If somebody cares enough to spends tens of millions to attack me verbally, then I must be an important person (like a president or other leaders). Which means I'll have approximately equivalent resources at my disposal to fight back, and demand the idiot provide evidence, or else shut up.
People who think the Constitution is "living" feel that Congress can do anything it wants that is not explicitly forbidden. Force you to buy insurance. Force you to take their Congress-run healthcare (monopoly style). Force you to sign-up for the Social Security Retirement Program, even if you don't want to participate. Force you to buy a Prius or install a solar panel on your roof. Force you to put safety locks on your guns, so they'll be worthless if a burglar breaks-in and you might actually need them. And so on.
People who think the Constitution is "fixed" think the Congress can not do ANY of those activities, because they are not in the list of enumerated powers. Only by amendment can the Congress do the examples I listed above.
>>>To get a fully static Constitution, you will have to cram it full of thousands of pages of meticulous details.
Or else simply take away the power of the courts to nullify laws and give it to somebody else: The "Protect the 9th and 10th Amendments" Act. ----- Proposed Amendment XXVIII.
Section 1. After a Bill has become Law, if one-half of the States declare the Law to be "unconstitutional" it shall be null and void. It shall be as if the Law never existed.
Section 2. This article shall be inoperative, unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths* of the several States by the date January 1, 2050. *[This is called a Constitutional majority in legal parlance.]
- In other words let the interpretation lie with the People, via their direct representatives in their State Legislature.
How should I know? I'm not a scientist? Go talk to the college profs that believe in a Creator if you want answers. They are smarter than I am, and will be happy to answer your question.
Because the Constitution was deliberately designed to act as Chains upon the U.S. Government and its leaders, and politicians don't like to be chained. They like to be free to act and control whatever they want. So what better way to achieve that goal than to pretend the Constitution is not a chain, but instead a piece of silly putty they can mold into any shape they please (or more recently - ignore completely). That gives the DC politicians the ability to do any damn thing that pleases them.
IMHO they (and we) have forgotten what the Democratic Party's founder (Thom. Jefferson) called the most important part of the Constitution: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
In reality the Constitution is a piece-of-paper with some Laws scribbled upon it, and it remains "fixed" for a long long time (two decades so far), until an amendment is added to it. Then it changes.
- They are busy with other things (jobs, kids) to read the stories. - American media sucks, and never mentioned that Texas books are used nationwide. - They have no interest (don't have kids and thus don't care about textbooks). - Some other reason I can't think of right now.
>>>This evangelical lobby has successfully had references to the American Constitution as a 'living document,'
The Constitution is not "alive" in the sense most people use it, where the words have no meaning and the Congress ignores what it says, such that the Constitution might as well not even exist. That's why they (and I) find the reference objectionable. In reality the Constitution is a piece-of-paper with some Laws scribbled upon it, and it remains fixed for a long long time (two decades so far), until an amendment is added to it. Then it changes.
Also some people forget what the Democratic Party's founder (Thom. Jefferson) called the most important part of the Constitution: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
And in my opinion, this is second most important part: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." For example: The right to not have your cellphones monitored by Monkeyhead Dubya Bush or Barak Corpseman Obama via the Unpatriotic Act.
Also most of the scientists I've meant in three separate colleges believed in a Creator of some kind. After all, the initial singularity from which the universe sprung had to come from somewhere. Science and belief in intelligent design are not incompatible.
Or sell it on Ebay. I sold my old Quantum Link disk (think AOL 0.9) for $10. My old 1200 baud Commodore modem went for $1. (The buyers also paid postage on top of that.) One man's junk is another man's prized possession.
>>> These are indestructible devices of an age where quality in the U.S. was the norm
Oh jeez. Next you're going to tell us about how records really DO sound better the Super Audio CDs or DVD Audio discs. Or that an old 1950s car is better built than a modern car that squeezes-out 40 miles per gallon of gasoline.;-) - I had one of those laserjets given to me by my employer, and it worked okay, but not as good as my 2000s-era Samsung which can print in color, copy various forms, and do double-sided printing... all for less than $200 brand new.
Well I see your point but disagree. Variety of thought IS Americanism. I may not like the KKK persons, but the fact they have the liberty to exist & speak their minds proves to me that this is still America. Strength from diversity of opinion.
