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By not passing protectionist tariffs that crippled half the states into law.

Not sure I'd agree with all that, or at least it's more complicated that presented. The South did not industrialize and make their own manufactured goods a good part due to slavery. Over the years, they had increasingly restricted what their main work force, slaves, could learn in effort to keep them from rebelling. Bringing them the point that such workers could not even function as industrial workers. What Lincoln said about slavery was mute because the real issue which had been playing out for decades was new territories not being lsave states and slave states becoming a minority. Slavery would also only be extinguished in the south with a great battle. Most of the South's "wealth" was tied up in the value of those slaves. If there were no slaves to own, the South would become much poorer than the North, which is what happened. At the Siege of Richmond, they were offered compensation for freeing the slaves if they would free them and rejoin the US as if nothing had happened, but even thought the writing was already on the wall, the powers that be in the South opted for one last spite counter offensive rather than admit defeat and try and rebuild.

By not passing protectionist tariffs that crippled half the states into law.

So you're saying that slavery happened because people weren't libertarian enough?

By not passing protectionist tariffs that crippled half the states into law.

http://www.cvilletomorrow.org/...

http://myinforms.com/en-gb/a/2...

http://www.dailyprogress.com/n...

(Maybe he read from one of the above)

Either that or be open about it. It is hard to blackmail someone over something that is public knowledge.

Huh. Apparently, you're right. You can be a 50-something politician and have an affair with the 17-year-old daughter of one of your law clients, get a plea deal to misdemeanors instead of a felony, and it's okay as long as you come out with it a couple of years later, present your new baby, and talk about your ambitions to be a leader in the state senate. Truth is stranger than fiction.

I do not believe the "Independence Day" explanation for $40,000 toliet seats - that this money isn't being spent there but is instead being syphoned off to black programs.

There's plenty to complain about when talking about an organization as large as the United States Government, but I swear, this one has really gotten out of hand. The government has never spent $40,000 for a toilet seat, not even close. You're off by two orders of magnitude.

The actual number is $600 per seat, and they were for P3C Orion anti-sub aircraft. Items around the crew in any aircraft, civilian or military, is required to withstand a 20g crash load while staying within a strict weight budget. You can't just swing by your local hardware store for something like that. And the Navy only bought 54 of them, hardly an opportunity for economies of scale. Under the circumstances I think they got a hell of a deal for only $600 apiece.

Here's a good link (it also gives some pointers to actual government waste):

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/apr/11/600-toilet-seat-nothing-ar-968018/

As someone who lives near a nuclear plant that's trying to have a new unit built, let me be the first to say that they have been "thronged by hordes of sign-waving hippies" before.

I pay my taxes. I do not in any way wish to support the ACLU.

For example, a courthouse has a display of 15 of history's preeminant lawgivers. Among them, is Jesus. ACLU is trying to get rid of the Jesus image. I can't say I agree with that. Jesus is up there with 15 of history's preeminant lawgivers, IMO. Makes sense. He promoted peace and justice, things you want in a courthouse. Or the ethiopian food fight. Were it about Republicans, or about the plight of white overage Americans, the ACLU wouldn't care.

Are those 2 (very recent) examples really what you want your tax dollars going towards? I'd classify it as pork. There are so many things that rank higher in the world of 'civil liberties', the ACLU, from what I have seen, nitpicks the little things that really don't matter. If pictures offend you, you have bigger problems.

I suppose you won't accept that I've been on the receiving end of that. Or maybe you just figure I deserve it.

I guess we will simply have to disagree here. I can see that you are convinced that small hypothetical increments are more than enough to wipe out huge continuous destruction. This, to me, looks very much like faith.

Yep and dealt with by his peers within a pretty short time. This should never had made ANY text books.

Well there is no chance that I will be able to remember what science book I had as a kid, but with some digging, I might be able to uncover which one my daughter was using a couple of years ago. It was still in that book.

I will admit that I do not know [Pat Michaels] personally, but I am good friends with someone who does and is in his field (I will not mention who that is since he would probably like to keep his job) so I can't answer your list of his crimes.

However, I will ask you if you have ever known of someone who has a bad reputation when looked up on the net that you know for a fact is made up of at best taking him out of context and and at worst pure lies? I know of a couple and to read about them on the net would leave me with a much worse opinion of them than deserved even when I don't agree with them. So unless you actually know (or know of) this person more directly, I will stick with what I hear from someone who does.

BTW. Pat Michaels used to be state climatologist, so I would say he did lose his job.

UVA in fact only accepted 60 of his 72 credits. He also had to get dispensation to take as many credits as he did in a single term. The article in the local newspapers also mentioned that he did have two classes that met at the same time, and he was allowed to do that, too. http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pag ename=CDP/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&c id=1149190702105

small typo mate: it is cache.

Another link with the winners can be found here.