Democrats/"liberals" : Want to over-regulate public behavior

Republican/"conservatives :Want to over-regulate private behavior.

;)

I am afraid to find out who clients 1-8 and 10-n are. I am terrified that some of them may be Democrats who hold high office. While I excuse nothing Spitzer did, I worry that this story is not over with his resignations.

I just hope Bill has kept his pants on.

Like Glenn, I think the pursuit of Spitzer is probably highly selective.

Thanks for your replies. I agree that the War on Drugs has some parallels to the War on Sex/Prostitution. My primary point is that none of us is in a position, including myself, to judge what another is doing from our own perspective. If you are willing to examine the motivation, the culture and the values of the "perpetrater", you may have a very different take on why they did what they did. That does not excuse behavior that harms another person or the environment. What often is discovered among both perpetrators and victims is that there is something in their early environment that predisposed them to the "bad or dysfunctional" behavior for which they are judged. This leads to the conclusion that education and social and healthcare services which are available to all, regardless of social or economic class, could make a significant difference to long term outcomes. Unfortunately, this country does not see that far into the future so does not recognized the benefits of long term planning. We live in a reactionary world which waits for the crisis to arise instead of pre-planning its prevention.

Perhaps this will change with enough people shifting their own consciousness and not collapsing into despair at the prospects of global economic and environmental degredation. That is my vision for the world.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation

peace,

st john

There were other quotes than in that article , but don't remember where I saw 'em .

I took a great deal of abuse during Gulf War I for reacting negatively and publicly to the gleeful watching of deliberate slaughter.

I took even more abuse during "Shock 'n Awe" for the same reason.

With ya there . Hard to get happy period, but especially knowing that former neighbors or classmates, and their friends,family etc might be on the receiving end of all our "fun" toys. ( They were here. I wasn't there) . Not "abuse " for me , mostly blank looks, and sometimes comments after I was out of earshot. (So I was told by a silent agree-er)

Needless to say, they're all wrong.

Which is why I despise conservatives and no longer consider myself a liberal after a lifetime of self identifying that way.

The liberal failure to face up to what they have wrought in the drug war, even here on this blog, has made me even more cynical than I was.. Something I didn't really think was possible a few years ago.

This is far from the only liberal site I have visited and gotten the same reaction at..They all give perfunctory lip service to ending the drug war but it really isn't on their agenda. The liberal list of things which they find more important than freedom is virtually endless.

Disillusionment is a powerful emotion and I am disillusioned to my very core.

I bought the swill I was taught in Civics class and now I know it was complete bovine guano. I knew it a couple of decades ago actually but recent events have rubbed it in with a steam hammer.

Slightly OT . I haven't had time to read all the comments so sorry if this is duplication. Did you catch this latest self-righteous bs in TWOD ?

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/legislature/sfl-flfmagicmint0312sbmar12,0,1101825.story?track=rss

I read the responses to blog posts only intermittently, though I have been following this one more closely, as it brings up fundamental issues on the nature of government. I agree with you about the drug wars. I'm not sure it's the ultimate denial of individual freedom, I thought that was when we had the draft. Since that's no longer the law, perhaps the drug war is now the ultimate denial of individual freedom. One of the most offensive things I remember being proposed some years back was the death penalty for drug dealers, and I'm not sure it was limited to just drug dealers.

--Ron

<<I rub practically everyone on this blog the wrong way by constantly harping on the drug war. But I see the drug war as the ultimate hypocrisy and the ultimate denial of individual freedom.>>

To illustrate:

A: What provides the greatest good to the greatest number of people.

B: Whatever's best for me and F^(# everybody else.

Both of these goals are equally rational.

Which is more desirable is a matter of intense debate and is one of the core questions that separate liberals and conservatives. Hard core conservatives actually beleive that unfettered B: leads directly to A: by an astounding process called the marketplace.

Liberals on the other hand take it on faith that A can be imposed by an engineering process.

Needless to say, they're all wrong.

-- Paul Dirks

This is a bit of a simplification and not quite accurate but I know what you are driving at. I'd go with the "extreme case of central planning" on one hand and "total market anarchy" on the other. In fact, many liberals and conservatives do meet in the sensible and practical middle and just quibble about details and degrees.

Mona, I did see your letter the other day at the tail end of that first thread. I left you a response there, in case you missed it.

In brief: I wuv you too.

;-)

Why the emotional difference?

Because it is almost impossible to completely eradicate deeply ingrained cultural prejudices from ones emotions.

The emotion?

Distaste perhaps..

But then I find many things that most people have no problem with far more distasteful than sucking the boss' dick.

Like cheering huge explosions killing innocent people, as long as they have a lot of melanin in their skin and are on the other side of the world.

I took a great deal of abuse during Gulf War I for reacting negatively and publicly to the gleeful watching of deliberate slaughter.

I took even more abuse during "Shock 'n Awe" for the same reason.