Obama Wins! - So What's Next?

Remove all ads!

Fortunately, our entire economic recovery doesn't hinge on giving everyone an extra $500 a year.

That said, I doubt an extra $13 a week is going to get socked into savings. It'll get spent, and that extra $500 or so annually per person getting put back into the economy will at least help out a little.

 

Obamas latest whacko appointment, Cass Sunstein.
http://consumerfreedom.org/news_detail.cfm/headline/3807
http://wwwtmrcom.blogspot.com/2009/03/opinion-most-dangerous-man-in-america.html
Now of course drew will be jumping for joy with this one.

And this is the man obama wants in charge? What a nutjob.

 

Martaug, get over it. If you don't like the appointment, that's fine. If you want to call him a radical animal rights activist, that's fine. If you want to call me a radical animal rights activist for choosing not to eat meat, you need to re-examine how you form your opinions. More importantly, if you wish to bait me, you can forget about it. I have no interest.

That said,

This belief is not held merely by animal rights activists. Most people, in fact, would agree with this.

As usual, you missed a crucial operator. I was kind enough to bold it for you. I'm not a legal scholar, and don't really know what the ramifications of this would be, but I'm all for using any reasonable means necessary to enforce the laws we have on the books. I'll leave whether this is reasonable or not to someone who actually has some expertise on the matter. I'm just a layman, after all.

All of this, of course, ignores his extensive legal resume, as well as the fact that Cass is a judicial minimalist who argues that judges should focus primarily on deciding the case at hand, and avoid making sweeping changes to the law or decisions that have broad-reaching effects. (Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians usually love this.) While generally considered liberal, he publicly supported Bush's nominations of Michael W. McConnell and John G. Roberts. Progressive judicial scholars and environmentalists aren't particularly happy with his appointment, either.

You should really consider going somewhere other than right wing blogs for your information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Sunstein

 

The bolded worries me the most. Is he talking about a government mandated national vegetarianism here, or is he talking about an idealized, end-game social change? If the latter, I disagree with his goals, but I don't object to his (broad) method. If the former, this guy's a nutjob.

 

On the one hand, I agree with Martaug in that I don't think people with such radical ideas that are out of synch with the vast majority of the population should be given positions of authority wherein they can push through their whackjob agenda. I realize that vegetarianism is becoming more and more popular but I would hazard a guess that less than 15% of the population of the U.S. is vegetarian. So this guys comments would worry me if I were an American.

That said, I don't think that Drew has ever said on these boards that he advocates banning the consumption of meat. I agree with him that laws that are on the books should be enforced. I would say that if they are not being enforced for whatever reason they should be struck down.

The idea that this Sunstein fellow might introduce new laws that are intrusive and show a complete lack of understanding of Western history, tradition, culture and economics is what's worrisome. Banning hunting outright is just plain stupid. As is banning ranching and animal racing. But one gets the feeling that he was probably just posturing for the sake of his fellow whackjob supporters.

 

Actually drew i figured that even you didn't like all of his animal rights stuff. You seem to understand that some things have to be made from or tested on animals.
Accept for the blind eye you seem to turn towards fellow vegans & vegetarains, most of your vegan beliefs are pretty well thought out.

 

I wanted to look at the real credentials of this "whackjob," who had "no understanding of western history, tradition, culture and economics," since I didn't know much about him.

It seems he may know a few things about the "history of Western tradition." I also discoverd that this "whackjob" is a very accomplished author as well:

Take a look at hs university profile:

http://home.uchicago.edu/~csunstei/cv.html

However, he is a liberal, and thusly he will be labeled a "whackjob" by conservative bloggers and AM radio commentators - that is unavoidable, regardless of how well-educated, brilliant, or rational the man may be in real life. Since the term "liberal" is a code word for "whackjob" in the not very subtle and codified language of the consevative media.

But I'll take bets right now that the Obama administration does NOT ban hunting or cattle ranching. Horse racing? I don't know. Where is Mr. Ed when you need him?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Sunstein

EDIT:

Martaug - Since you are a student of Ben Franklin, as I am, as a young man Ben became an on-and-off again vegetarian and often tried to convince his friends of its good qualities.

 

Well, I definitely don't agree with the government mandating diet (I don't think it did even during WWII), I can definitely agree with enforcing laws on animal rights. In fact, given that animals tend to have a rather poor grasp of the US legal system (hey, it's hard enough for humans) it is only natural that people argue on their behalf. As for the others, banning hunting is rather controversial, and I would not support it for all it matters. Dog racing I'm a bit ambivalent on. How popular is it in the US anyway?

Actually, without even being given a quotation (if not a link) of Sunstein's actual speech, the entire claim that he wants to eliminate " current practices such as greyhound racing, cosmetic testing, and meat eating, most controversially" is just that - a claim. The Center for Consumer Freedom is a organization specifically aiming to oppose regulation, while the blogger is giving his own opinion, and seems to use the CCF article as a source. Both have their own agendas and try to communicate them, and while I do not reject them outright I do not intend to take them at face value. Just because he argued for something in a student seminar (which, btw, tend to have some fairly crazy ideas that are just there for discussion, or at least did when I was attending them) does not mean that he would bend the US constitution into a pretzel in order to force it on everyone.

Besides, I'd be surprised if there aren't earmarks for the US cattle industry among all the billions in the stimulus package. I rather doubt Obama will outlaw hunting or meat eating, to be honest.

 

Thank you. I had wanted to point that out myself, but decided that it would have just been attributed to my "bias" and I would have just been talking to a wall.

Martaug, don't pigeon-hole my viewpoints or assume that you understand how I think. You'll nearly always get it wrong. Animal testing is a large and complex matter than cannot be reduced to a single sentence. Cass, himself, hasn't done this either. Regulating and banning are very different things, and I agree with Cass that we need more aggressive regulation in the US. I don't want to see an outright ban on the use of animals, and neither does Cass for that matter. Rather, I'd like to see our regulations strengthened to match what is found in the EU.

What blind eye? If you want to placate me, placate me, but don't follow it up with a backhanded insult...especially an unsubstantiated one.

 

"I may not agree with what you eat, but I will defend to the death your right to eat it."

"Give me beef or give me death."

"Ask not what a tossed salad can do for you, ask what you can do to a tossed salad."

"I have a dream that one day white meat and dark meat can combine together in one meal."

Chandos: Et tu, brute? Congrats on the blue box.

 

I have no problem with people being vegans & teaching their belief in it's benefits(whether real or not) but i do have a problem with people trying to force their beliefs on others.
Just like i don't want others infringing my rights i don't want to force others to follow my beliefs.

And finally a quote for obama from old ben himself

Think on that one for a moment.

 

You first.