142 Thoughts to “Open Thread…………………………………………Friday, February 18”

  1. marinm
    February 19, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    @Pat.Herve

    Why are they basing this article on 85% of income to maintain standard of living? That sounds crazy high. Anyone with two IQ points to rub together would’ve already have paid off their mortgage by that point or be REALLY close to it and with the mortgage being the highest part of our cost of living (as with a car or two) you can maintain the same standard of living on reduced income.

    Heck, even the 401K companies are making Retirement for Retards now a days.. Not smart enough to read and pick an investment? No problem. Pick a year you intend to retire and they’ll manage the ratios and aggresiveness of the portfolio for you. THAT WAS EASY! (Staples would say)

  2. Moon-howler
    February 19, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    @marin, just call me retarded. Some people might have moved, some people might have refinanced. There are all sorts of people who don’t move in a house at 30 and live there until 60.

    marin, You are a long way from retirement. I would get down a little off my high horse. Things change. Many of the people who might be hurting thought they were doing the right thing. Lots has changed in a short period of time.

    What are you going to do, for example, if the price of gold drops considerably? Many folks’s houses were worth twice as much in 2006 as they are now. Who would have predicted that. I don’t think that the average person is expected to be an investment expert. Not all financial planners are equal nor are they clairvoyant.

    85% is pretty much the going number and has been for retirement purposes. You have to live somewhere and it might not be in your normal home.

    You are going to have to watch hubris and bad karma. Both will get you if youo ride too high in the stirrups.

  3. Censored bybvbl
    February 19, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    @marinm

    When college tuition looms in your future, you just might take out a home equity loan on that prepaid or paid off mortgage. Or after your house is twenty years old, you might need a new roof or new appliances. Some of that extra money being put into your mortgage or retirement fund might have to be deferred as you pay cash for that roof or refrigerator. Or maybe your employer decides to no longer offer some of your benefits. Or your spouse might decide to either quit her job or go back to work or school. I can almost guarantee you that life will not work out exactly as you planned. You may not be old enough to know that yet. Life is full of surprises! 😉

  4. Cato the Elder
    February 19, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    Hats off to all PWC firefighters today, they really brought their A game: http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2011/feb/19/21/large-brush-fire-closes-interstate-95-south-dale-c-ar-854629/

    Occoquan Woods got hit hardest – multiple homes damaged or destroyed and 200 acres burned.

  5. Cargosquid
    February 19, 2011 at 10:47 pm

    @George S. Harris
    I stick my opinion into the blogosphere. I argue for points of view, even ones I vehemently disagree with, on the points, not personal insults. As for the Catholics in Congress, so what? Its not only Catholic doctrine that states that unborn babies should not be aborted and consider it murder. Nor should those persons be compared to raping, murdering, bombing, terrorists scum. Since many Americans, many of them conservative, have lost their very lives or have lost family members to those scum, INCLUDING MINE, you might want to compare pro-lifers of what ever party (there are pro-life democrats) with something else, or, hey, here’s an idea, keep your argument restricted to the actual value of your ideas. Otherwise, you can take your comparison, and if you didn’t get my first statement, and shove them where your head appears to be.

    I’m all for arguing about the ideas and values behind political stances, laws, and ideas. But you effectively called me and those like me, the equivalent of Nazis. Why don’t you try that instead of insulting people. You like the availability of abortion on demand, that’s your call. Some feel that abortion is murder. That’s why there will always be this conflict. All this talk about injecting opinion into a woman’s uterus is hyperbole. My argument could still be where does a woman’s rights override a baby’s rights? Since that won’t be answered here, and opinions won’t change, and emotions start rising, and stupid statements like yours get passed out, I usually don’t cover this topic here anymore.

