Eventually it will happen. Not as fast as it should. The hardest part is going to be updating all the point of sale terminals and cash registers. If paying with cash, you're going to have to round to the nearest $.05. All of those would need software updates to handle that.

Ideally we'd eliminate the nickle and dollar bill as well, and then introduce $1 and $2 coins. This is less likely to happen because all of the vending machines and other coin op machines would need to be reconfigured to take them. Though registers would have the correct number of coin slots to take all the coins. Rounding cash prices would be slightly harder, but nothing a computer couldn't handle.

We don't. It is training and entertainment all in one. They are going to be flying anyway, why not for our entertainment. Probably one of the better uses and ideas from our government!

Could you vote for Harry Reid? Harry Reid is a Mormom. Of course, he's not running for President.

They say you should avoid talking about politics and religion. I guess, though, if you are talking about politics, you can also talk about religion. Personally, I usually try to avoid confrontational statements, since it discourages discussion (at best).

May I suggest that you try something like, "I have reservations about voting for a Mormon", in order to foster further discussion? It's not a lie, and who knows, you might change your mind.

That said, there is no circumstance under which I would vote for a guy who straps his dog to the top of his station wagon, American-made or not.

I don't think the country will be destroyed, but, of course, many people will have their lives disrupted unnecessarily by the ignorance and malfeasance of politicians.

Still, I'd really like to know more about this concept "destroy the country", which is right up there with accusations of "treason" against politicians. These phrases are typically used by those who are fearful or angry in some vague way. Some people say the country has already been "destroyed", and others merely predict "destruction". I prefer to think in more concrete terms, like the number of people without jobs, without health insurance, and without food on their tables.

I want to answer this, but am not sure where to start. The number of people who voted in the Iowa caucuses is actually a very small percentage of Iowans. Rick Santorum received just under 30,000 votes, edging out Mitt Romney by 34 votes. Total votes cast: about 125,000. Figuring there are about a million (rough guess) Republicans in Iowa, that means 3% of Iowa Republicans actually voted for him in the caucuses. Many of those who voted for him, I'm sure, voted for him as a proxy for that elusive candidate, "not-Romney". Still, it is rather disturbing that there are people who take him even remotely seriously.

Enough about Santorum. The point I really want to make is that no one can oppose both birth control and abortion and be morally consistent. At least Rick's in the right church. But enough about him.

I doubt if Mitt even knows the cost of the Cadillacs his wife drives. On the other hand, Mitt makes around $20 million a year, which, when you break it down, is less than $2 million dollars a month. On the third hand, Mitt's $250 boodle is only one percent of the $25 billion dollar piles the Koch brothers are each sitting on. So it's all relative.

The short answer to your question: no.

The "average American" doesn't even buy milk anymore. She's more likely to purchase a 64 oz sody water for her breakfast, and another two more for lunch and dinner along with fries and a grilled sandwich.

For me, I keep tabs on milk, but I only drink Organic Valley which puts me into an elite milk buying bracket. It seems to cost upward of $3.25

And right now I'm baking my own Eggplant Parmesan. How many other Americans at this exact moment are doing the same? Not many...not many.

Check out this website:

"Mitt Romney made over $21.7 million in 2010. For most people, that number is so huge it's hard to comprehend. Mittbucks puts Romney's income into perspective for you, showing you what ordinary stuff would have to cost him before he could relate to your daily experience with money."

http://www.mittbucks.com/

Ridiculous posts here. I've been a member there for over 10 years. A cult is a church that says they are the only way to heaven, which has never been preached at Mars. They have steadily preached Jesus and the gospel without fail and have been more honest and open than most churches. Noriega would never pick on a child, I have 4 and all have been doted upon by this loving pastor. Be very careful what you read people.

Is this what you were talking about?
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/02/08/currently-marching-or-meanwhile-on-broadway

Anarchists be crazy, yo!

Did WSDOT give an estimate of when the bridge would be opened again?

If not, here's my hypothesis: I'm guessing those people just assumed that the wait would be brief (an hour or so) and therefore not worth the extra time to go around. By the time they'd waited 4 or 5 hours, they probably felt like they should continue to wait, otherwise the time they'd spent sitting there would be wasted (Sunk Cost Fallacy).

Or the cars were gridlocked and they couldn't turn around at that point.

...Did peeps just sit there in their cars and do nothing? Watching local news isn't really a part of my day. So I am not totally sure how stranded people were claiming to be.

I'm sure certain amount of trips might not have been worth the detour. Like shopping trips, or appointments that would have been missed if they took the time to take the detour.

We just added our response to SOPA. Thanks for asking this question Kristin.

Not that I know of. I'm not blacking out my stuff on the web today, because I think most of the people I interact with online today already know about SOPA and PIPA.

Instead, I took the time to write a detailed email to my intelligent, but not-too-tech-savvy dad explaining why he should oppose it, and after my next cup of coffee, I'm going to call my Congressman.

