Chucktshoes

If you wait until middle school for Sex Ed, you have waited too long. It is not uncommon for kids to start puberty at 8 or 9 years old. <I blame our heavy consumption of processed foods.> These days kids are already getting pregnant in middle school, you have to move sex ed to late elementary school.

Have you ever read "The Law" by Frederick Bastiat? In that he lays out a very simple and succinct definition of what constitutes a valid basis for any law. My summary of it is that if a law exists to protect the liberty of the individual from being violated by others then it is valid. Any law that does not directly protect the individual's liberty, especially if it violates the individual's liberty is invalid. Life, liberty and property are not granted by government, but predate its existence. The only valid basis for any government is the protection of life, liberty and property. If we applied that measure to our own local, state and federal statutes I would WAG that over 90% of our laws would disappear. We would be better off for it.

Another +1 here. You said it much better than I was able to. As an aside: I have been saying that the .gov needs to be out of the business of marriage for years. Civil union contracts for all to handle the inheritance, property, next of kin, and the other issues currently associated with marriage are the way to go. It is really awesome to hear more and more people from all political persuasions take up this position.

If only they would see that when the wish to legislate morality and behavior based upon their religious beliefs, they are acting exactly the same the Taliban. I say this not as an atheist or even a very liberal Christian, but as a reasonably conservative one. The Lord's desires for us must be taken on willingly and happily. Just as the liberals get no credit for charity by using the government's gun to support people by way of social welfare programs, we get no credit for morality by forcing folks to live in a manner in which we approve by legislating Christian morality.

You'd think so Strick, but you'd be wrong. You've been talking to the American Taliban.

Here! Here!

And no other state's permit would allow a TN resident to carry inside the state of TN. Just ask Voldemort.

Wait until you get to King Solomon!

When you quoted me as well as Erick, and then used this statement in the response: Was I wrong to assume that it was also directed at me? Notice the use of the plural "guys". Did I read that out of context?

Where did I use an emotional argument? Hell, I didn't even make an argument one way or another, I just pointed out a couple of flaws in yours.

Four out of five of those examples directly violate the individual liberties of others. The fifth (adultery) doesn't and isn't a crime in the majority of states, and where alienation of affection laws remain on the books, they are very rarely enforced.

The reason you have never felt to the need to identify yourself as heterosexual is that in our current cultural context, it is assumed unless there are evident factors to suggest otherwise.

And we have a winner!

I absolutely agree with everything you wrote, up until the last line. Romney will clean nothing up. At best he will delay the coming collapse a few years. There is no way that he is going to be the savior and turn back the tide of progressive designed decline that has been in the works since Woodrow Wilson. If you want real change in the way Washington goes about its business of raping the American taxpayer, the Republican party isn't going to give you what you want. There isn't enough political will in this country to make the hard decisions needed to save the the US. As much as I have been harping on the Republican party being not any different than the Democrats lately, neither party is really the problem. The problem is that the American people have figured out that they can vote themselves largesse from the treasury's coffers. We are reaching that tipping point of more than 50% sucking on the government tit. I don't see any way back from collapse left, only delays of the inevitable. It is coming and we the people have nobody to blame but ourselves.

Has Romney's record as governor of MA changed in the last nine months? I am continually amazed at people's ability to believe the lies politicians tell about what they are going to do when there is a very clear record of what they have done. Leopards don't change their spots, and 9 months later a steaming bag of fermented crap still stinks.

There is no difference between Romney and Obama. http://www.examiner.com/article/george-soros-not-much-difference-between-romney-and-obama

Nah, linking to all the threads should be sufficient.

A point I have been trying to make in multiple ways is that to a large number of what are dismissively referred to as "Paulbots", RP was the reason they were going to vote Republican this cycle. Many of us view Romney as no better or even different from Obama. It is a case of 6 of one, half a dozen of another. The enemy of my enemy is my friend does not apply when Romney's history puts him in the position of being the exact same enemy of liberty as the current resident of the White House. It would be like us uniting with Russia against China during the Cold War.

Here is why I took such issue with your position of irrelevancy for the parties. If the parties are irrelevant, then not only what they do is irrelevant, but HOW they do it as well. The RNC changed and or ignored its own rules in an attempt to present unity behind Romney. As an example, the Socialist Party USA (no, I'm not referring to the DNC) is irrelevant on the national stage. Nobody knows or cares who their candidate is, or how they were chosen because they don't have a chance in hell of getting elected. Right now to get elected you have to come from one of two major parties. If how the Republican party chooses its nominee is irrelevant then the subject of the entire debate we were having becomes a moot point, thereby allowing you to sidestep having to deal with whether or not the actions taken by the RNC to silence dissent within the party were ethical. That has been what stuck in my craw this whole time. The RNC was underhanded and wholly unethical in the manner in which it handled the RP "problem". I was willing to go along with the Rs and vote for Romney to hopefully get rid of Obama. This whole debacle only reinforced for me (and others that I know) that at the end of the day, the Republican party is no better or even different than the Democratic Party. The current and future well being of the nation are not their priority. All either party is concerned with is accumulating and maintaining power, money and influence. They are equally corrupt, diseased and rotten in their cores.

While winters here will be much easier to handle than they were in Minnesnowta, the summers are gonna suck. In regards to the BBQ, Memphis BBQ is the best in the country. Our middling BBQ joints are better than most in the state or the even country. As far as the shooting, live here long enough and you will bound to be invoked in one or two.

I would say the above quote of yours does accurately describe one of the primary party functions. I would also posit that we both know that if you aren't an R or a D, then your chances of getting elected to national office are pretty slim. Taking those two facts into consideration, I'd say that makes political parties pretty damn relevant, no? If the parties are that important, then their internal rules that determine who gets to have input on shaping the party platform are pretty damn important as well. You can legimately argue the position that the RNC was right to take the actions they did in changing their internal rules, or just outright ignoring them all day long. To argue that political parties are irrelevant is more than just a bit disingenuous, and in my opinion beneath you. You normally bring more honest arguments to the table.

Yes. Though our state disagrees. I view defense of property as a valid reason for deadly force. However, as I mentioned before, I am legally constrained by the states opinion on this matter.

Calling them out does no good if you continue to vote for them,those like them, or for those that have the ability to hold them accountable and don't. What happened this year with the Maggart primary is an example of what needs to be done wholesale. Robert, I like how you say parties are irrelevant, and in the next breath speak about exactly why they aren't. Nice trick.

Hell, they have Wendy Thomas on staff specifically to write columns like this.