Many. And it is either planned, or it is a tragedy. This condition is treated in the opening essay.

Didn't say that anywhere.

 

Just out of curiosity are you male or female and are you married with children

 

All marriages provide benefits. Therefore all marriages redistribute resources. That is the distortion.

If we did not have entitlements for marriage, tax revenues would have one less category of cost outlays. An entire category on the debit side of the federal register would disappear.

To repeat: entitlements have a cost. Entitlements must be paid for. We pay for them.

Or more accurately, in this age of declining Western civilization, our great-great-great-grandchildren will be paying for them.

 

I glossed over the particulars. Yes, of course.

My only quibble with your idea comes down to execution.

As a society, we do treat marriage qualification (and many other forms of qualifications) according to class categories. We realize that this is unfair in some situations. For instance, heterosexual couples who have no intention of producing children are allowed to marry, and incestuous couples who have no intention of producing children are prohibited from marrying.

However, we recognize that enforcement of qualifications down to the individual level would be cost-prohibitive and impossible to enforce in practice.

In principle, I am fully no board with your idea that child-related benefits should kick in when children actually are produced. I simply wonder whether this is can be achievable and cost-effective in practice.

 

None of your business.

Just out of curiosity, why would that possibly matter?

What color am I?

What is my gender orientation?

How do I vote?

What bearing do these questions have on the argument presented?

 

Human coitus.

Just look at it!

Sweating, grunting well nigh miserable animals, their heads filled with the stresses of tomorrow and yesterday, bodies grappling and clutching, inducing cramps, utterly ridiculous.

No wonder professional porn has such an allure. Acrobats dusted with baby powder!

With the inherent ridiculousness of the act it is incredible that the species has persisted at all.

 

I am not opposing gay marriage as a principle.

I am opposing gay marriage IN THE UNITED STATES, because the money that it costs me is wasted.

If we could fix the regulatory problems, I would be all for it.

As opposed to some of you, who are showing your true colors now and painting gay/lesbian intimacy as repugnant and vile. You have not heard that from me. ANYWHERE on this thread.

M4MPetcock and TenGuy get that. The rest of you, as I have said, are raving!

 

Is this some sort of troll performance art? If it is, it's awfully good. Jon Stewart retired too early. You could have been writing for him with this material.

Wait just a minute. Tell the truth. You did write for Stewart, didn't you.

 

I've made a lot of money writing.

If I made any specific claims, the Master of Facts would post the average salaries of credentialed and amateur poets, and he would accuse me of padding my resume.

 

It shows, too. For God's sake, don't make any specific claims. Your claim that anal sex hurts and is dirty has cemented your reputation. Anything more would be anticlimactic.

 

One more thing, Bron:

Back when I was starting out (a nubile babe out of college), an old mensch learned at the water cooler that headstrong type-A compulsive moi had declared that she had no use for men. The mensch pulled me aside and gave me a truism that's been said a million times, but apparently he felt I had to hear it again: the most straightforward path to financial independence begins with marrying and staying that way.

That is as true today as it was (x) years ago, but kids these days are dumber than lint.

Marriage confers manifold advantages. Even today.

Of course a year later the same mensch pulled my fiance aside and gave HIM an old truism: he said, "You know, it's as easy to fall in love with a rich girl as a poor girl, but the rich girl is a straight path to fortune."

My fiance, bless him, said this: "With all due respect, sir, I will make my own fortune, thank you."

And the rest is history.

 

You just answered my question

 

To funny

 

And I'll bet you don't have kids and never will . Still don't see why that would have no bearing on the discussion ?

 

Nope. Not a clue.

 

Unless I made it all up for comedic effect.

 

Vanessa Williams’ Surprising DNA Test

I’ve always been interested, but I was introduced to Ancestry [one of the websites that help people research their family backgrounds] before I even did a show called “Who Do You Think You Are,” so I signed up as a member to document my own family tree, and my DNA analysis was done as a part of doing the show.

We ended up doing two stories on my father’s side. One of my great-great-grandfathers was a soldier in the Civil War, and the other was born a slave but ended up being an educator and principal, and one of the first black legislators in Tennessee back in 1885. The stories are rich and informative and intriguing, but also as an African American, you don’t always have the luxury to know exactly where your ancestors are from.

My DNA breaks down as follows: I’m 23% from Ghana, 17% from the British Isles, 15% from Cameroon, 12% Finnish, 11% Southern European, 7% Togo, 6% Benin, 5% Senegal and 4% Portuguese.





A DNA test can determine nationality. It can certainly determine race. Race can also be determined by appearance and skeleton.

The races differ significantly in average ability levels and behavior. Race is an important biological classification.

 

Feelings are not facts about the universe. They are facts about the people with the feelings.

 

You sure you wanted to say "needles" or if it needless?

 

The money that it costs you? What all $.12? And who are you to say it is wasted? If I had a say in it, I'd ask for my money back that goes to the military industrial complex and corporations, but we don't get that say.

Besides, you're picking at small potatoes.