tvashtarkatena

New bumper sticker: "Don't like proud Injuns? Don't be one."

They caught Zippy the Pinhead?

bugger off poser. your head is way too big for what you actually can do and have done. as for Tvash, you and he should hang out. you are two assholes that are perfect for one another. Jebus, I don't even have to participate in a thread to precipitate an argument. Besides, two assholes do NOT go together...a dick and an asshole do, however. Recommendation: if KKK ever sells his gear, buy it. It's bound to be in like-new condition.

Killing the wildlife just for doing its thing. That's what I love most about going into the mountains, too.

Didn't you get the memo? Some citizens are more American than others.

Exactly! Just say "no" to national health care. This is an oft parroted argument somebody in the GOP found in a cereal box about 40 years ago. Programs like the one under discussion; the War on Terror, the War on Drugs, have been expensive debacles. Other government programs, such as the robotic space exploration program, many environmental protections, the subsidized building of our national phone system, have been resounding successes. More to the point, other countries (nearly all of the 1st world) have implemented some form of national health care that offers higher quality, more universal coverage, and lower costs than ours. We entrust much of our services to government, and appropriately so, because many of those services are better delivered under success criteria other than the profit motive. Hence, your generic statement is a fragrant, drooping turd, delicately poised on a cocktail toothpick, ripe for consumption only by those such as yourself who have a taste for that sort of thing.

There have been many, many cases of the wrong people being taken from their homes in the dead of night by heavily armed SWAT teams since 911 to 'fight the war on terror'. I'm not personally paranoid, but I'm also not OK with it happening on a regular basis on American soil. That's not what we're about. You keep trying to reframe everything I say to personal paranoia, but, as I have none, it's a waste of your time and mine. The only thing I'm afraid of is old mayonaise. That shit'll kill ya. You probably know full well already that my point was this: if you move random searches from the border, where they are appropriate, to anywhere, there is no real argument preventing those searches from being conducted in the home, as well. If national security always trumps constitutional concerns, such a program could easily be put into place. Look at the domestic spying program. In effect, our constitutional protections are gone.

You are assuming these things. I do not. You assume that the government is out to get you. I'm not assuming any such thing. This is based on history from many other like governmental efforts, from airport security to the FBI monitoring of mosques. And I don't assume that the government is out to get me. I may think that God is out to get me, or that aliens are out to get me, but not the government. I do assume, correctly, that the government makes a lot of mistakes, is incompetent, is overzealous, does a poor job of tracking the effectiveness of its efforts, prioritizes mythical problems created by politicians over real ones, doesn't know how to use it's resources effectively, and has a habit of creating programs which take on a life of their own and spiral out of control.

Yes, Probable Cause is the issue that makes checkpoints a really bad idea if you give a shit about freedom at all. Alcohol checkpoints are relatively simple; does the person smell like a bottle of VO or sound like a slurpy being spilled? But stopping for proof of citizenship or legality WELL WITHIN ONE'S OWN BORDERS is another matter entirely. At that point, you've given the government a license to detain you anywhere, anytime, including your own home, without any real probable cause at all, because, after all, what constitutes probable cause at a checkpoint? Nothing. Invariably, this either leads to racial profiling (illegal under the equal protection clause as well as against basic American principles) or requiring citizens to carry proof of citizenship everywhere.

Yes, they are being searched, and such a checkpoint does constitute a "taking" (of time). At least, according to the Supreme Court, which has ruled in favor of sobriety checkpoints using a test balancing public safety and the constitutional protections from unreasonable search without probable cause. If I ever get stopped at such a checkpoint, I"m going to light up a grain alcohol Molotov, smash it in the guy's face, and yell "Search this, motherfucker!" Or not.

Did you know my Dad, too?

Into movie theaters, actually. that serve booze.

BTW, Rob, the next time we go climbing together I'm going to homosexuality rape you, you know, just to keep the trend going.

Always side with more freedom over less; you'll get better results in the long term.

You've lost the point of your argument. We've been fighting a losing 'Drug War' for decades, so obviously your little checkpoints, which have been tried, aren't gonna do shit. The only way to mitigate drug trafficking is to mitigate demand, and that's where decriminilazation and treatment come in; policies that WAIT A MINUTE we've never even tried but that have worked elsewhere to decrease drug related crime and social problems.

Yes. Where is the majority of opiates made and exported from? Um, Afghanistan and Thailand. Do they have Mexican restaurants there now?

I suppose a reject, retard God in charge of a junk yard universe is a possibility....

I just got promoted. Oh wait, you exist. Well, there goes the God idea, right out the window.

Mexican drug traffickers are funding Al Qaeda? OK, what GALAXY are you from? Like I said, I couldn't give less of a shit about drug trafficking. I'm not willing to give up one ass hair of freedom for that issue; I believe in full legalization. Put whatever you want in your body, but when you misbehave, the government comes a calling.

Ummm, Tvash... maybe you're a Merkin... maybe that's how you spend your Saturday nights when you're not taking kick-ass photos in the North Cascades, but I don't think that's what you want: Wikipedia on Merkins Finally, a job I can do.

Dude, what SOLAR SYSTEM are you from? A-rabs don't backpack. Sheeit, even KKK knows that, and he's dumber than a post, or even one of his posts. What, you think Abdul's gonna come trekking over the PCT in his rayon sweater, double knit slacks and Eye-tralian dancing shoes? Carrying what? His wife's Christian Dior handbag full of plutonium? The only thing that's gonna come across the mosquito infested Canadian border cut is a few kilos of BC bud on the back of some enterprising hippy, and, frankly, I'm all for it. Those 'open' mountains and their deerflies, blackflies, no see ums, mosquitoes, horseflies, grizzlies, moose, cougars, and bushy tailed wood rats are the best security any nation could hope for.

We're Merkins, 'n we don' wanna buncha fuckin' federal asshats with an overblown sense of self-importance shovin' anal probes up our asses ever time we turn around! The Feds have been fuckin' us enough lately; it's high time they went and fucked themselves!

Holy fuck, what if we've been wrong about the existence of God all along!?

It also happens to be the friendliest border on earth, so no fence would seem appropriate. And I don't buy the second argument at all. Any resources you plow into a checkpoint would have greater benefits at your 'perimeter'; after all, you always want to snip a problem at the bud, right?

OK, I know you haven't been that bad a guy in this life, so you must have REALLY FUCKED UP in a previous one. Have you had yourself checked for testicular cancer lately? It seems like it might be a good time for that.