krill

I have to agree with this, the more I have read the less it makes sense. In 1996 when most people still had lineline phones, and the phone companies were notoriously unfriendly (putting it nicely) monopolies, it probably made sense to subsidize a phone for some people. Now you can walk into a gas station and buy a prepaid phone and airtime for under $20, so why the government needs to expend resources administrating this program is puzzling. The free market eventually provided a solution with prepaid MVNO's that are dirt cheap and universally available.

I recall at a game 3-4 years ago, I got so sick of holding onto my stupid balloon as a persistent reminder that we hadn't scored yet and spent a solid 20 minutes consumed with thoughts of how to accidentally let it go (so I wouldn't look like a jackass). Thankfully someone else nearby let theirs go in disgust and mine followed. Last time I bought a balloon...won't miss them!

Or 1/12th of a Verizon smartphone...with 2GB of data

If I'm not mistaken these free / subsidized phone services are paid for with the universal service fund (one of those fees you see on your phone bill). I have to agree that the utility of the FCC administrating this program is dubious at best when anyone can get basic mobile phone service for like $5-10 month now, and the same company (or companies, not sure) also service the Lifeline accounts. At some point people have to prioritize their spending if $5 / month is out of reach. The FCC is probably paying far more than $5-10 for the service and who knows what for those old recycled phones.

We could go back and forth for pages without either of us giving an inch, so I have a more basic question. Is it more wrong person A who is able to work to take $25,000 in welfare / unemployment benefits, or for person B to avoid paying $25,000 in taxes by using a offshore shelter? Or, if neither action is illegal, is neither wrong? Or are they both wrong and equally wrong? In my view both actions are wrong and equally wrong, because the government is deprived of $25,000 to do something that can benefit everyone, lower the deficit, or lower everyone's tax burden. I can see the obvious argument that the $25,000 belongs person B, and the $25,000 in social services does not belong person A. However, there is also an argument that the $25,000 does not belong to person B, because we have all agreed, by virtue of existing in this country to the system of taxation. That of course can be modified with legislation, but in lieu of modification, I do absolutely believe it is morally wrong for people to use complicated tax shelters that are not available to everyone. The "you would do it too argument" is an extremely weak defense, and one that should greatly irritate people who are paying a lot of taxes. Namely the upper middle class and modestly wealthy that used to be solidly Republican. Again, I suspect that is the main reason Romney will not release his returns, because the pats on the back for doing so well at tax avoidance would be few and far between from his own party.

I do, and Geitner did not intentionally evade paying his payroll tax...it was a mistake a lot of self employed people and expats make. I also don't think there's reason to believe Romney has done anything illegal. It is a question of fairness. You say good for him for gaming the system to his benefit. I think it's hilarious that anyone could possibly think it's fair that someone like Romney, who's not working, or even using his money to "create jobs" through investments, pay no income / capital gains tax at all by using sheltering schemes, while a doctor working 40+ hours a week with a mountain of student loan debt pays 25-33% on most of their income. Then he (Romney) runs for President twice and acts like there's nothing to hide...it seems to me he's hiding most from people in his own party (upper middle class types) who would be irate if they saw his returns.

Geitner failed to pay what, like $15k in Social Security and Medicare contributions while he was working overseas at the IMF because he was unaware the employer contribution had been reimbursed to him? Romney said at the time that should disqualify Geitner, while he (Romney) has intentionally used tax shelters to avoid paying millions, if not tens of millions of dollars in taxes. I challenge you to find a public servant who is guilty of tax evasion on that level to use as a "but someone else did it too!" argument.

Not giving much, if any of an electorate boost may be the case, but it's possible for the VP pick to have a statistically significant negative effect. Let's look at it graphically. First, with every undecided and leaning Obama state up for grabs. Now we fill in states that are leaning Obama and have been trending higher for him (FL, PA, MI, NM)..some statisticians already put FL firmly in the Obama column. And you begin to see how dire the situation is for Romoney. Obama wins one state on top of states that are trending towards solid, and it's over. Personally I wonder if AZ also comes into play with the Ryan pick, and you can bet it gives no hope for turning FL around. If Rubio could have helped at all in FL, Romney's outlook would be much better...

