Still glad you voted for this guy?


sorabji.com: Are there any news?: Still glad you voted for this guy?
THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016).

By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 02:36 pm:

    Somebody please stop this asshole administration. This makes absolutely no fucking sense what so ever. How many times in the past have we learned that businesses cannot police themselves.

    Dick Cheney is the last motherfucker on the face of the planet that should be leading any kind of environmental/industry inititives or policy changes.

    Hey Cheney? You. Me. a Cage. One of us doesnt walk away.


    Hey Christie how does it feel to be a massive tool!!!!


By dave. on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 03:20 pm:

    what about that dirty bomb plot suspect crap? how contrived was that? not that i'm mr. constitution but where the fuck are the legislative and judicial branches lately?

    i still cringe when i hear bush speak. what an embarrasment he is.


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 03:34 pm:

    contrived? politically timed? what FBI/CIA incompetance? Duhhhh I forgot all about that. They did such a good job nabbing this guy...WOW!!! They arrested this guy over a month ago and decide to tell us now? Give me a fucking break. "Due process? What due process?" How is he anymore of a danger than Timothy McVeigh and that guy at least got Constitutional due process.


    i still want to directly ask Mrs Whitman, who i have respect for as a moderate (she was a decent governor of NJ as far as I can tell) what it feels like to be a fuckin tool.

    Nico asked "how much longer of this guy do we have?"

    He's a complete moron and his administration is out of control.

    Id like an open call to see a show of hands of all the nitwits that voted for him.

    Come on, admit it, who here voted for this idiot?


By Spider on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 03:35 pm:

    I voted for Nader...does that count?


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 03:46 pm:

    no. i fully respect that. and i fully regret i didnt. but im at least i didnt vote for Bush.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 03:51 pm:

    I refuse to enter a debate with you Patty.


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 03:59 pm:

    thats ok, i KNOW you voted for Bush....the doings of the Bush administration speak for themselves. No need to debate anything. Just see whats going on.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 04:01 pm:

    What about the democrats rejecting the repeal of the Estate tax?
    Your mom dies, and leaves you her estate.
    An estate she has paid taxes on her entire adult life.
    Income that has already been subjected to income tax.
    Houses that has already been subjected to property tax.
    Merchandise that has already been subjected to sales tax.
    Vehicles that were subjected to sales tax when it was purchased and property tax every year after that.

    So, she leaves this all to you, and you have to pay a 39% tax on it's net worth?
    That looks illegal.
    Or, what if your mom left all this stuff to you, and most if it still has huge notes against it?
    Then you get to pay an estate tax PLUS the payments on the note.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 04:05 pm:

    You're goddamn right I did, and I will do it again too.
    Eri, was it the libertarians or green parties that were sending us the shit about restoring the "purity" of a white america?


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 04:07 pm:

    Spunk, what about the marriage penalty repeal the dems are fighting? so what. these tax matters hardly add up to the kind of damage the administration does with its environmental policies, global politics, and its ongoing shredding of the Constitution.

    Who gives a shit about taxes. i'm not a 'yellow-dog' democrat. The estate tax does not concern me and the marriage penalty is peanuts in the grand scheme of things.


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 04:09 pm:

    taxes are an election year bone for schmucks like you who take it and go sit in the corner and lick and chew while the real shit goes down.


By trace on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 04:10 pm:

    Bush is not alone in the shredding of the constitution.

    I, too, question what is happening now, but you cannot even begin to convince me that ONE MAN is so powerful, that the ENTIRE goverment cowers at his feet.

    Don't give him that much credit.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 04:17 pm:

    "taxes are an election year bone for schmucks like you who take it and go sit in the corner and lick and chew while the real shit goes down."

    That is such a well made statement. I can tell you are thinking calmly and rationally.
    And you have such insight into my voting process.



By semillama on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 04:36 pm:

    I didn't vote for him.

    I also chuckle at the thought of the
    government cowering at his feet. Bush is the
    president whose puppet strings are the
    easiest to see.

    I think that especially after Clinton, people are
    more cynical of the whole office of the
    president (or they should be), and this stuff is
    not going unnoticed. At least i hope so. Then
    agian, i spend most of my time with educated
    people who can think critically, which I lament
    is not representative of the voting masses.

    Not that there ARE voting masses.

    I wonder what this adminsitration considers to
    be stepping over the line?


By heather on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 04:58 pm:

    i would argue that he wasn't voted into office



    further proof of the futility of voting

    a huge proportion of the population is fear driven and mindless.

    my grandmother is terrified of road rage.

    my friend's cousin wasn't allowed to play with guns but his parents are delighted that he's entering the air force.


