Master and Commander

I thought the diplomatic function was part of the State Department, under the executive branch of government.

We are considering international adoption & researching agencies.

Thank You Very Much!

For all you Obama supporters who recoil when Obama's tax plan is regarded as socialism, please explain why you believe it's not?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Socialism is defined as:

" noun a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole". - Ask Oxford.com

A paraphrased explanation found at The Heritage Foundation's website describes Obama's tax plan as placing a progressive (don't you just love that word- 'progressive'?) tax burden on the 'rich' , while lowering the tax burden on the 'poor'. Simply put, Obama's plan takes a disproportional amount from one group and gives it to another. In a word- Socialism.

Rich and Poor are arbitrary values determined by the government. Government deciding what's too much for you and I...that's scary.

link to Oxford:

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/socialism?vie...

link to The Heritage Foundation:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/cda08-09.cf...

I see Barak Obama has said the issue with failing financial institutions and ongoing mortgage defaults is the fault of Republicans, specifically President Bush and Sen. McCain. This prompts 3 questions for me:

1. How does Federal policy make decisions on behalf of business in this regard? Did Republicans force or encourage businesses to accept those deals and take on that risk?

2.Why does Sen. Obama constantly attempt to tie President Bush with Sen. McCain?

3. Most important- I'd imagine those people who took loans knew they could not afford them. Does Obama ever hold the individuals partially responsible for their actions? Or did Republicans make them do it?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080915/ap_on_el_pr/ob...

If so, what swim competition will she be swimming?

We are ready to ban oil speculators, and take all sorts of legal action against them; but do we know what is an oil speculator?

If we ban oil speculators, have you thought about the unintended consequences?

I was stopped by an off-duty officer (his words) who was driving fast in the left lane & nearly overshot his exit (same exit as me). He tried cutting in front make the exit. I did not back down in time, so he got in behind me, pulled me over. He was angry- got loud & accusing me of aggressive driving becuase I did'nt yield to him. He also told me that I'm supposed to yield to traffic changing lanes.(what??) My reponse to him was, that I could not safely get out of his way. I do not appreciate his bullying attempt to get in front of me. If you knew your exit was coming up, why fly up the left lane until you've got less about 1/16 mile to exit, I asked. His answer was he's an officer so I must yield, otherwise he could cite me for aggressive driving. After looking up the law, he's wrong. He was not on duty,so he must abide by traffic laws. I respect the police & did not act improperly towards him, but am I supposed to get pushed around by a police officer, demeaned by him & accept it?

This is a 2 part question-

a. can the car (the 340hp V8, Hemi C) run safely on 87 octane fuel?

b. can you switch from 89octane to 87octane or swap between octane ratings?

Thanks for your answer.

My wife tends to be inadvertantly rude. She is generally a well meaning person, but she'll sometimes offend, humiliate or embarass me in public, not realizing what she's doing. I'm getting tired of it. Generally speaking it comes from her having a strong opinion on most everything. Example- We were at the vet's office and she's not liking course of treatment for our pet. I'm not sure what to think yet, so I'm asking questions. My wife interupts me to tell the vet, in effect, not to listen to me becuase the course of treatment isn't what she wants to do. She did not say 'don't listen to me' but that's how I took it. I felt very bad having been cut off and dismissed like that. I tell my wife how I felt..embarrassed, mad etc.. she's very apologetic, and promises to remember we are 50/50- but I'm numb to that now, I've heard those promises for years. If you were me, would this bother you? Am I making somethign out of nothing? Thank You.

I have an 02 VW Passat with water spots, presumably from acid rain. How do remove the acid rain spots? I've had the car detailed. That did not help.

Thanks!!

Often- I am sad for various reasons. One common issue with me is the great divide between what kind of person I want to be and what I am. I feel so far from where I want to be as a human being and sometimes doubt I have the constitution to get there. Do any of you feel that? How do you cope? Thanks for sharing.

I have been happily married to my wife for nearly 15 years. We have the normal ups and downs, but there are way more ups, so life is good. EXCEPT...

She met her best friend shortly after we were dating, so they go back nearly as long as her & I do. Her best friend friend lives in another city, they see each other maybe twice a year, but spend hours on end on the phone, it seems just about every night. For the most part this is fine, except I notice it seems to be occuring more frequently. Now, I'm not jealous, it's more of an annoyance. It seems like if I want to talk or we have something to do, it has to be scheduled around whatever time one or the other can talk. I must find out if dear friend will be calling soon, or if dear wife promised to call by x o'clock. I don't like having to compete for attention. To be fair, she does try to arrange her calls when I'm not around as to not get in my way, but that does not work too well.

Tell me, am I out of line? Thanks!

I have recently bought a car. The first weekend I had the car, I had the windows tinted. That week I noticed AM reception was bad. Since the windows were tinted right away, I do not know if the reception was bad before or after the window tinting. Thanks.