Obama allows martial law, as long as he gets a personal power by dreamtrove

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

God. Fucking. Dammit.

Been nice knowin' y'all.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 12:43 PM

WULFENSTAR

http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg

This is what I've been saying for years.

Too many are willing to hand over their God-given rights... in order to feel safe.

Too many are willing to believe that those who desire (and GET) power... will take care of them.

Heres an idea. There are rights you have that are yours from the moment you are born. No one has the right to take them from you.

Stop supporting a person, party or system that wants to curb your natural rights.

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies"

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 12:47 PM

Thing is, Wulf, you never said any of those things while Bush was in office. Not when the Patriot Act was passed, not when your government was torturing prisoners (without charges, of course) at Gitmo, nor at any other time. You didn't give a flying fuck or two shits about any of this as long as it was your boy in power. So stop pretending otherwise, because it's insulting to the intelligence of everyone here. You are, were, and will always be a right-wing useful idiot. You don't care what the government does just as long as your party is the one in power. Look back at the last election coverage for proof; all you could say was "Isn't it GLORIOUS?!" "The adults are back in charge!"

Look what your beloved Tea Party has delivered.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 1:01 PM

Let's not turn this into another partisan thing. This is just bad, real bad. It doesn't matter who is in charge, this has been building for a while. Now it's just badness, and we have to be united against the power, and not fighting amongst ourselves.

I want to hear ideas, and also, some analysis on is this really as bad as I think it is.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 1:15 PM

Oh, I'm pissed at all parties involved, trust me.

This couldn't have happened without support from all sides, tea partiers included. I held out some small hope that Obama would actually live up to his veto threat, but like Anthony, I doubted him. And now he'll sign the piece of shit bill they present him.

Oh, but it will only be used against "terrorists", of course. Or, y'know, those folks the government decides act and sound like terrorists.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 1:24 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

They won't necessarily use it right away. It is very much in the public consciousness right now, so using it at this moment would be ill advised.

If they do use it right now, it will be against a fiend that everyone can rally against. Someone that seems morally reprehensible to defend.

These sorts of laws are often used first against those people who are widely disliked.

It is on such groups that tyranny is perfected.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 1:51 PM

Anthony:

Indeed. Chip by chip, they chisel away at the marble foundations of the Constitution, until nothing remains but a pile of rubble.

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 2:08 PM

Yes, you're right. They will come up with an even more absurd law, it'll say something like "they have the right to shoot suspects on sight, and then decide "not to use it" because they are "civilized" even though the people targeted are puppy eaters, and then they will "fall back" on this "old law."

And fortunately for us, Mike, they happen to define terrorist for us! As "people who are missing fingers, or have more than seven days of food in their house."

It only just realized that we can now torture americans by outsourcing them under military custody. Of course, if the US is part of the arena of war, for the duration of the war on terror, until, as Jon Stewart put it "until terror surrenders and agrees to no longer be a human emotion" ... of course this means that US citizens are enemy combatants.

I guess that moment when the govt. declared was on the people wasn't real far away, it was just around the corner.

I suspect we'll see, before we see this used, the introduction of a whole slew of new types of "terrorist" aside from the muslim extremists, as we don't have many of those to arrest. We can have, as I said "christian extremists" and we could also have "anti-semites" <- these would be people opposed to aid to Israel, or those that oppose the banks, or attend rallies of the tea party or of occupy. If you wear a shirt that says 99%, then you could be a terrorist... you are probably a terrorist... who cares... it's possible you are a terrorist and that's all we need to start cutting your fingers off in a secret prison, and once we've done that, you *are* a terrorist, according to our new definition.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 3:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
God. Fucking. Dammit.

Been nice knowin' y'all.

Been nice knowin' you too.

I don't know if it will do any good, but...

Get out. Get out if you can. It is "Nowhere in Africa" time.

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 4:44 PM

This baby was railroaded through as fast as possible to make sure no one read it.

Elephant in the room update:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-12-14/house-defense
-bill-passes/51931160/1

I see they are dodging talking about the super nazism in the bill, but it's interesting in all the distractions what all else is in this bill, and that, instead of being "an automatic 10% cut" like was supposed to be "unavoidable" after the failure of supercongress, spending went UP 5%. Ah well.

Mike, I see you're correct, while the one tea party senate seat, Rand Paul, voted against; of the 62 house seats, only 11 tea party members voted against.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 4:44 PM

OPPYH

Scary. This is how freedom dies. Well, I've been thinking about moving. Anyone want to join me in Norway?

----------------------------------------------------------------

70's TV FOREVER

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 4:47 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

Do they let you carry guns in Norway?

