Mayor Michael Bloomberg appears to be moving beyond dictating what people can drink and eat in his city despite judicial rulings finding his policies in violation of the Constitution. Bloomberg joined the Pavlovian response of politicians this week in calling for a reduction in civil liberties in response to the Boston Marathon bombing. Bloomberg warned citizens that the Constitution will “have to change” to allow for greater security to stave off future attacks.
Bloomberg warned that “The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry. But we live in a complex word where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”
It is statements like this that show a fundamental lack of understanding of our constitutional history and values. It borders on constitutional defamation. We have a Constitution that has survived pressures that could have reduced many systems to a fine dust from depression to social strife. Yet, two brothers plant make-shift bombs built from pressure cookers and Bloomberg wants to take a cleaver to the Constitution. Exactly what part of the Constitution does Bloomberg want to reduce like an over-sized soda? Privacy? The warrant clause?
Bloomberg however feels that the Constitution is not the object that we are fighting to protect but the very thing that is endangering us: “Look, we live in a very dangerous world. We know there are people who want to take away our freedoms. New Yorkers probably know that as much if not more than anybody else after the terrible tragedy of 9/11. We have to understand that in the world going forward, we’re going to have more cameras and that kind of stuff. That’s good in some sense, but it’s different from what we are used to.”
Bloomberg is of course calling for such changes before we even analyze this attack. His call for more cameras ignores that fact that this attack would not have been avoided with such measures and occurred in one of the most heavily surveilled areas of Boston — a point discussed in an earlier column.
While it is politicians like Bloomberg who are endangering our rights, he prefers to blame his proposed actions on the terrorists: “We cannot let the terrorists put us in a situation where we can’t do those things. And the ways to do that is to provide what we think is an appropriate level of protection.” How exactly are the terrorists “putting us in a situation where we can’t” protect ourselves unless Bloomberg is including the Framers among the terrorists.
It appears that, yet again, privacy will be the right to bear the brunt of political responses to the bombing. Bloomberg was quick to say religion must be protected while calling for increased government surveillance of citizens: “You still want to let people practice their religion, no matter what that religion is. And I think one of the great dangers here is going and categorizing anybody from one religion as a terrorist. That’s not true … That would let the terrorists win. That’s what they want us to do.”
No, Mr. Mayor, what the terrorist want us to do is to cause self-inflicted wounds like ripping down our constitutional laws and traditions. They want to show that we are hypocrites. That is the point of terror — to trigger a bigger response to the bombing out of fear and hate. Bloomberg responded perfectly on cue in calling for the expansion of the already burgeoning security state.
We are truly living in dangerous times but the greatest threat can be found in men like Bloomberg who fit the description perfectly of Louis Brandeis: ““The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.”
Source: Politicker
Mayor Bloomberg is right. His warning that “our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution” will have to change”, highlight a deep flaw in the document. Since the Constitution, itself, doesn’t have to change, we should consider repealing Article V as being unnecessary and only an obstacle to change, progress, and greater security. Then again, why go to the trouble of actually repealing it when we can just have our justices merely interpret that it has already, in effect, been repealed.
Tony,
From what I’ve read, the majority of primitive calendar systems were indeed related to food production although a significant number of them were also used for religious purposes and denote times of astrological significance for celebrations/sacrifices like equinoxes, solstices. Lunar calendars fell out of favor generally because they only approximate the solar calendar (and ergo only approximate the harvest cycles) and require constant adjustments or waiting 33 years until the lunar and solar calendars realign naturally. Most cultures eventually moved to solar calendars although it is worthy of note that the “official” calendar of Islam (and Saudi Arabia) is a lunar calendar – the Hijri Qamari.
RobinH,
I took care of that for you. It was probably an error with autocomplete that filled in the wrong information in the first place. To quote a wise man, “To err is human, to really screw something up you need a computer.” 😀
Robinh: That would be a ridiculous plan for people that are reasonably smart.
The reasonable plan, for our corporate overlords, is to return us to the policies circa 1900 or so, with a bit of the 1950’s thrown in. When corporations could endanger workers, fire them without cause, blackmail them with impunity, sexually harass the women, and discriminate by race, religion, age, gender, or disability, all in the name of “the free market,” by which they mean they are free to do as they please, and anybody without money is a slave.
This is pretty much the case in their haven countries like China, India, Pakistan and many others in Asia and Africa.
Why would they want a war? They do not care if the workers shoot each other, they will be safe behind their bullet-proof castles or in their foreign resorts where only the rich are permitted entry.
Mr turley pls edit my email address not sure why it posted
Sorry everyone that last comment was for another. Site
Anyone notice how the blood at the bombing is fire engine red?
Tony c it was never their intention to confiscate the guns or even have them registered the plan is to push until we begin to fight back and salsa we 3 they don’t want to be seen as just starting a war against us for no reason they know the people are beginning to see past and thru their lies and they are planning to keep pushing until the anger explodes…
I also find it amusing t hat our youth can join the military at the ripe age of 17 yet can’t smoke nor drink till their 21 they aren’t old enough to make their own decisions but are old enough to kill for rights and freedoms they themselves don’t have…
RWL: “In fact, it is believed that the first calendars were based upon women’s charts of their menstrual cycles and the moon cycles.”