As for Ron Paul, rather than take offense by the nazi endorsement, I'd embrace it as a positive thing. They know that I support the constitution, which means I support freedom of conscience and speech, even for idiots like them. I support minimal government and maximal liberty for the individual.
I wonder why last.fm, pandora, and other radio sites don't provide a "low bitrate" option in order to appeal to people with cellphone data rations? That would help them avoid those 500 megabyte limits/fines.
Even as low as 16 kbit/s (8 MB/hour) the sound can be good enough for car listening as you drive to work. It's approximately equivalent to a staticy FM Radio, when you use the HE-AAC or aACplusSBR codecs:
>>>you forgot to mention the grinding pain and poverty of the general population because of that for years
???. What pain? The umemployment rate dropped below 2% (lowest point in history) and the decade became known as the Roaring 20s. It was a great time to be an American.
You wrote, "He's a bit of an uncouth coarse pig who can't get his point across in a level-headed fashion." My post is below. Please show me where I was "uncouth" or "non-level-headed"??? I'll use your positive criticism to write better posts in the future. Thank you.:-)
Ever heard of the Depression of 1920? No? Well the stock market crashed to HALF its value, and the GDP dropped by 29% (that's worse than either now or the 1930s). The government did not bail-out anybody. The government took a hands-off policy and let businesses fail.
By fall 1921 the depression was over.
THAT'S what the government should have done this time - let businesses fail; clear out the dead weight, and then reboot. The recession would already be over as of right now (one year later). We would be rebuilding on top of AIG's and GM's bones. - Instead they've loaned money to these rotting carcasses (AIG, GM, et cetera) and allowed them to continue lumbering along, and now the recession will last year-after-year-after-year because we have to carry all this dead weight.
Your comment makes absolute sense if "By fall 1921 the depression was over." held true, but I can't even begin to comprehend what could you possibly mean by that. The Black Friday happened in October 1929
Son... come over here. Allow me to give you some advice as your elder. People may look at you and believe you are stupid. But it's only a belief. Be wise and don't open your mouth and prove them right. - As you did today. Now then.....
The United States has had many recessions and depressions, not just one. I was speaking of the Depression of 1920, which was deep and very damaging but only lasted a little over one year, and ended by fall 1921. The reason why it ended so quickly is because the government didn't do anything, and simply allowed businesses to fail.
Then the businessmen picked-over the carcasses of the dead businesses, consolidated, and rebuilt the economy. The result was known as the Roaring 20s, a period when unemployment dropped below 2% - lower than any other time in history.
What I don't understand is why the Congresscritters ignored the People. The phones in Washington were overloaded with voters saying, "Vote NO on the TARP bailout bill," and although the Republicans initially held firm to block the Democrats..... on the second go-around even the Republican ignored their constituents.
Traitors all. The Democratic Republic does not exist if the representatives ignore the people they supposedly speak for.
>>>If someone keeps calling you a child raping, baby eating monster, they should of course be entitled to do so, and your only recourse should be to say "nu uh!".
Well having dealt with this in the past (a certain person claimed I was a pedophile because my family goes to topless beaches), I simply responded to his accusation with the same sentence again-and-again. "That's interesting. Please provide evidence to back-up your claim." "You're a pedophile!"
"That's interesting. Please provide evidence to back-up your claim."
After awhile others joined in and ALSO started demanding evidence. Of course he could not provide any, so he was eventually chased away from the online forum.
You don't always need the Daddy government to help you. You CAN help yourself
>>>So large companies can station people with bullhorns outside our restaurant to tell people the food inside is poisonous in order to drive you out of business? >>>
No but they can do it with pamphlets, and there's not a darn thing you can do about it. Worse - City governments can pass laws that force your restaurant to spend $100,000 complying with onerous regulations (don't let smoke escape from the chimneys, or soundproof the walls, or whatever), and thereby drive you out of business.
The latter happens far more often than the former.
YES okay, but that's still preferable to the alternative where government (specifically politicians) use slander/libel laws to imprison people they don't like. Just look at Iran right now. Or China in history.
I'd rather take the risk someone might call me an "ass rapist" than saying, "I don't like President Mussolini Junior," and spending five years in Gitmo.
>>>the massive amounts of people it employed that would have lost their jobs.