By eri on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:06 pm:

    I did vote for him. I think that is common knowledge. I don't even think it needs to be said. Either way, I think too much is being placed on his shoulders, as far as blame, and that he is a puppet. I didn't see it coming, but I do see that now. I don't agree with all that is being done under this administration, but we all know how I feel about the last. That's all I have to say.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:10 pm:

    My folks were exactly the same, they would not let me play with guns but were thrilled when I said I was joining the Air Force.

    Of course, so am I. I refuse to let Hayley or Micki so much as point a water gun at someone else, or pretend to be shooting a person that is not even there. But look where I work....


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:13 pm:

    i think its a given (at least for me) when you refer to Bush, you include his consortium of evil-doers.

    everthing should be placed upon his shoulders that his administration doles out. no excuses.

    A CEO or a sports coach is ultimately fired for the misdoings of a team or company, no reason why Bush shouldnt be given the same respect. These are his people, he appointed them.

    Thus far there has been some static between Bush and Whitman's administration, so Im betting she was hog-tied on this new EPA mandate.


    He brings more shame to the Whitehouse with his blunt stupidity than any sex scandle could ever bring.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:20 pm:

    If he is a puppet, I sincerly doubt that his people he appointed are the puppet masters.
    The real "evil-doers" remain to be seen.


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:21 pm:

    further.....with a good accountant and lawyer, estate taxes are easily avoided. There are loopholes. My uncle dodged them by reinvesting the money he inherited from his father into a million dollar home and starting a new business in addition to his existing law firm.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:24 pm:

    cool, I would like to retain him as my financial advisor


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:32 pm:

    are you expecting a sizeable inheritence?

    Its pretty straight forward...if you inherit something like a house and property, such as he did, sell it off immediately and reinvest in something similar, such as property or stocks. Anything that is very easily deductable.


By Dougie on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:44 pm:

    Or just give it away to your children $10K at a time. Sell the house to them for a pittance while you're still kicking. There's ways to do it. Re Bush, I too cringe when I hear him speak. When that Padilla thing was announced, I heard him comment something to the effect of, "He's a bad bad man, and he's off the street where he belongs." Aargh. I voted for Nader. Now, I'm wishing I had gone with Gore, but at the time I was figuring that one day a 3rd party candidate like Nader will win, and now's the time to show that it's possible. Let's see what he can do percentage-wise. Old Ralphy babe, gotta love him -- he was actually complaining about the officiating in the LA/Sacramento series and saying the NBA should review the piss-poor officiating going against Sacramento, lest Americans lose faith in their sports heroes. Hmm, how much would NBC & NBA have lost had the finals not had LA in it? I wonder. I'm sure David Stern's reviewing the tapes right now, now that the series is over, and having a good laugh about it. "Damn, Shaq really does walk a lot, doesn't he?"


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 05:53 pm:

    not that i know, or care too much for basketball, but id like to point out that Shaq,while standing at a thundering 10'3" doesnt have to run. Hes at the other side of the court with a few simple strides. As a coach, i wouldn't want him to run. He's no good to you when he's worn down.

    Assuming they can hang on to their core team, they will win 3 more. I mean really, you have to admit, the Shaq/Kobi/Fox/Horry lineup and supporting crew is pretty god damn unstoppable.

    Officiating in basketball in general is a bitch to call wouldnt you say?


By Dougie on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 06:07 pm:

    Yeah, definitely, I wouldn't want to be a ref out there, but if you call something on one team, the mirror foul has to be called on the other team too. Consistency. I have nothing against the LA team -- I love watching Kobe, he's poetry in motion -- he had a layup last night that I almost came to, but I hate watching Shaq. It's like watching a giant football player in the midst of basketball players, mowing them over and never getting called for anything. He travels all over the place, can't make a shot if he's more than 3 feet away from the basket, and it's just not what I think of as basketball. Kareem was a center. Shaq is a fucking middle linebacker. Sure they'll be dominant as long as they keep the core, and Phil Jackson might as well be off attending Grateful Dead reunion concerts while they play as much as he matters. Great coach, my ass, with talent like he's had.


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 06:20 pm:

    "...mowing them over and never getting called for anything. He travels all over the place, can't make a shot if he's more than 3 feet away ..."

    he can't help it the average player's face is at elbow height. actually watching a game a week ago we all agreed that players travel like a motherfucker in general, i think. I mean that rule seems to have been put by the wayside.

