Grex Agora47 Conference

Item 172: A perspective on the 2000 election

Entered by pvn on Fri Nov 14 07:42:58 2003:

"   Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline
    University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, wrote about the
    2000 Presidential election between Al Gore and George Bush:
     
    Population of counties won by Gore 127 million -- by Bush 143
    million.
     
    Square miles of country won by Gore 580,000 -- by Bush
    2,427,000.
     
    States won by Gore 19 -- by Bush 29.
     
    Murder per 100,000 residents in counties won by Gore 13.2 -- by
    Bush 2.1 (not a typo).
     
    Professor Olson adds:  "The map of the territory Bush won was
    (mostly) the land owned by the people of this great country.
     NOT the citizens living in cities in tenements owned by the
    government and living off the government."  "
101 responses total.

#1 of 101 by pvn on Fri Nov 14 07:46:38 2003:

 
    "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It
    can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote
    themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment
on,       the majority always votes for the candidates promising the
most          benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a
democracy
    always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always
    followed by a dictatorship."
     


#2 of 101 by mcnally on Fri Nov 14 07:52:52 2003:

  No doubt Olson has become embittered from living in a "tenement
  owned by the government" (I'm just assuming, since he's living
  in the most densely populated part of a "blue" state..)


#3 of 101 by other on Fri Nov 14 08:10:46 2003:

Professor, eh?  Of what?  Manipulation of Statistics?


#4 of 101 by other on Fri Nov 14 08:13:56 2003:

I profess, therefore I am.

I profess that I am Eric R. Bassey of Ann Arbor, Michigan, therefore 
I am Professor Eric R. Bassey of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The above represents the semantic equivalent of #0.


#5 of 101 by pvn on Fri Nov 14 08:15:22 2003:

Ok, so refute the statistics in #0.  Its very simple.


#6 of 101 by other on Fri Nov 14 08:17:51 2003:

Refuting the statistics is like trying to prove you're a liberal by 
demonstrating that the sky is blue.


#7 of 101 by tsty on Fri Nov 14 08:46:54 2003:

yeh, right . the sky is NOT blue adn you know it!
  
you are much more well educated than a liberal.


#8 of 101 by twenex on Fri Nov 14 12:23:42 2003:

I'm not convinced that the statistics show that either set
of land is either "that owned by the people who make the
country great" OR "those sponging of the state" (yes, i'm
paraphrasing).


#9 of 101 by gull on Fri Nov 14 14:36:48 2003:

Because we all know that *no one* who lives in a city owns
land...yup...New York, Chicago, Detroit...every block is gummint
property.  A-yup.  I'magonna move into the woods an' hole up so I kin
resist when the UN takes over.


#10 of 101 by polygon on Fri Nov 14 14:38:36 2003:

Certainly Gore won more urban counties than Bush, and urban counties
generally have more crime.  So the direction of the "murder rate" 
comparison stated in #0 is no surprise, but I would question the alleged
magnitude.

     (I myself prefer to use the much more accurate "death rate from
     homicide" than the FBI's much cruder "murder rate", but let's
     pretend they're equivalent.)

Of the 14 states with the highest murder rates, 11 went to Bush
(Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana).  Only three went to
Gore (New Mexico, Maryland, Illinois). 

Notice that most of the states with high murder rates are in the South,
where Gore ran poorly.  The states of the Deep South, including Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, have ranked near the top in homicide
statistics for decades.  The South, taken as a whole, invariably has a
higher murder or homicide rate than the East or West or Midwest.

Why does that happen?  As documented in "Culture of Honor" and other
studies, white men from the South are far more likely than white men from
the non-South to respond to affronts with physical force.  It is also a
traditional cultural norm in the South that deadly force is an appropriate
response to marital infidelity.


#11 of 101 by polygon on Fri Nov 14 14:47:57 2003:

This response has been erased.



#12 of 101 by polygon on Fri Nov 14 15:02:00 2003:

(Scribbled 11 due to typo.)

Also, among the states with the LOWEST murder rates, ranking 40 to 50 (all
this is based on 1998 FBI stats btw, since that's what I found quickly),
Gore won eight (Iowa, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island,
Minnesota, Delaware), and Bush only three (North Dakota, South Dakota, New
Hampshire).

