I doubt there's any real evidence at all that people who care about other civil rights don't care about the second amendment. I am an example of someone who values the whole of the Bill of Rights, and I have given the breakdown of local control as it pertains to the historical record of violating civil rights a lot of thought as well.
Ultimately, the courts have decided a lot of things over the years that simply are not accurate. The Congress has a remedy for this that they have refused to use. I think it is because our two main parties are more interested in the fight over the court as an endless issue that cannot be resolved. Saying, "The courts said we can violate the second amendment," where the second amendment clearly states there should be no infringement at all, is one of the more glaring instances of government overstepping its bounds, and is no less egregious than Aaron Swartz being prosecuted for felony theft for downloading free things too quickly.
Many, many gun control advocates that I have run across are concerned about all as well. Matter of fact I was reading in the little "insider chat" window the other day about this fellow knowing a goodly number of pistol packing hippies.
Things are changing. The old lines of demarcation are disappearing precisely because we are now being attacked by our government across a broad front, and things are moving quickly.
Here are two examples of wealthy and powerful people doing things that are obviously more harmful than Swartz getting by without prosecution.
Manning is being over prosecuted rather than being an innocent being harassed in my opinion. Assange owes us nothing, and it is ridiculous that a media outlet is being harassed for publishing something that was leaked. Any time I have ever heard about the relative harms of leaked information, it is always commented upon that, if something shows up in the media, at least it is not sitting quietly in the enemy's hands while we believe it is still a well guarded secret.
So, to sum up, Assange and Swartz innocent, Manning being over prosecuted, and people who are at the controls of the system at its core are let off the hook to go ahead and continue harming their thousands.
And you still won't likely care. Which gets funnier to me the more I distance myself from the outcome. I think it is obvious things are going to crumble and implode. There's still a relatively good chance I die of natural causes first though.
I pretty much have you pegged as not very serious about the second amendment, and progressive at least in the sense I am progressive as it pertains to civil rights and freedom of speech matters, if that explains anything at all for you.
My problem (such as it is) is that the tone of this article is an entire planet away from the tone of your NRA comments, and yet the institution here is the same one in a position to limit freedoms regarding both speech and self defense. There's no "this is so stupid!" angle to this article. You seem much more worked up that the NRA would suggest such a link than that the government would actually go ahead and do studies in order to both find the link and tie it to medical mandates.
We live in a time where every conceivable violence, pornography, and filth is already protected by the 1st amendment. The only time you run afoul of the law where communication is concerned is when you fail to pay for it. They could care less what it is you pay for, as long as you pay. The rest is just some labeling and some nod toward not exhibiting it on the street corner next to your local elementary school.
No one is at all interested in taking your splatter-porn video games from you. They are interested in changing the cultural status quo back to a time when to oppose the government was the same as to oppose morality in general - in essence to BE evil. This the emphasis on the "rule of law" rather than "upholding justice". Gun control is merely one front on that multifaceted battlefield.
What do you have to ban next to make sure someone can't easily MAKE a gun? And what next? And after that? Did you know milk is already illegal in Texas (and indeed most states) without either pasteurization or a special license? And even if you have the license, it is illegal to deliver it to your customer. There is no end to this sort of "doing good".
People only recognize it when it happens to them, or when it affects something they themselves personally enjoy though.
I don't ever really know how to respond to people who talk as if there is no evidence that the government wants to take guns when, in fact, governments have disarmed the population many times in history, and there is an amendment to our bill of rights to the effect that the government isn't even supposed to infringe on gun ownership, and yet agents within our government are constantly trying to limit these rights without actually amending the Constitution.
It seems rather obvious they are trying to take guns without amending the Constitution, this violating the Constitution, this seeming, at least, to have nefarious motives for same. If you don't like the second amendment, the honest thing to do is to do away with it.
Nevermind Article I Section 8 of the Constitution - a whole other kettle of fish that progressives, if they were so inclined, could easily point at as evidence that our special interest dominated government is able to misuse our military abroad in no small part because they have designed it in opposition to the method spelled out in the Constitution.
Nevertheless, your point about culture as it pertains to car ownership is well received, for my part.
Wealthy, powerful people doing grossly inappropriate things that lead to multiple deaths - none prosecuted. One man only barely arguably bending the law, so called victims not pressing charges - felony jail time.
Most blogs simply remove the comments. Red State, where I used to comment regularly until I made the mistake of objecting to their focus on holding the line on taxes, will simply disable your ability to comment at all.
