Oh, McCain...

[Dr. Medulla]

the next few years are going to be devastating to a lot of Red states with their long commutes, high A/C bills, underhanded mortgages and easily exported blue collar jobs. If you live in a Red state and they put McCain in- move. It means they're going to suck you dry.

My sister and brother-in-law go to Arizona and New Mexico for a month or so every winter (escaping the worst of winter, doing the retired golfing thing). There's one golf course that they go to regularly and in the past three years the prices of homes along the course have dropped dramatically—from $200,000 to $175,000 to $125,000. As fresh water becomes more and more a limited commodity, all those desert towns (I'm looking at you Vegas) are going to be little more than ghost towns. Same thing with coastal communities. Insurance companies won't sell flood insurance, so only a fool and the poor will be left.

[Wolter]

Same thing with coastal communities. Insurance companies won't sell flood insurance, so only a fool and the poor will be left.

Well, between those two descriptions, your statement just covered everyone in my family that lives in coastal Carolina.

[Dr. Medulla]

Same thing with coastal communities. Insurance companies won't sell flood insurance, so only a fool and the poor will be left.

Well, between those two descriptions, your statement just covered everyone in my family that lives in coastal Carolina.

Have they ever expressed any concern about ocean levels and long term prospects of their homes?

[IkarisOne]

Vegas is fucked, all of those desert developments are fucked. The water supply can't support all of that construction. They're all feeding off of the Colorado River and it can't handle it.

I'll tell you, the older I get, the more those old Yankee bromides hit home. Frugality, hard work, modesty, living within your means, self-sufficiency, etc- all of which are anathema to the GOP and their narcissistic, gimme gimme, Christofascist base ("Jesus wants me to drive an Escalade!"). Palin is the ultimate example of the right wing delusion- she's on the public payroll and her husband is union and yet they talk like they're frontier folk. But Reality is about to give us all a kick in the ass, starting with this hurricane season.

[Wolter]

Same thing with coastal communities. Insurance companies won't sell flood insurance, so only a fool and the poor will be left.

Well, between those two descriptions, your statement just covered everyone in my family that lives in coastal Carolina.

Have they ever expressed any concern about ocean levels and long term prospects of their homes?

Not really. They should. But not really.

[Dr. Medulla]

Same thing with coastal communities. Insurance companies won't sell flood insurance, so only a fool and the poor will be left.

Well, between those two descriptions, your statement just covered everyone in my family that lives in coastal Carolina.

Have they ever expressed any concern about ocean levels and long term prospects of their homes?

Not really. They should. But not really.

A pity. But what can you do?

[Dr. Medulla]

I'll tell you, the older I get, the more those old Yankee bromides hit home. Frugality, hard work, modesty, living within your means, self-sufficiency, etc- all of which are anathema to the GOP and their narcissistic, gimme gimme, Christofascist base ("Jesus wants me to drive an Escalade!").

Peas in a pod, mon ami. Both my wife and I think that we were lucky that we were each raised by parents who lived through the Depression and never really got over the notion that the bottom can fall out, so don't live beyond your means. It sucked as a kid when all my friends were constantly getting new toys, clothes, bikes and their families were seemingly go to Disneyland every Christmas (I exaggerate, but that's what it felt like as a kid). But those same friends never got over the sense of constant and immediate material rewards and are now in debt up to their eyeballs, whereas me and the missus live comfortably and within our means, and are finally at that stage where we can start to treat ourselves to some luxuries. I've never understood the idea that the health of an economy can be inferred by how much personal debt people allow themselves to accumulate. That is, I understand the internal logic behind the formula, but personally I find that insane. Debt might be a necessary evil—buying a house or a car, paying for tuition—but it is an undeniable evil to me. The idea of owing money is just an utterly painful concept.

[Wolter]

Same thing with coastal communities. Insurance companies won't sell flood insurance, so only a fool and the poor will be left.

Well, between those two descriptions, your statement just covered everyone in my family that lives in coastal Carolina.

Have they ever expressed any concern about ocean levels and long term prospects of their homes?

Not really. They should. But not really.

A pity. But what can you do?

Move to the midwest and let them hash it out?

[Still216]

To be fair, Palin's face is Photoshopped on both of those bikini / gun pix.

[Rat Patrol]

To be fair, Palin's face is Photoshopped on both of those bikini / gun pix.

I find the non-'Shopped photos of her scarier.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... 9120.story

[Dr. Medulla]

Well, between those two descriptions, your statement just covered everyone in my family that lives in coastal Carolina.

Have they ever expressed any concern about ocean levels and long term prospects of their homes?

Not really. They should. But not really.

A pity. But what can you do?

Move to the midwest and let them hash it out?

Family warmth is best preserved at greater distances.

[Still216]

I find the non-'Shopped photos of her scarier.

Yeah, dead caribou aren't really flattering to anybody, let alone a Vice-Presidential candidate.

I'm just glad I live in a borderline Blue state right now (Pennsylvania) where incumbents can be thrown out at the whim of about 4% of the population. All the politicians making sure to not do anything stupid to get thrown under the proverbial bus, because it'll be used against them within any given two years. It's kinda nice actually.

[Dr. Medulla]

I find the non-'Shopped photos of her scarier.

Yeah, dead caribou aren't really flattering to anybody, let alone a Vice-Presidential candidate.

Don't be too sure. If her self-identification as a "hockey mom" is seen as somehow relevant in any way to her qualifications to potentially be in charge of the whole enchilada, that she hunts will be given equal weight when determining her position on, say, failing banks or foreign ownership of America's industrial base. I really can't fathom people who actually try to find their own life story in that of a candidate. Is it to ask, "Hmm, would I be a good president?" Um, guess what, the answer is almost certainly no. To all who are drawn to the hockey mom stuff, go to a pee wee hockey game and listen to the hockey parents. Do any of them suggest national leadership to you? What's worse about American democracy—how few people there are who vote or the idiotic criteria that influences their choice?