You and the OP are both being unnecessarily vague and inaccurate.

The question is whether the US federal government has the authority to tell one person to purchase something from another private entity.

The local government isn't forcing you to buy something. It's forcing you to pay taxes (which it can do) and then it's providing a service (which it also can do). Even though it looks similar, paying taxes + receiving a public benefit != purchasing a consumer good.

um... i followed the news.. this was public freaking knowledge

remove your tinfoil hat

and the service interruption was probably caused by the fact that a lot of network equipment driving the transatlantic link was in the WTC FFS!

I Stopped reading your post when you said "aggressively leaving the opposition out of even the most trivial policy discussions." that's egregiously dishonest - as it is well known to be false. Obama fucked the healthcare bill by allowing more and more compromise with republicans in an attempt to get them on board WHEN NO MATTER WHAT THE WERE GOING TO VOTE AGAINST IT.

Did the Administration and the Democratic leadership remove any one of those compromises they made, that failed to get any republican support? NOPE!

There were more republican amendments than democratic amendments, but obviously they're "aggressively leaving the opposition out of even the most trivial policy discussions.".

Your dishonest is astounding. Who modded parent insightful? you should be ashamed of yourself.

I guess it is too much to ask for something to have to be accurate to be insightful.

plausible, but sounds like an attempt at character assassination. It also ignores the simple fact that: we cannot drill our way out of a situation not created (in the short term) by limited supply, but by market manipulation thanks to Bush II energy market deregulation.

in the long run "Drill, baby, Drill" just delays the inevitable, and the longer the inevitable solution to other power generation sources is delayed the more money is wasted (over time, and at the eventual forced conversion).

You don't need special glasses to see a 3d-movie in 2d. The 3d glasses work fine. They did for me anyway.

I've got various eye-problems related to a severe infection I had as an infant. I've had surgery twice to try and correct my lazy-eye. And I'm totally immune to all kinds of 3d (3d movies, magic eye, etc.). Last time I went to the optometrist she explained that during the years where my eyes were crossed I developed a pyschological "blind spot". Since the eyes weren't pointing the same direction, I could either see double or just shut off the signal from one eye at a time. My brain opted for the latter.

Since my eyes are straight now the problem is theoretically something I could train my brain to stop doing, but I've never had any luck with the eye-exercises they gave me.

I went to see Avatar in 2d. Then I went to see it in 3d. The only difference at all for me was that in the 3d version if I took off the 3d glasses the whole screen looked fuzzy. If I kept them on nothing was in 3d, but the polarization meant that at least I could see the 2d images clearly.

>You really think that such improvements would happen in a hyper-regulated marketplace?

As evidence by Europe: yes.

Note: basic consumer protection is not "hyper-regulated", only an ignorant anarchocapitalist thinks that kinda crap - and considering implementing even a few of the anarchocapitalist deregulatory wet dreams led to the current recession: why the @#%$ should we listen to you?

maybe we should just nationalize all that cable we paid for

we PAID FOR IT afterall.

sales taxes are not just not-progressive - they're regressive.

Rich and poor people need to buy a lot of the same basic things that are taxed - that tax eats up a larger percent of a poor persons income. that is the definition of a regressive tax.

you don't know what the fuck a progressive is, so please refrain from trying to tell us what we are in the future.

Libertardian dumbfuck.

don't put words into my mouth that i didn't say. the team that currently controls congress and the presidency might fit me better than the other one, but they're still very ill fitting.

this is true, until we get private money out of elections the government will, at best, half heartedly serve the people so long as it doesn't cost their corporate overlords too much.

"There's a pretty strong current of entertainment in her work"

yeah just like "Rush Limbaugh is entertainment"

bullshit. they're hate mongers who make money off kicking people with fearful personality types (this is scientific fact if you've been paying attention) into a fear frenzy so that their $-masters can do what they want.

in many states Felons loose the right to vote. Did you not know this?