I completely agree with Savel, though my own previous response was more shocked and bitter. I don't normally post twice on the same topic unless I was massively unclear & consequently misunderstood, but there are two further things I would like to say.

First, although I no longer live in the US, the next thing I did after commenting here was go give a donation to the ACLU (and complain that they don't have any "action alerts" about Guatanamo, since I think that's a big part of what's corrupting the soul of the USA.)

Second, this guy may well be a jerk, but he's certainly a hero. He made the decision to keep up his civil disobedience knowing this was being witnessed. He could change the country.

Actually, a lot of heros are also jerks. If you accept (for example) that anyone who cheats on a spouse is a jerk, one can quickly think of a lot of famous heros that are jerks. It probably takes that arrogance to believe you can change the system. I wouldn't want to see any university campus without at least a few young idealists trying to actually do something with their lives and make a difference.

Could have caused a lot less fuss by just getting up and moving to the back of the bus. Hey, it was the law. I bet if you'd seen the video of her you would have thought she was being pretty stroppy too.

I didn't say he shouldn't have shown his ID. I did say he was a hero for making a point about the police brutality once the situation started. And that it's not a coincidence that those two actions were performed by the same person.

This is a fantastic piece of analysis and history.

To me, the two most important things I hadn't known were:

1) The extent to which the power transfer grounded all the way down to the state legislators. These are so important and so over looked, often just full of real estate interests, but the states choose the science books and education curriculum, and this has a big impact on how people learn to think. This is also where most social policy is controlled

2) The fact the current Republican party is essentially a voting block grown out of the Democrats that used to hamper their policy making. As a consequence, many of the sensible old Republican values are now working through the opposition party.

I hope the new Democratic leadership grasps the extent of the change and can take advantage of it to re-instill the values of American Pragmatism in our legislation and government institutions, and find away to protect them from future attempts at autocracy. This will mean embracing some of the new talent from the libertarian and old moderate Republican parties.

This is the most important job of the new congress. If the institutions are right, then good policy will follow.

He was speaking about how well Jeb dealt with loss in 1994, how he started an education initiative & then got himself elected the next time.

Could he possibly have been thinking about how Jeb & George dealt with another loss, and how different things could have been for the whole world if that had been conceeded to Gore?

When my sister got married she was in a fundamentalist church that said that a marriage couldn't be a "two-headed monster", so even though she had a degree & her husband didn't, she wouldn't work. They moved to the same city I was in (I put them up in my house) & went to look for an apartment to rent, but since neither were employed they asked me to cosign on the lease. Then I said "OK, but only if you say you are willing to work." She said "my religion is none of your business." I said "it is if I accept your financial risk. I don't know your husband can get a $14/hour job, but I know you can easily both get $7/hour jobs," (what the rent required.)

The next day she told me they'd prayed about it and decided the Bible said she could work. They are still both working and have a nice house & family now, but are in a different church.

Mom isn't only tithing, she's living in too big a house. She's taking control where she can. A lot of elderly people are like this -- like younger people with cars, they feel safer if their house is bigger, but of course nothing protects you from age. I agree with Carey, the problem is the future and it should be fixed now with a reality check. She can stop tithing, or she can move to a smaller house, or she can save some other place we haven't heard about yet. It's her choice.

And you don't have to lie or to argue about religion. You could say "We've decided it's more important to save for your future than to pay your mortgage. We realized, partly because of what you said last week, but also out of our previous conversations about house size, that you are making financial decisions that aren't responsible, so we think we need to save for you."

the thing to remember is these guys don't think they are doing anything wrong. They think god & the law are on their side. They are documenting their triumphant roles, their legacy, not confessing their sins.

At least Nixon and Reagan knew they would be in trouble if they got found out. This administration is unbelievable. And it makes me ask like I have been since Bush got into the Republican primary --- what were the people thinking who ever put him on the ballot?