I have only one point (you seem to overlook it ): If we don’t know who he is for sure how do we know what happened to his family? Why should we not gather all the evidence and have a fair and impartial trial to determine what to do?
It’s a mentally handicapped juvenile, whose parents died (one killed), brother was kidnapped, and family wants nothing to do with him. Is it any wonder he doesn’t have his “proper papers?” Heck, what non-retarded 13-year-old from the US is going to be able to prove who he is in a foreign country, much less an orphaned 13-year-old retarded kid from a 3rd-world-country? How is a retarded juvenile supposed to document or prove his mother’s death from illness when he was a small child, his father’s murder, or his brother’s kidnapping? Is he supposed to come equipped with affadavits and newspaper clippings? Heck, I bet the kid doesn’t even know how to read or write.
Are you saying you think the kid is putting on a retarded act to gain asylum? There is no evidence of that whatsoever.
And to hold a retarded juvenile for a portion of 3 years in an ADULT JAIL is unconscionable.
To be fair, Jodi said exactly that in the very same post you’re quoting. The difference is really only that other democracies in the developed world enjoy very similar freedoms, but don’t wank on about it so much, which is probably what Achilles was meaning, but got caught up in the whole being needlessly insulting/stuffing his foot so deeply into his mouth that it came out of his arse.
I will say one thing that I do love about the Irish government. I believe they still give tax breaks to their writers and other artists to encourage creativity.
America is a land of relative freedom within limits. The same is true of Ireland.
Now if we just had someone who could hold a candle to Yeats.
The pure, unadulterated irony of this statement is mind boggling.
A bar where you can go and drink anytime?
Cry me a fucking river. Chewing is eating, dumbass. Eating is illegal on the Metro. Your point is? What if she were just throwing biodegradable trash on the highway? Would that not be littering, just cause it’ll disappear? A bit draconian, admittedly, but you don’t get off just because it was the last bite.
You have to sign up to read that article, but I’ll make a few assumptions. Family entered into legally binding contract with homeowner’s association, a legal entity with the proscribed authority to dictate the possible improvements or alterations to properties under it’s jurisdiction. Family attempts to undertake improvements not sanctioned by homeowner’s association, who has legal and consented to authority for regulating such improvements. HA vetoes. Boo fucking Hoo.
Your others here have been covered.
The majority of citizens in his jurisdiction, through their elected representatives, have decided that for the good of the people, public drunkenness shall be outlawed. Your little buddy broke this law. He faced the consequences. Draconian? Perhaps. But who shall be the arbiter of the degree of an offense, and when and where a law shall be selectively applied? Should he have gotten off because he only had a few beers, honest? What if he stole a car, but it was only a Yugo, so he shouldn’t go to jail? He can petition for his right to walk around drunk as a skunk, if it’s important to him. He could run for mayor or councilman, and have the ordinance changed.
You’re really a dumb fucker aren’t you? Right or wrong, a majority of citizens, through their elected representatives, decided that consumption of intoxicating substances such as Cannabis shall be illegal for the common good. The employee, in full knowledge of this, the risks, the punishments and the consequences, made a conscious decision to use marijuana. So he has to face the consequences? I’ve got the world’s tiniest fucking violin here for him, playing Paganini. If he feels he has a god given right to get high, he can use every avenue afforded to him by our legal system to effect change. What difference does it make if it was his first time smoking? How would it be any different if he smoked every day? When he toked up, he made a decision to make himself liable as a result of his actions.
Is your idea of freedom freedom from personal responsibility?
Yet, living as we do in a representative democracy, average everyday citizens can make their opinions heard, effect changes through their elected representatives (as, you may have noticed, they are) and petition the government for redress of their grieveances. They can march by the millions to the White House lawn and demand that their voices be heard. They will be, too, eventually. We only have our freedom when we don’t have to fight for it.
We have the most important freedom of all, the freedom to change our government peaceably.
So, engaging in activities that are generally preludes to littering are illegal, people have to face the consequences of their actions, people who breach legally binding contracts are bitch-slapped by the other party and you can’t walk around drunk in public.
