Nightingale

When you can carry the fetus in your body or when technology has evolved to a point where a woman doesn't have to carry a fetus for the fetus to survive, you can have a say. Until that point, as long as it's inside her body, it's her choice whether to continue to carry it.

I really want an iPhone, but I really don't want AT&T. I will wait until they are available on other networks. Until then, I will stick with my Blackberry.

Fear of theft. I only check the cheap guns. The pricey ones stay home in the safe.

Would be nice, but I'm not anywhere nearly as sure as you are they'd do it. Basic gun safety is something that can be learned in a couple of hours. Our gun rights group here in SoCal (Shameless plug:Ordinary California Citizens Concerned With Safety) got 250 people to a Board of Supervisors meeting on a Tuesday, and those were just the Orange County folks. I'd bet at least half those people would be willing to get their NRA Certified Instructor credentials and help out at their local schools if it meant that more people around here would be comfortable with guns, especially if the NRA was willing to assist in getting people certified and set up with a school.

This. Nature's Miracle PetSmart sells it for pet odors, but it works well on any organic smelly stain. Pour it on, let it soak in all the way into the carpet padding (make sure the carpet is soaking wet). Let it air dry, do not blot or do anything else to dry it. Can take up to two weeks, but it should get the smell out.

Around 1000 rounds per gun, or thereabouts, depending on whether I've been to the range or the gun store more recently.

By any side. Yes, you're right.

Yes, but that would require that most of the population actually drink water rather than soda.

Any violation of the Bill of Rights should be condemned by both sides.

Planned Parenthood provides birth control (pills, condoms, shots, don't know about IUDs) on a sliding scale based on your income. If your income is below a certain point, your birth control and whatever medical care you need, such as routine exams and STD testing, are free. They ask for a donation if you can afford to leave one, and if you can't, there's no pressure. I'm pro-choice, although I'd never choose abortion for myself unless my life was in danger or the fetus was non-viable. Admittedly, my decision is based largely on my huge network of family support and my desire to be a parent. If I didn't have one of those two things, my decision may be different. Allowing abortion for only certain reasons (rape, incest, etc) encourages those that want an abortion to lie and file false police reports to get an abortion. I don't like policies that encourage that. I don't want to see a return to the days of the rich travelling overseas to get abortions safely, and the poor going to some back alley hack with a coathanger. Abortion as a whole is generally not a decision one undertakes lightly (and if they do, do you really want that person to be a parent??). I've had the opportunity to think over the situation and decide what I would choose if I found myself with an unexpected pregnancy, and I'm not going to deny someone else the same opportunity to make a choice for themselves, even if they would choose differently from me. It is not my place to force my choice on them, as I have not lived their life.

No, but the perpetrators in cases of extreme child abuse should end up in jail for life, so they can no longer reproduce, therefore making sterilization a non-issue.

Hopefully not! LOL. You know what I meant.

There's something about making a skydive, even one tandem, that has an impact on your life. From the moment you leave the plane, even if you never do it again, you're not quite the same person you were before. You can look up at the sky and know what it's like to be up there without the benefit of an airplane around you, and there's something remarkable about that. If you want to commemorate that moment with a tattoo to help keep it with you always, so be it. If you've never been able to jump, but looked up at the sky and dreamed about it, and want a tattoo of that desire, go for it. Skydiving changed my life, and if you want a tattoo of something I love, whatever your reasons for it, I'm not going to be the one to call you a poser.

Clear Carl. When we allow our principles of justice to be compromised, we are no better than the terrorists.

