tvashtarkatena

again, no surprise there. you guys just fit the stereotype so well. Intelligent? Principled? Reasonable? Well versed in the topics of the day? Why, thank you.

Wow, an homemade cross made of pipes illegally erected in a public reserve. Certainly the defining issue of our day. Loser pays winner's attorney fees is pretty standard in many kinds of cases. They had their day in court. They lost. Sounds like whining to me. It also sounds like the democratic process at work. I would guess that most Americans would not appreciate coming around a switchback in a publicly owned natural reserve and seeing a cheesy homemade islamic flag flying from a used piece of cyclone fencing. Same rules apply. Equal protection, MOFO. You want a cross? Put one up on your own lawn. If someone burns it, the ACLU will be the first ones to come to your aid.

More accurately, the ACLU was founded in 1920 specifically for the purpose of gaining the release of labor leaders who were arrested and jailed, sometimes without being charged, just for peaceful organizing. These organizers primarily wanted to get rid of the 12 hour, 6 day a week work schedule, among other things. The guy that rounded them up and put them in the slammer? J. Edgar Hoover. The ACLU was successful and both the organization and the labor movement in the US was born.

I have sent an instant message to a party below, however. It weighed about 200 lbs and was covered with lichen.

In the future, you'll be able to pull a pink sock...from your ass.

What about Dan Savage?

It helps to believe in something before you hate it. And if you want to know more about pink socks, just ask me.

Don't know what 'profits' you're talking about. The ACLU is a non-profit organization. Donations are not tax deductable. The ACLU is the most apolitical organization I know of. It has to be to work on both sides of the isle. It has also provided legal services to some of the most right wing folks around, including Rush Limbaugh, and worked with some of the most right wing organizations, such as the Gun Owners of America. Since 911, the majority of its new members have come from conservative side of the political spectrum.

This 'gay rights movement' thing has got me worried. At first I thought, "OK, maybe I need to know more about the gays before a come to any conclusions. Maybe my initial revulsion, which can be pretty all consuming at times, is due to ignorance." So I starting studying everything I could get my hands on that was gay: E, the 'AssMasters' DVD box set, ABBA, Prince Alberts, mandolins (both musical and culinary), anything from Patagonia, and before long, I knew my way around everything from a 'pink sock' to 'painting'. Through all this, my wife has been less than understanding. Sure, it's been time consuming, but does that warrant her upping her private salsa lessons to five nights a week? She's so sore by the weekend that it's all she can do to drag herself to her weekly Jamaican message appointment. At least her masseuse sent me some body-building tips, but still. Frankly, I'm starting to suspect that Bush is right. I'm starting to feel like just being exposed to the gay lifestyle is putting my marriage at risk. I don't know. I guess I need to find out more.

I've never sent an e-mail while climbing.

What about sleazy software engineers who spray while collecting pay?

Woah. You leave a thread for 10 minutes to dis Lindsay Lohan and all hell breaks loose.

Behold, the ten daiquiri manifesto.

Is it even necessary for me to point at that it's very unlikely that KKK has a) ever met an ACLU lawyer or b) is even remotely familiar with the details of even one ACLU case? I know quite a few ACLU lawyers and, having been a public speaker for the organization for 15 years now, am quite familiar with it's mission, philosophy, and, at least in OR and WA, staffers. The latter have never failed to impress me with their personal and intellectual integrity, and service to country, and reasonableness, and realistic assessment of what they can and can't accomplish, given the political climate. Most ACLU attorneys, you know, those self serving fucks, are giving their time pro bono. So, KKK, how much free volunteer time do you give your country each year, or are you too busy getting your military recruitment papers together so you can serve your country like all your hard fightin' WWI relatives? As for the ACLU's paid staff attorneys, they work for a fraction of what they could make in commercial practice. The majority of what the ACLU does is: a) public education b) discovery of government misconduct through FOIA (much of what we know about spying, torture, treatment of enemy combatants, abuse of immigrants, etc is from the ACLU's investigations...would you rather NOT know that stuff?) c) Trying to put constitutional safeguards in legislation as it's being written. d) Friend of the Court briefs offering constitutionally minded arguments in certain key cases. e) Legal representation, including filing suit, for gross breaches constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties. f) Legislative letter writing campaigns. Pretty sleazy stuff, I'll admit. And every one a blatant end run around our democratic processes, for sure. As for all those 'ruined lives and reputations'...name one. I realize that there is a certain comfort in reaching for someone else's canned, kneejerk reaction when you're afraid of something you don't understand, rather than doing the hard work of coming up with your own educated opinions. There are apparently quite a few people who need alot of such comfort, these days.

Your analysis reveals a lack of even cursory knowledge of the region. Understandable, perhaps, since it's not really Canada's most pressing problem. First, Syria (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite) are at odds in their support of their respective factions in Iraq. This provides a classic leveraging mechanism with which the U.S. can negotiate with them. Improving relations with Syria may have the added benefit of reducing support for Hezbollah's goal of eliminating Israel and taking over Lebanon, which would certainly reduce tensions in that region. Improving relations with Iran could increase the likelihood of an Iraqi Shiite majority coming to terms with that country's Sunni minority. Second, both Syria, but most particularly Iran, have a strong interest in NOT seeing Iraq descend further into full blown civil war. Neither wants that kind of instability, with all its refugee and other problems, at their doorstep. Third, neither Iran nor Syria have the military capability nor interest in 'swooping into' Iraq once we leave. For one, they would face each other's forces, and neither has overwhelming superiority at this point. Iran, especially, has not been able to come close to recovering from its equipment losses during the Iran/Iraq war, and they've had difficulty maintaining their aging equipment since then. Syria is still booked up Lebanon. In any case, Iraq's population would likely oppose any foreign invasion, and we've all seen how difficult it is to occupy that country by force. Fourth, Sunnis and Shiites have not been killing each other for thousands of years. Aside from the fact that Islam is not thousands of years old (it's just over 1,300), Sunni/Shiite violence has been the historical abberation, not the norm. Similarly, Palestinian/Israeli violence is, for the most part, a recent phenomenon since Israel's creation. For most of their history prior to that they've lived together peacefully. Your idea seems to be "fuck them, it's in their nature to kill each other." In other words, they're just animals, incapable of civility, negotiation, or peacemaking. Pretty condescending and racist from a Kanuk, as well as historically inaccurate. And finally, most Iraqi women do not wear burkas, and they were supposed to throw flowers, not figs. You're probably confusing Iraq with Afghanistan under the Taliban, and the reproductive organs of plants with a seedy fruit that makes you poop alot.

It's just more than I can bear .

Nice action! Did you get the car as well? Car? The guy told me it was a time machine. But when I dialed in 1977, sure enough, nothing changed.

She's actually dodging a hubcap in that photo

Ah, come on. Don't you want to earn your "Graceful Exit" ribbon?

...in her NASA approved go go boots.

I never went in for Stupid Pet Tricks, myself.

"Now cough for me, please"

Now in the Future, please don't kill my buzz like that.

We even take Canadians. Automatic posthumous citizenship is one of the many perqs.

You don't find velure in that color every day.