prole

No need to worry about these constitutional infringements. It's just part of the State's "Westphalian prerogative". Now my inalienable right to be buttraped by my insurance company on a technicality or a "pre-existing condition" on the other hand...

Keep your laws off my pork rinds!

If you outlaw the great taste of Funyuns, only outlaws will enjoy the great taste of Funyuns.

Jesus Christ, there wasn't a limit already?! What took so long?

Criminalize migration and only criminals will migrate...

Chomsky is not "my man", but I don't disagree with much that is said here. Despite the Teabagger use of the words "liberty" and "freedom", authoritarianism, racial purity, and corporatism is always the subtext as evinced by the appeals to the "real America", "economic freedom", "God and guns". As I've said in a previous post, the surest way to squelch fascist populism is to meet the underlying conditions that fuel it. Thirty years of trickle-on economics, the fusion of State and corporate power, bloated militarism, neglect, and retrograde antisocial philosophy should be countered by revitalizing the democratic aspects of governance, not by rejecting governance altogether. Drowning the State in the bathtub through tax cuts, removing its regulatory and social function, and paring its authority down to its basest level, the exercise of force, is the surest way to the authoritarian dystopia the Teabaggers claim to fear most. Concentrated power doesn't evaporate, it only consolidates in other institutions, I'd rather have it concentrated in something with mechanisms for citizens to control, rather than stockholders.

WE HAVE ONE IN THE WHITE HOUSE!! LOOKS WHAT HAPPENED!!!

Siren song? Are you fucking kidding? Pull your head out of your ahistorical, idealistic, utopian, anarchowhateverthefuck ass. I don't love the State, but until you find another set of existing institutions that have the democratic features that provide a modicum of accountability to the governed, the capacity protect the vulnerable, and maintain regulatory functions over consolidated economic power, I'll continue to take republicanism as what we currently have to work with. Is the US Government currently performing any of these functions well? No. Are there others in existence right now that permorm them better? Yes. You can play pomo cynic or conspiracy nut with everybody else if you want but unless you're seeing an impending spontaneous eruption of "autonomy" that I'm not, I think we'd be better off reforming what we've got before shit gets any worse. Your "Chinese model" is a lot less conspiratorial than you think.

If the Soviet Union had never existed, you pinheads would have to invent it. Oddly enough, the people of the rest of industrialized world, most of whom have had a much more immediate relationship with socialism in their own countries and with totalitarianism on their borders, enjoy a much higher quality of life than Americans and don't seem nearly as willing to commit social suicide because their politicians and corporate CEOs told them they have to. If you two put forth the kind of drivel you display here to the average German, Finn, Czech, Austrian, etc., you'd be ridiculed, placed on display, and paraded around the country.

Why on Earth would read anything form Abby? You're aware that he liked the natural environment right? You might have to hand over your GOP card for reading that as his work runs contrary to just about everything the GOP advocates. (Well except the guns) A-B-B-E-Y. I like the natural environment too. So what? Abbey believed that unchecked immigration was a huge environmental downside--to put it mildly. (Not sure how TTK missed it. It's in almost every work of non-fiction the guy wrote.) How unfortunate that your political blinders prevent you from seeing the manner in which you pigeonhole. Yeah, you like it so much you want to hug it, and squeeze it, and rape it til it's dead. Abbey was also a misogynist, which also appeals to conservatives...

From Abbey's standpoint, the world would probably be a better place if the human race were extinct. But that's neither here nor there... What is always interesting however is a ridiculous justification for what is an egregious violation of American's civil rights. As usual, you faux-libertarians prefer fantastical claims of constitutional violation (wahhh, my contract with my insurer!) to the real thing (getting shaken down because you look Mexican). You're a sick puppy.

This is still pretty meek, FW. It seems like you have something to say, could you be a bit more direct in laying out the argument here?

Please elaborate...

Who are you referring to here exactly? What's the "hot water" in question? The American left has been trying to draw attention to the 6 trillion dollar wars, increased surveillance and control, civil liberties infringements, the increasing consolidation and risk taking by finance capital, and all the rest of Reaganomics chickens coming home to roost for years. They continue to put pressure on Obama to push forward the policies he was elected to pursue, namely rolling back a lot of that bullshit. With the exception of the industry-friendly, center-right health care bill, he's been more focused on keeping this consumer-capitalist jalopy of an economy from unwinding any faster than it already is. Again, what's your problem, exactly?

Yes, your passion is apparent from your outrage at citizens being shaken down for their papiere in Arizona. Hey now, I don't have time to be outraged at everything all at once. Neither do the other Teabagger morons who've recently discovered "debt", "executive power", "majority rule" and a whole raft of parliamentary procedures they were happy to exploit when Bush was in power. Go figure.

Yes, your passion is apparent from your outrage at citizens being shaken down for their papiere in Arizona.

It's sure as hell drying up one bit at a time. The government is grabbing it when they can. The lawyers and we the people are letting or assisting them in taking it away one piece at a time. Agreed If we could get Kevbone in this mix, we'd have a trifecta.

OMG, IT'S HOWARD BEALE!! DO SOMETHING DRASTIC!! YOU HAVE OUR SUPPORT!!!

Fuck empathy, these people don't even understand their self interest as extending any further than the front bumpers of their cars!

Or with Tom Vu... [video:youtube] "You think these girls like me? NO! They like my money!"

[video:youtube]

"Fairness" and redistribution aside, there's also the simple fact that there are publicly funded institutions and services that we all benefit from as a society even if we don't use them directly and that cannot or should not be run for profit.

"Why shouldn't the American people take half my money from me? I took all of it from them." --Edward Albert Filene (1869-1937), founder of the US Chamber of Commerce