[Cloud9]

The local Tea Party asked Senator Rubio to explain his support of the bill. My interpretation of the good senator’s lengthy response was that the bill does not apply to us. I can only conclude that the senate has been scared over into a corner again with prophecies of barbarians in the streets and systemic collapse. The justification for this madness is the same old argument used by the Republicans during the Civil War. What good is a constitution if you don’t have a country? The response to that is patently obvious to anyone who will pay attention. You might not wind up with either.

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', '�')��And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/ ... lzhenitsyn

[Cloud9]

I think that this is a survival instinct tied to the fight or flight syndrome. Under most circumstances not moving is a successful survival tactic. Predators are keenly aware of movement. Movement triggers the pursuit. Under rarer circumstances it becomes patently obvious that if you continue doing what you are doing you are going to get eaten. The problem arises in differentiating between those two circumstances. Most of us will bitch about the congress’s shredding of the Constitution and do nothing. We probably will do nothing as long as the draconian aspects of this legislation are applied to the others and not our selves. The problem the government faces is that somewhere along the continuum of their construction of the police state, they run the risk defining a significant minority as the others. Should that happen then all bets are off.
I remember reading somewhere that about a third of the population favored the revolution, a third apposed it and a third was ambivalent.
The tipping point will be reached when a humvee drives down your street and your feelings of patriotism are replaced by fear and loathing

[Bruce_S]

Looks like it went down in defeat. I guess we can find something else to get all worked up over.

http://paul.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=399

[Cloud9]

If you want to reverse course. Vote for R.P.

[Pops]

Don't care for Paul but good for him! He forced a roll call vote instead of the anonymous voice vote or it certainly would have passed.

I just can't figure out how people could think this is constitutional.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')en. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said: "The enemy is all over the world. Here at home. And when people take up arms against the United States and [are] captured within the United States, why should we not be able to use our military and intelligence community to question that person as to what they know about enemy activity? They should not be read their Miranda rights. They should not be given a lawyer. They should be held humanely in military custody and interrogated about why they joined al Qaida and what they were going to do to all of us."

[Bruce_S]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', 'I')f you want to reverse course. Vote for R.P.

[Bruce_S]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '
')I just can't figure out how people could think this is constitutional.

[Cloud9]

The Supremes would have a difficult time looking at this one because the aggrieved parties would have simply disappeared. I too wish Ron Paul was stronger on peak oil. I suspect he does not believe in it. However, he does believe in the constitution and limiting the powers of the oligopoly that keeps us in perpetual wars and have bankrupted the system. If we can shrink government and maintain the constitution, peak oil will take care of itself.

[IndigoMoon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bruce_S', 'L')ooks like it went down in defeat. I guess we can find something else to get all worked up over. http://paul.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=399

[Bruce_S]

Jesus reading through those things is awful.

[IndigoMoon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bruce_S', 'J')esus reading through those things is awful.

[rangerone314]

So has anyone rewritten the national anthem to reflect the move towards a police state, or perhaps designed a flag to replace the stars with swasticas?

[Oneaboveall]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'S')o has anyone rewritten the national anthem to reflect the move towards a police state, or perhaps designed a flag to replace the stars with swastikas?

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', '�')��And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?...

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', '�')��And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?...

[careinke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'M')y Republican friends think Libertarians are dope-smoking commies who want to gut our military. My Democrat friends think that Libertarians are free-market fascists who want to gut their social programs.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', '�')��And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?...

[Cloud9]

Clearly there is a tipping point where a single individual makes a decision to act or submit. He does not know it but his decision casts the die for the rest of us. Funny how a single choice made by one individual sets the course of history.

[gollum]

I reember thiking a few years ago when a lot of this was more acedemic conspiracy theory then reality that when the day came that the military arrested dissidents or fired on protestors it was time for the hunting rifles to come out in this country. I still feel the same way, but sure didn't expect it to happen this fast.