I think only the die hard Bushies and neo-con republicans think Ron Paul's view on the Iraq war is radical. It's his other views many people take exception to and call radical.

Ron Paul's views would be great if we lived in a society where most everyone did the right thing and worked for the common good of society. I don't think we live in such a society. If the market were truly free as Ron Paul suggests it should be, it would be a race by the major corporations to see who could create the biggest monopoly. The argument is that competition will rise up, but it's pretty hard for competition to be created when some other company controls all the infrastructure. You think AT&T is going to let anyone else use it's phone lines? The only reason the are competing companies to AT&T right now is because they're forced to share their lines with other companies, by *gasp* the federal government.

The other part is civil rights, Ron Paul himself has said he doesn't think the courts should have had anything to do with the civil rights movement, instead suggesting the changes should have been made locally. Locally?! Locally they were busy beating the crap out of peaceful protesters, turning fire hoses and dogs on them for daring to say they deserved equal treatment. How long was that supposed to go on until something happened locally?

The federal government is there to step in when state and/or local systems of government fail to take action or can't in the interests of citizens well being. Just as the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government act as a check and balance against each other, so do the state governments and the federal government act as a check and balance against each other. If you neuter the federal government as Ron Paul suggests you destroy the ability for the federal government to act as a check on the state governments.

I'm not suggesting our current system is perfect, but its far from completely defunct. From my stand point a few things have happened, one ideological view took control of the federal government. Things went to shit in a hand basket and now the country has collectively shifted it away from ideology. The executive branch was granted/took way too much power, I see this swinging back to a state of normalcy. Bush is already effectively a lame duck president, though he still wields his "executive privilege" like a shield. I think trying to fix what we have is a much more sensible solution than essentially scrapping everything.

I agree with Ron Paul on Iraq and I think history does indeed show that he was and is right about it. Not just with the outcome of Iraq, but the outcome of similar wars and the history of the region. I don't agree with him on other issues, I feel history has proven him wrong in that it has taken a strong federal government to push us past important mile stones as a nation.

jonny, she didn't adopt the cat and dump it. She's a part of their foster program and did the cat and any future owner a huge favor. Young animals come into shelters all the time and the pound normally won't release them for adoption until they've been spayed or neutered. An animal that spends that first month or two with little human contact won't bond as easily or make as good a pet as one which has been socialized so that's what she does.

What she's doing could easily be heartbreaking, loving an animal to offer it a better chance then giving it up to another owner, it's worth admiring rather than condemning. Dog or cat.

I'll not go into the other issues, but I think a lot of the DRM issues are being pushed by organizations like the RIAA and MPAA. I imagine their use of the heavy handed DRM is more a part of avoiding a lawsuit from those two organizations. Whether MS would win or not is irreverently since such a lawsuit would undoubtedly cost them a lot. And let us face it, all the RIAA and MPAA does is file lawsuits and fix prices. I'm really not even sure MS benefits from their DRM, mostly because apple seems to have the lions share, and then some, of the online music and video market. Pretty hard to compete when your product won't play on the most popular devices, unless compatibility has since been added.

On a side note, I think MS has gotten so big it now functions much like the government. At the core you have an idea of innovation (or at least using other people's good ideas) and true progress towards something that will benefit everyone. But then there are a bunch of special interest groups that push their agendas, so when the final product comes out it's some neutered monstrosity with some ugly appendages stapled on.

The time we got Samwise we wanted to also get a "Rosie Cotton" for him and breed them. We started moving a lot and he was more than enough basset hound to take care of so the other basset never happened.

We just never got him neutered.

It's good that your cat's neutered, twiddles. My ex-girlfriends all claim I'm morally neutered and emotionally retarded. Those are big words that I don't understand, but I figure that bigger means better, so I've got those things going for me.

Way to go Twiddles! I love your posts so keep em coming!

As for the neutering, I'm sorry to hear! Poor guy.

Thank you all.. I didn't know I had gender issues (stop hitting on me kronos!). But then again Twiddles is a neutered male and he does occasionally have piddle issues.

How come Sam isn't neutered?

I figure if the dog disdains his owner and life as a "kept" dog so much, let em go. Don't let them come back and don't feed them when they try. If being fed daily, walked, loved and regular health care is so awful, go live in the wild. Jut make sure the dog is spayed or neutered first.

Had a dog like that once. Got out thrice and I didn't take it back. Oh well... plenty dogs want a loving home who won't run off.

That's why some folks keep snakes, not everyone spays and neuters their pets....

They need catnip, to produce the masterful, museum quality material....any data on the spayed and neutered, as opposed to the "whole" feline's creative output??? Bet the non-maligned, have no time for the studio.....!
"Hey, Modiglimeowni??" What is that smell in your studio?? Do you paint with ammonia, is that the secret of your genius??"

CCL, in the house.
*crazy cat lady

Don't forget to have your pets spayed or neutered!

Wow, the PG version of this song feels so... neutered.

You said it, grspec. The answer is more sources since the powers-that-be have essentially neutered Youtube. I rely too heavily on YT anyhow.

I received more dead emails this morning. Thanks to you guys that have emailed me a heads up before hand.

Theo, we share your frustration

yeah, we didn't neuter the discard power. so you can still wield that with impunity.