Neo

Also dig those .... I like WildCards calls on the Preds, too ... And there will always be Chivago and Buffalo Whites.

I think Minn has among the most awesome uniforms ...

Ha!

Back to the election .... Dear President Obama: Thank you for reaching out to me for political advice. I am grateful you recognized I'd been a Safety Patrol Captain and a Boy Scout Patrol Leader. To respond to your request for my help directly, I think you can do the following during tonight's State of the Union address to help a Democrat get elected. It won't be easy for you. You're invested personally and heavily in a different direction. Headlines will accuse you of hypocrisy, and saying too little, too late. However, what I'll propose will remove a roadblock to a Democratic successor, make the world take note, catch the eyes of independents, stop the military from snickering at you, and relieve your staff of the miserable task of telling us what you just said makes sense. In short, this could help assure your legacy. Here goes. First, stop saying ISIL. I know you think it makes you sound academic. However, while this is a cool peculiarity if you get the gist of the topic, it's a huge "nails on chalkboards" when the listener realizes you don't get the gist. It's ISIS to the world. Second, stop saying there is no issue with radical Islamism. Define it, own it, and demonstrate the resolve to address it. We all know it's not all Muslims. We call that an astute grasp of the obvious where I come from. Your successor will be liberated from the transparently dishonest word parsing (s)he'll otherwise have to address in the general election. The voters are reminded more and more each day that there is a threat posed by radical Islamism. They recognize it. You're an incumbent and can afford to be obtuse, disingenuous and intellectually goofy. The next Democratic candidate cannot. Security is a growing issue. ISIS is inside the boarder. It happened on your watch. If a Democrat succeeding you is your goal, liberate them from this flapdoodle. Let them debate Republicans without having to worry about mall bombings disrupting their campaign. In short, let them announce they're in the fight, too. It strips the Republicans of an arrow they're using to an increasingly sympathetic electorate. The words will be difficult for you. You've dug quite a hole for yourself, if you don't mind me saying. I'd try something like "time has shown that America, exercising its great capacity for graciousness and tolerance, was slow to recognize this radical threat. I, too, was slow. I trust our people will recognize and forgive my truly American instincts toward religious liberty and best intentions. I now recognize we have to identify a foe before we can oppose a foe ...". Think about it. It won't change what's taken place, but it may pave the way for four more years. Someone will recognize your commitment to public service over self service. Respectfully, Neo PS ....what are you going to whisper to DOJ when it shows you the FBI recommendation to bring charges?

I can't, either. I recognize balanced legislative/judicial limits. They're not terribly effective in this matter. I am terribly respectful of the amendment and can't ignore it nor interpret it to conform to my views. Personal Issue: I can't abide politicians that can.

I went to law school watching LA Law on TV. Two things we're discussing - One, the meaning of the amendment and the framers' intent. I think I've got that one. Others disagree. Two, infringement. I have no standing, here. Justices balance language, intent, and the facts around certain instances in deciding when something's being infringed upon. I'm confident in language and intent. I'll yield to the robes regarding infringe,eat, case by case, fact set by fact set, issue by issue. As long as they don't ignore language and intent, I'm cool. BTW, I have a great article about original intent and judicial activism that moved me significantly toward what we would call the left, today. I am far from a judicial activist, but I understand the argument and merit much better, now. I learned because of this board! http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1324&context=californialawreview See, even I evolve. Issue Two The US and Iran just entered into a nuclear agreement. Our President announced it was a triumph of diplomacy and would help ease Iran into the world of responsible nations. Iran is holding 10 servicemen and women who drifted into Iranian waters. Will the President mention this tonight?

I'm not sure who truthout.org is, but I'd be interested in their comments on the quotes. If your point is that millions of Americans assert things as if the words of the framers weren't recorded, I'd agree with you. There are uninformed men and women who write web articles. I went to Jefferson and Madison. Ask Scalia. I don't think it is. If he agrees, buy a tank. If he disagrees, start the amend the constitution debate. All I won't do is ignore the constitution.

I suspect laws preventing me from owning a tank would be found constitutional by the courts.

