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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (728242)	7/22/2013 11:12:18 AM
From: longnshort	2 Recommendations Recommended By FJB joseffy Respond to of 1573902

OBAMA CO-SPONSORED LEGISLATION STRENGTHENING ILLINOIS' "STAND YOUR GROUND" LAW CHICAGO - This past week President Obama publicly urged the reexamination of state self-defense laws (see remarks below). However, nine years ago then-State Sen. Barack Obama actually co-sponsored a bill that strengthened Illinois' 1961 "stand your ground" law. The Obama-sponsored bill ( SB 2386) enlarged the state's 1961 law by shielding the person who was attacked from being sued in civil court by perpetrators or their estates when a "stand your ground" defense is used in protecting his or her person, dwelling or other property. The bill unanimously passed the Democrat-controlled Illinois Senate on March 25, 2004 with only one comment, and passed the Democrat-controlled Illinois House in May 2004 with only two votes in opposition. Then-Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) signed it into law. Record of Obama co-sponsoring SB 2386 \| Source: Illinois General Assembly Roll call of SB 2386 \| Source: Illinois General Assembly As U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) prepares to hold Senate hearings in September to scrutinize states' self-defense laws, he may wish to consider his home state's public policy, which his former colleague and fellow Illinoisan - President Obama - helped craft. * * * * * * * This past Friday when discussing the George Zimmerman case, President Obama suggested revisiting state "stand your ground laws" to determine whether the laws encouraged altercations rather than avoiding them, a position he didn't raise while a state senator. Remarks from President Obama: "Along the same lines, I think it may be useful for us to examine some state and local laws to see if they are designed in such a way that they may encourage the kinds of altercations, confrontations and tragedies as we saw in the Florida case, rather than diffuse potential altercations," Obama said. "I know that there's been commentary about the fact that stand your ground laws in Florida were not used as a defense of the case. On the other hand, if we're sending a message as a society in our communities that someone who is armed has a right to use those firearms even if there's a way for them to exit from the situation, is that really going to be contributing to the kind of peace and security and order that we'd like to see?" he asked White House Press reporters. "And for those who resist that idea that we should think about these stand your ground laws, I just have to ask these people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk, and do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman who had followed him in a car because he felt threatened?" Obama said. "And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws."

To: combjelly who wrote (728242)	7/22/2013 2:17:04 PM
From: Alighieri	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1573902

Episode 1 ... brilliant show. Sorkin at his best. Don't ask wingers to understand this stuff...they don't "travel" and don't care to. Al Will: “And, yeah, you…sorority girl. Just in case you wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know. One of ‘em is there’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number 4 in labor force and number 4 in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies. Now, none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are, without a doubt, a member of the worst period generation period ever period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! Yosemite?!” (Silence.) Will: “It sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reason. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reason. We waged wars on poverty, not on poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chest. We built great, big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists AND the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence, we didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed…by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. “