeks Access to Bases in Eight Countries for Its Ships and Bombers

Russia seems to have decided to play the part of the Soviet Union, what a pity. They are even rehabilitating Stalin. (I hope you can contain yourself.)

So they are catching up to America, but are a long long long way off.

American Exceptionalism strikes again.

Anti-Amercanism strikes again.

How many invasions and regime changes has Russia performed over the last 10 years compared to your government?

It is 2014. In the last 10 years Russia has invaded two sovereign countries - Georgia and Ukraine. It has also threatened nuclear strikes against NATO countries. I seem to recall that there have been other threats as well. The US hasn't invaded any countries in the last 10 years.

Is Putin asserting he has the right to have anyone murdered...

He doesn't "assert it," he just does it.

How many military bases does Russia have around the world...

A growing number, and they are seeking more.

Russia Seeks Access to Bases in Eight Countries for Its Ships and Bombers

Russia seems to have decided to play the part of the Soviet Union, what a pity. They are even rehabilitating Stalin. (I hope you can contain yourself.)

Yes, we should be dumb and stupid...great way to plan for the future.

Repeat after me, throwing money at something does not make it better, it just makes it more expensive. WE are constantly under-performing in test scores compared to other countries that spend a fraction of what we do on education. Not spending more does not equate to being dumb and stupid. Spending more with no or negative results could equal dumb and stupid though.

And 30-40 MILLION more people have health insurance available to them. Overall spending DECREASE since once it's fully in force and people are enrolled the number of ER visits goes way way down. Again, 'decade over decade' and you compare to just 'now'.

No they do not. Right now, the number of people who do not have health insurance available is actually greater then before as policies were canceled and some increased in costs to the point people claim they cannot afford them any more.

Even the government claims less then 6 million people signed up for the exchanges. The CBO claims that after Obamacare is fully implemented, 30 to 40 million people will not have coverage. Before the ACA, it was only 50 million who were uninsured. But right now, we have seen over 80 million policies canceled because of the ACA. So unless you are counting a large amount of people who had their policies canceled as the ones who are going to be getting insurance, the best you can claim is that 10-20 million will have access to insurance. But currently, it seems like only 6 million or so is able to be claimed if you discount anyone who was canceled from the number of people signing up for the exchanges. But that isn't the case in reality.

I know, that is not what you have been told by your handlers. But it actually is the cold hard truth of the matter.

I think the proper question is why aren't you getting off your lazy AC ass and actually doing something about it? If you don't like the government, you're quite free to persuade your neighbors to join you in replacing your representatives.

I think you will find this to be a common theme over the next several elections. Whether the politicians will stand and deliver is another story, but we can expect to see some different talking heads in the mix.

Yes, we should be dumb and stupid...great way to plan for the future.

Repeat after me, throwing money at something does not make it better, it just makes it more expensive. WE are constantly under-performing in test scores compared to other countries that spend a fraction of what we do on education. Not spending more does not equate to being dumb and stupid. Spending more with no or negative results could equal dumb and stupid though.

And 30-40 MILLION more people have health insurance available to them. Overall spending DECREASE since once it's fully in force and people are enrolled the number of ER visits goes way way down. Again, 'decade over decade' and you compare to just 'now'.

No they do not. Right now, the number of people who do not have health insurance available is actually greater then before as policies were canceled and some increased in costs to the point people claim they cannot afford them any more.

Even the government claims less then 6 million people signed up for the exchanges. The CBO claims that after Obamacare is fully implemented, 30 to 40 million people will not have coverage. Before the ACA, it was only 50 million who were uninsured. But right now, we have seen over 80 million policies canceled because of the ACA. So unless you are counting a large amount of people who had their policies canceled as the ones who are going to be getting insurance, the best you can claim is that 10-20 million will have access to insurance. But currently, it seems like only 6 million or so is able to be claimed if you discount anyone who was canceled from the number of people signing up for the exchanges. But that isn't the case in reality.

I know, that is not what you have been told by your handlers. But it actually is the cold hard truth of the matter.

I think the proper question is why aren't you getting off your lazy AC ass and actually doing something about it? If you don't like the government, you're quite free to persuade your neighbors to join you in replacing your representatives.