And been hired by Ford, which is expanding. There was no need to bail-out GM, which should have been allowed to fail. (One less car company would be good, plus their cars weren't worth buying anyway. Let GM go to the same grave as Tribant.)
Ever heard of the Depression of 1920? No? Well the stock market crashed to HALF its value, and the GDP dropped by 29% (that's worse than either now or the 1930s). The government did not bail-out anybody. The government took a hands-off policy and let businesses fail.
By fall 1921 the depression was over.
THAT'S what the government should have done this time - let businesses fail; clear out the dead weight, and then reboot. The recession would already be over as of right now (one year later). We would be rebuilding on top of AIG's and GM's bones. - Instead they've loaned money to these rotting carcasses (AIG, GM, et cetera) and allowed them to continue lumbering along, and now the recession will last year-after-year-after-year because we have to carry all this dead weight.
>>>CD's should *not* be replaced for free, they are a physical item and cost money to make new ones
What part of "just pay a nominal fee" did you not understand? Good God. Our slashdotters so lazy that, not only do they not read articles, but they can't even read to the EOL? - The replacement should be free, plus shipping (say 3 dollars). That's what I said.
The only practical reason that can't be done is because companies don't track CD purchases, and so can't know if you bought the CD or not, but that limitation does not exist on Itunes or other online stores. They KNOW you bought the AAC, and therefore should be able to redownload the song to you if your HDD dies.
Slashdot Mirror
If somebody cares enough to spends tens of millions to attack me verbally, then I must be an important person (like a president or other leaders). Which means I'll have approximately equivalent resources at my disposal to fight back, and demand the idiot provide evidence, or else shut up.
"Whackjob" is a reference to homosexuality? Since when??? When I was growing-up, it just meant "nutter" or "he has a screw loose".
People who think the Constitution is "living" feel that Congress can do anything it wants that is not explicitly forbidden. Force you to buy insurance. Force you to take their Congress-run healthcare (monopoly style). Force you to sign-up for the Social Security Retirement Program, even if you don't want to participate. Force you to buy a Prius or install a solar panel on your roof. Force you to put safety locks on your guns, so they'll be worthless if a burglar breaks-in and you might actually need them. And so on.
People who think the Constitution is "fixed" think the Congress can not do ANY of those activities, because they are not in the list of enumerated powers. Only by amendment can the Congress do the examples I listed above.
See Amendment 10.
>>>To get a fully static Constitution, you will have to cram it full of thousands of pages of meticulous details.
Or else simply take away the power of the courts to nullify laws and give it to somebody else:
The "Protect the 9th and 10th Amendments" Act.
----- Proposed Amendment XXVIII.
Section 1. After a Bill has become Law, if one-half of the States declare the Law to be "unconstitutional" it shall be null and void. It shall be as if the Law never existed.
Section 2. This article shall be inoperative, unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths* of the several States by the date January 1, 2050. *[This is called a Constitutional majority in legal parlance.]
- In other words let the interpretation lie with the People, via their direct representatives in their State Legislature.
How should I know? I'm not a scientist? Go talk to the college profs that believe in a Creator if you want answers. They are smarter than I am, and will be happy to answer your question.
Because the Constitution was deliberately designed to act as Chains upon the U.S. Government and its leaders, and politicians don't like to be chained. They like to be free to act and control whatever they want. So what better way to achieve that goal than to pretend the Constitution is not a chain, but instead a piece of silly putty they can mold into any shape they please (or more recently - ignore completely). That gives the DC politicians the ability to do any damn thing that pleases them.
IMHO they (and we) have forgotten what the Democratic Party's founder (Thom. Jefferson) called the most important part of the Constitution: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
In reality the Constitution is a piece-of-paper with some Laws scribbled upon it, and it remains "fixed" for a long long time (two decades so far), until an amendment is added to it. Then it changes.
- They are busy with other things (jobs, kids) to read the stories.
- American media sucks, and never mentioned that Texas books are used nationwide.
- They have no interest (don't have kids and thus don't care about textbooks).
- Some other reason I can't think of right now.
