Or is the notification system more complicated than what I am envisioning?

Yes, it is. There is no distinct database table that holds vectors for comment notification; instead that information is culled from the comments table again and again. I can see how you could handle thread subscription only, but it’s kludge that makes me cringe.

It seems simple enough to leave a comment saying “subscribing”.  When I forget to do that, and go back to check the thread, there’s always a ton of interesting comments I missed.

It is a good rant, With everything there is an anatomy of origin. Where did all this start? You have to identify the cause before you can cure the problem. And that is the problem...No one fixed the problems along the way. The problems just became easier to ignore. It’s a ugly learned behavior that needs to change.

The fact that someone like O.J. Simpson is still walking around is not a case about justice. It’s a barometer about the society we live in. It’s apparent to this poster that no one is going to do anything until our system collapse’s into some type of default, and another power is brought to power. That power is a form, or closely resembles Socialism. Venezuela is experiencing it today. The US media is not reporting the abundant support that Hugo Chavez is receiving. ( Why is that you suppose ? ) It’s because the upper class controls the media in the USA, and they don’t report reality, they attempt to invent it.

We need to learn to be the ambassadors of representing “Principle before Personality”. And that is the ultimate problem with this Country. It’s “Personality before Principle”, approach to everything.

People getting rich at the expense of someone is America’s new standard. But not to worry !! Ignore a problem long enough and it will eventually take care of itself.

As I look at the prospects of the coming 2008 election, I don’t even see a hint of cure in any of the candidates. We are once again placed in the position of selecting the lesser of evils.

I know this sounds insane, But this can be fixed. And in only 10 short years or less. Not all dictators are evil. We have them now, it’s just a matter of choosing another one that knows the difference “Right from Wrong” and be willing to represent “Right”. Not just the elitist, handed down old money, good old boy club members.

Righteous Rant.  As this country grows in population, the balance of freedoms tilts heavily toward the monied, as can be expected.  Personal liberty, as almost always, takes it in the ass. 

I am constantly amazed and disgusted by how much liberty good American sheeple are willing to hand over to “authority"-what’s even worse is that most of this happens at the hands of so-called conservatives who screech “Freedom!” all the way to the gulag.  Don’t get me wrong, I nail liberals who act against personal liberty in the form of hate-crime laws, speech restrictions and the like, as well as excessive taxation, but it pales in comparison to the damage done by the war-mongers and Jesus-freaks.  They seem to believe that a monied group of people, a corporation that can only be held responsible for it’s actions by the old “invisible hand,” should have all the rights of a citizen and be allowed to wreak any amount of havoc so long as it pays.  On the other hand, the whole idea of true personal liberty is pretty much a foriegn ideology to just about every conservative I’ve ever met.  They believe that if half or more of the people in a town decide they don’t like something, they should have the right not only to not patronize it(you know, like my right to not go to church) but should have the right to criminalize and demolish it.  That’s some kind of freedom I guess-the freedom to do what you’re told.

Sorry for the rant but it really seems to boil down to basic mindsets-do you really believe in freedom and equal protection under the law, or do you only believe in freedom for those just like yourself?

Brilliant. Fucking brilliant!

So brilliant that I just had to give you a shout out over at my blog.

Me likes what me reads. Me will keep readin’

Paul, my only gripe with your comment is that there was, and remains, evidence which was disregarded by the prosecution in the crime, (the first piece that comes to mind).

Mark Fuhrman(sp?) was a contemptible racist who talked about setting up bigtime black people for a bigtime fall.

This does not invalidate your point, mind you. But with the LAPDs historical connection with anti-black-ism or flat out white supremacy, it’s the other dimension of the conflict. OJ walks free, in part, because the defense had the racism trump card and the investigation was incomplete.

For that matter, I don’t know whether OJ killed his wife or not - but the fact that he beat his wife routinely and the neighbors settled in, knowing there was a problem… that irks me, too. It is curious and frightening that human beings can be made so complicit, so easily.

Sorry for the double-dip. Should clarify - the bloody footprints around the scene that were not OJs and didn’t belong to anyone in particular - that was the first piece of evidence that came to mind (and not to post).

