Kagan "It’s Fine If The Law Bans Books Because Government Won’t Really Enforce it"

[texasmade]

Am I reading the news right or has kagan basically been confirmed as a justice...my head is throbbing from all of the reading i've been doing since yesterday

[bsd777]

I sympathize entirely but just where the heck can one flee that isn't as bad if not worse?

A passage from "A Time for Choosing" (October 27, 1964) - Reagan
Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban stopped and said, "How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to." And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.

Full video of speech http://millercenter.org/scripps/arch...es/detail/3405

[bsd777]

Am I reading the news right or has kagan basically been confirmed as a justice...my head is throbbing from all of the reading i've been doing since yesterday

Not yet. They've announced, several times on the radio, a "confirmation" THEN they say, for McChrystal. I tighten up, every time I hear the first part. I don't get it, why does the guy who simultaneously ran the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq need anyone's approval to just run the one in Afghanistan?

[bsd777]

I say a big BS.
I do not look at the founders as great. They had no concept of middle class or working class. These are the people that only wanted wealthy white land owners voting.
I say **** them all, they are just as bad as what we have now.
Time for something new...without wealth as the most important thing.

They risked their lives, fortunes and sacred honor, in an attempt to establish our free republic, with absolutely no guarantee of success. Failure would have meant certain loss of freedom, fortune and probably life. The result was the formation of the freest country mankind has ever known. But you think they were bad men because they didn't specifically state blacks could vote, when conventional wisdom, through out most of the world, was that blacks were less than human? Does this really make sense to you? Only land owners could vote, because they wanted participants to have some skin in the game. Just horrid I know, but it makes sense to me. They wanted to avoid exactly what we have today. Many of those with little, or nothing, vote for the guy who promises the most redistribution.

[sgreger1]

They risked their lives, fortunes and sacred honor, in an attempt to establish our free republic, with absolutely no guarantee of success. Failure would have meant certain loss of freedom, fortune and probably life. The result was the formation of the freest country mankind has ever known. But you think they were bad men because they didn't specifically state blacks could vote, when conventional wisdom, through out most of the world, was that blacks were less than human? Does this really make sense to you? Only land owners could vote, because they wanted participants to have some skin in the game. Just horrid I know, but it makes sense to me. They wanted to avoid exactly what we have today. Many of those with little, or nothing, vote for the guy who promises the most redistribution.

I hate to say it, but THIS ^^^^.

Imagine in 200 years pedophilia is commonplace and seen as a lifestyle choice, and you are making rules today. All your rules are sound but you say that pedophiles should be in jail. In 200 years would you want someone talking about how much you sucked? The constitution is not perfect, which is why there is the amendment process, so that it remains dynamic, fluid, and changes with the times.


All in all I think for a small group of guys they did good. They could have just declared a monarchy. After all, the people originally wanted George Washington to be king, but he said no. That makes him okay in my book. At least he stood by his principles.

[StuKlu]

they risked their lives, fortunes and sacred honor, in an attempt to establish our free republic, with absolutely no guarantee of success. Failure would have meant certain loss of freedom, fortune and probably life. The result was the formation of the freest country mankind has ever known. But you think they were bad men because they didn't specifically state blacks could vote, when conventional wisdom, through out most of the world, was that blacks were less than human? Does this really make sense to you? Only land owners could vote, because they wanted participants to have some skin in the game. Just horrid i know, but it makes sense to me. They wanted to avoid exactly what we have today. Many of those with little, or nothing, vote for the guy who promises the most redistribution.

a big +1

[desirexe]

@myuserid: Thanks for the laugh. I knew she reminded me of someone, just didn't realize it was Kevin James! LOL

[shikitohno]

It's a matter of what's important to you, whether you have anywhere else to escape to. Personally, as someone planning on pursuing a career in science, I feel like I've got no future in the US once I finish with university. Scientific research in many areas manages to get blocked completely in the US because of special interests groups who find something immoral. Stem cell research is a great example. I forget what inspired the hysteria, but a couple years ago there was a big fuss about stem cell research by religious groups. I think they were getting upset about where stem cells came from, and scientists said, "Okay, you don't like that. Here, we can also get them through this process that includes none of the things you said you found so disagreeable." But they still got shot down. Now countries like South Korea are miles and miles ahead of us in an area the US was once on top of. I don't think science should be given totally free reign to do what they will, but I wish that instead of special interests lobbies and politicians with no background determining what is sound science and what isn't something we should be pursuing, we had people with actual backgrounds in the field making these decisions.

I feel much the same way about the United States as I do about communism. On paper, they seem like awesome ideas (although I know some will fervently disagree about communism ever sounding good), but when put into practice they disappoint. I still think that if the US made lobbyists and pet projects illegal, it would contribute a great deal towards solving many of the nation's problems, but I just don't see either of those two things happening any time soon. Besides this, there's something else I've said in previous posts. I plan to move over to Europe for two reasons. First, I honestly believe that I will be happier there. Second, and perhaps the more important of the two, if I'm not happier there, and I decide to move back I'll have a comparison to make that helps me understand just how good things are here. For all the "USA #1! Europe suxxors!" that I hear in the US, I think more of us should spend a year or two abroad, if only to give us better perspective of just what it is that's awesome about the US. When people don't understand how good they have it, they become complacent and apathetic. Which really describes a good chunk of American citizens, complacent and apathetic. If more people actually gave a damn about things, I don't think the US would be how it is now. If more people read up on issues and voted according to their opinions and understanding of them, rather than following the party line or voting the way their morning news told them to, I think things would be a lot better now. But people don't care, and they don't educate themselves, and they do vote based on party lines, looks, or what the news said they should vote on. Which is stupid as hell. Why do you have a democracy when your citizens can't be arsed to partake in it?

Also, @ sgreger1 and bsd777, not to be a jerk, but I'm going to be a jerk. And sgreger1, you didn't do it here, but in another thread. Anyways, just edit your first post if you guys want to reply to someone and nobody else has replied yet. Not a big deal, just something I've been noticing lately that bugs me a little. Doesn't matter every once in a while, but it's just irritating when it gets out of control.