I think you will find this to be a common theme over the next several elections. Whether the politicians will stand and deliver is another story, but we can expect to see some different talking heads in the mix.

All the stuff could be done for a fraction of the cost with robotic probes in orbit.

[citation needed]

There is no all purpose robot that I am aware of that is flexible enough to be able to replace the general purpose abilities of a human. There is R&D cost involved in building these robots. It's not as simple as going down to "Space Robots 'R' Us" and charging it to your credit card. Mars Curiosity cost $2.5 billion.

The space shuttle (which was a terribly expensive program compared to what it should have been) ran from 1972 until 2011 at a total cost of $450 billion or a little over $11.5 billion per year, or with 135 missions it cost $3.3 billion per launch. Since the shuttle is no longer in operation, US astronauts cost $71 million per seat to go the the ISS, which is up from the $22 million per seat from back in 2006. So getting there is pretty damn cheap. It's hard to say how much the ISS cost overall, but at the current plans, it will cost $2.3 billion per year, including the $71 million cost per seat to get there. regardless the biggest expense has already taken care of, so it would be pretty damn stupid to abandon it now.

Unfortunately NASA is run by ex-pilots from Houston who think Star Trek was a documentary; they are forever poaching funds from JPL's planetary missions. This is why Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray started the Planetary Society; to stop the siphoning to the manned mission that were always busting their budgets. Now it is worse than ever.

We need both manned and unmanned programs.Eventually we will need to either develop near light-speed travel, spacial warping, etc. or know for sure that it's simply not possible. Either way, there is no reason to think we won't continue to make new discoveries and develop new technologies that will be useful to us in everyday life as we've seen from past manned space flight. There is a bunch of spinoff tech that has come from both the manned and unmanned programs.

Curiosity has just started its mission and has not yet reached its destination, but it already has found clays and proof of running streams on Mars. It has also dispelled the Mars Methane theory or severely constrained it. It has also done some important isotope studies that reflect climate change on Mars.

What destination? Mars? It didn't "just start" its mission. Curiosity was designed for a two year mission. It landed on Mars in August of 2012, so it has completed 17 months of it's original 24 month mission. However it was recently extended indefinitely. Every mission we send to Mars shows more evidence that supports there was once water on Mars surface. But I wasn't aware that Curiosity had single-handedly proven it beyond any doubt. A major part of its mission is also to determine "planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration."

There a lot of other current and past robotic probes that have done far more sciences than manned missions ever will at a fraction of the cost and without killing astronauts. Voyager for instance. More recently, the Kepler probed has discovered a large number of planets orbiting other stars. But that is just a small sample.

They are different types of research. Obviously sending a person up to look through Hubble would be stupid. But discoveries like some of what Donald Pettit did, would not have happened with robots.It's interesting that you mention Kepler. Its mission it to find Earth like planets in habitable distances from their sun. Why do you think that is

Bill Elliot, a cancer patient was told his policy was going to be cancelled because it didn't meet your "minimum" standards. He could sign up for a new one at $1500 a month, unaffordable to an unemployed cancer patient, period. He went to a Washington paper to tell his story, once it went national his insurance company changed their mind and allowed him to keep his policy. They are BREAKING THE LAW to allow him to live, period. Once his story also got national news, suddenly the IRS began an audit of him, surprise surprise surprise.

How many other cancer patients, just like Mr. Elliot, have to condemned to death because their policy didn't meet your "minimum" and cover birth control? You don't give a damn because you want your "guy" in the White House to win and it doesn't matter how many you have to kill to make it so. You are a monster.

The best part is the administration is using the IRS as an attack dog to discourage others in similar conditions to come out and tell their story. The left cannot win when the truth comes out so it has become open season on anyone who dare says the truth.

You make me sick.

The system we use says that the "free" in "free market" means anyone can participate in that market, what's not so clear is whether anyone is free NOT to participate.

Until a few weeks ago, Americans were free not to participate in the market for health insurance. Now, not participating is illegal. (Or, if you're Chief Justice Roberts, you can consider it to be a legal but taxable activity -- just long enough to establish the constitutionality of the scheme -- and then we can all go back to saying "I absolutely reject the notion" that Obamacare is a tax.)

