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Bill O'Connell I guess we'll never know just how pretty your brain is other than to toss around characterizations without facts. I hope that gets you far in life.
Bill O'Connell I start with the Constitution. Agree or not, national defense is in the Constitution as a role for the federal gov't. Before going into war, there should be a declaraion of war by Congress. What you call corporate welfare I call crapitalism. Typically it is an alliance between big business and gov't to stifle competition from small to medium sized business. Make gov't smaller, and there is less they can interfere with. As far as free education, healthcare, etc. that's not in the Constitution. If you want to do that at the state level and the citizens of that state vote for it, I have no problem with it. If I do have a problem, I can vote against it or MOVE to another state. If everything is at the federal level, we're stuck.
Bill O'Connell Taxing only businesses is really taxing everyone as the businesses will build the taxes into their prices. Taxing only millionaires under the premise the more they make the more they pay is a pretty good way to put the economy in a death spiral. There are not enough millionaires to fund the federal government.
Bill O'Connell Interesting article. Again, it's "We know nothing!"
Bill O'Connell The admin will probably shred it, deny they ever got it... I don't think you can put the toothpaste back in the tube. If we want lasting change, we have to change the system. Simplify the tax code and there is no need for about 90% of the IRS. The next administration can't put them back. We need to look to federalism to start emptying out Washington. It won't be easy.
Bill O'Connell Clever how you take a statement about not covering any bad news about Barack Obama and change it into reporting on nuclear power. That is a desperate debater. In nearly 70 years there has not been a death due to a nuclear accident in the US. What do you want them reporting about? the leakage of a cup of radioactive water? You think it's because GE owns NBC. Okay, I'll bite, so where is all the coverage of these nuclear accidents on ABC, CBS and the NY Times? What proof do you have of glowing treatment of Ronald Reagan for four years? I certainly don't remember any glowing media treatment until he died and the country rose up to pay tribute to one of the greatest presidents in this country's history.
Bill O'Connell And if GM stock ever climbs back to $52 per share, we the taxpayers will break even. Would jobs have been lost, yes, beginning with the union members in job banks who weren't working but receiving full pay. How the hell do you stay in business doing that? Oh, yeah, give the bill to the taxpayers.
Bill O'Connell Raven, you need to go back and re-read the Fairness Doctrine. It exempts "news" from the doctrine. So NBC decides not to cover any bad "news" about Barack Obama, but leads with a story about a bogus affair John McCain is supposedly having, and there is no "equal time" required to get the story straight, that is, until Fox News came along. Since the left's attempt at talk radio failed dismally, the Fairness Doctrine, wouldn't help the right. The right is thriving on talk radio and using the Fairness Doctrine to force people to listen to equal time from the left would put radio stations out of business unless they dropped talk and went to top 40 music. And isn't that the point of the left's love of the Fairness Doctrine?
Bill O'Connell Raven, you're floundering. You brought up the Fairness Doctrine, which is the left's pet project to shut down talk radio. Talk radio is not the press. It is the main stream media that is tilted, and that's an understatement, left. Air America is gone because no one wanted to listen to it. The audience for MSNBC will soon be able to meet in a phone booth. 53% of the country voted for Barack Obama but 90% of the mainstream media voted for him; fairness is a foreign concept to them. A false rumor of McCain having an affair is on the front page of the NYT above the fold. If it's about a conservative put the rumor on the front page until it is proven false. If it is a progressive, bury it until it can't be buried any longer.
Bill O'Connell Raven, you make a statement with nothing to back it up. Where has the left been denied access to the microphone? Air America? MSNBC? The problem for you is no one wants to listen to the left bashing and complaining about America all day long. In the name of "fairness" you want the government to either force people to listen to 3 hours of Keith Olberman for every 3 hours of Rush Limbaugh or force the radio stations to shut down conservative talk when they have 3 hours of no listeners when Olberman grabs the mic. No listeners equals no advertisers equals no revenue. Nice try. Unconstitutional, but nice try.
Bill O'Connell No thank you, Raven, I don't believe in repealing the first Amendment. I applaud the creation of Fox News and similar outfits to finally balance the propaganda of the left.
Bill O'Connell Catholic institutions treat and employ people of all faiths. Catholic Charities is/was perhaps the largest private provider of service to people with AIDS. Do you want them only to serve and employ Catholics? Would you require a Jewish hospital to serve bacon because some of their employees or patients are not Jewish? Would you require a Muslim hospital to do likewise? Let's be serious now, so-called health insurance is not insurance, it is a 3rd party payment plan. To need to be insured to cover something that costs $10 at Walmart is beyond ridiculous and why are stuck trying to solve this problem. Here is a simple solution to the problem. Have the individual own the health care policy. Then they are free to choose any option they want.