Only Medicare vouches for people under 55...those of us (well) under 55 would get to pay for baby boomer's full medicare our whole lives and then get a coupon when we retire, if it's even possible for the non-super wealthy to retire in 40 years if Republicans have their way. What a deal!

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/08/romney-vp-saturday/1#.UCXrip1lRtE This will certainly be one for the annals of political history. Will Ryan excite the base and carry Romney to victory in key swing states, or will doubling down with Ryan and his controversial budget proposal spell doom? I see a lot more negatives with Ryan than positives...if history has taught us anything, VP picks should be as boring and non-controversial as possible. The Ryan budget and his apparent fondness of Ayn Rand are pretty much ready made attack ads.

Well if the "Chicago" part is not looking like a clown shoes idiot flip flopper doing / saying / manufacturing anything to win, then I agree with you, because Romney sure doesn't do it very well.

My usual source, a man brown bagging a bottle MD 20/20 near N Street Liquor, has in fact confirmed that Moore quit the team. Just doing my part to help the 300 post O/U.

http://www.kurzweila...tory-as-science tl;dr -- following the pattern of great unrest roughly every 50 years (Civil War, Great Depression, Vietnam War) we're due up in 2020.

Buchanan, Harding, A. Johnson, Pierce...there's not even a reasonable debate. No post-war President is even in the same league as this group.

Worst favorability ratings since Walter Mondale. I probably should be enjoying this news and the increasingly hilarious attacks on Romney from his own party as the wheels fall of the campaign, but I'm not. A two party system needs two viable parties with actual ideas to solve America's problems and the Republican party seems to be more lost than the Democrats were in the 1980's (with candidates like Mondale). Gifting Obama another term with a congress that will still be completely dysfunctional doesn't move us anywhere closer to solving the big problems.

1994 vs. the mighty Pacific squad I remember walking up the stairs in the east stadium thinking we'd never get to our seats, then being in total awe when we came out the gate. For a little kid who had never seen a stadium larger than small town roll away bleachers its was amazing. I also seem to remember being terrified when my dad left at halftime to get food that I'd get lost and it would be impossible to ever be found. Thankfully that didn't happen though, and we ate at Kings after the game, which was also awesome getting loaded up on sugar from the epic malts they had.

I didn't get any...called shortly after 9AM. Was pretty shocked.

I strongly disagree with the opinion of the Chick-fil-A president, but it's his right to have that opinion and there's no evidence that Chick-fil-A has discriminatory labor practices, or is otherwise breaking the law. Historically battles over social issues have not been won attacking people on the "wrong" side, in fact it only seems to further entrench opposition by rallying around those who say no. We've already reached the tipping point of inevitability with gay marriage, so it's simply a matter of time passing before opinions like Mr. Cathy's are like turds going down the toilet.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/2012/07/28/the-end-of-gun-control/ Interesting article I saw today on reddit. tl;dr version...3D printers that are now as cheap as $500 can easily "print" something like an AR-15 receiver. In theory for around $1000 you could buy a Saiga, print a automatic receiver that's illegal, print high capacity magazines, buy off the shelf accessories, and have true assault rifle. I do very much question why people defend having military rifles like an AR-15 with high capacities magazines as something they need, but at the same times there are questions about the efficacy of gun control keeping weapons out of the hands of those who intend to do harm with them. From what I know the original assault weapons ban left so many loopholes that all it really did was add red tape, and now with people being able to create their own equipment with printers, how likely is it that any kind of regulation would keep something like a high capacity magazine out of reach for a killer?

I vote waffles because it's (nearly) impossible to mess them up with an automatic iron. I am the type of person who always seems to either burn the pancake or have it still filled with raw batter. French Toast, I won't even go there, but I do occasionally enjoy Freedom Toast.

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating." -- George W. Bush I figure Romney is the kind of guy who keeps a copy of Bushisms and Jack Handey quotes on his nightstand for days like today.

Can't wait to see them on the field! They look retro without overdoing it.

90% of the time it's F1 or delete to enter into the BIOS, where you can change the boot priority to an optical or thumb drive first. Many OEM systems are already set for those devices first though.

I am convinced that anyone who actually understands string theory came to our world on an alien spacecraft.