Obamacare supporters justify all this by saying that the free market wasn't working, because people who could afford to buy health insurance, but didn't, were getting free healthcare anyway; hence the need for an insurance mandate.

Here's the flaw in that argument. Let group B be the cancer patients who faithfully paid insurance premiums prior to their diagnosis, and group A be the cancer patients who had the means to insure their health, but chose not to.

When healthcare providers or governments, out of misplaced compassion, make the financial outcome for group A not so different from the financial outcome for group B, the incentive to buy insurance in the first place is indeed greatly eroded. Trouble is, it's not a free market that was malfunctioning and providing that perverse disincentive; it's a non-free market. A free market would rigorously enforce that the catastrophe group B insured itself against really happens to the group that chose not to insure itself against catastrophe. Those who choose not to insure their health would understand that they'd be subjecting themselves to seizure and forfeiture of their assets, no kidding, to whatever extent necessary to compensate their healthcare provider. Cautionary tales of people who gambled that they wouldn't need health insurance, and lost that gamble, would provide powerful free-market incentives to buy health insurance.

Sound harsh? It's not as harsh as the alternative Americans just acquiesced to: government coercion to buy health insurance.

deals in Cuba that included a rather scary nuclear showdown that led directly into the cold war.

The Cold War began in 1947. The Cuban missile crisis happened in 1962.

Much of the reason we have so much debt is because the social security fund was robbed to pay for the [Vietnam] war and the space race.

Incorrect. A little bit of the reason we have so much debt is due to Vietnam-era borrowing. But to say "much of the reason" doesn't square with this fact: as of Oct. 2011, the Obama administration had incurred more debt that the first 41 presidents combined. (And that statistic is now quite dated. The national debt was $14.8 trillion in Oct. 2011, and $17.1 trillion now.) www.usdebtclock.org

I don't really like the Republican party any more. They're running the country into the ground. But listening to how hateful the liberals are, and how they wish death to their political opponents (see list below), I can't really support them either. I don't want to be a member of the party of hate. So for now I'll be an independent.

That being said, if even a few of the below links are accurate, wouldn't you protect yourself from the left, who profess to want their political opponents to die?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/9757837/

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/07/16/dan-savage-hbos-real-time-i-wish-republicans-were-all-f-king-dead

http://www.examiner.com/article/liberal-talker-mike-malloy-says-he-wants-gop-literally-dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcqrHLZGDg&feature=player_embedded#!

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/media-research-center-documents-liberal-death-wishes-against-conservatives

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/the-dark-side-of-liberalism-death-threats-to-conservatives-and-racist-threats/question-3628447/

By the way, Mrs. Clinton: it DOES matter now. And if you are planning to run for President, it isn't going to go away.

The only thing socialism threatens you with now is better healthcare, and welfare (at a price, admittedly).

"Better"? As in Cuba? Where is this idea, that government can do something (be it manufacturing of goods, provision of services, or even charitable help to the unlucky) better than competing private entities coming from, when there is no evidence of such success anywhere in history?

Where are the welfare success stories? All I see are crime-infested neighborhoods populated by people born there to parents born there — a perpetuated misery.

Education, perhaps? Per-pupil costs of public schools quadrupled since 1962 (inflation-adjusted) — has anyone noticed improvement in quality? No — mere 30% of today's 8th-graders nation-wide are proficient in reading! And that nation-wide average is not helped, but dragged-down by those mighty pillars of Socialism like Chicago (21%) or Detroit (7%).

Maybe, the good old Postal Service? The program, that is, despite government-enforced monopoly on cheap ("First Class") letters, is usually in the red and in need of bailout every few years?

What, just what, makes you think, government-provided healthcare (and that is, where we are going as Obamacare-2.0 will be urgently needed, when the current version falls on its face in the mud) will fair better?

Socialism =/= Big government.

Right, Socialism does not equal Big Government. It is worse — big government not merely charging big taxes, but doing things with them, that no government should be doing at all.