    My objections to the funding of Planned Parenthood actually have more to do with the what I consider to be the job of the federal government and the proper use of tax money. THAT is where I was coming from. But you had to act like an ass and insult people that I identify with, so you insulted me. And since I know what the Taliban actually do, I take that personally. When the Catholic church, or any Christian church and the GOP/Tea Party start bombing people, killing those we disagree with, raping women and kids, stoning people, and chopping heads off, THEN feel free to mouth off about someone with whom you have a disagreement with.

  6. Cargosquid
    February 20, 2011 at 1:03 am

    This is nice.

    Bill Cosby made an honorary US Navy Chief.

    http://www.defense.gov//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62862

    Bravo Zulu!

  7. Moon-howler
    February 20, 2011 at 9:58 am

    Title X funding has been around since 1970. It is our national family planning program. I would think that people who claimed to be conservative would not want runaway fertility.

    In my opinion, planned parenthood as well as other agencies that provide contraception should be the first ones in line for funds.

    There are some core religious groups and people out there who oppose contraception. The Catholic Church is one of those groups. That is also one of the reasons that many people, including Mr. Howler left the church.

    There has been heavy Catholic opposition to the use of contraception. I totally disagree with this opposition and I also believe that while the church has every right to this opinion within its congregation and influence, it has no business pushing this position as secular and government policy.

    I welcome my tax dollars being spent on people planning their families rather than having one unwanted pregnancy after the other. I believe this is best achieved by the use of contraception. It is in the interest of the United States to make contraception available for those who cannot afford it and to make certain people have places to go for information.

    I would think that any conservative would want to make certain that people only had the number of children that they wanted and could afford. I thought that only liberals would think that people could have as many children as they wanted and the government couuld just help them pay for having, feeding and raising those unlimited children. i think that this kind of thinking is wrong and that people should only have the number of kids they can afford. Otherwise, you and I will end up paying for almost everything including the results of neglect. Silly me for thinking like this.

  8. Moon-howler
    February 20, 2011 at 9:59 am

    Title X information:

    http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familyplanning/index.html

  9. Juturna
    February 20, 2011 at 10:15 am

    Debating social issues is not going to fix fiscal problems. Haven’t seen too much discussion from anyone over foreign aid….. I’d like to see a line item budget analysis on that. That budget should be re-built.

  10. marinm
    February 20, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    ‎12 pack ready and chilled. Check. Chips, dip and other snacks ready. Check. TV tuned to 4 hours of FOX Daytona NASCAR pre-race coverage. Check.

    Boogity, boogity, boogity, let’s go racing boys!

  11. Morris Davis
    February 20, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    Marinm – On a train back from NYC and I’ll miss the green flag. I did, however, get my picks in for the NASCAR fantasy league. Hoping for Carl Edwards to win, although the Fords haven’t been good so far. Great finish yesterday … got back to the hotel in time to catch the last 8 laps.

    1. Moon-howler
      February 20, 2011 at 1:56 pm

      @Moe,

      We have been wondering where you were. Do you have your checkered flag…oh never mind….that is a personal question. :mrgreen:

  12. Big Dog
    February 20, 2011 at 4:59 pm

    http://freakonomicsbook.com/freakonomics/chapter-excerpts/chapter-4/

    While we can question some of the opinions in the book – I do – they do make
    a key factual point. A great number of the women who get abortions are
    young, single, poor, minorities with children already who, given a choice,
    don’t want another child. That is an issue that must be addressed.
    Who will provide help for that family – long term?

    Cutting abortions and resources to care for families at the same time is
    political Red Meat for the Far Right of the GOP, but it is incoherent and cruel.

    Support unborn AND born children!

  13. Moon-howler
    February 20, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    Big Dog, thank you. Someone needed to say what you just said.

  14. BS in VA
    February 20, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    If you are against abortion, then go right out and adopt a dozen crack-addicted or alcohol syndrome affected black inner-city babies. If all those poor children get adopted into your comfortable white suburban homes, then, I’m sure the 14 year old mothers would not opt for abortion. CARGO???? Catholics???? Conservatives???? Republicans ??????