    Shit, the Refrigerator could have been a contender in Sumo wrestling. I think its awesome when you get a freak like that in a sport. The Ottawa Senators have one...the guy who is 6'7" on ICE SKATES mind you. You see that coming and you do nothing but move out of the way. Usually big guys in skates belongs in the center or on D, or on your 'goon' line, the line that comes out and fucks shit up, if you happen to be down, to get your team rallying. Instead, this guy, Charro is a surprisingly graceful skater and has reach with his stick thats amazing.


    i wish the parade wasnt during work hours, just because id love to get down there with my camera. anytime you get that many people together in LA there is a chance for a pulitzer-winning photo.


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 06:22 pm:

    actually that would be hilarious if jackson got a broom and a bucket with a smiley face drawn on it and put that on the sidelines, while he tours with Phish.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 06:26 pm:

    Jose Padilla (Abdullah al Muhajir)decided that he hated the US so much that he was going to fly to Morroco and learn from the US's military enemy the Al Queda, how to build a bomb, lace it with radio active material and set it off in the middle of main street USA.
    What part of that is not a Combatant Enemy?
    We find ourselves arguing about HIS civil rights.

    The FBI, NSA and CIA received information from international security forces about the plot. They intercepted him before he did it.

    Do you realize that had that happened before 9/11, and we caught the 9/11 hijackers before it happened, we would be HAVING THE EXACT SAME CONVERSATION about thier civil rights.

    I find it funny.


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 06:40 pm:

    trace....to answer your question, i want you to think long and hard about what exactly is the difference between this guy and McVeigh.

    I've seen reports that they got a vague description of this guy from that other kingpin al Qaida fucknut they have in custody, the guy they nabbed in Pakistan in March. Until 3 weeks prior to his arrest they had never heard of Padilla.

    That aside...the only difference between he and McVeigh is that he got caught before he did what they say he was going to do. McVeigh carried his terror out. It doesnt matter where they learned it.

    The men who committed the crimes on 9/11 were not naturalized citizens, they were here on visas.

    I don't care what you do, if you are an American, you are afforded due process under the Constitution of the United States. What exactly is there to fear about that? The Constitution would see to it he will never see the light of day again, so why not adhere to this countries founding principles and instead of pissing on them. THINK man! THINK! This is setting a dangerous precedent. Who else will they label with the farcical "enemy combatant".


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 07:30 pm:

    Because he WILLINGLY gave up his rights, and WILLINGLY went to learn how to blow up CITIZEN's THINK MAN THINK!
    If they had not made it to the WTC, not many would worry about a silly little thing like being here on VISA. After all, they had attended a flight school in the US, right?
    He belongs in the care of the Department of Defense, because we are Defending the country from someone who wishes to blow up parts of it.


By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 07:37 pm:

    " Until 3 weeks prior to his arrest they had never heard of Padilla."

    From FoxNews:
    The hunt for the Brooklyn-born Padilla, 31 also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, began after the arrest in March of Usama bin Laden's lieutenant Abu Zubaydah, the officials said. Zubaydah is currently in U.S. custody.

    Padilla had apparently been assigned by Zubaydah to explore the possibility of causing "maximum damage to Americans," intelligence officials said, also on condition of anonymity.

    "We had received information from the FBI in April that some Al Qaeda men were planning attacks in the United States. The same information was shared with us by the CIA and intense weeks-long efforts led to his arrest," said a senior government official, who spoke under condition of anonymity.

    Authorities began to track Padilla in early April after the FBI provided photos of the former Chicago gang member to Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, the officials said.
    Using false documents and aliases, Padilla traveled to an undisclosed central Asian country in April, the officials said. They would not say how long he remained in central Asia nor whom he contacted.

    The officials said Padilla returned to Pakistan and left Karachi in late April or early May for Zurich, Switzerland. U.S. authorities have said Padilla made trips from Switzerland to and from Egypt before flying to Chicago, where he was arrested May 8.


By patrick on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 07:49 pm:

    hey trace, can you point out to me in the Constitution where it says you abandon your rights as an American citizen if you willingly learn how to destroy citizens? So if I learn how to make a bomb I give up my rights?

    Do you know what the fuck you are talking about?

    Last i checked intent to cause great harm to many people at once is not cause to give your citizenry. Its probable cause to arrest and reason to prosecute but you dont give up your rights as an American citizen.

    Im sure they can wrangle some conspiracy bullshit in with his association to al Qaida, but he's still an American citizen. He still has rights and he still should be tried according to the Constitution, not president Bush & Co's crackpot banana republican agenda and pissing on the Constitution.

    Why wasnt McVeigh put under the Department of Defense's jurisdiction? He actually blew a portion of this country up. Yet he was given every right afforded him.




By jesusfuckingchristhowdumbcanibe on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 08:00 pm:

    um trace, read

    "We had received information from the FBI in April..."


    he was arrested on May 8th. your article supports exactly what i said nit wit.


