Oh Shoot

Yeah, gave you a promotion to denote your high caliber participation. - OS

Works for one lane's worth of folks, but if you're thinking "group meet", doesn't work worth a hoot. - OS

Mr. FlipFlop is the opposite of Mr. Ideologue, so in this case I'll gratefully desert the Devil I Know. And as 8.6AR points out, his very which-way-the-wind-blows nature makes him more malleable to the will of Congress, which with any luck at all will be GOP controlled. Unlike O, he's not going to be out on his own limb hell bent on some personal vision of destroying what remains of the very ethos of America. - OS

Back to Santorum/civil union thread, though, it seems quite the fortunate thing, at least in the practical sense, that all Catholics don't follow the Pope's admonitions regarding contraception, otherwise we'd be many more than "only" 7 billion of us. There was a time, actually almost ALL the time up until maybe the 1960's, when large families served necessary and practical purposes. And I'm certainly NOT suggesting that any laws could or should ever be passed to limit that, of course. On the other hand, I think folks that have two or less ought to get a tax break! I do get a sense that Rick, even though he denies it, certainly would, if he could, push "social laws" that suit his religious viewpoints. And I certainly admit I don't like that. And consider all the gay couples who adopt some of the unwanted overflow -- certainly if their unions were legitimized, they'd have an easier time of it, and it's undeniable that certain other financial resources already discussed in this thread are withheld from them, which can affect the adopted kids' welfare in a very real way, too. Now, note how he hammered the religious/moral card in Iowa, because it played well there, then hid his light under a bushel in NH, cause there it didn't (and even got heckled and jostled). So it's time to crank it back up in SC, because the conventional wisdom says it'll play there, and after all it's the only real hold card he has left. But futile overall. But it galls me, these pols' religious hypocrisy I comment on now and then. Most of them aren't any more religious than Adam's house cat, but they have to play it that way. I have no doubt that RS is a True Believer, but selective use of even his real heart felt faith as a selective tool strikes me as quite hypocritical too. - OS

There was never a debate on my part about any religion itself, and certainly not the underlying divinity thereof. In one thread I commented on verifiable history compared to the Biblical and the secular, and in this one, the degree to which Jewish culture as reflected in the Old Testament influenced US Constitutional law, and quite a brief little aside it was at that. I believe all the direct personal insults have been strictly one sided, and are not unusual when one quickly depletes his store of more appropriate ammo in defense of an assault that doesn't even exist. I am quite aware of the TGO "personal attack" clause -- any appellations the other party may actually well deserve by now have remained tacit on my part. Because I'm a frigging saint. Right. - OS

Hmm, I can go right there. But don't right off see what SH is frothing about. Conservatives Without Conscience is a fav book, 'bout it? - OS

If O had done worth a shiz, I'm sure with his arrogance, he'd simply refuse to debate; worked for Tricky Dick and LBJ. Didn't work for Carter, though, and certainly O ain't gonna be up in the polls enough to risk it (I think). Then again, he hasn't unleashed his billion dollar saturation barrage yet either, who knows? Actually, seems he probably won't make that billion mark, the deep pockets of Wall Street, banks, and investment houses are abandoning him. - OS

Keep taking care. Your interpreter needs some face cream! - OS

Well, not exactly the "sticks" but sorta. We have three other Wallys, all in city limits that sell them, but they are in the less high dollar parts of town. And surrounding towns, Oak Ridge, Clinton, Lenoir City, Maryville all sell them. Chattanooga same way, the one in Brainerd and the one on Gunbarrel next to Hamilton Place Mall (THE 'Nooga shopping mecca) don't. - OS

Heard all kinds of weird explanations, but obviously has something to do with their perceived demographics. The two in West Knoxville are the only two in our area that don't, and that side of town is THE shopping area. It's like they don't sell them in the urban "upscale" areas. But they sell ammo, which of course gets sold out. Some spreadsheet reasoning mystery. - OS

The year or the year before I started UT in '66, saw the Playboy college ratings issue. When it came to drinking, UT and a couple of other schools had asterisks, which led to annotation at bottom of page, "not fair to rank professionals". Looks like Hostess is about to file Chapter 11, so we may find out! - OS

I'm afraid you'll eat those words down the road if O is reelected and the GOP doesn't win the Senate, so that O gets free reign on the next 1-4 appointments in his second term. We probably are going to face some Big Bad Stuff either way but there's no sense putting it on warp speed by giving The Prince of Frigging Darkness four more years -- and a legacy of decades. - OS

Interesting to me that some of the most adamant opinions about tire longevity in the thread are from fellers who've been on the road a whopping 11 years or so. - OS

I wish he could have gotten to this point of influence in his 50's. Or 60's. Might have been a significantly different country at this point. - OS

Maybe they're on to something. If 10,000 folks with out of state permits went to the Empire State Building or World Trade Memorial and asked to check them, and overwhelm the jails, and .... nah. - OS

Oh, I'll probably vote for Paul in the primary. I'm right in there for the non-loon parts of him. Hell, I figure half right he's better than the rest, and hopefully a GOP controlled House AND senate would run with the good half and umm, temper the other. Maybe it'll help get him to the convention with enough pull to influence the party planks a little, maybe squeak out a promise from Mitt he'll need to live up to or something. Which is really what Paul has pretty much admitted as his realistic objective. - OS

Santorum claims to have A+, other than that don't know, haven't heard any of them touting it, can't find it on NRA site. Perry and Bachman I'm sure had high ones, too. - OS

Wow, it's been almost two years, had to go back to find context of your response. Anyway, yeah, that should be a defense to carrying a 4" or less knife on school property in TN. But it won't be. - OS

Seriously. Whole cylinder has to come out to reload it. Instructor said, "you're not thinking about carrying that are ya?" I said "sure, look how quick it is to reload!" But I had to go ahead and nudge him with a grin, 'cause he had this look of mild horror on his face. - OS

Bro! You may have gotten a very inexpensive rifle indeed if you're willing to part with that handguard and slap a polymer one on it. They are highly sought after. Not sure how highly, but a search around MiniVille will probably give you an idea. (perfectunion.com) - OS

Well, title of this thread is The Choice. And that's Mitt or Barack. I actually think Mitt might do as okay as any prez could possibly do anymore. He'll at least take a stab at something to address our many probs; and since I truly believe he NOT out to "fundamentally change America", he certainty can't do worse. Hell, I may toss him some shekels once he sews up the nomination. - OS

You'll love it. When I'm primed to buy a gun I don't spend a lot of time trying to shave a few bucks off some best price somewhere. Getcha a couple of the Ruger 25 rounders and shoot the crap out of it. Oh yeah, be sure to clean it every 3,000 rounds or so. Or not. - OS

I'll triple pump it for your ass, pilgrim. - OS

Well, that's a good point. But ya got to admit that Mitt is sharp. A phony but perfect pol with a fake laugh and polyester hair, a world class huckster. But sharp. Newt is sharp too, but schizoid. He's his own good cop bad cop. - OS

All true, but I'm frigging embarrassed to have him in the running, can't help it. - OS