Hixter

If you find yourself driving through Grayling, stop at Spike's Keg 'O' Nails for a good burger and a cold beer. My grandparents had a cottage on Lake Margrethe and I have fond memories of the summers I spent there in the 60s and 70s. We ate a lot of burgers at Spike's in those days and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was still in business when I made my first trip to Grayling in almost 40 years in 2009.

In my 50 years on this planet I've known people who have been shot in just about every possible way: wartime, suicide, accidentally, accidentally self-inflicted and robbery. It doesn't change the way I feel about gun laws: the laws currently on the books cover every possible aspect of gun crime and adding new laws that essentially criminalize what is already criminal is a waste of time.

I'm not sure if that means that you're attracted to, or repulsed by, the shirtless Mr. Cline. Either way, I've been meaning to change it. Maybe I should choose that red Rothko painting that's been popping up all over Facebook???

From what I've read, he was treated for his mental health issues. The kid was rich and I imagine he had access to the very best care money could buy. His is a shining example of how we'll never be able to eliminate these kinds of mass murders. All reports are that he was shy, withdrawn and quiet -- not the kind of kid you think of as a murderer. If he never showed any tendencies toward violence then there was no way to stop him from going on a rampage. Mental health care isn't any more of a guaranteed cure for crazy any more than medical care is a guaranteed cure for cancer. It was an AR-15

Talking point of the issue: "sensible." Just keep calling the proposed measures "sensible." The anti-gun group is so entrenched in its ways that they refuse to even consider that their proposals are not at all sensible. Hiding and cowering is exactly what the students and teachers were doing that day at Sandy Hook Elementary because that's what they were trained to do in such situations. It seems reasonable to me that if there are no armed police at a school, some reinforced glass would be a cheap and easy way to slow down an attacker during the 5 or 10 minutes it takes the cops to arrive.

And they are a small fraction of gun sales. Most person-to-person transfers are between friends and family members. Every gun in America is legally acquired at the beginning of its existence -- so how do all those illegal guns on the street become illegal? Answer: they are stolen or purchased on the street in illegal transactions by criminals who will never pay attention to background check requirements. There are already laws in place to "prevent" this, so how will another law help? Current background checks make it unlawful for the mentally ill to purchase a firearm -- how's that worki

I watched it and it came away unimpressed; it was as lousy as the majority of the stuff I've seen and read in the news about the subject. 1) A 30-round magazine for an AR-15 is not an "extended" magazine. It's the standard magazine that the rifles ships with, not some sort of exotic accessory sought out by would-be mass murderers. 2) OMG -- Lanza shot his way through a door/window to gain entry! It seems to me that bullet-resistant/shatter-resistant glass should have been installed, since a small rock or a good kick would allow anyone access to the locked school. 3) OMG -- he fired 152 r

Every firearm sold in this nation began with a background check.

This should make some heads spin:

It'll be interesting to see what transpires in the rest of Europe after what is about to happen to bank accounts in Cyprus. If I lived in Greece, Spain, Italy or Portugal I'd send my savings off to a non-EU bank ASAP.

So, are you saying that you'd like to pay more taxes? You won't find many Americans who share your view. How much more are you willing to pay? It's entirely possible to reduce the deficit without hiking taxes. Texas has no state income tax and recently reported a surplus of almost $9 billion. Contrast that with California, where the state has been raising taxes yet their schools still underperform ours. Californians are flocking to Texas for a reason.

Unpopular programs get cut. It is an unpopular program. It is vulnerable because the politicians who voted for it are vulnerable on election day. As for tax increases, I paid something like $30,000 in taxes last year. No thanks, I'd prefer spending cuts.

Let's not forget that there is more debt than just the federal government's: states and cities are also deeply in debt and pensions are woefully underfunded. We've already seen major cities declaring bankruptcy. Imagine the anger when the pension/Social Security checks don't arrive. As I said, we'll see how this all turns out over the next 5-20 years.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how things pan out. I wouldn't hold my breath as far as inflation, interest rates, government pensions, the Dow and Social Security go. It's a deeply flawed bill that barely became law: a single Republican supported it, while dozens of Democrats voted against it. It has poor support among Americans and I think it will be even less popular once people find out what it's all about: it doesn't require employers to cover spouses at all and it doesn't require affordable coverage for children, either. Employers are going to dump their coverage and pay the piddli

The fundamental ideas hold true in both cases: don't spend more money than you earn. Period. The only difference is that the government can print money, while a household can't do so without committing a crime -- but it comes with a very real cost to the economy.

Absolutely. It doesn't take an economics degree to understand that spending more than you earn is a bad thing and it's doubly bad when you're already deeply in debt.

You don't have to be an economist to understand that when you're deeply in debt it is a bad idea to continue spending more than you earn, all the while borrowing more money to pay for it. I'd be living in a cardboard box under an overpass if I managed my finances like the government does.

Incorrect.

I already did that here a month or two ago, but don't let it stand in the way of calling me crazy. It's only the Internet, so who needs manners, right?

I have to run out and drink beer on the street with the neighbors (how very King of the Hill) but I'll just say this: If that's what you think the Republican party is, then don't be upset when someone on Fox News says that Democrats are all commies who want to force the nation's children into gay marriages with farm animals. Consider yourself part of the problem when it comes to the partisan stalemate our political parties have reached. A little more of an open mind on your part would help. Myself, I have as many left-leaning friends as right-leaning and I'd never deride their parties or b

If I haven't mentioned it before, I'll do so now: I'm not exactly a staunch, right-wing Republican. I disagree with almost as many of their policies as I do the Democrats'. I'm registered as a Republican, but only because that's how I registered when I was 18 (under Reagan.)

You weren't the person who called me out and it looks like my response came almost 3 hours after your post. As for Fox News, I've never watched it. Honestly. I think it's 236,000 jobs and not 263,000, but I agree that every new job is a good thing for this country. I was just pointing out that hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Americans have stopped looking for jobs and they are not counted in unemployment figures, hence the Labor Department's statement that "the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent in February but has shown little movement, on net, since September 2012." There

I've spent far too much time debating those subjects here, but I've been polite the entire time. It wasn't difficult.

Not addressed to anyone in particular: It's possible to have a discussion with someone who holds different views without putting words in their mouths, calling them out by name or getting snarky. We're all adults and it's not really all that difficult to be polite to someone with whom we disagree.