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011 7:46 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Lets not fight, we all agree that this is a bad thing, can't we just all agree and have solidarity, regardless of what someone may have said five years ago?

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:30 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,

Do they let you carry guns in Norway?

Well, I know that one guy carried a few...

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 5:33 AM

... fully loaded, safety off...

What happened to Freedom isn't Free? The going gets tough so the tough get what? Get moving?? What a fine lot of weaklings... typical Americans who have so much and then encounter a bump they can't complain away and "whaaaaaaaa...."

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 7:10 AM

OPPYH

Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
What happened to Freedom isn't Free? The going gets tough so the tough get what? Get moving?? What a fine lot of weaklings... typical Americans who have so much and then encounter a bump they can't complain away and "whaaaaaaaa...."

Can't fight the government. You will lose.

----------------------------------------------------------------

70's TV FOREVER

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 7:17 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Bad, bad, bad. I whinced when I heard it on the news. Yeah, Bush started it, but Obama gets equal blame for continuing it. And no doubt no future Prez will get any blame, 'cuz it's there now. Bastard.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 12:28 PM

Not surprised.

What strikes me odd is that folks howl less about them DOING it, which they are, and have been, for some time now - than they do about making it official.

They're gonna do it either way unless there's means in place to stop em, and I don't mean "the law", we've already had that discussion about demanding the government protect you... from the government.

You have no rights you are unable or unwilling to ENFORCE, as I been sayin for some time now.

So there it is.
As for plans, well those are best laid in advance instead of coulda-woulda-shoulda and shouting down the folks trying to warn thee as paranoid radicals, but *shrug*, so be it.

Anyhows, stuff in the works, never doubt it.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:02 PM

I get it. So this becomes the fallback trump card they never use. They can come to you with completely bogus charges, and if people call them on it, they can say "well, we don't hav eto show you anything, because if you don't cooperate, we can just hand you over to the goon squad, you're real clad you're dealing with us pigs and not them, right?" and people will agree, because they don't want to go to gitmo, and so they will go along with the totally bogus charges and go through the totally bogus court system, because they don't want to be tortured, and all the while they are lending credence to the totally bogus system that can abandon all connection with reality now that it has this trump card of absolute power and martial law, even though it never has to technically use it.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:07 PM

Like, duh.
Took you long enough.

-F

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:13 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So, since neither the GOP, nor the Tea Party, nor President Wishy Washy are about to do anything useful, may as well send a message. Any third partiers to support?

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:44 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oh, BTW, the reason to get all "partisan" about this clusterfuck is to teach a lesson to wulf, who would willingly accept the yoke... place it ON people, even at the point of a gun... provided it wasn't for him or people "like" him.

The lefties here are pretty objective... if they see Obama screwing something up, they will say so. The righties here are a bunch of obedient tools. Unless they accept that freedom means freedom for EVERYBODY, and that oppression is oppression, whether or not it comes from a Republican or a Democrat, they will continue to be useful tools of tyranny no matter how many times they strike their breast, genuflect, and bleat the word "freedom!

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Like, duh.
Took you long enough.

-F

C'mon Frem. Took me a long time too to connect the dots. We're not all politically "street wise" like you.

What matters is we get that "Ohhhhhhh..." moment at the end.

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:54 PM

No worries; That's a Frempliment. It took me a while to recognize them.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
Get moving??

Depends on how much danger you are personally in, but YEAH! Move. Move if you can.

Would you blame a Jew for wanting to move out of Nazi Germany? How much good are you going to do for freedom if you're dead or in a concentration camp?

Yeah, we all admire the heroes who stayed and fought. But that romantic shit usually doesn't end well for the heroes. I admire the heroes who choose to stay and die, but I won't blame those who choose to live.

You don't want to wait until they start issuing exit visas. Cause then it'll be too late. One, you won't get an exit visa. And two, they won't let you take any significant amount of money out of the country even if you manage to get an exit visa. It's a tough sitch to be in, trying to smuggle yourself OUT of a country illegally, cause it means smuggling yourself INTO some other country illegally.

So, yeah, I say, move now while it is still legal.

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"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:59 PM

Be a bit more useful if more people got it BEFORE "the end", though...

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 3:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
Yeah, we all admire the heroes who stayed and fought. But that romantic shit usually doesn't end well for the heroes.

Damn glad imma villain then.

Funny little trope that applies, to my usual shortcutting the process of these things.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainsActHeroesReact

Quote:
"That's the problem with heroes, really. Their only purpose in life is to thwart others. They make no plans, develop no strategies. They react instead of act. Without villains, heroes would stagnate. Without heroes, villains would be running the world. Heroes have morals. Villains have work ethic."
—Narration from The Last Avengers Story

Where it usually goes wrong for heroic types is that pathetic need to play by rules - even if they're the enemies rules....

