kshartle wrote:  Seriously. If the mobsters are going to put it to worse use than the government then I'd like to hear the argument . Are they going to buy weapons with it? Are they going to spend it on lavish lifestyles? Are they going spend it to reward their friends and punish their enemies? Are ...

benko wrote: PS, I still think there is a difference between the tone of your post and the tone of Mr. Bricks (who is obviously a liberal)  That was my only point.  "I am not voting for Elizabeth Warren, but ...I respect her determination on financial/banking reform and regulation. " Presu...

benko wrote: 2. If the word Iraq comes out of anyone's mouth/keyboard, then that person should vote for Elizabeth Warren--after all the current administration is working well for ya, right? Iraq, Iraq, Iraq.  I am not voting for Elizabeth Warren, but would vote for her over Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, or...

benko wrote: Sorry, but being for amnesty=fail. I like him but Craig is right about amnesty.  Alas I suspect we're doomed to find out the very hard way. I have a similar litmus test for Iraq.  Since the current republican establishment aggressively pushed for the Iraq war, that = fail.  I question t...

Thanks for the article.    I respect that Rand Paul is taking neocons like Dick Cheney to task, since most of the neocons are showing zero humility.    :-[ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/iraq-humility-is-the-best_b_5537258.html Near the end of the war, I met U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a nine-...

Rand Paul also has a clue on the "War" on Drugs. 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/ ... tcome.html

Nice to hear a more "liberal" perspective from a Republican. 

Libertarian666 wrote:  This is why Rand Paul is the only candidate that the Rs should choose for 2016. He can get the R base, any anti-war independents, and a lot of anti-war democrats. That is, if the Rs actually want to win. +1  Rs are not getting my vote until they purge the party of the chickenh...

Rand Paul is the only leading Republican that I can think of, that opposed the Iraq War.  His father certainly did and was lambasted by the neo cons.  Here is an op-ed he recently wrote.  http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:online.wsj.com/articles/sen-rand-paul-america-shouldnt-choo...

reub wrote:

If Ronald Reagan were President I would have a different answer.

Didn't the Gipper withdraw troops in response to the Beirut Bombing that killed 241 American Servicemen?

Tenn PA GA wrote: Cognitive dissonance 101: Many of the people who are upset when the U.S. government tries to control everything are the same people who are upset when the U.S. government is unable to control everything. +1    Republican party is a master's class in cognitive dissonance.  My favori...

Medium Tex wrote:  As I recall, that was a very young Vince Vaughn in that scene, right? So you're saying that Vince Vaughn reminds you of Ayn Rand, possibly because of Rand's preoccupation with money and Vaughn's character's preoccupation with saying the word "money" in his later film Swi...

kshartle wrote: That sounds like slavery to the collective to me. Why should you sacrifice? Man isn't a sacrificial animal as Rand used to say. What is the virtue in sacrifice? If sacrificing for others is virtuous, then their reciept of your sacrifice makes them unvirtuous. This can't be correct, i...

mountaineer wrote:  Or vice versa since we are ALL equal ... and making it more so by bringing down the top toward the bottom - with emphasis on the vice! Well...we are all created equal, but we are all born on different bases.  Wasn't George Bush Jr. born on third, but thought he hit a home run?  I...

As Yakov Smirnoff used to say, What a Country!    My cellphone is a supercomputer with access to internet along with a camera (still and video).  My cars (nuthin fancy..) have four wheel drive, crumple zones, and airbags galore.  That car can take my family quickly to tons of state park and game lan...

ad orientum wrote: Rand Paul is the only Pubby that even remotely interests me. Unfortunately he can't win for all the reasons that I like him. He believes in true limited gov't to which the GOP pays lip service but few actually mean it. He is a defender of civil liberties in a party that gave us th...

escafandro wrote:

Any recommendations in the field of "Personal Finances"?

Your Money Ratios by Charles Farrell

No-Nonsense Finance by E F Moody (he also has a website filled with personal finance info and his abrasive style...)

Kevin W wrote: 

I'm guessing that, come Monday and Tuesday, I'll be glad to be holding a PP.

+1 - March Madness might be the markets this week more than the hoops. 

doodle wrote: This reminds me of those studies that show how private school education is cheaper and more effective than public school education. Of course what they fail to mention is that the private schools just kick out all the troublemakers and difficult kids whose issues then get offloaded ont...

Maybe Lance will start acting again.  Who could forget his memorable scene in Dodgeball... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb72h8M5L8U Lance sounds like a swell guy... http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/road-biking/My-Life-With-Lance-Armstrong.html?page=all Last week, just before t...

Yup that is a better idea.  D1984 for President! d1984 wrote: Better idea: Before you start drafting innocent citizens, institute a "draft" whereby, say: 1. Congress votes on whether to go to war or not (that old "Declaration of War" requirement that was somewhere or other...oh y...

Want to cut down on military adventures?  Re-establish the draft. 

pointedstick wrote: You're right. But then again, how much did a gold standard constrain the growth of government before 1972? In the end, I don't think a monetary system of any kind can constrain a government that's intent on growing that's backed by a population cheering it on. The new deal took p...

pointed stick wrote: Because a lower level fuels deflation, and a higher level pushed up inflation. My definition of the "ideal level" is thus one that provides a stable value to the currency, taking into account the increases necessary for GDP and population growth. Do you think that's a ...

PointedStick wrote:  There's an ideal level, which I described earlier. Then there's the actual level, which is determined by congress, a body made up of fools who understand none of this. The negative consequences of too much deficit spending are higher inflation during a time of prosperity, possib...

Melveyr wrote: In a democracy, presumably the people determine the public interest. You might make an argument that we don't have a well functioning democracy, but I think that is an entirely different discussion than the nuances of our fiat monetary system. You could very easily be a libertarian wh...