Letters to the Editor
-
Götterdämmerung, etc...
I wish that I thought of Götterdämmerung because of may vast literary knowledge. No such luck. I just happen to be on a German music tick lately (for some reason I want to listen to a bunch of music from the "Neue Deutsche Welle"). So I guess in that spirit, Götterdämmerung popped up...
It is frustrating to be dealing w/just two parties, since I grew up in a multi-party system (Germany). It is just maddening that there is no choice beyond R or D (not realistically). Of course it is no guarantee that such a multi party system would be less likely to ignore "We the people...", or is it just me?
"Ich möchte ein Eisbär sein
im kalten Polar,
dann müßte ich nicht mehr schrei´n,
alles wär so klar."
(Eisbär by Grauzone)
Not really, still, cool song (at least in my opinion)....
-
@shooter242
"The perfect is the enemy of the good"; "In real life, not everyone stops on red"; etc. etc.
Please provide a straight answer here. Is your post defending and justifying unconstitutional acts, or not?
-
What?!?
Scott Horton has written about the slow and gradual movement against torture in Britain in the 1500s and 1600s. Then as now, the anti-torture movement should be thinking in terms of decades of struggle (or centuries, or, realistically, never-ending struggle), not in terms of giving up the struggle because last year's elections didn't fix everything.
"Right Action, alone, is yours.
Leave results severely alone.
- - Daniel Berrigan
-- sysprog
You mean I can't has cheeseburger now?
Jeebus! It gets like a Jack Chick Tract in here sometimes. Part pity party, part instant gratification wank off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Chick
All is lost! Repent! It has all been prophesied before!
The Road To Serfdom... Illustrated!
http://www.mises.org/books/TRTS/
-
Of course not.
Please provide a straight answer here. Is your post defending and justifying unconstitutional acts, or not?-- Jordan Orlando
But life is not really so simple is it? I can certainly condemn the single instance of Bush denying an American citizen his Habeas rights, but during prohibition (18th Amendment) I would also have been fine with the occasional unconstitutional act. The problem you folks have is that assertion of unconstitutionality is not fact until decided in court. So when you get around to asking about something specific, I can be specific in return. Until then, I will walk the line. So to speak.
-
Some eedjit wrote:
I'm actually starting to feel sorry for you guys. Tsk on me.
Which only show your stoopidity (and/or dishonesty). We'd feel sorry for you in your debilitated state had you enough dignity to STFU and not brag about it.
Look people, all this moaning and groaning is symptomatic of the clash between reality and fantasy.
Indeed. We wish you'd stop.
Cheers,
-
@ SomeNYguy
Yeah, Shitter, that whole "Cold War" and "Red Menace" and "Domino Theory" and "Who Lost China?" stuff was just a plot device on a very special episode of Make Rooom for Daddy.
My God, you're a self-satirizing idiot. Do you ever think for even a minute about what you're saying before you speak?
A one-word, timely putdown of Sh**ter: "Sputnik".
Cheers,
-
Depends on what 'optimism' means
Picasso painted his masterpiece Guernica, and yet Franco stayed in power for 40 years, and his Axis allies proceeded to destroy the rest of Europe...
kovie
True, but on the other hand, Franco only held power for 40 years, and was slowly overthrown by a people's movement which produced a more democratic and just Spain than has ever existed. The same happened in post-fascist Portugal, and post-fascist Chile, and post-fascist Argentina.
And the Europe destroyed by its fascists and collaborators rebuilt, and for all their faults are more stable and supportive of their citizens than the pre-war governments.
Twenty years ago, no one thought Venezuela would ever move past the Punto Fijo alternating government corruption scheme to begin using some of its vast wealth to improve the lives of its desperately poor citizens. Now they have a government that even detractors admit is far more democratic than the Punto Fijo system and is investing in its own citizenry, for how long who knows, but there was at least for some years a move forward.
None of which is to say that things 'worked out for the best,' just that things which seem set in stone often change, and often due to unexpected impulses.
-
Whew!
Check in at 9 AM, come back 9 hours later and there are pages and pages of comments to sift through.
Kovie seems to have a grip on it. Let me echo someone's thought up thread. We didn't get to where we are over night. And, we won't get out of it in one election. There is no magic bullet.
How do you lose 100 pounds?
How do you swallow an elephant (pun intended)?
How do you climb a fourteen-er?
How do you go from couch potato to triathlons?
How many states does it take to turn a B-52"
How did the Berlin Wall come down?
I am old enough that this work won't be done by the time I die. It's okay. I'll contribute where I can.
Remember, the beginning of the demise of the Berlin Wall was with graffiti. We got lots of graffiti going on. "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else. (Winston Churchill)"
Patience, folks. This is a marathon, not a sprint. It's going to take endurance more than speed.
-
@El Cid
You didn't mention Bolivia. Peasant to President ain't bad and he met all his campaign promises after only 8 months in office.
-
Just Ice Please
Thank you Jim White.
I think it has a nice ring in public, and hurts no one. If my favorite diner charges me the same for ice as soda then good for them. They make the ice and wash my cup after all.
I think this one has legs. I'm smiling again.
-
El Cid
True as well. But I was addressing the view that the present crises (as there are clearly many of them) simply do not lend themselves to be remedied purely or even largely by litigation, even though, of course, this is important and necessary.
Franco was eventually "defeated" (although, more properly, Francoism was defeated, not Fanco, as it was only his death in old age while still very much in power that made it possible for Juan Carlos to initiate the reforms that he did, as I understand it), but it was not through litigation--or litigation alone--but activism, foreign pressure, legislation, etc., and the passage of time.
This is going to be a long, hard slog, and everyone should contribute as they see fit and feel that they are best able to. Or not contribute at all, if they think that it's pointless, can't be bothered, or don't see what the problem is. But then such people have lost the moral right to complain, even if they still retain the ability.
A point which, I imagine, will forever be lost on some.