Bill O'Connell There is nothing wrong with opinionated talking heads as long as they both can get their message. On the flip side is what is known as "hard news" which should be reported fairly without a particular point of view slanting it.
Bill O'Connell It has nothing to do with what I agree or disagree with. It is whether or not the Constitution permits it. An activist judge is one who believes in a certain outcome and then tries to find some rationale to back into it. Justice Thurgood Marshall is a perfect example. He said, "You do what you think is right and let the law catch up." In other words, make law out of thin air from the bench and let the legislature figure out how to write the statute later.
Bill O'Connell You raise fair points. So I assume that you are against requiring Catholic institutions to provide birth control to employees, as that would be against the First Amendment. Basing any argument on what Clinton was able to do is equally weak, and I won't even begin to list of his criminal behavior with regard to women, that, to follow your argument, you would legalize because he did it.
Bill O'Connell One of the bedrock principles of a free society is not just a free press but a fair press. We hardly have one. If the press is just going to be a flack for one side, how different is it from the propaganda arm of some dictatorship?
Bill O'Connell Wendy Long is not the anti candidate, she is the pro-Constitution candidate. She knows the difference between the enumerated powers in the Constitution and the progressive view of using the power of the federal government to get involved in every aspect of our lives. You say Gillibrand is pro-human rights, yet she favors aborting humans more than half of whom are women. She used to be "A" rated by the NRA and now as a flip-flopper is rated "F". As an attorney she helped tobacco companies hide their research that nicotine was addictive. President? Kirsten Gillibrand is a lightweight who does what the party elders tell her to do. She supported the Ground Zero mosque and said Khalid Sheik Mohammed should be tried in civilian court.
Bill O'Connell Why does the slave fear getting hurt? Because he has learned that the slaveholder can assault him without being punished. If the slaveholder assaults his fellow slaveholder he faces arrest, trial, and imprisonment; if he assaults his slave no such punishment. So the slave may not have to be chained or guarded and he may in some cases be sent on a journey with the full expectation he will return. Why? Because of the fear that you mention, it is fear of violence that is government protected and sanctioned.
Bill O'Connell To paraphrase the Declaration of Independence: "That to secure these rights (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness), Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed..." The purpose of our government is to protect our rights. Is some money required to do so? Yes, and that is where taxes come in. It isn't until Section 7 of Article I of the Constitution that taxes are mentioned. And let's not overlook the "consent of the governed" part. For example, we agree that to protect our rights from foreign powers we need a military. Okay, we consent to be taxed for that. There are many other functions that may have received the consent of politicians, but not the governed.
Bill O'Connell If we shrank government back to what the Constitution says is their enumerated powers, there would be a lot fewer lobbyists because they would have nothing to lobby for.
Bill O'Connell When we have a President of the United States who calls out the members of the Supreme Court during his State of the Union address, what is moving the deck chairs on this Titanic going to accomplish? When we have a President who invites Congressman Paul Ryan to a speech on the budget and then attacks Paul Ryan's plan while he sits there and has to take it is more of the same. When the President makes a speech in Arizona after the Giffords shooting about toning down the rhetoric and then builds his reelection campaign around demonizing his opponents; when it's "Do as I say, not as I do," coming from the only office that is supposed to represent all Americans, your proposal is interesting, but won't change anything.
Bill O'Connell I wouldn't put it that taxation is a central function of government. The functions of government at the federal level are spelled out in the Constitution, it is up to the House of Representatives to determine how much in taxes are required to do that. "Precisely how much to take"? Precisely how much did you vote for Congress to take and from whom?
Bill O'Connell If you and I lived in a place with no government and I decided I wanted to enslave you. How would I do it? If I had the physical capability to overpower you, that would be a start. But unless I stayed constantly vigilant and made sure you did exactly as I asked, you could walk/run away at your first opportunity. Without a "government" and that doesn't necessarily mean marble buildings, to enforce my "right" to enslave you and bring you back, it would never last. It would also not be productive if I had to spend all my time either watching you or chasing you and bringing you back. No, without government/community/village enforcement and backing, slavery wouldn't exist.
Bill O'Connell The market didn't enslave anyone, individuals backed by their government enslaved them. Markets don't violate freedoms. If I want to buy your car and you want to sell it to me and we agree on a price, that is a free market. If either of us can walk away, that's a free market.
Bill O'Connell Ian, a free market is a free market, not a half free market, or a completely regulated market. Slave labor was not free, that's why I thought Jordan could have chosen a better example to prove his point.