By Nate on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 08:32 pm:

    trace, you are an enemy combatant. we need to lock you up.

    we do not need evidence. you are an enemy combatant. we can hold you until the war is over.

    what war? there is no war.

    it doesn't matter. the president says we are at war (congress must declare war.) the president says who the enemey is (who is the enemy, trace? what country are we fighting? define our enemy in terms that can be used to make a black or white determination on a case by case basis.)

    the president will declare when the war is over. (what is the critera for the end of this war? what must we accomplish? WHO MUST SURRENDER? there is no one to surrender because WE DO NOT HAVE A DEFINED ENEMY.)

    the executive branch has taken the constitutional rights away from this man because of his political associations.

    there is not enough proof (you quote what they've told you, do you believe it? are you so stupid?) THERE IS NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO HOLD THIS MAN IN A CIVIL PRISON. a civil court would set him free.

    he could be anyone. anyone who disagrees with the president.

    the executive branch has the power to make you disappear.


By trace on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 09:00 pm:

    OK, go ahead.
    What ever.
    I just love the hypocrisy you all are displaying.
    You are so disloyal to yourselves.
    You would all be foaming at the mouth if
    the hijackers were caught before they hit the towers.
    No proof.
    They did not actually hit the building.
    They could have just said 'forget that, I am just going to sit here and not do anything', they only planned it, they never actaully did anything, I can hear it. That would follow the pattern you have established.
    I know it. You know it.
    i can admit when I am wrong. I admitted I am very upset about the power plant thing.
    You all are tripping over youselves to defend this man who hates YOU so much he wants to blow up a bomb. He was planning it. There is evidence.
    There is a HUGE double standard here. I cannot beleive you all are standing on some document most of you spend most of your time decrying.
    You wish for rights to be revoked.
    Right to vote (idiots should not be allowed vote), Right to give birth (idiots should not be allowed to have children), right to purchase certain vehicles, right to privacy (bed room inpections to make sure you are not smoking in bed).
    Such a double standard.
    They actually stopped something before it happened, and everyone is bitching.
    They have said time and time again that they are not even planning on prosecuting the guy.
    They want information from him.

    Not a war? What do you call bombing another country? what do you call ground troups invading foreign soil? You wanna tell those boys in afganistan they are not in a war?
    And this guy does not go on the internet to learn how to build a bomb. Oh no, not good enough. He does not check out a book at the local public library that shows him how to build a bomb. He goes to the Al Queda, the ones our military is fighting, and learns from them how to make a bomb to blow american citizens up.



By spunky on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 09:01 pm:

    "a civil court would set him free. "
    Of course they would. They let Erin's sister walk. They let killers and rapists walk all the time.


By dave. on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 09:20 pm:

    al qaeda is a red herring. they shot their wad on sept 11. al qaeda's threat isn't in their blowing shit up, it's in washington's response to their trumped up threat. in a way, they really have won.


By eri on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 10:16 pm:

    "I refuse to enter a debate with you Patty."

    Forget you said that love? Stop wasting your time and raising your blood pressure. These people don't believe the facts and think they know more than the investigators and others who got this information in the first place. It doesn't matter anyways. They aren't the ones in charge of this situation, and their voice means shit outside of this forum.


By Nate on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 10:20 pm:

    the hypocracy is that you advocate protecting our freedom by removing our freedoms. hypocracy? or dumb irony?

    i'm not defending this man, who may or may not hate me (how do you know? not even his lawyer gets to talk to him.) i'm defending the right of an american citizen to have a trial.

    just like i defend the right of you and your fellow klansmen to have your hate parades.

    because freedom comes at a cost. there is risk that you will be offended and, yes, there is risk that you will be killed.

    "give me liberty, or give me death"

    sound familiar?

    and the fact is, the government has plainly stated that padillwad HAS NOT EVEN BROKEN A LAW. just that he INTENDS TO. they don't even have enough evidence to nail him on conspiracy charges OR ELSE THEY WOULD BE SAYING THIS. they are holding him for who he associates with.

    this is what the soviets did. this is the executive branch skipping out on the checks and balances. this is not a free nation.

    lincoln suspended habeus corpus during the civil war. roosevelt? truman? who sent all the japanese to internment camps? these were popular presidents. and they made GRAVE errors.

    but, from what you're saying, you don't think these were grave errors. you think it is justified to remove the freedoms of groups of AMERICAN CITIZENS.

    you oppose flag burning, yet you wave the flag in support of tyranny. what hypocracy.


By Nate on Thursday, June 13, 2002 - 10:23 pm:

    "These people don't believe the facts"

    what facts, eri? what facts permit the president of the united states of america, a free country, to detain a man without trial or representation? without having to provide evidence in a public forum?

    what facts do you have?