The urban/crime:rural/safe truism is challenged by the fact that urban
Massachusetts and Rhode Island generally rank in the bottom 10 states,
with the lowest murder rates, and rural Alabama and Mississippi generally
rank in the top 10, with the highest murder rates.


#13 of 101 by keesan on Fri Nov 14 16:58:23 2003:

I thought it was the farmers, not city dwellers, who were government
subsidized.  Such as given cheap water and grazing rights.


#14 of 101 by polygon on Fri Nov 14 17:03:01 2003:

Indeed, the "red states" are net consumers of federal dollars, and the
"blue states" are net providers.


#15 of 101 by twenex on Fri Nov 14 17:17:20 2003:

"the non-South"? Is "the North" politically incorrect, or something?


#16 of 101 by mcnally on Fri Nov 14 17:49:14 2003:

  re #15:
  > "the non-South"? Is "the North" politically incorrect, or something?

  When Americans talk about "the South" they practically always mean the
  part of the southeastern United States containing the states that seceded
  during the American Civil War (or, as the residents of the area have 
  taken to calling it, "The War of Northern Aggression.")

  "The North" is more vaguely defined but clearly doesn't include states
  like Arizona and New Mexico, which are would be parts of Mexico if they
  were any further south.  They're generally considered parts of "the West"
  or "the Southwest."  

  As a result, "the non-South", while it sounds clumsy, is probably a much
  better term than "the North" for Larry to use to specify the area he means
  to include.


#17 of 101 by twenex on Fri Nov 14 17:56:00 2003:

Ah. that clears it up nicely; thanks. Never occured to me that the Ex-Mex
territories might not be part of "the South"...


#18 of 101 by krj on Fri Nov 14 20:15:51 2003:

resp:0 :: One Acre, One Vote, I always say.


#19 of 101 by gull on Fri Nov 14 20:50:00 2003:

Re #18: And when we're back to having a 'landed gentry' controlling
everything, can we have another revolution? ;>


#20 of 101 by richard on Sat Nov 15 03:29:23 2003:

every citizen of the united states has equal rights, whetehr they live in the
city or in the country, in a tenement or in a farmhouse.  That is a fact. 
And what is also a fact is that more citizens of the United States, many
thousands more in fact, voted for Al Gore than for George Bush.  In my opinion
that election showed that the electoral college is archaic and outdated.  If
the electoral college does not reflect the popular vote, then it has outlived
its usefulness


#21 of 101 by mcnally on Sat Nov 15 03:53:09 2003:

 re #20:
 > If the electoral college does not reflect the popular vote, then it has
 > outlived its usefulness

 The whole reason for the existence of the electoral college is to provide
 a way to have an election result that differs from the popular vote.
 How, then, can you argue that it has "outlived its usefulness" by performing
 its only function?


#22 of 101 by bru on Sat Nov 15 04:29:43 2003:

of course it is outdated every time one of your candidates loses.  But not
when they win, right?


#23 of 101 by aruba on Sat Nov 15 05:28:14 2003:

Re #21: Because at its inception, the technology to conduct a reasonably
accurate count of the popular vote wasn't available, and now it is.


#24 of 101 by gelinas on Sat Nov 15 05:35:23 2003:

Actually, at the inception, a "popular vote" wasn't part of the system: "Each
state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,
a number of electors" (US Constitution, Article II, Section 1).


#25 of 101 by rcurl on Sat Nov 15 06:25:13 2003:

(So many forget that the US is a federal system, not a pure democracy. The
States, per se, have independent rights, for which they get votes in the
Senate, and many other perogatives. Their role in the election of the
president is one of those.)


#26 of 101 by mcnally on Sat Nov 15 09:12:46 2003:

  re #23:
  > Because at its inception, the technology to conduct a reasonably
  > accurate count of the popular vote wasn't available, and now it is.

  I suppose such technology is available.  Of course "available" and
  "in use" aren't the same thing..  


#27 of 101 by mcnally on Sat Nov 15 09:18:47 2003:

  re #24:  You're right about the original electoral latitude allowed the
  states but I'm still reasonably certain that allowing an override of the
  popular selection is one of the things that the electoral college was
  designed for.  It's certainly a fair question to ask whether it was ever
  a good idea but to argue that it has outlived its usefulness *because*
  it has functioned as designed (as richard is doing) strikes me as a really
  off-base argument.


