to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

And, they will lose both. That's my opinion though, not Ben's. History in sig for anyone who doesn't know it.

Thanks for that post, it crystallized what I think and also added to my understanding of the processes operating in these situations. I think you're about as right as it gets there.

You're right, we should all just build mud huts and cower within them. That would make life much more difficult for the Terrorists.

Seriously, a couple hours to LA? Sounds good. Well, except that I don't really like LA :]. On the other hand, 45m to Monterey sounds real good. I don't know if it makes economic sense, but it makes Friday afternoon sense!

Guantanamo isn't shut down. Bagram is still up, running, and an informational black hole. I'm so disappointed in Obama. The only complicated issue is what to do with the detainees, and that'd be better resolved with them being put up, at government expense, in a Hilton somewhere while we sort it all out. Every scrap of paper should be paraded in full public view so there is no hint of coverup or of scapegoating: The people who provably committed war crimes should go to jail. This is just as important as "fixing" the economy (which after all will -eventually- fix itself). Tyrannies don't (peacefully) revert to republic status once they've decayed.

to make oil stocks very tasty indeed. The market is such a wonderfully shortsighted beast. Bargains already abound. Hell, BP is paying an 8% dividend.

Why are there still lead water pipes? Cars aren't allowed to burn leaded gasoline anymore.. seems like this is a problem that doesn't need to persist. Would it cost that much, really, to mandate replacement with PVC or copper?

"Americans welcome our new socialist overlords --A new poll shows that only a bare majority of Americans think socialism is better than capitalism"

FTA:

"A new Rasmussen poll came up with what seem to be some pretty stunning results: Americans aren't all that wild about capitalism, even when given socialism as the alternative. Only 53 percent of respondents told Rasmussen they think capitalism is better than socialism, while 20 percent think the opposite and 27 percent say they're not sure."

Please fix that. It made me dizzy.

It makes me giggle just saying it. Octomom. Octomom. Octomom.

...

Octomom.

That's just excusemaking. This is the age of the Internet and mail-order. These problems can be *solved*. Legislating the inventory of stores is not an answer. Hell, if it comes down to it, you could dispense these more controversial bits of inventory via mail order through state-supported hospitals, of which there is a sufficient if not plentiful supply.

I should clarify my previous post: I am largely referring to the right of businesses to sell or not sell things as they choose. Individual employees certainly can assert a right to not sell things, and find out they've been disciplined or fired if their "right" doesn't happen to be respected by their employer. All this talk of "rights" when we're discussing stuff like voluntary commerce has clouded the issue beyond all rational debate, and that's what I meant to draw attention to.

Sure, that's exactly my point. If you choose not to sell something, you shouldn't be told you have to. The onus is on the buyer of a given product to find a seller. Trying to legislate availability of products is just dumb. If there's some kind of need for people to get something the market won't provide, then yes, the government should step in. By providing the item in question. *Not* by trying to push stubborn people around. That doesn't work, and the *unending* drama over this kind of stuff is your proof.

I don't think this approach is the right way to go about it. If a pharmacy doesn't want to sell a particular drug, there oughtn't be laws that force them to do so. Their loss. Granted, if there is *no* other option available to women in that area, that's a problem. I think if the government gets involved at all, it should be to solve that problem, ie give out drugs at cost at planned parenthood, or the like. I don't think that trying to "persecute" the poor fundies does anything but fan the fire. A parallel distribution network even to rural areas seems more generally sensible because it ensures contraceptives do in fact reach those areas, and that the people who are doing the objecting aren't having (arguably) their own freedom of choice restricted.

Two votes for every one against.. never thought I'd see that happen in this country. Good for them.

Every time I post on gun control, I'm thinking of situations like these. Our government is already unaccountable, and our own (well meaning) citizens want to deprive us of the ultimate check on tyranny. Le sigh.

I expect pigs to act like pigs, and Republicans to be mean-spirited, nasty, brutish and short. That does not excuse stupid traditions that only serve to reinforce bad things about our form of government. I did watch the video. I was addressing the overall approach, not the specific instance.

it becomes more so. Sadly, if a journalist were charged in this way over a story, there would be an uproar.. but here there won't even be MSM coverage.

I think having new members of congress introduce bills "so they can look productive" is about as ridiculous as it gets. Either you have ideas worthy of discussion, or you discuss other peoples' ideas.. This mechanism serves to make it more likely that incompetent incumbents will be re-elected, which is exactly the opposite of what we all should want.

Seriously.