OK, last shot........Rate, the "reduce your debt" redneck just got me!.........Rainen, on the abor**ion thng, I have a compound question.  1. We spare no expense to save premies, but if the mother decides to end a life, we are supposed to beleive this is just her decision?  And if the argument that "who will care for all of the unwanted babies, and who will pay for it" is inverted, then we are saying that choice is also helpful from a fiscal standpoint.  Ok, then smokers who die early from their sinful habit also end up costing less, as they die earlier, so why don't 'they' leave me and my Luckies alone!  Convoluted, but do you get it?  I think the whole issue is moot, choice is now a sacred cow that can't be touched, but why the heck can't they learn to wrap that rascal?  Hasn't that numb…

Rate, your brush IS too broad.  No , I don't prefer pavement (although I did chuckle when I heard about a guy who paved his lawn, covered it with astroturf, and installed a statue of a lawnmower with a sword through it), I just enjoy irony.  That Trent Lott remark was a little low, however.  Would of been better all around if he just admitted he was trying to make the silly old bas***d feel beter before he keels over, and spends the rest of eternity who knows where.  Very tempted to fire back a reference about Sen. Byrd, but I know that being a former clansman and playing the part of a confederate general doesn't make him a racist--heck, I'd dress up like Pearl Bailey if it got me on the big screen (not that I'm a crossdresser, just....well....forget it).  By the way, have you seen the Edd…

Excellent!  You are right, Rate, I DO find you entertaining.  Willing to accept that both the left and the right barrels contain rotten apples, and personal choice as to which you prefer.  There are two dilemmas that interest me concerning the environment (oops, I mean conservation), and alternate energy.
1.  Here in the Midwest, there is lots of interest in setting up wind turbines.  One of the proposed sites is in the Flint Hills in Kansas (close to home).  The problem now with the environmentalists is that they are (in their opinion) too big, too ugly, too noisy (evidently prairie chickens don't care for them), and will spoil the pristine beauty of this region, which you can enjoy from your car travelling along I-70 (thinly veiled sarcasm).  The fact is that ANY type of energy source, …

Not to butt in here, but the Molly Ivins-like rant has me intrigued.  As for the '80s, didn't the D-controlled congress spent money on social programs (most of which failed to produce any long term effects other than teaching a generation of children to not have any ambition)just as fast and furious as money was spent on defense?  I was in the service at the time, experienced the mess that Carter made of our military, and had the pleasure of seeing Ronnie build it back up to the organization that ended the cold war.  Ok, ok, so we flat out outspent them, but the results are there for you to see.  Deja vu all over again (sorry Yogi) in the '90s, when we saw an unprecedented level of military commitments by Bill, and inversely proportional cuts in defense spending.  "You want spare parts, yo…