Daily Topics - Tuesday August 17th, 2010
By shawnt56
Quote of the Day: Elections belong to the people. It is their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters. -- Abraham Lincoln
Hour One: How do we save the U.S. Economy from the corporate world trade vampires? Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch will be here www.citizen.org
Hour Two: How could lowering the voting age to 16 change America? Thom has a rumble with Reagan Biographer, Craig Shirley, President of Shirley & Bannister Public Affairs www.craigshirley.com; Plus, Jeffrey Nadel, the 17 year old President of the National Youth Rights Association talks to Thom www.youthrights.org
Hour Three: Should we regulate violence the same way we regulate pornography? Thom debates Jacob Sullum of Reason Magazine www.reason.com
Comments
#2
#3
We must call it tyranny!
#4
HERE IS A FACT! BELIEVE IT OR NOT!
Islam will be the majority religion in the United States of Hell by 2075. We will have over fifty percent of Americans being Muslims.
#5
I want to apologize to Thom and his viewers & listeners. Yesterday I helped start the circular firing squad/wind discussion, but was perhaps too animated doing it (calling into the show came off a few hours of Facebook debates). I still believe the President's two statements addressed unequivocally the Cordoba House by framing it in the 1st amendment. Like the microbes in War of the Worlds, or a Muhammad Ali Phantom Punch, Obama beat the right-wing on Friday night but it took until Monday for the body to fall. He won on the facts and the Constitution, which is why the weekend debate on their side devolved to talk of "sentiments" or "feelings" and not law. On the issue of the Democrats not defending their own, I used the example of John Kerry/Hillary Clinton...sadly Harry Reid proved my point by the end of the day.
#6
The mission of The Future of Freedom Foundation is to advance freedom by providing an uncompromising moral and economic case for individual liberty, free markets, private property, and limited government.
#7
If they let me vote at age 16, I would have voted Republican. I was going through a conservative phase at that time. I understand Thom was a Goldwater Republican at age 13. I don't know whether he had snapped out of it by age 16.
#8
Is there such a thing as speaking with a "conservative accent?"
#9
BUT 16 year olds are being indoctrinated in knee-jerk Objectivism in their home-schooling, Hell-oriented homes.
#10
Conservatives call us pessimists, but they're über pessimistic about human nature.
#11
@rladlof#9, in my case it was normal adolescent rebellion as I come from a liberal family and liberal school district.
#12
Youth Voting RightsYou are sixteen --Tuesday, June 3. 2008 --http://www.nader.org/index.php?/archives/1311-Youth-Voting-Rights.html --Nader/Gonzales 2008 --in 2008 6 candidates earned enough ballot lines to win enough electoral college votes --to be our President -- OPENTHEDEBATES --thank-you for your consideration --GRATEFULLY EVERYTHING CHANGES --with so many options avoided by DEMS/PUBS --
#13
PUT CIVICS BACK in the classroom
#14
I'd rather see them delete civics from the curriculum and teach polly-sci instead. Social contract theory and the like. And some Machiavelli should be required reading.
#15
PBS is a shadow of its former self.
#16
I argued for the voting age drop from twenty one to eighteen back in the Sixties before it finally happened in 1971 with the ratification of the Twenty Sixth Amendment to our Constitution. The absence of a vibrant civic culture inside and outside our schools drained away much of the potential of this electoral liberation for youngsters. Their turnout was lower than older adults - Ralph Nader '08
#17
no way should 16 year olds be able to vote,in most cases they dont have the mental capacity to understand the ramifications(even though there are a lot of adults in that same boat), thats why they arent considered an adult at that age...and Thom saying giving them the right to vote will make them get interested in the process is false as well,80-90 percent of teenagers all the way up to 19 could really care less about government or voting unless they are pushed or prodded into a certain way of thinking by an adult...but if they work they do pay taxes and then its a different story
#18
Me too! It wasn't until my later years that I became a Liberal.
#19
DRichards(#18) You also a Reverse-Churchill?
#20
re: Citizens' United...it begins...
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/08/17/us/politics/AP-US-RGA-NewsCor...
#21
If 16 year olds were allowed to vote, even a greater percentage of youth would not vote. :-)
Why not lower the voting age to 14, the same average age that people enter high school.
N
#22
Why is it the people who don't want 16 year olds to vote, also think people in their 20's aren't capable of voting? 14 yr olds are old enough to be taught algerbra, I can extrapolate from that that they are capable of critical thinking.