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 4:09 PM

CTS,

I think that might be a godwin, but I want to tweak it. I think the USA is really more of nazi germany for a muslim, or maybe a latino, but if you're a jew like me, it's still looking pretty bad, so if I can rephrase that:

Would you blame a *German* for wanting to leave Nazi Germany?

I mean seriously, if you were a christian german in 1938, it would still be a really good time to get gone from germany.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 4:12 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/indefinite-military-detention
-bill-passes_n_1152114.html

Makes me think they showed Obama that grassy knoll movie again....

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 4:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Quote:
"That's the problem with heroes, really. Their only purpose in life is to thwart others. They make no plans, develop no strategies. They react instead of act. Without villains, heroes would stagnate. Without heroes, villains would be running the world. Heroes have morals. Villains have work ethic."
—Narration from The Last Avengers Story

Priceless!

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 4:29 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

RE: moving.

Moving is a great tactic. By moving, you withdraw even your tacit support... in the form of taxes and labor. If you can, by all means move.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 4:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I think that might be a godwin,

You've been slacking, DT. I godwin'd way back when I mentioned "Nowhere in Africa."

Yes, Jew, German. More important for the Jew to move than the German, but yes, good idea for both.

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 4:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Be a bit more useful if more people got it BEFORE "the end", though...

Right, don't want to get it at the very end. :)

I think most folks here are getting it. I don't see anyone cheering the bill on. Not even Rap.

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 5:28 PM

Since none of us are, I assume, muslims, then none of us are the equiv. of jews in germany. We are germans, but yeah.

I didn't get the "Nowhere in Africa" ref.

Can anyone explain the dig between the 7 senators opposed in the initial story and the 13 in the Huff post story?

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 6:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/indefinite-military-detention
-bill-passes_n_1152114.html

Makes me think they showed Obama that grassy knoll movie again....

I'm so glad someone actually got that!

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 6:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
Since none of us are, I assume, muslims, then none of us are the equiv. of jews in germany. We are germans, but yeah.

I didn't get the "Nowhere in Africa" ref.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowhere_in_Africa

Quote:
Nowhere in Africa (German: Nirgendwo in Afrika) is a 2001 German film directed by Caroline Link and based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Stefanie Zweig. It tells the story of a Jewish family that emigrates to Kenya during World War II to escape the Nazis and run a farm. The film won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 7:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I didn't get the "Nowhere in Africa" ref.

Yeah, Kwicko found it.

It is about a German Jewish family who moved to Kenya in 1938 before things got really bad in Germany. It was the father's idea, but the mom was very resentful about leaving her family and friends and comfortable lifestyle to live in "nowhere in Africa."

I really enjoyed the film, and I often think of it when prescient people leave an ambivalent situation before knowing for sure that it would get very bad.

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Friday, December 16, 2011 2:30 AM

In '38 it was bad, but it was probably only as bad as it is here, now. The real sign to leave was the Patriot Act/Reichstag Fire, which says something, because if this is 1938, our Kristallnacht moment is coming right up. Of course, we've already invaded Poland, I think it's about to be Russia. Maybe it's already 1941.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Friday, December 16, 2011 3:58 AM

... fully loaded, safety off...

I love it - when something is broken just leave it for others to fix. Priceless. Don't miss your bus.

Real quick before you go, some people that shouldn't be forgotten:

The 13 senators who voted against the bill were Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

6 Republicans, 6 Democrats, and 1 Independent. Has a kind of poetry to it.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Friday, December 16, 2011 4:36 AM

BYTEMITE

Pizmo, maybe you didn't notice all the references to the holocaust people posted, but you can't exactly fix Germany from inside a concentration camp.

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Friday, December 16, 2011 5:26 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

Fret not, Pizmo. The vast majority of Americans have no ability to move, no prospects in other countries, no means to survive elsewhere.

There will be plenty of us here to fight, like cornered rats, because we have no other choice.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

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Friday, December 16, 2011 7:36 AM

At which point...
Some folk will be handing out more than torches and pitchforks.

Trust in this, if naught else; knowing how to use and service that stuff is more important than actually having it to hand at this point, if one plans to dodge being "on the list" - the bastards of this world ain't the only ones who can lay plans well in advance.

-F

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Friday, December 16, 2011 8:04 AM

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Pizmo, maybe you didn't notice all the references to the holocaust people posted, but you can't exactly fix Germany from inside a concentration camp.

Byte - I reject all references to "just like Nazi Germany" out of hand. We're not like the Germans - very different people. Not now or from that time. The Germans now are not even like those Germans from the past. That event changed everything - don't let your fear influence you too much!