>>>This evangelical lobby has successfully had references to the American Constitution as a 'living document,'
The Constitution is not "alive" in the sense most people use it, where the words have no meaning and the Congress ignores what it says, such that the Constitution might as well not even exist. That's why they (and I) find the reference objectionable. In reality the Constitution is a piece-of-paper with some Laws scribbled upon it, and it remains fixed for a long long time (two decades so far), until an amendment is added to it. Then it changes.
Also some people forget what the Democratic Party's founder (Thom. Jefferson) called the most important part of the Constitution: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
And in my opinion, this is second most important part: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." For example: The right to not have your cellphones monitored by Monkeyhead Dubya Bush or Barak Corpseman Obama via the Unpatriotic Act.
The one that has never been proven.
That would be BOTH.
Also most of the scientists I've meant in three separate colleges believed in a Creator of some kind. After all, the initial singularity from which the universe sprung had to come from somewhere. Science and belief in intelligent design are not incompatible.
Or sell it on Ebay. I sold my old Quantum Link disk (think AOL 0.9) for $10. My old 1200 baud Commodore modem went for $1. (The buyers also paid postage on top of that.) One man's junk is another man's prized possession.
>>> These are indestructible devices of an age where quality in the U.S. was the norm
Oh jeez. Next you're going to tell us about how records really DO sound better the Super Audio CDs or DVD Audio discs. Or that an old 1950s car is better built than a modern car that squeezes-out 40 miles per gallon of gasoline. ;-) - I had one of those laserjets given to me by my employer, and it worked okay, but not as good as my 2000s-era Samsung which can print in color, copy various forms, and do double-sided printing... all for less than $200 brand new.
Well I see your point but disagree. Variety of thought IS Americanism. I may not like the KKK persons, but the fact they have the liberty to exist & speak their minds proves to me that this is still America. Strength from diversity of opinion.
As for Ron Paul, rather than take offense by the nazi endorsement, I'd embrace it as a positive thing. They know that I support the constitution, which means I support freedom of conscience and speech, even for idiots like them. I support minimal government and maximal liberty for the individual.
I wonder why last.fm, pandora, and other radio sites don't provide a "low bitrate" option in order to appeal to people with cellphone data rations? That would help them avoid those 500 megabyte limits/fines.
Even as low as 16 kbit/s (8 MB/hour) the sound can be good enough for car listening as you drive to work. It's approximately equivalent to a staticy FM Radio, when you use the HE-AAC or aACplusSBR codecs:
Sample 12kbps: http://yp.shoutcast.com/sbin/tunein-station.pls?id=451889 (Radio Jackie London)
Sample 12kbps: http://classic.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=581471&file=filename.pls
Sample 16kbps: http://classic.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=81555&file=filename.pls
Sample 16kbps: http://classic.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=898671&file=filename.pls
Sample 20kbps: http://classic.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=949619&file=filename.pls
Sample 20kbps: http://classic.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=768143&file=filename.pls
Sample 20kbps: http://classic.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=923081&file=filename.pls
Sample 20kbps: http://classic.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=228460&file=filename.pls
>>>you forgot to mention the grinding pain and poverty of the general population because of that for years
???. What pain? The umemployment rate dropped below 2% (lowest point in history) and the decade became known as the Roaring 20s. It was a great time to be an American.
You wrote, "He's a bit of an uncouth coarse pig who can't get his point across in a level-headed fashion." My post is below. Please show me where I was "uncouth" or "non-level-headed"??? I'll use your positive criticism to write better posts in the future. Thank you. :-)
Ever heard of the Depression of 1920? No? Well the stock market crashed to HALF its value, and the GDP dropped by 29% (that's worse than either now or the 1930s). The government did not bail-out anybody. The government took a hands-off policy and let businesses fail.
By fall 1921 the depression was over.
THAT'S what the government should have done this time - let businesses fail; clear out the dead weight, and then reboot. The recession would already be over as of right now (one year later). We would be rebuilding on top of AIG's and GM's bones. - Instead they've loaned money to these rotting carcasses (AIG, GM, et cetera) and allowed them to continue lumbering along, and now the recession will last year-after-year-after-year because we have to carry all this dead weight.
The current depression WOULD have been like the 1920 depression (harsh but only one year long) if government had allowed AIG, GM, etc to die.
But since the government bailed them out, it now looks like the Depression of 1929 and will probably last just as long (10 years or more).
