TomAiello

John McCain's daughter is another good example. Once you enter the political discourse in your own right, you're fair game. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What about the guy he essentially called a child molester on national television? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Maybe he can get "them jews" to do it. What a moron. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Enemy soldiers are soldiers, not criminals. They are following the duly constituted orders of a sovereign national state, to which they owe allegiance. We owe them the respect of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of prisoners, just as they owe our solders the same. We don't put them on trial, we don't hold them after hostilities end, we expect that our own soldiers receive the same treatment. Terrorists are criminals. They do not follow established principles of law, and we don't expect them to. We give them a trial, and incarcerate them for a duration appropriate for their crimes. If our government ordered trials for enemy soldiers, accusing them of criminal actions for only following their lawful orders, I'd have a huge problem with that. "Just following orders" really is a good excuse for a large number of otherwise uncivil acts, when those acts are recognized as normal acts of warfare. There is a world of difference between a soldier and a terrorist. And that applies whichever side the solder is on. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hey, I've got an idea. They're doing such a good job that we ought to reward them with billions of taxpayer dollars! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The answer to this question, which I'm sure you know, is that it depends on who is pocketing the profits. If it's the UAW? Then profits are ok. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I realize that you are probably not serious, but I totally agree with you. Local services should be supported by user fees. Some level of property tax levy for fire service might be acceptable, but expecting people who call 911 in a non-emergency situation ought to be billed. I know that I've personally paid for a rescue from SAR after a 911 call, and I carry insurance that covers me for that, in case it happens again. Why on earth should I expect you to pay for my transport after a BASE jumping accident? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Depends on what you mean by "current." The truth is that the last administration started the fiscal irresponsibility, when they launched wars without facing up to actually paying for them. The current administration has made matters much worse, but only by pushing forward the same policies as the last administration, and advancing them even further. Obushma Spending. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

One need not commit child molestation to "knock up" and 18 year old. Which means that Letterman actually owes Rodriguez an even bigger apology, because he called him a child molester on national television. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

He was the only (singular, ever) appeals court nominee to be filibustered. If the problem was his experience, or his writings, wasn't the confirmation hearing the right place to discuss those issues? Why not have a confirmation hearing and give him an up or down vote, with a fair examination, before the Senate? Isn't that what the democrats are now demanding for Sotomayor? The same thing they denied to Estrada? Hypocrisy? Who'd have thunk it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Handed to them by their (as in, they purchased them) politicians, who decided that unsecured creditors such as the UAW ought to take precedence over secured creditors. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I understand that finishing secondary school in Canada automatically qualifies you to join the bar of your choice. I'm pretty sure you don't even need to take the bar exam. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

She's right. I can't see Letterman not apologizing, in this instance. If I had to guess, I'd say that he wasn't aware which daughter was there, and is greatly regretting his gaffe. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think one of the most interesting things here is that the Iranians do have a functioning democracy, and yet we (meaning most of the American and European observers) don't like it because it doesn't conform to our societal ideals. I'm shocked to find myself actually admiring the mullahs a little here, in that they have set up the rules of the game and are resisting the temptation to change them mid-stream. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think all those things should be supported by user fees from those who actually use them. Saying "well, we already do things you think are wrong, so what's one more thing?" isn't a very compelling argument. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The only thing that has value in Libertarian-land is the INDIVIDUAL. Groups have rights only in so far as they are collections of INDIVIDUALS, each with their own rights. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't really think those are "groups". The violent actors appear to be acting on their own, or (at most) in very small groups. To call 4 guys sitting around in their mom's basement bitching an "extremist group" is to overly dignify them. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The Kenyan has whatever rights apply under Kenyan law. And personally, I'm against the US getting involved in that--it's someone else's business. If the apprehending agency is the US government (military, police, or otherwise)? Then I think we've got to play by our own rules, and those involve constitutional protections for the accused. The operative difference is who makes the arrest. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Even if you are personally certain of their guilt, the rule of law demands due process. The definition of a person as a "criminal" indicates that they have been found guilty of a crime. Being found guilty requires due process. Personally, I'm a little taken aback that neither side sees how rights are intertwined and similar. People fight to defend this or that right because they "like" it, but fail to see that the other rights they don't "like" are just as essential. Take away the rights (from anyone) and you've got (maybe) some more safety (or just the impression of it), but you're losing freedom. That applies equally to gun ownership _and_ due process. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

And just WHAT were you doing in Bootyfest, young man??? Studying economic reform, in the early 90's. Interestingly the experience did not leave me believing in government economic intervention, as one would expect from having my intellectual horizons broadened. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I wonder how she felt about the filibuster of the Estrada nomination? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Terrorists are a subset of criminals. They are breaking laws. They should be dealt with as criminals. Their motivations for breaking those laws are irrelevant. You can (legally) have all the motivations you want, so long as you don't act on them. It's the acts themselves which are criminal, and ought to be punished. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There is real debate amongst scientists about global warming. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be discussed in schools--it means that evidence supporting the varying positions should be examined and discussed, to allow students to (a) learn to consider various evidence and (b) think about issues for themselves and form their own opinions. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I would no more want the public schools to teach my kids how to shoot than how to pray. Period. That said, when I was young, we found a BB gun in the basement of a house we had just moved into. My dad set up a basement target range and taught us all safety and marksmanship according to what he'd been trained in the Navy. And although I've never chosen to own a gun myself, I've always valued his instruction. I just don't want the government shoving ANYONE's program down school kids' throats. In a case like this, it would be very simple to allow parents to opt out of the instruction. Schools do that in other cases already. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Abrogating the rights of suspects to make yourself feel "safer" is about as wise as suspending the 2nd Amendment to make yourself feel "safer." In either case, you're giving up essential freedom for a temporary (feeling of) security. I would rather live in dangerous freedom than safe bondage. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com