Talk Politics

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Comment by Ray Norberto on July 3, 2011 at 9:56pm

That's when you hire high school kids!

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on July 3, 2011 at 9:30pm

Ray- I echo what Kirk said.  Books have played a huge role in my life and I know Kat shares in that as well...the problem comes when you try to move....they do weigh a ton!!!

Comment by Kirk Brooks on July 3, 2011 at 9:23pm

@Ray-I hope so too. At least yours is what I see as a niche market. Everybody goes grocery shopping but not everyone has a deep love of books or understands the importance of how books can affect a kid's life. Keep it up.

Comment by Ray Norberto on July 3, 2011 at 7:06pm

Good points, but as a guy who owns a small mom and pop children's bookstore with his wife, I hope there is still a place for smaller, local markets. I just wish the lenders would be just as quick to drop some capital loans on me, as they are on the large, too large to fail, businesses. I'm more likely to pay back my debts...

Comment by Kirk Brooks on July 2, 2011 at 8:31pm

@IYam- the reason Ron Paul isn't taken seriously has nothing to do with, integrity, conviction, or authenticity. It has to do with lack of vision and stunted "Reach". His main supporters seem to be people who paint their cars with a paint roller and wish things were like they were 235 years ago. Really? Return to 1776? I'm guessing that wouldn't work for about 99% of us. Again critical thinking and living in the real world would do him a ton of good. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Kinda like "Hope for Change".

@Wayne Johnson- Lincoln was also witnessing the second Industrial Revolution and our economy was in flux as we shifted from an agrarian economy towards an industrial economy. Change is frightening for everyone and it takes time to adjust. When people bash corporations they seem to forget what this country would be like today without the corporate structure. Could mom and pop corner grocery stores feed large cities at a reasonable price? Hardly. tomatoes would be $9 each and we would have food lines that rivaled the cold war Soviet Union. When the people who run these companies get caught breaking the law they should be punished accordingly, that's what needs to be fixed. Demonizing someone for their legitimate success is a waste of time. You will never convince a majority of the population that overt success is evil. 

Comment by ctyankee on July 2, 2011 at 11:58am

@Wayne, you wrote:

"I, therefore, was truly shocked when I saw the institutional racism being voiced all over the country; in people's attitudes, in new state laws, and, most prominently, on right-wing talk radio (yes, and on Fox News). Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage are some of the most virulent racists in the country... and they have a platform. A national platform.  People listen to them."

 

Forgive me for concluding that I believe you've heard these folks speak, but did not listen to what they actually said.

 

"States Rights" is not a desire to reinstate Jim Crow Laws, it is about folks deep desire to maintain their identities.  Perhaps I'm sheltered... I don't know any bigots whose goal is to suppress others. 

 

I do know some folks that don't want to be forced to alter their personal values to accommodate behaviors that they consider bizarre simply because they're practiced by some "other group" somewhere else between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans!

 

Ready? I dare you to tell me if, by "other group" I was referring to:

1) The Amish

2) The Mormons

3) The Rainbow Coalition

4) The Nevada Gaming Commission

 

See, as Americans we are composed of a lot of "groups" E Pluribus Unum -- We're all American, but we're not the same!

 

Sorry friend, I had to toss you that grenade because it is *VITAL* to America that the Amish be allowed to be Amish, etc...  Now I do point out the distinction between the NGC and the KKK -- the former serves an addiction and the latter an obsession.  since the KKK has a  record of *VIOLATING* the rights of others, I have no problem, and even encourage,  invoking the Police Power of Government to destroy the organization!

 

However whether the Mormons or the Rainbow Coalition try to "redefine" mariage at the National Level -- I feel both have exceeded their mandate, and I'll *oppose* the involuntary application of those goals on the entirety of the American people, with equal vigor.

 

I like to say:
"Freedom to swing an arm stops at the tip of a nose." ***AND***

"Freedom to position a nose stops at the edge of a swinging arm."