Your comment makes absolute sense if "By fall 1921 the depression was over." held true, but I can't even begin to comprehend what could you possibly mean by that. The Black Friday happened in October 1929
Son... come over here. Allow me to give you some advice as your elder. People may look at you and believe you are stupid. But it's only a belief. Be wise and don't open your mouth and prove them right. - As you did today. Now then.....
The United States has had many recessions and depressions, not just one. I was speaking of the Depression of 1920, which was deep and very damaging but only lasted a little over one year, and ended by fall 1921. The reason why it ended so quickly is because the government didn't do anything, and simply allowed businesses to fail.
Then the businessmen picked-over the carcasses of the dead businesses, consolidated, and rebuilt the economy. The result was known as the Roaring 20s, a period when unemployment dropped below 2% - lower than any other time in history.
What I don't understand is why the Congresscritters ignored the People. The phones in Washington were overloaded with voters saying, "Vote NO on the TARP bailout bill," and although the Republicans initially held firm to block the Democrats..... on the second go-around even the Republican ignored their constituents.
Traitors all. The Democratic Republic does not exist if the representatives ignore the people they supposedly speak for.
Anonymous Coward (0) wrote
The depression was over in 1921? You mean 1941, right?
"Hello. My name is Mr. AC, and I don't know how to read." - No dipshit. The depression started in 1920 and ended in 1921.
>>>If someone keeps calling you a child raping, baby eating monster, they should of course be entitled to do so, and your only recourse should be to say "nu uh!".
Well having dealt with this in the past (a certain person claimed I was a pedophile because my family goes to topless beaches), I simply responded to his accusation with the same sentence again-and-again. "That's interesting. Please provide evidence to back-up your claim." "You're a pedophile!"
"That's interesting. Please provide evidence to back-up your claim."
After awhile others joined in and ALSO started demanding evidence. Of course he could not provide any, so he was eventually chased away from the online forum.
You don't always need the Daddy government to help you. You CAN help yourself
>>>So large companies can station people with bullhorns outside our restaurant to tell people the food inside is poisonous in order to drive you out of business?
>>>
No but they can do it with pamphlets, and there's not a darn thing you can do about it. Worse - City governments can pass laws that force your restaurant to spend $100,000 complying with onerous regulations (don't let smoke escape from the chimneys, or soundproof the walls, or whatever), and thereby drive you out of business.
The latter happens far more often than the former.
YES okay, but that's still preferable to the alternative where government (specifically politicians) use slander/libel laws to imprison people they don't like. Just look at Iran right now. Or China in history.
I'd rather take the risk someone might call me an "ass rapist" than saying, "I don't like President Mussolini Junior," and spending five years in Gitmo.
>>>the massive amounts of people it employed that would have lost their jobs.
And been hired by Ford, which is expanding. There was no need to bail-out GM, which should have been allowed to fail. (One less car company would be good, plus their cars weren't worth buying anyway. Let GM go to the same grave as Tribant.)
Ever heard of the Depression of 1920? No? Well the stock market crashed to HALF its value, and the GDP dropped by 29% (that's worse than either now or the 1930s). The government did not bail-out anybody. The government took a hands-off policy and let businesses fail.
By fall 1921 the depression was over.
THAT'S what the government should have done this time - let businesses fail; clear out the dead weight, and then reboot. The recession would already be over as of right now (one year later). We would be rebuilding on top of AIG's and GM's bones. - Instead they've loaned money to these rotting carcasses (AIG, GM, et cetera) and allowed them to continue lumbering along, and now the recession will last year-after-year-after-year because we have to carry all this dead weight.
MY POST WAS THE FIRST POST (look at the timestamp). How can it be modded "redundant"? I was not copying anyone, but sharing my own thoughts.
>>>CD's should *not* be replaced for free, they are a physical item and cost money to make new ones
What part of "just pay a nominal fee" did you not understand? Good God. Our slashdotters so lazy that, not only do they not read articles, but they can't even read to the EOL? - The replacement should be free, plus shipping (say 3 dollars). That's what I said.
The only practical reason that can't be done is because companies don't track CD purchases, and so can't know if you bought the CD or not, but that limitation does not exist on Itunes or other online stores. They KNOW you bought the AAC, and therefore should be able to redownload the song to you if your HDD dies.