#28 of 101 by richard on Sat Nov 15 09:21:52 2003:

re #22...no I have thought the electoral college was outdated for a long
time before the 2000 election.  One reason is that the system is set up so
that whoever wins the popular vote in each state gets ALL of that state's
electoral votes.  The people of Florida in 2000 were clearly evenly
divided, and half the population in Florida voted for Gore.  But Bush as
the certified winner, even if he won by one vote or ten votes out of
millions, got ALL the state's electoral votes.  Why can't the state's
electoral votes be apportioned according to the break down of the vote, so
that if somebody gets forty percent of the vote, they get forty percent of
that state's electors?  Because it would make too much sense to do it that
way.  States theoretically have more leverage in the electoral college if
ALL of their electors vote the same way.  So Gore got half the vote in
Florida and zero electoral votes from Florida.  Is that right?  They could
at least allocate electors based on each congressional district won, so
that if a candidate wins the 2nd district, he gets the second district's
electoral vote and so on.  But that makes too much sense too I guess.

And I say that knowing it wouldn't always help my candidates.  In 2000,
Gore got all 54 of California's electoral votes, but under a system where
he only got the votes of those congressional districts he carried, he
might have only won 30 or so electors.  But like I said, Gore would have
gotten maybe half the electors in Florida and electors in other states
where he lost by close margins.  The results would probably have been the
same.  But it would seem a lot fairer then awarding ALL the state's
electors to a candidate who only got half the state's popular vote.




#29 of 101 by twenex on Sat Nov 15 11:34:45 2003:

Re: 21: It's outdated because allowing a check on the popular vote is less
acceptable now than it was in the 1700s.


#30 of 101 by gelinas on Sat Nov 15 13:33:56 2003:

Each state decides for itself how its electoral votes shall be cast.
If New York, for instance, wants to go to a porportional system, or any
other (by county, for instance), it can.


#31 of 101 by polygon on Sat Nov 15 14:18:00 2003:

Winner-take-all by congressional district is not really very different
from winner-take-all by state.

The Electoral College is one of many institutions and incentives in this
country which uphold the two-party system.  There is enormous focus on the
Presidency, and the only way to win it outright is by winning a majority
in the Electoral College.  In a parliamentary or proportional
representation system, a party that could get 18% of the vote is a power
center and will have seats and maybe even a cabinet minister or two; in
our system, such a small party would be powerless and meaningless in
presidential elections, which means there is little incentive to create or
join such a thing. 

As I mentioned in item #30, I'm opposed to the total abolition of the
Electoral College, but I do advocate changing it so that at least some of
the electors (one or two per state) are awarded to the winner of the
national popular vote.


#32 of 101 by rcurl on Sat Nov 15 17:56:32 2003:

I don't see the absolute relevance of the "national popular vote". We
live locally, not nationally, for one thing. It seems to be a fetish more
than a necessity, especially because of our being a federation of States.
Do those advocating abolishing the electoral college also advocate abolishing
States and their independent perogatives? If not, why not?


#33 of 101 by drew on Sat Nov 15 21:35:05 2003:

We live locally, but often end up getting regulated nationally, more than was
originally intended. It was supposed to be States' rights, though in the
context of the States representing the interests of their resident
individuals. States don't have a lot of the original independence mentioned
by #32 anymore.

For my part, I still support the concept of independent polities within a
federation, though I think the base independent polity should by strong
preference be large enough to encompass the average daily commute. But if we
*are* going to be regulated nationally, the votes for the leader should
likewise be counted nationally to the same extent.


#34 of 101 by keesan on Sat Nov 15 21:36:09 2003:

I would rather be able to elect a national Green party candidate than a
Michigan Democrat.u


#35 of 101 by happyboy on Sat Nov 15 21:44:46 2003:

agreed.


#36 of 101 by klg on Sun Nov 16 02:18:35 2003:

Mr. richard:
If you were willing to equally vent your anger at the minority of the 
U.S. Senate that is preventing a floor vote on President Bush's Appeals 
Court nominees, then we might be able to consider taking you seriously.


#37 of 101 by rcurl on Sun Nov 16 04:11:36 2003:

And we might take you more seriously if you felt the same about the 53
Clinton nominees that the Republicans would not even allow out of committee.