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Bill O'Connell I guess we'll never know just how pretty your brain is other than to toss around characterizations without facts. I hope that gets you far in life.
Bill O'Connell I start with the Constitution. Agree or not, national defense is in the Constitution as a role for the federal gov't. Before going into war, there should be a declaraion of war by Congress. What you call corporate welfare I call crapitalism. Typically it is an alliance between big business and gov't to stifle competition from small to medium sized business. Make gov't smaller, and there is less they can interfere with. As far as free education, healthcare, etc. that's not in the Constitution. If you want to do that at the state level and the citizens of that state vote for it, I have no problem with it. If I do have a problem, I can vote against it or MOVE to another state. If everything is at the federal level, we're stuck.
Bill O'Connell Taxing only businesses is really taxing everyone as the businesses will build the taxes into their prices. Taxing only millionaires under the premise the more they make the more they pay is a pretty good way to put the economy in a death spiral. There are not enough millionaires to fund the federal government.
Bill O'Connell Interesting article. Again, it's "We know nothing!"
Bill O'Connell The admin will probably shred it, deny they ever got it... I don't think you can put the toothpaste back in the tube. If we want lasting change, we have to change the system. Simplify the tax code and there is no need for about 90% of the IRS. The next administration can't put them back. We need to look to federalism to start emptying out Washington. It won't be easy.
Bill O'Connell Clever how you take a statement about not covering any bad news about Barack Obama and change it into reporting on nuclear power. That is a desperate debater. In nearly 70 years there has not been a death due to a nuclear accident in the US. What do you want them reporting about? the leakage of a cup of radioactive water? You think it's because GE owns NBC. Okay, I'll bite, so where is all the coverage of these nuclear accidents on ABC, CBS and the NY Times? What proof do you have of glowing treatment of Ronald Reagan for four years? I certainly don't remember any glowing media treatment until he died and the country rose up to pay tribute to one of the greatest presidents in this country's history.
Bill O'Connell And if GM stock ever climbs back to $52 per share, we the taxpayers will break even. Would jobs have been lost, yes, beginning with the union members in job banks who weren't working but receiving full pay. How the hell do you stay in business doing that? Oh, yeah, give the bill to the taxpayers.
Bill O'Connell Raven, you need to go back and re-read the Fairness Doctrine. It exempts "news" from the doctrine. So NBC decides not to cover any bad "news" about Barack Obama, but leads with a story about a bogus affair John McCain is supposedly having, and there is no "equal time" required to get the story straight, that is, until Fox News came along. Since the left's attempt at talk radio failed dismally, the Fairness Doctrine, wouldn't help the right. The right is thriving on talk radio and using the Fairness Doctrine to force people to listen to equal time from the left would put radio stations out of business unless they dropped talk and went to top 40 music. And isn't that the point of the left's love of the Fairness Doctrine?
Bill O'Connell Raven, you're floundering. You brought up the Fairness Doctrine, which is the left's pet project to shut down talk radio. Talk radio is not the press. It is the main stream media that is tilted, and that's an understatement, left. Air America is gone because no one wanted to listen to it. The audience for MSNBC will soon be able to meet in a phone booth. 53% of the country voted for Barack Obama but 90% of the mainstream media voted for him; fairness is a foreign concept to them. A false rumor of McCain having an affair is on the front page of the NYT above the fold. If it's about a conservative put the rumor on the front page until it is proven false. If it is a progressive, bury it until it can't be buried any longer.
Bill O'Connell Raven, you make a statement with nothing to back it up. Where has the left been denied access to the microphone? Air America? MSNBC? The problem for you is no one wants to listen to the left bashing and complaining about America all day long. In the name of "fairness" you want the government to either force people to listen to 3 hours of Keith Olberman for every 3 hours of Rush Limbaugh or force the radio stations to shut down conservative talk when they have 3 hours of no listeners when Olberman grabs the mic. No listeners equals no advertisers equals no revenue. Nice try. Unconstitutional, but nice try.
Bill O'Connell No thank you, Raven, I don't believe in repealing the first Amendment. I applaud the creation of Fox News and similar outfits to finally balance the propaganda of the left.
Bill O'Connell Catholic institutions treat and employ people of all faiths. Catholic Charities is/was perhaps the largest private provider of service to people with AIDS. Do you want them only to serve and employ Catholics? Would you require a Jewish hospital to serve bacon because some of their employees or patients are not Jewish? Would you require a Muslim hospital to do likewise? Let's be serious now, so-called health insurance is not insurance, it is a 3rd party payment plan. To need to be insured to cover something that costs $10 at Walmart is beyond ridiculous and why are stuck trying to solve this problem. Here is a simple solution to the problem. Have the individual own the health care policy. Then they are free to choose any option they want.