By J on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:17 am:

    So what would Gore do that would make things better,what would his advisors do that would make this better? Who can tell me that? I'm not saying I like what is going on,but what IS the better way? I don't think you can prevent a suicide bomber any more than we could have prevented a McVeigh,or an abortion clinic murder,there is always going to be fanatics and desperate fanatics are dangerous.


By semillama on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 09:13 am:

    America is over.

    Thanks for coming.


By spunky on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 09:20 am:

    The summary detention of Padilla is legal. The issue of whether American citizens could be treated as prisoners of war was settled six decades ago in Ex Parte Quirin. The Supreme Court ruled that sneaking into the United States with the intent to destroy "life or property" is an offense "against the law of war subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals.

    But, of course, you all do not agree with the supreme court, do you? Look at all the comments about the last Presidential Election.


    I'm done with this particular thread. Eri's right, my blood pressure cannot take much more of this.


By spunky on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 10:02 am:

    From U.S. Supreme Court
    EX PARTE QUIRIN, 317 U.S. 1 (1942)
    317 U.S. 1 87 L.Ed. 7



    The question for decision is whether the detention of petitioners by respondent for trial by Military Commission, appointed by Order of the President of July 2, 1942, [317 U.S. 1, 19] on charges preferred against them purporting to set out their violations of the law of war and of the Articles of War, is in conformity to the laws and Constitution of the United States.
    All the petitioners were born in Germany; all have lived in the United States. All returned to Germany between 1933 and 1941. All except petitioner Haupt are admittedly citizens of the German Reich, with which the United States is at war. Haupt came to this country with his parents when he was five years old; it is contended that he became a citizen of the United States by virtue of the naturalization of his parents during his minority and that he has not since lost his citizenship. The Government, however, takes the position that on attaining his majority he elected to maintain German allegiance and citizenship or in any case that he has by his conduct renounced or abandoned his United States citizenship. See Perkins v. Elg, 307 U.S. 325, 334 , 59 S.Ct. 884, 889; United States ex rel. Rojak v. Marshall, D.C., 34 F.2d 219; United States ex rel. Scimeca v. Husband, 2 Cir., 6 F.2d 957, 958; 8 U.S.C. 801, 8 U.S. C.A. 801, and compare 8 U.S.C. 808, 8 U.S.C.A. 808. For reasons presently to be stated we do not find it necessary to resolve these contentions. [317 U.S. 1, 21] After the declaration of war between the United States and the German Reich, petitioners received training at a sabotage school near Berlin, Germany, where they were instructed in the use of explosives and in methods of secret writing. Thereafter petitioners, with a German citizen, Dasch, proceeded from Germany to a seaport in Occupied France, where petitioners Burger, Heinck and Quirin, together with Dasch, boarded a German submarine which proceeded across the Atlantic to Amagansett Beach on Long Island, New York. The four were there landed from the submarine in the hours of darkness, on or about June 13, 1942, carrying with them a supply of explosives, fuses and incendiary and timing devices. While landing they wore German Marine Infantry uniforms or parts of uniforms. Immediately after landing they buried their uniforms and the other articles mentioned and proceeded in civilian dress to New York City.

    Pretty applicable, don't you think?


By Nate on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 10:17 am:

    not applicable, because

    1) "on charges preferred against them purporting to set out their violations of the law of war and of the Articles of War"

    padillweed hasn't been charged with anything.

    2) "After the declaration of war between the United States and the German Reich"

    there has been no declaration of war.



    Frame it this way, trace. Hayley is 20 years old and being held in this way by the government. You are positive that the government has made a mistake. What do you do?

    this is why all american citizens have the right to a trial.

    what you are saying is:

    It is ok for an american citizen to be held for the rest of their life without the consitutionally guaranteed right to a trial or even being charged with any crime.

    why don't you see anything wrong with that?



By patrick on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 12:03 pm:

    hey trace, your advocations are as dangerous as al Qaida's threats. Your uneducated disregard for the sheets of paper that defined this great country are reprehenisble and you call yourself a patriot. Pshaw!!!! the terrorists have won without destroying another building or plane. they have spun this country into a Constitution-shredding field day.

    Im no Constitutional scholar, but i at least know the basics. Clearly you don't.


    I know you say you can't handle the conversation, but you'll be back.


    I still want to know why Timothy McVeigh was given due process, but for somereason this guy won't or why he should be treated any different.

    "You are so disloyal to yourselves"
    Id say we're more loyal to the foundation of this country that you are by the policies you support.


