American Stupidity

[sandinista]

Ah, the duet is complete!

oh, look at that, a generality by zilla, what a shock.

[JimC]

Well, it was an example of bureaucratic stupidity, such as one may find anywhere in the world, perhaps made a little stupider by the somewhat absurd over-reaction to security issues in the current US climate...

But what is even more stupid is the automatic, unthinking polarisation of opinion that occurs, from predictable sources, in every thread such as this...

[sandinista]

Well, it was an example of bureaucratic stupidity, such as one may find anywhere in the world, perhaps made a little stupider by the somewhat absurd over-reaction to security issues in the current US climate...

But what is even more stupid is the automatic, unthinking polarisation of opinion that occurs, from predictable sources, in every thread such as this...

yep, and for once, I don't think your refering to me since I never really responded to the OP, just to The Mad Hatter's kneejerk, paint everyone as a "conspiracy theorist" or some bullshit.

[JimC]

Well, it was an example of bureaucratic stupidity, such as one may find anywhere in the world, perhaps made a little stupider by the somewhat absurd over-reaction to security issues in the current US climate...

But what is even more stupid is the automatic, unthinking polarisation of opinion that occurs, from predictable sources, in every thread such as this...

yep, and for once, I don't think your refering to me since I never really responded to the OP, just to The Mad Hatter's kneejerk, paint everyone as a "conspiracy theorist" or some bullshit.

I was blasting everybody in the entire thread indiscriminantly!

[sandinista]

Well, it was an example of bureaucratic stupidity, such as one may find anywhere in the world, perhaps made a little stupider by the somewhat absurd over-reaction to security issues in the current US climate...

But what is even more stupid is the automatic, unthinking polarisation of opinion that occurs, from predictable sources, in every thread such as this...

yep, and for once, I don't think your refering to me since I never really responded to the OP, just to The Mad Hatter's kneejerk, paint everyone as a "conspiracy theorist" or some bullshit.

I was blasting everybody in the entire thread indiscriminantly!

Including yourself I take it!

[JimC]

Well, it was an example of bureaucratic stupidity, such as one may find anywhere in the world, perhaps made a little stupider by the somewhat absurd over-reaction to security issues in the current US climate...

But what is even more stupid is the automatic, unthinking polarisation of opinion that occurs, from predictable sources, in every thread such as this...

yep, and for once, I don't think your refering to me since I never really responded to the OP, just to The Mad Hatter's kneejerk, paint everyone as a "conspiracy theorist" or some bullshit.

I was blasting everybody in the entire thread indiscriminantly!

Including yourself I take it!

Fair point!

If you ever have a chance to use a time machine, come and visit me in the early 70s - we'd get along just fine...

[Hermit]

Fucking armchair commies, "agitating" from the comfort of their bourgeois existence. What, I ask, becomes of them? That's right, cardiganned, gin-swilling teachers in the employ of privately run schools, looking forward to their pension.

[JimC]

Fucking armchair commies, "agitating" from the comfort of their bourgeois existence. What, I ask, becomes of them? That's right, cardiganned, gin-swilling teachers in the employ of privately run schools, looking forward to their pension.

it's a fair cop, guv...

[Hermit]

Fucking armchair commies, "agitating" from the comfort of their bourgeois existence. What, I ask, becomes of them? That's right, cardiganned, gin-swilling teachers in the employ of privately run schools, looking forward to their pension.

it's a fair cop, guv...

I think Sandinista (and Redunderthebed) are sliding down the same path. They just don't know it yet.

[Coito ergo sum]

I find it rather silly that there is so much interest in whether the State of New Jersey (a tiny blip on the map with a population of 8 million) Department of Community Affairs releases plans for a building in Bethlehem Township.

One, this has nothing at all to do with "America" in general. When a building is constructed in New Jersey it has to meet local (Bethlehem Twp, and Hunterdon County) requirements, as well as State of New Jersey requirements. The former have complex building codes that apply to structures in that township, and the State of New Jersey has overarching requirements that apply statewide. The Department of Community Affairs, Division of Codes and Standards, establishes and enforces building codes.

For some reason, former Governor McGreevey designated certain structural plans in the State of New Jersey to be exempt from disclosure under Open Government acts (like Freedom of Information acts). So far, none of the articles on this topic have made clear why that was done. It may be as simple as McGreevey designating a whole swath of plans as exempt - who knows - since the State of NJ hasn't answered the Complaint yet. It may well be that there is no state security reason here, but note that the lawsuit was brought by a neighbor who is pissed off that the structure is there, and wants it out of there, so we can't just accept everything the neighbor says as unbiased and unchallengeable.

That's why there is recourse in the "stupid" United States, where we have a constitutional right to petition the government to redress grievances. This kind of lawsuit is not particularly complicated or expensive, and the ACLU is representing the neighbor free of charge. Let's see what NJ says about why it won't release the plans.

I highly doubt that this kind of thing doesn't happen elsewhere around the world. I'm sure in the kinds of countries that Gawd loves - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Palestinian Territories, the government is oh-so-receptive to citizen complaints about building codes, and those governments are wide-open when it comes to all the things that they do. You gotta love how Gawd portrays this matter - a very local, simple building-code dispute wherein we have an issue to resolve whether certain information should properly be released to the public, and the matter is going to be submitted in due course, with due process, to a court to be the arbiter of whether the disclosure should occur - as somehow "American Stupidity." If that's American stupidity, then give me that over Arabian Genius any day of the fucking week.