Local Posts #43 (Part Two)

2009-11-3 10:46:00

  

Sept 22, 2009 -- Post #1

(Response to a letter that made random thoughts.)

JJ:

Random thoughts. Good idea.

It is low indeed to steal flowers and pots from someone's grave. I would hope even Lefties would not argue with me on that one.

The Left will indeed try and stop free speech through talk radio and eventually satellite radio and the Internet. We must be eternally vigilant to prevent this.

I also like Mallard Fillmore, Arthur Hart and think Boise people are great. The letters to the editor have been my favorite part of the paper. I love the [Idaho State University] Broncos even though I went to the U of I [University Of Idaho]. [The comic strip] Dilbert is almost worth the cost of the Statesman, and I also like Garfield and Dagwood. Overall the Statesman is a good paper, but I would trade all columns for [conservative commentator and author] Ann Coulter. We'd really have some great stuff to talk about on the forum then.

I believe in the principle of maximum freedom, not anarchy. Government should exist to insure freedom not to take it away, as is usually the case.

The people are the ultimate power when they see things as they are.

  

Sept 22, 2009 -- Post #2

"TWall":

"You went to the U of I and now like the Broncos? It really says something about a person when they change sports teams like this. Did you like the Vandals in the 80's and 90's and despise the Broncos until they started to win?"

JJ:

I've never been excited about Vandal football though I loved the U of I campus and University as a whole. In the [1960's] 60's when I went there I wasn't that interested in football and there wasn't much school spirit for it. Politics captured the interest of many in my circle.

I became interested in college football in the eighties and have had a soft spot for the Broncos ever since. There was no changing of allegiance.

"Becourteous" wrote:

"Give it a rest, Joseph. Does everything have to be turned into a left and/or right issue?"

JJ:

Yes, does it? I have made some of the most innocent statements here and been attacked by the Left for it. I figured even something innocent like this could cause the hydra to surface again.

  

Sept 22, 2009 -- Post #3

"Run":

"The left and censorship? Ummmmm, the last time I witnessed a book-burning event, it was a bunch of right-wing radicals."

JJ:

And when was this? The Middle Ages? Did this event deny you any access to information?

No.

"Run":

"And, I don't think it was the Canyon County Democrats trying to remove books from the Nampa Public Library."

JJ:

Some did not want "The Joy of Gay Sex" available to teenagers. Does this mean you had no access to the book?

No. You could order 100 copies if you wanted.

Examples you cite deny information to no one. Censorship of radio will affect hundreds of millions.

For some reason Lefties are mathematically challenged and cannot tell the difference between zero and 300,000,000 people.

"Run":

"Do you even think about the word origins of progressivism and conservatism, Joseph?"

JJ:

Obviously more than you do.

  

Sept 22, 2009 -- Post #4

"TekeVandal" wrote:

"It has always left me scratching my head when folks that proclaim to 'love freedom' support the far right that the Republican party has become. I for one will take the 'socialism' over the moral right restricting everything I can say, do, or think."

JJ:

Socialism from the Left is forced and takes away many freedoms. And when has the Right restricted even one word of speech from you?

There's that Lefty fear mongering imagination running wild again.

"Becourteous":

"Many of us who question your statements are not part of the Left."

JJ:

And who would that be?

I'm sure you voted for Bush or McCain, right?

  

Sept 22, 2009 -- Post #5

"Run":

"Are you just being obtuse, Joseph? It was the eighties, and it denied me access to 'Slaughterhouse'."

JJ:

Wow, you have to go back over 20 years to find an example that I hadn't even heard of. I checked it out on Google and it appears the censorship (which I do not agree with) was minimal. Which school were you in that was censored? The only one in Idaho I can find was in the obscure outlet of Plummer.

"Run":

"Could I still go to a bookstore to get it? Sure, but that doesn't mean it wasn't censorship."

JJ:

Oh, that was so crippling for you then. I feel your pain.

