#1 reason to vote against anything Republican -
It's a fun, fun, fun world, ain't it Au! I wonder how many of us are spending how much time online these days looking at real estate outside of the US? In a, you know, civilized democracy?
Did either of you follow the Senate hearing with the latest candidate? It was so bad I was sorry for her.
Tartarin
I may grouse and complain but I have faith that the American people will wake up. Even if it takes a while I would never give up or leave what has been called by my ancestors this golden land. Leaders may come and go but America remains warts and all the best of the best
Portal Star wrote:If it were about medical safety or preferable medical procedure, it would be up to the doctor and patient. The governments involvement is clearly on moral grounds only, and half-assed attempts to provide medical assertions are futile - that's why we have doctors keeping us healty and not politicians.
From a legal perspective that's a pretty poor argument. Was the government's involvement only on moral grounds when the medical procedure was approved to begin with? Should the government revoke the approval of the "morning after pill"? I don't recall to many complaints from the left when that was approved.
Au, I guess that's the difference between you and me. My experience in other countries has shown me that the main thing between America and greatness is arrogance. There are many wonderful countries. I hope America is their peer and strive to make her so. A gem among jewels.
fishin' wrote:Portal Star wrote:If it were about medical safety or preferable medical procedure, it would be up to the doctor and patient. The governments involvement is clearly on moral grounds only, and half-assed attempts to provide medical assertions are futile - that's why we have doctors keeping us healty and not politicians.
From a legal perspective that's a pretty poor argument. Was the government's involvement only on moral grounds when the medical procedure was approved to begin with? Should the government revoke the approval of the "morning after pill"? I don't recall to many complaints from the left when that was approved.
When I said "the government" I meant legislative and executive bodies (they are the ones putting forth the partial birth abortion ban), not health councils and the FDA (who do drug approval.) They are run by the government, but they are not directly elected and have a basis in medical care.
Tartarin
I hope you don't mind my asking and please do not take it as an invitation from me to leave or a love it or leave it statement. You have more than a few times complained about the US and how much better the living is elsewhere. I am therefore prompted to ask, since you appear to have the wherewithal to live in one of those utopian nations what keeps you here in the states?
Truthfully, age and difficulty of moving again. But I don't dislike America. I just think it's in **** shape. A lot of us do. For me the most serious loss has been the loss of freedom in the US compared to elsewhere, but that loss process is not just an Ashcroft thing: it's been going on for a long time. I don't like being a citizen of a country which lies and throws its weight around.
But I also don't lead an either/or life. There are some good things and some bad things about people, places, ideas, saturated fat, chocolate cakes, sex, and Au1929. Bad doesn't mean all bad; good doesn't mean all good. Here, more than in any country I've lived in, it's our constitutional obligation to inform ourselves, make reasonable judgments, and where change is needed help the change along.
I think America's at the height of it's civilization right now. That doesn't mean it won't change, and eventually it will. Empires rise and fall.
If the government makes me too unhappy, I will leave and try to find a better place. Right now I am very content with America, but not saying we as a people should be politically content - a nation needs people active and watchful to protect civil liberties. Patriotism is not complacency, when a people become complacent they become weak, and that leaves open spaces for tyrannical government and/or foreign invasion.
mmm...chocolate cake and sex... But not at the same time...
Some of the medical procedures to keep alive a baby born before full-term are as barbaric as the so-called partial birth abortion. Several years ago, a couple wrote about their child, born prematurely, in a book that I think if called The Long Dying of Baby Andrew. Upsetting. Some of those babies who are born very prematurely never "catch up" and face a lifetime of educational and medical difficulties.
fishin' wrote:From a legal perspective that's a pretty poor argument.
From a legal perspective of a Libertarian that's the poorest argument in existence. Even from a Democratic or a "true" Republican stance - it is still the worst of arguments.
"Legal perspective" is not legal, ethical or just - it is simiply an act past by Congress for whatever desire or payoffs they receive. And, in the current Congress, all legislation belongs to the highest bidder. The "common man" has no chance!
This needs to be seen by those who think the right is non-violent:
Feminist Daily News Wire
August 3, 2006
Woman Sentenced to Six Years for Attempted Clinic Bombing
A Louisiana woman was sentenced yesterday to six years in prison for leaving an incendiary device outside of a clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana last December. Patricia Hughes, 25, pleaded guilty last month to leaving an ignited Molotov cocktail bomb near the entrance of the Hope Medical Group for Women. The bomb consisted of a bottle filled with gasoline, a rag, and a candle. It caused minimal damage to the clinic and did not interrupt the clinic's services.
The maximum sentence Hughes could have received was 40 years in prison. Because of her guilty plea, she was able to reduce that sentence. Hughes' boyfriend, Jeremy Dunahoe, 19, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the crime. He is scheduled to be sentenced today
