http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081211083541AA2hsoV

As I said. We can not make up for what happened in the 60′s and 70′s. I am not trying to say that we can. Only hoping that you can find some solace in what you see now. Some.

Kaddafi (whatever) was vewy, vewy QUIET for a looooooong time after that little butt-waxing…..

We don’t need to invent a new system to deal with pirates in civilian courts. We should just use the existing international and military law to deal with this utterly mundane (from an historical perspective) problem. Captains should hold courts martial at sea and either apply the maximum penalty on the spot or transfer convicts to military prison for those convicted on lesser charges, or release those found not guilty.

We have due process procedures in place. It is simply cowardice to not employ them.

If there is one way that media have too much sway over the population

If the general population is so feeble minded as to be controlled by the loudmouths the likes of Beck, Palin and Limbaugh, then they deserve what they get.

I can’t stand the idea that the majority of our population, true or not, can be correctly referred to as “sheeple”. But they can.

All valid points Christa. But I will still say Reagan said it best:

“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

If there is one way that media have too much sway over the population, it’s not in terms of liberal or conservative; it’s in terms of “only” reporting. Journalism evolved as a way to highlight the problems so that others could solve them, or lobby to solve them. But it’s turned into a nasty abdication of responsibility to our fellow human beings. As long as we’ve got a platform, who needs to actually DO anything?

It’s a fine line, to be sure, between venting one’s anger as an incitement to action, and simply bitching and moaning. But given that inertia is part of human nature… the “calls to action” need to be a lot stronger. Not just stuff like voting — that still allows other people to do the work for us. What can we do to push healthcare improvements? Address illegal immigration? The rising cost of living?

Many of these things are, to be sure, beyond our control… but for instance, rather than bitch about not being able to afford healthcare, I’m looking at ways to increase my income, including using small business counseling resources like SCORE to figure out where I might be going wrong. Rather than bitch about immigrants, I smile and say hi to the ones I see. (They’re already here. Why make their lives miserable? What many of them are coming from are light years worse than scowls and racial slurs.) What if I combined the two things to get more business that required translation services, so that I could hire an immigrant fluent in Spanish or Guajarati?

The bottom line is we ALL give up some of OUR power to people who yap endlessly and inspire us to do… nothing. I’d like for them all to put their money where their mouth is and do more to HELP us DO… just like Rep. Giffords and her colleagues.

The blog? I use for lengthy posts, primarily. And I’ve found it hard to post the good stuff I find on the ol’ blog rather than on FaceBook.

Of course, where do I find this “interesting stuff” online? On other people’s blogs, of course…

So I guess there’s a middle way. But by and large, you’re right on the role of FaceBook and other social media outlets. We’re all looking to contribute and to have our opinion recognized by others.

http://www.kauaicoffee.com/