#38 of 101 by richard on Sun Nov 16 09:03:40 2003:

klg, different situation entirely.  one situation is an election in a
democratic country where every voter is supposed to have equal rights.  If
each voter's vote is not counted equally, is that equal rights?  The Senate
is entirely different. The democrat senators are playing by the rules.  If
you don't lik that, change the rules

btw, klg why do you always refer to yourself in the plural. You are NOT "We",
you are an "I", a lone isolated voice.  don't flatter yourself by doing this
"we" crap anymore when you are only voicing one opinion


#39 of 101 by drew on Sun Nov 16 20:42:58 2003:

Multiple personality disorder.


#40 of 101 by other on Sun Nov 16 23:04:56 2003:

more like 'absent personality' disorder.


#41 of 101 by klg on Mon Nov 17 14:35:29 2003:

Mr. richard,
As you may possible be aware, up to this point the Senate minority party 
has not prevented a nominee cleared by committee from receiving the 
benefit of a floor vote. Your Democrats are using Senate rules for the 
first time to do this.  When the Democrats regain control of the body, 
do you believe that the precedent they have set will have been forgotten 
by the minority Republicans?  Once again, we see that a particular party 
is doing permanent damage to the American democracy for blatent partisan 
gain.  It is time, do you not think, that the Democrats reconsider their 
strategy and allow the body to play the traditional "advise and consent" 
role that it has done for over 200 years.
We repeat:  If you were willing to equally vent your anger at the 
minority of the U.S. Senate that is preventing a floor vote on President 
Bush's Appeals Court nominees, then we might be able to consider taking 
you seriously.
klg


#42 of 101 by klg on Mon Nov 17 14:40:41 2003:

Oh, Mr. richard,
Yes.  We are voicing one opinion.  However, it would seem that this that 
to which we are entitled.  Does this bother you?  It appears you wish to 
avoid the fact that others exist.
(We note, as well, that you are voicing one mere opinion and we have no 
qualms with your doing so.)
klg


#43 of 101 by gull on Mon Nov 17 15:33:42 2003:

Re #41: Paraphrase: "It's okay to block a Democrat's nominees but not a
Republican's.  But I can't come out and say that I feel this way, so I'm
going to argue a technicality about the procedure used to block them."


#44 of 101 by bru on Mon Nov 17 16:47:09 2003:

it isn't that they oppose the nominationan and are blocking it.  It is how
they are blocking it.

The Republican leadership still hasn't done everything they could do to bring
this to a vote.  They do not want to use those tactics that the democrats have
fallen to using because they don't want to set that precedent.


#45 of 101 by mcnally on Mon Nov 17 17:50:07 2003:

  Anytime someone asks me to believe that Tom Delay has refrained from
  using a tactic that will work to his political advantage out of fear
  that it will set a bad precedent, my first reaction is to think:
  what have I done or said to make this person think I'm a gullible idiot?


#46 of 101 by rcurl on Mon Nov 17 18:43:12 2003:

The senate minority is just doing what they should be doing, stopping very
bad nominations from proceeding. The senate has approved some 160+
nominations, and the minority seems to find only 4 to be untenable. The
majority party should take this opinion more seriously, and accept that
viewpoint. The Republican record when the appointments were being made
by a Democrat was MUCH worse. They stopped some 63 nominations from
proceeding in committee - not even permitting full Senate debate, as
the Democrats are now allowing. 


#47 of 101 by gull on Mon Nov 17 19:37:19 2003:

Re #46: Last I heard it was 168 nominations passed, 4 blocked, which is
something like a 97% success rate.  If you ask me Bush is being a bit of a
whiner here, especially considering the Republicans' record under Clinton. 
Nothing in the Constitution says the Senate is supposed to automatically
rubber-stamp all his nominees without question.


#48 of 101 by klg on Tue Nov 18 02:29:04 2003:

Mr. mcnally-
You may be interested to learn that Mr. Delay is not a member of the 
U.S. Sentate.

Mr. rcurl-
What you fail to admit is that it is quite clear that the nominations 
which the minority is currently filibustering would be certain to win a 
clear majority in a vote of the full body.  This cannot be said of the 
other nominations to which you refer.


#49 of 101 by bru on Tue Nov 18 04:13:05 2003:

It may be that the Democrats fear these four particular nominations because
they would be in position to be nominated to the Supreme Court.  I have heard
that arguement used, but it doen't follow to me because as far as I know,
nayone can be appointed to teh supreme court.


#50 of 101 by tsty on Tue Nov 18 05:53:31 2003:

a.. adn that great dui-driver just labled a balck, female circuit (??)
judge  'neanderthal' including her with three other judges ...
  
teddy-dear ought to be on espn!


