Most guys can tell immediately.

Their cheap furniture is much easier to assemble than the stuff you buy at, say, Target. You usually only have to deal with a few screws/bolts vs. a bagful of hundreds of varying sizes. A while ago I bought a single bed for a guest bedroom. The bed was in a couple of flat boxes and the foam mattress was rolled up into a cylinder. I stuffed the whole thing in the trunk of a small car. No waiting for delivery. No delivery charges. Cost: $200. Awesome.

It's doubtful that the feds can do anything to bring the jobs back. They have been constantly offshored to other countries long before this recession started, and there's still no end in sight. Not just the manufacturing sector, but high-skilled professions such as engineering, software development, management, etc. There is no shortage of highly motivated, college-educated people in other countries who are more than happy to pick up these jobs at a fraction the pay here. And there's no reason to believe that Americans are somehow inherently smarter or do a better job than they will.

Is it we can't win because the government there is corrupt? Or is it because WE put a corrupt government there? After all, Karzai is an American creation. Did Karzai commit fraud there without our knowing? Or did we knowingly help him commit fraud because we want to keep him in power at all cost?

The kids are old enough. The younger one might get some child support. Take half the possessions, then figure out what to do from there. Or maybe this is too simple?

First of all, it was not an engagement, it was not avoidable as CT suggested. The other guy took a swing first. This was self-defense.

Secondly, maybe "Matt" needs a lesson. What if the next guy he picks on doesn't know martial arts? What if he can't fight back? If nobody stands up to this guy, somebody down the road will get hurt. If anybody is to get hurt, better it be the bad guy.

And you obviously don't hang out with enough people. That would explain the numerous posts here.

Stay right where you are, and look for another job. What makes you think you'll find a better job here? As you mentioned, except for the job everything else is going great (not to mention the health care). So go out and find another job.

Some posters seem to think what Vicks did could only be a product of a very disturbed, near-criminal mind. Wrong. Dog fighting, cockfighting, bullfighting, etc. have been around for a long, long time. People do make a mental distinction between animals and humans. In most places outside the States people still treat dogs like, well, dogs. While this may be unfortunate, it doesn't mean that most people out there have a criminal mindset. Only here in the insular land of plenty that this is even an issue.

Michael doesn't know you and doesn't know whether you forgave him or not. And of course you don't really know him, except from what you've read. He did his time and paid for his crime, so what more do people want? He didn't commit murder or violence against another human being (except maybe their sensibilities). Just because in this decadent country of ours some people decide to elevate household pets to near human status, don't expect others to feel the same way.

There may be roon in a healthy life for a good grudge, but it's still negative and pointless, and ultimately destructive.

And why do we need him to change his mind?

And why do we need him to change his mind?

The insurance industry is only interested in insuring relatively healthy, working people, with their employment-based system. Interestingly enough, their idea of "free market" health care depends on the government stepping in to care for older and other "high risk" people that they have no interest in covering. And yet, paradoxically, these same "free marketeers" also constantly deride Medicare and other state-run programs as expensive and "socialistic", and want to get rid of them. Of course it has to be expensive, because these are high-risk people, get it?

What if these "free marketeers" get their way and these social programs all go away. What then? Will they step in and provide coverage to older, retired people on a fixed, limited income with premiums that they can actually afford? Not a chance.

Yes, people, especially older people, should be very scared, if their health care is left to the "free market".

The insurance industry is only interested in insuring relatively healthy, working people, with their employment-based system. Interestingly enough, their idea of "free market" health care depends on the government stepping in to care for older and other "high risk" people that they have no interest in covering. And yet, paradoxically, these same "free marketeers" also constantly deride Medicare and other state-run programs as expensive and "socialistic", and want to get rid of them. Of course it has to be expensive, because these are high-risk people, get it?

What if these "free marketeers" get their way and these social programs all go away. What then? Will they step in and provide coverage to older, retired people on a fixed, limited income with premiums that they can actually afford? Not a chance.

Yes, people, especially older people, should be very scared, if their health care is left to the "free market".

1 of 9, in just about any scientific setting, is statistical proof that it DOESN'T work. Maybe they're counting on the fact that American suck at math and science.

The GOP cannot remain true to its principles AND attract minorities, younger voters, women, etc. These two things are mutually exclusive.