I missed the joke! I'd say it became more relevant when standing armies became permanent. That's what standing means to me. Read the quotes, again. Any militia answering to a state can be oppressive. Ask a Soviet citizen if the states community member militia was oppressive or not. The world is full of examples today. The amendment contemplates the power of you and me in light of the power of a state. I don't think anything's eliminated in terms of wariness and defense provided by arms. Militias existed to keep people free. It's as dangerous as a national army within a state. The quotes, though, reference individuals. If all have the right to arm, militias arise from those oppressed. Disbanding a militia doesn't eliminate the threat that another arises. We understand militias differently. They can be the militias representing the free, or the militia representing the oppressor. Free men with guns have the ability to resist. Let's say, though, that you're right. I don't agree, but let's say so. Let's announce it's a joke and start the amendment debate. I think the 16th is a joke. I'm in the minority. It stands. It's a right, but it can be restricted! No one argues against that. The courts have balanced the extent. You cannot shout "fire" in a theater. PS - there is no right in the Constitution that isn't an individual right. If the second amendment were a group right, it would be wholly unique, inserted out of order, and not commented upon as such. Read the quotes and decide if there was a scrivner's error.

Tell me, again, that those who contemplated, debated, wrote and signed the Constitutuon were referring to a National Guard organized and regulated by the state .... "A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined..." - George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790 "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776 "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787 "What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787 "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." - Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776 "A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785 "The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to to John Cartwright, 5 June 1824 "On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 12 June 1823 "I enclose you a list of the killed, wounded, and captives of the enemy from the commencement of hostilities at Lexington in April, 1775, until November, 1777, since which there has been no event of any consequence ... I think that upon the whole it has been about one half the number lost by them, in some instances more, but in others less. This difference is ascribed to our superiority in taking aim when we fire; every soldier in our army having been intimate with his gun from his infancy." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Giovanni Fabbroni, June 8, 1778 “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 "To disarm the people...s the most effectual way to enslave them." - George Mason, referencing advice given to the British Parliament by Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adooption of the Federal Constitution, June 14, 1788 "I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers." - George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788 "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops." - Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787 "Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of." - James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788 "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country." - James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789 "...the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone..." - James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788 "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." - William Pitt (the Younger), Speech in the House of Commons, November 18, 1783 “A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." - Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788 "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun." - Patrick Henry, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778 "This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction." - St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1803 "The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like law, discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance ofpower is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves." - Thomas Paine, "Thoughts on Defensive War" in Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1775 "The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." - Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788 "The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them." - Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833 "What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins." - Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress 750, August 17, 1789 "For it is a truth, which the experience of ages has attested, that the people are always most in danger when the means of injuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion." - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 25, December 21, 1787 "If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. In a single state, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair." - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28 "f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist." - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28, January 10, 1788 "As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms." - Tench Coxe, Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 Start the amendment debate. I'll listen and weigh in.

... and prevents no assault. To the "age" debate ---- "... cuz the failed idea of successful wealth transfer is so old!" Sorry, non-serious response designed to tweak. Second thought (I think We've said it, above). Not pointing at DeLuca, specifically, but I believe some people (right or wrong) just don't want other people (right or wrong) to have guns. The legislation talked about would create a series of forms for the responsible while not being the smallest speed bump for the criminal. San Bernadino conversation with defense lawyer "We can live with 14 murder raps. Thank heavens we keep ammo logs, or we'd be looking at a $500 fine on top of it all". It's a way of saying "You miserable jerks want guns? Start filling out forms!" At least we've not heard "gun free zones" for some time. Ban, confiscate and eliminate the manufacture or import. That changes the fabric of who we are an requires an amendment to our Constutution. We have enough law. Murder is a crime. Debate that. It's a socio-economic problem being debated as a tool problem.

Awesome ...

Welcome to the debate! The devil is in the details. We all feel the pain.

A word I don't use often ... genius. A good man who pushed boundaries at a time when that was a more thoughtful, permanent, and risky thing to do. A part of my youth that exposed me to the beauty of different. A talent. I envy those with legacies that touched and formed. To the Stars, whence you came. I am grateful for your visit.

The south will be kind to her.

History question, for me to learn. No debate points. Didn't President Obama win Iowa when HRC lead nationally in 2008? I do think Sanders in Iowa, NH, would be concerning to HRC. If not concerning, certainly a series of weeks she'd rather avoid.

Awe ... Some ...

I am picturing that -- and laughin loudly!

Outstanding ... weathered a physical and jacked team on the road. Good for Linus ....

LOL at suits ruining hockey ....

Hat trick pass from an UN-selfish Kane .... revenge, best served cold ...

Great decision to hold that shot ... Gassed.

I'm also imagining a 4th Sabres goal, maybe empty net, with a minute to play ... and Kane's last shift running anything in blue ...

Honest - I had no INTENT. I get it, I get it ....