Drew H

Just a thought my early 20's conservative friends and I had: we really couldn't care less about gay marriage, abortion, or marijuana use. What is important is the economy, because without a strong economy, none of that matters. What if a Republican ran on a platform of the following:

- legalize gay civil unions, while allowing religious organizations to decide for themselves whether they will perform them or not.

- Legalize abortions. People have the right to make their own decisions either way. At the same time religious based hospitals can choose to perform them or not.

- Legalize marijuana nationally, tax the crap out, and treat it exactly like alcohol. This would keep non-violent drug offenders out of our clogged prison system, generate new tax revenue, and cut off the major flow of cash to drug cartels. Employers can still require employees to pass drug test as jobs are a privilege, not a right. Given the stigma of pot smoking, I don't think we'd see a huge increase in use as it is already widely available.

- conservative financial & economic platform, lower tax rates, limit deductions, broaden tax base. Cut back on entitlement & defense spending. Pass balanced budget amendment.

- include line item veto amendment on all bills to cut pork barrel spending

- require congress & all other politicians to abide by the same rules & regulations that we are requires to follow. No more special retirement or healthcare programs.

I think if someone were to run on this platform, they would win by a land slide. Most people I know are economically conservative and socially liberal or apathetic. What do you think?

Something got me thinking about this. If homosexuality is not a choice (I know it is not), then it is a genetic trait, similar to having red hair. The thing is, if homosexuals can't procreate and pass that gene on, then shouldn't number of children receiving homosexual genetic traits reduce over time? Similar to how geneticist predict that red hair will slowly be bred out of the human population because it is a recessive gene. Obviously IVF, egg donors, and surrogates can keep the trait alive and passed on.

However, evidence I have seen does not show a strong hereditary link to homosexual genetic traits. So maybe it's not so much a single gene, but a genetic defect or abnormality during DNA replication. And like Down's Syndrome, will be around forever since it is mutation of certain healthy genes as opposed to a "gay gene". What are your thoughts?

(And before you jump all over me, calling me a biggot, I'm not advocating one way or the other, honestly I could care less, it's just an interesting question)

I live with my brother in a 2 bedroom luxury apartment downtown. Rent is $2100 a month plus bills. Right now we split everything 50/50. However, his long time girlfriend got a new job that is is downtown. He announced today that she is moving in with us permanently. It makes sense because she currently lives about 45 mins away from us in the suburbs with her mom. I like her and have no problem living with her. However, I feel that she should pay rent and bills. My brother thinks that we should continue splitting rent 50/50 and split bills 3 ways.

His arguement is that you pay by the room, not the person, and that splitting the bills 3 ways accounts for her. I can understand his thinking because it benefits him. He thinks he is going to save money while I pay the other half.

My arguement is that we don't just live in the bedroom, rather we share the entire space. By having another person living with us, it's more crowded. There will be another person doing laundry, dirtying dishes, and storing their stuff here. Why should I subsidize her living downtown? Why do I have to pay $1000 a month to live here, but she only has to pay $70 a month? On the flip side, how would he feel if I let a buddy move into my room permanently, but not pay rent? I guarantee you he would flip out, so why does a girlfriend make it different?

I think a fair way to split it would be for her to pay $600 a month plus 1/3 of the bills. Given that the going rate for an1 bedroom apartment down her is going for ~ $1500 a month, it's a great deal. We all save on rent and she gets $100 off of a straight 3-way split since she doesn't have her own room. I also think it's fair because they will continue to be in the master bedroom (bigger room, double vanity sink, separate shower & tub, and a double walk-in closet), which he hasn't paid extra for in the last 2 years.

I have been reading up on this. There is an article in Forbes that says you should pay by the person, not the room, but it is a tricky situation. What do you think?

I have a sports car with factory chrome rims. I like the style of the rims, but I do not like the chrome. I want to get them powder coated black. The tires are Nitto Invo: 275 / 35-18 in the front 345 / 30-19 in the rear. My question is if I have the tires taken off, can I put them back on or will taking them off destroy the tire and require me to buy new ones? Given that the tires have 60% tread-life and new tires run about $1800, I can wait if I need to.

Appreciate your help on this.