#51 of 101 by twenex on Tue Nov 18 10:29:29 2003:

looks like bru has caught tsty-spelling-itis.


#52 of 101 by gull on Tue Nov 18 14:29:53 2003:

Re #50: How many times are you going to parrot that Rush Limbaugh remark
in one conference?

I find it highly interesting that the same Republicans who oppose
affirmative action are arguing that the Democrats should treat a nominee
differently because she happens to be black...


#53 of 101 by twenex on Tue Nov 18 14:32:29 2003:

Fishy...


#54 of 101 by bru on Tue Nov 18 14:49:24 2003:

I could have spelled it NE1.

The point is that the democrats are treating her differently , not because
she is black, but because she is a black conservative.


#55 of 101 by gull on Tue Nov 18 15:38:15 2003:

I don't think race comes into it at all.  They're treating her like they
would any other far-right conservative.


#56 of 101 by klg on Tue Nov 18 17:24:57 2003:

(Although to most people her rulings appear to be main-stream American.)


#57 of 101 by gull on Tue Nov 18 18:43:11 2003:

Apparently, in klg's world, opposing whistle-blower protections and
suggesting companies have a right to lie to consumers are mainstream
positions.  Not to mention this:

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community
retreats, civil society disintegrates, and our ability to control our
own destiny atrophies. ...The result is a debased, debauched culture
which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."

Oh, and she's also taken the "mainstream position" that state
governments are not bound by anything in the Bill of Rights.


#58 of 101 by twenex on Tue Nov 18 20:34:25 2003:

So, klg's an archist, huh? In that case, I claim the right to viciously murder
all Republicans in klg's Amerrica, with impunity.

This means you.


#59 of 101 by russ on Wed Nov 19 01:53:34 2003:

I am holding tsty's spelling ability hostage.  If he doesn't pay
for my guitar, he'll never see it again.


#60 of 101 by klg on Wed Nov 19 03:07:51 2003:

Mr. gull
The quotation you provided makes perfect sense.  Your apparent failure 
to agree with the assertion that government encroachment into our 
society and culture is quite lamentable and demonstrates either 
ignorance of or disregard of to the principles upon which our nation was 
established.
klg


#61 of 101 by rcurl on Wed Nov 19 06:44:49 2003:

Rather than "encroahing" into our society and culture, government is the
cement that holds it together. The founding document is the Constitution,
and if there has ever been a more powerful and uniting governmental document,
I would like to know about it. 


#62 of 101 by gull on Wed Nov 19 15:07:44 2003:

If you don't like government, go live in Iraq.  I'm sure they're
enjoying their lack of law and order.


#63 of 101 by klg on Wed Nov 19 18:06:46 2003:

My, my.  Love it or leave it???  Where have we heard that one before?

Mr. rcurl,
Do you really believe that the Constitution, as currently applied, is 
the same document (in terms of meaning) as that adopted by the 
founders?  Or has it been vastly distorted by "umbras and penumbras" 
that have since been "discovered"?


#64 of 101 by rcurl on Wed Nov 19 18:21:32 2003:

The Constitution has been amended a few times, mostly to enlarge upon
the principles upon which it was founded. Would you care to enumerate
what you call "umbras and penumbras" that you think distort these
principles? I don't know of any. I think the Constitution has been most
distorted by *ignoring* its principles.


#65 of 101 by klg on Wed Nov 19 18:52:15 2003:

(Was it not Roe v. Wade that was decided upon "rights" that were 
referred to as umbras and penumbras emanating from the rights actually 
defined within the Constitution?  Ah, yes.  Here is a reference:

"the made-up "right to privacy" that Justice Blackmun and Douglas came 
up with in 1973 after examining the shadier portions ('umbras and 
penumbras') of the ... www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/636772/posts - 
60k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages"


#66 of 101 by gull on Wed Nov 19 18:54:13 2003:

Let's go back to a strict interpretation, then.  We can start by
admitting the First Amendment doesn't apply to what I'm writing right
now, since I'm neither speaking nor using a press. ;>


#67 of 101 by gull on Wed Nov 19 18:55:20 2003:

Incidentally, do you agree with Brown's position that the states should
not have to honor the protections in the Bill of Rights?