 

Most kids used to learn this lesson in the playground, (except for the kids who were too "delicate" to actually play in the playground {sorry} but that might actually be significant -- let's push that thought to another discussion).  Arms & Noses both have *equal* rights, and must both respect the rights of the other of experience the consequences.

 

My point... Oh yeah :^) it's easy to take offense at statements, but before we do we *must* be certain of what the content of the statement truly is.  Again, I don't know any bigots.  Perhaps because I don't tolerate bigotry in people I call "friend".  I do know it exists, and I do do what I can to combat it.  I know that people of good conscience can and do disagree on things, that is the nature of men.

 

I hope this little analysis sheds some light.  I know that I'm being forced to constantly reexamine my conclusions on the Constitution and the Amendments.  To date the Constitution is still holding up to scrutiny! :^)

 

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and the People (ratified 12/15/1791)

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.

 

Good stuff!

Comment by Matt B on July 2, 2011 at 10:10am

Thank you Wayne, for being honest about how you really feel.  

Comment by Wayne Johnson on July 2, 2011 at 8:07am

IYam,

Your thesis that our complaint that racism and other abuses of power still exist is, in itself, race-baiting, is an interesting turnaround in logic, but I think you're wrong about this.  I, myself, having grown up in the 60s, thought that we had come a long way in our quest for equal treatment of all people, and had come closer to establishing (dare we quote John Lennon?) a "Brotherhood of Man." We have even advanced so far as to elect a (half) black man to the Presidency.

I, therefore, was truly shocked when I saw the institutional racism being voiced all over the country; in people's attitudes, in new state laws, and, most prominently, on right-wing talk radio (yes, and on Fox News). Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage are some of the most virulent racists in the country... and they have a platform. A national platform.  People listen to them.

How many of these jokers actually argue the merits of our president's policies? Virtually NONE of them. They are focused on the fact that he is of a different race than they are.

Just look at the phenomenon of the tea-baggers.  This is not a political party so much as it is a costume party, but it is nationwide, is funded by a few very wealthy people who want to keep us all fighting amongst ourselves, and consists of mostly old, angry, white people who have been whipped into an unreasonable fear that black people (and socialists, and communists, and Democrats, and liberals, and muslims, and "illegal immigrants" and whomever else they can demonize) are trying to take their money/healthcare/guns/god/freedom away from them.

It hasn't gone away; and it is everywhere. Sadly.  Very sadly.

Comment by Wayne Johnson on July 2, 2011 at 7:43am

Hey, Ray.  I think I can clarify this for you. "Dixie dog whistle" is a term coined by some of us "libruls" to describe the code words used by (usually) conservatives, neo-cons, etc. as euphemisms for much darker concepts that they know they can't say aloud in public. It's usually racist rhetoric. When a state like Georgia or Mississippi wanted to keep black people from voting, since there was a large black population in their state, and black people tend to vote more often for democrats, the states put up laws requiring a "poll tax," or a "citizenship test," or a "state-issued ID requirement" in order to block black people from voting and defeating their preferred candidate, who was usually white, republican, and part of the good-old-boy network.

When the Federal government tries to step in and impose consistent rules for the whole country (usually in response to Civil Rights complaints), the states rebel, saying that their "State's Rights" are being abused by an oppressive Federal government, and twisting the provisions of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution to sanction their setting up a one-state soverign fiefdom, where they can pass any kind of restrictive, exclusionary, or unfair laws they want.

Nowadays, when the term "States' Rights" is used, it's sort of a "nod, nod, wink, wink" code for "we want to practice some dirty deeds that our small group approves of, but the country as a whole would have a big problem with." Call it "states' rights" just gives racism a more official-sounding name.  The term "dog-whistle" refers to the high-pitched whistles that only dogs can hear, thus, when this term is used, the receivers of the message understand what is meant behind the sanitized rhetoric.

Comment by Ray Norberto on July 1, 2011 at 3:28pm

I'm glad this thread ended well, I found both your points too well framed to end badly. What the heck is a Dixie dog whistle?

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