  15. Moon-howler
    February 20, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    Crickets….thats all I hear.

  16. Moon-howler
    February 20, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    Some folks on here are cheering on the sound-byte queen, Sarah Palin who gets $100,000 per speaking engagement and at the same time having a heart attack over a teacher or other state employee making $60k with realistically $12k in benefits. (forget FICA as a benefit. It isn’t)

    I am appalled at the value system.

  17. Juturna
    February 20, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    BS in VA – you’ve tried that? Have you tried to adopt? Do you have any idea what goes on?

  18. Cargosquid
    February 20, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @Moon-howler
    Now, THIS is how you argue a point and share your opinion. Not an insult to be seen and gets the exact same point across.

    Certain people need to take heed and follow suit.

  19. Cargosquid
    February 20, 2011 at 7:23 pm

    @BS in VA
    And since you seem to think that those kids should be dead, instead…..

    See….two can play at that game.

  20. Cargosquid
    February 20, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    Palin is not paid by tax money…..yet.

  21. marinm
    February 20, 2011 at 7:25 pm

    BS, why is adoption or abortion such a race issue with you?

    Actually, your arguement is self defeating. If you assume that white males are against abortion and want to take it away but are the same racists that don’t want minority babies to adopt but they still want these minority babies to live — which is it? Are they racist? Are they control freaks? Do they – in the case of PP – maybe just don’t want federal dollars going to a private organization? Which one (or all!) of these do you wish to paint us with that broad stroke?

    Your response is exactly why social and fiscal conservatives, republicans, or far right wingers are being elected. Because someone who may in almost all cases lean liberal HATES being called a racist because he doesn’t buy into the democrat = prochoice arguement. You bring the middle to us.

    I’m not fond of the social change that may eventually take hold because of ‘right-wing’ control but if that’s the cost to repeal obamacare, crush the unions, and bring our fiscal house in order. So be it.

  22. DB
    February 20, 2011 at 7:28 pm

    Shit, just try to foster care or for that matter be a part of VEFC. The classes, the home visits, the stipulations, the background checks…must have one room per child. No bunking up allowed, even with sibling groups. My husband and I would love to foster but in a three bedroom house and two kids we don’t have the bedroom space since fosters must have their own rooms and no sharing is allowed! Oh and since I work outside the home as the mom, social services would be hard pressed to place a child with us, even when they are elementary aged and in school all day. The rules go on and on……..and people who could and want to make a difference can’t because of the rules.

  23. Moon-howler
    February 20, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    Many of us are watching the HBO series Big Love.

    Check out the roots of Mormonism on PBS’s American Experience. You can view The Mormons online. This religion was extremely vilified in the 19th century.

    http://www.pbs.org/mormons/view/

  24. marinm
    February 20, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    Ginnifer Goodwin is dreamy.. If I weren’t married…….

  25. Wolverine
    February 20, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    Got some great news for you, BS in VA. We don’t have a dozen in our family. However, we have had three of them — all with brown skins. How many have you got? Atheists??? Liberals???? Democrats?????

  26. Moon-howler
    February 20, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    No, Sarah Palin is not paid, to my knowledge, by tax money. It shouldn’t matter the source of the money really. In an civilized society, the population is educated. That doesn’t come for free. Are you telling me, Cargo, that Sarah Palin speaking should be more valuable that say a room full of 30 children being educated for a year?

    That is where I just see schism in value systems that cannot be repaired.

    This tax money and tax payer thing has just gone too far. Public employees aren’t the enemy. Remember, winos are taxpayers.

  27. Morris Davis
    February 20, 2011 at 11:47 pm

    As long as the Supreme Court, Congress and the President prohibit the good people that pay their salaries from openly carrying M-4s into their government furnished workplaces it’s absurd to say carrying a concealed Glock into a Texas college classroom makes good sense … of course it wouldn’t be the first time Texas and good sense parted ways (if you saw Anderson Cooper’s interview with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) you’ve seen at least one example).  http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/02/20/general-us-guns-on-campus_8317784.html

  28. Moon-howler
    February 20, 2011 at 11:48 pm

    Marin, tell me why it is that you want to crush unions. I honestly don’t get it.