The only thing socialism threatens you with now is better healthcare, and welfare (at a price, admittedly).

"Better"? As in Cuba? Where is this idea, that government can do something (be it manufacturing of goods, provision of services, or even charitable help to the unlucky) better than competing private entities coming from, when there is no evidence of such success anywhere in history?

Where are the welfare success stories? All I see are crime-infested neighborhoods populated by people born there to parents born there — a perpetuated misery.

Education, perhaps? Per-pupil costs of public schools quadrupled since 1962 (inflation-adjusted) — has anyone noticed improvement in quality? No — mere 30% of today's 8th-graders nation-wide are proficient in reading! And that nation-wide average is not helped, but dragged-down by those mighty pillars of Socialism like Chicago (21%) or Detroit (7%).

Maybe, the good old Postal Service? The program, that is, despite government-enforced monopoly on cheap ("First Class") letters, is usually in the red and in need of bailout every few years?

What, just what, makes you think, government-provided healthcare (and that is, where we are going as Obamacare-2.0 will be urgently needed, when the current version falls on its face in the mud) will fair better?

Socialism =/= Big government.

Right, Socialism does not equal Big Government. It is worse — big government not merely charging big taxes, but doing things with them, that no government should be doing at all.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/audit-35-federal-small-business-contract-dollars-went-minority-owned-firms

In 1978, Congress amended the Small Business Act to require federal agencies to, among other things, negotiate annually in good faith with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish prime and subcontracting goals for these businesses, which include businesses owned and controlled by various minority groups

Small disadvantaged businesses must be owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals--such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Subcontinent Asian Americans, or Native Americans--or by an economically disadvantaged Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization," GAO explained

Accordiong to the GAO, federal law requires that all federal agencies that do contracting must have a special office to reach out to disadvantaged businesses

I wasn't talking about workers, I was referencing the owners of the businesses. That being said the workers are also an issue for anything that deals with the Federal Government. Do you recall on the TSA project, how many of the sites had to stay open for weeks or even months until the quotas were filled?

Have you got a solution that doesn't involve regulation?

Before I start seeking solutions, I'd like convinced, the problem is anything but an excuse for more regulations. While the time given in long-term projections has not arrived yet, certain short-term ones have already been shown bogus. Such as Al Gore's claim — made in his UN speech — that Arctic ice will disappear by 2013...

Considering the fact, that he himself just recently purchased a multi-million estate not in, say, Colorado mountains, but at an ocean-front , I find it very difficult to believe, his implorations and exhortations are sincere.

In other words, he is lying. Either in complete cynicism and for personal enrichment, or to further those "regulations" for some Greater Good(TM).

You are obviously misreading the first amendment because you are not a lawyer. "Only lawyers can correctly understand the Constitution" -Obama

It means whatever Obama says it means. Not sure why you are bringing it up at all.

The thing I think you're missing here is that every generation before and after the Boomers does the same thing.

That's nice, but whether there are other criminals out there doesn't prove or disprove the charges laid against you. The GP's charge appears to be that it's the Boomers who are responsible for much (not all) of the problems today.

For example, there's a huge accumulation of debt by current young adults.

That's personal debt, not generational debt. Their debt screws mostly just themselves. As you pointed out yourself, GP's father invested in capital and won't be affected much by the problems GP or his son faces.

They have their own "wars" (such as the war on global warming or the war on military conscription, a peculiar US college-based hysteria).

Again, saying other people do it too doesn't absolve you of your own charges. You sound like Obama. Hey, everybody spies, right? That's what intelligence agencies do!

They happen to be just as profoundly ignorant (like not having a clue why the value of labor is going down today).

Actually, labor is still valuable, just not the same type of labor. People might not want assembly line workers so much any more, but people might want to hire a maid, or a gardener, or go to a masseuse, have their food delivered (maybe even personal chef), etc.

For example, you can start a business easily. There's low barrier to entry for businesses to the point that anyone can start one. Starting a government is much harder, especially, if it is to displace one or more current governments.

No, both are equally easy. You don't have to start a government that displaces one or more current governments, the same way you don't have to start a business with the requirement that you'll topple existing (big) businesses. Start small on the local level. That's what the Tea Party does. The requirements for a US citizen to enter politics is relatively low.