Having the comment hidden behind a link is probably the least aggressive moderation technique I have ever seen or heard of.
I like this post because it strikes at the heart of all of the real issues that I come to Tech Dirt to keep abreast. From the moment I stumbled across this place, I recognized that its message fits neatly into a broader message of abuse of power and broadening responsibility within government.
From the use of "preexisting mental conditions" to prohibit veterans from getting their benefits to attempts to medicalize the issue of homosexuality prior to the 70's to the over-medication of our children for "behavioral problems", people have been pointing for some years now at the growing intrusiveness of the government in matters they can find some link to "health care".
Tim seems pleased with this sort of thing as long as it doesn't come from the NRA, but as for the rest of us, it's all part of the same generalized push to institutionalize behavior in various ways so that it is seen as legitimate to bring the law to bear on someone ostensibly to prevent harm.
Problem being that you can't know if you have prevented harm.
It's not so much we, as in people that frequent this blog, need to ask, as there need to be more Americans asking.
SOPA was interesting in a lot of ways. Perception is still important in politics. Enough attention gets things rolling.
This country needs a LOT of reform, and people are just nowhere NEAR angry enough. I remember from all the way back in the 90's, people complaining, "where's the outrage?"
Obviously there's no hard and fast proof yet since no one has been caught and the burglars didn't leave a little note saying, "Hey, we heard you had guns. Can you leave us the combo to your gun safe?"
The thing is, we have real problems to deal with. This crap gets done, and things that need to get done don't, and people act like it's wonderful progress.
Where has the conversation on the economy gone? I'm sure both parties are happy to have a little diversion from that, seeing as how they both SUCK at it.
Over in the discussion thread for Nina Paley's recent release of Sita Sings the Blues, at least one person already released their web content through creative commons.
I'm still sort of struggling to find ways to bring this home to my locality (Austin TX). Anyone here living close by and knowing anything going on here, let me know.
On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'
Re: Re: Re: Re: What will they find??
Ultimately, the courts have decided a lot of things over the years that simply are not accurate. The Congress has a remedy for this that they have refused to use. I think it is because our two main parties are more interested in the fight over the court as an endless issue that cannot be resolved. Saying, "The courts said we can violate the second amendment," where the second amendment clearly states there should be no infringement at all, is one of the more glaring instances of government overstepping its bounds, and is no less egregious than Aaron Swartz being prosecuted for felony theft for downloading free things too quickly.
Many, many gun control advocates that I have run across are concerned about all as well. Matter of fact I was reading in the little "insider chat" window the other day about this fellow knowing a goodly number of pistol packing hippies.
Things are changing. The old lines of demarcation are disappearing precisely because we are now being attacked by our government across a broad front, and things are moving quickly.
On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'
YYYyyyeppers
=(
*Full Retraction ensues*
On the post: Aaron Swartz's Death Leads To Public Attention Towards Prosecutorial Overreach
Re: hippies on a witch hunt
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/01/aaron_swartzs_crime_and_the_bu.html
Here are two examples of wealthy and powerful people doing things that are obviously more harmful than Swartz getting by without prosecution.
Manning is being over prosecuted rather than being an innocent being harassed in my opinion. Assange owes us nothing, and it is ridiculous that a media outlet is being harassed for publishing something that was leaked. Any time I have ever heard about the relative harms of leaked information, it is always commented upon that, if something shows up in the media, at least it is not sitting quietly in the enemy's hands while we believe it is still a well guarded secret.
So, to sum up, Assange and Swartz innocent, Manning being over prosecuted, and people who are at the controls of the system at its core are let off the hook to go ahead and continue harming their thousands.
And you still won't likely care. Which gets funnier to me the more I distance myself from the outcome. I think it is obvious things are going to crumble and implode. There's still a relatively good chance I die of natural causes first though.
On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'
Re: Re: Telegraphed
I pretty much have you pegged as not very serious about the second amendment, and progressive at least in the sense I am progressive as it pertains to civil rights and freedom of speech matters, if that explains anything at all for you.
My problem (such as it is) is that the tone of this article is an entire planet away from the tone of your NRA comments, and yet the institution here is the same one in a position to limit freedoms regarding both speech and self defense. There's no "this is so stupid!" angle to this article. You seem much more worked up that the NRA would suggest such a link than that the government would actually go ahead and do studies in order to both find the link and tie it to medical mandates.
