Quote :

"The robber barons have taken over, that's where we currently are"

Quote :

" in which case we'd probably be in mostly the same position as today."

[Edited on October 12, 2014 at 6:47 PM. Reason : ]

10/12/2014 6:46:49 PM

Quote :

"Hell, simply not torturing the commerce clause to make every issue one which the fed can control would be a start in rectifying some problems."

this

10/12/2014 6:49:23 PM

Also, while I'm ranting about shit that should but never will change, can we fucking switch to the metric system already? It's down to just us and Myanmar now (and sort of Liberia).

10/12/2014 6:53:47 PM

We rely on customary units to prevent China from copying our machines. It's pretty much the only roadblock, as a matter of fact.

10/12/2014 10:13:12 PM

Been watching people argue with Aaronburro for a few pages. Why? Clearly he thinks gay people are gross, or is so deeply closeted that his self-hatred is manifested in some kind of extreme bigotry. These people are out there, but fortunately for the rest of us, they are beginning to matter less and less.

10/13/2014 9:19:49 AM

RE intelligence test for the right to vote: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinn_v._United_States

If the Jimbos and Josès out-breed you, then they're shaping society. They all get a say in the matter, that's what's great about Murica.

10/13/2014 9:39:02 AM

I'm trying to recall the argument where burro's defense was "definitions change over time!"

10/13/2014 10:18:52 AM

So as of today, the 13th of October in 2014, are people getting gay married in NC? I haven't followed it other than statuses on Facebook from Friday.

10/13/2014 12:26:06 PM

They stayed open late and people started getting married Friday evening

10/13/2014 12:27:36 PM

Welp, it was bound to happen. I'm surprised it took this long. So unfortunate, those traditionally married people. I mean, we were warned about the consequences of SSM. Now there have been 2 incidents where a traditional marriage license spontaneously combusted, burning down both houses, seriously injuring one wife and killing another husband.

10/13/2014 1:21:24 PM

People had been waiting around for the moment in Wake and Buncombe County, so marriages were happening immediately there as soon as the decision came down, and the offices stayed open late to help as many people as possible.

By the time news spread, a lot of offices in other counties were closed, so first marriages in places like Rockingham County are happening today.

10/13/2014 1:21:28 PM

whatchukno about rockingham county?

10/13/2014 1:29:05 PM

Quote :

"I'd like to exclude active duty military and any state or federal employee from corresponding elections as well."

wait what?

10/13/2014 2:12:32 PM

Quote :

"Hell, simply not torturing the commerce clause"

oh hell yes. that and the "general welfare" clause, and the "necessary and proper clause"...

I mean, I'm not totally nutty about only taking the strictest possible interpretation of these things, but damn, we've perverted and flat-out ignored the Constitution so much that we've made it damn near irrelevant.

10/13/2014 2:17:06 PM

It is mostly irrelevant, it's eclipsed in almost all ways by court rulings and the US Code. The 2nd amendment doesn't obviously talk about personal self defense or prohibitions against weapons of war, but that's how the law understands it.

There's no good reason to interpret the 1st amended either way on whether corporations should be given personhood, or money viewed as speech, outside of social context of those decisions. The constitution itself, in practical terms, is irrelevant nowadays outside of being a figurehead.

10/13/2014 2:26:38 PM

Quote :

"whatchukno about rockingham county?"

I know that the first same sex marriage in Rockingham County took place today, not Friday.

10/13/2014 7:36:48 PM

http://www.towleroad.com/2014/10/north-carolina-gov-pat-mccrory-says-hell-defend-gay-marriage.html

10/13/2014 8:41:52 PM

^^^ yes, and that is a travesty.

10/13/2014 8:50:53 PM

Interesting Dan Carlin Common Sense podcast out today. Talks about uninformed voting, the importance of voting, the problem of who gets to vote, the potential flaws in republics and democracies, how the system may be unfixable, how we may or may not even have a choice in the matter, etc.

Good listen if you're into this kind of thing.

10/13/2014 9:37:50 PM