Re: Doonesbury

[J. Clarke]

Only if they are not addicted.

Yes, they are technical violations of the law.

You seem to be getting hung up on minor technicalities and not on the actual effect of the policies.

[Robatoy]

Pot, kettle.....

[RicodJour]

Did you read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell? There was some interesting stuff in there about the broken window premise, but not directly about drug dealers and their teeth.

R

[DGDevin]

A) What connection is there between what I posted and your response? B) Why would anyone by upset to be called names by an angry imbecile?

English translation: your nose is so out of joint that you did a search on me in hopes of finding something to use as a stick with which to beat me, you're *that* angry. Sad, or what?

Another *devastating* blow, it's a miracle I haven't thrown myself sobbing onto the floor, isn't it.

Let's see, *you* are the guy who jumped into a thread you otherwise had no interest in just to piss and whine about what a bastard I am, but you maintain that *I'm* the troll. So now we know that you're as ignorant of logic as you are of irony.

Hey, you know what's really funny, I don't even remember what it was that we were arguing about that has clearly left such bruises on your ego. Whatever it was, you obviously haven't forgotten, have you.

[DGDevin]

He bought it from an entrepreneur, which according to you means a Republican.

It's a safe bet that the vast majority of street drugs purchased in this country are not bought with stolen money, unless you count Wall St. stuffed suits buying nose candy with money from looted pension funds. If memory serves over half the people in this country have tried cannabis, for example, and it doesn't make sense that they all stole the money they used to buy their weed. Even addicts to really crippling drugs like meth and crack first have to drain their own resources before turning to crime. Don't you ever watch COPS, there is always some guy getting busted for dope crying that he's going to lose his job. In the past couple of decades I've had several friends who used various street drugs, and every one of them has been gainfully employed, so I have to think there are many millions more like that. Heroin or meth addicts are another matter of course.

It's no more taken out of the community than money that buys some Made In China product at Wal-Mart. The dealer is going to go buy himself a Big Mac and a sweater for his mom. Because as you know, most low-level dope dealers still live with their mothers. The boss will buy a big plasma screen and some spinner wheels for his Escalade--money is always moving.

[DGDevin]

You have to watch out for those do-gooder Democrats like that leading proponent of the Broken Window Theory, Rudy Giuliani.

[DGDevin]

If an ex-con has no possible way of working his way back to respectability then surely a powerful motivation for reform is being taken away. We're supposed to love the repentant sinner, remember?

[Tim Daneliuk]

On 2/18/2011 3:03 PM, DGDevin said this:

his rights, in the mind of some, flies in the face of another goal: deterrence.

return to his current state, that there is no long-term consequence, he might be persuaded to wear white before Memorial Day or some other affront to the sensibilities of normal folk.

then surely a powerful motivation for reform is being taken away. We're supposed to love the repentant sinner, remember?

We don't live in a theocracy, we live in a republic. Loving someone has nothing to do, one- way or the other - with public policy.

[Doug Miller]

Well, no, but his point about removing a powerful motivation for reform is well taken.

[Robatoy]

I'm not upset about you calling me names. Stop giving yourself so much credit!

That translation of yours is incorrect. Making up stuff again, eh?

Uhhmm, nope. I googled other news groups because I was curious to find out if it was normal for you to get so upset. Obviously, you get all excited if anybody talks to you. You do this all the time. Streeeetching out discussions just to feel wanted. Unfortunately, you are just not interesting enough for me to do any further searches.

Devvy, if lowly lill' ol' me gets you all this excited, you must live a very boring life.

You are correct about one thing. You did demonstrate in a previous exchange how screwed up you are, I just butted in to see if your condition was chronic. It seems to be.

Bottom line? I'm bored with you. How about something creative?

Nighty night! Don't stay up too long thinking of ways to get to this Big Bad Robatoy... because regardless of what gurgles out of your limited mind, I will always consider that it is just Devvy spouting off again.

And now I fart in your general direction!

[Tim Daneliuk]

The rehabilitation back into society of felons, particularly, is just about last on the list of things I care about. There are far too many other people whose problems are not self-inflicted that deserve our compassion. As far as I am concerned, felons - particularly repeat offenders - should simply be stripped of their citizenship and sent off to a penal colony at the end of the Aleutians for the rest of their days - or, perhaps sent to Madison WI with the rest of the lunatics...

It is the job of government neither to punish nor rehabilitate. It is the job of government to minimize the risk and/or damage to the rest of us posed by felons and would-be felons.

