Some thoughts after not posting for a while:
--Nu2salt, consider a chiropractor for your herniated discs. I had this condition and did not want the surgery and the chiropractor got me back in shape. I also want you to come up with a savings plan that fits in with your retirement programs. You need this and it is not a luxury. You have to have one to be able to retire. On a more serious point, virtually every conservative on the thread believes that your strategy of "tough love" is far more appropriate and successful than anything coming from the shrinks and extreme leftist apologists who would somehow blame you for these kids problems. You are part of the solution not the problem. The state and the "softies" have taken child rearing away from parents and rehabilitators like yourself and society is worse for it.
--Jon A, keep saving, great example of what can be attained in this day and age. My greatest regret was they didn't start IRAs, 401Ks, etc. until the middle of my professional career.
--Be careful of flat taxes. Perot and Forbes were the biggest proponents and they didn't design them to help the less fortunate. They are not progressive.
--Oil prices will drop after the election.
--Iraq is a very complex strategy that involves all of the Islamic terrorist issues, mid-east democracy and weapons of mass destruction.
--At the start of the war Sadaam had some WMDs but shipped them out of country or buried them. Remember, we have found artillery shells with Serin gas in them. Sadaam kept the inspectors out because it kept his antagonists guessing. I don't think he had a lot of WMDs, just enough, but he had the technology and intellectual property to create new ones in a heart beat.
--The war on terror is global. We are going to eliminate or transform all areas and countries in time including Iran, Syria, N. Korea, Sudan and at some point Saudia Arabia and the other friendly arab countries. Look at Libya. Khadafi saw the hand writing and capitulated, primarily because he already got one of his palaces blown up after one of his terrorist attacks. This will happen through out the Arab world just like communism fell. It is a macro plan and can't be argued on a micro basis like Kerry and Bush are doing. This is not something anyone in the U.S. wanted to take on but it is like communism in the sense that if you do not take it on and address it in every country at some point it can overwhelm us. Fight it on their turf not ours. Think global, macro and long term. Iraq is a piece of a big picture issue.
--Where was the press coverage for the first election ever in Afghanistan?