Paul: You're onto something here. As it stands now, population-packed urban areas that tend to be more liberal overwhelm the less-dense non-urban areas that tend to be more conservatives, which largely accounts for California's out of control liberal policies. Perhaps a variation of what's good enough for the USA as a whole would be a boon to California. One State Senator per county would be a good start. This step alone might rein in the wacky spending because urban liberals would have to accommodate rural conservatives. Having twice the number of Assemblymen as State Senators, apportioned by population, would leave urbans with an advantage yet strengthen conservative voices.

Ah, well, it's all so confusing. A million here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking about over a trillion in bailouts and other patronage schemes.

Scuse me... Antwan was *quoting* Obama directly... It was *Obama* who said he'd visited 57 states.

Correct, Jonah, businesses do not truly pay taxes. Taxes are overhead costs that are embedded in the sale price of all products and services. However, with the notable exception of utilities, businesses do not itemize those taxes so most tax-paying customers remain blissfully unaware, as politicians intend. If the general public knew the true level of taxation, there would be a revolt against most politicians. All the more reason why the United States needs a Constitutional Amendment that forces government to impose a single type of tax on individuals. Whether that might be a sales tax or an income tax is unimportant. What matters is that all Americans become aware of the taxes that they really pay.

One important reason people try to avoid jury duty is purely economic: Those who serve often lose most of their incomes and the loss of even a few days' normal pay can be enough to put some folks into financial difficulty. Daily juror reimbursement is typically paltry and might not even cover the cost of parking and lunch near the court house. Judges with 6 figure incomes and government-paid reserved parking don't seem to appreciate that. Here's a real-life example: A prospective juror in a case that was expected to take 6 to 8 weeks was a waiter and single parent with a child in elementary school. He had no trusted family or friends who could mind his child and could not afford to pay for private day care so he had arranged to work...

Dr. Williams might have pointed out that *despite*NASA's detailed safety check lists and inspections, there have been numerous failed launches, explosions on and off the launch pad and several deaths. No amount of checking and inspecting will make anything 100% safe.

You left out one of Obama's most telling remarks: "We are the ones we've been waiting for." What hubris!

Oops...I meant the economic ignorance spouted by allison and Spirit Interface.

So-called 'business taxes' are passed along in the forms of lower employment, lower wages and benefits for those who are employed, lower dividends for shareholders and lower contributions toward charitable/community activities. If taxes become so high that they cannot be passed on to customers or taken out of the hide of the owners and employees, businesses fold or move to other jurisdictions, including offshore, thereby damaging entire communities by eliminating jobs, dividends and taxes altogether. Mike was addressing illiteracy in this article but I believe that economic ignorance or the sort spouted by jazzmanJim is a far more serious problem. If I had to choose between the two, I'd much prefer to have a semi-literate population...

If one uses a "glory hole" on campus, it's pretty obvious when a protrusion is male, but how does one know what's on the other side of the wall? What prevents a gay male from encountering a female or a hetero male from encountering another male? Should "glory holes" be labeled according to sexual orientation? How could bad actors be prevented from abusing the labels?