I guess I oughta pick up my brown shirt and armband.
I meant to add - ‘creators’ pay zero income tax on certain ‘creations’.
Playwrights, poets, artists, composers, sculptors only. Not performers though. It’s a bit rubbish really, but unique.
Doesn’t sound very “free” to me. Sounds more like Singapore.
And the majority of citizens in my jurisdiction want a publically-funded healthcare system. How can some twat like Muad’Dib say this makes us less free when we want the fucking thing?
Yes of course he should, fucknut. In the country where I live, I can walk - or stagger - home as drunk as I like, as long as I harm nobody or their property. That sounds like freedom to me. Your version sounds a hell of a lot less free.
In my mind, you even look like Steve Buscemi.
And this differs from other Western democracies… how?
The German people also, “through their elected representatives… decided that for the good of the people” that Jews should be excluded from doing business*, and all that followed.
Shut up, you idiot.
*Don’t give me any Godwin crap: the reference came from dickpiece here.
Where’s the hostility coming from, man? I’m not siding with the people who are saying the Irish aren’t free. I don’t understand what you mean about public healthcare. As for your public drunkenness laws; that’s fine and dandy. In the jurisdiction of nyctea’s buddy, it’s not legal because the citizens don’t want it to be. He can play by the rules, or try to effect change.
I also wasn’t trying to say that the U.S. is any different from other western democracies, just that nyctea’s little rantlets had no real substance for the argument that America is the Gulag.
And the Germans had no real recourse against Hitler after he was in power.
Chill out, man. Have some Guinness and go stumble through the park.
Well, tone down your outrage because you don’t have the facts.
The ownership and use of sex toys – the part that would be private – isn’t illegal anywhere. The restriction is on selling these items, a very public activity. Residents of the states in question can still buy whatever they want outside the state, via catalogs or online. They can still plug each others’ holes, vibrate each others’ parts and boink all the blowup sheep they want, they just can’t buy them at the Adult Store in the mini-mall on the outskirts of town. Does that suck? Sure, if you’re someone who wants a sex toy in Alabama, you can’t have one right away. But you can have it, and do what you want to with it, in your own home or any other location where you have a reasonable expectation of sexual privacy.
As for lubricant, you can buy at least one brand in every pharmacy I know of, even in Alabama and Georgia. It may not be Super Slippery Sex Stuff, but it serves the same purpose. Again, you have options. You are restricted, but you are not prevented entirely. If it’s that much of an issue, you have redress in the voting booth, by haranguing your elected officials, by standing for office yourself, or by picking up and moving. Your choice. We all weigh our priorities and act accordingly.
So he claims. We don’t know that.
No, simply that being retarded is not sufficient grounds for asylum to be granted.
There is, once again, no proof that he is a juvenile. And we put retarded people in jail all the time. Jail is where you go when you’re in violation of the law and this kid is in violation of immigration law. If his story is true and there are no other options for him, it sucks and someone needs to help him. But we (via immigration services) have a duty to make sure that his story is true and there are no other options for him, and that takes time. What would you suggest be done with him in the meanwhile? Should he be free to roam the streets begging, or what?
I think it’s pretty obvious that America is a lot more free than a lot more “anyone elses,” but I carefully except Australia from the list of the “less-free.” In part because it’s a free country too (IMO), but mostly because if I disagree with you you’ll sic one of those huge spiders on me or feed me to a shark or something.
And to be fair to NYCTEA (grudgingly) the situation she (he?) is talking about of underage illegals being held in adult jails is a serious problem that the INS is studying and the ABA (American Bar Association) is currently drafting guidelines to address. Which doesn’t mean the U.S. isn’t still a free country, of course, but then it was never intended to be free for illegal foreign nationals, regardless of age.