My thoughts after a quick once-over...(some of this is cut and pasted from the state website): 1A: State Spending Cap - NO Although the measure is touted as a limitation on state spending, it does not legally “cap” the amount of revenues that could be collected by the state or the amount of spending that could occur. It does not restrict the ability of the legislature and the governor to approve tax increases and would allow increased spending for infrastructure projects and public employee benefits. If Proposition 1A passes, the $16 billion in tax increases negotiated as aprt of the 2009 state budget would be extended through 2012. Among the levies are a statewide 1-cent sales tax and a near doubling of the state's Vehicle License Fee. Also, a .25 percent increase in the state's Personal Income Tax will also be extended through 2012 So basically, this one doesn't cap spending, and raises taxes by $16 billion. Ouch. 1B: Education Funding - NO This measure locks in $9.3 billion dollars towards education beginning in 2011. While this may sound like a good idea, locked-in funding is a major cause of our budget problems. While we may need $9.3 billion in additional funding in 2011, we may not need it in 2020 or 2030, and propositions such as these remove flexibility from our budget, which makes it far more difficult to balance. 1C: Lottery Modernization Act - NO Debt-service payments on the lottery borrowing and higher payments to education would likely make it more difficult to balance future state budgets. This is just postponing the problem. 1D: Tobacco Tax Revenue Reallocation - NO Keeps the requirement that tobacco tax monies be spent on health and human services, while removing accountability and auditing and the requirement that some of those funds be spent on smoking cessation programs. If accountability is removed, the money belongs in the state general fund. 1E: Reallocation of Mental Health Funds - NO This is just trading one earmark for another. 1F: Salary Cap for Elected Officials - YES This is basically performance based compensation. Part of the job of elected officials is to balance the budget, and their salaries are a part of that budget. If they can't balance the budget, they shouldn't get a raise.

Unless enough time has passed for both of you to do a lot of growing up, it didn't work the first time around for a reason, and it probably won't work the second time around for the same reason. If you run into your college sweetheart a decade later, go for it. If you run into your ex wife a year or two later, um...no.

If you're going to debate, stick to the issues. She answered his question honestly and directly. If he disagreed, he could've used the blog to articulate why and open a dialogue rather than spew insults. Personally, I don't like her answer, but I'd love to sit down with her and talk about it.

No you don't. Show up and show identification, and you'll be given a provisional ballot that will allow you to vote. Once they verify that you haven't already voted by mail or in another precinct, they will count your vote. Are you saying that you don't have to register to vote in Texas? Or are you saying that you don't have to re-register if you haven't voted in a while? Re-register. Sorry, I'm half asleep and should've been clearer. You do have to register, but if you're not on the list for any reason, you show ID, fill out a provisional ballot, and sign a form that serves as your registration.

No you don't. Show up and show identification, and you'll be given a provisional ballot that will allow you to vote. Once they verify that you haven't already voted by mail or in another precinct, they will count your vote.

Disclaimer: all I know about it is what I read in the article. However, it looks like mostly taxing and spending clause stuff, and in this case the argument could be made that they have the authority to spend the money because it's tied to interstate commerce, as it deals with the auto industry, which is clearly interstate. Do I like it? No. Is it probably constitutional? Yes. However, making legal arguments while doped up on cough medicine is making my head ache even more, so I'm going to bed. If I'm still home sick, we can continue this tomorrow.

Hmm... not half bad for being home sick and doped up on cold medicine. What'd I mess up on? The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Said that.

Personally, I think guns AND marijuana should be legal.

No, you're missing my point. The federal government was intended to be a government of limited powers. If there is a situation where congress needs to be able to regulate something that is clearly outside of its powers, that is why we have an amendment process. The Constitution is not a document written in stone, and changes can be made if necessary.

Courts have ruled repeatedly that the federal government may regulate nuclear power under the commerce clause, and as airplanes frequently cross state lines, those would probably be the same. As for technology, airwaves cross state lines, and regulations of technology using airwaves would also probably fall under the commerce clause.

No separate and specific part of the Constitution need be required for each and every law they pass (which is how it would be parsed otherwise)... Quade, it's right there in what you posted- "all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers..." That's the limit right there! If it's not part of executing the enumerated powers, it's not a law they're supposed to be passing.