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Everything I've been reading has said the main opponents of Proposition 8 were... old people, and that the vote was decided far more by age than anything like race.

I don't think there's a whole lot of secular opposition to gay marriage

I think the intention is to counter the Christian argument that we shouldn't let gays marry because they have a treatable mental disorder and if we just rehabilitate them then they can enjoy a normal heterosexual marriage.

The behavior of the brain is highly organized, even on the microscale. What "random" bits remain are more like probability distributions which have been highly tuned by untold hundreds of millions of years of evolution.

LittleBigPlanet is awesome. I've been meaning to try the Mirror's Edge demo. If I'm impressed I'll probably pick it up. It's hard to gauge from the videos how fun the gameplay actually is, but it certainly looks cool.

I think in less than 1,000 years mankind will live inside a computer-powered reality made out of nanorobots which continuously spread throughout the galaxy! Or something.

That's awesome

I don't think Olbermann likes to pretend he's neutral, unlike, say, Bill O'Reilly...

Well, after posting this thread, I couldn't help but balance it out with

http://gawker.com/5082235/keith-olbermann-enrages-view-ladies-by-not-voting I respected Keith Olbermann to a degree, until now. He didn't vote. What a jackass.

From what I read Reid intended to keep Lieberman in the caucus anyway, despite pressure from angered Democrats not to do so. I really don't think Obama was the deciding factor in Reid's decision.

This doesn't come from Obama, but it claims explicitly that Obama's program provides a refundable tax credit as opposed to a tax deduction: http://collegesavings.about.com/od/glossarydefinitions/g/ObamaTaxCredit.htm According to Obama's web site he expects the program to cost $10 billion. The tax credit is only for college students, not high school students.

I can't imagine seeing this sort of thing anywhere near me but would expect to see it quite frequently in the deep south:

Most likely, but the initial way they'll try to straighten it out is a recount.

This is certainly shaping up to be one of the narrowest Senate races in history. With millions of votes cast, the difference between the two candidates has narrowed to a mere 200 votes, representing one hundredth of one percent of all votes cast. This is before a mandatory recount required by state law. One thing I do find interesting is how much of Coleman's meager lead has shrunk over the past week. This comes in a state with some onerous provisions that some have argued are intended to cause voter suppression and disenfranchisement, so much so that the Secretary of State's own ballot was marked as suspect.

Nope, it's effectively $40/hour. 100 hours = $4000 refundable tax credit for college students. You can read about his plan here: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/service/

100 hours of community service in college would result in a $4,000 refundable tax credit, which I'm sure has ParanoiA even angrier.

Okay, I'm wrong again. One of Nebraska's split electoral votes ended up going to Obama, for a final total of 365-173

Okay, as long as we're playing that game... As long as we're playing the implicit implied game, you seem to be implying that if we bestow marital rights on gay couples, we should apply the same rights to incestous couples. Otherwise, your complaint makes no sense.

People aren't allowed to marry their pets either. But that's completely irrelevant to gay marriage. Again, that wasn't my statement: No, you're wrong, and you're making a slippery slope argument.

Actually, my statement was: Your slippery slope argument is fallacious. Why are incest and homosexuality related?

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2012/69_of_gop_voters_say_palin_helped_mccain If that's the case, it looks like Obama may already be set for a second term

I love slippery slope arguments! Progressives want gay marriage? Next thing you know they'll be sodomizing babies!

I think you're having trouble reading the chart. It says the DOD makes up 16.85% of the budget, and the "global war on terror" makes up 4.75% Together they comprise 21.6%, topping Social Security's 21.05% Even if we "only" managed to cut $250 billion out of DOD spending, that's still a 52% reduction in the projected $482 billion FY2009 deficit. It will more than halve the current deficit.

Huh? I just got through pointing out to you that the combined military spending of the US amounts to approximately $1 trillion per year, not the deficit. I don't have figures for the FY2008 deficit which will include the bailout.