Comments Posted By michael reynolds
Displaying 141 To 150 Of 839 Comments
COULD WE WIN IF WE HAD TO FIGHT WORLD WAR II TODAY?
Soviet law was great, too. Read the Soviet constitution -- it's full of human rights.
In practice the Romans achieved regime change by assassination. Not just of emperors but of political opponents across the board. A new emperor would routinely assassinate the previous sovereign's followers. Where outright assassination was problematic -- usually because it could lead to the loss of all property on the part of the victim -- the victim might be given an opportunity to commit suicide.
The emperor had the right to declare pretty much anyone an enemy of the state, a traitor, and the death penalty followed in due course. Had zero to do with the law. So you're just bullshitting.
No one follows Roman law because the Romans didn't follow Roman law. You were talking about assassination and trying to make yourself sound hardcore. You're just too gutless to admit it.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.11.2009 @ 23:12
Steve:
If not the answer is clear. I am more a Roman at heart. If someone commits treason in time of war then edeal with them harshly.
So the Roman reference was to what, exactly? Treason trials? I don't believe you. I mean obviously you're a loon, that's a given, but are you so ignorant of even basic history you'd use the Romans to illustrate a need for a trial?
The Romans didn't do trials. They did do assassinations.
So I think in addition to being nuts you're also a coward. You want to thump your chest and talk tough and when I call you out you go all kitty kitty on us.
Yep. A coward as well as a creep.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.11.2009 @ 21:09
I believe Steve is calling for the assassination of the President of the United States.
Is that what you're doing, Steve?
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.11.2009 @ 20:21
SUPERBLY OBLIVIOUS TO HIS OWN IDIOCY
Allen:
At least make it a complete insane conspiracy theory. Palin’s daughter gave birth to a Down’s syndrom child to hide the fact that the real father killed Vince Foster, who knew the secret behind 9/11, before it happened, who hid Obama’s birth certificate.
I see you carefully avoided mentioning the role of the illuminati in all this. Which can only mean you're in their pay.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 20.11.2009 @ 08:51
It is a shame. Reminds me of Dean Esmay who was a pioneering blogger then went off the deep end with bizarre theories and obsessions.
It's some combination of hubris, pressure, competition, and the slow, dawning realization that they aren't nearly as important as they think they are. Also, by the way, don't dismiss the usual suspects: booze and drugs.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 19.11.2009 @ 19:15
PALIN AND HER SUPPORTERS IN A TIME WARP
Reagan borrowed and spent on a jobs program in the form of a defense build-up. But of course when we deficit spend to build submarines that's totally different from deficit spending to build roads or schools.
Because . . . Um . . . Oh, because Republicans approve of borrowing to spend on defense.
GOP's rules of economics: jobs in shipyards good, jobs in schools bad. Republican deficits good, Democratic deficits evil.
How often have Republicans complained about the trillion dollars for Iraq? That would be: never. They are deficit hawks of convenience. Another word for that is "hypocrites."
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 18.11.2009 @ 21:35
Yeah, Richard, Gayle is going to save you with her gun. Plus Jesus.
Is it zombies, by the way? Is that what she's saving you from? Or is it aliens? Should I be concerned?
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 18.11.2009 @ 14:27
FT:
Show me some radicalism.
I'm a liberal -- certainly by your standards.
I'm 55. My father was a 20 year soldier, bronze star, two tours in Vietnam.
I've worked full time since I was 16.
I've been married to the same woman for 30 years, we have two kids. A 12 year- old who is our biological son, and our 9 year-old, an adopted daughter from China.
I work hard, so does my wife, and because of our work dozens if not more people have jobs. I pay my taxes. I obey the law -- except for the occasional speeding. I live in a very Republican neighborhood, keep my lawn mowed. I help my kids with their homework. I teach them to love their country.
The other day my daughter and I had some alone time in the car when I had to -- not for the first time -- try to explain how it wasn't her birth parent's fault they'd abandoned her, but a result of a very evil man named Mao, and a government -- not a people -- who did not believe in freedom.
If you were 14 and read my books you'd find evidence that I am tolerant of gays, intolerant of bigots which I suppose is "liberal." You'd also find that I treat people of faith with respect, that one of my most admired characters is a young capitalist who creates a gold-based currency in this dystopian world of mine, and because of his belief in basic capitalism, manages to feed a population.
The other liberals I know are much of a kind. We take our kids to soccer practice, most of them go to church, some are New Age goofs, most are Catholic or Jewish.
I'm not sure where you find these crypto-Marxists of yours. I'm a real person, living in the real world, with real beliefs, and real problems, and a real job, and a real love for my country. And yet here in Rick's domain I'm one of the people most likely to disagree with you.
And honest-to-God, I don't even know what you're talking about with your Marxist Critical Theory. Me? I'm a capitalist.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 17.11.2009 @ 20:50
I guess the problem I see is that we aren't in the Land of Ideas much anymore. It would be great if we were. But mostly we're trapped in a sort of tribalism.
It's like World War 1 writ small: no one knows quite why they're fighting, or why so much heat should be generated over such small differences. The resentments are large, there are all sorts of loudmouths profiting from stoking the conflict, there's hubris and contempt and a sense of loss and all sorts of emotions, but not really very many ideas.
I have a sort of half-thought-out theory that it's because we Americans won the ideological war so convincingly. Regulated free markets, elections, peaceful transfers of power, basic human rights. No one in the developed world is even arguing the basic premises anymore. There's no voice in the developed world for monarchy or communism or fascism.
Our only serious ideological opponents are religious Neanderthals demanding a return to the 7th century.
We're not the French or the Italians or the Japanese. We're not good at la vie quotidien, daily life. We have this outsized sense of mission -- to push westward, to grow rich and powerful and pre-eminent, to defeat evil ideologies, to spread freedom. Well, we've gone as far West as we can, we're the only superpower, and we won the ideological war.
Now what?
Now we sit around and pick at each other like bored kids in the back seat on a long trip.
These are hard times for a nation built on an idea: free people choosing their own government and respecting basic rights. An idea now accepted everywhere that matters. That idea made us special, almost unique for a while. It gave us a mission. Now it's everyone's idea.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 17.11.2009 @ 14:36
IS THERE ANY WAY SARAH PALIN CAN RECOVER?
Dragon:
Actually most of the people most upset by Palin are Republicans like Rick, like David Brooks.
Me? I'd send her money. I love the idea of her being the face of the GOP. You're really not getting this: Democrats are laughing and doing their best to epoxy Palin onto the GOP. The more times we can say Palin's an idiot and Palin is the GOP, the better.
Comment Posted By michael reynolds On 16.11.2009 @ 19:13
