TMF

Yep. My family still has a small cattle ranch in the last undeveloped, rural bastion in Hudson. I go there once or twice a year to visit. Used to be nothing but dirt roads to get out there. Now there are several retirement communities only minutes away.

That's surprising. I had SF before and switched to USAA about 10 years ago; it cut my car insurance costs in half. The wife handles all the bills so I have no idea what we pay now, but considering I'm older and haven't had a ticket in over 10 years in can't be much. I also refinanced the house last year in order to take advantage of the dip down to 3%. Did almost everything by email, then they just sent a rep to the house to close. Closing costs were a little higher than I expected, but it's already paid for itself.

Yeah, I don't get that either. When I'm just sitting there waiting for the movie to start I'm gonna have no problem texting or whatever on my phone. I didn't realize that was poor etiquette.

Yep, avoid confrontation while carrying. Even if the victim had attacked him after the shooter instigated the altercation he'd still be sitting in jail. You can't start a fight with someone then shoot them when they are winning.

USAA across the board. Filed one claim and refinanced the house through them. All good experiences.

And in all of those cases where the school system stepped over the line it became national news with the schools issuing apologies and normally reversing their decision. Somehow I think there were school administrators doing dumb stuff back before there was 24 hour news and Alex Jones.

Yes, we can point out sensational, anecdotal evidence of how out of control some school administrators have become. That doesn't mean we throw the baby out with the bath water.

I think it is less about their effectiveness and more about how stupid Americans are. I mean, we've seen more criminal scandals in this administration than any before and Obama would win if elections were held tomorrow. They don't even have to try any more.

Once again, that has nothing to do with the schools. It has everything to do with the breeders. If I send my kid to public school and he is the only child out of a class of 30 kids that isn't a future felon of America, that doesn't mean that it's the school's fault that the other 29 kids are hopeless failures, it's the parents. The parents, the parents the parents. Public school or private school, you can't send your kid there with the expectation that they will mold them into educated young adults with an appreciation for learning if the parents don't get involved. I sure as hell don't expect that the school has an influence on my kids' moral compass. The problem with school is just an example of what's going on with society. Sh###y people are breeding at a higher rate because the government subsidizes it. Their pig spawn turns out to be as bad or worse than the parents. The process repeats exponentially.

The problem with those statistics is that it is used to suggest that homeschooled children are more likely to be better educated without taking into account the circumstances surrounding why they are being homeschooled. It is misleading to use it in such a manner. Of course homeschooled kids would have a much higher per capita educational success rate from those in public school. That doesn't mean that YOUR kid has less of a chance in public school. What you're ignoring is that homeschooled children have parents that take a very active role in their child's education, whereas if you look at the whole of public school kids there are many parents who could care less and use school as a day care center. Their kids wouldn't have a chance no matter where you put them. It all comes back to the parents. If you send your kid to school and take no role in their education then you will get exactly what you put in. My kids are both in preschool yet I'm doing homework with them every night. My 4 year old can read and write; he didn't learn that from his teacher. My two year old knows her letters, numbers, shapes and colors. That didnt happen in class. It always comes back to the parents. The schools aren't the problem.

Yup. She just needs to take a road trip to Ft Bragg. Someone will take her home at closing time and use her as a receptacle, which is what she wants deep down. How does she think our species has propagated throughout history? Every act of sex is rape simply because we enter them? No chick has ever enjoyed it? While it isn't in dispute that women don't normally have libidos as strong as men, they still do desire sex. Even lesbos cram dildos up each other, based on my research. It is biological. She's either mad that she wasn't born a man or she is mad that no one wants to penetrate her disgusting meat wallet.

Well I wasn't talking about mine.

Sounds like she just needs some ####. No wonder she's so angry.

Let's face it, there are a lotta folks with inferiority complexes who don't like cops. They don't like that there are people who have authority, so these idiots construct a scenario where they aren't breaking the law yet they know their actions will draw the attention of law enforcement, so this gives them an opportunity to tell an authority figure to pound sand.

