from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by phobos.labs.netnoteinc.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8C87C44169
	for <jm@localhost>; Mon, 29 Jul 2002 06:25:39 -0400 (EDT)
from lair.xent.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by xent.com (Postfix)
    with ESMTP id 4CED32940A2; Sat, 27 Jul 2002 21:05:11 -0700 (PDT)
from crank.slack.net (slack.net [166.84.151.181]) by xent.com
    (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83BA829409C for <fork@xent.com>; Sat,
    27 Jul 2002 21:04:37 -0700 (PDT)
by crank.slack.net (Postfix, from userid 596) id 0106A3EDEA;
    Sun, 28 Jul 2002 00:05:08 -0400 (EDT)
from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by crank.slack.net
    (Postfix) with ESMTP id EAE573EDE8; Sun, 28 Jul 2002 00:05:08 -0400 (EDT)
From fork-admin@xent.com  Mon Jul 29 11:29:24 2002

--]A true geek.  Runs to the puter to post before taking a laboring wife to
One key and I was off.well a few more than one but well under .30 secs of

>
> GAB> The problem is that politics have gotten so muddied
> GAB> nowadays, that shouting down and unpeaceably disrupting
> GAB> political rallies that you don't agree with has become
> GAB> common practice.  The courts have constantly ruled
> GAB> that there are some restrictions on the first amendment.
> GAB> They teach you that your very first year of law school.
>
> I'll agree with Owen on this one.  Muddied my ass.  How hard is it to
> chose between a Republocrat or a Demipublican?   Not very.  Shouting
> down has grown to become the answer because the government, over a
> span of years, and with the help of the Courts -has- limited the
> rights we have as citizens under the First Amendment.
Wishful thinking. People are just bigger dickheads now. Culture is changing
and it is becoming acceptable to get in peoples face and shout them down
when you disagree with them.  The people that do this are NOT
disenfranchised. They
get their rocks off on being disagreeable assholes. The act of protesting is
more important than the actual issue being protested for most of these
people.
> question the policy about terrorism, or drugs, or Iraq, or Bush in
> general, you're aiding terrorism.   If you challenge the beliefs of
> the folks attending the various shadowy G8 conferences, you're an
> anarchist, and you're herded off to a 'designated protest spot' miles
> away from anything.   Part of the point of speech is to be -heard-.
> I can scream on my soapbox in the forest somewhere, and while thats
> speech, its not effective speech.  People are screaming and shouting
> over the political figures because they cannot be  heard in any other
> way.
And where does this end? Shouting down speakers is an obviously stupid
tactic if they are -really- interested in advocating change. Are they such
clueless social morons that they don't see this or are they just interested
in stroking their pathetic egos?
OBTW, 'clueless social moron syndrom' does not have political boundaries.
Bill