I believe it has already been pointed out that on occasions when some Americans express appreciation for their freedoms, they are thinking of the non-democratic regimes that have suppressed said freedoms now and throughout history. No disrespect is intended towards Ireland, which we pay tribute to every St. Patrick’s Day as an excuse to swill variously-colored beer, and which otherwise occasionally comes to mind as a green island nation where it rains a lot and which is populated by friendly anemic-looking people in beautifully-woven sweaters.
Achilles-the-wing-nut inexplicably was blowing a fuse over a phrase (which he repeatedly garbled) from our national anthem, which is the sort of thing you can find examples of in many other nations, if your repertoire includes anything beyond standard Yank-bashing. For instance, our good neighbor to the north includes this stanza in its anthem:
“O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!”
See, that not only implies that nobody else is free, but that Canada has the only “true” patriots and is the only “true” North! Everyone else is being dissed, especially Siberians and Norwegians! Get ready for some more Pit threads.
It is not my concern how he proves it.
Or even if his case is a sob story.
I have only said that since the facts of the case are in dispute, they should be investiaged.
If after a full investigation, it’s found he is a candidate for asylum, well, there you go.
Nope. Haven’t said that, not saying that, won’t say that.
Quite possibly. Hell, quite probably. Hell, sure, if he’s a juvenile he shouldn’t be in an adult prison.
But tell me, without proof of his age, how we know his age?
Ilsa_Lund: to use a quote from you: “Where’s the hostility coming from, man?” The use of sophomoric name-calling doesn’t make you look very intelligent, you know. If you notice, I managed to state my opinion without using nasty language. Now, I already adressed all your statements above, so I guess you didn’t ready very closely…so I only have one other thing to say to you.
(crouching down to your level) Ilsa_Lund, FUCK YOU YOU SLIMY MOTHERFUCKER!
(standing back up)
Moving on to more (or less) intelligent comments…
Dudes, he was 13 when he came over. It’s not hard to tell an adolescent from an adult. Clearly he is a teenager.
Ok tell me this. How would we know my age or anyone’s age? Let’s say my house burned down with my birth certificate and my driver’s license. How can I prove who I am? Or how old I am? Check the records…but how would you know it was really me? Unless they have my DNA or fingerprints on file, there is no way to prove who I really am, now is there? Now for a 13-year-old retarded orphan from a 3rd-world country, I bet it’s even harder. Fuck it, let’s just send him back to die on the streets. Who cares? Right? Well I do.
The article did not state this was the sole grounds. Read my previous comments again. The fact that he is: 1) an orphan 2) retarded 3) his dad was killed and brother kidnapped and 4) his family refuse to take him in. Those are the reasons. I suggest you read the article.
You can rag all you want on the random examples I chose from just one day’s newspaper. But you’re missing the totality of the picture I present. If there’s 4 things in every day’s paper that encroaches even slightly on freedom, that shit builds up really fast. Don’t miss the forest for the trees.
Ilsa, let me try to explain this in more simple terms so maybe you can understand it. First of all, there are many things the American people wanted at the time that were later through to be wrong. Slavery, separate but equal discrimination, when women couldn’t vote, when biracial marriages were illegal, prohibition, when abortion was illegal, when we used to excecute people by the gas chamber, hanging, or firing squad, etc. So the slaves who ran away, the broke the law, so they had to face the consequences, right? Whether it be whipping, or beating, or death.
Second, you have to recognize what the intent of the law is. In the case of the drunk guy walking home to avoid driving drunk. The drunk in public law IS NOT intended to prevent this! Its intent is to prevent disorderly conduct caused by drunkeness. However, the enforcers of the law in this case didn’t enforce the intent of the law. They abused their powers, and this to me is another chip out of the rock of freedom.
Come on, TeaElle. Of course not. Why the heck do you think I was complaining about his treatment? A retarded juvenile was stuck in adult prison (where he was abused, by the way). From the beginning, he should have been where he is now, a home for asylum seekers where he is not being treated like a criminal, beaten or abused, and is being cared for.
Of course, TeaElle, you know what would happen to him if he got sent back to his country. He would be roaming the streets begging. Just what he deserves, don’t you think? :rolleyes: