Sean Hayden wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:25 pm
This is the problem I have with talking with you man. It's like you want me to deny reality.
That's not my intent, so if that's what you think I want you to do, I assure you it's not. I'll try better to communicate in a way that assures you I do not want you to deny reality.
Sean Hayden wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:25 pm
You and I both know which party more supports the punitive justice system. Why get all weird about it?
Both parties support the criminalization of cocaine, and both support punitive criminal justice systems. The GOP tends to be the more overtly "law and order" rhetoric party, but the Democratic Party is not far behind them. Did Obama not want cocaine criminalized? Where did he say that?
Sean Hayden wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:25 pm
You know that when I'm talking about a burger flipper not being able to be drunk vs a pilot that what I'm talking about is the way people overlook the "misdeeds" of some while unfairly punishing others.
Yes, and since you were quoting me, and responding to me, it appeared that you were accusing me of doing just that, which I wasn't. I don't overlook anyone's misdeeds and then unfairly punish others. That's what I see happening to Kavanaugh. The same people that are trying to hang him for alleged conduct when he was a teenager, would (and do) overlook the misdeeds of those in their own party.
I can see someone being interested in whether someone is a rapist. But, when this thing devolved into an examination of how many beers Kavanaugh drank, and the implication (and sometimes outright literally statements) that if he drank heavily, he was more likely to have tried to rape Ford and just doesn't remember it -- it's getting to the point of absolute absurdity. If a pilot got drunk at parties in high school and college - and even last weekend when on vacation - i really wouldn't care. It's really a question of whether he's fit to fly.
You know, I've met judges in social contexts. The phrase "sober as a judge " is ironic. They drink like fish. Does that make them "unfit"? Some judges even recovered from ill-spent youths, where they spent time in gambling halls, drinking demon rum, and occasionally "stepping outside" to settle matters.
Sean Hayden wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:25 pm
You know that a big part of that in this context is because of the drug war, and you know who has supported the drug war most.
What does it matter who supported it "the most?" Both parties - and Obama and Bush -- supported the punitive justice system as it relates to cocaine, and both of them did cocaine. Both sat on their asses in the White House while others sat in jail for the same conduct.
I give both a pass on it. Do you? Yes or no?
Sean Hayden wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:25 pm
I don't care about Kavanaugh's drinking. I don't care about Bush using cocaine.
Agreed and agreed. Neither do I.
Sean Hayden wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:25 pm
I do care that they would align themselves with a party that makes the lives of others who may enjoy these things without the benefit of rich parents and lawyers a living hell. That's fucked up man.
Which party doesn't do that? Do you think the Democrats have opposed the criminal justice reforms which gave us our present laws?
Can someone who drank and parties in high school and college, grow up and change their view on the propriety of their behavior? Does someone like this Democrat who was arrested for DUI in 1998 (and 8 other arrests) have to now be in favor of legalizing his offenses? Does he have to be in favor of legalizing anything he did that he didn't get arrested for?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/06/politics ... index.html
Sean Hayden wrote: ↑Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:25 pm
If you're going to say you don't care either then stand up to the elements of your party that do. Throw off that goddamned religious baggage already man. Let's find reasonable solutions to our problems backed by evidence.
It's not my party. I'm not a registered Republican, and I oppose most Republicans. I support Trump as a departure from the traditional GOP. And, I am an atheist, and I have tried to get as many people as possible to throw off religious baggage.
What I won't stand for, and I hope you won't either, is the behavior that we've seen in the Democrat party over the last 2-3 weeks in relation to Kavanaugh. It's monstrous. Really monstrous. And, saying the GOP are monsters, too is not an answer. I agree. And, that's why it's so concerning, because next time it will be Democrat President with a qualified candidate being dragged through the mud, and what do you think the partisan Republicans will say? They'll say "oh, you wanted to 'believe the victim' when it was Kavanaugh -- don't you believe the victim now?" And, suddenly the Democrat partisans will be the champions of due process and rational skepticism.
I apply these principles equally.
What if the parties were reversed here? Ford was a staunch republican who leveled allegations against a democrat nominee - knnown partisan attorneys representing the accuser - funded by the Koch Bros. -- otherwise same allegations - how should they be handled?
“When I was in college, I took a terrorism class. ... The thing that was interesting in the class was every time the professor said ‘Al Qaeda’ his shoulders went up, But you know, it is that you don’t say ‘America’ with an intensity, you don’t say ‘England’ with the intensity. You don’t say ‘the army’ with the intensity,” she continued. “... But you say these names [Al Qaeda] because you want that word to carry weight. You want it to be something.” - Ilhan Omar