#68 of 101 by rcurl on Wed Nov 19 21:27:57 2003:

I think Roe vs Wade was properly decided, on the basis of individual rights
guaranteed in the Constitution. There being NO protection of fetuses
guaranteed in the Constitution, but there is plenty of protection of
adults. 


#69 of 101 by mcnally on Wed Nov 19 21:57:26 2003:

  re #68:  
  > I think Roe vs Wade was properly decided, on the basis of individual
  > rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

  Which ones?


#70 of 101 by klg on Thu Nov 20 02:09:45 2003:

Why, the umbras and penumbras rights, of course!

(Don't all constitutionally-protected rights have them, as well?  Take, 
for instance, the freedom of religion.  We wonder what its umbras and 
penumbras ought to be - the right to display religious symbols on 
public grounds, for sure.)


#71 of 101 by rcurl on Thu Nov 20 02:11:12 2003:

Amendments 4, 9 and 10.


#72 of 101 by gull on Thu Nov 20 03:44:21 2003:

Notice that klg is dodging my question about whether he agrees with
Brown's position on state and local governments.


#73 of 101 by mcnally on Thu Nov 20 06:07:07 2003:

 >>> I think Roe vs Wade was properly decided, on the basis of individual
 >>> rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
 >> 
 >>  Which ones?
 >
 > Amendments 4, 9 and 10.

 For the record, amendments IV, IX, and X are as follows:

   Amendment IV

   The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
   houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
   seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue,
   but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation,
   and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
   persons or things to be seized.

   Amendment IX

   The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not
   be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

   Amendment X

   The powers not delegated to the United States by the
   Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved
   to the states respectively, or to the people.

 Astute observers will note that none of these explicitly mention any
 right to an abortion, or even spell out in clear terms a right to privacy.

 Amendment IX is a disclaimer that the list of enumerated rights is 
 not exhaustive but it doesn't introduce any additional rights by name,
 nor does it imply that the people possess all rights that do not expressly
 conflict with the government's powers as enumerated elsewhere in the main
 text of the Constitution, or Rane would have a hard time explaining why
 the Constitution protects the right to an abortion but not the right to
 use marijuana or to do a million other things that laws have prohibited
 subsequent to the ratification of Amendment IX.

 And Amendment X is an odd one for Rane to appeal to, since it's an
 almost absolute certainty that he rejects the power of the states
 to prohibit abortion individually.

 Amendment IV, as anyone who can read can clearly see, is chiefly concerned
 with issues of search and seizure, at least as far as the literal text is
 concerned.  However in modern interpretation, jurists have read a "right
 to privacy" and other implied rights into Amendment IV.  Unfortunately for
 Rane's article, this assumption of rights implied but not explicitly 
 spelled out is what klg is talking about when he uses the term "penumbra."
 To the extent that there is a right to privacy in the constitution and that
 it supports Roe v. Wade, the penumbra is what we're talking about.  

 But since Rane insists that the rights are out there in plain view and
 not in the penumbra, perhaps he can elaborate on where exactly we are to
 find them in the text of the amendments above.




#74 of 101 by mcnally on Thu Nov 20 06:09:44 2003:

  (note:  I'd encourage legally knowledgable Grexers, of whom I am not one,
  to correct me if I'm wrong.  I'm sure I've probably mangled something in
  the preceding post, but I'm also pretty confident that Rane's talking out
  of his ass again..  (figuratively, if not literally.))


#75 of 101 by rcurl on Thu Nov 20 06:25:10 2003:

Certainly, I am not a "constitutional scholar", so I will defer to Justice
Blackmun to speak for me: http://www.tourolaw.edu/patch/Roe/

You believe, I presume, that Jutice Blackmun was also speaking out of
his ass - which would clearly make him your spokesperson.


#76 of 101 by klg on Thu Nov 20 17:42:23 2003:

Mr. gull,
Please provide Justice Brown's position for me.
Thank you.
klg


#77 of 101 by mcnally on Thu Nov 20 23:56:52 2003:

> Certainly, I am not a "constitutional scholar", so I will defer to Justice
> Blackmun to speak for me: http://www.tourolaw.edu/patch/Roe/

  Before you delegate Justice Blackmun to speak for you, hadn't you better
  read what he's written?  The idea of penumbrae that you expressed
  skepticism about in #64 can be found explicitly in his majority opinion
  in Roe v. Wade.  It makes *no* sense to dismiss the idea of penumbrae
  and then appeal to Roe v. Wade as your authority.