Right wingers don't have the cognitive ability to vote either, so should we outlaw them from voting.
N
#23
What about the other side of the argument, how about puting an age limit on voting. Noone over the age of 65 can vote. So from age 18 through 65 you can work and vote.
Also if you lowered the voting age to 16, then put an initiative to lower the legal age to have sex to 16, I bet you'd have an enormous turn out for the election. 15 -17 year old boys would probably go on 24 hr canvasing sprees. :-)
N
#24
Re: Court halts Calif. gay marriages pending appeal
As Clay Jenkinson of The Thomas Jefferson Hour http://www.jeffersonhour.org/ stated; Though the majority of our nation's people are Christian, Our form of government is a secular government. The same could be said of Turkey, it has a secular government, though the majority of it's people are Muslim.
It seems to me that this is a religious matter, and the government should not be involved; other than protecting the right's of the citizens from religious laws being forced upon them.
#25
You could just go for actual universal sufferage, with no minimum age? The vast majority of young children would probably not vote, which is OK. The question is, are there a lot of children who would not be politically engaged, but would nevertheless be avid voters?
#26
I think a small percentage of 16 year olds would vote, maybe 15-20 percent. maybe college bound kids. However,...did anybody see the movie "Wild in the Streets?"
#27
I just posted the following comment on Obama’s FACEBOOK bragging about desiring American manufacturing:
“Mister Obama,
Perhaps you should inform United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk that you want to see “Made in USA” labeled on manufactured goods . . . Because he is working fervently to screw America’s manufacturing into the dirt. See:
America was the number one manufacturer in the world until President Reagan and President Clinton shredded our great nation’s Manufacturing Policy. Have some pull you a photocopy of Alexander Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures . . . You’ll find it enlightening.”
#28
I've heard Turkey is has been taking a sharp turn away from secularity. Also, keep in mind that Turkey's most prominent secular institution is her army.
#29
rladlof: between an imported product carrying a union label, and a product with a 'made in USA' label but no union label, which will it be? Patriotism or class solidarity? I choose the latter.
#30
#31
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/
#32
Under current law "Made in USA" means that the steering column was bolted into place in Mexico or Canada near a USAian border . . .
#33
Does it matter if we give 16 year olds the vote and the majority doesn't vote? I don't think so, if at 18 I vote Republican, Democratic or whatever, then I probably would have done it at 16. If I don't exercise the right to vote at 18, probably wouldn't have done it at 16. At 16 or 18 I would have made my choice, the natural teenage rebelous nature would have kept me from following lock step with most people around me. So what actual harm can come from allowing 16 year olds to vote?
N
#34
I posted on the thread about this Video game restriction topic.
Basically it comes down to this, I don't think its appropriate to compare Video Games to Pornography. I think you should treat it like Alcohol or Tobacco. Slap a warning label on it (see my post on the blog on this subject if your interested in my version of a warning label).
Besides, we have an instinctual desire for sex, not so much for killing. Which brings up a whole 'nother argument for and against allowing sexual depictions.
N
#35
I'm not sure why rladlof, but your comment about "Made in the USA" makes me want to get a tattoo that says that... the question is, which body part is most appropriate for the "Made in the USA" label?
N
#36
re: War games: Being the Taliban in Afghanistan would be similar, but not the same as being the Minutemen in the American revolution. Only 1/3 of the colonists supported the revolution. 1/3 were undecided, and 1/3 opposed the revolution. However, the Minutemen weren't feared by a lot of the population, just the tories and the rich. In Afghanistan, women, progressives, secularists and the wealthy fear the taliban.
#37
Maxrot #35: The heel.
#38
I have a couple of TV's I use as Monitors. But I don't have any monitors that I use as a TV. (I don't count You Tube, Hulu, etc... as TV).
N
#39
What burns me is the "designed in USA" packaging complete with conspicuous US flag graphics, most typically found on the types of products sold in the huge-box retailers known as 'home centers.'
#40
I was a 15-year-old w. Asperger's back in 1980. I was for John Anderson. My conservative phase was 16-18. I was a Mondale/Ferraro Democrat (and finally an eligible voter) by 1984.
#41
@n8chz, I was considering my ass or one of my middle fingers. It seems so Patriotic to express myself with either.