It’s amazing the directions that threads drift in. Whould have thought we’d end up talking about O.J.?

On my to-read list is a book by Gerry Spence about that trial.  But in looking up that book’s Amazon link, I found another book that will come first and is definitely relevant to this post: Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power: The Rise and Risks of the New Conservative Hate Culture.

Wonderful what you run into when you’re looking for something else. 

Okay, that’s going on my want list.....

Neil, you’re ranting about real “democracy,” usually only seen in small towns and Home Owner Association meetings. This country is supposed to be a republic, protected by “people’s representatives.” The problem is that the sheeple are easily missled and usually get the kind of government they deserve, especially if they do not participate in it themselves. I am reminded of an interview with Herman Goring:
From an interview with Herman Goring, an early member of the Nazi party, founder of the Gestapo, and one of the main perpetrators of Nazi Germany:

Goring: “Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.”

Gilbert: “There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.”

Goring: “Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

Oh, one more thing. Did a little research on the sodomy laws. In the interest of complete clarification, while the Supreme Court declared such laws unconstitutional, three states, Virginia, Oklahoma and North Carolina are attempting to continue enforcing their laws, as id the US Military.

See http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/usa.htm

Oh, one more thing. Did a little research on the sodomy laws. In the interest of complete clarification

Hmmm ...

In Virginia, that might sound like, “No, no, officer. I was just doing a little research in your ass. A probe, if you will. There’s nothing to see here.”

You think you live in a free country? Bullshit. They’ve been systematically taking away your freedoms for a hundred years and most of you haven’t even noticed.

Implied in that statement is the opinion, albeit a poorly informed one, that I am less free today than I would have been 100 years ago.

As has been pointed out, although not thoroughly dissected, that is just patently false.  I can do the dissection, and will over the weekend.  However, I’d like to offer you the opportunity to retract that specific statement KPG before doing so.

Neil: On the other hand, the whole idea of true personal liberty is pretty much a foreign ideology to just about every conservative I’ve ever met.

I’d guess this would have a lot to do with their belief in, and being under the mind control, of invisible sky chappies.
When you live with the paranoia of being watched, body and soul, 24/7, REAL personal liberty is, as you suggest, a foreign ideology.
Is it any wonder their definition of freedom is different to the definition you and I have?

Goring: All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

Even if you were to front conservatives, and especially Evangelicals, with Goring’s words they would yell that you were a gay-loving, lying, pinko, librool; completely missing the point you were trying to raise and that the words were spoken by a clever bastard who might have been only a little to their right.
Like, how were they able to spin the chicken-hawk’s war record over Kerry’s?
Most don’t seem to have mastered dot-joining yet – if they didn’t have so much power over me I’d feel sorry for the ‘tarded bastards.

KPG

It’s amazing the directions that threads drift in. Whould have thought we’d end up talking about O.J.?

I did not bring up OJ to discuss his crimes. I meant the example of the gross miscarriage of Justice that is rampant in America. If you have the cash “ You walk with less penalty, or possibly no penalty “ The point I am trying to make is that in America “ Justice is for Sale “ and that’s not just wrong, It is a contributory attitude that is spreading. “It’s about attitude”

“This is an example, I am not hijacking this thread.”

The US spends close to $90 Billion on it’s Prisons every year. Most of those are drug offenders. The last time I checked my PDR, addiction is a health issue.

The USDOJ is clearly by evidence of (MORE incarcerations, NOT less would lead me to believe that they simply do not have the answer.

And so it goes with every US Department from Energy to Defense. None are within reasonable boundaries for long term goals of survival.

If I were a betting man. I would bet that mankind will be here for less than 150 years, probably less. Like I said earlier, Ignore a problem long enough, and it will eventually take care of itself.

Mankind is beginning to look like nothing more than a Virus that showed up on the planet, it will soon go away, and the cockroaches can get back to business.

Unless we want to really get serious about fixing this mess. And that would be a subject about less freedom, not more.

And here comes Consi to pee in the punch bowl…

Implied in that statement is the opinion, albeit a poorly informed one, that I am less free today than I would have been 100 years ago.

