Rex Kickass

Slate has had some pretty interesting opinions on this tragedy. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_s...ession_but.html

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 30, 2015 -> 12:18 PM) As much as I really dislike this law, I do wonder if stores should have the right to refuse service. On a theoretical point, imagine a group of protesters inside a steak restaurant chanting against eating meat. Obviously we all agree the owner should have the right to remove the group because they are harming that business. Now, what if you have a really messed up business (IMHO it is messed up) that caters to a very anti-XX crowd. A large group of XX show up just to drive away the core customers. They will be gone next month along with the regulars. Can you protest by just being you? Stores do have a right to refuse service. But as I understand it, and I could be wrong on this, employees in general can refuse to serve a customer/client/guest based on their religious preferences. And the furor is about bakeries and cakes, but in reality the real harm will come when people refuse things like providing medical service. One thing I'm curious about is if it covers government workers as well. Could someone be refused consitituent services because of the state employee's religious belief?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Mar 19, 2015 -> 04:00 PM) I definitely need to get it fixed or fix it myself. I am certain it is AUX input as it's visibly damaged and I've tried different devices/cords. Unfortunately the AUX module is not one that pops right out. I would have to take the whole radio out. Do you think any shop would work on this? Silly question, but can you work around this with bluetooth?

His teams get to the tournament, and they just want it so much more every single game.

I have no such thing sadly. Its been acting up since Tuesday, but the muscle spasms are pretty much over.

So... back spasms and sciatic nerve issues. How long after an episode do you wait before hitting the gym again?

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 26, 2015 -> 11:09 AM) The Americans, in my opinion, has lost its fastball this year. Way too slow, I find myself falling asleep every episode. I always felt like that show would have been completely up my alley, but I found it pacing way too slow for me even in episode 1. Which is funny, because I'm in love with Mad Men and that show often take a half season to go anywhere.

I don't get the outrage over this bill. It's welcome I guess, but its no worse than anything else that this or many other states have had on the books even in the last few years. The truth is that when its legal to be denied a job or a house because you're gay, why is it any worse to not be allowed to buy someone's cake for the same reason? I think the real concern will come when pharmacists refuse to fill a patient's HIV medicine or a doctor refuses to treat someone for an STI or because they are gay or because they are on birth control, etc. That's the line that would concern me. Everything else is frankly just formally legalizing what some folks have had in practice for a long time.

The difference is that these petitions are online and very easy to see for any lazy reporter with Google. In previous years, reporters would have had actually had to do work to uncover these petitions.

The difference is that these petitions are online and very easy to see for any lazy reporter with Google. In previous years, reporters would have had actually had to do work to uncover these petitions.

Obama has been reelected. NBC calls it.

Obama called winner in Iowa.

North Carolina calls for Romney.

Most of Santa Rosa in and Obama still in the lead with Miami-Dade and Broward still outstanding. He's outperforming his 2008 result in Miami-Dade, if he can maintain that margin, its not going to be a recount kind of situation in Florida either.

What's left in Ohio? Blue Areas. Virginia? Some NOVA (Obama) and Virginia Beach (who knows) Florida? Miami-Dade and Broward There are still literally hundreds of people in Florida waiting to vote.

Romney campaign has clammed up for the last 60-90 minutes. Romney knows its probably over.

Florida: Santa Rosa and Brevard County are Romney's best hopes. 16% of Broward 36% of Miami-Dade still to report. Obama's best hopes. People in Miami are STILL in line 2 1/2 hours after polls closed. Obama is up 90,000 votes in Ohio with a lot of urban areas left to report, apparently.

If Obama wins Colorado and Iowa, there is no path to Romney for 270 electoral votes.

It really does not look so well for Romney, and Florida is looking stronger for Obama than anyone expects. MSNBC is reporting that there's roughly one million votes in Broward and Miami-Dade likely to be counted - those are Obama strongholds.

I am extremely lucky to live where I live. About the only benefit of my neighborhood is that our powerlines are underground and I am on the same circuit as the NJ state house. I never lost power. I have coworkers who are now on day 8 without power. One of our coworkers likely lost her house, but doesn't know because the bridges to her island are too dangerous to be opened to travel. I was one of two people who actually went into our office on the day of the storm because we have travelers that were in NYC and affected and needed to get information and emergency arrangements. My boyfriend lives on Staten Island and his house was ok (he lived on the east side of the island) but lost power for five days. A close friend lives on Long Island. His first floor was approximately 10 feet above ground (He raised his foundation), still got 2 feet of water. His spare car? Submerged.