    "You would all be foaming at the mouth if
    the hijackers were caught before they hit the towers. No proof"

    Not at all. Im ok with probable cause, im also entirely ok with due process. If they caught them, had substantial proof of what they intended to do, thats entirely ok. Lock them up. We have laws on the books regarding conspiracy. These laws are vague by nature for this very reason. There's no point of conspiracy laws for after the fact now is there?


    "You all are tripping over youselves to defend this man who hates YOU so much he wants to blow up a bomb. He was planning it. There is evidence."

    Trace what he thinks of me and what he thinks he'd like to do to me is fine, this is all protected under the Constitution. The key word here is "think".


    "Right to vote (idiots should not be allowed vote), Right to give birth (idiots should not be allowed to have children), right to purchase certain vehicles, right to privacy (bed room inpections to make sure you are not smoking in bed). Such a double standard. "

    No one has ever advocated anything in a serious context of any of this, what on earth are you talking about? Have gone mad? You've taken bits and pieces of other irrelavent conversations to forumlate this crackpot statement. Stay on COURSE!


    There is a phrase they use in law, "charge or release!!"

    They dont have anything to charge him with, therefore they have to release him, under the existing law. But instead they come up with this bullshit "enemy combatant" idea so they can avoid releasing him.

    I don't want this guy out there anymore than you. Id almost rather they trump up a charge to keep him in the court system for a couple of years while they squeeze him for info. For fucks sake at least PRETEND to adhere the Constitution.




    Trace what you fail to comprehend is, no one here advocate's his release, or supports what they say he wanted to do.

    Its just you fail to see how important it is when our country is under threat (how big, or how great is really ill-defined but lets assume the worst) that we MUST be at our best!!!! How can we preach the American system and ship it abroad if we dont adhere to it here???? Now more than ever we NEED to be at our best!!! As the world continues to loose faith in America, looks to us with more and more of a critical eye, as we import shallow culture and a hypocritical government...what we need more than anything is to demonstrate we CAN follow our own system and we can be above the rest!

    What exactly is the problem with this!!!!!!





By Ophelia on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 12:46 pm:

    right on, pat.


By Ophelia on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 12:49 pm:

    patrick. sorry.


By semillama on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 01:54 pm:

    Great rant.


By trace on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:29 pm:

    You actually give a shit about this country, patrick?
    Do you? Really?
    You do not have the guts to do what it takes to end this crap.
    You spend most of your time mocking anyone who flies an American flag, sings the national anthem or beleives the president (at least the republican president).
    I know what your opinion of me and my job is.
    Frankly, it does not make a bit of difference to me what you think. You do not even know what I really do, and I could care less about taking the time to explain it to you, instead I will let you go on thinking I have no idea what's going on. I feel safer actually.
    I am here. I am fighting this crap. My life has done a complete 180 since 9/11. How dare anyone on this board tell me there is no war. I fight in it. I see it every day. It does not make any difference here whether congress formally declared war or not. They gave President Bush the authority to take action. He never asked for a decleration.
    I don't have the same luxuries as you. In my field, he is the CEO and CIC. That is his roll in my life. I do what I am told. I do not question. Or I go to jail. Get it?
    I have to, in order to do my job, beleive that he and ashcroft and rumsfield know what they are doing. I cannot beleive that with all the information and intellegence that has been gathered in the last six months that they have no information linking this man, who as far as I can tell, along with the Justice Department and the US Supreme Court, and the Department of Defense, and the CIA, and the NSA, and the FBI, was PLANNING, with the instruction, support and assistance of Al Queda, an enemy of the US.
    Yes his civil rights are being violated. But that's not the relevant issue. The question should be whether or not the government is justified in violating an al-Qaida operative's rights.

    But I suppose you, "Armchair Colonel Patrick", sitting there reading a paper, watching the news, and reading liberal rag websites, know more then any of them.
    All I am saying is shut your hole, because, beleive it or not, when it comes to me, or what I do, you have no fucking idea what you are flapping your jaws about.
    As far as the constitution goes:

    One man is not more important then the Constitution itself.

    Yes, it is a violation of


By spunky on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:32 pm:

    oops, that what I get for going back and checking my mistakes. Sorry about that


By patrick on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 02:54 pm:

    "You actually give a shit about this country, patrick?"

    trace ive said on more than one occassion i love this country, this land and think that the system we have is probably the best there is. This is what i mean by your failure to comprehend anything i say. You just scratch the surface.

    "You spend most of your time mocking anyone who flies an American flag, sings the national anthem or beleives the president (at least the republican president)."

