[Vision2020] Leonard Pitts Jr: The Triumph of Igorance

[Joe Campbell]

Tom beat me to the second point.



On Oct 25, 2010, at 5:32 PM, "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> 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.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
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>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
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> 
> 
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
> 
> - Unknown
> 
>