I hear what you're saying, Charles.  The problem is that America doesn't want honest politicians.  They want politicians that will tell them what they want to hear.  I'll fling out a few credits for Biden being tactless (don't get me wrong, I think tact is for pussies that can't handle the truth, and I have no use for it), but truthful and tactless as he might be, it isn't going to make him a front runner in any popularity contests.

Damn shame that unintelligent, unimaginative, lemming Americans will simply follow whatever the news tells them.  Too bad there isn't a way to definitively prove one person's intelligence in a particular area as superior to another's in the same area.  Not that such proof would sway the lemmings, who are far more interested in having a talking head tell them that everything is fine as opposed to a genuine person tell them the truth.

I like Joe.. for walking out in a huff on Karzai last year and calling him and Afghanistan a corrupt narcostate - which it is as of yet.

Yeah, it's off topic, but would you mind explaining to me charles how you're taking Sotomayors comments as racist?

As per the topic -  such is America. Personally, while I may believe this and that about how America could change for the better (concerning the politicians, etc) - I think it will just come down to the individual.

Be well, ~Alderic

I know that Ock but we can dream cant we? After all, politicians are suppose to give us what we need not what we want. In a strange way that is what he does, but like you said, most people won't even notice it.

utemia

Honesty is the best policy i believe. I wouldn't mind seeing some politicians come out and be honest about their beliefs of who is a criminal and who isn't. Kinda like that Senator (or was it a congressman?) that cam out saying he doesn't understand all the fuzz about Michael Jackson. He's a child molester, a predator, a pervert plain and simple. I hate to say it but as much as I love Jackson's 80's music and some 90's, I have to agree, too much fuzz over him.

I need not to explain much AJ. Apart from her believing she is superior to "white men" just because she's a "wise, Latina", her judgement on the White firefighters and her work in that Puerto rican group she belonged before says enough to me. If you chose ti not see it, ignore it or dismiss it that's fine with me. But unless you can prove otherwise, she is a racist to me, even if she is Puerto Rican like me, something i would have been proud of had she just keep her big mouth shut.

See that's the thing, I printed and read (and will re-read) the entire speech that the specific phrase is from, and I'm not seeing the racism. I am seeing though, the context of the speech which concerns i believe, a court case in which race was prevelant. She was essentially commentating on it.

I'm going to look through it again though.

Be well, ~Alderic

Mmmm, that's the thing - nothing was proven in court. Honestly, I think MJ had some serious demons. I'm not talking about him oogling boys, but some serious...neverland issues. I mean, take a look at his ranch. That being said, he's dead and gone and I just hope that wherever he is, and whether or not there is an afterlife - he's found peace.

You see, the racism is not in the comment Biden made, it's in the style that Sotomayor does her job. Having the cops back means she does not follow the law based on the law itself but on her she feels it will benefit her feelings. The law was meant to be neutral, it was meant to treat each individual as a person, color blind, culture blind and in a way age blind. Laws are meant to be used to punish those who break it not because a judge thinks they should be punish but because the criminal in fact earned it. To back cops because they are authority figures like her or to judge a person based on the color of their skin is form of abuse one way or another. Not only is she a racist but she abuses her powers by judging people, not based on the crime vs the punishment, but because she believes her powers to judge are beyond the law, her judgement against the White firefighters os proof enough.

OJ was acquited the first time and people still believed he was guilty, enough that his second visit to court found him guilty, even if it wasn't for him to go to jail for killing his wife and her friend.

Besides, MJ himself said he saw nothing wrong with sharing his bed. Now, if you can prove to me you would have been willing to allow a child of yours to spend time with MJ and even sleep in the same bed with him, then I could probably go with the "it was never proven" crowd. In the mean time you can't have your cake and eat it too.

I'm not saying MJ didn't have issues and he may - in reality/truth/whatever - or may not have been guilty, who knows. I'm only left with what the courts have ruled, end of story. Public opinion however, as we all know, is another thing.

As it is, in some cultures children sleep with people in their beds as a matter of culture. that being said, I definitely think he had some issues. Honestly? Like any parent, I would have to get to know him first, and extensively. As I don't just put myself out in some random strangers care, i wouldnt do that with my child. I like to think I have good judgement, and if i felt that he was all right, then i would. I am often willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, and not let public opinion or otherwise, sway me.

Be well, ~Alderic

In some parts of the world cannibalism is practiced. So I guess the late Jeffery Dahmer is off the hook with that defense, he was just hungry.

Your point? Dahmer was an American, therefore under American laws. His actions were not based off of his culture, so much as they were due to his mental instability.

Come on AJ, you cant use outside cultures as a way to excuse MJ's bad behaviour as per our culture and then not allow the same chance to Dahmer.

One could say that MJ's "actions were not based off of his culture, so much as they were due to his mental instability".

And Jackson wasn't? Can't have your cake and eat it too.

I'm not using it in regardance to MJ, but only clarifying that it does happen. Hence my comment:

You may be right, it may have been due to his culture; I don't know, and can only base my guess on what I do know. 

Were we not talking about the variety of cultures? I was. I had changed the subject to a discussion on cultures, and that to judge other cultures and be disdainful towards them is ethnocentric and bigotted. When it comes to Dahmer, nothing shows that he was doing it due to his culture. So, given the evidence, it seems obvious that he had serious mental issues.

Geez, I love people picking and choosing my arguments. Why don't you take my entire comment in context Nitro.

So what is  Jackson's "culture" that sleeping in bed with children, mostly young boys, is considered normal? Is that how it's done in Gary, IN? Do the other Jacksons sleep with children not their own?

I agree with your analysis of Dahamer, and believe it also applies to Jackson in it's own right. Both are unacceptable practices in the confines of the US and most of the world. Culture should never have entered the equation in the first place.

Then don't mix apples and oranges to begin with. It is just that simple.