[Vision2020] Leonard Pitts Jr: The Triumph of Igorance

[Tom Hansen]

Wayne Price stated:

"The very arms that the amendment addresses are those that can and are
carried by the armed forces. "

As much as I truly support the second amendment's guarantee of the
peoples' right to keep and bear arms, Mr. Price, I think that I would have
to draw the line somehwere long before the day my neighbor goes squirrel
hunting with an M72 light anti-tank weapon.

Sometimes people extend their rights far beyond what is considered
appropriate.  That is the ethical reason why one cannot yeall "Fire!" in a
crowded theater, first amendment or not.

'Cuz, yasee, Mr. Price . . .

Although I once was a platoon sergeant in a mechanized infantry line unit,
responsible for (in addition to the 40 soldiers in my platoon) the
maintenance and qualification of four M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, I
really wouldn't support the right of someone to drive one down Moscow's
Main Street, second amendment or not.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho



On Mon, October 25, 2010 4:58 pm, Wayne Price wrote:
> Joe,
>
> You really don't want to go down that road.
>
> "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free
> State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be
> infringed."
>
> The very arms that the amendment addresses are those that can and are
> carried by the armed forces.
>
> Wayne
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 25, 2010, at 4:47 PM, Joe Campbell wrote:
>
>> No where in the constitution does it say that individuals have a
>> right to bear semi-automatic rifles.
>>
>> So you must be for gun control, Roger!
>>
>>
>> On Oct 25, 2010, at 11:56 AM, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The First Amendment
>>> "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
>>> religion,or prohibiting the free exercise there of; or abridging
>>> the freedom of speech,or of the press,or the right of people
>>> peaceably to assemble, and or to petition the Government for a
>>> redress of grievances."
>>> No where is there any thing said about the separation of church and
>>> state. What it says is that no state religion  is to be established
>>> and that every one has the right to express their religious beliefs
>>> or lack there of. The "separation of church and state" comes from
>>> an article written by Thomas Jefferson in which he said "There
>>> should be a wall of separation between church and state" ,but it no
>>> where in the Constitution.
>>> Roger
>>>
>>> -----Original message-----
>>> From: "Art Deco" deco at moscow.com
>>> Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:24:30 -0700
>>> To: "Vision 2020" vision2020 at moscow.com
>>> Subject: [Vision2020] Leonard Pitts Jr:  The Triumph of Igorance
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> LEONARD PITTS JR.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We don't deserve this
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
>>>> religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..."
>>>>
>>>> - from the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United
>>>> States That's for Christine O'Donnell.
>>>>
>>>> "Where in the Constitution is separation of church and state?" she
>>>> asked last week, drawing gasps and astonished laughter from an
>>>> audience of law school students.
>>>>
>>>> Chris Coons, her Democratic opponent for a Delaware Senate seat,
>>>> replied that in asking the question, O'Donnell shows "fundamental
>>>> misunderstanding of what our Constitution is. ... The First
>>>> Amendment establishes the separation ..."
>>>>
>>>> O'Donnell wasn't buying it.
>>>>
>>>> "The First Amendment does? ...
>>>>
>>>> So you're telling me that the separation of church and state, the
>>>> phrase 'separation of church and state,' is found in the First
>>>> Amendment?"
>>>>
>>>> It was a bizarre exchange that permits but two conclusions. One,
>>>> O'Donnell is frighteningly ignorant, particularly for a woman who
>>>> claims constitutional expertise and aspires to the Senate. Or,
>>>> two, assuming you buy her after-the-fact explanation (she was
>>>> merely observing that the phrase "separation of church and state"
>>>> is not in the First Amendment), she is terribly disingenuous.
>>>>
>>>> After all, the framers' intention to isolate church from state and
>>>> vice versa is evident in the amendment's wording and is a matter
>>>> of long-settled law, besides. The phrase "freedom of expression"
>>>> doesn't appear in the First Amendment, either.
>>>>
>>>> Would O'Donnell question that right, too?
>>>>
>>>> Maybe I shouldn't ask.
>>>>
>>>> While one is appalled by O'Donnell's ignorance and/or
>>>> disingenuousness, one is not surprised. The capacity to be
>>>> surprised by her died long ago, victim of revelations that she
>>>> once "dabbled" in witchcraft.
>>>>
>>>> And was the subject of an IRS lien. And said people with AIDS
>>>> brought the disease upon themselves. And was sued for nonpayment
>>>> by her college and mortgage company. And was cited eight times by
>>>> the Federal Elections Commission. And thinks scientists have
>>>> created mice with human brains.
>>>>
>>>> That this woman is a major party candidate for national office,
>>>> that she is among the brightest stars of a constellation of like-
>>>> minded cranks - some of them already in office - tells you all you
>>>> need to know about this moment in our political life. Welcome to
>>>> the United States of Amnesia.
>>>>
>>>> Somehow we have forgotten the lesson we spent most of the last
>>>> decade learning at ruinous cost: that faith-based governance,
>>>> foreign policy by gut instinct, choosing leaders on the basis of
>>>> which one we'd most like to watch television with, simply does not
>>>> work.
>>>>
>>>> Some say this is a conservative revolution, but this is no
>>>> conservatism Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater would have
>>>> recognized. At least their ideology adhered to an interior logic.
>>>> This ideology adheres to a perverse "illogic" that posits that the
>>>> less you know, the more authentic you are. So what triumphs here
>>>> is not conservatism, but rather, mediocrity. The Know Nothings and
>>>> Flat Earthers are ascendant. But intellect matters.
>>>>
>>>> Knowledge is good. And what's it tell you that that point even
>>>> needs to be made?
>>>>
>>>> In a recent debate, O'Donnell was asked to name a modern Supreme
>>>> Court decision to which she objects. "Oh, gosh," she said. "Give
>>>> me a specific one, I'm sorry. ... Right off the top of my head, I
>>>> know that there are a lot, but I'll put it up on my website, I
>>>> promise you."
>>>>
>>>> Some of us are reminded of how candidate George W. Bush kept
>>>> calling Greeks "Grecians."
>>>>
>>>> Some of us remember how the electorate shrugged off that evidence
>>>> of looming gaps in his basic knowledge because he had a folksy way
>>>> and twinkling eyes. Some of us remember how that came out.
>>>>
>>>> Others apparently don't.
>>>>
>>>> Others are ready to travel that road again. It brings to mind an
>>>> old saying: we get the leaders we deserve.
>>>>
>>>> You and I better hope that's not true.
>>>>
>>>> Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> =======================================================
>>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>>              http://www.fsr.net
>>>         mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>>> =======================================================
>>
>> =======================================================
>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>               http://www.fsr.net
>>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> =======================================================
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================


"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown