Any Way You Slice It

We could argue all night whether the U.S is a democracy or a republic. The truth is we are a democratic republic, democratic because we vote for our leaders, and republic because we have a system of written laws that are supposed to be binding on everybody, including our leaders. Monarchies have laws too, but their laws expire when the monarch does and have to re enacted by the next monarch if they are to remain in effect, whereas our laws continue to be in effect until they are repealed by the legislature or overturned by the courts. If our president has more power than he is supposed to have, it's because Congress and the courts have given it to him. Then there are the  constitutional monarchies like the U.K. They don't have a written constitution like we do, but all their legal traditions and court established precedents constitute their constitution.

I think the primary difference between a parliamentary system and ours is that the people elect representatives to Parliament, and then the members of Parliament elect a prime minister who is approximately like our president. I have not heard of any system that elects a chief executive the way we do, with an electoral college. Come to think of it, I don't think any country elects their chief executive by direct poplar vote either, but I might be wrong about that. I don't see how changing to a parliamentary system would be an improvement for us. Would Old Dog care to elaborate on that assertion?

I don't know that having a strong middle class is essential for a democratic republic to function, but I don't know that it isn't either. Would Uncle Ken care to elaborate on that assertion?

I read somewhere that sliced bread did not become popular when it was first invented because sliced bread tends to dry out faster than bread in a whole loaf. It wasn't till some years later, when somebody invented the airtight cellophane wrapper, that sliced bread gained popular acceptance. Nowadays it's all plastic bags, but I seem to remember seeing bread wrapped in cellophane when I was a kid.

I looked up that pure rye bread recipe, and Old Dog is right, it's not something I want to get into. I don't like the really dark ryes as much as I do the lighter varieties anyway. I make mine with one part rye to two parts wheat, and that seems about right to me.

As far as I know, woodchucks are herbivores, but even herbivores snack on animal protein occasionally. Similarly, many carnivores eat a little plant material from time to time.