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[hodgkal]

Whenever I got called for jury duty I wore a coat and tie. Got dismissed every time. They don't want "smart" people to argue in front of.

[The Oracle]

Linesman, I know you don't like to point fingers but the only poster here that has been outrageous is OP.

Now, you have to get this guy. He's got money to burn and has since I've know him, he appears to flaunt it here but that's not who he really is at all. I know, hard to believe but he's a very gracious individual for a Canadian. He once left $80 (four 20s) on the bar top after he bought himself, me and my wife 3 $8 G&Ts. My wife picked it up and said did you mean to do that? She thought he dropped them out of the wad of cash he had in his pocket. He said, "yep .... think about this. I made 4X what Lloyd Carr did last year. It's charity." The money was put back on the bar top.

Like most here who never have met him, when I first encountered him on this forum, we had a massive flame war going on between us. I hated the douchebag .... until we arranged to get together, at his invitation, in Chicago for an away NW game. Had a great time and we've had several meetings since then not involving M football. Wish there could be more but he travels a ton .... making money.

OP loves throwing gasoline on the fire of any discussion. There are no limits .... I find it refreshing but that's because I know him and how freaking funny he can be. I wouldn't take any of his gay or racist comments to be reflective of who he is at all. Now, that's not to say I don't think he might benefit from not putting them out there but that's his call.

Your reminder to tone down the political commentary and off sports discussions though is appropriate and my feeling is that we will as the football season engages us and there is something else to talk about.

He carries 20s...POSER!!! Just like we all thought.

[Hannibal]

Need to start redirecting that shit into the pockets of recruits. No more giving it to random waitresses.

[*JD*]

Whenever I got called for jury duty I wore a coat and tie. Got dismissed every time. They don't want "smart" people to argue in front of.

The only time I made it in to the selection process was in L.A. It was a murder trial and I got dismissed the 2nd day because I told them I don't trust police 100% and gave a personal example.

By the time I was in line for the check-out process everyone else got sent down too because somebody was talking about the trial in public, when we were on the lunch-break.

[Ghengis Jon]

Whenever I got called for jury duty I wore a coat and tie. Got dismissed every time. They don't want "smart" people to argue in front of.

Really? I'm going to have to remember that. (Does being married to a doctor count as being smart?)

I will NEVER serve on jury duty again, I'd rather sit in jail for contempt, at least in a criminal (not civil) case. I've sat once in the jury box, for a double murder trial. Critical evidence (murder weapon, bloody shoes matching tracks found, fingerprints, etc) was (rightfully) excluded on a technicality (illegally seized at another location for an unrelated crime). We acquitted for reasonable doubt since there was very little evidence.

Imagine the look of pain, horror and revulsion we saw in the faces of the victims' families when we let the murderer walk - everyone else on the planet knew he was guilty as original sin. We let someone who stabbed two people 37 times to death walk the streets again. I'm so fucking proud.

I will NEVER serve on a criminal trial again. It was of little consolation when the judge commended the jury for following the law, based on the evidence presented. And then he told us the hows and whys of the evidence suppression. Never, ever, again.

[entropy]

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I tell people I'm a republican... I'm gone first round.


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[lineygoblue]

Jon ... our good people here in the legal profession will probably take me to task for saying this, but I believe in cases like that, the interests of the victim and their families should take precedence over the rights of the accused. Even though the evidence was not obtained in a fully constitutional way, seeing that it later proved the guilt of the accused should land that sucker in prison. And for a double murder, I believe the death penalty should apply.

But, that's just how I'd run MY country ....

[Ghengis Jon]

Short of armed resistance, this check and balance is the only way to keep agents of social control from kicking in the front door and looking for evidence of wrongdoing without any pretext. Always assume authority will abuse their power. Always. I live in a nice house. Say cops kick in the door and find that I am in possession of a prescription allergy pill I bummed from a co-worker. I lose everything through drug forfeiture laws and my family becomes destitute. For what? Prescription strength allegra? Never underestimate human greed, avarice, and lust for power. Its my humble opinion that for the last 100 years, America enacts laws by knee jerk reaction, designed to 'protect' corporations and society as a whole, not the individual. We've lost sight of the principals this country was founded upon. Corporations are people now, money is speech, and gov't should be a unimpeachable cradle to grave nanny. I happen to disagree. What I experienced in the legal system shows one dark side, executing an innocent man can show the other. What's needed is a mechanism that buffers against these extremes. What's lost in all of this are the rights and obligations of the individual. I still hold many of my liberal biases, but have moved strongly toward a libertarian POV (not to be confused with those tea party shitheads). My wife says I'm a compassionate anarchist. She might be right. (I prefer Liberal-tarian.) But constitutional safeguards are needed, I happened to see what happens when the system doesn't work as designed. It's changed me and that's all I'm saying.

As for the a-hole that went free, I truly hope to read about him in a 'castle domain' case.

[lineygoblue]

Always assume authority will abuse their power. Always.

Yup.

My wife says I'm a compassionate anarchist.

She really IS a smart lady, isn't she?

:-)

[Rocky Bleier]

GJ,

People get really upset when they're told that the U.S.A. is fascist. They think that fascism means an autocratic government led by some obvious tyrant like Hitler.

However, fascist ideology consistently invokes the primacy of the state. Fascists advocate a mixed economy. A mixed economy is commonly defined as an economic system in which both the private sector and state direct the economy. America has borrowed from fascists of the past but with a much smoother propaganda machine (a.k.a., the news media).

[hack]

Explain what's meant by ``direct'' the economy.

[entropy]

I'd suggest America is a culture of division...

[Da Geezer]

Rocky nails it. Lord Acton said

"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Resist any accumulation of power. Right now, that accumulation is in Washington DC, primarily in the bureaucracy, the elected officials, and the "rent seekers".

Can you imagine the havoc that would be created if the National Capital were moved to Omaha, OKC, or Minneapolis?

Or what of an amendment that allows only net tax PAYERS (except social security) to vote?

[hack]

Then New York would just control the country through one of those cities instead of through Washington.

[-Deborah-]

(sorry posted this in the wrong thread, moving it here)

I'm not sure if this news was shared here yet, but our forum member, Tony G, passed away suddenly this week. I know he visited you UofM folks here on occasion. We will miss him.