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Frankly, it doesn’t MATTER whether the majority of Americans are OK with it. The majority of Americans were once OK with slavery and institutionalized racial discrimination as well.

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^^^

Agreed. And the “death panel” objections to public insurance were just asinine, since there’s nothing preventing people from buying private insurance in addition to their NHS plan in the UK (Canada is a bit more strict).

Interesting question to anyone who was around in the 60s — did Conservatives scream as loudly when Medicare and Medicaid came into existence?

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As ownership of arms is a Constitutional right, is it legal for them to ask?

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Not many suggestions, but here’s one:

This might be really counterintuitive, but expand the availability of high-school JROTC and match-shooting/biathalon (at least up north) programs. If the guns are going to be around, might as well instill responsible use of them from the teen years on. Make the association between gun use and discipline.

As an aside, I’d also support going back to 1960s and making machine-shop and home-ec programs mandatory (as they were in my high school in the 90s). A basic education in How Shit Works(tm) is as important as rigorous programs in languages, sciences, math and history.

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Allan from Fallbrook – Because the problem is the culture of solving problems with guns, not the guns themselves. Many European countries have 40-50% the gun ownership rate of the US, yet the number of gun crimes is MUCH lower than 40-50% of the US level. The problem isn’t the guns, it’s idiots’ and psychopaths’ extreme willingness to use them here.

If you see a gun as something like a fire extinguisher (home protection) or a tool (hunting), then you’d be much less likely to abuse it than if you saw it as a shiny(!) new toy and extension of your manhood.

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I’d venture to say that a larger % of car-related injuries are accidents, whereas a larger % of injuries with guns involve an intent to wound or kill. This intent may or may not be justifiable, but it’s there.

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If you intentionally shoot someone in the foot, no coverage.

If you shoot a burglar in the foot, he’s convicted of burglary in criminal court, yet files a civil suit against you: damn right that the insurance co should pay for legal costs and damages if he manages to con a jury into awarding him.

Difference between a car and a gun is that a car isn’t intended as a weapon. A gun is, but can be used for good as well as evil.

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I think we need a wholesale change in gun culture and I have no idea how to accomplish that. Think about Vermont. Least strict gun laws in the nation, yet there’s very little gun violence (even compared to other rural states). Difference between Vermont and many Western and Southern states is that, while they have unlimited carry, walking into a bar or restaurant while strapping would be seen as weird and unseemly unless you had a reason to go armed. The culture is reserved New England, not a bunch of wannabe “western” Midwesterners getting their rocks off.

Contrast that to rural AZ, where half the people in one diner I went into were wearing a “fashion accessory.”

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Public exposure will likely mean trial in a civilian court if he gets extradited to the US, rather than rendition to G-d knows where or simple murder. Hopefully, he’ll get a jury that’s enlightened enough to practice the time-honored tradition of jury nullification.

This disclosure is VERY MUCH in the interest of the American people. For one minor thing, wholesale collection of phone call information includes legislators’ and justices’ information. I’d say that 75% of people have SOMETHING they want to hide. Enough can be deduced from phone call info (calls to drug treatment clinics, women who aren’t wives, etc) to make them ripe targets for blackmail. Then the security state becomes self-perpetuating.

If they don’t toe the NSA line and vote for more surveillance, they might end up fighting a scandal and forced to resign. This kind of thing breaks the separation of powers — remember that Congressional votes are generally very close, and that even 5-10% of Congresspeople being corrupted might have a tangible impact on US politics.

There’s also precedent. Look at the shenanigans that happened during the Hoover FBI era, what with technology being much less advanced. The amount of damaging info that can be gathered these days with modern tech scares the hell out of me.

Snowden is a true patriot, a brave man, and one hell of an American hero. Hope he walks scot-free and is able to travel first-class back to his own country, to which he did a great service.

As far as the people who forced this system on the American public without their knowledge or consent, I’d say that they were laying the groundwork for totalitarianism in the US. Exactly what the enemies of the US want to happen — the destruction of democracy from within. If that isn’t treason (a shooting offense last I checked), then it comes damn close. Hope they see their day in court.

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Clearly, it’s so sooper seekrit that only Obama and his top henchmen know … even senior DHS staff aren’t being told 🙂 Ammo is being stored at a secret warehouse in the Utah desert that we’re only being TOLD is a NSA data-mining center.

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That would also kill a lot of business.

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Hell, I live about 3 min walk from a (gas/oil) power and steam plant right now 🙂

Anyway, replacing an aging plant with a dirtier one out of sight, out of mind isn’t the solution in my book.

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I’d have no issue with it, assuming the plant was safety run and of modern design. It will be replaced with more coal burnt in states like UT, CO, and AZ.

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Yay! Let’s burn more coal. No way the dumb NIMBY mofos will allow construction of a clean, nuclear replacement.

Pretty sad that the French have more balls than American environancies.

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You can do a LOT better than merely buying a home, assuming you’re not already self-employed…

Sitting on 300k cash and not using it to start a business of some sort, whether it’s property rental or something else entirely, is stupid in my book. If you’re 30, retirement isn’t for another 35 years. Better to position yourself to have investment/business income NOW, so you’re not beholden to some arseholes at your office all the time.

Looking at it, with 300k in the 401k, won’t that meet minimums to keep the plan even after leaving the job?

If I had that much cash equivalent available, I’d be putting it in properties capping 8-9%(*), borrowing against the properties at 6% principle + interest, 75% LTV, and having at least $40-50k additional pre-tax investment income minus the interest on the loan against the 401(k). 2.75% IRA return is for the birds.

With that kind of investment income, you two can at the very least have a VERY nice vacation one or two times per year. Plus having it pay for most of your housing expense if you choose to live frugally. As far as primary home, I wouldn’t spend more than $175-300k on a 2 bedroom well-managed (but not ritzy) condo in your situation.

(*) – they exist currently. Just bought one a few weeks ago in SD. Less deals of that type locally to you now, but plenty of that sort of thing in halfway decent areas surrounding various East Coast cities right now.

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