[DGDevin]

So in your universe "I did a little Googling" and doing a search are not the same thing huh? You're not thinking this through, are you.

Let me get this straight. You jumped into this thread just to whine and snivel about how what a swine I am, and you did a Google search on me, but you maintain that *I* am the one who is upset?

At some level even you must understand why this is laughably unconvincing.

I haven't done *any* searches on you, sunshine, I couldn't care less where you post or who you argue with or anything else about you. All I need to know is you get kind of childish when someone mocks you online, and that's not something most grownups would want said about them, is it.

Again, Boytoy, you followed me to this thread, remember? So *logically* the guy who does web searches on people is probably the one with emotional issues, isn't he.

*Very* believable, you could probably fool almost any five-year-old with that line. But at least you've admitted that you're still pissed off over whatever it was I disagree with you about, that's progress of a sort.

You guys almost follow a script, don't you. You know, you guys who like to get into little flame wars online and who then react badly when it doesn't go like they wanted. You all do Google searches looking for something to use as a weapon, you all claim to be bored at some point (but you always come back again and again). Maybe it's a franchise and you have corporate rules to follow.

Neither big nor bad, Boytoy, you wouldn't have made a 3rd class trainee back in the old days of Usenet. Seriously, to get as cranky as you are over some petty disrespect in a newsgroup, that's really odd. Ways to get you? What is this, Grade Five?

Best thing you've come up with so far.

[DGDevin]

I'm horrified at the thought of religion influencing government, and yet there are many members of a political party I could name who are willing to at least pretend that religion and law should be interchangeable. However, as I'm sure you know, my point was that someone who has sincerely reformed deserves the opportunity to rebuild his life and have all his rights restored after he gets out of jail and demonstrates over time that he can be trusted. It shouldn't be easy, but the path has to be open for someone who really wants to stay on the straight and narrow.

[Tim Daneliuk]

then surely a powerful motivation for reform is being taken

are many members of a political party I could name who are willing to at least pretend that religion and law should be interchangeable. However, as I'm sure you know, my point was that someone who has sincerely reformed deserves the opportunity to rebuild his life and have all his rights restored after he gets out of jail and demonstrates over time that he can be trusted. It shouldn't be easy, but the path has to be open for someone who really wants to stay on the straight and narrow.

I still think there are people for whom there are to be NO path back. People whose violation of our social compact is so heinous that they never deserve a second chance. Among such crimes would include rape, murder, child predation, and listening to Lady Gaga ...

[DGDevin]

Given the number of felons America generates, this is a short-sighted policy on your part. At any time there are over two million people in prison in America, and sooner or later most of them get out which is why there are around eight million felons on the streets. So do you want them going back to their old ways, stealing your car or selling dope in your neighborhood and so on, or not?

Sure, but that doesn't mean we should ignore the problem of what happens to cons when they get out of jail.

Alas, there are these things called rights, some of which can't be stripped away. Dang Constitution, always getting in the way of productive medieval policies. Besides, too many Republicans in the Aleutians would probably cause environmental damage.

Actually it is, at least in civilized societies. You don't have to like it, and you can always start a political party and get elected and change the law, but that's how it stands today.

What, waste my tax dollars protecting you and your property? That's theft, that's what that is!

[Upscale]

No, you're not a troll. It's quite obvious that you suffer from a severe form of Last-word-itis. Last-word-itis sufferers have to have the final word either by typing online or in a spoken venue. Normally, Last-word-itis victims suffer from an excess of ego. That's certainly not true in your case. Your ego is so fragile that the only way you can bolster it is to have the last word everywhere. This assumed victory on your part is the only reason you haven't yet experienced a complete and total mental breakdown.

I commiserate with you. I too suffered from Last-word-itis, but my illness wasn't nearly as severe as yours. With the aid of a good woman, I was instructed in better uses for my fingers and my tongue. I approached this education with great zeal and shortly after she started teaching me, she pronounced me cured. I've since gone on to a Masters and then a Ph.D.

[DGDevin]

There's another Irony Meter shot to hell.

Yikes.

And yet here you are, after informing the world just days ago that you were done with me, here you are again, and with the added comic bonus of a lecture on how you no longer want to have the last word. Where else can one get this sort of entertainment for free?

[Upscale]

Funny how his few lines of comments has you writing whole paragraphs in response. Looks like your Last-word-itis affliction is approaching terminal.

[Robatoy]

I was not aware that I was standing in the shadow of an experienced Usenet flamer.

What a claim to fame.

Now explain to me how that makes you less of an asshole.

[Upscale]

Thanks for making my point.