> You believe, I presume, that Jutice Blackmun was also speaking out of
> his ass - which would clearly make him your spokesperson.

  I'm not wild about the reasoning that underlies the Roe v. Wade decision
  but better legal minds than mine have discussed it for years and not yet
  found consensus, so I'll not presume to inflict my uninformed opinion on
  the rest of you.

  But being uninformed on a subject has never stopped Rane.  Having mastered
  one esoteric discipline, he seems to presume himself to be a master of all
  of them.  When I accuse him of "speaking out of his ass" it's because he
  expresses skepticism about "penumbras" in #64:

> The Constitution has been amended a few times, mostly to enlarge upon
> the principles upon which it was founded. Would you care to enumerate
> what you call "umbras and penumbras" that you think distort these
> principles? I don't know of any...

  and then when challenged by klg insists that Roe v. Wade was properly
  decided on the basis of rights guaranteed in the Constitution (and by
  implication, not by "penumbra"-style extrapolations of those rights)

> I think Roe vs Wade was properly decided, on the basis of individual rights
> guaranteed in the Constitution. 

  and then, to support his argument, appeals to Justice Blackmun's 
  majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, which he clearly cannot have read
  ahead of time or he'd be aware of Blackmun's writing about penumbrae
  in the very item he chooses to support his anti-penumbra position.
  We've seen it before, including recently when he presumed to "correct"
  Sindi Keesan about Slavic languages, a field about which Rane knows
  almost nothing and which Sindi makes her livelihood.  His ego simply
  won't seem to allow him to admit it publicly when he's wrong.


#78 of 101 by rcurl on Fri Nov 21 00:19:34 2003:

Sindi has recently (in another item) pointed out that there may be many
transliteration schemes for Russian to the Latin alphabet. That is all I
was pointing out in that discussion.

I had not read Roe vs Wade, and indeed thought the reference to umbra and
penumbra was that of the person that entered that response. So yes, I
was ignorant of that subtlety. Still, having now read Blackmun, I support
his conclusion as being based in the Constitution as far as possible. That,
of course, is the role of the Supreme Court: to base decisions on the
Constitution and subsequent interpretations, as far as possible. But the
real heart of the Blackmun decision seemed to be that the Constitution
gives rights to persons while, by any rational measure, a zygote is not
a person, while the woman is. The only room left to maneuver, then, is
a plan for compromising on the terms during which a pregnant woman may and
may not abort a fetus. While I agree that there is no specific right to
an abortion in the Constitution, there is also no specific stricture against
an abortion. Therefore the Supreme Court could only answer the question
on the basis of when a woman may exercise personal rights over her body
given the intent of the Constitution to protect persons.

Which brings me to my original conclusion, that the Supreme court did
the right thing. 


#79 of 101 by twenex on Fri Nov 21 00:25:48 2003:

Sounds perfectly logical to me.


#80 of 101 by keesan on Fri Nov 21 01:27:00 2003:

The United States has traditionally been a bit slow to implement social
changes that occur in Europe, such as abolition of slavery and abortion
rights and same-sex marriages.  The trick is to find some way to justify
making these changes legal.  I hope some day everyone here will also be
entitled to affordable or free health care like the rest of the civilized
world.


#81 of 101 by gelinas on Fri Nov 21 03:01:12 2003:

In _Gone With the Wind_ (the book, not the movie), there is a mention of an
Atlanta newspaper advertising, among other things, abortifacients.


#82 of 101 by klg on Fri Nov 21 04:08:32 2003:

re:  "The United States has traditionally been a bit slow to implement 
social changes that occur in Europe"

And let's keep it that way!


#83 of 101 by rcurl on Fri Nov 21 07:05:02 2003:

Why? England abolished slavery considerably before we did. Twenty one foreign
countries had women's suffrage before we did.  I suppose that if you
had lived then, you would have opposed both?


#84 of 101 by jp2 on Fri Nov 21 13:06:03 2003:

This response has been erased.



#85 of 101 by rcurl on Fri Nov 21 15:38:36 2003:

Is that the gospel according to saint klg?


#86 of 101 by twenex on Fri Nov 21 17:03:24 2003:

Sindi - unfortunately, it looks like Germany (soon) and
Britain (later) will before too long be looking to
implement some sort of quasi-American health plan, because
the number of retired people is getting too high for the
rest of us to be able to support a National Health
Service.