    I mock anyone who is an instant "patriot" when the masses see it fit. I mock those who call themselves a patriot and think by sticking a flag on their car proves it. Patriotism as a trend. Understand the difference? Ive never mocked anyone who sings the national anthem and again, you have no idea what you are talking about.

    i don't care what you do for a living. So lets stick the matter at hand. I only mock what you do, because you act as if you have the inside track to whats really going on, when its obvious you don't.

    "It does not make any difference here whether congress formally declared war or not"

    Trace how can you call yourself a patriot when you continue to disregard the Constitution?

    "I do what I am told. I do not question. Or I go to jail. Get it?"

    You sound like a sheep. Do you ever think for your yourself or do you always believe what you're told. Do you learn from history? How often has our government lied or deceived to us for political and military gains? Iran Contra, Tonkin Bay, Watergate, The Bay of Pigs, Harry Truman and the FBI, McCarthy to name a few? You think just because THEY say its so, its so? Jesus christ trace get some spine why don't you. Blind faith is a dangerous dangerous thing man.


    "Yes his civil rights are being violated. But that's not the relevant issue. "

    As far as Im concerned, with this statement, you're more of an enemy to the state than al Qaida. And YOU'RE A CITIZEN!!! Civil rights are THE issue as they are instrumental in the very system al Qaida seeks to bring down. Don't you see this?

    "One man is not more important then the Constitution itself."

    Um, trace, the Constitution, the Declaration of Indepence, both were geared for the protection of man, one and all. Maybe you should re read some passages from these documents to gain a better understand of why they were created.

    "All I am saying is shut your hole, because, beleive it or not, when it comes to me, or what I do, you have no fucking idea what you are flapping your jaws about."

    Trace, I only address what you say here, on these very boards. I don't speculate anything. Do you forget how forthright you are?

    Fuck you sound like a blooming idiot.







By Spider on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:02 pm:

    I like to stay out of these debates, but one thing I have to point out --

    ***
    "It does not make any difference here whether congress formally declared war or not"

    Trace how can you call yourself a patriot when you continue to disregard the Constitution?
    ***

    After WWII, the Constitutional provision that only Congress can declare war was effectively done away with.

    "Congress does not always want to have the responsibility for such momentous decisions, however, and Presidents in the modern era have contended that their power as "Commander in Chief" vested them with unfettered power to take the country to war. Thus did President Truman take the country to war in Korea in 1950. (Although Congress did not formally declare war in the case of Vietnam, arguably it authorized it in the Gulf of Tonkin resolution)."

    -- http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/0300/ijpe/pj51bide.htm.


    That's all I have to say.


By Spider on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:03 pm:


By Nate on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:36 pm:

    well, trace is obviously ignoring me because patty is "low hanging fruit."

    trace, if i read what you're saying right, you are not allowed, by military law, to criticize the president. (in the same way non-civilian military are.)

    if that's the case, i'd recommend (as a friend) that you avoid these discussions here. i wouldn't want to see you suffer for expressing your views here.


By patrick on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:40 pm:

    and according to the Constitution only Congress has the power to suspend Writ of Habeas Corpus in times of rebellion or invasion. But Lincoln did it anyway.

    I've scoured all the amendments and I can't see any ratification of any amendment removing the declaration of war provision.

    here are some notes from here

    "Unfortunately, despite the nominal commitment to compliance with the Constitution, legislators and officials have failed to comply with it in many instances. Most of these instances were justified as necessary to deal with perceived crises, especially war and depression. Some of these instances include the Dick Act of 1903 and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. But perhaps the most important was the Emergency Banking Act of March 9, 1933, and particularly its amendment to the Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, and its ratification of such executive orders as the Proclamation 2040 by President Roosevelt issued on March 6, 1933, sometimes called the Emergency and War Powers order. This act, codified as 12 USC 95(b), effectively declared the Constitution suspended and conferred dictatorial powers on the President, a situation which continues to this day.

    "Under this assumed authority, the U.S. Congress, the President, and the federal courts have extended their powers and jurisdiction far beyond the limits imposed on them under the Constitution, in violation of the 10th Amendment.


    "Senate Report 93-549, written in 1973, said "Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency." It goes on to say:

    'A majority of the people of the United States have lived all their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years, freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed by the constitution have, in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by states of National emergency. In the United States, actions taken by government in times of great crisis have ... in important ways shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state of National emergency.'...

    'These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of federal law. These hundreds of statutes delegate to the President extraordinary powers, ordinarily exercised by Congress, which affect the lives of American citizens in a host of all-encompassing manners. This vast range of powers, taken together, confer enough authority to rule this country without reference to normal constitutional process.

    'Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens.'