In my view, to say that starting a government is hard(er than starting a business) in the United States is the same as saying the US is no longer the US as intended by the Founding Fathers. Starting a government is supposed to be easy for citizens so they can retain control. If you really believe starting a government is hard today, I suggest you get off the soap box, ignore the ballot or jury box, and jump to the ammo box and take back your country. Pointing fingers at whether it's Boomers or young people screwing things up will do you little good.

You're just complaining without offering an alternative.

Actually, he did offer an alternative: "repeal the Boomer generation". It's not an alternative you may like, and depending on how literal you take the statement it is impractical, but he did offer an alternative.

I can see a not-so-literal interpretation of that possible though, simply because of attrition. It's a little thing called old age. Nature will "repeal" the Boomers in time.

Though if younger generations are just as ignorant as you said, you'll still be screwed. So again, I suggest you head to the ammo box sooner rather than later.

Poll results are notoriously sensitive to exactly how the questions are phrased. The other problem is that those polled might not understand the entire scope of the program, or have considered how it can be misused and how little protection against misuse there might be (or might not be - that's the charming thing about a secret court)

I wonder if the polls would have the same result if they were asked if their information were used in a presidential campaign?

“Earlier this year, in an interview with TV One, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) praised President Barack Obama for putting together a campaign database that "will have information about everything on every individual."

“And that database will have information about everything on every individual in ways that it’s never been done before,” Waters told “Washington Watch” host Roland, referring to Obama’s “Organizing for America,” which was changed from a campaign organization to a 501(c)(4) called Organizing for Action. ...
Martin asked if Waters if she was referring to “Organizing for America.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Waters said. “And that database will have information about everything on every individual in ways that it’s never been done before.”

Waters said the database would also serve future Democratic candidates seeking the presidency.

“He’s been very smart,” Waters said of Obama. “I mean it’s very powerful what he’s leaving in place.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/waters-obama-campaign-database-has-information-about-everything-every-individual

Remember, winning means everything. It's not about getting more voters. It's about getting more of YOUR voters to vote (or at least make it appear that way). The first step in getting your own voters out is to know who they are, where they live, what they are doing, etc. The other half of this is what is going to happen to use who do not vote for the (D) candidate?

stock markets at record highs

Hey, when you pump $6 trillion into the banking sector, that money has to go somewhere - and it's into the DJIA. Of course, small businesses are closing everywhere and the small business creation rate is at a record low... The only ones doing well are big companies who get those bailout dollars and the "stimulus" spending dropped into their wallets.

housing market recovering

Still way below where it was back in 2008 - and it's showing all the signs of being in a bubble yet-again...

unemployment consistently down (when Republicans are in office, 5% is considered "full employment")

Unemployment consistently down? Well, when you consider nearly 90 MILLION out of the workforce because they couldn't find a job and their unemployment has run out, I guess you can crow all you want about dropping unemployment. But the reality is the rate is going down not because of more jobs, but because the workforce participation rate has plummeted. We'd be lucky to get back to 5% unemployment even with 9 million fewer workers...

An interesting movement among firearms manufacturers is a refusal to sell firearms to police departments which their municipalities won't allow their citizens to buy:

The Firearms Equality Movement --- http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/update-number-us-gun-makers-refusing-sales-govt-firearms-equality

Sounding a little too much like the 9-11 era all over again (which was punctuated by the anthrax mailings) just on a much smaller scale, overall. Though I think it's likely to be totally domestic this time (including the "main event"; in this case, the Boston marathon).

I wouldn't bet on that.

Al Qaeda recently pushed the use of pressure-cooker bombs.

And Al-Qaeda Propagandist Called for Attacks on Sports Events

reinvested to build a supercomputer placing 9th...
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/frances-total-gets-oil-price-profit-boost

Very smart way to spend that money even though I'm not a big fan of hydrocarbons. I'm really curious how hard was it to justify for Board Members?

