Interesting. I went to college in Florida, and (like now), Florida had a conservative governor (Kirk). Actually I would have to go further, and say he was more than a little right wing. And he truly did put in place a "police state" ...literally. His closest friend, and contributor was a man named George Wackenhut. Who's private security company was employed by the governor as his (essentially) private police force. Kirk was the first Republican governor since the Civil War in Florida. But you have to remember that at that time, Democrats in the south were the most conservative politicians there were. They were not in step by any means with the Kennedy Democrats. They were "Dixiecrats", and always more in line politically with northern Republicans. They had to call themselves Dems just to avoid being confused with Lincoln, who ruined the name of the Republican party for them. I was an undergird at one of those half dozen universities. In 1969, we had our very first african american football player. He did not get to play much as a freshman. Even though he was Chuck Foreman. The school band played Dixie during halftime. When they televised the homecoming game nationally, they were asked not to play Dixie, because it was found offensive by the majority of the country even then. But sure not in Florida. Not then. And not now on the north gulf coast. That part of Florida certainly has more in common with Alabama and Mississippi than it does with south Fla. If Janet Reno were elected governor, how would that change your life? Chas, please don't take offense, but it amazes me how you seem so incredibly reactionary in your political thoughts. Are you very old? Do you have a very high roman numeral after your name? What is it that motivates your thinking? I know you are a bright and insightful guy. To me, this just doesn't seem to correspond with such a narrowly focused outlook. Just curious. And the "invisible hand"....ok, Adam Smith. I am too lazy to wade through it all. Can't you just tell me what it means? (I am afraid to guess).
The Wealth of Nations is to the field of economics what The Latin Mass is the Catholic Church. You don't have to be intimately familiar with it to be a Catholic but, with out doing so, you reduce your experience by dimensions. As for my convictions about politics, I've been pretty open about them all along. If you don't understand where I'm coming from by now, then you certainly won't if I try to explain it, and it's getting way off the scope of the thread and this board to go further into it.
Well that clears it up perfectly (though I am not surprised one little bit that I was going to hear something about religion).
No, you shouldn't be. Is it a real hangup that someone who professes religion is actually influenced by it in his everyday life?
Charley wrote: "As for my convictions about politics, I've been pretty open about them all along. If you don't understand where I'm coming from by now, then you certainly won't if I try to explain it, and it's getting way off the scope of the thread and this board to go further into it. On the contrary, several people expressed an interest in moving here, and it is only fair that they get to know who their neighbors will be.
In a marketplace of free people, the application of individuals' gifts and interests, in the attempt at making a profit, will, taken collectively, work to allocate goods and services in the most efficient way possible. This phenomena is widely understood and was given the name 'the Invisible Hand' by Adam Smith in his book, "The Wealth of Nations." The Invisible hand is God at work through men in allocating the resources of His creation. When men try to suppress the liberties of men, they shut God out and the results are poverty and its resultant erosion of quality of life and widespread suffering. There is thus no lasting prosperity without liberty.
http://www.laborers.org/NorCal_Reno.html Reno, according to Thompson, had had multiple drunk driving incidents and engaged in some embarrassing sexual escapades. Thompson says Carmen "Crystal" Kazim claims to have been a call girl providing sexual services to Reno. Thompson also quotes John Gigliotti (from Pat Robertson's security detail) who says Michael Eppinger, an alleged organized crime figure in Miami supposedly has a video of Reno at a sex orgy he (Eppinger) arranged. There's a mental image for you. However, what's not so funny was the way Reno ordered the slaughter of 83 Davidians in Waco. http://i2i.org/SuptDocs/Waco/wachroni.htm The ATF came in gunning, shooting blindly through walls with machine guns. The Davidians were calling 911, screaming into the phones to make them stop shooting. The 911 calls are public record. You can hear that the man calling is terrified. Some Davidians fired back in self defense, and the ATF retreated. The government claimed that the Davidians were lying in ambush for them, another lie. The ATF pulled up in the front yard in the middle of the day and all unloaded off a single trailer. If it was an ambush, most or all of the ATF agents would have been killed. Under Reno's command, the g-men pumped the compund so full of CS gas that most Davidians - children included - probably died from the CS, which kills you slowly and painfully at high doses. And after it was all over, the only Davidians left alive were the ones who had left the compund before the final slaughter. What did we do with them? Why, we charged them all with conspiracy to commit a conspiracy blah blah blah, and they will all spent the rest of their lives in jail.
So what you are saying is that Reno is soft on crime, since she allowed them to hold up for 51 days before taking action? I think they should have been flushed out after 51 seconds.
Bottom line about Reno....she screwed up at Waco and admitted it. She wants to be governor in Florida to fix a horrible educational system, a shameful ecology, and an embarrassing Dept. of Family Services. Is she the best candidate? I am not informed enough to know at this point. But because she is a Democrat, she is inherently evil and Godless to the right wing. Good thing they don't have all the votes. (How did God let that happen?) Even Pat Buchanon laughed that he got those mistaken butterfly ballot votes in Delray Beach. He said himself "those people wouldn't vote for me".