N
#42
re: #35: the umbilical cord? (wears-out first)
#43
Thom,
Regarding your comments about Germany, i just have a very slight correction to make:
Guido Westerwelle is a member of the FDP (Free Democratic Party), which is old-school libertarian. Yes, that makes him financially conservative and definitely pro-tax cuts, but I just wanted to point out that nuance.
Angela Merkel, on the other hand, is from the CDU (Christian Democratic Party), which is Germany's mainstream conservative party, though at the federal level they tend to be more in line with our conservative Democrats (or liberal Republicans, if we still had any!), which is why she is not for cutting taxes at this point.
Great show!
Eric
#44
re: #41: what a coincidence! I also associate your ass with my middle finger... :)
(sorry, i just can't resist a straight-line)
#45
Ms. Charette made another telling point. Sixteen year olds who also work pay taxes but they have no vote. This is "taxation without representation,” she exclaimed.
Youth Voting Rights Nader.org June 3rd, 2008
#46
Back to the allowing 16 yrd debate. Here's a thought, perhaps the progressive movement needs to start marketing to kids like corporations do. Start branding them now, before the other side does. We can create Jack the Democratic Donkey, and Jolly Jim Green, and Ralph the Repugnant Elephant cartoon characters.
N
#47
re:46: too late. for years, kids are being taught to be good consumers, not good thinkers.
#48
YO Limp-Log!
The majority of folk practicing of Islam like America . . . On the other hand, Wal-Mart has been working to dismantle America since Sam Walton went into the dirt.
#49
arclite, the word 'libertarian' is more than a century older than the libertarian party. old-school libertarians are decidedly anticapitalist, among other things. It's bad enough that the laissez-faire ideology has hijacked the word libertarian, now we have Ron Paul adding insult to injury billing himself as 'old-school libertarian.' And Ron Paul's stated views look to me more like the John Birch Society then the Libertarian Party. Let alone actual old-school libertarianism.
#50
@MAXROT RE “which body part is most appropriate for the "Made in the USA" label?”:
We both know if you ‘HAD’ to ask . . . You already knew the answer (Cue the cheesy saxophone music.).
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Dear Thom Listeners,
August 17, 2010
I would like to share with you a Turner Classic Movie that I saw, August 16, 2010. The movie was released in 1940 but the plot commenced in 1933 with Hitler being named Chancellor of Germany. The movie’s title was “The Mortal Storm.” The setting was a small town near the Alps. It was an eerie movie because it reminded me of The George Bush II ascension to the throne in the United States of Mortal Sin on January 20, 2001. The brown shirted, jackboot wearing Third Reich was similar to the brown shirted, jackboot wearing Fourth Reich of the United States of Satan’s Disciples.
Adolph Hitler was admired and loved by the German people in 1933 as was George Warmonger Bush II in 2001. The Fourth Reich of America in 2001 was emulating the Third Reich of Germany in 1933. Yes, history does repeat itself.
Sincerely, Gerald – a Jesus liberal, a pacifist, a progressive, and a mushroom!
P.S. A mushroom is kept in the dark and fed crap by the United States of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Dear Thom,
August 17, 2010
I have some news to share with you. As you know from some of my comments, I was an undercover GOP operative who would go out on search and destroy missions to discombobulate and make dysfunctional Democratic incumbents and candidates for political appointments or political offices.
My friends deep inside the GOP operations have informed me that Barack H. Obama will not seek re-election in 2012. Sources say that Obama knows that he cannot win because the GOP electronic voting machines that leave no paper trail have been finely tuned to flip Democratic votes to Republican votes. Obama has also been informed that he has lost the Independent vote. Obama will announce his plans within the first three or four months of 2012.
Obama and his wife will take their fabulous retirement package from our federal government along with their $150 million dollar trust fund from campaign contributions with the interest from the trust fund and retire to Hawaii for the winter and Tinsley Park, Illinois for the summer where Obama and his wife will write books and make speaking tours around the country and the world. They will make another twenty or thirty million dollars per year. Obama around age sixty will retire again with a plan to teach a college law course.
Thom, I believe that you will be upset at this recent informational news but you must receive this information.
Sincerely, Gerald – a Jesus liberal, a pacifist, a progressive, and a mushroom!
P.S. American Democrats are Numb Nuts. A voter was asked his membership to a political party? His answer was, “I do not belong to any political party; I am a Democrat.”