#87 of 101 by klg on Fri Nov 21 17:08:59 2003:

Mr. tweenex-
Inasmuch as prices determined by the market are the only method of 
efficiently allocating resources tp their best uses, this would not 
be "unfortunate."


#88 of 101 by keesan on Fri Nov 21 17:28:05 2003:

What exactly is Germany proposing to eliminate?


#89 of 101 by twenex on Fri Nov 21 18:07:35 2003:

I don't know the full details, but it looks as if their
health and pension schemes are going to be vastly reduced,
OR there'll be much more involvement from privatre
businesses.


#90 of 101 by drew on Fri Nov 21 19:27:23 2003:

No matter what health plan is used, the many-retired-people problem is still
going to be there.


#91 of 101 by pvn on Sat Nov 22 10:32:49 2003:

Gosh, you think a ponzi scheme of receiving more than you paid in will
ever work in the long run?


#92 of 101 by drew on Sat Nov 22 20:44:24 2003:

Well, it might for a while if we have about 10 or 12 kids per couple. But then
we run into the sardine-can problem...


#93 of 101 by gull on Tue Nov 25 16:07:19 2003:

Re #76:  From
http://www.independentjudiciary.com/resources/docs/Brown%20Report%20FINAL.p
df:
"In a 1999 speech, Brown disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision to
incorporate the Bill of Rights into the Fourteenth Amendment, which made
it applicable to the states.  Early in the nation's history, the Supreme
Court held that the protections embodied in the Bill of Rights did not
apply to the states.  Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, the Supreme
Court decided that sections of the Bill of Rights necessary to maintain
a "scheme of ordered liberty" applied to states through the Due Process
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

"Brown disagreed with these decisions and wrote:  'The argument on the
other side is pretty overwhelming that [the Bill of Rights is] probably
not incorporated.'  Therefore, in her interpretation, the Constitution
does not protect freedom of speech, religion and the press, the right of
an accused to counsel, freedom from unwanted searches and seizures,
prohibitions against double jeopardy, cruel and unusual punishment from
abridgement by the states.  Brown's views that the federal courts should
not protect these rights against state abuses is yet another example of
the threat her confirmation would pose to the courts' long-understood
role as protector of the basic rights in the Constitution."

The footnote cites the source as "Janice Rodgers Brown, 'Beyond the
Abyss: Restoring Religion to the Public Square,' Speech to the
Pepperdine Bible Lectureship(1999).

So, do you agree with the above position?


#94 of 101 by rcurl on Tue Nov 25 16:31:06 2003:

Brown's position is incorrect. The Bill of Rights, except in the first
amendment, addresses generally the rights of individuals anywhere in the
nation. Only the first amendment speaks specifically to the federal
government (Congress), and this is what has been extended to the States by
subsequent Supreme Court decisions. It would be a pretty sorry country if
the first amendment did not also protect citizens from actions of the
separate States. 



#95 of 101 by klg on Tue Nov 25 17:17:51 2003:

How is one (except for Mr. rcurl, we suppose) able to determine Justice 
Brown's position from a single sentence quoted (without context) by a 
far-left organization??  (Note:  We checked the membership listing on 
the "Independent Judiciary" website.  Very revealing.)  Perhaps you can 
obtain the full text of her remarks to attempt to substantiate your 
position.



#96 of 101 by jp2 on Tue Nov 25 17:30:54 2003:

This response has been erased.



#97 of 101 by gull on Tue Nov 25 18:08:49 2003:

Re #95: What do you expect to see in context?  "Just kidding!" as the
next sentence?  At any rate, I'm not aware of anywhere the speech is
available online.  If you find it, feel free to post it and show us what
Justice Brown *really* meant by saying the Bill of Rights is "probably
not incorporated."


#98 of 101 by klg on Tue Nov 25 21:07:58 2003:

(In other words, Mr. gull, you are unable to prove your assertion.  I 
shan't do it for you.)


#99 of 101 by gull on Tue Nov 25 22:04:23 2003:

I'm not going to play the "your source isn't good enough" game with you,
thanks.


#100 of 101 by klg on Wed Nov 26 03:37:12 2003:

(Which is fine with us.  But it truly is not, and you ought to realize 
it.)


#101 of 101 by willcome on Thu Nov 27 09:37:56 2003:

whores.


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