  29. marinm
    February 21, 2011 at 12:32 am

    Mo, not sure if you watched the race or taped it. It was good. Frustrating for me as I’m a fan of a few choice drivers but I don’t want to give away the ending.. 🙂 But, overall it was a good race and I liked the winning driver.

    Mo, Utah allowes concealed carry at college. Carrying the M4 in an office building or a VA govt building – while legal – is so impractical. If someone wants to do it – more power to them – but I prefer something smaller. Though the Serba Shorty is appealing.

  30. Morris Davis
    February 21, 2011 at 7:21 am

    marinm – I made it home in time to watch the last 50 laps.  I said earlier that the Fords looked bad and then they go and take the top 3 spots.  I think that had more to do with luck than strength.  As a Ford fan, I picked Edwards, Kennseth, Biffle, Ragan, and Bayne for my fantasy team.  That gave the top 2 spots balanced out by a couple in the bottom 10.  Bayne seems like a good guy and it was great to see the Woods back on top after all the lean years they suffered.

    I’m a multi-gun owner who grew up hunting.  I believe in the right to own a weapon for sport and to protect your home, but I don’t believe increasing the pool of potential civilian trigger pullers walking around armed in public will make us safer anymore than I believe a bigger deficit to give the richest Americans tax breaks will trickle down and do good things for the malleable masses. Both instances are the result of the few effectively manipulating the many to do the bidding of the few and to make the many fell all Founding Fatherish about undermining their own interests.

  31. BS in VA
    February 21, 2011 at 8:37 am

    @ Cargo: First choice for family planning is to have a wanted child born into a loving and stable family; if that isn’t an option, second choice is to have provide everyone with sexual education and contraceptives, if that isn’t an option, third choice is to have an unwanted child adopted by a loving and stable family; if that isn’t an option, fourth choice is to have an unwanted child be born and raised by the government on decommissioned military bases so they can serve as bureaucrats when they grow up, fifth choice is to have an unwanted child aborted; if that isn’t an option, last choice, is to have an unwanted child born into a uncaring, unstable, futureless and hopeless situation. Many who argue against choice are opting to choose the last option for people they don’t even know. Women are the first and best deciders on family planning and the BIG GOVERNMENT filled with fat lazy bureaucrats need to stay out of this issue, sit quietly behind their rosewood desks and wait to draw a big pension.

  32. Cargosquid
    February 21, 2011 at 8:48 am

    @BS in VA
    “raised by the government on decommissioned military bases so they can serve as bureaucrats when they grow up,”

    Heh.

  33. Cargosquid
    February 21, 2011 at 8:52 am

    @Moon-howler
    That’s the age old question. But its just not Palin’s pay. It any pay higher than a teachers. You can use that argument against anybody. So, how much should we pay a teacher if x gets x hundred thousand dollars? See? Its a straw argument. A teacher makes the salary that the local society has determined it is worth + whatever can be negotiated.

    1. Moon-howler
      February 21, 2011 at 9:40 am

      @That isn’t what I said. I asked how one can justify it in their own mind. I know how public employs are paid.

      BTW, have I told you how sick I am of hearing about how much the private sector pays for this, that and the other? More faux facts pulled out of someone’s rear end. Let’s take PWC salaries and benefits and start comparing to the average beltway bandit…ooops how about defense contractor.

  34. Moon-howler
    February 21, 2011 at 8:52 am

    Cheer Moe! Totally agree.

    BS, I am going to think about that. I know your sarcasm button is on, but it is early.
    😈

  35. Cargosquid
    February 21, 2011 at 8:55 am

    Of course, in every case where concealed carry expanded, crime has fallen. And putting more guns into civilians hands has NOT resulted in increased shooting. And finally, if DC had better gun laws, there might be some firearms being carried into Congress, but right now, DC restricts 2nd Amendment rights. Here in VA, I can carry almost throughout the entire Capitol building and do so on Lobby Day. Only place its restricted is the actual Legislative Chamber.

