There is, in the city of Seattle, a certain company with a legendary history in the world of computing. It has been known as... The Microsoft.

Considering the turnover rate for Microsoft employment, Windows stack developers are probably as common there as waitresses with SAG cards are in LA.

Your problem is that your skills are a rare commodity in LA but common as dirt in Seattle

How is the cost of living?

Very high, isn't it. Think these things may have something to do with each other?

http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/cost-of-living-rankings

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/cost-of-living-in-australia-is-among-the-highest-in-the-world/story-fni0cx12-1226677641006

Why, you'd almost think that high minimum wage gets absorbed by how expensive everything has become - even domestically-sourced things like rent or meat.

Prosperity comes from innovation, entrepreneurs, and hard work. And, a government/marketplace friendly to them. Never from an enforced cost structure. See also: Germany, 1950 - 1991.

If the feds could investigate Toyota over "unintentional acceleration" and make a year-long farce out of old people hitting the wrong pedal or using cheap aftermarket rugs just in time to help a flailing GM, then the same Detroit money can be used to "investigate" Tesla.

May as well make them all out of metal?

The biggest selling handgun in the USA is made by Glock... which uses quite a bit of plastic.

It's so popular, in fact, that all the other major manufacturers have made their own version, from Smith and Wesson's M&P to Beretta's Storm.

If course, it doesn't hurt that all - metal handguns tend to be at least $200 more expensive.

Millions to play? Excuse me, your ignorance is showing. You should probably zip it.

NASCAR is the pinnacle of Stock Car Racing, and yes, you're as likely to compete there as you are to make the FC Bayern Muenchen Team. That said, all over the USA, during warmer weather, people not sponsored by Go Daddy or Budweiser or Sprint race their cars.

Check here, for instance: http://www.racingin.com/Track/upcoming-schedule.aspx

Or read Wikipedia's article on Dick Trickle, who dominated semi-pro dirt-track before his short NASCAR career. You might just learn something.

Actually, handguns are a personal defense compromise favoring convenience and portability.

If you know you'll be in a fight, get a nice 12-gauge shotgun.

Everyone on the planet, from individuals to the US Coast Guard to the US and Chinese militaries, uses the Remington 870. It is cheap, reliable, and highly effective. And, when the situation is resolved, you can buy a long barrel suitable for hunting; where the 870 is equally appreciated. Just make sure your local laws won't make you the criminal if you do this.

Good, I say.

This situation where a single performance (recorded and heavily manipulated) results in several multi-millionaires is an historical aberration long overdue for a correction. The fact that the artist is only sometimes one of the big earners is irrelevant.

For ages, musicians and performers of all types were told to, "sing for their dinner", with the implication being they should be both good enough to earn it, and humble enough to do it.

Live performance are the only way to make money? That's as it should be. Entertain people, entertainer, not the autotuner.

Actually, I'm constantly amazed at how many people will just sit back, mute, and allow their "friends" to wander off on some self-destructive path.

I've found that most people are more concerned with the friendship than with the friend.

Hulu plus is good for being a replacement DVR for network TV. Plus reruns. That's about it.

Amazon Prime, though, is your key to cutting the cable. You see, most of what's on any channel is crap. But if there's one or two shows keeping you on cable (such as Mad Men), then you can buy the current season on Amazon and get the stream the day after it airs for the first time on AMC. This lets you be current on those one or two shows keeping you on the cable. Plus, actually streaming recent stuff.

It's worth noting a few things about the Yucca Mountain project that are not apparent from your post:

-The Department of Energy first started investigating Yucca Mountain in 1978, under Jimmy Carter (D).

-The site was supposed to begin accepting nuclear waste for storage in 1998 under Ronald Reagan (R)

-The county in which the storage facility lies backs the site; it's other Nevadans who do not

-The site was only shut down when a Nevadan had control of the Senate by supermajority, and his party held the House and the Presidency. Since that time, any bill which could force the President into a difficult decision has been blocked in the Senate. Considering that the Department of Energy is a Presidental Cabinet department, the horsetrade is obvious, and the terrific national cost is both clear and disregarded.

The project was consistent and and non-partisan, having crossed through periods of control by either party. (Carter D, Reagan R, Bush R, Clinton D, Bush R) Until after the 2008 elections, that is.

The problem isn't union or not.

The acutal problem is that public employees refuse to see that their money comes from the public.

You see, out in the real world, when the company you run or work for does poorly, you expect it to impact your income. It's obvious logic - the company makes less money, you make less money.

But when the public average income goes down, do government employees predict a pay or benefit cut? Of course not! The 3% COLA plus raise must step on!

Not to mention the under-the-table abuses. Having lived through the last several years in Wisconsin, I can tell you that the Union-owned company providing healthcare (by Union demand in the contract, of course) costs significantly more than identical plans from any other source.
http://www.jsonline.com/business/102748594.html
So this ends up being not only way better health benefits than private employees not in a C-office can find, but there's even a roughly 30% boost that goes straight to Union coffers. Nice.

