And within a few months a new group will take this ones place... When are we going to realize that all the war on drugs does is waste tax payer money on investigations, prosecutions, and incarceration. And also creates unneeded violence for police, addicts, dealers, and average citizens.

Legalize/Regulate it, and these problems go away and all we are left with is the issue of addicts. Which is a problem that will NEVER go away. Drug use is as old as human history. We can't make it vanish no matter how much money we throw at it. So the best solution is to treat those afflicted, and give as little reason for illegal sales as possible. Which means, make it legal, but highly regulated. Removes profit motive for criminals, ends violence related to drugs, would help stop the spread of disease(AIDS, Hep-C etc) and overall create better society.

Don't believe me? Go look at the underground market prohibition created, and then read up on how quickly all that violence, gang activity, etc etc vanished when booze was made legal, but regulated again.... All we are left with is alcoholics that we try our best to help. Same thing would happen with drug addicts. sooner we all wake up to this the better for society, our taxes, and our safety.

The last article that mentioned this last week interviewed a few business owners who stated it. And in this VERY article a business owner said the same thing. And i quote:

"Basically what happens is people come down here, and they park for nine or 12 hours, which means the spaces don't turn over," Theresa Schneider, owner of McKinnon Furniture, told KOMO News

You gotta be pretty observant and looking out for them to see bats since they are small, fast and tend to only be out past dusk. Also many people mistake them for small birds. They are there though, Puget Sound, and the mountain areas here have millions of them. Not a night goes by i don't hear or see one when walking my Dog at night. And i live in NE Seattle where there are far fewer than in up north in less densely populated areas.

Love all these people complaining that it will hurt business or blaming the Mayor.

. HELLO! It's the business owners on the waterfront that asked for this to happen because people were using it as all day parking to go to the pike place market, pioneer square, westlake, etc. Which was hurting the waterfront businesses as their customers couldn't find parking.

GE has been a crony of every administration for nearly a century now. It's one of our largest corporations, one that supplies many things the govt, industry, and our citizens need so it's not surprising that government gets close to them. Not saying it's a good thing, but it's not really a bad thing either. Government/Business cooperation has proven beneficial in so many instances, inventions, and breakthroughs that it would be naive to argue that it is wrong or bad to do so.

As for why GE is essentially the only maker of wind turbines in the country, there a few reasons. None of which have to do with some government sponsored monopoly conspiracy that your kind of hinting at. 1. GE has been making them since 1980, making them the oldest modern wind turbine company in the world. 2. They are extremely expensive to make due to their size, the factories needed alone are not something a small startup could manage. 3. They have over 30 years of experience making them.. So more or less, capitalism, and experience are the reasons they corner the market.

Glad to hear you don't support any subsidies, at least your consistent. Though i still would argue that in many instances, where national security, energy independence, etc etc are involved that subsidizing industry to make it happen is a good thing, and a wise investment in tax payer funds. Many of the last centuries greatest inventions and creations are due to the synergy of private and public sector cooperation.

Not sure where you are getting info on green energy not being profitable. Just because a few companies making solar panels went belly up doesn't mean there isn't money to be, and being made. Take a drive down Interstate 90 over the cascades and you can see profits and revenue being made anytime the wind blows. Japan and Iceland tapping geothermal and savings billions of dollars compared to fossil fuels, Germany now gets upwards of 9% of its ENTIRE energy from wind turbines, all at great profit to the corporations running them. That billionaire in texas is making even more billions with his turbine farms. The list is endless, and people need to quit focusing on a few companies that went belly up. Like any industry, some will fail, some will do well, and a few will make a killing. That's how capitalism works.

GE is pretty much the only U.S. maker of large industrial wind turbines right now. So your argument kind of falls flat due to there being no other competition. Which means, the only other option would be for foreign produced turbines to be used.. Would you rather they were purchased from a Dutch or Chinese company instead of being made in America, by Americans?

And news flash, ALL energy companies are subsidized by the U.S. government in some form or another. Why all this fascination with green energy getting the same benefits(that none of you had problems with before) that coal, nuclear, oil, and natural gas get from the fed? My guess is your just so anti-environment that anytime the word turbine pops up you get all worked up with images of Al Gore pulsing through your brain. Otherwise, whats the problem? The subsidies green energy are getting PALE in comparison to the billions upon billions we give Nuclear power plants, or the billions we give oil companies.

Those fact checkers reviewed the "facts" before the documents showing that Romney was still listed as running Bain during the time periods he said he wasn't. Now that those are out in the open, those fact checkers conclusions are outdated.

Actually Boeing moved their HQ to Chicago because the city and state bribed them into moving essentially. It's not that Illinois has less 'oppressive policies' (in many instances the state is much worse for the average business) it's that Boeing talked with Dallas, Denver, and Chicago and created a bidding war of bribes, tax breaks, and incentives with Chicago/Illinois being the most willing to give special privileges(corporate socialism) to Boeing. If it was just a clean cut case of one state was less 'oppressive' they would of just moved to Dallas Texas, not Chicago Illinois.

$25 million to build their new HQ straight from Illinois/Chicago tax payers,
property tax abatement
$41 million over twenty years of tax breaks that normal Illinois business don't get.
The WTO( a fairly socialist minded organization) even ruled that Chicago/Illinois broke international law by giving them so many handouts to move to the city/state.

So what your really complaining about, is that WA state wasn't socialist enough to keep Boeing from moving to Chicago, which was much more willing to have tax payers cover their expenses via handouts, tax breaks, and other perks that amount to corporate socialism at the expense of tax payers.....

So if im not mistaken, that makes you... drumroll........ in favor of socialism for multi-billion dollar corporations... And yet you end your comment bemoaning socialist healthcare for us common folk... Not surprising though, like most republicans these days, you all favor socialist policies for American corporations, just not American people.....

Red Herrings? changing the subject? All i did was point out that the GOP is more concerned about removing health-care options for Americans, especially in regards to reproductive/womens health then they are about fixing the economy, or getting people jobs.. You know, those things they keep campaigning on......

Nice try with the butt-hurt defensive response though. All you did was gripe about my comment instead of try and refute any of what i said.... Which i guess i shouldn't be surprised, considering that is all you republicans do these days. b!tch and moan, while accomplishing nothing.

That rules him out for pretty much any GOP position. With that much international travel, people(xenophobic republicans) will start saying he wasn't born in the USA, begin demanding his birth certificate, and when he produces it will claim it's a forgery! Cause really, anyone who spends that much time away from America isn't American right? And Harvard? Ewwwww he is some educated elitist, and not the guy i want to go have a beer with. Worse yet he is married to a British journalist too!

Back to reality, he actually sounds like a decent guy, who could very well get my vote once he lets his stance on real issues be known, not just what his biography is. But yeah, the odds of republicans voting for and supporting a guy who sounds more like he has Obama's background than a republicans is pretty slim.