I don’t know who believes that; and I think it is a specious claim in light of what we do know about how primitive tribes have kept time, and the archaeological records we can find of keeping time.
In the earliest artifacts of pre-history people are already astonishingly adept at keeping time; in Egypt, Stonehenge, South America, and many European and Middle East sites we find sophisticated astronomical observatories and calendars carved and built of stone by people’s unknown.
The Mayans, for example, accurately predict the 25,800 year precession cycle of our North pole. Do we know what motivated the FIRST calendars developed by the Mayans? No, but like Egypt, they were an intensely agricultural people and it was probably motivated by the desire to predict seasonal variations in rainfall, temperature, pests and other crop predators, etc.
The same goes for European, Indian, and Chinese calendars. Anybody watching a special on the astronomical observatory Stonehenge could see that; it is capable of predicting all sorts of celestial phenomenon, including solstices.
Although it is possible the first calendars were lunar alone, the very earliest calendars we have evidence for were verbal stories associated with Constellations; these were used to remember particular times of the year depending upon how people made their living, some of these stories relate to important points about agricultural (time to plant certain things, harvest, rains are coming), animal husbandry (time to mate, birth, slaughter, or cull yearlings), or nomadic hunting or fishing (relating to seasonal animal migrations, availability of game, building shelters for winter, etc). The “Ram” for example marks the beginning of Spring and is was (pre-Greek mythology) called the Lamb because of something to do with the timing of sheep husbandry. Aquarius the Water Bearer is the sign of floods coming; in Babylonian and Egyptian mythology (although called by different names). Pisces may be predictive of a heavy fish migration for an Asian seafaring people.
The earliest known calendars are already very sophisticated and far, far beyond lunar or “menstrual.” IMO any claims about the purpose of the “first” calendars is unfounded speculation, there is no way to know what motivated them.
OS,
Exactly!
To truly understand what effects the full moon has on the human anatomy & physiology, check this article out (It’ll blow your mind for all of non-believers of moon phases and the human body. Women, you should be familiar with this info):
http://www.epigee.org/menstruation_lunar_fertility.html
“Although the connection between the moon and our bodies is not fully understood, the fact remains that we are affected by the moon’s phases. Most notably, our moods and emotions tend to peak when the moon is full. This is backed up by the fact that doctors and nurses who work in emergency rooms have said over and over again that their busiest night of the month always occurs when the moon is full. Women, however, have long held a connection with the moon.”
“Charting your menstrual period according to the moon is one of the oldest forms of menstrual calendars. In fact, it is believed that the first calendars were based upon women’s charts of their menstrual cycles and the moon cycles.”
“Many women have chosen to return to the lunar calendar in order to chart their periods while many others use a lunar calendar to compliment the more conventional type of menstrual chart. They also find it beneficial to use the moon as their guide to their periods because it provides them with a visual reference as to what stage of their cycle they are in.”
Prepare yourself for the “Year of Alex Jones”
That should read the same effect! 🙂
OS,
In college, too much Mad Dog had h same effect!
Darren
i noticed you called it pop.
http://www.popvssoda.com/
which proves conclusively that some people have too much time on their hands.
I was talking with one of the psychiatrists at the nurses station late one evening. She leaned over the desk, putting her head in her hands, commenting that she was really tired, telling me how many new admissions she had in just a few hours that evening. She said, “I don’t know what is going on. They seem to be coming out of the woodwork.”
I managed to ask her with a straight face, “Have you been outside this evening?”
She looked puzzled for a moment, then said, “Oh no. It’s not…please tell me its not…”
I replied, “Yup. Full moon tonight.” That explained everything.
Darren,
Hah!
Larry:
🙂 yes you are right. I guess my family was influenced by the commercials where astronauts who went to the moon used Tang. But according to some that moon thing never happened. So I suppose we were deceived, you know the moon landing was just part of a gov’t plot to sell more Tang.
Darren,
You are showing your age with the Tang reference!
Actually bill I was answering a question posed by Bettykath regarding closing of arteries after an amputation. If an artery is severed perpendicularily, it often will close up due to the drop in blood pressure. If the wound is along the length of the artery it tends to beed out more. But, someone with more medical training really needs to comment on this, I am just going by what I have seen and what my training has been.
Nothing more than that.
If you wish to bring in other theories of yours that is your choice.
But, if your theory is that this man lost his legs in Afghanistan then somehow managed to find his way to the Boston Marathon with two bloody stumps in time to make a main stream media photo-op, well it might be rather difficult for you to prove to anyone else.
As far as Kool Aid goes, no I usually drink pop, milk, or water with most every meal. Oh, you were referring to the incident at Jonestown Guyana, that was actually Flavr-Aid. My family usually fed me Tang back then, since it tasted better as far as my childhood memories serve me.
D. Smith,
LMAO…LMAO..Great comeback!!
At 12:01 AM Thursday morning, April 25th 2013, the moon will be officially full. Any astrologist want to dare comment on the effects of the full moon on the human anatomy & physiology? Or can we just wait and see how some of our bloggers react with certain articles or interact with each other about a certain topic or off topic remark? LOL….
Bloomberg ” “Look, we live in a very dangerous world. We know there are people who want to take away our freedoms.”
What a Mt. Everest pile of Crap. There are people out there that want to kill people of differing beliefs. These people are called “Wack Jobs”
You Mr. Bloomberg want to take away our freedoms.