Bill O'Connell There is nothing wrong with opinionated talking heads as long as they both can get their message. On the flip side is what is known as "hard news" which should be reported fairly without a particular point of view slanting it.
Bill O'Connell It has nothing to do with what I agree or disagree with. It is whether or not the Constitution permits it. An activist judge is one who believes in a certain outcome and then tries to find some rationale to back into it. Justice Thurgood Marshall is a perfect example. He said, "You do what you think is right and let the law catch up." In other words, make law out of thin air from the bench and let the legislature figure out how to write the statute later.
Bill O'Connell You raise fair points. So I assume that you are against requiring Catholic institutions to provide birth control to employees, as that would be against the First Amendment. Basing any argument on what Clinton was able to do is equally weak, and I won't even begin to list of his criminal behavior with regard to women, that, to follow your argument, you would legalize because he did it.
Bill O'Connell One of the bedrock principles of a free society is not just a free press but a fair press. We hardly have one. If the press is just going to be a flack for one side, how different is it from the propaganda arm of some dictatorship?
Bill O'Connell Wendy Long is not the anti candidate, she is the pro-Constitution candidate. She knows the difference between the enumerated powers in the Constitution and the progressive view of using the power of the federal government to get involved in every aspect of our lives. You say Gillibrand is pro-human rights, yet she favors aborting humans more than half of whom are women. She used to be "A" rated by the NRA and now as a flip-flopper is rated "F". As an attorney she helped tobacco companies hide their research that nicotine was addictive. President? Kirsten Gillibrand is a lightweight who does what the party elders tell her to do. She supported the Ground Zero mosque and said Khalid Sheik Mohammed should be tried in civilian court.
Bill O'Connell Why does the slave fear getting hurt? Because he has learned that the slaveholder can assault him without being punished. If the slaveholder assaults his fellow slaveholder he faces arrest, trial, and imprisonment; if he assaults his slave no such punishment. So the slave may not have to be chained or guarded and he may in some cases be sent on a journey with the full expectation he will return. Why? Because of the fear that you mention, it is fear of violence that is government protected and sanctioned.
Bill O'Connell To paraphrase the Declaration of Independence: "That to secure these rights (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness), Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed..." The purpose of our government is to protect our rights. Is some money required to do so? Yes, and that is where taxes come in. It isn't until Section 7 of Article I of the Constitution that taxes are mentioned. And let's not overlook the "consent of the governed" part. For example, we agree that to protect our rights from foreign powers we need a military. Okay, we consent to be taxed for that. There are many other functions that may have received the consent of politicians, but not the governed.
Bill O'Connell If we shrank government back to what the Constitution says is their enumerated powers, there would be a lot fewer lobbyists because they would have nothing to lobby for.
Bill O'Connell When we have a President of the United States who calls out the members of the Supreme Court during his State of the Union address, what is moving the deck chairs on this Titanic going to accomplish? When we have a President who invites Congressman Paul Ryan to a speech on the budget and then attacks Paul Ryan's plan while he sits there and has to take it is more of the same. When the President makes a speech in Arizona after the Giffords shooting about toning down the rhetoric and then builds his reelection campaign around demonizing his opponents; when it's "Do as I say, not as I do," coming from the only office that is supposed to represent all Americans, your proposal is interesting, but won't change anything.
Bill O'Connell I wouldn't put it that taxation is a central function of government. The functions of government at the federal level are spelled out in the Constitution, it is up to the House of Representatives to determine how much in taxes are required to do that. "Precisely how much to take"? Precisely how much did you vote for Congress to take and from whom?
Bill O'Connell If you and I lived in a place with no government and I decided I wanted to enslave you. How would I do it? If I had the physical capability to overpower you, that would be a start. But unless I stayed constantly vigilant and made sure you did exactly as I asked, you could walk/run away at your first opportunity. Without a "government" and that doesn't necessarily mean marble buildings, to enforce my "right" to enslave you and bring you back, it would never last. It would also not be productive if I had to spend all my time either watching you or chasing you and bringing you back. No, without government/community/village enforcement and backing, slavery wouldn't exist.
Bill O'Connell The market didn't enslave anyone, individuals backed by their government enslaved them. Markets don't violate freedoms. If I want to buy your car and you want to sell it to me and we agree on a price, that is a free market. If either of us can walk away, that's a free market.
Bill O'Connell Ian, a free market is a free market, not a half free market, or a completely regulated market. Slave labor was not free, that's why I thought Jordan could have chosen a better example to prove his point.