With all due respect, did you read the article you linked to? Joel explained the areas affected in some detail--Patos Island, a bay on Lopez, and some bluffs. Altogether less than 1,000 acres.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html

Ever play Bioshock?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0

This.

I just wish I could be there when the red staters who haven't heard of him before --but have now thanks to Iowa-- google his name-

Think about it this way, a Santorum victory would be a gift from God to Barack Obama to almost guarantee re-election. This man hates birth control, gay people, and just about every other thing that people who support the Democratic party stand for. Heading into the election asking for a second term, Obama's worst fear is an apathetic base. If everyone who uses birth control, supports gay rights, and gives two shits about the environment stays home, Obama loses. If Santorum wins the primary, the Democratic base will be motivated all of a sudden to keep this batshit crazy son of a bitch out of office. Apathetic liberals will have some serious motivation to give money to Obama's campaign, and turn out to vote Democrat. The way I see it, a Santorum primary win and nomination is Obama's ticket back to the White House.

And if by some fucked up crazy scenario Santorum becomes president, I will lead the charge to have Washington secede from the Union.

The world has done far worse. This barely registers.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Iowa's vote. Yes, they are irrelevant in terms of the quantity and quality, but they have put this guy on the map - at least temporarily - and given attention to his ideas. To be dismissive would be dangerous. These evangelicals need to be fought at every step, vociferously and never dismissed. They need to be a foil for the ideas that matter and the approaches that make sense.

As far as how to think about the world? I have a few suggestions:

1. Rick Santorum was virtually the only candidate who had not had a "surge" so the fact that they got around to him at last shouldn't necessarily be too frightening.

2. Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann will be dropping out and they have the same ideas.

3. When times are tough people get desperate. Hence the rise of the Tea Party and even OWS. These movements tend to disappear as soon as the economy stabilizes.

Finally, I would add that the Republicans have raised an important issue in a very unproductive way. That issue is that the disintegration of the nuclear family, of the close knit community etc. has resulted in a society without personal/familial/community safety nets. The current approach is to have the government try and fill that role.

So when someone hits hard times they have fewer fallbacks, when they get sick or old they have no one to take care of them, etc. These safety nets are important for a civil functioning society.

Democrats typically believe that the government needs to fill that role while republicans believe that through their insanely religious, moral crap that they can bring back the nuclear family, the church, etc. to fill that role.

The important question is how will that role get filled? As liberals we need a good answer and I'm not sure that that answer is more government.

Scott Seipker thought you might want to know more about Iowa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLZZ6JD0g9Y

89% white statewide (99% white in the caucuses), high school diploma or some college, petrified with fear that this country is moving away from a white, Euro-centric piece of Wonder bread to a multicultural, global, tolerant tapestry of many colors. They see their little Disneyland slipping away and they blame African-Americans and Hispanics and Asians and gay people because they are easy targets. Those groups no longer chose to assimilate and become slaves to White, Christian America's definition of moral and right and it's scaring the shit out of people who've never really seen the world. Their concern about the economy and immigration and big government is thinly-veiled racism.

These people would vote for Hitler if he promised them a return to the 1950s.

Let it slide and don't worry about it. There are many others in Iowa who are hip, etc. We don't hear about them. We only hear from Dumbfuckistan and the national media likes it that way.

I look at it this way. 122,255 people in the entire state participated in the caucus. That's a bit more than half the population of the capitol city, Des Moines, and only 4% of the total population of the state.

With some help from the Census Bureau, this means that out of 2,318,362 potential voters (I'm just going with anyone age 18 or older, because that's the best granulization I can find of the data, and because I don't feel like finding the data to remove felons, non-citizens, and other non-voting populations), a whopping 5.3% of them caucused period. That's slightly above 1 in 20 Iowans. Woohoo, right? And of that, 1.3% of all potential voters caucused for Santorum. I don't call that a substantial number on either count.

I'm from Iowa, and much of my family lives there. There's a ton of rather devout Catholics there, which I'm sure had plenty to do with Santorum's support. General election-wise, he's toast, though.

Good luck on the elimination of trolss (outside of QL, now that I think about it...), but Ezra Klein's Wonkblog is a well reasoned and informative take on what passes for realpolitiik in contemporary America with a minimum of trolls. Also, Mr. Klein offers what I feel like is a fairly pragmatic and wonkish orientation to issues. I enjoy this, or at least the illusion of it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein

Balloon-Juice and LGF are pretty good, the trolls are usually fairly well handled. Which is funny, because both sites are formerly conservative in nature. They're also small enough that they don't have issues of scale in moderation, as Kos, Thinkprogress, and others might.

I agree, though. The unmoderated (or poorly/selectively moderated) comments sections in Salon, HuffPo and others drive me absolutely bonkers.