John Adams

Indeed, but I know of no better system except supreme power invested in me. That's why we have such a nice system of checks and balances--so the "tyranny of the majority" as Tocqueville would call it, is at least harder to execute.

The enslavement of the minority to the majority is not necessarily right. (See, eg, slavery.) It just happens to be our system.

The news articles are all saying that the people like who who care about other's groins have a last resort: amend the constitution. And they are trying to get that on the November ballot. This leads me to believe that the proposition is not a constitutional amendment that the California Supreme Court cannot review. In the 127(!) page decision, the CA Supreme Court didn't really debate (nor did the parties apparently even brief) whether the SC had authority to review the proposition, so the Court probably had authority to review the constitutionality of the proposition. What's at issue here? The right of homosexual domestic partnerships or whatever to be called "marriages?" Too funny. Why would any hetero person give a !@#$ what people call their union? Call it marriage, partnership, or flibberdegibblit--so long as the couple gets equal rights of benefits, property transfer, etc. Marriage just makes the most sense since it's the word traditionally used. Again, why is the government wasting time in people's underwear?

1 state down, 49 to go. This is such a stupid issue. Can we just let adults marry and move on to more pressing matters? The government wastes so much !@#$ing time on what people do with their crotches.

The bigger NASA news coming is that on May 25, the Phoneix lander will arrive (hopefully softly) on Mars.

There's a book by Maria Doria Russell called The Sparrow (or maybe The Sparrow is the sequel book) that is exactly this premise. Interesting piece of science fiction.

No way! I didn't mean to step on Johnny's toes. I only started watching this season so I had no idea.

Yes. See them all the time, probably available at Target and Wal-Mart.

I love seeing crazy Jeff Archuletta in the audience. I imagine him frothing at the mouth every time David makes a mistake. David's been on Star Search and every pageant known to man--if there's a god, he loses. I have no faith in the voting system on Idol though--I think Archuletta is in the script to win it all.

Vids in the sig link. *** David Archuletta. He's sporting the 1988 look with the Member's only jacket and skinny tie. What the !@#$ dude? Get modern. Turns out David is from Utah and his town mayor is Sam Elliot? "And so it goes" by Billy Joel. It's a Paula choice. David's dew is a brush forward straight from Speed Racer. As is so often the case, his Nasalness left me cold, bored, and dulled out. Randy says Paula chose a dope song. Yeah. Kinda. David is a dwarf. Simon says he's predictable, which is spot on--Archuletta does one song: ballad. Any movement towards a cool song throws him. "With You" by Chris Brown. This is a hot contemporary song and Chris Brown can both sing and dance. Archuletta can't match Brown's voice and his dancing? Honkeee-tastic. "Longer" by Dan Fogelberg. Producer's choice. This is my "give a guy a good ass-!@#$ing" song. Yeehaw. Couldn't be a cornier corndoggy song. My wife Abigail curses me and this blog because I force her to sit through every tortuous note. Are the violins really necessary to add to the cheesey vibe? "You could sing the phone book" is the line of the night for Randy--he's shelved "If you can sing, you can sing anything" this week. Syesha Mercado. Randy's song choice. "If I ain't got you." Alicia Keys. Unoriginal--another divaesque deal. I have to wonder: did Syesha try to find such an unflattering dress? She's got major low orbit boobies. Hard to look bad with her supermodel body but she succeeded. Nevertheless, after weeks of hatred, the song was pretty good. Syesha's choice. "Fever" by Peggy Lee. Sexy dress. Lighting is good. Best moves and stage presence of the remaining 3. All this "action" started from Andrew Lloyd Webber week. The judges hated it. (See conspiracy notes). !@#$ the judges. They were WAY wrong--she is the best of round 2. "Hit me up" by Gia Ferrall. Stupid song choice from !@#$head producers. Some songs you aren't supposed to sing live. Ever. This is one of them. I'm sure Gia Ferrall lip sucks this in concert. And yet they put Syesha to the challenge of singing it live. !@#$-mother!@#$ers. I'd kill them Syesha. It was bad. Paula says Syesha's not good enough for the finals and she's right but who would pick this song? David Cook. "First time ever I saw your face" by Roberta Flack. Simon picked this to bust David's balls. David has a few pitch issues chasing the high range but the judges praise him for the most part--and have some funny interaction as Simon compliments his choice. The Round 1 winner. David's Mom is tearful and standing during the song: +1 million votes. David's choice is Switchfoot's "Dare you to move." Like last week with Baba O'Reilly, he doesn't have enough time to build a song in 90 seconds. Paula is right on there. Decent enough but not great. "I don't wanna miss a thing" by (in my mind) Aerosmith. Apparently, some chick wrote it but when I hear it, I tear up over Bruce Willis's bravery in Armageddon. Or was he in the other earth-killing asteroid movie? Whatever. David goes risky and starts with a string background that builds to a rocking crescendo. He pulls off the slow build in his 90 seconds, to my amazement. He's the round 3 winner. Other observations. There was lots of calculated judge bull sh--. Clearly they want the battle of the Davids, and hammered Syesha even though Archuletta didn't do sh--. The hot chick from Taxi was in the audience, as was the gay secretary from that sh------- show about the dumb handsome actor on HBO.

Felt like that was aimed at you did you? You have the best anti-John Adams rant ever. Not a soul here will ever sniff the genius of that one post. Sadly, I think the historical archives have lost it, but I still have it in an email I sent to a friend.

Admit it: you're jealous that he thought of me for that description and not you.

This particular post by you is not actually volume abuse. Your abortion thread is more in the volume abuse category: adds little except post count. I saw Stuckincincy's post as being in a similar vein--adding little except a post count--it happens that you're the poster boy for that behavior. In general, he's not. To characterize your post, I'd say it's in the personal attack, hostility, and threatening vein. And though I've been the subject of such attacks by better men then you, I haven't ever bothered to point out that they violate the Terms of Service. You, however, are a special case, as your contribution to lowering the common denominator on this board is epic. I see Sketch has contributed to this thread--no doubt in support of my unsuccessful attempt to curb him from following in your footsteps. If I choose to read his post, I'm sure to be enlightened.

I find your post out of line with the Terms of Service. It is "harassing," "obscene," and does not contribute to the "high quality" and "intelligent" discussion that are the goals of this board. Moreover, your "online personality/behavior develops in a way that they become a source of continual conflict." It is borderline "threatening," in that those are fighting words. Though not in this particular post, you are on a prohibited "personal crusade" and certainly run afoul of the "volume abuse" prohibition. Maybe I'm alone on this, but are there any "seconds" here who think Molson has abused the ToS?

Who are you with this crap post? Molson?

Exactly. For those who bemoan the state of music based on sales, check out the best selling albums by year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best-selling_...s_by_year_(USA) Lot of winners on that list.

I await the posters who keep saying how the Bills are wrong to try to draft high character guys in previous years. When you pick a guy who's charged with assaulting his girlfriend and baby, guess what you get? Trouble.

San Francisco !@#$s. I would love to blame that on HBO but stupid David Milch, Deadwood's creator, felt he HAD to do another show and couldn't work on Deadwood anymore. That show? John From Cincinnati. Thanks David. Thanks a lot. The ones and zeros in Cass's camera say you're a butthead.

Yeah. A solid waste of time. Recycling is bad makes a good soundbyte but doesn't hold up to much scrutiny.

Yeah...that he didn't think he had to pay taxes. Right. That's going to be my excuse someday too.

This is a tangential point but I want to get it right. The "terrorist" threats Franklin's generation lived under was not the threat from the Brits (as UConn points out). It was the threat from Native Americans, drunken mobs, a citizenry that could overthrow the government without much trouble if they cared to, an armed band of jerkoffs, an egomaniacal guy like Hamilton, rogue pirates, rogue states, etc. Franklin faced the possibility of terror-like attacks when he made the statement about liberty and security. So although he didn't face A-Q (who?), he faced a real threat from America giving people so much liberty.

More insanity. First, this thread is not about commercial real estate. Second "most" great fortunes are not made in real estate. Third, check the data. There have been 2 significant rises in home value in the last 120 years. Otherwise, home value as an investment is flat. (Only home price index I could find off the top of my head is here.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Shiller_IE2_Fig_2-1.png Fourth, of course you can make money in real estate. You can also make money selling asparagus. You can make money inventing a cure for cancer. There are lots of ways to make money. Fan in San Diego--who I chide--likely has. But the average person who wakes up one day and says, "I should go make money in real estate" is an idiot. As is the person who says, "I should buy a house because the value will go up over time." You buy a house because it's great to be a home-owner. You shouldn't count on it as a long term investment vehicle.

I deeply care what you think and am content to keep my finances to myself, unlike you.

Right, because despite the historical evidence that real estate barely outpaces inflation, you're here to tell us about the millions you've made in real estate...again. In two times, real estate boomed. Right after WWII when the vets returned home and wanted to start families and the last decade. Besides those times, it has been a stagnant, albeit relatively safe, investment. We've been through this. Now is where you brag about the money you've made in real estate. I post facts. You brag on an Internet message board.

What happens when your roof leaks in your house? You pay for a new roof. Need paint? Paint. Etc. When you rent, you call the landlord. Less risk. Renting 2000 sf should be less than buying 2000 sf, so although your rent money may be spent, the difference between rent and mortgage (mostly interest in beginning), taxes, and home maintenance is usually bound to leave you with more cash. Most people yearn for a house but it often makes a lot of sense to rent.