RedScare

Umm...only ONE thing to do was outside the Inner Loop. In fact, 5 of the 6 things to do are located in an area within the loop, I-10 and 59. That area is probably one-sixth of the inner loop.

I might point out that I am speaking of North Carolina, not ANWR. North Carolinians are not known for their liberalism. They hunt, they fish, and they love their land. And they do not want people with your mindset running drilling rigs off their shores for precisely the reasons that you state in your posts. They do not mind that you find beauty in Texas, and they do not mind that Texans drill and endure oil slicks and all those other things. They simply do not want to endure it themselves. As a states rights guy, you should respect the Carolinians preference not to live by the rules of those who say "f__k birds" and think 400 square mile slicks are no big deal.

Thus explaining why your opinion is an outlier. To nearly everyone who does have even a passing interest in nature, this has the potential to be a major spill. And the fear of those that oppose drilling off of their shores is twofold...that these blowouts may occur, and that those in the drilling industry think as you do. Having grown up in North Carolina and living in Texas, I wouldn't want Texans drilling off the North Carolina shores, either. Texans just flat don't care about the environment, at least not to any appreciable degree. Your statements and opinions, along with those of Marksmu and Ricco, are fairly typical of Texas attitudes toward the environment, and it shows. Our beaches are butt ugly, our landscape is butt ugly, and we are forced to find 'beauty' in the rubbish that man creates. Only a Texan would find a 400 square mile oil slick to be no big deal.

Your math confirms that the wealthy have a greater ability to pay higher taxes (since they consume less of their income), making the case for a progressive tax system. Thank you for saving me the trouble of finding the support for that conclusion.

Turns out that the "crap piece of reporting" may have come from Fox News itself. Oil May Spew For Months

Actually, this thread was started by you to complain that the wealthy pay too much taxes. Now, you claim corporations should not pay taxes. In another thread, you complained of the budget deficit. The reason you are a lightning rod for criticism is that you have no ability to view the situation holistically. The government must have revenue to operate. Yet, you (and most Republicans) insist on lowering or eliminating taxes on everyone or everything that has the ability to pay them, while simultaneously claiming that the deficit is too large. Perhaps because you are a product of wealthy parents and grew up during the easy credit days you have no concept of balancing budgets, but your complaints conflict with each other. Look at where the wealth in the US is concentrated. http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html The top 20% of US households control 85% of the total net worth in the US. Total financial wealth (not including one's home) is an even more staggering 93% of total financial wealth held in the top 20% of households. Yet you cry that the top 20% pay too much. Reality is that they pay only 86% of the taxes. The top 20% are actually paying LESS than the percentage of the wealth they control. If you are capable of doing math, why don't you tell us how exactly YOU would balance the budget. Use REAL numbers, not the vague talking points of the news channels and tea partiers. I'd love to see it.

Actually, Fox News is reporting the very same thing from the very same sources. And, CNN has quoted BP's VP as saying... http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/23/oil.rig.explosion/index.html?hpt=T2 Your blood pressure would be lower if you would simply read the articles rather than blow a gasket prematurely.

336,000 gallons of oil per day may not be much to you, but it is considered 'major' by most everyone else. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36683314/ns/us_news-environment/?ns=us_news-environment I agree that oil spill containment and recovery are much improved, but to suggest that cleaning up a spill is as simple as wiping a Bounty paper towel across a countertop is flat out lying. This cleanup will be easier if they can close the blowout preventer and the winds keep the 5 square mile oil slick at sea, but if the winds change, it will cause serious problems. The potential for these calamities is why some coastal residents oppose offshore drilling. It doesn't matter that they are relatively infrequent, but that they do occasionally occur.

Actually, it is neither. The other complex was in the City of Houston, so Katy would receive no taxes from it, making it a pariah to the good mayor. The others are all within Katy town limits, making them good taxpaying citizens. And apartment owners pay full freight on their property taxes, not those lame homestead exempted rates that the whiny, demanding homeowners pay. And apartments pay higher water rates, and haul away their own garbage, saving valuable city resources. The mayor can't get enough of them, so that he can assess lower rates on the voting homeowners. Frankly, Katy residents would be lucky to have half the intelligence of the hayseed mayor.

