To paraphrase some wise person, it is better for democracy that an uninformed person refrain from voting than to enter the voting booth with little knowledge of the candidates and the issues.

If Scott Brown is so independent, why is the Republican Party spending millions of dollars in Massachusetts trying to get him elected.

If only we had the discretion to pick and choose whom to help ... but we don't. Here's why: no one person is qualified to decide who is worthy; that's why we have a thing called government. It hopefully is compassionate, fair, trustworthy, and judicious. If it isn't, then we are doomed to a mob mentality and anarchy. We can't decide not to pay our taxes because we don't like this or that law nor can we earmark our taxes to pay for our individually preferred programs. We pay if we can so that society benefits. Single people and those with grown children must still pay taxes for schools because society benefits from having an educated public. The rich should pay their fair share of taxes because they benefit from a strong economy, a healthy citizenry, and government-funded research. The government has every right to mandate we help others because it has a Constitutional duty to levy taxes to promote our society. The rich have not be fair to the American public: they accepted a large tax break during a time of war ... a time when they could have chosen to help the government but instead turned and fled to their bank accounts. After all, we are fighting in the Middle East to secure energy resources for companies run by the rich; we are not there to gather sand. This is really the war of the wealthy fought by the poor and middle class, but nobody seems to take notice of that fact. That's sad and pathetic. Instead, we see the wealthy pour money into the campaigns of toadies.

The constitution does not promote welfare nor encourages it. Taxes were only levied to pay for wars and government business matters. The states were responsible for every thing else. Sadly every thing is lopsided and as a nation we will implode at the rate we are spending. Then every one will have nothing like all the other countries in the world. Marxism, communism, with a dictator. I prefer to keep America free like it was intended to be.

Senator Brown, I am shocked at your interpretation of an illegally stolen evesdropping of a private meeting of a planning committee. I thought you would have considered the source, a left wing mole. I thought you were dedicated to help the 47% climb out of poverty, just as Romney would like to do. I thought you were above the level of your dishonest millionaire opponent Elizabeth Spreading bull Warren. I do hope you will support Romney as we can not survive 4 more years of the same.

Is this the best you can do? Bringing up something that happened maybe 40 years ago is hardly relevant today.

Romney's dog was named Seamus.

At least Romney doesn't eat dog, like your socialist Obuma.

Bailey rode around in an appropriate dog carrier mounted on top of their car, At least he wasn't hanging out a car window or leashed in the back of a pickup truck.

Animal abuse?????????????? Are you sane? What about eating dog, like your messiah? I guess there was no cat available.

After that comment....Maybe we should all go insane and attack some consulates office or ransack an embassy now followed up by burnings of flags and effigies....

Let's create further turmoil---------Let them all eat pig.

In response to "telling it like it is" post ....

I hope you realize that big contributors like the Oil Industry or Pharma fund both sides. They wouldn't take a chance of alienating anyone on either side. But, like most liberals you would probably have me believe that Warren's funds came only from small donors, maybe the 47% who won't vote for Romney, and that Scott Brown's funding comes only from the evil fat cats known as Big Oil.

"The US grew up during and after that war, our society became more civilized, government became compassionate, and patriotism was cemented into the conscience of the public."

But this "maturing" did not include taxes levied by the Federal Government. That began only in 1913. So almost 50 years of civility and compassion as, I would argue, folks took care of their own, at the local level (churches, charities, neighbor helping neighbor, etc.)

"Helping others is a hallmark of a caring and civilized society."

So why can't we do it for ourselves, like we did for almost 50 years....

Your argument is lame. One needs to understand economics to understand who you really are attacking. Share holders which many own in their IRAs. Brown isn't getting rich off it. Spreading bull Lizzy who earns $300000 + and owns 20 forclosures, and rightfully is a multimillionaire is pretty rich thanks to Fed connections.

Nobody has ever actually answered that question from a teacher in that manner, that's completely fabricated and the sad part is some people will believe that the story actually has some truth to it. I've been hearing the "I have a friend who's a teacher in a city school and she says" bullcrap lie story for decades, it's as pervasive as the Richard Gere gerbil surgery myth.

@ Avon Barksdale.....open up your eyes and believe it happens because it does....and if you google it..you just might be surprised at what you might find on video....or are those fabricated as well.....

I cannot understand how anyone could cast a vote for Professor Warren after this debate. She spent the last few moments selling herself as a Democrat seat warmer. Pathetic.

And of course deb was keeping an open mind on who she was voting for up until that moment. The best thing about Patch is the number of people here who don't realize that their commentary is the internet equivalent of a homeless guy rambling about the end of the world and then passing out while mumbling something about aliens and demons.

Look at the larger picture; not the small picture.
A large part of gasoline prices are taxes ... money which pays for our transportation systems. Our military fights wars in the Middle East so that millions of Americans can drive with total disregard of what emissions do to the environment ... and the rich and big oil unpatriotically look the other way during war time by taking tax breaks ... big oil continues to have the blood of soldiers on their hands for keeping us dependent on foreign oil ... and big oil, gas, and coal can continue to line the pockets of politicians and run ads on TV telling us 'how lucky we are to have them ... and let's drill all over our own country' and continue to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of new energy jobs are never created because most Americans lack a college degree and scientific understanding, believing there is nothing to be concerned about as long as they can drive their vehicles with cheap gas and without consequence ... and they continue to elect politicians who don't get it. Congress eliminated its scientific consultants! If I had my way, we should be paying lots more for oil, gas, and coal ... all finite resources ... so we get the message that fossils fuels are not the future and we learn how to conserve. Get ready for the changes because they are coming sooner, not later.
Caring about how cheap one can pay for gasoline is shortsighted and egocentric.

I've stated previously that interacting with Patchies is a personal fault for which I have no excuse, it's similar to a white-trash addiction like huffing cleaning chemicals. Nobody can believe or explain the motivation for the behavior, but it happens.

Maybe you should start a support group, Avon. I am sure there are more victims. I heard at least 47% of Patch users blame Patch for their dependency..
Even better. Maybe you should seek professional health. I am sure some where in the thousands of pages of Obamacare, internet addiction and trolling is mandated coverage.

That's hilarious. I am white. My avatar is not.

Emcee, I can assure you that your material is not as clever as you imagine it to be.

Who left you to determine what kind of food people should purchase SJP? I just can't stand high and mighty people like yourself who think they are better than others. If I recall Mr. Gingrich was calling out Mr. Clinton while at the same time we find out 10 years later was the biggest hypocrite there ever was because he was doing the same thing. You don't know anything about the people you cast stones at yet you can make snap judgments about them? People like you and the way you think are the reason why this country is where it is at right now. You foster division among people and think your better than others when I bet if we examined your books we would find a lot more than meets the eye. Also the reason that in the end you and your party will never get a majority in this country, because reasonable people will always win in the end and people who think like you, and talk down about people you don't even know will always lose in the end. Sort of like what Brown tried to do to Warren in last nights debate. You are only as strong as your weakest link.

maybe rather than giving more away in a weekend than Kevin does in a year...you should take that which you are giving away and buy Ken B a car??