The wit of wisdom of Sen. Kit Bond on telecom immunity
"I'm not here to say that the government is always right, but when the government tells you to do something, I'm sure you would all agree that I think you all recognize that is something you need to do." -- Sen. Kit Bond (R-Missouri), explaining why his fellows had to lock arms with him and grant telecom immunity. (via Reason)
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Well I might agree that he (in his idiotic and misinformed fascist way) think(s) that (we all) recognize that it is something that (we) need to do.
The problem is that he is wrong -- he is "projecting" about what (we) want - or at least what (I) want...
Last time I checked, in a democracy, the people *are* the government. Elected senators are REPRESENTATIVES of the people's will.
As a person who is part of the government in a democratic society, I would like for elected people who are supposed to "represent" me and my will to protect me from would-be dictators and power-hungry corporations.
Did he not get that memo? Is it perhaps time for a Revolution?
it is how they think
Kit Bond might as well have said:
"We're from the government, and we're here to help."
Ironically, Ronald Reagan said those were the nine most terrifying words in the English language.
Does that make Republican Senator Kit Bond a terrorist?
Yay for equilibrium of powers. Sad.
Another Ironic Ronald Reagan quote:
(from @zuzu's above link)
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children what it was once like in the United States when men were free."
If that was the case Senator Bond, then Westcom would have been jailed because they didn't comply with the illegal request [that did not have judicial warrants attached].
And let's not forget that Westcom has declared that they received the request in early 2001 - before 9/11.
Nice try, but not good enough.
#2: I'm having a hard time distigushing the difference these days...
I am just following orders. Now get in the oven.
How do these morons keep getting elected?
It's amazing how we have some of America's dumbest people running the country. This is a guy who would be lethally challenged delivering pizza, and here he is taking an active role in destroying the Constitution because he's simply too god damned dense to read and understand the thing.
SLoP: Your quotation reminded me of this famous Jefferson saying, worth quoting in greater length than it usually is:
"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty....
"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
Sometimes I wonder whether the tree of liberty hasn't shriveled up and died from being submerged under another sort of "natural manure"...
(Jefferson can make even the 2nd Amendment seem like a good idea. Of course, a guy like him could never be elected to public office today. *sigh*)
Can we stop labeling Congresscritters by their party affiliation and start labeling them by their largest contributors?
For example, "Kit Bond (Anheuser-Busch, Boeing, Cave LLP - MO)"
or perhaps we can list them by industries that contributed the most: "Kit Bond (Lawyers/Law Firms, Retired, Securities and Investments - MO)"
The tree of liberty quote is difficult to pull off without sounding like a "bomb-throwing anarchist", though.
The Second Amendment is a wonderful idea. It says that while governments need an army for defense, the people must also have guns to defend themselves from the government's army.Funny how "gun control" never applies to cops and soldiers, eh?
I like that, but it should be done 60s TV style: Introducing Senator Ted Stevens, brought to you by Monsanto - engineering a brighter future.
Don't forget Monsanto and Ralston-Purina, Anonymous.
I'm in the government.
Kit Bond: go play in traffic.
#13 Zuzu: It's a pity the public doesn't have tanks, laser guided bombs, stealth bombers and a whole lot of other shootey, explodey things to stand up to the government's army with.
I'm a big fan of the 2nd amendment. I'm a card-carrying NRA member (*GASP*), but it's a little outdated for it's intended purpose. When it was written all you needed to fight a war was men, a supply chain, muskets and gumption.
Was he paraphrasing Britney Spears?
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/03/cnna.spears/
As Ivan Bloch postulated, the real constraining factor in modern warfare seems to be material. All wars are wars of attrition, which is why "victory in Iraq" is impossible. The "enemy" lives there! They can afford to wait it out; we can't.
One word: Nuremberg. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Trials)
#12: Not bad idea. It's too easy to take something like this and protect it on the group as a whole.
I guess they know what they are doing - they are not stupid. They just chose to go the other way (where the money is!)
Regarding the regulatory industry, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act tries to bring net neutrality, and how important that is - to level the playing field.
"I'm sure you would all agree that I think you all recognize that is something you need to do."
I can't decide if that sentence should be diagrammed, or simply taken out back and shot.
Guys, I'm sure he has a good reason. Now go do [fill-in: whatever it is he has said to do].
#19 - there is a very simple solution to that little problem.
Carthago delenda est.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthago_delenda_est
i met kit bond as a child growing up for a brief time in misery, er i mean missouri. he was a douchbag then, he is a douchbag now.
yeah, funny how often that proves to be the case
2 words: Um, no.
Just another law proclaiming the supreme law of the land, "Obedience above all else!"
Enochrewt; can you even buy real gumption anymore? I see it in stores every once in a while, but the pasteurized stuff just isn't the same.
I love that idea. The government is always right, because it's the government.
Can we just shoot all US politicians now? I realize that a large number of good/ harmless people will die, but so very very many sociopathic, arrogant assholes will die as to make it worth it.
@29
http://www.coldbacon.com/pics/kliban/bkoldage.gif
Let's rewrite his quote so that we can understand it:
The government isn't always right, but (even when it isn't) we all agree that we should do what it says.
Yes, for right or wrong, follow the government like lemmings. Spoken like a true dictator.
A government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
A government of corporate members, by corporate members, and for corporate memebrs.