In 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was an average of 112.556 million full-time workers in the United States, of whom 17.806 million worked full-time for local, state or federal government. That left an average of only 94.750 million full-time private sector workers in the country.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/social-security-ran-478b-deficit-fy-2012-disabled-workers-hit-new-record-december

15–64 years: 67% (male 102,665,043/female 103,129,321)
315,544,000 total population of the US

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Age_structure

94,750,000 jobs / (102,665,043 + 103,129,321) = 94,750,000 / 205,794,364 = 0.46 = 46%, which means 54% of the total US working age population is either unemployed or employed by government

depressing huh

"The ones who are scared that unlikely scenarios where people are hurt will arise"

Unlikely? Why do we have firedoor rules in various building codes?

And as far as "free speech zones" and disease/crime:

Link 1
Link 2

These are not UNLIKELY, they happened and they are OBVIOUS. There's a reason why we have laws regarding sanitation and trash.

Less obvious is the COST. Free speech doesn't extend to massive crowds squatting in make-shift camps destroying public property and wasting EVERYONES tax dollars. Even one of the most liberal mayors of one of the most liberal cities agrees:

In a release, the mayor said Occupy LA’s 500-plus tents cost more than $2,700 a day in sanitation, security, and other expenses.
  "Look, our lawn is dead, our sprinklers aren't working... our trees are without water," Villaraigosa said.
  According to one city official, damage to the lawn and sprinklers could cost the city over $400,000
  “We’ve all got to acknowledge that there’s a price to bear,” Villaraigosa said.

Pelosi to repeal first amendment so Congress can regulate political speech

It must suck to be wrong so often.

here is another method http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obamacare-mandate-sterilize-15-year-old-girls-free-without-parental-consent

Also how could they? Do they have direct access to the planes?

They don't need direct access. The People's Liberation Army hacked into the networks of American defense contractors and stole blueprints and data http://cnsnews.com/news/article/chinese-hackers-stole-plans-americas-new-joint-strike-fighter-plane-says-investigations. If anyone had any questions who was behind these attacks, the fact that features of the F-22 and F-35 are now showing up in Chinese planes pretty much eliminates all doubt.

Here. Gold plating prevents rust. In practice, Nickel and Chromium are better plating materials, but gold looks nicer. Life of a weapon in a rainforest is brutal and short.

(I am a physician and I'm okay with taking a pay cut..... so long as my malpractice insurance goes down by a similar percentage.)

How is that supposed to happen? With the provisions passed with Obamacare, it will more likely go up.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/faa-has-authorized-106-government-entities-fly-domestic-drones

"Since Jan. 1 of this year, according to congressional testimony presented Thursday by the Government Accountability Office, the Federal Aviation Administration has authorized 106 federal, state and local government “entities” to fly “unmanned aircraft systems,” also known as drones, within U.S. airspace."

> It's an aid to crime solving, in the same way serial numbers on the gun itself are an aid.

The serial numbers on a gun doesn't aid in solving a crime at all. It's there mostly as an identification and tracking system. There aren't any effective matching systems between shell casing/bullet "fingerprint" and serial numbers. Maryland tried it. It failed.

Citation: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/marylands-ballistic-fingerprinting-system-proves-cumbersome

Err, what? I thought the Tea Party rejects Obama (you know, on an individual level) solely because he is black..? And what the hell are you talking about with Cain being rejected? He imploded over his own stupid sex scandal but before that happened he was kicking some ass... http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gallup-herman-cain-top-choice-tea-party-and-southerners

"Unless, of course, you count the opinion of people who don't understand the science involved and blame other people for their own lack of understanding."

Why not? You're likely counting the opinion of Global Warming supporters that "don't understand the science involved"... Only seems fair to count the "D" Science students on BOTH sides of the argument. Supporters include Natural Science student All Gore who earned a "D" at Harvard in Natural Science 6 ("Man's Place in Nature"), so why not the guy driving the bread truck?

This "Green" building will cost 10x more to run and maintain.

When Obama took office, the debt was $10.6 Trillion. It is now $15.6 Trillion. The spending from both parties must stop.

Here is a video from 2011 where the GSA Administrator said their purchase of Chevy Volts would save the government millions
Disclosure: I have a vested interest in cold fusion. (at least my kids and grandkids do..)