scruffy

I was just referring to a spoiler effect, but that would be crazy if a third man actually got some EC votes considering it's been like 170 years since that's happened Peace, love and hoppiness

I can dig that, I'm just wary about Paul actually making an independent bid after he fails to get the nomination and if that would have a real effect on the election. Peace, love and hoppiness

making these kind of predictions are akin to throwing darts and seeing who's picture it lands on...but if I had to make an attempt at an educated guess I would say Romney/Huntsman It has been over three and a half decades since there was a real challenge in Republican primaries (Reagan nearly upsetting Goldwater in 1976). The Republican party is the party of preordained candidates and Romney is next in line, and that should be all there is to it. Huntsman was an amazing Governor and his FP experience would follow the model of the past 2 presidents. The only variable here is the tea party, which proved last year it shouldn't be taken lightly, and could upset the status quo. In which case, maybe Cain, Bachmann, Pawlenty or (god-forbid) Palin has a shot at one of the two hotseats. I see all four of those on pretty equal footing right now if that's the case, lets see what happens in new hampshire in a few weeks. Paul is a sideshow, having a rabid cult following does not win elections (but it does lose them for others, Perot) Gingrich is done, just fucking done. He didn't give himself a chance for the media to torpedo his campaign before he committed seppuku. Huckabee and Santorum are moving more towards running, I don't really know how I feel about either of their chances Gary Johnson was kind of a curiosity, had a decent right libertarian message...just didn't come off as presidential. I don't think i missed anyone of consequence, unless Roemer or Christie change their mind. Peace, love and hoppiness

From Okahoma Penal Code TITLE 21 § 1289.25: "A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked...has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself" Turning your back and walking away from someone pretty much ends any argument that you believed a treat to your life existed. I didn't read anywhere in there about it being acceptable behavior to go get another gun and put 5 pills in a wounded assailant, in fact that only demonstrates malice and thereby satisfying the criteria for 1st degree murder in Oklahoma. The jury got it right. Peace, love and hoppiness

I don't know whether to be proud of the fact I like right next to that bar or not... Peace, love and hoppiness

For stores it's the huge legal liability of letting people turn their stores into the OK Corral For police it's pretty self evident, the only person who presented an active threat to bystanders in this situation was the pharmacist, that is unless the would be robbers were firing back which doesn't seem to be the case. I'll say it again that I do carry a gun, but when I carry it the liability is mine and mine alone. If the pharmacist was carrying on his own time that would be his business, but Walgreens wouldn't allow him to do it while he was working for them because then the liability shifts to them. That's 100% their decision, and they were right to make sanctions on him when he proved to be more trouble than his services were worth. Peace, love and hoppiness

Yeah man, it seems like every day we are hearing about another department store shooting spree... Peace, love and hoppiness

He is a liar or negligent, but that doesn't mean I wish him harm. That's just silly. Peace, love and hoppiness

Not in the slightest, I never said I supported him being criminally charged, or even having his CCW revoked, but walgreens was completely within their right to shitcan him. Peace, love and hoppiness

Sorry you feel that way, but what gives you the right to dictate how people run their businesses? Peace, love and hoppiness

I don't know about the unemployed hero, but I take carrying a weapon pretty seriously...it's a pretty big responsibility. I know, and what he should have known, is that it's a responsibility you have to play by the rules with or it's bad for everyone. Breaking your employment agreement to carry a gun isn't showing the level of maturity or responsibility I want people with guns to have. Should Walgreens have a policy against it's employees carrying a weapon on the job? Personally I wouldn't if I was in charge of it, but I'm not, neither was this pharmacist, and it is the company's right to have such a stipulation in place. If the pharmacist felt so strongly against it that he would break the rule, than he should have offered his skills to another, more gun friendly, employer. Of course that's assuming he's a liar and is claiming to be unaware of the policy falsely, the other scenario is that he was too negligent to be informed of the rules surrounding the privilege of carrying a firearm Neither being a liar or negligent are traits that a gun owner should be. Peace, love and hoppiness

