As for the many millions (billions now? could be I suppose) of rounds Obama has been having all the non-military agencies buy... I have heard no explanation.

If you're requiring all your Federal Agents to carry firearms (don't know if they are or not), then they're all required to qualify on their weapons. Which currently requires shooting anywhere from hundreds to thousands of rounds per year per agent.

Don't know if this is the explanation, but it's not an unreasonable explanation, especially if rules have been changed requiring all Feds to qualify to pack heat.

Note, by the way, that there are far more Federal agents than there are infantrymen in our military....

It's hard to say if, under the previous administration, we would still be in Iraq, since that was never a possible outcome. However, compared to the alternative (McCain's "100 more years!" explanation, Obama getting our troops out in his first term earns him a solid B+ from me on that promise.

Since Obama pulled out of Iraq on Bush's timetable (the one we negotiated with the Iraqi government), it's probably fairly safe to say we'd be out of Iraq, with or without Obama.

2. The Social Security Payroll Tax is not really used for Social Security - it just goes right back into the general fund, and even worse, the general fund has to pay interest to Social Security

Umm, no.

Those T-Bills we give the SSA are a zero-interest T-Bill (essentially, an IOU).

Oh, and our trade deficit has little, if anything, to do with our national debt. Our national debt goes up because Congress doesn't want to raise taxes enough to cover all the Federal spending we do. Nor does it want to reduce Federal spending to match tax revenues.

Historically, it should be noted that when we raise taxes, we raise spending. And when we lower taxes, we raise spending. See the problem?

In the real world, businesses use deficit spending to grow their ability to earn revenue all the time.

Businesses pay off their bonds from time to time.

The Feds, on the other hand, do deficit spending every year, regular as clockwork, with no intention of ever paying off the debt.

Note that deficit spending to accomplish some specific objective (as opposed to "we want to spend more money than tax revenues allow, so we'll borrow some more") wouldn't bother nearly so many people as you might think.

The problem with the deficit is that it's a permanent fixture in the budget, with no special benefit other than "yay! we get to spend more than we take in in revenue"....

Social security is not discretionary spending, and it is not part of the federal budget. It is a separate trust fund funded by separate taxes.

Umm, no. Social Security taxes are dumped into the General Fund and spent just like any other taxes. Ignore the rhetoric about "Social Security Trust Funds", and read the enabling legislation instead (yes, in spite of everything the government says on the subject, SSA is a pay-as-you-go thing just like every other Federal program).

why does our national debt keep going up? Aren't we paying it down or is the USA just making minimum payments.

We're making interest-only payments on it.

Then borrowing more every year on top of that.

Note that for all that Clinton "balanced the budget", the national debt has not decreased since before I was born. And I was alive for Kennedy's election (too young to care who (or what) the President was, but alive).

Slashdot readership (if it can really be called that, judging by how little is actually read by its posting users [slashdot.org]) is an older crowd; they are not college students. Chances are they will lament how times have changed, and then tell you to get off their lawn. Seriously, very few people here are going to be able to answer your question because they are not in college anymore.

Given the number of /.'ers who don't know the difference between "your" and "you're", or "there", "their" and "they're", or "rogue" and "rouge", I suspect that most /.'ers would consider the current levels of literacy in colleges/universities acceptably high.

The article says that while he was unhurt, he did suffer two epileptic seizures.

So, why does France issue Driver's Licenses to people subject to epileptic seizures?

the justice system seems to be trending toward making penalties harsher for the criminals that they do catch.

Read something recently that boiled down to "we increase penalties for crimes whenever we find that the Law Enforcement types aren't bothering to arrest people for these crimes because the penalties aren't high enough to make it worth the hassles of a trial"

I hope there's good privacy controls on the data as I'm sure your insurance company would like to have that data too. "We're sorry sir, but we we're canceling your policy because you are pre-diabetic and you drink too much"

I'm sure the police would love to have the blood-alcohol data streamed to them also....

I wish the Catholic church of the time had never invented the crusades. I wonder if we would have half the problems we have now.

If not for the Crusades, the knowledge accumulated in the Muslim world might never have percolated to Europe.

It should also be noted that the downfall of that educated, scientifically oriented Muslim world was NOT European Crusaders, but a Muslim conqueror - Tamerlane (more properly, Timur the Lame).

You ought to remember him - he's the guy who destroyed Persia, killed everyone there who could read or write, that sort of thing.

No, he's not a businessman. Never has been. He's a 'Community Orginizer'...

Bob Heinlein once described the two types of politicians as "business politicians" and "reform politicians".

A "business politician" is one that stays bought.

A "reform politician" is one that changes his positions if someone can convince him that his change is "for the good of the People".

Not really sure which Obama is - most days he comes across as a business politician, some days he comes across as a reform politician.

flight had clear uses right from the start.

Well, no.

"From the start", flight was useful for covering distances measured in hundreds of yards, at speeds comparable to a horse.

The Wrights flew at Kittyhawk at the end of 1903. It wasn't till 1905 that a plane managed to go 24 miles (at 38 mph)....

The purchasing power of the average american was about 20% higher than it is today, particularly for males. Decline of the middle class isn't a myth, it's a fact.

Hmm, don't remember being able to buy a 50" HDTV for $900 back in '70. Or a desktop computer for $400 or so. Or a cellphone at all....

Seems to me that for all the wailing about the decline of purchasing power, etc., etc., etc., that we're still managing a much higher standard of living....

1. One password, one service. Do not re-use passwords.

2. Prefer long to complex passwords.

Using a sentence that is important to you and modfy it per service.

Better yet, get PasswordSafe, come up with one good password (for your password safe), let PasswordSafe generate all the rest of your passwords for you.