Posted on 07/05/2011 8:53:47 PM PDT by neverdem
DSL is limited to 5 miles from the ISPs equipment.
I’m at 4.9 miles, with marginal service.
The saving grace is that it contains within itself the means for its own modification.
That's true. They set the bar pretty high though. And once a government is created, even with an amendment process, the advantages all lie with the government.
In between 1776 and 1787, they went from "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it" to whenever you can get 2/3rds of both houses to propose an amendment, or 2/3rds of the state legislatures to call a convention and propose an amendment, and once you can get 3/4ths of the state legislatures to ratify it, THEN you can alter--but not abolish--the government.
Quite a few lived very much beyond not only the actuarial expectations of the time but beyond those of ours as well - John Adams (91), Jay (84), Madison (85), Franklin (84), Jefferson (83), Charles Thomson (94)...HERE is a Wiki article that details some of the others. Take a look at the age distribution. Mind you, it's (1) a small sample size, and (2) its members wouldn't be members if they hadn't already lived to adulthood, but it is interesting, no? Sort of makes you think about what effect infant mortality had on the population count in those days.
There is, of course, the famous case of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson dying on the same day, which was the 4th of July, 1826, fifty years to the day from the signing of the Declaration. I wouldn't bother trying to draw any deep significance from this stuff but it's fun to consider.
Your hatred of our Constitution is well known. Less known is your opinion as to what should be in its place.
So, with what would you replace our beloved Constitution?
As if you give a rip.
How many proposed amendments to the Articles of Confederation were ratified?
A determined minority may have precisely the same effect upon the rule of law anywhere men are otherwise too burdened with life's cares to notice their freedom being taken from them. The process toward such an end has been perfected by the Left, and follows a formulaic path (my own theory here): deconstruct, discredit, distract, divest, and then defend.
Essentially: radicals first seek to uncouple a target law or social structure from its purpose or function, then they attack its foundation and supporters (often through the use of ad hominem arguments); they employ further means of deceit to confuse the opposition (such as accusing them of what the are themselves doing); then they use simple majorities to expand power beyond their true authority, and finally use public institutions over which they have gained control (media, bureaucracies, the academy) to build a firewall preventing reversal of their gains. And, all the while the same process continues on other fronts.
Do you think it might be somebody rewriting history? Or maybe some sort of... higher intervention?
“I doubt more than 3% of Americans know what you are talking about.”
Too many eligible voters today understand nothing of the original intent of the founders, or what made their ideas so radically different from Europe; that is why they can elect this foreign Muslim in the White House now.
DSL requires the phone company to install new equipment and upgrade existing equipment. Naturally they are looking for the biggest bang for the buck. AT&T can make a lot more money selling their ripof Uverse service than they can installing DSL out here in the country.
I stopped reading right there, because if any educated and aware person doesn't understand the critical (and completely effective) purpose of the three-fifths clause, he is a fraud and isn't qualified to comment on 18th century history, or anything else, for that matter.
Explain it to Jr. High-schoolers and 90% of them will grasp the positive effect of that most important clause to the eventual elimination of slavery.
The irony is that in the actual slave market, black slaves sold for several times the price of a white indentured servant.
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