I would say 20 dimensions is still reductive. The problem is that the idea of labeling people on any ideological continuum is flawed from the very get go because there is absolutely no deterministic model or conceptual framework behind the labels. If you ask 20 people what liberal or conservative means you will get 20 entirely different responses, and that's optimistically assuming 20 people picked at random would have the ability to actually communicate a critical political thought. Oh, and assuming you had any success at all with that task, try introducing more specific models like neo-liberalism or classic liberalism which continue to be redefined and reconceptualized. There are no paradigms in political science, and therefore there will never be a real way to place anyone on a scientifically valid political spectrum. Silly ideas like the ones in the OP are just as over simplistic as the left right model, the only function I've ever seen the two dimensional model have is as a recruiting tool for the libertarian party. ETA: not arguing with your sentiments, just saying the whole idea of political labels is non-sense Peace, love and hoppiness

Andy9o8, do you think (assuming that the huffpo story reflects reality) that these events warrant criminal action against the officers, worthy of professional sanctions against them, or could it be chalked up to a justified shooting of a potential threat? Hindsight is 20/20, but the way I see things if an officer wants to call himself SWAT he should be held to a higher standard. Peace, love and hoppiness

This is coming from the side that sealed the warrants from public scrutiny after they got heat, and made claims that the deceased shot first when the weapon was still on safe. I think at this point I'll take the neighborhoods story that they didn't hear anything till the shooting started. Peace, love and hoppiness

What would have allowed the man to live was not doing no knock/no announce warrants against people with apparently no evidence of any criminal behavior, and a SWAT team that had some semblance of discretion. Peace, love and hoppiness

Sheriff Dupnik strikes again. That guy is ridiculous. Peace, love and hoppiness

Let me preface by saying I was in no way a supporter of our intervention in Libya. That said there are orders of magnitude between simple dissension (a constitutionally protected practice) and actively supporting a terrorist state (again). Cynthia Mckinney has apparently taken it upon herself to appear on Libyan state (read: pro-Qaddafi) television to express solidarity against the allied forces. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/05/21/libya.mckinney/index.html?hpt=T2 Just the next installment in the life of the cutest little communist in congress. Peace, love and hoppiness

Quite a few of my colleagues have been pretty peeved that Newt hasn't bowed out yet. Personally I was excited from the get go because I knew he would be comic relief, and he certainly hasn't failed to deliver yet. Peace, love and hoppiness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snhiofL2Rh4 Peace, love and hoppiness

I'm a complete pussy who drinks virtually nothing but high gravity beers and hop bombs. I don't think there's a correlation there. Peace, love and hoppiness

Gotta love political good idea fairies Peace, love and hoppiness

It's understandable though, there was a lot of talk about such things and I would wager most people that see piston Noveskes actually think the piston was made by them too. But John Noveske, as far as I know anyway, is pretty dead set against piston guns, and pushing his "switchblock" gas block system as an alternative. Peace, love and hoppiness

Did Noveske seriously make a piston gun? The last thing I heard from John Noveske was not...well lets be generous...kind to that bandwagon. ETA or did you just mean an LWRC conversion of a Noveske upper? Peace, love and hoppiness

Beyond selling some rifles to the Egyptians, how is a system designed by the French, perfected by the Swedes, and most commonly used by Americans third world? Peace, love and hoppiness

I concealed carry in Georgia daily, where it is legal with my GFL to open carry should I elect to. I choose not to. Just as I want others to respect my right to defend myself if (knock on wood it doesn't) the time comes, I want to respect others inclinations towards firearms. I know full well, as I go to school as work with some of them, that there are individuals in this country that have a huge fear of guns based on their experiences or preconceived notions.Whether the fear is irrational or not, I don't understand why anyone would want to exacerbate that fear by presenting them with a firearm while they are sitting down to a latte. I think open carry only further polarizes an already contentious issue in our country. I see concealed carry as the perfect middle ground. I can satisfy my objective of possessing the means to self defense, and those who would be horrified if they knew I was carrying sitting next to them can go about their merry way none the wiser. Peace, love and hoppiness