    "The problem, of course, is that the Constitution does not provide for its own suspension, under some Rule of Necessity, only for temporary suspension of the right of habeas corpus, nor does Congress have such emergency and war powers or the power to delegate them to the President. Such a doctrine of "emergency rule" is a legalistic façade, perhaps providing a defense against summary judgement by a lawful court, but not providing true legal authority. The Constitution is not just the Supreme Law of the Land, but of all operations of the institutions it establishes, as agents of the People, including those at sea and those involving the laws of nations, forbidding them to exercise any powers not specifically delegated to them, in any field of action.

    A difficulty for this regime is that the vast majority of people in and out of government are unaware of such emergency rule. As far as they are concerned, the Constitution is still in full force and effect. Many of them continue to take an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Some of them are aware of their role as militiamen, as defenders of the State and its Constitution, with a duty to not only obey the Constitution and constitutional laws, but to do what they can to enforce them as well, singly or in concert with one another."



    In otherwords Spider, while mister Biden is correct, in historical terms, there isnt much justification contained within. Kinda like communism was supposed to return the power over to the people, in theory, which never happened, these extraordinary powers assumed by the Executive branch will never be given back despite their potential illegitimacy.





By patrick on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:44 pm:

    you lost me on that hanging fruit bit.


By heather on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 03:51 pm:

    easy to pick


By patrick on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 05:08 pm:

    ahh

    i was walking around during lunch and i kept thinking "nutsack nutsack nutsack" thanks for the clarification and the subsequent death of nutsack notion.


By Nate on Friday, June 14, 2002 - 07:36 pm:

    you're a nutsack, too.


By The Watcher on Saturday, June 15, 2002 - 12:32 am:

    Spunky it could not have been the libertarians that sent you that crap. Maybe it was the constitution party?

    I voted for Bush. And, I'll do it again.

    Until the libertarians can get their act together.

    It's time for the government, meaning elected officials, to stop doing things the constitution does not allow. Both democrats and republicans are guilty of this.


By Nate on Saturday, June 15, 2002 - 11:25 am:

    sorabji.com's brain trust, you are.


By bongo on Saturday, June 15, 2002 - 12:09 pm:


    and who would be sorabji.com's perineum?




By eri on Saturday, June 15, 2002 - 12:58 pm:

    It was the Green Party who sent that propaganda crap. Not the Libertarians. And, as usual, I agree with your above statements Mr. Watcher.


By patrick on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 12:08 pm:

    what exactly did the Greens say again?


By The Watcher on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 06:38 pm:

    I really do wish the Libertarians could get their act togeather.

    I like Harry Browne. But, I don't think he is really electable. And, I think in some ways he goes a little to far. But, then again I think all politions go to far.


By spunky on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 09:59 am:

    Patrick,
    It was a leaflet we got in the mail several months before the 2000 election. We threw it away right after we read it and laughed.
    I am sure it was libertarian


By Nate on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 10:34 am:

    neither the libertarians or the greens are racist organizations.


By spunky on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 11:13 am:

    After looking at both the green and libertarian party websites, I would have to agree.
    But I know what I read.
    I could have sworn it was the Libertarians.
    Is an excerpt from thier webiste.
    More secular or skeptical libertarians sometimes subscribe to a rational egoism influenced by thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche or Max Stirner; others see the foundations of their ideas in utilitarianism, Epicureanism, or even existentialism.


By eri on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 11:54 am:

    IT WAS NOT THE LIBERTARIANS HONEY!!! IT WAS THE GREEN PARTY!!!!

    I don't remember exactly what the pamphlet said either, but it was something along the lines of restoring the republic the way it should be and ensuring that it is a republic. It also had a whole lot of white power stuff that sounded like something out of the KKK. It was really nuts.

    Right after the Rodney King riots broke out there was a man at our school teaching about white supremacists and the evils that go with them. We saw their propaganda and learned a lot about them, because they were trying to get us to help them find out who was one and get them out of our school. The above mentioned pamphlet reminded me a lot of that situation.


By spunky on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 12:02 pm:


By patrick on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 12:03 pm:

    Um... Eri....im 110% positive that what you saw was not from the Green party. Either that or you read it entirely wrong...thats not what the Green party is about...AT ALL. Its about as preposterous as saying Rush Limbaugh advocates abortion/pro-choice. It just doesnt fit.


By eri on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 12:41 pm:

    It may have been one particular nut job. I am not saying that this is what the green party is about, because I absolutely agree that this is not their kind of statement. I think it was one midwestern idiot freak using the green party and sending this shit out. I do agree that it doesn't fit. That doesn't change that it was a man "claiming" to be part of the green party. He was running for some ridiculous no power position. Not someone of real importance. He was probably the problem.


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