As has been pointed out, although not thoroughly dissected, that is just patently false.  I can do the dissection, and will over the weekend.  However, I’d like to offer you the opportunity to retract that specific statement KPG before doing so.

Nope, no retraction. I stand by that and I’ll be happy to debate it with you this weekend. We can talk context and ground rules later.....

And here comes Consi to pee in the punch bowl…

Geez you draw great pictures.

My principal agreement with KPGs’ rant isn’t to disparage Constitutional Democracy, but the idea, that has always been around, that one must justify one’s existence to others to be “in the club” when that club is America.  This way of thought is directly in opposition to the spirit of having a constitiution in the first place.  My favorite examples: Gays, Drugs and Hookers.
I would call laws against these activities unconstitutional, simply because their very existance presumes that the state owns you, body and mind, instead of the other way around.  To pass laws against these activities without showing a real harm done to individuals and society is in no way conducive to the freedom of the society or the individual, and is, in spirit, against the principles on which this country was founded.  “It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

I realize that this country was full of nutless, whining, sex-fearing, freedom hating conservatives from the start-but that doesn’t mean that nobody was trying to loosen it up a little-nor does it mean that we shouldn’t still be trying today.  Imagine Jefferson’s response if his fellow Virginians had decided that possession of tobacco would result in forfeiture of Monticello.  Or that boning the slaves was to be punished in the town square with a pastor in charge.

Implied in that statement is the opinion, albeit a poorly informed one, that I am less free today than I would have been 100 years ago.

I am curious as to why it is a poorly informed statement. Not that I disagree, I can think of a couple of examples; emancipation, women’s rights. However it seems there has been a certain amount of give and take; the draft (Nam), the patriot act (genius name by the way), the average debt incurred to corporations, a shitty two party system.

Allow me to make one clarification.

Implied in that statement is the opinion, albeit a poorly informed one, that I am less free today than I would have been 100 years ago.

Rights that you had 100 years ago are gone today, by government intervention. That’s the whole point here. Yes, the Civil Rights movement was a huge stride forward for our society, and I’m not diminishing its importance. There are several cases of new rights being established over the last hundred years. I am specificly talking about freedoms that have been removed.

If we start down the path of comparing freedoms (and I suspect that’s the road Consi’s going to take, but I could be wrong), yes, I’ve lost this right, but I’ve gained that one, then we start assigning value to one right over another, and that’s no good for anyone.

This is fascinating. I have nothing to add at the moment; I was just hoping this gem wouldn’t get buried.

Paul: Unless we want to really get serious about fixing this mess. And that would be a subject about less freedom, not more.

As you were.

I’d recommend defining freedom.  Certainly there are several actions one could commit in the “wild west” that no one could get away with now.  Certainly we have more opportunity for advancement today than we did 100+ years ago.  At the same time there is no denying that the government has a tighter reign on people than it had even a decade ago.  Depending on one wants to define freedom will determine much of how we can determine any kind of winner to any forth coming debate.

Theocrat: I’d recommend defining freedom.  Certainly there are several actions one could commit in the “wild west” that no one could get away with now.

Agreed, which could potentially render this debate particularly thorny. One hundred years ago women had no suffrage rights, no reproductive freedom, and public displays of homosexual affection would not have been tolerated. Then again, there was no Patriot Act, and many substances that are now illicit were widely available.

Neil - I would call laws against these activities unconstitutional, simply because their very existance presumes that the state owns you, body and mind, instead of the other way around.  To pass laws against these activities without showing a real harm done to individuals and society is in no way conducive to the freedom of the society or the individual, and is, in spirit, against the principles on which this country was founded.  “It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Plus, what I would describe as the “vile influences” of forces (political or religious for example) desiring to “shape” mankind into some things which it isn’t (social engineering or claiming that society is more valuable than any or all individuals within its midst). Governmental enforcement of “decisions” to “adjust” the thinking of people merely because of the “differences of opinion” between them and the power holders, wouldn’t conform to any definition of equality or freedom that I hold dear. MYOB anyone?