I notice you chose the crappy GE and left out Exxon. Even more interesting is the fact that both companies made out like bandits with tax deductions and credits, just like the poor people that Marksmu was railing against. I hope to see him spewing venom against these deadbeats soon, lest he lose credibility.

Umm...today? Burning Oil Platform Collapses Into Gulf There were also several dozen rigs that broke free of their moorings during Hurricanes Katrina and Ike. Some were never found.

To borrow a phrase...

While gto is providing that evidence, maybe he will explain why the most productive years in US history, from the end of WWII into the 70s, also had the highest tax rates, some as high as 94%.

This statement is symptomatic of the "rich"'s war on the middle class. There is no penalty for working more, any more so than there is a penalty on all workers. The tax system is set up to pay for all those things that makes life easier to live, to make commerce easier to conduct, and the wealthy easier to protect. If the rich do not want these things they should say so. But, they do not, because quite simply, the rich want more roads, more police, more prisons and bigger armies. They simply do not want to pay for them. There is no new war on the rich. There is finally a realization that George Bush was conducting a stealth war on the middle class. Your initial claim that the poor and middle class do not pay anything is evidence of that. The lowered tax rates and capital gains rates and deregulation of banks, etc., allowed the wealthy to become wealthier at the expense of the middle class, to the point that growing numbers of workers do not make enough to even owe taxes. It also came at the expense of the budget deficit that you scream so much about. There is a move to roll back some of these rates...not to the 50% Reagan years...but to the 39.5% Clinton years. Frankly, until tax rates return to the level of your hero Reagan, I think you are simply full of hot air.

Yeah, there are so many people fleeing Houston that the metro has grown 109% since 1980 (2.75 million to 5.78 million). But, Portland, Oregon, where no doubt everyone moves to stay for the long haul, has only grown 67% in the same period. Wonder why that is?

Your post makes absolutely no sense, but then they usually don't. At any rate, the original poster stated that his house was built in 1995, so it is going to be PVC. By the way, if you haven't called anyone yet, my plumber friend said that his company, Vossler Plumbing, would likely fix a small leak this one for $180-250. (713) 688-2304

NASA is already developing robots to handle that task. There are commercial vehicles capable of taking the robots into orbit. We don't need anyone's permission to service the satellites. Other than Hubble, I don't recall the space shuttle doing much of that anyway. The only losers will be high school science projects. NASA doesn't need to be in the satellite repair business. NASA needs to be in the research and development business.

Do you know anyone who is not taxed? There are the income taxes, of course, though some low wage earners and unemployed do not pay them. However, every wage earner must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, as do the self-employed. Anyone who owns a home or land pays property taxes. Even the homeless pay sales taxes on their booze and cigarettes. Do you not think those taxes are sufficient to entitle one to be a citizen and represented? But, to answer your question, no, I do not believe in no representation without taxation. I do, however, believe that some people in this country are far too selfish and greedy, and that they should spend more time appreciating what they have and less time trying to make everyone else pay for it.

You'll wait a long time. That is not Colbert's character. Watch the show before you comment on his humor. You'll make far fewer mistakes.

Finally, someone else gets the axe. They've been going after my whiskey and cigs for years. It's about time they went after other peoples grandmothers.

Escrow is recalculated yearly. The method of calculation is included in your new escrow notice, or can probably be found on your mortgage company's website.

Or maybe you get bonus points for pedestrian friendly freeway flyovers?

Are we too self-important to give a key to the city to a celebrity, especially one who has his own treadmill named after him on the Space Station? (And, you are correct, I had not noticed that he was merely visiting NASA, no doubt to do a segment, not an entire show.)

Actually, I'd bet that Mayor Daley would probably show up on a Chicago Colbert show. As for Mayor Parker, she was on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me in February, one of which aired this morning, and she was remarkably dry and witty. I think she'd do well on Colbert. She takes the Houston ribbing well. Very self-deprecating and good natured.

That could explain why your attempts at humor on this forum always fall flat. Go hit the comedy central website and get back to us.