Turns out when you run the campaign (via free labor, shared space and big contributions) of the person on the other side of the bargaining table, the "bargaining" gets pretty easy for your side. Especially absent any downside to them for giving you the farm. (profit motive is a bitch anyway)

Furthermore, I hear government employees of all stripes complain that they'd make more in the private sector, but don't. But then you ask them to prove it. Turns out teachers working for government earn much more than private. Cops have it all over security guards too. Janitors? Don't get me started. Clerks? Income and benefits differents would be laughably huge if the taxpayers weren't on the hook for them.

But you never hear about it until the sad sacks finish their protracted whining jag about how horrible they have it and you show them how Monster.com works. Then they get real quiet.

Turns out the way unions keep their hand in your paycheck is by convincing you that you have it unjustifiably bad. Keep you angry, keep you stupid, keep you under control - that's the Union Way.

More info: The Devil at my Doorstep by David Bego.

Back in/before the 70s, The Pill could only be taken for a few years - the dosage was considered too strong. So, after a few years of marriage, kids started showing up.

And for thousands of years of recorded history before that, there was no "choice". You had kids until you couldn't.

We represent the first generation of humanity that can cheaply, easily, truly choose when/how many in regards to children. So it should be absolutely obvious we would wait to be more financially ready. It has very little to do with greed, and I find it more than a little little ironic that members of America's most selfish generation (boomers) should point such blame at anyone else.

I agree with the essential sentiment of the other posts commenting on mine, but this nonsense - despite being brought up by a Coward - bears addressing.

You assume much to say that "red states" would have to raise taxes to get anywhere.

-You assume the national welfare state would be maintained
-You assume the "services" would stay the same.
-You assume the seceding states would continue to sell food to the overdeveloped coasts at current subsidized prices
-You assume the seceding states would continue to sell energy and raw materials to the overdeveloped coasts at current prices
-You assume the states would not enact the sort of business-friendly enviornment that would draw most business out of the old USA, creating a massive new tax base that can be touched only lightly to result in massive revenue
-You assume that the social leeches would stay there when the host goes dry and not take advantage of their citizenship to reconnect to the host

I could go on. But, as with most (what was your term?) degenerate blue-state fools, you assume what is must be, and cannot be reversed.

Signing a secession petition is a complete cop-out.

You are right that the best reasons to exit the USA have nothing to do with the individual candidates and everything to do with the nature of Federal abuse of power.

There are 2 courses which might be effective:

1. You begin to actively work/campaign for the education of the people and the election of representatives who will advance your view of the correct limits of Federal power. Keep in mind that many candidates will be imperfect but still worthwhile; we did not get to where we are in 1 step, and we will not return from it in 1 step either. Baby steps must be acceptable, especially early on. This is the work of generations, as it took generations to get to where we are. You will need to be patient and diligent - and both qualities are rare in humans. In time, the USA will begin to resemble the ideas we suppose to claim, but the path will be long, difficult, and messy, as people unlearn their domestication and become, once again, wild and free.

2. Carve out a piece of property - preferably on a national border or ocean. Define a government for yourself and those with you, and defend it with such skills and weapons as you have. This will be the all-consuming work of a lifetime, quite possibly in a shack in the woods in Montana.

A petition to Obama to "Let My People Go" is the act of a crybaby, because it puts the work of implementing either option to other people who have no interest in seeing it through. Note that every state - yes, even Texas - which has sufficient signers has seen their Governor come forward and denounce the notion. The real task of secession and new independence is immense, and no person in power who you might Petition wishes to pursue it. They have far too much investment in the way things are.

Therefore, you will do it yourself or you will not see it.

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As a point of deeper personal editorial, if you agree with the above and see sense in it, you had no reason to vote for anyone but Romney for president. He was far from perfect, but he had a legitimate shot and would begin walking back some of the worst excesses. Ron Paul has some nice ideas, for example, but one does not go directly from starvation to feast; indeed, attempting to do so would bring the worst strawmen of the opposition to life. Romney was not the man to take us back to the way things should be, but he could have been the man to start. Barack Obama is certainly headed for more federal power, not less. This is plain. Those who cannot hold their nose, in politics, are doomed to suffocate.

I wish it had been Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold. Littleton, CO would be better for it.

In school, I was bullied too. Here's the kicker - my dad was a cop, gunsmith, and holder of a Federal Firearms License. Yes, that means he sold guns.

My home had guns stacked like cordwood. I'm not exaggerating. I had my first rifle at age 11 and became very proficient - most of the guys on the force considered my dad the marksman of the group. Probably came from his stint in the military, but whatever. I think you get the picture. I knew my way around most guns, could hit what I wanted to, and had easy access to weapons of all sorts.

Here's the thing. I never took the bully's shit. They called me a name, I embarrassed them. They put a tack on my chair, I stabbed them in the kneecap with my automatic pencil. By the time I got to the back half of high school, I had no problems with people whatsoever.

You see, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold just sat there and took it. They tried to find an outlet for their rage - video games, violent movies, blowing stuff up in the woods - but in the end, it was never enough. Because they never learned to send the evil back where it came from.

Hate is like acid. Try to contain it, and you become the only thing that can hold it - glass. And when you do shatter, it gets really damn messy.

Eric and Dylan shattered. I never did, because I realized a long time earlier that holding it in was the path to self-destruction.