  36. Big Dog
    February 21, 2011 at 9:08 am

    http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/war contraception

    “…every dollar spent on family planning saves the government four dollars
    down the road.”

  37. Big Dog
    February 21, 2011 at 9:10 am

    http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/war-contraception

  38. marinm
    February 21, 2011 at 9:29 am

    @Cargosquid

    Cargo, wasn’t aware that the legislative chamber was a GFZ. I carried openly and took a picture with my delegate in the chamber. Ah well.

    Mo, glad you got to watch the race. Good stuff. I’m happy with a Bayne win but of course would’ve preferred if the Hendrick boys would’ve been up front. I watched the pre-race and it was good to see the military well represented especially considering the anti-NASCAR legislation that was defeated just three days ago.

    Whether it’s a good or bad idea for civilians to be armed and carried is not really my concern. It’s legal and the right of the citizenry. I support that.

  39. Moon-howler
    February 21, 2011 at 9:34 am

    Notice to all, if you want people to understand what you are talking about, and you use codes, write it out once, then use the code. I have no clue what marin just said.

  40. Moon-howler
    February 21, 2011 at 9:45 am

    @Cargosquid

    Why do you feel the need to do that though? Sure you CAN, but why?

  41. marinm
    February 21, 2011 at 10:30 am

    @Moon-howler

    GFZ = Gun Free Zone. Cargo had mentioned that the legislative chamber is a no-carry zone. I made mention that I carried on the legislative floor – openly – because I had no idea that rule existed. I even took a picture with my delegate (at the time) with a pistol on my hip.

    Valuation and pay are really two different constructs. What a teacher brings to the table is probably more important than what Vick brings to the table as a quarterback but Vick get’s compensated many times over that teacher.

    I might value a trinket that my father or mother gave me but it’s financial value may be next to nothing. To me it’s priceless.

    As a beltway bandit myself.. If a teacher wants to get in my line of work and do it as well as I do — they can have my salary. That’s a choice they make when they go into the field of their choice.

  42. Cargosquid
    February 21, 2011 at 10:53 am

    @marinm
    Perhaps I’m mistaken, but on lobby day, they were restricting carry. Now I’m second guessing my memory.

    As the commercials state: your mileage may vary.

  43. marinm
    February 21, 2011 at 11:00 am

    @Cargosquid

    You might be right. I think I heard the same about the seating gallary overlooking the chamber but the trooper had no issue with me sitting down and watching the action below.

    I think the rules on lobby day are different from regular days. I drove up with a buddy to chime in on some gun legislation but also give my .02 on the fusion center, social security number access and a few other things that peaked my interest.

    If you go on a day other than lobby day and you are NOT a lobbyist the committies are eager to hear you as it takes a lot to get a voter off his butt and visit Richmond.

  44. Moon-howler
    February 21, 2011 at 11:01 am

    I made no mention of Vick. Vick also has to make hay hile the sun shines. He could be injured tonight and never be back on his game. The amount we pay sports figures is another story.

    Obviously people think it is more important to hear Palin flap than it is to pay a teacher a year’s salary. What else is left to talk about?

    What is really griping me is there are all sorts of other workers out there demonstrating. Teachers are not the only public employees. Yet that is who the conversation always comes back to.

    As I said, the governor doesn’t want to put public safety at risk by having cops and firefighters strike or all in sick. He fears them. He doesn’t fear teachers. He thinks they will blink and he also sees them as dispensible. That is pretty obvious.

    And some day, one of those teachers might come along and do just that re your job. Or maybe a cop, a firefighter, or some other suspecting person. Oddly enough, things change. That’s the reason to not puff up too much. Life is a crap shoot.

