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But won't you reconsider leasing them out for this shiny bag of magic beans we call a war on terror?
No, cuz it's bullsh*t.
You can't have a war against an ideal (or substance, or financial status). Against people who hold that ideal? Yes. That's why if we ever gain declare war on (fill in the blank) it's basically out of someone's ideological ass.
That's why if we ever gain declare war on (fill in the blank) it's basically out of someone's ideological ass.
Just out of curiosity: tanks, troops, and planes from another country start leveling your city. What you gonna do? Offer them cake and ice cream?
We all think we are so safe here in 'fortress America.' No country has ever been safe. That includes this one. I'd love to live in Utopia; but it doesn't exist. Personally, I would be willing to die resisting anyone who wishes to deprive me, my family, or my community of reciprocal free agency. Give me liberty or give me death; remember that one? Or have they stricken it from the history books and replaced it with something about sheeple?
ChrisC I've noticed in real life and in blogs there are some who are just so hooked on wanting to believe they already have all the answers to life that they've rendered themselves downright stupid. Some really are incapable of hearing, seeing, or considering any information outside that mental bubble they've got going on. It's a whole other level of psychiatric disorder relating to politics. The only thing I can do is stop playing into their belief system that the emperor has clothes. Their emperor is naked and they still do not want to believe. Don't let it be anyones problem but their own.
I've been in a lot of countries, and except for a few extreme cases, I have not been able to perceive that people have significantly more or less rights in one or another. In Eastern Europe in the 60's, people had no right to travel abroad, and had little right to be profligate consumers, because there was so little available to buy. But aside from that, they could move about freely in their own country, change jobs, pretty much all the things that we think of as daily personal freedom.
If I were to pick you up and blindfold you and fly you to some country and set you down to walk around the streets, you'd never be able to guess just how much freedom people have, because in most (not all) countries, it's pretty much the same. Most of the freedoms you have, you don't use. When was the last time you stood on a soapbox in the park, or handed out flyers that you published? Half of us never vote, and it doesn't matter since more than 10% of congressmen run unopposed. There are very few countries where people are not free to attend the church of their choice and worship the diety they believe in. Criminal suspects are given a fair rial in every country Ive ever been in.
Americans have a horribly over-inflated idea of the rights and freedoms they have, which in general are not significantly different from anywhere else. Mexicans, for example, are more free and have more rights than Americans---they enjoy almost exactly the same civil rights, with far less regulation.
I've been in a lot of countries, and except for a few extreme cases, I have not been able to perceive that people have significantly more or less rights in one or another. In Eastern Europe in the 60's, people had no right to travel abroad, and had little right to be profligate consumers, because there was so little available to buy. But aside from that, they could move about freely in their own country, change jobs, pretty much all the things that we think of as daily personal freedom.
If I were to pick you up and blindfold you and fly you to some country and set you down to walk around the streets, you'd never be able to guess just how much freedom people have, because in most (not all) countries, it's pretty much the same. Most of the freedoms you have, you don't use. When was the last time you stood on a soapbox in the park, or handed out flyers that you published? Half of us never vote, and it doesn't matter since more than 10% of congressmen run unopposed. There are very few countries where people are not free to attend the church of their choice and worship the diety they believe in. Criminal suspects are given a fair rial in every country Ive ever been in.
Americans have a horribly over-inflated idea of the rights and freedoms they have, which in general are not significantly different from anywhere else. Mexicans, for example, are more free and have more rights than Americans---they enjoy almost exactly the same civil rights, with far less regulation.
In this thread, I can agree with you. I've had the same experience with respect to various other countries and personal freedom for the typical, law-abiding citizen.
In Eastern Europe in the 60's, people had no right to travel abroad, and had little right to be profligate consumers, because there was so little available to buy. But aside from that, they could move about freely in their own country, change jobs, pretty much all the things that we think of as daily personal freedom.
Not all European countries allowed people free movement in their own countries. Those with internal passports assigned people to specific locales, and it was extremely difficult to change one's residence, even within one's city.
There was no right to vote. And no, choosing not to exercise a right you have is not at all equivalent to having no right at all.
There was no right to habeas corpus. There was no right to sue the government or a public official for any reason whatsoever.
There were absolutely no enforceable rights against the police. And again, that the police in a liberal democracy sometimes violate people's rights (and usually get punished for it) is not the equivalent of the police, by law, doing whatever the hell they want in all situations.
There was no right to freely exercise one's religion.
There was no right to freedom of expression. And notice, not speaking -- not standing on a soap box or handing out flyers -- is a form of expression as well. Under totalitarianism, there is no right to say what you want AND no right NOT to say what the government wants you to say. If there is a petition being circulated decrying how horrible America is, you better sign it, or end up in a GULAG. (Try "changing jobs" then, haha!)
There was no right to a trial. Ever. Much less a speedy or public one. It's not like there was a right and it was denied in some cases -- there was no such right in any case.
There was no right to confrontation. People could be tried and convicted without having the opportunity to confront their accusers or review the documents being used as a basis for their denunciation.
There was no right against self-incrimination.
There was no right to refuse medical treatment. Punitive psychiatry was a favorite in the USSR from the 1960's to the 1980's.
There was no right to due process. In fact, in conversations with Russian speakers, I struggle with the term "due process" because it has no equivalent in Russian, nor any concept that would even remotely convey the idea.
There was no right to freedom of education. Parents had the right to send their children to the state school and NO right not to send them to the state school.
There was no freedom of conscience. People were required to participate in rallies, sing "protest songs" and recite their allegiance to communism and the State regularly as a condition of staying out of jail.
But I can see how an "open-minded" backpacking tourist wouldn't notice any of those things.
I'm a strong believer that we should be allowed to govern ourselves but to a certain point. After that if things get out of control and we cannot make a sensible decision then I think that a higher party/group should make that decision for us. I know that our fore-fathers died defending our freedom..but I don't think they had they had in mind people wearing shirts like "F**K AMERICA" to go on walking our streets.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that is I think a little goverment intervention maybe what we need in today's U.S. climate. The lack of common sense sometimes needs to be shoved down our throats.
Could you give a clearer example of what you mean? Because as far as I know this is already in place. People can have their pets or children removed or their weapons taken away if they misbehave in certain ways -- they can be foreced into mental-health treatment or substance-abuse treatment or both -- they can definitely have their freedom taken away for ungodly periods of time and lose almost all their ability to work and live freely in the world if they get caught doing certain things. I don't think a snotty-attitudinal adolescent slogan on a t-shirt is worth worrying about.
Redisca, I was not talking about the USSR, and I had already stipulated that Eastern Europe was worse then than almost any country in the world today. What you added was of no relevance. Law-abiding citizens in most eastern bloc countries had wide latitude to live their lives. My general remarks were about most countries in the world today and what you stated did not contradict that at all.
You really need to get off your trash-russia horse galloping at full speed in the dark through a minefield, and start participating in the actual discussionx that are actually taking place here. See if you can tell us anything besides russia sucks.
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