http://jeffandcarol.com/If you subscribe to this feed, you're probably just getting updates on your own comments.(c) 2007, Boone Industries.5<blockquote>So I just want to ask the John McCains and Joe Liebermans of the world why they think America is so great. Because it is great. Sadly though, I think people like this agree with me for the wrong reasons. I think they just think that because they were born in America. And that's just stupid.</blockquote> Amen to that. Nothing makes you understand the greatness of America like living <a href="null">null</a>outside of it for a <i>long</i> time. For example, did you know that in Korea, defamation of character is a criminal offense, and includes saying defamatory <b>true</b> things about people? Samsung (yes, the famous one) just sued a British columnist for a Korean paper for $1 million for a satire he wrote about the pardon of Samsung's CEO after a bribery scandal. They have a very good chance of winning this case. You can read more about that <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-korea-samsung-20100510,0,5749941.story">here</a>. Anyway, yes, America is in many ways objectively better than the rest of the world.http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2741#7310Tue, 11 May 2010 20:12:20 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2741#7310You are right about it being a slippery slope, but the reality is adding terrorism to a law reserved for people charged with treason (I'm simplifying; I know) isn't too much of a stretch. Now had they added jaywalking or speeding, you'd probably have a stronger point. The reality, though, is that the Lieberman addendum to the US Code is getting played by many as if it's the first time in history it's been proposed. You know me; I like to spend more time on the coverage of a story than the actual story itself.http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2741#7309Mon, 10 May 2010 13:35:36 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2741#7309In the <a href="http://www.talkleft.com/story/2010/5/4/20130/76607?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime+%28TalkLeft%3A+The+Politics+of+Crime%29">Joe Lieberman link</a> there's a link to <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001481----000-.html">8 U.S.C. § 1481</a> which I did peruse quickly. I want to be clear about what I'm trying to say in this post though. The citizenship proposal wasn't my main point. Increasing the number of crimes for which you can have your citizenship revoked is a policy with debatable merits. The bigger issue is that people like McCain and Lieberman are trying to dismantle things like Miranda and basic due process. They are trying to limit the things that make America great. As to "god-given rights", I'm of the opinion that <a href="http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=1131">rights are created and maintained by humans</a>. http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2741#7308Mon, 10 May 2010 09:51:14 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2741#7308You do know that the only thing "new" about that law is adding "terrorism" to it, right? Nah, you probably don't know that. In fact, I've not seen it said anywhere and it's nowhere in the link you cited. Here's a citation from Lieberman's site: <blockquote>Background: An existing federal statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1481, identifies seven categories of acts for which U.S. citizens lose their citizenship if they voluntarily perform one of those acts “with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality.” The list includes acts such as: Serving in the armed forces of a “foreign state” if such armed forces are engaged in hostilities against the United States; Formally renouncing nationality whenever the United States is in a state of war; or Committing treason against the United States. The Terrorist Expatriation Act would simply add another category to the list of acts for which a U.S. national would lose his nationality, namely: providing material support or resources to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, as designated by the Secretary of State, or actively engaging in hostilities against the United States or its allies.</blockquote> So... Can we stop acting like this law is some kind of modern right wing concoction? I'm not even saying I agree with it, just that it's nothing new. Secondly, they are God-given rights, but we've gone to greater lengths than any other country to codify them into our laws and adopt them as our own. For the most part. That's the bit that makes us special. http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2741#7307Mon, 10 May 2010 04:28:31 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2741#7307What I don't get is this: the men on the field are all top athletes.* They can almost certainly run faster than the fan. If the athletes are genuinely afraid for their safety, RUN AWAY. The kid isn't going to catch you. That they just stand around with goofy grins or frustrated looks on their face demonstrate that it's not fear, but annoyance, on their minds. Tasers aren't non-lethal -- they're less lethal. They should never be used, period. If a person is a legitimate threat, you brandish a firearm. Until that time, you keep the lethal weapon holstered at all times. Easy enough. * Yeah, except for MLB umpires maybe.http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2740#7306Thu, 06 May 2010 04:37:35 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2740#7306Agree on Turkey. Another suggestion for a read: Singapore http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2735#7305Thu, 06 May 2010 03:58:51 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2735#7305But he said in the show that his grandma told him it was the name of a great uncle or something, so I don't think it was as OMG as he reacted. http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2737#7304Tue, 04 May 2010 10:07:27 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2737#7304Clearly you had me in mind when you wrote this post. I will oblige. Prussia: God, why? It's so freaking boring! And there's honestly nothing written on Prussia (at least in English) that you would want to read, unless you are particularly interested in the Prussian bureaucracy. And Germany really took off post-unification. Prussia was a major power, yes, but Germany as an industrialized nation that rivaled and "surpassed" Britain was post-1870. Don't even bother with the Revolution of 1848. It's painful. Brazil: Anything by Kim Butler. A lot about race relations in contemporary Brazil, which I find fascinating. Turkey: Outside my purview. Sorry. Indonesia: Anything by Ann Stoler for late colonialism. _Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power_ is amazing. Very little is available in English on early colonial Indonesia, unless you are terribly interested in old school histories of the Dutch East Indies Company (the VOC). The only one really out there, and it's a good, quick read (and the basis for my late lecture on the Rise of the Dutch East Indies) is Jean Taylor's _The Social World of Batavia_.http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2735#7302Sun, 02 May 2010 19:56:51 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2735#7302The Hegwer part of my family left Silesia in Germany and settled in the Midwest around 1849/50 at the beginning of the Prussian-driven "wars of unification." http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2735#7301Sun, 02 May 2010 12:08:40 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2735#7301Maybe they won't, but it would stop people from being brought into the fold. The secrecy behind this birth certificate is the only thing fueling the conspiracies.http://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2731#7300Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:48:30 GMThttp://jeffandcarol.com/jeff/view.aspx?id=2731#7300