    The only thing I stand by is that if the governor fires the teachers, he loses. He will have to shut the schools down. The teachers cannot be replaced that quickly.

    The replacements aren’t at the colleges and university areas either, especially in the critical shortage areas. The last laugh will happen in about 5 years when teacher salaries will rise sky high? Why? Because that is the only way they will be able to attract workers.

    Whatever happens now is temporary.

  45. marinm
    February 21, 2011 at 11:11 am

    “And some day, one of those teachers might come along and do just that re your job. Or maybe a cop, a firefighter, or some other suspecting person. Oddly enough, things change. That’s the reason to not puff up too much. Life is a crap shoot.”

    I’m not puffing up at all (you’ve mentioned this a few times – I’m not sure why). If someone wants to do my job they can get the training, they can acquire the knowledge, they can do what I’ve done and apply for a job. The work that I do provides support to our warfighters and we are understaffed and frankly at times the government is forced to take lesser qualified people and ‘train them up’ on the job because we have a shortage of people in our field to the work the govt requires.

    If my job goes away tommorow then I’ll just have to figure out something else to do. My kids might have to be on ramen noodles for awhile. That’s life. I agree.

  46. Juturna
    February 21, 2011 at 11:11 am

    Americans only value those that generate money. Imagine if children were a priority the whole system would be upside down.

    Americans might value the public servants for the brief period that they need them. And at that moment the expectation is higher of public servants than of any investment group.

    Greed beats values or happiness in almost all cases. Unfortunately, most of the financiers of the world have no loyalties to anyone or anything other than themselves.

  47. Juturna
    February 21, 2011 at 11:18 am

    And when people are not treated fairly – unions are born. That’s how they evolved and that’s why they’re needed in some industries today.

  48. Cato the Elder
    February 21, 2011 at 11:20 am

    @Moon-howler

    This isn’t really on-topic re: Wisconsin, but I think we’re on the cusp of a revolution in terms of how learning occurs.

    Think about it. 20 years ago if I wanted to learn about harmonic functions there were perhaps 10 universities I could attend to get a quality education in my desired subject, spending perhaps 100,000.00 in the process. Now I have to do is touch my iPad in the right places and wait 30 seconds.

    The net effect of the information revolution is to tear down barriers to learning (such as admission to a prestigious university, money, etc.). The velocity of information today is nothing short of amazing. What will happen to the existing education oriented workforce as this situation continues to evolve and productivity rises?

    There’s a larger question lurking in there as well. What is the value of commodity labor in an environment that is increasingly dependent on technology and automation?

  49. Morris Davis
    February 21, 2011 at 11:23 am

    Cargo and marinm – There’s a significant difference between can and should.  I can fart boldly on the Metro and jog down the National Mall in a French cut Speedo, but it doesn’t mean I should do it just to make a statement that I can.  I suspect those acts express the same message as someone carrying a firearm into a classroom or a coffee shop: Hey, honey, look at that a**hole over there.” As I said a few months ago when the “patriots” got a big bagjolt out of carrying firearms into VA bars, a 9 mil visible above the belt suggests about 9 mil more cowering in a crevice somewhere down below it.  Guns belong in the woods and the nightstand, not in our classrooms.

    Happy Presidents’ Day to all!

  50. marinm
    February 21, 2011 at 11:38 am

    Mo, if you want to jog down the National Mall in a French cut (French, really?) Speedo to make your statement. God bless you cause in this country you can. Just wait for it to warm up some cause the cold tends to make things shrink. 😉

    BTW, if you decide to carry a firearm with you while on the METRO wearing your speedo remember to not cross into the PRDC or PRMD. While carry of a firearm in the METRO system is legal in VA it’s not so in DC/MD.

    You should come to Starbucks with me one day while I’m carrying. I doubt people think I’m an a**hole. I really think 90% of people just don’t notice as they live in condition white. For those that do notice and think I’m an *ss. Good on them but I don’t care.

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