You can. http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=individual+HSA+plans&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=CtG-tNnofTJixIIfAzQTJ9aHfDQAAAKoEBU_Q2Rjm

Specifically, note in the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_savings_account that 1.1 Million people have purchased into their own HSA accounts.

HSA (individual owned) and HRA (employer owned) savings accounts allow you to save money up to certain IRS limits per year. In the case of the HSA, this is your money and is not owned by the employer. That means you can take it with you if you go to a new employer, or if you lose your job etc. This is pre-tax money that is yours to use on most IRS 213(d) expenses. This money does not expire at the end of the year (you are thinking Flexible Spending Account, which is different).

Wish there was a delete key. After re-reading the submission I feel foolish for suggesting these two sites.

Tom's Hardware, Anandtech and others used to be really good resources. Maybe worthwhile to check them out?

I am a huge gun fan but not much of a historian. But one thing I did learn (at an Appleseed marksmanship event) is that rifled guns were very rarely used during the Revolutionary War, playing a very minor support role due to their incredibly long reloading time. If you read your history you will find the technological advancement that allowed fast enough reloading for effective military use of rifling was the Minie Ball.

The technology of the day, 1775, was smooth bore muskets and they were quite inaccurate. What won the day was France bankrupting themselves in support of the colonists war against the English. Without French support we would have been a British colony for much longer. As an Englishman myself I often joke about cheese eating surrender monkeys, but I know for a fact that without French military support in the 18th century, my new home country, and perhaps the world, would be a very different place.

Where I live most police officers "retire" after 20 years with a 50% annual salary of their final employment year, paid until they die. Many of these officers will then take another police job in another town for *more* than they previously making, at the age of 38 - 42, they are also highly sought because of their 20 years of experience. Others who are sick of law enforcement will go into detective type work. Where I live there are a ton of insurance companies and they love to hire former detectives to go after insurance fraud.

This may seem an appropriate use of resources in an inner city where there is a need to retain police officers, and also compensate them for many years in a stressful situation. I can assure you, however, that this need not apply to my nicely wooded suburb in Connecticut.

You may be right, however in the jury instructions I was given last week, the judge was very clear that a police officer is a witness like any other, and it is up to the jury to determine the believability of the witness. I was a potential juror for a criminal trial and they stated several different ways that a police officers testimony was not to be believed as more or less important, more or less truthful, or more or less relevant than any other witnesses testimony.

In reality some jurors may choose to assign more believability to a police officer's testimony, but we were warned not to do so.

Shudder... cotton/polyester blend?? Sorry, 100% cotton for shirts only, and either cotton or wool for pants. Cotton/poly is for pocket-protector worthy plaid only.

Just to counteract your sexism, my wife is an awesome parallel parker. In fact, when we go to the city she often will take the car once we see a spot. I can do it well enough, but she is really good at it, nailing it perfectly on the first try... always just a few inches from the curbing.

Just last week there was a case of a motorcyclist recording a man waving a gun running up to him. The guy was a state cop and after he had taken a few steps out of his car yelled "state police!". The motorcyclist was being charged with a felony under federal wiretapping laws. MD is indeed a two-party notice state according to the news articles last week.

And if you are like the motorcyclist in Maryland, recently, you will find yourself brought up on felony wiretapping laws for illegal audio recording of a state police officer without permission. Yikes! Most states are two party consent, which means each party to a recording needs to provide acknowledgment and agreement for the recording to proceed.

Sorry but this is a scam. $80 - $90 per year? People would ordinarily scream bloody murder if asked to pay that much for a magazine subscription, much less a way to pay your freakin' taxes.

I do my 1040 the old fashioned way, pencil and paper and my HP 12c calculator. It takes me about 45 minutes to do both federal and state, including all the itemized interest income and deductions (house, family of 4 w/ 2 children) and saves me $80 - $90. Who wouldn't spend 45 minutes to save that kind of money??

Thank you! (note: at least the parent poster didn't spell it HIPPA)

My town (in Connecticut) has inadvertently experimented with varying driver speed based on road surface quality. In the street leading up to my neighborhood it used to be quite bumpy and potholed. The speed limit was 25 mph and on a good day you could do 30 mph. Two years ago they repaved it because of complaints from residents... the result was a very nice smooth surface with no additional impediments, and my observed average speed is 45 mph. Now the police regularly patrol this road and always have someone pulled over when I drive home from work. Since the town does not get revenue from tickets the patrol officer is part of my tax expense. I'd say it was not worth it.

Another road in town has a section that is washed out from the recent rainy NE weather. Again we all have to slow down to the posted speed limit. I propose we simply repair our roads to a minimal degree instead of following what the CT DOT suggests!

I have been to his site before, but just spent an hour there now. If I didn't need to work I think I could get lost for a few more hours. His site represents an interesting and intensive view of effective presentation of data-intensive information.

As long as this happens to everyone at the same time, cool. Unfortunately the way it works now is that you need a "senior" representative in Washington to ensure your cut of the pork pie. We are losing Senator Dodd this year, and no one wants to work with Lieberman anymore anyway, so instead of sending lots of funds to Washington and getting only a portion back, we'll likely get even less of the pie until our congressmen rise through the ranks again. For all the complaining we do about our senior congressmen, if they are successful at getting some or all of our money back, then they are doing what we need them to do.