"Run":

"Seriously, man, what are you on? You're accusing me of being innumerate (the word for mathematically inept - I suggest you use it. And no, I'm not; I have an M.S. in Mathematics)"

JJ:

Then you should really be embarrassed to work on the assumption that zero is as meaningful as 300,000,000.

"Run":

"As for the 'Joy of Gay Sex,' two things: 1. Then why are you okay with teenagers accessing 'The Joy of (Heterosexual) Sex'? And 2. That is NOT the only book they successfully removed."

JJ:

I'm OK with them accessing either one if the parents agree. I think parents ought to have a say in what their kids read until they leave home then they are on their own. What do you think?

Speaking of censorship, Mark Levin's book has sold over a million copies and it has never been reviewed by the New York Times, LA Times, or any Lefty media I know of. If your example was censorship then this would also qualify for they break their own rules of reviewing popular books so fewer people will read them -- and we're speaking of adults here, not kids.

  

Sept 22, 2009 -- Post #6

Quoting JJ, "Run" wrote:

"'And when has the Right restricted even one word of speech from you?'"

"Run" then wrote:

"Can you say P-A-T-R-I-O-T Act?"

JJ:

Two things. First both parties voted this in and it is still in place during the Obama administration.

Secondly, I can't figure how one can construe it to restrict free speech. There is no difference in my free speech since it was passed. I am able to speak as freely now as before 9/11.

Is your imagination running wild again?

Now, on the other hand, if the Lefties can find a loophole in it that will silence conservatives then things could change.

  

Sept 22, 2009 -- Post #7

"TWall" writes:

"Just exactly what freedoms would socialized medicine take away from you Joseph? I'm pretty curious."

JJ:

For a start the freedom to keep my own money and spend it the way I please on my own health care plan. Instead, taxpayers have to pay for extreme government waste through socialization.

Right now we are paying around $9000 per person that is on socialized medicine (Medicare, Medicaid, VA) in the USA I'd like to keep that $9000 for my own uses.

  

Sept 22, 2009 -- Post #8

"Loki":

"Ann Coulter?! OK, you really lost me as a conservative. She is a complete wing nut."

JJ:

You're a conservative? Then Rush must be dating Nancy Pelosi, right?

"Loki":

"Remember 'free speech zones?' Those were utilized by the right from 2002-2008. Remember the RNC [Rebuplican National Convention in New York? Remember the roundup of people by police and security paid by the RNC? If you are removed, you are effectively silenced. Joe, you are an extreme partisan."

JJ:

Me partisan? You're the one with the selective memory. You forgot the free speech zones organized by the Johnson administration during Vietnam and the Democratic conventions of 1988 and 2004.

Also you have a free speech zone since you do not allow anyone to break in your house and yell and scream.

Even so, if the parties (or anyone) need to create certain zones so their own free speech and security is guaranteed I see this as helping free speech. Protesters are allowed to say and even scream anything they want in 99.99% of the country.

Obama Free Speech Zones:
http://www.progressive.org/mag_wx121207 http://www.infowars.com/aclu-prepares-lawsuit-against-denver-dnc-plans-for-free-speech-zone/ http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/8/4/202457/8289

Not only were Obama protesters confined to a free speech zone at a Montana town hall but they were intimidated there by Obama thugs:

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/montana-town-hall-meeting-obama- town-hall-august-14-2009-seiu-thugs-white-house-control-press-restricted/

  

-- End Of Part Two --

  

[Compiler's Note: The "Local Posts" series of articles found here in "The Archives" are a collection of exchanges between JJ Dewey and others participating on a local online newspaper blog which can be read online at Idaho Statesman Letters To The Editor. These exchanges were subsequently re-posted by JJ Dewey to The Keys Of Knowledge discussion group prior to being archived here.]

  

Go to:

Local Posts #43, Part Three
Local Posts #43, Part One