On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'
Re: My Reaction
No one is at all interested in taking your splatter-porn video games from you. They are interested in changing the cultural status quo back to a time when to oppose the government was the same as to oppose morality in general - in essence to BE evil. This the emphasis on the "rule of law" rather than "upholding justice". Gun control is merely one front on that multifaceted battlefield.
What do you have to ban next to make sure someone can't easily MAKE a gun? And what next? And after that? Did you know milk is already illegal in Texas (and indeed most states) without either pasteurization or a special license? And even if you have the license, it is illegal to deliver it to your customer. There is no end to this sort of "doing good".
People only recognize it when it happens to them, or when it affects something they themselves personally enjoy though.
On the post: Aaron Swartz's Death Leads To Public Attention Towards Prosecutorial Overreach
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'
Re: Re: What will they find??
It seems rather obvious they are trying to take guns without amending the Constitution, this violating the Constitution, this seeming, at least, to have nefarious motives for same. If you don't like the second amendment, the honest thing to do is to do away with it.
Nevermind Article I Section 8 of the Constitution - a whole other kettle of fish that progressives, if they were so inclined, could easily point at as evidence that our special interest dominated government is able to misuse our military abroad in no small part because they have designed it in opposition to the method spelled out in the Constitution.
Nevertheless, your point about culture as it pertains to car ownership is well received, for my part.
On the post: Aaron Swartz's Death Leads To Public Attention Towards Prosecutorial Overreach
Re:
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/01/aaron_swartzs_crime_and_the_bu.html
Wealthy, powerful people doing grossly inappropriate things that lead to multiple deaths - none prosecuted. One man only barely arguably bending the law, so called victims not pressing charges - felony jail time.
On the post: Aaron Swartz's Death Leads To Public Attention Towards Prosecutorial Overreach
Re: Re:
Having the comment hidden behind a link is probably the least aggressive moderation technique I have ever seen or heard of.
On the post: Aaron Swartz's Death Leads To Public Attention Towards Prosecutorial Overreach
Real Issues
On the post: Obama Tasks CDC With Study Of Video Games And 'Violent Media'
Telegraphed
Tim seems pleased with this sort of thing as long as it doesn't come from the NRA, but as for the rest of us, it's all part of the same generalized push to institutionalize behavior in various ways so that it is seen as legitimate to bring the law to bear on someone ostensibly to prevent harm.
Problem being that you can't know if you have prevented harm.
On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me
On the post: A Week Later: Reflecting On Aaron Swartz
Re: YUP
SOPA was interesting in a lot of ways. Perception is still important in politics. Enough attention gets things rolling.
This country needs a LOT of reform, and people are just nowhere NEAR angry enough. I remember from all the way back in the 90's, people complaining, "where's the outrage?"
On the post: New York State Starts Walking Back On Transparency; Grants Gun Owners Exemption From Disclosure Of Public Records
Re: Re:
http://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/journal-news-map-listed-guns-permits-stolen-from-new- city-home-cops-say-1.4463741
Google. Heard of it?
Obviously there's no hard and fast proof yet since no one has been caught and the burglars didn't leave a little note saying, "Hey, we heard you had guns. Can you leave us the combo to your gun safe?"
On the post: New York State Starts Walking Back On Transparency; Grants Gun Owners Exemption From Disclosure Of Public Records
Re: Re: Re: Re: Tech Dirt a Leftist Pro Intrusive Government Blog? WTF???
Obviously there's been a lot of 2nd amendment junk around here lately.
On the post: New York State Starts Walking Back On Transparency; Grants Gun Owners Exemption From Disclosure Of Public Records
So Frustrating
Where has the conversation on the economy gone? I'm sure both parties are happy to have a little diversion from that, seeing as how they both SUCK at it.
On the post: New York State Starts Walking Back On Transparency; Grants Gun Owners Exemption From Disclosure Of Public Records
Re: Re: Weirder and weirder
On the post: A Week Later: Reflecting On Aaron Swartz
Awesome article
I'm still sort of struggling to find ways to bring this home to my locality (Austin TX). Anyone here living close by and knowing anything going on here, let me know.
On the post: Scientist Explains Why Putting Research Behind A Paywall Is Immoral
Re: Locking Academic Reaserch Behind a Paywall
On the post: New York State Starts Walking Back On Transparency; Grants Gun Owners Exemption From Disclosure Of Public Records
Re: Re: West Point Think Tank Comes Out Against Republican Party
=)
Nice to see a friendly face.
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