4/8/2003: Protest gets painful

[smalland]

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
No, thank the Iroquois Confederacy.

A complete enumeration of the influences on the constitution was not a goal (this reflects the original post). So surely you mean "also thank", no?

[juju]

Originally posted by smalland
Look, I have total respect for FDR. But for the moment I'll side-step this complete red herring and point out that it was precisely after WWII that most of the world (including the USA, or should I say particularly?) decided that fighting each other was not the best way to go about sorting out our differences.

I know this is unrelated to the discussion, but I believe this shift in thinking occured after WWI. That's why Germany was able to get away with so much without the other countries doing anything. They had seen the horrors of modern warfare for the first time and didn't want to repeat them.

[richlevy]

Originally posted by Elspode
[B
We have problems in this country, but nothing that requires us to sacrifice our lives in martyrdom toward the overthrow of a corrupt regime for which human rights violations are a means of civil policing.
[/b]

..at least for the time being.

Originally posted by smalland
Itt saddens me that although you value free speech so highly, (which I completely agree with,) my dissenting voice was attacked ad hominem.

We all have our good days...

Look, I really don't mind you dissenting. Having a different opinion is good. I simply disagree with your notion that it's "ironic". Wanting to minimize <b>all</b> casualties, even those of soldiers, isn't ironic. Yes, I see what you were saying. It's ironic if you think Alanis Morissette has a good grasp of the word. But whatever. We're arguing semantics. The point here is that I really don't want to see a lot of people dead, and here are my reasons (in order of importance):

1) dying, by all accounts, pretty well sucks
2) it's awful PR that I have to put up with later

Very ironic (yes, it really is,) since I'm not actually from England, as you so easily presumed, merely studying "here". It has been interesting and depressing to run with that, and discover how you so quickly (and with flare) beat your fellow American over the head because of his presumed country of origin, almost completely failing to engage the logic of any rational argument that was presented.

What can I say, I was having a bad day. You might not know that my house burned up in December; well, I found out yesterday that another one of my homes was burglarized. So that kind of put me "in a mood". Plus, I only got two hours of sleep 'cause I was up late playing GTA.

Seriously though, I just don't see the logic of your argument. You're saying "war is bad", which I agree with - but then what? It's silly to hope our troops come home safe? I'm not trying to be mean (I had a good nap last night; everyone feels better after a nap), but I guess I don't feel that you did a good job of outlining your point of view.

I do hope not all dissenting voices are treated like this back home.

It depends on who your crowd is, and what your dissent is. You'll probably get a worse reception in, say, Mississippi. Just a guess.

(by the way, it wasn't really an ad hominem attack in the true sense of how that's used today; it was more a jab, but not one to discredit or help "make" my "argument")

PS: My grandfather, one of the truely "better men", did fight in the war. Luckily he survived, and his stories haunt me to this day...

Mine too. That's why I want to get our troops home as possible, man. We don't need to scar any more people than necessary.

[xoxoxoBruce]

A complete enumeration of the influences on the constitution was not a goal (this reflects the original post). So surely you mean "also thank", no?

Hey you're not foolin' me. I have an IQ approaching double digits, ya know.

[busterb]

oxB me 2 OO