I'm sure it is just a coincidence (snark), but the two smear ads reportedly being readied --- "Brown is against a woman's right to choose" and "Brown doesn't believe human activity causes climate change" --- repeat the debate "moderator" questions to Brown while he soft-balled Coakley with "What changes do you wish you'd made in your campaign?" etc.

About "regulating non-licensed professionals:" Why? The taxpayer (or client) who uses a "non-licensed" tax preparer, whether "professional" or moonlighting from a shoe-shine-stand day job, is or should be aware both, that responsibility for accuracy of his/her return is squarely in his/her court, and that "caveat emptor" applies.

Unless the IRS rep I talked to is mistaken (not a completely unusual event), an "authorized" tax pro signs off on the return and is expected to stand behind any errors and argue the point(s) at any IRS audit on behalf of the client. If a "non-authorized" person prepared the return, only the taxpayer signs the return and, in the event of an audit, is on his/her own.

Yeah, hockeynation, but that was when the mob controlled the unions. Once the communists took over, they became a subversive Fifth Column.

I don't know about physical withdrawal symptoms re: gambling, but I'll never erase from my mind an outing at a racetrack with a co-worker who, it turned out, was a gambling addict. His obvious physical reactions included literal sheets of sweat (OK, figurative sheets), nervous spitting, trembles and apparent nausea. I subsequently learned some of his furniture was repossessed by a loan company, and he was paying a big chunk of his weekly pay to a "juice man" (loan shark) because of his gambling losses.

About substance withdrawal, though, I learned the hard way that even sugar abruptly withheld can cause physical withdrawal symptoms -- I started a crash diet, using Sweeten instead of my usual 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar from my coffee (which I drink a lot of) and switching to diet lemon-lime soda instead of Pepsi. I had to drop the diet, taper off of the sugar over a couple of weeks, then try again. The symptoms included severe headaches, weakness, and blurred vision.

Ah, Victor, you're more cynical than I am (if that's possible). Usually, I think it's just the unintended consequences of busy-bodies with superiority complexes trying to take care of all of us lip-diddling commoners :)

Thanks, and you're right about our "behaving as though we have been defeated..." Although actually, that isn't really "us," it's our opportunistic political pundits taking cheap shots at (their) ideological opponents.

My comment, though, was a response to Terry Huffman's question about El Al and I wasn't thinking beyond the air traffic thing. I completely agree with your point about the necessity of commitment to intelligence gathering and human intel (as well as greater respect and support for the intel gatherers).

No, there are no "core principles" of conservatism. What "conservatism" is is wholly dependent on where and when, what is and what was --- the Founders were liberals. If they returned to the here and now, they would be conservatives. The definition of the term(s) are fluid, and linked to circumstances in the relevant era and location. A conservative in Moscow, for example, longs for a return to Party Rule. A liberal in Moscow wants democracy and individual liberty. And religion has nothing to do with it - the terms are political and secular.

It is the illegality that creates the black market; the black market is what makes it profitable for drug pushers to hang around school yards and push the junk on kids, and it is the black market pricing that nudges junkies to burglarize (our) houses and commit crimes to pay for their habit. Legalization would make it more affordable, and subject to regulation and away from minors.

I don't like drugs, or to be around people who use them - but the "War on Drugs" and its creation of bureaus and agencies all but guaranteed the problem could only get worse and could NEVER be resolved, because if the agencies whose only reason for existence ever solved the problem, it would be the end of the little fiefdom charged with solving it. No bureaucrat will ever do such a "good job" that it puts him/her out of work.

Yeah, but Joseph P. Kennedy & progeny didn't get the street tax off of marijuana. :)

As Dan said, El Al (Israelis) looks for bombers while we look for bombs. Practicality is a different matter, though, because El Al handles a small fraction of our air traffic. Still, we could use some lessons from them on how to approach the entire task of screening for potential risks, what to look for and what should be more closely scrutinized.