Seriously, who made the decision that raising taxes on the rich/corporations was political poison? From where I sit it looks like the obvious answer and many Americans would support it. So why don't we just DO it?

That, and repeal NAFTA.

The stats don't include prisoners--a couple of million people, in other words 2% of the adult male population. Add that in, since most of those "offenders" should not be in jail.

The stats don't include people who have joined the armed services, which is another form of government make-work program. If all of the soldiers came back looking for jobs--well, I don't have the numbers for that but it would be significant.

Unemployment is at 20%? If we didn't have two foreign wars going and a policy of imprisoning people for life for minor offenses, it would be more like 25%. That's one in four of us.

And it will get worse.

You're in an abusive relationship, and you need to get out while your child is still small. Waiting until your toddler becomes a grade schooler will make things much more difficult.

And yes, you are a shitty parent but that doesn't mean you aren't beng abused. Maybe getting away from the abuse will help you get better (you're probably lashing out at the brat because you are depressed).

In other words, you don't owe it to the kid to stay. You owe it to her to leave.

The evidence? "He has PTSD he refuses to deal with"...whaaa? You want a little girl growing up with that? Provided it's true, and not just his Veteran's Day excuse for being an asshole? Also.....NONE of your friends like him? There's a reason for that, you know....

Gahhhhh. Just get out already. You know you need to.

but...prostitution should be made LEGAL, remember? Because everybody's got a right to do whatever they want with their body, and 'cause it would mean that all prostitutes would be well treated and happy, and 'cause all the vicious psychos would be able to get it off with prostitutes and not have to stalk and rape other women....ok, so those last two things don't sound like they really go together, but they do 'cause I said so.....

And nobody underage would ever, ever be trafficked if being a proz was legal. Why? 'Cause I said so.

*Never mind at all that trafficking actually tends to increase in places where prostitution is legal, because the underage trafficked prozzies hide within the legal population. After all, you can't tell by looking at a girl if she's of age and legal.*

So, if legalizing prostitution is great and should be legalized and is just a profession like any other, why should ANYBODY care that these girls turn into prozzies? It's like caring that they turn to waitressing to survive. Right?

OMG how awful for you. I'm afraid I would have had a breakdown on the spot. You're a courageous person. Please make sure that this weirdo who's checking up on you and your children is far, far away. Sounds like he's a little disappointed he didn't destroy your life, or maybe wants to feel, "hey, what I did wasn't so bad--she seems pretty fine now".

Ugh.

in the Reagan years, it was the alien version of "Amerika", and the unpoken enemies were the Soviets (not, I think, WWII era fascists, although a lot of details in the miniseries seemed to point in that direction. Most Americans in 1984 couldn't differentiate between Hitler and the Soviet Union anymore anyway).

This time around, the enemies appear to be people who fake I.D. papers to live in the country illegally (wonder who those might be?) and our own President. That should tell us something.

"V" is conservative fantasy porn. That's pretty much all.

Hate, hate, hate the new format. Please give us an option to use the old one. Please.

I really have to say...you sound like one of those twisted Holocaust deniers or something. These arguments are half baked, beside the point, or just plain stilted (Animal husbandry is a "slaughter not seen in nature"? Well, duh. 98% survival of young animals past the first half year is not seen in nature, either, but this is the typical survival rate of animals born on farms. We help them survive, so we can eat 70 or 80% of them later, which is STILL a lower mortality rate of young than is seen in nature! I'm a farmer, and I know).

There is no 100% vegetarian society (not even in India) and all societies have hunters and a number of those (like Inuit) are almost entirely meat consumption based. Eating meat has made the human race successful and may even be responsible for the fact that we walk upright. We do NOT have herbivore's teeth (gorillas are herbivores. Check the difference).

The 40 or so domesticated animal species are far and away the most successful on the planet. Biologists now suspect that the advantages of domestication may have, in some ways, been "chosen" by the animals themselves.

There may be excellent arguments for vegetarianism, but arguing that eating meat is "not natural" is definitely not one of them. It is very natural for us to eat meat. Whether or not we should continue to eat it in this modern day of massive resource depletion is another question entirely, and you'll sound more convincing if you stick to that more limited question.

Loved this article. I've always loved Johnny Cash. Thanks.

More like this!

Please get well soon.

I haven't always agreed with you, but I feel I've come to know you, and wish you all the best.

You've always been full of good energy, and that will serve you well now.

Good luck!