Funny thing, I find it interesting that many people here talk about the MSM and the Gov being the ones who are constantly trying to keep the population afraid and exploit us through fear, nothing but gloom on the news, the Terror Alert chart and threats from others... but to me it seems like RWED does a much better job with Daily Tragedy threads, Hyperbole of the Day... zoiks.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Friday, December 16, 2011 8:07 AM

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,

Fret not, Pizmo. The vast majority of Americans have no ability to move, no prospects in other countries, no means to survive elsewhere.

There will be plenty of us here to fight, like cornered rats, because we have no other choice.

Heh Anthony. I take little, I mean, great comfort in knowing that. I think.

It's not exactly the greatest rallying slogan ever, but "We Have No Choice!" "We Have No Choice!" "We Have No Choice!" is kind of catchy.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Friday, December 16, 2011 8:18 AM

BYTEMITE

Germans are human. Governments past and present are human. Humans can become corrupt. Power corrupts.

Explain to me how we're so different from the Germans if we have camps that we might send people if they are somehow a threat to our national security. Explain to me how we're so different from Germany if we'd punish people fleeing from horrible conditions in their own country, much like the Jewish immigration from Russia to Germany that sparked the Viennese antagonism that formed Hitler's point of view.

We interned Japanese Americans during WW2. Our image and history is not so squeaky clean as you might think.

I try to be polite about things but on this I think you are not being careful enough. The government using manufactured threats about Muslim terrorists and Mexican immigrants to create fear and support for iron fisted totalitarian practices is something to be denounced. Fear of that government and what ELSE it might do is NOT.

There is wisdom in assessing your own choices and comparing them to the mistakes of the past. Currently, I think our country is making some rather unforgivable mistakes.

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Friday, December 16, 2011 8:55 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
Byte - I reject all references to "just like Nazi Germany" out of hand.

If you wish to, that is your prerogative.

But do you forbid others to see America "just like Nazi Germany" and forbid them to believe it and ridicule their leaving because they see similarities?

-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Friday, December 16, 2011 9:11 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
I love it - when something is broken just leave it for others to fix.

It's all perspective right? Some see it as as a ship with some broken parts. We fix those parts, A'ok.

Some people see it as the Titanic sinking. The country is so far gone there is no fixing. You can go into the lifeboats now, or you can fight for the lifeboats later. (Assuming no limits to lifeboats now.)

Sure, you can say we're crazy and deluded by fear of something that will never be. And I sure hope with all my heart that you're absolutely right. I would love so much to be wrong on this. If you're right, and I'm wrong, I've moved for nothing. I can come back and try to "fix" things.

If you're wrong, and I'm right, and I didn't move when I had the chance, I'd be in a concentration camp or dead. I can't come back. I can't help anyone else when I'm dead.

Those of us who have lived in totalitarian countries where people are routinely "disappeared," see all the signs that the USA is turning into one, and feel pretty confident that if that were the case, we would be one of the ones to "disappear," we want to not be there when it happens. Surely you can understand that and not blame us.

Or, blame us if you wish.

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"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm

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Friday, December 16, 2011 9:21 AM

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Germans are human. Governments past and present are human. Humans can become corrupt. Power corrupts.

Explain to me how we're so different from the Germans if we have camps that we might send people if they are somehow a threat to our national security. Explain to me how we're so different from Germany if we'd punish people fleeing from horrible conditions in their own country, much like the Jewish immigration from Russia to Germany that sparked the Viennese antagonism that formed Hitler's point of view.

We interned Japanese Americans during WW2. Our image and history is not so squeaky clean as you might think.

I try to be polite about things but on this I think you are not being careful enough. The government using manufactured threats about Muslim terrorists and Mexican immigrants to create fear and support for an iron fisted totalitarian government is something to be denounced. Fear of that government and what ELSE it might do is NOT.

There is wisdom in assessing your own choices and comparing them to the mistakes of the past. Currently, I think our country is making some rather unforgivable mistakes.

"I try to be polite about things but on this I think you are not being careful enough." Me too. Funny, I can hear US national security advisors saying the same - "we're not being careful enough..."

And I don't think our past is squeaky clean by any stretch. I also think, human and frail and full of faults (as we always will be), we do evolve, not near fast enough but it is incrementally better. Do a projection - pick a topic and fix this point in time and then go backwards, 50, 500, 1000 years same topic "sanitation", connect the 2 and see which way the line goes into the future. It's not always dramatic and not always straight but I think in most cases it's going in a positive direction.
At the same time I am a skeptic and cynical, so I do believe in vigilance. I just don't see it the way you do, not yet - if you surround yourself with darkness it's going to color your perceptions.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Friday, December 16, 2011 9:25 AM