This is a close election, but it could end up a lot less close than we think. I'm suspicious of Likely Voter screens which is about every poll that we see. Not because they lean Republican per se, but because part of Obama's key to victory involves registering a lot of new first time voters. It's why I think Virginia will stay blue - and although I think North Carolina and Florida will flip Republican again this year, there's a lot of evidence to point out that either of those states could be very very close. Ultimately I think Obama with 294 EV and a razor thin popular vote margin because of the huge numbers coming in from the South for Romney.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 10:45 AM) What I don't get about you is why you're in the bag for Obama. Who was against gay marriage until it suited him to be for it. How does that fact NOT annoy you? He's an opportunist...and you let him be. I'm in the bag for Obama because I am not a one-issue voter. But even if I was, do I take the candidate who didn't support marriage equality in 2008 but does today, or do I take the candidate who supported it in 1994 but doesn't support it today? I support Obama because I think that he would make better choices for the Supreme Court over the next four years. I also support Obama because I feel that he has a good solid sense of foreign policy and has gone a long way to achieve US interests without isolating itself from its allies across the world - even if his personal relationships with leaders aren't terribly warm. I also support Obama because I don't feel that the Republican party has been interested in anything but seizing power for the last four years, and the policies they support are pretty extreme. As much of a liberal as I am personally, I'd be pretty OK with a moderate President. I feel Romney owes so many people so much if he gets elected, that Moderate Mitt just won't be the President we get with Mitt Romney.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 10:05 AM) Of those three, only the 88 one fits in the pattern of what we got this year. I don't see how Binders compares to either experience, or are you better than foru years ago. Those are real election issues. Bayonets are not. Making a joke about Walter Mondale, a 56 year old former Vice President, being young and inexperienced was a real election issue? I can get with you on the binders point, I guess... but it was just such an odd moment and just kinda puts an exclamation point on an idea that Romney is out of touch. But you can make the argument that bayonets and horses has to do with illustrating someone's fundamental understanding of how means of national defense changes over time. Just like firing Big Bird is supposed to be a symbol of not paying for things we can't afford, they do play to a larger point about the election. I'll admit, I'm totally biased in this election - but the thing that I have not seen from Romney is any sense about what he would actually do, because he's been very good - in the debates at least - of taking three sides on every issue. Obama has done this too, at times, but at least he has a record to run on.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 08:56 AM) [rant] Yesterdays waste of time debate highlights exactly what is wrong with everything political in this country, from the politicians themselves to the media, to the people, and in doing that, highlights why we are where we are as a nation. A nation of consumers, for consumers, by consumers. Beg, borrow, and declare bankruptcy...and then do it all over again. Nobody takes anything seriously anymore. Not even the politicians we elect. It's a joke to them, and while we laugh along with them at home, or on blogs, or Twitter, or Facebook, or by the water cooler, the reality is they're not laughing with us, they're laughing at us. After all, they're all millionaires we keep electing to fix the problems that affect the middle class/poor. Only they never fix them. But all the while they never fix them, this much is true: Every. Last. One. Of. Them. Gets. Richer. All these debates were to 99.999999999998% of the people/media -- including most of us here -- were reality TV events to laugh at. Point 1) What do we all talk about from the first debate? Big Bird. Point 2) What do we all talk about from the second debate? Binders. Point 3) What will do we all talk about from the third debate? Bayonets. In other words, 99.9999999998% of rest of the debates are forgotten or outright dismissed, because these three key points are all that matter...and they're all anyone talks about. Because, I don't know, they funny? But if you actually stop to think about it for a second, they're not funny...they're sad. It's sad we have politicians on a pedestal and these are the types of things that come out of their mouths. And we allow it. People making domain names for bayonets, binders, big bird, trend similar hashtags on the Twitterverse, etc...it's so honestly and profoundly sad to me that we all watch our nation crumble around us and all we can do is laugh at the morons that are hammering at the foundation with sledgehammers. I'm sorry but this is a total crock of bulls***. There actually was some definite substantive things being discussed in that debate, and I think it gave people who paid attention a good idea about the differences between the two candidates. The foreign policy debate is likely to be the most substantial in all the debates on a general sense, because there is a less of an opportunity for posturing. What does anyone remember from the 80 debates: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" What does anyone remember from the 84 debates: "My candidate's youth and inexperience" What does anyone remember from the 88 debates: "You are no Jack Kennedy" We remember one liners because they are one liners, and just because we remember a specific quote, it doesn't mean that people who watch debates don't take away things of value, or even a general sense of where the candidates stand. The problem isn't the debates, its the fact that over the last twenty plus years that the reporting has become all about the horserace and not about the policy differences themselves. How do we fix it? Start consuming the media that focuses on the substance and not the style.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Oct 22, 2012 -> 10:10 PM) Obama's kicking his ass. Romney did not help himself by basically agreeing with the President on every foreign policy. It was basically - I would do everything that Obama did, but Obama is terrible.