The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to defend yourself and your property. I don't see how this applies well to Google cars. We delegated away our right to inflict retribution (court system) we did not delegate away our right to self-defense.

Third - the future. China is investing heavily in solar and other non-fossil fuel energy production. While we the US insist on staying in the 19th century. In other words, we're setting ourselves up to be stuck behind because we are so short sighted - which is what the free markets do; be short sighted.

This is not true. We are investing heavily in solar. Take a look at prices and capacity over the last 30 years. The industry shows incredible growth. The percentage growth of renewables is not short of amazing. You look at the graph and see "only 3% and forget that in 1980 it was magnitudes less. US energy use has grown over the last 30 years and yet renewables have grown to be a recognizable portion of the market. At this rate renewables will be dominant in 30 years.

Obscene profits?

Then I suppose you are buying stocks in big pharma as then you would be getting a share of these obscene profits and would then be able to distribute your gains as you want.

If you're not invested in big pharma then you're full of sh*t. You would grow rich, be able to influence the future direction of the companies you're invested in, and you would be able to help others.

Why are they bastards for looking for new ways to cure people? You say they're bastards for not investing billions for a market that won't be profitable? You're the one that's foolish.

If you want to help those people start a foundation, raise money and team up with a company to make the drug.

Hey idiot. The Democrats were a huge majority in the late 1970s when this legislation was passed. Republicans didn't get a house majority for another 16 years or so.

Maybe the stupid ones are those who think that the bean counters (as you put it) would win the day?

Or is it you with the political agenda?

Did you ever hear about this new invention? It runs on tubes, the inner-tubes I think it's called - and it's all the rage with the young'uns.

You have a point there. Strawberries have a lot of sugar (and in moderation) is healthy, But soda, twinkees and ice cream are not healthy. Both are fine as a compliment to one's diet, every once-in-a-while, but healthy is not the word I would use for them.

Why aren't they healthy because it doesn't seem as if it's adding anything to one's diet outside of calories.

Now if we were in the middle of the zombie apocalypse - bottles of concentrated calories (soda) would be very valuable indeed.

Oh! Was I supposed to read the article?

I guess it depends on what you consider to be healthy. A good peasant bread, cheese, tomatoes, olives and wine is what I consider to be healthy food. Eggs are healthy. The only food that is unhealthy are those pre-packaged with tons of salt, sugar and fat and have had all it's nutrients removed in the cooking and preserving stages.

Pasta and red sauce is healthy.
Roasted chicken is healthy.
Avocado is healthy.
Walnuts and almonds are healthy.

Sushi is healthy.

There's tons of delicious healthy stuff.

It's easy to get healthy food in the US. I don't know where you shop but from Maine to NY to SC to Texas to Oregon I've had no problem finding healthy food.

If that's the case then national Republicans and I have something we agree upon.

Re ab0rtion and g*y marriage - neither of those positions are matters of privacy (at least to it's opponents).

I'm pro-choice but socons consider it to be murder. Plain and simple murder. I'm one of the few people who isn't a social conservative who respects the fact that they are standing up to what they consider to be wrong. If you consider ab0rtion to be murder than you should stand up and try to do something about.

Re gay marriage -- I'm for g*y marriage but that to has nothing to do with privacy. It's the state giving legal privileges where none were given before. For instance opponents of b!gamy and p0lygamy have nothing to do with privacy.

Re TSA and NSA just about all my left-leaning friends are opposed to that as well.

Privacy will soon become a very contentious issue joining together different spectrums of the political world and may very well become a fault line in existing coalitions.

Work filters necessitated the above substitutions.

Maybe it's because the jacka$$es in charge don't do the obvious.

1. Separate hazardous waste from the rest.
2. Separate useful compost from the rest.

And then have paper, cans, and bottles all in a third. First things first. Separate the hazardous from the rest.

so, what you're saying is that national republicans are for privacy?