Firestarter

(emphases added) Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just And this be our motto, "In God is our trust" - fourth verse of the national anthem America, America May God thy gold refine 'Til all success be nobleness And every gain divine - third verse of America the Beautiful NB. Every single verse of the latter mentions God. I'll give you Stars & Stripes Forever, though.

Kindly refrain from reposting that kind of crap in this folder.

The absolute right of the people to unilaterally dissolve all powers of the federal government is clearly stated in Virginia's ratification of the Constitution.

Poor baby. It isn't, I'm nothing of the sort, and I didn't. Cheers.

re: thread title/subtitle Shut the fuck up, you flaming liberal twit. JMA "banished" himself from the folder in a hysterical weepy pity-party typical of that whining nancy-boy some time ago, and a replacement is neither necessary nor welcome. re: the rest of it (I'd say "content" but that would put me over my RDA for irony) See KKK's post above this. Also see the past 200 years of our history. If you're astonished by the existence of "partisan politics," you're a clinical idiot. If you think the volume or "nastiness" is "unprecedented" or remarkable in any way, you're either a journalist or an obscenely ignorant naif (not that there's much difference). If you think this can be changed, you're wrong. If you think it should be changed, or that politics or the nation in general would be better off if it were, you're even more wrong. And finally, if you think it was any different at any time in the past, rub your two brain cells together and see if you can start a fire. Pretty much the only way any light will get into your skull.

Feh. President Reagan was a thousand times better than Clinton, because, as Rob said, Clinton had zero substance. His rhetoric may have been delivered well but there's nothing to back it up. I wouldn't want hollow, hypocritical bullshit blown in my face at my husband's funeral either - no matter how nice it sounded. Listen to - or read - A Time for Choosing for a truly great speech. Surpassed anything that ever came out of Clinton's mouth by lightyears.

So now they think he was charming. An excellent column by Ann Coulter, who expresses precisely my own feelings about the sickly-sweet "what a great old guy" bullshit making the rounds these days. No, I'm sorry, but President Reagan didn't like you liberals. He didn't respect you. He had no time for you and he made that fact crystal clear. Your effusive professions of respect and admiration ring hollow and false, and it's highly annoying to listen to all the voluble insincerity (in Washington DC? The horror! - but no, seriously, there's a decided uptick). Still, I guess there's an up side. Now I know you're all professional hypocrites, and this kind of thing comes naturally to you, but even so it must be really galling to have to suck up to President Reagan's memory. After all, he not only held you lot in utter contempt, but he beat the living shit out of you each and every time it counted. I have to admit, it's sort of fun to watch.

Surprisingly, Tyler had it mostly right. As for politicising President Reagan's legacy, showing respect for the dead, coming together in a time of grief, and all the rest of that nauseating touchy-feely garbage - please don't make me laugh. I loved President Reagan, I respected and admired his leadership, wisdom, and courage. I'm saddened by our loss as a nation, and I'll attend President Reagan's funeral, and I'll pray for him then as I've prayed for him many times already. But the cold clear objective truth is this: his death, just as the election season has begun to swing into gear, is quite literally manna from heaven. Politicise his death? Oh, you betcha. Guys, I'm sorry, but if I have my way we're going to make you swallow that flag-draped coffin sideways. Everything you've ever said to disparage this great man will be dug up, dusted off, painted in spiffy new colours and put on a goddamn pedestal under a really bright spotlight for all the world to see. And the state funeral ceremonies are going to make the Pope's anointment and enthroning look like amateur night at a small-town kindergarten in Wisconsin. I'm talking military honour guards in full dress uniform, the flag hanging from every conceivable surface, parades and horses and processions and motorcades and in-formation flyovers. I'm talking 21 gun salutes until you can barely hear marching band after marching band playing The Star Spangled Banner. I'm talking about the full awesome power and majesty of the American Presidency refocused like a laser into the most dazzling 24-hour media event of the year. For weeks. Don't bother to pretend the Democrats would do anything differently. You wouldn't. And I promise you, we won't either. And you know what? When the Gipper glances down from heaven, he'll give us a huge grin and a big thumbs-up. God bless you, Mr President. Requiescat in pace - on November 3rd.

Lebanon exists only as a de jure state, and has been neither independent nor accountable since the mid '70s.

It's a sad day when Tyler and Jobber are pretty much the only ones on the right side of an issue, any issue at all. And based on a "book" "by" Clarke - well, that just takes the cake. God bless you, Mr Tenet. What America owes you is more than words can compass.

No.

Well, since that's pretty much what the law says, and that's what the government has done already, I don't immediately see where you have a problem. Stop being all... Ripper.

Central Park jogger. Next. Neither DNA analysis nor lack thereof can prove anyone's innocence under any circumstances. Do you understand this yet? If not, I can keep repeating it. Doesn't take much effort to copy and paste the sentence. No problem.

That was about the only thing I agreed with. And you were the one disclaiming that article about Democrats' disdain for the American people? Saying it was unfair to claim that Democrats broadly considered the "common" man stupid? Hypocrisy, thy name is JotW.

Yeah, and they're both felonies. Ever heard of the Nuremberg trials? Conspiracy to commit a crime is a crime itself.

Jeez, what bit you on the ass today?

Of course, no one has said any such thing. See post above re: straw man And the Central Park rapists.

One more time: DNA evidence or the lack thereof CAN NOT SAY anyone was NOT responsible for a crime. Absence of evidence is NOT evidence of innocence. And this is called a straw man. Any "case" so ridiculous would be thrown out of court by a sober judge.

Ah yes, Google, the first refuge of the ignorant. Convictions are never overturned by "DNA evidence." Such "evidence" cannot prove anyone is "innocent." Overwhelmingly death row convicts have been freed because of the lack of DNA evidence, which is usually irrelevant at best in a murder case. The number of people who have actually been exonerated, as opposed to merely being released because clear and compelling DNA evidence placing them at the scene of the crime was unavailable, is vanishingly small. As a matter of fact the availability of DNA analysis has been responsible for almost as many miscarriages of justice as convictions. Samples deteriorate. In some twelve to twenty year-old cases now coming up for their final appeals the samples were never even taken. Yet circumstantial evidence, motive, opportunity, method, and sometimes even eyewitnesses and confessions in open court are discounted, and why? Because "DNA evidence" supposedly "proves" the murderer is "innocent." I think that's fucking disgusting, and I've seen this shit happen in real life. I've seen people I know are guilty as sin walk away from crimes I knew they'd committed after my colleagues had brought them to justice because DN-fucking-A evidence was unavailable, unreliable, or discredited. You can always throw up some bullshit smokescreen and dress it up in scientific jargon and there's always a margin of error in every analysis. So don't give me your bleeding-heart liberal fantasy about dozens of "innocents" on death row, understood? Incidentally, by a miscarriage of justice I meant letting a murderer walk free. I suppose you'd have a different definition.

The necessary and sufficient answer to this is: Bullshit. I suppose they were black, so they must have been innocent.

Mike, you scooped me and I salute you.

And so they picked... Kerry? What am I missing?

Uh, yes they do. I don't know what kind of half-assed criminal code you're reading, but here in the United States that's a felony.

So, Ripper happens to be black?

Nor do I. The only truly bipartisan quality is incompetence.