Well don't misunderstand, the NRA is a great organization for the support and defense of the second amendment, I just think they'd do better to keep the nastiness under control. It would improve their image and bring those moderate folks who believe in the right to keep and bear arms to our cause. I expect the ignorant vitriol to be spewed from the left. When they act like children they lose legitimacy. It's how I used to argue with my sister when we were kids. The more worked up she would get the calmer I would get. It'd make her look like the crazy one no matter how wrong I was. It bothers me when folks on my side spew the vitriol back. We should be above that. The moral high ground has better fields of fire.

When the cover of 1st Freedom magazine refers to Obama as "King Pinnochio" I don't suspect any democrats will feel very accepted. Decorum can be used when opposing a political figure or party. It's the vitriol that turns people away and gives them the impression that the NRA is full of looneys. Whether that be untrue or not, it's the perception that matters.

This is what I'm thinking.

Because he said that's what his intentions were, to teach him a lesson. That is what parents call a punishment, when the kids must endure something punitive in order to learn a lesson.

And I was on such a high after getting my statement from Edward Jones in the mail. Now I'm depressed again.

Him embarrassing his kid was intended to be punishment.

First, how do you think this became an Internet thing in the first place? Who took the dads picture each morning as he did this? It is clear that the intention of all this was to serve the ego of the father so he could later show off how clever he is, at the expense of his son no less. Maybe he isn't a bad dad, and surely there are plenty of kids who would be so lucky to have a dad so involved, but that doesn't make it right. The whole point here is that shaming and humiliating your child is not a mature way to punish. It is petty and potentially very damaging to the child and the relationship between parent and child. I keep seeing all this Internet shaming of parents on their children and I think it's terrible and abusive, while others think its awesome. I don't get it. While I punish my kids when they do wrong I would never want them to feel humiliation at my hands. That's no better than some bully that picks on him in front of a crowd. How else would any reasonable person interpret this? You say it isn't directed at anyone in particular? Well obviously it is. It's directed at anyone who has a problem with what he did. So why throw that in there other than to be an ahole?

No need to be personal, first off. This guy decided to advertise this to the world. We're not peeking into his windows to see this. Secondly, it is not for you to judge whether this kid was humiliated, it is for the kid. If a kid finds something humiliating it doesn't matter what you think. His perception is his reality. Blowing that off like it doesn't matter isn't how you show love and respect to your kids. Sorry, but that is the reality.

Of course there's nonsense in there, but there was truth in there too. I key in in the truthful stuff because the nonsense is being spewed by otherwise hopeless people. I don't care about the hopeless, purposefully ignorant people. I care about the ones that make a valid point. We should listen to that.

Yup. ZSUs on the DZ. woulda been a bad day.

I'll agree with the sentiments that the NRA attaches itself to non-firearm related ideals which is going to be a turn off for people who disagree with those ideals. That is going to come off as exclusionary to people who believe in the right to bear arms but disagree with many of the inflammatory stuff the NRA covers their propaganda magazine with. The reality is that for many gun owners the biggest issues aren't infringements on the 2nd Amendment. That doesn't mean they don't support the 2A, it just means that isn't their biggest issue. You have a lot of people who voted for Obama who are on our side regarding gun rights. Those folks may have a hard time swallowing much of what the NRA puts out, which is so incredibly anti-Obama it's like Alex Jones is the editor in chief. I think if the NRA just toned it down and focused on legislation advancing the rights of gun owners and calling attention to infringements without all the vitriol. Once again, you have to step out of your own skin for a moment and try to understand where other folks are coming from. You think that your opinions and world view is most correct, but so do folks who hold the opposite opinion as you. If we can find common ground in the defense of the 2A we should embrace that and keep all the other stuff out of it. Think of how the NRA would grow if we could recruit democrat gun owners in large numbers into the organization. They aren't joining because the NRA is putting out harsh, anti-democrat propaganda.